The Lost City

Episode Info

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This article is about The Lost City (episode). You may be looking for Dora and the Lost City of Gold.

OR, if you were looking for the location, go here.

The Lost City (also known as Dora's Search for the City of Lost Toys or The Search for the City of Lost Toys) is the 19^th episode of Dora the Explorer from Season 2 or the 1^st episode of Season 3.

In production order, it's the 7^th episode of Season 3, but the first aired episode of the new season, as well as the debut of the new segment called Star-Catching.

Characters[]

Dora
Boots
Map
Backpack (not used; We Did It! only)
Swiper
Fiesta Trio
Benny
Isa
Tico
Screen (debut)
Azul
Explorer Stars (debut)
- Woo-Hoo Star (debut)
- Red Star (debut)
- Blue Star (debut)
- Yellow Star (debut)
Mami (mentioned)
Papi (mentioned)

Summary[]

Dora has lost her teddy bear! Tico has lost his keys! Even Swiper has lost something! So Dora and Boots set out to find all the lost treasures at the Lost City. They'll need the viewer's help with the Explorer Stars to race through the Number Pyramid and fix the Mixed-Up Jungle to get to the Lost City to find Dora's teddy bear… and all the other lost treasures too!

Plot[]

The episode starts with Dora and Boots putting up a poster of a teddy bear wearing a vest up against a tree. They use four pieces of sticky tape to hold each corner. Dora explained that she lost her teddy bear named Osito that she had since she was a toddler (it was a present from her parents for her fourth birthday). But now he's lost and she really needs to find him because she misses him so much. Suddenly, Swiper was nearby. He saw the poster and asks "What's this? You lost your teddy bear?!". Dora told him it was and she couldn't find it anywhere. Swiper honestly said he didn't swipe him, because if he did, the situation for Dora would be worse. Dora understands. Swiper hopes Dora finds it. Luckily, Map knows where to find Dora's teddy bear. He said that he's at the Lost City, which is a place filled with all toys and treasures that everyone has ever lost. So, Dora and Boots decided to take Map's advice and go to the lost city. They ask him for the directions and he tells them that they have to go through the number pyramid and find a shortcut to the mixed-up jungle before they can get to the lost city. He also mentions that they can even catch stars along the way. Dora and Boots were ready to go to the lost city. Suddenly, they hear the first 3 stars of blue, yellow and red. There was even a superpower explorer star that went "Woo-Hoo". His name is Woo-Hoo, who is a hide-and-seek explorer star. Dora and Boots looked around and wondered where Woo-Hoo went. He comes out of hiding behind a rock. Soon after, Dora and Boots catch the stars. Dora catches the regular stars while Boots caught Woo-Hoo. They put the stars into the star pocket for the first time. After that, they see Azul the blue train. He was upset because he lost his whistle. Dora and Boots told him not to worry because they were on their way to the lost city to find Dora's teddy bear. They thought Azul's whistle might be there too. Azul offered them a ride to the number pyramid and they accepted it. So, they climbed aboard Azul and off they went. Along the way, some of Dora and Boots' friends lost something too. Benny had a baseball and glove and lost his baseball bat. Isa lost both wheels from her scooter. Tico lost his keys for his little yellow car and Swiper somehow lost one of his blue gloves. Dora and Boots told them all not to worry and said they will find their lost things at the lost city in addition to Dora's teddy bear. In no time, Dora and Boots reach the number pyramid. They thank Azul for the ride. As Dora and Boots entered the pyramid, they saw 10 different lifts numbered 1-10. They weren't sure which lift to use. Dora touches a blue screen and it says "To find which lift you have to take, count all the way to number 8!". Dora and Boots did so and counted up to 8. Then, the 8^th lift rises up to the next floor and they reach a series of vines. Dora and Boots saw another screen, Dora taps it and it tells them "To know which vine is right for you, first count 5 and then add 2". Boots pictures the clue very carefully. Dora and Boots counted 5 vines and then they counted 2 more vines. Now, they had to use mathematics by counting 5 and adding 2. They counted up to 7 because 5 + 2 = 7. Dora and Boots use the 7^th vine and swung around and around the number pyramid. Dora and Boots land on the next floor. They saw trapdoors numbered 1-4. Another screen comes up. Boots touches it this time and the blue screen said "You'll find the way out if you choose the right door, it's the number that comes between 2 and 4". Dora and Boots took the clues into pieces. Boots stands in front of trapdoor #2, while Dora stands in front of trapdoor #4. The blue cursor clicks on trapdoor #3, because 3 is the number between 2 and 4. Dora and Boots stand on trapdoor #3 and fall in and they slide down a long red slide that exits out the number pyramid. Dora and Boots bounced on a blue flower pillow at the bottom. Dora and Boots made it through the number pyramid and now they had to go through the mixed-up jungle. It was far away. Suddenly, Map pops out of Backpack and yells out "shortcut, shortcut, shortcut!". So Dora and Boots need to find the shortcut. They ask Map for assistance. Map explains to them that the only way to make the door to the shortcut appear is to jump up and down on a blue triangle. Map does a demonstration, and then encourages the viewer to tell Dora and Boots what he said. The viewer did so and told them that all they have to do is jump up and down on the blue triangle. Dora and Boots try jumping up and down on the blue triangle. After a few jumps, a couple bushes separate and a blue door flips up as it opens. Dora and Boots go through and it took them straight to the mixed-up jungle. The mixed-up jungle got mixed-up. Clouds were on the ground, a red fish was in the nest and a tree was upside down. The clouds got put back in the sky, the tree turned right side up, and the red fish was put back in the water and a bird is what lives in the nest. After fixing the mixed-up jungle, Dora and Boots go through. So far, they went through the Number Pyramid and fixed the mixed-up jungle. They were getting close to finding the lost city. Dora and Boots saw something that was blocking their way. It was a curtain. Dora and Boots had to raise it up to make the lost city appear behind it. Boots tries saying "up, up" but nothing happened. Dora tries saying "arriba, arriba" and the curtain briefly rises up. Dora figured out the curtain understands Spanish, so Dora and Boots had to say arriba to get the curtain to go up. After saying "arriba" a couple times, the curtain completely lifts up and reveals the lost city. Dora had to find her teddy bear. Suddenly, Woo-Hoo comes out of the star pocket and goes hiding. Dora thought Woo-Hoo can help find her teddy bear by finding him. So, Woo-Hoo hides behind several toys and spreads out his arms to uncover something. As Woo-Hoo knocks away a party hat, Dora's teddy bear was found. Dora was so happy to get her teddy bear back. And then, something amazing happened. All the lost toys and treasures are going back to its rightful owners. Benny gets his baseball bat back; Isa gets her wheels back for her scooter; Azul gets his whistle back; Tico gets his keys back so he can drive his car and even Swiper gets his missing glove back. Everybody was happy to get their lost items back and they all gave the viewer a "thank you". Boots thought maybe his blanket was at the lost city. Sure enough, Boots' blanket hovers over a fountain. Boots gets his blanket back and explains to the viewers that he hasn't had it since he was a baby monkey. The Fiesta Trio play a fanfare on a fountain. And then, Dora and Boots celebrate with their friends. Now that they tell their favorite parts of the Lost City adventure, they can count how many stars they caught for the first time and there are 3 classic stars with Woo-Hoo.

Song[]

The City Of Lost Toys

Places in this episode[]

Sub-Places[]

Shortcut to the Mixed-Up Jungle
Secret Curtain to the Lost City

Lost items (in order of mention)[]

Dora's teddy bear Osito
Azul's whistle
Benny's baseball bat
Isa's scooter wheels
Tico's car keys
Swiper's glove
Boots' blankie

Number of stars[]

4

Releases[]

This episode can be found in City of Lost Toys on VHS and DVD. It can also be found in Dora's Slumber Party and Nick Jr. Favorites 1

Trivia[]

This episode is produced in Season 3. Although it aired during Season 2, it clearly uses Season 3 concepts. Some of them in this episode are firsts.
- Since its airing on October 14, 2003, this episode uses the Seasons 3-4 opening with Dora leaving the house and swinging on a vine (which debuted on the day the episode Star Catcher premiered) instead of the Seasons 1-2 opening with 2 doors opening, entering a play room and zooming into a green computer.
- This is the first episode where Dora starts the show greeting the viewer in Spanish ("¡Hola, soy Dora!") instead of English ("Hi, I'm Dora!").
- This is the first episode where Map sings the I'm the Map song in the Season 3 onwards version, and the Fiesta Trio sing along with him. However, he only sings the last stanza until ¡Por Favor! (or To the South Pole due to it being shown on the Meet Diego! VHS and DVD before it aired on TV)
- After Map explains to the viewer about how to get to the Lost City and mentions about star catching, he does not say "So you tell Dora" like all other season 2 episodes, he instead says "so remember". However, he also says that in Whose Birthday is It?. The other 25 episodes in Season 2 have him saying "So you tell Dora".
- Dora does not go over the places, she instead asks "Where do we go first?" after they all pop up. Speaking of the pictures popping up, she also doesn't list the places after they all do so, she lists each individual place after each square pops up.
- This is the first episode where the Fiesta Trio plays an extended fanfare to start the We Did It! song (In production order, this debuted in Stuck Truck).
- Beginning with this episode, the camera now shows a close-up of the Fiesta Trio (and what they are doing) when they appear after Dora and Boots pass a location.
- This is the first episode where Dora and Boots count how many stars they caught after explaining what their favorite parts were.
- This is the first episode featuring the Explorer Stars and a minigame for them at the end during the end credits instead of a Character Find. However, Woo-Hoo's minigame is the same way to how they find the other characters in Character Find.
  - As a result of the Explorer Star minigame, the Star Catching music used instead of the intro, and the seal that holds the credits is already there, unlike Character Find where the cursor clicks a button to pull it down.
- After Valerie Walsh's Producer credit, Eric Weiner is credited as an Executive Story Editor/Producer. In the rest of season 2, he is credited as a Producer/Head Writer.
- Unlike all other Season 2 episodes, the copyright year says "2002" at the end instead of "2001", meaning that this episode was produced in Season 3.
- Streaming services such as Amazon Prime, iTunes, and Paramount+ list this episode as a Season 3 episode.
Swiper does not do any swiping in this episode. And he honestly tells Dora that he did not swipe her teddy bear.
The Explorer Stars came out just after Dora and Boots find the Number Pyramid and the blue cursor clicking on it.
This is the second episode where Map was checked twice, first being Beaches. This won't happen again (but more than twice) until be Dora's Fairytale Adventure (or Star Mountain in production order).
- Also, Map shows a shortcut path in this episode. This will also happen in Rescue, Rescue, Rescue!.
When Dora and Boots are about to check Map the second time, Dora does not ask the viewer "Who do we ask for help when we don't know which way to go?". Instead, Boots asks it.
When Map was checked the second time, the Fiesta Trio did not sing with him. This means Map sang the short version used in Season 2 when he was checked the second time.
This is the first appearance of the star pocket and the Explorer Stars.
- However, in production order, that would be in Dora Had a Little Lamb. Additionally, they were chronologically introduced in Star Catcher.
When Dora is telling the viewer to stand up to help them jump, she immediately says "Stand up, please" and doesn't say "You have to stand up to jump" before that.
Map, Backpack, the Fiesta Trio, the Explorer Stars, and the Blue Screen were the only characters in the episode who did not lose anything.
Aside from the credits of the Season 2 episode Whose Birthday is It?, this is the first episode where Phillip Miller voices Azul the Blue Train.
Swiper is on his good side in this episode, because he's sad and disappointed that he lost his glove. He also feels bad for Dora for losing her teddy bear and hopes she finds it.
This is the second episode where Swiper does not say his "Oh, man" or "You're too late" phrases after Whose Birthday is It?.
- Conversely, this is the third episode in which Swiper says "Yip-yip-yippee!".
Dora and Boots don't sing the Travel Song, they instead sing The City of Lost Toys.
This is the first episode where Swiper is missing one glove.
- However in a later episode, he is seen with no mask and both gloves are swiped when a robot butterfly swiped them in malfunction.
This is also the third episode where Azul is seen without his whistle, first being Choo-Choo! and second being Doctor Dora.
The scene where Dora and Boots slide down the Number Pyramid is seen in the Seasons 3-4 and 5-6 opening sequence.
This is one of few episodes to premiere on Nick instead of Nick Jr.
The recording of Boots saying "Woah" when him and Dora were swinging on the vine was re-used from his Character Find during the end credits.
This is the first episode where Dora does not look inside Backpack because she did not need anything from her.
- This means that this is the first time that "Backpack, Backpack" was not sung.
This is the fourth instance for Isa and the second instance for Benny in which they both spoke Spanish. They said "¡Gracias!" in Spanish then "Thanks!" in English to thank the viewer for finding their lost items at the Lost City. This is also one of few episodes where Tico spoke English (when he said "Thanks").
- And it's also the first time that Swiper also spoke Spanish when he said "¡Gracias!".
This episode was supposed to air after León, the Circus Lion, but it got aired out of order on February 24, 2003 (which is why this is aired as a Season 2 episode instead of a Season 3 episode. It is also because it aired too early.)
This is the 45^th episode of the show.
It is unknown how the Fiesta Trio got to the Lost City when they were seen playing their extended fanfare.
A PC game of this episode was released on July 27, 2002 before it premiered on TV.
- Coincidentally, both the episode's production and the game's release were both in the same year, 2002.
  - Unlike the episode, the Mixed-Up Jungle is not in the game. Instead, there was a Big Pond.
  - Also, the Number Pyramid was the second location in the PC game, whereas the episode features it as the first location.
A touring live show of the series based on this episode was staged in 2003. The tour began at the Palace Theatre in Louisville, Kentucky on April 4, 2003 and concluded at the Convention Center in Bakersfield, California on September 3 of the same year.
Since this is the first episode featuring the Explorer Stars and star-catching (and thus the first aired episode of Season 3), then this took place after Star Catcher. If not, then Dora Had a Little Lamb, the first produced episode of Season 3, would take place after said episode.
- Coincidentally, this episode and the aforementioned one both feature Woo-Hoo.
After the second part of the We Did It! song, Dora says "The number is 3!" and she and Boots shout "1! 2! 3! 4!" instead of "We did it!" four times.

Goofs/Errors[]

Although this is an episode that aired during Season 2, it featured the Seasons 3-4 opening sequence with the explorer stars, Diego, and Baby Jaguar instead of the Seasons 1-2 opening sequence with the two doors opening themselves entering a playroom (the opening error also occurs with Whose Birthday is It? and the DVD version of Super Spies).
- However, it did open with the Season 1-2 opening sequence when it first premiered on TV in February 2003 and all airings before October 2003. As of the airing on October 14, 2003 (the first time it aired after Star Catcher premiered), it permanently uses the Seasons 3-4 intro due to all other star-catching episodes using that intro.
- Also, the home media versions City of Lost Toys and Dora's Slumber Party of this episode features it with the Seasons 1-2 opening sequence.
  - Because of this, this is the last episode in production order to use the Season 1-2 intro in general.
On some websites with a list of episodes from each season, this episode was listed as Season 1, Episode 27 and "The Search for the City of Lost Toys", but this episode is actually a Season 2 (or 3 on streaming providers and its production) episode. For example, Metacritic lists this episode as a Season 1 episode.
When the Lost City first appears from the curtain, the same palm trees appear from the Season 4 episode Dora Saves the Mermaids and Season 5-present.
When Swiper comes to see that Dora has lost her favorite teddy bear, he was wearing both of his gloves but somehow lost one glove, he was wearing both of his gloves so it's unknown how he just lost one glove and somehow just ends up at the Lost City.
In real life, lost items do not magically transport to a building with lost items in it (although here it doesn't apply due to cartoon logic).

Explorer Star[]

Woo-Hoo

Dora the Explorer Season 3