The Missing Piece

Episode Info

Transcript

Gallery

Credits

The Missing Piece is the 2^nd episode of Dora the Explorer from Season 2 in airing order.

In production order, it's the 4^th episode in Season 2.

Characters[]

Summary[]

Dora and Boots put together a jigsaw puzzle. In it, there is a wizard named El Encantador. However, when the puzzle was put back together, he realizes that he is missing a piece! It is up to Dora, Boots, and the viewer to help him find it by going to the end of the rainbow.

Plot[]

Dora & Boots were putting together a puzzle. The viewer gets a look at the puzzle pieces of the wizard. They started with the wizard head, the top left piece, the bottom middle piece, the bottom left piece, the bottom right piece and the top right piece. The wizard puzzle was almost put together and there was a piece missing. It was shaped like a magic wand. The wizard needed his wand so he can do his magic. So Dora & Boots asked Map where the wizard's magic wand was. Map said that it was at the end of the rainbow. But they had to go across crocodile lake and go through the red tunnel to get to the end of the rainbow to find the wizard's magic wand. Along the way, they had to put the top of an umbrella back on the umbrella handle for the Big Red Chicken. After that, they arrive at Crocodile Lake. But, they needed a boat to get across. They saw Benny getting into the boat and said that his row boat wouldn't move. That's because he was missing something for the row boat. Benny was missing oars. Dora looks in her backpack for oars and so they did. After getting the oars, Dora, Boots, and Mr. Wizard get lifejackets for safety and climbed onto the rowboat. As they started rowing, Crocodile Lake got quiet but it was too quiet. Something was missing from Crocodile Lake. They were missing crocodiles! The crocodiles chased Dora, Boots, Mr. Wizard, and Benny in the rowboat. They put their arms out in front and started rowing the rowboat. Then, they got away and the crocodiles gave up and dived back into the lake. They thanked Benny for a ride in his rowboat. The next place Dora & Boots had to go was the red tunnel. Along the way, they had to watch out for Swiper the fox. Swiper spins around Dora, Boots, and Mr. Wizard and swipes 3 things from Dora & Boots. First they had to figure out what was missing from Boots. The viewer saw that Boots was missing a boot. Boots gets it back. Now, they have to find what was missing from Dora. She was a missing a sock. Dora gets back her sock and Boots told Dora she was missing something else. Dora does not have Backpack. But, Dora gets back her Backpack and gives her a hug. Now, they got back everything that Swiper swiped which was Boots' boot, one of Dora's socks, and Backpack. After that, they saw Tico by his yellow car. Dora asks Tico if they can ride in his car. He said he would glad to, but can't yet because he was missing something. Tico was missing a tire. The viewer finds the missing tire up high in the tree and gets put back into place. Dora, Boots, and Mr. Wizard climbed into the car and put their seatbelts on. Tico drives his car into the red tunnel. It was dark in there. Mr. Wizard heard another vehicle coming. Tico could not beep his horn because it was missing. They saw the approaching vehicle which was a purple bus named Autobus. They tell him "Pare" to make him stop. Autobus stops and lets them go by. Tico drives his car out of the red tunnel. Dora, Boots, and Mr. Wizard climbed out. They thanked Tico for the ride. Dora, Boots, and Mr. Wizard were so close to finding the magic wand. All they had to do is go to the end of the rainbow to find it. Dora, Boots and Mr. Wizard saw Isa with her rocket ship and needed a ride to the top of the rainbow. Benny & Tico wanted to join in too. Dora, Boots, Isa, Tico, and Mr. Wizard put their rocket helmets on. They were not ready to go yet. Benny was missing something. Benny forgot to put on his rocket helmet on. Now, they were ready to go. They started the rocket ship by counting backwards starting with 10 and counted down to 1. And soon, the rocket ship blasted off. Dora sees that they were up to the top of the rainbow. Isa pushes a parachute button and Dora, Boots, Benny, Tico, and Mr. Wizard escaped from the rocket ship onto the rainbow and started sliding down it. After they got down to the bottom, Boots realizes that the rainbow goes all the way down to the big golden pot. They looked in the golden pot and sure enough, the magic wand was there. The magic wand was put into the puzzle and the lines of the jigsaw puzzle disappeared. Mr. Wizard used his magic wand to make toys and presents come out of the golden pot.

Places in this episode[]

Items in Backpack (clockwise from the top right)[]

Note: All of these items are in pairs.

Tennis rackets
Forks
Maracas
Lollipops
Oars (correct item)
Spoons

Missing objects (in order of occurance)[]

El Encantador's magic wand
The top of Big Red Chicken's umbrella
The oars from Benny's boat
The crocodiles from Crocodile Lake
Boots' boot, Dora's sock, and Backpack
The one of tires from Tico's car
The horn from Tico's steering wheel
Benny's rocket helmet

Releases[]

This episode can be found on the VHS and DVD titled Dora's Halloween.

Trivia[]

El Encantador, the magical puzzle wizard, was voiced by guest star Ricardo Montalban, who, in turn, is best known for his role in Star Trek as Khan Noonien Singh.
- This is the first episode to have a special guest voice a character.
This is the first episode to introduce Autobús the Bus who will later appear again in the Season 4 episode "La Maestra de Musica".
This is the 28^th episode of the show.
This is the last episode (in production order) to find Boots in the same background as Map and with the same animations as his previous character finds.
- Boots will have a new background and new animations for his Character Find starting with El Día De Las Madres.
The Big Storm, The Magic Stick, and this episode are the three consecutive episodes where Swiper successfully swipes something and Dora and Boots never get a chance to stop him. However, they will in the next episode.
This episode is different from the others, as it is the only episode for Boots to have 2 favorite parts.
- However, he technically had two favorite parts in The Magic Stick.
- Also, in a later episode, Boots had three favorite parts.
This is the last episode, and the only one in Season 2, where Dora says something other than "done it" in "We couldn't have done it without you!", like she did in Season 1. She said, "We couldn't have found the magic wand without you!".
This episode is not only Swiper's 28^th appearance for overall, but also the first episode for Swiper to successfully swipe more than one thing.
This is Tico, Isa, and Benny's second appearance in Season 2.
Dora and Boots sing the Travel Song the second time while riding in Tico's car but they don't sing it after finding their second place and the Blue Cursor clicking on it.
When Swiper swiped the three things from Dora and Boots (Boots' Boot, Dora's Sock, and Backpack), he didn't swipe El Encantador this time.
This is the second episode where Swiper swipes Backpack, first being Backpack!.
This is also the second episode where Boots is half barefoot meaning that one can see his foot (because Swiper swiped it), first being Big River. Dora can also be seen half barefoot when she gets her sock back.
When Swiper swiped the three things from Dora and Boots, he spins around them. This happens again in Roberto the Robot and ABC Animals.
This episode aired on Presidents' Day 2002.
Although it premiered in 2002, it was actually made in 2001 according to the credits, the same year as the last 8 episodes of Season 1 premiered.
This is the first episode where Dora and Boots sing the Travel Song in Tico's car. This happens again in ¡Rápido, Tico!.
- However, the crocodile lake and the tunnel are the same as the aforementioned episode. But the differences are that this episode has the red tunnel and the destination is the end of the rainbow, while the aforementioned episode has the blue tunnel and the destination is snowy mountain that has the fire truck.

Goofs/Errors[]

It is unknown how Swiper swiped Dora's sock without taking her shoe off.
The rainbow did not have a red, indigo, or purple stripe, three colors that rainbows also have in real life.
In real life, jigsaw puzzles can't talk or move (although it does not apply here due to cartoon logic).

Running Gags[]

Throughout the episode, El Encantador says "falta algo", which is Spanish for "something is missing".

Character Find[]

Boots the Monkey

Dora the Explorer Season 2