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*Zoom in on house with music until camera reaches the door*
*opens*
Oh, hi! Come on in, I'm so glad you're here! You're just in time for hearing me talk about one of my favorite shows, Blue's Clues!
Created by Angela Santomero, Todd Kessler, and Traci Paige Johnson the show centered on a kind, innocent, cheerful, and caring man named Steve and his lovable, intelligent, sweet, and adorable dog Blue.
Every episode goes like this: Steve opens the door to the house in the intro once the camera zooms in on it and greets us as if we were an old friend visiting for the day. After some interactions with Blue Steve would notice that Blue is trying to tell us something, but because she can't talk we don't know what she's saying, so she has us play a game of "Blue's Clues" to figure out what she's telling us when she puts a pawprint on the camera lens. To play Blue's Clues we need to find 3 paw prints which are the clues, each time we find a clue we draw it in our Handy Dandy Notebook, when we find all 3 clues we have to go to the Thinking Chair and piece the clues together to see what they have in common. But wandering around the house to look for paw prints wasn't all they did, during the journeys to find the clues we would have to go on side quests with other characters to learn something extra about what the episode is teaching us, get a letter from a young audience member tying into whatever the episode is about delivered to us by Mailbox during a segment known as Mailtime, and we would enter pocket dimensions in a picture, book, or diorama by "skidooing" (which in actuality is just jumping) into it, which would be places like the jungle, the farm, Recycle Town, the city, the beach, the ocean, and even the entire galaxy sometimes.
The formula of the show was a stellar formula, while I can understand people being annoyed by its repetitiveness, it's actually for the best if it's like this so that children can memorize how everything works and be able to learn what they're being taught quick enough. The 2 most common skills the show taught us was problem solving and creativity, the problem solving came in being able to identify patterns in the side quests you would have to go on and the creativity came from all the potential ways that any of the clues could be used.
The show also featured a variety of other characters for Steve and Blue to interact with.
As mentioned earlier Mailbox shows up whenever it's "Mailtime" to give Steve a letter, he was very funny and cheerful and it's clear he loves sharing mail as much as we love receiving it.
Side Table Drawer sits right next to the Thinking Chair and holds the Handy Dandy Notebook for Steve whenever he's not holding it, she always says she's excited for when we're playing Blue's Clues but overtime she started to say other things and have more interactions with Steve as the show progressed.
Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper were French diplomats that would teach the audience about healthy eating and nutrition.
Shovel and Pail were friends who played outside a lot and would show kids how to use a magnifying glass, build a sand castle, and do other fun things outside.
Tickety Tock was an alarm clock who lived in the bedroom of the house and loved to count and tell time.
Slippery was a bar of soap who said "woah" a lot.
Magenta was Blue's best friend and one of her nextdoor neighbors.
Periwinkle was another nextdoor neighbor who loved to perform magic tricks.
All these characters made the show feel very 3-dimensional and were very distinct from one another, and they inspire lots of creative potential for all the fun things they can teach us.
I didn't however touch upon the best element of the show, Steve. Steve was the main reason I was so obsessed with the show. His childlike innocence, excitable behavior, and caring affection make him feel so enjoyable to spend time with, he feels like a real person that's actually interacting with us directly. Whenever he spoke through the camera it felt like he could actually hear us which is what made the connection we had with him so effective. To this day people still recognize him even though it's been 18 years since he last hosted the show and has expressed countless times how grateful he is for having been part of the show and all the love he's gotten over the years. But unfortunately nothing is set to last forever, Steve began to go through an identity crisis as the show kept getting more popular while at the same time feeling he was beginning to mature which he felt interfered with his childlike mentality he was supposed to embody. So in 2002, everything changed.................
Season 4 ended with a 3 part TV special, it starts off with Steve getting a call from his younger brother Joe, claiming he was coming to the house. At first viewers assumed that Joe was just visiting for the day, at the time other human characters appeared on the show so we weren't too uncomfortable with it. It was interesting to meet one of Steve's relatives so we were thinking "oh that's cool, nice to meet you Joe." So we assumed it was just a regular episode with a special guest and that was about it. But then things started to defy our expectations as we didn't even know we were watching a 3 part special. In the next episode that came after Joe was still at the house......... Except this time Steve is actually teaching him how to play Blue's Clues, Blue reveals she wants to give Joe a gift, the clues were paper, a crayon, and a spiral, and it turned out Blue wanted to give Joe his own Handy Dandy Notebook............ Wait....... What?..................... What's going on here?.....................
Before we get to part 3 of this special I should address what makes watching this special so hard; When you spend years and years and years of watching the show like I did, you start to get used to how everything works. Whenever it does something new like introduce a new character or have another human performer appear on screen, they only do it once, so you never have to feel uncomfortable with whatever it is they're doing. But when Joe showed up that's when things started to feel nerve-racking. As you're watching the special, it keeps getting more and more unsettling and you start to feel more and more anxiety as it keeps going. Why is Joe still at the house? Why is Steve teaching him how to play Blue's Clues? Why does Blue want to give him his own notebook? WHAT IS GOING ON HERE??????
Then, on April 22, 2002, that's when suddenly everything clicks, that's when you see what parts 1 and 2 were building up to, that's when you immediately understand what's going on................................................................
STEVE WAS LEAVING THE SHOW, AND JOE WAS HIS REPLACEMENT...............................................................................................
When I was a kid, and I watched this episode for the very first time............ I was honestly never the same again.............. I felt that I lost someone that I cherished for so long, someone that always made every day worth experiencing, someone who helped me get through the toughest times in my life, someone that I could look up to whenever I needed them. But that's just how reality is sometimes. When you meet someone like Steve, who's kind, caring, and supportive, there will be times where your time with them might have to come to an end. (to quote Quinton Reviews) Maybe they change, maybe you change, maybe you both stay the same, either way there's bound to be something to pull you apart, and that can hurt, that can hurt a lot. But it goes to show that the only way you can deal with it, is to move on and find new people who are like Steve, because not letting people progress or move on with their lives can hurt just as much sometimes................
Joe hosted the last 2 seasons of the series and he did do a pretty good job, but unfortunately, most other people couldn't really stand him. Everyone else only remember him as "the replacement," and even then the show started to experience other changes (aside from child actor replacements for the side characters because of puberty). The songs began to change, the clues started to draw themselves and sing, and in season 6 a new gimmick was added to the show.
Every episode would end with a segment in the show called "Blue's Room" where Blue enters a pocket dimension where she's a puppet and can talk. I didn't have a problem with it but I never really understood why it was even added in the first place.
Sadly people stopped tuning in and the ratings for the show began to decline drastically. I guess people figured "without Steve running the bandwagon, what's the point?" So the show was cancelled without having a chance to say goodbye in 2007. Steve's departure might as well have been the series finale, because when Joe was around, it honestly felt like watching a completely different show altogether. Much like when the Wiggles would eventually go through the complication of having to find new replacement members in 2006 and 2012.
But despite the unnecessary changes the show eventually went through, I still hold Blue's Clues very close to my heart. Steve really helped shape me into the person I am today inspiring me to embrace my optimism and kindness toward my loved ones. It pushes children to be creative, teaches us problem solving, has very good messages, a likable cast of characters, and best of all, it gave us our best friend Steve. As for the reboot that just came out recently, I absolutely love it, Josh is a great new host (who was actually handpicked by Steve himself), Steve made a cameo in the series pilot, and all the updates made to have the show translate into the year 2020 feels very natural. I can guarantee that what I and lots of other 2000's kids grew up with is going to make a new generation of kids very happy.
Now it's time for so long.
score 10/10
nickscheetz 23 April 2020
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw5669736/ |
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13-12-2020 11:43:10