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Blue's Clues: Difference between revisions
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Famous, [[Long Runners|long-running]], and ''hugely'' influential children's TV show, produced by, and previously shown on, [[Nickelodeon]]. If you grew up in America during the 1990s or early 2000s, the odds are good that this show will be familiar to you.
Set in a vibrant, candy-colored world of [[Roger Rabbit Effect|animated characters combined with a human host,]] the show features the escapades of Blue, a [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|blue-colored dog.]] [[Once an Episode]], Blue will want to do something—be it read a book, have a snack, or make some kind of craft. However, Blue seems to be [[Talking Animal|the only creature in her world who can't talk]], so the only way she can communicate with her human owner is by playing Blue's Clues—a game in which she will tag 3 objects around the house (or backyard) with her pawprint, labeling them a "clue." It's up to her owner—along with the kids at home—to figure out what she wants to do by piecing together the clues.
First introduced in 1996, the show is notable for [[Trope Codifier|pioneering]] the kid's show version of an [[Interactive Narrator]]—one who talks "to" the camera, seemingly at the children watching. ''Blue's Clues'' was so successful, this went on to become the norm for most kid's show hosts—especially those directed at the "Under 6" age bracket. It also originally ran under the notion that children learn through repetition—so the same episode of the show would run for a full week. (The show no longer practices this.) It was ''hugely'' successful, leading to several direct-to-video movies, an eventual [[Spin-Off]] called ''Blue's Room'', and, of course, heaps and heaps of [[Merchandise-Driven|merchandise.]]
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* [[The Danza]]: Steve Burns as Steve. (Joe's real name, however, was Donovan.)
* [[Demoted to Extra]]: Poor Magenta (and Green Puppy, and Purple Kangaroo, and Orange kitten...)
* [[Depraved Kids' Show Host]]: Subverted, all of the nasty rumors of why Steve left were false, and he appeared on Oprah to dispel the rumors and give advice to parents on how to help children who thought he had died. He was careful with publicity things he appeared in afterwards for a while, in case kids might confuse him for his character, and when his girlfriend asked him if he wanted to have relations on the Thinking Chair he received as a gift, he declined, saying it would feel like millions of parents would be watching him.
* [[The Ditz]]: There's always at least one clue in the show (sometimes ALL THREE) where Joe or Steve will ask the kids if they see a clue, or where it is. It takes three times for him to FINALLY understand what the kids are saying. ("A clue!" "A shoe? Yes, I'm wearing shoes." "No, a clue!" "You, too?" "No, a clue!" "Oh! A clue! Right over there!")
* [[Dropped a Bridget On Him]]: Kids who watch Blue's Clues most likely believe that Blue is a boy, [[Pink Girl, Blue Boy|due to the color of his fur.]] [[Inverted Trope|Not so.]]
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** The late [[Golden Girls|Blanche Deveroux]] shows up as Steve's grandmother.
* [[Hey, It's That Voice!]]: Ray Charles was G-Clef in [[The Movie]]. Yeah, ''the'' Ray Charles.
** One-appearance characters in older episodes? Some of them were [[
** One of the voice actors for Periwinkle was Jansen Panettiere, who voices Truman in ''[[The Xs]]'' and young Rodney Copperbottom in ''[[Robots]]''. You might also know his older sister, [[Heroes|Hay]][[Kingdom Hearts|den]].
* [[Lampshade Hanging]]: In one episode, one of the clues was a ''cloud''. Right before drawing it down, Steve wonders how Blue could put her paw-print on it.
* [[Licensed Game]]s / [[Edutainment Game]]s: One for The [[PlayStation]]. Also, one for the V-Tech V-Smile console. Apart from that, nearly a dozen edutainment titles for the PC/Mac (many of them by [[Humongous Entertainment]]—a demo version of ''Blue's ABC Time Activites'' can be [ftp://ftp.infogrames.net/demos/bluescluesABC/bluescluesABCdemo.exe downloaded] from Infogrames). Many of them were surprisingly good.
* [[Limited Wardrobe]]: Steve wore nothing but green striped shirts and khaki pants. All of Joe's shirts are different colors, but they have the same square pattern.
* [[Matryoshka Object]]: One episode has Steve opening a present with an increasingly smaller present inside each one.
* [[Merchandise-Driven]]: All types, from shampoo to plush toys (some, such as Green Puppy, are very rare) to model Thinking Chairs.
* [[No Fourth Wall]]: The people on the show would often query the "audience" on the answer to the show's questions and puzzles. Not to mention Blue pawprints the screen in the beginning of an episode.
** One interesting example: One time after Steve greets the viewer, he asks how they "got" there. The conclusion he reaches? "Oh, by ''television''. Cool! ''([[Screen Tap|knocks on the screen]])''".
* [[Once an Episode]]: ''Tons.'' Getting mail, sitting in the Thinking Chair, the "Skidoo..."
* [[Parental Bonus]]: There's a scene in one episode where Steve, Blue, and some bunny are acting out a story. Steve is playing the king, and impersonating of course, [[Elvis Presley|The King of Rock and Roll]].
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* [[Take Your Time]]: Blue wants a snack, but won't tell us what that specific snack is. We have to waste god-only-knows how much time playing Blue's Clues to find out what snack she wants. (She must not have been ''that'' hungry). What are we going to do today? We have to play Blues Clues to find out we're going to the beach! (Wouldn't that time have been better spent actually DRIVING there?)
** In fairness, all episodes seem to take place in [[Real Time]], so we can be sure that things will be resolved in less than 20 minutes, which isn't that long. And besides, Blue's Clues is ''[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|a really great game]]''.
* [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics]]: The show actually makes a concentrated effort to ''avoid'' this. Almost all of the characters have non-gender-specific features, and all of them speak with the wholly androgynous voices of small children. It's actually more likely for random characters to be ''female.''
* [[The Movie]]: ''Blue's Big Musical Movie'', the only direct-to-video movie for the show.
* [[Throw the Dog a Bone|Throw The Dog's Human Companion A Bone]]: In ''Blue's Big Musical,'' Steve suddenly realizes that he's ''never found a clue on his own without the help of the kids.'' He's sorely depressed about this fact until he looks inside of a box (that the camera can't see in) and realizes--''there's a clue in there! He found it himself!''
* [[The Southpaw]]: This has no bearing whatsoever, but Joe is left-handed.
* [[Title Theme Tune]]: "Another Blue's Clues Day." They didn't start using it until after Joe became host, though. Up until then, a simple instrumental theme was used to lead into the program.
* [[Trailers Always Spoil]]: At least one promo for an episode actually gave enough information for especially astute viewers to figure out the answer to Blue's Clues before the episode ''had even started''.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Western Animation]]
[[Category:Blue's Clues]]▼
[[Category:Nick Jr.]]
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