'Dora' Reboot Gets Official April Premiere On Paramount+
One may argue it’s already premiered, and they’re probably right. But this time it’s for realsies
Fresh off an incredibly well-received stint as penalty explainer for Nickelodeon’s Super Bowl LVIII broadcast, Dora the Explorer and Boots the Monkey ready to emerge from Backfive Yards to formally premiere their reboot series Dora on Paramount+. The streamer has set April 12 to do exactly that in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia. Twenty episodes will drop on that day, available to stream in in all Paramount+ international markets outside of France and Japan. An international launch on Nick Jr. was already timed for April back in January and the given premiere date fulfills the spring delivery promised last June.
The 60-second trailer does show a lot of adventure, with old friends like Isa the Iguana and the fantastical creatures of the theatrical short where this iteration officially debuted. The official synopsis reads: “With all-new CG animation and imaginative character-driven storylines, the upcoming Dora series follows everyone’s favorite bilingual explorer, Dora (Diana Zermeño), and her best monkey friend, Boots (Asher Colton Spence), as they embark on epic adventures in a fantastical rainforest. Guided by trustworthy Map (Anairis Quiñones), Dora and her friends must work together but to overcome many obstacles while being challenged by the sneakiest fox, Swiper (Marc Weiner).” The first season has a total of 26 episodes, however they run 11 minutes instead of the original series’s 22 minutes.
In a way, Dora has already premiered, because in November, a 44 minute special, “Say Hola to Adventure!” premiered on Paramount+ and seemed to be regular episodes. The logline given was rather similar to the one given for the main series. Along with Zermeño, Spence, Weiner and Quiñones, who also voices the The Fiesta Trio's armadillo, the series also stars Maria Canals-Barrera as Abuela; Danny Burstein as Grumpy Old Troll and The Fiesta Trio’s Frog and Marmoset; Katarina Sky as Backpack; Donovan Monzon-Sanders as Tico; Tandi Fomukong as Isa; Quintún Muñoz as Benny; and Chris Gifford as Big Red Chicken. It turns out Kate del Castillo’s Ale the Alebrije is treated in a guest star capacity on the same level as Taboo (from the Black Eyed Peas) as Quickatoo. However, these latest developments include two more major cast members: Dora’s parents. Kathleen Herles, Dora’s original voice actress whose last episode didn’t air until 2009, now voices Mami, and Mike Smith Rivera voices Papi. Herles posted a video to her Instagram to celebrate the ability to talk about the role.
Dora is produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studios. Rich Magallanes, Gifford and Valerie Walsh Valdes serve as executive producers. Henry Lenardin-Madden serves as co-executive producer, and Alejandro Bien-Willner serves as story editor. Marielle Kaar is Nickelodeon’s executive in charge of production for the series. The franchise that began with the original series was created by Gifford, Walsh Valdes and Eric Weiner. It is unclear if there are 22 segments to be listed if there are 4 already accounted for by the “Say Hola To Adventure!” special.
Source: Animation Magazine