Here is the evolution of the opening sequence of Dora the Explorer throughout the years.
Seasons 1-2 (August 14, 2000-August 26, 2003)[]
Season 1-2 title card
International Season 1-2 Title Card
The original opening sequence starts with two doors that open automatically. The video screen enters a room where there is a table with drawing utensils and a picture of a cartoon on a piece of paper, then it shows a red and yellow ball sitting on a chair and a teddy bear resting on a pilllow then it zooms up to a green computer on a desk. Everything in the room is live-action. The camera zooms into the computer which becomes a brief video game sequenceBold animated with Flash animation. Dora and Boots walk up to a bridge and then they worry that they'll fall but then they smile after going across. Dora and Boots come out of a tunnel and ride in a boat and they had to wear life jackets so they can be safe. Next, they jump over a log that falls on the path. Benny, Isa, and Tico repeat the same sequence that Dora and Boots did, but only Tico wears a life jacket. When the words "DORA!" and "VAMONOS!" were heard, the characters on the screen stop briefly and cheer. Then Dora & Boots cross the bridge again and then Swiper squats down, stands up straight, and runs across the bridge. After Tico jumps over the log and Isa disappears, Dora & Boots come out of the tunnel and Benny stops by the bridge, they stop Swiper saying "Swiper, No Swiping" and he said, "Oh, man!". The title zooms in and everyone disappears but then Dora pops up in the "O" in her name and waves to the viewer. Once the music ends, the word "the" disappears off the blue cursor and then it shrinks, points up to Dora and clicks on her to start the show. This has a military Latin version of the Dora the Explorer Theme Song. Tuba and piano music are heard to make it sound more interesting. An instrumental version is used for the Character Find in the end credits, as well as a majority of Flash games up to 2007.
Opening Sequence[]
"Oh, man!"
Seasons 3-4 (October 6, 2003-November 5, 2007; March 21, 2010)[]
Season 3-4 title card
Season 3-4 International Title Card
The episode Dora Had a Little Lamb introduced a new opening sequence hence the debut of star-catching. It starts with several stars that fly in the sky (the most notable star seen is Glowy Star). Dora leaves her house and runs on a path. Boots swings on a vine and Dora joins in, Swiper can be seen in the bush (if one looks closely), the Grumpy Old Troll can be seen at his bridge (also if one looks closely). Then, Dora and Boots swing on the vine over Play Park and saw Benny and Isa. They also see Saltador, Noisy Star, Glowy, Magico, and Hero Star fly past them as the star pocket on Backpack glows, followed by rays of rainbow colored light flashing behind them as they shout "DORA!". Then, they see Diego swinging on another vine, and some friends seen in different areas, like the Big Red Chicken, Baby Blue Bird, and Señor Tucán. Dora and Boots jump into Tico's car and put on their seat belts so they can be safe on "VAMONOS!", then the car drives away. Behind them is Hero Star, Rocket Star and a Silver Star. Then, Diego is seen catching Baby Jaguar. After that, clips from Season 3 episodes are seen: Dora and Boots catch stars while riding Bulldozer (seen on Stuck Truck), slide down a red spiral slide (seen on The Lost City), four stars pop out of the star pocket (seen on Louder!), and Dora, Boots, and Diego are water-skiing (seen on Meet Diego!). Swiper approaches Dora and Boots and they stop him and, like always, he says, "Oh, man!". Then Dora and Boots swing behind him on a vine as the view changes to a white background. Dora and Boots appear together as the show's title appears, zooming out through the "O". Dora pops out of the "O" and Boots pops out of the "R" in Dora's name. The word "the" remains in place on the blue cursor as it moves up to Dora and clicks on her to start the show. This version uses a tropical version of the theme song. Electric bass, guitar, flute, and horns are heard. An instrumental version is used for various Flash games from 2004-2012 (beginning with Dora's Fairytale Fiesta), the Nick Jr. playtime site from 2009-2015, and the end credits from Season 5-6.
Opening Sequence[]
Seasons 5-6 (September 7, 2008-February 3, 2012)[]
Season 5-6 title card
In Dora's Jack-in-the-Box, the opening sequence is the same as Seasons 3-4 with slight changes. Instead of the Explorer Stars appearing (since the "star-catching" segment or anything that has to do with the stars has been dropped), it has a rainbow appearing in place of the Explorer Stars and panning down past the sun. When Tico's car drives away, it cuts to Dora performing a soccer kick with an incoming soccer ball (seen on Dora Saves the Game) (the first eight episodes of Season 5 by production order don't feature the ball at all). The clips near the end of the opening now include 2 clips from Season 5: Dora, Boots, Benny, Isa, and Tico riding on flying horses as flipped (seen on Dora Saves the Snow Princess), and Dora looking over her shoulder to reveal Backpack and Map (seen on Benny's Big Race) (the clips from the Season 3 episodes The Lost City and Meet Diego! remain).
Dora the Explorer Theme (Season 5-6)
Version with Sanchez as Dora
The first seven episodes of Season 5 by production order still feature the Nick Jr. logo at the end, before it was removed for the rest of the season.
Dora The Explorer Theme Song (Season-6)
Version with Ptacek as Dora
In Season 6, the Nickelodeon logo is shown at the top of the show logo. Same music as Seasons 3-4.
NOTE: Fátima Ptacek voices Dora in this sequence in Swiper's Favorite Things and Dora's Knighthood Adventure.
Opening Sequence[]
Seasons 7-8 (February 2, 2012-August 9, 2019)[]
Season 7-8 title card
The seventh season episode A Ribbon For Pinto introduced a new opening sequence which is rendered in CGI and the theme song's lyrics changed a bit, as Season 7 is the first season to be broadcast in High Definition. It starts with Benny, Isa, Tico, the Grumpy Old Troll bouncing on gigantic flowers, then Dora swings in on a vine wearing a key necklace before landing on Boots' flower. The flower rises over the forest and Dora and Boots jump off the flower, landing on a rainbow and sliding down before jumping off again as Backpack dispenses a bunch of balloons to float down on. They float past a pyramid where they meet Diego and Baby Jaguar, then they run over to the beach where they meet Pirate Pig and the Pirate Piggies with a treasure chest. Dora uses the key from her necklace to open the treasure chest, which opens to reveal toys for everyone. Swiper appears and Dora and Boots stop him, and he says "Oh, man!" as usual. Then Dora's house is shown, before zooming back to reveal the show's title against a bush fern, as Dora pops out of the "O" and Boots pops out of the "R" in Dora's name, like the previous two intros; the logo has also been redesigned to have the "A" in Dora's name green instead of yellow, and "Explorer" is given a new bland font. At the end of the introduction, unlike the others, the blue cursor does not click on Dora to start the show; instead it fades to black. This version has a pop-rock version of the song. The music has electric guitar and bass guitar. The song also starts with the same five-note beat as the original version.
Opening Sequence[]
Videos[]
Episodes that use a different opening sequence instead of the regular one[]
- Dora Saves the Snow Princess
- Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom
- Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure
- Dora's Big Birthday Adventure
- The Tale of the Unicorn King
- The Secret of Atlantis
- Dora Saves King Unicornio
- Dora's Royal Rescue
- Dora's Easter Adventure
- Dora's Rescue in Mermaid Kingdom
- Dora's Fantastic Gymnastics Adventure
- Dora Rocks!
- Dora's Ice Skating Spectacular
- Dora's Great Roller Skate Adventure
- Dora In Wonderland
- Dora's Super Soccer Showdown
Other Opening Sequences[]
Magic Storybook Trilogy[]
Dora Saves the Snow Princess[]
DVD and 2008-early 2010s airings.[]
iTunes and later TV airings[]
Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom[]
Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure[]
Dora's Big Birthday Adventure[]
DVD version[]
Dora's Enchanted Forest Adventures[]
Title Variants[]
Dora's Ice Skating Spectacular[]
Dora In Wonderland[]
Dora's Royal Rescue[]
.jpg "1200x675 (Royal Rescue).jpg (76 KB)")
Season 7-8 Special Episodes[]
The seventh season episode "Dora's Rescue In Mermaid Kingdom" introduced an opening sequence that was used on selected episodes as special episodes. It starts during the night with a view of Dora's house with several trees and a few bushes. Then it zooms into the clouds and the moon in the sky. Tons of pathway of sparkles and stars can be seen passing by, with the first one going closer, showing Dora and Boots riding a unicorn up a rainbow (seen on Dora's Big Birthday Adventure) and Dora saying "Whee!" can he heard. And as soon as a star showing Dora and Boots cheering on Rainbow Rock (seen on Best Friends) comes out on the right side it rotations to Dora, Boots, Unicornio, Bunny, and Squirrel heading to Unicornio's castle (seen on The Tale of the Unicorn King). Then, the second star rotations to Dora and Boots hugging on Rainbow Rock (seen on the same episode as the last scene), and Dora and Boots's giggling from Seasons 5-6 can be heard. The next star comes out from the left side showing Dora dressed up as a cat (seen on Boo!) and Dora giggling can be heard. The next star comes out from the right showing a scene of Dora, Boots, Benny, Isa, and Tico riding on flying horses (seen on Dora Saves the Snow Princess) and "Yeah" and "Woo Hoo" can he heard, more starts are seen following it. Another star following the previous one showing a scene of Dora swinging sail with a treasure chest (seen in Pirate Treasure Hunt), then a star showing Dora spinning around during her transformation into La Princesa Dora (seen in Dora's Fairytale Adventure) and a "Yeah." can be heard, with more stars moving around it. It then rotations to Dora twirling (seen in Dora's Ballet Adventure). Then, a star showing Dora as a mermaid diving into the water (seen in Dora Saves the Mermaids) is seen with a splash sound effect, and finally, the second to last star showing Dora facing the magic crystal into the air while it was activating, breaking the witch's spell (also seen on Dora Saves the Snow Princess) with a "Wow" being heard, zooms into the screen, and with a bunch of sparkles, it all fades into white. Last, but not least, a star showing a scene from the episode itself while it zooms out, and then another fade to white, and the episode's title card is revealed.
Another version is used for "Dora's Great Roller Skate Adventure" and "Dora's Super Soccer Showdown" featuring clips from more newer episodes replacing the older ones. Those being Dora's Royal Rescue, Dora's Rescue in Mermaid Kingdom, Dora's Fantastic Gymnastics Adventure, Dora Rocks!, The Butterfly Ball, Dora In Wonderland, Dora's Ballet Adventure (Still featured) and A Ribbon For Pinto.
Version 1[]
Dora's Rescue in Mermaid Kingdom[]
Dora's Easter Adventure[]
Dora's Fantastic Gymnastics Adventure[]
Dora Rocks![]
Version 2[]
Dora's Great Roller Skate Adventure[]
Dora's Super Soccer Showdown[]
Trivia[]
- Click here for the Lyrics to each theme song.
- Near the end of the Season 3-6 intro, Swiper does the starting position of his finger snap correctly by pressing his middle finger and thumb together, unlike the rest of the series where he does it incorrectly by using his index finger instead.
- This also happens in Dora's Jack-in-the-Box.
- The Season 7-8 opening sequence is animated by Calabash Animation. Who is best known for providing animation to advertisements of products such as Lucky Charms, Trix, Little Caesars, and Honey Nut Cheerios.
- The episodes Whose Birthday is It? and The Lost City are supposed to open with the Season 1-2 opening sequence, but they instead open with the Season 3-4 opening sequence.
- Similar to those episodes, Dora's Big Birthday Adventure is supposed to open with the Season 5-6 opening sequence, but it instead opens with a new intro which was never used in any episode before and it will never use again which also makes it a mistake.
- However, The Lost City had the Explorer Stars, which are never featured in any episodes with the Season 1-2 opening sequence and it's a produced Season 3 episode, but featured as a Season 2 episode. However, during the premiere and when it aired on TV anytime before October 2003, it actually did feature the Season 1-2 opening sequence. The first use of the aforementioned episode with the Season 3-4 opening was October 13, 2003. The home media also likely uses the Season 1-2 opening as well.
- Also, Whose Birthday is It? originally used the Season 1-2 opening sequence when it first premiered on May 26, 2003. But when the restored version aired on June 14, 2004, it no longer used it again because it currently opens with the Season 3-4 opening sequence.
- León, the Circus Lion (Quack! Quack! in production order) is the last episode featuring the Season 1-2 opening sequence and will no longer open in anymore episodes from now on (excluding the premiere and home media version of Dora Had a Little Lamb).
- Dora Had a Little Lamb is originally supposed to be the first episode not to feature the Season 1-2 opening sequence and instead open with the Season 3-4 opening sequence onwards from now on. However it is the last episode in general to use the Season 1-2 opening sequence if the home media version and the TV premiere counts. If not, then León, the Circus Lion would be the last to do so.
- Star Catcher is the first episode to use the Season 3-4 intro on TV when it premiered on October 6, 2003.
- Meet Diego! is the first episode to use the Season 3-4 opening on home-video releases.
- In the DVD, "Undercover Dora", Super Spies, the first episode of this DVD, opens with the Season 3-4 opening sequence instead of the Season 1-2 opening sequence.
- When the Season 1-2 opening sequence is featured and showing the green computer, it's how the Blue Cursor is seen where it lives.
- On Netflix, Whose Birthday is It? actually opens with the Season 1-2 opening sequence, whch seems very confusing because when it's on Nick Jr, it opens with the Season 3-4 opening sequence (it also used the Season 3-4 sequence on Amazon Prime). However, The Lost City opens with the Season 3-4 opening sequence on Nick Jr, Amazon Prime, and Netflix.
- Dora The Explorer Theme Song that opens with the Season 1-2 opening sequence is featured in the Dora the Explorer (album).
- Dora The Explorer Theme Song from the Season 1-2 opening sequence plays instrumental during the end credits, but it's always in loop and it only plays during a Character Find but not during the Explorer Stars mini game and not during the end credits showing 4 clouds with clips because the theme song plays from the Season 3-4 opening sequence and the Season 5-6 opening sequence.
- The Season 1-2 opening sequence takes place at a generic home, it's unknown where it is and whose the person it is, it's possible that they used the house as an opening sequence for the theme song to be debuted for the show. There was also a toy of it released in 2004.
- Dora Saves the Snow Princess was the first double-length episode to have its own opening sequence. But on later TV airings, it would be replaced with a variation of the intro used for Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom.
- The DVD releases of Dora's Big Birthday Adventure also uses a variation of the intro used for Dora Saves the Crystal Kingdom.
Goofs/Errors[]
- At the very beginning of the Season 1-2 opening sequence before the doors open to the room, through the left door, if one looks closely, the green computer is off but as soon as the doors open and the screen enters the room, it turns on right away.
- In the Season 3-4 opening sequence, the star pocket is seen when the stars swirl around Dora and Boots, but when Dora and Boots spin around before meeting Benny and Isa and after Diego passes, the star pocket is missing.
- The rainbow in the Season 5-6 opening sequence did not have a red, indigo and purple stripe, three colors that rainbows also have in real life. However, the Season 7-8 opening also has a rainbow and it actually has at the very least a red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple stripe. But it does not have indigo.
- In The Season 5-6 opening sequence, the star pocket is shown for a half second after Dora and Boots see Benny and Isa in Play Park, despite the fact that star-catching was retired.