Action map for Dora the Explorer title sequence
date: label: date made
content: 2003
name: label: producer
content: Nickelodeon
label: maker
content: Nickelodeon
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: Hand-drawn action map used in the production of the main title sequence of the Nickelodeon animated television series Dora the Explorer. The action map is an overhead view of the area around Dora's house, used to illustrate the path she and other characters will take in the animation sequence that was used as the series' opening. The map includes places such as Dora's house, a hill, waterfall, bridge, stream, path, and places where Dora will encounter characters Swiper, Diego, and Boots. The map, drawn in blue and red pencil on white paper, was used by animators to create the storyboard, reference sketches, and animation cels that led to the finished animation sequence. The map bears a stamp in red ink reading "REVISED" along with the date 2-3-03 and name "J. DeGrandis" (Director/Producer Jeff DeGrandis) in black grease pencil.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Dora the Explorer was an animated children's television series that aired on the Nickelodeon cable network from 2000-2014, with a final season of six episodes airing in 2019 to help promote the franchise's first feature film, Dora and the Lost City of Gold. The educational series was created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh Valdes, and Eric Weiner and produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Dora the Explorer was notable for its Latina lead character, inclusion of Spanish language, and representation of Latino cultural themes, and the series was both a critical and ratings success. Each episode of the show found seven-year old Dora Marquez embarking on an adventure and asking audience members to help her along the way. The series' creators developed Dora as a bilingual, pan-Latino character after learning about the lack of Latino/a representation in children's television. Dora got her name from the Spanish feminine word for "explorer"- exploradora. The television series' success spawned spinoff series, foreign language adaptations, stage productions, video games, a live action feature film, and dozens of books, games, and toys.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
topic: label: Subject
content: Animation
label: Subject
content: Television
label: Subject
content: Children's television programs
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
label: See more items in
content: Popular Entertainment
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2020.0064.03
label: accession number
content: 2020.0064
label: catalog number
content: 2020.0064.03
objectType: label: Object Name
content: sketch
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: penciled (overall production method/technique)
label: Measurements
content: overal: 11 in x 17 in; 27.94 cm x 43.18 cm