B.J. (Barney and Friends)

B.J. is the tritagonist on Barney and Friends. An 8-year-old yellow Protoceratops, BJ made his first appearance in season two of the show with the episode, "Look At Me, I'm 3!", in 1993. He debuted as a six-year-old, but eventually turned seven in the national stage show tour of Barney's Big Surprise (1996-1998), then turned eight in the mini stage show Barney's Birthday Surprise (2017). 
BJ is a good friend of Barney's and the older brother of Baby Bop, whom he frequently calls "Sissy", though on rare occasions, he does call her by name. He is also Riff's cousin and his best friend.
BJ is described as an impulsive dinosaur but is always eager to help his friends. As an active eight-year-old, BJ also likes to run, jump, and ride around on his red scooter. Although he loves baseball, basketball, and soccer, it's safe to say that he has never met a sport he didn't like. He also likes to play the drums and the guitar. It was established in Come On Over to Barney's House that he also played drums in his rock band, 'BJ and the Rockets'. BJ enjoys pretending to be Captain Pickles, his superhero alter-ego, with the name being a nod to his favorite snack, pickles.
BJ's theme song is none other than the titular, "BJ's Song".
== Quotes ==
== History ==
=== Creation ===
The writers on Barney & Friends added BJ because they wanted a sibling relationship to work with (as characters Barney and Baby Bop are just friends) in order to have more relatable stories that children watching could understand and relate to. 
=== Naming ===
BJ was named after Sheryl Leach's father, Billy Joe "B.J." Stamps. Originally spelled B.J., the name was reduced to simply BJ starting in Barney's Fun & Games, to avoid questions as to what the name stood for.
== Costume ==
=== History ===
The initial design of BJ was created by an individual in the marketing department for The Lyons Group, owners of Barney & Friends. Irene Corey, who built the original costumes for Barney and Baby Bop rejected and refused to build the design that was conceived. Jess Nelson, a production designer for the show, was tasked by Leach to use some elements from the initial sketch and Irene Corey's feedback when reworking BJ's design. The suit was then built by Irene Corey and her niece Suzanne Lockridge.
When the costume builders were developing the dye formula for the costume, they initially made his color far too bright. This became a problem for the video engineers in the control room as BJ’s color was spiking the camera equipment, causing everything else in the shot to dim. Jess Nelson solved this issue by adding a little black to BJ’s dye formula!
On camera, unseen in any final videos, BJ's color was seen as white as opposed to being yellow on camera, which was a similar occurrence that happened to Barney where his color turned blue as opposed to purple. BJ's white color caused the video electronics to spike and automatically dim the video feed during the early stages of production.
=== Design ===
In BJ's early appearances seen on the show, he was slightly taller than Barney. BJ was redesigned in Season 3; his height was shrunken to better suit his age of six-years-old (and later seven, then eight).
BJ always wears his red baseball cap with his red and white sneakers. He has three hairs on his frill that goes in front of his baseball cap.
See Also: BJ Through the Years
== Portrayal ==
=== Body Portrayal History ===
One mannerism for BJ is that whenever he's stationary, he would keep his arms moving.
=== Voice Portrayal History ===
BJ's voice was originally a much deeper voice when he debuted in "Look At Me, I'm 3!". The voice became higher pitched as time passed throughout the years, to fit his young age and as he shrunk down to scale.
=== Actors ===
==== Costume Actors ====
* Jenny Dempsey (1993)
* Jeff Brooks (1994-2002)
* Mike Hagan (1996, Barney's Big Surprise)
* Pat O'Connell (1996-1998)
* Kyle Nelson (1997-2009)
* Adam Brown (1997, some shots of "E-I-E-I-O")
* Charles L. Shaw (1999-2002)
* Jerad Harris (2003-2004, 2011)
* Dave Kendall (2003-2004)
==== Voice Actors ====
* Patty Wirtz (1993-2014)
== Trivia ==
* Originally, BJ had a trademark whistle that would let the audience know of his arrival. Although it was not heard in Barney Safety or Barney's Fun & Games, it was officially discontinued in Barney's Musical Scrapbook.
* In November 1998, it was announced that BJ was going to have his own animated spin-off series titled BJ and the Radical Rumblebutts which would've been produced by Lyrick Studios and Toronto’s Portfolio Films. The project didn't come to fruition however, scripts were written.
* BJ's favourite food is pickles.
* BJ's favourite colour is red.
=== Voices ===
* Carol Farabee was BJ's understudy in Barney Live! In New York City.
* Like the voices of Barney and Baby Bop, BJ was voiced by an unknown stand-in for the live show of Barney Live! World Tour - A Celebration!
==Navigation==
Category:TV Show Heroes
Category:Kids
Category:Movie Heroes
Category:Animals
Category:Superheroes
Category:Siblings
Category:Book Heroes
Category:Loyal
Category:Adventurers