Big River

**The Big River** (or simply known as just "**Big River**") is the 9th episode of *Dora the Explorer* from Season 1.

## Characters

* Dora
* Boots
* Backpack
* Map
* Swiper
* Fiesta Trio
* Benny (listed in credits)
* Isa (listed in credits)
* Tico
* Frogs (debut)

## Summary

Dora never goes anywhere without her Backpack, and Boots never goes anywhere without his beloved red boots. But today, Boots accidentally losses one of his red boots Dora The Exlporer Like Sees River Are Again Dora The Explorer Like Sees Rowboat Again in the big river, so he and Dora have to go on a wild water adventure to retrieve it before it goes over the waterfall.

## Plot

The episode starts with Dora going fishing in the river. Suddenly, Dora's fishing pole catches something. She tries to reel it up herself but it was too heavy, causing her to ask the viewer for help. Together, they wind up the fishing pole. Dora fishes out a pair of big yellow boots. Boots thought Dora said his name, but she explained to him that she was just saying what she found in the river. She then showed Boots the pair of big yellow boots, and he thought it was funny because it reminds him of his name. Boots loved his red boots and sung a song about it. At the end of the song, one of Boots' boots falls in the river and floats away. He and Dora do not know where the river is going, so they ask the Map for assistance. He says that Dora and Boots have to go under a bridge, go past the froggy rocks and then they have to go past the waterfall. Dora and Boots also have other obstacles they have to master. First, they have to fix the boat that had holes in it and was missing some pieces. The missing pieces were nearby. Dora and Boots had to count how many square holes were in the boat. They counted up to 7, so they needed 7 squared pieces and there were exactly that many pieces. Now, they put the missing pieces to fill the square shaped holes on the boat. After fixing the boat, they had to watch out for Swiper. Dora and Boots find Swiper behind the tree. They stop Swiper by saying "Swiper no swiping" 3 times. Swiper snaps his fingers and runs away. After stopping Swiper, Dora and Boots pick up the boat and placed it near the river. Then, they put on their life jackets so avoid sinking into the river. Dora and Boots jump into the boat and it goes into the river. Dora rows the boat to the bridge. Boots asked where his boot was. The viewer finds it on the other side of the bridge. Dora rows the boat and bumps into the bridge. Boots said that the boat will not fit under the bridge and he has to get his boot. Dora tells Boots that the bridge can open up and let them through. Dora and Boots see Tico fishing nearby. Dora believes Tico can open the bridge. Boots tries to tell Tico in English, but it did not work. They had to tell Tico "abre" so he can open the bridge. Dora and Boots do so and Tico pushes a lever and the bridge halves rise open. Dora and Boots row the boat under the bridge halves. After that, they thanked Tico for opening the bridge for them. Suddenly, the river started moving faster and then Boots' boot goes under the branches. Dora and Boots had to duck down or they will bump their heads on the branches. Dora and Boots ducked down on 4 low branches. After ducking down the low branches, they hear a "ribbit-ribbit" sound. Dora asked the viewer what animal went "ribbit-ribbit". The viewer told her that frogs make that sound, which means that Dora and Boots have approached the froggy rocks. Dora and Boots have to row their boat around the rocks to avoid crashing into them. After that, Boots sees his boot and it gets away again. Dora and Boots have now approached the waterfall. Boots' boot went right over. Dora had to push the boat back to avoid going over the waterfall. Boots wondered how he can get his boot. Dora tells Boots that they cannot go over the waterfall and needed to find a safer path so they can go around the waterfall. Dora asked the viewer if there was another way around the waterfall. Sure enough, there was another path to take that was just nearby. Boots saw that it was a little river that looked like a waterslide. Dora manipulates the boat to it. Dora and Boots went "Wheeeeee!" as they went down. After that Dora and Boots look around for Boots' red boot. The viewer finds a red buoy, a red butterfly, a red fish and then finds the red boot. Dora rows the boat and stops. Boots tried to reach for his own boot. He was about to go overboard when Dora catches him. Dora had an idea for Boots; She decides to look in Backpack for something to fish out the boot. They find a fishing pole inside Backpack and Boots had to maneuver the fishing pole to snag the boot. After the hook on the fishing pole snagged the boot, Boots can now fish out his own boot out of the water. Boots reels the fishing line back. Dora watches anxiously but Boots manages to fish out his boot out of the water. But they weren't done yet; Swiper was nearby. Boots thought Swiper might try and swipe his boot. Dora and Boots watch cautiously for Swiper. He is rowing his kayak. Dora and Boots find Swiper and had to stop him by saying "Swiper no swiping" 3 times. After that, Swiper bumps his paddle against a rock and the paddle attachment sinks into water. Then he snaps his fingers, says "Oh, man" and had to use his hands to paddle his kayak away because he broke the paddle. Dora and Boots paddle their boat back to shore. After reaching the other side of the river, Boots puts his boot back on and sings his song again on how he loves his red boots, but this time, both of his boots remain on his feet after the song is over.

## Places in this episode

1. Bridge
2. Froggy Rocks
3. Waterfall

## Items in Backpack (clockwise starting from the top right)

* Fishing pole (correct item)
* Binoculars
* Cookies
* Maracas
* Doll
* Flower in a pot

## Releases

This episode can be found in the Dora's Backpack Adventure VHS and the Rhymes and RiddlesDVD. It can also be found in the 2014 DVD Dora and Boots: Best Friends Forever!.

## Trivia

* Dora sticks her tongue out when she tries to reel her fishing line up, which is like other cartoon characters do when they try to do something.
* Dora and Boots wear their lifejackets for the whole adventure.
* This is the 3rd episode where Dora and Boots stopped Swiper twice.
* This is the 9th episode of the show.
* Dora and Boots sing the Travel Song three times, once on the way to the bridge, twice on the way to the froggy rocks but not on the way to the waterfall. Also, they list the places to go at warp speed, similar as in The Legend of the Big Red Chicken, the first episode of the series. It is possible that this episode was produced before Lost and Found (the second aired episode of the series and the first episode in which the places to go are listed at normal speed).
* This is the first episode seeing Boots half barefoot (wears one boot and missing the other).
* This is the second episode Map gets Character Find, his first Character Find segment was in the previous episode, Three Little Piggies.
* This is the second episode where Dora and Boots go back to where they started after reaching the final destination on the map, first being the previous episode, Three Little Piggies, yet again.
* Even though Dora and Boots got their chance to stop Swiper the first time from swiping their boat, he was standing right in front of the boat while they are saying "Swiper, no swiping!", so he could have easily just swiped it, but he was too late anyway.
* After Dora and Boots pass the second place, the picture pop-up sequence doesn't pop-up in front of Dora after Boots asks her "where do we go next", they're already in front of her and she just says the places in order that they've passed and been to, then they make it to the last place right away.
* When Dora and Boots get to the waterfall next, Dora does not ask the viewer where the waterfall is and the Blue Cursor doesn't click on it either, they immediately just get to it right away after Dora uses the picture pop-up sequence because the river is very strong and it's pulling them directly to the waterfall where they almost go over it.
* The voices of Benny and Isa appeared in the end credits, but they do not appear in this episode.
* This episode can be seen on a Treehouse TV Next Bumper of the show where Dora is pulling out 2 yellow boots from the river with her fishing rod. Boots is not in the bumper.
* This episode aired on Columbus Day 2000.
	+ Not only that, but this also aired during Nick Jr.'s Double Double Day on the same day.

## Goofs/Errors

* Unlike all other episodes, Map fills the screen with his closed mouth when he zoom wipes.
* It is unknown how Backpack can carry a giant fishing pole.

## Running Gags

* Boots keeps yelling "My boot! My boot!".