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BJ is a main recurring character on the television series, Barney & Friends.

A seven-year-old yellow Protoceratops, BJ made his first appearance in season two of the show[2] with the episode, "Look At Me, I'm 3!", in 1993.[3] He debuted as a six-year-old, but eventually turned seven in the national stage show tour of Barney's Big Surprise (1996-1998).

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. Like the other dinosaurs, BJ comes from the imagination of children. At the end of most episodes of Barney & Friends, he (alongside Baby Bop and Riff) disappear into a burst of magical sparkles.

BJ is described as an impulsive dinosaur[4] but is always eager to help his friends. As an active seven-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.[5]

BJ's theme song is none other than the titular, "BJ's Song".

History

Creation

The writers of 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. [6] One of BJ's inspirations was the character of Huckleberry Finn, an equally as adventurous and precocious character. [7]

The addition of BJ also allowed for the portrayal of the more negative sibling interactions that was not possible amongst the cast of child actors so as to not encourage the young audience to model those behaviors[8].

Naming

BJ was named after Sheryl Leach's father, Billy Joe "B.J." Stamps[9] as an honor and memorial to her father who passed away near the end of the first season of Barney & Friends. 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

Irene Corey in her workshop

Irene Corey in her workshop with BJ costumes.

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.[10]

Design

In BJ's early appearances seen on the show, he was slightly taller than Barney. BJ was redesigned in season three of Barney & Friends; his height was shrunken to better suit his age of six-years-old (and later seven).

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

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Barney and BJ with Patty Wirtz, the original voice actress of BJ

Dave Kendall alongside BJ

Body actor Dave Kendall alongside BJ.

Body Portrayal History

One mannerism for BJ is that whenever he's stationary, he would keep his arms moving.[11]

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

Voice Actors

Trivia

Unproduced

  • 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.[13] The project didn't come to fruition however, scripts were written.
  • While the idea of how BJ (alongside Baby Bop and Riff) vanishes into magical sparkles went unexplored on video, it was explored within a penned a treatment titled "Barney's Magic of Music" by Stephen White in 2005. The treatment explains that the little dinos think of the fun they had throughout the day, alongside the fun they'll have tomorrow, while using their imaginations to scurry off.

Voices

Appearances

  1. Look At Me, I'm 3!
  2. My Favorite Things
  3. Stop, Look and Be Safe!
  4. An Adventure In Make Believe
  5. A Very Special Delivery! (cameo)
  6. If the Shoe Fits...
  7. I Can Be a Firefighter!
  8. Twice Is Nice!
  9. On The Move
  10. Gone Fishing!
  11. It's Raining, It's Pouring...
  12. Who's Who on the Choo Choo?
  13. Hats Off to BJ!
  14. Up We Go! (cameo)
  15. First Day of School
  16. We've Got Rhythm
  17. Tick Tock Clocks!
  18. Let's Build Together
  19. Going on a Bear Hunt
  20. Let's Eat
  21. Good, Clean Fun!
  22. Easy, Breezy Day!
  23. Oh, Brother...She's My Sister
  24. E-I-E-I-O
  25. Trading Places
  26. Circle of Friends
  27. Colors All Around
  28. Seven Days a Week
  29. First Things First!
  30. Easy Does It!
  31. A Package Of Friendship
  32. Stick with Imagination!
  33. Itty Bitty Bugs
  34. Grandparents Are Grand (cameo)
  35. You've Got to Have Art
  36. Count Me In!
  37. Good Job!
  38. It's Home to Me
  39. Here Comes the Firetruck!
  40. Ready, Set, Go!
  41. Tea-riffic Manners
  42. Puppy Love
  43. Bunches of Boxes (cameo)
  44. Play for Exercise!
  45. Come Blow Your Horn!
  46. Numbers! Numbers!
  47. This Way In! This Way Out!
  48. Play It Safe!
  49. It's a Happy Day!
  50. Splish! Splash!
  51. BJ's Really Cool House
  52. Sharing Is Caring!
  53. It's Hot! It's Cold!
  54. Day and Night
  55. Play Piano with Me! (cameo)
  56. A Picture of Friendship
  57. Squares, Squares Everywhere!
  58. Let's Go for a Ride!
  59. That Makes Me Mad!
  60. It's Your Birthday, Barney!
  61. It's Showtime!
  62. Everybody's Got Feelings
  63. Caring Hearts
  64. Let's Make Music!
  65. Movin' Along
  66. Let Your Creativity Fly!
  67. Imagine That!
  68. All About Me
  69. My Baby Brother
  70. Keep On Truckin'
  71. I'm A Builder
  72. Coming On Strong
  73. Let's Play Games!
  74. You Can Count on Me!
  75. A Wonderful World of Colors and Shapes
  76. Easy as ABC
  77. Look What I Can Do!
  78. Making a Move!
  79. Home, Safe Home
  80. On the Road Again
  81. My Friends, The Doctor and the Dentist
  82. Welcome, Cousin Riff
  83. Special Skills
  84. Airplanes
  85. Boats
  86. Butterflies
  87. Bugs
  88. Shapes
  89. Colors
  90. Seeing
  91. Hearing
  92. Arts
  93. Movement
  94. BJ's Snack Attack
  95. Counting
  96. Letters
  97. Pets
  98. Winter
  99. Summer
  100. Caring
  101. Rhythm
  102. Playing Games
  103. Fun with Reading
  104. Making Mistakes
  105. Separation
  106. Days of the Week
  107. Sharing
  108. Rabbits
  109. Ducks and Fish
  110. Mother Goose
  111. Fairy Tales
  112. Dancing (cameo)
  113. Singing
  114. Neighborhoods
  115. China
  116. Pistachio
  117. Full Team Ahead
  118. The Magic Words
  119. Bop 'til You Drop
  120. The Sleepless Sleepover
  121. Little Red Rockin' Hood
  122. The Whole Truth
  123. The Wind and the Sun
  124. The New Kid
  125. The Big Garden
  126. Listen!
  127. Lost and Found
  128. Pot Full of Sunshine
  129. Trail Boss Barney
  130. Get Happy!
  131. For the Fun of It
  132. Starlight, Star Bright
  133. No, No, No!
  134. The Emperor's Contest
  135. Guess Who?
  136. Sweet Treats
  137. Best in Show
  138. That's What a Mommy Is
  139. The Shrinking Blankey
  140. The Awful Tooth
  141. The Blame Game
  142. BJ The Great
  143. Gift of the Dinos
  144. Way to Go!: A Travel Adventure
  145. Riff to the Rescue!: A Wild West Adventure
  146. Lights! Camera! Action!: A Movie Adventure
  147. To Catch a Thief: A Mystery Adventure
  148. The Amazing Captain Pickles: A Hero Adventure
  149. A Game for Everyone: A Sports Adventure
  150. The Reluctant Dragon: A Fairy Tale Adventure
  151. Bienvenido, Barney: Mexico
  152. Big Brother Rusty: China
  153. The Music Box: Switzerland
  154. The Good Egg: Kenya
  155. Home Sweet Earth: The Rainforest

  1. Barney's Imagination Island
  2. What Can It Be?
  3. Barney's Wonderful Winter Day
  4. Just Like You
  5. Barney's Weather Book
  6. Happy Birthday Baby Bop!
  7. Barney's Big Balloon: A Hide-And-Seek Adventure
  8. Sharing Is Caring
  9. A Day in the Park with Barney Souvenir Book
  10. Barney's Christmas Surprise
  11. Barney's Big Surprise!
  12. Barney's Halloween Party
  13. Barney's Clothes
  14. Barney's Easter Egg Hunt
  15. Barney's Book of Boats
  16. Catch That Hat!
  17. Barney's Treasure Hunt
  18. Barney's Trick or Treat!
  19. Barney's Christmas Wishes
  20. Barney's Happy Valentine's Day
  21. Barney's Water Fun
  22. Barney's Favourite Nursery Rhymes
  23. Barney's Alphabet Fun!
  24. Barney Goes to the Farm
  25. Barney's Adventure Hunt
  26. Barney's Great Adventure: The Chase is On!
  27. Barney and Twinken
  28. Barney's Great Adventure (Smart Pages book)
  29. Barney's Great Adventure
  30. Barney's Thanksgiving
  31. Barney Meets The New Baby
  32. Barney's ABC, 123 and More!
  33. Barney's Storybook Treasury
  34. Barney's Let's Learn Book-Set
  35. Barney's Book of Airplanes
  36. Barney's Outer Space Adventure
  37. Barney Makes Music!
  38. Barney's Night Before Christmas
  39. Barney's Peekaboo Halloween
  40. Barney's Puppet Show
  41. Barney's Count to 10
  42. Barney's Neighborhood
  43. Barney's Mother Goose Hunt
  44. Barney Goes to the Fair
  45. Barney Goes to the Pet Shop
  46. Barney's Color Train
  47. Barney's 5 Senses
  48. Barney's Musical Castle
  49. Come On Over To Barney's House!
  50. Barney's Little Lessons: Going To My Big Bed!
  51. Learn Letters with Barney
  52. Barney Musical Lullaby Treasury: Sweet Dreams
  53. The Wheels On Barney's Bus
  54. Barney Is Sooo Big!
  55. Barney's Super-Dee-Duper ABC's
  56. Color My World!
  57. Hello, Day!
  58. Follow Me!
  59. My First Sing-Along Book
  60. Let's Go Look and See
  61. Music All Around - Play-a-Tune Tale
  62. Ding-Dong! Where's Barney?
  63. Favorite Things
  64. Let's Play Together
  65. Barney and Friends
  66. I Love You Songs

See Also

References

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