The Backyard Show is a 1988 direct-to-video that was released on August 29, 1988. It was the first video in the Barney & The Backyard Gang series as well as the beginning of the Barney franchise.
Plot
Michael and Amy want to surprise their dad for his birthday. With the Backyard Gang in doubt, there's no way the show can be produced quickly (or, so they think). Fortunately, Barney comes to life, and encourages the kids to use their imaginations to help make the show a reality. Along the way, they sing songs and recite rhymes that are later sung in the birthday show. The show ends up to be a success with Dad doing the "Hokey Pokey".
Educational Theme: Working Together and Doing Things for Others
Cast
- Barney (Voice: Bob West, Costume: David Voss) (debut)
- Michael (Brian Eppes) (debut)
- Amy (Becky Swonke) (debut)
- Tina (Jessica Zucha) (debut)
- Luci (Leah Montes) (debut)
- Jason (Salim Grant) (debut)
- Adam (Alexander Jhin) (debut)
- Michael and Amy's Mom (Sandy Duncan) (debut)
- Michael and Amy's Dad (Bob Reed) (debut)
Songs
- Barney Theme Song
- I Love You
- Hey, Hey, The Gang's All Here
- I Love You (Reprise)
- Bumpin' Up and Down
- Six Little Ducks
- Baby Bumblebee
- Humpty Dumpty
- Hickory Dickory Dock
- This Little Piggy
- If You're Happy and You Know It
- Hello, Hello, Hello
- I've Been Working on the Railroad
- Little Bunny Foo Foo
- For He's a Jolly Good Fellow
- Hokey Pokey
Production
Production for this video (along with The Backyard Show and Three Wishes) took place in June 1988[1] at ColorDynamics in Allen, Texas. In the original script, it was noted that if Sandy Duncan provided the voice of Barney, the character's name would've changed to become more feminine or sex-neutral.
Writing
The working title of this home video was The Backyard Parade.[2] The first draft for this video (written under The Backyard Parade) was written between March 26, 1988 by Pat Reeder for The Lyons Group. In the original script, Michael was originally named Billy, Amy was originally named Annie, Tina was originally named Cindy and Luci was originally named Sally. The script initially followed the entire Backyard Gang watching and marching to a televised parade (which they then seek to recreate). Unlike the original script, which was about preparing for a show, the original script saw the children getting ready to perform their own parade in the backyard.
Music and adaptation
Audio cassette
Main Article: The Backyard Show (Audio Cassette)
Book
Main Article: The Backyard Show (Book)
This video was adapted into a book of the same name. Released in 1988, this book was written by the creators of Barney & The Backyard Gang, Sheryl Leach and Kathy Parker. In the early 1990s, the book alone was listed at a suggested retail price of $3.50.
Release
Original
Upon the original release, The Backyard Show would sometimes be packaged with the audio cassette and storybook adaptation of the same name. For the video, audio cassette and book together, the suggested retail price was $24.95. To purchase the video itself, the suggested retail price was $19.95 and for storybook and audio cassette together, the suggested retail price was $6.65. The Backyard Show sold 16,000 copies within the first five months of its release (which was equivalent to approximately $335,000 in sales).[3]
Early 1990s
In the early 1990s, the video was eventually marked down at a suggested price of $14.95. For the video, audio cassette and book together, the suggested retail price was marked down to $19.95, the storybook and audio cassette together remained at the same suggested retail price of $6.65. There were plans to re-release The Backyard Show in 1994 and in November 1995 (under the banner "Barney: The Early Years" alongside the videos Three Wishes and A Day at the Beach),[4] but it did not occur.
Releases
Trivia
- The song "Friends Are Forever" (which was sung in the following video) is heard as an underscore when Michael and Amy find Barney after he turns back into a toy dinosaur.
- This video marks:
- The only video to feature a different version of The Lyons Group logo music.
- The first video to have the Sandy Duncan intro and outro speeches.
- The first video to have the Kids Edutainment Video logo.
Script
- The script itself was donated by Barney & The Backyard Gang co-creator Kathy Parker, alongside her husband Phil Parker, to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in 2013.[5]
- Jason and Adam are the only children to retain their original names from the first draft of the script for the video.
- "Little Bunny Foo Foo" and "Hokey Pokey" are the only songs from the original script that remained in the final version of the video.
- Songs that were present in the original script that didn't make it into the final cut included the songs "Kookaburra", "The Alphabet Song", "Old MacDonald Had a Farm", "This Old Man", "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Do Your Ears Hang Low?".
- The original script saw Barney jump roping, but that would later be saved and seen in the video Three Wishes.
- Unlike what occurs in the final version of the video, Barney makes himself seen by the parents In the original script.
References
- ↑ the Big B April 9, 1993 Retrieved November 22, 2023
- ↑ The Backyard Parade Script Read November 16, 2023 Retrieved November 16, 2023
- ↑ the 1991 Neiman Marcus Deal: How Barney Made a Mark in the Retail World July 5, 2023 Retrieved November 22, 2023
- ↑ BARNEY FAR FROM EXTINCT
- ↑ Barney Objects Added to Smithsonian Collection