Te Amo

Episode Info

Transcript

Gallery

Credits

Te Amo (translated in English as I Love You) is the 23^rd episode of Dora the Explorer from Season 1.

In production order, it is the 24^th episode of Season 1.

Characters

Dora
Boots
Map
Backpack
Swiper (absent, but listed in the credits)
King Popo (only appearance)
Queen Maria (only appearance)
La Lechuza (debut)
Señor Burro (debut)
El Mago (debut)
Fiesta Trio (unlisted in credits)
Baby Blue Bird (Character Find only)
Mami (mentioned)

Summary

An evil and cruel magician named El Mago turns the royal couple King Popo and Queen Maria into mountains. It is up to Dora and Boots to jump into the book and break the spell to save them.

Plot

It is a beautiful day in the rainforest. Dora is going to read a new storybook, which her mother gave her, to Boots. The story is called "Te Amo", which is Spanish for "I love you". Dora gets out the book from Backpack. It was a blue book with a small red heart on the cover. As Dora started reading, there was a king and queen who loved each other very much. Every day, they told each other, "Te Amo". One day, a mean magician named El Mago appeared and he didn't like the way King Popo and Queen Maria were laughing, having fun, and being happy. So, he made the King and Queen be far apart. But King Popo and Queen Maria loved each other so much that they walked over the whole world until they got back together. When El Mago saw that King Popo and Queen Maria were back together, he was very angry and didn't like it one bit. So, El Mago made sure they’ll stay apart forever by casting a spell on King Popo and Queen Maria turning them into mountains. The only way that King Popo and Queen Maria will turn back to normal is if El Mago's spell is broken. The story said that "Two true friends, two true heroes must climb up the mountains and say 'Te Amo'".

Dora and Boots jumped into the book so that they can break the spell and bring King Popo and Queen Maria back together. After that they checked Map for the quickest way to the mountains. Map says that they had to go across a bridge with only one railing on the left, and over some rocks to get to the King Popo & Queen Maria mountains. Map also says that they should watch out for El Mago. As Dora & Boots approached the bridge, El Mago used his magic wand and broke some pieces off of the bridge. There were 5 broken pieces and they matched each broken piece to its corresponding gap and in no time, the bridge was fixed and Dora & Boots immediately crossed it to the other side.

As Dora & Boots continued their adventure to break the spell, they come up to a purple donkey named Señor Burro (which is Mister Donkey in Spanish). El Mago put a spell on Señor Burro, making him get mixed up, but they found the correct parts. They put back the donkey ears, the donkey feet, and pinned the donkey tail back on Señor Burro and the spell was broken. Señor Burro offered Dora & Boots a ride on his back. Then, they got to the rocks. Boots picks up two rocks that were different sizes. He had a big rock in his right hand and a little rock on his left hand. "Grande" is Spanish for "Big" and "Pequeña" was Spanish for "Little".

Suddenly, Dora & Boots saw El Mago and he used his magic wand to make a great big maze of rocks. Dora & Boots got separated but Dora was still on Señor Burro's back. Dora and Señor Burro had to make their way through the maze of rocks. Dora & Señor Burro first took the path with the big rocks, next they took the path with the little rocks and finally they took the path with the big rocks and Boots got back together with Dora. They thanked Señor Burro for the ride. And they were so close to breaking the spell so that King Popo & Queen Maria will come back together. All they had to do is go to the King Popo & Queen Maria mountains to do it. But La Lechuza (Spanish for "the owl") told Dora & Boots that they had to be quiet because El Mago was sleeping. If they are loud, they would wake him up. So, they sang a song to the tune "Frere Jacques" in Spanish as they tiptoe past El Mago without waking him up.

In no time, Dora & Boots made it to the mountains. La Lechuza told Dora & Boots "Buena suerte" (which is Spanish for "Good luck") as she flew away. Boots marched up the King Popo mountain while Dora marched up the Queen Maria mountain and they had to shout out to each other "Te Amo" as loud as they could to break the spell. As El Mago marched up the Queen Maria mountain, they had to break the spell fast before he tried to stopped them. Dora & Boots cupped their hands around their mouths and shouted out "Te Amo" as loud as they could twice and the spell was broken. King Popo & Queen Maria were turned back into humans. They also realized that the falling rocks crushed El Mago's magic wand and was told that he can't do bad things anymore. They all cheered as El Mago walked away and never bothered the king and queen ever again. King Popo and Queen Maria thought Dora & Boots were two true heroes. Queen Maria gives Boots a kiss on the cheek.

Song

La Lechuza

Places in this episode

Bridge
Rocks
King Popo and Queen Maria Mountains (transformed by El Mago)

Sub-places

Forest where Señor Burro was encountered
La Lechuza's tree

Items in Backpack (clockwise starting from the top right)

Note: All of the items are books.

Blue book with a small red heart ("Te Amo" book; correct item)
Purple book with a yellow star
Yellow book with a large red heart
Blue book with a yellow triangle
Pink book with a large darker pink heart
Yellow book with a blue star

Releases

This episode can be found on the Shy Rainbow DVD.

Trivia

This is the second English speaking episode with a Spanish title. "Te Amo" means "I love you" in Spanish.
This is the 1^st episode (2^nd in production order) where Dora and Boots had to jump into a book to start the adventure, which is just like "skidooing" from Blue's Clues.
- However, unlike Blue's Clues, Dora and Boots do not sing a song before jumping in, nor do they jump out of the book and it is unknown how they would do that. It is possible that they come out of the book offscreen.
Map warns Dora, Boots, and the viewer at home to watch out for El Mago on their adventure.
This episode usually airs whenever it's February 14^th and Valentine's Day, despite being aired in October 2001. However, the first time this episode aired on February 14^th was in 2002.
This is the 23^rd episode of the show.
It's unknown how the Fiesta Trio, Señor Burro, and La Lechuza got into the "Te Amo" book.
Tina Kugler does not appear in the storyboard artist and unlisted in the credits.
Benny, Isa, Tico, and Swiper don't appear in this episode.
- This is the first episode in which Swiper is credited (because he is voiced by Marc Weiner, just like Map), but he doesn't appear at all. This won't happen again until Save the Puppies!, because he appeared in every episode of Season 2.
  - However, El Mago takes Swiper's place as the antagonist.
  - When El Mago breaks the pieces of the bridge apart, he's technically almost saying exactly what Swiper says after swiping something, but he's saying "you'll never reach the mountains now!" and laughs after that differently but he doesn't say "you're too late!" before that.
This is the third episode Boots gets mad (it was when El Mago breaks the pieces of the bridge apart), he first got mad in Choo-Choo!, in which the red and green trains made fun of Azul, and the second time was in Backpack!, in which he fell in the Icky Sticky Sand.
Throughout the episode, the sky appears a dark navy blue, making it appear like it's early morning, because in the Favorite Part segment, the valley background has the turquoise sky of the morning.
This is where the recording of Dora and Boots saying "Whee!" that was used throughout seasons 2 and 3 first originated.
Dora and Boots' dancing throughout the We Did It! song is recycled from Big River, and the close-up of Backpack and Map at the beginning of the We Did It! song was reused from Backpack! (it was also used in Dora Saves the Prince).
Part of the episode is used in the music video We Are Family: A Musical Message For All.
This is the first episode for El Mago, who would later appear again in Dora Saves Fairytale Land.
Dora and Boots will sing "La Lechuza" again in the Season 3 episode The Big Potato, but with Benny.
Map's zoom wipe is recycled from Little Star. It will be used once more in Call Me Mr. Riddles.
When La Lechuza first appears and sings her song, she sings it in B♭, but when Dora and Boots sing it as they sneak past El Mago, they sing it in B.
One of the frames of Dora when she told Boots about the book's title, was used in the Nick Jr. material (including the the Nick Jr. UK shutdown from 2002-2005).

Goofs/Errors

At the beginning of the credits, Map is blue instead of white.
- This also occurred in "Treasure Island" and "Little Star".
- However, in Baby Blue Bird's next two character find segments ("Lost Map" and "We're a Team!"), this error would be fixed where Map is white.
When Dora sees El Mago sneaking up on her before breaking the spell, she’s on King Popo's mountain instead of Queen Maria's.
It's currently unknown who voiced El Mago, since he wasn't listed in the credits.
- However, some sources say that Keith Szarabajka voiced El Mago.
In the "Where are we going?" part of the Travel Song, when Dora, Boots, and the Fiesta Trio shout "Mountains!" the first three times, their lips are animated to say "Pablo's Mountain" instead, because the animations were taken from Pablo's Flute (the next episode in both airing and production order).

References

The Te Amo story is based off of The Brothers Grimm fairytale Jorinde and Joringle. A young couple who love each other very much, but an evil witch casts a spell on them so they couldn’t be together.

Character Find

Baby Blue Bird

Dora the Explorer Season 1