Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Animation
Likes: Noggin
Dislikes: "Dora the Explorer"
Hates: The free reign Swiper gets, small kids animation DVDs

The Story So Far...
Dora the Explorer is a bilingual little girl with a gaggle of animal pals, including her best buddy Boots the monkey. Every episode, she takes on an adventure or quest that requires her to follow a map to reach some locale, teaching a little Spanish, along with basic concepts like numbers and positions, to the audience via direct address. There have been nearly 40 DVDs of Dora episodes released on DVD, and DVDTalk has reviews of several available here.

The Show
Up first in this collection is the episode that lends the disc its name, as "Super Babies' Dream Adventure" sees Dora telling her baby brother Guillermo and sister Isabella a naptime story that stars the two infants as super-powered versions of themselves, who set out to help the babies in the jungle, as they have been unable to take a nap. That's because the Dream Fairy overslept, and hasn't gotten around to sending everyone to dreamland. It's your standard Dora adventure, as the three-step path required (here, a trip to the Dream Fairy's castle to wake her) is laid out on Map (the talking map), and some repetitive songs are sung (with the "Super Babies" theme being one of the most annoying in some time.) It's hard to get excited about any particular Dora episode, because unlike the Wonder Pets or Yo Gabba Gabba, they feel very simplistic and paint-by-numbers in their construction.

The Super Babies theme is quickly dropped by the wayside, as is almost always the case with Nickelodeon DVDs, and we move on to a story starring the Birthday Whizzle, a mystical creature responsible for making all birthday wishes come true. Unfortunately, on his own birthday, he's lost his wishing wand, so he can't grant his own birthday wish. Considering Dora and Boots enter the Whizzle's fantasy world, following her storytelling in the previous show, perhaps there is something of a theme to go along with the math lessons and Spanish vocabulary. Either way, it's yet another quest for the duo, this time inside a magical book, complete with another of Dora's oddly shoehorned-in international friends, this one from Denmark (a Chinese pal appears in another episode.)

Though the final two episodes both involve treasure, with titles of "Pirate Treasure Hunt" and "Benny's Treasure," they are quite different. "Pirate Treasure Hunt" sees the return of Pirate Pig, as Dora and friends step in to crew his ship for a big pirate treasure hunt (after his usual piggie crew falls sick.) Thanks to our good friends the Somalis, pirates don't seem like quite as much fun as they did when the first Pirates of theCaribbean came out, but that's not the biggest issue. It's the limited educational value that's frustrating, as color matching is all you really get from the show (aside from some minor number sequencing and the usual new word of Spanish.)

In the final episode, Dora loses her trusty Backpack and Map, when they are accidentally put out with the trash. Fortunately, she's able to get some help fromtrash-picking Benny the Bull, who knows a bit about the sanitation system. It's the first time the formula is bent a bit, as the usual path on Map just can't be done in his absence, but they waste no time in doing the exact same thing they always do in aslightly different way. Filling in the gap of regulars is the disc's only appearance by sneaky Swiper the Fox, who really should be in jail by now, and the return of the slightly creepy bridge troll. The educational initiatives are somewhat unique this time, as there's work with recognizing sounds and using your imagination.

The DVD
A one-disc release, this DVD is packed in a standard keepcase and features a static, full-frame menu, with options to watch all the episodes, select individual shows and check out the bonus features. There are no audio options and no subtitles, though closed captioning is included.

The Quality
As is usually the case with Nickelodeon DVDs featuring recently produced episodes, the full-frame animation of these shows looks very nice, with bright, appropriate color and a crisp, clean image. There are no noticeable issues with dirt, damage or compression artifacts.

The Dolby Digital 2.0 audio track is the usual kids cartoon sound, delivering a center-focused track that offers clean dialogue and solid music. There are no problems with anything as far as the sound goes, but there's nothing great about it either.

The Extras
Aside from the usual promos for other Nickelodeon products, the only extra here is a brief two-minute sneak peek of Olivia, the new computer-animated Nick Jr. series based on the well-known children's books. It's hardly anything worth a look, especially since the show is already on the air.

The Bottom Line
Another disc of Dora offers another chance to notice how repetitive and formulaic the series is, leaving it trailing behind other more creative series out there. This DVD does the usual fine Nickelodeon job of presenting the show, and provides the usual lack of extras, so the need to own it depends on whether you forgot to record these episodes.

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*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.