The beginning is an unadulterated ad for a "Barney" plush toy for a mere 20 spot. (One has to wonder if the "teaching" is being done with telepathy-but again, it's just laziness it's as if the sharing of a new song were a vestigial limb of reality that the glitzy producers forgot to lop off.) For my money, the series reaches its zenith at the opening of Barney Goes to School, the newest entry. At least once or twice in each show, one of the gang will offer to "teach" a new song to rest of the gang members-whereupon the entire group springs into song with oodles of choreography thrown in to boot. He also laughs after virtually everything he says, no matter how mundane-and this seems to be his primary function: a walking "laugh track." All of the programs are overproduced to the point of confusion. Throughout the three programs, the grating Barney drops a few pearls of wisdom: the basic message being to beam out love undiscerningly-it doesn't matter whether your love signal strikes another human being or a rock. I'm sure you can figure out what the other two tapes are about from the titles. (This is a trademark of the series then kids seldom do for themselves-Barney is the ultimate fantasy provider.) Next, the kids take a hike (at about the same time, my kids also took a hike, looking for something better to do), stopping every so often to burst into "spontaneous" lip-synched songs about turtles, frogs, and ants, using traditional tunes with new lyrics. He wiggles his tail, and presto!, the kids have camping outfits, supplies, etc.
In Barney's Campfire Sing-Along, the "backyard gang" (whose most notable attribute is that they are a meticulously, even mathematically, chosen cross-section of the ethnic population) join barney on a soundstage which is supposed to represent a natural environment but looks just like a soundstage. Correction: the format is imaginatively lazy. Not, that's not fair many excellent programs feature a simple format. The format for each of the Barney programs is simple. Barney, the "magic" dinosaur, by way of contrast is a thundering bore. Shari Lewis is a veritable sparkplug of imagination and infectious enthusiasm which easily carries over to young and old, alike. The one thing that hints at it being more than that is a butterfly that flies out of her camping book (and Barney's wink).In the sing-along category, which these three programs belong to, I'm not ashamed to admit that I have enjoyed such jewels as The Animal Alphabet and Lamb Chop's Sing Along Play Along. Or Was It a Dream?: The video takes place within Tina's dream and ends just after she wakes up.Familiar Soundtrack, Foreign Lyrics: Tina and her mom sing "I Love You" in both English and Spanish.These help Barney and the rest of the Backyard Gang find her.
She suddenly remembers Barney's advice from earlier about getting lost: stay where you are, hug a tree, and blow your whistle. Chekhov's Classroom: While playing with a turtle, Tina gets lost in the woods.When Barney and the gang encounter him later on, they startle the bear as much as he startles them.
Said bear turns out to be a Beary Friendly type who happened to be awoken from his nap. Barney and the kids wind up exploring a cave that is home to a bear and upon realizing it, run out as fast as they can.