I think the movie was excellent. It's definitely Stacie's best outing to date.
I think the movie was excellent. It's definitely Stacie's best outing to date.
A page for Barbie And Stacie To The Rescue is on Netflix, saying that it's coming on Thursday. It mentions the voice cast for the movie. We have the returning cast of Cassandra Lee Morris, America Young, Kirsten Day, Natalie Lashkari, Greg Chun, and Lisa Fuson. It also mentions Jovie Leigh (presumably as Ligaya), Tara Sands (most likely returning to voice Aunt Adele), and the father/son duo of Dino Andrade and Connor Andrade.
https://youtu.be/nBjiO85xhXg?si=cdZr5igYIZJZgouz
The song "Trailblazing" from Barbie And Stacie To The Rescue comes out tomorrow morning at 6:00.
This looks pretty cool.
22 Votes in Poll
I'm liking it
Since today is Christmas Day, I want to look back on A Dreamhouse Holiday, the final episode of Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures. We all know the general story. The main one is about Barbie and Ken trying to find each other the perfect Christmas gift. The other stories are about Stacie trying to get tickets from Trey so she can give them to Skipper and one about Chelsea wanting to get a sneak peek at her presents. I never would've expected an episode like this to be finale, but I think it works. We get to see much of what makes the characters work, such as Barbie and Ken looking out for each other and willing to get help from people they care about. Stacie's story with Trey helps show how her generosity has limits but she still tries to help those that need it, and helps show how Trey can be a decent person under the right circumstances. Chelsea's story helps show how she may be mischievous, but still has that sweetness that makes her likable. I like how far back the continuity goes, such as mentioning Fairuza Ukwani from "Barbie Roberts Undercover Mermaid" and bringing back Ben, whose only other appearance was in the second episode. Probably the only thing to nitpick is the mistletoe scene, where it seems like Barbie and Ken will kiss, but they don't show it. That scene is a tease, but it's not focused on too much, so I don't mind it. Anyway, I definitely like this episode. What do you think?
The most recent Barbie vlog came out on December 15, 2022. Since we haven't heard anything about them in almost a year since then, I think it's safe to assume that we may not be getting them anymore. I'm not saying it's a definitive thing, but it's a strong possibility. Why is this the case? Well, let me explain.
1. Pandemic And Live Action Movie
This is more of a two in one, but I think it's worth talking about. The 2020 pandemic greatly changed the entertainment industry, causing higher ups to be more careful with what they greenlight and how long it can go for. It's also during this time when the live action Barbie movie was being made (which, love it or hate it, a theatrical Barbie movie is a big deal). My guess is that Mattel saw more potential financial gain from the live action Barbie movie and the various animated shows and movies than the vlogs that can be seen online for free. As such, there might have been more incentive to stop the vlogs.
2. New Online Content
The next point comes from the idea of new online content. More specifically, I'm talking about the shorts shows Barbie: Life In The City and Barbie And Barbie On Set. They both seem to basically take the format of the vlogs (showing the lives of the characters) and apply them in their own ways. They're about 10 episodes each and are about the length of the vlogs before 2022. Presumably, there will be another kind of shorts show next year that's in a similar vein and length to these shows. I'm guessing the shorter order is so that there's less financial risk.
3. People Moving On
The next point is that a lot of the people that have worked on the vlogs (and the Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures world in general) have moved onto other projects. Mattel preschool manager Teale Sperling (a story supervisor on Dreamhouse Adventures and a production assistant on the vlogs) left after season 7. Long time Barbie veterans Patrice Berube, Conrad Helten, and Cassi Simonds have also moved on. Conrad Helten's LinkedIn profile says how he stopped working at Mainframe Studios in May of this year, and is currently an animation director at Icon Creative Studios (most likely the Disney Junior show Firebuds since he liked a bunch of posts about it). Patrice Berube and Cassi Simonds are still at Mainframe Studios, but they're respectively working on The Octonauts and Unicorn Academy. My guess is that since many of the franchise main stays are leaving and new directors are coming in, there probably wasn't much incentive to do the vlogs without them.
4. Ann Austen Not Trying To Do A Lot
My last point is that Ann Austen herself might have stopped this so that she doesn't have too much to do. If you look at IMDb, you'll see that she's worked on a lot of non-Barbie projects alongside her Barbie projects. She originally started working on the vlogs in 2018, and that's when the Dreamhouse Adventures continuity was utilized. She would then continue to work on these vlogs while working on Barbie Princess Adventure and Barbie And Chelsea The Lost Birthday. After the Lost Birthday movie came out, she presumably took a break from Barbie to focus on other projects like Waffles And Mochi. When that show got a creative overhaul and many people left, she would then return to work on Barbie movies and shows, but also work on a Netflix Jr show called Little Baby Bum: Music Time. I'm guessing working on two different shows and the movies would be too much for her, and she presumably stopped the vlogs so her workload isn't too stressful.
And that's all I have. What do you think?
You're probably wondering what I mean by this. Let me explain. When you look at how Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, Barbie It Takes Two, and Barbie A Touch Of Magic, you'll see that they have different methods of storytelling. One way they differ is with who their audience surrogate character is, and that's mainly shown in which of Barbie's sisters plays a big role. You can see this in action by having Chelsea be the audience surrogate character in Dreamhouse Adventures to represent its younger kid audience, and Skipper be the audience surrogate character in both It Takes Two and A Touch Of Magic to represent the older kid demographic. Let me explain.
When you look at Chelsea's role in Dreamhouse Adventures, while I wouldn't say that the show prefers her more, there's definitely more of an attempt to make it so that she's very actively involved in many adventures. You can see this in the first episode of Dreamhouse Adventures with how she's rather uncomfortable in wanting to move to the new Dreamhouse. She's meant to help ease the audience into what would be seen as something potentially scary. She's also the one who helps save the day when she rallies everyone to get the squirrel out of the house. There's a number of episodes and moments that definitely give her a bigger presence. I'm not going to name everything, but here are the most notable cases of this. There's the second episode, Clubhouse Remix, which is all about the girls trying to get Chelsea's clubhouse back for her birthday. You have episodes like Putts For Pups and A Dreamhouse Puppy Tale, where she's respectively trying to earn money in charity golf to help dogs read and telling a story about the puppies secretly protecting the house. Room Swap has a climax where she thinks about meowing to find Blissa, and all the girls follow suit (albeit reluctantly from Skipper). A big plot point in Barbie Roberts: Undercover Mermaid is about how she wants to pull a good prank on Barbie, but goes too far at the resort, and ends up getting herself, Skipper, and Stacie accused of theft.
Season 2, when the show is marketed with the Go Team Roberts subtitle, also lets her play a bigger role. You can actually see this in action with the Golden Beach High episodes, where the only GHB episodes that don't have her (and by extension Stacie since they're often paired together) are School Spirit and Close Knit Friendship. Notable GHB episodes where she plays a bigger role include Basket Case (where she gets a subplot about feeling down over not doing well in soccer), Copy Cat (there's the subplot where she and Stacie try getting back Casey's bird Bella from the Reardons, and Tammy eventually helps them), and "Barbie's Day Off" (she's mainly with Margaret for a Take Your Child To Work Day event, but also inadvertently helps Barbie figure out how to do her school presentation remotely, though it doesn't work out). That's not even getting into regular episodes like Magical Mermaid Mystery (where she's the most determined to find the mermaid), Working Mom (where she shows the most doubt over Margaret's promotion before everyone reaches a mutual understanding), Family Of The Year (where the class hamster she looks after gets loose, though things eventually get better), Family Fun And Games (she and Stacie are both big fans of Squabble Squabble Squabble, and she comes up with the plan to get back at Henrick), Three Ring Dreamhouse (which is about Barbie and friends putting together a circus for her), Barbie, Brownies, And Bears! Oh My! (where the alien story she gives entertains everyone, and helps them get along better), and Nothing To Fear (where she's most afraid of the vampire movie and thinks how Barbie and her friends are vampires).
Now here's something interesting. Prior to the release of Barbie And Chelsea: The Lost Birthday, an article came out with a quote from Mattel Television executive Frederic Soulie. He said:
"Chelsea is an incredibly popular character and we are excited to bring her into the limelight in this television movie. Her story is all about finding your voice, and self-empowerment, in the face of unexpected challenges."
"We have barely scratched the surface of the stories the brand can tell, and this is the first of many scripted and unscripted Barbie projects we have in production and development.”
I know there aren't that many positive things to say about the movie (although I personally think it's good), but it makes sense to have the first movie not focused on Barbie to be focused on her. She's the only one of Barbie's sisters who has appeared the most, even before Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures. As such, making her the first of Barbie's sisters to get her own movie makes sense. We also see that she's in the merchandise for Barbie: Stacie To The Rescue with some kind of candy stand. This implies a bigger role, which makes sense given how often Stacie and Chelsea are paired up together. One more thing about Chelsea is the My First Barbie Happy DreamDay preschool special that came out back in February. Again, for this kind of audience, it makes sense to spotlight her more given how she's the youngest of Barbie's sisters. The special is like a mix between Clubhouse Remix and Three Ring Dreamhouse, which is fitting given how they were also about making Chelsea happy.
Now let's move onto talking about Skipper. Although she is a well defined character, a lot of her big moments in Dreamhouse Adventures almost always involved the relationships with her family. In fact, School Spirit and Close Knit Friendship are the only episodes where she appears without Stacie and Chelsea. She makes a silent cameo in the former and has a subplot with her friends in the latter, the only time this happens in the series.
Now we move onto Barbie: It Takes Two. For all the flaws of the show, at least she's still well written. She seems to be more in tune with maintaining family connections and isn't as confrontational compared to the first series, although she's still rather snarky. Look at episodes like We Are Family and The Great Outdoors. She gets a big role in Barbie: Epic Road Trip, the first time she's the only one of Barbie's sisters to get the main spotlight in a movie. This movie definitely shows her more caring side as she tries making the dogs comfortable before they're adopted. She also generally gets along better with Barbie, though moreso on the long path. Barbie: Skipper and The Big Babysitting Adventure is definitely meant to show how far she's come. She's shown to be friendly, caring, and supportive when dealing with either her friends or younger kids. She's definitely at her most likely here. You can tell she gets increased focus in Barbie: A Touch Of Magic with how, of the first 13 episodes that are currently out, she appears in 12 of them, often playing a large role. Stacie and Chelsea still appear quite a bit, but not as often.
What do you think? That's all I have to say.
1. It does seem like she won't be in any project unless there's merchandise for it. Since she's not in the merchandise for the Skipper movie, she didn't appear there. Since she's not in the merchandise for the Stacie movie, she presumably won't be there either.
2. I'm not sure if Brooklyn Barbie could get her own movie. There is definitely potential there, and it would be great to see, but it seems like Mattel wants to make her more of a package deal with Malibu Barbie and only have her be a lead in smaller projects.
So I know that the way Barbie Brooklyn Roberts has been used is seen as somewhat divisive, what with various sides of the fandom thinking she's being used too much at the expense of other characters. However, one thing I'm wondering is if she's going to be used in other movies going forward. I mean, when finding out about Barbie: Skipper And The Big Babysitting Adventure, I figured that she would've been in the movie given how much she appeared in last year, but that wasn't the case. IMDb even says how this is the first movie since Barbie And Chelsea The Lost Birthday to not have her. Also, based on the known merchandise for Barbie: Stacie To The Rescue, I don't think she's going to be there either. It's definitely quite unusual given how she's appeared in TV shows and online content this year, but not movies. What do you think though?
I'm going to say it. The Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures world is better than Barbie: Life In The Dreamhouse. Even with Barbie: It Takes Two, I'll take that over Life In The Dreamhouse.
I'd assume the hidden videos are clips or compilations of the videos that aren't released yet.
So here's an interesting tweet thread from Amber May, who voiced Barbie Brooklyn Roberts in Barbie: Big City, Big Dreams. She recently put out a tweet talking about the Barbie: A Touch Of Magic episode "Skate To Me Barbie", for which she has a story credit. She said quite a few interesting things about the production of the episode. The story was apparently greatly reworked from what she wrote, though the general outline of her idea is still there. Presumably, Daniel Bryan Franklin changed up her ideas in order to better fit the vibe of the show. She also says how Rhonda Rhythm was originally a man named Ronnie Rhythm, who was named after her father who loved to jam with his friends back in the 1970's. She chose roller skating because of how huge it is in the black community. Dom MacKinnon also talked about the episode in the tweet, saying how it was his favorite episode to direct. When timing out the dancing, he used 'September' by Earth, WInd & Fire, and "Boogie Shoes" by KC & the Sunshine Band.
https://twitter.com/AmberFoxyVox/status/1707172096550547790
https://twitter.com/AmberFoxyVox/status/1707174422552158713
https://twitter.com/MackinnonDom/status/1707196886891831635
So I rewatched the My First Barbie Happy DreamDay preschool special, the one where Barbie and friends try throwing a special birthday for Chelsea, on YouTube. Given how the description says that it's the first special, there's obviously the intention to make more. If that is the case, then I think this is a good direction to take as a supplement to what the main Dreamhouse Adventures world is doing. Let me explain.
One can see the main Dreamhouse Adventures trying to grow with its audience with the different but still familiar style of humor present in Barbie: Skipper And The Big Babysitting Adventure and the more serialized nature of Barbie: A Touch Of Magic. Both projects are rated TV-Y7 rather than the usual TV-Y rating that all the shows and movies between Barbie: Dolphin Magic and Barbie: Epic Road Trip had, and a higher rating usually means being able to do more. Of course, from the point of view from a Mattel executive, they still want to keep their audience of young girls. As such, the creation of the My First Barbie sub franchise with its much cuter presentation but still good storytelling as a way to keep them is actually a good idea. It's not meant to be the new direction of the universe, but just a compliment meant to keep young viewers. Think like how the Disney Junior series Star Wars: Young Jedi Adventures is meant to help bring new viewers in while the main shows continue to skew older, or how the Cartoonito series Bugs Bunny Builders is there to be a more child friendly introduction to Looney Tunes while still keeping their brand of humor and the other non-preschool others just keep doing their own thing.
When watching the special, I feel confident in the My First Barbie sub franchise being a good way to get new younger fans while you have the main shows and movies growing with their audience. I won't give a full review, but I want to give some general thoughts on the special and why this sub franchise is a good idea. It basically takes the more juvenile personality that Malibu Barbie had in It Takes Two, and doing it right. It's mainly in how they put more emphasis on the lovable big sister and great best friend traits that she had in Dreamhouse Adventures. A good example is shown in the beginning, where much more emphasis is placed on how she wants Chelsea to be happy given how she and her friends spend a good chunk of time together playing in the Dreamhouse. It's to help build her likability so that when she does make mistakes later on (putting more emphasis on the party being bigger and better), you feel sorry for her and want to see her success. Plus, after this, more emphasis is placed on how she wants to make things right and take the time to live in the moment with Chelsea. If future specials keep up this level of character writing, I think the My First Barbie sub franchise can be seen as a good compliment to the main Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures world.
Today is the start of Hispanic Heritage Month, and what better to honor it than to talk about the franchise's main Latina herself, Teresa Rivera. Now she's someone who's had a good deal of prominence in the franchise, notably in the Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures world. As such, I think it would be interesting if she had a movie of her own. I don't mean something like the Diamond Castle movie, where she's a co-lead. I mean, something where she is the clear protagonist throughout, much like Barbie's sisters with their movies. One would probably wonder how a movie specifically about her would work. Let's see. Feel free to throw in your own ideas for a movie.
The Story: What would the story for the movie be? Well, let's look at what we can work with. In the Dreamhouse Adventures episode "Curse Of The Miner's Ghost", the reason she's not with her friends on the spring break trip to Wisconsin is because she's visiting her relatives in Mexico. We also know she has an abeula, as mentioned in the salsa making vlog, and Barbie: A Touch Of Magic introduced her cousin Alex. That helps give at least one possible idea for a movie. Maybe have a story where she wants to visit her abuela in Mexico for her birthday or something, and she goes there with her family and the Roberts (something involving George making another documentary). Of course, once in Mexico, things go wrong, and everyone has to work together to get there in time. You can throw in some messages on the value of family and being able to stick together even when things get difficult.
New Characters: Of course, I think one way to make a Teresa movie work well is to introduce more family members. Again, we know about her abuela, and we've seen her cousin. What about some other relatives? Introduce relatives like her parents or maybe an aunt or uncle. Maybe show that she has some younger siblings who she gets along with. I mean, there are a few moments that seem to show how she does care for Barbie's younger sisters, like her determination to help Barbie get Chelsea's clubhouse back in "Clubhouse Remix", her apologizing to Chelsea for accidentally scaring her with the special effects in "Nothing To Fear", or like with how she doesn't mind caring for Stacie and Chelsea in "There Will Be Dragons". You could probably have a case where she gets along well with those around her age or younger but struggles in getting parental approval.
Writers And Directors: Now let's see who should write and direct the movie. For writers, I'd say have the script written by Adeline Colangelo (with Ann Austen once again as co-executive producer) and directed by Conrad Helten. Adeline Colangelo is the story editor for the Nickelodeon shows Middle School Moguls and The Casagrandes. Both have good representation and lovable characters. Both shows also have some people that have been involved with the Barbie franchise. Katie McWane Diecker (voice director for Barbie Dreamhouse Adventures, Barbie: Princess Adventure, and Barbie And Chelsea The Lost Birthday) is the voice director of Middle School Moguls. As for The Casagrandes, two of the show's primary voice actors are Alex Cazares and Cristina Milizia. The two actresses also worked together on Doc McStuffins (where the voice director for that series, Maria Estrada, worked on some early 2000s Barbie movies) and Victor And Valentino (with Collette Sunderman, another Barbie voice director, working on that show). They would really bounce well off each other. As for Conrad Helten, he's worked on many Barbie projects since the late 2000s, and has done a good job with Teresa in movies like Spy Squad and Princess Adventure, as well as episodes of Dreamhouse Adventures.
Music: Now for the music. As much as I love The Math Club and their music, I think they should have some extra help here in order to make the soundtrack seem authentically Latin. As such, I think it would be a good idea to bring in Germaine Franco to help them out. She's had experience in doing the music for various shows and movies. She's definitely best known for the movie Coco, which is amazing. She also worked on The Casagrandes and the Curious George movie "Royal Monkey" (which was co-written by Elana Lesser and Cliff Ruby, who worked on some early 2000s Barbie movies).
And that's all I have. What do you think of these ideas? What ideas of your own do you have?
I'm not sure if I could properly place Barbie: A Touch Of Magic as my favorite since there's still 13 episodes to go, and thus isn't a complete package in terms of quality. As such, Dreamhouse Adventures still gets top marks from me. However, A Touch Of Magic is really good, so I will make it a close second.
The first episode of Barbie: A Touch Of Magic was put on YouTube. I've so far watched the first four episodes of the show, and it's definitely a step up from anything done in Barbie: It Takes Two.