[HN Gopher] How we built Bluey's world
___________________________________________________________________
How we built Bluey's world
Author : skrebbel
Score : 292 points
Date : 2025-08-01 12:33 UTC (3 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.itsnicethat.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.itsnicethat.com)
| ramon156 wrote:
| Bit unrelated to the post, but I hate how Disney has done Blumm
| dirty. They want to milk bluey as much as possible
| (understandable), but if the creator says no then Disney won't
| listen. There's a high chance we'll never get a season 4, and I'm
| honestly fine with that if an alternative is a rushed fourth
| season.
| righthand wrote:
| Dance with the devil and don't be surprised when the devil
| steps on your toes.
| mrweasel wrote:
| I don't really know why that "understandable". We see this with
| so many TV shows and movie francises. There's a reason why
| there's only two seasons of The Office in the UK version, but
| it's just beaten to death in the US version. Same with The
| Simpsons, Futurama, Big Bang Theory, pretty much the entire
| Marvel francise, Star Wars, Jurassic Park and so many more
| shows and movies.
|
| You just find yourself in the corner yield "Please stop, it
| dead! It's been dead for years!" For example Star Wars, that
| francise is completely ruined, but the fans are insufferable
| and just keeps pouring money into something that quite frankly
| sucks by now.
|
| Why must everything be milked dry to the point where we start
| hating it?
| patentatt wrote:
| I know this trope has been beaten to death elsewhere too, but
| it certainly seems like we haven't seen much really 'new' for
| like 20 years (as far as popular media that is)
| dbetteridge wrote:
| If you beat the dead horse and money falls out, would you
| stop beating the dead horse?
| mrweasel wrote:
| That depends on what you value, the money, or the
| art/story/quality. I get that studios also need to make
| money, but it feels like we swung to heavily in the "make
| money" direction.
| superxpro12 wrote:
| I'm going to disagree on the Star Wars example because Andor
| is peak Star Wars. And in this hypothetical it would have
| never been made.
| bombcar wrote:
| If "we all" hated it, they'd stop milking it, because the cow
| would be dry.
|
| So clearly someone, somewhere is enjoying it - so they keep
| making them.
|
| And it's safer from a business perspective for Blizzard to
| release "another WoW expansion" than try to make a new game.
|
| (There is also the aspect that you can sell on nostalgia with
| the toys, etc, and that you can continue to sell the "old
| toys" and movies and account them as if they're part of the
| new, which makes you look better, etc).
| doctorpangloss wrote:
| Nothing forces parents to keep a television in their house at
| all.
| jnsie wrote:
| [flagged]
| bombcar wrote:
| Suffixing "fact" makes it sound like marketing fakeness - fact!
| szszrk wrote:
| What show does come close in quality of production? Art, morale
| and educational value, actual fun ideas on how to play (some
| are impossible to reproduce, but still), consequence in plot
| over the seasons and even merchandise?
|
| Plus Polish dubbing that I use is of insane quality.
| citizenkeen wrote:
| They weren't talking about Bluey, they were talking about a
| writing technique
| jnsie wrote:
| It's not about the merit of the argument but rather the act
| of shutting down any argument by declaring something as a
| fact. It's completely unnecessary and quite off-putting.
| conductr wrote:
| I don't feel like it's unjustly trying to assert Bluey an
| unfitting credit at all.
|
| Instead I feel like the use of "fact" here is a nod to how
| thoroughly this has been discussed and how common knowledge it
| has become, at least to anyone who knows what Bluey is, thus
| preemptively eliminating the need to explain what Bluey is to
| that part of the audience that found themselves reading an
| article about the art process of a show that they are unaware
| of in the first place. To those readers, it's a concise cue to
| go do your own research if you're lacking that context before
| getting too far into the article.
| x187463 wrote:
| Bluey is the best children's cartoon of this generation. The art
| is a joy to see, being full of color and well-defined
| lines/objects, without being overwhelming. I sincerely appreciate
| the creator's resistance to engineer the show for maximum
| attention and, instead, focus on telling a good story with
| relatable characters. The show can move slowly when appropriate
| and isn't afraid to keep the scene mostly static. The music is
| great and well directed to capture meaningful emotional moments
| without being campy. The episode length of ~7 minutes is perfect,
| especially for families wanting to limit screen time, as it
| covers a quick breakfast/lunch (or laundry/dishes break) and
| provides a natural stopping point to move to the next activity. I
| can't praise it enough and just hope its success inspires more
| studios to avoid the brain-rot algorithmic-lead nonsense.
|
| My only complaint is that I am a grown-ass man and shouldn't be
| tearing up every other episode of a children's cartoon...
| alias_neo wrote:
| > Bluey is the best children's cartoon of this generation
|
| Bluey is the best children's cartoon _for adults_ of this
| generation.
|
| Our kids are about the same age and age difference as
| Bluey/Bingo are portrayed, and I can't express how much relief
| it gives to watch it see your own life played out line for
| line.
|
| Some days, as a parent you wonder how (badly) you're doing, and
| Bluey takes some weight off as you realise (and talk to other
| parents about Bluey) that some things are just universal and
| you're possibly doing better than you think.
| bombcar wrote:
| One of the things not talked (much) about is how families are
| much more isolated now - since the average person is from a
| two-child family, and has a two-child family, most of their
| peer group growing up and when they have kids is in the "same
| boat" so they don't really have insight and experience of
| what the youngest years brings.
|
| Even the basic idea of "kids like games, make things games"
| that permeates Bluey is likely unknown to many new parents.
| simgt wrote:
| I completely missed your point, I think. Do you mean that
| the current generation of young parents didn't experience
| enough things being games as kids themselves?
| alias_neo wrote:
| My interpretation was that we haven't experienced it as
| adults; We may have experienced it as children, but my
| experience (maybe not everybody's) is that I don't
| remember enough about being a young child to necessarily
| know the best way to approach things with my own
| children, and we haven't necessarily seen how others do
| it.
|
| I'm also much older (a decade) than my parents were when
| they had their first child.
| bombcar wrote:
| Oh that decade; man you feel that in your _bones_ when
| you 're pushing 40+ and the parents of your
| kindergartener's friends are barely 25 ...
| alias_neo wrote:
| My wife tells me a story about a young lady in one of the
| baby groups who was looking for other mothers to get to
| know.
|
| She's a selfless woman my wife, and goes out of her way
| for anyone, but she felt bad that she just couldn't get a
| long with this young lady to the point where she'd
| exchange numbers and arrange to meet up for coffee or
| whatever; while the young lady was also feeling alienated
| from her childless friends.
|
| There were almost two decades between them and she just
| couldn't find anything to relate on and she felt really
| awkward; she still thinks about that occasionally and
| regrets not trying harder.
|
| I'm the voice of (un)reason and have to reign in her
| selflessness sometimes for her own wellbeing and had to
| convince her she had herself and a new born to take care
| of first and foremost.
| bombcar wrote:
| My earliest memories, sketchy and faint, are around eight
| or so years old.
|
| By that time my youngest sibling was already out of
| diapers; I had literally zero experience with newborns
| and had changed ONE diaper in my life before the hospital
| shoved one in my arms and said "good luck, don't shake
| her."
|
| Larger families of yore, the eldest kids would be in
| their teens when the last baby was born; they would have
| living memory (and probably even were enlisted to help).
| And as others have mentioned, you don't really begin to
| _meet_ the parents of your children 's friends until
| they're old enough to _have_ friends, which is usually
| daycare at the earliest; often school for many.
|
| You have to make an effort and action to join a "mom's
| group" these days; before local family, church, even the
| neighborhood would spontaneously be a "mom's group".
| alias_neo wrote:
| Absolutely, it's one of those things where you're truly
| thrown in at the deep end, so to speak, with no guidance or
| experience (you likely remember little to nothing about
| your time as a child in those early years) and have to work
| it out.
|
| Nobody teaches you anything (besides some basic courses for
| new parents like NCT here in the UK) and there's really no-
| one to ask; your own parents likely did things very
| differently to how you would now, so you have to weigh any
| advice they can/do provide.
|
| The biggest help, I've found, on all sides, is talking to
| other parents; those of our children's friends, and we're
| quite friendly with a bunch of them having spend a lot of
| time talking to each other during COVID and meeting for the
| children's play-dates after. Many of them, like us have two
| children, with a similar age gap, their eldest is the same
| age as we met at our first children's births and they go
| through the same phases at roughly the same time.
|
| Sometimes you just need to ask, "is this normal", and
| they'll corroborate, and some times you just need to
| support them by confirming you have the same challenges.
| wolrah wrote:
| > Bluey is the best children's cartoon _for adults_ of this
| generation.
|
| One of my regular hangouts often puts Bluey on one of their
| TVs and I know for a fact there have been multiple occasions
| where no one at the bar even has children but we're all
| sitting there drinking beers while watching the antics of a
| family of cartoon dogs.
| alias_neo wrote:
| I will happily watch Bluey (as will my wife) if it happens
| to be on and the kids aren't around, I can't say that for
| any other cartoon they watch, even ones I can appreciate
| for the educational value they provide the children (our
| daughter loves Octonauts and learning and telling us all
| about sea creatures).
| radiofreeeuropa wrote:
| I can't think of another cartoon targeted at that young
| an audience that I'd even consider sitting down and
| watching a half-dozen episodes of without a kid around,
| but I can imagine doing that with Bluey. Like I've for-
| sure left it running for multiple episodes after the kids
| left the room, and enjoyed it.
|
| Older-audience stuff like Avatar: The Last Airbender or
| Justice League Unlimited, oh yeah, for sure, but
| something specifically aimed at lower-grades elementary
| school kids? Nope, can't think of another, not even
| nostalgia shows from my own childhood. I'd maybe do an
| episode just like "oh wow, remember this?" but not a
| _session_ watch.
| gopalv wrote:
| > Bluey takes some weight off as you realise (and talk to
| other parents about Bluey) that some things are just
| universal and you're possibly doing better than you think.
|
| No question, the I can't count the number of times I've sent
| the "Baby Race" to other parents who ask me "When did your
| kid start to talk?"
|
| We watch the Bluey bike whenever the kids say "I can't do
| it!" or the Dad can't draw episode.
|
| Or the curry quest, when I had to travel for work (after all
| the pandemic "no work travel").
|
| Bluey's dad is an inspiration, like the puppets episode is so
| funny & I keep saying "Bauxite" in random times without
| context.
| fossuser wrote:
| That's one criticism I've heard about it actually, but not
| sure how much it's actually true. Basically that people love
| Bluey because it appeals more to adults, but that may make it
| not as good as other shows for child development (which
| adults might find boring).
|
| I don't know that I buy that though, I think the shows that
| claim they're for child development but are insufferable to
| adults would be better of just skipped entirely, probably
| those skills are better learned from real life play and
| interaction than tv.
|
| Of course there's also the mad science of cocomelon and their
| 'distractatron' https://www.readtrung.com/p/why-i-love-bluey-
| and-hate-cocome... - nothing can be worse than that.
| metaltyphoon wrote:
| > My only complaint is that I am a grown-ass man and shouldn't
| be tearing up every other episode of a children's cartoon...
|
| This, so, many, times :)
| bombcar wrote:
| Why are you bawling your eyes out listening to Aussie music?
|
| Oh, just some real estate things ...
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ngwtA3WRK8
| greggsy wrote:
| My only complaint is the children's bedtime story books are
| incredibly effective at delivering their core task - they
| deliberately draw the stories out so long that they put both
| parties asleep.
| x187463 wrote:
| We've acquired a handful of their books and they're just not
| great for reading to a toddler. The dialog is in speech
| bubbles, and the layout is more like an episode. I have to
| come up with filler text and structure on the fly. Give me a
| Franklin or Little Critter, any day.
| joules77 wrote:
| Writing and writers changing every few decade. Reacting to the
| output of the previous gen.
|
| Popular shows of 80-90s avoided trauma and ambiguity.
| Everything was simple and morally clear.
|
| Then there was a huge counter reaction overload where we got
| Anti-Heroes, Moral Ambiguity, Trauma, "Realism" etc in every
| other show.
|
| As viewers got tired and yearn for hope, faith, meaning,
| sincerity we got another wave (Ted Lasso, Reservation Dogs
| etc). Similar to the writing in Bluey they takes us back to
| Sincerity, but much smarter since they don't avoid Trauma. And
| show the viewer how healing and connection happens without
| power struggles.
|
| Its basically a response to cynicism and fatigue. With comfort
| and care.
| Cthulhu_ wrote:
| > Popular shows of 80-90s avoided trauma and ambiguity.
| Everything was simple and morally clear.
|
| Popular _western_ shows did; I 've started watching the
| Gundam series, the first set started in '79 and while
| superficially it looks like your generic saturday morning
| cartoon, it starts off with trauma (many people killed) and
| while the villains are obviously evil - genocide, nazi
| ideologies ("sieg zeon"), etc - they also get more character
| development than what the protagonists get. The villains are
| the underdogs, only 1/30th the size of the "federation", and
| the good guys have a new set of superweapons that seems to
| win and kill their people on every occasion. There's two
| episodes where a "villain" character is introduced as a
| lover, ambitious military man, etc, then gets killed, his
| would-be wife killing herself in the next episode.
|
| Anyway, that's just recent experience, I'm sure if you
| revisit some of the 80's / 90's shows you'd see more trauma /
| ambiguity too. I'm thinking of the X-Men series for example.
| spbaar wrote:
| That first run is pretty interesting because they clearly
| had the foresight to make things morally grey and the
| villians human. It's very clear they added some mustache
| twirling villiany to a few episodes as an afterthought.
| It's not even clear until like the last dozen episodes that
| Zeon is evil.
|
| I know Gundam quality is a huge spectrum, but the
| 'sloppiness' of moral ambiguity in the first one is pretty
| great. Way too often (Z Gundam) they just do a timeskip and
| say "what if the good guys became bad after they won?"
| dlachausse wrote:
| I would argue it's the best children's cartoon ever.
|
| Also, as a dad, Bandit's character is so well written. I relate
| to him in every single episode that I've watched. Nearly every
| other dad character in children's programming is a flat,
| 2-dimensional, drooling idiot that nobody respects.
| bombcar wrote:
| Even _if_ Bluey was strange Australian propaganda to make
| fatherhood desirable and respectable, it still _wins_ because
| it actually works at it.
|
| Avoiding the "dumb sitcom dad" has been done before a few
| times, and well (Bob Parr of Incredibles; Stoick the Vast of
| How to Train Your Dragon; King Fergus of Brave could be some
| examples) - but Bandit _just is_ a dad; he 's not perfect,
| he's not brilliant - but he's there (except when he has to
| leave) and he loves - his children, his wife, himself.
|
| And even though he says "I'm not taking advice from a cartoon
| dog" we all end up doing so.
| lazyeye wrote:
| How could making fatherhood desirable and respectable ever
| be considered "strange propaganda"? We live in very weird
| times indeed.
| x187463 wrote:
| Bandit singing "99 bottles of thing on the wall" in a couple
| episodes is just fantastically real.
| the_af wrote:
| Bluey is great, agreed.
|
| I'd say Bluey is a better Peppa Pig. Now, hear me out -- it's
| surprising how many gags meant for grownups are there in Peppa
| Pig (e.g. "one must become one with the mud" is not humor for
| kids), but the art is... well, it's intentionally flat and
| boring. But Bluey has a lot of the same kind of humor, with
| visually appealing characters and world.
| bombcar wrote:
| Peppa Pig is more ... "cartoony" if I can use the term,
| whereas Bluey is more "real life" - and I don't think it is
| _just_ the animation (rounded rects live!) - Bluey is
| established with a continuity and detail that makes it _seem_
| we 're looking into a real world as opposed to vignettes
| created for our amusement.
| the_af wrote:
| Yes, agreed. Bluey is simply better in all ways. I meant to
| say Peppa is deceptively _not_ crap, it just looks bad. But
| at moments it 's hilarious. It is for younger kids though,
| who I think require less "continuity".
| bombcar wrote:
| Peppa Pig is really underserved by the art; it's a much
| better show than the better-animated Cocomelon, for
| example.
| fossuser wrote:
| Cocomelon is particularly bad and weaponized
| intentionally against kid attention:
| https://www.readtrung.com/p/why-i-love-bluey-and-hate-
| cocome...
| rkuykendall-com wrote:
| The creator of Bluey worked as an animator on Peppa Pig and
| wanted to create something like that for his home.
| anderber wrote:
| Peppa Pig is in general funnier than Bluey. Visually, I also
| agree, Bluey is far superior. I just can't help, as a parent,
| the feeling of inferiority as there's no way two working
| parents have the energy and patience to make everything a
| game with their kids. That's the main crux of why I prefer
| Peppa.
| rkomorn wrote:
| As a non-parent who has only consumed either shows while
| staying with parent friends, I found Peppa Pig quite
| grating while Bluey was actually a fun watch. I can't
| imagine having Peppa Pig on frequently.
| the_af wrote:
| Peppa has a more "grating" and generally louder tone,
| agreed, but it's deceptively simpler than it seems. After
| you watch it for a while (something you can only really
| do if you have kids) it starts to grow on you, and you
| start noticing the subtler humor that is aimed at the
| parents.
| rkomorn wrote:
| Yeah. I think for me it's just the tone. Then again, I'm
| also deeply put off by the "everything is fast and loud"
| tone of a bunch of more adult-oriented content (eg:
| Adventure Time, Phineas and Ferb, or Rick and Morty are
| all unwatchable to me).
| rootforce wrote:
| Not just the best children's cartoon, but one of the best TV
| shows I've ever seen in terms of how close it comes to
| realizing its full potential. I have a hard time finding points
| to criticize.
| ezekg wrote:
| > My only complaint is that I am a grown-ass man and shouldn't
| be tearing up every other episode of a children's cartoon...
|
| You should try moving across the country with littles, after
| selling their childhood home, and then watching the finale...
| nmfisher wrote:
| She didn't touch on how visually captivating the colour scheme is
| for kids. It's unsettling just how much it draws their attention,
| it's like a drug. It's also (partly) why I prefer Peppa Pig for
| my 3 year old, it's much easier to him to naturally disengage
| after 15-20 minutes.
| bombcar wrote:
| Bluey and Peppa Pig (and all shows, really) weren't meant to be
| binged; it's the downside to having local media or on-demand -
| it's terribly easy to put on a Bluey and realize you're still
| watching Blueys three hours later.
| szszrk wrote:
| My kid drooled in front of Peppa (until she decides she doesn't
| like it after all). The engagement was at the level of YouTube
| Kids movies from "creators" - which means kid is unresponsive,
| clearly doesn't process what's going on, wants more of it like,
| an addict.
|
| I had to cut off YouTube kids aggressively and my kid still
| wanted those idiotic movies even after a few months.
|
| Peppa had similar effect, but my kid resigned on it's own. They
| show is just dumb. Teaches nothing. Unless you value things
| like feeding ducks with bread and cake is good, destroying
| countryside camping spot with heavy equipment and concrete is
| fine just because you dropped keys in a hole etc..
|
| Peppa games are also really bad - not clear when you can
| actually engage, what can be done, instructions are unclear or
| wrong, plus the is no goal at all.
| superxpro12 wrote:
| Youtube in the context of children is brainrot. I had to ban
| it entirely. It's so addicting and has zero intelligent
| value. The last video was of a hamster running an obstacle
| course. Engaging, cute, kinda silly.... but just complete
| rot. No educational value. It's like brain sugar. We crave it
| but it demolishes brain cells.
| szszrk wrote:
| We had a problem with those unboxing of toys videos. Adults
| unpacking or playing with toys.
|
| YouTube delivered worse and worse ones, one by one.... The
| fact that it "doesn't violate policy" doesn't mean it's
| good for anyone.
| bombcar wrote:
| Let's bring it full circle:
| https://www.bluey.tv/watch/minisodes/muffin-unboxing/
| robbomacrae wrote:
| I think this and the Bob Bilby episode demonstrate that
| the show isn't afraid to critique screen time and the
| very platforms they rely on.
| patentatt wrote:
| Peppa pig has little to no value though, whereas many people
| find Bluey wholesome and touching and sometimes really
| poignant. To each their own, but at least Bluey tries to
| encourage creativity and play and fun beyond jumping up and
| down in muddy puddles. The short episode length can be a
| natural disengage checkpoint with Bluey too, as long as auto
| play is turned off.
| nmfisher wrote:
| I know I'm the odd one out, but I really don't find Bluey
| that wholesome (with the exception of two episodes - the rain
| one and the Bingo sleeping/space one, which I do think are
| fantastic). The others are very frenetic - it feels like a
| pure hit of sugar in television form. It also often shows a
| lot of bad behaviour that kids can interpret as funny (the
| cousin running away with the phone after being told, the old
| lady buying the scooter).
|
| Peppa might be "empty" but I don't worry that it's
| inadvertently steering him in the wrong direction. The Peppa
| books are also far, far better than the Bluey books.
| cjrp wrote:
| > Peppa might be "empty" but I don't worry that it's
| inadvertently steering him in the wrong direction
|
| Interesting, I've always found Peppa unlikable and quite
| rude to her friends/parents!
| BoxFour wrote:
| > The others are very frenetic
|
| I think the pace is because a lot of the episodes revolve
| around play and games - and any sort of play with children
| does tend to be a bit frenetic. There's a good number of
| episodes that aren't that, including the two you mentioned,
| but it would be a bit strange for a show about play and
| imagination to _not_ be a bit frenetic.
|
| > It also often shows a lot of bad behaviour that kids can
| interpret as funny (the cousin running away with the phone
| after being told, the old lady buying the scooter).
|
| There's bad behavior that is funny, sure, but almost all of
| those episodes demonstrate the consequences of it even if
| in a humorous fashion: Muffin is constantly facing
| consequences for her actions, for example. I think that's
| an ok trade off.
| alias_neo wrote:
| I find it's worth taking a look at your TVs colour settings for
| cartoons for children, lots of OLEDs can come over-saturated
| out of the box, our living room TV is tuned for more muted
| colours.
|
| On the other hand, the topics and content of Bluey is in
| another league to Peppa Pig, portraying family life quite
| accurately and in an endearing way that even for us adults can
| hit home.
|
| Generally we've found that Peppa does not, and the way the
| parents are portrayed and the children's behaviour doesn't
| provide any value to impressionable young children.
| hollywood_court wrote:
| I quit Peppa Pig because it doesn't really teach anything and
| it actually (at least IMHO) shows poor behavior.
| twalkz wrote:
| Such a lovely show! It's always fun to see examples of how it
| takes so much intention to make something that _appears_ simple.
|
| For any adults who have either never heard of Bluey, or never
| thought of watching a "kids" show, maybe try to an episode the
| next time you can't figure out what to stream next. "Sleepy time"
| (season 2 episode 26) is one of the most renown, but they're all
| pretty good! (https://www.bluey.tv/watch/season-2/sleepytime/)
| superxpro12 wrote:
| Follow up recommendations: Camping (s1e43) and The Creek
| (s1e29). But TBH there's so many good ones it's hard to pick.
| Hammerbarn is hilarious too.
| alias_neo wrote:
| The Pool (s1e22).
|
| They accuse mum of fussing while dad's all about fun, but
| soon come to realise there's good reason mum makes a fuss,
| and everyone starts having less of a good time when they
| realise they needed those things mum was fussing about.
|
| (I'm dad).
| x187463 wrote:
| That episode perfectly describes my experience as a father
| of a toddler. I'll decide on a whim to taking him hiking
| only to discover half-way through that I didn't bring
| enough snacks for him and forgot his water shoes at home.
| So now I'm out with a cranky toddler who's hungry and can't
| play in the river. I've learned to accept my wife's
| 30-minute packing phase to send us on our way with
| everything we need.
| alias_neo wrote:
| Absolutely; I think that's one of those things some of us
| learn the hard way; I don't know that it's specifically a
| dad thing, but at least for me and my wife; she's a
| planner, I'm a "FIWB"; If I think I can quickly fit a fun
| activity in by grabbing the keys and being in the car in
| the next 30 seconds we go, if we had to plan it we might
| not have time, but it's not necessarily always the best
| approach.
|
| I look forward (though not rushing for) a time when the
| children are old enough that I can say "grab your coats
| and be at the car in 2 minutes" and we can just go do
| something fun on a whim, carpe diem, and all that.
| bombcar wrote:
| I've started to come around to realizing that the van
| isn't the size it is because of the number of kids, it's
| because the thing should be packed full of "emergency"
| supplies so that you CAN grab the kid and run somewhere
| (within view of the van).
|
| So far it's mainly a change of clothes (for everyone!),
| diapers, pacifiers, bottles, and water, but that's going
| to grow.
| theSuda wrote:
| "Flat Pack" (S2 E24) and "Baby Race" (S2 E49) Are my most
| favorite and bring out tears every time.
|
| Then there is "Granny Mobile" (S3 E33) which cracks me up every
| time.
|
| Even my 7 year old daughter knows this and uses Bluey to cheer
| me up if I am in sour mood.
|
| Don't even get me started on Shaun the Sheep. My daughter and I
| have re-watched everything there is about Shaun the Sheep and
| laugh in anticipation before the funny things actually happen.
|
| Edit: I absolutely love the minisodes where Bandit tells kids
| bedtime stories (Goldilocks and Three little pigs). I wouldn't
| be surprised if the voice actor just went off and made up bunch
| of stuff which they animated later.
| oaxacaoaxaca wrote:
| Facey Talk! Funniest episode of the whole series :)
| johndhi wrote:
| I haven't seen it yet - but been watching Tumble Leaf on Prime w/
| toddlers recently. Animator friend recommended it -- it's good.
| ericcholis wrote:
| Tumble Leaf is incredible
| dlachausse wrote:
| Bluey is so good that it's worth the subscription to Disney+
| all on its own. It is hands down, the best children's cartoon
| I've ever seen. My kids are starting to outgrow it
| unfortunately, but when they were younger they would constantly
| ask me and their mother to play "Bluey games" with them. It's a
| great show to encourage parents and kids to play together
| imaginatively.
|
| I agree with you on Tumble Leaf as well, it's a really good
| show. I also recommend Puffin Rock if you have Netflix.
| bombcar wrote:
| Apparently in 2023 Q4, 29% of all time on Disney+ was Bluey.
|
| _That 's actually insane_
| The-Bus wrote:
| Tumble Leaf is really good as well. Highly recommend it.
| guywithabike wrote:
| It's an incredible show but the finale "season" catapults it
| into my personal top 3 children's shows of all time. They did
| an incredible job of bringing it full circle and tying a bow on
| it. Tumble Leaf doesn't normally make you cry the way Bluey
| does, but the finale will have you bawling.
| valtism wrote:
| As someone who has lived in Brisbane, I can attest that it does a
| really good job of capturing the colour of the city. There is a
| unique golden hour shade there like no other city I have lived
| in.
| donpott wrote:
| The primary source cited in TFA was itself submitted to HN some
| months ago and garnered 100+ comments, for your reference:
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43816546
| blondie9x wrote:
| Mr Roger's and Reading Rainbow will always be the best children's
| programs ever made. No other show in history has been able to
| entertain children with real people as successfully as they were.
| You won't know unless you let your children watch it. It's just
| amazing because they engage with it and when you turn it off they
| don't have a tantrum like many animated shows or Ms Rachel
| trumbitta2 wrote:
| *ever made in the US
|
| Many people in Italy think the same of L'Albero Azzurro.
| tomhow wrote:
| There was a brief moderation error, in which I changed the
| capitalisation to "How we built Bluey's World", assuming that the
| article was about the immersive attraction called "Bluey's World"
| [1,2], which has been open in Brisbane since last November.
|
| I can attest that it is incredible; we took our kid a few weeks
| ago and it exceeded expectation. Probably more exciting for the
| parents even than the kids. Strongly recommended if you can get
| to Brisbane or if it comes to a city near you some day.
|
| [1] https://www.bluey.tv/blueys-world/
|
| [2] https://www.bbcstudios.com/news/bluey-s-world-opens-in-
| brisb...
| stronglikedan wrote:
| My niece would love this! As it is, we have to pay over a
| hundred dollars for our family to go watch bad acting in - not
| even costumes - but masks on sticks held up in front of faces.
| Seriously, that was a real, official show over here. Never
| again.
| breakingcups wrote:
| It seems like a condensed version of the first 2 chapters of
| this: https://goodsniff.substack.com/
|
| Good read so far! Chapter 3 delves more into the highs and lows
| of working on the show.
| dcchambers wrote:
| This is wonderful. I am obsessed with the Bluey "aesthetic."
| rmccue wrote:
| As a Queenslander now living in the UK, seeing Bluey for the
| first time filled me with homesickness in a way that no other
| media has.
|
| Despite the huge media industry in SEQ, it's so rare to see it
| actually represented as itself (rather than dressed up as
| Manhattan, eg). I also remember growing up and feeling that there
| was never really any media I could relate to; everything
| "Australian" is set in Sydney, Melbourne, or some non-descript
| outback setting. There was always a feeling of being second best
| - always America in the news, not Australia; always NSW or
| Victoria for settings, not Queensland; always Sydney or
| Melbourne, not Brisbane.
|
| The first time I watched Bluey, immediately I could see not just
| vague Australianisms, but actual places and sights I recognised.
| From small details like the bus stop signs to scenes which I can
| pinpoint _exactly_ in Brisbane. Combine that with stories which I
| don 't just identify with, but which I feel I can _remember_
| viscerally.
| afavour wrote:
| As a Brit living in the US, I'm jealous. My comparative
| experience was seeing Peppa Pig for the first time. And it's
| crap.
| the_af wrote:
| I'd argue Peppa Pig is not crap, it's quite funny and
| surprisingly watchable by grownups. Not something I'd watch
| by myself, but I didn't get bored when I watched it with my
| daughter. Of course, the art style is no good, intentionally
| so, I suppose for budget reasons.
|
| I'd argue Bluey is "a better Peppa": similar kind of humor
| (slightly more elaborate, but not by a lot) but with great
| artwork.
| tialaramex wrote:
| Peppa hanging up on Suzy because she has just been able to
| whistle following basic instructions while Peppa has been
| frustrated to discover she can't do it is stuck in my head.
| afavour wrote:
| I think part of the problem is definitely that Bluey
| exists. It's a "Better Peppa" and when watching Peppa I
| can't help but compare them. Given I'm a Dad myself I find
| the difference in the Dad characters to be illuminating:
| Daddy Pig is a klutzy idiot who, more often than not, makes
| mistakes other have to fix. By comparison Bandit is an
| incredible parent (maybe too incredible at times, so says
| my ego)
| Tade0 wrote:
| Among my friends who are also fathers we're in agreement
| that Daddy Pig is in for an episode titled "Shared
| Custody".
|
| Meanwhile Bandit talks and acts like a real person would
| - well, at least one with top-tier parenting skills.
| varjag wrote:
| Unlike Bandit, Daddy Pig didn't have to fight in War on
| Terror so he doesn't have to compensate.
| dgfitz wrote:
| Peppa pig is crap. Full stop.
| paradox460 wrote:
| Peppa just feels like one more of those random grab bag
| of terrible kids shows. There's no comfort like bluey
| has, no quiet episodes. It's just noise for the children,
| with rather dumb, flat characters
|
| My kids will watch it, if someone like Grandma or the
| neighbor put it on, but their attention wanders. Bluey?
| They stay locked on for the entire duration of the
| episode
| pixl97 wrote:
| Hey wait, without the original Peppa Pig, we'd have never
| got the MeatCanyon version of it.
| pests wrote:
| Oddly just watched my first meatcanyon video today on
| pirate software and now seeing it mentioned again.
| josephg wrote:
| There are plenty of great TV shows and movies set in London
| at least.
|
| Its weird - I know about little american towns like Boulder,
| Colorado. I've never been there. But I know what it looks
| like because its featured - or at least mentioned - in plenty
| of movies and shows.
|
| But the population of Boulder is just 100k. Australia has
| lots of way bigger cities - like Brisbane, Queensland
| (population 2.8 million) or Perth, WA (2.4 million) that are
| never depicted on screen. Even on Australian TV, I basically
| never see brissie or perth shown at all. I only know what
| they look like because I've visited.
|
| But maybe that's normal in the english speaking world - at
| least outside the US. We've gotta raise our game and make
| more good content.
| bombcar wrote:
| Part of the problem is selling into America - as an
| American, I can recognize London (smog and Sherlock
| Holmes!), Paris (Eiffel Tower), Sydney (Seashell Opera
| House), and New Zealand (Middle Earth).
|
| I can't recognize Brisbane (and visiting it would feel like
| visiting Bluey).
|
| Producers are SCARED of using unrecognizable areas (and/or
| for live-action, just film near where everyone is located).
|
| If it makes you feel better, the USA has tons of large
| cities - far north of 100k, north of 1 million (especially
| if considering urban areas), that rarely or ever get
| featured in TV or movies; and if they do, it's often older
| ones.
|
| Which is sad, mind you. Every city should have its own feel
| (too many places now feel like suburbs of Los Angeles, even
| in Europe or Asia), its own beer, its own food, its own
| media and music.
| 2muchcoffeeman wrote:
| I don't think it's just unrecognisable places, it's non
| American culture. Australia has made a bunch of really
| good shows. But it's often quite Australian. I think it's
| hard to break through on a meaningful level.
| trenchpilgrim wrote:
| Boulder's metro area is around 330k - not quite "small
| town". That 100k is people inside one of the local
| government boundaries of the area. The US Census considers
| 5k to be the upper limit of a small town.
| rmccue wrote:
| Brisbane is often called a "big country town" by other
| Australians, and it's 2.8 million people, so don't take
| that phrase too strongly :)
|
| That said, agreed with the GP - places like Boulder,
| Pittsburgh, Baltimore, or New Orleans are places that we
| know about through culture and are internationally
| recognised, while being much smaller than Australian
| cities. That's mostly a factor of a huge amount of
| English-speaking media being from the US.
|
| Australia attempts to counter this through laws requiring
| a certain quota of Australian content in the media, but
| that hasn't really worked - and is one of the factors
| which spawned many Australian reality TV shows.
| devilbunny wrote:
| New Orleans is tiny by global scale and not very large
| even in the US. It is, however, culturally unique (there
| is nothing else even close) and strategically insanely
| important.
| hdgvhicv wrote:
| Do Americans know what stoke on Trent looks like? Or
| Derby? U.K. towns of similar size
|
| You might have heard of Aberdeen I guess. But have you
| heard of Geelong in Australia?
| omnicognate wrote:
| Peppa Pig doesn't attempt to portray a particular place
| afaik. Axel Scheffler's books often have visual references to
| Blackheath/Greenwich, with particular places often
| recognisable. Perhaps you think those are crap too, though.
| afavour wrote:
| Oh, I know. But Peppa is resoundingly British even if it's
| not deliberately channeled. It still makes me think of
| home.
| peterstjohn wrote:
| Try Hey Duggee - it's not as explicitly British-coded, but
| there's a ton of stuff in there if you were watching Spaced
| in your late teens and now find yourself a parent...
| skrebbel wrote:
| Seconded, Hey Duggee is a fantastic show. In a way it's the
| anti-Bluey - same delightful vibes, just as playfully
| animated, but intentionally ridiculous (and, to me,
| hilarious) stories.
| xattt wrote:
| Were you longing for all locations being on hills, or endless
| roadwork done by Mr. Bull?
| nelox wrote:
| When visiting Los Angeles a few weeks ago from Sydney, it was
| wonderful to see relos' kids watching Bluey on Disney Plus, in
| top spot too. Everyone loves it. Heartwarming.
| polotics wrote:
| Well well I think you owe the world, as well as some daughters,
| to go through your memory of place and fish out street-view
| references for scenes...
|
| Please! :-)
| rmccue wrote:
| I'm afraid I don't have the specific episodes burned into my
| brain well enough to remember the names of them all. :)
|
| That said, one that's burned into my brain is when they're
| walking along the South Bank riverside; the episode is
| apparently called "Ice Cream". The shot at ~0:48 in this
| video: https://youtu.be/cBti7aQBMk4?si=o3sWwfKJwQ-VEa8e&t=48
| Is approximately from here:
| https://maps.app.goo.gl/Y1UmtCK5si8drVaD7 - It's not exactly
| the same as the show, but that's more a limitation of Google
| Maps; I bet you could recreate the shot. There's also usually
| an ice cream vendor just about there. :)
|
| The bridge in the background is Victoria Bridge, the clock on
| the right is the Suncorp building (I think now demolished),
| the weird multi-part building next to it is Brisbane Square
| Library (now also a Suncorp building), and the arched
| building to the right of that is the Treasury Building
| (formerly the casino).
|
| The rest of the shots in that episode are from various other
| parts in the parklands if you walk along it, including the
| lagoon beach, fountains, and walkway. The whole area (and the
| ibises) are an iconic part of Brisbane, as a legacy of Expo
| 88.
|
| Aside from that, I think quite a lot of the shots in the city
| take place in real places, whether recognisable places like
| Mt Coot-Tha or random shops in the suburbs.
| roganartu wrote:
| I haven't watched any scenes from Bluey before (though I
| have a newborn now so I suspect that will soon change), but
| I lived in southbank for a few years during uni, basically
| right beside the cultural center bus stop.
|
| I watched the clip and within a few seconds I knew exactly
| where in the parklands they were. Very cool, thanks for
| sharing. I had a similar feeling of under representation
| (for lack of a better term?) most of my life and while
| classic shows like Kath and Kim or either of the soaps show
| pretty quintessentially Aussie home interiors and outdoor
| areas, it still feels very Sydney/Melbourne.
|
| The other show recently I'd say gave us that Brisbane feel
| (and a bit of homesickness, we live in NYC atm) was Love on
| the Spectrum: Australia. One of the guys is a bus driver in
| Brisbane and we'd often pause it to try and figure out if
| we could recognise which route.
| nlawalker wrote:
| I'm surprised I haven't seen a "visit Brisbane" (or at least
| "visit Australia") tourism campaign featuring Bluey anywhere.
| The show makes it look like an amazing place to visit and live.
| rmccue wrote:
| They definitely have been using it in tourism campaigns,
| especially with Bluey's World:
| https://teq.queensland.com/au/en/industry/what-we-
| do/marketi... https://readytorumble.com.au/advertising/for-
| real-life
|
| It really is an amazing place to live (although hot in the
| summer!), but career opportunities can be limiting in
| Australia and Brisbane. Catriona Drummond touches on the same
| in her substack [1] mentioned in the OP:
|
| > As I mentioned, before Bluey I'd resigned myself to the
| fact that if I wanted to achieve something resembling my
| 'full potential' on a technical level as an artist, I would
| have to not only probably move to the United States [...] >
| Even deeper than that, was the pervasive thought that perhaps
| for my whole life I was just never going to be in the right
| place at the right time. That being from somewhere like
| Brisbane just meant I was doomed.
|
| [1]: https://goodsniff.substack.com/p/creating-bluey-tales-
| from-t...
| Tade0 wrote:
| The setting to me felt oddly specific, but I didn't realise it
| refers to a particular place and isn't just a collection of all
| things Australia.
| movedx wrote:
| > As a Queenslander now living in the UK
|
| As a Brit now living in Queensland, thanks for swapping places
| with me. Appreciated. Cheers mate. Enjoy the rain and moaning.
| SlowTao wrote:
| As a life long Melbournian, I absolutely loved how intensely
| Brisbane Bluey is. I know from the outside many see oz as the
| unified thing but the differences between cities can be
| drastic. Even between Hobart and Launceston in Tassie is
| significant.
|
| It is like the works of Stuart McMillen
| (https://www.stuartmcmillen.com/), and how they depict Canberra
| in a way the locals can really appreciate.
| hamish-b wrote:
| Extremely well said, as someone from the inner west suburbs I
| totally get it. Brisbane is having it's time in the sun, we
| deserve it!
| hollywood_court wrote:
| Bluey is by far the best children's show I've ever watched. My
| son and I love watching it together. It's so refreshing after
| having to watch Peppa Pig for a year or so before we discovered
| Bluey. I disliked Peppa Pig and I was relieved when my son said
| he no longer wish to watch it after finding Bluey.
| halfmatthalfcat wrote:
| What's your beef with Peppa?
| hollywood_court wrote:
| It's just not as wholesome and Peppa is kind of a brat. And
| the whole picking on the dad thing kind of got old after a
| while. It just doesn't really offer any thing of any value to
| my child.
| bombcar wrote:
| Non-parents don't realize just how _exactly_ toddlers and
| young children will mimic what they see; they don 't see
| Bluey and decide to play 'keepy uppy' they see Bluey and
| decide to act out the entire episode, word for word, scene
| for scene.
|
| And then you realize why Peppa being a bit of a brat
| sometimes can be an issue.
| theSuda wrote:
| My daughter started commenting on people's appearance around
| age 5+ because she learned it from Peppa Pig. Everyone always
| talks down to and about the Daddy pig constantly. They try to
| incorporate some 'good' behaviors in the story but certain
| 'it's just a joke' jokes end up leaving more impressions on
| the kid than the shoehorned moral of the story. It took us a
| while to teach her how it can hurt others if you comment on
| things (even if they are technically factual statements). On
| the other hand, she learned some simple but useful things
| from Bluey that we weren't successful in teaching
| effectively. e.g. She learned to speak up and tell when
| Dad(me) was overdoing 'fun' things (literally an episode with
| exact same concept where Bingo has to tell her dad the same
| thing). She learned to be compliment and acknowledge many
| things verbally (instead of saying 'why do I need to say it,
| they know it already').
| smugma wrote:
| Related: https://substack.com/home/post/p-160039885
|
| Which I found here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43816546
| Amorymeltzer wrote:
| As a companion to this, I'd recommend the podcast 20 Thousand
| Hertz: their two-party on the sounds of _Bluey_ was excellent,
| and as a parent immersed in _Bluey_ , really enjoyable. Seems
| like they put a lot of thought and care into nearly every aspect
| of the show.
|
| https://www.20k.org/episodes/thesoundofbluey
|
| https://www.20k.org/episodes/thevoicesofbluey
| asciii wrote:
| Kudos Catriona Drummond for letting the secret out of Brisbane,
| and perseverance to become a visual artist. What really attracts
| people to Bluey is the art. Seriously, it can be on mute and it's
| mesmerizing (not that the music is not awesome, because it
| totally makes it 10x better, too).
|
| The artistic mature here is also off the charts, to recognize
| that innate sense of what makes things amazing:
|
| > Appeal is such an intangible element to visual art, I could try
| and harp on in some pseudo-scientific way about what I personally
| think creates that deep satisfaction when viewing something
| 'visually appealing'. I think there's a whole weird matrix of
| things firing off in our monkey brains to illicit it. But I'll
| just leave it at: we know it when we see it. I wanted to make
| something that was truly delicious to look at.
| aaronbrethorst wrote:
| Just seeing the sketches of the Heelers' kitchen brings a smile
| to my face, reminding me of one of my favorite episodes of Bluey,
| _Pavlova_. If you haven 't seen it before, take the seven minutes
| to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERyw2dz2-ZM
|
| Despite being a cartoon specifically aimed at little kids, it's
| an absolute delight. I think my wife and I like Bluey more than
| our toddler does, actually.
| giann wrote:
| When my son was in the last stages of leukemia, Bluey was on
| repeat all day. He was completely immersed in that world and we,
| his parents were there with him too.
|
| Now, 5 years after his death, he's little brother is also in love
| with the show and we watch an episode at least once a day.
|
| There will never be another TV show like this one for those
| personal reasons and also because it's just too good.
| verst wrote:
| My wife and I watched the episode about infertility with our
| little niece who kept asking when she'd have a cousin. Despite
| its subtlety it completely broke me. It addresses the subject
| in the best of ways. Well here we are 7 IVF cycles later and
| still trying.
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