Can You Help?

Episode number

Season 5, Episode 1 (#501)

Airdate

April 30, 2002 (US)
October 16, 2003 (UK)
October 4, 2005 (DVD/VHS)

Written by

Angela C. Santomero

Directed by

Bruce Caines
John Rowe (UK)

Question in the episode

What does Blue need help playing?

Clues

A Wolf
A Basket
A Cape

Answer to Blue's Clues

Little Red Riding Hood

Chronology

Previous episode

Steve Goes to College (Season/Broadcast Order; as part of Joe's Scrapbook)
The Scavenger Hunt (Production Order)
Colors Everywhere! (Credit Order)

Next episode

Colors Everywhere! (Broadcast Order)
The Big Book About Us (Season Order)
The Snack Chart (Production/Credit Order)

Update in or theme concept made into

Blue and Little Rainbow Riding Hood

Can You Help? is the 1st episode of Blue's Clues from Season 5.

Characters Present[]

Summary[]

Today, Joe needs our help. That is not unusual, but it happens to be the particular theme for this episode. We help out Joe, Blue, and the other characters in a number of ways. For example, we help Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper to make some blueberry pancakes for Blue as a surprise snack. We also help out some friends in Storybook Forest to prepare for a big porridge party.

Elements[]

Question: What does Blue need help playing?
Clues:
- 1. A Wolf
- 2. A Basket
- 3. A Cape
Answer: Little Red Riding Hood
Skidoo location: Storybook Forest
Living room picture: A pair of purple handprints
Felt Frame picture: Felt Friends reading a book with little sister fifi
Colored Shirt: Green
Snail Appearances: (1. behind the lamp) (2. behind the tree root) (3. under the snack table)

Objects[]

Notebook
Basket

Video Release[]

Holiday Wishes (VHS/DVD, 2005)

Gallery[]

Watch Episode[]

This episode is available for streaming on Paramount Global's video streaming service Paramount+.

Trivia[]

Baby Bear, Cinderella, and Gingerbread Boy do not appear at the end of the episode because they were very busy.
Nicole Block, Lorraine Flores and Samuel Williams are all friends of Joe in this episode. Lorraine is related to Content Consultant Lisa Ecklund-Flores, Ph.D. (not this episode), and Samuel is related to the actress of Miranda, Shannon Walker Williams. Block previously was a friend of Steve with her relative Sayonna in "Blue's New Place", but her relative is absent in this episode.
This is the first episode to use the "Another Blue's Clues Day" opening intro sequence.
- In the UK version, Kevin has the original intro sequence used in the first four seasons, with a matching shirt.
In airing order, this is the first episode without Steve.
In airing order, this is the first episode to show Joe is on his own as the host.
Starting from this episode to the rest of the original series, the jungle music from "What Time Is It for Blue?" and "Pretend Time" is heard when Joe or Kevin walks to Sidetable Drawer or when finding clues.
After the credits, Blue who's chasing her ball kneels down and barks. And then the book closes, leaving magic sparkles.
- In the UK version, the sound effect of the magic sparkles mutes off and the lettering of the show's logo is missing.
This is the Season 5 premiere of Blue's Clues.
- This episode is listed a Season 4 episode on streaming services such as Amazon Prime, iTunes, and Paramount+.
  - This also happens in "The Big Book About Us", "I'm So Happy!", "The Boat Float", and "The Scavenger Hunt".
  - This is most likely due to the streaming services listing the episodes in production order.
A new drumroll sound effect is heard if Joe or Kevin finds clues.
Tuba music is heard if Joe or Kevin draws the clues. Joe draws the clues with his left hand, and Kevin (UK version) draws the clues with his right hand.
For the first four seasons, there was no actual episode title (With the exception of "Blue's Big Musical").
- From now on, there will be an actual episode title shown for the rest of the series. This also applies to Blue’s Clues & You!.
This is the only time when Joe never met Shovel & Pail in this episode.
- This is also the only time when Baby Bear is not in the same Skidoo location.
During the intro and most episodes, Joe wears an orange shirt, Kevin (UK version) wears a green shirt and in a lot of them a green striped shirt and in Colors Everywhere! is the only one with different shirts.
In the first four seasons, Blue winks in the outro, but for the rest of the series, she does not wink.
This is also the first episode where Joe gets the mail.
- This is also the first time where Joe sings the Mailtime song in this episode.
Starting with this episode, Joe sings the last line of "The So Long Song" twice.
The "Mix a Mix a Mix a song" from "What Does Blue Want to Make?" and "What Does Blue Want to Do with Her Picture?" was sung by Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper in this episode.
This is the only time Mailbox has Joe's letter is not normal inside it in this episode.
Joe wears a green squared shirt in this episode.
In the closing sequence, starting with this episode, the ball bounces 3 times, then rotates, then Blue catches up to it, she doesn't wink, instead, she kneels down and barks "Bye", and then the screen zooms out, and when the ball gets thrown away, she leaves, and then the book closes in the same direction as in Seasons 1-4, leaving magic sparkles, the sound of the sparkles mutes off in the UK, To the right of the book, a little snail plush can noticeably be seen.
- In addition, even though not appeared, Tickety, Slippery, Shovel, and Pail are credited.
A harp was heard when the viewer walked into the door coming into The Blue's Clues House.
In this episode, the title flag never matches the color of Joe's shirt as the title flag was blue.
When Joe sings "We Are Going to Grandma's House", the jazz version of We Are Gonna Play Blue's Clues and We Just Figured Out Blue's Clues from Blue Wants to Play a Song Game is used.
In this episode, Sidetable Drawer's inanimate form from "Pretend Time" was used, this is the only episode with Joe that this happens.
The character order for the end credits in this episode will be used again in "The Boat Float".
In the end credits, Shovel appears by himself without Pail and Tickety Tock was absent.
This is the first time a host and the viewers howl like a wolf. In this case, it would be Joe (or Kevin in the UK version). This would never be brought up again until the Blues Room Season 2 episode Little Blue Riding Hood. It would later be brought up again by Josh (as a wolf costume) in The Ghost Of The Living Room.
This is Joe's version of What Story Does Blue Want to Play?.
When Joe says "Blue, you got me!" after getting tagged, the story ends, but Joe and Blue never delivered the pancakes to Grandma's house after all.
"You got me!" said by Joe will happen again later in Joe's Clues, where Blue in a rocket ship with a star on it chases Joe on a cloud, all the way to the cactus.
This is the third episode to feature a song happening in the letter video without greetings and goodbyes. The first time this happened was in Magenta Gets Glasses. The second time this happened was in Let's Boogie. This will happen again later in Blue Goes to the Doctor, Numbers Everywhere! and in Bluestock, but only in that episode by They Might Be Giants.
This is Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper's version of the video letter in Café Blue.
In this episode, Joe feels scared the same way Fred did in Blue's Sad Day when Farrah scared him in a monster mask. This will happen again later in Animals in Our House? before the goose chases him when he calls her name out.
In this episode, after talking about blueberry pancakes, Joe gets shushed by Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper, just like Steve, who got shushed by them in What Was Blue's Dream About? as Paprika fell asleep.
This episode reveals one of Blue's favorite snacks: blueberry pancakes. This is also revealed in the Blue's Room episode, Snacktime Playdate.
This is the first time Joe dresses up as Little Red Riding Hood. The second time is in the episode Joe's Clues.
In this episode, the first clue is the same as the second clue, which happened in Blue's Story Time, but it's not The Three Little Pigs.
When Joe says, "That we wanna do!", he does not say, "Bye-bye!". Instead, he says, "Thanks so much for all your help today!". Afterwards, he says, "See you real soon!". That's because he said it like Mickey Mouse.

Goofs[]

In the UK Version, Kevin went to the right instead of the left to get his notebook because the living room was in the left, not the right. And when Kevin heard someone needed help in Storybook Forest, he was on the the left, but he went to the right instead of the left.
In the UK version, during the Thinking Time segment, Kevin can be seen holding up the middle finger. This happens again in the UK version of Patience. It also occurred earlier in Blue Wants to Play a Song Game.

Quotes[]

US[]

Mailbox: Uh, Joe, I need your help. Your letter is kinda stuck. See?

(Mailbox opens the letter)

Joe: Don't worry, Mailbox. I'll help. Let's see.

(Joe getting trying the letter out from mailbox.)

Joe: There.

Mailbox: Whew. Much better, well, thanks for the help.

UK[]

Postbox: Kevin,

Kevin: Yes.

Postbox: I need your help.

Kevin: Why?

Postbox: Your letter seems to be stuck. See?

(Postbox opens the letter)

Kevin: Oh, yeah. Hey, I can help. Well, let me see.

(Kevin getting trying the letter out from postbox.)

Kevin: Is it okay, Postbox?

Postbox: Whew. Much better, well, thanks for your help.

Blue's Clues Season 5