Magenta's Messages

Magenta's Messages is the 29th episode of Blue's Clues from Season 5.

Characters Present[]

Blue
Joe
Sidetable Drawer
Mailbox (cameo)
Magenta
Snail (cameo)
Boris (cameo)
Magenta's Mailbox
Magenta's Fish
Baby Bird
Mr. Salt (end credits only)
Mrs. Pepper (end credits only)
Shovel (end credits only)
Pail (end credits only)
Slippery (end credits only)

Summary[]

Magenta is taking a trip to the beach and she asks us to take care of her house. Fortunately, they are not without help, so she has left Joe and Blue several written and picture messages to tell them what they need to do while she's gone. First, they get the key. Next, they water the plants by using a small red two-handled watering can for the flower and a big blue single-handled one for the spider plant. Then, they feed Magenta's fish using fish food as the correct choice, but the crab, frog, and turtle foods are the incorrect choices that Magenta's fish dislikes. Then, they go to the computer to get E-mail as a Mailtime substitute and a special treat. And finally, they take out the recycling at Magenta's kitchen to make the day's work at her house be done. They get to find out what more of the inside of her house looks like and even have fun doing some outdoor thinking.

Elements[]

Question: What does Blue want to write in her message? or What should Magenta do in Blue's message?
Clues:
- 1. Magenta
- 2. An Arrow
- 3. The House
Answer: Come to our house
Living room picture: Magenta's house, then a drawing of Magenta
Snail Appearances: (1. next to the teapot) (2. behind the plant) (3. beside the lamp)

Objects[]

Notebook
Key
Watering cans

Video Release[]

Alphabet Power (DVD, 2005)

Trivia[]

In this episode, Executive Assistant Noelle Romano and Jenna Rodriguez, a relative of Joe's long-time friend Chelsea Rodriguez, are featured as Joe's friends.
This episode was included in the 2005 DVD release of Alphabet Power.
Viewers get a glimpse of the interior of Magenta's house for the first and only time in this episode.
Instead of the usual Mailtime, this episode introduces an alternate version called E-Mail. Additionally, a different version of We Just Got a Letter, called We Just Got an E-Mail, is used in this episode.
- This version of the show became more commonly used in Blue's Clues & You!
In this episode, Magenta is not the answer to a clue like in previous episodes, but is actually a clue herself.
- It is unclear how Magenta was able to send an email from the beach, considering the technology available at the time of filming in 2002.
Magenta's computer operating system resembles Mac OS X, which is interesting as the show's animation was created on Macintosh computers.
When feeding Magenta's fish, viewers are asked to choose fish food from these options: fish, turtle, crab, and frog food, even though it's unclear if Magenta has all these pets. This was just to have the viewers make a selection, though.
This episode is the last one in the original series to show Joe drawing the clues.
Joe decides to do the clue review outside in this episode, a departure from the usual indoor setting.
This episode is the only one where Mailbox has no lines, but Magenta's mailbox speaks instead. However, Mailbox does appear when the third clue was found.
Joe wears a purple squared shirt in this episode.
At the end of the episode, the message "Bye, Joe!" is included in the letter, a nod to a similar moment in a previous episode with Steve.
This episode marks Joe's version of "Magenta Comes Over" and "What's New, Blue?".
This is the first episode where Joe thinks outside, similar to Steve in "Nature" on the thinking rock. This will happen again later in Soccer Practice, where Coach Joe sits on the thinking bench.
This episode is the only one where Blue's Clues is played at Magenta's house. The same place will happen again later in Morning Music where Joe and Blue ride their bikes there at the end of that episode.
The instrumental version of The So Long Song plays at the end of the episode as Joe and Blue leave Magenta's house and Blue locks its door. It pauses when the doorbell rings, but comes back later on.
In this episode, Joe mistakenly sings "Sit down in our thinking chair!" because he doesn't sit in the Thinking Chair, opting for a yellow thinking chair outside instead. This happened in Magenta Gets Glasses, where Steve and Miranda opt for the thinking couch.
The footage where Joe looks out the window and sees the second clue is reused in the trailer for "Wonder Pets!: Save the Wonder Pets!" DVD, but the arrow is replaced with The Wonder Pets on the flyboat.
After Joe says, "Thanks so much for all your help today!", he says, "Reading Magenta's messages and taking care of her house!".

Goofs[]

The scrolling credits slowed down.
The sound effects for Slippery played too soon during the credits.
- Also, the credits were off-sync:
- When Blue was upside-down, her blinks were distorted.
- When Magenta appeared, her bark played early.
- The last two shakes of Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper were muted during the credits.
- Mailbox was muted during the credits.
- Shovel and Pail's sounds played late during the credits.
Video engineer Tom Gilmour was credited as Tom Gilmore, and Joe's friend Jenna Rodriguez was credited as Jenna Rodrigues.
Blue's bark before placing the pawprint on the screen, and Magenta's appearance in the email she sent, had noticeably distorted audio. This was probably due to Traci Paige Johnson barking too loudly into the microphone during recording.

Gallery[]

Watch Episode[]

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

Blue's Clues Season 5