The Alphabet Train is the 21st episode of Blue's Clues from Season 5.
Summary[]
Joe and Blue are creating an alphabet train, with the help of their friends. They’re going to be boxes from A to Z connected to the train and each one will contain something to represent that letter. Joe and Blue help the characters throughout to figure out what they can put it the boxes and also help to make sure everything is in order. The skidoo trip takes them into a magnet board, where they find every more things for the boxes. Once the train was complete, they join in a song about the alphabet and objects.
Elements[]
- Question: What should we put in the last alphabet box?
- Clues:
- The color White
- The color Black
- The Letter Z
- Answer to Blue's Clues: A zebra
- Skidoo: Magnet board
- Living room picture: An alphabet train with an "A" box in it
- Felt frame picture: A white paint splat
- Colored Shirt: Orange
- Snail Appearances: (1. behind the magnet board) (2. behind the left side of the magnet board) (3. in the letter "S" box)
Recap[]
This episode starts with Joe (in his Orange Shirt) saying hi to the viewers, and he said that they needed help today because everyone is making an alphabet train. First, there is the letter A, and we find an airplane that starts with A. Next, there is B and Blue comes to the letter B box. Then we help Tickety Tock sort out the C, D, and E boxes. A crayon starts with the letter C, a drum starts with the letter D, and an eagle starts with the letter E.
Then, we came to Sidetable Drawer for the notebook, and she has something for the letter F box, a fox. After Blue's Clues was explained, we start looking for clues. Then, there is a clue on a white paint spot, meaning the color white is the first clue.
Then we go to Pail for the G, H, and I boxes. The options were globe, pumpkin, ice cream, hat, or mittens. Respectively, G, H, and I are a globe, hat, and ice cream. We then hear Pail joke about the letter J and Joe found out that he was for the J box.
Then, Periwinkle had a leaf for the L box, a kite for the K box, and mittens for the M box (just like the ones we saw before), but he didn't know which box goes where. Joe sang the song to see, it goes "A B C D E F G H I J L K M" but it is wrong. K and L would trade places to be right.
Then, Tickety Tock had something for the N box, newspaper. Then Joe found another clue on a black paint spot under the newspaper, meaning the color black is the second clue. After the 2nd clue review, Maitlime commenced. And Mailbox found something that starts with O, an oval. Then Joe got a letter.
After that, something that starts with P was found, Periwinkle and Pail.
Then Slippery Soap asked questions for Q and R with the answers being queen and rainbow. Then there was the S for Slippery Soap and T for Tickety Tock. Periwinkle brought a ukulele for the U box.
Then we see Joe and Blue skidooing to the Magnet Board, and then they were finding something for V, W, and X. The volcano was for the V box, the wagon was for the W box, and the x-ray was for the X box. Then they see a Y. It made a yo-yo. Then there was a clue on the letter Z, meaning the letter Z was the third clue. Then after he wrote it down, it was time for the Thinking Chair. Joe skidooed out of the magnet board, and brings the yo-yo with him, but suddenly, Pail called Joe causing him to turn around and put the yo-yo in the Y box. After Joe turns around again, the skidoo music resumes and then sits for the Thinking Chair review as the skidoo music resumes after stopping for a while. The answer was a zebra.
After adding the zebra for the Z box, the train was finished, and Joe sings I'll Never Forget My Alphabet. After the song, the episode ends.
Characters Present[]
- Blue
- Joe (North American)
- Sidetable Drawer
- Mailbox
- Tickety Tock
- Slippery Soap
- Snail
- Shovel (no lines, but his voice actor is listed in the end credits)
- Pail
- Periwinkle
- Baby Bird
- Snail
- Boris (cameo)
- Eagle
- Fox
- Queen
- Zebra
- Mr. Salt (end credits only)
- Mrs. Pepper (end credits only)
Video Release[]
- Alphabet Power (VHS/DVD, 2005)
Trivia[]
- Joe had a ton of friends because there were 26 of them in the video letter holding each letter of the alphabet. Included are Elizabeth Rose Anderson (a relative of former Content Consultant Dr. Dan Anderson), Ariella Richardson (a relative of the voice of Baby Bird, Daniel Richardson), Yusuf Smith (a relative of retired Scripting & Development Manager) Michael T. Smith, and Austin Williams (a relative of another friend of Joe, Samuel Williams).
- In the letter, the list of kids' names in Alphabetical Order were:
- Ariella, the girl who says "A is for…" at the start
- Brianna, played by Elizabeth
- Charlie, played by Alex
- Daniel
- Eli
- Franklin (not to be confused with fellow Nick Jr. show of the same name)
- Georgia
- Haley
- Ian
- Julia
- Kadambari
- Lucy, played by Kennedy
- Manosha
- Nicolette
- Oscar
- Penelope
- Quentin
- Rebecca
- Samantha
- Theresa (aka Teresa)
- Ursula
- Vanessa
- William
- Xavier
- Yusuf
- Zoe, the girl who signs off and Joe copies her
- If one were to go by production order, this is the first episode where J. Walter Hawkes (who would go on to compose songs for the Talking Clues) is associate composer, replacing Bernard Devlin. Though Hawkes would be associate composer in the next episode, Devlin would still be listed as associate composer for a few more episodes until Magenta's Messages.
- Shovel did not appear until the end of the episode, but he doesn't have any lines.
- "I'll Never Forget My Alphabet" replaces "The So Long Song" in this episode.
- This song was used in Nick Jr.'s Word Play segment in 2012.
- This episode was aired on Cinco De Mayo 2003.
- This marks the last time the "Play Blue's Clues" footage from Playing Store is used.
- This is also the second time where The So Long Song was not featured. The first one is I'm So Happy!, and the next one is Body Language.
- In 100th Episode Celebration, two clips of this episode was seen in "The Songs We've Sung" montage almost a year before it aired.
- Joe took the Yo-Yo with him when he skidooed back home. There was another episode titled Blue's Big Holiday where Steve took three things from the skidoo segment. Also, in Mailbox's Birthday, Math!, and Blue's Birthday (the three episodes where Steve and Blue skidooed to the present store - in the third mentioned, it was just Steve), the bought products were brought out of the skidoo.
- However, in What Game Does Blue Want to Learn?, Steve still had the "X" on his shirt but then put it back on the felt board.
- This is the second episode to feature a black crayon and the third episode to feature a white crayon from Animal Behavior! and Imagine Nation.
- This episode appeared on the 2005 VHS/DVD release of Alphabet Power.
- This is the second episode with letters, after Blue's ABCs.
- This is the first Joe episode focused on letters. The second will be Let's Write!.
- This is the fifth time Joe wears his orange shirt.
- This is the last episode to use the Playing Store footage of the Mailtime song.
- Joe was seen getting into the J box car, but after the J box car leaves, Joe immediately comes out.
- This episode bids farewell to Mailbox's 1st credit action altogether, previously the mirrored reflection in Joe's First Day. Beginning with Blue's Predictions, he will permanently do his 2nd action only. This episode also bids farewell to Shovel appearing by himself without Pail in his proper position. He will appear by himself one more time in his mirrored reflection from What's So Funny? in I Did That!, before leaving altogether.
- When Joe said "To play Blue's Clues we gotta find a-" and "And that's our first-" the F on the F box on top of Sidetable highlights white, because "find" and "first" are words that start with F.
- The zebra in this episode looks like Henrietta from Blue's Collection, but that's not really her.
- The audio of Joe saying "All aboard!" will be used again in Blue's Wishes.
- This episode appears in TV listings as “Alphabet Train”, but the official title pennant at the end of the intro reads “The Alphabet Train”.
- When Joe almost takes the yo-yo to the Thinking Chair, Pail calls him making him turn around and put it in the Y box, making the music stop. As soon as Joe puts the yo-yo in the Y box, the skidoo music resumes after Joe turns around again.
- There are a few things Joe says when the globe, hat, and igloo go into their proper boxes:
- "Great going!" - Globe
- "Hooray for hats!" - Hat
- "Incredible work!" - Ice cream
- In the letter, Brianna, Charlie, and Lucy are played by Elizabeth, Alex, and Kennedy from Let's Write!.
- The instrumental ending of We Are Looking for Blue's Clues plays after Joe says, "Bye!" by repeating it after Zoe. This happened for the first time in What Time Is It for Blue? starring Steve, who said the same thing by repeating it the same way after the girl who said, "Those are my favorite times." and he got an extra line of dialogue, which was "Thanks, everybody!".
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