Western Animation / Blue's Clues & You!

Josh with Blue, Magenta, the Salt and Pepper family, Shovel and Pail, Slippery Soap, Tickety Tock, Sidetable Drawer and Mailbox.

Have you seen my dog Blue?
She's looking for you too
Let's begin with a pawprint!
Everybody's lookin' for Blue's Clues
Come on in, come on in, it's Blue's Clues!
Step-by-step, yes!
Clue by clue, let's
Think it through, it's
What we do, so let's get to it!
It's Blue's Clues & You!

Blue's Clues & You! is a 2019 reboot of the series Blue's Clues. The show has a new host named Josh who is the cousin of Steve and Joe, played by Joshua Dela Cruz, known for playing Aladdin and Iago in the Broadway adaptation of Disney's Aladdin, and now has the main characters done in CGI animation.

The show premiered on November 11th, 2019, on Nickelodeon, but the first three episodes were released early to Vudu on September 27th for free. The third episode was also released online to YouTube and the Nick Jr. app and website on October 28th, 2019, with the second episode being released on March 28th, 2020.

The show was renewed for a second season of 20 episodes on November 19th, 2019, a third season of 20 episodes on February 19th, 2020, a fourth season of 26 episodes on February 18th, 2021, and a fifth season of 26 episodes on March 24th, 2022, for a total of 112 episodes ordered so far.

In commemoration of the 25th anniversary of Blue's Clues, the show also received a film, Blue's Big City Adventure, which have Josh and Blue audition for a big Broadway musical in New York.

A podcast associated with the series - Story Time with Josh & Blue - was also introduced on July 8th, 2020 with the first actual installments released on August 4th, 2020. These feature bedtime stories ranging from about 5-9 minutes in length.

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Blue's Clues & You! contains examples of:

A to L

• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Pearl uses regular glasses when inside, and sunglasses with a hat to protect her from sunlight when outside.
• Adaptational Nice Guy:
  • Jack O'Lantern here is a relatively nice guy and a Benevolent Abomination. In the original tale, he was so bad that he was denied both heaven and hell.
  • The big bad wolf, or Wolfie, was completely evil in the original tale, and morally questionable in the original series to the point that not even Steve would fall for his Faux Affably Evil act. Here, he is a nice guy with some anger issues and doesn't want to seen as big and bad, and is good friends with the three little pigs.
  • Downplayed with Gopher. He was never hostile in the first place, but became more friendly in the reboot version of "What's So Funny?", "Laugh with Blue", as his rivalry with the host was completely removed and he appears to be on good terms with Josh.
• Affectionate Parody:
  • "Into the Blueniverse" is one for Star Trek. Here we see the protagonists on a space trip through the "Blueniverse", on a mission to find Magenta's lost spaceship. As bonus points, Josh is wearing a parody of the Starfleet Command cadet uniform and puts glasses on the viewer similar to the VISOR that Geordi La Forge wears.
  • "The Wizard of Skidoo" is one for The Wizard of Oz. Instead of venturing through Oz, here Josh and Blue are taken to Skidooland. Here they must follow a golden-striped path wanting to find the cool and awsome Wizard of Skidoo, and helping a scarecrow, a tin box and a lion along the way and looking for a way to get back home.
• Art Evolution: The original show was already heavily done using computer animation, but it manifested as akin to paper cutouts scanned into the computer and given simplistic movements; only Blue was fully animated. This show replicates much of the style of the original while having a refinement of the tools and functions available for the characters and environments, adding more depth with shading (including ones cast by Josh) along with a higher frame rate.
• Art Shift: Downplayed Trope. Whenever they skidoo from Storybook World to places located in the "real world" like New York and Mexico City, the settings become less cartoonish and more photorealistic, although the characters' artstyle remain the same.
• Ascended Extra:
  • Magenta made more frequent appearances in the reboot, even having her own version of Blue's Clues called "Magenta's Clues' and her backstory expanded by her owner Miranda.
  • Purple Kangaroo and Orange Kitten have much more participation in this version, especially since most of the members of Blue's school had been Adapted Out.
  • Downplayed with Snail compared to the other characters in the series, but she started to be recognized by the other characters, has an entire planet based on her, and is the answer to Blue's Clues in one episode, complete with talking for the first time in the franchise outside of a musical number.
  • The viewer. Originally, they were just the voices that helped Steve find the clues, but little by little they gained more participation in the plot and more interactions with the main characters. Becoming a clue once, getting titles in special episodes, being the answers to Blue's Clues in "Blue and Little Rainbow Riding Hood" and finally having an emotional reunion with Steve and Joe in the movie.
• Aspect Ratio Switch: In "Blue Makes a Movie With YOU!", the aspect ratio switches from 16:9 to 21:9 when Blue's movie is finally shown off. The same thing happens in "If You Don't See It, Be It!".
• Banana Peel: Averted. Josh nearly slips on a banana peel in "Josh's Crummy Day" while jumping rope. Fortunately, Shovel and Pail stop him.
• Bedsheet Ghost: On the halloween episode "The Ghost of the Living Room" is Josh realizing that a white cloth-like ghost is haunting the house living room. It turns out not to be a real ghost, but rather Periwinkle in disguise.
• Birthday Episode:
  • "Happy Birthday, Blue!" where once again we need to find out what gift Blue wants to receive for her birthday
  • "It's YOUR Birthday" where members of the Blue's Clues house celebrate the viewer's birthday.
• Bespectacled Cutie: The style of the series makes it practically impossible for any character in the series to not be this trope:
  • Steve now wears glasses, and has the same adorable dork energy as in the original series.
  • Mo Snow, a talking snowman, with Round Hippie Shades and friendly, playful behavior and adorable design.
  • Magenta, like in the original series, gets glasses here and is a Precious Puppy.
  • Periwinkle's grandfather Mauve, who wears glasses and is a Cute Kitten.
  • Pearl, Blue's classmate, is partially blind and has nystagmus, which is why she needs to wear glasses. She is also an adorable bunny.
• Black Boss Lady: The Neighborhood Firefighter, Frankie, is a Black woman who is also very competent and patient, and perhaps the most responsible adult in the neighborhood.
• Blue Means Cold: The skidoo world dubbed “The House of Mo Snow” is made completely of ice. The owner, Mo Snow, is an anthropomorphic snowman who wears blue clothes and has a thermometer guitar in a shocking shade of blue.
• Bunnies for Cuteness: Blue's new classmate Pearl is an adorable little white bunny with albinism.
• Blind People Wear Sunglasses: Pearl has partial blindness and wears sunglasses when outside.
• Call-Back:
  • The present store Joe works at was a location in the original series.
  • "The Smelly Smell" reveals that Avocado persused a career as a DJ after losing the election to Billy Chicken in "Blue's New Pet".
  • In "Rock On! Rainbow Puppy" the electric guitar that Josh uses throughout the episode was the Christmas present he received in "A Blue Christmas with You!". Just like Blue's Puppy Piano that was the answer to Blue's Clues.
  • In "Into the Blueniverse", Josh asks Mr. Salt for the bin of recycling for "rocket ship parts". Mr. Salt is confused at first, but quickly realizes what's going on, calling back to when he learned to use his imagination in "Blue's Big Imagination".
  • In "Hotel Blue", the answer to Blue's Clues is the cow plushie Periwinkle got for Magenta in "Blue's Mystery Present".
• The Calls Are Coming from Inside the House: Parodied in "The Smelly Smell" where it's a Visible Odor that's coming from inside the house to the horror of Mrs. Pepper, Blue, and Josh.
• Canon Foreigner: Aly. While Periwinkle appeared in the original series, his owner was never mentioned or even referenced to the point where it was thought he lived alone. Aly was created to fill this role.
• Chair Reveal: At the end of "The Case of The Missing Thinking Chair" Steve and Josh ask who bothered to move the Thinking Chair to the backyard. A familiar voice can be heard and the chair rolls, revealing Joe as the episode's conspirator.
• Chekhov's Gun: In "Blue's Wish Comes True!", Josh finds a lucky coin in the Wishing Woods. Later, he uses it to make a wish on a fountain, saying it really wound up being lucky after all.
• Christmas Episode:
  • "Blue's Night Before Christmas" in Season 2, where Josh needs to find out what Blue want to do for Christmas.
  • "A Blue Christmas With You!" in Season 4, where they need to find out where a missing Santa Claus is before midnight.
• Color Character: Downplayed with Pearl. She'a pearl white bunny, but the name is not as obvious as her peers.
• Color Motif:
  • "Meet Josh!" shows us that Steve is green, Joe is purple and Josh is blue.
  • Each of the human neighbors is also associated with a specific color. Miranda here is associated with magenta, Camila with purple, Aly with pink, Fire Chief Frank with black and Marlon with yellow.
  • Downplayed with Rainbow Puppy, which represents the entire rainbow, as her name suggests, but is usually associated with shades of yellow and gold.
• Confetti Drop: In "Hide and Seek with Blue", when the protagonists win the game of Snail & Seek they are celebrated with an explosion of confetti from above while receiving the Golden Snail trophy.
• Continuity Cameo: Steve and Joe appear in "Meet Josh!" on Josh's phone.
• Continuity Nod:
  • In "Playdate with Magenta", Mr. Salt says that he was a clue once, a reference to "Blue's News". Funnily enough, one episode later, this happens again in "Big News with Blue", since it's a remake of that episode.
  • In "123s with Blue", Mailbox shows his stamp collection, and also states that Steve helped him start it. The collection itself is also filled with stamps that were on letters in the original series.
  • "ABC's with Blue" reveals that A Really Great Book is about a boy and his dog on a boat paddling as fast as they can to escape a giant wave, a reference to both "Blue's News" and "Big News with Blue".
  • In "The Thinking Squad", Mr. Salt makes ice pops that will be ready at 2:00, a reference to "Blue's Surprise at 2 O'clock".
  • In "Blue's Mystery Present", Mrs. Pepper buys maracas for Mr. Salt, stating he "loves to shake shake shake", a fact previously revealed in "Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper Day".
  • During their rendition of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" in Bluestock, Joe brings out his stuffed duck Boris which made a couple of appearances during the original show.
  • In "Knights of the Snack Table", the clues are a cup, a cow and chocolate. Josh says that cows make milk, and he knows for a fact that you can drink milk from a cup, a direct reference to both "Snack Time" and "Meet Josh!".
  • In "Hotel Blue", everyone sleeps in the treehouse they built in "Building with Blue''.
• Cool Old Lady: Lola who is Josh's grandmother, who is an incredible cook and even better singer.
• Couch Gag: Along with the what's in the Skidoo Frame being different in every episode like in the original, what's in the felt frame (which is now in shot) is also different.
• Creative Closing Credits: The credits generally follow the same formula as the original series, but the visuals now correlate to what happened in the episode.
• Crossover: Some of the online shorts have featured other Nick Jr. characters such as Abby Hatcher and Molly from Bubble Guppies coming over to the Blue's Clues house for Halloween.
• Cue O'Clock: In both the original and this iteration, Tickety Tock, who is a sentient alarm clock, has the ability to display a symbol related to whatever's happening in the episode in the 12 position.
• A Day in the Limelight: Following the tradition of the original series, many of the episodes focus on our protagonists solving problems for their different friends, while these friends have their personalities explored.
  • "A Blue’s Clues Festival of Lights" for Periwinkle; Here we discover a lot of information about Periwinkle that was never revealed in the original series such as the fact that he is Jewish, his family and his owner, and some of what his life in the big city with his grandfather was like.
  • "Blue's Mystery Present" to Joe; where together with Josh and Blue we discover what Joe's day-to-day life is like at the Present Store, including playing Blue's Clues on his old Handy-Dandy Notebook.
  • "Mailtime Mystery" for Mailbox, where Josh and Blue are playing at being postmen like he is and need to find out who the mysterious letter he received was addressed to. At the end of the episode, the answer is Mailbox himself, and the letter contains a video of Steve, Joe and Rainbow Puppy singing about how grateful they are for Mailbox helping them.
  • "Tickety's Big Musical Morning" for Tickety Tock; In this episode she is the one who welcomes us, as we watch her waking everyone up and organizing the house's schedule, and the game of Blue's Clues is about figuring out what special moment she's hoping for that day.
  • "A Tale of Shovel & Pail" for Shovel and Pail, here the Brother–Sister Team fight because they disagree on how to finish their book which makes Josh determined to help them reconcile.
  • "Magenta Thank You Day Surprise" for Magenta and her owner Miranda, where we discover their backstory about how Magenta was Miranda's first friend during her childhood and play Magenta's Clues instead of the usual Blue's Clues game.
  • "The Return of the Thinking Squad" for Cinnamon, where he becomes the series' first real villain, as opposed to the Thinking Squad, our protagonists' heroic team. Ironically, while he's on screen the entire time he is only revealed to be the episode's focus character at the end of the episode.
  • "The Big Blue Derby" for Slippery Soap; here he has his one-sided rivalry with his cousin Slick explored, and we follow him through the titular Blue Derby. The Blue's Clues game here is about how Josh could help Slippery win the race.
  • "Pearl's Kickball Championship" for Pearl; Here she helps us play Blue's clues to find out how to make the game of Kickball more accessible to her, as she is partially blind, in addition to being revealed as one of the best kickball players in the neighborhood.
  • "The Mystery of the Missing Thinking Chair" for Steve; When the Thinking Chair disappears Josh seeks Steve's help to find out where it is, here we see many references to the original series such as the turtle Turquoise, Steve's old phone and his Handy-Dandy Notebook, as well as revealing a little about what his life is like at the Blue Prints agency, including his office colleagues.
• Defrosting the Ice Queen: Greasy Spoon in "Josh's Crummy Day". She starts out as an apathetic employee at the Bad Day Café, but seeing the displays of goodwill from our protagonists and Raincloud, mixed with the newly formed friendship of two people who were also having a bad day, causes her to completely change her outlook of the world. The episode ends with her dancing happily alongside Josh to a song about how you can always make a bad day better.
• Demoted to Extra:
  • Baby Bear used to be one of Blue's best friends in the original series, but in the reboot she was only present in 3 episodes (with one of them being a skidoo frame cameo).
  • Downplayed with Paprika. In the original series, Paprika as the first baby of the Spice family had a lot of focus, had her own minigames in the series' licensed games, and her own arc about becoming a big sister. On the reboot however, while she is still there, she is probably the friend with the least focus, with most of her scenes being focused on her family, while the other shakers have their own scenes where their family does not appear or are mentioned. As of 2024, Paprika and Sidetable are the only members of the yellow house to not have their own focus episode.
• "Down Here!" Shot: Done at the beginning of "Tickety's Big Musical Morning", with Tickety opening the door for the viewers.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: At the beginning of the series, Blue and the other characters were animated in a low framerate, giving off the appearance of stop motion. This was quickly dropped after a couple episodes.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles:
  • Blue's paw print leaves sparkles when she first marks it on the screen to start the game of Blue's Clues.
  • When someone skidoo they will usually be accompanied by an aura of sparkling swirls usually with their characteristic colors.
• Everyone Is a Super: The effect of the "Super City" skidoo world where everyone who transports gains the powers of their superhero personas. Josh (or Song Man) gains song powers, Tickety (or Clock Girl) the ability to slow down time, Slippery (or Super Soap) gains the ability to create bubble shields, Blue (or Super Blue) gains the ability to fly and Cinnamon (AKA: Villain Ice) gains the ability to freeze anything.
• "Everyone Is Gone" Episode: In "Josh and Blue's Ice Cream Shoppe", everyone seems to have disappeared, much to Josh's disappointment after wanting to open an ice cream stand. It turns out they were all attending a Summer party at the beach, and Mailbox failed to bring Josh his invitation on time.
• Evolving Credits:
  • After "Big News With Blue", Sage and Ginger appear in the opening with the rest of the spice family.
  • After "Getting Glasses With Magenta", Magenta appears in the opening with her glasses.
  • Starting in the third season, Periwinkle appears in the intro.
• Expressive Ears: Blue's ears are all droopy in "Sad Day with Blue" because of her being sad.
• Fake Interactivity: Just like the original, the show gets the viewers to participate in activities with the characters. Also like the original, the voices of children are inserted in case you don't feel like talking to your television.
• Fake Mystery: In the episode "The Mystery of the Missing Thinking Chair" where Blue helps Josh and Steve find the Thinking Chair that they think was abducted. In the end, it was all just a plan by Joe to lure Josh and Steve, with clues and a mystery, to his backyard barbecue.
• Farm Boy: In this version, the skidoo world of the farm is expanded and we see some of its citizens:
  • The Banjo Bunny Band, a country music band that is Josh's favorite, made up of three adorable stuffed rabbits.
  • The Farmer Goat, a small vegetable goat that sells the plant-based products that Mrs Pepper uses in the house's kitchen.
  • Tractor T. a sentient and friendly tractor, who is the caretaker of the farm animals that Josh and Blue visit from time to time.
• Firefighting Episode: "Firefighter Blue to the Rescue!" where in the middle of an emergency training an accident occurs causing Josh and Blue to follow the neighborhood Fire Chief, Frankie, in a training to become firefighter assistants. At the same time, she looks for a way to fix the siren on her fire truck friend, Fiery Truck.
• Fleeting Demographic Rule: "Meet Josh!" is similar to the plot of "Joe Gets A Clue" from the original series, in which the older hosts teach the new host how to play the titular game. It is also similar to "Snack Time", the original series premiere, as both episodes involve figuring out what Blue wants to eat.
• Floating in a Bubble: Josh and Blue are seen floating in a bubble in the fourth season first episode "Blue's Wishes Come True!", as they adventure through the Wishing Woods.

• The Glasses Gotta Go: Magenta has somehow ditched her purple-framed glasses from the original show despite needing them in "Magenta Gets Glasses". However, gets them again later in this reboot series in the remake "Getting Glasses with Magenta". Also played straight with her first plush toy release for the series, which does not include the glasses. As of September 2020, this remains true, with both her model figure and another plush toy still not having the glasses.
• Greasy Spoon: "Josh's Crummy Day" has a literal Greasy Spoon, being the attendant at the Bad Day Café, a giant anthropomorphic spoon wearing clothes that have probably seen better days.
• Halloween Episode: They have one at the first half of every season.
  • "Spooky Costume Party with Blue", in season 1, where they throw a costume party but Magenta doesn't know what to wear.
  • "Blue's Big Costume Parade" in season 2 is decidedly less Halloween-themed, but centers around the characters dressing up for a parade, with Josh trying to guess what Blue is going to dress up as.
  • "The Ghost Of The Living Room", in season 3, where a ghost apparently haunts their living room and Josh wants to find out who he is.
  • "The Legend of the Jack-o-Lantern", in season 4, where they try to summon a Halloween spirit during a festival
• Happy Birthday to You!: Sung in "Happy Birthday, Blue!"
  "Happy Birthday, Blue! Happy Birthday to You!"
  • Also sung in "It's YOUR Birthday!"
• I Always Wanted to Say That: Before singing the "Mailtime" song for the first time, Josh comments "I can't believe I get to sing this song."
• I Can't Hear You: Mishearing the voice saying "a clue" returns from the original series. For example, for the final clue in "Meet Josh!", Josh hears "cock-a-doodle-doo" and imitates a rooster.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Unlike the original show, all the episode titles are named with a theme:
  • Season 1 episodes generally follow the subject "[Episode subject] with Blue" or simply [Episode subject] with [character]" (especially the former). The only exceptions to date are "Meet Josh!" (the first episode), "Happy Birthday, Blue!", "The Thinking Squad", and "Bluestock".
  • Episodes in Season 2 tend to follow the format "Blue's [Episode subject]" or "Blue's Big [Episode subject]".
• Inexplicably Identical Individuals: "The Case of the Missing Thinking Chair" reveals that there are at least three identical Purple Kangaroos and Orange Kittens in the neighborhood, which may or may not be related.
• Internal Homage: Quite a few episodes pay homage to classic episodes or music from the series, and the ending credits give thanks to the staff that worked on the original episodes. For example, Josh's first Skidoo is into a farm, where there are some rather familiar shots from the first episode of the series.
• Level Ate: At Santa Claus' factory, almost all the objects are made up of different types of candy, including gingerbread houses, candy canes who are taller than a person, and rocks made from jelly beans.
• Little Green Men: The citizens from the planet Snail, or Snaliens, from the episode “Into the Blueniverse” are little green snails, which really fascinates Josh.
• Lovable Jock:
  • Miranda. She is more athletic than Josh is, her main interest is soccer and she is a kind and caring woman.
  • Magenta, like her owner, is a great soccer player, although a little anxious about her abilities. She is also a Precious Puppy who used to be her owner's only friend.
  • Pearl is the best kickball player in the neighborhood and is an adorable and very friendly bunny.

M to Z

• Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: While Miranda is not a Tomboy in the traditional sense, she is an athletic girl with high stamina who is quite determined, compared to the artistic, kind, and anxious guy that Josh is.
• The Movie: Blue's Big City Adventure which is a celebration of the franchise's 25th anniversary.
• Musical Episode: "Bluestock", the reboot version of the episode of the same name from the original series, where several iconic songs from the original series are sung.
• Musical Nod:
  • When Josh calls Steve and Joe on his phone, their ringtones play a few notes from their opening themes.
  • When someone calls Josh, his ringtone plays a few notes from the reboot's opening theme.
  • In "Blue's Mystery Present", when Joe gives Josh his old notebook to use (as Josh didn't bring his), the first few notes of Joe's opening theme play.
• Mystery Episode:
  • "Mystery of the Missing Pies" is a homage to noir detective films, in which with the help of the "Detective Gopher" they help Mr. Salt find out who "stole" his pies.
  • Again in "The Mystery of the Missing Thinking Chair" where the Thinking Chair disappears and Josh, with Steve's help, needs to find out where it is. Including Joe as the "villain" of the episode.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In "Meet Josh!", Steve is revealed to have opened Blue Prints Detective Agency. Blue Prints was the name of the original 1995 pilot of the original series.
  • In "The Thinking Squad" and "Return of the Thinking Squad", Josh refers to the Handy Dandy Notebook as the "Super Duper Notebook", which may be a reference to the UK adaptation of the original show.
• Negative Continuity:
  • In the original series' episode "Blue's Birthday", Blue gets a pet turtle named Turquoise. In the reboot's remake "Happy Birthday, Blue!", she gets her again. This is Handwaved in "The Mystery of the Missing Thinking Chair" which reveals that Steve keeps the original Turquoise in his office.
  • In the original series' episode "Magenta Gets Glasses", Magenta gets her purple-framed glasses and wears them for the rest of the original series. In the reboot's remake "Getting Glasses with Magenta", she gets them again.
  • In the original series' episode "Imagine Nation", Mr. Salt didn't understand about everyone imagining. In the reboot's remake "Blue's Big Imagination", he didn't understand about it again.
  • In the original series' episode "Blue's Big Mystery", Periwinkle moved to the Blue's Clues neighborhood for the very first time. In the reboot's first third season episode "Our New Neighbor", he moved to the Blue's Clues neighborhood again. It is unknown if he briefly moved back to his old home for a while, then came back to the Blue's Clues neighborhood, or if the two versions are even the same character.
• New Baby Episode: "Big News With Blue" has Josh play Blue's Clues to figure out the big news about Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper. The clues are Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, and a bottle. The news is that the spice family has new twin babies, Sage and Ginger. This premise is very similar to the episode of the original series about Paprika's birth, right down to having the same clues.
• "Nighthawks" Shot: The Bad Day Café in "Josh's Crummy Day", where the customers and employees are people who are having a bad day, but are helped by the protagonists. Interestingly, it's one of the only skidoo worlds that Josh doesn't seem to recognize.
• Non-Standard Character Design:
  • In this version, the "Puppies" are animated in 3D as opposed to the 2D animation of the other recurring characters. This is justified, since the magical puppies don't come from Storybook World.
  • Pearl, Blue's school friend, has large trembling Innocent Blue Eyes that highlight her among the 2D characters who have Black Bead Eyes, to highlight her blindness and albinism.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up:
  • Once again averted with Paprika and Cinnamon, the latter now wearing a snapback shaker cap to reflect that he's gotten a bit older.
  • On the contrary, Blue's had how many birthdays by now and she's still considered a "puppy"?^note It's unknown how long the Time Skip is, but assuming it's going by the year Blue's Clues left off, the gap was definitely a lot more than just a few years. However, the fact that there is a town named Puppyville, which was her younger brother's home, and an adult "puppy", Rainbow Puppy, may imply that "Puppy" is the name of her species, and not an indication of age.
• Orange/Blue Contrast: Marlon wears an orange apron from his store while Josh and Blue are associated with the color blue. He's also acting as the citizen in danger, while Josh is the knight in shining armor who rescues him.
• The Parody Before Christmas: "Blue's Night Before Christmas" has Josh reading a spin on 'Twas the Night Before Christmas throughout the episode.
• Pajama-Clad Hero: Both Josh and Blue are in their pajamas throughout "Pajama Party with Blue" naturally.
• Phoneaholic Teenager: Paprika is always seen with her Graham cracker phone or some type of technology and loves taking photos and videos, but is not dependent on technology and usually uses her phone to have fun with other members of the house.
• Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Aly, Miranda and to a lesser extent Camila are associated with the color pink/magenta while the series host, Josh, is a boy who wears blue clothing.
• Private Detective: Steve is now the founder of the Blue Prints Detective Agency and even dresses up like one. Gopher is also revealed to be a detective in "The Mystery of the Missing Pies", and has the voice to boot.
• Punny Name: Like its predecessor, many of this series' characters have meaningful pun-based names.
  • In "Blue's Big Beat Band", the female Banjo player in the Banjo Bunny Band is named Bunny Jo, which is a pun on the word Banjo.
  • In "Blue Night Before Christmas", Josh shows us the gift Joe gave Blue the previous year, a penguin music box named Carol. He then tells her "Merry Christmas, Carol!", making the pun more obvious.
  • In "Blue's Snowy Day Surprise" Josh wishes for more snow to fall and wonders where the snow comes from, then a talking snowman arises from the skidoo frame and says it looks like he wishes for more snow so he is here to help, his name? Mo Snow.
  • Mr Salt's father, Grandfather Thyme. His name is subject to many time-based puns. His own introduction in the series is Aunt Nutmeg saying she's lost the time, and him telling her not to worry because he's already here
• Quieter Than Silence: In "Josh's and Blue's Ice Cream Shoppe", Josh announces the opening of their ice cream stand, only for no one to be around. Then a tumbleweed rolls past.
• Race Lift: Heavily Discussed in "If You Don't See It, Be It!" where Periwinkle wants to play a role in a movie that's traditionally played by a dog. In the end, he gets the part he wanted, with the message of the episode being that race shouldn't limit your horizons.
• Random Species Offspring: Sage and Ginger. Although their names can be justified by them being condiment dispensers rather than spice types, Sage and Ginger are still different types of dispensers from the rest of the family, being bottles rather than shakers, implying that they may be adopted.
• Revisiting the Roots: Downplayed. There were a few things that were brought back from the early seasons of the original series.
  • "We Just Figured Out Blue's Clues" song returns from the first 4 seasons of the original series after its absence from the last 2 seasons of that series.
  • "The So Long Song" returns from the first 5 seasons of the original series after its absence from the final season of that series.
  • The full version of "Play Blue's Clues" returns from the first 5 seasons of the original series.
  • Standing up in the striped background before singing "Play Blue's Clues" returns from the first two seasons of the original series.
  • Guessing wrong answers to the Blue's Clues game returns from the first two seasons of the original series.
  • The music clues return from the first 5 seasons of the original series after their absences from the second half of the fifth season and final season of that series.
• Screen Tap:
  • Blue licks the screen at the end of "Laugh With Blue." She also did it in "Happy Birthday, Blue!", "Bluestock", "Blue's Night Before Christmas", "Blue's Show and Tell Surprise", and "Our New Neighbor".
  • Blue and Magenta both lick the screen twice in "Getting Glasses With Magenta".
  • Blue licks the screen in the show's intro sequence.
• Sentient Vehicle: This version of the series introduces us to several of these:
  • "Blue's Show and Tell Surprise" introduces us to School Bus, which as the name implies is a sentient school bus. Later in the film a new variation of it called "Skidoo Express" would be revealed, being one of the ways that people from Storybook World visit the "real world" (if they are not bothered by the risks to all living beings that he brings when he drives).
  • "The Legend of the Jack O'Lantern" introduces us to Tractor T., an employee from the farm who Blue and his friends frequently skidoo whose job is to care for animals.
  • "Firefighter Blue to the Rescue!" introduces us to Fiery Truck, the local fire truck and Fire Chief Frankie's assistant, curiously like Sidetable when she's not talking, she switches to an "inanimate form" with no face.
  • "Josh and Blue's Ice Cream Shoppe" introduces us to Jingles, the ice cream truck, she a gentle overexcited truck, who not only can skidoo but also teaches Josh and Blue (with help from Scoops) how to make ice cream the simple way.
  • "Rock On, Rainbow Puppy!" introduces us to the Tour Bus, Rainbow Puppy's personal bus, which she uses to move to real-world locations that couldn't be accessed normally.
  • "Josh Visits the Philippines!" (or “Kamusta, Philippines!”) reveals Jeepney, Tour Bus' cousin, who guides Josh, Blue and Rainbow Puppy around the Philippines.
• Secondary Color Nemesis: Inverted. As a villain Cinnamon was associated with shades of blue while his heroic persona is associated with the color brown (which is a shade of orange).
• Sequel Episode: "Return of the Thinking Squad" is one for "The Thinking Squad" where once again the Thinking Squad comes together, this time to face a real enemy.
• Shout-Out:
  • Josh sings a parody of The Romantics' "What I Like About You" in "What I Like About Blue".
  • In "Into the Blueniverse", Josh gets an email from Sidetable, appearing as a hologram telling them to hurry because they're their only hope.
  • One episode is titled "Night at the Blueseum".
  • "Return of the Thinking Squad" introduces a character named "Villain Ice", who in the same episode, gets a rap number. When he's revealed to be Cinnamon, he changes the name to "Ice Spice".
  • In "The Smelly Smell":
    • Slippery and Slick form a team called the Smellbusters. Josh and Blue join later to complete the quartet.
    • The title itself may be a reference to SpongeBob SquarePants' first episode, "Help Wanted", where Mr. Krabs smells a school of anchovies, and describes it as "A smelly smell that smells smelly."
  • In "Blue's Treasure of Clue Lagoon", Josh wears a large fedora throughout the episode, and has a coil of rope attached to his jeans, making him a dead ringer for Indiana Jones.
• Sick Episode: "Getting Healthy with Blue" where Josh is sick.
• Singing Telegram: Mailbox gives one to Josh in "Josh's Crummy Day" where he sings about how he wishes Josh's day would get better.
• Small Parent, Huge Child: Downplayed. While Mr. Salt is not really huge, he is noticeably larger than Grandfather Thyme, his father.
• Space Episode: "Into the Blueniverse", the seventeenth episode of the third season, is an Affectionate Parody of Star Trek, where Josh, Blue and Magenta, intent on finding Magenta's remote-controlled ship, venture into the "Blueniverse", a skidoo world that basically works like space, with themed planets for each member of the house, a civilization of adorable snail aliens named "Snaliens" and the Thinking Chair becoming a spaceship.
• Special Edition Title:
  • In "Pajama Party With Blue", the sun sets halfway through the intro, and it becomes night. "Spooky Costume Party With Blue" does the same, except jack-o-lanterns can be seen briefly near the end.
  • "Blue's Night Before Christmas" and "A Blue Christmas With You!" have the entire intro set in Winter, complete with Josh wearing a scarf.
  • "Thankful With Blue" has the intro set in Fall.
  • "Knights of the Snack Table " has the neighborhood decorated like a medieval town.
  • "The Legend of the Jack O'Lantern" has the intro set in Fall, and the neighborhood decked out in Halloween decorations.
  • "Josh and Blue's Ice Cream Shoppe" has the intro set in Summer, with lawn flamingos in the front yard.
• Special Thanks: In the remake episodes, the credits give thanks to the crew who worked on the episode of which it's based on.
• Studio Audience: Just like the original show, offscreen children's voices would shout out the answer or point out a found clue.
• Suddenly Voiced: Gopher talks in "Mystery of the Missing Pies", where he is voiced by John Cleland doing a mid-Atlantic accent.
• Superhero Episode: "The Thinking Squad" and again the "Return of the Thinking Squad" which is also the first time the series has an actual antagonist named "Villain Ice"
• Superpowered Evil Side: Cinnamon AKA "Villain Ice" has the honor of being the first canonical villain of two series, a spin off, 10 seasons and 2 movies. Wearing a robot suit that gives him ice powers. Downplayed because he's not really evil, he just wants to be the villain for Thinking Squad's hero story.
• Surprise Party: In "Our New Neighbor," the question of Blue's Clues is what to do in order to make Periwinkle feel better about moving to the neighborhood. The answer is to throw him a party, which turns out to be a surprise party, as they don't tell him about in advance, then call him over and pop up out yelling "Surprise!"
• Thanksgiving Episode: "Thankful with Blue" which is a remake/update of the episode "Thankful" from the original series. Here while organizing the house Thanksgiving dinner, Josh wants to find out what Blue is grateful for.
• Theme Tune Roll Call: In the extended theme. "Tickety Tock, Slippery Soap, Shovel and Pail, Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, and Cinnamon, Paprika... and, oh hey, Magenta!"
• Third-Person Person: Polka Dots almost always refers to himself in the third person.
  Polka Dots: "Polka Dots needs something else."
• Time Skip: 13 years after the original series ended, Steve has graduated college and now runs a detective agency, and Joe works at the Present Store.
• Tiny Guy, Huge Girl:
  • Marlon is the tiny guy to Frankie Huge girl. Of Josh's human friends, he is noticeably the shortest while Frankie is the tallest. He is also shorter than Miranda and Camila, but is Downplayed in comparison
  • Grandfather Thyme, Mr. Salt's Dad is the Tiny Guy to all the adult women in the Spice family huge girls.
• Title Theme Tune: Quoted above.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In "Sad Day with Blue", Magenta replaces Green Puppy as the character who Blue had a falling out with at school, though it's more played out as being oblivious to her actions than being a bully.
• Toontown: The Skidoo world "Silly Town", appears to be where different types of cartoons (from multiple different skidoo worlds) can live together, being silly. As Josh points out, Silly Town makes no sense at all and defies the laws of logic even more than the other locations in Storybook World.
• Trailers Always Spoil:
  • Most promos for the show usually end up spoiling the answer to Blue's Clues for eagle-eyed viewers.
  • Steve and Joe's guest appearance in "Blue's Night Before Christmas" was played out to be a surprise for the viewers in the episode itself. However, promotional material for the episode focused on this heavily, and the surprise factor was lost for many because of it.
• Treasure Hunt Episode: "Blue's Treasure of Clue Lagoon". Which also marks the first time in the series that Rainbow Puppy participates in a game of Blue's Clues.
• Vague Age: Both Josh, Joe and Steve are hit hard by this trope, as an image from Blue's 1st birthday shows the three of them as children the same age, even though Joe was a baby when Blue skidoo out of her book for the first time and the actor of Josh is more than a decade younger than the actors of Steve and Joe ^note  Although Blue being a Reality Warper who can break the fourth wall could explain things, as she has at times have been able of skidooing to movies, videos and recordings .
• Valentine's Day Episode: "What I Like About Blue" that brings back "Love Day" from original series.
• Very Special Episode: "If You Don't See It, Be It!" focuses on racism and stereotyping.
• Wham Line: When Josh doesn't know what Blue wants with her snack:
  Josh: Maybe, I should call my cousins!
• Wham Shot: When Josh shows off his notebook/phone he shows two icons... of Steve and Joe.

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Now it's time for so long...
But we're gonna sing one more song
Thanks for doing your part
You sure are smart, you sure worked hard
When you use your mind,
Take a step at a time,
You can do anything
That you wanna do!

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