Barney in Outer Space

Barney in Outer Space is a 1998 direct-to-video Barney Home Video that was released on March 17, 1998. Directed by Fred Holmes and written by Stephen White.

Plot[]

Keesha, Robert, Chip, and Kim just joined the astronomy club at school, run by the science teacher, Miss Kepler. The children are eager to see the planets through the telescope, and Miss Kepler sleepily tells them they would see Mars in twenty minutes. Miss Kepler then takes a nap in her chair. Keesha looks through the telescope and finds Barney. The other children run to greet their purple friend. Then, Barney and the children look at the stars. Afterwards, Kim looks through the telescope to find an unusual planet. On that planet, there is a little girl, and she is waving at them. When Chip, Keesha and Robert want to take a look too, they end up disorganizing the telescope's position and Kim is unable to find the right spot. Undaunted, Kim and the others decide that they should meet the young girl, so Barney transforms Robert's toy rocket into a very big one. Space suits magically appear on the children. Then, Barney and the children go inside the rocket, countdown to blastoff, then fly off to the unusual planet they saw.

While they are flying through space, Barney explains there is no air in space, no day or night, and that there is no gravity. Then, astronaut Kenneth S. Reightler, Jr. pays a visit to talk about NASA. Afterwards, the children see if they can find astronauts on the moon, and they see Baby Bop, with her blankey as the flag. Barney tells Chip to bring her in, and then Baby Bop joins the journey. After a while, BJ joins the journey, and soon they arrive at the planet they saw through the telescope.

Then, they meet the girl, whose name is Meebeedeep. Meebeedeep shows the kids around her planet, shows them her toy robot, and Baby Bop teaches her "The Itsy-Bitsy Spider". Then the kids discover a plant called the tickle tree, which tickles you every time you go near it. After a while, Barney and the children have to leave, but they promise they will come back and visit. Then Barney and the kids fly back to earth to go home, and sing "I Love You". The children wake up Miss Kepler from her nap and then they talk about how fun their trip to space was, so she persuades the kids to look into the telescope. As the video ends with Chip looking into the telescope again, he sees Barney transformed back into a doll.

Cast[]

• Barney (Voice: Bob West, Costume: David Joyner)
• Baby Bop (Voice: Julie Johnson, Costume: Jeff Ayers)
• BJ (Voice: Patty Wirtz, Costume: Jeff Brooks)
• Kim (Erica Rhodes)
• Keesha (Mera Baker)
• Robert (Angel Velasco)
• Chip (Lucien Douglas)
• Miss Kepler (Gene Raye Price)
• Ken Reightler
• Meebeedeep (Alex Saxon)
• Meebeedeep's Robot (Costume/Voice: Pia Manalo)

Songs[]

1. "Barney Theme Song"
2. "The Adventure Song"
3. "Star Light, Star Bright"
4. "Mr. Star"*
5. "The Rocket Song"*
6. "Floating Together So Free"
7. "Way Up in Outer Space"
8. "Hey Diddle Diddle"
9. "The Sun"
10. "We Are Little Robots"
11. "Itsy Bitsy Spider"
12. "Laugh With Me!"*
13. "No Matter Where They Are"
14. "Help Protect the Earth"
15. "I Love You"

NOTE: Songs marked with an asterisk indicates that it was instrumentally played during the end credits

Marketing[]

Sweepstakes[]

Consumers who purchased Barney in Outer Space were entered to win a trip for four to the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. A game piece inside each cassette box alerted the winners. A NASA space shuttle toy with a picture of Barney was also bundled with the cassettes as an added incentive.^[1]

Trailer[]

The trailer for this video appeared on two Groundling Marsh videos from Lyrick Studios (Treasures are for Sharing and Courageous Adventures), and also appeared on two Franklin videos from Polygram (Franklin Plays the Game and Franklin and the Secret Club). This is one of the few instances of a Barney trailer appearing on a non-Lyrick Studios video.

Release[]

Home media[]

Barney in Outer Space was released on March 17, 1998 at a suggested retail price of $14.95.^[1] During the month of its initial release in March 1998, it was in the top ten best-selling pre-recorded children's video.^[2]

Although Lyrick Studios intended to re-release this on DVD in late 1999,^[3] it was never released on DVD in North America. The video was, however, released internationally on DVD. The cancelled release was intended to include the following features:

• Barney In Outer Space Sing Along (Seven songs from the video with lyrics)
• Barney In Outer Space Read Along (The entire 24 page book presented electronically including dinosaur voices)
• I Love to Sing with Barney Song Sampler (Eight songs from the album)
• Barney In Outer Space DVD-ROM Games

Streaming[]

On May 27, 2022, the official Barney YouTube channel, managed by 9 Story Media Group at the time, uploaded Barney in Outer Space on the platform. The video uploaded by the channel came from a Barney fan upload on YouTube (which included before and after previews of the 1998 VHS release).

Releases[]

Gallery[]

Behind the scenes[]

Trivia[]

• This is one of Danielle Vega's two favorite Barney Home Videos, the other being Barney's Sense-Sational Day.
• This video marked:
  • The first appearance of Miss Kepler and the only time she appeared with Kim, Chip, and Robert. However, Barney would not be seen interacting with her until Barney's Halloween Party and Let's Go to the Zoo which were Miss Kepler's only other appearances.
  • The final appearance of the first Season 4 Barney costume.
  • Another time where no one says "goodbye" at the end of the video, but Barney changes back into a doll. Instead, the kids wake up Miss Kepler and talk about their space adventure with her and she formally begins the astronomy club activities.
  • The final home video to use the first version of the Lyrick Studios logo from 1997.
  • David Joyner's return to the Barney costume role after filming for Barney's Great Adventure wrapped.
  • The only appearances of Meebeedeep and Ken Reightler.
• While he hasn't seen the actual video, Esteban Grossy Paradela got the idea for Space Adventures when he saw the DVD cover at a store.
• The voice of Neil Armstrong can be heard (along with clips from the Man on the Moon 1969 coverage) during the "View Screen" segment.
• Pia Manalo (who played Min on Barney & Friends) takes over the role of Meebeedeep's Robot.
• Robert’s spacesuit would later reused in The Land of Make Believe.
• To stimulate Barney floating in zero gravity during the scene of "Floating Together So Free", the crew had to build an enormous rig in front of a green screen to fly and twist him around. The kids also used the rig for the scene.^[4]

Goofs[]

• On the screener, some visual and audio elements were a work in progress (especially the credits which had no music and was presented on a black background without scenes from the video as well as containing a different intro for the theme song). In that same version, Fred Holmes' name was misspelled as "Fred Holms" and it also had a 1997 copyright date which indicates it was produced that year. In the final version, it had a 1998 copyright date.
• Ken Reightler knew Robert’s name, even though they haven’t properly met.
• In the Spanish dub, the intro has the vocals from the shortened intro looped for some unknown reason.

Videos[]

Promos[]

See also[]

Other media[]

• Barney's Sing Along: In Outer Space - a sing-along cassette coinciding and containing a few songs from the video Barney in Outer Space. Released on May 18, 1999, it's the third of the Barney's Sing Along series of cassette tapes.
• Barney's Outer Space Adventure - Barney in Outer Space was adapted into a book titled Barney's Outer Space Adventure. Originally released in April 1999, the book was written by Mark S. Bernthal and illustrated by Robert Alvord.

References[]