The Best of Barney

The Best of Barney is a 2008 direct-to-video Barney Home Video that was released on September 9, 2008. Written by Cheryl Ammeter and the final home video to be directed by Jeff Gittle, this video commemorated the twentieth anniversary of Barney. Following Sing And Dance With Barney, this was the second video to commemorate an anniversary. Compared to that video that it was mainly a reunion, this was a clip show showcasing various footage from previous episodes and home videos of Barney & Friends.

Plot[]

Tracy gives her friends, including Barney, souvenirs from a trip to the beach. When Barney tries to put his shell in his memory box, it explodes, spreading memorable objects all across the park. Throughout the day, Barney and the kids meet up with Riff, Baby Bop, and BJ, while remembering great times with friends. From musical instruments to a globe hanger, the day is a memorable one. It even becomes more memorable when Mr. Boyd makes a return visit, as a photographer that Ryan and Emma know. Stella the Storyteller also returns to give Barney a memory book about most of his friends through the years. In the end, everything fits in the memory box and everything ends on a good note.

Cast[]

New Material[]

• Barney (Voice: Dean Wendt, Costume: Carey Stinson)
• Baby Bop (Voice: Julie Johnson, Costume: Jennifer Kendall)
• BJ (Voice: Patty Wirtz, Costume: Kyle Nelson)
• Riff (Voice: Michaela Dietz, Costume: Jerad Harris)
• Emma (Deborah Cole) (debut)
• Ryan (Reese Wilson)
• Tracy (Victoria Lennox)
• Mr. Boyd (Robert Sweatmon)
• Stella the Storyteller (Phyllis Cicero)
• Elephant (Costume: Josh Martin / Rick Starkweather)

Songs[]

1. "The Friendship Song"
2. "He Waded in the Water" (Scene taken from "Splish! Splash!")
3. "If I Lived Under the Sea" (Scene taken from Barney's Beach Party)
4. "William Tell Overture" (Scene taken from "Movement")
5. "Happy Dancin'" (Scene taken from "On Again, Off Again")
6. "I Hear Music Everywhere" (Scene taken from Let's Make Music)
7. "This Old Man" (Scene taken from "Play Piano with Me!")
8. Beethoven's Medley: ("Symphony No. 5", "Für Elise", "Moonlight Sonata", and "Ode to Joy") (Scene taken from "Beethoven's Hear!")
9. "Hickory Dickory Dock" (Scene taken from Can You Sing That Song?)
10. "Sing a Brand New Song" (Scene taken from "Little Red Rockin' Hood")
11. "Riding in a Race Car" (Scene taken from "On the Road Again")
12. "Here Comes the Firetruck" (Scene taken from Let's Go to the Fire House)
13. "It's Halloween Night Tonight" (Scene taken from "Guess Who?")
14. "The Elephant Song" (Scene taken from Let's Make Music)
15. "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (Scene taken from Let's Make Music)
16. "The Not-So-Magical Magician" (Scene taken from The Land of Make-Believe)
17. Hot and Cold Medley: "It's C-C Cold BRRRR!"/"Mister Sun" (Scene taken from "It's Hot! It's Cold!")
18. "Winter's Wonderful" (Scene taken from "Winter")
19. "Love is the Key" (Scene taken from Celebrating Around The World)
20. "I Will Always Remember You"
21. "I Love You"

Production[]

Filming for The Best of Barney occurred in early February 2008 at HIT Entertainment Studios in Carrollton, Texas. For The Best of Barney, the crew wanted to incorporate existing footage from previous episodes and videos of Barney & Friends, but they didn't want to go back too far fearing that the older scenes would've been jarring for the current audience at the time. Due to doing well in writing Let's Make Music, Cheryl Ammeter was tasked with writing the anniversary video. Ammeter was was given a list of clips to choose from when developing the script for the video while also finding various clips of her own. After it was decided what footage would be in use for the video, the framework was created so the script and video made sense.^[1]

Release[]

Home media[]

The Best of Barney was the first Barney video to be distributed by Lionsgate Home Entertainment (along with HIT Entertainment), as opposed to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment. The DVD release of the video was priced at $19.98.^[2] The Best of Barney was later re-released on October 1, 2014 by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment (along with HIT Entertainment) and again on July 3, 2018 by 9 Story Media Group and Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Special Features[]

The special features on the original release of The Best of Barney included the featurette "Barney's Favorite Memories", "I Love You Around The World" (which was a feature that saw Barney sing "I Love You" in various different languages), seven sing-along Barney songs, an episode of Fifi & the Flowertots titled "Fuzzbuzz's Big Race", a read-aloud of Barney's Book of Hugs, trailers and various games.

Releases[]

Front cover[]

Back cover[]

Gallery[]

Behind the scenes[]

Awards and nominations[]

Year	Award	Category	Result	Ref
2008	Dove Foundation	Seal of Approval	Won	[3]

Trivia[]

• Baby Bop and BJ make a reference to The Wizard of Oz when arriving in the park. She says to him, "I don't think we're in the park anymore.". Then, she asks where they are, and he says, "It looks like Kansas.".
• In the Spanish dub, Stella was given a different voice actress instead of having Maru Guzmán reprise the role from the Latin American dubbed version of the television series. It could either be assumed that her previous actress retired or couldn't reprise the role due to scheduling conflicts with other projects.
• Barney Wiki was founded on the same day that The Best of Barney was released.

Characters[]

• This video marked:
  • The first appearance of Emma portrayed by Deborah Cole.
  • The first appearance of the season twelve Barney & Friends Barney costume.
  • The second and only other video involving a cast reunion.
  • The final appearance of Mr. Boyd, the only time when he appeared with Stella the Storyteller, and the only time when he appeared with Riff.
  • After Stella the Storyteller had not appeared for eight years, since the episode, "You Are Special", she returns in this video. This also marks her final appearance, the only time when she visited the park, and the only time when she appeared with Mr. Boyd and Riff.
  • The first time Riff is performed by Jerad Harris.
  • The final video Baby Bop is performed by Jennifer Kendall.

Footage[]

• Footage from Once Upon A Time is the only footage of the video where Barney is not re-dubbed by Dean Wendt as Bob West's voice is still heard.
• The scene from Barney's Beach Party is re-dubbed with Dean Wendt (replacing Duncan Brannan's original recording).
• A clip from "Splish! Splash!" was shown in the beginning. It was when Barney was jumping in the pool and as the clip faded, Barney fell in the pool, showing that the clip was a behind the scenes and Barney (costume) actually fell. It might've been a blooper. This Barney video is the first time to feature one.

Video[]

Trailer[]

See Also[]

• Cantemos con Barney - an album containing songs from The Best of Barney and Let's Go to the Fire House that was released in 2008 from Tycoon Music.

References[]