Barney the Dinosaur (Dean Wendt, Season 9)

Description

Barney is a purple dinosaur and the main protagonist of the television series Barney & Friends and its home video predecessor Barney & The Backyard Gang. A two hundred million year (two dinosaur years) old, six-foot tall purple tyrannosaurus-rex with a green tummy and green spots on his back and his tail and yellow toes, he comes to life through a child's imagination, springing up from a doll to full size. In turn, Barney opens children's eyes to the joys of learning and discovery, to the wonders of make-believe, and to the beauty of unconditional love. Dubbed as the "Elvis for Toddlers" in the early days, he is best known for his silly and optimistic attitude. His birthplace is Dallas, Texas (as he was created there by the creators), however, he lives and resides in one's imagination. His place of residence would later be expanded in the video Come on Over to Barney's House (2000). Although Barney comes to life through a child's imagination, he isn't imaginary. Once Barney springs to life from imagination, any and everyone can see him and no one else needs to use their imagination to see or interact with him in his large form. Created by former teacher Sheryl Stamps Leach, Barney first appeared in the video titled The Backyard Show (1988), which was the first episode of the Barney & The Backyard Gang home video series. David Voss originally performed as the costume for Barney from 1988 to 1990, and was succeeded by David Joyner, who would later define the costume mannerisms of the character. The character has been succeeded by many other costume performers during Joyner's time and after his resignation. The Barney character was originally voiced by Bob West from 1988 until 2000, but since his resignation has been voiced by many other voice actors. Barney generally appears with his dino pals, Baby Bop, BJ and or Riff among others. In 2023, after the series Barney's World was announced, franchise owner Mattel would split the brand into two different pillars for licensing purposes. To separate the long-known iteration from the iteration they created for the new series, this version of the character was dubbed "classic Barney"