Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse is a web series of CGI-animated shorts produced by Arc Productions and Mattel.[1] The series was released on YouTube and the official Barbie website from January 20, 2012 to November 27, 2015.[2]
The series is currently available on Netflix, though Netflix streams the series only as specialized bundles of episodes instead of in the original chronological order.[3] Nickelodeon aired two "continuity" specials on September 1, 2013.[4] The series later spawned a continuation, titled Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures, released from May 3, 2018 to April 12, 2020 on Netflix.[5]
The series is set in a fictional version of Malibu, California, where all of its inhabitants are dolls. The dolls behave like humans, though a number of the show's gags rely on their doll-like nature. The series centers on the life of Barbie, her friends, her siblings, her boyfriend Ken, and a number of pets. The series is stylized as a mock reality show featuring confessionals of the characters in between scenes. The show heavily relies on slapstick humor, and makes a lot of satirical and self-parody references to the Barbie doll line.
Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse is a series that you can watch on Netflix that shows Barbie living in her dreamhouse with her three sisters and all of the situations that they get into while living in Malibu. This show has many delightful characters that may, or may not, be in the new Barbie movie.
If you need more Barbie in your life, this show is delightful to casually watch. I have watched the whole thing through multiple times, and it is always funny. There is no such thing as too much Barbie, and I live by that.
An animated series that ties in with the popular Barbie toyline, Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse is a 2012-2015 web series produced by Mattel. The series follows a Slice of Life look into Barbie's, well, life in her Malibu dream house, with brief Reality Television-esque asides into Barbie and her friends' thoughts. Barbie attends parties, goes to the beach, dates Ken, hangs out with her sisters, and does all of the sort of things you would expect Barbie to do. What's unexpected is the massive helping of Affectionate Self-Parody, Lampshade Hanging, Medium Awareness, and Parental Bonus on display, adding up to a lovingly parodic version of the Barbie universe not completely out of line with her Toy Story 3 depiction.
A major difference between this series and other Barbie stories is that this version stars Barbie the doll. The entire universe is Toy Time incarnate, with all of the characters having visible plastic joints. (In fact, Midge, being an older doll, is portrayed as not being fully articulate). All of the technology runs off toy rules (e.g., the showers are powered by hand pumps; the cars use giant D-cell batteries, etc). The show is entirely aware of this.
Barbie's personality is that of a sparklingly cheerful girl who's done, and is good at, everything, to the point of comedy. Her boyfriend Ken is a good-natured klutz who's almost as perky as Barbie, if nowhere near as skilled. She lives with her three younger sisters, parents nowhere in sight, and her three hyperintelligent pets. Her friends, Nikki, Teresa, Midge and Summer often come over to hang out. Meanwhile, Barbie's "friend" Raquelle is often looking for ways to make her life difficult so that she can be the star for once, occasionally teaming up with her twin brother Ryan, who really just wants in on Barbie. And the whole thing is filled to the brim with nods to Barbie's 50-odd year history, along with plenty of other Parental Bonuses and all-ages rapid-fire humor.
In 2013, a series of TV specials began airing on Nickelodeon. The webseries and the TV specials have become available to stream on Netflix, and select episodes and music videos have made their way to DVD and Blu-Ray as bonus features for some of Barbie's movies. Starting in 2017, Mattel has used actual toys to remake some episodes as Barbie: Live! in the Dreamhouse.
A
- Achievements in Ignorance: Somehow, Ken manages to assemble Chelsea's bike into a tennis-playing robot.
- Ageless Birthday Episode:
- Episode 12 has the cast scramble to get presents for Barbie, but realize they don't actually know how old she is.
- Episode 56 has Barbie, Nikki, and Teresa attend Raquelle's half-birthday party. Her age doesn't get revealed, either (the cake only has four candles).
- Episode 2 averted this by clearly stating that Chelsea turns six years old.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Ken (for some reason) installed an "Evil" switch in Closet. Closet always has a "surly personality," but when the Evil switch is active, he wants to keep Barbie prisoner so that together they can rule the entire fashion world. And he's tied into every system of the Dreamhouse, so he can cause havoc. Luckily, you just have to flip the switch to get him back to normal.
- All Women Love Shoes: Be they bought, loaned, in the closet, all over the house...
- Amplified Animal Aptitude: Taffy, Tawny, and Blissa get their own Unlikely Confession Cam segments, where their barking/neighing/meowing is translated. They seem to be quite erudite.
- Angels Pose: Barbie, Raquelle, and Chelsea do this in "Ken-Tastic, Hair-Tastic" to kick off a Makeover Montage.
- Animation Bump: Looks a lot more fluid and clean than some of the Barbie movies, especially during the early seasons. Probably because having your characters be living dolls means it's okay that they look plastic.
- Arson, Murder, and Admiration: In "Little Bad Dress", Raquelle says of Teresa: "That Teresa is the most self-absorbed, stuck-up, snobnoxious little diva I've ever seen. ...I'm impressed."
- Art Imitates Art: Barbie's boutique has a mural of the Birth of Venus, with Barbie in the place of Venus. Raquelle's shop has a Sistine Steal with Ryan taking the place of both God and Adam.
- Aside Glances
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Raquelle at the end of "The Shrinkerator."
C
- The Cameo: He-Man in "The Shrinkerator". It was actually a vintage 1980s He-Man action figure.
- Camera Abuse: The cameraman gets hit by a beach ball in "Party Foul", a pillow in "A Spooky Sleepover", and Raquelle in "Doll vs. Dessert". In the first case, Nikki apologizes for kicking the ball in his direction.
- Camp Straight: Both Ryan and Ken, but they'd probably have to be to live in this world. That, and being (based on) a girl's toy and all...
- Cats Are Mean: Blissa disagrees, but: "It's not being mean, it's building character!"
- Character Catchphrase:Barbie: What in the world?Ken: I'm on it!Chelsea: Can we [whatever she wants at the moment], Barbie? Can we, can we?Skipper: *frustrated groan*
- Cheaters Never Prosper: Has two of this.
- "Rhapsody in Buttercream": Teresa bets Lethal Chef Barbie to give her a pedicure if she can't bake a batch of cupcakes without causing a disaster. Barbie tries to use her "Little Miss Cupcake-ilator" to whip up a batch, but since she can't remember how to turn it off (unplug it), she floods her kitchen with cupcakes. Teresa declares herself the winner.
- "Don't Bet on It": Barbie and her sisters bet each other in giving up what they love for a day, with the losers doing the winner's chores for a week. Naturally, Barbie, Stacie, and Chelsea couldn't last long and, after a while of resisting, gave in to temptations, thus making Skipper the winner. However, Barbie caught Skipper with a PC disguised as sunglasses, which automatically makes Barbie, Stacie, and Chelsea the winners as Skipper has to do all of their chores for the entire week.
- Cheerful Child: You can't bring Chelsea down, even when she doesn't get her tennis ball-firing robot.
- Child Prodigy: Chelsea is pretty smart for a six-year-old.
- Childhood Friends: Barbie and Midge, the latter of whom moved from Willows, Wisconsin to Malibu in season three.
- Clothes Make the Maniac: Teresa takes a level in jerkass after borrowing a Little Black Dress from Raquelle.
- Cloud Cuckoolander: Teresa. For one example (out of oh, so many), when told it was "raining cats and dogs" outside, she rushes to the window, looking for a Labradoodle.
- Coconut Meets Cranium: Poor Skipper.
- Coincidental Broadcast: Happens in "Bad Hair Day" and "Gone Glitter Gone".
- Comedic Underwear Exposure: Happens to Ken a few times.
- Companion Cube: Teresa treats her sock monkey, Bananas, as a real animal. All the other dolls try to play along.
- Compilation Episode: Netflix has some 23-minute collections of shorts.
- Confession Cam
- Continuity Nod: The answers to Skipper's questions in "Let's Make a Doll" contain some facts about Barbie that might sound more familiar to older fans than to younger ones, such as her middle name, her parents' names, and her 1980s rock band's name.
- Contrived Coincidence:
- While Barbie and her friends discuss the possibility of opening a boutique, they find an empty store at the strip mall.
Teresa: It's like it was waiting for us!- This happens again when Grace plans on opening a science-themed store.
Barbie: (confessional) You'd be surprised how often that happens around here.- Control Freak: Stacie, at times.Chelsea: This has been the bestest day! The yummy cake, the awesome presents, the military-precision scheduling...
- Cooking Duel: Doll vs. Dessert pits Teresa and Barbie against Raquelle and Ryan in cupcake-baking.
- Cool Car: Barbie, Skipper, and Stacie make one for Ken in "Primp My Ride".
- Coordinated Clothes: After Ryan stains Raquelle's new dress, Barbie dresses her in the sparkly pink dress that she wears almost all the time (including during the show's opening).Ryan: Cool, sis! You look almost as good as Barbie!Raquelle: Does it come in black?
- Couch Gag: The topiary in the Establishing Shot of the Dreamhouse. It's different every episode.
- "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: In "Little Bad Dress," Barbie tells Nikki that she could use the emergency dress in her purse to turn Teresa back to normal. Nikki asks Barbie why she didn't pull out that dress earlier, so Barbie answers, "It's from last season."
- Crazy-Prepared: Raquelle tricks Barbie and Nikki into wearing casual outfits to a formal dress party, but Barbie's and Nikki's outfits can fortunately transform into ballgowns. And swimsuits. And mermaid tails.
- Curtain Clothing:
- At the end "Style Super Squad - Part 2", Raquelle tries to imitate Barbie's quick change, only to wear a shower curtain (complete with rod).
- In "Little Black Dress", after Raquelle accidentally dumps choco-lemon dip on Teresa's dress, she hands Teresa a shower curtain, and tells her to make herself a new dress with it.
- Cuteness Proximity: Varying degrees with everyone but special attention goes to Ken as it's even use for a plot device in the 'Plethora of Puppies' episode:Ken: I suffer from 'Hyper Cuteness Sensitivity Disorder'. Whenever I'm in close proximity to something adorable I, well....faint. It's quite common.
- Cyber Cyclops: Closet, Barbie's sometimes Affably Evil closet-controlling AI.
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