How ‘Bluey’ special ‘The Sign’ was created: ‘Its one of the most beautiful episodes we’ve made’

Amy Amatangelo April 14, 2024 This article contains spoilers about The Sign episode of Bluey.

Everyones favorite Australian dog family is going supersized.

The Sign, a highly anticipated 28-minute special episode of Bluey, is now streaming on Disney+. While a typical episode of Bluey is around seven minutes long, The Sign is the equivalent of a two-hour movie in the Bluey universe.

We always said wouldnt it be incredible if we could do three seasons and a movie, executive producer Daley Pearson says. We would love to do beyond that but wouldnt that be an Everest to climb. I think this is a version of delivering on that promise. It was such a great creative challenge that we had to do it.

Bluey which is produced in Brisbane, Australia, by Ludo Studio (which Pearson co-founded) typically has four different animation teams who work on individual episodes. For The Sign, the four teams collaborated. This is the first episode made by the whole studio, Pearson says. That was a big production challenge in itself.

Since the shows inception, Pearson says, it has taken risks. He cites episodes like Season 2s Sleepytime, which takes Blueys younger sister Bingo on a dreamy nighttime journey, and Flat Pack, which is about assembling furniture but also about evolution. There were always these traditional Bluey episodes but then there were always these avant

–

garde episodes, he says.

The Sign is the pinnacle of that.

Its an episode about these very important things that these characters are going through, Pearson says. Its probably the biggest possible changes these characters have ever gone through. Theres a bit of experimental feel to it. Will it work? Will the audience stick with it? And I think its one of the most beautiful episodes we’ve made.

The episode, which was written by series creator

Joe Brumm

, finds Bluey, Bingo and their parents Chilli (

Melanie Zanetti

) and Bandit (

Dave McCormack

) preparing for the wedding of Bandits brother Rad (

Patrick Brammall

) and Blueys godmother Frisky (

Claudia ODoherty

), two characters who first met in Season 2s Double Babysitter. The title of the episode refers to the For Sale sign in front of the Heeler home. Because of Bandits new job, they are selling their house and moving, something Bluey, in particular, is not happy about. And while Chilli is trying to be supportive, its clear she doesn’t want to move either.

These parents are having to deal with these big life decisions, but they are also putting on a brave face for their kids, Zanetti says. And the moment we see the vulnerability between mum and dad, its those moments as a kid when you start to realize that your parents are just people or dogs and fallible and very human/canine.

Throughout the series’ three seasons, adult topics like why there is friction between Chilli and her sister Brandy (Rose Byrne, whose cameo in The Sign will make viewers so happy) have been seamlessly woven into the plots. But The Sign, which also finds Chilli trying to save the wedding when Frisky runs off, gives the adult characters even more

time in the spotlight.of a center stage.

When you are used to the format of seven minutes, theres only so much you can play with and attack at once, Zanettti says. With this, theres so much more scope for going deeper and nuanced.

McCorma

c

k says the episode lifts the veil

back

on what the parents are dealing with while still trying to be there for their kids. Its all going on for people and you dont realize and people keep it hidden, he says. “They’re going through hard times as well and they are trying to keep a lid on it, but its all gone out of control.

The Sign also tackles some bigger themes like the unpredictability of life. We are always trying to make the right choice. Like everyone is trying to do the right thing. The difference between what we should see as the right thing and what in our gut and heart we feel is the right thing. I think theres a beautiful looking into that and grappling with that in this episode, Zanetti says.

McCormack adds, Everyone is trying to make the best decision at that time and youre going to make mistakes. I think thats for me the underlying feeling of this episode is youve just got to try and do your best. Youre going to get it wrong sometimes. But youve just got to do what you think is right at the time with the info youve got, which is a pretty big concept for a kids show.

Does Pearson feel like The Sign has a larger message?

I feel like Bluey episodes are turning into a bit of a Rorschach

t

est, Pearson says. Its hard to say what we meant. Its hard to put our own meaning into it. Its always lovely to get these letters and emails and meet people on the street that episodes or characters meant something to them that we may not ever thought of or dreamed of. Its always lovely to hear the audience completing the circle rather than we complete it for them.

Since the shows

debut premiere

on Disney Junior in 2019, the series has defied any possible predictions of success and become a global phenomenon. It is consistently one of the top streaming shows. A stage version of the series

en

titled Blueys Big Play, debuted in America in 2022 and continues to tour. Zanetti and McCormack have been guests on The Tonight Show and they even made an appearance at the Twin Cities Comic Con last year. But thats not necessarily how they measure the shows success.

My favorite part is that the show has brought so much, not just joy into peoples life, but also healing, Zanetti says. What I didnt expect was people in their early twenties saying, I have had a really difficult childhood and this show is reparenting me. Or, I didnt think Id be able to have kids because I didnt know how to treat them correctly from my upbringing but now I feel like I could be a mother. Things like that are just profound and that was not expected.

McCormack and Zanettti, who record the show separately, got the episode in two parts, and while recording the first half of the episode, had no idea how it was going to end. We didnt have to act like we didnt know what was really going on because we didnt know what was going on, McCormack says.

That has never happened before, Zanetti says. That was exciting and a little bit scary.

Therefore, like viewers, Zanetti and McCormack didnt know if the Heelers would go through with the move until the very last moment. It was like in ‘Toy Story 3’ when theyre about to go into the incinerator and they hold hands and make peace with whats happening, Zanetti says. I had one of those moments. I had to surrender and then at the end I was crying.

True to his laid-back canine alter

–

ego, McCormack had quite the different reaction. I was feeling a little excited about a new house, he says. Part of me was almost like, Ooooh, I wonder what this is going to be.

Pearson, who says hints have been dropped throughout the third season that a possible move was the direction the show was heading, says they never seriously considered relocating the family. I think it would have been a tough decision to move them. The whole point of these characters, and this family is its aspirational, theyre the best of everyone. To move them, it just felt like it would have been a bit of a betrayal of the audience. I think keeping them there, it was always going to be that.

Now that the show has climbed its own personal Everest, whats next?

It was sort of no secret that it was a bit of a test to see does an audience like Bluey as a longer format? Would a feature film work for Bluey? We dont know yet, Pearson says. Well wait until Sunday. We hope people like it and if they do we would love to think about where it could go next.