If Dora the Explorer were a real child, Chris Gifford (pictured) would be inundated with invitations for play dates at our house.
The creator of one of the most popular animated characters in the world, Gifford says it was intentional that Dora's character be strong, independent and smart - the ultimate friend for girls and boys.
Nearly 16 years on, she remains the intelligent adventurer who also became an example for racial integration in the US and, we would hope, around the world.
What we wanted was an empowered little girl who went on extraordinary adventures
For the uninitiated: Dora Marquez, 7, is an American Latina girl who, with her monkey Boots, her cousin Diego, and a talking Backpack and Map, goes on adventures in an animated world.
She faces a set of challenges on each task, often defeating Swiper, a thieving fox, with help from the audience. Every show ends with a triumphant song We Did It!.
"At first she was an English girl, with red hair. Then she was a bunny with a group of forest creature friends," Gifford recalls.
After many incarnations, it was decided that she would be a Latina child, with a mixed heritage, and would speak Spanish intermittently. Her name is derived from Exploradora, the Spanish word for a female adventurer or a Girl Scout.
"We are really proud of her legacy. At the time of developing Dora, there was an underrepresentation of Latina communities in the media. And there was research that emerged that immigrants in America felt ashamed to speak their home language.
"With Dora, being bilingual was modelled as a skill that is desirable, that someone can be proud of. It was a lofty goal to create pride, but we did work hard on that."
Dora now speaks dozens of languages, depending on where she is watched around the world, including Tamil, Hindi, German and Russian.
"The dream was and will always be to go into a territory where Dora speaks the majority language and then the second most popular language would be included." We are yet to have a Zulu-English version, likely because the South African show runs on DStv's Nickelodeon channel.
Gifford says: "Even without translation, she has universal appeal. I don't think we can explain why. It could be that she appeals as a friend, who needs help from the children who watch her."
Because children get inordinate amounts of screen time these days, a gender-neutral, spirited creature who teaches another language is welcome.
"What we wanted was an empowered little girl who went on extraordinary adventures, with courage and lack of anxiety, and fierce determination to help whoever she is helping, to right some wrong.
To face down any challenge with good humor and determination. At the time, there was only one show, Clarissa Explains It All, which bucked the conventional trend that boys wouldn't watch shows starring girls. But we found that if you have a fun story, boys and girls will explore it."
Dora hasn't grown up in the past two decades, although there was an incident when she was represented as a teenage doll ...
"There was a miniskirt and makeup, it was weird. But the response to that was really reassuring. The ownership that parents felt for her, to take care of her."
She is so popular that she is one of entertainment's most pirated characters. "There are also some funny Dora memes, college humour, but I try not to Google her too deeply," Gifford jokes.
Gifford is most touched by her ability to get noncommunicative children over their anxiety. "They seem to respond to her even if they won't speak to people. I think it represents how she can come up against any challenge. That Dora is never fazed ."
The stage production has recently arrived in South Africa. "The live show is, for me, the most fun part of making Dora, seeing the kids dress up and go meet her. It is often their first experience seeing theatre and that is a great legacy we want to share, to create theatre goers down the road."
And lifelong adventurers.
Why I like Dora
We need better portrayals of girls in animation
Last weekend, I had the perplexing task of working out whether the Barbie character in the "Disney on Ice" children's show was played by a particularly buxom skater, or if she had been fitted with a breasts-and-bum suit. I concluded that either way she must be anatomically proportioned to the doll figurine - and that means her figure is sexualised in a negative way.
Dora is a role model
No matter how many times Barbie weakly tries to be an empowered woman, she is the antithesis of what I want my daughters to aspire to. In the ice show, Barbie perpetuates the representation of a "dumb blonde" who appeals to evil Ken with her feminine wiles to get the key to a prison.
Kick him in the nuts, woman, did you learn nothing from Karate Barbie? Or work it out, MacGyver Barbie. Take a lesson from Dora. She always saves the day, and she doesn't have to flash cleavage to do it.
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Dora is not a princess.
And who wants to be a princess anyway? Have you seen Beatrice and Eugenie?
Dora is well adjusted.
Unlike, say, the Frozen sisters. Elsa is a reclusive ice queen with possible OCD issues, and Anna has a problem with abandonment and early over-commitment in relationships. They are some improvement in the world of animation because they find themselves and realise their issues, but they will need a bit more therapy before Frozen 2.
Dora is mature, for a kid, and she promotes diversity.
Dora has been around since 2000, so she has some gravitas behind her and her talking luggage. She teaches acceptance of others in an unobtrusive way.
She is not fashion-conscious.
She is cute but fierce in her simple, adventuring outfits.
She teaches bravery.
She appeals to both girls and boys, unlike many superheroes. Dora always completes her task. She overcomes obstacles. And nobody notices that she is a girl.
She teaches children bits of another language.
If they're ever in a Spanish-speaking South American country, they may at least find their way around. "Hola! Soy Dora, Vamonos! Cuidado!" (Hello, I am Dora. Let's go. Watch out!)
• 'Dora's Pirate Adventure' is on today, July 3, at the Durban ICC, July 7 to 12 at Emperors Palace, Johannesburg and July 15 to 17 at GrandWest Casino, Cape Town.