THE original Barney the purple dinosaur actor is not a fan of the new look of the hit kids show’s 3D animation reboot.
It was announced last week that the beloved T-rex would be given a new lease of life after 14 years off the grid.
But after pics were released, many fans of the original series have dragged the facelift that toys giant Mattel has given Barney for the revamp.
Actor David Joyner, 59, was the man underneath the costume when Barney & Friends first hit TV screens back in 1992.
And while he is all for bringing Barney back in animated form, he isn’t sold on the new look the character has been given - and has his own theory on why he is being portrayed that way.
David exclusively told The U.S. Sun: “I think the reboot being a 3D animated character is a great idea, although I'm not really happy with the way they portray Barney’s character and the way it looks.
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“This is just my opinion from looking at the new character, it almost looks like a kid dinosaur.
“It doesn't look like an adult Barney dinosaur.
"Maybe they're going through the angle of Barney as a kid, doing little mischievous things and then growing up.
“I could be wrong, but that's just my take.”
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LA-based David physically portrayed Barney until 2001, while actors Tim West, Duncan Brannan, and Tim Dever voiced the character.
Mattel said when they announced Barney’s return that they are aiming to bring the new 3D animation to TV, film, online, and musical projects.
A full range of new books, toys, and apparel will also be released, the company said.
Some fans pointed out that the new-look Barney seems to have undergone plastic surgery.
One wrote on social media: “Why would they give a dinosaur a (nose) job and botox… give Barney his chubby cheeks and nose back!”
Pictures show that the new Barney has bigger eyes and ears, a slimmer face, a more rounded nose, and a whiter set of teeth.
Commenting on the hullabaloo around the changes, David said: “I almost think Mattel did it on purpose to cause a little buzz around the way Barney looks to get people talking about it - and people are talking about it.
“Overall, I think it's an amazing idea. I wish them the best because this new generation love animation and of course, like anything in entertainment, it has to evolve.
“You have to evolve for the new generations.
“I'm anxious and curious to see how it's going to look when it's moving.”
David auditioned for the role of Barney in 1991 and, at first, didn’t land it.
But he says that everything that came before in his life meant that he was destined to play the character.
Speaking about the audition process, he said: “I was so athletic and energetic, they weren't used to that, so I didn't get the part after about five or so auditions.
“But one thing that was really significant was that when I was about seven years old, I used to stand in front of a TV and lip sync.
“Growing up, it became a party thing.
“I'd walk into a party and they'd say, ‘Dave, do your thing.’
“And I'd look at someone, study their mannerisms and I'd say, ‘Okay, now I'm gonna turn around and you start talking and I'm gonna be your body.’”
David was able to bring his party trick to the table when he got under the Barney costume.
He said: “In one of the auditions, they wanted us to do some improv.
“The guy who did the voice, Bob West, was there and he was doing the voice as we were doing the acting with the script.
“We started doing improv and I started moving the mouth exactly to what he was saying.
“They were all freaking out and the performance director came over to me and said, ‘How are you doing that?’
“And I said, ‘Oh, it's this thing I started doing when I was a kid.’
“They thought it was pretty fascinating, but they ended up giving the part to a woman and asked me to be backup.
“She did one line of appearance and it didn't work out, so they contacted me, and we negotiated and got everything ironed out.”
David had two other skills which would come in handy as he transformed himself into Barney - including a knowledge of the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism known as tantra.
He said: “When I was 19, I started studying tantra and I went to school for electronic engineering technology.
“I've always understood energy - energy of components, energy of electricity, energy of people.
“What I wanted to do is just radiate loving energy through the costume constantly.
“With the fundamentals of tantra, you pull up the energy from your kundalini and you expand your chi energy and it's almost like recirculating a battery.
“The costume being 70 pounds, it could get to over 120 degrees, but I could still stay in the costume for long periods of times.
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“And also, being a drummer from the age of six meant I was able to move different parts of my body at the same time. That also helped.
“It was no accident that I was Barney.”
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