The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series)

The Berenstain Bears is a Canadian/American Gemini Award-nominated animated television series based on the children's book series of the same name by Stan and Jan Berenstain. The series follows the lives of a family of anthropomorphic bears who learn a moral or safety-related lesson during the course of each episode.

The series debuted on PBS Kids in the United States on January 6, 2003 and ended on September 28, 2004.

Synopsis

The series is set in a world populated solely by anthropomorphic bears and primarily centers around the Berenstain Bears, a family residing in the rural community of Bear Country consisting of Mama Bear, Papa Bear, Brother Bear, and Sister Bear. Albeit numerous episodes are based on the books and promote the same morals as encouraged in the picture books from which their plots originated, the program's faithfulness to the original series is slightly mixed on account of a number of later episodes follow original storylines. Nonetheless, they mostly portray the same environment depicted in the original Berenstain Bears storybooks quite accurately and concentrate on the messages and lessons learned by the family through their different experiences, such as gratitude and responsibility, as well as the daily lives of the bears.

Production

The show was produced by the Canadian animation company Nelvana for the PBS Kids and the Treehouse TV channel. Eighty 15 minute episodes were produced adapted from the books and also a few new stories as well, similar to the 1985 production.^[1] However, due to Canadian laws requiring Nelvana to employ only Canadian writers and artists, the Berenstains' involvement in the program was limited; They sought to exert their influence on some details, according to Stan. "Our bears don't wear shoes, and Papa wouldn't wear his hat in the house...And we try to keep complete, total banality out of the stories." Common practicalities of animation did force some minor costume changes from the books, such as eliminating polka dots and plaids. (This issue also occurred in previous animated series and specials. Only a limited amount of polka dots was allowed in the five specials.)^[1] The show's theme song is performed by Lee Ann Womack.^[1]

The series is supposed to supplement the 1985 series because new books were released since then. Even though the two series have radically different production style as well as a change of in-universe elements. Another issue is the two series are never seen together.

Cast and characters

Main cast

• Michael Cera as Brother Bear
• Michael D'Ascenzo as Brother Bear
• Tajja Isen as Sister Bear
• Benedict Campbell as Papa Q. Bear
• Camilla Scott as Mama Bear

Recurring cast

Family

• Leslie Carlson as Grizzly Gramps
• Corinne Conley as Grizzly Gran
• Marc McMulkin as Cousin Freddy

Friends

• Amanda Soha as Lizzy Bruin
• Nikki Marshall as Queenie
• Mark Rendall as Ferdy Factual
• Gage Knox as Too-Tall
• Patrick Salvagna as Skuzz
• James Eckhouse as Smirk

Citizens

• Chris Wiggins as Squire Grizzly
• Ellen-Ray Hennessy as Miss Grizzle

Music

Country music singer-songwriter Lee Ann Womack sings the series' theme song, which was written by Stan Meissner.

Accolades

Episodes

• Nº = Overall episode number
• Ep = Episode number by season

Season 1 (2003)

Season 2 (2003)

Season 3 (2004)

Broadcast

The show can currently be seen on YTV (2006–07; 2009–present) in Canada and Sprout in the United States. The series was also seen on Treehouse TV (Canada; 2002–09) (and often fluctuated between the two channels), Knowledge (British Columbia), Tiny Pop and KidsCo (UK), and OBS (South Korea). Originally, it aired together with Seven Little Monsters but the two shows were eventually separated.

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Berenstain Bears (2003 TV series)

• The Berenstain Bears at the Internet Movie Database
• The Berenstain Bears at TV.com