The Berenstain Bears 2003 Series Reviews

[StevePulaski]

During the nighttime, I sometimes watch a lot of random things like South Park and Whacked Out Sports. On summer nights, or weekends, the last thing I watch it usually at 11pm and it's The Berenstain Bears. I've loved this show for so long, but there are some episodes that aren't really good. From now, until whenever, I'll review the episodes that I watch in the order I watch them in. Don't expect a huge review, but an efficient one.

*NOTE: The reviews of the episodes will be from the newer Television series (2003 - 2008).

The Berenstain Bears - The Green Eyed Monster

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Topic: Jealousy.

Rating: ★½[/center]
Out of all The Berenstain Bears episodes, even as a kid, I looked down on this one. I simply couldn't wrap my head around the morals and emptiness brought to the table here. It is nothing but strange, and really doesn't teach a child anything either than to be more angry in situations likes these.

Plot: One day in Bear Country, Mama and Papa notice that Brother has grown so much that he is no longer able to ride the bike he has comfortably. Mama takes him out to get a new one. Sister's friend Lizzie Bruin is over and they realize that since Brother is getting a new bike the "I get it after you're to big for it rule" takes effect. Or, as others know it as, the "hand me down" process, meaning Sister will now take Brother's old bike.

But when Brother returns home, with his all new bike with three gears and handbrakes (as if handbrakes weren't a standard on bikes in 2003) she becomes green with envy, or as Mama calls it, The Green Eyed Monster. Sister becomes nothing but a rage of jealousy. In the morning, she takes the bike out in an attempt to ride it. She is too small and winds up almost crashing and damaging the bike and hurting herself. She apologizes to Brother, and all is well.

First off, the hand me down rule sucks. Big time. Sister states "It's not fair, it's just not fair!" in the episode at one point. Normally, I laugh or roll my eyes at children's squabbles in TV shows, but I was actually agreeing with her. It isn't fair. The younger person never gets anything truly "new." Should the younger child be taken advantage of that she's young and have to get old toys that have already been played with? Sure it is new to her, but still, it none the less sucks. Imagine your older brother getting the "coolest" video game out on the market now, Super Mega Death V or something arbitrary. You're stuck playing Pokemon, while your brother most likely won't share.

When he is done with the game, most likely weeks later and gets another "cool" one, you can finally play it. By that point, due to the overblown market and short attention spans, that game is probably long gone and faded. The only choice you really have is to save up for it yourself. But at Brother and Sister's age, who has the patience to do that?

Also, the ending tries to spit a moral at you, when really, there is no moral that can cure jealousy. We, the human race, can sometimes cut the jealousy we have with a knife. Mama states "When The Green Eyed Monster comes knocking, you don't have to let him in. Just be happy for the person that got something new." Sorry, but that is hard to do when that person is most likely showing off their new contraption and you're stuck with the older "insert object here." The Green Eyed Monster's moral should be "When The Green Eyed Monster comes knocking, you don't have to show that you're envious. Try to be happy for the person that got something better than you by keeping your emotions locked up. It may not be good for you, but it's good for the other around you." That doesn't look so good on a high-rated children's program.

[StevePulaski]

The Berenstain Bears - The Slumber Party

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Topic: Privilege/Responsibility.

Rating: ★★★[/center]
When it comes to privilege and responsibility, personally, they are the two most important things to teach any child. When I got my cat, age four or so I believe, that is when I learned it. My parents did a lot of chores for my cat, but so did I. I was responsible for his food, water, and many other things. In this episode, it is slightly different than my experience, but shares the same purpose.

Plot: Sister is anticipating a phone call from her best friend Lizzie Bruin because it is around the time where she usually plans some big event. This time it is a slumber party with the intentions of just having Sister, Anna, and Milli over. Mama and Papa tell Sister that sleeping over at a friend's house is a special privilege, and she should take responsibility over at the Bruins' home. Because many found out, over a dozen show up to this party. But since the Bruin's aren't home, Lizzie's house is run by a babysitter. Chaos breaks loose, and Sister is grounded for a full week. The episodes concludes with the kids cleaning up the Bruins' home the next day.

While this episode sports a great lesson, there are some questionable moments. The babysitter. When chaos is unfolding, she rarely intervenes. You'd think that she'd stand out the couch and scream, but she only decides to do that when the Bruins walk through the door. For a babysitter, she is probably the most inactive babysitter I've ever seen.

I also question why Sister decides to clean up the Bruins' home the next morning. Wouldn't you think upon their arrival they would clean up when they got home? Who leaves their house a mess when they get home and wait till the morning to clean it? If it's not bad or just minorly in disarray, I can see that. But their house is a wreck. You can't tell me they don't make an ounce of effort to clean it up when they get home, no matter how late.

There are the flaws, but still, I was impressed with this episode. There are various episodes of the Berenstain Bears episodes that are very impressive, and few that are odd or questionable. The Slumber Party is enjoyable, and has one of the best topics in the series.

[StevePulaski]

The Berenstain Bears - Visit Fun Park

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Topic: Boasting/Bragging.

Rating: ★★★[/center]
The Berenstain Bears has its share of episodes that focus on the topic of boasting, the other one being The Jump Rope Contest. I like both episodes, because both provide another great lesson kids should learn at a young age. Having a friend that brags far too much, I know how annoying it is to hear "I'm awesome, and you're not." This episode focuses on a type of boasting not like that, but pretty close to it.

Plot: The episode begins with Brother, Sister, Cousin Fred, and Lizzie all playing basketball. Brother takes a gamble in the heat of a tie game to try to make a basket with his eyes closed. He brags about, and misses. Mama comes home with free passes to fun park she got from the grocery store. Brother makes a big deal about riding the signature roller-coaster, The Thunderbolt, with "his arms up and a big smile on his face." Upon arrival to the park, Brother worries about riding the roller-coaster and insists on going on many other slower rides to stall. He is ashamed that he boasted, confesses at the end, and all is well.

Aside from a great plot, the ending feels empty. Mama states in the beginning "It's easy to boast. It's not so easy when you have to admit you can't do something you boasted about." At the end, when Brother tells Lizzie and Sister that he isn't ready to ride the coaster, with Mama present, she just worries about Papa (now on the ride). Why she doesn't say something like "I'm glad you admitted you're not ready for something...it takes courage, and so on" or restate the moral. Instead, they never talk about it and go on to worrying about Papa.

The subplot is odd, and distracting. Papa enjoys the food at the theme park and is eating a taco covered with jalapenos, bratwurst on a bun, pizza, etc. He decides to ride a coaster, and not second guess anything. I feel that this sort of overshadows such a great moral touched on in the episode, and at the end, I think the episode could've faired even better without it. It's not like without the subplot, the ending wouldn't have happened, but it could've been left open for something bigger. Instead it just ends. Regardless, Visit Fun Park is one of the brightest episodes in the series, despite some questions.

[StevePulaski]

The Berenstain Bears - Papa's Pizza

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Topic: Thinking of others.

Rating: ★★½[/center]
Much to my surprise, Papa's Pizza was based on a Berenstain Bears book. Apparently, it had a scratch and sniff gimmick, with over six areas of the book smelling like some sort of food. Why I'm surprised, is because I used to collect every book of The Berenstain Bears I could find. How I never heard about this is beyond me. What I'm trying to figure out now, is what else besides pizza does the book smell like. Only the last, maybe, three minutes, focus on pizza. Just by having the title be Papa's Pizza sort of ruins the surprise part of the episode. Moving along now.

Plot: Brother and Sister have both separately invited a lot of their friends over on Saturday. Not knowing each other did, they now have at least ten or more kids coming over. It's now turned into a party, and Brother and Sister want to serve Peanut Butter and Mushy Banana Sandwiches (with a Pickle) as lunch. Mama informs them that not everyone likes what they like, so they must ask their friends what they would like to eat. Of course, each of Brother and Sister's friends like the most convoluted choices of food out of any human being, or bear, in history. After realizing their friends can only agree on crackers and water, (odd because no one ever mentions those at all) Papa suggests a "make your own pizza" theme and there you have it.

Right off the bat, Brother and Sister's friends have the most obscure eating habits of anyone in the world. How can someone like spaghetti for one week then just simply not like it at all? Where is the logic in that? Maybe eating it for a week straight you're sick of it, but you can't go from liking it to not liking it in the matter of a week. Maybe a few years. Even one friend doesn't like anything starting with the letter "G." Someone tell me how that works.

My other question would be, after Brother and Sister ask Mama if they can have a party, she replies "yes." Since everyone knows to come over Saturday, why does Sister suggest to send out invitations?

To be fair, the episode has good behind it. It does show that everyone likes different things and that is what makes us all unique in our own way. However, I can't understand some of the simplest of things behind this episode. There is just collected "why's" and "what's." Not a horrible episode, but a strange one. The topic is anybody's guess. I just winged it.

[StevePulaski]

The Berenstain Bears - New Neighbors

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Topic: Don't judge a book by its cover/it's okay to be different/acceptance of peers.

Rating: ★★½[/center]
I want to praise this episode for not using the panda characters that appear in the front cover as the new neighbors. I can't remember if the book had those exact characters, or if the cover was metaphorically speaking since panda bears, while still bears, are different from brown bears. Like pandas and brown bears are different, but they are all still bears (or humans). That is what I believe the book is trying to make clear.

Plot: The Bears' supposedly long time neighbors, the Kodiaks, are moving away. It only takes a short time before another family moves in. When the Bears go to greet them they are told to go back home since the husband is working on wiring an electrical system for the house. The front porch has a camera, a ramp, and a speaker-system as well. The next day, Papa goes to drop off their mail when he is greeted by the husband Mr. Urses. Mr. Urses is a tech wizard who works with circuit boards and microchips much to Papa's dismay, a bear who is into blue collar woodworking. Mama learns that the mother rides a motorcycle and Brother and Sister learn the cubs aren't into typical sports you see on TV.

The episode has more of a soul purpose than any other episode of the show. It teaches acceptance, differences among peers, and how you shouldn't judge someone right away without knowing them. So we're a step in the right direction. But like always, I have certain things that bug me about this particular episode. One is, the mailbox. How does one manage to have a remote control mailbox? It comes out, gets the mail, and goes back up the ramp. Okay, but is someone watching for the mailman constantly, or does the mailbox stay out there forever? It doesn't look like it.

Also, the family is so different they come off as abnormal. Even though the end is all well and good, the family seems like there is no chemistry and it was a competition to be the strangest person alive. When does a Lesbian-like motorcycle mom marry a computer geek with a dieting problem? Only in The Berenstain Bears. The kids? There is not nearly enough of the kids to even judge them. New Neighbors is a nice, awkward attempt. It sports a good message, but that's it.

[StevePulaski]

The Berenstain Bears - The Bad Dream

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Topic: Fears.

Rating: ★★★[/center]
By now, I fear these reviews are getting repetitive. Because there isn't much to say about each episode, yet there is enough to say. There are some episodes, you just can't say much about, and this is one. I liked it. I liked the feel, the message, and the execution. It was mature and subtle. It wasn't all in your face. It was more about bonding with the family and sharing time together more than the bad dream itself. As a kid, rarely did I find something on Television that shocked me, and I'm not making myself out to be some brave, superman. I just wasn't frightened by movie characters or too much in the field of entertainment. This episode is good for kids who perhaps fear things they're uncomfortable with.

Plot: Mama, Papa, Brother, and Sister make a specific time in the week to watch a show, do an activity, and have a special snack picked by one of the bears weekly. The show they watch is Space Grizzlies, a Star Trek like show with a villain that frightens Sister. The villain's name is Sleazle, and he is loud and obnoxious on TV. At first Sister hides her feelings, but she tells Mama about it and soon enough, she finds out Brother, a fan of the show, even finds the character scary. The end of the episode is both Brother and Sister showing Sleazle and one of Sister's Bearbie's wedding. Oh, childhood fantasies.

[StevePulaski]

The Berenstain Bears - The In-Crowd

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Topic: Popularity.

Rating: ★★★½[/center]
If there is one episode that impresses me the most in the 2003 franchise of The Berenstain Bears, it's The In-Crowd. It is mature, realistic, flattering, and satisfactory in every way. All the cheesiness occupied in other episodes is gone. This is a serious episode with a serious script and plot. Popularity. Instead of focusing on it in school, they focus on it in a different setting - a regular park. It's different, but welcomed.

Plot: Sister, Lizzie, Milli, and Queenie are jumping rope at the park when a new girl rolls up on a bike with a boombox blasting a repetitive beat. Introducing themselves, the girls find out the new girl is Hillary, a mysterious, yet somehow "cool" girl who wears a purple shirt and hoop earrings! The girls act as if the earrings are so fashionable and rare, when they neglect to realize, Queenie is wearing an identical pair. Hillary insults Sister because of her pink ruffled jumper and states that jumping rope is for "little cubs." The next day, the girls come dressed identical to Hillary, much to the dismay of Sister. Sister talks to Mama and comes up with the idea to dress her own way, with a headband and a green striped shirt. She joins her friends and Hillary, spending the whole afternoon leaning on the side of a wall listening to the same song over and over again. Whenever they step out of line, by voicing their opinion "wrongly" on something, they immediately take it back and agree with whatever Hillary says. Sister goes back to her own roots, and convinces her friends to by creating an elaborate plan with Brother.

The reason I love this episode is because it doesn't visit cliche-city. When Sister asks Mama to make her some new clothes Mama doesn't say "you look fine the way you are," she does it. She wants Sister to do what she believes is right and what she wants. She doesn't control her like some would think.

I also enjoy the portrayal of Hillary. First she is alone, then Sister's friends join, then she joins. It shows how fast cliques really grow. And how they become just Hillary-bots as time goes on. Here, every girl "has" the same opinions as Hillary just to please her. When in reality, they can't speak their mind. Well, they think they can't because they don't want to anger Hillary. It's all based on assumption and paranoia.

Whoever wrote this episode either knew somebody who went through something like this or went through something like this personally. It is that good. It's top five in the best BB episodes. Just when you think the chips are down, here comes a winner of an episode.

[StevePulaski]

The Berenstain Bears - Too Much Vacation

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Topic: Looking on the bright side.

Rating: ★★[/center]

It's not that Too Much Vacation is an unpleasant episode, it's just I don't know what to think of it or how to respond to such an oddly cheerful clip. I know you can look on the bright side, but during this vacation, there is no bright side. None. You can sugarcoat it to the point where when your cabin is flooded you think "oh, a free swimming pool," but how healthy is that? This is a weird, weird little episode. Even the moral at the end is blocky.

Plot: The Bears take a vacation to a mountaintop in the middle of nowhere to get away from their Bear Country home. It all starts with a flat on the way, and before you no it, it's a poor man's The Great Outdoors. One thing leads to another, and before you know it, everything goes wrong. The berries you pick are sour, the night's sleep is miserable, the fish aren't biting, etc. This trip would make a preacher cuss, but for the Bears, it's all smiles through this hell vacation.

Mama spits a moral at you at the end saying that it's only bad if that's how you look at it. Brother and Sister take various pictures that show Papa slipping and falling down a muddy slope, him in a sunken fishing boat, etc. They almost have to eat a stew made out of leaves and what appears to be dirty water. Sounds fun.

That's my big problem with this episode, where's the happiness? What's so good about eating disgusting stew, being stuck in the rain, and waking up to a leaky cabin in the middle of nowhere? Maybe I'm just a miserable idiot, but when it's that or my own house, my own house is where I'd rather be.

[StevePulaski]

The Berenstain Bears - The Wishing Star

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Topic: Superstition.

Rating: ★★★[/center]

When you're young and desparate for a positive result, you'll pray, wish, or do whatever superstitious thing you can think of. I've done, and sometimes I still do it. In the whole scheme of things, this is a good, knowledgable episode on the lesson of myths and beliefs children acquire over time.

Plot: Sister notices a teddy bear in a toy story window one day at the mall, and Mama and Papa think it would be a good idea to get her the teddy bear for her birthday. The same night, Mama opens the blinds and finds "the wishing star" out and explains to Sister it is the first star you see at night and you make a wish on it reciting the famous little verse beforehand. Sister, coincidently, wishes for the teddy bear and gets it the next day. After taking a math test she was worried about, she wishes again a few nights later and gets a B+ on it. Now she has become dependent on this little superstition, and she makes a wish "too big" for the wishing star and wishes for a horse. After being let down, Mama tells Sister that just because you wish for something doesn't mean it will come true. She works out a deal with Farmer Ben to let her ride the horse if she picks beans in his patch.

One thing I picked up is when Sister is showing her B+ math paper to Papa you can see two problems (I remember one is ten divided by two) and it's clear that she got them right but they were marked wrong. I think the next episode's topic should be for the teachers and should be "Check your work."

[StevePulaski]

I thought for 2012 I'd start doing more of these reviews since I'm still constantly watching the show. I sort of stopped because there just wasn't a whole lot to say about some episodes. I'll continue to do these periodically, but not consistently or daily. If I have free time, and one is fresh in my mind, I'll most likely do it, though.

The Berenstain Bears - Trouble at School

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Topic: Falling behind in curriculum.

Rating: ★★[/center]

This is yet another one of those Berenstain Bears episodes that has a good amount of potential, but it is taken with such unrealistic actions it becomes very contrived and poor. School is hard on everyone. Going through high school currently, I can say it's no picnic and stress has become an almost daily exercise for me. I didn't hope to look at this episode with solace but more or less have a small epiphany with Brother and the position he's in. Unfortunately, I got an epiphany equivalent to one in an elementary school short film.

Plot: Brother has been sick for almost a full week (the episode never specifies how long he is out for) and has missed a lot. Mainly in his math class, because the episode decided to lighten the load to avoid an anomaly of work that needed to be caught up. I wish actual school was the same way. Sister has been bringing home worksheets for him to do, yet he throws them aside and pays no mind. After all, when you're sick and young, do you really care that much about catching up?

When he finally does return to school, Brother is met with a test on his math. From what I can see it's pretty basic addition and subtraction with fractions. I can sort of side with him in the fact that it was hell for me too and I hadn't missed any days. Brother gets a flat out zero on the test, and the teacher pulls the dreaded "sign and return" card, meaning his parents must verify they saw the test by a signature. Consumed with stress, Brother ditches school and runs away to his grandparents' house where Gramps gives him a sympathy speech followed by a cliche metaphor about how he got his "wagon stuck too deep." Instead of relating Brother's problems to maybe him falling behind in school, Gramps decides to pull out a strangely placed metaphor. It is so rare for shows to do that, especially The Berenstain Bears. The result is actually pretty surprising, yet a bit heavy-handed and obvious.

As usual, I have some questions about this episode. Why does Brother have to take the test the day he comes back from being sick? Why didn't he tell the teacher he was lost and needed some immediate help?

But the biggest aggravation the episode brings is the tacked on, unbelievably unrealistic ending we're faced with. After Brother runs away and after the ambiguous, metaphorical talk him and Gramps endure he is driven home and shows his parents the test. Not only has Brother failed, he lied, ran away, and put off his own work. Yet he arrives at home to a poorly executed talk with his parents that lasts for mere seconds before he is shipped off to school. Some will say I'm expecting too much from a children's Television series, but look at the episode The Slumber Party of the same series. Sister was horribly punished for doing things just as bad as Brother; trashing someone's house knowingly and disobeying her parents' orders. You can't tell me that isn't on the same level, if not above, as lying, running away, and failing.

Trouble at School could've been a fantastic episode if taken in the proper direction, and it almost works except for the questionable details and the insanely unorthodox ending. Oh well, maybe the next episode should focus on Brother missing the final goal in a soccer game and THEN the real drama should start.

[StevePulaski]

The Berenstain Bears - "Count Their Blessings"
Topic: Thankfulness


Rating: ★★★½

The Berenstain Bears episode "Count Their Blessings" deals with the idea of thankfulness and gratefulness in our every day lives, and making us take the time to appreciate what we have with us and redirect our attention from the things we don't have. It's an exercise and a bout of contemplation I like to consider at least a few times a week. I am a privileged teenager in suburbia Illinois, with two working parents, a wonderful house over my head, with a solid source of income, a great college within driving distance, and so much else to be grateful for, I'd need to take a separate blog post, maybe two.

To see this idea of thankfulness be portrayed in one of my favorite kids shows warms my heart. The episode concerns Brother and Sister, who are off playing video games and dolls, respectively, at their friends' houses. Mama and Papa dreading the minute they arrive home because they know they will inevitably hear about all the amazing things both of their friends have and how they allegedly have so little. Upon arriving home, eager to beg their parents for new valuables, Mama and Papa sit them down and talk to them, in a wonderfully accessible manner, about being grateful, amidst a heavy storm that knocks the treehouse's power out, only giving them more blessings to think about.

For starters, besides the topic being handled in a quiet, thoughtful manner, the animation of the episode is toned beautifully. As strange as that is, I never saw myself admiring the colorfulness of a Berenstain Bears episode until I noticed the little details of this particular episode. We see the storm roll in collectively ominous manner, we watch as the rooms darken as the downpour commences, and we see brilliant tones denoting light and shadow after the power goes out and a fire is lit by Papa. This episode is humble as can be, so much so that even the animation isn't brazen until one examines it a bit more. In addition, the episode handles separate stories very artfully, focusing on Mama's events at home cleaning, Brother's get-together with Cousin Fred, and Sister's hangout with Lizzie. The only other episode where I distinctly remember a less linear approach to the show's storyline was likely the episode "Go to the Movies."

The only issue at hand could be the condescending way Mama and Papa Bear slam the cubs' feelings of entitlement and ungratefulness once they arrive home and continue in a manner that makes them sound like they never envied something in their life. Yet that is a minor problem in a sea of complete and total competence and satisfaction with "Count Their Blessings," one of the 2003 series' must-see episodes.

[No-Personality]

I used to snack on the pic-a-nic basket of a series that oncewas The Berenstein Bears (the old school series) when I was a laddie...

Didn't realize back when that it was so Christiany. Now I feel a little... retro-violated. (Just a pinch.)