Adventures in Care-a-Lot Episode 24

And here we have the last original episodes of the year, and possible the season, as the following two broadcast episodes were already released on DVD in early 2008.  I've been sitting on this post for a little while, so I had to get it out before I start posting about anything else.  The first story is fun, but the second, I'm sorry, just feels like a waste of time.

Forget It - "Yes, you may gloat with me, Mr. Beaks."

It all starts one morning, with Funshine walking down the street, feeling pretty proud of himself for reasons we are not privy to.  His stroll is interrupted by Tenderheart, showing off his new Grumpy-made pogo stick.  Funshine, impressed, wonders if Grumpy would make one for him as well.  Tenderheart offers to let Funshine try it out before deciding if he wants one, but Funshine is...hesitant.  Tenderheart basically jams his helmet onto Funshine's head and pushes the pogo stick on him, so Funshine gives it a try.  With a little coaching from Tenderheart, Funshine starts to get the hang of it, until the pogo stick goes haywire on him.  He hits the wrong button and ends up in the fountain.  He's okay, but even Grumpy can't fix the damage done to the pogo stick.  Funshine apologizes to Tenderheart, but points out that he was hesitant about riding in the first place. Tenderheart can't believe his friend is trying to pass the buck, and the two of them argue a bit before deciding not to be friends anymore.  Grumpy and Oopsy (who was in the scene, but didn't have any lines) just shrug.

Meanwhile, Grizzle unveils his latest creation: The Forget Me Ray!  With this device, as he explains to Mr. Beaks, he will erase any memory of himself from the Care Bears' minds, thus regaining the immunity he had back in Oopsy Does It, before they knew who he was.  Back in Care-a-lot, Cheer and Grumpy try to get Tenderheart and Funshine back together, but it hasn't been long enough for them to get over it and the two of them are still cold to each other.  Which is exactly when Grizzle shoots all of Care-a-lot with his ray.  However, as is usually the case with his rays, it doesn't do exactly what he wants, although this time it's close enough.  Instead of making them all forget him, they all forget everything.  Which means that Funshine and Tenderheart no longer remember their feud.

Grizzle shows up in Care-a-lot and introduces himself to everyone as Mr. Grizzle, and tells them what to do, since no one can remember what they're supposed to be doing.  First things first, he gets everyone to start painting Care-a-lot gray.  But when he goes to check on things, he finds the first group playing around with the brushes because they forgot where the paint was.  Grizzle realizes the tragic flaw in his plan: not only did the ray make the Care Bears forget, it keeps them from remembering, too.  So, he gives everyone a post-it note with their job on it and sends them off again.  But again, he does not find them painting, but looking at the clouds.  Turns out that the Care Bears forgot how to read, so they can't read the notes, either.  But Grizzle does not give up just yet.  This time he ties a gray string to everyone's fingers to remind them to paint the town gray and sends them off.

After implementing this not-very-likely to succeed tactic, Grizzle goes to Grumpy's garage to fix the ray while complaining to Mr. Beaks about it, which Funshine and Tenderheart overhear.  Funshine distracts Grizzle while Tenderheart sneaks the ray out, and they later use it on themselves.  They instantly remember their fight, but they both agree that they have to help their friends first and be mad at each other second.  Which is exactly when Grizzle shows up, demanding they return his ray.  Which they do, in a manner of speaking, by turning it on him.  Then they recruit the amnesiac Grizzle to return everyone back to normal.  After that, they send Grizzle back to his lair with all the paint, so he can "spruce it up."

With that taken care of, Funshine and Tenderheart resume being mad at each other, much to the other bears' amazement.  Not able to let it go, Cheer, Grumpy, and even Oopsy beseech the two bears to patch things up, and they do finally give in and apologize to each other for real this time.  And Grumpy reveals that he made them both matching pogo sticks for when they made up.  So maybe it was like a day in between the first few scenes or something.  Anyway, Grumpy warns them not to go near the fountain, and what's the first thing they do?  Fall in the fountain, of course.

As an epilogue, UR-2 and Rocketbottom try to figure out where Grizzle's new-found enthusiasm for painting came from.

Gone - "There goes one girl in need of a Care Bear Stare."

Did you know that McKenna actually has a friend who isn't a Care Bear?  As the opening montage shows, she does have one.  Unfortunately for her, as is usually the case with a suddenly introduced friend, her family has to move away.  McKenna and her friend share a sad farewell, and then her wristband starts glowing.  It's really the charm bracelet underneath, but in her current state of mind, McKenna does not look forward to visiting her friends in the sky.

Up in Care-a-lot, the Care Bears are preparing for the arrival of the Thunder Whales, and Share gives us a continuity nod while showing off the flowers she painted, which gives Grumpy a good segue into showing off his latest invention, a kind of mechanical tail that will let him talk to the Thunder Whales.  Oopsy is all kinds of excited for the whales to show up and Grumpy has to physically restrain him to keep him away from the mechanical tail.  Although Oopsy gives up on trying it out, turns out Grumpy didn't need any help making it go crazy and chase him.  Not quite ready for communication, I guess.

After that small debacle, McKenna shows up, even though she's not in the mood to do anything and just settles herself under a tree.  Cheer and Funshine resolve to get McKenna involved in the Thunder Whale's arrival, but don't think of just Care Bear Staring her back in good spirits.  She rebuff's Funshine's attempt, but agrees to help Grumpy, since she just has to push a button.  But even the sight of Grumpy being chased by his own creation is not enough to cheer her up, and she runs off.  Grumpy, of course, see the obvious solution of giving her a stare, but it's time for the commercial break, so she doesn't get one.

After the break, McKenna halfheartedly flips a coin into the fountain and tells Share that she wished her friend would move back.  So Share gives her the 'it's okay to feel sad when your friend moves away' talk, and wouldn't this really be more of a job for, oh I don't know, Best Friend Bear?  Share's deficiency is pointed out by McKenna: since all of Share's friends live right there in Care-a-lot, she has no idea how McKenna feels.  Share jumps over this fact by instead reminding McKenna that she has other friends, although I think she's just referring to the other Care Bears.  No time to think about that now, the Thunder Whales are almost here.

The whales show up, do their whaley thing, and for some reason Funshine and Cheer feel obligated to use their badges as twin spotlights to guide the whales.  Grumpy attaches the tail of the mechanical tail to Oopsy's head so they can at least say Hi, and Share and McKenna go in for a close encounter with one of the whales.  McKenna notices a distressed whale nearby and soon spots the source of its distress: one of the babies got caught in a tree.  So McKenna conjures up a cloud from her bracelet and lifts the whale to safety.  She is congratulated by the others and the whale comes back for a hug (aww), and then it's off the whales go for another year.  This makes Share realize that she does know what it feels like to have a friend move away (kinda), so, um, good?  The others point out that just as the whales return year after year, so too will McKenna see her friend again, and McKenna acknowledges that such things as e-mail and phones exist in the world.

So McKenna goes home having resolved her feelings over her friend moving away, only to find that her mom (and her friend's mom) sprung for a webcam, so now she and her friend can Skype all the time!  Happy ending all around, I guess.

Ugh, this ep was like pulling teeth, seriously.  Nothing happened, but they stretched it out to an full 10 minutes anyway #_#  At least McKenna has a hot mom to make watching the whole thing  worth it (a little, anyway).

Adventures in Care-a-lot Episode 21

Belly Blanked 

For whatever reason, the episode starts off with four of the core five meeting up with Funshine in that park that isn't Rainshine Meadows and is apparently above Care Square, as they take a cloud (courtesy of Grumpy's belly badge) to get there.  Funshine uses his belly badge to create all kinds of fun, from beachballs and spinny discs to a waterslide.  Grumpy balks at the slide, so Funshine takes it upon himself to prove its safety.  He slides right into the river, whereupon he is hit (unbeknownst to him) by a ray from a mysterious (and apparently waterproof) machine.  He emerges without his badge, which Grumpy blames on the slide.  It's Oopsy who spots Funshine's badge floating down the river, but all their attempts to grab it fall flat.  Although Grumpy and Share are awfully cute as they fail at paddling a canoe together (and Grumpy even tells Share, "You're doing it wrong!").  Funshine understandably freaks out as his badge goes over the waterfall, and he considers it gone for good.  Grumpy, however, is adamant that belly badges "don't just slide off like that" and while he, Share, and Oopsy head offscreen, UR-2 and

 Rocketbottom rise up from the lake, holding the mysterious machine, a Peeler Beam, and report to Grizzle (at the bottom of the waterfall), who takes Funshine's badge for his own.

Back in his lair, Grizzle reveals his plan to his minions, who are recovering from their time at the bottom of the river: instead of taking all the Care Bears' belly badges, he just needs one.  So he sticks it to himself with glue, and predictably gets stuck to the floor.  So predictably, in fact, that UR-2 is able to finish Grizzle's sentences as he calls for a crowbar.

Meanwhile, the other Care Bears are worried about Funshine, who has spent all his time since losing his badge just moping around.  Share figures someone should tell Funshine that he's still the same with or without his badge, but doesn't think of the obvious candidate, although Cheer does.  So they get Oopsy and Wingnut to go cheer up Funshine, since neither of them have belly badges to speak of.  Funshine, however, is having none of it, stuck in an existential quandary of who he is without his badge.  Oopsy tries to lead Funshine to the right conclusion for this episode by prompting him, "You don't use your belly badge all the time, do you?" to which Funshine replies, "Well, no, not every minute." (Hey, I liked it.)  Eventually Funshine starts to come around, and the three of them engage in a montage of the kinds of physical activities that can be achieved without use of a belly badge.

Shortly after that, Grizzle has his minions lower him into Care-a-lot while he uses a snazzy new headset to communicate with them.  Unfortunately, he gets dropped too soon, losing his headset in the process.  And while he lands on his feet, he once again regrets ever installing nerve sensors in his suit.  He happens to land in front of Funshine and Oopsy, and he demands the Care Bears fear him, although Oopsy cutely points out a bad wording choice on his part.  Funshine soon notices Grizzle has his badge, and demands it back.  Grizzle, of course, does not comply with his request, but instead announces his intention to use the badge for evil, not fun, and demands the badge give him rays of light to fry all of Care-a-lot.  Instead, the badge gives him rays of light that brighten everyone's day.  Suitably confused, Grizzle tries again, but his demand for "sunbeams of power" only ends up with him tied up in powerful beams.  Not so powerful that he can't break out of them, though.

Funshine, tired of seeing his badge being abused, demands to know how Grizzle got it in the first place, and Grizzle all too readily reveals the Peeler Beam, brought down by Sargent Rocketbottom.  Funshine also demands, for like the third time, that Grizzle give his badge back, but Grizzle simply tells him that it's stuck onto his suit with 50 different kinds of glue.  So Funshine reminds him that belly badges can only be used for good, and Grizzle uses this to his advantage by using the badge to create a barrage of balls for a 'game.'  

The Care Bears take cover, but Funshine knows he has to stop Grizzle somehow.  Oopsy gives him a quick pep talk, and then Funshine enters the fray, challenging Grizzle to a game of Targetball.  At first, Grizzle doesn't take the bait, but after Funshine pulls the old "if you don't think you can win..." line on him, he goes at it with gusto.  While Grizzle is distracted, Funshine sneaks behind him and snatches the Peeler Beam away from Rocketbottom and uses it on the stolen badge.  It melts off Grizzle's midsection and Funshine quickly returns it to its proper place.  Since he wasn't paying attention, Grizzle needs a recap of what just happened, and is chagrinned when he realizes his mistake.  Rather than take direct revenge, Funshine startles Rocketbottom, resulting in the robot getting stuck to Grizzle's still-sticky middle.  Grizzle retreats to get some glue solvent.

The others congratulate Funshine for saving the day, and Oopsy points out that Funshine did it all without his badge.  Funshine has learned his lesson, and they end the episode by playing a round of Targetball with all the excess balls left behind by Grizzle.

What I want to know is 1. why didn't Oopsy comfort Funshine both sooner and without being asked by someone?  Maybe he felt awkward bringing it up?  And 2. why didn't any of the other bears with badges help defeat Grizzle this time around.  Yes, I know that it was so that Funshine could save the day without using his badge, but realistically (as realistic as a cartoon gets, anyway), there are myriads of other Care Bears who could have lent a hand, at least, even if Funshine was the one who got to be the big hero.

All Give and No Take

One fine day in Care-a-lot, Love-a-lot unveils her new fountain in her backyard.  Cheer and Share express a desire to see it all the time, which gives Love-a-lot an IDEA.  She gets Grumpy to move the fountain, and he in turn gets Wingnut to do the actual moving, and it lands with a splash in Care Square (but there's already a fountain in Care Square...).  McKenna shows up out of nowhere, and she just can't wrap her mind around the idea that Love-a-lot would rather have the fountain out where everyone can share it rather than keep it to herself.  

She would never give up anything of hers, she says, like her new favorite heart-shaped ring.  Share explains that it's better to give than to have sometimes, which inspires Cheer to put that principle into practice by organizing a Care-a-lot-wide giving spree.  Everyone is enthusiastic about this idea except McKenna, who eyes her ring worriedly, as if she knows that one way or another, she's not leaving Care-a-lot without giving it up.

Later, Grumpy attempts to wedge a part into his latest invention, but with no success, so he's in no mood to see Share.  Until she whips out the bumbleberry pie that she made, that is.  Seriously, he's all over that pie.  As Share leaves Grumpy's garage, she runs into McKenna, who still can't quite get why anyone would want to go to all the trouble of making something for someone else.  So Share takes her along to witness more selfless giving.  They come across Funshine playing with his "favorite" ball, which he gives to the two cubs (whose names are finally revealed to be Hugs and Tugs in canon) to stop them fighting over another toy.  Again, McKenna is stumped on why anyone would give away their favorite thing, but Funshine just tells her he knows the ball is in good hands.

Meanwhile, Grizzle has been watching the whole thing, and he is sick of all the 'giving and love stuff' (as is Mr. Beaks).  But he decides to use the Care Bears' giving to trap them by giving them something himself, and then luring them back to his lair.  Back in Care-a-lot, Cheer rewards all the Care Bears for going along with her idea by conjuring up a slide, which McKenna rushes to use first, despite her not doing any giving, nor even understanding why the bears were doing what they did.  Perhaps it is fitting, then, that her ride is cut short by Grizzle (literally, he sticks is foot out to stop her).  The Care Bears are suspicious, but Grizzle feigns innocence and hands Funshine a dripping package, which he announces is for everyone.  Funshine opens the package to reveal a dripping pipe with macaroni glued on it (nice touch).  Grizzle tells them it's part of a bigger gift, which they can pick up at a special party at his lair.  While not entirely sure, Cheer and the others decide to give Grizzle another chance, and go to his party, despite McKenna and Grumpy's hestitation.

While the Care Bears make their way to his lair, Grizzle has UR-2 test his plan to capture the bears once and for all.  That plan involves a lever that activates the fake package and grabs whatever is in its immediate vicinity.  And the codeword for pulling the lever is "Surprise."  With the plan all set, the Care Bears arrive and Grizzle ushers them into his lair.  Cheer spots the present and is impressed by its size; Grizzle fakes niceness and tells her that it's to make up for all his plots in the previous episodes.  As his guests head to the present, McKenna notices Mr. Beaks.  Grizzle tries to stop her from getting too close, but McKenna tells him how Mr. Beaks reminds her of a bird she used to have as a pet.  Touched by the resemblance(?), McKenna asks Grizzle if she can give Mr. Beaks something.  Grizzle agrees, and she gives him the ring as a little crown, getting that plot point out of the way.  The other Care Bears are pleased that McKenna finally gets it, and Mr. Beaks is so pleased by the gift that Grizzle is touched and starts to cry, which Cheer calls him out on.  Grizzle tries to deny it, but the sincerity of McKenna's caring for Mr. Beaks took him by surprise, and he tells Cheer so.  Which is the codeword, UR-2 rationalizes, and throws the switch.

The package grabs them all, even Grizzle, and traps them inside the box.  The other bears accuse Grizzle, but McKenna interprets their situation as Grizzle giving them "the gift of togetherness."  Grizzle, seeing an easy out, is quick to agree with her, and tells UR-2 to open the 'present' so they can get the party started.  UR-2 shrugs and does as he is told.  At the actual party, Grizzle busts out some funky dance moves, and even hops out of his suit so the two of them can dance together (I love it!).  UR-2 comments that Grizzle will probably regret it in the morning, but for the time being, everyone just has a good time.

This was actually a pretty decent episode, all things considered.  There were tons of crazy expressions, though (just check out the screenshots below).  I'm just wondering how Grizzle was going to take over Care-a-lot when the only bears who showed up where Funshine, Cheer, Share, Grumpy, and Love-a-lot.

Screenshots

Spinning off the Spinny Disc

Funshine about to be hit by the ray

Grumpy and Share fail canoeing

Grumpy knows badges don't work that way

UR-2 and Rocketbottom report

Fifty kinds of glue

Oopsy tries to cheer up Funshine

You don't need a badge to climb trees

Snazzy headset!

Funshine confronts Grizzle

Rocketbottom shows off the Peeler Beam

"I'll just ask for something 'good,' then."

A barrage of balls

"If you don't think you can get one in..."

Funshine aims the Peeler Beam

Rocketbottom and Grizzle stuck together

Love-a-lot has an idea with a capital I

McKenna is skeptical

Grumpy's invention has left him in despair!

He really wants that pie

Hugs and Tugs

Grizzle is fed up

Grizzle shows up in Care-a-lot

Nobody wants that present

Testing the 'gift'

Ushering in his guests

McKenna knows this bird?

King of the mechanical birds

Grizzle is touched

Crammed in the 'gift'

UR-2 shrugs

Grizzle busts a move

And hops out of his suit

To dance together

Everybody was...

...Disco dancing

Even UR-2 and Rocketbottom

Adventures in Care-a-lot Episode 18

Although I said I wanted to get right down to this episode, somehow it took all week to finally carve out the time to do it justice.  Although it's mostly the second half that I was waiting for.

Whose Friend is Who? - "You mean, I get to help?!"

This episode did not feature Friend Bear or even Best Friend as some predicted, based on the title.  And come on, writers!  Those two obviously need an episode!  But no, the actual plot of this episode runs as follows:  McKenna returns to learn about working together, however, in helping her learn, Cheer and Harmony inadvertently shut out Funshine and Oopsy (and granted, they were only making a swing, so it was a case of preventing a "too many cooks" situation), who complain to Grumpy, and the three of them make a club for just the three of them.  To retaliate, Cheer, Harmony, and Love-a-lot make their own club.  However, Grumpy's club has a cool clubhouse, so McKenna wants to be a member of both clubs.  But when she tries this, not only is she rejected by Grumpy's club, but Harmony's club kicks her out.  So she comes up with a plan to make her own club with Wingnut and show the others how it feels to be left out of a club, and in the end everyone comes together again.

Now, that's all well and good, but wouldn't this have been better as an Earth episode?  What if, instead of the creation of the clubs in Care-a-lot, after learning to help others, McKenna went back to her hometown and got involved in a club war between her friends.  Then she would go back to Care-a-lot to get help from the Care Bears to make her friends stop being cliche-ish, and they would basically do what she did, I guess, and everyone would be friends again by the end.  And that's what should have happened.

Also, the ep would have made more sense if Harmony weren't involved.  I mean, shouldn't she have been keeping harmony here instead of adding to the dischord?  Couldn't one of the less-shown female bears have been given a bigger part for this story, like, oh I don't know, Friend or Best Friend?  Or even Wish, she never gets to do anything!  Seriously, writers, get on the ball!

Present and Accounted For - "KA-ching.  We hit the jackpot!"

This ep begins at Love-a-lot's house, which is filled with framed pictures of her and Cheer (lots and lots of pictures of the two of them.  Hm....).  Most of them are of the two of them exchanging gift baskets.  Love-a-lot is woken up by Share wishing her a happy birthday, and Love-a-lot regales her with a tale of the ginormous gift basket she dreamt Cheer gave her.  But Share is gone by the time she mentions that any gift from her friend is sure to be lovely.  Turns out Share split to spill the beans on Love-a-lot's dream to Cheer, who is putting the finishing touches on this year's gift basket, which includes everything Love-a-lot mentioned, including a purple, sparkly skateboard.  Cheer claims she's just a thoughtful friend, but obviously she has psychic powers.  Either that or the dream was planted...  Later, Love-a-lot is given presents and wished many happy returns by almost everyone in Care Square, except for the one bear she's most looking forward to seeing.  As the day passes with no Cheer, Love-a-lot starts to lose hope in her friend.  

Meanwhile, Grizzle raves and rants over his many failed plans (illustrated by myriads of post-it notes all over his lair).  After storming out, his minions (as in the past few episodes, UR-2 and Sargeant Rocketbottom) muse on the situation.  Mostly UR-2, though, as Rocketbottom is portrayed as more of an idiot than usual in this ep.  UR-2 goes on to explain, using charts and a logic sequence, that when Grizzle isn't happy, nobody's happy (this leads to almost the best part of the episode, Rocketbottom glomping UR-2).  And apparently Grizzle hasn't been happy ever, but he's been more unhappy than usual for over a week.  Thus, they must come up with some sort of plan to cheer him up, and quick.

Later, or maybe earlier, Cheer pushes her gift basket (on some kind of truck) to Love-a-lot's house, and then climbs in a tree so she can see her friend's reaction.  But the exertion of pushing the present leaves her exhausted, and she falls asleep.  In the tree.  And her present goes rolling down the slight slope of Love-a-lot's front walk, of course.  Leaving it out in the open to be found by UR-2 and Rocketbottom, who are prowling around Care-a-lot in search of something for Grizzle.  Well, this gift basket seems to fit the bill, despite being covered in hearts.  And since it's just sitting out in the open, they take it back to Grizzle's lair.  Since it's only a 10 minute episode, a piece of Sargeant Rocketbottom falls off and lands in Care-a-lot, although it is goes unseen by Cheer, who is still sleeping in the tree.

She finally wakes up once the commercials are over, and seeing the present gone, assumes she missed seeing Love-a-lot find it.  She rings the doorbell, but Love-a-lot is not at home, so she leaves, disappointed.  I don't know why she would think Love-a-lot would stay home on her birthday.  Or anytime, really.  If there's a chance to say "I love it!" about something, you know Love-a-lot will be there.  Girl gets around.  Speaking of Love-a-lot, the birthday girl is drinking hot chocolate with Funshine at the moment, though it's obvious she's using it to drown her sorrows, since Cheer still hasn't shown up to wish her Happy Birthday.  She does not appreciate Funshine's attempt to lighten the mood with some humor.

Cheer runs into Grumpy, who refutes what I said earlier - no birthday girl (and especially not Love-a-lot) is going to stay home on her special day.  Cheer tells him that she hasn't heard a word from Love-a-lot about the gift basket and wonders how her friend could be so cruel.  Later, Grumpy runs into Funshine, and the two of them end up revealing what the other pink bear thinks is going on, and come to conclusion that a third party got involved and took the basket, and since they're the ones that know about it, they have to let Cheer and Love-a-lot know as well.  Only, not in the obvious way of explaining to each one what's going on, but rather, putting the two together in Care Square and watching a parody of High Noon play out.  The two pink bears put two and two together a little too quickly for my tastes (but then, I'm still hung up on Grumpy and Funshine not just explaining the situation outright), and then they make up by doing a weird hug-dance (which  is kind of cute, I guess).  Once that's over with, they turn to Funshine and Grumpy (as they should!) to find out what happened to the basket, but the two bears are as much in the dark about this as any of them.

The four bears go to investigate around Love-a-lot's house, but they have no leads until Cheer finds Sargeant Rocketbottom's missing part.  The bears ponder it, then look up toward the only place it could have come from...where Grizzle is just opening the gift basket.  He's quite keen on the purple skateboard, and even gets out of his mechasuit so that he can ride it with more control (Little Grizzle on a skateboard, having the time of his life--definitely the best part of the episode.  More episodes should lead up to something like this).  The Care Bears go to investigate, and seeing Grizzle skating around his lair, they are astonished.  Grumpy sagely notes, "He's never giving it back."  They are ambushed by UR-2 and Rocketbottom, and Funshine waves the missing part in Rocketbottom's face, but the robot simply takes it back gratefully.  UR-2 apologizes, but explains the situation, and notes that Grizzle is "almost happy," thanks to the gift basket.  The bears huddle up and Cheer and Love-a-lot come to the conclusion that the thought behind the gift is more important than the gift itself, and they rub cheeks.  They all agree that anything that keeps Grizzle happy (and out of Care-a-lot) is a good thing, and they tell UR-2 and Rocketbottom that because the two of them are such  good friends to Grizzle, he can keep the basket.  The robots thank them and offer a favor in return.  Since Rocketbottom added that they would do anything, the Care Bears call on them to be waiters at Love-a-lot's party that evening.  Rocketbottom accidently gets his head knocked into the punch, UR-2 fishes it out, and the episode is over.

Man, oh man.  This episode.  Oh man. Ooooh the subtext.  Granted, maybe this is just me, but seriously, I don't know how anyone can watch this one and not come out shipping UR-2 and Rocketbottom, even just a little.  The hints for Cheer/Love-a-lot are more subtle, but definitely there.  I have to admit, though, my personal canon has Love-a-lot being pretty fickle, so this year she was all about Cheer, but by next year, someone else could be her birthday offender.

Screenshots

Funshine is skeptical of McKenna

Almost done with the swing

Oopsy as Lend-a-hand Bear

The Bear Buddies' Club House

Another swing

McKenna approaches the club house

Oopsy takes his guard duties seriously

The girls are disappointed in McKenna's betrayal

McKenna laughs at Grumpy

More McKenna laughing

A badge for "keeping harmony"

Harmony sings

And the others join in

A picture perfect photo

Love-a-lot and Share

Share takes notes

Cheer's gift basket

Love-a-lot gets gifts

Grumpy gives her a balloon (cute!)

Aw, poor Love-a-lot...

Grizzle is fed up!

UR-2's chart of Grizzle's moods

UR-2 displays his chart

Cheer pushes her gift basket

Asleep in the tree

Cameo by Friend and Tenderheart

UR-2 imitates Grizzle...

...to Rocketbottom's amusement

UR-2 and Rocketbottom find the basket

They take the basket

Cheer rings the doorbell

Love-a-lot drinks hot chocolate

Cheer vents to Grumpy

Grumpy and Funshine put two and two together

Cheer and Love-a-lot make up

The evidence is found

Grizzle likes the skateboard

Little Grizzle!

Funshine presents Exhibit A

Little Grizzle on the skateboard

Working at the party

Rocketbottom's in the punch

Oh my...

Adventures in Care-a-lot, episode 16

So yeah, these eps.  Both of them were kinda lackluster.  Which is why I've put them off for this long.  You guys are just lucky that I want to get to the most recent eps, otherwise who knows how long I would have put these off...

Bumpity and Tweazle

You know, I'm not even going to dignify this one with a summary.  All you need to know is it's the prequel to Flower Power, and it was even worse than I thought it would be.

Here Comes McKenna

This one is really only saved by Grizzle and UR-2 (that part is just me, of course).  The scenerio of the ep introduces the first kid in the TV series, a spoiled brat named McKenna who is brought to Care-a-Lot because of her lack of sharing skillz (among other things, apparently).  Seriously, this girl may have the looks, but her attitude damage is massive.  Her disregard for sharing leaves Share in despair and Funshine dumbfounded (best Funshine face ever!) as she plows through Share's lunch and demands more.  Although properly contrite when chastised, one gets the idea that she's using "this whole sharing thing is new to me" as a crutch to soften the blow of her rotten behavior.  Cheer suggests that she observe sharing in action to get a better idea of how it's done.

One quick field trip to Share's garden and a Grumpy/Share moment does nothing to help McKenna get it.  Later, she blames her lack of getting it on her lack of a belly badge, and Share sees her point.  Somehow she rips off part of her belly badge and "shares" it with McKenna, who thanks Share profusesly and runs off.  As she runs, she reveals her evil plan: she has no intention of returning the badge, and even plans to use it to force people to "share" all their stuff with her.  Cue commercial break.

Once the commercials end, we see that McKenna is lying in wait (and presumably has been all through the commercials), watching for the moment when Grumpy leaves the CBT (Care Bear Transporter) alone, so she can ditch Care-a-lot and get on with her scheme.  Her waiting is interrupted by the arrival of Grizzle, who demands the Care Bears give him Care-a-lot once and for all.  Funshine offers to share it, rather than transfer ownership outright, but Grizzle refuses to share.  Instead, he has UR-2 bring forth the Caretaker 2 (a shout-out to Oopsy Does It), which improves on the first Caretaker by being smaller, mobile, and invisible(!).  McKenna, still in hiding, is impressed.  The Caretaker 2 starts stealing badges, and McKenna notes that it turns uninvisible whenever it snags one.  She then heads for a better hiding place to keep it from getting her half-a-badge.

With the Care Bears powerless, Grizzle sets up the throne he brought for the occasion, complete with neon sign of himself (from the previous episode) and tinny victory music playing.  UR-2 and Sargent Rocketbottom burst streamers as Grizzle ascends.  Once in position, Grizzle calls for the destruction of Care-a-lot and the creation of Grizzleton.  UR-2 asks what Grizzleton is, exactly, and Grizzle tells him it's just Care-a-lot all smashed up.  While the Care Bears are forced to wreck the library steps (not the library!), Grizzle sends his robot minions to find the Caretaker 2, which is still invisible.  He also warns them not to press the blue button that releases all the belly badges, a warning that McKenna overhears.  (Lampshaded: "I never should have installed that blue button.")  Taking advantage of this distraction, McKenna accidentally trips over the Caretaker 2 on her way to the CBT.  Just as she's about to head back home, she starts to feel guilty.  After all, the Care Bears have been nothing but nice to her, and now they're enslaved.  She decides to help them and then head back home with her half-a-badge, and starts looking for the Caretaker 2.  Unable to find it, she remembers that it turns uninvisible when it snags a badge, and even though she had planned all kinds of nefarious deeds for it, her sense of decency suddenly shows up, and she uses her half-a-badge to lure out the Caretaker 2.

Unfortunately for her, UR-2 happened to be nearby when the Caretaker 2 showed itself, and he makes a mad dash (well, whatever it is he does) for it, but ends up in pieces instead (;_;).  McKenna pushes what she thinks is the blue button (since it's invisible again), and gets it right on the first try.  The badges are released and McKenna even gets her half back.  Grizzle is not amused and orders Rocketbottom to get her.  The Care Bears give him a Care Bear Stare instead, but it's not powerful enough with half-a-badge missing.  Share calls on McKenna to help out, but despite McKenna's protests that she doesn't know what to do, the instruction to "care!" is enough to bring Grizzle to his knees (figuratively, anyway).  In his stare-enlightened state, he is easily persuaded to get rid of the Caretaker 2, and then bids the Care Bears farewell.  UR-2 has pulled himself together enough to follow after his master (I'm guessing Sargeant Rocketbottom was already on the cloud transport).

With Grizzle gone, McKenna confesses to her nefarious plans for her half-a-badge, and Cheer points out that the fact that she didn't leave, even when she had the perfect chance, proves she learned something at least.  Later, as McKenna gets ready to go back home (and Share has her whole badge back), Funshine and Share present her with a "Care-a-lot Kid" outfit (it's really only a jacket and fanny pack), complete with a mini-version of Share's badge.  Apparently the mini-badge will give her the same power when it's pinned to the jacket?  I'm not sure how that would work, exactly.  McKenna tells them all goodbye, though she still calls them "Happy Bears" as she did at the beginning of the episode, and Grumpy takes offense at this as the episode ends.

The first time I saw this, I thought McKenna was too old for the part, but while the problems with sharing may be a bit of a younger thing, the attitude was definitely more in line with an older kid.  But really, if it weren't for the Grizzle parts, I probably wouldn't have bothered to write up this episode either.  

Adventures in Care-a-Lot episode 15

Sorry that I've been slightly AWOL lately.  To make up for it, I'll try to cover the slack over the rest of the week.  Starting with the past couple of AiCaLs.  First up, Desperately Seeking Mr. Beaks/Good Knight Bedtime.  Both of these episodes were pretty awesome, but the first one had awesomeness in spades.

Desperately Seeking Mr. Beaks (see, you already know it's going to be good)

Like all the best episodes, this one starts in Grizzle's lair, with Grizzle describing his latest plan to Mr. Beaks.  Only Mr. Beaks isn't there.  Grizzle goes on a search of his entire lair, but Mr. Beaks is nowhere to be found.  He even tears apart his recently-finished latest creation (for Care-a-lot's destruction, naturally) just to make sure Mr. Beaks isn't trapped inside.  With no place left to look, the answer is obvious: Mr. Beaks has been birdnapped!  And since the only other characters on the show are the Care Bears, it's time for a quick trip to Care-a-lot.

Grizzle stomps around Care Square, terrorizing the bears with vague threats about how they took "him."  When he runs into Oopsy, he spills the whole story about how Mr. Beaks is missing, and Oopsy feels his pain since all the bears, while not being that fond of Grizzle, rather like 

Mr. Beaks.  Grizzle continues to insist that a Care Bear took him, and Oopsy, knowing this isn't true,

 promises to help find Mr. Beaks "if" he's in Care-a-lot at all.  Funshine, Love-a-lot, and Grumpy show up at the tail end of their conversation and are brought up to speed by Oopsy.  Grumpy isn't so sure Mr. Beaks is actually missing, but Oopsy and the others are convinced by how upset Grizzle is, especially when they see him wiping away tears (I. Love. It!).

Realizing that they have a mystery on their hands (and not "the screwiest day Care-a-lot has ever seen," as Grumpy puts it), Funshine and Love-a-lot bond over their love of mystery novels and team up to solve the case!  Love-a-lot takes the lead by getting a description of Mr. Beaks from Grizzle.  We don't actually get to hear it, but you can just tell by the look on Grizzle's face that it was going to be one of glowing adoration.  Meanwhile, Grumpy has a plan that requires Oopsy's help (seriously?).

Later, Funshine and Love-a-lot are dressed for their role as detectives, and head out to interrogate some suspects, including Bedtime, Surprise, Wingnut, and those cubs who may or may not be Hugs and Tugs (this part was amusing enough to make me wish it included a few more suspects).  But all their leads come up empty, leading to a meeting in the library where Funshine and Love-a-lot clash over whether they need to focus on finding more clues or figuring out a motive.  Grizzle, fed up with all this useless investigating, accuses the two bears of covering up the real culprit, and goes off to search on his own.  Funshine concludes that being a detective is hard work.

After the commercial break, Funshine and Love-a-lot convene with Grumpy and Oopsy and fill them in on their fruitless search.  Grumpy informs them that they were too focused on playing detective than actually working, and Funshine owns up to it.  Plus, they really do want to help Grizzle.  Grumpy and Oopsy unveil the fruits of their labor: a perfect replica of Mr. Beaks.  Ah, so that's why Grumpy needed Oopsy's help; apparently Oopsy's seen more of Mr. Beaks than any other Care Bear?  Scratch that, I still don't get it.  Regardless, Grumpy theorizes that the new Mr. Beaks will cheer up Grizzle, and Love-a-lot comments that it's exactly like the real Mr. Beaks in every way.  Except for the talking, as Oopsy points out, and they all have a good laugh at Grizzle's expense.

Grizzle, meanwhile, has given up searching and is just plain pacing when the others find him.  At first he is overjoyed when Grumpy reveals the new Mr. Beaks, and doesn't seem upset at first when Grumpy tells him that it's not the real Mr. Beaks, just a new one he built.  But all too soon Grizzle pooh-poohs the new Mr. Beaks, since the real Mr. Beaks has a gravy stain on his wing, and no other Mr. Beaks will do.  Grumpy is insulted, even more so when Grizzle accuses him of trying to keep him from finding the real Mr. Beaks.  Love-a-lot and Oopsy leap to Grumpy's defense, but Grizzle just growls at them, knocking Oopsy over, and storms off.  Grumpy wonders what to do with the fake Mr. Beaks, and Harmony shows up out of nowhere and offers to take it off his hands, being quite smitten with it.  So is almost everyone else in Care-a-lot, and Grumpy soon has a profitable business making knock-off Mr. Beakses.

With everyone in Care-a-lot sporting their own Mr. Beaks, Grizzle has had enough!  He declares that their plan hasn't fooled him, and snags Grumpy's Mr. Beaks, claiming it to be the true Mr. Beaks.  The others try to persuade him that there isn't any plan or real Mr. Beaks in Care-a-lot, but Grizzle's having none of it, and leaves with "his" Mr. Beaks.  With Grizzle gone, the others comment on how having their own Mr. Beaks allows them to empathize with Grizzle, strange as that may be, and they yet again laugh at Grizzle.

Back in his lair, Grizzle gushes to the fake Mr. Beaks, only to notice the real Mr. Beaks hidden between a crate and a trashbin.  Grizzle exhults at finding the real deal, but now he has two Mr. Beaks to deal with, and it seems they don't get along... and that's it for this episode.

Now, really, this ep is six kinds of awesome.  The first three have to do with Grizzle being adorable ^_^, the fourth is related to Love-a-lot and Funshine's detective style, the fifth is everyone getting their own Mr. Beaks, and the sixth is the perceived (by me, anyway) bond between Oopsy and Grizzle.

Good Knight Bedtime

Now this is what all the Bedtime fans have been waiting for, A Day in the Life of Bedtime!  Or rather, a Night in the Life.  Although it does start during the day, with Bedtime dreaming that he's a knight in armor, protecting Care-a-lot from a gigantic Grizzle.  Although rather than jousting, he tickles the dream Grizzle until it runs away.  As everyone goes up to congratulate him, his dream ends, and he laments that he doesn't have the same courage when he's awake.  But the sun is going down, so it's time to get cracking on his nightly duties.  Bedtime leaves his (awesome) house to go sneak into everyone else's, although we only see him in Grumpy's and Share's (hm...no, wait, he goes to Oopsy's house, too).  Seems everyone is having bad dreams that not even his belly badge's power (Touch of Good Night) can help stem.  So he decides to check out what's going on in Dreamland.

Finding a convenient bench, Bedtime chants a rhyme while rubbing his belly badge, then falls asleep and his spirit is transported to the land of dreams, which looks an awful lot like Care Square.  In dreamland, he discovers that Grumpy is dreaming about not being able to fix things, Share is dreaming of not being able to share, and Funshine just can't have fun in a dream of not being able to make a play in Belly Badge Ball.  Not sure what to do about it in Dreamland, Bedtime waits for morning and holds a seminar in the library on how to change bad dreams to good.  His reminder that dreams aren't real seems to work, as that night the only sounds are the sounds of sweet slumber.

Meanwhile, up in his lair, Grizzle complains that his Dream Scheme Machine, which should be giving the Care Bears nothing but nightmares, is not working.  Mr. Beaks points out that the machine is set on low, but Grizzle misunderstands and takes it as a compliment ("Of course I'm low!  I'm mean, too.").  Once he gets the hint, he turns the machine all the way to high, and settles back to see what will happen.  Granted, I'm not too sure what Grizzle means to accomplish with this, and it's never really explained.  Perhaps he thinks that tormenting them with bad dreams will make the Care Bears too tired to fight him should he show up to conqure Care-a-lot?  This must be the case, since the next day dawns and only Bedtime is awake (which, as we learned in Emma's Dilemma, is not the natural order of things).  This is not lost on Bedtime, and (after peeking into Grumpy and Share's houses) he heads off to Dreamland to see what's going on.

Once he gets to Dreamland, it's all too clear that everyone is having a nightmare that Grizzle actually took over Care-a-lot (complete with a neon sign of his head), although the dreaming bears assert that Grizzle somehow took over Dreamland using his machine, even though he's nowhere to be seen.  Funshine tells Bedtime that the only thing to do is wake up (since he's the only one who can control his trips between Dreamland and the real world) and defeat Grizzle on his own turf.  Bedtime is not so sure he can do it, but Share plays on his knightly desires (since all their dreams are connected, she obviously knew about his earlier dream, even if she wasn't asleep at the time, I'm guessing), and with a reassuring touch from Funshine and Cheer, Bedtime finds the determination to go and confront Grizzle!  But when he tries to "wake up," he finds he can't, and decides it's due to Grizzle's machine.  So the others lend him their power, and it works, somehow.

Back in the real world, Bedtime is still fired up from his friends' confidence in him, and he goes to prepare, mostly by borrowing stuff from Grumpy's Garage.  He hops in a cloud car and heads off to Grizzle's lair, but once he gets there, he starts getting cold feet.  He tries to turn back, but his utility belt slips and he trips, knocking the teakettle off his head.  At first he sees his own reflection, but then it turns into the core four, with Share quoting her "knight in shining armor" line from earlier.  With his resolve renewed, Bedtime heads into the fray.  He confronts Grizzle in his lair, and asks/demands that he turn off the machine.  Grizzle instead derides Bedtime's choice of headgear, but Bedtime isn't fazed by this at all.  He instead introduces himself as a knight (to Grizzle's skepticism), "the only Care Bear that can control sleep and dreams," (which sounds kinda creepy when he puts it that way), and tries to use his belly badge's power against Grizzle.  But nothing happens.  Grizzle, in true villain fashion, gives away the reason: he built an anti-belly badge shielding device for just such an occasion (and it was actually turned on, too, showing a bit of forethought on Grizzle's part).  Bedtime attempts to fight with a spoon, but Grizzle counters with an umbrella and knocks the spoon to the ground.  Grizzle's attempts at banter only inspire Bedtime, as he just happened to pack a featherduster, and taking a cue from his earlier dream, he proceeds to tickle Grizzle silly (this is the time when Grizzle regrets installing nerve sensors in his mechasuit, but ah well), distracting him long enough for Bedtime to grab his spoon again, lob it at the shielding device, and knock to the lever to "off."

Once again able to use his belly badge, Bedtime attacks Grizzle with Touch of Good Night, sending the defeated bear straight to sleep, despite his protests.  Bedtime turns off the machine and pulls out a wire to keep Grizzle from just turning it on again later, and starts to leave, but being Bedtime, can't help but make sure that Grizzle is snuggled with Mr. Beaks (aww....).  Back in Care-a-lot, Bedtime is heralded as a hero, including getting a hug from Share.  He has just enough time to spout out the lesson before the full force of his extended night hits him.  As he ambles off to the nearest comfortable spot for some sleep, Grumpy suddenly realizes that Bedtime took his teakettle, and glares at Cheer as if she had something to do with that.  She doesn't help things by looking guilty.  And Bedtime falls asleep on the bench, which was closer than his house, I guess.  And...wait a minute!  The episode actually ends without everyone laughing at nothing!  Whoa....

Bedtime was so cute in this episode!  Seriously, I wasn't a fan of him before, but he really shone on his own.  When he isn't all sleepy-eyed, he's adorable!  Now I'm really looking forward to the upcoming Night Shift (hopefully the debut of Sweet Dreams Bear in AiCaL form).  Still, I have to say this: the Care Bears have really boring dreams!  I mean, they all have to share the same dreamscape, but they could still have more interesting nightmares than 'not being able to share.'

Random news about AG Properties

In my quest for information from this year's licensing expo, I've found out a number of things. For instance, as of next year, Hasbro will be representing Care Bears and Strawberry Shortcake again, not AGP. While Hasbro is keeping the AiCaL look, SSC is getting a new revamp, with a few characters not making the transition (looks like Ginger Snap may be gone ;_;)
This interview with Josef Mandelbaum reveals that Sushi Pack will be getting a 6x8 section in their stores, but I don't know what stores he means. Must be Carlton Cards. We also get a little closer to Grizzle's backstory:

This year, we added an outcast Care Bear called Grizzle who is a safe villain—it’s probably the best way to describe him. He is the Care Bear wannabe [emphasis mine] and he is upset because he’s always wanted to be a Care Bear and is always trying to take the belly badges away from the Care Bears. He’s never successful and the other bears tell him he just needs a big hug

I don't know, either that doesn't mesh with what we've seen, or it does but it's horribly cliched. I mean, it's the whole "I hate you because I'm really jealous of you" story. Is that really necessary? Your thoughts?
By the way, if you look really, really closely at the image in the first article I linked to, guess what you'll see in the background? Sushi Pack plushes! Only Kani and Ikura are visible, and just barely.

Adventures in Care-a-lot Episode 10

At last, the long awaited Episode 10. The first part is very good, the second part, not so much.

Grizzle-ized
This ep opens with a shot of Grizzle's lair underscored by organ music. That, right there, is win. Sadly, the organ music doesn't last, but we do get right down to Grizzle's latest plan. This time around, he's created a machine that will turn all of Care-a-lot into a replica of his "beautiful lair." But how to get it into Care-a-lot? Down in the land of the Care Bears, Oopsy's helping Grumpy work on something or other, with things predictably taking a turn for the worse, ending with the two of them making a break for it before being crushed by basically everything in Grumpy's garage. Funshine and Cheer are summoned by the destruction, and they try to find something Oopsy can do without ruining anything too much while Grumpy stews and fixes his garage.
Meanwhile, Grizzle tries to get ahead of the game by watching the latest episode of AiCal, and sees Funshine and Cheer giving Oopsy a job painting the fence just outside of town. This inspires him: what better way to get his machine into Care-a-lot than to use an actual Care Bear?
Oopsy, easily influenced, at first jumped at the chance to paint the fence since Funshine called it important, but covered in paint, he can't help but question the actual importance of the job. Grizzle plays on both of these points when he approaches Oopsy, saying he needs "an important bear for an important job." Oopsy instantly assumes Grizzle is up to no good, but Grizzle claims to have turned over a new leaf and has a gift to prove it. When Oopsy demands to know what kind of gift it is, Grizzle does some quick thinking and tells him it'll make Care-a-lot smell like flowers. Oopsy still isn't sold, so Grizzle makes him a deal: Oopsy can bring the machine to Care-a-lot personally to make sure it's perfectly fine. Oopsy still isn't sold, so Grizzle hooks him by saying he'll just find someone more important. Oopsy takes the bait, of course, and goes to get a Cloud Car.
Up in Grizzle's lair, Oopsy identifies Grizzle's "gift" by its scent, throwing Grizzle off for a moment, but he recovers. And it turns out that Oopsy really just smelled the paint, which he brought with him for some reason. He shows it to Grizzle and ends up dousing the machine. Oops. Back in Care-a-lot, Grumpy's garage is almost as good as new, so Cheer decides to go see how Oopsy's doing on the fence. Grumpy implores her to keep Oopsy over there are long as possible, but she's not having any of it. Back at the lair, Grizzle cleans off his machine and claims it's working perfectly, although I wonder how he can tell. Obviously, it isn't working, as it lets loose a gush of paint right on Grizzle. Oopsy gets inspired by this, and goes to get more paint to paint the machine. Grizzle protests, and Oopsy tries to stop, but slips on some paint, and accidently activates all of Grizzle's robots! They all go haywire, even UR-2, but the hammer-bot from Ice Creamed does actual damage to Grizzle's machine. Cut to commercial.
By the end of the commercial break, Grizzle and Oopsy have mostly cleaned up the resulting mess. Although he's stewing inside, Grizzle thanks a self-deprecating Oopsy for helping him discover and correct "design flaws" in his machine. Now it's ready to go to Care-a-Lot. Oopsy promises to be extra careful, and pulls this off by taking each step extra slowly and keeping an eye out before making a move. The slow going, or possibly the annoying sound effect of each step, frustrates Grizzle, and he tells Oopsy to get a move on, startling the Care Bear, and naturally ending with the machine in pieces. A few more adjustments and the machine is now drop-proof, if a little heavy. Oopsy takes off with it as Grizzle crows of his plan's imminent success.
Unfortunately, the machine is too heavy for Oopsy, so he goes to Grumpy's garage (Grumpy is conveniently absent) and borrows a handtruck (I think that's what they're called), making it easy to move the machine from place to place. Until it gets away from him and rolls downhill, of course. The machine falls off the handtruck and bounces around the town square a little before falling into the fountain and shorting out. Meanwhile, Grumpy, Funshine, and Cheer survey the fence Oopsy painted (ah, so that's why they weren't at the garage). Funshine thinks Oopsy did a good job, while Grumpy snarks on how the fence wasn't all that got painted. Despite a snarky Grumpy being the cutest Grumpy, Cheer quickly shuts down his attitude by pointing out that he wouldn't like hearing Oopsy say that about him, now would he? Grumpy admits she's right, and remarks that Oopsy did actually do a good job on the fence. This revelation is short lived as a new one crops up: Grizzle's footprint in some spilled paint! They quickly jump to the conclusion that Oopsy is with Grizzle, and Grumpy is the first to say they need to save him. Funshine calls him on this, since he's just wanted Oopsy out of the way this whole episode, so Grumpy explains that despite being Oopsy being Oopsy, he doesn't want to see him in trouble. So off they go to launch a rescue mission!
During all that, Oopsy brought the machine back to Grizzle, who is understandably exasperated by this time. But he fixes the machine yet again, making it waterproof, and sends Oopsy off once again. Back in Care-a-lot, Grumpy rallies the others to help Oopsy, unaware that Oopsy has already arrived with the machine. Grumpy greets him cheerfully, but does not hug him, and then asks about the machine. Oopsy explains that it's from Grizzle, and as he goes to turn it on, everyone else runs for cover. But in the process of making the machine waterproof, Grizzle inadvertantly blocked the on switch, and Oopsy can't get it to start working. The others are relieved, but curious as to why it would be waterproof in the first place. So Oopsy tells them about how he helped Grizzle find all the design flaws, and Grumpy tells him that he ended up saving Care-a-lot. Cheer points out that he did something important in the end (and Love-a-lot is looking at his butt for some reason). Grumpy congratulates Oopsy, apologizes for being impatient with him lately, and gives him a pat on the shoulder. He also mentions another important job...
The two take Grizzle's machine into the garage, but we don't get to see what goes down, although we do hear the sound of more destruction. But as Grumpy says, "That's just what I wanted to hear." Up in his lair, Grizzle continues watching the episode, getting antsy because he knows the episode's almost over, but nothing has happened to Care-a-lot yet. While he implores the TV, Grumpy and Oopsy show up bearing the results of the latest design flaw: a single spring which proceeds to bounce all around the lair, eluding Grizzle's grasp. And the episode is over.



Share and Share Alike
It's another fine day in Care-a-lot, and Oopsy leaps from his upside-down house to go help Share with her garden, even drawing a flower on his belly. But Share just barely stops him from crushing the flower of her Rootbear plant, which makes a drink that makes you float. I'd just like to point out that I don't like root beer. Not really relevant to the episode, but if I seem less than enthusiastic during this post, that's why. Also, apparently the plant only ripens once a year. So they go and invite the rest of the core five to share the floats with them later on (Grumpy makes a pun that is utterly lost on Share). Harmony happens to be with Cheer when Share invites her, so Harmony gets an invite, too. Share foreshadowingly tells them she'll have just enough for everyone she's invited. Just as she exits the scene, Love-a-lot shows up and hears about the floats, but gets disappointed when she hears there won't be enough for her. She starts to walk off, but Harmony tells her that one more probably won't make a difference.
Later, Share and Oopsy stick the root into a machine (hopefully, they washed it first) that makes the floats, and Share lets Oopsy have the first one. He goes floating off, and Share tells him it's okay to go outside, so I guess it's not that powerful after all (not like the Fizzy Lifting Drinks from Wonka's, y'know). Share's about to have a cup herself when Grumpy and Wingnut show up, and she gives up her cup. Later again, there's a montage of the rest of the core five floating around. Wingnut, being a robot, doesn't get a float, but Share's just about to have hers when Love-a-lot shows up. Although she doesn't remember inviting her, Share shares anyway, reasoning that she still has enough left.
But it's not just Love-a-lot who shows up uninvited. Enough bears show up to make Share wonder where they come from. Hate to break it to ya, honey, but you live in Care-a-lot. Word gets around. More and more bears partake of her floats, and soon she's down to just two cups. She tells Wingnut that she needs to be able to say no, but of course, she's incapable of turning down Surprise and Tenderheart. Upon realizing that it is all gone, she rants to Wingnut about how she waited a whole year for this and didn't get any. She goes out and takes out her anger on the floaters and then storms off. The others wonder what caused that, Harmony confesses that she was the one who invited all the other freeloaders. Oh, Harmony, don't be so hard on yourself. Word would have gotten out one way or another. You know Care Bears can't keep a secret. Still, she feels bad that Share feels bad, and so do the others, so they come up with a plan to cheer her up...
Up on the thinking cloud, Share sits in a snit. Harmony approaches her, but gets snitted at. She admits they were wrong to drink all the floats, but Share says she wanted to share (it's her namesake, after all), so maybe she's just being selfish. And there's a lot of lessony stuff that I really don't want to write up here. And then the others show up with balloons so she can float, too, and everything ends happily. Finally.

The downfall of the second episode, IMO is that it showcases a rather odd lesson. And, I hate to say it, but I didn't really care about Share's plight. Ah well. Interestingly enough, the first episode didn't really have an overarching lesson, which might be why I liked it better ^_~ Sure, it had a bit tacked in at the end, but the majority of it was just fun at Grizzle's expense (but not in a bad way).

Adventures in Care-a-lot episode 13

Both of these eps were just okay. They each had their moments, but the whole is definitely not greater than the sum of its parts. The first ep gets points for lots of Grumpy (literally!), plus Grumpy in safety glasses (so cute!). The second part is only worth mentioning for UR-2's quip and a cute Grumpy/Share moment.

Two of a Kind - "You have to listen! You're me!"
This ep starts on a fine summer day, as Cheer jump-ropes outside of Grumpy's garage, not a care in the world. Sparkles start sprinkling out of the garage, followed by Grumpy, who's having a hard time getting his latest new invention, the Sparkle Sprinkler, to work right. Cheer doesn't see the problem, until Grumpy directs her to his singed bottom. Since Grumpy's having trouble working on it on his own, Cheer rounds up the usual gang (plus Surprise) to help out. Oopsy starts to touch stuff, but Grumpy wards him off, sending him stumbling back, and ends up getting his foot stuck in a pail of glue. While Oopsy struggles, Grumpy briefs the others on what the sprinkler needs. Did I mention that everyone's wearing safety glasses? Except Oopsy, who manages to get himself stuck to the wall, which is just where Grumpy wants him.
Apparently, Grumpy's briefing was too brief, as no one has any clue what to do. So they try moving all his tools within reach, but Grumpy just trips over everything and ends up in the trash. Then Cheer starts painting the sprinkler pink, Share adds the wrong gears, and Surprise and Funshine make the sprinkler shoot out streamers (how, I have no clue). I absolutely love Grumpy's delivery on his next line, "Why...are you wasting time on streamers?" If he sounded like that all the time, it would be awesome. Grumpy yells at the others for not doing things "the Grumpy way," but Cheer points out that they don't know what that means. Surprise tries to take advantage of Grumpy's vagueness, but no dice. Grumpy feels he doesn't have time to show them what to do if he's going to fix the sprinkler, but everyone still wants to help. So Grumpy tells them they can help him most by leaving. So everyone does, heavyhearted, except for Oopsy who's still glued to the wall.
While Grumpy initially feels bad, he tells himself that he didn't need help, only to be proven wrong. Just as he admits that he does need help, he accidently sets off the streamers again, and vows to get some "Grumpy help." So he pulls out the mirror of Erised a strange mirror device. He powers it up and out walks another Grumpy with a handy 2 on his belly badge. The clone is ready to get right down to work, and takes a look at the plans, only to disparage them instantly. Grumpy doesn't understand how the clone, who is essentially himself, could dislike the plans, but no matter, the clone takes matters into his own paws and gets to work, telling Grumpy to "go organize your bolts." Grumpy instead works on the side, only to have the clone tell him he isn't do it right. Again, Grumpy is confused about this, since he's never seen any movies about cloning. Don't you know, Grumpy, the clone always thinks they're superior to the original!
While Grumpy asks his reflection (rather than break the fourth wall, like he usually does) whether he's just getting what he gave earlier in the episode, the clone goes offscreen and makes a clone of himself, this one with a handy 3 on his belly badge. The two clones (referred to from here on as Two and Three) gang up on Grumpy, saying that he doesn't know how to do things "the Grumpy way," despite the fact that he invented it, and just confusing him more and more, especially when Three tells him to "Tell it to someone who cares," since they're, y'know, Care Bears. But the clones forcibly eject Grumpy from the garage and lock him out.
Grumpy sees Cheer and attempts to explain what happened, but it just comes out as a confusing mess. So he tries again and Cheer immediately sees the parallels in how his clones are acting and himself earlier. Grumpy takes this to mean that she's gonna hold a grudge and not help him, even though Cheer obviously hadn't thought of that until he mentioned it. She feigns being mad at him, but he gives her such a winning smile that she can't help but forgive him. Besides, she empathizes with him for some strange reason. So she rounds up the gang and Grumpy briefs them on what they need to do. Again, too briefly. Cheer tells him to give them each something specific to do to make the plan work, so he has Cheer make ropes, Share get tools, and puts Surprise in charge of surprises (Funshine gets nothin'), and then they head up to the roof of his garage. With Funshine's help, Grumpy pries open a hatch, and they spy the two clones arguing:
Three: My way is faster.
Two: Well, my way is better.
Three: Oh yeah, well my way is faster and better! Your way is slower and dumber.
I don't know why that amuses me, but it does. Maybe because Three says the whole "faster and better" part really fast, too, as if to emphasize the speed. Or something. While the clones bicker, the others sneak in, and Surprise ruins the element of surprise they had going by popping up in between the clones. Grumpy starts to tell her off, but then switches to almost-sorta praise, probably to avoid Cheer feigning being mad at him again. The clones complain about everyone showing up, since they're out numbered now, and Grumpy escorts them back to the mirror and they go in willingly, being sick of each other. Even Grumpy was sick of himself by then (I had no idea he was a narcissist...). He apologizes to the others for being mean even though they were doing him a favor earlier. And the others forgive him, of course, and Funshine even points out that he does a good job of leading, when he actually tells them what to do. So Grumpy suggests they all go and play Belly Ball. Cheer teases him, but they all leave happily, except for Oopsy who is still glued to the wall.
Okay, so Grumpy apparently made the cloning device a while ago, but never used it until now? How come? I mean, sure it didn't work out for him, but he didn't know that until he used it. And how did he know it would work, anyway, if he hadn't tested it or anything?

Stand Up and Cheer - "I gotta go find my puppet!"
It's a random playday in Care-a-lot, emphasis on "random." Funshine shows off his juggling, although one morning's practice just wasn't enough. And Love-a-lot's doing some kind of weird balancing act with her hearts (Share calls it dancing and Love-a-lot neither confirms nor denies this), plus Harmony's got her trained canaries out for practice. Share and Cheer try to find a way to turn all these random acts into a theme for the episode and decide to make a new reality TV show: Care-a-lot's Got Talent! Grumpy scoffs at their lack of inspiration, until Cheer reveals that he could easily become a star, if only he had the talent... Fortunately, Grumpy always has an unrevealed talent, and this time it's ventriloquism. Share has no clue what's he talking about, so Cheer lays it out so blatantly that she's almost guaranteeing that Grumpy's act will fail. And then comes an adorable Share/Grumpy moment as Share gives him puppydog eyes to get him to be in the show, and Grumpy agrees (how could he not?).
Meanwhile, Grizzle spies the ad Share and Cheer came up with and instantly hatches a plot to crash the show and capture all the Care Bears, since they'll all be in one place. How handy. He orders UR-2 and Sargent Rocketbottom to make him a costume for the show, and UR-2 (who is made of win) snidely remarks that you need a talent to enter a talent contest.
Grizzle: My talent will be capturing those Care Bears!
UR-2: Oh. How original. <--so deadpan. I love it!
Also, Mr. Beaks gets a costume, but no sequins.
Conflict on the stage! Grumpy and Love-a-lot clash over who gets to practice on stage, but Cheer is there to keep things from getting out of hand. Share shows Cheer her sleight-of-paw act and confides in her about her semi-stage fright. Cheer promises to stay backstage to help, just in case, and Share promises to help Cheer with her act. But before Cheer can come up with anything, Grumpy runs in with another crisis, and off Cheer goes to work on the lights. Later, as more bears show up to help set up, Grizzle arrives sporting a harlequin costume and a ridiculous French accent. He introduces himself as Monsieur Razzle Dazzle (and Mr. Beaks as Beaky Pierre), and tells Cheer and Share about his act, involving a unicycle and spinning plates. Share and Cheer aren't fooled, but let him enter anyway, since the rules say that anyone can perform. And Cheer still hasn't thought up an act, and won't have a chance to, if the latest set of crises is any indication (the most interesting involves Oopsy, Grumpy, and Grumpy's dummy, Mr. Smartybritches).
Finally, the big night arrives. The stars are all out for the show--literally! And Friend Bear, too. Cheer acts as Ryan Seacrest to this Care-a-lot Idol, with Harmony and Grumpy as Paula and Simon, respectively (no Randy, though). The show opens with Love-a-lot, who stumbles but makes the most of her dance. Harmony calls it perfect (which it wasn't), prompting Grumpy to overcompensate to even out the judging. Cheer calls him on this, and blackmails him into changing his assessment. Moving right along, there's Funshine and his juggling, Harmony and her birds, and Oopsy's tumbling act that predictably (and a bit implausibly) ends with him on top of Grumpy. Share's cute in a top hat and cape, Grumpy mugs with Mr. Smartybritches, all leading up to the final act. Grizzle comes out, actually doing pretty well when you consider that he probably never rode a unicycle or spun plates before that day, but in the end, it all comes crashing down. So he reveals the huge net he set up to capture all the Care Bears, but when it comes down, he's the one who ends up inside. This earns him the Best Act of the Night Award in a unanimous vote. And he's quite touched.
Cheer announces the end of the show, but everyone demands to see her act. Cheer admits to not having an act, although she tries to pass it off as not having any talent of her own. So the others in the show point out her super-organizing skills, and everything ends with a hug, and nobody helping Grizzle out of the net.

Okay, who runs the Care-a-lot Coffee Shop, hm?