Care Power Team: The Giving Festival Movie

Closing out my holiday season, here's Care Bears: The Giving Festival, which has the bears preparing for their Christmas-by-another-name celebration by remembering non-holiday related anecdotes.

This one begins with an abruptly abridged version of the theme song as we pan through the clouds to a very blustery day in Care-a-Lot.  Share struggles to get from her house to Grumpy's garage, even though the wind threatens to blow her very belly badge off, but she gets a little help from Wingnut, and together they make it to Grumpy's.  Seeing Share, Grumpy practically drags her inside, annoyed that she would be out in this kind of weather.  But her desire to see his new snow machine calms his ire, though he does accidentally turn it on while showing it off, creating a flurry inside his garage.  The reason for the snow machine: Princess Starglo is coming for the Giving Festival, and since she's never seen snow before, it's their present to her.  But if the wind keeps up like it is, the festival may have to be cancelled, Grumpy points out.  Share tells him to think positive, and Grumpy promises, for her, though it goes against his nature.  He, Share, and Wingnut go to put the snow machine in position and then head over to the Care Power Station, where Oopsy is manning the searchlight (to help Princess Starglo find her way).

At the station, the other bears worry about Funshine and Cheer, who went to get the decorations for the festival, and still aren't back yet.  This reminds them of when they had to help Grizzle find his home, apparently, and thus begins the flashback....
On an ordinary Care-a-Lot day, the Care Beacon's alarm is going off, so Funshine rushes over to the Care Power Station to see what the trouble is.  But it was just the weekly beacon test, much to Funshine's disappointment.  It seems there hasn't been a caring emergency in quite some time, which is technically a good thing, but for a bear like Funshine, it can get pretty boring.  Grumpy points out that he has plenty to do, even during peaceful times, and the girls escort Funshine out of the building, telling him to just enjoy himself.
Meanwhile, Grizzle, up in his lair and sans suit for some reason, complains about how Care-a-Lot blocks his view, and since they built that huge Care Power Station, I can't say I blame him.  He ponders what to do about the eyesore Care-a-Lot has become, and decides to move it out of the way himself with the bears none the wiser.  Unaware of Grizzle's scheme, the Care Bears play, and Funshine spends the day trying to find a use for his Care Power, but to no avail.  Once the day is done, Grizzle descends and attaches a large hook to Care-a-Lot, then ramps up the power on his lair's rockets.  The force of the towing shakes Care-a-Lot and wakes everyone up, but the cloud doesn't seems to be moving.  Grizzle adjusts one of the rocket boosters to see if that will help, but to his dismay, he sees the cable attached to the hook is starting to break!  Despite his best efforts, the cable snaps, and he ends up on the end still attached to Care-a-Lot, watching as his lair sails off into the night.
Grizzle climbs up the cable, but ducks down again when he sees Funshine and the rest wander by, wondering just what that was all about.  Funshine, of course, is all gung ho to get powered up to handle it, whatever it was, but Grumpy is all "and then what?" and then Bedtime shows up and tells them everything this fine, go back to bed.  The next morning, the rest of the Care Bears make sure Care-a-Lot is okay and take care of any fallout, but there isn't that much to do.  Oopsy and Share spot the cable from the hook, but have no clue what it's doing there.  And then they hear the sound of snoring, but it isn't from Bedtime... Grumpy volunteers Oopsy to check out the noise, and he finds the sleeping Grizzle (though he freaks out at first, not realizing who it is, I guess).  Now awake, Grizzle is surrounded by the other members of the CPT.  Grumpy rightly assumes Grizzle had something to do with the previous night's "cloud quake," but Grizzle spins a story about how the mysterious shaking knocked him out of his lair, and now it's gone.  Grumpy's not buying it, but Cheer points out that his lair isn't in the sky any more, so at the very least he needs their help with that.  Funshine rejoices, finally a reason to power up!  And thus, they all power up their badges and fly off to the care station, promising to pick up Grizzle in just a minute.  While they're gone, Grizzle confides in the audience that his original plan may have gone awry, but once the bears are in his lair, he can spring his new trap on them.  Being without his suit, he needs a boost into the cloud car, and ends up in a compromising position on Grumpy.  What purpose this scene serves, I know not.

As they fly through space, Grumpy shows off his fancy locator, but Grizzle doesn't trust it, so he tries to take control from Grumpy.  Predictably, this ends with the locator in two pieces, but it doesn't much matter, as they've already come across Grizzle's lair, which is just floating out in space, having run out of fuel.  They land and dismount, but Grumpy is suspicious, so much so that his belly badge turns into a fish.  Share declares their duties over, but Grizzle implores them to stay so he can give them some lemonade to thank them.  The other bears are hesitant, wondering if they should trust any "lemonade" that Grizzle would serve.  Grizzle tries to get them to let bygones be bygones, but Grumpy points out that most of those "bygones" are attempts to take over Care-a-Lot.  Grizzle blames this on a bad mood, and wants to be friends, though he can't quite say the word.  He goes off to get the lemonade, with the Care Bears asserting their assumption that he's up to something as he goes.
While Grizzle works on a trap, Grumpy finds the other end of the cable and he and the others put two and two together, figuring out Grizzle's whole plan.  Grizzle calls them over, then pulls the lever for his hanging cages trap.  Only Cheer was in his line of capture, but Funshine gets her out of the way just in time.  Grumpy's all "Aha!" and the Care Bears confound Grizzle's cages by running all over the place, then politely stopping on an X.  Grizzle pulls the lever again, but that cage falls a few feet over from its target.  They then stop on another X, but this time Grizzle double checks its trajectory and pushes the bears into position himself.  As he goes back to throw the lever, Share puts a couple of lollipops into the pulley and Grumpy sends a cloud to one of the rockets at the edge of the lair, so that when Grizzle does throw the lever and then goes to see why nothing happened, the cloud zaps the rocket to life, tilting the lair and setting the cage onto Grizzle, which is when Share removes the lollipops.  Long story short, Grizzle ends up in the cage, and the Care Bears laugh at him.
Despite Grizzle's actions, Share still wants to help him bring his lair back to its usual position.  Grumpy and Funshine are incredulous, citing the facts that Grizzle just tried to capture them and never gave them any lemonade, but Cheer reminds them that's it's the right thing to do.  They inform Grizzle of their decision, but bind him up with a rainbow regardless.  As they pilot Grizzle's lair back home, Cheer asks Funshine if the finally got the excitement he was craving.  And he did, plus the knowledge that with Grizzle around, something exciting is always bound to happen if he just waits long enough.  That's pretty much the end of the flashback, but in the present Share adds that Grizzle roomed with Grumpy until his lair was back in working order.
The control panel starts beeping, and the screen shows the wind is getting stronger, putting the beacon at risk.  So Share and Grumpy activate their Care Power and take Wingnut with them to secure it.  Share uses her lollipops to steady it, and Grumpy zaps each one to make it take hold.  While they're up there, Wingnut spots Cheer and Funshine returning at last, so they hurry back inside.  Unfortunately, the wind blew away all the snacks and decorations, making Share despair for the Giving Festival's future.  Funshine reminds her that they've faced rougher times than this, which reminds Wingnut of the time Share wanted to pick rainbow buds...

In the flashback, Wingnut carries Oopsy to that part of Care-a-Lot that's slightly above it, where Grumpy is unveiling his latest invention, an automatic bumbleberry delivery system.  Why Care-a-Lot needs this, I don't really know, but we do know that Grumpy really enjoys his bumbleberries, so hey, why not?  Attach it to a bush and it harvests the berries (somehow), setting aside the best ones in a basket.  One of the berries falls out, so Oopsy goes to replace it, despite Grumpy's objections.  As per usual, he trips on nothing, spilling all the berries, which makes Grumpy slip and bump into his machine, which sets it loose to shoot berries at him and start boring into the ground until Wingnut shuts it off.  Before Grumpy can express his layers of displeasure at this, the beacon on the Care Power Station starts going off, so the CPT power up with an awesome starry background behind them.  As they fly off to handle some kind of emergency, Oopsy and True Heart decide to do something nice for them, and come to the conclusion that the team could use a day off.  So they plan to give the CPT a day at WooHoo World, and go to get the other non-CPTers in on it.
On the appointed day, Surprise "informs" the CPT of an emergency at the theme park, then joins the others who are waiting to surprise the team.  And they are very surprised indeed.  Oopsy promises to take care of any emergencies that may arise while they're spending the day at the park, which should be minimal, since all the other bears are spending the day at the park, too.  All except True Heart.  Oopsy pushes her to join the fun, but this only drives her away in tears.  He spends the day chasing after her, but with no luck.  As he searches, the CPT thank him for holding down the fort, and Share invites him along on their rainbow bud-picking excursion the next day.
Wingnut finally finds True Heart crying behind the bushes, and calls over Oopsy.  True Heart initially sends him away again, but opens up to him when he asks what's wrong: she wants to ride the Funderbolt, but is too afraid.  Oopsy sees this as his chance to handle a real caring emergency, and declares his vow to help True Heart overcome her fears.  True Heart is down with this, fortunately, so Oopsy and Wingnut imitate the CPT's Care Power On poses.  Being Oopsy, this ends with them both in the lake, and True Heart laughs at them.  Later that night, they sneak into WooHoo World, and Oopsy tries to figure out just what about the Funderbolt frightens True Heart.  The individual elements (being up high, spinning, sudden drops, going fast, etc.) aren't usually a problem, but the combination is what gets to her.  So Oopsy hypothesizes that if they can get her used to each element on its own, then she'll be able to take riding the Funderbolt.

A bench covers the element of height, and Oopsy and Wingnut can spin her just fine, but the rest is a little harder.  Oopsy has her ride the ferris wheel to combine heights and spinning, which is all well and good, until Wingnut accidentally hits the speed lever, setting it to Fastest.  Oopsy and Wingnut struggle to get it back down to Slow, but hearing True Heart's screams, Wingnut simply goes for the Emergency Stop.  Luckily for both of them, True Heart had a blast and is now ready to face the Funderbolt, as long as they're both with her.  Of course, it is the middle of the night, and Bedtime shows up to bust them for not being in bed.  So they all go home with plans to meet up in the morning.
Their morning meet up is interrupted by Share and some other Care Bears on their way to pick rainbow buds.  Oopsy turns down her invitation, and True Heart thanks Oopsy for staying with her.  Then it's off to the Funderbolt!  Oopsy assures True Heart that she can still back out, but she's determined to go through with it.  Meanwhile, the bud-pickers head into a cave where rainbow buds grow (?), and Harmony has some fun with her echo before they get down to business.  The picking is relatively easy, but when Grumpy finds one that refuses to come loose, it attracts the attention of the others and they gather around him, making an unfortunate landing for him once he finally wrenches the bud loose.  The impact creates a cave-in, trapping the bears inside.  So the CPT turns on their power, and Grumpy tries using some thunder to break up the rocks blocking the entrance, but it just bounces back at them.  Cheer's rainbow beam suffers a similar fate, which puts a kibosh on anyone else trying something.  Figuring that Oopsy and True Heart could do something, they have to figure out how to get their message out.  Funshine spots a crack in the cave's ceiling, and so all the bears, CPT and non-CPT alike, combine their badges' power and manage to set off the Care Alarm, just as Oopsy and True Heart are about to ride the Funderbolt.
Hearing the alarm, and seeing no CPT members answering the call, True Heart and Oopsy put aside their ride and rush to the Care Power Station with Wingnut in tow to see what's going on.  Finding the station empty, Oopsy pushes the button to find out the nature of the emergency, and sees the cave-in.  He starts to panic, calling for them to get help, until True Heart points out that they're the help.  Which is all the excuse Oopsy needs to put on his costume again.  The three of them brainstorm a way to get everyone out that's quick, and Wingnut remembers Grumpy's machine from the other day boring into the ground, and hypothesizes that it will bore through rock just as easily.  With no better ideas, they take off to implement Wingnut's plan.  But first they have to figure out how to get the heavy machine to the cave, which is also on the cloud just above Care-a-Lot.  The fastest solution is to use the Funderbolt to catapult it up there, especially since they just spent all that time getting True Heart ready to ride.  And so True Heart and Oopsy head off, and with Wingnut adjusting the track at the appropriate time, they make it up there and have an awesome time doing it.

With the machine in place, it's just a matter of seconds before the rocks break and fall away, freeing the captive bears.  But the strain was too much for Grumpy's machine, and it falls to pieces.  Grumpy is quick to point this out, but is glad that it was for a good cause at least.  He gives Oopsy and True Heart rainbow buds for their trouble, and then they all go home for a celebratory Funderbolt ride.  Several, in fact, leaving the other bears woozy, but True Heart is still raring to go!  Fortunately, Wingnut is ready and willing to be her ride buddy, while Oopsy worries that he's created a monster...
Share completely misses the point of the story and thinks it's an attack on her poor planning of their rainbow bud-picking excursion, but before they can debate this, the wind picks up again, making the cancellation of the Giving Festival a real possibility.  Oopsy comments that they'll just have to stay inside, giving the others an idea!  They'll just hold the Giving Festival inside the Care Power Station, using Grumpy's stash for snacks.  The bears and Wingnut leap into action getting the station ready: cleaning, multiplying the berries, and putting up decorations.  But just as they're about the get the word out about the festival's new location, the Care Alarm goes off: Princess Starglo has been captured!  So it's Care Power On time (minus Bedtime--where is he, anyway?), and the CPT use their badges to fly off into the night.  But the wind is still too strong and threatens to blow them off track.  Share spots Princess Starglo, who tries to warn them, but the wind blows even harder and knocks them back.  Not ones to give up, the bears just fly in with more determination, but soon they reach a standstill, despite their best efforts to keep moving.
Suddenly, they hear evil laughter, and Princess Starglo's captor shows himself.  Some kind of wind creature named Windle, he claims the bears are trespassing on his part of the sky, but the CPT just want Starglo back.  Windle refuses, and with a mighty breath he nearly blows them right out of the sky.  But they rebound and realize they need to take action.  Windle tries to blow them away again, but this time they're ready, and Cheer uses a rainbow to capture him.  But before it can grab him, he teleports away, turning up right behind her and blowing both her and Grumpy out of the way.  This leaves him off-guard, however, and Funshine manages to clock him with a light ball.  With Windle out of the way, Share uses her badge to make a key to open Starglo's cage, but he blows it right out of her hand.  Having had enough of his attitude, Share outright asks him why he captured Starglo.  It turns out he has some beef with the Giving Festival, which of course just earns him a big fat Care Bear Stare.  His mood lifted by the stare, he lets Starglo go and apologizes.  She forgives him and goes to join the Care Bears, leaving Windle all alone.

Seeing this, Share invites him to the Giving Festival, but he turns her down, since he doesn't have anything to give.  Grumpy guesses this is his real beef with the festival, and the others assure him that his very presence is a kind of gift.  So Windle joins them in Care-a-Lot.  With the source of the wind taken care of, the festival is back outside, and Grumpy is all set to get his snow machine started, much to Princess Starglo's delight.  Unfortunately for both of them, all the wind caused a branch to fall and damage Grumpy's snow machine, with no time to fix it.  On top of that, there isn't any time to decorate, either.  Windle feels guilty, since he was the cause of the wind, but Cheer points out they can still have the festival in the station.  Which, of course, is Oopsy's cue to show up with a decorations-related disaster.  Looks like the festival is off after all, until Starglo reminds them that the festival is about giving, not having.  And so she gives them her gift: a sparkly, twinkly Care-a-Lot.  With the festival spirit back, the bears start sharing what they plan to give, which just reminds Windle of how little he has to give, being a wind creature.  Cheer tries to cheer him up by telling him that he's probably good at different kinds of wind, with Grumpy snidely adding "cold winter gales."  Which inspires Share: Windle can cool down the clouds!  Windle catches her drift, and goes to create some snow clouds.  As the flakes drift down, Starglo flips out over seeing real snow and declares the start of the Giving Festival.
And so, there's a song and a montage to close out the show, with trains and dancing, and a present sent to Grizzle.  Aw.

Now, when I first saw the trailer for this movie, I had it in mind that the Giving Festival was the Care Bear equivalent of Thanksgiving, so I was kind of surprised that it turned out to be their Christmas instead.  I'm not really sure why I thought that, other than the "giving" part of Thanksgiving, or maybe because of the wind, and November being a windy month.  At any rate, the movie was pretty cute, though not particularly Christmas-y except for the very, very end.  And it was actually out on DVD, which is a definite plus in my book.

Misc. Screenshots:
Around the campfire
Funshine winks
Oopsy has an idea

AiCaL CPT - To The Rescue Movie

Thought I forgot about this, didn't you?  Well, not having my laptop set me back, and watching through Netflix wasn't exactly the most motivating experience in the world (it was the rewinding that really ticked me), but here it is, the first of the Care Power Team movies available in the states.

The scene opens at night, as various Care Bears arrive at a theater lit up by spotlights while a modified version of the AiCaL theme song plays ("We'll show you how it's done, ready set, Care Power on!").  Cut to backstage, where Grumpy and Oopsy make up the only stagehands.  Fortunately for them, Grumpy's created a remote control that will let him handle everything from the lights to the music to the curtain, though in demonstrating this, he accidentally starts the show a little early.  Hearing her cue, Share takes centerstage as the host of The Rescue Awards, where the best rescues of the year are honored.  And like so many hosts of award shows before her, she sees fit to open the show with a musical number, mostly about how she's the host.
To reward Oopsy for not messing up the opening number, Grumpy lets him use the remote for the next costume change, though this somehow teleports a wig that looks an awful lot like PJ's hair from Strawberry Shortcake - The Sweet Dreams Movie onto Grumpy's head.  Meanwhile, Share has continued on, and is announcing the nominees for Most Daring Rescue (Good Luck, Funshine, and Wish).  The winner, of course, is Funshine, which makes me wonder what kind of rescues Wish and Good Luck pulled off.  I really wish that each rescue had gotten a caption or something, so we'd at least have some fun Noodle Incidents to wonder about.  But ah well.  Since Grumpy's still fuming about the whole wig incident, he misses the cue to show a video of Funshine's daring rescue until Share prompts him.  And so the video begins.

Funshine's Rescue
The scene: An ordinary day in Care-a-Lot.  While innocently strolling along, Funshine spies Oopsy high in a tree and, despite Oopsy's protests, uses his badge to whisk him back down to the ground.  Whereupon it turns out he was only playing Hide and Seek with Bedtime.  Funshine is chastised, and Oopsy and Bedtime go back to their game.  Continuing on his stroll, Funshine comes across Share and Cheer, apparently fighting over a bit of rainbow.  To solve their problem, Funshine makes a sun that neatly slices the rainbow in half, which neither bear appreciates.  Turns out they were actually playing tug of war.  "But it looked like you needed help," Funshine tells Cheer, to which Share replies, "She did!  I was winning."  Chastised again, Funshine leaves the girls and continues on his way.  Elsewhere, Grumpy puts the finishing touches on his latest invention, a clean-o-matic, and sets it to work.  At first, all seems well, until the machine sets its sights on Grumpy... Hearing the spluttering, Funshine announces his intention to save Grumpy, but Grumpy, easily able to escape the machine, just sends him on his way, and not even all that grumpily.
All these false alarm rescues leave Funshine completely bummed out, which is observed by the Nimbits (ugh...).  Seeing that Funshine just wants to help someone, they provide him with an outlet by dramatically producing an unopenable jar of mayonnaise.  Funshine opens it easily, then asks the Nimbits what they're really up to.  They admit that they want to help him help someone, but Funshine doesn't see how.  So the blue one sends a bolt of lightning toward Grumpy's new machine, sparking it into action.  The machine runs loose and starts cleaning a sleeping Bedtime, so Funshine leaps into action.  Pleased that their plan seems to have worked, the Nimbits do some kind of weird secret handshake.
With a cry of "Take this, you cleaning machine of doom!" Funshine sends a ball straight for the machine, which breaks it completely into pieces.   Grumpy is not pleased to see the course of action Funshine has taken, especially when it comes to light that Bedtime was merely being tickled by the machine's feather duster.  While the others rag on Funshine for his latest blunder, the Nimbits butt in, protesting that they were just trying to help Funshine help someone, and continue quoting platitudes about helping until Funshine stops them.  The others call for a moratorium on Funshine "helping" people and driving them crazy, so Funshine agrees, specifically promising not to rescue anyone else that day.  But Grumpy gives him an exception to help him fix his machine.
Later, in the park, the other members of the Care Power Team are playing Hot and Cold, while the Nimbits sit above them.  Proving that they have learned nothing from the day's earlier events, they plot a "small rescue" to make Funshine happy, reasoning that as long as they don't touch Grumpy's machine, everything will be A-OK.  And so they create a small tornado that picks up Oopsy while he takes his turn as It.  They congratulate themselves on a job well done, but their congratulations is premature, as the tornado starts to pick up speed, creating such a gust that the Nimbits get sucked into it themselves.  The sudden wind does not go unnoticed by Grumpy and Funshine, but only Funshine hears the Nimbit's calls for help:

Funshine: Did you hear that?  Somebody's in trouble!

Grumpy: (dryly) For real this time?

But not only is the tornado much stronger, it's also much larger, so there's no denying that this is a real emergency situation.  Funshine and Grumpy head to the park, where they run into Share and Cheer.  Funshine calls for them all to follow him to the Care Power Station, but Bedtime, asleep on a nearby bench, is picked up by the tornado, unseen by the others.  At the station, Funshine assesses the situation, and decides their best bet is to use the cloud cars to go inside the tornado.  However, it turns out that there's a tornado inside the tornado, and that's where the Nimbits are.  The wind is too strong for the bears to get close enough to the Nimbits, so Funshine flies above the tornado and gets into the second tornado from the top.  The smaller tornado quickly sucks him in and sets his car to spinning, but luckily he has some kind of stabilizer button.  The stabilizer works long enough for him to get the Nimbits, but then it's back to spinning for all three of them.  In fact, they actually manage to spin out of the tornado, which is kind of "out of the frying pan, into the fire" for them, since they're now plummeting toward the ground at a rapid rate.  But Cheer quickly takes action, flies out of the tornado and creates a rainbow slide for Funshine and the Nimbits.  Grumpy helps out by making a cloud to catch them at the end.
Safely on the ground, the Nimbits ask Funshine how they can repay him, and he merely asks them to stop and think before they do something.  The Nimbits claim to have learned their lesson, but we all know that this is highly unlikely.  Funshine also asks them to help him get rid of the wind they created, and they head for the station.  Bedtime, meanwhile, was not actually sucked into the tornado, but was deposited on an archway, and is lifted again to land who knows where.  And so Funshine uses the Nimbit's life force to supercharge his belly badge and put an end to the tornado, gently dropping Bedtime in the process and setting Oopsy free (not that anyone seemed all that worried about him, anyway).  Funshine celebrates with the Nimbits by doing that stupid handshake thing with them.
But the story's not quite over yet.  After all, that tornado created quite a bit of damage in Care Square (somehow) which now has to be cleaned up.  Too bad Grumpy's automatic cleaner was broken earlier... but wait!  Sometime between the scenes, Funshine and Grumpy finished fixing it.  Grumpy starts it up and it goes to work...cleaning him again.  As if this weren't a hilarious enough note to end on, the clip finishes with Oopsy still playing Hot and Cold, unaware that everyone else has moved on.

Back at the awards ceremony, Funshine goes to accept his award and gets air-kissed by Share.  He thanks the Nimbits in his speech and then heads backstage.  Oopsy congratulates him, and Funshine says he hopes that he wins an award, too, but Oopsy is desolate because he's never been nominated, what with not having a belly badge and all that.  Funshine consoles him with talk of "there's always next year," which is enough for him.  As Grumpy gears up for another set change, Oopsy offers to take care of it, not with the remote, but by old-fashioned hard work.  Predictably, this ends with a piece of set almost falling on Grumpy.  Meanwhile, Share announces the nominees for Most Caring Rescue (Trueheart, Cheer, and Best Friend).  Give you one guess who won this one.  Once again, Grumpy misses his cue (still recovering from almost being hit by set) and the clip of Cheer's rescue starts up late:

Cheer's Rescue
The scene: Cheer's house.  While practicing weaving strips of rainbows into rescue blankets, Cheer hears a strange noise in her garden and spots a little pink bug (who sounds an awful lot like Wasabi) hanging precariously from a leaf.  Finding that the mini-blanket she just wove is the right size for a bug, she flings it toward the tree, just in time to catch the falling bug.  With the bug safe, she tells him to be more careful in the future, and sends him on his way.  But he keeps following her around, and when she learns that he's lost, she vows to take care of him.
Later, she shows off her new pet, dubbed Nibbley, to Funshine and Share.  While those two coo over the bug's cuteness, Grumpy arrives on the scene to question Cheer about Nibbley's origins.  His suspicions are not allayed by Nibbley's cute actions, and especially not by a surprise kiss.  Cheer just laughs at him and promises to care for Nibbley forever, leading to a montage of bear and bug having fun.  Once the montage is done, Cheer attempts to make Nibbley use a fork, but he just takes a big bite out of the table instead, much to her surprise.  Seems Nibbley has a bigger appetite than his small size would indicate, as he chows down on all the canned goods in Cheer's pantry, cans and all.
After a week, Nibbley is no longer a cute little pink bug, but a larger, slightly orange bug, though his appetite is as big as ever.  He munches on the stick Cheer threw for him, and claims her watering can when she promises him "a treat."  Share shows up for an impromptu visit, and seeing Nibbley lay waste to a plank of wood, she asks Cheer how long she thinks she can keep him.  Cheer is affronted that Share would suggest getting rid of a pet just because it isn't cute any more, but Share is quick to clarify: she's concerned for Cheer's livelyhood with such a hungry pet.  In an attempt to distract the bug, Share and Cheer take him for a walk, but this fails as Nibbley finds plenty to eat, including Bedtime's pillow, Funshine's apple, and Grumpy's stool (and his just-finished topiary).  The offended bears beseech Cheer to do something about her pet, but she doesn't even know what he is.  So it's time for a visit to the Smart Heart Library!
Flipping through some sort of bug compendium, Cheer spots Nibbley's baby form and takes out the book to show the others.  Turns out that he's a gobblebug, and everyone remembers what happened the last time gobblebugs showed up in Care-a-Lot.  Grumpy calls for Nibbley's deportation, but Cheer refuses to break her promise to take care of him.  She insists that Nibbley can't help it, but even Share is against a gobblebug living in their midst, especially when Oopsy accidentally sets Nibbley's mind to Share's garden.  The bug is off like a shot with the bears close behind.  Cheer refuses to let anyone stop him by force, but her commands aren't doing any good, either.  Nibbley takes the lead and thoroughly decimates Share's garden before anyone can stop him.

Surveying the ruined foliage, Cheer makes Nibbley apologize, and then apologizes herself for not learning about Nibbley sooner.  Things are looking grim, with the future apparently featuring a lot of Nibbley-caused destruction, until Share sparks the idea of making Nibbley a garden of his own, someplace far from Care-a-Lot where he can eat to his heart's content.  Cheer turns to the book again and reads that gobblebugs come from a cloud called Not-A-Lot where this is little to no food, hence their gobbling of whatever food they come across in other places.  With this in mind, the bears head to the Care Power Station to find the perfect place for Nibbley's garden.  Since Share knows the most about gardens, she picks out a cloud, and Cheer calls for everyone to get going.  They all pile into the elevator....and wait, since Grumpy hasn't joined them.  Grumpy protests that they don't need him for this, but Funshine yoinks him along anyway.
Once they reach the cloud, Share pulls out a handful of seeds to plant, which Grumpy points out is nowhere near enough for this hungry bug.  But Share uses her badge to multiply the seeds a hundredfold and plant them in the ground, whereupon she passes the baton to Grumpy, who brings forth a raincloud.  Then it's Funshine's turn to bring on the sun, and soon the plants are growing.  With the garden a success, all the bears cry "Hooray!" except for Grumpy, who asks, as only he can, "Do I have to say 'hooray?'"  And so, Cheer and Nibbley share a goodbye, and Cheer suddenly wonders about the other gobblebugs.  Well, wonder no more, Cheer, 'cause here they all come.  Nibbley goes to join his own kind, and even Grumpy is touched, though he blames it on allergies.

Cheer accepts her award and thanks her fellow nominees, along with Nibbley, now a full-grown gobblebug (and true to fashion, munching on his chair).  She then goes on to thank everyone she can think of, until Tenderheart leads her backstage.  Oopsy congratulates Cheer, and she offers to let him hold the statuette while she goes back to her seat.  Oopsy pretends to give an acceptance speech, but since the award is heavier than it looks, it throws him off balance and he tumbles into Grumpy, knocking them both down.  Grumpy comments that at least the remote was unharmed, only for the award to slip from Oopsy's hand, hitting a button on the remote that opens a trap door that Grumpy landed on.  He plummets to the area beneath the stage, with a mattress to break his fall but no way of getting back up once the trap door swings shut again.  Up above, Oopsy clamps a hand over his mouth, but Grumpy tells him to "go ahead and say it."
Unaware of the difficulties backstage, Share announces the nominees for Best Team Rescue (Champ and Amigo, Harmony and Love-a-Lot, and Grumpy and Bedtime).  Hearing that he and Bedtime won, Grumpy searches for an exit, but stops for a moment to get the rescue clip going (since he still has the remote).

Bedtime and Grumpy's Rescue
The scene: Care Square.  It's Pillow Appreciation Day, with pillow-shaped balloons and popsicles, among other things.  Oopsy's manning the Free Pillow booth, handing out a full-sized pillow to anyone who wants one.  And most bears do, much to Grumpy's consternation.  Rather than just wait in line, he pulls out his latest invention, a robot to hand out the pillows automatically.  Seeing this contraption, Oopsy is speechless, which Grumpy takes as gratitude, but in actuality, Oopsy would rather just hand out the pillows himself.  Once the line is taken care of, Oopsy sneaks behind and adjusts a screw on the robot's back, thinking that will slow it down and let him hand out some pillows.  Instead, it starts flinging pillows at everyone, hitting with extreme accuracy.  Sadly, this does not lead to a Care-a-Lot-wide pillow fight, but pillow pandemonium!
Grumpy quickly becomes aware that something is up with his robot, and goes in to find out what.  Oopsy confesses to trying to slow it down, to Grumpy's confusion.  And so Oopsy tells him that he didn't really want any help with his job, and Grumpy apologizes.  But enough of that, the robot is still going haywire.  Seeing Bedtime get hit (and then appropriate the pillow for better napping) gives Grumpy an idea, so he grabs Bedtime to help him with his plan.
Using an umbrella as cover from the flying pillows, Grumpy and Bedtime move in as close as they can get, then Bedtime uses his badge to make an autoharp that plays a lilting version of the CPT's theme, "Care Power On."  This sends the robot to sleep, as not even machines can resist the combo of a lullaby and comfy pillows.  Bedtime and Grumpy congratulate each other on a job well done, as Oopsy also succumbs to the lullaby.

With the clip over, Bedtime goes up to accept, but Share refuses to hand over the award without both him and Grumpy there, but no one knows where he is, and the crowd is getting antsy, so Share lets him give the acceptance speech at least.  Grumpy, meanwhile, is annoyed at missing getting his award due to still being stuck under the stage, and Oopsy laments not having his own belly badge to help.  But soon Grumpy finds a hatch that's unfortunately rusted shut.  Oopsy goes to try opening it from the other side, interrupting Bedtime's speech.  Without explaining anything, he asks to borrow Funshine's badge, so Funshine sends him a little sun, which Oopsy uses to slice open the hatch, setting Grumpy free!
The audience applauds Oopsy's rescue, and Grumpy goes up to get his half of the award and give his speech ("Thanks, I guess").  Oopsy congratulates the two of them for winning, and Grumpy assures him that he'll win an award someday.  But Share rushes on stage with a last minute Judge's Prize for Most Unlikely Rescue: Oopsy!  Unfortunately, since it's a last minute prize, there isn't an official statuette for him.  Oopsy is slightly disappointed, but still glad to have won.  But Bedtime has an idea, which he whispers to Grumpy, who in turn whispers it to Share, who frankly should have thought of it herself, c'mon.  She uses her duplication powers to make another statuette out of Grumpy and Bedtime's award, which she hands to Oopsy (guess he'll have to have it re-engraved later).  The rest of the Care Power Team (minus Funshine for some reason) joins Share on stage for a reprise of the award song, and Share closes the show by giving an extra hand to everyone who takes the time to show they care.  Grumpy lets Oopsy use the remote to finish the show, but predictably, he accidentally turns off all the lights instead.

And so that was Care Bears To The Rescue, a little taste of what the new series could have been.  IMO, the computer animated version never looks as cute as the 2D version, but it still has that Adventures in Care-a-Lot feel. No Grizzle this time around, but luckily for me, Grizzle does show up in the next movie, The Giving Festival.   And since that one will be released on DVD in November (thank you!), I'll wait until then to write that one up.

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 23

Tour de Farce

In a stunning move on the show editor's part, the first story features McKenna, rather than the second.  We open on her riding her bike around Care Square, openingly wondering how her bike could be making so much noise when her crash quota is still under three.  Unbeknownst to her, Funshine chucks a sunball at her head, but rather than knock her over, it turns her bike all sparkly.  Surprise jumps out of hiding to compliment Funshine on his good guy qualities, and McKenna, wanting to show off her sparkly bike, invites Funshine and Surprise to go on a ride with her.

As usual, word of the bike ride spreads to half of Care-a-Lot, and more bears show up than expected.  McKenna is not phased by this, though, and suggests making the ride a bigger trip.  It's quickly transformed into a picnic at Rainshine Meadows, and as the bike-riders get set to go, Share notices Grumpy walking around in the background.  Funshine goes over to invite him along, but Grumpy cuts him off before he can get three words out.  He wants nothing to do with bikes and bikeriding, garnering stares from the others, who are unable to fathom the thought of not liking bikes.  Grumpy goes off on a rant against bikes and then storms off toward his garage.

Everyone else is surprised at this, especially since Grumpy apparently loves picnics.  Any further musing on the subject is cut short by Oopsy haphazardly riding around on his bike, ending with him crunching the back of McKenna's bike.  She's about to fix it herself when she realizes that if Grumpy fixes it, she can use her feminine wiles to coax his reason for hating bikes out of him.  So it's off to Grumpy's garage.  Naturally, Grumpy initially sends her away, but even he can't resist her puppy-dog eyes attack (a little flattery doesn't hurt, either).  As Grumpy gets down to work, so does McKenna.  Grumpy insists that he's too busy to go bike-riding, but when McKenna mentions the picnic, he starts to reconsider.  But only for a minute.  He jumps on the defensive and fixes her bike in record time.  Rather than leave, McKenna tells him that she was a lateblooming bike-rider, and as she suspected, this hits a nerve with Grumpy, though he tries to hide it.  She confesses to her own embarrassment at not knowing how to ride which gives Grumpy the courage to do the same.  Seems he's tried for so long that he's tired of trying anymore (how'd none of the other bears know about this, then?).  McKenna promises to help him this time, and with her support, he's sure to do it!

As the two of them leave the garage, Grumpy tells McKenna not to tell anyone else that he doesn't know how to ride.  Predictably, everyone else is standing outside his garage, but they promise not to tell, either.  Grumpy is not reassured by this, and reneges on the whole deal.  But everyone insists that it'll be so much fun if they all help him, so Grumpy grudgingly agrees.  He promises to give anyone who laughs his "grumpiest grimace ever," a threat he has to put into action immediately, as everyone laughs at it.  Only Oopsy actually notices, though.

A little later, Grumpy emerges from his garage covered in padding; his attempt to "eliminate the 'ouch factor,'" as he puts it.  And thus begins a montage of Grumpy 

learning to ride, mostly crashing (at one point, Funshine comments, "That's what helmets are for"), and flying through the air way more than is necessary.  Most of the teaching is done by McKenna and Funshine, with everyone else acting as a cheering section.  After one crash too many, Grumpy is ready to give up, insisting that he hasn't learned anything.  But McKenna points out the marks Funshine made each time Grumpy tried riding, showing that progress is being made.  Grumpy's enthusiasm is renewed, especially when Funshine suggests Tenderheart and himself keep up with Grumpy on the bike to keep him from crashing this time.  

At first this plan works, until Grumpy mysteriously disappears off the bike (which mysteriously keeps going without him).   Turns out he got caught in a tree branch while no one was looking.  As he fumes, the peanut gallery wonders whether he's reached the last straw, but in direct contrast to their thoughts, he announces his dedication to not giving up until he shows the bike who's boss!  For some reason, he feels the best way to do this is to bike down some stairs.  With his eyes closed.  What?  The others compensate for Grumpy's foolhardiness by using their belly badges (and occassionally their own bodies) to keep him from harm.  At one point, Surprise creates a jack-in-the-box that flings Grumpy through the air, but fortunately he lands right where he started, none the wiser.  He celebrates his mastering the art of bike-riding and while the others are glad for him, they're pretty worn out from keeping him on the bike, although they don't let on.  But they have enough energy to bike off into the sunset, with Oopsy going off course, naturally.

So much Grumpy cuteness!  Especially in that scene between him and McKenna.  I feel his pain for not being able to ride a bike, though.  Still, why did he think riding down stairs would be a good idea when he kept falling over on solid ground?

Bad News

And bad it is.  I really didn't like this episode, mainly because I felt that it was a mistake to use Share in it (Trueheart fits, though).  The story begins with Trueheart and Share bored out of their minds and half-asleep.  Oopsy shows off his new bell and wakes them from their stupor, but they're still bored.  A bell starts to ring, but it's not Oopsy's this time; it's the Care-a-Lot Fire Brigade!  There isn't any fire, though, just a twinklet stuck in a tree.  Share, Trueheart, and Oopsy excitedly follow after the truck and watch as the twinklet is rescued, as is its rescuer.  Later, Trueheart and Share are still talking about the twinklet rescue, and decide that everyone in Care-a-Lot should hear about it.  Share suggests having it announced in Care Square, but nearly swallows a bug in her efforts to demonstrate her idea.  Trueheart has a better idea: since she runs the Care-a-Lot website, she'll make a news section for it that they can keep updated.  But since it takes more than one story to fill a news section, the two of them go off in search of some news.

Their first stop leads them to Grumpy's latest invention, a machine that will do your yardwork while serving you drinks, which Share promises to make the headline (favoritism, eh? ^_~).  They also interview Cheer, who debuts a new kind of rainbow.  With the story of the fire brigade already set, they call it a day on reporting and upload the stories to the website.  And to guarantee everyone sees their reporting, they have Grumpy build a huge widescreen monitor to display the stories in front of the library.  Those reported on are impressed with the stories, and Share and Trueheart can't wait to write more articles.

As they sit in the library, Trueheart and Share notice Bedtime walking around in a daze, and they follow him out of the library and watch as he wanders through shrubbery and right on top of Funshine.  Funshine tells them that Bedtime's just sleepwalking and that it's not a big deal.  Trueheart and Share feel otherwise, and snap a pic.  As they run off to update the website, Funshine warns them to keep Bedtime's embarrassing secret to themselves (but if he sleepwalks all over Care-a-lot, how is it a secret?), but they're already out of earshot.  As they hurry along, they find the sweet shop in a state of disarray, the result of Love-a-lot and Harmony's attempts to speed up a smoothie.  They get a photo of the sticky shop, unaware that the other bears have only gone to get cleaning supplies.  They also get a shot of Grumpy's latest invention lying on its side, an apparent failure (in reality, just blown over by the wind).

Not content to just have their stories displayed on a huge monitor, Trueheart and Share call everyone's attention to the latest reports (including Share's extra-annoying "Extra! Extra! Hear all about it!" =_=).  Those libeled quickly jump to their own defense (except for Bedtime, who is still sleepwalking), but Trueheart and Share defend their stories as being exactly what they saw, and therefore true.  Funshine and Cheer try to explain why their stories were a bad idea in the first place, but Trueheart and Share are having none of it, and go off in search of more news.  And what a scoop they find!  Oopsy, leaving Share's garden with an armful of flowers!  Naturally, they get this up on the website ASAP, and they don't even have to make any announcements before the news starts spreading all over town (even surprising Oopsy himself).

Share and Trueheart pounce on Oopsy, who tells them that he was just pulling some weeds for Share since she's been too busy reporting to tend her garden lately.  Neither bear believes him, until Cheer magnifies the image from the report, showing without a doubt that Oopsy really did have weeds and not actual flowers.  Share starts to give a heartfelt apology, but Funshine can't let her (and Trueheart's) actions slide without reprimanding her for not checking the facts.  The two would-be reporters learn the error of their ways, and report one final story: they won't be reporting any more stories!  Which is definitely good news.

Bonus Screenshots:

Cameo by Best Friend, Champ, Wish and Amigo

Adventures in Care-a-Lot Episode 22

Luck O' the Oopsy

Not an episode where Oopsy and Good Luck team up to try and counter Oopsy's clumsiness, although Good Luck does play a part.  No, this episode is about the Care-a-Lot Grand Prix, an anything goes race.  Share hopes that everyone can win, and corrects Grumpy when he tries to tell her that there can only be one winner.  According to Share, trying your best is all it takes to be a winner.  Yeah, you go, Share.  Cheer plans to use rollerblades, Funshine's going to fly on a sundisc and Share makes herself some skis.  Grumpy feels he has them all beat as he unveils his latest and greatest creation, a super cloud car named Stormy.  His thunder is stolen by Oopsy flying by on a jet-powered board with Wingnut in tow.  He strikes a few poses as he goes by, inspiring awe from the watching bears.  His attempt at a trick landing only lands him a parking spot in the Gathering Tree, though.

Later, Oopsy stops at the grocery store to pick up some snacks, while Grumpy parks Stormy and also enters the store (Best Friend Bear is the clerk).  As you may have guessed, they run into each other.  Grumpy sends Oopsy to the opposite end of the store, but Oopsy does not take the hint, and follows Grumpy around as he shops.  Grumpy repeatedly rejects Oopsy's attempts to sell him on some milk, and ends up walking into a display, and 

ends up covered in eggs.  Oopsy tries to help, but just accidentally drops his milk on Grumpy's head.  Grumpy quickly pays for his groceries and leaves the store.  Oopsy follows after him, trying to make amends, but Grumpy is having none of it.  Oopsy forcibly tries to help with the groceries, but Grumpy forcibly tries to keep him from doing just that, and the honey, jam, and flour wind up all over Stormy.  Oopsy starts to give his catchphrase, but Grumpy stops him, claiming to be sick and tired of hearing it (although it's more likely he's sick and tired of Oopsy getting away with things by saying it), and even calls Oopsy 'bad luck.'

This brings Funshine and Share onto the scene, although they don't really do too much.  Oopsy promises to wash Grumpy's car before the race, but Grumpy is loathe to let him do it.  Share helps to convince him, but what really does it is the creepiness of Oopsy literally groveling at Grumpy's feet.  Grumpy has no choice but to give in, but promises that he'll be watching the entire time.  Later, Grumpy supervises the cleaning while Share plays hopscotch in the background.  There is a very contrived sequence here wherein Share should have known better than to do what she did, as should have Oopsy, but the end result is Grumpy's car being irreversibly sticky.  Grumpy once again declares Oopsy is bad luck, but Oopsy waxes the car, and this manages to take care of it (I doubt it would work in real life, though).  Grumpy is even impressed, until he hears that the wax takes 48 hours to dry, which he doesn't have, since the race is the next day.  So Oopsy tries drying it with a hairdryer, but this only reduces Stormy to dust.  Grumpy once again calls Oopsy bad luck and storms off.  Oopsy starts to think he is bad luck after all, and though Share tries to dissuade him, there's no denying that accidents happen around him more often than not.

At the library, Oopsy searches for an answer to his problem in a stack of books, but the stack just falls to the ground, proving his point.  Good Luck, on page duty, comes by to help pick up the books and asks Oopsy what's wrong.  Oopsy gives him his problem in a nutshell, and Good Luck just tells him that everyone has good and bad days, even him.  Oopsy, however, is distracted by Good Luck's four leaf clover belly badge.  Inspired, he runs off to a field of clovers and plucks one.  Now, if there's a whole field of four leaf clovers, wouldn't they cease to be lucky?  I mean, four leaf clovers are lucky because they're hard to find, right?  Well, Oopsy believes it to be lucky, anyway, as he tucks it into his helmet and takes off on his jet board to practice.

On the day of the big race, Grumpy shows up in the all-new Stormy II, and makes a point to line up on the exact opposite side of the starting line as Oopsy.  Good Luck acts as announcer for the race and Love-a-Lot waves the starting flag.  As the racers take off, Good Luck finds Oopsy's clover on the ground.  As the race progresses, Grumpy finds that his newly (and quickly) built car just doesn't have the same oomph as Stormy I and trails further and further behind, while Oopsy leads by a mile.  He crosses the finish line to much acclaim, although Wingnut demands his fair share of the praise as Oopsy's racing partner.  Even Grumpy begrudgingly congratulates Oopsy and finally admits that Oopsy isn't bad luck after all.  Oopsy credits his win to the clover, only to find it missing.  Good Luck tells him that he never had it during the race, and that he made his own luck (and Good Luck should know).  Funshine adds that it was Oopsy's practicing that won the race, and Good Luck adds some advice about making your own luck.  Oopsy decides that having friends is what makes you really lucky, as the episode comes to a close.

This episode had some good 'heh' moments, like Oopy's third milk solicitation (the rule of threes).  It's nice to see some other bears working, especially in the library ^_~ On that note, there was plenty of good luck for Good Luck Bear fans.  Very nice to see him get a chance to shine.  

Rudemate

Another McKenna episode.  What's up with McKenna showing up in the second half of every episode, anyway?  And usually with some unexplained new trinket.  Like in this episode, where she comes for an extended visit in Care-a-Lot (how'd she get permission from her parents for this?).  After beaming her up, Grumpy takes her bag, but it is loaded with rocks, apparently, and he can't lift it.  So she rubs a charm on a bracelet she just happens to be wearing, producing a little cloud to carry the bag for her.  Where the heck did that bracelet come from?  When did she get a badge/charm from Grumpy?  And how did the badges she got in previous episodes turn into golden charms, anyway?  Come on, writers, be consistent about this stuff!

McKenna heads to Tenderheart's house, where she'll be staying, and he has to remind her to wipe her feet.  She wipes one and leaves it at that.  Tenderheart leads her to his guestroom, telling her how he got it tidied up just for her, then leaves her to unpack.  To McKenna, this means 'strew everything across the room,' much to Tenderheart's surprise/dismay.  He offers to help her put things away, but McKenna is more interested in a snack.  Specifically, some 'Care-a-Lot Carrots.'  Tenderheart tells her he has some in the fridge and to help herself.  In order to get to the carrots, McKenna takes out half the fridge's contents and then leaves once she has what she was looking for.  Tenderheart is not pleased.

In the time it takes for Tenderheart to put everything back, the living room is an absolute mess.  Seems McKenna started out by looking for a book but made a fort instead.  Tenderheart decides to renege on his invitation, but his attempts to break it gently to McKenna are misinterpreted, and she starts playing 'volleyball tennis' in the house, knocking over paintings and lamps.  Finally, Tenderheart has had enough, and yells at her to stop.  He tells her off for not picking up after herself, and McKenna retorts that she shouldn't have to since she's the guest.  So Tenderheart kicks her out until she learns some respect.  With a huff, McKenna collects her things and leaves, slamming the door behind her.  The curtain rod on a nearby window falls down and Tenderheart sighs.  She decides to head over to Love-a-lot's house, and Love-a-lot welcomes her with open arms.  One screenwipe later and Love-a-lot's house is in the same condition as Tenderheart's.  Just like Tenderheart, Love-a-lot sends McKenna off with the same huff, slam, and falling curtain rod.

Word travels quickly in Care-a-Lot, and so when McKenna tries to hole up with Grumpy, he immediately rejects her, citing Tenderheart and Love-a-lot's ordeals as reason enough to send her packing.  McKenna insists she was just having fun, and again mentions that she was the guest.  Grumpy informs her that there's more to being a guest than making messes, but the fact remains that she has no place to stay.  Faced with a challenge, Grumpy comes up with an idea and tells McKenna to come to Care Square at the end of the day and he'll have a solution.  McKenna gives him an awkward hug and goes off to do who knows what.  In the meantime, Grumpy calls over Tenderheart and Love-a-lot to talk about McKenna.  Love-a-lot is all too eager to complain about what she went through, and Tenderheart completely understands.  Grumpy suggests that McKenna needs to learn to be a good guest, and Tenderheart adds that she needs some responsibility lessons, too, but he doesn't want her learning them in his house.  So Grumpy unveils his blueprints for a house for McKenna, to teach her respect for her own things, hoping that will trickle down to respect for other's things.  

They spend the rest of the day building the house, and just as they finish, McKenna shows up.  She bypasses any tension between her and Love-a-lot and Tenderheart by telling them she's staying with Grumpy, which Grumpy is quick to dispute.  Instead, the three bears show her the house they built for her.  McKenna swoons at the sight of the house, gives the three of them an awkward group hug, then goes to explore her new house.  Tenderheart and the others wait to see what will happen.

McKenna slides across the floor in her socks, jumps on the couch, and exhults in her new ruleless lifestyle.  To celebrate, she pulls of her socks and flings them wherever.  All too soon, the house is covered in garbage and dirty clothes, but McKenna pays it no mind, until her piled up stuff avalanches her right out of the house.  As she wonders how she ended up in this mess, the house itself gets ready to bust.  She quickly conjures up a lollipop to prop it up from her charm bracelet, but not for long.  She heads to Tenderheart's house for some help, but when he hears the particulars, he brushes her off.  Her pleas for help are rendered moot when Tenderheart notices the dirty footprints she tracked into his house.  He shows her the door and she leaves in despair.

Back at her almost-exploded house, McKenna bemoans her fate while tossing another piece of garbage on the pile.  Out of the blue, Tenderheart admonishes her for her lack of guest skills, reminding her that she has respect her own things as well as those of others.  McKenna finally gets it, and Tenderheart reaches out to her.  But she still has to clean up the mess on her own, he tells her, and McKenna understands, making a vow to always pick up after herself from now on.  After a while, Grumpy and the other two show up to see how she's doing, and the house is almost completely clean.  As she finishes up, McKenna apologizes for being a bad guest and confirms that she's learned her lesson.  She even invites the three of them to be guests in her newly-cleaned home.  They take her up on it, and McKenna mock reminds Tenderheart to wipe his feet.  The two laugh, and then McKenna follows them in, wiping both her feet this time.

Not a great episode, but it was nice to have a couple of non-core characters take the lead this time.  Disgruntled Tenderheart was awesome, by the way, but McKenna's face animation was really funky this time around.  Which is weird, because a lot of the episode had pretty good animation, but parts of it had really weird/bad animation.  How odd.