YouTuber TallSwordLady talks about the confuzzalness of the 80s Care Bears Trilogy. Today I'm going to clear up its semi-confusing continuity. At some point, I would like to talk about the movies themselves in greater detail (especially the second film) but that's for another day. Let's run it!
This is one of our fun segments where we "steal" a topic from another media source and add our 50 cents (aka tweak) to the topic.
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"80s Care Bears Trilogy: A Hot Mess"
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This is where the girls started to get confused in their
video. Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation (my
favorite movie) is a 1986 animated musical fantasy
film produced by LBS Communications and Nelvana.
The second Care Bears movie is a franchise reboot
(hence a new generation title) that introduced two new Care Bear characters Noble Heart Horse and True Heart Bear along with movie villain Dark Heart (aka The Devil) and Great Wishing Star (aka God). I want to note this movie has some
low-key religious feels if you have Christian religious
background. This movie was made for the follow-up
new animated series The Care Bears Family. The
Care Bears & Cousins continue their missions in
Caring thwarting the evil plans of the new series
villain, Lord No Heart! The series introduces new
characters The Panda Twins (Polite & Perfect Panda
[My favorite episode]), and Beastly (No Heart's
henchman). Season 1 has 16 segments out of 13 episodes.
The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland is the third film of the franchise (the second film in the Care Bears Family series/continuity). This 1987 animated musical fantasy film was the worst of the three films (shocking). The only reason I watched Care
Bears in Wonderland is for the intro song by the late
Natalie Cole. Followed by this a month later was Care
Bears Family season 2 which introduced Shreeky (No
Heart's niece) and only had 10 segments out of 6
episodes. This season (and beyond) was weird because
they only focused on five or six characters between the
Care Bears & Cousins who started wearing clothes
(the late 80s for ya). The first segment is usually about
Beastly bamboozling the clothed-wearing Care Bears
while the second segment is about Grams Bear telling
various fantasy stories such as Care Bears being
cavemen or traveling in space like the Star Trek crew.
Season 3 premiered on September 12, 1988, and had
38 segments & 3-part story out of 30 episodes. The last
3 episodes are the TV film Care Bears Nutcracker Suite which is loosely based on The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
BONUS FACTS
-The 10 original Care Bears starting from the top going
down left to right are:
-The Care Bears Movie is the only 1980s theatrical movie of the franchise that was released on DVD more than once, as it was considered successfully marketed. Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation was only released once on DVD back in 2003, as it wasn't nearly successful due to the frightening themes that were regarded by parents. The Care Bears Adventure in Wonderland never made it on DVD in North America at all, as it was considered a marketing failure.
-"Strawberry Shortcake Meets the Berrykins" is a theatrical featurette, played before the Care Bears when first released in theatres. It was later, also included on VHS of The Care Bears Movie.
-Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation has been criticized by many parents for the involved frightening themes, including Dark Heart's evil aspects and the infamous Chandelier.
-Due to the negative response to the second Care Bears movie, scarier elements were toned down for the franchise, with a notable exception of the infamous "scary face", used right when The Wizard says "Everything as I command!" It is known to even scare adult viewers when watching that scene for the first time in the third movie.
That's it for this Steal-A-Topic-Saturday I hope ya enjoyed it. For more geek-related content follow Geekpin Entertainment on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Thanks for reading, stay geeky.
The Care Bears are a group of characters created by the
American Greetings company in 1981. In 1983, Atkinson
Film-Arts of Ottawa (weird creepy-looking Canadian
animation) produced the first two Care Bears animated
specials, "The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings"
& "The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine".
-Special #1: Introduces the original 10 Care Bears,
The Cloud Keeper & the villain Professor Coldheart.
-Special #2: Introduces Grams Bear and Baby Hugs &
Tugs and Frostbite(Prof. Coldheart's henchman).
The Care Bears Movie is a 1985 animated musical fantasy
film based directly on a toy line. The first featured film
introduced new Care Bears characters (Share Bear,
Champ Bear, Secret Bear, & Harmony Bear) and the
Care Bear Cousins. Following the success of the movie
DIC Audiovisuel's American branch DIC Enterprises aired
on syndication the Care Bears' first animated television
series. With the help of the Cousins, the Care Bears go
all around the world on Missions in Caring whilst they try
to thwart the plans of the evil Professor Coldheart. This
series has 22 segments out of 11 episodes.