Cartoon
Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-lot
The story
Care Bears: Adventures in Care-a-Lot is an American children's animated television series based on the Care Bears franchise produced by American Greetings Properties and animated by SD Entertainment. The series functions as part of the fourth incarnation of the franchise, and centers on the adventures and escapades of the titular Care Bears - Cheer, Share, Grumpy, Funshine, and Oopsy, as they help their fellow Care Bear friends and battle against the main antagonist Grizzle.
The series originally aired on CBS as part of the network's KEWLopolis strand (which itself was co-run by American Greetings) from September 2007 until November 2008, with reruns airing until September 12, 2009. Along with the other shows in the KEWLopolis block, this series fulfilled the federal "E/I" requirements. The series officially began with a computer-animated pilot movie entitled Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! which saw a limited theatrical release in the United States in August 2007. Four half-hour specials were released straight to DVD in 2008, and this was followed up with three additional computer-animated films in 2010 part of a miniseries entitled the "Care Power Team".
Premise
While other Care Bears make occasional appearances in the show, the series primarily focuses on five Care Bears in particular: Cheer Bear, the new leader of the group, Share Bear, who's now a horticulturist, Grumpy Bear, now an inventor, Funshine Bear, now an energetic fun bear instead of a jokester, and introduced in Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!, Oopsy Bear. In this version, the Care Bears are shown as much more energetic and playful, but also function as adults with responsibilities such as having jobs, living independently and taking care of the little cubs, Hugs and Tugs. The show's theme song is performed by Kay Hanley.
Unlike the previous animation created by DIC and Nelvana in the 1980s, and as with Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!, this series features the new redesigned Care Bears with redesigned tummy symbols (renamed to "belly badges"). It also features a redesigned Care-a-lot. Additionally, there was initially no interaction with humans or other supernatural entities like those found in the previous iteration until later episodes. Instead, as an immediate follow-up to Care Bears: Oopsy Does It!, the series inherits the sole villain from the movie, Grizzle, who has robots to do his bidding.
Main
Cheer Bear (voiced by Tabitha St. Germain) is optimistic, outgoing and intelligent. She has carnation pink fur with a rainbow as her belly badge and wears a rainbow-colored bow. She also appears to have a good deal of medical knowledge, as seen in the episodes "Care-Ful Bear", "Bubbles" and "King Grumpy". She's the main care taker of the cubs, as seen in the episode "Night Shift", being a mother-like figure to them.
Share Bear (voiced by Tracey Moore) has an innocent, naive, and airheaded demeanor. She is a horticulturist, often growing flowers in a garden she owns (along with a knowledge about them), and always carries a purse full of lollipops to share with her fellow Care Bear friends. She has lavender fur and has two lollipops crossed like an X as her belly badge. She also works at the Sweetheart Shop as seen in the episodes "Harmony: Unplugged" and in "Share and Share Alike".
Funshine Bear (voiced by Ian James Corlett) is determined and active. He often gets hooked on an idea and rarely lets go (as seen in the episodes "Care-ful Bear" and "Rainshine Meadows"). He is somewhat overconfident, which sometimes gets him into trouble. He has sunshine yellow fur with a sun as his belly badge and wears a red baseball cap. He's usually in charge of organizing games for events like in the episodes "Cheer, There And Everywhere" and "Care-Ful Bear".
Grumpy Bear (voiced by Scott McNeil) is cynical, bitter and fairly blunt, yet he is a prolific inventor by creating gizmos and gadgets intended to make a Care Bear's life easier, although some of his gadgets are absolutely nonsense (for example, he was working on a rainbow-powered windmill in the episode "All You Need Is..."). Whenever Oopsy makes accidents on him or his property, he utters phrases like, "Bumbling Blizterbugs!" and "Typhonic Typhoons!" He is sky blue and his belly badge is a rain cloud with raindrops shaped like hearts.
Oopsy Bear (voiced by Ashleigh Ball) is clumsy and accident-prone. He is light green and, unlike the other Care Bears, doesn't have a belly badge; he usually draws on his belly with a special belly badge crayon, often that of a shooting star, although he can erase it and change it according to his feelings. He's usually working with Grumpy Bear as an assistant, as seen in episodes like "All You Need Is...", "Grizzle-ized" and "Desperately Seeking Mr. Beaks" or just helping others around Care-a-Lot.
Villains
Grizzle (voiced by Mark Oliver) is the main villain that resembles a brown wicked Bear and wears a big metal suit. He hates the Care Bears because he doesn't understand what all of their caring is for, and wishes to take over Care-a-lot. He usually deploys robots or uses strange contraptions to carry out his dirty deeds, but it usually backfires on him. He exhibits megalomania, delusions of grandeur, and symptoms of mild schizophrenia, as he often seen talking to an inanimate bird made of spare parts named "Mr. Beaks" and replying to it as if it were speaking.
UR-2 (voiced by Ron Halder) is one of Grizzle's robots. He is a very snarky and intelligent, suave robot who's dressed like a butler. He wears a indigo robot suit and black bow tie. He can change his hand into a wrench (as seen in the episode "A Little Help") and does not have feet at all, instead, he just floats around.
Sergeant Rocketbottom is another one of Grizzle's robots. He is dumb, a little airheaded and tends to take words literally. He is dressed like an army sergeant and looks very human-like. He also appears to be poorly made, as he often has parts falling off.
Supporting
Wingnut (voiced by Nathan Wallace) was originally built by Grizzle to function as an aide in Grizzle's Lair. However, by the end of the movie Oopsy Does It!, he has defected to the Care Bears' side. True to his name, a large Wingnut can be found on his head. He lives with Oopsy and is also usually found by Oopsy's side and also with Share in some episodes, if not occupied helping Grumpy out or playing with Funshine. Wingnut is equipped with Hammerspace storage to store various items that he or the other bears may need in the episode, such as pulling out a leafblower that's the same size as he is. He can also use the same compartment to analyze unknown substances.
Tenderheart Bear (voiced by Matt Hill), an excellent ball player, is a bit of a daredevil. He is a good friend of Funshine. He has brown-orange fur, and has a red heart belly badge. He also wears a red heart-shaped backpack.
Harmony Bear (voiced by Andrea Libman) believes that, like the colors of the rainbow, many different people can come together to make something beautiful. She works at the SweetHeart SweetShop, and has a knack for creating outrageous new candies. Her fur color is violet and her belly badge is of a smiley-faced flower with different colored petals. She also wears a pink headband.
True Heart Bear (voiced by Stevie Vallance), the town's reporter and runner of the "Heroes of Care-a-Lot" website, she usually carries a laptop computer with wireless network connection and a digital camera around (seen in the episodes "Rainshine Meadows" and "Oopsy the Hero"). She is a pastel pink bear and her belly badge is of a heart with triangle petal shapes around it. She tends to write in purple prose. Unlike others, she is voiced by Unknown in the UK dub of the series.
Wish Bear (voiced by Chiara Zanni) is very close to the Starbuddies and is shown to understand them more than the other bears, as has been shown in the episodes "Cheer, There and Everywhere" and "Twinklet", she has been with Grumpy in "Flower Power" and "Twinklet" She has her own Starbuddy friend, Twinkers. She can sometimes be shown with Grumpy Bear. She is a light turquoise bear and her belly badge is a shooting star. She also wears a yellow ribbon on her hair.
Bedtime Bear (voiced by Richard Ian Cox) is usually asleep when the other bears are up (waking up for only short moments to share his thoughts before drifting back to slumber during the day). However, he is fully awake at nighttime where he totes a lantern and functions as Care-a-Lot's night "watchbear", making sure everyone is sleeping when they should (such as in the episodes "Belly Ball" and "Bubbles"). He is an aqua blue bear and his belly badge is a snoozing crescent moon with a small star. He also wears a purple & yellow night cap and white slippers.
Surprise Bear (voiced by Kelly Sheridan) loves and enjoys being surprised, such as in the episodes "Erased" and "Unbearable", or surprising the other bears, such as in the episodes "All You Need Is..." and "Gobblebugs". She often pops up in unexpected places. She is an amethyst purple bear and her belly badge is a star popping out of a jack-in-the-box.
Love-a-Lot Bear (voiced by Terri Hawkes) is a bear who works in the Smart Heart Library as the librarian, where the other bears go if they have questions or if they needed some quiet time. She is a magenta pink bear and her belly badge is two intertwining hearts. She also wears a barrette in her hair that matches her belly badge and a purple scarf. When she speaks, she punctuates everything with the word "love" or a variation of such.
Good Luck Bear (voiced by Samuel Vincent) works at the Smart Heart Library as a shelver (as seen in the episode "Luck O' the Oopsy"). However, he can also be seen in the episodes "A Little Help" and "Tell Tale Tummy", where he helps the other bears prepare for the celebration. He is a shamrock green bear with a shamrock belly badge.
Amigo Bear (voiced by Samuel Vincent) is the ice-cream vendor in Care-a-Lot, providing refreshments at the meadows or near the gathering tree where the bears play. He is a red-orange bear with a tropical sun flower for his belly badge. True to his name, he speaks with a Hispanic accent and often uses Spanish words (meaning he can speak Latin Spanish).
Best Friend Bear (voiced by Brittney Wilson) works at the Grocery Store (as seen in the episode "Luck 'O Oopsy") and is a very helpful bear who believes friends are forever. She is an orchid bear and her belly badge is a heart and star connected by a rainbow.
Laugh-a-Lot Bear (voiced by Adrienne Carter) is a bear who loves making the others laugh. She is a dark orange bear and her belly badge is a smiling star with three pink hearts.
Friend Bear (voiced by Shannon Chan-Kent) is a yellow-orange bear with a flower in her hair and a belly badge showing two intertwining sunflowers. She appears in the episodes "Present and Accounted For", "Flower Power", "Cheer, There, and Everywhere", and "Stand Up and Cheer".
Champ Bear (voiced by (voiced by Kirby Morrow) is a very sporty, royal blue bear with a trophy belly badge.
Baby Hugs is a baby pink bear that lives with her twin brother Tugs at Cheer's house.
Baby Tugs is a baby blue bear that lives with his twin sister Hugs at Cheer's house.
McKenna (voiced by Chantal Strand) is a human little girl who is often brought to Care-A-Lot by the main cast to learn lessons on caring in a few episodes of the second season.
Bumpity (voiced by Garry Chalk) and Tweazle (voiced by Shannon Chan-Kent) are cloud-like creatures also known as the Nimbettes. They often try to help the Care Bears, but it usually goes wrong. Tweazle is small and carnation pink, she's usually the one who suggests ideas to try to help the Care Bears; while Bumpity, who is big and sky blue, tends to follow along whatever ideas Tweazle has. They attend Cloud School and they both have shapeshifting abilities and unstable weather powers; being able to create rain, fog, funnel clouds and other phenomena that sometimes tend to affect the emotions and behavior of others.
Professor Cumulus is the elderly cloud teacher of Cloud School. He is a large baby blue cloud with the face of an old man and small round glasses. Unlike Bumpity and Tweazle, he looks more like a regular cloud although he also appears to be a nimbette.
Emma (voiced by Andrea Libman) is a Hispanic human little girl who's good at finding things. She is the youngest of her siblings; having three older brothers named Luis, Jorge, and Daniel.
Jake (voiced by Nika Futterman) is a human boy who just moved into a new town and is missing his old friends, Funshine goes to Earth to help him make new friends and to teach him that fun is everywhere if he knows where to look for it.
Care-a-lot
The new Care-a-Lot has five main places that make it up:
Central Care-a-lot, basically the place where most of the show takes place, this hosts the Gathering tree and all of the houses of the main cast, and Harmony's Sweet Shop, Smart Heart Library and Care-a-lot Cafe.
Waterfall Cloud is the Care Bears' favorite place to play. It has a waterfall, stream, and a large meadow called Cloud Hill. Cheer refers to the meadow by its name in the episode "Cheer, There and Everywhere". Waterfall Cloud's name is mentioned first in "Rainshine Meadows" and then again in "Gobblebugs".
Rainshine Meadows, Rainshine Meadows first appeared in the episode of the same name, where Funshine goes to Rainshine Meadows to practice his Belly Ball moves, and he finds it a mess. After a big storm the once beautiful place was ruined, but by the end of the episode, everything is cleaned up and the place is restored. If it appears in more episodes is unknown, due to the fact it looks a lot like the Meadow. Rainshine Meadows is accessed from behind the waterfall from the meadow where the bears usually play.
Grizzle's Lair, A place where Grizzle lives above Care-a-lot and plots all of his evil plans. It is a floating fortress built from scrap metal, Grizzle one time describes it as "a castle in the clouds" in the episode "Forget It".
WooHoo World is an amusement park within Care-a-Lot constructed by Oopsy, Cheer, Funshine, Share, and Grumpy in the movie Care Bears: Oopsy Does It! This location is seen in the show in the episodes "Belly Ball" and"Twinklet".
Houses and buildings
The houses in Care-a-lot are very different, but they all show the personalities of their owners:
Oopsy's upside-down House: Oopsy's house resembles a building that had been flipped over, therefore the door is at the top, even with the decorative edging at the top that the other Care Bears have on the bottom of their houses. He lives to the right of Grumpy's Garage/Shop.
Cheer's House Is pink with heart-shaped windows. It is to the left of Funshine's house, and to the right of the Grocery Store.
Grumpy's Garage/Shop: The main part of Grumpy's house is the Garage/Shop where he does all of his work. The inside and outside of his house is blue and it is adorned with thunderbolts. Right above the door to his garage is a 2D flipped out umbrella. The inside of his Garage it holds his tools, a broom, a ladder, a work bench, etc. His house is to the right of Share's and to the Left of Oopsy's.
Share's Garden: Share's garden is her pride and joy and she keeps it very well. It is mostly full of Lollipop flowers that look like the Lollipops on her Belly Badge. Her house is to the Left of Grumpy's and the right of Funshine's.
Funshine's Fun-House: Funshine's many colored house has a pink/red slide coming out of his bedroom window. Funshine's room is seen in the episode "Bubbles" and only has a bed, but in the episode "Unbearable" it has a fireman's pole and a bedstand. In the episode "Cheer Up" we see Funshine's living room which is pretty empty. His house is to the left of Share's.
Sweetheart Shop: Harmony Bear is seen running a candy parlor in the episode "Cheer, There and Everywhere") where she creates all manner of sweets. Share Bear also appears to work here, as seen in the episodes "Share and Share Alike" and "Harmony: Unplugged". The name of the parlor was eventually revealed in the episode "Share And Share Alike".
Smart Heart Library: Love-a-Lot works at the library, but it is unclear if she's the head librarian or not. Commonly, the bears go to the library to find answers to questions they have (i.e. Funshine in the episode "Rainshine Meadows") or have some quiet time (i.e. Cheer and Harmony in Oopsy the Hero). This library is apparently named after Smart Heart Bear (who loves school and learning) but she has never appeared in this series.
Care-a-lot Cafe: Care-a-lot's local "cafe" has not been "announced" as a place in Care-a-lot yet, but it has been seen in the background. It is unclear of who works/owns the place. It is also possible that this place is an annexe of Sweetheart Candy Parlor.
Grocery Store: Best Friend Bear can be seen working as a cashier here in "Luck O' the Oopsy". This building is blue with pink hearts on it. It can be seen to the right of the Care-a-Lot Cafe, and to the left of Cheer's house.
Bedtime Bear's House is first seen in the episode "Care-Ful Bear". His house is varying shades of blue and has a nightcap-like structure build over a tower on it. Bedtime's house is located in Waterfall Cloud, as seen in the episode "Good Knight Bedtime".
Best Friend Bear's House is seen in the episode "Oopsy the Hero". Share runs past Cheer's house and then past Sweetheart Shop before arriving at Best Friend Bear's home. Despite this, it is never shown on the Central Care-a-Lot map.
Harmony's Cottage is seen in the episode "Care-Ful Bear". Her house is small with flowers painted around the windows. It is never shown on the map of Central Care-a-Lot.
Love-a-Lot's House is shown in the episode "Present and Accounted for". It is pink with heart-shaped windows. It is never shown on the map of Central Care-a-Lot.
Surprise Bear's House is seen in the episode "Care-Ful Bear". Her house is two stores with a jack-in-the-box like structure on the top of it. It is never shown on the map of Central Care-a-Lot
DVD release
In 2008, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released two DVDs of the series which contained double-length episodes from the second season which didn't air on TV at the time of release. "Grizzle-ly Adventures", released in February 2008 contained “Emma's Dilemma” and “Broken”; while "Ups and Downs", released in May 2008 contained “Cheer Up” and “Down to Earth”.
In 2009, Lionsgate Home Entertainment took over DVD distribution of the series under a new deal with American Greetings, and in March 2009, released their first DVD for the series titled "Cheer, There and Everywhere". The company would continue on to release DVDs of the series which all focus on specific morals.
Many of these releases have also been released on digital download.