Episode 2: Viral Video by Daniel Chong and Madeline Sharafian

Before I start the next review/analysis, let me add on to something I had said in my previous review.

I said that this show reminded me of Hannah-Barbera, and it still does. But it also reminds me of The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends. The humor, animation style, and satire is really reminiscent of that show. Although, I must say that the bears are much more interesting characters than Rocky and Bullwinkle.

So, with that out of the way, lets take a look at the second episode. Daniel had help on this episode. The co-writer, Madeline Sharafian, is a BFA3 Character animator at CalArts and a 2013 Pixar Story Intern. She's put a few cute looking cartoons on YouTube, like "Acorn," "Omelette." and "The Mew-sician." You can also check them all out on her Vimeo channel. They're all pretty simplistic and focused on being cute, but they do a good job in getting across subtle emotions. Let's see if she can write good stories for a show like We Bare Bears.

We start out with Grizz photo-bombing, photo-nuking actually, a couple with a "big bear-hug and a smile" (Ha-ha, see what I did there!). He then proceeds to help himself to the couple's pic-a-nic basket, proving that he's smarter than the average bear! Now the show's reminding me of  Hannah-Barbera again.

Now, about this scene. One important fact about this is that Grizz never seems like a jerk during it, and it could've been really easy to make him look like one here. But instead, the writers make it clear that Grizz means well, he's just not very good at interacting with humans. The whole time he's trying to invite the couple over to the bears' cave for a little get together. Of course, this doesn't work out.

We then get our first look at the inside of the bears' cave. And to paraphrase J. R. R. Tolkein:

"Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat. . ." 

Come to think of it, the bears' cave is A LOT like a Hobbit Hole, at least when it comes to comfort. 

Speaking of comfort, DID WE JUST FALL INTO ONE OF BRIAN JACQUES' REDWALL BOOKS!?

That food looks GOOD! It looks so good that I nearly forgot to mention the totally awesome cooking scene Ice Bear has before this. Ice Bear is most definitely my favorite character.

Grizz is a little sad that none of the humans he invites ever actually come over, and then decides to take video of Panda eating and puts it online. Of course, this ends up getting a dislike in a minute or two. To cheer Grizz up, they watch a video of a "cute" Koala bear named Nom Nom.

Now, in my first review, I actually mentioned this Koala bear. He appears briefly in the intro, and you might remember me calling him the "main antagonist." 

Well, what else would you call someone who rides around in limo, and stops only to throw something at the bears and then drives off. Seriously, what kind of jerk does that?!

Anyway, when Grizz sees that Nom Nom has 50 million views, he decides that they should become viral video stars in order to get more friends. This kicks off a fantasy of him and his brothers being internet famous and getting showered with adoration.

Now, although the fantasy has your basic "fame and fortune" aspects, like a giant Grizz balloon, crowds of adoring fans, the mayor presenting him the key to the city, and a literal ton of salmon bagels (He's still a bear, remember!), the fantasy also reveals something deeper about Grizz. He is more focused on actually spending time as many friends as he can. He just wants people to like him. That's the third level of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs.

So, yeah, I'm pretty sure that we all know what's gonna happen next. Yeah, they're going to make a really bad video. Making things bad on purpose in an attempt to create humor is really hard to pull off correctly. More often than not, these attempts are just so bad that they're not funny at all, they're just bad and painful to sit through (*cough*SpikesingingattheEquestriaGames*cough*). 

Luckily for this episode, the scene of them making a really bad viral video doesn't last too long. Sure, Panda is wearing underwear and toiler paper on his head, but it doesn't overstay its welcome. Grizz crawling into a cardboard box while shouting about how "cute" he is is just awkward enough to be funny, and Ice Bear's ribbon dancing is actually quite beautiful in a comedic kind of way. It's also ironic that they have a panda right there and it's the polar bear that performs the ancient Chinese art of ribbon dancing. Subtle humor is nice.

So, Grizz literally stays up all night checking to see if someone, anyone will watch their video. Of course they get no views, but then Grizz sees an ad for Meme Con, where Nom Nom and two other meme stars, Balancing Lizard and a "cat bread"/Nyan Cat/Grumpy Cat parody named Gluten Cat, are going to judge some kind of meme competition.

So, of course, Grizz drags his brothers to the Meme Con, and after an even worse version of their viral video, this time live and in person, they get a resounding no. That is to say: Gluten Cat is displeased, Balancing Lizard drops the fruit he was balancing, and Nom Nom falls asleep.

Of course, Grizz is the only one who cares, and he refuses to give up. Panda tells Grizz he's being a "dingle," which might be this show's version of "whomps" from Recess. Hopefully we'll be hearing this word again. But all is not lost for Grizz, because as a huge crowd of adoring fans try to mob Nom Nom, Grizz manages to get into Nom Nom's limo during the confusion.

Panda: "Grizz! Stop! Come back!"

Maybe it's a Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory reference, or maybe it's just a coincidence. Either way, I like to spot little things like this.

Now, Nom Nom's actions during the intro certainly do give the impression of him being the show's main antagonist. However, the episode seems to do a good job in challenging our expectations as he takes off his glasses and speaks to Grizz in a rather kind and friendly manner.

Grizz has Nom Nom take a look at their "viral video," and Nom Nom actually says that its cool. This greatly pleases and thrills Grizz, naturally, and he goes on to ask Nom Nom about all the friends he has. 

The conversation then goes on to reveal the Nom Nom's true nature, and the nature of many celebrities as a matter of fact.

Girzz learns that for celebrities like Nom Nom, it isn't about making real friends. It's all about the numbers for Nom Nom, not actually connecting with people. He just uses the fame he has to keep his servants, money, and adoring fans. In short, he's your classic, self centered, jerk character archetype; and he cements this by throwing Grizz out of the limo, taking a picture of him with one of his hundred smart phones, laughing at it, throwing the phone at him, and mockingly calling him "friend" before driving off.

And here we have confirmation that Nom Nom's the main antagonist.

But wait, when I put it that way, Nom Nom sounds like a very bland jerk character. But he isn't. One extra little detail the writers put in him is that he thinks hanging out with people in real life is a thing of the past. This speaks to a lot of people who spend most of their time online social networking or playing online games instead of, let's say, shooting some hoops, walking and talking in the park, or even having a meal at a friend's house. In that way, the audience can see a little bit of themselves in the villain, and that is a crowning achievement for any form of entertainment media. By showing people what they can become, it helps them come away wiser from the experience with a lesson for their lives.

And so, with his Lesson of the Day learned, Grizz goes back home and apologizes for the whole thing. His brothers are okay with it, although Ice Bear gives him a warning of "don't ditch Ice Bear." And as Grizz replies, that's "fair enough."

But wait, it turns out his brothers have a surprise for Grizz!

It leads to a rather sweet ending for the bears that I don't think I should spoil here. You know, I think that I'm going to make not spoiling the ending a regular thing in my reviews/analyses. A little incentive for you to go ahead and watch the show yourself.

So, we've got another really good episode that really takes advantage of the modern, real world setting. An episode that parodies YouTube stars and Meme videos is a brilliant idea. But to be honest, it wasn't really all that funny, but that doesn't make it a bad episode! A show doesn't have to be laugh-out-loud funny to be good. It was actually a very good look into Grizz's character, as well as the dynamic of the bear brothers. And we also got another good moral here as well.

And this episode clearly hits close to home to a lot of YouTubers and Bloggers on the internet. I want people to read this blog and leave comments just as much as Grizz wanted people watch, like, and comment on his video. Now, I'm not as obsessive as Grizz was, but I still know that feeling. I'm sure a lot of us do, and that's what makes this episode relate-able, and thus, good.

I think an A- would be a fair grade. Madeline Sharafian should be ready to fly solo soon enough.

BearStack Rating

2 out of 3 bears

Grizz (The Plot): Grizz leading the bears in being internet famous is a very clever idea. Although the plot does seemed phoned in at some points. The motivation for the whole plot is that Grizz wants more friends, which is kind of flimsy. The scenes at Meme Con and with Nom Nom are interesting though, because that's where the plot really takes off. The plot does lead intro the introduction of a new character as well.

Panda (The Characters, Emotions, and Moral): Poor Panda was the well meaning pawn in Grizz's scheme, but it never became too cruel, like in some other shows (*cough*TeenTitansGO!*cough*). Ice Bear had some real moments of awesomeness in this episode, specifically the cooking scene. Grizz's honest and innocent desire to make friends with more humans is just heartwarming. It just makes the scene with Nom Nom all the more effective. Grizz wants to be famous so he can connect with more people. Nom Nom couldn't care less about connecting with others or making real friends. Nom Nom is a good representation of an actor who pretends to be kind and nice in public, but is really an arrogant celebrity who only cares about himself. As for the moral, its conveyed in a way that doesn't hit you over the head. We see that being famous and making friends isn't the same thing, and that obsessing over fame isn't the way to go. Being famous often ends up alienating you from other people, and that just being yourself and being satisfied with who you are can help you make real close friends. The people that are present in your real life are the ones who are truly valuable.

The comedy is light in this episode. It's like this episode was made with a more serious tone in mind. Perhaps the writers wanted to get the morals across to the audience, seeing as YouTubers are a very large and very much adored and glamorized culture. Other than the cat bread meme and memes in general, the episode doesn't really make as many parodies and jokes as it could. Even Ice Bear's randomness comes off more as awesome than funny. He speaks Russian and Japanese, and he wants to be president. Also, only Ice Bear can get away with eating breakfast with a huge ax! The ending, which I will not spoil, is kinda funny, but mostly sweet. You'll be left smiling rather than laughing. However, lack of comedy doesn't keep this episode from being good. The other aspects are able to carry this episode into the good territory easily, and the subtle type of comedy acts as a kind of lubricant.

Well, after that social satire, I'm looking forward to something a little more lighthearted and funny for next time. I hope that's what we get!

Until next time, I bid you a beary good day!

Ice Bear Quotes:
"Ice Bear charges extra."
"Uhem. Приятного апетита (Russian: Have a good appetite)."
"ありがとう (Japanese: Thank you)."
"Ice Bear enjoys basking."
"Internet famous."
"Hashtag Ice Bear for president."
"Ice Bear should have trained before coming."
"Ice Bear been sleeping for fifteen minutes."
"Don't ditch Ice Bear."

Episode 1: Our Stuff by Daniel Chong

The first episode. Episode one. The very beginning.

First, let me say that the advertisements made this show seem almost bland and run of the mill. That is to say, it almost seemed like a Regular Show clone, only there's three main characters instead of two. I was sure I had We Bare Bears figured out at that point. The bears do something annoying or cause some sort of trouble, and it leads into some random, crazy, and nonsensical hi-jinks that they have to either solve or get out of. It starts out small, like becoming making an internet video, and then snowballs into something ridiculous that sometimes manages to be entertaining.

As you can probably tell, I personally think Regular Show is overrated. Not bad, just overrated.

Well, as it turned out, after watching the first episode of We Bare Bears, I was greatly surprised. The actual show, unlike those brief commercials, does not remind me of Regular Show at all. Even the animation is slightly different in style, shading, and movement.

Do you want to know what this show really reminds me of?

Hanna-Barbera.

I'm serious.

But I think I'm getting ahead of myself. I'll come back to that comment later on.

The Intro

Let's start with a quick word on the intro By the way, props to the creators for actually having an intro. I'm looking right at you, Regular Show and Amazing World of Gumball! Although the theme song does fall in the short and brief category that most modern Cartoon Network cartoon theme songs have, I have to say that the song is catchy and kinda sweet. The lyrics encompass part of the tone this show will have: slightly cute and upbeat.

Now, I say part of the tone because the the rest of it is conveyed through the visuals. We see our main characters stacked up on top of each other (a running visual gag constant throughout the series) and walking through the world this show takes place in. They interact with their surroundings almost nonchalantly as they go on about their day/days. We can deduce that these bears are, at the very least, nice and generally well meaning. We even catch a glimpse of what we can assume to be the main antagonist (A koala bear! Genius!). Ending with them taking a selfie also sets the time era, and unashamedly admits that the modern world will have an effect on this world and its stories. This is very refreshing, because most cartoons today either focus more on magic (Steven Universe, Gravity Falls, Adventure Time) or try pretend that this new modern technology doesn't exist or just doesn't matter (Regular Show, Clarence). Smart phones, laptops, and other pieces of technology can offer up a wealth of material for fun jokes or plots. But again, I'm getting ahead of myself.

One last thing, having a the name of a Pixar story artist like Daniel Chong on you show is worth bonus points.

The Story

Okay, now it's time for the actual plot.

The first episode of a show must introduce the characters and the world as best a possible.

In terms of fulfilling that task, I am willing to say that We Bare Bears has the BEST first episode ever made. The first few minutes of the episode is able to tell us everything we need to know about the show. I am not exaggerating when I say that.

The first main sequence of the series consists of the bears playing basketball against a team of humans. This was an excellent way to show that in this world, three talking bears walking around the city isn't at all strange, and it eases us into the world by setting up the rules of this unique toon-reality.

Then we see each of the bears' objects, which actually helps us understand their personalities more than you would think. Grizz has a wallet, a normal object which cements him as the most normal and well rounded, as well as the leader of the trio. Panda has a smartphone, and his slightly dramatic comment he makes about it cements him as the socially awkward, shy, gentle, slightly immature, and nerdy/geeky type of character. Then we have Ice Bear.

Oh my gosh, thank Chong for Ice Bear

Ice Bear is the embodiment of the Comedic Non Sequitur. What does he put in the backpack? Ninja stars. Why? Because he's Ice Bear. He also only speaks in the third person, and when he does speak, it's only in short sentences. Why? Because he's Ice Bear. In the intro, there's a part where Ice Bear rides a cow, while holding pliers, while wearing a tiara, while wearing a sash that says "Honorable Mention." Why? Because he's Ice Bear! 

He's random, but mind you, he's only random up to a point so as to not seem overly stupid. He's not very emotionally expressive and only speaks in a monotone, but he still does react to things and has varying facial expressions so that it's made clear he's an actual living character. He's pretty much the kind of character who's chill all the time (ha-ha) and marches to the beat of his own drum.

As you can probably tell, Ice Bear is my favorite bear.

As for the basketball game itself, I should probably compliment the homage to Harlem Globetrotters whistling song. It's unique and different enough to get us into the action on screen. Then we have the way the bears interact with each other during the game, which really does do a good job representing how they mesh during the show. It also shows their personalities very well. Ice Bear often does things that are either awesome are weird, Panda is excitable but often get nervous and has second thoughts, and Grizz is clearly the leader who easily goes too far.

What I find really refreshing is how innocent these characters are. What do they do after they finally get a basket after being thoroughly trounced by the other team? They celebrate and skip off of the court with cheers and are thoroughly and genuinely proud of each other for finally making a basket.

Grizz: "Good job, bros. I'm proud of you, I saw improvement, and I saw heart, and you can't teach heart."

What impressed me was that this was played completely straight. No satire, no jokes, no irony. The show actually tries to teach the "it's not whether you win or lose, it's how you play the game" moral, and does it pretty well, I might add.

After that expertly done character introduction, we move into this episode's conflict: someone has stolen the bear's backpack with all their stuff in it. The show keeps Panda's freak out brief, knowing that holding on a freak out for any length of time isn't really good comedy. Rather, the show breaks up his freak out and serves it to us in bite-size pieces throughout the next few minutes, allowing the comedy of it to stay fresh and funny.

After the Police Are Useless Trope is fulfilled in a refreshingly understandable way considering the bears' state of utter panic, we get the beginning of a rather funny Running Gag.

Grizzly: "FBI! We're on a very important case. Take us everywhere a criminal would hang out. Now!"

I laughed SO hard at this the first time I saw it. Personally, I think it actually stands for Federal Bear Investigators in this case.

Normally, most cartoons would have this scheme work. But the show surprise me again by having the taxi driver kick the bears out. So they go into a diner to come up with a plan. Grizz makes a model of the crime scene, and we see that the animators know how to pay attention to detail. Check out the salt and pepper shakers!

We also get some really good Anime-style mugshots of the humans at the court from Panda. The gold is in the details.

After a chuckle-worthy skit with a snarky waitress ("FBI, lady!"), the bears head back to interrogate some pigeons (of course!), and we get some randomness from Ice Bear that does pertain to what's going on ("Meow!").

A pigeon picks out the culprit from Panda's mugshots, and the bears follow the bird in a chase scene that calls back to the intro. This being the first episode makes this an acceptable decision.

The next scene takes place in a library. What do they do at this library?

They reference Find My iPhone.

Sure, they call it Phone Finder, but we all know what it is.

This is what I was talking about. This show knows that this is the modern world, accepts it, and works it into the plot. It also adds some logic to the story. If you lost your phone, you'd use the internet to track it. Simple. Occam's Razor at its finest.

So the bears arrive at the general location of the phone, and then Grizz uses the rolled up paper as a telescope. A small detail showing how innocent these characters are. They find the suspect the pigeon picked out, and proceed to sneak into his apartment through the open window, "Ninja Style." Unfortunately, the basket game on TV causes them to blow their own cover, leading to a hilarious routine that's contrived in the best way possible. There's no way the basketball game on TV could match the game of backpack keep-away going on the apartment so perfectly, but we don't care because it's so funny.

Through the magic of toon-logic, Panda falls out of the window with the backpack, but then ends up on a ledge against the wall. Cartoons really need to remember that they're cartoons and defy the laws of physics again. No magic, no science, no explanation. Just break logic and be toony again.

The bears escape via the narrow ledge, but then discover that the police were called on them, and are completely surrounded by an angry mob. Then they discover that the yellow backpack they took wasn't theirs, and the expressions on Grizz's face are absolutely priceless. And to make matters worse, it turns out that the chaos the bears caused during their pigeon chase scene actually has consequences.

Now, if this were a show like Regular Show or Teen Titans GO!, this would be the part where the characters try to figure a way to escape, get out of getting punished, or pin the blame on someone else.

Okay, prepare to get your mind blown here, and keep in mind that this show does NOT have an E/I bug (educational and informational digital on-screen graphic) on it.

After hanging their heads in shame, Grizz speaks for the tearful Panda and silent Ice Bear and says that in the end, they were the criminals and that they must face the consequences for their actions.

You heard me right. A modern, network, non-educational cartoon show stars well meaning, morally sound characters that know how to accept responsibility for their actions and any consequences that come with them.

In an era of self-centered, egotistical slackers like Robin, Beast Boy, Cyborg, Mordecai, and Rigby; I have to say that We Bare Bears is a well needed breath of fresh air.

Now, I'm actually not going to spoil the ending here. Some might call it a Deus Ex Machina, but then again, the ending only worked out like it did because the bears were willing to allow themselves to be arrested, albeit on their own sentimental terms. The ending also fits into the part weird, part normal world, considering no one finds talking bears weird.

Also, the running gag meets its quick, painless, and proper end.

So yeah, the ending is perfect, much like the rest of this first episode. The comedy, the characters, the story; everything is absolutely great. It's actual wholesome entertainment. And it's not an E/I show. And it's not by Disney (Okay, it is by a guy from Pixar, but still). 

This is why it reminds me of the Hannah-Barbera cartoons. Huckleberry Hound, Top Cat, Yogi Bear, etc. The family friendly, yet intelligently written humor hearkens back to the good old days of cartoons. In addition to that, we have the whole talking anthropomorphic animals in a human world that the humans don't see as anything special Trope. And one last element is how simply the bears are designed.

The bears are drawn pretty much identically, the only difference being their colors. Their eyes are just black dots, and they resemble chubby teddy bears more than actual bears. But this does not make their design bad. This is just the style of this show (Okay, it's also staying true to the design of the original web comic), and quite frankly, I think it works. Sometimes, keeping character design simple allow the writer to make the character's personalities shine through. We come to know the bears through the little thinks they do. Panda's the shy one with phone, Grizz is the confident one who occasionally gives lets out a growl to remind us that he's a grizzly bear, and Ice Bear is. . . well, he's Ice Bear. It's their simple character design that makes them so memorable. It also draw our attention to them whenever their eyes actually widen for whatever reason.

So, the first episode is perfect. Meaning that I can use it to test out rating methods. I could just give it 5 out of 5 stars or an A+. 

Or, I could use the following rating system:

BearStack Rating

3 out of 3 bears

Grizz (The Plot): Really solid plot. Very relate-able too. Having something important stolen from you is the worst thing in the world, so many people will be able to relate. Also, mystery stories are always fun.
Panda (The Characters, Emotions, and Morals): This first episode introduces the dynamic of the three bears. We see that these three are really close and supportive of one another and make a great team. They really do act like and feel like true brothers. The supporting human characters are written well. The segway cop doesn't come off as too mean, the waitress plays an excellent straight-man to the bear's antics, and the cop at the end is everything a good cop should be. Also, the morals about "doing your best is better than winning" and "take responsibility for your actions" were very well done.
Ice Bear (The Comedy): Between Panda's sporadic freak outs, Ice Bear's randomness, Grizz's FBI running gag, and that slapstick filled chase scene; this episode clearly knows how to do good comedy.

Let me know what you think about my rating system. Please tell me if I missed anything.

Well, that was Episode One of We Bare Bears reviewed and analyzed, and I bid you a beary good day.

Ice Bear Quotes:
"Ice Bear has ninja stars."
"Ice Bear meant to do that."
"The backpack."
"My spare ninja stars."
"Ice Bear wants justice."
"Ice Bear needs latte."
"Ice Bear has a conspiracy theory."
"Ice Bear wants to get moving."
"Ice Bear bought these legally."

Welcome to the Site!

Welcome to the We Bare Bears review site!

Here is where every single episode of We Bare Bears will be reviewed!

Grizz: "Woo-hoo! This is awesome!"

Panda: "Oh yeah, the phone version rocks!"

Ice Bear: "Ice Bear is waiting for the first review."

Calm down guys, this site isn't a rush job. When I say every episode will be reviewed, I mean really reviewed. It is my mission to show exactly why this show is a beacon of hope for animation, and also why it stands out amid other well received shows like Steven Universe, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Regular Show, and Gravity Falls.

I will do this by not just saying what happens in the episode or what jokes are funny. I will also talk about the way the characters act and interact with each other and the world this cartoon takes place in.

So, please, stay a while. Post your comments. Help to give this show the attention it deserves!

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Episode 1: Our Stuff by Daniel Chong
Episode 2
Episode 3
Episode 4
Episode 5
Episode 6
Episode 7
Episode 8
Episode 9
Episode 10