The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw

The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw was a Thanksgiving-themed animated television special based on the Berenstain Bears children's book series by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Produced by Buzz Potamkin and directed by Mordicai Gerstein and Al Kouzel, the program made its debut on NBC on November 20, 1980.[1] The television special inspired a book, The Berenstain Bears' Thanksgiving, published by Scholastic in 1997.[2][3]

The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw
Title screen from the original NBC TV special (1980)
Created byStan and Jan Berenstain
Written byStan and Jan Berenstain
Directed byMordicai Gerstein
Al Kouzel
Narrated byRon McLarty (uncredited)
Theme music composerElliot Lawrence
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
ProducerBuzz Potamkin
Running time25 minutes
Production companiesPerpetual Motion Pictures
The Joseph Cates Company
DistributorNBC
Embassy Home Entertainment
Release
Original networkNBC
Original release
  • November 20, 1980 (1980-11-20)
Chronology
Preceded byThe Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree (1979)
Followed byThe Berenstain Bears' Easter Surprise (1981)

Development

Stan and Jan Berenstain's first animated holiday special aired on NBC in December 1979. The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree was the first of five annual animated specials that would air on NBC, produced by Joe Cates and the Joseph Cates Production Company. The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw was the second in this series.

The Berenstains utilized rhyming couplets in the script - for both the narrator and the character dialogue. This element had also been used in the Christmas Tree special and was familiar to audiences since a similar type of writing was used in the Berenstain Bears Beginner Books series.[4]

The special is officially the first appearance of the Bigpaw character in the Berenstain Bears series. A precursor to Bigpaw, Great Natural Bear, appeared in The Bears' Almanac in 1973 and is the basis on which Bigpaw was developed.[5] Bigpaw appears in several subsequent books and in the CBS cartoon series.

Production and casting

The 25-minute special was created and written by Stan and Jan Berenstain and featured original music composed and conducted by Emmy-winning musician Elliot Lawrence, with lyrics provided by Stan Berenstain. The score included three original songs: "Thankfulness," "Bigpaw," and "A Stranger's Just Somebody (You Don't Already Know)."[6]

The special starred Ron McLarty, Gabriela Glatzer, Jonathan Lewis, and Pat Lysinger as Papa, Sister, Brother, and Mama Bear, respectively. McLarty also doubled as the show's narrator. All four actors were reprising their vocal roles from The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree. Bob Kaliban was the voice of Bigpaw.[7]

It was the second of five Berenstain Bears animated specials that aired on NBC from 1979 to 1983.[8]

Premiere

The program premiered on NBC on Thursday, November 20, 1980 at 8:30PM ET. Its lead-in was Daffy Duck's Thanks-for-Giving Special and it competed against The Waltons on CBS and NFL football on ABC.[9] The special was sponsored by Kellogg's.[10]

Plot
VHS editions of Bigpaw. The special was originally released by Embassy Home Entertainment (1987) and then by Kids Klassics (1989). The special has also been made available on LaserDisc and DVD.

Thanksgiving is approaching in Bear Country. The Bear Family attempt to discern their fortunes by reading the harvest honeycomb when an ominous footprint appears in the bottom of the pan. Mama interprets this as a sign that the Thanksgiving Legend of Bigpaw is coming to pass. According to this legend, Mama states and warns the cubs that if the bears were selfish, greedy and unkind to the needy and do not share in the bounties of nature, Bigpaw will come and gobble up Bear Country county by county. Papa believes the story to be nonsense.

Papa considers himself a bear "for all seasons", telling the cubs how he takes care of the Earth and all of its creatures year round - and especially on days like Easter, Christmas, and Arbor Day. But when it comes to Thanksgiving, Papa seems to care more about eating a feast than giving thanks.

Meanwhile, Mama continues the Thanksgiving preparations at home ("Thankfulness").

While visiting a pumpkin patch, Papa learns that his selfishness debt that the legend of the terrifying Bigpaw is real and is on the move through Sinister Bog. On their own, Brother and Sister decide to go and gather (no ifs, ands, or buts) mixed nuts for Papa. They set off into the woods and into Sinister Bog.

Gathering nuts in a tree, Brother and Sister feel the earth trembling as Bigpaw approaches ("Bigpaw"). Terrified, the cubs lose their balance, and begin to fall from the tree. They are saved from injury, though, by landing in the enormous hand of Bigpaw. Instead of hurting them, Bigpaw gently places them safely upon the ground and the cubs immediately realize that Bigpaw is not a creature to fear.

Meanwhile, back at the village square, Papa has gathered members of Bear Country, rallying a group of citizens to seek out Bigpaw and "get him before he gets us". Mama thinks the bears are getting carried away and convinces them to use their heads and think things through ("A Stranger's Just Somebody (You Don't Already Know)").

Bigpaw has climbed a high mountain to take a nap and his yawn echoes through the valley. But the fearful bears interpret his yawn as a terrifying roar and Papa - seeing Bigpaw's giant shadow - assembles a mob. Brother and Sister try to tell Papa of Bigpaw's kindness, but he doesn't listen.

Up on the mountain, Bigpaw was setting in for his nap when he heard the sound of the angry mob approaching. Afraid of the approaching bears, Bigpaw built a tall stack of boulders to use as weapons against the approaching mob until Sister and Brother intervene, placing themselves between Bigpaw and the angry members of Bear Country. Bigpaw holds back his tower of rock, gently picks up Brother and SIster, who explain how kind the giant is.

Everyone celebrates and the Bear Family invites Bigpaw to Thanksgiving dinner the following day, at which time Bigpaw presents Papa with his favorite treat - mixed nuts ("Thankfulness - Reprise").[6][10]

Book adaptation
Cover of storybook version of "Meet Bigpaw," entitled "The Berenstain Bears' Thanksgiving," published by Scholastic (1997).

A storybook version of the film was published by Scholastic in 1997 under the title The Berenstain Bears' Thanksgiving. The book closely follows the plot of the television special. As of August 2016, the book is out of print but can be easily found on the secondhand market.[11]

The Berenstain Bear Scouts Meet Bigpaw (1995) has a similar plot.

Home media releases

In 1984, Embassy Home Entertainment released the special on LaserDisc as a double-feature with The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree, called "A Berenstain Bears Celebration."[12] In 1987, the special was made available on VHS by Embassy Home Entertainment as part of their Children's Treasures series.[13] In 1989, the special was distributed on VHS by Kids Klassics.[14] The special was re-released in 1992 by GoodTimes Home Video, in a double-feature with The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree.[15] In 2002, the special was released on DVD by GoodTimes, also in a double-feature with The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree.[6] This is the only Berenstain Bears special that was never required with the 1980s TV series by Sony Wonder possibly due to a scene in which a lone hedgehog explains about Big Paw as he smoked a cigar briefly during the explanation.

References
  1. Shaw, Jane. "Christmas tree is focus of Berenstain Bears' newest adventure." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 1980-12-02, p. 32.
  2. Mariska, Bradley (2015). "Berenstain Bears Bibliography". Berenstain Bears Complete Bibliography & Blog. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  3. The Berenstain Bears' Thanksgiving. ISBN 0590947311.
  4. Berenstain, Stan and Jan (2002). Down a Sunny Dirt Road: An Autobiography. Random House. ISBN 978-0375814037.
  5. "Who Is Bigpaw". Berenstain Bears. 27 January 2014. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  6. The Berenstain Bears Double Feature (DVD). GoodTimes. 2002.
  7. The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw at IMDb
  8. Berenstain Bears History, The Berenstain Bears, Inc., 2015, retrieved 11 October 2015
  9. "Thursday [tv listings]" (newspaper). New York Times. 16 November 1980. p. 197. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
  10. Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The complete directory to the first twenty-five years, 1962-1987. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press. p. 32. ISBN 0810821982.
  11. Berenstain, Stan and Jan (1997). The Berenstain Bears' Thanksgiving. New York: Scholastic. ISBN 978-0590947312.
  12. A Berenstain Bears Celebration (LaserDisc). Embassy Home Entertainment. 1984.
  13. The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw (VHS). Embassy Home Entertainment. 1987.
  14. The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw (VHS). Kids Klassics. 1989.
  15. The Berenstain Bears Double Feature (VHS). GoodTimes. 1992.
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