The Little Flying Bears


The Little Flying Bears is a Canadian-Croatian animated television series produced by CinéGroupe and Zagreb Film. It was a Canadian production which originally aired in 1990.
This cartoon helps children realize the importance of protecting the environment. The series shows the harmful effects of pollution and fires as well as the important role of the ecosystem.

Plot

The series focuses on a rare species of little bears with butterfly-like wings that live in the magical forest in a utopian cooperative community. The little flying bears together with their friends, took on themselves the task to defend their forest from pollution, but their efforts, very often, are disturbed by two weasels, Skulk and Sammy, who strive to pollute the forest. Every so often the weasels receive help from Slink the snake. The three always strive to find new ways to disturb the harmony of the forest but their plans are destroyed always by the bears. The bears are always attentive to the advice of the old bear, Plato and his friend Ozzy the owl.

Characters

Protagonists

  • Plato – A wise old grey flying bear that serves as the head of the flying bear community and is the grandfather of all its bear cubs. Plato is too old to have wings and therefore is incapable of flying. The younger bears respect him for his wisdom and follow his advice. He is named after the Greek Philosopher of the same name.
  • Walt – A young male blue flying bear cub with lighter blue hair and orange wings. He is Tina's boyfriend and is possibly the brother of Jason and Josh, but this is not confirmed. He and Tina are the main protagonists of the series and are the bravest members of the flying bear community.
  • Tina – A young female orange flying bear cub with a blonde ponytail and blue wings, who wears a green necklace and big green flower on the top of her head. She is Walt's girlfriend and is possibly the sister of Lotus and Jasmine, but this is not confirmed. She and Walt are the main protagonists of the series and are the bravest members of the flying bear community.
  • Josh – A young male brown flying bear cub with brown hair and purple wings. He is Jasmine's boyfriend and the fraternal twin brother of Jason. He is one of the shyest members of the flying bear community.
  • Jasmine – A young female pink flying bear cub with orange wings who wears a blue necklace and blue flower crown. She is Josh's girlfriend and the identical twin sister of Lotus. She is short-tempered, but not as brave as Walt and Tina.
  • Lotus : A young female pink flying bear cub with orange wings, who wears a blue necklace and green flower crown. Lotus is Jasmine's identical twin sister, and is possibly Jason's girlfriend, but this is not confirmed. She is quite timid, compared to the other flying bears.
  • Jason : A young male red flying bear cub with blonde hair and green wings. He is Josh's fraternal twin brother, and possible, but not confirmed, Lotus's boyfriend. He works in local canteen and is short-tempered, but not as brave as Walt and Tina.
  • Ozzy – An impatient and nervous male brown owl, he is a friend of the bears. He usually wears a red hat.
  • Markus – A young male red frog who is a friend of the bears.
  • Ariana – A young female purple spider with visible ears who wears a green bow on her head.
  • Rodney – A male brown beaver.
  • Frandisema – A female green frog who wears a pink bonnet.
  • Sidney – A male white snowy owl who lives in the mountains.
Other notable inhabitants of the forest include: blue rabbits, orange squirrels, pink bobcats or lynxes, raccoons, skunks and blue and green birds.

Antagonists

  • Skulk – An anthropomorphic weasel who wears a blue vest and an earring. The main antagonist of the series, Skulk is The Little Flying Bears' worst enemy and frenemy. He yearns for "manimal" culture and brings many side effects to the forest.
  • Sammy – An anthropomorphic and dim-witted weasel who wears a green shirt with a belt strapped to his waist and a football helmet. He is Skulk's partner and the enemy and frenemy of the Little Flying Bears.
  • Slink – A shrewd snake who often assists Skulk and Sammy and is the frenemy of the Little Flying Bears.
  • Grizelda – A large spider who lives in the terrible forest. She eats creatures smaller than herself is very protective of the syrup trees.
  • Spike – A rat who comes from the city along with two rat subordinates.

    Humans

  • David – A friend of the bears and Leah's brother.
  • Leah – A friend of the bears and David's sister.

    Episodes

  1. Keep Out!
  2. Attack of the Scarlet Serpents
  3. The Juice Festival
  4. Black Cloud
  5. Runaway Truck
  6. Hurray for Eggs!
  7. A Birthday to Remember
  8. The Traps
  9. The Forbidden Flower
  10. The White Rain
  11. The Bears Christmas
  12. Sore Losers
  13. The White Bear
  14. The Fountain of Youth
  15. The Monster in the Mountain
  16. The Great Drought
  17. The Lumber Barons
  18. The Wood Fairy
  19. The Costume Ball
  20. Hide and Seek
  21. The Big Sting
  22. The Reluctant Hero
  23. The Virus
  24. Dr. Skulk
  25. A Gift from Space
  26. Sing for the Rain
  27. The First Encounter
  28. The Rats
  29. The River Rescue
  30. The Storm
  31. The Rats Revenge
  32. The Outsider
  33. Capture the Sun
  34. Prescription for Pandemonium
  35. Sabotage
  36. The Visitor
  37. Invasion
  38. Power to Spare
  39. Fire Bug

    Theme song

The theme song was composed by Julie Villandré. The lyrics were written by Jean-Pierre Liccioni and sung by voice actress Sonja Ball.

Awards

The Little Flying Bears had won the coveted first prize for best animated children's series for 1990 at the FIMAJ International Festival in France.

Home media

As with some other CinéGroupe series, the only major English-language DVD release is by Czech distributor North Video, featuring both Czech and English audio and original video in the original production order. 38 episodes were released on 12 volumes, from July 31 to October 17, 2009, with one episode, "The Rats Revenge", missing and one duplicate.

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