| The Berenstain Bears' New Neighbors | |
| Season 3, Episode 1a | |
| Series: The Berenstain Bears (2002) | |
 | |
| Air date | April 25, 2003 (Treehouse TV) October 23, 2003 (PBS) |
| Written by | Bruce Robb |
| Directed by | Gary Hurst |
| Preceded by The Berenstain Bears and the Stinky Milk Mystery |
Followed by The Berenstain Bears and the Big Election |
“Mama: Uh-oh! Some neighbors moved away!
Papa: Now who's coming here to stay?”
—Opening quote
The Berenstain Bears' New Neighbors is the first segment of the first episode in season 3 of The Berenstain Bears. It first aired on Treehouse TV on April 25, 2003, and later on PBS on October 23, 2003. It is based on the book of the same name.
Summary[]
The Kodiak family, the Bear family's neighbors, move out and the Ursus family takes their place. Papa has trouble adjusting to the new neighbors since Mr. Ursus took down the old mailbox he made for Mr. Kodiak. When Mama teaches Papa that people are different, he comes to appreciate the Ursus family, especially after learning that Mr. Ursus likes to go fishing as much as Papa does.
Plot[]
The Kodiak family is cleaning out their garage. Papa remarks to Mr. Kodiak that him trimming and Mr. Kodiak cutting the grass made it look great. Mama hands Mrs. Kodiak her recipe for bumbleberry pie as a going-away present, with Mrs. Kodiak handing her a recipe for honey-crunch brittle in return as well as a hug. Michael is showing Brother and Sister how to juggle a soccer ball with his feet and head. When Brother and Sister ask for a turn, Mrs. Kodiak calls to Michael that it's time for them to leave. Before the Kodiaks leave, Papa tells Mr. Kodiak that he left behind the mailbox Papa made for him when his family moved in. Mr. Kodiak decided to leave it for the new neighbors. Just after, the Kodiaks drive off to their new home, with the Bear family seeing them off.
Back at the Bear family treehouse, Papa cuts the lawn while Mama tends to her garden. While he cuts the grass, Papa sprains his back and Mama takes him into the treehouse for some lemonade. In the kitchen, the Bear family is having a snack, and Papa hears the sound of a moving truck backing into the Kodiaks' former house. Brother and Sister notice that the new family has two cubs their age and want to go over to play with them, but Mama advises the cubs to give them some time to get settled in, as it's the neighborly thing to do. Mama then declares that the next day, she and the rest of the family are going over to give them a jar of Papa's honey as a housewarming gift. Papa agrees to the idea as long as he doesn't have to wear a tie.
The next day, the Bear family goes over to greet the new neighbors. When they get there, the first thing Brother and Sister notice is that the house has a security camera and intercom installed. Papa tries to introduce himself, but the neighbor is unable to hear him clearly as he is rewiring the house's electrical system. Mama declares that her family is going back home, which they do. Back at home, Papa cuts the grass as Mama checks the mail. She notices that most of the mail is for the new neighbors as they have taken down the Kodiaks' mailbox. Papa takes the new neighbors' envelopes over to their house. He tries to dodge the security camera, and as Papa knocks on the front door, it opens vertically and pushes him down. Mr. Ursus, the new neighbor from Big Bear City, comes out and introduces himself to Papa.
After introducing themselves, Papa asks Mr. Ursus, who makes gadgets for a living, about the mailbox, to which Mr. Ursus tells him he took it down. He then shows Papa a radio-controlled mailbox that he drives out of his house. When offered, Papa turns down Mr. Ursus's suggestion for an automated mailbox, as he enjoys getting mail the "manual" way. Soon after, Mr. Ursus gets a message on his pager and runs to answer an important email as he says good-bye to Papa and runs back into his house. Before Papa leaves, Mr. Ursus gives him the old mailbox then heads back inside. Papa then returns home with the old mailbox while Brother and Sister kick a soccer ball across their yard.
Sister kicks the ball hard and it rolls into the Ursus family's garage, where the cubs meet Aidan and Bonnie. Brother asks them if they want to play soccer, and they agree after showing the cubs how to play lacrosse. While the cubs are in the front yard playing lacrosse, Aidan introduces Mama to his mother Mrs. Ursus, who pulls up on a motorcycle. Mama introduces herself to her and offers the jar of honey, but Mrs. Ursus turns it down as she explains that Mr. Ursus has an uncontrollable sweet tooth and will eat the whole jar in one sitting, similarly to Papa. They both share comparisons as they walk into the house together.
In the Bear family's living room later that same day, they explained the various things they did with the new neighbors, such as Mrs. Ursus teaching Mama to ride a motorcycle, Brother and Sister played lacrosse with Bonnie and Aidan, and Papa isn't fond of Mr. Ursus' habit of building technology. Papa isn't very welcoming to the Ursus family as they are vastly different from the Kodiak family, but he soon changes his mind as Mrs. Ursus brings over fruitcake for dessert. Papa expresses his disagreement for how different the fruitcake looked. Mama shares his sentiments, but notes it was a neighborly thing of Mrs. Ursus to do. Despite the fruitcake looking different, the Bear family each takes a piece of it and they enjoy it. Brother, Sister, and Mama help Papa realize that it's okay for people and things to be different. Papa promises to accept neighbors for who they are, even if there is fruitcake involved.
The next day, Papa cuts the lawn using Mr. Ursus' remote-controlled high-speed lawnmower, saying that it cuts the lawn just as good as Mr. Kodiak did it, although differently. Mr. Ursus says that the best thing about his high-speed mower is that it leaves him enough time to go fishing, which captures Papa's interest. Brother, Sister, Aidan, and Bonnie all run across the front yard kicking a soccer ball.
Characters[]
- Papa Q. Bear
- Mama Bear
- Brother Bear
- Sister Bear
- Mr. and Mrs. Kodiak (Brief appearances)
- Michael Kodiak (Brief appearance)
- Dr. Ursus
- Mrs. Ursus
- Aidan Ursus
- Bonnie Ursus
Differences From the Book[]
- In the book, the story was about a family of pandas moving next door. In the cartoon, the new neighbors were regular bears.
- Additionally, the Pandas had three cubs (one boy and two girls), while the Ursus family only had two (one boy and one girl).
- In the book Papa wasn't open to meeting the new neighbors because they were a different type of bear while in the cartoon Papa didn't seem to like the new neighbors because Mr Ursus took down the mailbox he made for Mr Kodiak.
- In the book, Mama reminds Papa of how he usually likes things to be different, citing the examples of when he wanted Mama to buy a variety of tulip bulbs instead of just yellow ones, using different types of wood in his furniture work, and complaining if they eat the same thing for dinner three nights in a row. In the TV adaptation, the whole family reminds Papa of this, with the examples being Sister pointing out how he likes to drive different routes to Grizzly Gramps and Gran's place each time they visit, and Brother mentioning how Papa showed him a variety of different ways to throw baseball pitches.
Trivia[]
- This is the first episode of the series where Brother is voiced by Michael D'Ascenzo, who would voice him for the rest of the show's run. D'Ascenzo replaced Brother's previous voice actor Michael Cera, who voiced the character for the show's first two seasons. The studio discovered that Cera's voice was changing to the point where he couldn't talk like Brother anymore, so D'Ascenzo was given the role. This was the only voice actor change to occur in the series.
- Mr. Ursus is voiced by Stephen Ouimette who also voiced the Beast in Maggie and the Ferocious Beast, the titular character in Beetlejuice and Pompadour from Babar (1989 series).
Goofs[]
- The first sentence at the beginning of the book was: "Uh-oh, some nearby neighbors have moved away!" But Mama narrated in the episode "Uh-oh, some neighbors moved away".
- Following the visit to the Ursus family's house, it is shown to be the middle of the afternoon outside the Bear family's house. Inside, however, it is shown to be nighttime.