| The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Vacation | |
| Season 2, Episode 9a | |
| Series: The Berenstain Bears (2003) | |
 | |
| Air date | October 7, 2003 |
| Written by | Peter Sauder |
| Directed by | Gary Hurst & Kervin Faria |
| Preceded by The Big Red Kite |
Followed by The Berenstain Bears and the Trouble with Grown-Ups |
“Can a bear's vacation, with more rain than sun, end up being the one that's most fun?”
—Papa Q. Bear
The Berenstain Bears and Too Much Vacation is the first segment of the ninth episode in season 2 of The Berenstain Bears. It first aired on October 7, 2003 and is based on the book of the same name.
Synopsis[]
The Bear family is heading to the Great Grizzly Mountains to spend a week in a cabin. Papa believes that this will be the "best vacation ever", but things go horribly wrong both on the way there and at the cabin.
Plot[]
The episode starts off with the bears going to their cabin for a vacation. They almost forget Brother but then he comes out with the camera saying he wants to take lots of pictures. The family is excited to be spending a week in the mountains catching fish for breakfast, picking bumble berries for lunch and watching the mountain sunset. Papa commits that this will be the best vacation ever and they head off.
While driving, they sing "If You're Happy And You Know It," until they get themselves a flat tire. It takes Papa a while to get a new one and unpack the luggage as well as chasing after the tire, changing it and repacking everything. Then they watch the whole mountain view which Mama comments is so beautiful. Papa likes the smell of fresh mountain air, but Mama, Sister and Brother smell something gross, that smell is a skunk. They manage to drive away from the skunk and they arrive at their cabin right on time. The cabin is rustic but Papa thinks it's perfect. Mama notes the lack of wires which means the cabin has no electricity, Papa says that nature is their lighting and air conditioning for the week. Brother and Sister realize that the bathrooms are outside, so they’ll have an outhouse.
The bears start by cleaning up the cabin, while doing so Papa finds some wild animals like birds, raccoons, squirrels, rabbits, etc. inside which chase him up a tree and clinging there for dear life. Sister and Brother, who jumped in a leaf pile that Mama was sweeping, take their picture of Papa in the tree. After getting the cabin cleaned, they decide to go bumbleberry picking. Brother races back to the cabin just to get the camera. They start walking to find some bumbleberry bushes, Papa comments that the best berries are found in the thickest part of the forest, Mama remarks that is also where the mosquitoes live. Then Sister spots a bush and lots of bumbleberries, Papa sees some good ones near a cliff that leads to a river. Mama warns Papa as he is trying to reach to be careful as it looks slippery. Papa says that when it comes to bumbleberry picking, he’s a mountain goat, but before he can finish the statement, he slips off the cliff and slides down the rocks and rides to the end of the river. Brother takes a picture of Papa, who is soaked and covered in leaves and twigs in the water. Papa offers the cubs some bumbleberries, but they taste funny and sour, Mama takes another picture of Papa's reaction.
Later Papa gets in a boat to catch some fish for dinner and things seem fine, that is, until the boat sinks (due to the amount of holes in the boat). Sister wonders why the water is green, Brother answers it's because of the weeds growing in the water. Papa starts fishing again but gets his fishing pole caught in the weeds. As he was pulling his fishing pole out, he falls backwards, Sister takes another picture. After a while, and no fish caught, Papa gathers some things to make his famous wilderness stew. After seeing it, Mama comments that it looks interesting as it looks like mud. Papa explains he gathered some roots, bark, and leaves. He assures everyone that it will look more appetizing when it's done. A little while later, Papa says it's ready, they try it, but it tastes weird just like the berries. Mama takes another picture of Papa's reaction and it suddenly starts to rain, so they quickly run inside.
Luckily for Mama, she came prepared with some food to eat. After a dinner with baked beans and honeycomb, Papa is sad to see that his stew got rained out, as does their early evening sunset hike. Mama suggests they should get up early in the morning and watch the sunrise to make up for missing the sunset. Papa comments that they'll need sleep so they can get up at the crack of dawn. Later that night, Papa sleeps on the floor, while Mama, Sister and Brother share a King-size bed together. Mama asks Papa if he'll be all right sleeping on the floor and he says that a wilderness bed on a wilderness vacation is just right. Papa enjoys the peace and quiet instead of the loud noises back home just as he goes to sleep. A little later in the night, it starts to rain again and the cabin starts to leak. An irritated Papa as well as the rest of the family put out pots, pans and bowls to keep off the leaks and the drips. It takes all the dishes and cookware to catch all the drops throughout the cabin. As the bears sleep, an umbrella keeps Mama, Sister, and Brother dry, eventually the rain stops again. Suddenly, the river rises and it flows throughout the woods and the cabin starts to flood and it sends some items floating away. It also sends a sleeping Papa floating out the cabin and into the lake.
The next morning, Papa is still floating in the lake, until he falls into the water off-screen. The noise of splashes and Papa's yelps wakes Mama, Sister, and Brother. A now-angry Papa says that they’re going home, since their best vacation ever turned out to be the worst vacation ever. Papa comments that everything was supposed to be special and how it went wrong. Brother and Sister tell Papa they are having a great time and show Papa some of the funnest moments they had yesterday. Papa then realizes after seeing the pictures that this is the best vacation ever, and Mama tells him that having a bad time or having a good time is just based on how people look at it. With a new and merry point of view, the bears decide to go bumbleberry picking, still in their pajamas.
Differences From the Book[]
- In the book while driving, Papa smells the "mountain air" (which was really a skunk). In the cartoon, Papa Bear fixes a flat tire when the Bear Family smell the skunk and drive away hurriedly.
- In the book while driving, the Bear Family was talking the time away. In the cartoon, they were singing.
- In the book, their vacation lasted three days- they went home the third morning. In the cartoon, only two days had passed.
- In the book, on the second day, Papa Bear catches a mudsucker fish from the muddy lake. In the cartoon, on the first day, Papa only succeeds in getting his fishing hook caught in the weeds, which prompts him to cook his wilderness stew (a series of events reversed in the book).
- In the book, the Bear Family take refuge in their cabin when it begins to rain, and Papa (in an attempt to sweep out the water that had leaked in overnight) gets washed out into the muddy lake. However in the cartoon, after the Bear Family catch rain drops at night, the rain causes a flood to the cabin and takes away a sleeping Papa Bear.
- At the end of the book, the Bear Family gives up and goes home, where they recount the highlights of their "worst vacation ever" with bursting laughter (a scene that appears in the cartoon intro). In the cartoon, they continue their vacation with more optimism.
Goofs[]
- When Sister picks bumbleberries, she picks the same berry.
- Papa didn't pick any berries before falling into the river, yet after he stopped, he had several berries in his bucket.
- When Papa puts stew in the cup, only a little bit is poured, the amount poured in the cup wouldn't be enough for Sister, Brother, and Papa to drink.
- While it did rain when they tried the stew, it wasn't until it rained at night that they discovered the roof was leaking.
- At the end of the episode, when Papa Bear is looking at the pictures, they look different from when his family members took them. There is one picture of him sliding down the water and one where his mouth is open while he is fishing after his boat sinks, but he was grinning in the latter and had already stopped sliding down the slide in the former.
- When the river floods while the Bear family is sleeping, it heads to the cabin and floods it as well, but the next morning, there is no debris from the flooding. Also, the river appears to be too far from the cabin, so it could not have reached it when it flooded.