We Bare Bears is an American animated sitcom created by Daniel Chong. The show premiered on Cartoon Network and follows three bear siblings, Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear (respectively voiced by Eric Edelstein, Bobby Moynihan, and Demetri Martin), and their awkward attempts at integrating with the human world in the San Francisco Bay Area. Based on Chong's webcomicThe Three Bare Bears, the pilot episode made its world premiere at the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival, where it won in the "Young Amsterdam Audience" category. The series premiered on July 27, 2015.
We Bare Bears follows three adoptive bear brothers: Grizzly, Panda and Ice Bear. The bears attempt to integrate with human society, such as by purchasing food, making human companions or trying to become famous on the Internet, although these attempts see the bears struggle to do so due to the civilized nature of humans and their own animal instincts. However, in the end, they figure out that they have each other for support. One notable aspect of the show's humor is the bears' ability to form a "bear stack". As its name implies, the bears stack on top of each other, which serves as their unique way of transportation.
Occasionally, there are flashback episodes which chronicle the adventures of the bears as cubs trying to find a home.
Bears
Grizzly ("Grizz" for short) (voiced by Eric Edelstein, Sam Lavagnino as a cub) is a grizzly bear. The oldest and the de facto leader of the brothers, Grizz is a fun-loving bear who tends to get the others into random hijinks. Grizz is paradoxically highly sociable yet socially inept. Despite this, he is constantly wanting to meet new people and tries to befriend everyone he comes across. As a baby, he was rescued by a team of firemen who prevented him from falling off a tree-top during a storm. It seems that he was younger than in most baby bear episodes according to the flashback pictures in "Burrito." It was mentioned by Ice Bear that Grizz writes poems in English, as well as being a DJ and a beatboxer.
Panda (voiced by Bobby Moynihan, Duncan Joiner as a cub) is a giant panda. He is the middle brother and is nicknamed Pan-Pan by Grizz. He is tender-hearted and gets embarrassed or anxious easily. Panda has a lot less self-confidence than his brothers. He is good with technology, and uses that skill on online social media and dating sites, with which he finds little to no success. He is the most creative of the brothers, having written songs in "Everyone's Tube" , and undoubtedly the "cutest" as settled in "Panda's Sneeze." Panda is a vegetarian and has severe allergies to peanuts and cats. It has been revealed that Panda likes Anime and enjoys other things related to Japanese culture. He can be seen eating Ramen in multiple episodes, and in "Hibernation" he is seen eating a snack similar to Pocky.
Ice Bear (voiced by Demetri Martin) is a polar bear and the youngest brother. Ice Bear is often stoic and rarely speaks. When he does, he speaks mostly in the third person and mostly says his name first before anything else. He learned to talk much later than his two brothers, as revealed in "The Island". He is multilingual, having been shown to speak Korean, French, Japanese (on "Losing Ice") and Russian fluently. Ice Bear also is able to speak to pigeons in the episode "Our Stuff." He is also a skilled chef, dancer, piano player, a novice at robotics, charade player (on "My Clique"; it was revealed on "The Island" that he learnt to speak very late, and originally used his charades skills to communicate) , welder, poet (which he writes in French) and a mixed martial artist ( cited as Brazilian jiu-jitsu on "Chloe", but his skill set is closer to Taekwondo and judo with skills in nunchucks, ninja stars and swords). Ice is the most composed of the brothers, always maintaining an "ice-cool attitude" in even the most awkward and embarrassing of situations. As seen in "Losing Ice", his brothers often take him for granted and are unappreciative of all the cooking and cleaning he does, although they eventually realize the error of their ways. Ice Bear sleeps in the refrigerator with a fire axe which he can use with either hand. It was revealed in "Yuri and the Bear" that Ice bear was raised by a Russian man named Yuri. This is how he learned to speak Russian, and because Yuri spoke exclusively in 3rd person, this is most likely how Ice Bear obtained the habit. He earned accommodation by learning to chop wood, cook salmon, read maps, study calculus, knit, play Uno with standard cards and speak Russian and English, but was cut adrift when Yuri let him go to save him from the poachers, and the ice floated down to the Bay Area. All three bears are ambidextrous.
Recurring
Chloe Park (voiced by Charlyne Yi) is a 10 year old Korean-American girl. She is a child prodigy and attends college in the city. In "Chloe," she breaks into the Bears' cave to study them for a college presentation, and along the way, she befriends the bears. She doesn't have many friends other than the bears and has a hard time relating to her much older peers. In "My Clique," Chloe finally makes some friends with her college classmates, albeit with the help of the Bears. While her father is reserved on Chloe hanging out with the bears, her mother is very supportive of the friendship. However, in "Slumber Party" her father is shown to have warmed up to their presence.
Nom Nom (voiced by Patton Oswalt) is a koala. He is a famous internet star, known for his "cute" videos. While doesn't talk in any of his videos, Nom Nom often swears angrily towards everyone he comes in contact with, especially the bears. Grizzly imposes him enough to talk to him and admits that he liked his video, but Nom Nom is self-centered and more concerned with materialistic things, and is very selfish and lashes out at anyone who he doesn't like. In "Viral Video," Nom Nom says that he does not want any friends because he finds them unimportant and too loud, and proves his point by kicking Grizz out of his limo. In "Nom Nom's Entourage", he has a rival named Andy Bangs, who is also rude and self-centered but enjoys scaring non suspecting bystanders in his videos. Andy is often followed by two taller boys who he refers to as his entourage and constantly bullies Nom Nom, going so far as to steal his sunglasses for simply bumping into him on accident. His temper is so short, he lashes out at anyone who even slightly annoys him. In "Anger Management", it's revealed that Grizz's hugs genuinely calm him to the point of making him optimistic.
Charlie (voiced by Jason Lee) is a bigfoot. He wanders alone around the San Francisco woods until he meets the Bears in "Charlie," where they agree to let him live in their cave for a little while via a website called CaveShare. It is revealed that, due to his life of solitude, he is socially inept and doesn't know how to be a good friend. This results in him unintentionally causing havoc for the Bears whenever he hangs out with them. He is also constantly harassed by the media trying to get pictures of him, which results in him being afraid of cameras. In the episode "Charlie Ball," we see that Charlie is extremely skilled at ball-handling, and that his height makes him perfect for basketball.
Ranger Tabes (voiced by Cameron Esposito) is a park ranger. She lives in a cabin located in the park where the Bears live. They first meet her in "Ranger Tabes" where she helps them locate a missing package. She is shown to be overly confident, persistent and even downright obsessive with wanting to help the Bears. Her obsession is explored in "Creature Mysteries" where she tries to capture and prove Charlie's existence. In that same episode, it's revealed that her mother was also a park ranger and the one who inspired her to become one. In "Christmas Parties", the Bears give her a dog named Kirk for Christmas. Despite her personality, the Bears consider her their friend.
Production
The show was created by cartoonist Daniel Chong, who had previously worked as a story artist for Pixar and Illumination Entertainment. The show is based on his webcomicThe Three Bare Bears, which also features the identifying characters. The comic was published from 2010 to 2011. Billed as a comedy, the show is a production of Cartoon Network Studios, which developed the program with Chong as part of their shorts development program. It was announced during the network's 2014 upfront.
Broadcast and reception
The pilot episode made its world premiere as part of two separate venues of the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival at the EYE Film Institute Netherlands: the "Animated Shorts 5", and the "Animated Shorts for Kids" ages 9 to 12. The short was screened alongside the Dutch premiere of Clarence, the Steven Universe episodes "Mirror Gem" and "Ocean Gem", and a live interview with the creator of the latter series, Rebecca Sugar. Described by the institute as "hilarious and endearing", the pilot won in the "Young Amsterdam Audience" category.
Critical response
We Bare Bears has received generally positive reviews from critics. Kevin Johnson from The A.V. Club gave "Everyday Bears" a B. He thought the show was charming enough to enjoy, but not "must-watch". He praised the voice actors, but was disappointed that the show did not thoroughly explore the discrimination humans have towards the bears and ended by calling it a "very good 'just okay' kind of show" until the discrimination is explored.
International
We Bare Bears premiered on Cartoon Network in Canada on July 27, 2015 and on Cartoon Network in the United Kingdom and Ireland on September 7, 2015. The series debuted on Cartoon Network channels in Australia and New Zealand and the Philippines on November 16. It premiered on Cartoon Network in India on November 29, 2015, and in Italy on December 8, 2015. We Bare Bears premiered in Pakistan on Cartoon Network on July 13, 2016 and airs on every Saturday and Sunday at 11:00 PM, according to Pakistan Standard Time. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland it airs on Cartoon Network (Pay-TV) and Disney Channel (Free-TV).
Other media
Penguin Random House announced in 2014 that it will publish books based on various programs for Cartoon Network, including We Bare Bears. The books are produced out of the company's Cartoon Network Books imprint, a division of the Penguin Young Readers Group, and is based on a partnership with the network that started in 2013.
