A New Beginning

"A New Beginning" is the first episode of Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears. It was released theatrically in 1986 in the United Kingdom.

Synopsis
The episode opens as Duke Igthorn- a traitorous knight to the kingdom of Dunwyn -is testing a model of his new catapult on a model castle that looks like Dunwyn Castle, which succeeds. Ordering his minions, the ogres, to hurry up on finishing the real thing, he muses over the destruction of Dunwyn (and King Gregor's castle, by extension).

Meanwhile, two boys- a squire named Unwin  and a page named Cavin -are riding through the woods on mules on their way to deliver lunch to woodcutters. Unwin complains about the errand, stating his time could be better spent practicing his combat skills, but Cavin tells him that the job they are doing is important. In criticism, Unwin throws a piece of chicken at Cavin's mule, causing it to buck and leave Cavin and the lunches he was carrying behind. Cavin, annoyed at this, grabs Unwin to try and hurt him, but Unwin takes Cavin's Gummi Medallion. Cavin tries to get it back, only to end up causing Unwin to fall off his mule. Tackling Cavin, Unwin forces his fellow aide to admit that he believed in Gummi Bears, saying afterwards there was no hope for him. Cavin then says that there aren't any Gummi Bears around, but they used to exist, even though Unwin said they were just fairy tales; unbeknownst to them both, they were overheard by Cubbi- an actual Gummi Bear.

Soon enough, the two squires reach the woodcutters' camp, which is kept defended by Sir Tuxford, the knight Cavin and Unwin serve under. He says the boys were late, with Unwin blaming it on Cavin. Cavin then said that Sir Tuxford should be watching out for ogres; while Unwin says there are no ogres in the area, an army of ogres appear and frighten Unwin, Sir Tuxford and the woodcutters. However, before running away, Cavin manages to knock one of them out with a piece of meat. After the successful attack, one of the ogres cheers on how good a job they did scaring them off, with Duke Igthorn commending them on a job well done. As Cavin runs away, some ogres try chasing him, but two of them end up caught in traps sprung by Grammi, another Gummi Bear. However, Cavin fell down a hill and was briefly rendered unconscious.

Meanwhile, at Dunwyn Castle, young Princess Calla has some fun by jumping into a haystack from a considerable height, only to be caught and reprimanded by her father, King Gregor. Just then, Sir Tuxford comes to warn King Gregor about ogres in the woods and that they may have Cavin; at that news, Princess Calla becomes concerned and then King Gregor asks if she and Cavin are friends and Calla says that he's just nice.

Back in the woods, the Gummi Glen Gummis have discovered Cavin and they all have different opinions on what they should do with him, but when they discover that he has a Gummi Medallion in his possession, they argue over whether they should let him keep it. Eventually, Cavin comes to and, spooked, the Gummies all run away. However, Cavin manages to chase Cubbi to a tree, even after he drinks some Gummiberry Juice. After attempting to converse with Cubbi, the young Gummi warns his human friend of some ogres running behind him and opens some doors allowing the pursued Gummis to escape to the tree. However, Tummi Gummi accidentally knocks Cavin into their home. While there, Cavin overhears a conversation between the Gummis and, when they see him, they run and hide. Grammi attempts to hit him with a roll of paper and, using this scenario as a distraction, Gruffi ties Cavin up and puts him on a chair, intending to interrogate him.

Meanwhile, Duke Igthorn (after trying to have his ogres style a new cloak for him, as he is already planning his future king status) is testing the catapult; thankfully, it misfires. Duke Igthorn gets out of the way, but the projectile instead lands unceremoniously on his lieutenant, Toadie.

Back at the Glen, Gruffi is interrogating Cavin about the Medallion. When Gruffi refused to give Cavin a drink when he asked for it, Grammi berates him for his poor manners and then told Cavin that they'd give him a drink. Tummi gives Cavin some Gummiberry Juice to drink, which allowed Cavin to break free from the rope and caused the Gummis to hide. Despite his newfound power, Cavin says that he means them no harm and only wished to be friends. When the Gummiberry Juice wore off, a door (which Cavin unintentionally ripped off its hinges) ends up falling on him. Gruffi tries to get more rope (as he plans to recapture Cavin), but Grammi tripped him and told Gruffi to leave their new friend be; Cavin had proven that he was trustworthy. Cavin introduced himself to Grammi and then Grammi introduced herself and the rest of the Gummi Glen Gummis to Cavin. After that, Zummi Gummi, the colony's Keeper of Gummi Wisdom, took Cavin to the colony's Great Book of Gummi and made him swear to keep their existence a secret, which he agreed to. After that, Sunni and Cubbi showed Cavin around their home and took him for a ride through the Quick Tunnels. When they stopped near Duke Igthorn's catapult camp, they saw him testing the catapult and then Cavin realized that he was going to destroy the castle.

When he returned to the Glen, he asked the Gummis for help, but they couldn't because they weren't really fighters and they were too outnumbered to be of any help (that, and Gruffi was determined to keep to the Gummis' policy of isolationism). Angry, Cavin discards his Gummi Medallion and leaves in a huff. Zummi picks up the discarded Medallion and puts it around his neck. Though they didn't have any other choice, Cubbi wished they could help him, and when Zummi mentions the Ancient Gummis, the Medallion glows and leads Zummi to the Book and the Medallion unlocks their book, which had been locked shut for centuries. The book opened to a passage left by the last of the Ancient Gummies that told them to fight for what's right despite their small number. Then Zummi decided that he should help Cavin after all and told the others that they are welcome to join him. Before leaving, Zummi copied some spells from the Book and then they left to help Cavin.

Meanwhile, Cavin infiltrated the catapult camp and stole a saw to saw off the wheels from the catapult; however, some ogres caught him and chained him by his leg. Meanwhile, the Gummis decided to get some Gummiberry Juice to Cavin to help him defeat the ogres. In a shocking twist, Gruffi inadvertently volunteered to be the one who gets the Gummiberry Juice to Cavin. To make the task easier, Zummi casts an invisibility spell on Gruffi, allowing him to sneak past the ogres, but the spell wears off and he was caught by an orange ogre. Thankfully, Cavin drank the juice and threw the ogre and a grey ogre to where Duke Igthorn was. An angered Duke Igthorn had them clapped in irons; alas, even this distraction hasn't stopped the ogres from bringing the catapult into the castle's range for attack. Duke Igthorn then uses it to launch a tar ball that seals the drawbridge, effectively bringing Dunwyn's military to a screeching halt before it can even start moving. Thankfully, the Gummis distracted the ogres while Cavin tore the catapult apart. However, Duke Igthorn notices Cavin and wanted the Juice; he quickly got it and became superstrong and nearly destroyed Dunwyn Castle, but the juice wore off, leaving him pinned under his own boulder and (as the catapult gave off one last shot) launched far away from Dunwyn. Before anyone can celebrate, Cavin ends up stuck on the catapult as it crashed, allowing the drawbridge to be lowered. A worried Princess Calla and Sir Tuxford came out, along with King Gregor. In keeping with his promise, Cavin (who survived the crash unscathed) lied and said that he was a prisoner. After that, Zummi records their colony's noble deed for the day.

Home video releases
DVD
 * Adventures of the Gummi Bears: Volume 1