"Bear's Birthday Bash" is the thirty-eighth episode of Bear in the Big Blue House. It aired on December 9, 1998.
Summary[]
It's Bear's Birthday, and he wants to spend the day relaxing and doing nothing at all, but his friends have other plans for him.
Plot[]
Bear goes to check the mail and finds a nice birthday card from his friend Ursa. He then tells the viewers that today is his birthday and simply wants to enjoy a relaxing day doing nothing at all. He goes over to the bear swing in the living room. Soon, his friends come up to him and are super excited for his birthday, but Bear tells them he doesn't want to make a fuss and that he doesn't want to do much of anything. The gang then decides to leave Bear to his swinging.
Ojo then leads the others into the foyer. While they all respect Bear's decision, they still want to do something for his birthday to show him how much they appreciate him. Ojo decides that they should give him a surprise party. Tutter would make the cake, Treelo will make a present, and Pip and Pop would put up decorations. With our help, Ojo tries to make sure Bear doesn't find out about the surprise party.
Everyone heads into the kitchen to get started. Tutter tries to mix the cake, but Pip and Pop keep eating the batter. The two otters exclaim they can't decorate the living room with Bear sleeping in it or it would ruin the surprise. Treelo then gets an idea to get Bear out of the room: The Bear Cha-Cha-Cha.
They all head into living room to wake Bear up by shaking some maracas. The maracas start to make Bear itch and scritch and ready to cha-cha-cha. After some time of dancing, Bear gets hungry and decides to go down to the kitchen to make a whole mess of cooked and buttered string beans.
Meanwhile, Ojo is inspecting everything. Just then, she hears Bear coming down the stairs which alarms everyone. After hearing that he was heading to the kitchen, they all come up with another plan to keep him distracted: taking a bath.
Afterwards, everyone else is downstairs while Bear is still upstairs drying his fur. Everything is nearly ready, but they all panic once they hear Bear is about to come down the stairs once again. While Tutter, Pip, Pop and Treelo head off, Ojo is left alone in the foyer. She then calls Shadow to keep Bear busy until they finish.
Upstairs, Bear is searching for everyone. Before he heads downstairs, Shadow calls out to him. Once she appears, she tells him a story about the children of the week. The story manages to buy some time. After she disappears, Bear goes down the stairs to find the others.
Bear gets to the bottom of the stairs and heads into the living room to find its dark. After turning on the lights, his friends all jump out and yell SURPRISE!!!!! Bear is both surprised and grateful and they all celebrate together.
That night, everyone heads home and Bear thanks his friends for the wonderful party. After everyone left, Bear goes up to the attic to tell Luna all about his birthday. He said that while he was happy to just relax, he still appreciated what his friends did, since it shows him how much they care. To end off his birthday, Bear and Luna both sing the Goodbye song.
Songs[]
- "The Bear Cha-Cha-Cha" (shortened)
- "Everybody in the Tub"
- "Happy, Happy Birthday" (to Bear)
Notes[]
- This episode contains many references to "Mouse Party" from the first season. It features the same basic idea of giving someone a surprise party. The characters generally fall into the same party-preparation roles they had in that episode. Tutter, joining in on the preparations this time, prepares a four-cheese cheesecake (the same type of cake he had at his party) with the aid of the book Cooking with Cheese. He was seen reading from this book in the song "When I'm Older" in "Mouse Party". Pip and Pop once again get tangled up in the decorations. Finally, the kids perform for Bear the "Happy, Happy Birthday" song that was heard in "Mouse Party".
- In the closing credits, "Happy, Happy Birthday" appears by that title; it was listed in the closing credits of "Mouse Party" as "The Birthday Song".
- In order to find a way to keep Bear upstairs while everyone works on the party, Ojo sings Shadow's song (with the help of the viewers), whereas Bear just asks if the viewers see Shadow.
- When this episode was first aired on Channel 5 in the United Kingdom as part of their Milkshake! block and on CITV UK airings of this episode, the "UK version produced by Disney Channel" logo is shown after the closing credits and just before the Shadow Projects and Jim Henson Television logos.
