We Bare Bears

***We Bare Bears*** is an American-multinational animated television series created by American film storyboard and story artist Daniel Chong, loosely based on his 2009 webcomic, *The Three Bare Bears*, exclusively for Cartoon Network, premiering on July 27, 2015.

The entire series was made available at launch.

## **Premise**

*We Bare Bears* follows a trio of adoptive brother bears, Grizzly (often called Grizz), Panda (often called Pan-Pan), and Ice Bear as they 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.

## **Cast**

### Main

* Eric Edelstein as Grizzly Bear (nickname "Grizz") - The oldest and the de-facto leader of the brothers, Grizz is a fun-loving bear who tends to get the others into wacky and uncharacteristic situations. 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.
	+ Sam Lavagnino voices Grizz as a cub.
* Bobby Moynihan as Panda Bear (nickname "Pan-Pan") - The middle brother who is tender-hearted and easily becomes anxious or embarrassed. He is good with technology and uses that skill on online social media and dating sites, with which he finds little to no success.
	+ Duncan Joiner and Max Mitchell voice Pan-Pan as a cub.
* Demetri Martin as Ice Bear (nickname "Bro") - The youngest brother of the trio, often rather stoic and rarely speaks. When he does, he speaks mostly in the third person. He is also a skilled chef, dancer, piano player, a novice at robotics, charade player.
	+ Max Mitchell voices Ice Bear as a cub.

### Supporting

* Charlyne Yi as Chloe Park - A misanthropic self-hating koala bear. He is a famous internet star, known for his "cute" videos and the main antagonist during the two first seasons, starting a slow redemption from the third season onward.
* Jason Lee as Charlie - A friendly bigfoot who 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. While it is unknown how old he is, he is apparently more than a century old.
* Cameron Esposito as Ranger Tabes
* Patton Oswalt as Nom Nom
* Niki Yang as Mrs. Park
* Jinkoo Jeong as Mr. Park
* Ellie Kemper as Lucy
* Keith Ferguson as the Granola Guy, Little Bear, and additional voices

### Guest

* Estelle (vocals for *We'll Be There (theme)*)
* Dia Frampton (vocals for *I Have Time*)
* Rodger Bumpass as the Theater Manager
* Wendy Braun as the Movie Director
* John DiMaggio as Ralph
* Malcolm McDowell as Professor Lampwick
* Hudson West as Clifford

## **Production**

### Development & Conception

The show was created by cartoonist Daniel Chong, who had previously worked as a storyboard and story artist for Pixar and Illumination Entertainment. The show is based on his webcomic *The Three Bare Bears*, which also features the identifying characters. This webcomic was uploaded online 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.

Nom Nom and Charlie were initially voiced by Ken Jeong and Tom Arnold, respectively, before getting recast sometime before airing. The show's visual simplistic look was inspired by classic hand-drawn animation akin to *Peanuts* and *The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh*.

### Release

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.

The series, *We Bare Bears*, premiered on Cartoon Network in Canada on July 27, 2015, It also aired 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, 2015  It was premiered on Cartoon Network in India on November 29, 2015, and in Italy on December 8, 2015. It was also premiered in Pakistan on Cartoon Network on July 13, 2016, and airs 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). In the Czech Republic, it airs on Cartoon Network (Pay-TV) and ČT Déčko (Free-TV).

Another dubbed version in Filipino aired on October 19, 2016, on 5 alongside the 2016 reboot of *The Powerpuff Girls*. Both shows also premiered on CNN Philippines' weekend morning block starting September 1, 2018, except that it is broadcast in English and not dubbed in Filipino. In December 2018, Indonesia still aired this series on NET. with the name "*NETOON*" and dubbed version in Indonesia.

On May 30, 2019, Cartoon Network announced that *We Bare Bears: The Movie* would be released in mid-2020 and that an untitled spin-off series that focuses on the three bears as when they were cubs is in development. On May 21, 2020, *We Bare Bears: The Movie* was announced to release digitally on June 30, 2020; serving as a series finale to the series itself.

*We Bare Bears: The Movie* is reported be released on television and DVD on American Labor Day, September 8th 20,20.

## **Reception**

### Critical

*We Bare Bears* has received generally positive reviews from critics. The pilot was described by the EYE Film Institute Netherlands as "hilarious and endearing", and it won in the "Young Amsterdam Audience" category. The show has been praised by *Mashable* for tackling "modern millennial anxieties" and for representing racial minorities.

### Awards

The pilot episode made its world premiere at the KLIK! Amsterdam Animation Festival, where it won in the "*Young Amsterdam Audience*" category.

In 2016, The *We Bare Bears* crew members, Manny Hernandez, Bert Youn, and Madeline Sharafian, were nominated for an Annie award in the category of Outstanding Achievement, Storyboarding in an Animated TV/Broadcast Production for their work on the episode "Burrito."

On November 20, 2016, *We Bare Bears* won a BAFTA Children's Awards in the International category.

It was publicly announced on February 14, 2017, that *We Bare Bears* had won two Kidscreen Awards, one for *Best Animated Series*, and the other for *Best Writing*. This announcement was subsequently repeated the following day on social media.

During the International Trickfilm Festival '17, which took place in Stuttgart, Germany, and ran between May 2 to May 7, 2017, *We Bare Bears* was announced as a winner for the *Best animation series for children nationally.* The episode showcased during the event was "Burrito."

## Trivia

* Penguin Random House announced in 2014 that it would publish books based on various programs for Cartoon Network, including *We Bare Bears*. The books were 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.

## **Navigation**

- Films: Ben 10: Race Against Time | Foster's Movie: Destination Imagination | Regular Show: The Movie | Steven Universe: The Movie