DAN HENNESSEY DEAD AT 82

 

You can read the full story here.

As an actor, he was the original Chief Quimby and several minor characters in Inspector Gadget (1983); Catchum Crocodile in The Get Along Gang; Brave Heart Lion, Loyal Heart Dog, Mr. Miller and an announcer in Care Bears; King Gorneesh and Trom 1 in Star Wars: Ewoks; Jord Dusat, Uncle Gundy, Yorpo and Vinga in Star Wars: Droids; Puzzle in Popples; Beaster and Nasty Nigel in My Pet Monster; Sloop and Eggbert Petty in ALF Tales; RoboCop in RoboCop; Cap’n Kidder, Billy the Crud and additional voices in Beetlejuice; Bully Koopa, Crime Wave Clyde and additional voices in The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3, and reprised Bully in Super Mario World; Huff in Piggsburg Pigs!; George Racoon, Train Engineer Sid and Sidekick in The Raccoons; Large Cat, Baron Von Rottweiler and Bouvier DeFlaundra in Dog City; Sunder, Ruckus and Chrome in X-Men: The Animated Series; Junkman in The Incredible Crash Dummies; a general in Ultraforce; Patsy the Gorilla, Lars the Gorilla and a police officer in Ace Ventura: Pet Detective; South Wind, South Wind Giant and Troll Head #2 in The Neverending Story; the Commissioner in The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police; Royal Advisor, Physician, Nessus, Young Hero, Bald Headed Hunter, a Titan and various small roles in Mythic Warriors: Guardians of the Legend; Retirement Home Resident #3 in Rescue Heroes; and provided additional voices in Garbage Pail Kids, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventures, Little Shop, Hammerman, and Wild C.A.T.s: Covert Action Teams.

 

As a voice director, he worked on Care Bears, Beetlejuice, Stickin’ Around, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, X-Men: The Animated Series, The Magic School Bus, Blaster’s Universe, Birdz, and Rescue Heroes.

CARE BEARS (1985)

 

CARE BEARS

(Syndication, September 14-November 23, 1985)
 
DiC Enterprises, Those Characters From Cleveland

 

 

MAIN CAST:

Billie Mae Richards – Tenderheart Bear, David’s Mother, Sharon Wayland, Keith, Kara’s Mother, Matthew Miller

Jayne Eastwood – Birthday Bear, Willis Carter

Janet-Laine Green – Wish Bear, Mary, Mrs. Miller, Tricia

Eva Almos – Friend Bear, Swift Heart Rabbit, Kathy, Charlie, Elaine, Jimmy, Kathy, Lisa, Melanie, Millie Jacbo’s Mother, Sanford

Linda Sorenson – Love-a-Lot Bear, Amy, Benny, Jeffrey, Kara, Lisa’s Mother, Mrs. Peale, Paula Schaefer, Sandra, Talking Star, Wendy

Melleny Brown – Cheer Bear, Becky, Missy, Jill Wayland, Millie Jacobs, Tommy

Dan Hennessey – Good Luck Bear, Brave Heart Lion, Loyal Heart Dog, Captain McDougal, Cloud Worm, Counselor Bob, Dentist, Mr. Miller, Mayor of Abbotsville

Patrice Black – Funshine Bear, Share Bear, Chris, Eddie, Joey and Elaine’s Mother, Linda, Mary’s Mother

Bob Dermer – Grumpy Bear, Frostbite, Narrator, Amy’s Husband, Carl, Charlie, David, Eddie, Charlie, Firefighter, Joey and Elaine’s Father, Ken, Mr. Bland, Mr. Poole, Race Flag Man

Theresa Sears – Bedtime Bear, Champ Bear, Amy, Fred, Joshua

 

For the history of the Care Bears, check out the post here.

 

            Since their debut in 1982, Care Bears was basically a license for American Greetings to print money. Their greeting cards and plush dolls from partner Kenner rolled out alongside an aggressive merchandising campaign that saw the name and characters slapped on just about everything imaginable, and they all sold well. Their efforts to expand to other media were also well-met, with two highly-rated animated specials and a successful theatrical film. They decided to keep things going by continuing on from the film into an animated series.

Share Bear peeping down at Earth for a caring problem.

            Care Bears followed the adventures of the titular group of bears as they dealt with caring problems around the world. They resided up in the clouds in the Kingdom of Caring; specifically, the town of Care-A-Lot (a play on Camelot) in and around Care-A-Lot Castle. They peered down at the Earth below through a star-shaped telescope with a heart-shaped lens that always seemed to manage to land on a kid or kids in some kind of trouble. The bears would then descend in their cloud cars or cloud hot air balloon to meet the kids and try to help them find a solution to their problems. Occasionally, the Care Bear Cousins would join them from their home in the Forest of Feelings. Their special skill was their Care Bear Stare, which allowed them to project beams of caring from their Belly Badges that could perform various tasks or create a variety of objects. The Stare was often more powerful when the bears all worked together.

Care Bears "rolling" on up in their cloud whip to help bring the caring.

            The bears consisted the original 10 made for the franchise: de facto leader Tenderheart Bear (Billie Mae Richards), who organized their efforts to spread love and caring, kept Care-A-Lot in shape, and initiated new members into the family by giving them their Belly Badges; Birthday Bear (Jayne Eastwood), who loved birthdays and parties and was always ready to celebrate either; Wish Bear (Janet-Laine Green), who had fun granting wishes or working hard to make them come true; Friend Bear (Eva Almos), a social butterfly who knows how to make friends and be a good one; Love-A-Lot Bear (Linda Sorenson), who loved everything and everyone and worked the word “love” into most of her sentences; Cheer Bear (Melany Brown), who was very happy and perky, living up to her name; Good Luck Bear (Dan Hennessey, who also served as a voice director), whose positive outlook tended to help him manifest an endless supply of good luck; Funshine Bear (Patrice Black), who could always see the sunny side of life when not indulging in pranking others; Grumpy Bear (Bob Dermer), whose constantly sour disposition often proves helpful in dealing with kids of a similar personality; and Bedtime Bear (Theresa Sears), who, as you might expect, was constantly sleepy and was in charge of the sleep of others. Additionally, there was Champ Bear (Sears), who was great at sports and loved sharing their social and physical benefits with others; Share Bear (Black), who was selfless to a fault; and the tight-lipped Secret Bear, who tended to communicate via pantomime.

Care Bears and Cousins working together.

            The Care Bear Cousins were comprised of Brave Heart Lion (Hennessey), their loud and overbearing leader who wasn’t afraid to recklessly dive headfirst into a situation; Bright Heart Raccoon (Jim Henshaw), the intelligent inventor who relied on logic and reasoning to solve problems; Cozy Heart Penguin (Pauline Rennie), who loved making others feel better as much as swimming in chilly waters; Gentle Heart Lamb (Luba Goy), the shiest and most soft-spoken of the Cousins that could be hesitant to charge into situations; Lotsa Heart Elephant (Goy), the strongest being in the Forest although not always the most athletic; Loyal Heart Dog (Hennessey), an exceptionally-loyal friend who could relax anywhere just as easily as enter a fracas; Playful Heart Monkey (Marla Lukofsky), a practical joker; Proud Heart Cat (Louise Vallance), a perfectionist obsessed with order and cleanliness that tended to end sentences with some kind of cat sound; Swift Heart Rabbit (Almos), the fastest Cousin whose overconfidence often lead to trouble; and Treat Heart Pig (Rennie), who always loved a good time—especially if it involved snacks.

Prfoessor Coldheart, Auntie Freeze and Frostbite.

            For the most part, the Care Bear Family dealt with common issues: bullies, self-confidence, cheaters, bad feelings, etc. However, there were a few legitimate villains that the bears had to contend with, helping to spread negativity to the world—especially among children. Returning from the earlier television specials was Professor Coldheart (Len Carlson), a blue-skinned man with icy features and powers that hated anything warm and caring, and his bumbling sidekick, Frostbite (Dermer). New for the series was Auntie Freeze (Joyce Gordon), Frostbite’s aunt who loved causing misery and fear in others; Strato Nefarious (Carlson), a violinist from space whose home didn’t have enough light to see his sheet music necessitating his stealing stars from the sky; and the Cloud Worm (Hennessey), a giant worm-like creature who ate clouds—like the ones that comprised Care-A-Lot.

Model sheet for Professor Coldheart.

            Care Bears debuted in syndication on September 14, 1985. For the series, American Greetings went with DiC Entertainment; one of their considerations for producing the theatrical film before that job went to Nelvana.  Nelvana, instead, was retained to work on the film’s sequel. 11 episodes were made, each containing 2 story segments that could be broken up into individual presentations or moved around (at least one CITV broadcast in the 80s shows an exchange of segments between the last two episodes). Most of the film’s cast reprised their respective roles. The series was written by Eleanor Burian Mohr, Randal Case, Howard R. Cohen, Matt Geller, Jack Hanrahan, Don Hart, Shelley Karol, Francis Moss, Jack Olesker and Bruce Reisman, with Sandy Fries and Olesker serving as story editors. Doug McCarthy, Rachel Brenner, Judie Martin and Richard Moore handled the character designs. Bob Chimbel and Merry Loomis composed the theme, with the other music and sound effects selected by Fizz Sound Creation Co. Ltd. Marc Simon and Kelly Simon were music consultants. Following the conclusion of the series, American Greetings returned to Nelvana for a follow-up called The Care Bears Family that aired on network television. Despite its short run, the series had two intro sequences: the first three episodes featured a string of continuous scenes under the theme, while the remainder had a more traditional intro featuring original animation that kept more in line with the song’s lyrics.

The Care Bear Stare and Care Cousin Call.

       Buena Vista Home Video and Castle Communications released VHS collections of several segments each in North America and the United Kingdom, respectively. In 2003, Sterling Entertainment released four VHS and DVD compilations containing 6 individual story segments. The DVD versions all contained a 7^th bonus segment, with the last release’s bonus episode being from Sylvanian Families, based on another line of animal toys by Japanese company Epoch. In 2004, Sterling released 7 DVDs containing 3 stories each. In 2013, Mill Creek Entertainment  produced 3 DVD compilations containing 3 complete episodes each; with the first re-released as part of the compilation package DVD TV Guide Spotlight: Totally 80s Toons. A Three Program FUNdle! was released in 2014 collecting all 3 DVDs. They released the complete series in 2016 and re-released it in 2018 as Care For YOU! Collection.

 

 

EPISODE GUIDE:

“Camp / The Birthday” (9/14/85) – The Care Bears help two boys with opposite personalities get along at summer camp. / Upset because his parents seemed to forget his birthday with the arrival of his new sister, Matthew trashes his house with encouragement from his friend.

 

“Braces / Split Decision” (9/21/85) – The Care Bears try to help Joey feel better about his new braces. / The Care Bears and his friend Mary help Carl up his soccer game to get bullies of his case.

 

“The Lucky Charm / Soap Box Derby” (9/28/85) – The Care Bear family helps Mildred get over her streak of bad luck while Proud Heart tries to keep Playful Heart out of her garden. / The Care Bears help two girls participate in a soap box race against two cheating boys.

 

“The Last Laugh / The Show Must Go On” (10/5/85) – Trying to make Grumpy happy causes Cheer to lose her cheerfulness. / The Care Bear Cousins try to get Patty’s father out of work so he can watch her in the school play.

 

“The Forest of Misfortune / Magic Mirror” (10/12/85) – Professor Coldheart and Frostbite plan to freeze the Forest of Feelings. / Professor Coldheart invents a magic mirror that turns anything that appears into it into its mirror opposite.

 

“Daydreams / Runaway” (10/19/85) – The Care Bear Cousins try to help Melanie reign in her daydreams while Professor Coldheart unleashes his latest plan. / Cara runs away from home jut as Professor Coldheart is snatching up runaways.

 

“Mayor for a Day / The Night the Stars Went Out” (10/26/85) – Professor Coldheart rigs an election so that he can become mayor of Abbottsville—and then, the world. / Wish Bear tries to make a wish on the stars when they’re taken by a cloud.

 

“The Magic Shop / Concrete Rain” (11/2/85) – Two kids take a device from Professor Coldheart’s magic shop that makes everyone they shoot mean. / Professor Coldheart’s plan to cover the world in concrete sounds appealing to skater Susie.

 

“Dry Spell / Drab City” (11/9/85) – Rescuing two kids who fall into a cave leads the Care Bear Family to discover a cure for the city’s drought problem. / The Care Bear Family must restore the color to a city.

 

“Wedding Bells / The Old Man and the Lighthouse” (11/16/85) – Prfoessor Coldheart plans to marry Auntie Freeze in Care-A-Lot as a ploy to destroy it. / The Care Bear Family try to convince a couple of kids that a man that lives in the lighthouse isn’t as odd as they think.

 

“The Cloud Worm / The Girl Who Called Wolf” (11/23/85) – The Care Bears must save Care-A-Lot from a cloud-eating worm. / Jill’s habit of lying gets her friends in trouble when they explore a spooky house for treasure she claimed was there.

HISTORY OF THE CARE BEARS

 

            American Greetings had a hit with their line of Strawberry Shortcake dolls in the early 1980s; selling plenty of the fruity-smelling toys themselves as well as tie-in merchandise like stickers, lunchboxes, and anything else they could slap the characters’ images on. But what was next?

The original 10: Tenderheart Bear, Cheer Bear, Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Wish Bear, Good Luck Bear, Friend Bear, Love-a-Lot Bear, Grumpy Bear and Funshine Bear.

            Jack Chojnacki and Ralph Shaffer, co-presidents of American Greetings’ character development division, Those Characters From Cleveland (currently known as Cloudco Entertainment), strategized with their toy-manufacturing partner, Kenner, over that very thing. Kenner wanted to expand from the plastic toy market into the plush one; in particular, with their own kind of teddy bears as they made up 40% of the plush market. TCFC, however, had the unenviable task of trying to figure out how they could make their own distinctive version of a toy that had been around for 80 years by that point. Artist Elena Kucharik was commissioned to do some preliminary sketches of the bear characters. Another artist, Dave Polter, was hired to do work on a card line that used symbols to convey emotions; universal symbols understood by parents and kids alike such as hearts and rainbows. Shaffer then was struck with the inspiration to put those symbols onto the bears, turning them into a representation of human emotions that could help parents talk to their kids about them.

The original 10 Care Bears around Care-A-Lot.

            The characters’ designs went through constant revisions as they tried to finalize their ultimate looks, with Linda Denham, Linda Edwards, Muriel Fahrion, Tom Schneider and Clark Wiley all playing a role in their design. Designer Sue Trentel, who was responsible for bringing Strawberry Shortcake to life, was again tasked with turning the drawings into actual plushies. The end result was 10 bears of different colors representing 10 different emotions: Bedtime Bear, Birthday Bear, Cheer Bear, Friend Bear, Funshine Bear, Good Luck Bear, Love-a-Lot Bear, Tenderheart Bear, Wish Bear, and, to balance out all the sweetness, Grumpy Bear. Each one had a distinctive symbol known as Belly Badges on their tummies depicting their role or specialty, heart-shaped noses, and a heart-shaped brand on their backs to mark them as officially part of the line. Edwards came up with the name “Care Bears” during a naming session. Lore was established that the Care Bears resided in the town of Care-a-Lot (a play on Camelot) within the cloud-based Kingdom of Caring, which featured rainbows and architecture comprised of or adorned with hearts and stars. The Care Bears would journey down to Earth to complete missions of caring, typically by using their Care Bear Stare: an ability to project a glittery beam of energy from their tummy symbols that can subdue an enemy’s evil or heal people and objects.

Merchandising bonanza.

            With American Greetings’ CEO Morry Weiss’ blessing, Chojnacki embarked on an aggressive marketing campaign for the Care Bears. Aside from the dolls and greeting cards themselves, thousands of licensed products were set up to launch simultaneously with a potential plan for animated adaptations. With 26 licensees on board, it made it easier to get stores interested in carrying the bears.

Kenner's Care Bear offerings.

            After 2 years and millions of dollars, Care Bears were introduced to investors in 1982 and to the public at Toy Fair in New York City. A one-night-only play centered around the characters was produced, which had Strawberry Shortcake introduce the Care Bears to the world. The line’s official launch came in February of 1983 as stuffed toys tended to sell better around Easter time. And sell they did, rapidly moving off shelves along with their associated merchandise and greeting cards. As part of the line’s promotion, an animated special was commissioned from Atkinson Film-Arts studio called The Care Bears in the Land Without Feelings, which adapted the Parker Brothers book Caring is What Counts. The special saw a young boy named Kevin (Justin Cammy) running away to the Land Without Feelings when his family decides to move, and mad scientist Professor Coldheart (Les Lye) turns him into a goblin slave.

The Care Bear Cousins: Swift Heart Rabbit, Proud Heart Cat, Lotsa Heart Elephant, Gentle Heart Lamb, Brave Heart Lion, Cozy Heart Penguin, Playful Heart Monkey, Bight Heart Raccoon, Loyal Heart Dog and Treat Heart Pig.

            In 1984, a spin-off line was introduced called the Care Bear Cousins, featuring animals besides bears and the Care Cousin Call instead of the Care Bear Stare.  A second special followed, called The Care Bears Battle the Freeze Machine, which introduced new characters Baby Hugs (Noreen Young), Baby Tugs, their caretaker Grams Bear, and Coldheart’s sidekick, Frostbite (Bob Dermer). This special had a new kid, Paul (Dominic Bradford), who wanted revenge on his bullies and ended up being tricked by Coldheart into fixing his Careless Ray Contraption, which he intended to use to freeze every kid in town. It won an award for Best Children’s Program at the National ACTRA Awards.

            Since the line’s conception, ideas for a feature film had been in the works. American Greetings chose Nelvana, on the verge of bankruptcy due to the failure of their 1983 film Rock & Rule, to work on the film based on the Strawberry Shortcake specials they had previously done for them and their experience making a feature (even if it ended in disaster). The Care Bears Movie became one of the first to be based on an established toy line. Written by Peter Sauder and directed by Arna Selznick, the film was released on March 29, 1985 and marked the animated debut of the Care Bear Cousins. The story saw the Care Bears team up with a couple of orphans to stop an evil spirit (Jackie Burroughs) from destroying all happiness in the world. Despite negative reviews, the film went on to gross $34 million against a $2 million budget, making it a success.

A Playful Heart Monkey greeting card.

            With everything riding along smoothly, it was time to take the next step and turn the Care Bears into a television sensation…

10TH ANNIVERSARIES

Continuing our 8th anniversary celebration with the Saturday morning shows that are currently celebrating

KIRBY MORROW DEAD AT 47

 

You can read the full story here.

He played Van Fanel in Escaflowne; Zadam in B.R.A.T.S. of the Lost Nebula; Redline in NASCAR Racers; Jimmy Woo in Action Man; Cyclops/Scott Summers in X-Men: Evolution; ElecMan and Dave in MegaMan: NT Warrior; Dr. Ira Kane in Alienators: Evolution Continues; Champ Bear in Care Bears: Adventures in Care-A-Lot; and Cole and several minor roles in LEGO Ninjago. He also provided voices for Mary-Kate and Ashley in Action!

10TH ANNIVERSARIES

ON TV IN 1987

As Doc Brown once said: "30 years. It's a nice round number." We agree, and with that thought in mind, and what with it being September when new programs traditionally began airing, we figured we'd show you the Saturday morning television schedule for all the major networks (alphabetically) from the fall of 1987. While watching on Saturday morning, you may have seen these:

8:00 A.M.

8:30 A.M.

(1 1/2 hours)

(1 1/2 hours)

9:00 A.M.

9:30 A.M.

10:00 A.M.

10:30 A.M.

11:00 A.M.

11:30 A.M.

12:00 P.M.

12:30 P.M.

NOTE: Some regions may have had slightly differing schedules due to local programming or other considerations.

SMF ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION (PART 5)

This weekend, we continue our 2 year anniversary celebration.

As we celebrate, we figured we'd also take the opportunity to celebrate the various other programs enjoying anniversaries this year (at least at an interval of 5). Some we've covered, some we'll get to covering sooner or later, but all of them represent Saturday morning. For this installment, we recognize those shows turning 30. Yeah, let that sink in--you first saw these programs 30 years ago.

Take a walk down memory lane with us, and feel free to share your memories in the comments, or over on our Facebook group or Facebook page. We'd love to hear from you!

Now, without further ado, join us in celebrating...