Care-a-lot's Birthday
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Care-a-lot’s Birthday, written by Peter Sauder (also from the first movie), is the first Nelvana-produced episode in the Care Bears Family Storybook series. The episode first aired on September 13, 1986 on the ABC network.
[edit] Characters
- The Care Bears – Tenderheart, Good Luck, Cheer, Baby Hugs, Baby Tugs, Secret, Bedtime, Grumpy, True Heart, Champ
- The Care Bear Cousins – Brave Heart Lion, Bright Heart Raccoon, Noble Heart Horse, Swift Heart Rabbit, Lotsa Heart Elephant, Playful Heart Monkey, Gentle Heart Lamb
- The villains, No Heart and Beastly
[edit] Plot
Near the Hall of Hearts at Care-a-lot, True Heart Bear and Noble Heart Horse, aboard the Cloud Clipper, are preparing for a Mission in Caring, and leave Brave Heart Lion and Tenderheart Bear to take care of things while they are both gone. They are preparing for the most important day in the Kingdom of Caring: Care-a-lot’s birthday celebrations.
But, as both lion and bear try setting up decorations and lights, they realise that they cannot do it by themselves. This is when Baby Hugs and Baby Tugs arrive in the midst of their difficult task. As to why Care-a-lot has a birthday like a person would, Brave Heart answers to Tugs that it marks the occasion when True and Noble started the Care Bear Family. (See The Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation.) To Tenderheart, it is a big birthday for the whole Family itself.
The Cubs want to give them all a present, so Brave Heart suggests they put on a show. Both give rehearsal a shot, Tugs drumming and Hugs dancing, but while doing so, they crash into the lion and make him tangled with the lights. They both should try out somewhere else, the Cubs insist.
As Hugs and Tugs go outside, Beastly secretly spies on them while they are talking. Having spotted his targets, he heads to No Heart’s palace on his flying machine to tell the archvillain about it.
At his palace, No Heart is outraged to hear of the celebrations, not even caring one bit about the furry protectors of feelings. He gives Beastly, before he heads back to Care-a-lot, a gemstone that the evil man will later use to end the Family.
All over Care-a-lot, Beastly is trying to figure out which Bear he will catch; No Heart has not been specific about which one. He mingles with the Family’s stands while they are working on them, and gets into trouble with Brave Heart and Swift Heart Rabbit before running off.
Beastly, chased by Brave Heart, is willing to capture Hugs and Tugs, both of whom are now in cowboy outfits. But the two Cubs instead lasso the vile creature, before being carried by the flying machine and then landing in cakes. Beastly, crashing on the tall rainbow whose banner below reads “Happy Birthday CARE-A-LOT”, causes a chain reaction that ruins all of the set-up for the celebration.
Feeling that they have done enough damage for one feast, Brave Heart, losing his temper, orders the Cubs to move away from the venue, but Tenderheart gives them some comfort. The Cubs, thus, embark on a different idea—playing the saxophone—when Beastly, without warning, captures them and sends them both to No Heart.
As the lead villain is preparing his cauldron and the gemstone for the elimination of the Bears, he advises Beastly to be nice to Hugs and Tugs while they are in their cell. Those Cubs are now working on their escape plan, which Hugs insists is more of an act. Having heard the two, Beastly lowers them down, saying that he brought both over to practise it for the celebration, and allows them to do as such.
Over at Care-a-lot, the Bears and Cousins cannot find Hugs and Tugs, all thanks to Brave Heart banishing them away, and insist they form a search party. When Beastly writes “NO HEART HAS THE CUPS” up in the sky with his contraption, they try to figure out what exactly is missing, before they and Beastly realise the error: the vile creature was trying to spell “CUBS” instead! They all devise a plan of sneaking into No Heart’s palace and rescuing Hugs and Tugs, but Brave Heart suggests they bust in through the front door. Thus, all of the Family go to the palace on their Cloud Mobiles to save the Cubs from such evil wrath, and, upon entering, start to unleash their plan.
Hugs and Tugs are still having fun with Beastly, when the Bears come by to pick them up. To their surprise, they all find No Heart in front of them, the villain declaring their very end. In defence, the eight Bears—Secret, Cheer, Tenderheart, Grumpy, Bedtime, Champ, and the Cubs themselves—use their Stare on him, but with little success. With the gemstone, he then turns into a rhinoceros to try and stop them, but little did he expect Brave Heart, stepping in with elephant and rabbit, to bust out the front door before him! He now charges at the lion and catches him at a dead end, with Playful Heart Monkey saving the lion just in time. Then, it is Swift Heart’s turn to outwit the rhino with her fast speed, and for that he gets confused.
Grumpy and Tenderheart are about to bring the Cubs to safety when, with his horn, No Heart Rhino destroys their only means of escape. Cheer, seeing the situation, shoots a rainbow out of her stomach, thus rescuing the four of them. Every Bear crosses the bridge in order to return home, but No Heart, changed back in human form, and his assistant Beastly see to it that they are trapped. Now the Cubs are going to do their acrobatic act to save the Family: both will balance on a seesaw, with Tugs catapulting up in the air.
Tugs lands thus on No Heart’s shoulder, snatching the gemstone and giving it to his sister, who shoves it deep into the pit over which the bridge once stood. Finally, to end all things, the Family uses their Stare on the villain, but not after he turns into a bat, flying away from sight and carrying Beastly along with him.
The Cubs reunite with Tenderheart and Brave Heart, and Hugs reminds the lion about the birthday festivities, which they have really forgotten about.
No sooner does the celebration resume than True Heart and Noble Heart return from their Mission. Watching Hugs and Tugs in action on stage, sitting on a bench, they both agree that the Care Bear Family is like no other, and that this is the biggest celebration Care-a-lot has ever seen.
Meanwhile, near the two founders of the Family, the Bears and Cousins are sleeping, tired from all the Staring they have used on No Heart. More regretfully, True and Noble add, they have missed out on their own fun!
