The Berenstain Bears' Easter Surprise
| The Berenstain Bears Easter Surprise | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Stan and Jan Berenstain |
| Written by | Stan and Jan Berenstain |
| Directed by |
Mordicai Gerstein Al Kouzel |
| Theme music composer | Elliot Lawrence |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Buzz Potamkin |
| Running time | 25 minutes |
| Production company(s) | Perpetual Motion Pictures The Joseph Cates Company |
| Distributor |
NBC Embassy Home Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release |
|
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw (1980) |
| Followed by | The Berenstain Bears' Comic Valentine (1982) |
The Berenstain Bears Easter Surprise is a Easter-themed animated television special based on the Berenstain Bears children's book series by Stan and Jan Berenstain. Produced by Buzz Potamkin and directed by Mordicai Gerstein and Al Kouzel, the program made its debut on NBC on April 14, 1981.
Stan and Jan Berenstain's first animated holiday special aired on NBC in December 1979. The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree was the first of five annual animated specials that would air on NBC, produced by Joe Cates and the Joseph Cates Production Company. The Berenstain Bears Meet Bigpaw was the second in this series.
The Berenstains utilized rhyming couplets in the script - for both the narrator and the character dialogue. This element had also been used in the Christmas Tree special and was familiar to audiences since a similar type of writing was used in the Berenstain Bears Beginner Books series.
The 25-minute special was created and written by Stan and Jan Berenstain and featured original music composed and conducted by Emmy-winning musician Elliot Lawrence, with lyrics provided by Stan Berenstain. The score included three original songs: ."
The special starred Ron McLarty, Gabriela Glatzer, Jonathan Lewis, and Pat Lysinger as Papa, Sister, Brother, and Mama Bear, respectively. McLarty also doubled as the show's narrator. All four actors were reprising their vocal roles from The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree. Bob Kaliban was the voice of Bigpaw.
It was the second of five Berenstain Bears animated specials that aired on NBC from 1979 to 1983.
The program premiered on NBC on Thursday.
This serves as both a holiday special for Easter, and a television adaptation of The Berenstain Bears And The New Baby. The story begins in the present day but quickly rewinds to the time period where Brother Bear was about three years old and learning about life. That Fall, when he wasn't playing with his friends, he bombarded his bumbling, but loving Papa with many questions about such matters. Papa, although having no idea how to answer half his questions, played along. As Fall passed to Winter, this pattern continued.
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