''The Little Polar Bear'' (in nl, Lars de kleine ijsbeer) is a franchise about a

polar bear The polar bear (''Ursus maritimus'') is a hypercarnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle, encompassing the Arctic Ocean, its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses. It is the largest extant bear spec ...

cub named Lars who first starred in a number of books written by Dutch author, Hans de Beer. The first of several animated adaptations of the books is a Japanese

original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA ...

, released on April 28, 1990, with animation production by I.G Tatsunoko (now known as Production I.G). It later became an animated TV series for BBC TV and WDR ''Lars, der kleine Eisbär'', in the 1990s. The show proved to be popular in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

. The show was later revived between 2001 and 2003. For its first film, subtitled ''Der Kinofilm'', Warner Bros. and animation studio Rothkirch Cartoon Film bought the rights to adapt the children's books into a feature-length film, released in 2001. Following the success of the feature, several direct-to-video features were released, one of the new characters included was a tiger cub. In 2005, another film, '' The Little Polar Bear 2: The Mysterious Island'' (german: Der kleine Eisbär 2: Die geheimnisvolle Insel) was released and also proved successful. The score to ''The Little Polar Bear'' was composed by Nigel Clarke & Michael Csanyi-Wills and recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and was nominated for several awards.

Original BBC TV series adaptation

In the mid-1990s there was a German-British TV adaptation for the BBC and WDR, featuring the voice talents of

Susan Sheridan Susan Haydn Thomas (18 March 1947 – 8 August 2015) better known as Susan Sheridan, was an English voice actress. Her roles included Noddy in '' Noddy's Toyland Adventures'', Princess Sylvia in '' Muzzy in Gondoland'', Trillian in the BBC rad ...

and

Jimmy Hibbert James Christian Hibbert is an English actor and writer. He is best known for his voice work with the animation studio Cosgrove Hall Films. Early life James Christian Hibbert was born as the eldest of three children of author Christopher Hibber ...

. The animation of the series was provided by Sinan Gungor.

Voices

- Lars, Lena, Peeps, Mummy Polar Bear, *

- Daddy Polar Bear, various male voices *

Vanessa Feltz Vanessa Jane Feltz is an English television personality, broadcaster, and journalist. She has appeared on various television shows, including ''Vanessa'' (1994–1998), ''The Big Breakfast'' (1996–1998), ''The Vanessa Show'' (1999), ''Celebr ...

- Brownie Brown Bear

Characters

* Lars - the little polar bear, main character of the show * Frieda, Lars' mother * Mika, Lars' father * Lena - the Arctic hare * Peeps - the

snow goose The snow goose (''Anser caerulescens'') is a species of goose native to North America. Both white and dark morphs exist, the latter often known as blue goose. Its name derives from the typically white plumage. The species was previously placed ...

* Brownie Brown Bear

Episodes

Film

''The Little Polar Bear'' is a 2001 German film based on the books of the same name. It is directed by Piet De Rycker and Thilo Rothkirch and produced by Willi Geike. The film was distributed in Germany by Warner Bros. Germany through the Warner Bros. Family Entertainment unit on 4 October 2001. Warner Bros also produced an English dub of the film that was released in America and Britain in 2003.

Sequels

* ''The Little Polar Bear: Lars and the Little Tiger'' (2002) * ''The Little Polar Bear: The Dream of Flying'' (2002) * ''The Little Polar Bear: Nanouk's Rescue'' (2003) * ''The Little Polar Bear: A Visitor from the South Pole'' (2002) * '' The Little Polar Bear: The Mysterious Island'' (2005)

Voice cast

''Additional English Voices'' *

Steve Bulen Steve Bulen is an American voice actor. He has been doing voices for many animated films and television shows for Walt Disney Animation Studios and Hanna-Barbera as well several video games and anime titles such as ''Doomed Megalopolis'', ''Gian ...

Richard Cansino Richard Elias Cansino (born August 10, 1953) is an American voice actor. He is also known as Richard Hayworth because he is the nephew of Rita Hayworth. Richard is best known for his voice work as Kenshin Himura in the anime adaptation of ''Rurou ...

* Melora Harte

References

External links

* * * * * * * * * *
Original score: Nigel Clarke & Michael Csanyi Wills
{{DEFAULTSORT:Little Polar Bear, The 1990 anime OVAs Production I.G Single OVAs 1992 German television series debuts 2000s German television series German children's animated adventure television series German-language television shows British television shows based on children's books Television shows set in the Arctic Das Erste original programming 1994 British television series debuts 1994 British television series endings 1990s British children's television series German children's literature Books about bears 2001 films 2001 animated films German animated films British animated films German children's films 2000s German-language films Warner Bros. films Warner Bros. animated films Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Films set in the Arctic Animated films based on children's books Animated films about bears Films about polar bears Films set in Alaska Films set in Canada 2000s English-language films 2000s American films 2000s British films 2000s German films