"Bear in the Big Blue House" is an Emmy Award-winning show for pre-schoolers produced by The Jim Henson Company. The show first premiered in October of 1997 and finished shooting it's 100th episode in January, 2002. Bear is joined by Tutter (mouse), Treelo (lemur), Pip and Pop (otters), Ojo (girl bear), Luna (the moon) and Shadow (the shadow).
Menu Design
The menus for this release are very simple. The main menu has the "Play All" feature selected so the little ones only need to press one button to view the material.
This disc contains 3 episodes from the show along with 4 sign-alongs (songs from the episodes with words for kids to sing-along with). The episodes found on this disc are:
Working Like a Bear
Whether it's chores or an occupation, Bear teaches his friends about all of the definitions of "work" through pretend and cleaning the house.
Woodland House Wonderful
Everyone at the Big Blue House has to wash up and pitch in to make the house beautiful for photos that will be features in "Woodland House Wonderful" magazine.
We Did It Our Way
Bear and his friends find out that sometimes it takes more than one to do a job the right way. Plus, doing something together can be a lot more fun!
Video
The video on "Tidy Time With Bear" is near perfect. Shot on video, the show doesn't contain any grain, dust or scratches. The colors are nice and vibrant, perfect to keep kids attention glued to the screen. The only problem that arose was shimmering in Bear's fur, and some objects in the background. Besides the shimmering, the picture is wonderful. There aren't any chapters for the episodes.
Audio
The release contains a rather plain Dolby Digital Surround audio track. This might as well have been mono because I didn't detect any use of the left and right speakers or rears. Of course, this isn't the fault of the DVD, but of the original mix for the show. The audio was very clear and there was no sign of hiss or any other audio defects.
Sing-Alongs
The disc contains 4 "sing-alongs"; songs taken from the episodes with included words so children can sing along with Bear and friends. I found the words came up far too fast to sing-along to. Maybe kids can pull it off, but I couldn't. The songs included on this disc are: "Everybody in the Tub," Brush Brush Bree," "Clean up the House" and "Get it Together".
Bonus Trailers
Trailers for Columbia TriStar titles are included on the disc. The trailers are: "Bear in the Big Blue House," "Dragon Tales," "JayJay the Jet Plane," "The Trumpet of the Swan" and "Kermit's Swamp Years".
Summary
"Bear in the Big Blue House" is a great show for kids. Bear teaches children through positive messages and re-enforcement and the songs included are rather catchy (I admit to movin' to the music). The only improvement I can think of would be the automatic playing of the episodes once the disc is inserted.
