The Little Polar Bear

German stamp depicting the Little Polar Bear.

The Little Polar Bear
dvd cover
Directed by	Piet De Rycker Thilo Rothkirch
Produced by	Willi Geike
Written by	Piet De Rycker Bert Schrickel Thomas Wittenburg
Music by	Nigel Clarke Michael Csányi-Wills
Editing by	Bettina Behrens Nadia Hennrich
Studio	Rothkirch Cartoon Film
Release date(s)	4 October 2001
Running time	78 minutes
Country	Germany
Language	German

The Little Polar Bear (German: Der kleine Eisbär) is a franchise about a Polar Bear cub named Lars who first starred in a number of books written by Dutch author, Hans de Beer.

It later became an animated TV series for BBC TV, Lars, der Kleine Eisbär, in the 1990s. The show proved to be popular in Germany, but its English-dubbed version has also gained a cult following with UK viewers.

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.

After 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 (1) 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 1990's there was a TV adaptation for the BBC, featuring the voice talents of Sue Sheridan and Jimmy Hibbert respectively.

• Sue Sheridan - Lars, Lena, Peeps, Mummy polar bear,

• Jimmy Hibbert - Daddy polar bear, various male voices

Characters

Characters confirmed, so far

• Lars - the little poalr bear, main character of the show

• Mummy Polar Bear, Lars' mother
• Daddy Polar Bear, Lars' father

• Lena - the Arctic Hare,

• Peeps - the Snow Goose,

• Brownie Brown Bear,

• Mummy Brown Bear, Brownie's mother
• Daddy Brown Bear, Brownie's father

• The seagull acrobites

• Fussy Husky

Episodes

Episodes confirmed, so far

• The Ice Flow
• The Snow Storm
• The Egg
• The Polar Station
• The Net
• The Trap
• The Mission
• The Ice Cave
• The Hunter
• The Labyrinth
• The Weather Balloon
• The Boat
• The Barrel
• The Sledge Dog
• The Teddy Bear
• The Book
• The Concert
• The Walk
• The Fire

Film version revivel

Voice cast

German Version

• Mijail Verona ... Lars
• Maximilian Artajo ... Robby
• Jochen Busse ... Kalle
• Mike Krüger ... Nalle
• Bernd Stelter ... Palle
• Ingolf Lück ... Mika
• Vanessa Petruo ... Manili
• Jeanette Biedermann ... Greta
• Dirk Bach ... Caruso
• Sandro Blümel ... Pieps
• Harry Rowohlt ... Hippo
• Adak Azdasht ... Lena
• Wolfgang Völz ... Sopho
• Barbara Adolph ... Großmutter
• Anke Engelke ... Mutter Eisbär

English Version

• Wesley Singerman ... Lars
• Brianne Siddall ... Robby
• Michael McConnohie ... Mika
• Daran Norris ... Brutus
• Neil Kaplan ... Bert
• Tom Fahn ... Boris
• Kimberly J. Brown ... Lena
• RuDee Sade ... Greta
• Joe Ochman ... Caruso
• Sandy Fox ... Pieps
• Rebecca Forstadt ... Anna
• Steve Blum ... Henry
• Ralph Votrian ... Sophocles
• Mari Devon ... Nina
• Edie Mirman ... Grandmother, Lemming 3
• Joshua Seth ... Lemming 1
• R. Martin Klein ... Lemming 2
• Peter Lurie ... Lemming 4
• Steve Kramer ... Seagull 1
• Jason Spisak ... Seagull 2
• Robert Axelrod ... Seagull 3

Additional Voice: Steve Bulen, Richard Cansino, and Melora Harte

External links

• Der Kleine Eisbär at the Internet Movie Database
• Original Score: Nigel Clarke & Michael Csanyi Wills