About the Episode

The first episode of the 2004 Bear Town web series introduced Omle, Hank and Tumbles, three bears taking a day off to relax, watch TV and debate a little theology.

This was not originally intended to be the first episode of the web series, but when it was discovered that several puppets would not be finished in time for the series' first shoot this was hastily written over the 2004 Easter weekend, which probably accounts for both religious theme and the somewhat akwardness of the script. Since no scenes set in Omle, Hank and Tumbles' apartment had been planned so early in the series, the actual set hadn't been built yet so this was shot in the middle of a living using a small loveseat that was "platformed up" so the puppeteers could perform underneath it.

Further complicating things, Tumbles' puppeteer wasn't able to do the shoot at the last minute so a puppeteer with limited on camera experience stepped in at the last minute. She experimented with several voices throughout the shoot, which later necessitated a lot of tricky ADR work in post-production. Andrew performed Omle, while Hank was played by Chris Grom, who originally performed Hank for an unaired community access TV show in 1998 that used several puppets originally created for the Bear Town pseudo-pilot/experimental video The World's Angriest Puppets.

The music heard playing on the TV in this episode is What A Friend We Have in Jesus, a popular Christian hymn originally written by Joseph M. Scriven in the mid 1850s as a poem for his dying mother. It was later published in a book of poems and eventually set to music by Charles Converse in the late 19th century.
 

Quotable Quips

Preacher: "...can I get a hallejueah?! (pauses, gets no response) I said can I get a halljeauh! (pauses again, someone coughs) Aw, just play the hymn."

Tumbles: "If I was God I think I'd be a vengeful God. Yeah, there'd be lots of toil, and sacrifice and smiting. Lots and lots of smiting."

Omle: "Where `ya going Hank?"
Hank: "I'm moving to avoid the impending lightning bolt."

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