The Bear is a 1994 comic book by Raymond Briggs, which was turned into a 1998 animated adaptation by Channel 4. It focuses on a young girl named Tilly who gets a surprise one night when an enormous polar bear shows up at her house to stay with her. She tries to take care of the bear, which only she seems able to see, and it proves to be no easy task, until finally the bear leaves and returns to the North Pole.
The animated adaptation follows the comic but also expands on it, giving the bear a backstory of growing up in the zoo where he first meets Tilly. He escapes from there and returns her teddy bear that fell in his pit. Like The Snowman, Tilly and the bear sneak out of the house at night and go on a whimsical adventure with the Star Bear before the bear returns to his family and Tilly is brought home again.
Tropes:
- Adaptation Expansion: In the cartoon, the bear is very real, and was captured in the Arctic and taken to the zoo, where it later escapes. The book's main focus is also on the bear's visit to Tilly's house and how she tries to take care of it, ending with the bear leaving. The cartoon follows this at first but also adds an adventure where Tilly and the bear leave the house to explore London with the Star Bear, go ice skating, and the bear saves Tilly from a ship that almost hits her.
- Adaptational Backstory Change: The cartoon adds a backstory as to where the bear came from. As a cub, he wandered away from his family to chase a bird but gets lost in the process. He ends up stranded on ice before he is captured by sea men, leading him to grow up in captivity at the zoo. Thankfully, he is able to return home and reunite with his family in the end.
- Bear Hug: A literal example. Tilly likes to sleep in the bear's arms.
- Bittersweet Ending: The bear has to leave Tilly behind and they share a tearful goodbye but the bear is able to go back home and be with his family again.
- Canon Foreigner: The animated adaptation adds the Star Bear, who is a bear-shaped constellation based on the Great Bear. He takes the bear and Tilly on their adventure, bringing some Christmas decorations to life. He also shows the bear the North Star, which will help the bear go back to his family and the Star Bear also gives Tilly a ride back to her home too.
- Chasing a Butterfly: In the film adaptation, the polar bear, as a cub, chases a seagull until part of the glacier breaks off with him on it and this is how he ends up in captivity.
- Demoted to Extra: In the book, the parents are shown frequently and believe the bear is Tilly's imaginary friend while the cartoon only has them in a few scenes during the first half of the special.
- Distaff Counterpart: It's very similar to The Snowman, especially the cartoon, which even follows the same format of Tilly and the bear going on a whimsical adventure at night like James and the Snowman do. The only main differences are that the child is a girl and that Tilly tends to get cross with the bear at times. It also helps that the same people worked on both specials.
- Fiery Redhead: Tilly has red hair and gets really cross with the bear more than once.
- Invisible to Normals: In the book, only Tilly seems able to see the bear, with her parents treating it as her imaginary friend. The cartoon has others able to see the bear.
- Lighter and Softer: To The Snowman, as while it still has a bittersweet ending, the bear at least survives the story and gets to go back home to his family.
- No More for Me: In the cartoon adaptation, a man drinking wine sees Tilly and the bear from his window and looks at the bottle in disbelief.
- Shout-Out: Tilly and her parents are seen watching The Snowman in the cartoon, complete with a short instrumental of "Walking In the Air".
- Silence Is Golden: In the cartoon, which was done to make it more like The Snowman. Averted in the original book, where Tilly and her parents frequently talk.
