Ursa Minor
Screenplay and Directed By: Theodore Gershuny
Story By: John Sladek
Little Susie (Jamie Ohar) receives a stuffed bear she names "Teddy" for her birthday. When accidents begin popping up around the house, Susie blames Teddy for every little thing that goes wrong. Susie's mother Joan (Marilyn Jones) thinks that her daughter is just trying to abdicate her responsibility in these accidents, but soon changes her mind when she and her lazy husband Richard (Timothy Carhart) don't even remember purchasing Teddy in the first place. When she finds giant claw marks on the walls and overhears lumbering sounds and growls in the night, she soon realizes that Teddy may be more of a presence than she thought.
Tropes:
- Awful Wedded Life: Joan and Richard argue frequently about their finances when Susie isn't around.
- The Bad Guy Wins: Teddy's mother is last seen preparing to avenge her child. With extreme prejudice.
- Bears Are Bad News: Teddy and his mother. Professor Stillman explains to Joan that bears have always had large amounts of magic and a strong presence in mythology, being revered as gods and having constellations named after them, and theorizes that Teddy is attacking the house as revenge for him and his kind being "cut down to size" over the centuries.
- Chekhov's Gun: The bearskin rug in the attic.
- Deadly Closing Credits / Downer Ending: The episode ends with Teddy's mother, the bearskin rug, breaking Susie's door down as Joan and her daughter cower in fear, having only thoughts of butchering them on its mind.
- Fairytale Motifs: Susie and her parents read Goldilocks and the Three Bears for a bedtime story. Afterwards, Susie nearly starts a fire preparing porridge for Teddy, and Joan finds the doll she uses to replace Teddy torn apart, as Susie calls it "Goldilocks".
- Foreshadowing: Richard shows Susie the bearskin rug he shot years ago, joking that it had cubs and that rugs don't eat people. The ending reveals that he was more on the nose than he thought, except for the "eating people" part.
- Homage: To the Twilight Zone episode "Living Doll".
- Killer Teddy Bear: Teddy, who at first breaks things around the house and leaves pawprints on the walls, then tries to murder Susie outright near the end of the episode.
- Lazy Bum: Richard drinks heavily, falls asleep with a lit cigarette in his mouth, and is said to have forgotten Susie's birthday, even though he says he wants to clean up his act for her sake.
- Living Toy: Susie's treasured Teddy comes to life at night and starts wreaking havoc. Her parents, particularly Joan, are understandably concerned when she blames the damage on the bear, but she eventually realizes the truth about Teddy and ends up stabbing him to death with scissors. Unfortunately, she learns that the fully-grown bearskin rug in the attic has also come to life. The episode ends with mother and daughter huddling together in Susie's bedroom while the now-alive rug breaks down the door to exact its revenge.
- Mama Bear: After learning that her daughter's teddy bear is terrorizing the house, Joan stabs Teddy to death. The trope is then reversed and played literally when Teddy's mother comes to life and tries to attack them.
- Monster Is a Mommy: The bearskin rug turns out to be Teddy's mother, and it comes to life when Joan kills her child.
- Nothing Is Scarier: Where did Teddy come from? And how do he and his mother come to life? Prof. Stillman claims that the innate magic bears have had through their centuries of worship may have something to do with it, but it's never proven.
- Not-So-Imaginary Friend: Teddy.
- Paranoia Gambit: Prof. Stillman claims that Teddy is setting one of them up to drive Joan insane as revenge for him and his kind no longer being taken seriously.
- P.O.V. Cam: The ending of the episode features glimpses of Teddy's mother's view as she hunts down Joan and Susie.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: As Joan inspects Teddy up close, his eyes glow red and he growls at her. He later does this to Susie when he tries attacking her.
- Scare Chord: An eerie whistling one is used when Teddy is mentioned or shown.
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Richard is taken to the hospital by Joan following a slashed leg, and once he's gone, the episode gets significantly darker.
- Sole Survivor: Richard is the only surviving member of his family, as he's hauled off to the clinic for slashing his leg with a power saw and letting the wound get infected, which gives him a fever.
- Too Dumb to Live: After cutting Teddy's stomach open with scissors, Joan hears the sound of growling emanating throughout the house as Teddy's mother, the bearskin rug in the attic, comes to life and shambles down to Susie's bedroom. Although she immediately shuts and locks the door, instead of going out the window with Susie to safety, she fearfully huddles in the corner as the rug begins attacking the door.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Susie claims that Teddy has a craving for honey, asking if he can have some at the store.
- Would Hurt a Child: Teddy's mother prepares to kill Susie and Joan at the end of the episode.
