History YMMV / TheBerenstainBears

* RetroactiveRecognition: In the Nelvana series, Brother is voiced by none other than a young Creator/MichaelCera.

* {{Woolseyism}}: In the Nelvana episode "Go to School", Sister mixes up 'synonym' and 'cinnamon' while studying vocabulary for the third grade. This near-homophone is lost in Spanish ('sinónimo' and 'canela'), so in the Spanish dub, Brother clarifies that 'cinnamon' is 'canela' in English.

* AlternateAesopInterpretation: "Trouble at School" delivers the moral "It's never too late to correct a mistake." It's supposed to mean "even though you've put off correcting your errors, a new attempt to apologize and atone for them can still be appreciated", but it could easily be misread as "if you commit a crime, don't apologize for it until it's convenient, upon which all will be forgiven."

--->'''Papa''': If there's another "ooh, ooh, ooh", it's gonna be followed by an "ow, ow, ow".

** Is Mama Bear an example of "mother knows best" or is she really [[SmugSnake an arrogant]] {{jerkass}} who enjoys insulting and humiliating her husband?

* AngstWhatAngst: In the TV version of "The Trouble at School", Mama and Papa show almost no concern when Brother confesses all of his misdeeds, which include ignoring all his homework when he was sick, facing the consequences when it turns out he has a test the day he goes back and subsequently getting a ''zero'' on it, hiding it from his parents when he was instructed to have them sign it, and skipping school the next day. Yet, when he finally confesses, his parents have maybe two sentences worth of "scolding" him (if you could even call it that) before pulling an EasilyForgiven and switching into a more upbeat tone. In fact, they show more concern in "The Homework Hassle" where Brother only does ''one'' of those things (letting his homework pile up).

--> "Mamma bear sad. Mamma Bear needs to eat some candy."

** In "The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies", Brother and Sister actually get some really cool knick-knacks.

* InformedWrongness: Sister's nail-biting in "The Bad Habit", a mildly annoying nervous tic at worst, is made out to be a much bigger problem than it really is. Though to be fair, she nibbles them so far down that they get sore.

** Too-Tall has his moments as well.
* MandelaEffect:
** One of the most famous examples would have to be the debate over whether the title is spelled as Berenst''a''in or Berenst''e''in. While it's officially Berenstain, there is a large number of people who misremember it as Berenstein (partly because it's the more common spelling in general, partly because a large amount of official media legitimately misspells it, and it certainly doesn't help that the font choice on the cover makes the cursive 'a' look rather close to an 'e'), which has led to a (tongue-in-cheek) conspiracy theory that the people who remember the latter spelling were transported from an alternate universe.
** In the book "The New Neighbours", Papa Bear is often misremembered as claiming his panda bear neighbors "aren't real bears". He never claims this— he claims to dislike the pandas for being "different", then later when they plant bamboo, he claims it's a "spite fence", but he never accuses them of not being real bears.

* {{Narm}}: In "Too Much Birthday" Sister Bear gets too overwhelmed by her birthday party (between being teased by the other kids, being uncomfortable on the pony rides and rented merry-go-round, and not being allowed to keep a prize she won while playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, among other things) and ends up bursting into tears at her birthday cake. It's clearly meant to be an unhappy moment, but the combination of Sister's [[VolumetricMouth appearance as she starts crying]] [[http://sippinglemonade.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2014-12-01-19.51.58-562x421.jpg combined with the other kids continuing to sing obliviously]] makes the scene not land quite right. In contrast, the AnimatedAdaptation of the episode has Sister crying less exaggeratedly and the other kids seem much more concerned over how distraught she is.
* NeverLiveItDown: Mama Bear's worst moment is considered to be in "The Messy Room", where she gets mad at Brother and Sister for not tidying their rooms. Understandable, but then she ''outright threatens'' to throw away their toys if they don't put them away ''while doing so as they can only watch in agony'', something which many fans are still mad about.

** In-universe in ''And the Bad Dream'', where in the film "The Magic Toe-Shoes" that Sister sees, a ballerina loves dancing but keeps wobbling on her feet. She laments that she's never going to be able to pursue her dream career. Her instructor fortunately has a solution and restores her confidence.
** ''The Mad, Mad Toy Crazy'' depicts how the Beary Bubbies fad is going too far. When the Bears go to a mall to get rare toys, they see two parents have been fighting while waiting in line for hours, and the police are hauling them away. They gloss over it, but it's implied riots may have happened over the toys.
** ''Learn About Strangers'' features Papa Bear reading the news to Sister about a cub being kidnapped, and a suspect being questioned. That, plus the fairy tale he reads her, leaves her awake at night thinking about how talking to a stranger can lead to a child vanishing into thin air, maybe even being eaten. Sister the next day is a walking ball of nerves until Mama intervenes.
** ''Computer Trouble'' has Sister create a social media account on Pawbook (Bear Country’s version of Facebook), only for a classroom bully to find her and post a hurtful message on her newsfeed.
** ''Lost in Cyberspace'' has Teacher Bob talk about how random strangers on the Internet will take advantage of your personal information to lure you into a trap and kidnap you. Lizzie is shaken despite pointing out that her dad is the chief of police. She also finds other criminals by accident in a poetry chatroom and runs to school in a panic after realizing the poems are code for extortionist plans.
** ''No Guns Allowed'' features a serious discussion about cubs bringing guns to school. Too-Tall scares the kids in the climax by bringing a water pistol to squirt Ferdy. Lizzie calls her dad, and everyone is worried Too-Tall wanted to actually kill Ferdy. Even though Ferdy uses their rubberband gun on Too-Tall, making him lose their feud by default, Brother and Sister are still shaken.

** "The Berenstain Bears Show Some Respect" has the cubs acting bratty by contradicting their parents and grandparents when the family is looking for a picnic spot. While we're meant to see their complaints as rude and unwarranted, a lot of their comments are quite valid. For instance, Mama suggests a spot by the pond because that's where she and Papa had their first date, to which Brother responds with "That was ages ago. It's full of mosquitoes now." While he could have said it more politely, having a picnic in a location with lots of mosquitoes around is dangerous, no matter how the location was in the past.

** In "Lose A Friend", Sister's goldfish dies. It's really quite sad to see Sister so ''broken'' about its death.

** Sister getting upset and crying in the stories "Too Much Birthday" (due to [[BirthdayPartyGoesWrong all the mishaps at her birthday party overwhelming her]]) and "No Girls Allowed" (due to the boys intentionally excluding her from their new clubhouse, even if she was acting like a JerkAss to them when beating them at games), especially so in the 1980s cartoon adaptations.
** In the 1980s cartoon episode "The Cat's Meow", Cousin Freddy growing increasingly desperate to find his dog Snuff can hit home hard for anyone who has had a pet go missing. Fortunately, it turns out Snuff was protecting a fox from some hunters and after succeeding in doing so, returns to his owner, giving the episode a happy ending.
** In "The Bully" we are treated to Sister coming home a sobbing wreck after having been beaten up by a bully named Tuffy at school without any good reason for it. Her parents take it about as well as any parent would, and Brother is so angry that he decides to teach Sister some self-defense moves in case Tuffy ever attacks her again. When that moment does come Sister defends herself by giving Tuffy a bloody nose, and Tuffy breaks down in tears as they are both taken to the principal's office. To Sister's surprise, Tuffy admits that she's not upset about being hit, but is scared about what her parents will do, saying "[[AbusiveParents [she] won't be able to sit for a long time]]". [[SympathyForTheDevil Sister finds herself feeling sorry for Tuffy]], realizing that her tormentor [[FreudianExcuse probably has it a lot worse at home]].

** Brother for failing the test in "Trouble with school". We are supposed to see that Brother fell behind in Math because he never learned how to divide... and the school was operating under the assumption he would learn it just from the homework, as he returns from an extended sick break and is expected to take a division test ''the same day''. Regardless of whether or not Brother was expected to do homework, he was never allowed to even show he could ''do'' division, let alone ''learn'' it.
** Papa in the 1980s TV episode "The Great Honey Pipeline". After going back on his word to stay away from the wild honey, the cubs and a skunk teach him a lesson by having the skunk spray him through the pipeline; Papa then has to live outside in a tent because of the stink as well as punishment. While meant as karma and AnAesop about not breaking your word, forcing Papa to live outside in a tent because of something that wasn't really his fault seems to be a bit excessive.

** The readers are generally supposed to sympathise with Mama - however, some people saw her as a little too stern and seemed to care more about how her house looked rather than the well-being of her cubs. Others thought her parenting methods were a bit odd (such as bribing sister with money to get her to stop biting her nails, teaching manners through positive punishment), while others simply find it annoying how she's almost always portrayed as being in the right, and snaps at her husband a lot. (See AlternativeCharacterInterpretation)
** The entire family in "Too Much Teasing". Brother being teased by Too-tall and the GangOfBullies is supposed to be seen as karmic justice for him teasing Sister and using the JustJokingJustification. Except that Mama and Papa's correction is... to tease ''each other'', tell Brother to knock it off, and say [[BlamingTheVictim sister shouldn't be so sensitive]]. They apparently don't show ''any'' sympathy for Brother being teased to the point where he ''tries to fake sick to get a single day off from the torment]]. Sister ''relishes in this'' - making her seem very much like a JerkAss. While some of this can be justified by Sister being about 5-7 years old, the narration itself seems a little mean spirited.

** "The Berenstain Bears and the Bully" has [[BewareTheNiceOnes Sister punching Tuffy, the titular bully, in the nose]] and only getting let off with a warning. The book was [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer intended to teach kids self-defense]] but it was published back in 1993 before many American schools adopted a "zero-tolerance" policy. Under those circumstances, a kid would likely be punished along with their aggressor or possibly face suspension/expulsion. Additionally, Tuffy is seen throwing rocks at a baby bird - nowadays, Tuffy would be put in therapy as soon as a teacher saw her doing that (she ''is'' put in therapy with the hope that she'll get help for her home life, but that happens at the end of the book).

** The Southern Star adaptation of "In the Dark" has Papa telling Brother that he'll get a spanking if he scares Sister again. Even in 1986, spanking was largely a hot-button issue, and nowadays the mere dialogue by itself wouldn't fly well in a series aimed at children.
-->'''Papa''': If there's another "ooh, ooh, ooh", it's gonna be followed by an "ow, ow, ow".

** The entire family in "Too Much Teasing". Brother being teased by Too-tall and the GangOfBullies is supposed to be seen as KarmicJustice for him teasing Sister and using the JustJokingJustification. Except that Mama and Papa's correction is... to tease ''each other'' and say [[BlamingTheVictim sister shouldn't be so sensitive]]. They apparently don't show ''any'' sympathy for Brother being teased to the point where he ''tries to [[FakingSick fake sick]] to get a single day off from the torment]]. Sister ''relishes in this'' - making her seem very much like a JerkAss. While some of this can be justified by Sister being about 5-7 years old, the narration itself seems a little mean spirited.

*** Similarly in "Computer Trouble" (2010), the Bear family is still shown to use big, bulky, and boxy desktop computers, complete with CRT monitors, something very hard to find in real life at the time the book was written, in favor of said sleeker and thinner computers. They even go as far as using [[Website/{{Facebook}} Pawbook]] and [[Website/EBay eBear]] on said computers!

** One of the most famous examples would have to be the debate over whether the title is spelled as Berenst''a''in or Berenst''e''in. While it's officially Berenstain, there is a large number of people who misremember it as Berenstein (partly because it's the more common spelling in general, partly because a large amount of official media legitimately misspells it, and it certainly doesn't help that the font choice on the cover makes the cursive 'a' look rather close an 'e'), which has led to a (tongue-in-cheek) conspiracy theory that the people who remember the latter spelling were transported from an alternate universe.

** One of the most famous examples would have to be the debate over whether the title is spelled as Berenst''a''in or Berenst''e''in. While it's officially Berenstain, there is a large number of people who misremember it as Berenstein (partly because it's the more common spelling in general, partly because a large amount of official media legitimately misspells it), which has led to a (tongue-in-cheek) conspiracy theory that the people who remember the latter spelling were transported from an alternate universe.

** "The Berenstain Bears and the Bully" has [[BewareTheNiceOnes Sister punching Tuffy, the titular bully, in the nose]] and only getting let off with a warning. The book was [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer intended to teach kids self-defense]] but it was published back in 1993 before many American schools adopted a "zero-tolerance" policy. Under those circumstances, a kid would likely be punished along with their aggressor or possibly face suspension/expulsion. Additionally, Tuffy is seen throwing rocks at a baby bird - nowadays, Tuffy would be put in therapy as soon as a teacher saw her doing that (she ''does'' get put in therapy with the hope that she'll get help for her home life, but that happens at the end of the book).

* ViewerPronunciationConfusion: Doubling as ViewerNameConfusion, many people think "Berenstain" (pronounced "berren-stayn") is pronounced "berren-styne" or "berren-steen" due to [[MandelaEffect false memories of the title being spelled like "Berenstein"]].

* ViewerPronunciationConfusion: Doubling as ViewerNameConfusion, many people think "Berenstain" (pronounced "bare-in-stayn") is pronounced "bare-in-steye-n" due to [[MandelaEffect false memories of the title being spelled like "Berenstein"]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: In the cartoon version of "Get the Gimmes", the cubs want purple ketchup. This may seem like a made-up food, but it actually existed once (though was unpopular).
* AngstWhatAngst: In the TV version of "The Trouble at School", Mama and Papa show almost no concern when Brother confesses all of his misdeeds, which include ignoring all his homework when he was sick, facing the consequences when it turns out he has a test the day he goes back and subsequently getting a ''zero'' on it, hiding it from his parents when he was instructed to have them sign it, and skipping school the next day. Yet, when he finally confesses, his parents have maybe two sentences worth of "scolding" him (if you could even call it that) before pulling an EasilyForgiven and switching into a more positive and upbeat tone. In fact, they show more concern in "The Homework Hassle" where Brother only does ''one'' of those things (letting his homework pile up).

* AudienceAlienatingPremise: Many readers were turned off when ''The Berenstain Bears'' entered the ''Living Lights'' arc and introduced heavy Christian morals, especially since ''The Berenstain Bears'' started off as irreligious.

** In "The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies", Brother and Sister actually get some really cool knick knacks.

* HarsherInHindsight: One episode of the 1980s cartoon involved Weasel [=McGreed=] creating a flower that traps bees in order to cut off the town's honey supply. This was before Colony Collapse Disorder became a major problem with consequences more disastrous than low honey supply.

** "The Berenstain Bears and the Attic Treasures", released in 1990, has the Bears going through their attic to decide what to sell (and wind up not selling any of it). At one point, they find their old baby furniture and are initially sure they can get rid of it, until the cubs object -- what if they wind up having another baby and needing it then? Ten years later, Mama was revealed to be pregnant again in the 2000 book "The Birds, the Bees, and the Berenstain Bears", with baby Honey Bear being introduced in "The Berenstain Bears and Baby Makes Five" the same year.

** One of the most famous examples would have to be the debate over whether the title is spelled as Berenst''a''in or Berenst''e''in. While it's officially Berenstain, there is a large amount of people who misremember it as Berenstein (partly because it's the more common spelling in general, partly because a large amount of official media legitimately misspells it), which has led to a (tongue-in-cheek) conspiracy theory that the people who remember the latter spelling were transported from an alternate universe.
** In the book "The New Neighbours", Papa Bear is often misremembered as claiming his panda bear neighbours "aren't real bears". He never claims this— he claims to dislike the pandas for being "different", then later when they plant bamboo, he claims it's a "spite fence", but he never accuses them of not being real bears.

* {{Narm}}: In "Too Much Birthday" Sister Bear gets too overwhelmed by her birthday party (between being teased by the other kids, being uncomfortable on the pony rides and rented merry-go-round, and not being allowed to keep a prize she won while playing pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey, among other things) and ends up bursting into tears at her birthday cake. It's clearly meant to be an unhappy moment, but the combination of Sister's [[VolumetricMouth appearance as she starts crying]] [[http://sippinglemonade.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/2014-12-01-19.51.58-562x421.jpg combined with the other kids continuing to sing obliviously]] makes the scene not land quite right. In contrast, the AnimatedAdaptation of the episode has Sister crying in a less exaggerated way and the other kids seem much more concerned over how distraught she is.

* PeripheryDemographic: The books were not originally written with a Christian audience in mind, but they became some of the series' [[https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/magazine/how-the-berenstain-bears-found-salvation.html biggest fans]] due to their old-fashioned, G-rated morality. Mike Berenstain, who took over writing the books after his father Stan died, noticed this when he started receiving fan mail from Christian parents, and partnered with a Christian publisher to write new books with explicitly religious messages.
* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The Game Boy Color game ''Extreme Sports with the Berenstain Bears''. Lazy graphics, bad sound effects, and one-note and unmemorable sports mini games.

** ''Lost in Cyberspace'' has Teacher Bob talk about how random strangers on the Internet will take advantage of your personal information to lure you into a trap and kidnap you. Lizzie is shaken despite pointing out her dad is chief of police. She also finds other criminals by accident in a poetry chatroom and runs to school in a panic after realizing the poems are code for extortionist plans.

** "The Berenstain Bears Show Some Respect" has the cubs acting bratty by contradicting their parents and grandparents when the family is looking for a picnic spot. While we're meant to see their complaints as rude and unwarranted, a lot of their comments are quite valid. For instance, Mama suggests a spot by the pond because that's where she and Papa had their first date, to which Brother responds with "That's was ages ago. It's full of mosquitoes now." While he could have said it in a more polite manner, having a picnic in a location whth lots of mosquitoes around is dangerous, no matter how the location was in the past.

** Brother for failing the test in "Trouble with school". We are supposed to see that Brother fell behind in Math because he never learned how to divide... and the school was operating under the assumption he would learn it just from the homework, as he returns from an extended sick break and is expected to take a test on division ''the same day''. Regardless of whether or not Brother was expected to do homework, he was never given an opportunity to even show he could ''do'' division, let alone ''learn'' it.

** "The In-Crowd" (1989) has the front cover with number of girl cubs break-dancing in front of a boombox.

*** Similarly in "Computer Trouble" (2010), the Bear family is still shown to use big, bulky and boxy desktop computers, complete with CRT monitors, something very hard to find in real life the time the book was written, in favor of said sleeker and thinner computers. They even go as far as using [[Website/{{Facebook}} Pawbook]] and [[Website/EBay eBear]] on said computers!

** "The Berenstain Bears and the Bully" has [[BewareTheNiceOnes Sister punching Tuffy, the titular bully, in the nose]] and only getting let off with a warning. The book was [[ViolenceReallyIsTheAnswer intended to teach kids self-defense]] but it was published back in 1993, before many American schools adopted a "zero-tolerance" policy. Under those circumstances, a kid would likely be punished along with their aggressor or possibly face suspension/expulsion. Additionally, Tuffy is seen throwing rocks at a baby bird - nowadays, Tuffy would be put in therapy as soon as a teacher saw her doing that (she ''does'' get put in therapy with the hope that she'll get help for her home life, but that happens at the end of the book).
** The Southern Star adaptation of "In the Dark" has Papa telling Brother that he'll get a spanking if he scares Sister again. Even in 1986, spanking was largely a hot-button issue, and nowadays the mere dialogue by itself wouldn't fly well in a series aimed towards children.

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** In "The Berenstain Bears and the Real Easter Eggs", Sister Bear finds that there are no major holidays in March. Ever heard of St. Patrick's Day?
** In the TV version of "Trouble At School", after being absent for a week because of illness, Brother is expected to take a test the same day he goes back to school. Most (if not ''all'') schools in the USA would give Brother at least a day to make sure that he understands the lessons before making him take a test.

* InformedWrongness: Sister's nail-biting in "The Bad Habit", a mildly annoying nervous tic at worst, is made out to be a much bigger problem than it really is.

* IdiotPlot:
** "The Berenstain Bears' Christmas Tree" would've lasted just a few minutes if Papa Bear went to Gus instead of dragging Brother and Sister in search of the perfect tree.
** "The Slumber Party" relies on every single parent in Bear Country being completely clueless for the sake of having a responsibility moral. Essentially, Lizzie hosts a sleepover and invites Sister alongside two of her friends, which is the plan before it quickly spirals out of control when word spreads to all the other girls (and [[TheBully Too-Tall's gang]]) at school, which leads to a giant party full of uninvited guests. Considering how many other girls get involved, it's a bit of a stretch to think that ''none'' of their parents bothered to check with the Bruins about it (while Mama and Papa do acknowledge the mistake on their end, it still leaves the issues with the parents of the other girls). On top of that, Lizzie's parents aren't even home when it takes place; they just leave Lizzie with a babysitter and apparently had enough faith that Lizzie would be perfectly safe and responsible with her ''first sleepover'' and a babysitter would be all they need to keep her under control. How were they shocked that it turned out as it did?
** "The Messy Room" hinges on the fact that Mama and Papa never thought to provide their cubs with a toy box, yet are somehow surprised when the room gets buried under a mess.
** A ton of the episodes from the 80s cartoon hinge on the fact that nobody ever seems to learn that Raffish Ralph is untrustworthy. In fact, the ''cubs'' are the only ones to ever warn anyone that he may be up to something, whereas the grown-ups seem to either [[AdultsAreUseless blindly believe him or leave him alone when he's showing blatantly suspicious tendencies.]]

* TheProblemWithLicensedGames: The Game Boy Color game ''Extreme Sports With the Berenstain Bears''. Lazy graphics, bad sound effects, and one-note and unmemorable sports mini games.

* WereStillRelevantDammit: Some of the attempts to keep the Berenstain Bears up-to-date come off as being dated nowadays. This is true of the books written in TheEighties and TheNineties. Some specific examples are:
** "Trouble with Money" (1983) has Brother and Sister spending money on a game in a video arcade back when arcades were more common than today.
** "The In-Crowd" (1989) has the front cover with number of girl cubs break-dancing in front of a boombox.
** "The Bad Dream" (1988) and "Mad Mad Mad Toy Craze" (1999) have the toys in the books resembling Masters of the Universe in the former and Beanie Babies in the latter.
** "Lost in Cyberspace" (1999) still has the bigger bulky computers, a contrast to the more sleek and thinner models used today.
*** Similarly in "Computer Trouble" (2010), the Bear family is still shown to use big, bulky and boxy desktop computers, complete with CRT monitors, something very hard to find in real life the time the book was written, in favor of said sleeker and thinner computers. They even go as far as using [[Website/{{Facebook}} Pawbook]] and [[Website/EBay eBear]] on said computers!

* RetroactiveRecognition: In the PBS series, Brother is voiced by none other than a young Creator/MichaelCera.

** One of the most famous examples would have to be the debate over whether the title is spelled as Berenst''a''in or Berenst''e''in. While it's officially Berenstain, there is a large amount of people who claim it's Berenstein, which has led to a (tongue-in-cheek) conspiracy theory that the people who remember the latter spelling were transported from an alternate universe.

** The Southern Star adaptation of "In the Dark" has Papa telling Brother that he'll get a spanking if he scares Sister again. As the episode aired in 1986, spanking wasn't the hot-button topic it is today. On top of that, the mere dialogue by itself wouldn't fly well in a series aimed towards children.