Bernard (known in South Korea as Backkom) is a Spanish-South Korean-French CGI cartoon produced by RC Animation Studios.
Bernard is a polar bear for whom nothing ever seems to go right. He never speaks, but rather he communicates through growly gibberish. Other characters Bernard encountered in his show includes the penguins Lloyd and Eva, and Zack the lizard.
The series ran from 2006 to 2012 and additionally had two Chinese movies based on it, both produced by Alpha: Backkom Bear: Agent 008 in 2017, and Agent Backkom: Kings Bear in 2021.
Bernard contains examples of:
- All-CGI Cartoon: The show was made with CGI.
- Butt-Monkey: Bernard. Episodes rarely (if ever) go right for the guy.
- Cactus Cushion: One short had the titular polar bear going skydiving, which eventually leads to him flying into a field of cacti. This ended with him slamming into a large cactus, with painful results, which was followed by said cactus falling on top of him for good measure.
- Edible Ammunition: In one episode, some monkeys throw fruit at Bernard. When he retaliates, he finds out it was a distraction so another one could take the food Bernard has.
- Exposed Animal Bellybutton: Bernard is a polar bear whose bellybutton is showing. He has an outie.
- Full-Boar Action: In one episode, Bernard is throwing fruit at the monkeys who took his food. One of them hits a boar, angering it and causing it to chase Bernard.
- One-Word Title: Only One Name-type Protagonist Title.
- Only One Name: Bernard.
- Polar Bears and Penguins: Lloyd and Eva are penguins, and occasionally show up alongside the polar bear protagonist.
- Protagonist Title: The show is called Bernard after its main character Bernard the polar bear.
- Speaking Simlish: Bernard speaks in gibberish that sounds like growling.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Eva the penguin can be differentiated by the ponytail that she has.
- Too Dumb to Live: A fraction of Bernard's misfortunes come from him being this from time to time, such as purposefully disturbing a hornet's nest when one stings him and then trying to hide from the oncoming swarm in a hollow log that's too small for him.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: A lot of times when Bernard has something good happen to him it usually leads to this trope. A notable example is when he wins the lottery, only for his robot vacuum to accidentally suck it up. Then when he finally gets it out, events lead to the ticket being burned to ash in his fireplace.
