Adventures of the Gummi Bears: About That Flying Machine…
Story By @GIJoeRepairShop
Recently, there was a short article here detailing the background and legacy of “Disney’s Adventures of the Gummi Bears.” This got me thinking about my favorite episode. It is one in which the bears finally escape the trees and take flight. They soar high over their home, seeing the forest from above for the first time. I was happy to see them doing something so unusual and cool. The memory has stuck with me all these years later.
As an adult, though, I have to ask what on earth was actually going on here. How did a small clan of medieval bears with hand-stitched clothing master flight? Where did they get the fuel for the machine? How does any of this work?
Well, let’s start at the very beginning. Zummi finds the Flying Machine in old tunnels under Gummi Glen. Apparently, it was built and used by ancient Gummi Bears as they moved around the forest. This brings up numerous questions. First, how long has Gummi Bear civilization been around? If it’s been around long enough for ancient bears to exist, why are there only six of them now? An extinction-level event must have happened to create such a small population. Ancient bear civilization seems much more advanced than the medieval society in which the current bears find themselves. Ancient bear civilization seems to have had metal working, electric motors, aeronautical engineering, and basket-weaving. All of these skills no longer exist in the six surviving bears. One might also wonder if the machine was built by ancient humans, and that the Gummi Bears cartoon is set in some distant, post-apocalyptic Earth, similar to The Planet of the Apes.
Bears Gruffi and Zummi restore it until it is able to fly again. How exactly they are able to do this remains a mystery, having never seen an aircraft before. Cubbi figures out that the machine uses Gummiberry Juice as fuel. While this is happening Sunni is kidnapped by large bird-like creatures called “Carpies” and the team must fly to the top of Carpie Mountain to rescue her. Throughout, Gruffi insists that “Gummies were not meant to fly!”
Unsurprisingly, the Carpies damage the Flying Machine beyond repair, causing it to crash and to be destroyed. After Sunni’s rescue, the Gummies use the wings of the flying machine like a glider, to return home. The Flying Machine has been forever destroyed, along with much ancient Gummi knowledge, never to be used again. Perhaps Gruffi was right!
