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Cartoon
Paw Paws
Funtastic World of Hanna Barbara

Animal
Native A-Bear-ican

Outfit: mocassins / poncho / hippie headband / Triforce of Bear Wisdom

Tagline: "If you get in trouble, and this goes double, you call the Paw Paw bears!"

Plot summary: The Paw Paws, not actually a roving band of elderly men,  is rather a cartoon about a tribe of tiny aboriginal bears who rode around on tiny ponies and generally behaved as the Indians would.They lived happy peaceful lives, except for that time at the end of every episode when they'd be menaced by their enemy (Dark Paw), and their leader, Princess Paw Paw would have to call on their magic totem pole to defend them.  Contrary to popular belief, a totem pole is not a duffle bag carried by the Indians.  In the case of the Paw Paws, it's a wooden bear. Standing on a turtle.  With an eagle on his head.

A quick browsing of google will show that nobody in the history of humanity remembers ANYTHING about this show except for the damned totem pole. I mean, Hanna-Barbera took the Gummy Bears, taught them how to harvest maize, and stuck them on those dumb generic My Little Pony rip-offs that your white trash cousin would buy you from Big Lots on your birthday.  But do we remember any of that? Nope! Can everyone in the free world remember a turtle statue coming to life to fight crime? Damn right. (more)

User Comments: Princess Paw Paw is carrying on the tradition of Princess Tigerlilly, a blonde Indian. Regardless of the fact that no white person can tell the tribes a part, and ignorning the little geographical screw up of calling them "Indians" for 200 years, every second grade Thanksgiving-themed unit on Native Americans teaches us nothing if not this one irrefutable fact: THEY LOOK DIFFERENT THAN WE DO.  Dark hair, dark skin.  Now, of course the good Princess is a bear, so there's no accounting for fur coloration.  But she's the leader of the tribe, couldn't they have at the very least given her brown hair?  I like to think that maybe the cartoon bear who plays Princess Paw Paw is actually ethnic. Like, maybe she's a Kodiak, an Inuit bear from Alaska.  But she moved to Bear Hollywood trying to make it in ShowBearznss, and her Bear Agent told her she'd get more work as a blonde.

The crux of Princess Paw Paws outfit is the moonstone necklace she uses to call on her magic totem pole.  The big red triangle gemstone, combined with the weird pastel Judy Jetson outfit they've got her in, makes her look like an extra from "Logan's Run." Wouldn't it have been better to  put some fringe on the dress? Does a bear shit in the woods?

I shouldn't make fun.  That necklace was probably made by hand.  And now in days made in Japan. 

User Rating: 6.3/10 (31,445 votes)