Polar Opposites is the thirteenth episode of The Wild Thornberrys's second season which was first broadcast on September 6, 1999.
Location[]
- Arctic
Summary[]
When a friendly polar bear is wrongly accused of vicious behavior, Eliza goes to great lengths to keep him from being harmed and learns the value of sticking by a friend in times of trouble. Meanwhile Debbie get a job at a local diner to make enough money to buy a shirt.
Plot[]
When Eliza first hears from a man about his yard being totaled by a polar bear, another man says if it was the polar bear wearing a collar, it must have been the one the scientists were tracking. Eliza then hears the man saying he'd like to lock the polar bear in jail and throw away the key. Nigel and Marianne heard them as well, and Nigel thinks it would be wonderful if they concluded it in their polar bear footage. Eliza though feels worried as she knows they want to catch the polar bear and lock him up in jail. Nigel though tells Eliza to not worry and tells her all about polar bears.
Later that night, when Eliza notices a trash can tipped over, she suggests to find the polar bear and warn him about bear jail. So she and Darwin head off to find the polar bear. While searching for the polar bear, Eliza climbs onto a pile of snow, which suddenly shakes up. Eliza falls off as a polar bear wearing a collar emerges from under the snow. Eliza then introduces herself to the bear and the bear introduces herself as Nanook. Eliza notices Nanook's collar and tells him that he's the bear many of the people had been talking about. She tell him he better stop trashing stuff of he's going to be put in jail. Nanook then tells Eliza that he really didn't do anything and he's really just been roaming around. Eliza decides to believe him as he looked like an honest bear to her. Darwin introduces himself to Nanook as well. Eliza, Darwin and Nanook start to play together. They start to slide on a frozen lake, which causes Nanook to crash through a shed. This suggests Eliza that maybe she'll now be the leader. Later at the village, Eliza, Darwin and Nanook look at the statue of Storsmuknaese, Eliza suggests to try something a little more tricky. So Eliza climbs onto the base of the statue and tries to keep her balance on it. Darwin and Nanook also climb onto the statue base and walk on it while balancing on it. However, Nanook loses his balance and falls and accidentally breaks the statue. Nanook feels guilty for what he accidentally have done, but Eliza tells him it's not his fault but hers. Nanook Eliza if anyone will notice, but Eliza realizes it's kind of hard to miss.
The next day, a butch of people find the statue all broken up and start to believe Nanook is a trouble causer. Because of that all the people suggest they must lock Nanook up in bear jail. Nigel was shocked to hear what they're planning to do to the polar bear and hurries to get Marianne. Eliza gets worried as she knew they can't lock Nanook as she knew he didn't mean to break the statue. Eliza realizes she, Darwin and Donnie must find Nanook before the people do.
Eliza, Darwin and Donnie set off the find Nanook. After searching for him, Eliza, Darwin and Donnie find Nanook in s garbage dump. Eliza tells Nanook that all the people in the town think he's the one that caused destruction, but it had to be another polar bear. Eliza quickly takes Nanook's collar off and throws it. But before they could leave the dump, Eliza notices the villagers searching for the polar bear they want to lock up. Darwin though breaks a hole in the fence while riding on skis, which allowed them to escape another way. Donnie then puts on Nanook's collar and runs in the other direction, which caused the villagers' tracking device to track Donnie instead of Nanook. However, while running, Donnie gets the collar caught onto a branch leaving it behind. This caused the villagers to mistake Nigel in his white robe for Nanook and shot a tranquilizer dart into his bottom, putting him to sleep. Marianne gets shocked realizing they tranquilized her husband mistaking him for the bear. Meanwhile, when Eliza, Darwin an Nanook were still running, another polar bear shows up and was about to maul Eliza. But Eliza calls Nanook for help and Nanook jumps onto the other bear and fights it. However, while fighting the other bear, the villagers and Nigel and Marianne show up in a jeep and the other bear runs off, and the villagers tranquilize and capture Nanook. Eliza tries to convicne them they got the wrong bear, but they won't believe her.
Nanook then gets locked up in a bear jail cell. Eliza looks through a window of the bear jail and sees Nanook in the cell. Nanook wakes up and sees Eliza in the window and asks her why they locked him up as he didn't do anything, which Eliza knows. Eliza tells Nanook to not worry and she'll get him out of the jail. Eliza finds Darwin and tells him that they captured Nanook and they have to find a way to free him. So Eliza, Darwin and Donnie hurry to find a way. Eliza, Darwin and Donnie meet the huskies who Eliza meet yesterday helping one of them with his water bowl wearing fake antlers. Eliza asks them for help, and the husky who Eliza helped with his water bowl tells her they'll go anywhere she wants to if they help take their antlers off. Back at the jail, Eliza climbs in through one of the windows and tries to open the cell door, but the board holding it closed was heavy. Darwin though manages to get it open by jumping onto the board flipping it off the door, Darwin also uses the board to pry the door open. Eliza, Darwin and Donnie try to wake Nanook up, but he was still asleep from the tranquilizer dart he was shot with. So Eliza grabs him by his arms and pulls him while Darwin and Donnie push from behind. When they get Nanook through the door, he gets stuck in it. Eliza pulls hard while Darwin and Donnie push hard, managing to get him through the door (breaking it a little). Nanook asks Eliza where are they going, and she answers him saying for a little ride as she, Darwin and Donnie push him onto the dog sled. The huskies pull as hard as they could while Eliza and Darwin push from behind, causing the sled to move. Two of the men though soon find out that the bear has escaped. Eliza, Darwin, Donnie and Wanuug soon have a wild ride on the dog sled as the huskies pull it through the snow. However, while pulling it, the cables connected to the sled broke due to Nanook's weight. The huskies then run another direction and Eliza, Darwin, Donnie and Nanook start to slide down a slope and crash. The other polar bear then finds them.
Finding the whip Donnie used on the sled, Eliza tells Darwin to take Wanuug and Donnie down the hill while she fights off the bear. While Darwin, Donnie and Nanook's head off the other way, Eliza tries to fight the other bear, but the other bear almost mauls her. Just when the other bear was about to maul Eliza, it gets tranquilized by the same men that tranquilized Nanook, and soon realize the wild one was the bear that caused the destruction in the village and not Nanook.
Later at sunset, Eliza let's Nanook go out into the water and she, Darwin and Donnie say good bye to him, and Nanook says good bye to them as he swims to freedom.