Bear Bondage

Bear Bondage
February 2, 1980
Music: Stu Phillips
Teleplay: Frank Lupo & Robert McCullough
Story: Richard Lindheim
Director: Bruce Kessler

"Bear Bondage" is the rare BJ AND THE BEAR episode to center around Bear. BJ (Greg Evigan) takes his little chimp pal to see veterinarians Nivens (Diana Muldaur) and Mason (Joseph Ruskin) with what he believes to be indigestion. When he returns the next day, the pretty nurse, Janet (Christina Hart), tells him that Bear died of salmonella during the night.

In actuality, Nivens and Mason stole Bear to sell to a laboratory to be experimented on. BJ and Janet stumble onto the vets' cruel plot and try to rescue Bear. Jon Cedar (THE MANITOU) and Bob Minor (SWITCHBLADE SISTERS) play the evil vets' callous thugs. Hart is well remembered by '70s drive-in fans for her skin-baring roles in cult classics like JOHNNY FIRECLOUD and THE STEWARDESSES.

Evigan is pretty good in his big dramatic scene when he learns of Bear's supposed death. On the other end of the spectrum is the silly sight of Minor wrestled to the ground and being strangled by an escaping Bear. The concept is ludicrous, particularly when we learn that, in addition to dogs, cats, and chimps, the baddies are also stockpiling a ram, a boa constrictor, and a tiger!