…And Wins Our Hearts
A polar bear in a planetarium? Why not? Domed theaters have always been used to tell stories about the cosmos. Astronomy, space science, planetary science—all have a place on the dome. We have been creating such stories for decades, and have even billed ourselves as “Storytellers of the Universe”. For us, if a show tells a compelling story, then it is likely to be successful with audiences. And, a fulldome show that combines polar bears, astronomy, climate change, and Arctic habitats—all based on a popular children’s book character—offers a lot to fulldome show audiences.
So, how did we get a polar bear show? A couple of years ago we received a review copy of a show called Lars the Little Polar Bear, produced at the Mediendom Kiel in Germany. As we watched, we were swept up in the tale of a plucky little polar bear who loves to explore his surroundings. It’s a cute and touching little story, based on the successful children’s book called Little Polar Bear and the Whales, authored by Hans de Beer in 2008. The show also includes a friendly introduction to the polar bear’s life cycle and its habitat in the Arctic, and offers a simple exposition about how climate change is melting the ice at the poles and affecting the lives of all Arctic creatures, including the polar bears.
I was immediately taken with the show. It is touching, friendly, and presents a careful, yet essential lesson about how our world is changing. That message isn’t heavy-handed—this is a show for young children, after all—no guilt trips or doomsday scenarios here. It’s just a clever picture-book story, together with a real-life documentary.
We immediately began working with Eduard Thomas, the show’s producer, to create a version that we could add to our catalog as a children’s show. We kept all of Kiel’s clever animations and imagery, which are based on the illustrations in the book. And, we kept all their documentary imagery in the second half of the show. We created our own short star-talk scene, to round out the show with the expected planetarium astronomy session—this time from the latitude of the Arctic circle. The result is a 27-minute exploration aimed at preschoolers through grade two and family audiences.
As a musician himself, Mark noted with pleasure how the music of Jens Fisher was particularly suited for the soundtrack. “Jens has a great knack for capturing the right moods to illustrate the script. From the happy-go-lucky, finger-snapping tune of the Lars story itself, to the dramatic suspense as we’re illuminated by the whaling ship’s searchlight, to the resonant filter sweeps to imitate whale sounds… he’s done it right,” Mark said. “When we get to the documentary, Jens shifts into a more somber key, and his restless, plaintive chords match the panoramic snow-swept vistas perfectly. The real tour-de-force is the ending, as the “last” polar bear dissolves to white and we launch into an arctic snowstorm flight. The score is so tender and sensitive yet without being cloying. I still get a lump in my throat every time I hear it—and I know what’s coming!”
We hope that theaters everywhere will open up their hearts and domes to little Lars!
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