Gentle Ben - Season 1

Episodes

Hurricane Coming

Season 1Episode 130 min

Hurricane Coming

Mark is forbidden to associate with a new playmate because the friend's mother is afraid of the bear. A hurricane blows up and Ben the bear leads the mother and the two boys to the shelter of a cave.

Green Eyed Bear

Season 1Episode 230 min

Green Eyed Bear

As Tom and Mark are watching a mother bear play with its cub the mother gets shot by a swamp hunter. Tom issues as citation to the hunter and takes the cub. Ben appears to be jealous of the cub and when the hunter's boy steals the cub Mark assumes Ben chased it off. They discover that the boy stole the cub because living in the swamp he had no friends or pets. In an on the spot judgement, Tom tells the boy that the terms of his probation are to take good care of the cub, and the boy's father goes along with it.

Season 1Episode 330 min

Fish and Chips

Ben and Mark stumble upon fish poachers and their illegal smokehouse. The men threaten to kill Ben if Mark tells his father. Later Ben wanders off and Mark follows him onto the poachers' boat; they hide but the boat takes off when they hear Tom's airboat approaching. When they start shooting at Tom, Mark and Ben come to his rescue and the poachers are arrested.

Season 1Episode 430 min

Gator Man

Mark befriends shoeless Jenny Maddox at school. However, when Tom drops her off at her father's dock in the airboat, he discovers that Jenny's father is the alligator poacher he has been looking for. Before he goes back to arrest him, Jenny's father saves Mark from an alligator. Tom thanks him for saving Mark but still has to run him in, although he offers to help him in any way he can.

Voice from the Wilderness

Season 1Episode 530 min

Voice from the Wilderness

Mark gets Tom to put a radio transmitter on Ben so he can hear what he's doing when he's away. After Ben wanders off a plane carrying exotic animals crashes in the bush. Ben runs across the plane and when Mark hears the moans of the co-pilot, he figures out where he is and goes to help him. Finding the plane and the injured pilot and co-pilot, Mark calls in the location with Ben's radio. One of the animals is a tiger, whose cage has broken open- Ben protects Mark and the co-pilot. Tom and Ellen then arrive in the jeep and tranquilize the tiger.

Invasion of Willie Sam Gopher

Season 1Episode 630 min

Invasion of Willie Sam Gopher

Mark is mocked at school and on the school boat when he is the only child in his class that didn't bring in an Indian artifact for show and tell. He decides to go to the private island of Willie Sam Gopher to find his Seminole artifact. Mark befriends Willie's son Jimmie Boy, who wants to go to school so he and Mark sneak off the island. The next day Mark introduces Jimmie Boy as his 'artifact'. Willie comes into the classroom and grabs Mark but is scared off by Ben. Ultimately Willie agrees to allow Jimmie Boy to attend the school.

Season 1Episode 730 min

Restless Bear

Ben gets restless when wild bears come near the Wedloe home during mating season. Tom explains to Mark Ben's natural instincts and Mark agrees Ben should be allowed to wander off to have a family. Missing Ben has left Mark sick and unable to eat but he returns to normal when Ben returns.

Battle of Wedloe Woods

Season 1Episode 830 min

Battle of Wedloe Woods

Developer Philip Garrett wants to clear cut and burn the brush to build a housing development on 60 acres of land adjacent to the game reserve. Concerned about all the animals that will die in the fire, Mark and Boomhauer hatch a scheme to get Mr. Garrett to the woods to see the animals and hopefully decide not to raze the land. They 'borrow' Garrett's wife's dog Hollyhock and tell him the dog liked it there when Mark walked him there and probably returned. But the dog escapes from Boomhauer's buggy and when they find it it is being pursued by wild bear Gertrude, protecting her three cubs (Eeny, Meeny, and Miney). Tom rescues Hollyhock and Mr. Garrett decides to leave most of the land as it is and just use a small area for cattle.

Warden for Man and Beast

Season 1Episode 930 min

Warden for Man and Beast

Professor Hugo brings his performing bear Victor to the Wedloe home. He has bought a bungalow in a retirement community and wants to release Victor into the wild. Hugo is unable to adapt to the wild, loses a lot of weight and makes enemies with the native wildlife. Tom and Ellen visit Hugo at his home and discover that he is lonely without Victor. The two are reunited and Victor is placed in a zoo and Hugo is made his zookeeper.

A Waste of Honey

Season 1Episode 1030 min

A Waste of Honey

Mark leads some thieves to Boomhauer's honey farm and overhears them saying they will kill the game warden if he catches on. They notice Mark has heard them and tell him that if he says anything to his father they will shoot Tom. When the hives get damaged Ben is blamed but Mark doesn't want to say anything so that he can protect his father. When it comes down to Ben being punished, Mark tells his father what is going on. After a fight and Ben's intervention the thieves are apprehended.

Season 1Episode 1130 min

Jennifer

A little girl gets lost in the Everglades. There is also an injured wildcat roaming the same area. Against his father's orders, Mark and Ben join in the search. Just as the girl is cornered by the wildcat, Mark and Ben find her and Ben scares the wildcat off. The main search party hears the commotion and the girl is reunited with her father.

Warden in the Bear Pit

Season 1Episode 1230 min

Warden in the Bear Pit

A couple of con artists try to steal Ben to gamble on him in fights against dogs. Unable to get Ben, they find another bear. Tom and Ben break up the illegal bear-baiting ring.

A Medal for Ben

Season 1Episode 1330 min

A Medal for Ben

A group of Seminole children approach Mark for help in attending his school, having been impressed by him getting Jimmie Boy into the school in the earlier episode ""The Invasion of Willie Sam Gopher"". Their main drawback is that they live on islands and don't have a boat to get them to school. Mark offers the winnings of the air boat race his father is in the next day to buy the boat. On the way to the race, Ellen tips the jeep and is trapped. Mark uses Ben to get the jeep off of her leg but she still can't move because it's broken. Mark contacts his father on the radio- he has just won the race and comes to help. At the victory celebration Tom gives the check to the Seminole kids to buy a boat and Mark gives Tom's winner's medal to Ben, who was the real hero of the day.

Season 1Episode 1430 min

The Ransom

Tom offers Packy Benner some work, but he decides he can make more money more easily by stealing Ben and waiting for a reward. Tom is on to him and runs into Packy at the general store. Speaking so as to be overheard by Packy, he tells the shopkeeper that he's glad Ben is gone because he eats so much. Realizing that his scheme isn't going to work he returns the bear to Tom. Tom tells him that if he wants to give the bear back he wants money from Packy, tricking Packy into doing the work Tom previously offered for pay as compensation for taking Ben from him.

The Wayward Bear, Part 1

Season 1Episode 1530 min

The Wayward Bear, Part 1

While on a shopping trip, Ben climbs into a delivery truck and gets separated from the Mark and Ellen. Subsequently Ben has a number of solo adventures including licking the shaving cream off of a man's face in a barber shop, ending up at a garbage dump after looking for food in a dumpster, and jumping off a railway bridge as a train heads towards him. Part one of two.

The Wayward Bear, Part 2

Season 1Episode 1630 min

The Wayward Bear, Part 2

Wounded by a hunter, Ben meets a couple of retired circus artists, who feel a great nostalgia for their previous life. He use to be a bear tamer.

The Opportunist

Season 1Episode 1730 min

The Opportunist

Poachers are stealing the animals from a newly repopulated island. As they try to get away with their live cargo they also load Ben onto the truck, but he is spotted by Mark. The poachers are apprehended after a chase involving Tom, Boomhauer on his 'buggy', and the sheriff.

The Battle of Birthday Bay

Season 1Episode 1830 min

The Battle of Birthday Bay

Mark and Tom have a surprise for Ellen's birthday. They are going to a cabin deep in the woods to spend a few days. When they get there they discover that the cabin has been broken into and is inhabited by a family of panthers. After they have scared off the panthers and regained control of the cabin, Ellen says this excursion is the dumbest idea Tom ever had and the best birthday of her life.

Season 1Episode 1930 min

Trophy Bear

Hunting guide Joe Cardigan takes rich Miami big game hunter John Coberly into the swamp looking for a bear. Messing up on his first attempt and enticed by the promise of $1000 for a big bear, Cardigan steals Ben when nobody is home at the Wedloe residence. Tom, Mark, Boomhauer and his dogs track Ben's scent to Cardigan's cabin and force him to reveal where Ben is. Meanwhile, Coberly has spotted Ben but gets trapped under a log while tracking him.They find Ben and Coberly and Ben is able to free Coberly.

Season 1Episode 2030 min

Mama Jolie

Mark takes Ben to Mama Jolie, a woman with alleged magical powers, to seek a remedy for Ben's lack of appetite. Ultimately, Mark and Tom help her son Geoffrey who is in the country illegally- they stop him from running and hiding and put him in touch with Immigration authorities.

Season 1Episode 2130 min

Batter Up

St. Louis Carndinals star pitcher Bob Gibson is vacationing in the Everglades. When his small boat capsizes, Tom comes along in the airboat and gets him out of the water. Gibson agrees to give Mark some pointers and umpire his next game but is not impressed by the way Mark stretches the rules to gain an unsportsmanlike advantage. When Mark has a chance to strike out a batter who has dust in his eye, he decides to play fair and let's the batter compose himself.

Season 1Episode 2230 min

Growing Pains

Mark befriends an older boy with a minibike, Steve, and ignores Ben, who stops eating. Mark punishes Ben for being a nuisance and Ben runs away. Mark realizes that Ben is his only true friend when his Steve dumps him for an older boy with a Honda 90 motorcycle. Mark falls into a pit dug by illegal trappers while looking for Ben. When Mark is threatened by a cougar Ben comes to the rescue.

Fire in the Glades

Season 1Episode 2330 min

Fire in the Glades

Looking for an injured deer they saw the day before, Mark and Ben hitch a ride directly into the area which becomes engulfed in a wildfire. The instinctively go to the river to seek refuge from the fire and Tom rescues them in the airboat.

Take a Giant Step

Season 1Episode 2430 min

Take a Giant Step

Feeling neglected by his hard-working father, Mark's friend Jamie runs away from home. He hides in a shipwreck but it is in danger of being washed out to sea in a fierce storm. Based on a hunch, Mark leads everybody to the boat and they rescue Jamie.

Survival in the Swamp

Season 1Episode 2530 min

Survival in the Swamp

Two armed criminals run into the swamp to elude the police after robbing a jewellery store. Tom, Mark and Ben are camping in the same area. While Mark and Ben are elsewhere, the fugitives force Tom to take them to another part of the swamp in his airboat to help their escape. Tom gets away from them and while they search for him, he overpowers one of them and Ben the other.

Season 1Episode 2630 min

Who's Afraid?

Right after Mark has been teased by girls on the school boat, his cousin Virginia comes to stay with the Wedloes for the weekend. Mark tries to entertain her but she is reluctant to do anything. Mark and Virginia find an old sea mine in the channel while fishing and she won't help him move it so he goes to his father for help. Virginia talks to Ellen about being afraid, and Virginia decides to face her fears by taking Ben and some rope to move the mine. When Tom hears of this, he, Mark and Boomhauer race to stop her. They get her and Ben to safety just as the mine explodes.

Greener Pastures

Season 1Episode 2730 min

Greener Pastures

Tom's boss visits and offers him the job of District Manager, which means more money, no danger, and a move to the big city. The family visits the city and are impressed by the parks, schools, office, and culture. However they are less impressed by the unfriendly people, bad traffic and rude drivers. They also would have to get rid of Ben. When they get back home they decide that they like it just where they are.

Ol' Joe's Gotta Go

Season 1Episode 2830 min

Ol' Joe's Gotta Go

Farmer Lloyd Larkin thinks local alligator Ol' Joe has turned rogue and is eating his pigs and chickens. Tom offers to catch him and move him away, enlisting the help of champion alligator wrestler Boomhauer. Mark and Ellen go fishing and discover that the pigs and chickens are actually being stolen by Larkin's farmhands. Tom captures them after a long chase and Larkin realizes Ol' Joe is harmless, and states that now ""Ol' Joe's gotta stay.""

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