Spinoza Bear

[Venilliopede]

Hello, I'm rather new here. I didn't even know this website existed until recently. Anyways, I wanted to talk about the Spinoza bear a bit, and my question is, does anyone have more info about it? I'm also very interested in hearing more of the stories that go along with it, I remember it back when I first got into Teddy Ruxpin because of a youtuber named furbylady05, who had posted videos about Spinoza.. and I have no idea what happened to that youtuber. I've had trouble finding out any more information about this bear, and it'd be great if anyone knew more about it!

[DollyPrince]

Welcome to the forums.

I used to have Spinoza Bear. I had tapes in English and Spanish..

Spinoza Bear was first made in 1985. He was a therapy bear for sick children. There were four versions of this bear.


The first version had a slightly lighter fur colour, with a white cassette player.
The second version is the most common, and had a black cassette player with Spinoza's name and logo. The tag on this version says 1985, but I believe he is really from the 1990s. Or at least he was made also during that time.
The third version had a talking book tape player with two speed settings, for the blind.
The fourth version had a CD player. He was the last one made.

The tapes are as follows:

I'm Your Friend, and My Name is Spinoza
Do You Wonder?
Hold On To Me
Dream on The Water
You Are All You Need To Be
Good Friends
Everybody Needs a Little Tenderness
Breathing Healthy, Breathing Free
New Beginnings

There were two different case styles for the cassettes. The older ones are white. The later ones are translucent. The audio is the same I believe. The CD version came with two disks. He Also came with headphones, and unlike previous versions, has no power/volume switch on his chest.

[Venilliopede]

Thank you very much!

[sparkpikachu]

Hi,

I'm new here. I got Spinoza when I was little because of my blindness. He is basically a normal teddy bear with a tape player inside him. The tape player is hidden by a zipper under his right leg. The player is attached to a cable, allowing it to be pulled out to put tapes in. Mine has play, fast-forward and stop buttons, as well as a switch to adjust the speed. it plays at normal, as well as two slower speeds. The slower speeds can make tapes sound really strange. I've never had a reason to use them . The tapes are ordinary and will work in any cassette player. Spinoza's eyes and mouth do not move at all. I'm guessing that this is partially because he's a therapy bear who was meant to be long-lasting. It also likely saves on battery usage because it only takes two AA batteries to run him. Spinoza is fairly big. He'd probably be a little over two feet tall if he were standing. A volume wheel on his chest, with a raised heart on it, doubles as  an on- off switch. He is slightly chubby, with open, inviting arms and short legs. He has fairly fine, slightly long, fur and a flat tail. Spinoza's face is covered with shorter fur and his nose is velvety in texture. The only clothing Spinoza wears is a bow tie  around his neck. I never really got into him when I was little. Part of this is  because
of his size. Also, For the longest time, nobody in my family could figure out how to make him play properly. I didn't learn why until years later. The speed switch was in the wrong position. A simple fix for a lot of frustration. Now that I understand Spinoza better, I really like him.

The stories he came with are "I'm Your Friend And My Name Is Spinoza" and "The Legend of Spinoza". The first is not really a story but a loop of one song and some dialogue.

The second describes Spinoza's creation. It takes place in an Indian village in the Great North Woods. It centers on the chief, Makwa, whose name means Bear, and his son, Crooked Moon. When Crooked Moon is seven years old, he is told to gather healing herbs for the village. He gets so many that his basket, which is too large for the seven-year-old, also becomes too heavy to carry. To avoid this, Crooked Moon stuffs his britches full of herbs to the point that walking becomes very difficult. The fact that he borrowed Makwa's favorite moccasins doesn't help. The moccasins harden from exposure to dew so the boy decides to find a plant with purple berries to soften them. This plant is extremely poisonous and can only be handled by the elders. "Just a  little couldn't hurt," the boy tells himself. Oh, how wrong he was. Crooked moon can't pull  the plant from the ground so tries to bite it off. Makwa sees what happens and attempts to stop his son but is too late. He rushes to the Medicine Man in order to find help for his gravely ill son. Unfortunately, the only sourse of hope is the Spirit Tree, which Makwa is determined to find. The tree gives the chief a branch and a horse to bring him home. The branch is meant to be carved. It takes on the shape of a bear, without the need for a blade. It grows to the size of a small child, becoming a soft and gentle symbol of Makwa's love for his son and hope for a cure. Makwa names the bear Spinoza, which came from a dream. Spinoza stays close to Crooked Moon until he wakes up. At the same time, the bear gains a heart on his chest and comes to life. The two bond until one moonlit Autumn night when Spinoza has to leave to share his stories with the world. Spinoza assures his friend that this is not because he doesn't love him, just the opposite. Crooked Moon, though saddend, gives Spinoza the ribbon he now wears, which Makwa had given Crooked moon, as a parting gift. Spinoza goes off singing:

"I'm your friend

And my name is Spinoza.

And whenever you're near me,

I feel happy inside."

It's a beautiful story and probably the longest and most engaging of the one's I've heard. Spinoza's stories are beautiful and calming but are usually quite slow-paced. Because of this, I prefer Teddy Ruxpin's stories. Too me, the idea of Teddy is more engaging because he goes on exciting adventures but can also have times where quiet is best. It also helps that his mouth and eyes move when he talks. That makes Teddy seem more alive, instead of being just a tape player.

That's all the information I can share. I hope it is helpful. Thank you for having me.

[DollyPrince]

Wow, yours came with The Legend of Spinoza! That is rather rare, especially these days. Mine had the regular story series with 9 tapes. I also had the Spanish versions of some stories.

From your description of the story, it definitely fits with the mood of the other ones. Spinoza's stories were always a little darker than any other cassette talking toy I have ever had.

[sparkpikachu]

I had no idea "The Legend Of Spinoza" was rare. I've never heard any of the other stories, though I had heard there were more. I would love the chance to hear one of those but don't know how to make that happen. By the way, did I make good descriptions of Spinoza and his story? If I can improve something, let me know.

Thanks

[DollyPrince]

You can search "Spinoza Bear" on YouTube, there are videos of some songs from his other stories. There is a particularly dark story called "Hold On To Me", where one of the characters actually dies, and the story is about Spinoza and the others grieving.

[sparkpikachu]

If anyone knows, can you tell me about some of the characters in the Spinoza stories? Are there any regular characters besides Spinoza or does each story deal with different ones?