About:

10/5/07: Added more villains and info on the new series.

Still planning to do a major overhaul to the Family Members list sometime soon.

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From Care-Bears.com:
The Care Bears characters were created in 1981 at American Greetings, but weren't sold as toys and other products until 1983. To keep the character program secret until it was ready to be advertised, it was called Project II by American Greetings and the company's partners. They were called this because Care Bears was the second group of characters American Greetings and these partners created—the first being the well-known and hugely successful Strawberry Shortcake characters.

From my own knowledge:
The Care Bears are a group of colorful bears (and animals; the Care Bear Cousins) that live in their home in the sky: Care-A-Lot. The Care Bear Cousins usually live in the Forest of Feelings, though. But they can also be seen living outside the Forest as well. Together, both Care-A-Lot and the Forest of Feelings make up the Kingdom of Caring.

All members of the Care Bear Family have unique symbols on their white furry bellies. With these, they can create rainbows, cloud cars, balloons, etc., to get around and to assist them in caring missions. They do have an offensive attack with the symbols, though, and that is the Stare beam. When multiple members use their Stares at once, they can really hurt the bad guys. For the Cousins, though, they have a different version of the Stare: the Cousins' Call. Different look (at least in the second movie), but same effect on the bad guys.

In Nelvana's cartoon series, the Family oversee everything on Earth. When there's trouble on the planet, usually either due to the evil wizard No Heart, some idiotic school bully bothering kids, or someone just needing help, Family members undertake caring missions in order to help whoever needed them, or stop No Heart from doing his evil plans. It's mostly due to him, as he is the Family's archenemy in the series. He wants to get rid of them once and for all, but failed every time.

In addition to the series, there's also an older cartoon series created by DiC, for up to 22 episodes. It follows very similarily to Nelvana's series, except it was much more focused on caring missions (more focused on good morales, that is) and the old Good vs Evil thing (sort of). The villain for most of this series was Professor Cold Heart, an insane ice scientist who wants to freeze everything, including feelings. But the Care Bears stopped him every time. The Care Bear Cousins are also featured in this series, and even got a solo episode of their own. Though, Brave Heart looks a bit different than his Nelvana counterpart...

Due to their fame in the 80s (starting with their TV debut specials, not made by Nelvana or DiC), the Family got themselves a few big-screen movies, all of which were made by Nelvana. They are still pumping out movies today...but they seem to suck in comparison to the old ones, IMO.

As of September 2007, a new series from DiC has debuted on CBS called "Adventures in Care-a-Lot." This series, however, departs from the other two. The Bears have a different design, the Cousins are strangely absent from it, and no caring missions are to be found...much less Earth itself. Grizzle is the villain in this one. So far, its pretty decent, IMO, despite the changes.

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Family Members:

The Care Bear Family members are as follows. Note that these don't include those who do not appear in any animated movie/series.

Care Bears:

Amigo
Bedtime
Birthday
Champ
Cheer
Friend
Funshine
Good Luck
Grumpy
Harmony
Hugs
Love A Lot
Oopsy
Perfect Panda*
Polite Panda*
Secret
Share
Tenderheart - Leader of the Bears
Tugs
Wish

*Perfect and Polite only appear in the episode "The Long Lost Care Bears" in Nelvana's series.

Care Bear Cousins:

Brave Heart Lion - Leader of the Cousins
Bright Heart Raccoon
Cozy Heart Penguin
Gentle Heart Lamb
Lotsa Heart Elephant
Loyal Heart Dog
Playful Heart Monkey
Proud Heart Cat
Swift Heart Rabbit
Treat Heart Pig

Founders/Elders (in Nelvana's universe):

True Heart Bear
Noble Heart Horse

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Villains:

Every story has an antagonist. And the cartoons and movies are no exception...

Nelvana:
Wizard No Heart:
The main villain of Nelvana's series. No Heart loathes the Care Bear Family and wants to get rid of them, so he can take over Earth with his power of uncaring. No Heart can shapeshift into many animals, usually wild and dangerous, to deal with the Family. He can also transform into a tornado to get around quickly. Usually, he has his clumsy servant Beastly to do his work for him. And in some episodes, his niece Shrieky can be seen playing a role in carrying out his plans.

DiC:
Professor Cold Heart
The main villain of DiC's series. As mentioned, he is an ice scientist that wants to freeze everything, including feelings. Accompanying with him is his rather stupid henchman, Frostbite. In some episodes, it is him who is responsible for Cold Heart's failures against the Care Bears. And in some episodes, Auntie Freeze joins the professor...sometimes in a deluding way so that he can destroy Care-a-Lot easily.

Grizzle (new series)
A brown bear with the physique of a Care Bear in a huge mechanical suit. Grizzle first appeared in the Oopsy Does It movie. He deals with mechanical stuff and has his own mechanical flying lair. Unlike No Heart and Cold Heart, Grizzle instead wants to take over Care-a-Lot.

Movies (80s only):

Dark Heart
The villain of CB Movie II: A New Generation, and my personal favorite villain of the CB franchise, due to his evilness, his voice, and his evil laugh. A boy with extraordinary powers, Dark Heart was the Family's enemy from the beginning when they were cubs. Like No Heart, he is a shapeshifter and his "power" form is a giant red cloud with the ability to shoot giant lightning bolts from himself. Dark Heart's reign and his evilness came to an end when he realized what he did to Christy, making his dark side leave him. From there, he lived life as a normal kid.

Evil Spirit Book
This evil witch with the power of magic was the villain of the first CB Movie. In it, she manipulated Nicholas to do her dirty work. But thanks to the Care Bears, she was stopped and sealed away.

Wizard of Wonderland
This wizard appeared in the third CB movie. In his plans to become King of Wonderland, the Wizard secretly captures the Princess. The rules of the world of Wonderland go like this: if the Princess is nowhere to be found, then its automatic crowning for the Wizard, which would be disastrous. In the end, the Wizard is foiled by the CB: before his trials, they switched Alice, a look-a-like, with the real Princess.

The Vizier
Appeared in the Care Bears Nutcracker Suite movie/3-part special, this villain took over Toyland by usurping the throne and turning the Prince into a nutcracker doll. Despite his henchman's, the Rat King, attempts to stop the CB and the Nutcracker, the Vizier is finally overthrown by the Prince, who returned to his former self by wearing his magic ring.

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And that's all I know of the Care Bear Family and the villains. They were my favorites back then, and they still are today, not to mention they were my inspiration for...well, I'll let you guess on that. Heh heh...

If any of this info is inaccurate, let me know.

~Sonic Star Hedgehog