[1] After a dangerous but victimless encounter with a giant grizzly bear during a camping trip in 1984, North Bay, Ontario resident Troy Hurtubise is inspired to research the species up close.

[2][3] A scrap-metal merchant, Hurtubise builds a space suit-like "grizzly-proof" suit of armour inspired by the film RoboCop, which he calls "Ursus Mark VI".

[2] The inventor works diligently to improve the $150,000 suit, continuously testing its resilience by subjecting himself to would-be injuries from moving automobiles and bar brawls.

[2] To aid in the capture of the film's spontaneous moments, director Peter Lynch used compact Super 16 cameras,[4] a format typically reserved for non-theatrical filmmaking.

"[12] Following the release of the film, Hurtubise was awarded the 1998 Ig Nobel Prize for Safety Engineering by the scientific humor journal Annals of Improbable Research.