Product Description

Studio: Gaiam Americas Release Date: 02/22/2005 Run time: 44 minutes Rating: Nr

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #40109 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-02-25
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Color, Dolby, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 44 minutes

From the Back Cover
Based on the beloved bestseller by Richard Adams, this stunning animated series reunites composer Mike Batt Bright Eyes and the voice talents of John Hurt and Richard Briers from the classic 1978 feature film. It follows the heartwarming and "hare-raising" adventures of a small band of renegade rabbits, who leave their endangered dwelling to make their way across the English countryside, in search of a safe new home.

Venturing out in their pursuit of the promised land, Hazel (Ian Shaw) and the other rabbits face adventure and uncertainty while meeting some new friends along the way, one of who tells them of Watership Down. Rik Mayall (The Wind in the Willows, The Young Ones) is a misplaced seagull, Kehaar, and Golden Globe nominee Jane Horrocks (Little Voice) plays the streetwise -- but accident prone--field mouse named Hannah.

Customer Reviews

Not just for kids!
Although the Watership Down TV series was giving a hard time when it first began airing on TV, that was mearly because it was "different" from the beloved book and movie. Different does NOT mean bad! I actually became interested in the TV show long before I read the book. If you watch a few episodes you will realize that a deep and interesting storyline does exist. It complents and extends the book. The second season of the series featured better character animation though roughened up designs. The first season was a touch "lighter" than the second, though both are amazing, and can be enjoyed by EVERYONE.

I am 19 years old and clearly I love this "kids" series. My mother, who hates animation, enjoys it as well. I have recorded every single episode to ever air in Canada and could not be more pleased that it is being released on this side of the ocean (many Watership Down products are/were available throughout Europe. It was quite big in Germany).

I can only hope that they release every episode and not just the "best of" (as was done in Germany and I believe the UK as well), because it is a flowing series. There are very few stand-alone episodes. Still though, anything is better than nothing :)

One of my favourite kid's series'
I first watched the Watership Down TV series when it aired in the UK in 2000 to 2001. At the time I was more drawn to the "fluffy bunny" genre, but now I realise the large amount of British celebrities who lent their voices to the characters. Some may find it distracting, but I enjoyed listening.

The story, in case you didn't already know, is about a group of rabbits travelling accross the English countryside, led by a vision, to reach a safe haven in "the high, lonely hills". The journey is perilous enough, and when they arrive, there are a few unexpected surprises...

In this day and age, almost all kid's programs seem to be computer animated, but Watership Down opted for traditional, hand-drawn animation, and the results are very pleasing, with bright colours, and some truly fanatstic animation in spots.

The story brings this down to four stars though. The original Watership Down (the book and the film) was painfully frightening and sad, a little funny, and very, very touching. But the stories have been altered and re-written with a young audience in mind (7 - 13 yr olds). Yes, it results in some pleasant, disney-esque animation replacing the dull, inconsistent browns of the film, but the storyline suffers. Not much blood appears for the first ten episodes, and the more frightening scenes, such as when one rabbit is caught in a snare, are toned down so much that the original brutality is lost. I'm not in favour of rabbit abuse or anything, I just think that keeping the scary scenes the way they were meant to be would have carried a stronger message. Also, the smallest rabbit, Pipkin, has been changed from just small in size in the original story, to being a BABY in the series. The intelligent rabbit Blackberry has also been changed from a male to a female, and the doe Hyzenthlay has been renamed "Primrose", probably to avoid pronounciation problems.

But the music is great. Mike batt, who composed the original score of the film, returned to write new music and songs for the series. And even the great Andrew Lloyd Webber contributed by writing an extra instrumental track, "In fields of sun". The cast is also excellent. Listen out for John Hurt (who starred as Hazel in the original film decades ago) return to voice General Woundwort, and Stephen Fry is genuinely frightening as the insane rabbit Cowslip. Other voices worth mentioning are Rik Mayall, who puts on the strangest voice possible for Keehar the gull, and Steve Mangan (who has recently been revealed as a comic genius in the innovative channel 4 comedy "Green Wing") is pompous and aggressive as Bigwig. My two favourite voices were Phil Jupitus and Lee Ross, who play Hawkbit and Dandelion providing the comic relief.

The young at heart among us will certainly enjoy this sweet series, but those of us who prefer a litle more.... drama in our animal dramas, may be better off staying home and watching the film instead.

Excellent
Worth watching over and over again. Great for kids of all ages.