# Watership Down



## beeboo (Oct 1, 2006)

On Film4 tomorrow night.

Officially the Film Most Likely To Make Me Cry

But I love it so I'll be watching it anyway. 

Any other fans?

I must have seen it dozens of times when I was a kid and cried for hours every time


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## cyberfairy (Oct 1, 2006)

What a coincidence-just watched a tiny clip of it on ch 4, the bit where the rabbit dies and suddenly got all teary to the sounds of Art Garfunkel -been a traumatised mess ever since I first saw it at the age of seven-fuck Childs Play-this has to be the most horrific tragic film ever


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## AnMarie (Oct 1, 2006)

eeek if Watership Down makes you cry the Plague Dogs will prolly too http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084509/


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## rhod (Oct 1, 2006)

Lovely film, and a good book too.

However, whenever anybody mentions Watership Down, my first mental image is of this little fella






Matthew Butler, child singing-superstar from the rather excellent TiswasOnline


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## beeboo (Oct 1, 2006)

AnMarie said:
			
		

> eeek if Watership Down makes you cry the Plague Dogs will prolly too http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084509/



oh gawd, saw that once and was very traumatised!


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## Groucho (Oct 1, 2006)

No. No way am I going to watch it. Bright Eyes is just horrible. The whole thing is horrible. My girlfriend at school was reading it. Then the single hit no. 1. No. It is just too horrible.


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## trashpony (Oct 1, 2006)

Groucho said:
			
		

> No. No way am I going to watch it. Bright Eyes is just horrible. The whole thing is horrible. My girlfriend at school was reading it. Then the single hit no. 1. No. It is just too horrible.



I liked the book (once I'd got over the shock of rabbits talking) but the song makes me want to shoot people so I've never seen the film.

Good use of the word horrible there Groucho


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## Firky (Oct 1, 2006)

Watch Plague Dogs, that will fuck you up for life 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Plague_Dogs_(fim)


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## Wookey (Oct 1, 2006)

I had to be taken out of the cinema aged 5 in fits of tears first time I saw that...still makes me well up....

The wabbits that is, not the Plague Dogs.


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## electrogirl (Oct 1, 2006)

And it's scary! When Fiver has all thos premonitions, and the horrible rabbit cove with the evil rabbits. And the rats!  

I like the Seagull though, he is cool. Piiiiiiiss offffffff!


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## beeboo (Oct 1, 2006)

Was looking for a picture of when the black rabbit comes to take Hazel away, and even the bloody pictures make me cry. 






My boyfriend will sing bits of Bright Eyes at inopportune moments just to get me to well up.  Works every bleedin' time, like Pavlov's Dog with me


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## Louloubelle (Oct 1, 2006)

I saw the clip on TV and was blubbing like a baby  

It's a great film, as is the plague dogs. 

I've got the plague dogs on DVD, just in case anyone wants to borrow it and mess their life up.  If you borrow it you have to promise to pass it on to another urbanite and keep the misery alive.


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## Looby (Oct 1, 2006)

I will never watch that film again, it makes me howl. 

Also, since watching at a friends house  when I was ickle and his mum making me eat these minging sandwiches, everytime I think of Watership Down I get the taste of bacon paste in my mouth and I feel sick.


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## i_hate_beckham (Oct 1, 2006)

Never made me cry or sad but it is bloody good.


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## Herbsman. (Oct 2, 2006)

You bastards. I am actually welling up now, just because I _imagined_ the Bright Eyes song. 

Fucking hate that film and wish I had never seen it. It must be a bloody good film to have such an effect on people.

I found the bits at the beginning and end really scary as a kid... you know the strangely-drawn bits where the sun is talking to the rabbits?

Fuck


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## Herbsman. (Oct 2, 2006)

All the world will be your enemy,
Prince with a Thousand Enemies,
and when they catch you, they will kill you...

But first they must catch you.


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## Herbsman. (Oct 2, 2006)

What a fucking horrible film


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## red rose (Oct 2, 2006)

What he said ^ its fucking awful


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## Firky (Oct 2, 2006)

serious, you think that is bad - watch plague dogs. it isn't as violent or graphic as watership down, just far more poignant - excellent film, but so fucking dark.


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## Firky (Oct 2, 2006)

Herbsman. said:
			
		

> You bastards. I am actually welling up now, just because I _imagined_ the Bright Eyes song.
> 
> Fucking hate that film and wish I had never seen it. It must be a bloody good film to have such an effect on people.
> 
> ...



WATCH PLAGUE DOGS!


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## Firky (Oct 2, 2006)

Louloubelle said:
			
		

> I've got the plague dogs on DVD, just in case anyone wants to borrow it and mess their life up.  If you borrow it you have to promise to pass it on to another urbanite and keep the misery alive.



I made tp watch it and I cried - she didn't  

Excellent film though.



> The Plague Dogs is as close to an animated horror film as I've seen, and by golly it's got enough menace, blood, and death for any live-action one.  Many viewers will find it preachy, though the film is nowhere near as preachy as the book.  It's way too nasty for young kids, and adults are likely to find many parts of it pretty uncomfortable viewing, but it's definitely worth a look.


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## kakuma (Oct 2, 2006)

it's wierd, cos it isn't that horrific, but it scares the fuck out of everyone


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## i_hate_beckham (Oct 2, 2006)

riot sky said:
			
		

> WATCH PLAGUE DOGS!


Where can i see it?


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## kakuma (Oct 2, 2006)

personally i love the bits with the sun god and the way that the rabbits have pretty believable personalities, i just hate the bit where the little one cracks up when they are hiding in the tunnels


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## electrogirl (Oct 2, 2006)

Ninjaboy said:
			
		

> it's wierd, cos it isn't that horrific, but it scares the fuck out of everyone


I reckon it's because it's mistakely portrayed as a kids film. I remember going round someone's house with my dad to buy a guitar and the blokes wife sat me in front of watership down. When my dad said it was time to go I had gone white with the trauma.

Blood in rabbit tunnels? Evil scary killer rabbits? That's a shock for an 8 year old expecting fluffy bunnies.


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## Stigmata (Oct 2, 2006)

It's fucking ace, I got it on DVD and inflicted it on my housemates.  

Although the bit with the destruction of the warren still freaks me out a bit. Something about the tunnels being blocked with corpses.


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## beeboo (Oct 2, 2006)

Herbsman. said:
			
		

> All the world will be your enemy,
> Prince with a Thousand Enemies,
> and when they catch you, they will kill you...
> 
> But first they must catch you.



aww, that bit makes me cry too.  


My other half said they had to watch it in school   I don't think I could have coped!  I'd would have had to be sent home!


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## Donna Ferentes (Oct 2, 2006)

Anyone for Shardik?


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## Herbsman. (Oct 2, 2006)

TBH IIRC I may have still been in nursery school (i.e. between the age of 3 and 5) when I watched it 

My mum let me watch it at home for some reason, maybe because she didn't know how bad it was, or maybe she had a clue but let me watch it anyway because I pestered her (she probably just thought "cartoon with rabbits in, can't be a bad thing, it'll shut him up for an hour or two" / "horrific cartoon that will leave him disturbed for life, but worth it if is shuts him up for an hour or two") . If she did know she's a **** for letting me watch it!!! MUM I HOPE YOU'RE READING THIS!!!!


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## May Kasahara (Oct 2, 2006)

I'm sure I never saw this all the way through until quite recently. It's ace, especially without the scarring effects of having seen it in childhood.

The book is amazing as well, I only read that a few years ago. It's pretty funny to think that such a sensitive and inventive excursion into the natural world could have come from the same pen that wrote Maia, a 1000+page fantasy-type epic saga that is almost entirely based around endless amounts of kinky sex. I, er, reread that one a few times (it was in my school library!)


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## equationgirl (Oct 2, 2006)

It was the first film I ever saw at school - there was an after school film club. I cried.

It still makes me cry nearly 30 years later. It's a brilliant film.

And its true, the Black Rabbit came for our pet rabbits


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## Wintermute (Oct 2, 2006)

I quite like Watership Down  Bigwig rocks. And it's quite a heartwarming story, even if there's a few nasty scenes.

Never heard of Plague Dogs, but:




			
				Wikipedia said:
			
		

> Rowf is the subject of a "survival endurance test" that involves placing a rock in his stomach and then forcing him to swim in a tank of water until he almost drowns. _Snitter's brain was operated on to confuse the subjective with the objective in his mind._



So... one gets to do the rock-swimming thing, and the other.... gets a bit confused over grammar? Those inhuman bastards


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## Stigmata (Oct 2, 2006)

Herbsman. said:
			
		

> All the world will be your enemy,
> Prince with a Thousand Enemies,
> and when they catch you, they will kill you...
> 
> But first they must catch you.



"...digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed."


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## dylanredefined (Oct 2, 2006)

loved the book and the film and the pie  











  my coat? "how kind"


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## bluestreak (Oct 2, 2006)

it has been one of my favourite films ever since i was a kid.  

i wish it was on terrestrial.


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## bluestreak (Oct 2, 2006)

Donna Ferentes said:
			
		

> Anyone for Shardik?



not until they turn it into a cartoon.


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## Jenerys (Oct 2, 2006)

Herbsman. said:
			
		

> All the world will be your enemy,
> Prince with a Thousand Enemies,
> and when they catch you, they will kill you...
> 
> But first they must catch you.


*gulps back sobs*


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## Jenerys (Oct 2, 2006)

Stigmata said:
			
		

> "...digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed."


oh god 

*sobs*


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## Pieface (Oct 2, 2006)

Donna Ferentes said:
			
		

> Anyone for Shardik?



tried to read that when I was a kid and just got confused - I think I was a bit young - I picked it up off the back of seeing Watership Down.

I _love _books with talking animals - a bit of anthropomorphisation never did anyone any harm.  Well.........apart from this little fella: 







  Poor dogs in outfits


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## beeboo (Oct 2, 2006)

PieEye said:
			
		

> I _love _books with talking animals - a bit of anthropomorphisation never did anyone any harm.



You want to read Timbuktu  (or the Animals of Farthing Wood  )


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## kakuma (Oct 2, 2006)

i used to love redwall when i was a kid, but i probably wouldn't now


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## Pieface (Oct 2, 2006)

I loved that one too.  Mice in a monastery, what the fuck is that all about then?


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## beeboo (Oct 2, 2006)

Redwell, yes! I'd forgotten all about that!  I was completely addicted to those books.


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## Macabre (Oct 2, 2006)

This was the only film to scare the shit our of me as a child.  I used to love all the eighties horror and violent films as a nipper but psycic bunnys having visions of blood washing over the land, rabbits ripping each other apart and then watching the ghost leave the body *shudders* Mite give it another go now Im old.


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## Badgers (Oct 2, 2006)

Love Watership both as a book and film. Was probably my most re-read book as a kid and I still watch the film from time to time. 

Like the Plague Dogs too but confess to not watching the film. I take it I am missing out here?


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## DotCommunist (Oct 2, 2006)

Film: scary and unsettling
Book:deeply moving and thought provoking. the part where they encounter semi-tame rabbits who have submitted to being fed by man in exchange for the occaisonal rabbit caught in a trap is the most horrible thing I've read in a long time


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## Santino (Oct 2, 2006)

I missed the bit where God (Michael Horden) creates rabbits. That's the best bit!


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## Stigmata (Oct 2, 2006)

DotCommunist said:
			
		

> Film: scary and unsettling
> Book:deeply moving and thought provoking. the part where they encounter semi-tame rabbits who have submitted to being fed by man in exchange for the occaisonal rabbit caught in a trap is the most horrible thing I've read in a long time



It's in the film too, although it's taken me until now to realise that's what's going on.


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## Santino (Oct 2, 2006)

That Cowslip's a wrong'un.


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## felixthecat (Oct 2, 2006)

May Kasahara said:
			
		

> The book is amazing as well, I only read that a few years ago. It's pretty funny to think that such a sensitive and inventive excursion into the natural world could have come from the same pen that wrote Maia, a 1000+page fantasy-type epic saga that is almost entirely based around endless amounts of kinky sex. I, er, reread that one a few times (it was in my school library!)



I bought Maia in a charity shop cos  my daughter  is also called Maia - and then I read it. 

I hope my young'un doesn't turn out like the Maia in that book  !


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## beeboo (Oct 2, 2006)

Alex B said:
			
		

> I missed the bit where God (Michael Horden) creates rabbits. That's the best bit!





Fingers crossed the digi-box-thingy worked tonight and I've got it recorded.

*packs tissues and heads home*


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## Santino (Oct 2, 2006)

beeboo said:
			
		

> *packs tissues and heads home*


PREVERT!


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## Biddlybee (Oct 2, 2006)

beeboo said:
			
		

> *packs tissues and heads home*


 you're till at work?


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## beeboo (Oct 2, 2006)

BiddlyBee said:
			
		

> you're till at work?



yup...just waiting for some downloads then home on the last train


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## AnMarie (Oct 3, 2006)

btw just in case people hadnt noticed Watership Down and The Plague Dogs had the same Director and Writers.

For I Hate Beckham...
You asked where you could get a copy of The Plague Dogs...I bought a copy via  Amazon uk a few months back and yep you can still get hold of a copy...
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Plague-Dogs...ref=pd_ka_1/026-9171412-5708423?ie=UTF8&s=dvd


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## May Kasahara (Oct 3, 2006)

felixthecat said:
			
		

> I bought Maia in a charity shop cos  my daughter  is also called Maia - and then I read it.
> 
> I hope my young'un doesn't turn out like the Maia in that book  !





I learned quite a lot about myself, reading that


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## Tank Girl (Oct 3, 2006)

I cried 

my daughter was still too scared to watch it all the way through, which I thought was quite sweet


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## BadlyDrawnGirl (Oct 3, 2006)

Fascinating fact: Watership Down is a real place, near Kingsclere in Hampshire:






The animation in the film is true to the area as well, with the A34 Winchester-to-Newbury road often visible, snaking through the valley.


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## Stigmata (Oct 3, 2006)

Tis true, it's a local landmark.

It's lucky he didn't call it _Twyford Down_.


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## BadlyDrawnGirl (Oct 3, 2006)

Stigmata said:
			
		

> Tis true, it's a local landmark.
> 
> It's lucky he didn't call it _Twyford Down_.


True dat...  






^ ^ ^ What the fuckers did.


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## Stigmata (Oct 3, 2006)

Sitting at home, I can hear the bypass traffic right now.  

Still lots of bunnies about though.


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## BadlyDrawnGirl (Oct 3, 2006)

Stigmata said:
			
		

> Still lots of bunnies about though.


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## Tank Girl (Oct 3, 2006)

god, my heart sinks everytime I see that


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## Badgers (Feb 5, 2011)

Saturday breakfast film. They have just met Cowslip!!!!


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## Kaka Tim (Feb 5, 2011)

One of my favourite books. When i was a kid and now. 

Film makes a pretty good fist of it as well.

Dark, scary and disturbing - and bigwigs last stand always gives me a lump in my throat.


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## Geri (Feb 5, 2011)

I can't bring myself to watch this - I think it would be too upsetting.  It took me quite a few months to pluck up the courage to watch Au Hasard Balthazar.


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## maya (Feb 5, 2011)

This book was in the 'grown-ups' section of our local library when i was 9, yet still I managed to find it and become utterly traumatised  
But it's a great book, the way he invents a mythology and culture for these animals, to make us empathise with their plight- & when El-ahrairah came for Hazel, I was in tears. Beautiful.

Visiting relatives in Sweden, i found the swedish version of the film, and on the back of the DVD the synopsis cheerfully read: "a sweet and fun(!)story about rabbits finding a new home"... um, I think they lost something in translation... (Or maybe the person writing the blurb on the back doesn't actually have to see the film- suckerss)

Re: Swedes-> Bo Hansson made a concept album about Watership Down, playing the hammond organ. Unfortunately it's shit. But his LP "Lord of the Rings" is great.
I have to stop killing this thread now


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## Captain Hurrah (Feb 5, 2011)

"There's no white bird here, Bigwig."


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## Steel Icarus (Feb 5, 2011)

Queued round the block 3 nights running before getting in to the pictures to see it. Most upsetting.

Watched it last about 5 years ago. Sobbing like fuck at the end. "If they catch you, they will kill you...but first they must catch you".


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## Captain Hurrah (Feb 5, 2011)

Prince with a thousand enemies.  

"But first they must catch you; digger, listener, runner, Prince with the swift warning. Be cunning, and full of tricks, and your people will never be destroyed."


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## Steel Icarus (Feb 5, 2011)

Just made the mistake of watching the end on YouTube. Need to go and hug my baby for a bit.


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## Stigmata (Feb 5, 2011)

Fucking Bigwig is the man


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## Shippou-Sensei (Feb 6, 2011)

when i rewatched it  later on i wasn't so traumatised

but useually  i steer clear of anything  that i know  will just really depress me

this is why i have never watched grave of the fireflies even though i'm an anime completest 

actually  loads of shows i love  are actually a bit  messed up....


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## Kaka Tim (Feb 6, 2011)

How the fuck is watership down depressing?

Poignant and sad yes. Dark, threatening, frightening and sinister at times. But the protaganists overcome these formiddle obstacles through guile, wit, whatever the rabbit equivalent of 'humanitiy' is and indomitable courage - like in any other classic adventure/hero story.


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## Shippou-Sensei (Feb 6, 2011)

watership down isn't really depressing hence why i can watch it  without too much trauma  

there is a little death  and a somewhat bleak outlook  but  still has optimism

the optiomisom bit  is why i can still watch eva... that  and enile...  lots of denile...


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## elbows (Feb 6, 2011)

rhod said:


> However, whenever anybody mentions Watership Down, my first mental image is of this little fella
> 
> Matthew Butler, child singing-superstar from the rather excellent TiswasOnline


 
Osymyso remix.



When I was ickle some friends ame round to watch this but it was rather spoilt because one of their parents told them the ending so they wouldnt get so upset! And of course the kid had a big gob and spoilt it for the rest of us.

Personally Im more into When The Wind Blows.


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## Artaxerxes (Feb 8, 2011)

Been reading the book for the second or third time over last couple of nights on the graveyard shift, just finished it and trying not to cry.

Brilliant book


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## ginger_syn (Feb 8, 2011)

I loath this film. The book is brilliant and I am on my third copy of it because the previous  two fell apart . The plague dogs is also an amazingly moving book but have not watched the film partly  because of the total cock up that watership down was turned into.


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## Badgers (Dec 12, 2011)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-16135594



> Campaigners are calling on a Berkshire council to stop plans to build 2,000 homes on an area that featured in the novel Watership Down.


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## Badgers (Dec 13, 2011)

Richard Adams getting involved


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## Ax^ (Dec 13, 2011)




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## Badgers (Dec 13, 2011)

For Frith's sake, we need petitions


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## Badgers (Feb 18, 2013)

Sleep well Fiver


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## cesare (Feb 18, 2013)




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## Firky (Feb 18, 2013)

Was it the Animals of Farthing Wood that were subject to social cleansing?


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## DotCommunist (Feb 18, 2013)

Badgers said:


> For Frith's sake, we need petitions


 

Set the Black Rabbit of Inle on the developer cunts, shit em up


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## Greebo (Feb 18, 2013)

firky said:


> Was it the Animals of Farthing Wood that were subject to social cleansing?


Yes, well remembered.


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## Badgers (Feb 18, 2013)




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## cesare (Feb 18, 2013)




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## DotCommunist (Feb 18, 2013)

Its not sad- Hazels lived a long life and set up a thriving warren against all odds


'Don't you know me?'

'yes my lord'


*Art Garfunkel*


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## cesare (Feb 18, 2013)

It's still sad today.


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## TheHoodedClaw (Feb 18, 2013)

"It seemed to Hazel that he would not be needing his body any more, so he left it on the edge of the ditch"


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## Geri (Feb 18, 2013)

I've never been able to watch this.


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## Badgers (Feb 18, 2013)

I have barely seen or spoken to anyone I went to school with. The one time I did meet a girl from my year she could not remember my name, just knew me as 'the boy who always had a copy of Watership Down in his hand'


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## DotCommunist (Feb 18, 2013)

if Efrafra was a metaphor for nazi regimes then surely Cowslips Warren was a metaphor for liberal democracies


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## Santino (Feb 18, 2013)

DotCommunist said:


> if Efrafra was a metaphor for nazi regimes then surely Cowslips Warren was a metaphor for liberal democracies


The welfare trap. Living on handouts.


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## moody (Feb 18, 2013)

sad film,


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## kalidarkone (Feb 18, 2013)

Fiver....


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## Ceej (Feb 20, 2013)

I did the book for O-Level - loved it, but found the film a bit too traumatic -  even the drawings had a nightmare quality.

Re talking animal books/films - James Herbert's Fluke. The book is superb - about a dog who thinks he's a man...or maybe a man who thinks he's a dog.


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## DotCommunist (Feb 20, 2013)

ironically its also a fluke in that its the only book worthy of note Herbert ever wrote.

Although I still have guilty pleasure time for '48, his post apoc nazi nonsense in london.


excellent movie of Fluke as well, very 'made for TV' production values but gets the heart of the novel regardless


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## Artaxerxes (Apr 28, 2016)

A remake is due apparently, I do not approve.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/dystopian-rabbit-masterpiece-watership-down-returns-as-1773577647


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## Vintage Paw (Apr 28, 2016)

I do not approve either.

The film is pitch perfect.

However, since it will be 4 1 hour episodes, they are saying they will have more time to go into detail.

But it won't have John Hurt and Richard Briers so it can fuck off.


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## DotCommunist (Apr 28, 2016)

I'll decide when I see what they do with bigwig and woundwort, animation and voice wise. I expect the story to be faithful otherwise I will not enjoy. I bet keehar won't swear in this one


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## Ax^ (Apr 29, 2016)

Blackavar better not die this time


*shakes fist at the sky*






saying that its sounds like they going to water it down and make it a bit more of the pc variety of  kids friendly


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## Kaka Tim (Apr 29, 2016)

Ben Kingsley is in it apparently. 

But will it be Ghandi ben kingsley as hazel? Or psycho kingsley - a la sexy beast -  as Woundwort. "No? Bigwig? No? Dont fucking say fucking no to  me! you fucking long eared spunk bubble!"


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## Monkeygrinder's Organ (Apr 29, 2016)

Ax^ said:


> saying that its sounds like they going to water it down and make it a bit more of the pc variety of  kids friendly



WTF? What's the point of Watership Down if it's not going to traumatise small children?


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## Kaka Tim (Apr 29, 2016)

But yeah - it sounds like it will be bobbins. I dont really class it as a kids book - its 12 plus stuff really. But bunny rabbits - "aahhhh" -  so - tiny tots crying at rabbits being gassed to death and shit.


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## keybored (Apr 29, 2016)

Monkeygrinder's Organ said:


> WTF? What's the point of Watership Down if it's not going to traumatise small children?


First film I heard a bad word in as a small child. I was delighted.


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## Greebo (Apr 29, 2016)

Kaka Tim said:


> But yeah - it sounds like it will be bobbins. I dont really class it as a kids book - its 12 plus stuff really. But bunny rabbits - "aahhhh" -  so - tiny tots crying at rabbits being gassed to death and shit.


I wouldn't say it has to be that old, I'd say 8ish and upwards (more probably 10+) providing that the reader is free to stop if they find it upsetting, and with adult support/supervision for some.  The violence (and description of injuries) is pretty graphic, but it's not gratuitous.  Anyway, the length of the book would deter a lot of the youngest readers, unless they're younger than their so-called reading age.


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## gosub (Apr 29, 2016)

telegraph has columnist saying it should be disneyfied, guardian one saying leave it.  Would have thought the other way round.

it was harrowing, made me cry but a great film that didn't need remaking


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## keybored (Apr 29, 2016)

Artaxerxes said:


> A remake is due apparently, I do not approve.
> 
> http://io9.gizmodo.com/dystopian-rabbit-masterpiece-watership-down-returns-as-1773577647


I just realised they already tried this once.


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## Mab (Apr 29, 2016)

A masterpiece And yes so harrowing.


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## Badgers (May 3, 2018)

James McAvoy, John Boyega, Nicholas Hoult Join Netflix-BBC’s ‘Watership Down’


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## Badgers (May 21, 2018)

On the Unsettling Allure of ‘Watership Down’


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## Badgers (May 24, 2018)

11 Fascinating Facts About <em>Watership Down</em>


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## DotCommunist (May 24, 2018)

Badgers said:


> 11 Fascinating Facts About <em>Watership Down</em>


https://io9.gizmodo.com/this-fan-trailer-is-a-beautiful-ode-to-the-haunted-beau-1826168848


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## Badgers (Jun 5, 2018)

CFP


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## Pickman's model (Jun 5, 2018)

Badgers said:


> I have barely seen or spoken to anyone I went to school with. The one time I did meet a girl from my year she could not remember my name, just knew me as 'the boy who always had a copy of Watership Down in his hand'


not surprised it was an important book for you


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## Badgers (Oct 27, 2018)

The Legacy of Watership Down


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## Pickman's model (Oct 27, 2018)

Badgers said:


> The Legacy of Watership Down


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## A380 (Oct 28, 2018)

As long as the remake has Bright Eyes as the theme song.

All together: “ how can a light that burned so brightly suddenly burn so pale? Bright eyes...”


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## Artaxerxes (Oct 28, 2018)

Series is out at Christmas apparently.

Watership Down Netflix Season 1: What you need to know - What's on Netflix

I'd be very happy if it's just wall to wall traumatic rabbit butchery on 25th December because it'd be hilarious, I'm sure they'll bottle it though.


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## A380 (Oct 28, 2018)

Artaxerxes said:


> ...wall to wall traumatic rabbit butchery ...



I might get that in a tee-shirt.

Suddenly burn so pale, bright eyes.


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## Kaka Tim (Oct 29, 2018)

Badgers said:


> 11 Fascinating Facts About <em>Watership Down</em>




some quite interesting stuff their - Richard Adams fought at Arnhem - maybe why the whole bit when the warren is attacked by the efrafans and they fight tooth and nail (or claw) against overwhelming odds is so compelling. He also based bigwig and hazel on officers who he fought alongside. 
another thing i find interesting about the connection is that at the age of 11 my two favorite books were _Watership Down_ and _A Bridge too Far _(about the battle of Arnhem)


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## Duncan2 (Oct 29, 2018)

I guess it might have been in Private Eye but recall reading that it so happened that Adams and Denning found themselves exiting the church together one Sunday(Both men lived in Whitchurch). Adams apparently said "here we stand-the two most famous men in the village".To which,after a pause,Denning replied "I know who I am"- and walked off.


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## Epona (Oct 30, 2018)

I absolutely love Watership Down (the book) - it has a haunting/disturbing quality to it.  The film was disturbing also (although it was no Plague Dogs, which I think is one of the most horrific things I have ever watched).

Is anyone else fed up with constant remakes/re-imaginings?  I will give it a try, but I am starting to feel a little jaded.


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## DotCommunist (Oct 30, 2018)

remakes of things that were first out when I was 16. Taking the rise there I think.


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## krtek a houby (Oct 30, 2018)

Epona said:


> I absolutely love Watership Down (the book) - it has a haunting/disturbing quality to it.  The film was disturbing also (although it was no Plague Dogs, which I think is one of the most horrific things I have ever watched).
> 
> Is anyone else fed up with constant remakes/re-imaginings?  I will give it a try, but I am starting to feel a little jaded.



Hollywood and television have been doing remakes forever. I have no real problem with them if they're decent efforts.


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## Epona (Oct 30, 2018)

krtek a houby said:


> Hollywood and television have been doing remakes forever. I have no real problem with them if they're decent efforts.



Hollywood and television haven't even existed forever, so I feel that is going a little far...


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## Epona (Oct 30, 2018)

There are very few books from which I remember the first line.  I believe the first line of Watership Down is "The primroses were over".

The Go Between has a very memorable first line though


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## Badgers (Oct 30, 2018)

> The four-part CGI animated mini-series will air sometime during the winter period in 2018, most likely during Christmas scheduling. The series will premier on BBC1 in the UK, and on Netflix for international viewers.


Watership Down - What's it about, who's in the cast and when's it on TV?

I fear disappointment but will be watching.


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## Badgers (Oct 30, 2018)

Wikipedia suggesting it will start on 25/12


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## Epona (Oct 30, 2018)

I think once they showed the film on TV over easter and got a huge amount of complaints - it really isn't a sweet film for kiddies.  It's a harrowing and thought provoking film for older folks.

I will wait and see what this serialised remake is like.  I hope it is dark.


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## Badgers (Oct 30, 2018)

Epona said:


> I think once they showed the film on TV over easter and got a huge amount of complaints - it really isn't a sweet film for kiddies.  It's a harrowing and thought provoking film for older folks.
> 
> I will wait and see what this serialised remake is like.  I hope it is dark.


It won't be


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## DotCommunist (Oct 30, 2018)

if they write woundwort as a thinly vieled trump allegory I swear to god I will.....


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## Epona (Oct 30, 2018)

Badgers said:


> It won't be



That is actually more my worry, that they will have sanitised it


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## krtek a houby (Oct 30, 2018)

Epona said:


> Hollywood and television haven't even existed forever, so I feel that is going a little far...



Ah, you know what I mean


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## Artaxerxes (Oct 30, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> if they write woundwort as a thinly vieled trump allegory I swear to god I will.....



But Bigwig is the one with the wig


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## Kaka Tim (Oct 31, 2018)

Kaka Tim said:


> Ben Kingsley is in it apparently.
> 
> But will it be Ghandi ben kingsley as hazel? Or psycho kingsley - a la sexy beast -  as Woundwort. "No? Bigwig? No? Dont fucking say fucking no to  me! you fucking long eared spunk bubble!"



excellent - it seems Kingsley is the voice of General Woundwort. "i'll blind him .. the cunt"


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## Duncan2 (Nov 1, 2018)

Kaka Tim said:


> excellent - it seems Kingsley is the voice of General Woundwort. "i'll blind him .. the cunt"


I don't remember that-must get out my copy again if I can find it.


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## Crispy (Nov 5, 2018)

First images from the new version. Um.


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## JimW (Nov 5, 2018)

Looks like screencaps from from a Skyrim rabbit mod


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## Badgers (Nov 5, 2018)

FFS it is going to be like that Peter Rabbit shit isn't it


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## krtek a houby (Nov 5, 2018)

If it turns out like _Isle of Dogs_ or_ Fantastic Mr Fox_, I'm good with that.


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## Crispy (Nov 5, 2018)

FMrF had a $40m budget for 88 minutes - about $450k/minute.
This however, is 240 minutes for $20m - about $80/minute. Also, not directed by Wes Anderson.

EDIT: 4 hours, not 2. No wonder it looks shit.


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## krtek a houby (Nov 5, 2018)

Crispy said:


> FMrF had a $40m budget for 88 minutes - about $450k/minute.
> This however, is 120 minutes for $20m - about $160k/minute. Also, not directed by Wes Anderson.



Yeah, it would probably be more PT Anderson if there was any justice


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## Reno (Nov 5, 2018)

The director of this is only notable for having directed the crap sequel to the Zach Snyder shit show _300_ and this looks like _300_ with rabbits. On a tv budget.


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## Artaxerxes (Nov 5, 2018)

Crispy said:


> FMrF had a $40m budget for 88 minutes - about $450k/minute.
> This however, is 240 minutes for $20m - about $80/minute. Also, not directed by Wes Anderson.
> 
> EDIT: 4 hours, not 2. No wonder it looks shit.



Not directed by Wes Anderson is always a bonus.



Reno said:


> The director of this is only notable for having directed the crap sequel to the Zach Snyder shit show _300_ and this looks like _300_ with rabbits. On a tv budget.



Expect when its not.


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## Reno (Nov 5, 2018)

Artaxerxes said:


> Expect when its not.


Huh ?


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## Badgers (Dec 5, 2018)




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## Kaka Tim (Dec 23, 2018)

anyone watch it? managed about 15 minutes - posh people over acting, dialogue changed from the book to make it sound like a shit action movie version of peter rabbit, crap CGI makes it look like aforementioned skyrim - film just does everything much better - so no point watching this at all really.


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## DotCommunist (Dec 23, 2018)

just glad Hurt didn't live to see see this


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## Kaka Tim (Dec 23, 2018)

or richard adams


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## Argonia (Dec 23, 2018)

I quite enjoyed it but would like to see the film again to compare it.


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## Argonia (Dec 23, 2018)

Haven't cried yet though


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## Ax^ (Dec 23, 2018)

So been Christmas shopping and already thought i'd be disappointed

is this worth catching up on


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## PursuedByBears (Dec 23, 2018)

The book is amazing, the original film is good, this looks shit. Actually that's the law of diminishing returns for every book adaptation ever


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## Weller (Dec 23, 2018)

Wanted to like it but pretty poor all round the voices had little emotion and most annoying was the constant music sound track which never really seemed to fit cant remember what the music score was like in original too much but this was all over the place imho  no bright eyes in this one either
Going to watch original plague dogs and watership down animations tomorrow	with nephew and niece as this reminded me so expecting  a few tears
Little to recommend in this version


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## Ax^ (Dec 23, 2018)

how old are nieces and nephew


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## Weller (Dec 23, 2018)

Ax^ said:


> how old are nieces and nephew


whats it rated at they are over 8  but then I think I cried a little a few years back at the plague dogs ending we watch a few animations together though and watched when the wind blows too which did cause a bit of controversy when my sister fund out


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## Ax^ (Dec 23, 2018)

its not what its rated at 

but it will be a bit of shock to kids brought up on overfluffy kids movies

would show it to the sister kids but she banned me


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## Reno (Dec 24, 2018)

Watched 20 minutes of the Netflix series and can’t believe how poor the CGI and animation was. Looks like a poor video game. Character design and art direction could not be more generic. Why did they get a director with no experience in animation ?


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## Badgers (Dec 24, 2018)

DotCommunist said:


> just glad Hurt didn't live to see see this





Kaka Tim said:


> or richard adams


 

Not sure I can watch it


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## Epona (Dec 25, 2018)

I've just finished watching it, it was ok but there wasn't much emotion in either the animation or the delivery of the dialogue- dialogue was often too fast and without much emphasis, even though there was something dramatic supposedly going on.

Overall I preferred the original film (book>film>miniseries in that order).  I quite liked that at the end when the little ones ask for a story about Hazel-rah, the storyteller is reciting the start of the novel ("The primroses were over..." etc is IMO a very memorable opening to a novel).  I can't recall whether the original film did that, it's been years since I saw it.  What I do remember is how much more dramatic the performances were though - from Fiver keeling over and having seizures during which his terrifying visions appeared, or the menace of General Woundwort, or the sheer horror of the scene where the original warren is gassed, the black rabbit of Inlé visiting Hazel - all so much better in the film...

I thought the best thing about this mini-series was Peter Capaldi as Kehaar - that stood out as a great performance in an otherwise lacklustre production.  Real shame as there are some very good actors in it.

(Just in case it is not apparent, I am a huge longtime fan of the novel, read it for the first time when it was newly published* and couldn't put it down, and find it unforgettable).

*(Edit - actually I have just looked at the publication date and realised that my claim to have read it when it was first published is most likely inaccurate - I did read from a young age and was advanced in my reading, but that is pushing it by a few years for a novel of that size and complexity  )


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## Epona (Dec 25, 2018)

I did actually like the idea of a more photo-realistic cgi version beforehand.

But if a stylised version can be so much more emotive, then there's no point in doing something that looks more realistic and then fudging it.


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## A380 (Dec 30, 2018)

How could a light that shined  so brightly suddenly shine so pale?

Thought it was poor.


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## Badgers (May 4, 2019)

Interesting


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## Badgers (Feb 7, 2020)

Am watching it. 
Or at least I have started watching it. 

As a rule I tend not to watch CGI films and because I love the book / original film so much it was always going to be very hard to like. 

The opening animation was quite good and true to the book / original film. The cast is very good (Ben Kingsley as General Woundwort no less) and a BBC plus Netflix collaboration who should be a better option than most  

The CGI/animation seems poor to me. Also the characters seem to lack the magical personalities needed to portray talking/thinking rabbits. 

Am sure that the new young generation will enjoy it but I can't. Going to stick with it for now but unlikely I will see this through. It is just making me want to put the original film on, which I might do


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## Badgers (Feb 7, 2020)

Also I need to find my DVD copy of the Plague Dogs. Read the book recently and had forgotten how great it is. 

It is not on Netflix or Amazon Prime is it?


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