Los animales del bosque

*CONTAINS SPOILERS*

I watched the Animals of Farthing Wood a lot when I was growing up, and while admittedly I've forgotten a lot of the story lines and such, much of it has stuck with me.

One of things I enjoyed most about the show were the characters. There was a huge range of woodland creatures, all of which had their own personality, little background stories and theire own relationships with certain other characters in the group. The smaller animals were always very timid and would always try and protect their families. Adder (who had a darkside to her, always ready to eat the rodents) had a grudging, but quite close friendship with Owl, and Badger played as adviser to the lead role, Fox. And of course there was the close bond between Badger and Mole.

The other thing that strikes you about the show however, is the way the characters develop, sometimes get killed and eventually grow old and die, something which you don't see a lot in children's TV. I remember being pretty traumatised when Moley died as it was totally unexpected. And after that, you could see his close friend Badger slowly delapidate and die of old age, another truly sad moment. But then there were also the fantastic moments, like when the group at last reach White Deer Park and it seems as if they have come to a happy ending and when Fox and Vixen finally have their litter of fox cubs, who we in turn watch grow into adolescent foxes.

It is a truly great show and is reminiscent of Watership Down. The varying story lines, character development and relationships and decent animation make this more than just a kids cartoon.

I watched this on and off as a kid, then as an adult I re-read the whole series of Farthing Wood books and got hooked once again.

THE GOOD:

The series is very faithful to the books; a lot of the script has been taken directly from it. It covers all the story lines (lately released prequel notwithstanding) from the initial flight to White Deer Park to the problems posed by the likes of Scarface and Trey and the rats at the end. While some parts of it take two separate books and combine them into one storyline, this is done so well and so cleverly that it really doesn't matter. The animation is basic but sound, and consistent all the way through. The voice acting is reasonably good (Badger in particular is excellent) The characters act more or less as they do in the books, with two notable exceptions (see below for details)

THE BAD:

Most of the animals seem to have undergone a sex change. Adder, Tawny Owl, Weasel and Kestrel are all female in this adaptation, whereas in the books they were all male. Out of all four, Owl's voice is the best; the persona is completely identical to that of the book.

Character redesign: Weasel comes across as a silly clown with possibly the most irritating laugh I've ever heard

Character redesign: Adder comes across as an evil, sneaky villain, even going so far as to alter the words of the Oath (in the book, Badger insists Adder swear first, and Adder complies willingly and serves as a full member of the group). This really did disappoint me, as Adder was easily my favourite character from the books.

All in all, though, a fantastic series and well worth a watch!

I know many Brits grew up with this show, so it's a fond childhood memory for them, and if that's the case for you then by all means take a trip down memory lane.

If (like me) you read the books first and then found this series, I'd recommend skipping it.

My 5 star rating is generous, and based on the first season alone. Season 1 covers the book 'The Animals Of Farthing Wood', and with the exception of a few gender swaps (which I understand would've been to attract more female viewers) it is a fairly accurate representation and decent viewing.

Season 2 is based on the books 'In The Grip of Winter', 'Fox's Feud' and 'Fox Cub Bold', and here's where things start to fall apart. Characters that survive the entire book series are killed off while characters that are killed off in the books survive the whole series.

Season 3 is based on the books 'In The Path of the Storm' and 'Battle For The Park' (with a tiny hint of 'The Siege of White Deer Park') and it's pure rubbish.

Weasel (with her insanely annoying voice) is promoted to main character for some reason. The plot BARELY resembles the source material, and begins to contradict itself. Characters go missing for no reason. I could go on...

Bottom line, if you want to read a wonderful series I couldn't recommend the books by Colin Dann more than I already do...just make sure not to watch this series directly afterwards.

"The Animals Of Farthing Wood" is a real classic and wont be forgotten. It's animation is unique and people of all ages can relate to the characters. The program was watched by thousands of youngsters all over the country and everyone of my generation will remember it forever.

When you look at kids shows today you can't believe the things you watched when you were a kid. Today no one would make a show like this because now it's politically incorrect. And if they did it would be marketed for older teenagers. This show had violence, complexity, depth, realism, moralistic debates and good wry humour. Today's show's for the same age group by comparison are childish, shallow and plain silly which don't get me wrong they have a place in our TV viewing habits but when it is the only thing you can give your kids to watch, well it's rather sad.

This was a show were they didn't shy from the fact that predators eat prey, the characters had real personality clashes and there was no fully good or fully bad character they all had a bit of both. They even dealt with the issues of death, loss and grief. We have become so afraid of children getting hurt our TV shows treat our kids like idiots. I was 7 to 8 when I watched this show and I understood all the themes and moral dilemmas moreover I wanted to know about them and since parents aren't going discuss things like that with a 7 yr old kid I really got to thank shows like this for helping me build a moral character.

Come on TV land be daring make kids shows like this again. Kids need stimulation not constant mindless candy floss.