User Reviews

The Animals of Farthing Wood is an animated children's series following the journey of a group of animals as they leave their original habitat due to it being destroyed by man, and travel to the safety of a nature reserve. Three series' of the show were produced, the first showing the journey, and the latter two focusing on the animals lives after arriving in White Deer Park.

Rather than using comedy and humour to attract the attention of it's audience, AoFW uses its strong storyline and characters, the two things for which the show is best remembered and still far above any children's show even today.

During the series multiple main characters are killed off, often in violent ways, and because they were so well written and voiced, the deaths were even more emotional. Anyone I talk to about this show today remembers the moment the Hedgehogs were run over even if they can't recall anything else, and remember it as something which when they watched as a small child made them cry a lot.

I applaud the storyline for being as realistic as possible and not hiding the grim realities of nature, like so many other kids shows. Animals of Farthing Wood taught children about the difficulties faced by animals in their struggle to survive, such as the numerous threats posed by man and nature, two things which claimed many lives across the series. Even the basic premise of the show was a result of mankind destroying the animals home.

This is probably why this show is so well remembered and popular today, because it told it like it is and had a brilliant narrative, actually teaching children something important about animal cruelty and nature. I can only guess at the number of children who watched this or read the book and were deeply affected by it, but I know I was one of them.

I liked the first series the most. The great journey to White Deer Park was the most varied and entertaining, and the part of the show which most people remember. Series 2 was also good, but it tried to include too many characters, and so some of the originals such as Mole ended up getting neglected. Series 3, with it's different animation style, weaker story, and only a handful of original cast was the worst of the 3, however was still watchable, and ended well.

I hope some day this is released on DVD and constantly re-run on TV, as children today should have the privilege of seeing this pure classic, and experiencing the happiness and sorrow that came with it, as I and so many others did.

No other children's show has this much emotional and cognitive impact.

As a child I was used to watching such programs as Postman Pat but this was different, it depicted reality and truthfulness through being scary and emotional unlike the vast majority of programs.

As a general comment it's fair to say that AOFW rocked, but like any book-to-television program there were changes, like the sex of some animals. There are three series of this, the first one is the journey to White Deer Park and the second and third are at WDP.

Like many other people said the first series was probably the best having me on tender hooks. We meet all the animals, and what an unforgettable bunch they are. We had Fox being courageous as the leader and Badger as his faithful 'right hand man'. Owl as the wise one, Kestrel as the scout of the group, Rabbits as the clumsy ones, Hares as the more selfish creatures, Weasel who provided the humour and many more. Along the way we met Vixen and Whistler. Series one saw the deaths of the Newts, Pheasants, baby Mice and a Rabbit, which as a child was quite frightening. But the saddest moment of the series was the Hedgehogs getting run over - makes me well up. At the end they eventually arrive at White Deer Park.

Series Two showed how they struggled to fit in at WDP and the new dangers that faced them i.e. Scarface, the dangers of winter and what Spring has to bring. The covered topical issues in S2 i.e. hunting, racism (red/blue foxes). The Charmer/Ranger storyline as the Montague/Capulets worked very well. Scarface was the main threat of S2 - killing Mrs Vole, Mrs Hare and Mrs Rabbit as well as one of Fox's cubs - Dreamer. The series ended with Adder killing Scarface - ending his reign of terror. S2 also followed the story of Fox Cub Bold who, after arguing with Fox, left the Park. We followed his amazing journey and how he was struggling and eventually returning to the Park with his mate - who was carrying his cubs - to die after making peace with his Dad. S2 also saw the death of Mole and the arrival of his son. The saddest moment of S2 was Badger dying as he represented the oath of mutual protection. His last scenes were the most heart wrenching one can watch.

Series 3 as people have said was the worst. There was some happiness as Adder found a mate. The series began with Weasel and Owl - original FW characters leaving the park to go start a family. In my opinion, this was a bad idea as too much of the story was set outside WDP. It also saw the death of the Great White Stag and the takeover of Trey - an ignorant Deer. Many characters disappeared between the last two series - Kestrel, Friendly, Hare, Speedy. I didn't like this as Kestrel and Hare were my personal favourite characters. S3 saw the takeover of Rats in the park, which was a weak storyline and wasn't very climatic. Several friendships joined in the series - Plucky/Dash, Spike/Toad - which was nice to see as the original friendships from S1 - Owl/Adder, Weasel/Badger, Mole/Badger, Rabbit/Hare - had now been split up. The arrival and death of Sinous (Adder's Mate) showed us a different side to the snake. We saw Weasel give birth to Cleo and Fido - which provided lots of humour and we saw Owl meet a mate (Hollow) before being encased in cement and freed before returning to WDP. The rats eventually left and Fox declared that Plucky will be the new leader of the AOFW. The end had a montage of the journey to White Deer Park, which was sad to watch.

Highlights included Owl going death and talking to Mrs Vole, Rabbit's hiccups, Badger dying, Hare/Rabbits scenes, drunk Weasel, Kestrel being 'so very embarrassed' and pretty much most the series.

All in all, a fantastic series, just a shame kids nowadays don't have the opportunity to watch things like this.

I remember seeing the 1st episdoe of this back in early 1993, and sure it had everything you could want from a kids' cartoon; charming animals, drama, moral naturalistic persuasion and heroic triumphs. I think the creators were trying to get kids interested in animals and the environment; back in the day they did a highly informative magazine series based on the show. The 1st series was by all means quite easy, charming and delightful, but the subsequent series were rather sinister; the grim reality of the food chain was enbraced, and there was that unforgivable scene where a baby rabbit is shot dead by a farmer, leaving the parent rabbits in tears (they'd NEVER get away with that on kids' TV now !)

I can appreciate this show for its honest and relatively neutral, unbiased portrayal of the ecological system. Unlike Bambi, cute as it is, the food chain and human intervention with nature are portrayed in a neutral way that doesn't specifically make heroes or villains of any particular party. For example, the snake is clearly portrayed as a dominant predator, with a personality of both slyness and integrity. I think this show captures a good balance between the traditional childhood portrayal of animals as cute, whimsical and innocent, and a more realistic portrayal af them as predators, prey, savages and aggressors.

I'll give this show 7/10 since it wasn't a favourite a such - that vote goes to Maid Marian & Her Merry Men ! - but still a versatile show capturing nature's beauty, charm, drama, dilemmas, realities and potential demise.

Pros: The Characters The Darkness/Depth The Theme Tune The Voices

Cons: Weasel Some of the Deaths Series 3

This year we get some 90s reboot in TV and cinema so let us look back at TAoFW based on the books. A forest is taken down so a group of animals is on the run to another park. The animation is so 90s at times but there are some nice background animation like something frpm the Versailles and nice background music that ranks from intense to cheery, and sad. Now hunt this down in the antiques shops on VHS if you and your family loves rare 90s show in a slower pace, but this is not for kids under 7 at times as we get some out of context and intense scenes too.

Contains minor spoilers

Animals of Farthing Wood was broadcast in three seasons between 1993 and 1995. It is unavailable in NTSC format except as a severely abbreviated version of the first season, with an American voice cast (which I have never seen, but suffice to say they have crunched a five and a half hour story into 90 minutes, so there is bound to be a lot missing)

There are three seasons of the series, each of 13 episodes. Season 1 deals with the animals' journey from their home at Farthing Wood, which is being destroyed by land developers, to the sanctuary of White Deer Park - a nature reserve.

Season two and three are set within the park itself, and deal with problems the animals face once they have arrived. Of the three, season 2 is generally considered the classic by fans - particularly those who like foxes, since the story centers on them to a great deal in this season.) All three are good value however.

The animation is somewhat ordinary by modern standards, but this really doesn't detract very much, and the backgrounds are very nice throughout (ironically, when the animation does improve in season 3, the storyline goes downhill, and since most fans prefer season 2 over season 3, this suggests that an engrossing story and characters will win out over topnotch animation)

Although the show is aimed at children, there is a mature feel to it, especially in season 2. Parents should perhaps note that the series has a particularly high attrition rate of major characters. Characters - often quite popular ones - die off or are killed at a prodigious rate, such that by the end of season two, only about half the original characters are left. One of the most popular characters of all is born, lives and dies during the second half of season two. Although this can be traumatic, personally I applaud its realism. In fact the aforementioned character's death provides one of the most moving plot arcs in the whole series.

The voice characterisations of the major characters are unfiformly excellant, especially given that the entire cast of characters (and there are a _dozens_ of them) are voiced by just 7 actors.

What else can I say? It's a classic series. If you're in North America you're going to have to get a multi-format VCR though.

Oh - the PAL tapes come in two varieties. Completists will want to get all 39 episodes, which come on seperate 25 minute tapes. These are very hard to come by, though. Slightly more findable are the edited down BBC releases, which consists of 9 x 85 minute tapes (3 per season). Although these tapes do miss out a considerable amount of material (perhaps about 20% of the whole series), in my opinion they may actually be the more rewarding versions to watch. Most of what is missed out is not terribly rivetting, and I enjoyed watching them as 85 minute movies, rather than 25 minute episodes where I was constantly rewinding a giant stack of tapes. The edtors did a fine job in trimming the series down to the 9 feature length tapes.

If you're in doubt about which ones you're getting; the 25 minute ones have identical, white sleeves. The 85 minute ones have different pictures on each sleeve, and the background covers vary from white to blue to yellow.

All up, 4 out of 5. A really endearing and enduring series.

I first watched it when I was 11 or 12 i think. It was really great and something I would definitely watch again. It is a journey that takes you on an emotional roller coaster as you get attached to many of the characters and many die which shows how realistic the survival of wildlife is, that not everyone can survive and each episode be a happy ending... I remember it all so clearly and when I see what my younger brother and sister watch it is complete nonsense in comparison, as there are barely any shows that could be rated as well as A.O.F. The second series is even better with many new characters introduced and it is a show which has humor, love and loss brought into the animal world. It is not a cartoon for children under about 7 or 8 I would say because it can be brutal but I recommend it to everyone else!