Trivia / The Plague Dogs

• Executive Meddling: The American release of the film was delayed for some time as after Embassy Pictures held a test screening in 1983, most people were so distressed by it that they decided to hold off on a planned release. It wasn't until 1985 that the film finally saw a release in the United States, albeit in a limited release that was mainly exclusive to arthouse theaters.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The animated film was censored due to content and United Artists' reaction to the film, causing them to dump it on the marketplace in 1982. Only 8,000 copies of the uncut film exist on tape and an Australian DVD of Martin Rosen's personal scratchy work-print. The uncut 103-minute version exists online, however.
  • Shout! Factory eventually released both cuts on Blu-Ray in early 2019 (they had planned to release the film sooner, but they decided to hold off until they could put together a good copy of the uncut version).
• Production Posse: The film was made by the same production company, by the same director, with many of the same voice actors, and based on a book by the same author, as Watership Down.
• Trend Killer: The Animated Adaptation is known for being one of the most depressing animated films ever made. The Western audience wasn't ready at all, so the concept of dark, almost entirely un-comedic animated feature films was shelved in the aftermath. It wasn't until the late 2000s that the concept found a revival with works such as Persepolis and Waltz with Bashir. Even these, however, were not widely released in the United States.