YMMV / The Animals of Farthing Wood

• Adaptation Displacement:
  • The TV series was based on a series of books by Colin Dann, but a lot more people know about the TV series than the books. Notably, in the books, Owl, Weasel, Adder and Kestrel were males - but they're more commonly considered females because of the TV series.
  • Just as well known at the time was the magazine spin-off: "Farthing Wood Friends"," which had a catchy enough name that children often used when referring to the show, and it ran to over a hundred issues. It's been forgotten because magazines don't go into syndication.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • If one read the Farthing Wood prequel stories (published after the initial book series), they'd discover that Fox's father was one of those responsible for the eventual destruction of Farthing Wood by banishing a troublesome protected species of otters. With this in mind, it's possible to interpret Fox's character as one who resigns himself to protecting the animals out of his guilt for what his father caused.
  • Friendly in the TV series. Did he rat out Charmer to Fox just to make himself seem like the better cub, or did he do it out of concern for her safety? Considering his other sister Dreamer was killed by Scarface, the blue foxes' leader Friendly not wanting the same to happen to Charmer could explain his hatred towards the blue foxes.
• Anti-Climax Boss: Bully. The Final Battle against him and the rats are built up, with Owl, her mate and the weasel family back to join the forces of the Park. Then, the white stags finally arrive to join them, too, stomping on many of the rats. Bully, still not defeated, starts giving an Evil Gloating about how they won't be able to defeat the rats. While this is happening, Cleo, Weasel's daughter, sneaks towards Bully until she's behind him and finishes the battle by... biting off Bully's tail. Animal forests and rats watch him silently, then laugh at him. Instead of fighting, the rats decide to leave him and go who knows where, probably back to the sewers and streets of the city they came from. The Bully leaves the place, too, all down and sad with the only rat who would care for him as a friend. None of the animals did anything. Not even Adder, who had the best reason to kill Bully personally.
• Awesome Moments:
  • Fox's fight with Scarface, in which Fox's cunning gets him the upper hand despite the other fox's greater strength. He could have killed the blue fox without the Warden and his mercy.
  • Season 2 has seen Badger in a state of confusion as he goes back and forth between the cold, harsh wild and the comfort of the Warden's cottage. But when Cat attacks Kestrel in revenge for her earlier mistake, Badger quickly snaps out of it and delivers a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown on Cat that sends him running. As old as Badger is, you do not mess with his friends.
• Awesome Music:
  • Just LISTEN to the main theme!
  • Many of the background music pieces are great as well.
• Base-Breaking Character:
  • Owl and her pompous nature are either hilarious or annoying.
  • Plucky is seen to be a Creator's Pet for some, but others find him better than many other Expies in Season 3.
  • Mole is considered The Load to some; to others, he's adorable. He is improved in season 2.
• Broken Base:
  • Season 2. One-half of the base loves it for its Darker and Edgier tone, subverting many typical children's show tropes and introducing many good characters like Bold, Scarface, Ranger, Charmer, etc. Others don't like that it renders the end of Season 1 meaningless - with several immediate deaths among the Farthing Wood animals — Mrs Fieldmouse going out within the first few minutes of the Season 2 premiere. Some find the season is too dark to be enjoyable.
  • The third season subplot involving Weasel, Measly and their children, Cleo and Fido, moving out of the Park is either seen as a plot that is very enjoyable and funny or is annoying, mean-spirited, and just as nasty as (if not worse than) the other kinds of Filler in Series 3 since it adds almost nothing to the Rat Invasion plot. Doesn't help at all that Weasel Took a Level in Jerkass, particularly with her treatment of Measly.
  • Is the show, in general, just a big Body Count with animals, which is What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: The Series, or is it a beautifully portrayed adventure series about the growing friendship of several animals that displays death emotionally rather than glorifying it?
• Catharsis Factor: Adder killing Scarface is oh so satisfying after his ruthless pursuit of the other Farthing Wood animals. While he gets the Alas, Poor Villain treatment later, the act itself is portrayed as triumphant for Adder.
• Complete Monster (season 2): The blue fox Scarface is a ruthless bully who begins killing the Farthing animals when he can get away with it. After having a litter of children with his mate, Lady Blue, Scarface becomes incensed by his rival Fox's children and murders Fox's young daughter Dreamer. When he has an excuse, Scarface rallies his other foxes and kills one of the Farthing rabbits, hunting the Farthing animals down and intending to massacre them one and all. When defeated by Fox, he returns to kill another of the rabbits, showing his lack of honour and refusal to stop. Even his son Ranger admits upon attempting to broker a peace that his father would murder him should he know of the talks. Vicious, cruel and without remorse or care for others, Scarface embodies the sheer savagery of the wild, even in a place of peace such as White Deer Park.
• Crosses the Line Twice: Mrs Rabbit being dragged away by Scarface to her death? Sad. Her last words being "Don't panic"? Darkly hilarious.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Arguably Bold. He is the cast's most complicated character with the most complete arc.
  • Adder as well for the same reasons.
  • Her mate Sinuous: Many fans either love him for his design, his relationship with Adder, his overall character, or all of the above. Even those who despise Season 3 find him one of the few redeeming qualities.
  • Friendly has his share of fans, too. Even amongst those who find the foxes, in general, to be overrated.
  • Kestrel is very well-liked, too, to the degree that many are annoyed at her unexplained disappearance in Season 3.
• Evil Is Cool: Scarface is probably one of the coolest (and scariest) villains in children's cartoon history.
• Fandom Rivalry: Farthing Wood vs. Watership Down. It's hilarious that the rabbit characters in this are either cowardly or useless.
• Fanon Discontinuity: Very few fans think Season 3 is good enough to be considered Canon. Most prefer to believe that the Series ended in Season 2.
• Franchise Original Sin: While Season 2 is held in positive regard, it contains many elements for which Season 3 would be eviscerated. It sidelined many of the original Farthing Wood animals in favour of new characters (Mrs Fieldmouse is immediately eaten; the voles and hares are mostly Out of Focus until they get A Death in the Limelight). It also shifted from the singular journey narrative to several plotlines all over the Park - including Bold's adventures in the city. Park difference is that the new characters were usually well received - Ranger, Charmer, Scarface, Lady Blue - and the dark tone still made it consistent with the previous season. And while new characters played prominent roles, the protagonists undoubtedly were the Farthing Wood originals.
• Fridge Logic:
  • In the cartoon, why do the Farthing Woodlanders immediately assume that the amphibious newts were killed in the fire? It made sense in the equally ambiguous novel, where they were lizards. Still, newts spend most of their time underwater, and the other beasts even survived the blaze by swimming out to a small island in the middle of the marsh to wait for the fire to be put out. So why presume that the newts, who had made an explicit decision to stay in these marshlands due to being ill-suited for long overland journeys, had automatically died?
  • Why is Toad made to lead the way on foot? He's noted as slow-moving even for a small animal, doesn't have much stamina, and is the only one who can guide them to White Deer Park — wouldn't it be far more sensible for him to ride around on Fox's back the way Mole does on Badger?
  • Whilst the cartoon version of the motorway crossing does try to justify the deaths of the hedgehogs, it still doesn't wholly succeed:
    • Why not wait for nightfall? Whistler mentions that traffic never ceases on a motorway; unlike a country road, the traffic would still be much lighter after dark when most travellers would be home in bed.
    • Whilst the hedgehogs' thorny coats prevent them from being carried across in either Whistler's beak or the claws of Owl or Kestrel, why can't they ride across on the backs of Fox, Vixen or Badger? All three animals are large enough that a hedgehog can clamber aboard and hold on by gripping fur with their teeth, and all three move much faster and more surely than a hedgehog would.
• Fridge Sadness: In one of the later novels, it's noted that due to how massively the herbivorous survivors from Farthing Wood have interbred with the native herbivores, almost none of White Deer Park's herbivores are considered to be part of the Oath of Mutual Protection anymore. This raises the question: will the unique pan-species culture that the survivors of Farthing Wood inadvertently founded survive for a few more generations? Will it persist, if only amongst the predators of White Deer Park? Or will they eventually forget about it and return to the old ways of every predator being out only for themselves — the same mindset that inadvertently led to Farthing Wood's destruction, as shown in the prequel?
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: The show is most popular, aired and fondly remembered in Norway, despite how its network handled it for years. The entire series is still available on the NRK network's website, and is listed as being available until 2034.
• Growing the Beard: Season 2 is seen as the show at its absolute peak.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Due to the passing of Ron Moody, Badger and the Great White Stag's deaths have become this.
• Ho Yay: Fox and Badger certainly seem... friendly with one another. This is particularly noticeable in the first few episodes, cumulating in Badger refusing to swim to safety without Fox despite both seemingly about to die.
  Fox: (affectionately) That's my Badger. I knew I could rely on you...
  • To say nothing of Bully surrounding himself with other male rats, being bathed by them ("Oh, I do enjoy my bathtime..."), touching them, tickling them, talking about how strong and handsome they are, etc. He seems incredibly close to Brat in particular.
• He's Just Hiding:
  • The newts never have their fates confirmed on-screen. They opt to stay in a marsh and are later set alight by a dropped cigarette. They could have easily stayed underwater or fled to safety since they'd recovered their strength by that point.
  • It's assumed that Hare passed away between Season 2 and 3 since he vanishes without explanation, and the only hares present are Leverett and Dash, implied to be his children. But there's no reason to think he couldn't have moved to a different part of the Park now that the fear of Scarface was gone.
• Jerkass Woobie: Lady Blue. Yes, she's haughty, arrogant and cruel, but she does love her mate and children very much, despite the fact that in the former's case, he is vile to her.
• Memetic Mutation: Many commentators have seen a similarity between the books and A Song of Ice and Fire, but other than both book series having an abundance of high body counts, there is little connection between the two franchises.
• Narm Charm:
  • The first season runs quite a bit on this. Sure, the characters may seem like rejects from an actual kids' show, but that's not going to stop them from dying horribly if they make the wrong move or if something beyond their control happens.
  • The first episode is noticeably lighter than the rest of the season and features the animals singing and dancing about going to White Deer Park. This episode is "'painful'" and nostalgic in hindsight, knowing just how dark things get and that most animals end up dead later in the Series.
  • Fox constantly sounds like everything he's saying is snarking, thanks to his voice actor, but considering he's surrounded by many Naive animals at best. Any combination of Too Dumb to Live, Needlessly Mischievous, or responsible for nearly killing him at worst, it comes across as something of a hilarious coping mechanism.
• One-Scene Wonder: The shrike, aka 'Butcher Bird', appears once in the Series, with maybe two minutes of screen time at most. But his scene of killing the mice babies is known for haunting children's nightmares for years.
• Popular with Furries: Focusing on woodland creatures as characters without the usual sugar coating has made furries jump on this series.
• Replacement Scrappy:
  • Hurkel, some comparing him unfavourably to Barney.
  • Bully the Rat in Season 3 is widely considered to be nowhere near the Big Bad that Scarface of Season 2 was, due largely to being incredibly watered down in his depiction compared to his book counterpart, being an ineffectual, laughable villain with zero menace rather than a legitimate threat.
  • Dash is this for some, though ironically, she's not replacing a character per se. She's the daughter of one of the original Farthing Wood hares, who's inexplicably gone in Season 3.
• The Scrappy:
  • Vole. "We smaller animals have to got to stand up for ourselves." Vole, that would mean a lot more if "ourselves" didn't mean "myself".
  • Hurkel as well, for being Stupid Good and a Replacement Scrappy for Badger.
  • Weasel was always a Base-Breaking Character, but she firmly became this in season 3, where she acts even worse, teaches her kids to disrespect their father while doing it herself, has an absurd amount of focus, and is never called out on anything, instead getting a hero's welcome upon returning.
• Seasonal Rot: Season 3 tends to be the least well-regarded amongst fans of the show, mainly due to the change in animation style, which many fans find to be a massive downgrade (despite the fact it's more fluid and allows for more extraordinary expressions from the characters), the greater emphasis upon slapstick comedy over drama, and a less solid plot (along with much more Filler than the first two seasons combined). Season 3 also drops several well-liked named characters without as much as an explanation (presumably to keep the cast smaller).
• Signature Scene:
  • The most harrowing scene of the series is when Hare finds a butcher bird having impaled one of the baby mice on a thorn bush.
  • Bold's death towards the end of Season 2 is one of the most memorable tragedies in the Series.
• Take That, Scrappy!:
  • Even if you don't see Weasel as the Scrappy, every character in-universe does and virtually everyone makes their dislike of her clear (at least in season 1).
    • In season 3, Trey and Fox are the only characters to call Weasel out on being extremely annoying. This is supposed to demonstrate them being in the wrong (mainly as Weasel was the only thing stopping the army of rats from invading, not that anyone knew that), but comes across as this instead.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character:
  • Season 3 drops many side characters to keep the cast smaller. This has the effect of getting rid of many Farthing Wood regulars who had been there since the beginning - especially Kestrel. Admittedly, she (or he in the original) was Put on a Bus in the books too. Friendly made one appearance in Season 3 and then abruptly vanished. It is also made worse by the fact that some of this series' new characters are barely used
  • It happened in Season 2 as well. Mrs. Fieldmouse is immediately mistakenly eaten within the first episode, and the voles and hares are out-focused until their eventual deaths.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: For some fans, it's tough to feel bad for Bold at the end of the episode "The Feud Begins" when Fox scolds him. Had Bold felt guilty for getting Fox and Friendly captured by the Blue Foxes and tried to apologise, he would've been easy to sympathise with; instead, he shows little to no remorse about his actions and doesn't even try apologising. He does at least suffer Break the Haughty once he leaves the Park.
• Unpopular Popular Character: While popular with fans, in Season 1, absolutely everyone either distrusts or downright despises Adder (except Fox).
  Kestral: She just saved your life, but it looks like it cost her hers...
  Ms Vole: Serves her right!
• Wangst: The herbivores and their constant tirades about having to travel with the carnivores, despite the carnivores doing most of the work and virtually never threatening their existence.
• What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: It was a children's TV show and marketed as such. Despite many graphic deaths, this is the most significant source of Nightmare Fuel: baby mice probably not even a day old being impaled on a thorn bush with blood being very visible. This is possibly the reason that the third season is Lighter and Softer.
• The Woobie: Many examples.
  • Poor, poor Bold. Whilst he may have started well in life, once he left the safety of White Deer Park, he was shot, crippled, injured by a snare, hunted, and would have starved if it wasn't for Crow and Whisper. Then, once he finally thinks life is turning around, Whisper insists they return to White Deer Park so their cubs can be safely born. Dogs subsequently attack him, and if that wasn't enough, the journey back is too much for his weak body to endure and he dies before his cubs are even born.
  • Mrs Pheasant, who dutifully does everything for her husband only for him to constantly complain. She tries to avoid being The Load despite her husband. After the farmer kills her, her husband has a Heel Realization shortly before his death.
  • Mr Pheasant himself arguably becomes this due to his Heel Realization above after her death, being so distraught he can barely fly or even see due to crying so much. He even volunteers to return to the farm to find and rescue Adder as atonement, only to find his wife's plucked and roasted corpse. His crying and sobbing at this is so loud it attracts the farmer, and despite Adder's warnings, Mr Pheasant can't even see or hear the farmer in time to save himself due to how troubled he is, and he is shot just like his wife. It helps that his death is one of the most tense and heartwrenching scenes in the show, especially with the soundtrack.
  • Badger in his last few episodes.
  • Adder after Sinous' death.

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