The animated series was pretty good too, although some episodes felt padded with the typical schtick of some of the characters, which got old fast (Rabbit, Weasel). What really impressed me though was that it was the first television cartoon I'd seen that wasn't shy about death as a plot element. Characters died, sometimes suddenly, sometimes tragically, sometimes peacefully. And new characters would join the group as the story went on.
I think there were three seasons(?), but I only saw the first two. Season One is a long, dangerous trip cross-country to White Deer Park. Most episodes are heavy-handed with environmental messages. In Season Two, the animals have settled into the Park, but there's animosity from some of the animals who were already there, particularly a nasty family of Blue foxes. The Farthing Woods foxes and the Blue foxes have kits, and two of them secretly become friends while the parents are at war (shades of Romeo/Juliet or Hatfields/McCoys). There's also a side-story with one of the other Farthing Woods kits, who's at ends with his own father, and leaves the Park to strike out on his own. Now *that* was a sad story. I'll admit that for a kid's cartoon, it made my eyes get watery, a rare thing.
The animated series was pretty good too, although some episodes felt padded with the typical schtick of some of the characters, which got old fast (Rabbit, Weasel). What really impressed me though was that it was the first television cartoon I'd seen that wasn't shy about death as a plot element. Characters died, sometimes suddenly, sometimes tragically, sometimes peacefully. And new characters would join the group as the story went on.
I think there were three seasons(?), but I only saw the first two. Season One is a long, dangerous trip cross-country to White Deer Park. Most episodes are heavy-handed with environmental messages. In Season Two, the animals have settled into the Park, but there's animosity from some of the animals who were already there, particularly a nasty family of Blue foxes. The Farthing Woods foxes and the Blue foxes have kits, and two of them secretly become friends while the parents are at war (shades of Romeo/Juliet or Hatfields/McCoys). There's also a side-story with one of the other Farthing Woods kits, who's at ends with his own father, and leaves the Park to strike out on his own. Now *that* was a sad story. I'll admit that for a kid's cartoon, it made my eyes get watery, a rare thing.