#watership down miniseries

[fuckyeahwatershipdown]

[lepurcinus]

Something to notice or maybe I'm the only crazy one who thought of it.

But doesn't it seem to you that Vervain and Orchis in the miniseries could have functioned as a sort of Anti-Hazel and Fiver?

Look at it this way, the two are the only sibling rabbits we've seen that at least stayed together for a long time (and well it makes sense that it's weird, rabbits aren't famous for their sibling relationships). You can tell they have a very strong and appreciative relationship with each other, we already know that about Hazel and Fiver. But in the case of Vervain and Orchis, we see that they both care for each other in a certain way. Vervain, a rabbit who we know was raised in Efrafa's cruel and harsh system shows respect and trust towards his brother. Then we see that despite not probing much further into it, after his death Orchis shows quite a lot of remorse and anger towards it, which makes it apparent that their appreciation was mutual and legitimate.

Now in terms of roles.

Vervain is a high ranking captain, he earned his position in full "right" due to his aggressiveness and harshness when dealing with other rabbits.

Hazel on the other hand is a "common" rabbit who slowly earned his position as chief after demonstrating his leadership and ability despite not being a particularly large or strong individual.

Hazel is compassionate and calm, Vervain is rough and aggressive.

Then we have Orchis, who like Fiver stands out for being a thin and small rabbit, which leads them to be easily intimidated by larger rabbits.

However, despite not having visions, both Orchis and Fiver prove to be able to overcome their physical weaknesses with intelligence.

Orchis is deceptive and cunning, Fiver has great reasoning, empathy and it's sincere.

I don't know about you. There would be more to look at but I think this is the highlights.

[captain-campion]

My favorite WSD is the book because it had Bluebell in his rightful place

YES literally!! I love book!Bluebell, he's so fun and I love his dynamic with Holly.

[superbeeny]

Half of the things the book version of Bluebell says make it seem like Richard Adams inadvertently predicted the tone and vibes of tumblr fandom shitposts decades before they became a thing. I’m just saying, someone suggesting that the Watership Down rabbits could deal with their cat problem by either eating the cats or taking them as mates and having babies with them to get powerful cabbit kittens sounds like something a college kid making edgy jokes about kids’ media would say. All of this makes sense when you figure Bluebell is SUPPOSED to feel like the rabbit equivalent of of a scared 20-something who’s coping with Dadaist humor.  

[taketwoinink]

OKAY BUT

GO WATCH WATERSHIP DOWN ON NETFLIX YOU WILL CRY AND THE ENDING CREDITS SONG IS SO FREAKING GOOD GO LISTEN TO IT IT'S CALLED FIRE ON FIRE THANK YOU THIS IS ALL

[pbaintthetb]

when you're doing a deep dive of an actor's filmograpy and discover they were in Watership Down (2018)

[krinsbez]

A Watership Down Meta/Headcanon/Rant

So, both @jaybutnotthebird and @stavarosthearcane have stated that, to their knowledge, I've not posted this on tumblr, and indicated that they would like to hear it, I'm posting it now!

So I don't recall if it was stated explicitly or was, like, a rumor, but everything about Gen. Woundwort makes so much more sense when you realize he's a hutch rabbit.

Why is he so enormous? Cuz he was bred to be big and fluffy, was fed flayrah everyday, and was taken to the vet if he got sick.

Why is he so afraid of humans? Because they were the first elil he ever encountered.

Why is everything he does in complete opposition to proper lapine culture and behavior? Because he grew up not knowing anything about it.

Efrafa is, in essence, an attempt to make a warren into a hutch.

OK got that? So, here's another thing to think about. Cowslip's Warren, or Strawberry's Warren, or the Warden of the Shining Wire, or whatever you want to call it...they also completely disregard traditional Lapine culture and behavior; they don't tell stories of El-ahrairah, they make weird poetry about the inevitability of death, they keep babbling about dignity, they make ART, etc. This, by the way, is why it and Efrafa come off as so viscerally wrong, because Mr. Adams went to the trouble of putting us in a rabbit headspace, so we can understand the full horror; it's not just Woundwort's tyranny or the farmer's snares, it's that they're unnatural and rabbits aren't meant to live that way.

Now, I know what you're thinking when I say that word, "unnatural", but put down the pitchfork.

Because Hazel and Co. do a LOT of things that is outside the realm of typical rabbit behavior:

Despite being Chief Rabbit, Hazel let's the others argue with and talk back to him.

They made friends with mice and a bird.

He adopted Cowslip's Warren's idea of using tree roots to create a big central chamber

Tales (the sequel short story collection) has them adopt a (obvs. less aggro) version of the Efrafan practice of having the Owsla run patrols

They busted out hutch rabbits.

They used a boat

Meanwhile, Sandleford, the Warren that our heroes fled, was apparently the epitome of a traditional Warren and of course they all died horribly.

So, what's the difference?

It goes back to the last lines of the first myth, part of which was used as the first animated film adaptation's tagline:

“All the world will be your enemy, Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.”

(I bolded the important part)

Sandleford's Chief Rabbit (EDIT: The Threarah) decided he liked things as they were and refused to change, and his people died. Cowslip and Co. allow themselves to be farmed and treat death as an inevitability, and they're slowly going mad and dying one by one. Gen. Woundwort teaches his Owsla to respond to every situation by fighting, and they break and flee when the unexpected happens. The ordinary rabbits of Efrafa are forced to live like hutch rabbits and they're miserable and not having babies.

Hazel does weird stuff…but he does so because he's in a weird situation and has to adapt. He listens to the other's concerns and ideas, he keeps an open mind, he figures out what resources are available to him, and then figures out how he can use them to protect his people.

In short? Unlike Woundwort, Cowslip & Co., or the unnamed Chief Rabbit of Sandleford EDIT: The Threarah, he is cunning and full of tricks.

(I think one of the reasons the BBC miniseries from a few years back didn't hit right is that they failed to get this)

Anyways, thanks for coming to my TED Talk

[bnnuyboikase]

rewatching the watership down miniseries and i swear, this would have been my warrior cats if it came out when i was 10

[triffany-lottablog]

I watched the watership down miniseries yesterday, it was bad, I want to read the book but I haven’t had time to go to town and go into a bookshop so I’ll have to wait for that

Made a guy, if I got it right, their name translates to Badger fur but i might have gotten the grammar wrong

[bigwigxhazel]

One thing that I feel isn't mentioned enough is Kehaar's portrayal in Watership Down adaptations, as well as his friendship with Bigwig. He's always just "an annoying bird" and in the miniseries he's a straight up asshole, always having a bad relationship with Bigwig. Meanwhile in the book Bigwig not only has a good relationship with him, but straight up admires him. I remember one part from when Bigwig first starts talking to him, he considers him to be a skilled warrior of his kind and gushes to Hazel about how much of a badass he is. I would love to see an adaptation someday that portrays Kehaar and his friendship with Bigwig with some dignity instead of just "tough guy annoyed by bird."

FOR REAL!! kehaar is both a VERY intelligent bird and a very good friend to the watership down rabbits! it's such a shame that the adaptations never seem to do him justice!

[lepurcinus]

I know that the WSD miniseries have a lot of lacks. But at least

Can we appreciate the shadow puppets El-ahrairah story?

I really liked the art there, looks so mystical.

[jigsawllie]

I JUST FINISHED WATERSHIP DOWN (the book) WWAAAAAAAAHH ITS SO GOOD KSDGYTFK IM VERY NORMAL ABOUT IT

PPL WHO HAVE READ IT PLS TELL ME UR FAVORITE CHARACTERS!!!!!!! MINE ARE FIVER AND KEHAAR I LOVE THEM SUCH SILLY GUYS

I MIGHT WATCH THE NETFLIX MINISERIES NEXT IDK?? I HEARD ITS DIFFERENT FROM THE BOOK BUT IK NOT SURE HOW MUCH

[namedafterflowerstournament]

Hazel (Watership Down) propaganda:

-He's quite literally a silly rabbit

-Basically said "fuck you" to the leader of his warren when they refused to move when danger was coming

-Ordinary guy becomes leader

-I was in a group in 6th grade where some other 5th and 6th graders read watership down and some of us made a "movie" of the first two chapters and i was Hazel :D I kept staring directly into the camera tho so it ended up being mildly creepy but me and the kid who played Fiver called each other by our character names until i graduated elementary

Wow, already ? I haven't even queued the polls yet ! Go Hazel !

While I'm at it, which Hazels are acceptable ?

Graphic Novel (I mean usually people don't complain about traditional drawings but you never know) / miniseries (I don't think it looks like something fans would like, is it ? No offence but the only thing looking marginally good here is the voice cast if you ask me but hey I'm not in the fandom) / TV series (maybe that's just me but my guess would be 'please don't talk about it either' but at least it looks relatively okay) and movie Hazel (which I think is the best known design ? I've never seen/read any version but that's the "ordinary" looking version, right ?)

Also is it just me / those pics or do rabbits 2 and 3 look more like hares ?

[talesfromthebandgeekmafia]

Rewatching the 2018 Netflix Watership Down miniseries they really popped off with that one

[captainsparklefingers]

Honestly, the biggest takeaway from enjoying Burrow's End is that it's high time I read Watership Down again.

And then traumatize myself by watching the movie. And perhaps the miniseries starting John Boyega as Bigwig and Nicholas Hoult as Fiver. It's not as good but it's still pretty good and the ending theme slaps.

....look I really like Watership Down okay.

[doxiedreg]

So I am making a commission info image and I need new examples again because my old ones are once again outdated. So like a madman possesed I drew 4 examples yesterday evening/this early morning. and I still need to make more. So first up have a doodle of my interpetation of the character bigwig from watership down. I saw a really cool watership down map part and it inspired me to doodle bigwig. Gonna reread watership down and maybe rewatch the animated movie (the 2D animated one, i hate the look of the 3D miniseries) some time and maybe doodle some more bunnies.