Monday 3 August 2015

Farthing Wood Deaths Revisited: Series 1 - Baby Rabbit


I think it’s fair to say that the Rabbits were by far the most useless characters in the Farthing Wood menagerie.  Say what you will about the Newts and the Pheasants, but at least they never directly endangered anyone else with their uselessness.  The Rabbits, on the other hand, nearly got Fox and Badger killed in the fifth episode, and they never really grew or changed throughout the course of the journey.  Mr. Rabbit’s big shtick was that he was an insufferable hypochondriac, and would complain that he didn't “feel well” at the slightest sign of trouble.  Mrs. Rabbit’s big shtick (which I believe may have been ripped off wholesale from Clive Dunn’s character in the BBC sitcom Dad’s Army) was that she would freak out and scream “Don’t panic!” at the slightest sign of trouble.  Their offspring were largely voiceless in all of this, but shared their parents’ tendency to react badly in the face of danger.  Given that, as noted in an earlier entry, The Animals of Farthing Wood was blatantly riding upon the coattails of Watership Down, it is somewhat ironic that the rabbits here should get the short end of the stick when it comes to wits and fortitude.

It’s not too surprising, then, that one of them should wind up paying the price eventually.  Earlier in the series, and in a scene quite brazenly lifted from Richard Adams’ novel, the animals had stayed in a copse, where one of the baby rabbits became tangled in a snare and was saved thanks to the perceptiveness of Owl, who instructed Mole to dig the wooden peg out of the ground (this is also how Fiver and co. saved Bigwig, is it not?).  Sadly, the young rabbit has merely been living on borrowed time, with his luck finally running out when the animals have the misfortune to wander into a pheasant shoot, shortly after being reunited with Fox and joined by Vixen, Fox’s new mate, and Whistler, a heron.  The animals try to remain hidden, but are in serious danger of being discovered by the hunter’s gun dog.  Unable to bear the tension any longer, the baby rabbit panics and runs out into the open, where a single bullet does away with him.  Fortunately, the hunter’s blood lust has now been satisfied, and he and his dog leave without happening upon any of the other animals.

HORROR FACTOR: 6. The build-up to this death was less intense than I remembered it being, possibly because I couldn’t help but compare it to the similar, immeasurably more effective scene in Walt Disney’s Bambi, in which a group of pheasants struggled to maintain their cover whilst Man Was In The Forest (that scene alone is one of the great masterpieces of animation).  Still, it’s our second case of infant mortality in a row, and Badger even manages to rub a little extra salt into the wound by reminding us of the same young rabbit’s earlier misadventure with the snare – Owl had saved him from one grisly fate only for another to be awaiting him further down the road.

NOBILITY FACTOR: 8. It may have been an act more of blind panic than of conscious heroism, but by giving himself up the young rabbit ensured that the hunter and his dog didn’t stumble upon the other hidden animals.  As Fox states, he didn’t die in vain.

TEAR-JERKER FACTOR: 7. The image of that tiny, lifeless young rabbit certainly has to stir up something in you.  The exchange between his parents is pretty affecting too - given the sheer nonsense that often came out of the Rabbits' mouths, there is something genuinely disquieting in seeing them get such a sad and serious moment.

OVERALL RATING: 21

Next up is the Series 1 death which I truly am dreading having to subject myself to again after all these years, so I might take a little breather in order to steel myself up for it.  Normal service will resume shortly.

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