Watership Down (1999)

Watership Down
The Watership Down title card. From left to right: Pipkin, Bigwig, Hazel, Blackberry, and Fiver.
Genre	Fantasy Children's television
Created by	Richard Adams (book)
Written by	Mary Crawford Alan Templeton
Directed by	Troy Sullivan
Composer(s)	Mike Batt
Country of origin	United Kingdom Canada
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	39
Production
Running time	23 minutes
Production company(s)	Alltime Entertainment Helix Animation Decode Entertainment YTV Originals
Release
Original network	CITV,
Original release	September 28, 1999 – December 4, 2001

Watership Down is a British-Canadian animated fantasy children's television series, adapted from the novel Watership Down by Richard Adams. It was a co-production of Alltime Entertainment of the United Kingdom and Decode Entertainment of Canada, and produced by Martin Rosen, the director of the 1978 feature film adaptation.

The show aired for 39 episodes in three series from 1999 to 2001, on both YTV in Canada and CITV in the UK, though the latter did not broadcast the third season. It starred several well-known British actors, including Stephen Fry, Rik Mayall, Phil Jupitus, Jane Horrocks, Dawn French, John Hurt, and Richard Briers, among others. Hurt and Briers also starred in the film. Stephen Gately sang a new arrangement of Art Garfunkel's "Bright Eyes", which had been included in the 1978 film, while Mike Batt (who wrote "Bright Eyes") and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra contributed a completely new score. In 2003, composer Eric Robertson as well as David Greene and Mike Batt were nominated for a Gemini Award for Best Original Music Score for a Dramatic Series for their work on the show.

Some episodes from the adaptation were released on VHS and later, DVD. In October 2005, a Region 2 DVD box set of all three seasons was released in the UK.

Parodies

1. Watership Down (1999)/Aladdin
2. Watership Down (1999)/The Little Mermaid
3. Watership Down (1999)/Snow White
4. Watership Down (1999)/Pinocchio
5. Watership Down (1999)/Sleeping Beauty
6. Watership Down (1999)/The Pagemaster
7. Watership Down (1999)/The Fox and the Hound
8. Watership Down (1999)/Balto (1995)
9. Watership Down (1999)/The Rescuers
10. Watership Down (1999)/Fantasia
11. Watership Down (1999)/Dinosaur
12. Watership Down (1999)/The Land Before Time
13. Watership Down (1999)/The Amazing World of Gumball
14. Watership Down (1999)/SpongeBob SquarePants
15. Watership Down (1999)/How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
16. Watership Down (1999)/T.U.F.F. Puppy
17. Watership Down (1999)/Star Wars
18. Watership Down (1999)/Back to the Future
19. Watership Down (1999)/The Wizard of Oz
20. Watership Down (1999)/Indiana Jones
21. Watership Down (1999)/Tangled
22. Watership Down (1999)/The Flight of Dragons
23. Watership Down (1999)/The Last Unicorn
24. Watership Down (1999)/Banjo the Woodpile Cat
25. Watership Down (1999)/Freddie as F.R.O.7.
26. Watership Down (1999)/Pocahontas
27. Watership Down (1999)/Dinofroz
28. Watership Down (1999)/Friends
29. Watership Down (1999)/Scrubs
30. Watership Down (1999)/The Office