Multimedia
This section is dedicated to short extracts of video and audio from the film and series. They are, however, basically a preview of the full episode/film, for which you'll have to buy the tape yourself. The main purpose of the page is to compare the extracts from the original film with those from the modern series!
As well as snippets from the UK version of the programme, there are a few internation clips too, just so you see how it varies from one place to the next. All of the files require RealPlayer 8 or RealOne, both of which can be downloaded at www.real.com
Hovering over the icon will bring up information on that file
Theme music:
- Series 1 -
The opening titles from the 1st part of Series 1(episodes 1-5). Stephen Gately
provides the vocals. End Titles -
The ending credits from Series 1 and 2, with Gately providing
vocals. End Titles
(Series 3) - The ending titles from the third series, with no Stephen
Gately, and also no mention of CITV, who abandoned the series. End
Titles (Series 3 German) - Super
RTL's generic credits for the 3rd Series, complete with break bumper.
Unlike their opening titles, this uses all new clips from the third
series. The Stories of El-ahrairah:
- Frith's Blessing (film)
- The original version of the story from the film. Animation is all
hand-painted, whilst the narration and musical score play in the
background. Clip is in 16:9 Widescreen. Frith's Blessing (series) - From the series, this time the
story is read by one of the rabbits - Dandelion. He provides the
narration, as well as the voices of the characters, whilst the Royal
Philharmonic provide a new soundtrack. The animation this time appears to
be computer-generated. Some of the important bits are also missed out,
such as the whole 'you'll have to bless my bottom'
line.
Frith's Promise (episode 22) - The series also introduced several new tales of El-ahrairah. They varied in quality, however the one produced to explain the meaning of Christmas was one of the better examples, this time told by Pipkin.
Musical Scenes: - Thank You Stars
(German) - The namesake of this site, from Episode 9, The
Vision. This was a love scene between Hazel and Primrose set to an
instrumental version of the Thank You Stars music, wrote by Mike Batt.
There's some German speaking at the beginning of this
clip. Thank You Stars
(English) - The equivalent Thank You Stars scene in English actually
has the song lyrics to accompany it, sang by Cerys Matthews. The video
remains the same (indeed, that's why I used the same German video here).
Thanks to David Monid for help in obtaining this clip. Thank You Stars (Dutch)
- The Netherlands version of the TYS
sequence, with both music and Dutch vocals. View From A
Hill - Another musical collection of clips, from Episode 10, The
Tale of a Mouse (Hannah's Plan in German!). This time its set to an
instrumental version of another of Mike's pieces of Music 'View From a
Hill'. I cant see the point of the sequence, other than to pad out 2
minutes of an episode! Oddly, there is an English version with lyrics
which aired in Canada, but not on the episode in the
UK. View From A Hill (Dutch)
- The Dutch Version of
View From A Hill, complete with music and, quite surprisingly, native language vocals.
Series 2 - A
slightly different remix used for the rest of the first and second series
(episodes 6-26). Stephen Gately provides voiceover again.
Series 3 -
The English opening titles to the third series of Watership Down. No more
Stephen Gately; Instead, there's a brilliant new instrumental track. Some
of the scenes in these titles vary on some episodes. Strangely, these were
left in on the German DVD version, and also sometimes slip out in place of
the TV Broadcast version (see below). Also complete with the English introduction/recap
from the previous two series, which features Woundwort's lip actions synced to the
word 'Down'.
Series 3
German - Meanwhile, The Titles from the TV broadcast version of the
German third series. A testament to wonderful re-editing, they've gone to
all the trouble of...erm... changing the last few frames of series 1's
titles, as well as removing Mike Batt's name (Adding a black box around
the edge in the process). Bright Eyes isn't used here either, however it's
replacement track is nothing new. Why they had to do such a poor set of
opening credits, when they could just as easily have changed the last few
frames of the sequence above, I'll never know.
3rd Water - I
thought I'd create my own set of mock titles for my
alternative fanfiction 3rd series. They're not brilliant, but bear in
mind I dont have high-end video-processing equipment!! Then again, they
still look less bodged than the official ones above IMO!
The Film -
The original version of Bright Eyes from the 70's film, with vocals by Art
Garfunkel. This clip is in 16:9 widescreen!