The Wind in the Willows - The Complete Collection [DVD]

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It is autumn, and Rat, Mole and Badger are making preparations for winter, exchanging their home-made jams and preserves. Toad's garden supplies most of the fruits and vegetables for his friends, but Toad himself prefers to buy his own winter provisions in a hamper from London, much to Badger's distaste. Determined to impress them all, Toad buys a canning machine imported from the USA. However, having refused to blanch the vegetables before putting them into the tins, the impression he makes when they are opened is not the sort he planned. Toad's new enthusiasm is film-making, but with Badger, Mole and Rat preparing for the winter he seeks other cast members. After the initial failure of a young hedgehog and of Billy Rabbit in the role of the orphan child, the heroine and her villainous father are replaced by the Assistant and Chief Weasel. The screening reveals a rough cut and, amid much hilarity, Mr. Toad's wedding to the Chief Weasel's Assistant. During the movie, Badger remarks to Mole that despite all of Toad's follies, he really had given everyone a little magic with his film. He also says that when they are gone, they will be preserved forever on a little strip of film, showing those in the future of what their lives were like in their time.

Ratty and Mole:Chums For Life – 1. The Ghost at Mole End, 2. The Great Steamer, 3. The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, 4. The Storm. Classic Willows Tales – 1. The Yuletide Entertainment (cut version), 2. Caught in a Maze, 3. Grand Annual Show, 4. Badger's Remedy. In 2003, Time Life DVD released a set of six DVDs with four digitally re-mastered episodes on each disc containing various episodes from Series 1 – 3; these were as follows: Inspired by the lifestyle of an old gypsy that visits Toad Hall, Mr Toad finds his tent and fiddle, and heads out to a new life on the open road... until it rains.

Spring (DVD) / Spring Follies (VHS – 4 April 1988 & 6 March 1995) – The Great Steamer, Paperchase ( The Lost River in newer VHS 1995), May Day The series is set at The Riverbank, a mythical location somewhere in Berkshire, south west England. The Riverbank is where Ratty, Mole and Toad live. Nearby is the Wild Wood, where Badger and the Weasels live. Each episode has a unique story line, although there are some common themes running throughout the series. In series 4, the humans start building a new railway that is planned to be built through the area where the animals live. The railway gets closer and closer to the animals' homes, yet in the episode "Happy New Year" it turns out that the railway would be travelling over unsuitable land, and therefore the route is diverted from the Riverbank and Wild Wood areas. Oh! Mr Toad! (VHS – 5 February 1990) – Oarsman Toad, Midsummer Night's Disaster, The Complete Bungler.

Alfred (Allan Bardsley) – Alfred is Toad's sarcastic and stubborn but well-meaning horse who always refuses to do what Toad wants to do. He briefly appeared in the film with a singing role and then made on and off appearances in the series. His catchphrases are "Nope" and "Ar". The film (1983) – There have been VHS releases of Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring, among others. Fremantle Media also released the complete series in Australia and New Zealand.Toad invites everyone to a fancy dress Christmas party, at which he plans on making a surprise entrance. Mole decides that he will go as an Indian chief, while Ratty goes as an admiral and Badger as a rajah. A group of weasels have also shown up at the party, all of them dressed as burglars and criminals, with Chief Weasel as a Gangleader. Throughout the party, they secretly snatch cutlery, jewels, and even Ratty's watch, and hide them in a suit of armor, which turns out to be Toad in costume (he intended to appear as a "knight watchman", but his ancestor's suit was too heavy to move). The plan works fine until the suit falls down the stairs and all the jewels tumble out, along with Toad, who exposes the weasels and has them driven out. The series is sometimes misidentified as being filmed in claymation. The method used by Cosgrove Hall is a stop-motion animation process using scale model sets and posable character figurines. The figurines are composed of an articulate metal skeleton ( armature) covered in latex rubber, providing the flexibility and the detail which distinguishes the series. A.A. Milne adapted The Wind in the Willows into a play, Toad of Toad Hall which debuted in London at the Lyric Theatre on December 17, 1929. The play involved such elements as Toad's caravan and auto, as well as his imprisonment, escape, and fight with the weasels to regain Toad Hall with the help of his friends. The Wind in the Willows is a British stop motion animated television series that was originally broadcast between 1984 and 1988, based on characters from Kenneth Grahame's 1908 novel The Wind in the Willows and following the 1983 feature-length pilot film. [2]

Mrs. Carrington-Moss ( Beryl Reid) – The magistrate in the film; she appears in the episodes, "The Grand Annual Show", "Buried Treasure", and "Burglary at Toad Hall". Rat ( Peter Sallis) – Best and platonic friend to Mole. A friendly and strait-laced everyman with a love of poetry and music, and a great passion for the river by which he lives.Patient Toad and other stories (VHS – 1 May 1989) – Patient Toad, The Kidnapping of Toad, Badger's Remedy. DVDs were made as part of a one-off Daily Mail event around the end of 2008, each containing six episodes. Two of them are similar to The Four Seasons collection. While resting, Mole hears sounds which he cannot account for. It leads him to fear that there might be a ghost in his house. Mole seeks reassurance from Badger that the sounds could be the noises of growing tree roots, etc., but Toad exacerbates the issue by singing to Mole about the thousands of ghosts skulking in Toad Hall. Eventually, though, he discovers that the sounds are produced by a hedgehog which has fallen into a crevice immediately above his burrow. With the help of Rat, he saves the animal. The Christmas Collection (5 October 1992) - Auld Lang Syne. (Compilation VHS with The Sooty Show and Rainbow) Toad comes down with a minor cold, but begins to think it something much more serious after he realizes that all his ancestors died young. He searches what he thinks are his father's medical books and realizes that he has come down with a fatal combination of diseases (specifically, armillaria mellea, botrytis, and ranunculus repens). While Rat and Mole diligently wait on the seemingly-dying Toad, Badger searches the books and discovers that Toad's diseases are actually plant ailments. When informed of this, Toad leaps out of bed in happiness, only to fall down the stairs and break his leg.