"BEWARE THE WILD WOOD"
- The first appearance of Badger can be quite intimidating, especially since at this point we know little of him except for his initial gruff demeanour. Thankfully, he proves himself a friendly and amicable character to Ratty and Mole in short order.
- The depiction of Mole venturing through the Wild Wood
to find Badger's house really puts the depiction of it in any other adaptation to shame.- Through quiet winter air, Mole nears the trees - from behind which, to a shiver of "Psycho" Strings score, two swiftly peeping weasels announce the terror to come.
- Through the trees sneak scantily glimpsed weasels. The music racks up the tension. The weasels' looming shadows, distantly staring eyes, and echoing hisses transform them from woodland mobsters to spectral terrors. No wonder Mole panics.
Mole: Ra-tty...! - Some close up shots of Mole in the movie can look creepy. In fact, pause the film or one of the episodes at the wrong moment, and even the most gentle character will look downright scary due to the nature of the puppets used.
- The weasels' takeover of Toad Hall.
- To explain, the scene begins with no music. All you hear is the winter winds and the weasels muttering under their breath as they enter Toad Hall. The scene changes to Badger alone reading in the library, unaware of the intrusion. There is still no music. The weasels silently enter the library. One of them approaches Badger from behind, raising a club. Now there is music; a solitary drumroll as the weasel gets closer and strikes. Badger falls to the floor. The drumroll slows, occurring only a single beat at a time. The Chief and his right hand weasel drag Badger out the front door and let him slide down the stairs to the snowy ground below. They go back inside and close the door on him. Badger shows no sign of getting up. End of scene.
- Everything to do with the approaching railway in the TV series. Not only is the idea of the idyllic Riverbank getting destroyed by the new development a horrible idea to begin with, but multiple episodes deal with the animals' anxieties over possibly losiing their very way of life to the railway. It can hit especially close to home for those who've been through similar experiences, or even outright lost their homes to such things.
- The episode "The Ghost at Mole End" with Mole wondering about ghosts as he hears strange noises in his home (which turns out to be a hedgehog who dug a burrow in the wrong place and got stuck in Mole's ceiling) ends with Toad in Toad Hall getting scared out of his mind as he believes Toad Hall to be suddenly haunted.note Said hauntings are easily explained by the wind and other natural phenomena, but the music, sound effects, and the way the scene is lit (not to mention Toad nearly sobbing in fright) make the scene quite scary.
