Faerie Tale Theatre (also known as Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre) is an American live-action children's anthology television series, consisting of 27 episodes retelling 25 fairy tales, particularly of The Brothers Grimm, plus the poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" and a special episode called "The Grimm's Party", showcasing the series cast and crew, (including Duvall and Teri Garr), that originally aired on Showtime from September 11, 1982 until November 14, 1987. Shelley Duvall, who created the series served as narrator, host and executive producer of the program alongside Bridget Terry and Fred Fuchs, and occasionally starred in episodes. This was one of the first examples of cable original programming, alongside HBO's Fraggle Rock.
The series was followed by two other, albeit less successful shorter anthology series Tall Tales & Legends (9 episodes) which followed the same format as Faerie Tale Theatre and focused on classic American folk tales and third series Nightmare Classics (4 episodes, originally planned as 6).
Video Faerie Tale Theatre
Background
Shelley Duvall began conception of Faerie Tale Theatre while filming the live-action film Popeye in Malta. She reportedly asked her co-star, Robin Williams, his opinion on "The Frog Prince", a fairy tale she was reading during production. Williams thought it was funny and would later star in the namesake pilot episode of the series, written, narrated and directed by Eric Idle. Many of the episodes produced by Fred Fuchs in association with Duvall, were written by Rod Ash, Mark Curtiss, Maryedith Burrell and Robert C. Jones.
Maps Faerie Tale Theatre
Episodes
Every episode opens with Shelley Duvall introducing herself and welcoming the viewer to the show, after which she would provide a brief synopsis of the story that would follow. All the episodes feature live-action adaptations of fairy tales in costume by many well-known actors and are directed by such diverse directors as Tim Burton and Francis Ford Coppola. Though Duvall introduced each show, she has starring roles in only three of the episodes: "Rumpelstiltskin" (airing in 1982), "Rapunzel" (airing in 1983), and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" (airing in 1984), and also narrates three of the episodes: "The Nightingale" (airing in 1983), "The Snow Queen" (airing in 1985) and "Puss in Boots" (airing in 1985). Many episodes feature backdrops and settings inspired by specific artists and children's book illustrators, including Maxfield Parrish ("The Frog Prince"), Norman Rockwell ("Goldilocks and the Three Bears"), Arthur Rackham ("Hansel and Gretel"), Edmund Dulac ("The Nightingale"), Aubrey Beardsley and Harry Clarke ("The Princess and the Pea") Gustav Klimt ("Rapunzel"), N. C. Wyeth ("Rumpelstiltskin", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs"), Kay Nielsen ("Sleeping Beauty"), Brueghel and Dürer ("The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers"), Jennie Harbour ("Little Red Riding Hood"), and George Cruikshank ("Thumbelina"), as well as filmmakers, such as Jean Cocteau ("Beauty and the Beast").
Home media and DVD releases
Faerie Tale Theatre was released on VHS, Betamax, CED and Laserdisc in the 1980s through mid 1990s, initially by CBS/FOX Video, followed by Playhouse Video (an extended label under CBS/FOX), and later Razz Ma Tazz Entertainment/Cabin Fever Entertainment.
Starmaker II held the rights to the series from 2004 to 2006, and at first released 26 episodes as individual DVDs. This was followed by a double-sided 4-disc box set and then a 6-disc box set, each version containing the same 26 episodes. The "Greatest Moments" episode was not included in this release.
After 2006, Koch Vision held the series' distribution rights, and in November 2006 licensed the rights worldwide (excluding DVDs in North America) to the British company 3DD Entertainment. A new remastered 7-disc box set, including the lost "Greatest Moments" episode, was released by Koch Vision on September 2, 2008. In 2009, Koch Vision released the episodes by theme on six DVD compilations: Tales from the Brothers Grimm ("Hansel and Gretel", "Rapunzel", "Rumpelstiltskin", and "Little Red Riding Hood"), Funny Tales ("The Tale of The Frog Prince", "Pinocchio", "The Three Little Pigs" and "The Princess Who Had Never Laughed"), Tales from Hans Christian Andersen ("The Emperor's New Clothes", "The Nightingale", "The Snow Queen" and "Thumbelina"), Princess Tales ("Cinderella", "The Little Mermaid", "The Dancing Princesses" and "The Princess and the Pea"), Magical Tales ("Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp", "Beauty and the Beast", "Puss in Boots" and "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs") and Bedtime Tales ("Jack and the Beanstalk", "Sleeping Beauty", "Rip Van Winkle" and "Goldilocks and the Three Bears")..
When released on DVD by Starmaker II and Koch Vision, the following scenes were cut from the series:
- "Goldilocks and the Three Bears": Papa Bear and Mama Bear trying to fix Cubby Bear's chair; the Charades scene is shortened.
- "The Pied Piper of Hamelin": Julius Caesar Rat's monologue.
- "Rumpelstiltskin": the Miller's daughter singing with the animals in the forest (this scene was also unavailable on the VHS releases).
Awards
Faerie Tale Theatre won a Peabody Award, a TCA Award and a Golden CableACE Award. It later aired as edited re-runs on the Disney Channel as well as in syndication on various television stations, including PBS and BookTelevision.
See also
- Cannon Movie Tales
- Mother Goose Rock 'n' Rhyme
- Shirley Temple's Storybook
- Tall Tales & Legends
- Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child
References
External links
- Faerie Tale Theatre on IMDb
- Faerie Tale Theatre at TV.com
- Faerie Tale Theatre at epguides.com
Source of article : Wikipedia
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