Faerie Tale Theatre

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Faerie Tale Theatre
FaerieTaleTheatreBoxSet.jpg
The 6-DVD Starmaker II box set cover
Also known asShelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre
Genre Anthology
Fairytale fantasy
Adventure
Drama
Created by Shelley Duvall
Presented byShelley Duvall
Starringsee below
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons6
No. of episodes27 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersShelley Duvall for Gaylord Production Company, Lions Gate Films and Platypus Productions
Fred Fuchs
Running time39–58 minutes
Production companies
Original release
Network Showtime
ReleaseSeptember 11, 1982 (1982-09-11) 
November 14, 1987 (1987-11-14)
Related
Tall Tales & Legends
Nightmare Classics
Bedtime Stories

Faerie Tale Theatre (also known as Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre) is an American award-winning live-action fairytale fantasy drama anthology television series of 27 episodes, that originally broadcast nationally on Showtime from September 11, 1982 until November 14, 1987 (before being sold internationally). It is a retelling of 25 classic fairy tales, particularly those written by The Brothers Grimm, Charles Perrault and Hans Christian Andersen. Episode 26 was not based on a fairy tale, but rather on the poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin".

Contents

The 27th episode was a reunion special of cast and crew titled "Grimm Party", in which in fairy tale style, they attended a gala in fancy dress.

The series as a live-action adaptation was notable for featuring an alumni of Hollywood actors and famous celebrities portraying the costumed characters, and also utilized filming by well-known directors.

Faerie Tale Theatre was followed by three other short anthologies series also produced by Duvall including Tall Tales and Legends , which follows a similar theme to the later with a focus on American folklore, Nightmare Classics (6 produced of the intended 9 episodes), aimed at a younger audience and Bedtime Stories (12 episodes).

Series background

Actress Shelley Duvall who conceived the series, served as executive producer and host alongside associate producers Bridget Terry and Fred Fuchs. Duvall also starred in three episodes portraying various characters and was a featured narrator of three episodes, as well as providing the voice of the animatronic Nightingale, in the episode of the same title.

Every episode would begin with Duvall introducing herself and giving a brief synopsis of the nights fairytale episode that followed.

The series followed a similar style to an earlier fairy tale anthology series called Shirley Temple's Storybook broadcast between 1958 and 1961, in which Shirley Temple served as narrator, with this series also featuring numerous celebrities portraying the costumed characters.

The series was one of the first examples of original cable programming, alongside HBO's Fraggle Rock . [1]

Production

Duvall began the conception of Faerie Tale Theatre whilst she was filming the live-action 1980 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. [2] Williams thought it was funny and would later star in the namesake pilot episode of the series that was written, narrated and directed by Monty Python's Eric Idle, who himself would appear in the future episode "The Pied Piper of Hamelin".

Many of the episodes were produced by Fred Fuchs in association with Duvall, with the screenplays written by Rod Ash, Mark Curtiss, Maryedith Burrell and Robert C. Jones. All of the episodes were produced and shot from 1982 to 1985 and videotaped mostly at the ABC Television Studios in Burbank, California.

Episodes were directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Ivan Passer, Emile Ardolino, Tim Burton as well as an alumni of other famous Hollywood directors.

Episodes

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 2September 11, 1982 (1982-09-11)October 16, 1982 (1982-10-16)
2 6February 5, 1983 (1983-02-05)December 5, 1983 (1983-12-05)
3 7January 9, 1984 (1984-01-09)September 17, 1984 (1984-09-17)
4 7February 12, 1985 (1985-02-12)October 5, 1985 (1985-10-05)
5 2July 14, 1986 (1986-07-14)August 11, 1986 (1986-08-11)
6 3March 23, 1987 (1987-03-23)November 14, 1987 (1987-11-14)

Artwork

Many episodes feature backdrops and settings inspired by specific artists and children's book illustrators. [3]

ArtistProduction
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
George Cruikshank Thumbelina
Aubrey Beardsley The Princess and the Pea
filmmakers, such as Jean Cocteau Beauty and the Beast

Home media

Faerie Tale Theatre was released on VHS, Betamax, CED, and Laserdisc in the 1980s through mid 1990s, initially by CBS/FOX Video (which was also in Australia), followed by Playhouse Video (an extended label under CBS/FOX), and later Razz Ma Tazz Entertainment/Cabin Fever Entertainment. In the UK, it was released by MGM-UA Home Video.

Starmaker II held the rights to the series from 2004 to 2006, and at first released 26 episodes as individual DVDs. [4] 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. [5] [6] A new remastered 7-disc box set, including the lost "Greatest Moments" episode, was released by Koch Vision in September 2008. [7] 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"). [8]

When released on DVD by Starmaker II and Koch Vision, the following scenes were cut from the series:

Awards

AwardResult
Peabody Award Won
TCA Award Won
Golden CableACE AwardWon

Local and international broadcast

In the United States the series originally broadcast on Showtime from 1982 and 1986, and re-aired on the Disney Channel from 1994 and 1996. [9] It also broadcast in syndication on various television stations, [10] including PBS [11] [12] and BookTelevision. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pied Piper of Hamelin</span> German legend

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany.

Adaptations of <i>Puss in Boots</i> Adaptations of a fairy tale about a cat

'Puss' is a character in the fairy tale "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots" by Charles Perrault. The tale was published in 1697 in his Histoires ou Contes du temps passé. The tale of a cat helping an impoverished master attain wealth through its trickery is known in hundreds of variants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rapunzel</span> German fairy tale

"Rapunzel" is a European fairy tale most notably recorded by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 as part of Children's and Household Tales. The Brothers Grimm's story was developed from the French literary fairy tale of Persinette by Charlotte-Rose de Caumont de La Force (1698), which itself is an alternative version of the Italian fairy tale Petrosinella by Giambattista Basile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shelley Duvall</span> American actress (born 1949)

Shelley Alexis Duvall is an American actress and producer widely known for her portrayal of distinctive, often eccentric characters. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Peabody Award and nominations for a British Academy Film Award and two Primetime Emmy Awards.

<i>Grimms Fairy Tale Classics</i> Japanese anime television series

Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, also known as Grimm Masterpiece Theater in the original version and The Grimm's Fairy Tales, is a Japanese anime anthology series by Nippon Animation based on the Grimms' Fairy Tales.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Frog Prince</span> German fairy tale

"The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in Grimm's Fairy Tales. Traditionally, it is the first story in their folktale collection. The tale is classified as Aarne-Thompson type 440.

Iniminimagimo was a French language children's television show made in Quebec. It played in the late 1980s. Each episode featured a classic fairy tale played by the same cast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thumbelina</span> Fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen

Thumbelina is a literary novel bedtime story fairy tale written by the famous Danish author Hans Christian Andersen. It was first published by C. A. Reitzel on 16 December 1835 in Copenhagen, Denmark, with "The Naughty Boy" and "The Travelling Companion" in the second installment of Fairy Tales Told for Children. Thumbelina is about a tiny girl and her adventures with marriage-minded toads, moles, and cockchafers. She successfully avoids their intentions before falling in love with a flower-fairy prince just her size.

Goldilocks and the Three Bears (<i>Faerie Tale Theatre</i>) 1st episode of the 3rd season of Faerie Tale Theatre

"Goldilocks and the Three Bears" is the 9th episode of the television anthology Faerie Tale Theatre. The story is based on the Robert Southey's story of the same title and stars Tatum O'Neal as Goldilocks.

<i>American McGees Grimm</i> 2008 video game

American McGee's Grimm is a 23-part episodic video game series based upon Grimm's Fairy Tales, designed by American McGee, developed by Spicy Horse and distributed online initially by GameTap starting July 31, 2008. Grimm was originally thought to resemble the warped fairy tale style of American McGee's Alice, but the art style appears to be much more child-friendly and simplistic. Grimm is written and executive-produced by the same person as American McGee's Alice, R. J. Berg. The original announcement was made in the June 2007 issue of PC Gamer.

Tall Tales & Legends is an American folklore anthology television series of 9 episodes created by television and film actress Shelley Duvall, who also served as executive producer and presenter, alongside Fred Fuchs, following her success with her first anthology series, Faerie Tale Theatre.

Rumpelstiltskin is a fairy tale.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">German Fairy Tale Route</span>

The German Fairy Tale Route is a tourist attraction in Germany originally established in 1975. With a length of 600 kilometres (370 mi), the route runs from Hanau in central Germany to Bremen in the north. Tourist attractions along the route are focused around the brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, including locations where they lived and worked at various stages in their life, as well as regions which are linked to the fairy tales found in the Grimm collection, such as The Town Musicians of Bremen. The Verein Deutsche Märchenstraße society, headquartered in the city of Kassel, is responsible for the route, which travellers can recognize with the help of road signs depicting the heart-shaped body and head of a pretty, princess-like creature.

Well Loved Tales was a series of illustrated re-tellings of fairy tales and other traditional stories published by Ladybird between 1964 and the early 1990s. The books were labelled as "easy reading" and were graded depending on such aspects as their length, complexity and vocabulary. Most of the stories in the series were based on stories by Hans Christian Andersen, the Brothers Grimm and Charles Perrault, alongside a number of traditional English folk tales such as Jack and the Beanstalk and The Three Little Pigs. The first title in the series was Cinderella, and over the next decade, twenty seven titles were published, all written by Vera Southgate. In 1979, with the publication of The Ugly Duckling, Pinocchio and Tom Thumb in the series, the look and format of the books changed. The books now universally featured a green spine and back cover, as well as a standard logo. The series also broke with the Ladybird tradition of having a left page of just text and a right page of just picture, and the illustrations became more stylised than the previous editions. Older titles were gradually re-illustrated over the years. Under this new look, even more titles retold by a variety of different editors and authors came to be added over the course of the 1980s, with popular stories including Hansel and Gretel, The Little Mermaid and The Wizard of Oz.

<i>Fairy Tale Police Department</i> Australian TV series or program

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Nightmare Classics is an American horror anthology television series created, produced and executive produced by Shelley Duvall featuring adaptations of well-known horror stories by authors including Henry James, Sheridan Le Fanu, Robert Louis Stevenson and Ambrose Bierce. Following the success of her two previous anthology series – Faerie Tale Theatre and Tall Tales & Legends – both of which were aimed at the elementary-school set, Duvall attempted to branch out to the teen and young adult audience with Nightmare Classics.

<i>Shelley Duvalls Bedtime Stories</i> American TV series or program

Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories is a 1992 American live-action/animated anthology television series that originally aired on Showtime. The series, hosted by Duvall, was a showcase of short animated adaptations of children's books with narration provided by celebrity guests. The VHSs are released by Universal Studios Home Video but are close captioned by the National Captioning Institute instead of Captions, Inc.

References

  1. Sandra Salmans (6 February 1984). "Showtime Challenges Rivals". The New York Times via NYTimes.com.
  2. Suskin, Steven (2008-09-07). "THE DVD SHELF: "Mad Men" Season One, and Duvall's "Faerie Tale Theatre"". Playbill.com. Archived from the original on 2008-09-10. Retrieved 2008-09-08.
  3. Stengel, Richard and Denise Worrell (July 25, 1983). "Video: Cinderella Puts On a Show". Time. Archived from the original on December 22, 2008.
  4. Bianculli, David (October 28, 2004). "Old Family Treasures Unearthed On DVD". New York Daily News.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. "3DD Takes On New Properties from U.S. Companies". World Screen. November 3, 2006. Archived from the original on December 19, 2007.
  6. "International Market: 3DD Entertainment". Cynopsis: Multi-Cultural & International Edition. November 6, 2006. Archived from the original on June 1, 2008.
  7. "Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre: The Complete Collection (2008)". Amazon. 2 September 2008. ASIN: B001AZIRV8
  8. Catalog kochvision.com
  9. Bianculli, David (September 26, 1995). "Cable Viewers Suffer Unkindest Cuts Of All". New York Daily News.
  10. Nanwalt, Sasha (August 6, 1989). "TELEVISION; Shelley Duvall Tries Scaring Up A New Audience". The New York Times.
  11. Lomartire, Paul (April 21, 1992). "'BEDTIME STORIES' A FINE SHOW FOR KIDS". Palm Beach Post.
  12. KLRU TV Schedule – Search By Title: List of KLRU programs Archived 2012-09-18 at the Wayback Machine klru.org
  13. "Program Schedule". BookTelevision. March 29, 2007. Archived from the original on March 29, 2007.