Premise
Each episode began with host James Earl Jones sitting in a chair in a room with a table, lamp, and window. The walls were blue with white dots in order to make it appear as if the room was sitting out in space or the night sky.
James Earl Jones talks during the short opening section, then acts as narrator for the balance of an episode. The series presents stories based on traditional folk and fairy tales. A number of presentation methods were used to tell these stories, with stop motion animation, live-action or traditional animation being used depending on the episode.
James Earl Jones only hosts in seasons one and two, but does not host in seasons three and four. Long Ago and Far Away also featured a number of guest narrators, including Tammy Grimes (who narrated "The Happy Circus"); Kim Loughran (who narrated "Bill and Bunny"); David Suchet (who narrated "The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship"); Mia Farrow (who narrated "Beauty and the Beast" and "Pegasus"); Peter Chelsom (who narrated Bill the Minder), Robert Hardy (who narrated "Pied Piper of Hamelin"); and Kevin Kline (who narrated "Merlin and the Dragons"). In the episode "Emperor's New Clothes", Regis Philbin provided the voice of the Emperor, In the episode "The Wind in the Willows", David Jason provided the voice of Mr. Toad and In the episode "The Reluctant Dragon", Simon Callow provided the voice of the dragon.
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The Pied Piper of Hamelin is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany.
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List of works by or about fantasy writer Jane Yolen:
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