Faerie Tale Theatre Appreciation Thread

[avonleastories95]

If you have ventured into this thread, you are obviously a fan of or remember Faerie Tale Theatre (or not, I do not know). I enjoyed this seires ever since I was 3, when I saw my first episode, Sleeping Beauty. Now looking back at the number of tapes of this show I own, which is quite a few, I must say, I can see why I have such a gigantic love for Classic Literature, perferably Fairy Tales. I am 15, and I am not embarrassed to say on a public website that my favorite books are Fairy Tale anthologies. It was on Showtime from 1982 to 1987, then it was on PBS and the Disney Channel (when it was good!). I do not remember me watching this on any of these, because I was very young, but I do remember seeing them on individual cassettes from Playhouse video. Sadly, Faerie Tale Theatre is not on regular TV anymore , but cassettes and DVDs are available. My favorite episode of Faerie Tale Theatre is/was The Little Mermaid. I thought that the acting in this one was superb and the story was wonderful, it tought me lessons of love, innocence, and sacrifice that will last for a long time in my life. It is just as great as the Disney version! I also recommend the original story. It is long, but it is beautiful! If you have memories or have a favorite episode, your words are welcome. Thank you for visiting!

[Escapay]

There's a couple threads (here and here) about the DVD releases, but none about the actual show. So I won't bother asking for a merge (plus, CJ has been MIA from posting for awhile )

Anyways, our family used to watch "Faerie Tale Theatre" on both VHS rentals and Disney Channel. One of our favorite episodes (and for a long time, the only one we had on VHS) was "The Three Little Pigs." I used to know more or less the whole thing by heart, and I think I'll always associate Fred Willard with his role as Paul in this than anything else he's ever done.

Unsurprisingly, three of my favorite Faerie Tale Theatre episodes are also among my favorite Disney Animated Classics:

"Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp" (directed by Tim Burton!)

"Sleeping Beauty" (with Bernadette Peters as Sleeping Beauty and Christopher Reeve as The Prince),

"Beauty and the Beast" (with Susan Sarandon (!) as Beauty, and the whole episode is more or less a remake of Cocteau's version)

Before the Complete Collection DVD came out, I acquired a few of the single-episode DVDs for cheap ("Hansel & Gretel", "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves", and "Cinderella") but gave them to my brother in anticipation of getting the Complete Collection (which I still haven't bought). Later on, I found "The Three Little Pigs" and bought that, and I know I'll probably still keep it after I buy the Complete Collection.

albert

[blackcauldron85]

I used to watch Faerie Tale Theatre every single weekend while eating supper! It wasn't on cable, though, just a broadcast channel, since we didn't have cable in the kitchen then...but I don't know what channel it would have been.

My first thought about FTT is that Paul Reubens as Pinocchio scared the crap out of me as a kid. Wow. I couldn't even watch his part in the opening credits!

I don't vividly remember any of the episodes...it's more like I remember tiny bits and pieces. Looking at Wikipedia's list of episodes...

Okay, there were singing radishes in Rapunzel, right? If so, those also scared me as a kid.

After reading the Goldilocks and the Three Bears summary, I don't seem to recall ever seeing it...? Likewise The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers...?

Although I don't remember much about the episode, The Little Mermaid was a favorite of mine. I remember the name Pearl, and I remember her headdress, and Disney's version has always been a favorite of mine, so I'm sure I ate it up as a kid. And Treat Williams is the prince, and as a kid, I always thought that he was handsome.

I don't recall The Dancing Princesses, but I liked Lesley Ann Warren as a kid, so it's possible that I saw it and I just don't remember it...

Maybe I should look into getting the DVDs, since I know that I loved the show...I just don't remember much about it. I know that not too long ago, I watched a little of an episode online, and it was coming back to me, so maybe YouTube will be my friend...

[Luke]

That Shelley Duvall knows how to make classic lore palpable and funny. I enjoy both her Fairy Tale Theatre and Tall Tales & Legends. I mean there's only so much you can do with a 50-minute retelling, but I've found many of them entertaining and clever.

[Disneykid]

I love Fairy Tale Theatre, though I keep putting off buying the Complete Collection DVD set for some reason. It's just a blast to see famous actors let loose and play tongue-in-cheek characters everyone's familiar with. A lot of the casting was pretty dang inspired, actually.

The only episode I've ever owned was Pinocchio with Paul Reubens, which is among my favorites along with Cinderella and the three Escapay listed. I wore that tape out as a kid, yet it wasn't until I watched the episode again a few years ago as an adult that I gasped at recognizing almost all of the actors, something that happened more and more as I revisted other episodes on YouTube. I've seen most episodes of the show back when Disney would show it on syndication, but I'm positive I haven't seen them all. Some like "The Boy Who Left Home...," "The Pied Piper," and "The Nightingale". are completely unfamiliar to me when I see clips of them in the video below:

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I think I've only ever actually seen about half of the series, but I hope to rectify that with the DVD. Heck, maybe I'll order it this weekend while it's still on my mind.

[blackcauldron85]

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Yeah, totally got a shudder... why oh why did they need to use that picture as the main picture for the video??? Apparently I'm not over my fear of Paul Reubens with a long nose. Was anyone else ever freaked out by him? Or by Steve Martin's Roxanne...really, long noses freaked me out when I was little...

I remember the Hansel & Gretel episode after watching that video! I barely remember Cinderella, but I do remember it. Yes, I remember The Emperor's New Clothes! OMG, the Big Bad Wolf! The pigs don't look too familiar, but I vaguely remember the wolf! Yes, I definitely remember Jack and the Beanstalk. I still don't remember The Dancing Princesses. YES- James Earl Jones' Genie!!! I don't know if I remember the rest of it, but I remember the Genie. I remember the King from The Princess Who Had Never Laughed, but the rest doesn't look too familiar. I really don't remember Sleeping Beauty... But I do remember The Frog Prince...yes, The Nightingale, idk about Snow White...and now it's going too fast, haha. They don't make shows like this anymore, but I wish they did...

[avonleastories95]

That Shelley Duvall knows how to make classic lore palpable and funny. I enjoy both her Fairy Tale Theatre and Tall Tales & Legends. I mean there's only so much you can do with a 50-minute retelling, but I've found many of them entertaining and clever.

I wholeheartedly agree with you! I do not think I have ever seen Tall Tales and Legends before, though I vaguely remember The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. Yes, only so much can be done with within a running time of 1 hour, but most of the episodes were wondeful!
Escapay, I like The Three Little Pigs myself. It was definitely the funniest episode of Faerie Tale Theatre! I really liked The Big Bad Wolf played by Jeff Goldblum. To me, this particular episode, along with Puss in Boots felt like Saturday Morning Cartoons because they were so humorous! Another one of my favorites that you mentioned was Beauty and the Beast. I loved the gothic and dramatic atmosphere of the episode. It was really different from the Disney version, which is my favorite Disney movie, by the way! For instance, Beauty's father in this version is a merchant, not an inventor. Jacques, Beauty's suitor, was not really evil as Avenant and Gaston were. No teapots or candelabras to be seen in this (if there were, the episode would have been ruined!). I loved the musical score in this episode! While watching the 1946 version, I failed to notice any similarites, though a few words in the dialouge were the same! Thank you for not merging!
blackcauldron85, I am going to answer your question about the radishes in Rapunzel, you were only slightly wrong! The puppet radish was screaming in a shrill voice, not singing! I also think you might have, with your context clues, watched Faerie Tale Theatre on PBS. I might be wrong, though!
Disneykid, I think I have never seen the CBS/FOX preview before. I have seen the Playhouse video preview before, and looking at the preview you so generously put on here (thank you for doing that), this preview and the Playhouse video preview were exactly the same, with the exception of the music at the end. If you do get the highly expensive complete collection, I do recommend the three episodes you said you have not seen. I must also say that someone has posted all of the episodes on YouTube, and that would be a great alternative for you! I just wanted to put that into discussion.
I think I am just about done with this novel I have written ! Thank you all for posting! I really appreciate it!



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[blackcauldron85]

blackcauldron85, I am going to answer your question about the radishes in Rapunzel, you were only slightly wrong! The puppet radish was screaming in a shrill voice, not singing! I also think you might have, with your context clues, watched Faerie Tale Theatre on PBS. I might be wrong, though!

Ohhh....see, it's been a long time. Yeah, I thought the radishes were pretty freaky as a kid. And if it was on PBS, then that's likely where I saw it!

[Wonderlicious]

I saw the "Snow White" episode numerous times as a child, and I went looking for it and finally saw it again on YouTube a couple of years ago. I went on a Faerie Tale Theatre rampage shortly after on YouTube, though I can admit to not seeing every episode. I'll make a list of the ones that I definitely saw all the way through.

Snow White
Thumbelina
The Snow Queen
Little Red Riding Hood
Sleeping Beauty
Beauty and the Beast
Puss in Boots
Aladdin
Rip Van Winkle
The Nightingale
Pinocchio
The Pied Piper of Hamelin
Rapunzel
Rumpelstiltskin
The Little Mermaid
Jack and the Beanstalk

I like Faerie Tale Theatre, as it is just pure fun. I can forgive some of the hokey sets and costumes in the show, as it's supposed to be a series of televised plays, plus the writing is good enough to offset it. The one that I thought didn't work all that well was "Pinocchio", as it was probably too epic a story to make into a modest-budget TV episode, and it consequently comes across as a stepbrother to the Disney version. I also thought that the staging of "Rip Van Winkle", though honourable, was too avant-garde for anything out of a theatre (the entry and exit from the woods, with the pictures of King George III and of George Washington as its gates, are good examples). Out of the ones that I saw, I'd say my favourites were "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", "Rapunzel", "Aladdin" and "Snow White".

[avonleastories95]

These are my top 10 and why:
10. Princess and the Pea (It was a very funny episode written by Mark Curtiss and Rod Ash, I remember that the funniest line to me was "You've infected my milk!" . Comedy is only part of this episode's charm. I noticed a lot of chemistry between Tom Conti and Liza Minnelli.)
9. Thumbelina (One of the series' best! Everything, from the beautiful story by Maryedith Burrell to magnificent work of the makeup artists did for Lu Leonard and Burgess Meredith. Carrie Fisher was a very beautiful Thumbelina, and she had a voice to match. The musical score was wondeful!)
8. The Nightingale (I loved the engaging script by Joan Silver and the fantastic efforts of everyone, I could see that everyone involved in this episode had a lot of fun.)
7. The Frog Prince (I loved the humor in this one!)
6. Little Red Riding Hood (At first, I really did not care for this one. Now I am starting to appreciate it more! Everything in this episode was wonderful!)
5. Rapunzel (I enjoyed it because of the wondeful acting, script, and set artwork. I must admit, I close my eyes when Marie has the Demon Radish dream, and when the prince falls down Rapunzel's tower and leaks orange "blood." It was definitely the creepiest episode!)
4. Beauty and the Beast (I loved the gothic and dramatic atmosphere of this episode. This was very different from the Disney version, but in a good way. It also had a great musical score)
3. Rip Van Winkle (This was another episode with a dramatic and gothic air, but not as scary as Beauty and the Beast. I also liked the slight touches of humor from Tim Conway and Talia Shire (who was the director's sister) True, the special effects were not very good, but the episode was despite that minor flaw.)
2. The Snow Queen (I loved the set artwork and story for this episode. Both Melissa Gilbert and Lance Kerwin were spectacular, Mary Jackson and Linda Manz were just as great! It also taught a wonderful lesson about true friendship and the power of love. If you have not seen it, I recommend it to you with a well honor.)
1. The Little Mermaid (see beginning of the thread)
Honorable Mentions: The Three Little Pigs, Snow White, and Cinderella
Least Favorites: Sleeping Beauty and Pinocchio

[Escapay]

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Oh wow. We'd always watch this after "Three Little Pigs" on our VHS tape. I forgot just how many celebrities were in the series!

albert