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Post by janetcatbird on Dec 29, 2005 21:16:39 GMT -5
Am I the only one who knows what this is? Shelley Duvall did this in the '80s, providing good decent family entertainment, approximately hour-long adaptations of various fairy tales. To appeal to adults, it's good writing, and big-name stars, bear in mind, from the 80s. If anyone else knows this series, feel free to jump in! Or am I blathering to myself?
Anyhoo, the local PBS station ran these when I was little. Because they came on at 8:00--my bedtime--my parents would tape them for me to watch, so great!! Now they've put out a DVD collection of the entire series, which my parents got me for Christmas. Yay!! It's been a while, I've only seen a couple so far.
"The Frog Prince"--Terri Garr as the spoiled princess, Robin Williams as the Frog. Watching it at age 20 I pick up on a whole lot more of the dialogue than I did at age 6. Eric Idle wrote/directed, very clever, drags in some spots but generally fun. A snarky court musician with some thinly veiled television satire, and of course a toned down Williams.
"Rumplestiltskin"--meh. Kind of repetitive, not the greatest episode. Shelley Duvall was the miller's daughter.
What I do remember: "The Three Little Pigs" was fantastic, Billy Crystals as 3rd pig and Jeff Goldblum as the Wolf. No matter what I see him in, Jeff Goldblum will always be the guy in the furry vest, top hat and cigar. (It's amazing how the first thing you see an actor in shapes your perceptions of future roles. I saw "Last Temptation of Christ" and when Harry Dean Stanton was portraying fiery preacher Paul I heard his voice and could only think Rip Van Winkle? Again, from Faerie Tale Theatre, but that episode was scary for little Catbird.)
Anyways, if you get a chance, check this out. Of course, I love fairy tales, but if you got moppets for a day maybe you can rent a couple.
--Catbird
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Post by Metella on Dec 30, 2005 9:21:07 GMT -5
I remember those, I remember I liked them; but not much else about them.
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Post by janetcatbird on Jan 5, 2006 11:43:13 GMT -5
Well, I'm slowly working my way through the episodes. For those with moppets, or who just like fairy tale adaptations, here are a few notes.
"Rapunzel" (Shelley Duvall, Jeff Bridges)--kind of slow, generic fairy tale setting, but the scenes with Rapunzel's parents while the mother is pregnant do get a few chuckles for the grownups. "I want a radish!" "We don't have any radishes...father leans over with a twinkle in his eye Want a cucumber?" "Get away from me!" later when the father is reluctant to creep into the witch's garden the wife makes the comment "My mother was right about you!"
"The Nightingale" Very slow-paced. Chinese folktale about the emperor who becomes friends with a singing bird. Mick Jagger as the Emperor and Edward James Olmos the vizier in Fu Manchu makeup are not a pretty sight. Barbara Hershey as the kitchen maid. While it's somewhat cringing to see non-Asian actors in the eye makeup, they do not portray the characters as negative Orientalist stereotypes. I guess they just didn't try hard enough to find the actors, but the whole point of this series was to get big names and I don't think there were very many in the early '80s.
"Sleeping Beauty" {Bernadette Peters, Christopher Reeve, and a whole bunch of others) I missed this one when I was little, but now it's a new favorite. Early L&O fans, take note! George Dzundza (Max Greevy) plays the woodsman/narrator. Set in Czarist Russia--cool scenery and costumes--he sports the comical Russian accent. Bernadette Peters as the princess gets a song that takes a bit too long, but otherwise this one has a lot of humor. Squire Tuck is played as an overbearing Jewish worry-wart parent, Carol Kane is the good fairy. Sally Kellerman and Rene Auberjonois (Odo in Deep Space Nine, he was also in "The Frog Prince") are the princess' parents. At the beginning the queen is reading a book in bed and starts out with once-upon-a-time before a little fairy comes. "I'll tell you how you can have a child! But you're gonna have to forget about fairy tales--at least for tonight!"
I hadn't seen him in anything before, but Christopher Reeve was the best part. He was having a blast as Prince Charming--and a brief bit as an affected ninny of a prince in an arranged marriage--very gung-ho and giving it his all. Much like Cary Elwes in "The Princess Bride"/"Men in Tights", he makes it fun with his enthusiasm. Of course, at the end when the princess wakes up, her parents--who were enchanted at the foot of her bed--find this man leaning over/half laying on top of their daughter. Reeve gets this sheepish smile on his face when he sees them: "Hi..." (They played a brief snippet of the Sleeping Beauty waltz at the waking up, so in the end credits they listed "Extra Special Thanks to Peter Tchaikovsky", a nice touch.)
--Catbird
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Post by maherjunkie on Jan 7, 2006 12:04:32 GMT -5
I may rent it! Can anyone tell me what the one with ZZ Top was like?
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Post by janetcatbird on Jan 8, 2006 19:49:32 GMT -5
ZZ Top? I don't remember, and judging from the names in the credits they never appeared on the show. Unless they used their real names--you'll have to help me, cause I don't know the band. The only musicians I can think of that appeared are Bernadette Peters, Carole King, and Mick Jagger.
--Catbird
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Post by maherjunkie on Jan 14, 2006 12:44:02 GMT -5
I think they were 3 men in a tub, actually.
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Post by NikkiGreen on Jan 16, 2006 15:58:25 GMT -5
Book Television shows this here. "Jack and the Beanstalk" starring Dennis Christopher was on this Saturday. Compared to his appearance in 'Cherry Red', he looked so baby-ish. "The Dancing Princesses" are next, this Wednesday.
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Post by janetcatbird on Feb 23, 2007 17:00:56 GMT -5
BUMP!!!I've been working my way through a few more. It's interesting to go back and watch these things when you're older--mainly because they're not very subtle. I guess with little kids in a genre like fairy tales you do seem to spell it out more, but if you accept that as the genre and just go with it it's quite fun. And yay for cheesy '80s special effects! - Jack and the Beanstalk: (Dennis Christopher, Elliot Gould, Jean Stapleton) You're right, Nikki, Christopher does look very young here! Points for enthusiasm, he's very much a bold, eager boy looking to help his mother.
- Little Red Riding Hood: (Mary Steenburgen, Malcom McDowell) The two stars were married at the time, which makes McDowell's wolf hanging over Steenburgen's Red very umm, subtextual. McDowell has some fun doing the wolf as a Cockney dandy type; they tried to flesh out Red and her family life but those sections kind of dragged.
- Goldilocks and the Three Bears:(Tatum O'Neill, Alex Karras, Carole King, John Lithgow) When I was little I wanted Goldilocks's secret spot in the woods, that just seemed so cool to me. They include a Southern sherrif figure, and teach little kids to not lie or bust up other people's things. Not bad, but not a standout.
- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs: (Elizabeth McGovern, Vanessa Redgrave, Vincent Price) This was the biggest one in terms of over-the-top anvils, but then if you want little kids to get that Queen Redgrave is vain, have her admire herself and praise her own features to the skies with melodramatic, bordering on lover's erotic language. McGovern was pretty worthless as Snow White. Vincent Price was the Magic Mirror (they stuck his face through a hole in the top of the frame, and made him up to match the wood) and did quite well, regal and all-knowing with a few good eye-rolls.
- Beauty and the Beast: (Susan Sarandon, Klaus Kinski). I didn't remember much from watching this when I was little, just Beauty fainting and the beast carrying her down the hall. Watching it now, it's pretty much a colorized version of Cocteau's French film. Same motif for the servant hands, same attitudes of Beauty and the Beast in that they really don't seem to like each other much, much less be in love. Sorry to be shallow, but after the transformation, seeing Kinski in a horrid blonde pageboy wig, all I could think was "Dude, that is one ugly prince!"
- Cinderella:(Jennifer Beals, Matthew Broderick, Jean Stapleton) Slower than I remembered, but a little more humor in it. "It's hard to remain anonymous when your face is on all the money." Stapleton plays the fairy godmother as a southern grandma type: "Honey, I'm your fairy godmother, didn't you hear me poof?" Beals does alright, but they didn't do much for Cinderella's character besides sweet-natured housekeeper who wants to go to the ball.
- Puss in Boots:(Gregory Hines, Ben Vereen, Brock Peters, Alfre Woodard) Vereen is Puss, who is very catlike in his rolling, pouncing, hissing, etc. Very flashy trickster type. Hines is his poor master, a bit of a goofy dolt. Woodard is the princess Master marries. The highlight is Brock Peters (Tom Robinson, Admiral Cartwright) and that voice of his(!) as the Awful Ogre.
- Pied Piper of Hamelin:(Eric Idle) Nicholas Meyer--he did Star Trek II among other things-- wrote and directed this one; since he's working with and off of the Robert Browning poem the whole thing is done in rhyme. This is one I missed when I was younger, watching it now it's very good and powerful. Idle is the Piper, and points to the film people for the not so happily ever after ending. Extra praise to James Horner for the score--pipes, obviously, with support from other instruments--for music that is very haunting and melancholy. A new favorite.
Like I said, it'd been a while and I didn't know if any of the new people might be interested. Hopefully I'm not too over-the-top with this! --Catbird
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