Faerie Tale Theatre (also known as Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre) is an American

live-action Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video ga ...

fairytale fantasy Fairytale fantasy is distinguished from other subgenres of fantasy by the works' heavy use of motifs, and often plots, from folklore. History Literary fairy tales were not unknown in the Roman era: Apuleius included several in ''The Golden Ass' ...

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

anthology television series An anthology series is a radio, television, video game or film series that spans different genres and presents a different story and a different set of characters in each different episode, season, segment, or short. These usually have a differ ...

of 27 episodes, that originally aired on

Showtime Showtime or Show Time may refer to: Film * ''Showtime'' (film), a 2002 American action/comedy film * ''Showtime'' (video), a 1995 live concert video by Blur Television Networks and channels * Showtime Networks, a division of Paramount Global w ...

from September 11,

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street bridges, 14th Street Bridge in ...

until November 14,

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

. It is a retelling of 26

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic (paranormal), magic, incantation, enchantments, and mythical ...

s, particularly those written by

The Brothers Grimm The Brothers Grimm ( or ), Jacob (1785–1863) and Wilhelm (1786–1859), were a brother duo of German academics, philologists, cultural researchers, lexicographers, and authors who together collected and published folklore. They are among the ...

Charles Perrault Charles Perrault ( , also , ; 12 January 1628 – 16 May 1703) was an iconic French author and member of the Académie Française. He laid the foundations for a new literary genre, the fairy tale, with his works derived from earlier folk tales ...

and

Hans Christian Andersen Hans Christian Andersen ( , ; 2 April 1805 – 4 August 1875) was a Danish author. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisti ...

, an additional episode is based on the poem "

The Pied Piper of Hamelin The Pied Piper of Hamelin (german: der Rattenfänger von Hameln, also known as the Pan Piper or the Rat-Catcher of Hamelin) is the title character of a legend from the town of Hamelin (Hameln), Lower Saxony, Germany. The legend dates back to ...

". The 27th episode was a reunion episode of cast and crew titled "Grimm Party", in which in Fairytale style, celebrating the series they attended a gala in fancy dress. The series follow a similar style to an earlier series narrated by

Shirley Temple Shirley Temple Black (born Shirley Jane Temple;While Temple occasionally used "Jane" as a middle name, her birth certificate reads "Shirley Temple". Her birth certificate was altered to prolong her babyhood shortly after she signed with Fox in ...

, titled ''

Shirley Temple's Storybook ''Shirley Temple's Storybook'' is a 1958-1961 American children's anthology series hosted and narrated by actress Shirley Temple. The series features adaptations of fairy tales like Mother Goose and other family-oriented stories performed by well ...

'', that ran from 1958 and 1961 and also featured numerous Hollywood stars in roles.

Series background

Actress

Shelley Duvall Shelley Alexis Duvall (born July 7, 1949) is an American actress and producer who is known for her portrayals of distinct, often eccentric characters. She is the recipient of several accolades, including a Cannes Film Festival Award and a Peab ...

who conceived the series, served as

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

and host alongside associate producers Bridget Terry and

Fred Fuchs Frederic S. Fuchs is a television and film producer active in the United States and Canada, where he holds dual citizenship. He became an executive in the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation on April 3, 2006. Fuchs became known for the televisio ...

, she also occasionally starred in episodes and was a featured narrator, as well as providing the voice of the animatronic

Nightingale The common nightingale, rufous nightingale or simply nightingale (''Luscinia megarhynchos''), is a small passerine bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. It was formerly classed as a member of the thrush family Turdidae, but is no ...

, in the episode of the same title. Episodes were directed by

Francis Ford Coppola Francis Ford Coppola (; ; born April 7, 1939) is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. He is considered one of the major figures of the New Hollywood filmmaking movement of the 1960s and 1970s. Coppola is the recipient of five A ...

Ivan Passer Ivan Passer (10 July 1933 – 9 January 2020) was a Czech film director and screenwriter, best known for his involvement in the Czechoslovak New Wave and for directing American films such as '' Born to Win'' (1971), ''Cutter's Way'' (1981) and '' ...

Emile Ardolino Emile Ardolino (May 9, 1943 – November 20, 1993) was an American television and film director and producer, best known for his work on the films ''Dirty Dancing'' (1987) and ''Sister Act'' (1992). He has won an Academy Award for Best Documenta ...

and

Tim Burton Timothy Walter Burton (born August 25, 1958) is an American filmmaker and animator. He is known for his gothic fantasy and horror films such as ''Beetlejuice'' (1988), ''Edward Scissorhands'' (1990), ''The Nightmare Before Christmas'' (1993), ...

, among others and featured numerous Hollywood performers in iconic roles. The series was one of the first examples of original cable programming, alongside

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

's ''

Fraggle Rock ''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, created by Jim H ...

''. The series was followed by three other less successful shorter anthologies also produced by Duvall: ''

Tall Tales & Legends ''Tall Tales & Legends'' (also known as ''Shelley Duvall's 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 Pr ...

'' (9 episodes), which follows the same format as ''Faerie Tale Theatre'' and focuses on classic American folk tales, ''

Nightmare Classics ''Nightmare Classics'' (also known as ''Shelley Duvall's 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 aut ...

'' (4 episodes produced of the intended 6), aimed at a young adult audience, and '' Bedtime Stories'' (12 episodes). Duvall began conception of ''Faerie Tale Theatre'' while filming the live-action 1980 film ''

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.Robin Williams Robin McLaurin Williams (July 21, 1951August 11, 2014) was an American actor and comedian. Known for his improvisational skills and the wide variety of characters he created on the spur of the moment and portrayed on film, in dramas and come ...

, his opinion on "

The Frog Prince "The Frog Prince; or, Iron Henry" (german: Der Froschkönig oder der eiserne Heinrich, literally "The Frog King or the Iron Henry") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in 1812 in ''Grimm's Fairy Tales'' (KHM 1). ...

", 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

Monty Python Monty Python (also collectively known as the Pythons) were a British comedy troupe who created the sketch comedy television show '' Monty Python's Flying Circus'', which first aired on the BBC in 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four ...

Eric Idle Eric Idle (born 29 March 1943) is an English actor, comedian, musician and writer. Idle was a member of the British surreal comedy group Monty Python and the parody rock band The Rutles, and is the writer of the music and lyrics for the Broadwa ...

, who himself would appear in the future episode "The Pied Piper of Hamelin". Many of the episodes produced by Fred Fuchs in association with Duvall, were written by Rod Ash, Mark Curtiss,

Maryedith Burrell Maryedith Ann Burrell (née Smith; born May 20, 1952) is an American actress, comedian, film and television producer, writer and documentarian best known for starring roles on the television series '' Fridays'', ''Throb'', Ron Howard's '' Parenth ...

and

Robert C. Jones Robert Clifford Jones (March 30, 1936 – February 1, 2021) was an American film editor, screenwriter, and educator. He received an Academy Award for the screenplay of the film '' Coming Home'' (1978). As an editor, Jones had notable collabor ...

. All of the episodes were produced and shot from 1982 to 1985 and videotaped mostly at the ABC Television Studios in Hollywood, California. Every episode opened with Duvall introducing herself and giving a brief synopsis of the fairy tale to follow. Each episode features live-action adaptations, with celebrities from the performance world in costume. Duvall features in three episodes playing various characters and narrates three others.

Episodes

Artwork

Many episodes feature backdrops and settings inspired by specific artists and children's book illustrators, including

Home media

''Faerie Tale Theatre'' was released on VHS,

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 1975, ...

, CED, and

Laserdisc The LaserDisc (LD) is a home video format and the first commercial optical disc storage medium, initially licensed, sold and marketed as DiscoVision, MCA DiscoVision (also known simply as "DiscoVision") in the United States in 1978. Its diam ...

in the 1980s through mid 1990s, initially by CBS/FOX Video (which was also in Australia.), followed by

Playhouse Video Playhouse Video (formerly known as CBS/Fox Children’s Video) was a sub-label of CBS/Fox Video operating from 1983 to 1989. The company was responsible for release of some older, low-quality Fox films, in addition to family films, animated film ...

(an extended label under CBS/FOX), and later Razz Ma Tazz Entertainment/

Cabin Fever Entertainment UST Inc. was a holding company, the biggest producer of snuff and chewing tobacco, whose subsidiaries included U.S. Smokeless Tobacco Company and International Wine & Spirits Ltd., which in turn is a holding company of Chateau Ste. Michelle Wine ...

. While 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. 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 Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television se ...

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 Charades (, ). is a parlor game, parlor or party game, party word game, word guessing game. Originally, the game was a dramatic form of literary charades: a single person would act out each syllable of a word or phrase in order, followed by the w ...

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 The George Foster Peabody Awards (or simply Peabody Awards or the Peabodys) program, named for the American businessman and philanthropist George Peabody, honor the most powerful, enlightening, and invigorating stories in television, radio, and ...

, a

TCA Award The TCA Awards are awards presented by the Television Critics Association in recognition of excellence in television. There are eleven categories, which are presented every summer towards the end of the organization's summer press tour. Due to ...

, and a Golden CableACE Award. It later aired as edited re-runs on the

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

as well as in syndication on various television stations, including

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...

and

BookTelevision BookTelevision was a Canadian English language specialty channel owned by Bell Media. The channel was originally established in 2001 by CHUM Limited, airing programming relating to books, literature, and various media. The network later shifted ...

International broadcast

*In the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, The series was first shown on

in 1982, and again It aired on

between 1994 and 1996. *In

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, The series aired on

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

every weekend in 1990, and again in 1991 and 1992 in the morning under the title "Nel regno delle fiable", meaning "In the Kingdom of Fairy Tales" in Italian. *In

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, The series aired on

TV Cultura TV Cultura or simply Cultura, is a free Brazilian public television network headquartered in São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the mos ...

. *In

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

, The series aired on

ATV World ATV World, was one of two free-to-air English language television channels in Hong Kong, the other being its arch-rival TVB Pearl. Its sister station, ATV Home, broadcast in Cantonese language. It is owned and operated by Asia Television, a ...

every saturday. *In

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, The series aired on Canal 5. *In

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, The series aired on

DD National DD National (formerly DD1) is a state-owned public entertainment television channel in India. It is the flagship channel of Doordarshan, India's public service broadcaster, and the oldest and most widely available terrestrial television channel ...

. *In

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

, The series aired on

TV2 Channel 2 or TV 2 may refer to: Television networks, channels and stations *Channel 2 (Iran), operated by Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting *Channel 2 (Israel), a commercial television station *, entertainment and music television in Latvia * ...

. *In

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

, The series aired on

BNT 2 BNT 2 () is a Bulgarian-language public television station, operated by the Bulgarian National Television. It is the successor to the defunct second program of the national television - Efir 2. Launched on October 16, 2011, the channel replace ...

. *In the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

, The series aired on an unnamed Philippine network. *In

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

, the series aired on

Bangladesh Television Bangladesh Television ( bn, বাংলাদেশ টেলিভিশন), commonly known by its acronym BTV ( bn, বিটিভি), is the state-owned television network of Bangladesh. The network was originally established as the East ...

. *In

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

, the series aired on

Rupavahini The Sri Lanka Rūpavāhinī Corporation ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රූපවාහිනී සංස්ථාව; ta, இலங்கை ரூபவாகினி கூட்டுத்தாபனம்), also known as Jathika R ...

References

External links

* * {{TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Youth Programming 1982 American television series debuts 1987 American television series endings 1980s American children's television series 1980s American anthology television series 1980s American drama television series American children's fantasy television series English-language television shows Television about magic Peabody Award-winning television programs Showtime (TV network) original programming RAI original programming Television shows based on fairy tales Television series by Gaylord Entertainment Company Witchcraft in television

Series background

Episodes

Artwork

Home media

Awards

International broadcast

See also

References

External links