''Long Ago and Far Away'' is an American children's live-action/animated

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite television, satellite, or cable television, cable, excluding breaking news, television adverti ...

that aired on

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 ...

Television from January 28, 1989 to December 5, 1992. It was created by

WGBH WGBH may refer to: * WGBH Educational Foundation, based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States ** WGBH (FM), a public radio station at Boston, Massachusetts on 89.7 MHz owned by the WGBH Educational Foundation ** WGBH-TV WGBH-TV (channel 2), ...

, a public television broadcast service located in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: , ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is the most populous U.S. state, state in the New England ...

. WGBH is a member of PBS, which allowed for the series to be viewed on various other PBS stations. After the last episode aired, the show went into reruns until September 4, 1994.

Premise

Each episode began with host

James Earl Jones James Earl Jones (born January 17, 1931) is an American actor. He has been described as "one of America's most distinguished and versatile" actors for his performances in film, television, and theater, and "one of the greatest actors in America ...

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 Stop motion is an animated filmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion or change when the series of frames i ...

, 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 Sir David Courtney Suchet''England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916–2007'' ( ; born 2 May 1946) is an English actor known for his work on British stage and television. He portrayed Edward Teller in the television serial '' Oppenh ...

(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 ''Bill the Minder'' is a book and television series that tells of the adventures of a 15-year-old boy and his cousins Boadicea and Chad. In the process of their adventures they meet many strange people and help solve their unique problems with ...

Robert Hardy Timothy Sydney Robert Hardy (29 October 1925 – 3 August 2017) was an English actor who had a long career in theatre, film and television. He began his career as a classical actor and later earned widespread recognition for roles such as Sieg ...

(who narrated "Pied Piper of Hamelin"); and

Kevin Kline Kevin Delaney Kline (born October 24, 1947) is an American actor. He is the recipient of an Academy Award and three Tony Awards. In addition, he has received nominations for two British Academy Film Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards, and five ...

(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.

Awards

* National Education Association Award, Advancement of Learning through Broadcasting * Action for Children's Television, Achievement in Children's Television Award * National Catholic Association of Broadcasters and Communicators, Gabriel Award, Best National Children's Program * International Film and Television Festival of New York, Gold Medal * Connoisseur Magazine, Connie Award, Best National Children's Series * International Reading Association, Broadcast Media Award

Episodes

Season 1 (1989)

* The Pied Piper of Hamelin (January 28, 1989) * The Reluctant Dragon (February 4, 1989) *

Abel's Island ''Abel's Island'' is a children's novel written and illustrated by William Steig. It won a Newbery Honor. It was published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Toronto, Ontario in 1976. It is a survival story about a mouse stranded on an island. Plot ...

(February 11, 1989) *The Happy Circus (February 18, 1989) * Hungarian Folktales (February 25, 1989) *

The Talking Parcel ''The Talking Parcel'' (also published as ''The Battle for Castle Cockatrice'') is a 1974 book by Gerald Durrell in which children are transported to the fantasy land of Mythologia to save it from cockatrices. They are aided by a talking parrot ...

(March 4, 1989) *The Talking Parcel (March 11, 1989) *Wind in the Willows (March 18, 1989) *

Svyatogor Svyatogor () is a mythical ''bogatyr'' (knight/hero) in ancient bylinas of Kievan Rus'. His name derives from the words for "sacred mountain". Svyatogor's tale, ''Ilya Muromets and Svyatogor'', forms a part of the Ilya Muromets cycle. According ...

(March 25, 1989) *The Sleeping Princess (April 1, 1989) *As Long As He Can Count the Cows (April 8, 1989) *

The Man Who Planted Trees ''The Man Who Planted Trees'' (French title: ''L'homme qui plantait des arbres'') is a short story published in 1953 by French author Jean Giono. An allegorical tale, it tells the story of one shepherd's long and successful single-handed effort to ...

(April 15, 1989) *The Silver Cornet (April 22, 1989) *Bill and Bunny (April 29, 1989) *

Frog and Toad are Friends ''Frog and Toad Are Friends'' is an American children's picture book, written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel and published by Harper & Row in 1970. It inaugurated the Frog and Toad series, whose four books each comprises five easy-to-read short ...

(May 6, 1989) *

Frog and Toad Together ''Frog and Toad Together'' is an American fantasy adventure children's picture book, written and illustrated by Arnold Lobel and published by Harper & Row in 1972. It is the second book in the ''Frog and Toad'' series. Like each of the other boo ...

(May 13, 1989)

Season 2 (1990)

*Beauty and the Beast (September 8, 1990) *Noah's Ark (September 15, 1990) *Rarg (September 22, 1990) *Circus Dreams (September 29, 1990) *More Hungarian Folktales (October 6, 1990) *The Boy in the Oak Tree (October 13, 1990) *Oh, Mr. Toad! Part 1 (October 20, 1990) *Oh, Mr. Toad! Part 2 (October 27, 1990) *

(November 3, 1990)

Season 3 (1991)

* The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (October 5, 1991) *The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship (October 12, 1991) *The Emperor's New Clothes (October 19, 1991) *Uncle Elephant (October 26, 1991) *Jazztime Tale (November 2, 1991) *

Merlin and the Dragons ''Merlin and the Dragons'' is a 1991 animated film adapted from a story by Jane Yolen and illustrations by Alan Lee (illustrator), Alan Lee. It was directed by Dennis Woodyard (as Dennis J. Woodyard) and Hu Yihong and includes a musical score by co ...

(November 9, 1991) *Pegasus the Flying Horse (November 16, 1991)

Season 4 (1992)

*Nightengale (November 21, 1992) *Mouse Soup (November 28, 1992) *The Talking Eggs (December 5, 1992)

External links

*
Complete Episode Listing with Descriptions
{{Former PBS Kids shows 1980s American animated television series 1990s American animated television series 1980s American children's television series 1990s American children's television series 1989 American television series debuts 1993 American television series endings American children's animated education television series American stop-motion animated television series American television series with live action and animation English-language television shows PBS Kids shows PBS original programming Reading and literacy television series