Blast From the Past

My sister made quite the purchase a month ago when she bought a television series we used to watch as kids on DVD. I'm not sure if any of my fellow capstone classmates have heard of Faerie Tale Theatre, but the series was pretty cool. I believe it was the late 80s when actress Shelley Duvall aka Olive Oil and Jack Nicholson's very unfortunate wife in The Shining put together a group of actors and actresses to star in one hour productions of both well known and obscure fairy tales. Robin Williams, Susan Sarandon, Mick Jagger, Jeff Bridges, Vincent Price, and Matthew Broderick are just some of the stars who play characters from the Frog Prince to the Mirror Mirror on the Wall. Apparently Francis Ford Coppola even directed an episode, which (and this shouldn't come as a surprise) featured his daughter Sophia... whose better suited working behind the camera (those of you who've seen Godfather III would agree).

What I found interesting watching some of the episodes on DVD now is that I'm not too sure these were appropriate for kids. Granted, being the youngest of four it was the norm for me to be exposed to shows with older content. Then again, fairy tales in general can be pretty disturbing on paper much less on film. One of the episodes that always stuck with me was Rapunzel, in which Gena Rowlands (that nice old lady from The Notebook) plays the evil witch who steals baby Rapunzel away from her parents. I guess you'd have to see the episode to believe me, but Gena Rowlands is terrifying and I think even though I didn't know it was the same actress when I first saw The Notebook, it was probably a subconscious reason I didn't shed a tear at the end of that film.


(Gena Rowlands above... not just the sweet old lady from The Notebook)

Faerie Tale Theatre is both a fascinating and oddball collection. Some of the stories are better done than the others (Cinderella, Dancing Princesses, and Little Red Riding Hood in particular), but there isn't one production that's completely without anything worthwhile. Granted, I haven't dared Pinnochio for fear of Pee-Wee Herman so I can't brag about that one. The point is if you happen to see this when your browsing for entrainment I highly recommend the purchase. Adults and kids will likely enjoy the series, but for different reasons. I can only imagine what the show would be like had it been done today... and that's just about as nightmarish a thought as any I've had in recent weeks.