With the new Muppets movie out in the theaters this week it seemed like the appropriate time to talk about an older Jim Henson series, The Storyteller. This series originally aired on HBO in 1988 (it’s twenty-three years old) and is available on DVD. It ran nine European fairy tale episodes and four Greek myth episodes. Like the other non-Muppet creations from Henson (Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal), this is a little darker and gritty — but not too much.
The series features John Hurt as The Storyteller who weaves his tales to the audience. The language is flowery and poetic as it should be for a teller of stories. I love the interaction between him and his sarcastic dog who is voiced by Brian Henson (the voice of Hoggle in Labyrinth among many others). The costumes are well done and not over the top. Some of the visual effects are really original and fun, though definitely a little dated for this day and age. Still, it doesn’t seem to detract from the series.
The choice of fairy tales are excellent as they are lesser known and are even different variations on tales that I know. For instance, Fearnot tells of the boy who went into the world to learn how to shudder. His learning to shudder came from seeing the girl he loved unconscious and unable to wake. It was here that he saved her and learned to shudder. The ending I remember reading in my Grimm’s collections was that after his adventures and marrying the damsel, he still had not learned to shudder. He lamented so about it that his wife grew tired of it and sought a resolution. While he was sleeping she dumped a bucket of cold water and fish on him. He woke with a shudder and was finally contented. Hans, My Hedgehog really gives you a look at the absurdity of some aspects of fairy tales without making it feel absurd. A hedgehog boy goes off into the world on the back of a horse-sized rooster might sound really strange, but you can easily overlook it and lose yourself in the series. I think that’s the secret to this series. The Storytelling is GOOD and is a good representation of fairy tales. My only real complaint is that there wasn’t MORE of this series. Nine tales just wasn’t enough.
Ooooh, Netflix has this so I’ll be sure to check it out sometime, thanks for the recommendation!
For those who are comic fans, Archaia Publishing is putting out a graphic novel based on this show.
Many of the stories were altered by Antyhony Minghella who wrote the show, which is why you didn’t recognize some of these versions. He was following an old Tuscan proverb that explains the storyteller’s prerogative: “The story is not good unless something is changed”. That’s the nature of folk tales, though. Everyone gets to tell them their own way. Remember, whether it’s Disney, Henson or anyone else, never let anyone get the last word on how to tell a folk tale.
I loved this show. There was another one about greek myths too. But that still isn’t enough. It’s interesting how many different cultures have basically the exact same folk tale but it’s a bit different. There’s a book I don’t remember the name of that explores that topic. I only remember part of a review explaining the differences in 7 different cultures’ version of little red riding hood.
I found that on Netflix a few months ago and I love it! I love the way John Hurt draws you in and weaves his words around you. It amazing how lost you can get with a good storyteller. My husband finds the muppets creepy though.
With the variations, I wonder if similar stories have the same roots or if it’s more accurate to say that they have similar themes. Say with the Red-Riding Hoods, are the variations descended from a lost original story, or do lots of cultures have themes of animal predation and warnings against going into the woods alone? It would just be interesting to research.
I discovered the Storyteller on Netflix about a year ago. My family really loved the fairytale portion… but we really couldn’t bear the unmitigated gloom of the Greek tales. Afterwards, it was so traumatizing for me when I went back through all my childhood Greek Myth books to try to find a happy ending and found that there was none.
That is the funny thing about Greek myths. They so often end in tragedy, but the middle parts have so much fantastic stuff that people often forget about it.
@shy&
The myth of cupid and psyche has a happy ending. It’s one of the only ones. That’s probably why I favored it.
I LOVED this series growing up. I was psyched in college to find out it came out on dvd. I love the art of it too. Like joining a story through the art on a plate. The fairy tale episodes were superior to the Greek ones though. I was always sad there were so few episodes over all.
This series has always been one of my favourites. We wore out the VHS recordings of them long before I was ready, thank heaven for DVDs. Even as old as they are, the art incorporated in these stories are fabulous.
Hm. I’d forgotten this even existed… I’ll be getting a copy of my own. Thanks for the reminder!
This is my favorite production ever. Though, I am sad to admit, that when it first came out, I completely missed it. Being 17 at the time, I was a cocky teenager who felt that she was far to old for such a thing. But now that I’m in my 40s, I find that I am old enough for fairytales again. The Storyteller is a magnificent series cut short far too soon. I lament the fact that there are so many procedural shows on television, but nothing near as imaginative and beautiful like The Storyteller. Television programming has never been kind to shows like this.
I remember these from their original television broadcast back in the 80′s. I’m glad they are in a digital format now, I have to get a copy. 23 years; doesn’t time fly…
My favourite was “The Soldier and Death”.