[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/faerie_tale_theatre_2722.jpg]]

->''"Hello, I'm Shelley Duvall. Welcome to Faerie Tale Theatre."''
-->--'''Shelley Duvall''', at the beginning of each episode.

''Faerie Tale Theatre'' (full name: ''Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre'') is an hour-long live-action children's anthology series created by Creator/ShelleyDuvall. It aired on Creator/{{Showtime}} from 1982 to 1987, though it was actually produced over 1982-85. Showtime had a small subscriber base at the time, so it was also one of the first television shows that, with the exception of a ClipShow, was released episode by episode on [=VHS=] -- many made their video debuts long before they aired on pay cable.

The show brings to life many traditional {{fairy tale}}s, from standbys like ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs'', ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}'' and ''Literature/SnowWhite'' to more obscure ones like ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'', ''[[Literature/TheStoryOfTheYouthWhoWentForthToLearnWhatFearWas The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers]]'' and ''[[Literature/TheTwelveDancingPrincesses The Dancing Princesses]]''. Some adaptations are PlayedForDrama, others are PlayedForLaughs; some are extremely faithful to the original stories, some are playfully loose. Many were directed by such luminaries as (then a mere upstart) Creator/TimBurton and (then certainly well-known!) Creator/FrancisFordCoppola, and -- owing to Duvall's professional and friendly associations with many major Hollywood performers -- often featured an AllStarCast.

Once available to view on Creator/{{Hulu}}, the series' entirety is viewable on Website/YouTube.
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!!Tropes:

* AccidentalPervert: In ''The Tale of Literature/TheFrogPrince'', the frog asks the princess if he can sleep with her (as in sleep next to her on a pillow). It goes about as well as expected.
* AdaptationalEarlyAppearance: In the original tale of ''Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea'', the titular princess doesn't arrive at the castle until after the prince has searched for a bride and been dissatisfied with all the princesses he's met. In this adaptation, she arrives near the beginning and spends several days at the castle recovering from a twisted ankle, during which she and the prince gradually fall in love, while the prince's meetings with the other princesses take place simultaneously.
* AdaptationalHeroism:
** A minor case for both the frog and the princess in ''Literature/TheFrogPrince'': unlike in the Grimms' tale, the princess doesn't throw the frog against a wall. (Although she contemplates throwing him out the window.) Instead, he battles and kills a scorpion to save her from being stung, and this makes her apologize for how badly she treated him before and give him a kiss, which breaks his spell.
** The Snow Queen is a morally ambiguous figure in her original tale, and there's implied to be something demonic about her, since angels have to appear to help Gerda rescue Kai. The ''Faerie Tale Theatre'' version is TheMentor to Kai, who also gets rid of the evil goblin that made the magic mirror at the end.
* AdaptationalIntelligence: Rapunzel is outed either for asking the Witch why her dress is getting tight around the tummy (implying the prince had gotten her pregnant and she didn't know) or the more famous kid-friendly version - asking in a moment of sheer stupidity why it's easier to let the prince climb her hair. This adaptation gives Rapunzel a pet parrot who unexpectedly says "Come at night, my prince," and "I think I love you. Rapunzel, will you marry me?" in front of the Witch.
* AdaptationalNameChange:
** In ''[[Literature/{{Goldilocks}} Goldilocks and the Three Bears]]'', Baby Bear is known as Cubby Bear instead.
** ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' is almost a ShotForShotRemake of Creator/JeanCocteau's ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast1946'', but the names of Beauty's sisters are changed from Félicie and Adélaïde to Marguerite and Georgette, and her unsuccessful suitor's name is changed from Avenant to Jacques.
* AdaptationalNationality: ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' is set in Russia instead of Creator/CharlesPerrault's France or Creator/TheBrothersGrimm's Germany (although the fairies are dressed like Arabs or gypsies).
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: In ''Pinocchio'', as in [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} the Disney version]] and several other adaptations, Pinocchio is much less of a BrattyHalfPint than in the original book, and instead is just very naïve because he ReallyWasBornYesterday.
* AdaptationalSpeciesChange: In ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio'', the pair of con artists who mislead Pinocchio are a fox and a cat. Here they're two human men, Mario and Vince, although at one point they disguise themselves as marionettes of a fox and a cat. In the same episode, the whale that swallows Geppetto and Pinocchio is an orca rather than a dogfish (as in the book) or a sperm whale (as in the Disney version).
* AdaptationalVillainy: In [[Literature/{{Rapunzel}} the original Rapunzel story]], the witch was a fairly ambiguous character, but she's made outright evil here. She causes Rapunzel's mother to have her cravings so that she can give herself an excuse to take the baby girl. She also shows signs of [[PoliticallyIncorrectVillain misandry]], of being [[AbusiveParents physically abusive to Rapunzel]], and is all but stated to be a murderer and a [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal]].
* AdaptationExpansion:
** ''The Tale of Literature/TheFrogPrince'' introduces the prince's parents and fairy godmother, reveals how he came to be transformed, and extends the ending when the king catches his daughter and the (naked) prince in bed together, [[NotWhatItLooksLike misunderstands]], and separates them until the whole truth is revealed.
** In ''[[Literature/{{Goldilocks}} Goldilocks and the Three Bears]]'', the familiar story is only the first half, while the second half deals with Goldilocks running away from home and moving in with the bears.
** ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs'' fleshes out the pigs' and the wolf's personalities, and adds a female pig love interest, Tina, who starts out pursued by Paul (the stick house pig) but ends up with Larry (the brick house pig) instead.
** ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'' gives the heroine an overprotective father and a young apprentice woodcutter love interest, and spends a while with the characters before the main storyline starts.
** ''Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea'' adds a court fool as the prince's confidant and introduces the princess early on to give her a slow-burn romance arc with the prince.
** ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' includes how the king and queen conceived their daughter, an attempted ArrangedMarriage for the princess before she falls under the spell, and some of the exploits of the prince before he came to rescue the princess.
* AdaptedOut:
** ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}'' omits the Talking Cricket.
** ''The Tale of Literature/TheFrogPrince'' omits the title character's servant Faithful Henry, as most adaptations do.
** ''Literature/{{Thumbelina}}'' omits the episode where the heroine is kidnapped by a beetle.
** ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'' omits the two crows, the Prince and Princess, the Robber Girl's mother and the rest of her robber band, and the Lapp and Finn women.
** ''Literature/TheTwelveDancingPrincesses'' is changed to just ''The Dancing Princesses'' and the number of princesses is reduced to six.
* AffectionateParody: "Literature/SleepingBeauty" may be viewed as this, as could the broadly PlayedForLaughs take on "Literature/{{Pinocchio}}".
* AgeLift: Many of the characters are portrayed as older than they were in the source tales. For example, Pearl, the Little Mermaid, swims to the surface for the first time on her twenty-first birthday instead of her fifteenth, the title character of ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' is twenty instead of fifteen or sixteen, and Pinocchio, Little Red Riding Hood, and ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'''s Gerda and Kai are all teenagers instead of children.
* AlmostKiss:
** In ''Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea,'' Prince Richard and Princess Alecia are about to kiss in the garden when Queen Veronica comes out of the castle and catches them. This leads to Alecia being put to the test with the pea to prove that she's a real princess.
** In the penultimate scene of ''[[Literature/TheTwelveDancingPrincesses The Dancing Princesses]]'', after Princess Jeanetta accepts the Soldier's proposal, they're about to kiss, when the Soldier [[IllTimedSneeze sneezes]], having [[CatchYourDeathOfCold caught a cold from getting soaked]] the night before.
* AmbiguouslyGay:
** The Frog Prince's younger brother, Hal. "He doesn't take much for Princesses. He just likes to meet up with the boys, [[UnusualEuphemism and go off after dragons]]."
** Also, the wizard from "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}". His behaviour is very [[CampGay camp]], and he seems a little put out when the King finally chooses a bride.
** The green fairy in ''Sleeping Beauty' is the only male fairy, and he talks and acts like a sassy gay man.
* AntiVillain: [[spoiler:King Vladimir]] from ''[[Literature/TheStoryOfTheYouthWhoWentForthToLearnWhatFearWas The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers]]'' is only doing what he does because [[spoiler:he does not want to lose his daughter.]]
* BaitAndSwitch:
** At the beginning of ''Literature/SleepingBeauty,'' King Boris is lying in bed eagerly waiting for Queen Natasha to join him. Adult viewers will think they know what he's looking forward to... but it turns out that he's waiting for his wife read him a bedtime story. By the end of the scene, it's clear (at least if you pick up on the innuendoes) that they don't even know what sex ''is'', and need a fairy to explain it to them so they can conceive a child.
** In ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'', after Beauty comes home to her family, her sisters are twice shown admiring her magic ring behind her back. It seems to be {{Foreshadowing}} that the sisters will steal the ring and prevent her from getting back to the Beast at the end of the seven days he granted her. Indeed, when Beauty is ready to go back, she finds the ring missing, and assumes her sisters took it. But it was actually [[spoiler: her father who stole the ring to prevent her from going back to the castle. When he sees how unhappy she is, he admits the truth.]]
** At the beginning of ''The Princess Who Had Never Laughed'', the narrator says that the King's only child was raised "as a serious-minded young prince." The opening scene then shows the royal court celebrating the 21st birthday of the heir, whom the King addresses as "Hank." Hank is dressed in a full-body suit of armor, a "princely" birthday gift from the King, and finally [[FaceplantingIntoFood faceplants into the birthday cake]] because the armor is too heavy. The King has the helmet taken off... and reveals that Hank is actually [[SamusIsAGirl a pretty girl with long blonde hair]], who asks her father to stop calling her [[TomboyishName Hank]] because she prefers her real name, Henrietta.
* BalloonBelly: In ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'', the Wolf has a small one after eating Granny and a huge one after eating Mary (Red Riding Hood) too.
* BedlahBabe: In ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'', the prince is at one point being flirted with by a princess called Debbie, who wears this kind of outfit.
* BerserkButton:
** When in the presence of the mole in "Literature/{{Thumbelina}}", don't mention the word "progress".
** In "Literature/SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs", don't refer to Bubba or his ideas as stupid.
* BigBeautifulWoman: The Blue Fairy ("Literature/{{Pinocchio}}"), as played by Lainie Kazan.
* TheBigBadWolf: Played straight in "Literature/LittleRedRidingHood" with Creator/MalcolmMcDowell's FauxAffablyEvil take. Humorously zig-zagged in "Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs"; Creator/JeffGoldblum's Buck Wolf is powerful and loves to intimidate others, but he's also a grouchy, lazy HenpeckedHusband who's only pursuing the pigs because his wife wants one for visiting coyotes, and is all too easy to trick.
* BigBrotherInstinct: In ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'', as in the original tale, Hansel is always looking out for his little sister Gretel, and stays optimistic even in the darkest times to keep her from despair. She finally gets to return the favor at the climax when she saves his life by pushing the Witch into the oven.
* BittersweetEnding: "Literature/TheLittleMermaid" and "Literature/RipVanWinkle" are both rather faithful adaptations of their source material, down to retaining their bittersweet endings. The former is notable as the last major adaptation of the work prior to the Disney version and its HappilyEverAfter ending, which many subsequent adaptations would copy due to both LostInImitation and the feeling that Andersen's ending is too bitter as is.
* BoyfriendBlockingDad:
** Little Red Riding Hood has a budding romance with her father's young apprentice Christopher, but her overprotective father fires Chris and chases him away when he catches them kissing. He changes his mind in the end when both his daughter and his mother are rescued by Chris from the Wolf's belly.
** In ''[[Literature/TheStoryOfTheYouthWhoWentForthToLearnWhatFearWas The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers]]'', [[spoiler: the "haunting" of the castle turns out to have been staged by King Vladimir to get rid of his daughter's suitors.]]
* CallBack: In ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'', when the title character is reading a book of fairy tales, the camera zooms in on an illustration of Rapunzel in her tower. In-context, this shows that like Rapunzel, she feels overly sheltered, but it also calls back to the show's ''Literature/{{Rapunzel}}'' adaptation four episodes earlier.
* CallForward: In ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk,'' when the Giantess urges Jack to hide from her husband in the oven, Jack remarks "You know this is not ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'', don't you?" and she retorts "I'm an ogress, not a witch!" The show would adapt ''Hansel and Gretel'' just two episodes later.
* CampGay: The wizard from "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}" and the one male fairy from ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''.
* CarpetOfVirility: The Frog Prince when he becomes human again, because Creator/RobinWilliams.
* TheChessmaster: The witch in "Literature/{{Rapunzel}}". The first scene she's in shows her bewitching Rapunzel's mother from afar, thus being the one responsible for the mother's craving for radishes. Which led to Rapunzel's father stealing them from the witch's garden, the witch catching him, and stating that she's going to take his daughter as compensation for her stolen vegetables.
* ChewingTheScenery: The Genie of the Lamp enjoys screwing around with Aladdin's head by making empty death threats every chance he gets, even though he knows he can't kill him and enjoys Aladdin's company.
* ChromaKey: Frequently used for special effects work.
* ClipShow: The "Greatest Moments" episode. (Also a MissingEpisode until the second complete series [=DVD=] release.)
* CloudCuckooLander:
** The Miller's Daughter in ''Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}'', who, even after becoming queen, skips through the castle halls like a little girl, and [[FriendToAllLivingThings talks to animals.]]
** Jack in ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk'', who from the beginning has all sorts of wild dreams and [[ZanyScheme Zany Schemes]] to try to lift himself and his mother out of poverty. His long-suffering mother is the CloudCuckooLandersMinder.
* ColdSnap: "Literature/TheSnowQueen".
* CompositeCharacter:
** In ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk,'' the old man who buys Jack's cow and the fairy who tells him the story of how the Giant killed his father are one and the same, with the man DisguisedInDrag for the latter role.
** The ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}'' episode combines the characters of Mangiafuoco and the Coachman into the villainous Romani played by Creator/JamesCoburn.
** The adaptation of ''Literature/TheTwelveDancingPrincesses'' composites the twelve sisters into six, with the title changed just to ''The Dancing Princesses''.
** In ''The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers'', the ghostly old man haunting the castle turns out to really be [[spoiler:the King, who has been staging the supposed "haunting" to get rid of his daughter's suitors because he doesn't want to lose her.]]
* DeathByAdaptation:
** In "Rapunzel", [[Literature/{{Rapunzel}} the witch]] is mentioned to have died of "hardening of the heart" by the narrator. The original [[WhatHappenedToTheMouse never mentions her fate]].
** The wicked fairy from ''Sleeping Beauty'' is also killed off when the prince throws an axe at her while she's in her OneWingedAngel form.
* DirtyOldMan: The mole in "Literature/{{Thumbelina}}" shows signs of this.
* DisproportionateRetribution:
** Lampshaded in ''Literature/{{Sleeping Beauty}}'', when Henbane curses the Princess, and then makes every possible effort to stop any Prince from coming to wake her, just because the King and Queen didn't invite her to the christening and then had no golden dish dome for her plate when she arrived unexpectedly.
-->'''The Pink Fairy''': What is your problem, Henbane? One silly dish dome?
-->'''Henbane''': It's the principle of the thing!
** An even more absurd PlayedStraight example in "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast": Apparently the Beast was cursed because his parents [[FlatEarthAtheist didn't believe in faerie tales]]. (This is a lift from the 1946 film version.)
** In ''The Princess Who Had Never Laughed'', the King has banned joking and laughter from his kingdom, even having his courtiers address him as "Your Seriousness," all because a joke and laughter [[ItMakesSenseInContext started the chain of events that led to the accidental death of his wife.]]
* DoesNotLikeMen: The witch in ''Rapunzel'' doesn't like men; she claims they lie, deceive, and "[[DefiledForever steal what's most precious from you]]", and says she keeps Rapunzel in the tower to protect her from them. [[ForegoneConclusion It doesn't work.]]
* DownerEnding: "The Pied Piper of Hamelin", as it is a direct adaptation of the Robert Browning poem down to all the narration and dialogue being in rhyme. (A man implied to be Browning telling the poem to a young boy is the FramingDevice.) The Piper spirits the children of Hamlin away and their parents never see them again. This is probably why it's one of two episodes available on DVD only in the full-series set (the other being the creepy-fun "The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers"), rather than any of the compilation discs -- it's tough to match it with others thematically.
* {{Dracula}}: A variation in "[[Literature/TheStoryOfTheYouthWhoWentForthToLearnWhatFearWas The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers]]": Not actually a vampire, but the sorcerer son of the original Dracula (UsefulNotes/VladTheImpaler) played by none other than Creator/ChristopherLee himself, complete with [[TheIgor a hunchbacked servant]], and a coffin scene.
* DramaticThunder: As the Pied Piper prepares to spirit away the children of Hamelin, he causes the sky to cloud over and thunder to peal.
* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: The miller's daughter from ''Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}''. Even her own father just calls her "daughter".
* EvilChancellor: The vizier in "Aladdin" isn't the BigBad, but he ''is'' an enemy to Aladdin because he (the Vizier) was trying to marry the princess before Aladdin showed up.
* EvilRedhead: The Queen in ''Literature/SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs.''
* EyeBeams: The witch in "Literature/{{Rapunzel}}" has them.
* FacePlantingIntoFood:
** In ''Literature/{{Thumbelina}}'', the Mole is obsessed with ancient cultures and insists on reclining while eating like the ancient Romans. As he and the Field Mouse recline on either side of the wide, low table, they repeatedly ask Thumbelina to pass them certain food items, forcing her to do acrobatics to reach for them, until she finally faceplants from exhaustion into a plate of powdered sugar donuts.
** In ''The Princess Who Had Never Laughed'', the King [[WantedASonInstead tries to compensate for his lack of a son]] by giving his daughter Princess Henrietta a masculine upbringing. In the opening scene, for her 21st birthday, he gives her a suit of armor, which is too heavy for her to wear and causes her to faceplant into the birthday cake.
* FaintInShock:
** Beauty faints in ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'' when she sees the Beast for the first time, just like in [[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast1946 Jean Cocteau's film version.]]
** In ''[[Literature/TheStoryOfTheYouthWhoWentForthToLearnWhatFearWas The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers]]'', Princess Amanda faints when a giant axe swings from the ceiling in the haunted castle.
** In ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs'', Mr. Mann the junk dealer faints after his encounter with the Wolf.
* FantasyGunControl:
** Averted in "Literature/{{Rapunzel}}" where the title character's father teaches his wife how to shoot a musket. Unfortunately, it does no good against a witch.
** Also averted in ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'' when Granny threatens the Wolf with a rifle. She realizes too late that it's not loaded.
* FatAndSkinny: The stepsisters Arlene and Bertha in ''Literature/{{Cinderella}}''. Ironically, it's the skinny one, Arlene, who stuffs her face with food at the ball.
* FateWorseThanDeath: The Queen in ''Literature/SnowWhite''. Rather than dying or being forced to dance in red-hot iron shoes, the Magic Mirror tells her that from now on she'll ''never be able to see her face in a mirror''. Indeed, every time she looks in one of her mirrors (and she has many) from that moment on, it turns black, which causes a VillainousBreakdown.
* FemmeFatalons:
** The witch in ''Rapunzel'' has a rather impressive set of these. She puts them to good use, clawing out the prince's eyes.
** In ''Sleeping Beauty'', the evil fairy Henbane sports enormous nails in her giant OneWingedAngel form, which she uses like claws to fight against the Prince.
* {{Fingore}}: In ''Rapunzel'', the witch threatens to cut off Claude's fingers after she catches him stealing from her garden. When he tells her he was stealing for his wife's benefit, she threatens to cut off ''her'' fingers too.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: In "Rapunzel", the title character tells the Prince that the witch told her the day her hair got cut would be the worst day of her life. Indeed, when it actually happens, it's a horrible day for her.
* FramingDevice: Several episodes have them; for instance, the pea in "Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea" is now in a modern museum -- a direct reference to the ending of the original story!
* FriendToAllLivingThings: The Miller's Daughter from "Rumpelstiltskin". This saves the day in the end, as she ventures into the forest at night to ask her animal friends if they've seen "the little man," and the unicorn takes her to his house, where she eavesdrops and learns his name.
* FryingPanOfDoom: Tina in "The Three Little Pigs" pulls this on Buck Wolf.
* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Paul in "The Three Little Pigs" tells the salesman about the building material he desires for his house.
-->'''Paul Pig''': Ya see, I'm building me a house. A nice wood house. Something the ladies "wood" love, and ladies love [[DoubleEntendre wood]]. Believe me.
* GettingEatenIsHarmless: Little Red Riding Hood and her grandmother both get eaten alive. After Chris cuts open the wolf's stomach, they're both completely unharmed.
* GrandFinale: Subverted by circumstance: The "Greatest Moments" ClipShow featuring performers in and out of character is actually the last episode, filmed in 1985, but due to Showtime's erratic scheduling it ended up airing midway through the broadcast run ''and'' was not made available on [=VHS=].
* GRatedSex: The series as a whole does not shy away from implied sexuality, but there is one odd example in "Literature/{{Rapunzel}}" where the title character apparently manages to give birth to twins after ''one'' visit with the Prince where they merely confessed their love for each-other and made out for a bit. Although by the time the Witch finds out, Rapunzel is almost finished making the ladder to escape with the Prince, so presumably some time has passed that could have included more visits where the twins were conceived.
* HamToHamCombat: A particularly great one occurs between James Earl Jones's ComedicSociopath Genie of the Lamp and Leonard Nimoy's EvilIsHammy Evil Magician. No scenery is left unchewed.
* HenpeckedHusband:
** Buck Wolf in "The Three Little Pigs"; the whole reason he's trying to capture one of the pigs is that his seen-but-not-heard wife Nadine demands one since a coyote couple is coming over for dinner and "They like pork!"
** Also, RipVanWinkle, as in the original Creator/WashingtonIrving story.
* HandBlast: [[spoiler: King Vladimir]] in ''[[Literature/TheStoryOfTheYouthWhoWentForthToLearnWhatFearWas The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers]]'' has this power and tries to use it against Martin at the climax, but Martin deflects the beams back at him with a metal plate, temporarily blinding him.
* HereWeGoAgain: The ending of ''[[Literature/TheStoryOfTheYouthWhoWentForthToLearnWhatFearWas The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers]]'': Martin and Princess Amanda are living HappilyEverAfter, when one day Amanda is depressed and says she has "the blues." Martin realizes he's never experienced this before, so he sets off on another journey, "to find out about the blues."
* HisNameReallyIsBarkeep: In "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast", her name really is "Beauty"! Her two sisters are understandably resentful.
* TheIgor: Attila from ''[[Literature/TheStoryOfTheYouthWhoWentForthToLearnWhatFearWas The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers]]''.
* InformedAttractiveness: Creator/KlausKinski as a handsome prince in "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast".
* InspirationNod: The climax of "Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin" manages to be both faithful to the poem ''and'' an extended PlayedForDrama homage to ''Film/Poltergeist1982'', perhaps inspired by the fact that the nature of the Piper's music (which "tells" its targets that if they follow him they will reach their idea of Paradise) is not unlike how Carol Anne is lured to the Other Side. When the Piper enchants the children of the town to follow him, a disembodied female voice cries ''"He's heeeeere!"'' as they suddenly and obediently leave their schoolwork, etc. behind. From there, when they reach Koppleberg Hill and the portal opens in the rock, all that can be seen is [[GoIntoTheLight a blinding white light that the Piper and the contentedly smiling children file into]].
* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Stereo, according to the royal musician in "Tale of the Frog Prince".
* LargeHam: [[WorldOfHam At least one in every episode]]. Henbane from "Literature/SleepingBeauty" and the Genie of the Lamp from "Literature/{{Aladdin}} and His Wonderful Lamp" are just two examples. The most spectacular is probably the frog played by Creator/RobinWilliams.
* LaserGuidedKarma
** In "Literature/{{Cinderella}}": Cinderella's stepfamily immediately try to weasel in on her marriage once they realize they're in-laws with the Prince. [[spoiler:The Fairy Godmother turns them into rabbits.]]
** A sad twist on this in "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" with regards to the lame boy. [[spoiler:He never realizes it, but he was left behind as a ''reward'' for being courteous to the Piper when he first arrived.]]
* LittleMissConArtist: Goldilocks from "The Three Bears".
* LostInImitation:
** In ''Sleeping Beauty'', the evil fairy Henbane turns herself into a [[OneWingedAngel fire-breathing giant]] to fight the Prince at the climax, only to be slain by him, very much like Maleficent's transformation into a dragon and battle with Prince Phillip in [[WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty the Disney version]].
** As in Disney's ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}'', this version has Pinocchio brought to life by the Blue Fairy (here named Sophia) after Geppetto wishes for a son, unlike in the book where Pinocchio is alive as soon as he's carved.
* LyricalDissonance: The miller's daughter gently singing her baby a lullaby over ominous background music as Rumpelstiltskin climbs through the window to claim him.
* ManipulativeBitch: Again, ''Goldilocks''!
* MaybeEverAfter:
** The Emperor and the Kitchen Maid at the end of ''Literature/TheNightingale''.
** Geppetto and Sophia the Blue Fairy at the end of ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}''.
* MedievalEuropeanFantasy: The setting for most episodes.
* MisplacedAccent: In ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'', due to being played by Creator/KlausKinski, the Beast has a German accent, while [[Creator/SusanSarandon Beauty]] and all the other characters have American accents. Possibly justified, since he's the prince of a far-off kingdom.
* MisplacedWildlife:
** The Pied Piper mentions dealing with vampire bats in Asia (this is a mistake carried over from the source poem).
** In "Rumpelstiltskin" (an episode set in an [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy ambiguous medieval European kingdom]]), one of [[FriendToAllLivingThings the protagonist's]] animal friends is a raccoon.
* MsFanservice: Princess Debbie in "Sleeping Beauty". Her role is fairly minor, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dasq-pdt7xo but... well... just see for yourself.]]
* MoodWhiplash: Some of the lighthearted episodes can turn dead serious in a hurry. Likewise, some of the more dramatic episodes can suddenly turn goofy.
* MontageEndsTheVHS: A compilation trailer previewing the whole series ended the original [=VHS=] releases. It was moved up to the start of the videos when CBS/FOX subsidiary Playhouse Video rereleased them at the end of TheEighties.
* MrsRobinson: The Queen in ''Literature/SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs'' meets the much-younger Prince while on her way to poison Snow White, and comes on to him, forgetting that she's enchanted herself to look like an ugly old peddler woman.
* NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: The Three Little Pigs are named Peter, Paul, and Larry, punning on TheSixties musical group Music/PeterPaulAndMary. Larry even suggests they could form a folk music group early on!
* NamedByTheAdaptation: Quite a few episodes invoke this as so many of the original stories went with NoNameGiven. For example, Rapunzel's prince is named Henry, and her parents are named Claude and Marie.
* NonSequitur: In "Literature/TheSnowQueen" an otherwise normal reindeer is apparently able to fly. This is never addressed.
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Most of the characters in ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}'' have thick, stereotypical Italian accents, but Pinocchio himself and the two con artists Mario and Vince have American accents.
* NotInFrontOfTheParrot: In "Literature/{{Rapunzel}}", the title character's affair with the Prince is given away when the pet parrot starts repeating some of what they said in front of the witch.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: In "The Tale of [[Literature/TheFrogPrince", when the king discovers his daughter [[ItMakesSenseInContext in bed with a naked man]].
* OffscreenKarma: At the end of "Rapunzel", the narrator mentions that the Witch died of "hardening of the heart".
* ParentalBonus: ''A lot'', especially in the comedy-centric episodes. These range from the theme naming of the Three Little Pigs (see above) to cheeky anachronisms in the dialogue to occasional references to the performers' other work (Goldilocks' mother is working on a needlepoint project that reads [[Music/{{Tapestry}} "My life is a tapestry"]] -- she's played by Music/CaroleKing).
* ParentalFavoritism: Beauty's father in "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast" obviously favors the title character over his other two daughters. [[HisNameReallyIsBarkeep Why else would he name her "Beauty"?]]
* PinocchioNose: The TropeNamer appears in ''Literature/{{Pinocchio}}'', of course. In this version, his nose grows not only when he lies, but when he does anything naughty: for example, when he spends the money Geppetto gave him for schoolbooks to see a puppet show instead.
* PlayedForLaughs: Quite a few episodes, such as "The Tale of [[Literature/TheFrogPrince", "Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs", and "Literature/{{Pinocchio}}". In general, the simpler the original story is, the more likely it ends up played as comedy. It's also common for the adaptations of stories that prominently feature anthropomorphic animals to play up the humor.
* ThePollyanna: The miller's daughter from "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}". She has to marry a PsychopathicManchild who threatened to kill her multiple times, but she's just happy to be alive, skipping merrily down the halls of the castle. It helps that she's played by [[CloudCuckooLander Shelley Duvall]].
* PragmaticVillainy: This is one of the few versions of "Literature/{{Cinderella}}" where the stepmother realizes she'd still be in-laws with the Prince if Cinderella marries him. [[spoiler:The Fairy Godmother immediately turns her and the stepsisters (temporarily) into rabbits.]]
* PrecisionFStrike: From ''the first episode!''
-->'''The Princess''': ''(when she realizes she can't get away with throwing the frog out the window)'' Oh, damn!
-->'''The Frog:''' ''(a few moments later)'' You're very beautiful in your own bitchy way.
** And from ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'':
-->'''Granny''': ''(when she's rescued from the Wolf's belly)'' What took you so long? I damn near suffocated!
** And from ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'', doubling as a WhamLine:
-->'''Beauty's Father''': ''([[spoiler: taking Beauty's magic ring out of his pocket and giving it to Jacques]])'' Now get rid of the damn thing.
* PrinceCharmless:
** ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'' has the prissy, snobbish and cowardly son of King Murray, to whom the princess nearly faces an ArrangedMarriage. Ironically, he's played by Creator/ChristopherReeve, who doubles as the story's genuine PrinceCharming a hundred years later.
** Prince Richard in ''Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea'' starts out as a bit of a sulky RoyalBrat, but he [[CharacterDevelopment gets better]] thanks to Princess Alecia's influence.
* PrincessesPreferPink: Snow White's outfit is pink and yellow, and in ''Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea'', Princess Alecia's pink nightgown is one of the few pops of color in the episode's otherwise black and white aesthetic. In a trope inversion, however, Cinderella's sooty rags are pink, while the "princess" gowns she wears to the balls are white.
* PromotedToLoveInterest: Little Red Riding Hood's love interest, apprentice woodcutter Christopher, turns out to be the woodcutter who rescues her and Granny from the Wolf in the end.
* RaceLift: "Literature/PussInBoots" has an all-black cast with the exception of the Farmer, who is played by John Schuck.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation:
** In Villeneuve's original version of ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'', Beauty was the daughter of a king and a good fairy. A wicked fairy had tried to murder baby Beauty so she could marry her father, and Beauty was put in the place of the merchant's deceased daughter to protect her. In this version, as in most retellings starting with Beaumont's, this backstory is cut and Beauty is the merchant's biological daughter.
** In ''Literature/TheSnowQueen'', the Lady of Summer (the sorceress with the eternal summer garden) is the Snow Queen's sister. They're not related in the original Andersen tale.
* ReallySevenHundredYearsOld: The witch in "Literature/{{Rapunzel}}" claims to have been around for centuries.
* RelativelyFlimsyExcuse: Inverted in "Literature/{{Aladdin}} and His Wonderful Lamp": the evil magician that convinces Aladdin to delve into the cave and retrieve the lamp does so by pretending to be Aladdin's long lost Uncle. Aladdin's mother calls him on it, stating that her deceased husband never mentioned having a brother, but the magician plays it off.
* RhymingEpisode: "Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin" save for the opening scene, which establishes the justification for it being this.
* RomanticComedy: Two different kiddie video critics in TheEighties pointed out that the ''[[Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea Princess and the Pea']]' adaptation, which toplines Creator/LizaMinnelli, is effectively a fairy tale version of the then-recent romantic comedy hit ''Film/{{Arthur 1981}}'' -- not least because she was the leading lady in that too!
* TheRunaway:
** In ''Literature/{{Goldilocks}} and the Three Bears'', when Goldilocks gets home after running from the bears' house, her father punishes her for sneaking out into the woods by making her weed the garden. So she runs away, and when she meets the bears again, she [[LittleMissConArtist lets them think she's a poor orphan]] so she can live with them.
** In ''Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea'', Princess Alecia has run away from home, looking for "...I don't know... life, I suppose."
* SceneryPorn: "Literature/{{Aladdin}} and His Wonderful Lamp" and "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast" are both prime examples of this.
* SexyDiscretionShot: The King and Queen get one in "Literature/SleepingBeauty", after a fairy tells the Queen what they need to do to have a child.
* ShowSomeLeg: Princess Debbie, in her attempt to seduce the Prince in "Literature/SleepingBeauty".
* ShoutOut:
** In ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'', which takes place in Russia, the king and queen's names are [[WesternAnimation/RockyAndBullwinkle Boris and Natasha]], and later, this dialogue occurs:
-->'''The Pink Fairy''': [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs Someday a prince will come.]]
-->'''Henbane''': You've got quite a way with words, dear heart.
** In ''Literature/SnowWhite and the Seven Dwarfs,'' Snow White's chin-length hair with a ribbon in it looks very much like the hairstyle of [[WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs her Disney counterpart.]]
** In ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs'', the title characters are named [[Music/PeterPaulAndMary Peter, Paul and Larry]], and when they first leave home, Larry suggests that they form a folk music trio. Later, the lady pig Tina tells the Wolf that she demands respect: [[Music/ArethaFranklin "R-E-S-P-E-C-T."]]
** In the opening scene of ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk'', Jack and his mother have just one bean to eat, much like Mickey Mouse and his friends in ''[[WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree Mickey and the Beanstalk]]''.
** In the climactic scene of ''Literature/ThePiedPiperOfHamelin'', a girl's voice is heard saying [[Film/Poltergeist1982 "He's here..."]] just as the town's children begin to be entranced by the Piper's music.
* SlidingScaleOfAdaptationModification: Anywhere from 2 to 5 depending on the episode.
* SparedByTheAdaptation:
** In ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'', the Wolf doesn't die in the end, but is just left very uncomfortable with a stomach full of stones. (Although since he's now unable to eat, it seems unlikely that he'll live much longer.)
** In ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'', the Witch's previous child victims, whose hearts she preserved in child-sized gingerbread cookies, all come back to life [[NoOntologicalInertia after the Witch is killed]] (a detail borrowed from [[Theatre/HanselAndGretel1893 the opera adaptation]]).
** In ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'', which is based more on [[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast1946 Jean Cocteau's film version]] than on the original tale, Beauty's suitor Jacques doesn't die the way his Cocteau counterpart Avenant does, because his storyline of venturing to the castle to kill the Beast is cut.
** In ''Literature/TheThreeLittlePigs'', the first two pigs escape from the Wolf, as they often do in retellings. Nor is the Wolf boiled to death, but just knocked out and delivered back to his nagging wife on a platter with an apple in his mouth.
** In ''[[Literature/TheTwelveDancingPrincesses The Dancing Princesses]]'', the princes who fail to learn the princesses' secret aren't executed, just sent back to their kingdoms.
* {{Spinoff}}:
** ''Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales & Legends'', which aired on Showtime from 1985-87 and alternated between American folk characters such as UsefulNotes/JohnnyAppleseed and real-life figures like Annie Oakley and [[UsefulNotes/JuanPonceDeLeon Ponce de Leon]].
** ''Nightmare Classics'' retold horror stories. Only four episodes were produced, covering ''Literature/TheTurnOfTheScrew'', ''Literature/TheStrangeCaseOfDrJekyllAndMrHyde'', ''Literature/{{Carmilla}}'', and ''The Eye of the Panther''.
** The MadeForTVMovie ''Film/MotherGooseRockNRhyme'' took a funky approach to nursery rhyme characters. Notable as the only one that didn't air on Showtime, but rather The Creator/DisneyChannel.
** Finally, ''Shelley Duvall's Bedtime Stories'' was an animated series with celebrity narrators that adapted popular children's picture books in a TwoShorts format.
* StandardSnippet: Music/AlsoSprachZarathustra is used in "The Tale of [[Literature/TheFrogPrince]]" when the frog retrieves the ball from the well (in a shot similar to the opening scene of ''Film/TwoThousandOneASpaceOdyssey'' no less).
* StrawCharacter: The mole in "Literature/{{Thumbelina}}" is a straw conservative, being a stuffy antiquarian who hates the very concept of progress.
* TellMeAboutMyFather:
** In ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk'', Jack's mother tells him about how wonderful his DisappearedDad was, but she can't remember how he died. (See TraumaInducedAmnesia below.)
** In ''Literature/HanselAndGretel,'' Gretel asks Hansel to tell her about their MissingMom, since he remembers her but Gretel doesn't. He says that she was very beautiful and very kind... unlike their stepmother, who is also beautiful, but [[WickedStepmother wicked.]]
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: in ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk'', Jack's mother can't remember how her husband died, because it was "too horrible." In the end, the magic harp's music reminds her: he was killed by the Giant, who stole all their money and property too, meaning that everything Jack has stolen ''from'' the Giant was rightfully theirs all along.
* {{Uberwald}}: The setting of "The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers" complete with variations of {{Dracula}} and [[TheIgor Igor]] (see above).
* {{Unicorn}}: One shows up in "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}" (in the form of a miniature pony wearing a rubber horn).
* VideoInsideFilmOutside: The scenes at and around Beauty's home in "Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast" are shot on film, while the scenes in the Beast's domain are shot on videotape. This is the only episode in the series that uses film at all -- all other episodes are shot on video.
* WackyCravings: As in most versions of ''Literature/{{Rapunzel}}'', the title character's pregnant mother has a wild craving for a vegetable from the Witch's garden, in this case for her blue-leafed radishes. This particular retelling has [[TheChessmaster the Witch]] cast a spell on Marie to make her crave the radishes so her husband will steal them for her, allowing the Witch to claim their child for herself as the price.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Averted in "Literature/{{Thumbelina}}", which ends with the title character reuniting with her mother on the way to getting wed to the fairy prince (since she wants her to bless the union).
* WholePlotReference: The "Beauty and the Beast" episode is very much a loving homage to Jean Cocteau's classic film ''[[Film/BeautyAndTheBeast1946 La Belle et la Bête]]''.
* WickedWitch: Played straight numerous times, but averted in "Literature/TheLittleMermaid". The Sea Witch is presented as a neutral party, but tries to talk Pearl out of wanting legs by describing the pain it'll bring.
* WizardClassic: A rather flamboyant example appears in "Literature/{{Rumpelstiltskin}}".
* WomenAreWiser:
** In ''Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk,'' apart from being easily fooled by Jack's [[PaperThinDisguise disguises]], the Giantess has normal human intelligence, while her husband the Giant is DumbMuscle.
** In ''Literature/ThePrincessAndThePea'', Queen Veronica is the real ruler of the kingdom, while King Frederico is an idiot who just occasionally makes inane comments.
* WouldHurtAChild: Fairy tales, what do you expect? But the Witch from ''Hansel and Gretel'' earns a special place, given she eats children and bakes their heart into gingerbread. She even eats one boy offscreen.
* WrongGenreSavvy: In ''Literature/SleepingBeauty'', much of the humor comes from the fact that almost all the characters seem aware that they're in an AffectionateParody of a fairy tale, but the princess and prince both think they're in a fully earnest, old-fashioned fairy tale.
* YoureNotMyFather: [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] in ''Literature/HanselAndGretel'', where the WickedStepmother refuses to let Hansel and Gretel call her "Mother."
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