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The Storyteller Collection | Year: 1987 Classification: Feature Film Family Directed: - Steve Barron - Paul Weiland - Jon Amiel - Peter Smith - Jim Henson - Charles Sturridge We're almost there. . . It's been taking the Henson company a long time to get these titles pumped to DVD, and it's nice to see The Storyteller fill the gaps in the shelves. I am still waiting for Fraggle Rock, but hopefully that is on the horizon. I remember these as part of the Jim Henson Hour (another series I would like to see again) and they were as enjoyable to watch as they are now. I gave the DVD 3 stars, simply because it's just that. . . a DVD. No extra's no behind the scenes, nothing added to it, just the stories, one after another in a digital format. The content and movies are great, its just that, well, there wasn't anything else. Kind of disappointing, but I'm sure back then, they didn't have a lot of cameras on the set filming behind the scenes, it wasn't the fad or desire back then. This is a dvd though, that's not for kids. Young kids that is. Some pretty spooky moments, and the creatures can be a bit scarey. It's a fairly dark, gritty form of story telling, but fun and amusing at times. To wrap up, its great. If your a fan of Jim, it belongs in your DVD library. No extras though, just the 9 episodes and that's it. The sound is good, picture great, just as I remember them. My only desire for some of the recent releases of Henson DVD's is to actually have more of Henson on them. He was a great man, and to hear him speak about his films and what he was doing is always a rare treat. I just wish they had more film footage of him. Just as good as it was 15 years ago. I did not have the luxury, when I was growing up, to see these stories as they were originally shown on the Jim Henson Hour which aired in America and not until much later, in Australia. I happened upon the videos (these nine episodes were set on three videos) in a local rental shop and under extreme duress, my father rented them for myself and my sister. Much like we had done with the Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal, we were transfixed by each and every episode. The thing we loved most about them was that they weren't your usual Disney-esque fluffiness. They were based on German, Russian and Celtic folklore and are in many cases, even today, still considered quite dark tales. Now, many, many years later, I found and bought the DVD and am quite happy to say that the Jim Henson magic is still very much there. Sure, there's no special features on the DVD and I admit I would have liked to have seen some behind-the-scenes productions that are so accessible in this format of entertainment, but what was most important is that we got the series. To be honest, I couldn't complain about the quality of the DVD, it seemed pretty good to me. If the picture was blurry, it added to the atmosphere of the story rather than from detracted from it. Some people who are not familiar the Jim Henson Creature Shop would find these productions stupid, cheesy and very out of date, but please remember, Jim Henson was a puppeteering pioneer and set many a standard for the fantasy genre. It was also well before the marvels of CGI were used on a regular basis, so please, don't complain when you see a puppet squirrel or badger flit across your screen and say that it would have been much better as a computer animation. If you want seamless realistic graphics, go and watch the new Lord of the Rings epics, or The Matrix movies. If you want to recapture a charming, fanciful bit of your childhood, when we didn't need thrills and spills to entertain us, watch The Storyteller series. You won't be disappointed. Fairy tales will never be the same I'm amazed that this series has gotten so little attention. This is Jim Henson and crew at their best, making fun of the lines between fantasy and reality, costume and puppetry, and new storytelling and old stories. All of these short pieces were unfamiliar to me, at least in part. 'Sapsorrow' turned out to contain a story I knew, or thought I did. Part of the reason these fairy tales were unfamiliar was their authenticity. These stories were originally meant for adults. They had hard, dark edges, and were not the vapid Disneyfied versions that most people know. <BR>Lots of kids will like these stories as much as adults do, but this may be too much for younger children. This isn't Sesame Street - it's one of the dark alleys off to the side. The narrator is one of the unexpected treats on this disk. He opens and closes each short story, talking to his dog on a fire-lit night. The narration is a treat, too. It has a wonderful rolling cadence, too musical for regular speech but too prosaic to be a chant. It may give you some idea what the old epic poems must have sounded like in their original settings. This is for anyone who likes fantasy, who likes a rich visual experience. You just have to see it for yourself - typed words can't begin to give the experience you'll find in this collection. Buy The Storyteller Collection at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on The Storyteller Collection Search with the Priority Search Engine on The Storyteller Collection This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
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