Faerie Tale Theatre: The Tale of the Frog Prince
Faerie Tale Theatre: The Tale of the Frog Prince
Showtime
September 11, 1982
Fantasy, Children's
DVD
B-
I think this could be a B or B+ if it were only half an hour, rather than 55 minutes. There's just too much filler, like the back story about how the prince became a frog, and the danger that his legs may be the royal dinner. However, when Garr, as the nameless princess, interacts with Williams (then a few months post-Mork) as the frog or Auberjonois as her goofy but wise father the King, I could watch for hours. Garr was then somewhere between 35 and 40 but she is lovely and fascinating as the "bitchy" but redeemable princess. Williams is Williams of course, charming and bawdy and witty. They have chemistry as human and amphibian, but when he's transformed into a naked man, well, "more than a man, a prince," yeah, I've always shipped it.
I know, it's a children's program, but someone seems to have forgotten to tell them, or narrator/writer/director Eric Idle. Part of the fun is seeing what they get away with, although I'm guessing things were toned down over the next five years. I've seen bits and pieces of a few episodes but this was always my favorite, and yeah, at that, it's still only a B-. I'm curious to see what other whole episodes are like.
For someone who's seen Popeye as many times as I have, it's also fun spotting Duvall and Williams's co-stars, including Roberta Maxwell as Queen Beatrice and Griselda, Van Dyke Parks as the Musician, and Donovan Scott as Hendrix and the French chef. John Achorn and Patrick De Santis are uncredited and unnamed members of the Ensemble here and would have other little roles through the course of the series. Charlie Dell is a Page here and would have three more small parts. And, yes, that's a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards as King Geoffrey and a post-American-Graffiti Candy Clark as Candy and Queen Gwynneth.
Showtime
September 11, 1982
Fantasy, Children's
DVD
B-
I think this could be a B or B+ if it were only half an hour, rather than 55 minutes. There's just too much filler, like the back story about how the prince became a frog, and the danger that his legs may be the royal dinner. However, when Garr, as the nameless princess, interacts with Williams (then a few months post-Mork) as the frog or Auberjonois as her goofy but wise father the King, I could watch for hours. Garr was then somewhere between 35 and 40 but she is lovely and fascinating as the "bitchy" but redeemable princess. Williams is Williams of course, charming and bawdy and witty. They have chemistry as human and amphibian, but when he's transformed into a naked man, well, "more than a man, a prince," yeah, I've always shipped it.
I know, it's a children's program, but someone seems to have forgotten to tell them, or narrator/writer/director Eric Idle. Part of the fun is seeing what they get away with, although I'm guessing things were toned down over the next five years. I've seen bits and pieces of a few episodes but this was always my favorite, and yeah, at that, it's still only a B-. I'm curious to see what other whole episodes are like.
For someone who's seen Popeye as many times as I have, it's also fun spotting Duvall and Williams's co-stars, including Roberta Maxwell as Queen Beatrice and Griselda, Van Dyke Parks as the Musician, and Donovan Scott as Hendrix and the French chef. John Achorn and Patrick De Santis are uncredited and unnamed members of the Ensemble here and would have other little roles through the course of the series. Charlie Dell is a Page here and would have three more small parts. And, yes, that's a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards as King Geoffrey and a post-American-Graffiti Candy Clark as Candy and Queen Gwynneth.
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