There is a lot to like about the 'Faerie Tale Theatre' series. Many of their adaptations of various well-known and well-loved fairy tales are charming, clever and sometimes funny, a few even emotionally moving. 'Faerie Tale Theatre' puts its own magical spin (whether playing for laughs or straight) on the best of the episodes while still capturing the essence of the stories, while also giving further enjoyments in seeing talented performers in early roles or in roles that are departures from their usual roles.
'Faerie Tale Theatre' is one of those shows where misfires are very few if any, lesser episodes like "Pinocchio", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Nightingale" still having many good elements and being decent overall. "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" is not quite my favourite 'Faerie Tale Theatre' episode, having a slight preference for (talking of the episodes previous to this for a second) "Hansel and Gretel", "The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers", "The Three Little Pigs", "The Snow Queen" and "Snow Queen and the Seven Dwarfs".
It is still great however, if more for adults and older children than younger ones. While many are more intelligent and take things much easier generally than most give them credit for, the portrayal of the rodents is authentically scary, which may frighten some (enough though will find it very effective and it doesn't come over as hokey at all when older). Also familiarity with the character of the Pied Piper and the poem will benefit hugely those to understand the character's darker side and ambiguity (both of which the episode pulls no punches in bringing out), young first-time viewers may find that aspect goes over their heads.
However, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" looks great. The medieval production values and painterly settings and the stylish way of how it's all shot makes for one of the show's most visually striking episodes. James Horner's music score is one of the most eerie and cleverly used, the pipes giving a real unsettling edge without traumatising and actually sounding pretty beautiful, music scores of any episode of 'Faerie Tale Theatre' too.
Nicholas Meyer directs very capably and the writing is remarkably mature and poetic, a fine example of 'Faerie Tale Theatre' excelling very well when playing straight, while not falling into sentimentality or cutesiness. The final march is nightmarish but in somewhat of an innocent way, while a lot of it is thought-provoking in its morality play approach.
The poem is very skilfully adapted, with the ingenious use of the bed-time story with a message device framing the story, and the tale itself told with a darkness, innocence, charm, emotional impact and sense of fun, also doing a great job making the titular character interesting.
Eric Idle is perfectly cast as the Pied Piper and as Browning himself. The rest of the cast are fine, if not quite up to the same level as Idle.
Overall, 'Faerie Tale Theatre' does it again with another near-classic. 9/10 Bethany Cox
'Faerie Tale Theatre' is one of those shows where misfires are very few if any, lesser episodes like "Pinocchio", "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Nightingale" still having many good elements and being decent overall. "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" is not quite my favourite 'Faerie Tale Theatre' episode, having a slight preference for (talking of the episodes previous to this for a second) "Hansel and Gretel", "The Boy Who Left Home to Find Out About the Shivers", "The Three Little Pigs", "The Snow Queen" and "Snow Queen and the Seven Dwarfs".
It is still great however, if more for adults and older children than younger ones. While many are more intelligent and take things much easier generally than most give them credit for, the portrayal of the rodents is authentically scary, which may frighten some (enough though will find it very effective and it doesn't come over as hokey at all when older). Also familiarity with the character of the Pied Piper and the poem will benefit hugely those to understand the character's darker side and ambiguity (both of which the episode pulls no punches in bringing out), young first-time viewers may find that aspect goes over their heads.
However, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" looks great. The medieval production values and painterly settings and the stylish way of how it's all shot makes for one of the show's most visually striking episodes. James Horner's music score is one of the most eerie and cleverly used, the pipes giving a real unsettling edge without traumatising and actually sounding pretty beautiful, music scores of any episode of 'Faerie Tale Theatre' too.
Nicholas Meyer directs very capably and the writing is remarkably mature and poetic, a fine example of 'Faerie Tale Theatre' excelling very well when playing straight, while not falling into sentimentality or cutesiness. The final march is nightmarish but in somewhat of an innocent way, while a lot of it is thought-provoking in its morality play approach.
The poem is very skilfully adapted, with the ingenious use of the bed-time story with a message device framing the story, and the tale itself told with a darkness, innocence, charm, emotional impact and sense of fun, also doing a great job making the titular character interesting.
Eric Idle is perfectly cast as the Pied Piper and as Browning himself. The rest of the cast are fine, if not quite up to the same level as Idle.
Overall, 'Faerie Tale Theatre' does it again with another near-classic. 9/10 Bethany Cox
