"When people told themselves their past with stories, explained their present with stories, foretold the future with stories, the best place by the fire was kept for the storyteller." - John Hurt as The Storyteller
Jim Henson's The Storyteller: The Complete Collection DVD Review
By Jonathan Boudreaux
Jim Henson is perhaps best known as the creator of The Muppets, the merry band of fuzzy creatures featured on the wild, wacky syndicated series The Muppet Show and in countless silly but touching theatrical movies. But Henson also had a darker, Tolkien-esque side, as evidenced in his films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. These mythologically-driven sensibilities led to his creation of The Storyteller in 1987.
John Hurt stars as the title character, an elfin man who sits by the fireplace in his cottage telling stories to both his skeptical dog (a puppet brought to life by Henson's son, Brian) and to the audience at home. The stories are all based on actual folktales dug up from various world cultures by Henson's researchers. Sometimes several folktales are put together in order to flesh out the story for television, but the goal is to always remain true to the source material. As the Storyteller weaves his tale, his narration is augmented by a veritable who's who of British actors - Miranda Richardson, Joely Richardson, Brenda Blethyn, Gabrielle Anwar, Jennifer Saunders, Dawn French, Jane Horrocks, and Jonathan Pryce all make appearances here, most of them before they became famous.
All of the episodes - "Hans My Hedgehog," "Fearnot," "The Story Short," "The Luck Child," "The Soldier and Death," "The True Bride," "The Three Ravens," "Sapsorrow," and "The Heartless Giant" - were written by Anthony Minghella. Ten years after this series, Minghella would win an Oscar for directing The English Patient from his own script.
In addition to the usual morals conveyed by folktales, The Storyteller is often infused with subtle humor, like the Storyteller washing a king's dishes by having his dog lick the plates clean. In "Sapsorrow," French and Saunders provide liberal doses of slapstick humor. This episode stands out because these comedic elements are perfectly balanced with a sense of wonder.
Unfortunately, the stunning clarity of DVD points out limitations of The Storyteller's filming. Many of the episodes use a deliberate hodgepodge of visual styles in an attempt to duplicate the dreamlike, ephemeral nature of storytelling. Some of the episodes use the conceit of watercolor illustrations come to life, with the actors superimposed over watercolor scenic elements. This often involves process shots that go beyond unconvincing and veer into laughable.
It is unclear whether or not the DVD presents the episodes in production order, but this appears to be the case. The first episodes on the DVD are the ones that look the most amateurish, while the later ones have more polish and sheen. The "illustration" effect is also dropped from the final episodes in the DVD sequence.
"The Three Ravens," for example, is much more visually opulent than some of the episodes that precede it. Shot in a more straight-forward style, the viewer is not distracted by failed visual tricks. This allows the excellent storytelling of the script to come to the fore of this breathtakingly exciting episode.
Even when the camera effects are poor, however, the creatures and make-up effects created by Henson and company are extraordinarily impressive. Hans the hedgehog boy, the Heartless Giant, and trolls and lion from "The True Bride" are much more complex and beautiful than most creatures created for television.
It is also hard to tell who The Storyteller's intended audience is. Some of the stories may be too complex and intense for younger viewers, while older children may be bored by the mere thought of watching fairy tales, no matter how beautiful they may be.
Four of the episodes of The Storyteller ran independently on NBC in 1987. The remaining episodes were unseen in the U.S. until 1989 when they were aired as part of The Jim Henson Hour. This show, hosted by Henson on NBC, consisted of a Muppet Show-esque segment paired with an episode of The Storyteller. It ran for only three months.
The nine episodes of The Storyteller are included on one disc. The simple menu design allows the viewer to play all of the episodes or to choose an individual one. There are no chapter stops, barring one immediately following the opening credits.
The disc is housed in a keepcase. The keepcase holds two separate single fold booklets. The front of the first contains a written introduction by Jim Henson taken from a book on storytellers. Inside the fold, there is a two page spread on "The Soldier and Death" and "A Story Short." Several paragraphs delving into the background of the episodes are paired with behind the scenes photos and sketches. The back of the brochure offers background on the series itself and a list of the awards it won. The second brochure provides summaries for each of the episodes. Oddly enough, the episodes are summarized in a completely different order than they are presented on the disc.
