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Moriarty’s One Thing I Love Today! Jim Henson's THE STORYTELLER!

first!!! by mmaddox3	Mar 19th, 2008 05:53:43 AM

I remember being scared shitless by The Storyteller. by rbatty024	Mar 19th, 2008 05:54:45 AM
That's all I remember of the show. Just being scared. I don't even remember why. I should probably go check it out. I have virtually no memories of it except that it existed and I'm pretty sure I saw at least one episode.
ooo and i love it too!!! by mmaddox3	Mar 19th, 2008 05:56:57 AM
i really miss the golden days of the henson company. they really need to get back to their roots and come out with some relevant stuff again. if the announcement that the "forgetting sarah marshall" gang is really doing the next muppetts flick is true, than that could finally be the kick in the balls this studio needed, lets hope that turns out great.
I used to have some... by Tourist	Mar 19th, 2008 05:58:02 AM
...making of thing from The Storyteller my dad had taped off TV when I was a kid. I watched it over and over and over. I rented the show again not long ago, and its not much to write home about, unless your a puppet fetishist like I am.
Great Show by Sprout	Mar 19th, 2008 05:58:10 AM
It used to scare the crap out of me! My younger cousin couldn't sleep with his hedgehog toy in the room after he saw the hedgehog episode.
Some of the best fantasy TV ever by kwisatzhaderach	Mar 19th, 2008 05:58:41 AM
I still have ropey quality VHS off-air copies from 1988. Anyone interested in fantasy , TV or storytelling should watch this series. My personal faves: Hans My Hedgehog and The Soldier and Death.
Lovely stuff by drwilliamweir	Mar 19th, 2008 06:03:04 AM
I always thought it was better than the greek stories I remember being on just afterwards.
A great show and great Minghella adaptations... by Boba Fat	Mar 19th, 2008 06:07:48 AM
I was going to mention this show in the actual obit but this is a fitting tribute. "The Soldier and Death" with the late Bob Peck is a classic. Grange Hill was a cultural phenomenon when it started in the late seventies. Not sure what seasons Minghella worked on but it was a gritty, for the time, school drama series that kids across the UK watched and it was canceled a few weeks ago after 30 years on the air.
That King on the box is George Bush by Internet Thug	Mar 19th, 2008 06:09:26 AM
in a wig and beard.
Though I think Mingella did better work, by beastie	Mar 19th, 2008 06:10:01 AM
this is my favorite thing he did. It is very personal to me, as I grew up with it as a kid. To this day, it is one of the pinacles of fantasy in my mind and is used to judge all other fantasy.
good call on the tribute by newc0253	Mar 19th, 2008 06:36:30 AM
i was just reading the BBC which had various quotes from directors actors and producers, all saying what a great guy he was, yadda yadda, but this is much better: showing something most people overlooked about his work and pointing to the difference it made.
Jim Henson was awesome by CuervoJones	Mar 19th, 2008 06:48:35 AM
A real genious. I still miss him.
Loved this show..wasn't there a follow-up? by Jonah Echo	Mar 19th, 2008 06:51:01 AM
Back in 2004, I recall walking through Blockbuster, and finding this(recalling it from childhood) and picking it up. Mori is right, the shows production hasnt aged awesomely, but alot of that is the actual quality of the image, and not the sets and puppets which are just as much fun as anything else Henson did. Seperated from the response I had to it as a child, I was most impressed that second go-round by the way the stories are adapted, and the way Mingella allowed them to follow the natural path of the original stories, and sometimes the endings weren't all happy but partly bittersweet. In fact, so good was the writing on some of these, that they achieved the same effect that Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast had-conveying a classic story with the childlike wonder befitting it, and letting the seams of adult anxiety show through. Since that release of theStoryteller, they have since had another that combines both this edition and a 1990's revamp that did Greek mythology. Michael Gambon was the storyteller in that series, and I think it ws on HBO or something. I havent seen them, and am not sure if Mingella wrote for it or not.
that should have read Best Buy by Jonah Echo	Mar 19th, 2008 06:51:34 AM
not blockbuster..
The Storyteller really was magical stuff.. by Rameses	Mar 19th, 2008 06:53:54 AM
Hensons gang put the same kind of love and detail into each episode as they did for the Dark Crystal. Hans my hedgehog is still my favourite , but they were all good . Nice to see Fairy tales handled with such charm and serious tone .
Bloody hell, I thought I saw every episode by theycallmemrglass	Mar 19th, 2008 07:15:35 AM
Can someone confirm if these two episodes were NOT shown on UK tv? I have a strange suspicion that these 2 particular episodes were perhaps not shown at all because of the 69 sex position (my jaw dropped there!) and the uneasy daughter marrying father. I would have remembered these episodes clearly. Loved the series though. I am now going to buy the DVD, thanks for the reminder Moriarty. My favourite episode was the one with the Sack.
was this party of the jim henson hour? by ampersand110	Mar 19th, 2008 07:17:36 AM
back on nbc it always had jim henson with a white lion telling whats next. usually had a muppet thing before it. am i right or nuts?
What a nice surprise by Jinxo	Mar 19th, 2008 07:19:01 AM
Not often I find myself clicking a You Tube link and then watching on and on. I forgot how fun that show was. I kind of did a double take when I realized the evil sisters were Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders. The final clinch in Hans My Hedgehog with all the shapeshifting has been stuck in my head since it first aired. The princess's line about snoodling and hugging him to bits was even became a saying between me and my girlfriend who loved fairy tales. Ah, too bad life doesn't always work out like fairy tales. Weird. When I heard Minghella had died I didn't realized he was connected to something so personally iconic in my life. Makes me feel extra sad now.
If This Is My Sack, The Get In It! by Kubla_Khan	Mar 19th, 2008 07:27:40 AM
All-time favourite episode ever. Those devils were genius. Wow I loved this series.
If This Is My Sack, THEN Get In It by Kubla_Khan	Mar 19th, 2008 07:28:59 AM
EDIT
Jonah Echo... thanks for the heads up. by beastie	Mar 19th, 2008 07:44:56 AM
Never heard of it. Looked it up. It's called Jim Henson's The Storyteller: Greek Myths, by the way. It appears to be out of print, but I'm gonna start ebaying it now. Also, it appears that Minghella has a creator credit, but the writing credit goes to Nigel Williams, who seems to write a lot of British mini-series.
Was this the show with the giant who turned to stone... by Librerarian	Mar 19th, 2008 07:50:16 AM
...or something like that? I think it is. Powerful stuff, though a bit traumatic for me as a kid.
Maybe not turned to stone... by Librerarian	Mar 19th, 2008 07:58:15 AM
possible spoiler Did he have a heart attack or something? Someone crushed an egg, or something, which caused the giant to die. Powerful stuff. Was that in this series?
I don't know, I prefered Spielberg's Amazing Stories by ricarleite	Mar 19th, 2008 08:00:18 AM
Some were very good, specially Spielberg's and Zemeckis's
I think Fozzy really wants to fuck Miss Piggy but Kermit is fact by donwillymo	Mar 19th, 2008 08:17:57 AM

Gonzo had a fling with Piggy b/c his nose hit gspot perfectly by donwillymo	Mar 19th, 2008 08:20:42 AM

a wonderful show by purplepurple	Mar 19th, 2008 08:22:26 AM
Great article Mori, I've rewatched this show and found that still works today for me. Yes the effects arent as impresive as they were back then but a good story is timeless. I remember seeing the one about the soldier trapping the death and not being able to get it out of my mind for months. They should show it to kids today. Let em see truly magic storytelling for once.
"say fuck...me..ni**er", u mean that movie? Oops by donwillymo	Mar 19th, 2008 08:23:25 AM

I think Anthony Minghella cured cancer too...and aids too. by donwillymo	Mar 19th, 2008 08:24:59 AM

...saved a cat from a tree too... by donwillymo	Mar 19th, 2008 08:26:22 AM

oh and helped develop the alphabet too... by donwillymo	Mar 19th, 2008 08:33:14 AM

fucked a prostitute and helped her out the hood... by donwillymo	Mar 19th, 2008 08:34:35 AM

I wonder where they're at w/ the new robocop movie!?? by donwillymo	Mar 19th, 2008 08:35:09 AM

John Hurt and Jim Henson by Grammaton Cleric Binks	Mar 19th, 2008 08:35:49 AM
What was not to love?
Beastie by Jonah Echo	Mar 19th, 2008 08:37:08 AM
Actually, I looked it up on Bestbuy and Deep Discount and it is being sold with the original Storyteller as a compilation for 14.99, which is a good deal if you don't already own the first Storyteller collection.
grange hill by the_mighty_boosh	Mar 19th, 2008 09:01:57 AM
RIP anthony minghella his early work on grange hill was brill,every night when i got in from school we'd sit there the whole family eating dinner and watching grange hill the big star of the show was todd carty who played the young tearaway with a heart tucker jenkins' he also played oswyn(the young lad) in krull. the writing on grange hil was fantastic and touched on a lot of hard hitting subjects for a kids tv show in the late 70s early 80s and is till running on the bbc.the first four seasons are available to buy at the following link http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/6- /Search.html?searchstring=gran ge+hill&searchtype=R2&searchso urce=1
For Clarification purposes by mukhtabi	Mar 19th, 2008 09:13:27 AM
The Storyteller started out as a standalone series with Hans My Hedgehog. Eventually it was folded into the second half of the Jim Henson Hour on NBC. The Greek Myths version came later. I loved the first series with those excellent German Folk Tales. That's probably the greatest German contribution to the world, folk tales.
The StoryTeller = Crypt Keeper by Darth Sticky	Mar 19th, 2008 09:14:30 AM
...at least when I was a little guy. I also remember not wanting to watch this show after the Hedgehog episode because I nearly shit my pants from fear...
theycallmemrglass by kwisatzhaderach	Mar 19th, 2008 09:16:44 AM
All the episodes were shown in the UK - I have them all recorded off-air.
donwillymo by kwisatzhaderach	Mar 19th, 2008 09:17:27 AM
Two days in a row you win the AICN Asshole Award. Congrats.
The Greek Myths episodes... by Rameses	Mar 19th, 2008 09:42:23 AM
were shown on Brit TV, but at something like 6.30 AM on a sunday morning!!!!!They were still pretty good , but much darker in tone , and Michael gambon , seemed an odd replacement for Hurt{ he had no chemistry with the dog at all!}and was visually rather boring. The make-ups and animatronics were still awesome though , especially Medusa and her sisters
I watched this as a kid by Xian042	Mar 19th, 2008 09:50:37 AM
There was no cable in my town, so stuff like this was a real treat. I happend to see this set at WallMart and picked it up. The nostalgia came flooding back! Watching it now I have some issues with it, I didnt like the Icarus episode, but the hedghog one was brilliant.
wow thanks for the heads up by MrScientist	Mar 19th, 2008 10:23:35 AM
on something 20 years old. hey did you see star wars yet? it's awesome. you chould check it out.
by the way moriarty, by Jonah Echo	Mar 19th, 2008 10:26:59 AM
thanks for your work on this new collumn. I like it alot, and it was nice to see someone recognize this after so many years. Also, thanks for the heads-up on Adam's Apples. I've added to the netflix list. I figure we should express our thanks, since I think this article a day thing is quite refreshing.Stick with it! Great work.
It's a great show by Jack Colby	Mar 19th, 2008 10:32:32 AM
I loved watching this as a kid and still remember some of the standout episodes.
Where is the rest of Jim Henson Theatre? by Jonah Echo	Mar 19th, 2008 10:37:09 AM
The Storyteller was no doubt the strongest aspect of this hour, but there were some other interesting aspects as well-Lighthouse Island(I think this is what it was called) and The Dream Child and some classic Muppet related stuff(with Kermit and what not). Does anyone know where one can find all of that material? With a limited amount of Henson stuff out there, it would be nice if all of it was available?
Own it...love it. by FlickaPoo	Mar 19th, 2008 10:42:31 AM

I meant The Jim Henson Hour. by Jonah Echo	Mar 19th, 2008 10:46:02 AM
Back in 89 when this was on, I distinctly remember it often being shuffled around and canceled, and not all of it being aired. So, why The Storyteller, but not any of the other stuff created for The Jim Henson hour, which did open with Henson and that white lion from The Storyteller.
I didn't realize that AM worked on this by The Funketeer	Mar 19th, 2008 11:43:20 AM
I'll have to go back and check it out again. It makes me sad to think about this series because it really made a statement for the direction Henson was going in before he died. I love the Muppets and what they still are today but I can only imagine what Henson would be doing if he were still alive today.
Jonah... Thanks again! by beastie	Mar 19th, 2008 12:30:22 PM
I was a little down, not finding it on Ebay.
This is sweet! Thanks. by bswise	Mar 19th, 2008 12:58:09 PM
Great column for a great show! I'd love to see the Greek Myths series some day. Drew, being a Poppa and all, how 'bout doing a semi-regular column on children's DVDs for us other parental types? I don't let my kids watch commercial television, so am always looking for discs to add to our library. Lately, they've really been getting into the "Old School" Sesame Street and classic Electric Company box sets with episodes from the '70s, which is Nostalgia City for me.
when i have money i will get it by they call it the dip	Mar 19th, 2008 02:06:08 PM
though I wouldn't mind busting out the VHS's I have at home riddled with bad tracking for old times sake. Donwillymo, you must be a lonely one.
the hedghog taking off his skin by HoLyWooD444	Mar 19th, 2008 02:21:15 PM

was wicked when i was a kid. by HoLyWooD444	Mar 19th, 2008 02:22:53 PM
still remember that episode but none of the others. sorry for the double post
INTERNET THUG - Thank You! by s00p3rm4n	Mar 19th, 2008 03:47:43 PM
Fucking hilarious, dude. That was my instantaneous reaction - "Why is Dubya on that DVD cover?" This show was fucking great. They still run it on Nick when they either run out of other shit to put on or fall asleep at the control decks.
The BEST thing Henson ever did. by Larry of Arabia	Mar 19th, 2008 05:12:10 PM
Each has it's own look that is rooted in the culture but uniform across the whole series. Top notch actors all around - Miranda and Joley Richardson, Brenda Blethyn, Johnathan Pryce, French and Saunders, Alison Doody...
The stories were pure genius... by Scorecard	Mar 19th, 2008 08:02:58 PM
...Looking through that magic glass of water to see where death was sitting... I remember that so clearly...
If this is a sack then get in it by theycallmemrglass	Mar 20th, 2008 06:15:02 AM
Just watched the episode "Soldier and Death" and damn what an epic story told in just half an hour. It has bloody everything, devils, death, hell, heaven, whistling, dancing, magical item including the sack traded for biscuits, several years span. This episode was directed by Jim Henson, I still miss him. But what a great series.
kwisatzhaderach by donwillymo	Mar 20th, 2008 10:36:32 AM
I'd just like to thank my mother and father for supporting me...and you for following my progress...couldn't do w/o you. You like me you really like me!

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Moriarty’s One Thing I Love Today! Jim Henson's THE STORYTELLER!

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