《吉姆汉森的说书人》相关介绍
《Jim Henson's the Storyteller 》
中文译名：《吉姆汉森的说书人》 别名:童话
80年代末中央台正大剧场播出，北欧童话故事9集+希腊神话故事4集，共13集。
导演: Steve Barron / Jim Henson
主演: John Hurt / Brian Henson
分级: G(一般观众)
上映年度: 于1987年由吉姆汉森摄制
语言: 英语
制片国家/地区: UK
Storyteller是一个实景真人/木偶电视连续剧。这是美国/英国联合制作，原本播出，并于1987年由吉姆汉森创造和生产。
简介:本剧是根据著名的神话和传说和希腊神话故事改编的电视剧，美国/英国联合制作，共13集。一个有着丑陋大鼻子的怪老头（John Hurt饰）坐在自家城堡的火炉边，给他会说话的大狗（Brian Henson 配音）讲故事。故事情节充满了愤世嫉俗的黑暗色彩。
吉姆-汉森（Jim Henson）是本片的导演之一，故本片起名为《吉姆汉森的说书人》。
剧情摘要：
第一部分（9集）
1.Hans My Hedgehog 刺猬汉斯
改编自早期德国民间故事
一个人没孩子，苦恼的说：“真想有个孩子啊，哪怕是个刺猬也行”结果……
他老婆真生了个刺猬。……公主嫁给Grovelhog后，发现每天晚上他都退下他的刺猬皮变成个英俊的年轻人到城堡外面，Grovelhog要她保守这个秘密一夜，以打破诅咒。当她没有保守住这个秘密，汉斯离开了。公主很后悔，带着三双铁鞋满世界的寻找她的丈夫……
2.Fearnot 妄大胆
妄大胆--寻找害怕的人
德国民间故事。一个裁缝的儿子，他从来不知道害怕与恐惧是何物，所以他出门流浪寻找“恐惧”。先后遇到了沼泽怪物，城堡里的半身鬼怪(他还和鬼怪打了一局骷髅保龄球)，直到最后到失去心爱之人这个想法终于让他感到了害怕……
3.A Story Short 故事短小
取材自早期凯尔特民间故事：《石头汤的寓言》
很久以前饥饿横行的严酷的时候，甚至说书都没有什么吃的。好的食物都被在王宫保存着，说书人用煮石头汤去城堡骗取食物。被发现后为赢得一餐和活命，的说书人不得不给国王讲一些故事……
一些关于玩骰子赌博的故事，失去了钱、妻子和自己……
4.The Luck Child 运气孩子
改编自早期的俄罗斯民间故事。
在一个遥远的地方住着一个残暴的国王。国王进行了预测，一个贫穷的家庭将有一个幸运的孩子出生：第七个儿子的第七个儿子。一个幸运的孩子，注定要当国王……
5.The Soldier and Death 士兵和死神
关于一个人藏起了一只蝙蝠的一只脚，于是这只蝙蝠处处帮助他，最后帮他捉住了死神……
6.The True Bride真正的新娘
根据早期德国民间故事《真正的新娘》改编。一个巨魔有一个女儿……
7.The Three Ravens三只渡鸦
凭早期德国
民间传说:《六只天鹅》. 在王后死了之后，一个邪恶的巫婆诱惑国王娶了她，并且把他的三个儿子变成渡鸦。公主虽然逃脱了,但为了打破弟弟们变成渡鸦的魔咒,她必须保持沈默三年、三个月、三个星期和三天.当她遇见一位英俊的王子之后，继续保持沉默就不是那么容易了......
8.Sapsorrow 伤心的姑娘
改编自早期德国民间故事和格林童话。其元素有:灰姑娘. 有国王、他过世的妻子和他的3个女儿。二是:同样有丑陋的人做烘托，三是:Sapsorrow公主比起她的姊妹们更来得美丽……
就是国王要娶戴上了死去王后的戒指的公主,公主要求了3件衣服,太阳,月亮和星星,后来公主穿上了由各种动物皮毛组成的外衣逃跑了……
9.The Heartless Giant 没有心脏的巨人
改编自早期德国民间故事
老国王在小窗口的牢里监禁着一个无情的巨人，直到有一天他最小的儿子，发现了小窗口……
第二部分（4集）
在80年代后期亨森尝试续拍，讲的故事是：希腊神话；说书人一角改由Michael Gambon（迈克尔 甘本）饰演，但还是那只狗（布莱恩亨森 配音）。这第二系列首次播出是1990 。而这次故事讲述的方式是说书人与他的狗漫步在希腊神话中的牛头怪迷宫中，故事（希腊神话）逐一上演。
1.Daedalus and Icarus 代达罗斯和伊卡洛斯
代达罗斯是希腊最伟大的工匠。遗憾的是他的技术没有被他儿子继承。由于嫉妒和挫败感代达罗斯杀害了自己天分很高的学徒（他的外甥-塔洛斯），父子俩逃亡到了克里特岛。克特国王米诺斯要求代达罗斯设计一个迷宫关给牛头怪弥诺陶洛斯居住，然后将代达罗斯和他的儿子也锁在迷宫中，以确保隐藏他的秘密（注：牛头怪是国王老婆和一头白牛的私生子，代达罗斯是拉皮条的，~囧~）。但是，代达罗斯和儿子用蜡和羽毛制作翅膀逃离克里特岛……
2.Orpheus and Eurydice 俄耳甫斯和欧律狄刻
俄耳甫斯爱上了欧律狄刻。他对她的爱是如此强烈，当她被蛇咬伤中毒死亡后，奥菲斯前往地狱，以向冥王和王后祈求她的回归。但冥王刷了个小花招……
3.Perseus and the Gorgon 珀耳修斯和戈耳贡
由于神的预言，珀耳修斯是出生后连同他的母亲达那厄被放进一个大箱子里投入了大海，但他的父亲宙斯设法使她们获救。年轻的英雄誓言带回后面戈耳贡美杜莎的头阻止邪恶国王逼迫他的母亲结婚。他用神赋予的武器和装甲，完成了他的任务，但仍然无法逃避预言，他总有一天会杀死他的祖父……
4.Theseus and the Minotaur 特修斯和牛头怪
雅典人说书人和他的狗来到克诺索斯迷宫的安身之处。在那里，他讲述了密闭国王米诺斯迷宫到10世纪前的牛头怪的故事
。当年轻的英雄忒修斯的时代来了，他开始走英雄道路。交还他作为雅典国王埃勾斯的儿子应有的地位，坚持前往克里特面对可怕的牛头怪……
DVD合集发行情况：
2006年5月23日Sony Pictures公司发行1区正版DVD限量收藏套装
碟数：2
片长：310分钟
对白：DD2.0英语原声
字幕：英语Closed-captioned (only for NTSC Tv sets)
奖项：
系列一被提名并赢得了多个奖项：
Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s)
1987 Won Emmy Award Outstanding Children's Program (1987年荣获艾美奖的杰出儿童计划 )
Jim Henson 吉姆汉森(executive producer)
Mark Shivas 马克希瓦斯(producer)
For episode Hans My Hedgehog.
1988 Nominated Emmy Award Outstanding Children's Program (1988年艾美奖提名奖的优秀儿童计划
)
Jim Henson 吉姆汉森(executive producer)
Duncan Kenworthy 邓肯肯沃(producer)
For episode A Story Short.
1988 Nominated Emmy Award Outstanding Children's Program (1988年艾美奖提名奖的优秀儿童计划)
Jim Henson 吉姆汉森(executive producer)
Duncan Kenworthy 邓肯肯沃(producer)
For episode The Luckchild.
1989 Won BAFTA TV Award Best Children's Programme (Entertainment/Drama) (1989年荣获英国影艺学院电视奖最佳儿童节目（娱乐/正剧）)
Duncan Kenworthy 邓肯肯沃
1989 Won BAFTA TV Award Best Costume Design (1989年荣获英国影艺学院电视奖最佳服装设计
)
Ann Hollowood 安霍洛伍德
1989 Nominated BAFTA TV Award Best Make Up (1989年英国影艺学院电视奖提名最佳化妆
)
Sally Sutton 萨莉萨顿
英文版简介：
The Storyteller
Also known as Jim Henson's The Storyteller
Genre Children's film
Created by Jim Henson
Developed by Anthony Minghella
Presented by John Hurt & Michael Gambon
Starring John Hurt
Brian Henson
Voices of Brian Henson
Narrated by John Hurt & Michael Gambon
Theme music composer Rachel Portman
Country of origin United Kingdom
United States
Language(s) English
No. of series 2
No. of episodes 13
Production
Producer(s) Duncan Kenworthy
Location(s) Elstree Studios
Running time 22 minutes
Broadcast
Picture format PAL
Audio format Stereophonic sound
First shown in 1988
Original run 1988 – 1989
The Storyteller is a live-action/puppet television series. It was an American/British co-production which originally aired in 1988 and was created and produced by Jim Henson.
The series retold various European folk tales, particularly ones considered obscure in Western culture, created with a combination of actors and puppets. The framing device had an old storyteller (John Hurt) sitting by a fire telling each tale to both the viewers and to his talking dog (a realistic looking puppet, performed and voiced by Brian Henson) who acted as the voice of the viewers, and was written in a language and traditional style in keeping with old Indo-European based folk tal
es (for instance the number 3 appears as significant in every episode).
Contents [hide]
1 Episode guide
1.1 Series 1
1.1.1 The Soldier and Death
1.1.2 Fearnot
1.1.3 The Luck Child
1.1.4 A Story Short
1.1.5 Hans My Hedgehog
1.1.6 The Three Ravens
1.1.7 Sapsorrow
1.1.8 The Heartless Giant
1.1.9 The True Bride
1.2 Series 2
1.2.1 Daedalus and Icarus
1.2.2 Orpheus and Eurydice
1.2.3 Perseus and the Gorgon
1.2.4 Theseus and the Minotaur
2 Media
2.1 VHS
2.2 DVD
2.3 Books
3 Awards
4 References
5 External links
[edit] Episode guide
[edit] Series 1
The episodes The Soldier and Death, The Three Ravens, Sapsorrow, The Heartless Giant and The True Bride first aired in the United States as part of The Jim Henson Hour.
[edit] The Soldier and Death
Taken from an early Russian folk tale.
A soldier returns home after 20 years of war, with three biscuits in his knapsack. On his way he meets three beggars to whom he gives the biscuits, in return one gives him a beautiful whistle, one the jolliest dance, the final man he gives two halves of buiscuit despite being hungry himself and in return the other a pack of magic playing cards and musty sack that has to power to trap anything ordered into it. Upon arriving at an abandoned castle overrun with small demons, he plays them in a game of cards, winning 40 barrels of gold, and when they try to kill him he captures them in the sack, only letting them go when they promise to never return. He makes one of them swear to serve him, and keeps its foot as leverage.
Quickly becoming rich and famous because he removed the demons from the Tzar's palace, his luck runs short when his son becomes deathly ill. Calling upon the demon, the soldier is given a glass goblet that allows the owner to see death. If death is at the foot of the person's bed (as was the case with his son) he/she will recover if sprinkled with water from it. If Death is at the head of the bed, nothing can be done. Then the Tzar becomes ill and the soldier makes a bargain with Death: his life in exchange for the Tzar's. Death takes his offer and gives the illness to the soldier, curing the Tzar.
Lying in his death bed he summons Death into his sack, and stops death from happening everywhere. But as time goes on, he sees people everywhere who are waiting for death that will not come. So he frees Death, who fears the soldier and his sack so much that he refuses to take the soldier's life.
The soldier, old and weary of life, seeks out a way to die. He travels down to the underworld, forcing the demons at the gates (the same demons from before) to give him two hundred souls and a map to heaven. Terrified of the sack; the demons agree to his demands. Upon reaching the gates of heaven, he asks to be let in with the souls and is denied. He gives the sack to one of the souls, asking the soul to summon him into the sack when he has passed through the gates. But since there is no memory in heaven,
the soul forgets and the soldier is condemned to live forever upon the Earth. In closing, the storyteller remarks (with a smile) that the soldier is still probably about his business.
The episode stars Bob Peck as the Soldier, and was directed by Jim Henson.
[edit] Fearnot
From an early German folk tale. The Storyteller recounts the adventures of a boy who goes out into the world to learn what fear is, accompanied by a dishonest but loveable tinker. He faces many dangers without learning to be afraid, only to learn that fear is at home: the fear of losing his sweetheart.
Reece Dinsdale is Fearnot, Gabrielle Anwar appears as his sweetheart, Willie Ross is the Tinker, and Michael Kilgarriff as the voice of the Pond Sprite.
The episode was directed by Steve Barron.
[edit] The Luck Child
From an early Russian folk tale. An evil king sets out to kill a 'luck child', the seventh son of a seventh son, whom it is prophesised will one day be king. Despite the king's repeated efforts, luck each time saves the boy, who ultimately exiles the king to a life as a ferryman, marries his daughter and inherits his kingdom.
Based on elements from Grimm's The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs and The Griffin.
Steven Mackintosh is the Luck Child, Cathryn Bradshaw is the Princess, Anthony O'Donnell is the Little Man and Robert Eddison is the cursed ferryman.
The episode was directed by Jon Amiel.
[edit] A Story Short
From an early Celtic folk tale. An adaptation of the stone soup fable, the Storyteller tells of a harsh time when he was forced to walk the land as a beggar. Finding himself in sight of the castle kitchen, he picks up a stone and fools the castle cook into helping him make soup from a stone, by adding it into a cauldron of water and slowly adding other ingredients to improve the flavour. When the cook realises he has been swindled, he asks that the Storyteller be boiled alive. The King, as a compromise, promises to give the Storyteller a gold crown for each story he tells for each day of the year- and to boil him if he fails. The Storyteller does well at first, but on the final day he awakens and can think of no story. In a panic he roams the castle grounds, running into a magical beggar who turns him into a flea...and at the end of the day when the King calls for his story, the Storyteller confesses he has no story, and instead tells the King the true tale of his adventures under the magic of the beggar that day.
This is the only episode where the Storyteller himself plays a major part in the story he tells. His wife is played by Brenda Blethyn, Bryan Pringle is the Cook, The King is Richard Vernon, and the Beggar is John Kavanagh.
This episode was directed by Charles Sturridge.
[edit] Hans My Hedgehog
From an early German folk tale. A farmer's wife drives her husband mad with her desperate measures to have a baby. She says to him that she wants a child so bad, she would not care how he looked even if he were cove
red in quills like a hedgehog. That, of course, is what she gets: a baby covered in quills, as soft as feathers. His mother calls him 'Hans My Hedgehog' and she is the only one to love him; his father grows to hate him for shame. So eventually Hans leaves for a place where he can't hurt anyone and where no-one can hurt him.
Deep inside the forest, for many years Hans dwells with his animals for companions. One day a king gets lost in Hans' forest and he hears a beautiful song being played on a bagpipe. He follows the music and finds Hans' castle. When Hans helps him to escape the forest, then king promises that he will give to Hans the first thing to greet him at his castle - which the King secretly knows to be his dog. Instead, it turns out to be his beautiful daughter, the princess of sweetness and cherry pie. Hans and the king have made a deal that in exactly one year and one day his prize (the princess) shall be his.
A year and one day later Hans returns to the castle. The Princess of Sweetness and Cherry Pie says she knows what she must do. Hans asks her if she finds him ugly and she replies that he is not nearly as ugly as a broken promise. They are married, to the dismay of the entire kingdom. On their wedding night, the Princess awaits her husband in bed. He comes into the chamber with his bagpipes and takes a seat by the fire and begins to play the same beautiful music that saved the King a year prior. The princess is soothed by the music and dozes off. She wakes and finds a pelt of quills as soft as feathers on the ground before the fire. She sees her husband in the form of a handsome young man freeing the animals of the castle, to live with his friends in his forest castle. He knows she has seen him when he finds her slumbering on the discarded quills the following night. He tells her that he is bewitched and only if she can keep his secret for a one more night can he be freed and remain in the form of the handsome man. She agrees.
The next morning at breakfast the Queen inquires why her daughter is so cheerful. The Princess tries to resist but as her mother pries she gives in and tells her that Hans is bewitched. The Queen says that the only way to reverse it is to fling the quills in the fire. That night when Hans sheds his quills, she obeys her mother and burns them. She hears his screams of pain as if he were aflame and he runs from the castle. The Princess has a blacksmith make her three pairs of solid iron shoes and slips away in search of her husband. She wears the shoes to nothing and moves on to the second pair, with still no sign of Hans. When she is donning the third pair of shoes, she finds a river and reclines by it, taking off the shoes and rubbing her sore feet. She caught sight of her reflection and sees that her hair has grown white. She wept bitterly for her hair and her husband, forever lost. The next day she came to a cottage, abandoned, covered in dust and cobwebs. Then came the flapping of wings and she s
aw her husband whom she had so long searched for!
He toasted a glass of wine to no-one, "to the beautiful woman who could not keep her promise."
She spoke to him and he became rigid and asked how she had found him. She told him. She told him all of the perils that she had faced and how she had walked the world and worn through three pairs of iron shoes. And then she flung herself into his embrace and with her confession of love and loyalty, he transformed into the handsome man, the spell lifted by her fidelity and affection.
Jason Carter is Hans' human form, Terence Harvey is the voice of Hans the Hedgehog, and Abigail Cruttenden is the Princess.
The episode was directed by Steve Barron.
[edit] The Three Ravens
Based on the early German folk tale, The Six Swans. After the Queen dies, an evil witch ensnares the King, and turn his three sons into ravens to rid herself of her rivals. The princess escapes and must stay silent for three years, three months, three weeks and three days in order to break the spell. But after she meets a handsome prince, this is suddenly not so easy, for her stepmother has re-married, and to the prince's father...
Joely Richardson is the Princess, Miranda Richardson is the Witch, and Jonathan Pryce is the King.
The episode was directed by Paul Weiland.
[edit] Sapsorrow
From an early German folk tale, this is a variant on Allerleirauh by the brothers Grimm. There is a king, his dead wife, and his three daughters. Two are as ugly and as bad as can be, but the third, Sapsorrow, is as kind and as beautiful as her sisters are not. There is a ring belonging to the dead Queen, and a royal tradition that states that the girl whose finger fits the ring will become Queen as decreed by law. When Princess Sapsorrow slips on her dead mother's ring for safekeeping, the King finds out and must marry her according to the law. The princess goes into hiding, becoming a creature of fur and feathers, known as a creature called the Straggletag. She lives thus for years, working in the kitchen of a handsome, but arrogant, prince. On the night of the ball, she turns into Sapsorrow once more and captures the heart of the prince, leaving him naught but a single slipper as she runs off into the night. The Prince scours the kingdom for the girl whose foot fits the slipper, and agrees to marry the Straggletag when hers is the foot it fits. This breaks the spell and they become wed.
Alison Doody is Sapsorrow, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders are her evil sisters, and James Wilby is the Prince.
The episode was directed by Steve Barron.
[edit] The Heartless Giant
From an early German folk tale. A heartless giant, who once terrorised the land before being captured and imprisoned, is befriended by the young prince Leo who, one night, sets him free. His older brothers go after the giant to capture him, but do not return, so Leo sets off to find the giant himself. Once found, Leo decides to find the giant's heart, but t
his is no easy task - it sits in an egg in a duck in a well in a church in a lake in a mountain far away. No easy task indeed.
This is a variation upon the Norwegian tale The Giant Who Had No Heart in His Body.
Elliot Spiers is Prince Leo, Peter Marinker is the Voice of the Wolf, and Frederic Warder is the Giant.
The episode was directed by Jim Henson.
[edit] The True Bride
Based on an early German folk tale, The True Bride. A Troll had a daughter, but she left straight off. So the Troll took another to replace her to wait on him hand and foot. Her name is Anja and she has no father and she has no mother, so the Troll is her other. Setting her impossible tasks, then beating her with his "contradiction stick" when she invariably fails, she wishes one day. Her wish is heard by the Thought Lion, a wondrous beast all in white, who completes her impossible tasks for her. When she finds her true love, he disappears one day, so Anja sets out to find him...bewitched in the hands of the Troll's evil daughter, the Trollop...
Jane Horrocks is Anja, Sean Bean is her True Love, Michael Kilgarriff is the Lion's voice, Alun Armstrong is the voice of the Troll, and Sandra Voe is voice of the Trollop.
The episode was directed by Peter Smith.
[edit] Series 2
Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (March 2008)
In late eighties Henson attempted a follow-up, The Storyteller: Greek Myths, which had a different storyteller (Michael Gambon), but the same dog (again performed and voiced by Brian Henson). This second series was first aired in 1990[1], focused on Greek mythology and took place, rather than by the storyteller's fire, in the Minotaur's Labyrinth, which the new storyteller and his dog wander through.
Only four episodes of this series were made.
[edit] Daedalus and Icarus
Daedalus was the greatest craftsman in Greece. Unfortunately his skill did not rub off on his son, Icarus. Jealousy and frustration forces the pair into a life on the run. Cruel King Minos of Crete asks Daedalus to design a maze to imprison the creature known as the Minotaur, then locks Daedalus and his son inside the labyrinth to make sure only he knows the secrets it hides. But Daedalus escapes, and builds a pair of wings for himself and Icarus to escape Crete.
[edit] Orpheus and Eurydice
Orpheus, son of Calliope the muse fell in love with Eurydice the moment he set eyes on her. His love for her was so strong that when she perished from a poisoned snake bite, Orpheus traveled down to the realm of Hades to plead for her return. His music softened the heart of Hades' wife Persephone, but before Orpheus and Eurydice can walk out into the sunlight, Hades has one more trick to play...
[edit] Perseus and the Gorgon
Owing to the Oracle's prophecy, Perseus is born in darkness and captivity. Together with his mother Dana?, the young son of Zeus manages to escape death at sea. After coming of ag
e, the young hero vows to bring back the back Medusa the Gorgon to stop the evil king Polydektes from marrying his mother. He is given special weapons and armor by the Gods to complete his task but still cannot escape the prophesy that he will one day kill his grandfather.
[edit] Theseus and the Minotaur
An Athenian storyteller and his dog take shelter in the labyrinth of Knossos. There he recounts the story of the minotaur confined to the maze by King Minos ten centuries earlier. When the young hero Theseus came of age, he began walking the heroes path. Reclaiming his rightful place as the son of Athenian king Aegeus, Theseus insisted in traveling to Crete to face the dreaded minotaur.
[edit] Media
The stories have been made available through a variety of media.
[edit] VHS
In the UK, all 9 episodes of series 1 were made available in 1989 on a set of 4 VHS tapes released by Channel 5.
In 1999 four of the stories were re-released by Columbia Tri-Star across two VHS tapes in both the UK and the US. These were A Story Short, The Luck Child, The Soldier and Death and Sapsorrow.
[edit] DVD
Both series 1 and 2 are available in region 1 & 2 DVD format. They offer no extra features other than the original episodes in their original stereo format.
A more recent collection, Jim Henson's the Storyteller - The Definitive Collection, which contains both series in full, was released on DVD in the US in May 2006.
[edit] Books
Two versions of the book have been published; the text is the same but the pictures differ. The text, written as a series of short stories by Anthony Minghella, is adapted slightly to fit better the medium of "short story". One (ISBN 0-517-10761-9, Boxtree) features a photograph of the Storyteller on the cover; the illustrations within (by Stephen Morley) are the silhouettes as seen in the program, and photographic stills of the episodes alongside the text. The other version (ISBN 0-679-45311-3, Random House) has full page colour hand illustrations by Darcy May, depicting the stories alongside the text.
[edit] Awards
Series 1 was nominated for and won several awards.[2]
Year Result Award Category/Recipient(s)
1987 Won Emmy Award Outstanding Children's Program
Jim Henson (executive producer)
Mark Shivas (producer)
For episode Hans My Hedgehog.
1988 Nominated Emmy Award Outstanding Children's Program
Jim Henson (executive producer)
Duncan Kenworthy (producer)
For episode A Story Short.
1988 Nominated Emmy Award Outstanding Children's Program
Jim Henson (executive producer)
Duncan Kenworthy (producer)
For episode The Luckchild.
1989 Won BAFTA TV Award Best Children's Programme (Entertainment/Drama)
Duncan Kenworthy
1989 Won BAFTA TV Award Best Costume Design
Ann Hollowood
1989 Nominated BAFTA TV Award Best Make Up
Sally Sutton