Nostalgia Nook: Happily Ever After

It’s easy to believe Disney has a monopoly on fairy tales. And in some ways, they do. Yet there are a few who give Disney a run for their money. For example, a few years ago, I covered Shelley Duval’s “Fairie Tale Theater.” And now, I’m covering HBO’s animated take on fairy tales.

We have clear visions of what a fairy tale princess and prince look like: Blond hair, blue eyes, white as Wonder Bread. Of course, most of them are based off the Grimm Brothers’ fairy tales, which were German in origin. (Hitler, Nazism and the Aryan belief didn’t just come out of nowhere, after all). But HBO took that and went: “Nah, man. We’re going to make sure every child can see themselves in the fairy tale. So there!”
Thus, we have “Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child.”

Once upon a SPOILER!


“Happily Ever After” was an animated series comprised of 39 half-hour long episodes. Each centered on one fairy tale, set in different places of the world. Like Little Red Riding Hood in China. Or The Frog Prince or Beauty and the Beast in Africa. How about a Hispanic Sleeping Beauty or a Latina Cinderella? What about 12 Dancing Cuban Princesses? Or a Brazilian Thumbelina? How about the Pied Piper of Hamelin playing jazz music? Or the events of Rapunzel playing out in a Louisiana Bayou?

And then there’s the entire third season, where many fairy tales were genderbent so that the main character was female. Like Robinita Hood. Or where Rip Van Winkle is put into his deep sleep so that his wife could escape his sexist beliefs and become a great leader.

The series wrapped up with a mystery movie based on Aesop’s Fables. Several of the characters from the fables are suspects in the theft of the book containing their stories. The mystery is solved by a detective (a female one, natch) who reviews everyone’s stories for clues until she finds the culprit.

Each episode featured all-star casts and were narrated by Robert Guilliame (AKA Rafiki from The Lion King as we probably all knew him back then). The show made sure the casts were appropriate for wherever the episode was set. For example, Beauty and the Beast were voiced by Vanessa Williams and Gregory Hines. So bravo to them.

The animation is gorgeous in each episode. Each story is entertaining for kids but for adults as well. I’ve caught a few episodes here and there over the years and enjoy them each time.

So if you haven’t seen them, look them up. I’m sure you’ll find them posted around the internet.

Next month: Shakespeare in Love