The Snow Queen

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.

Like what was said in my review for "The Three Little Pigs", "The Snow Queen" is one of the best 'Faerie Tale Theatre' episodes, very high up in ranking. It is an example of an episode that plays it straight, in fact "The Snow Queen" is one of the show's darkest and most mature, and good thing too seeing as it is a dark, mature and poignant (though also in some way entertaining) story and one of Hans Christian Andersen's most popular for very good reason.

As an adaptation, it treats the original story with a lot of respect with some expansions and a couple of omissions. It captures the basic essence and spirit of the story beautifully, and expanding the Lady of Summer character and story and having more scenes between the Snow Queen and Kay helped make the characters more interesting and motivations clearer. The only real regrettable omission was with the Prince and Princess, cut perhaps in favour of expanding more on the Lady of Summer character.

It's a beautiful-looking adaptation. The costumes, especially for the Snow Queen, are beautifully produced and the production design and scenery are both sumptuous and atmospheric. Generally one of the better-looking 'Faerie Tale Theatre' episodes, though for low budget a vast majority of the episodes actually fare pretty darn well in this regard. The music is haunting but also has a whimsy and pathos that's also perfect.

Writing is thoughtful, natural in flow and surprisingly multi-faceted, with how it deals with the uncertainties of life but interweave it within a fairy-tale framework, and "The Snow Queen" teaches some lovely values and messaging of saving the power of love primarily. The story never feels padded, like too much time is spent on one thing and not enough on another or too hastily put together. Instead it takes a beautiful story and tells it powerfully, with the expansions adding a lot. As regrettable as it was to lose the Princess and Prince, it doesn't harm the storytelling at all seeing as the adaptation found a very worthy alternative and executed it very well. The ending is also very moving.

Melissa Gilbert is intelligent and touching as Gerda, a character one immediately roots for and never gets frustrated towards. Lance Kerwin is a likable Kay, his chemistry with Gilbert and especially Lee Remick registering strongly. Remick plays a refreshingly different Snow Queen, she's cold, mysterious and beguiling but not straight up evil for the sake of it, instead there is the sense that it was a necessity for her to act the teach-a-lesson/benevolent ways she does.

Lauren Hutton allures as Lady of Summer, and the Robber Girl of Linda Manz is appropriately tough, contrasting well with the humble sweetness of Gerda.

In conclusion, of a mostly fine show "The Snow Queen" ranks towards the top. 10/10 Bethany Cox