Year Released: 1982/1992
Country of Origin: Russia/United States
Run Time: 26 minutes.
How I Watched It: Netflix.
Adaptation Accuracy - Stories to Remember was a very short lived direct-to-video series where animated fairy tales were narrated by a famous actor/actress of the time. The animation is Russian in origin and my limited internet research tells me it was made in 1982. But it took ten years for the States get a hold of it.
Interestingly, this version of The Snow Queen is the first to be adapted from another adaptation. All of Sigourney Weaver's narration is from Amy Erhlich's 1982 picture book. Still, things are cut out and changed a bit.
The troll/devil is gone. The mirror belongs to the Snow Queen and it is her only friend. She grows very angry and lonely and smashes her mirror. She wants a friend and since Kai is all fucked up, she takes him.
The princess is cut from Gerda's journey and the crow turns out to be the Witch in disguise who helps her along the way. The Robber Girl has a mullet and is SUPER TOUCHY with Gerda. The Snow Queen lets Kai and Gerda go once she sees how much they love each other. It even melts her heart...and the rest of her. Yeesh.
By the time Gerda and Kai return to The City, they are actually grown up teenagers. And THEY MIGHT EVEN LIKE EACH OTHER!!! OMG! OMG! LOL! OMG!
The DVD I received from Netflix also has a Sigourney Weaver narrated version of The Wild Swans, which was similar in tone and animation to The Snow Queen. And, as a DVD bonus, there were two 23 minute features called What Makes a Good Story? where a middle aged man and two kids discuss basic story elements (like what foreshadowing is) and how they apply to The Snow Queen and The Wild Swans.
Interestingly, this version of The Snow Queen is the first to be adapted from another adaptation. All of Sigourney Weaver's narration is from Amy Erhlich's 1982 picture book. Still, things are cut out and changed a bit.
The troll/devil is gone. The mirror belongs to the Snow Queen and it is her only friend. She grows very angry and lonely and smashes her mirror. She wants a friend and since Kai is all fucked up, she takes him.
The princess is cut from Gerda's journey and the crow turns out to be the Witch in disguise who helps her along the way. The Robber Girl has a mullet and is SUPER TOUCHY with Gerda. The Snow Queen lets Kai and Gerda go once she sees how much they love each other. It even melts her heart...and the rest of her. Yeesh.
By the time Gerda and Kai return to The City, they are actually grown up teenagers. And THEY MIGHT EVEN LIKE EACH OTHER!!! OMG! OMG! LOL! OMG!
The DVD I received from Netflix also has a Sigourney Weaver narrated version of The Wild Swans, which was similar in tone and animation to The Snow Queen. And, as a DVD bonus, there were two 23 minute features called What Makes a Good Story? where a middle aged man and two kids discuss basic story elements (like what foreshadowing is) and how they apply to The Snow Queen and The Wild Swans.
Overall Likes - Accuracy; Brevity; Snow Queen's motive; The Witch; Romantic implications.
Overall Dislikes - No Grandmother; No princess; Touchy Robber Girl; I'm melting! MELTING!
Final Thoughts - So...it was okay. Pretty much what I thought. Sigourney Weaver has a pleasant enough voice. However it loses major points for cutting out the Princess and Prince. Seriously, why?
Please forgive my shitty screencaps. :-(
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