The Tale of the Frog Prince (Faerie Tale Theatre episode)

Infobox Television episode
Title=The Tale of the Frog Prince
Series=Faerie Tale Theatre
Season=1
Episode=1
Airdate=September 11 1982
Writer=Eric Idle
Director=Eric Idle
Next=Rumpelstiltskin

" The Tale of the Frog Pince " is the first episode of the live action television series "Faerie Tale Theatre". It is based on the Brothers Grimm's story of the same name. It stars Robin Williams as the title character, Teri Garr as the princess, René Auberjonois as the king, and Michael Richards as the father of the frog prince.

Plot

The episode begins with a prologue:

King Geoffrey (Michael Richards) and Queen Gwynneth (Candy Clark) have everything they desire, except a child. One day, an old aunt tells the queen of an old crone named Griselda who has magic powers. They visit Griselda (Roberta Maxwell) who gives the queen a potion to make her pregnant. Griselda tells them they must invite her to the child's christening. They agree.

A few months later, the queen gives birth to a baby boy. When the queen forgets to put Griselda on the guest list, she comes to the christening and turns the prince into a frog.

A few years late in a different kingdom, King Ulrich (René Auberjonois) and Queen Beatrice (Roberta Maxwell) give birth to a baby girl. She grows up to be a spoiled, selfish princess (Teri Garr). One day at a tea party, the princess receives a golden ball as a present. She goes down to a well and plays with the ball. There she meets a frog (Robin Williams). After they have talked and argued for a while, the princess accidentally drops her ball into the well. The frog says he will get her ball if she let's him eat and sleep at the castle. The princess agrees, not thinking that the frog's being serious.

That night at dinner, the frog arrives at the palace. The princess tells the family about how they met and the promises she made to him. When she tells her father that she won't do what she promised the frog, she and the king have "a little chat by the fire". Meanwhile, the frog is planning to be cooked in the kitchen, until a servant tells them that the frog is a guest. The frog eats and entertain the guests at the party. When the princess goes to bed the father tells her to take the frog with her. Despite not wanting to, she obeys her father. Up in the princess's room the frog repeatedly asks the princess to kiss her, but she refuses, but she lets him sleep on her pillow. In the middle of the night, in the manner of a bullfighter, the frog kills a scorpion. The princess apoligizes for being rude to the frog and gives him a kiss, which makes the frog turn into a prince (also played by Robin Williams). (He is naked when he turns into a prince.) Then he explains to the princess about the christening and how he got turned into a frog. When the king finds the prince in the princess's room, he takes him to the dungeon. The princees is sent off to a very strict boarding school. The king fell into a deep depression and his wife became ill, but then Griselda appears in the golden ball and tells the king the whole story of the frog prince. The king gets the prince out of the dungeon and the princess out of the boading school. They are married and live happily ever after and Griselda promised that this would be "the very last of her frog tricks".

Trivia

As well as Roberta Maxwell who plays Queen Beatrice and Griselda, Candy Clark also has a double roll as Queen Gwynneth and Candy (one of the princess's ladies in waiting).

The production design was inspired by a Maxfield Parrish painting. [ http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=400880771&albumID=0&imageID=3492413 ]

References

External Links

*"Faerie Tale Theatre" The Tale of the Frog Prince at the Internet Movie Database

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0575517/

ee also

List of Faerie Tale Theatre episodes