The Little Mermaid (Faerie Tale Theatre episode)

Infobox Television episode


Title=The Little Mermaid
Series=Faerie Tale Theatre
Season=6
Episode=2
Airdate=April 6 1987
Writer=
Director=Robert Iscove
Prev=Rip Van Winkle
Next=The Dancing Princesses

"The Little Mermaid" is the 26th episode of the television anthology "Faerie Tale Theatre". The story is based on the Hans Christian Andersen story of The Little Mermaid and stars actress Pam Dawber as the title character.

Plot

Pearl, the youngest daughter of King Neptune, is celebrating her 21st birthday, marking the time when she is finally allowed to visit the surface. On the surface, Pearl sees a grand ship on which there is a handsome sailor named Andrew. She sings to him and he is enchanted by her voice, but when he tries to find the source of the voice, he cannot see her.

Then a storm strikes. During the commotion Andrew falls overboard and almost drowns, but Pearl saves him and drags him to shore. She tries to wake up him but he remains unconscious. As the dawn breaks, Pearl realises that she has to return home as is required of her. After Pearl dives beneath the waves, a princess named Amelia arrives at the shore and spots the sailor, who groggily wakes up.

In the underwater realm, Pearl cannot get Andrew out of her mind. She talks to her father and sisters about it, but when they learn that she has fallen in love with a human, they warn her that such a love affair will never end well. Pearl doesn't listen to them and decides to visit the sea witch, who agrees to turn her tail into legs with a magical potion. The only condition of the spell is that Andrew "must" fall in love with her, for if he doesn't, on his wedding night to another Pearl will turn into sea foam. The price for the spell is Pearl's voice, which Pearl agrees to.

The next morning Pearl surfaces on the same beach where she left the sailor and drinks the potion. She falls unconscious and is found by Andrew and Amelia, and it is revealed that Andrew is a prince and Amelia is the princess that he is bethrothed to. Andrew says that there is something vaguely familiar about Pearl, and brings her back to his palace.

Pearl wakes up in a bedroom with Andrew and Amelia by her side. Andrew is immediately charmed by Pearl's childlike innocence, to the point that Amelia becomes jealous. Pearl spends her days getting to know Andrew while Amelia watches them like a hawk. Eventually Amelia tells Andrew that she intends to accept the proposal that Andrew is going to make to her, and Andrew is ecstatic until Amelia tells him that he must be the one to tell Pearl.

Andrew tells Pearl that he and Amelia are going to be married, and Pearl puts on a strong face when Andrew says that he hopes that she can happy for him. On the wedding ship, just as Pearl awaits her oncoming death, she is visited by her sisters Coral and Anemone, who give her a magic knife they bought from the sea witch. Pearl is to use the knife to kill Andrew, and when the blood falls on her legs Pearl will become a mermaid again.

Pearl tries to kill Andrew, but she loves him too much and cannot. She willingly lets herself die, but because of her love and self-sacrifice, on the dawn Pearl instead turns into a spirit of the air, guiding and protecting lovers all over the world.

Cast

ee also

List of Faerie Tale Theatre episodes