Sandra: The Fairytale Detective - New Animated Series for Kids

Set to debut this autumn for younger grade school kids, is Sandra: The Fairytale Detective.

The show is done with very stylized animation, emphasis on 'cute' (think 'toyable'!), and with deals for distribution worldwide through Disney Channel backing it, Fairytale Detective has a good chance at a decent run.Here's an excerpt from an article at Animation Insider, explaining the premise:

Sandra: The Fairytale Detective is... about a little girl, Sandra, who is the lone descendent from a line of fairytale detectives -- a perilous but necessary occupation. Although very few, if any people are aware of The Land of Once Upon a Time (where all of the fairytale characters live), even fewer are aware of the fairytale detective (who solves all sorts of mysteries therein). Roughly targeted toward children aged four through eight-years-old, Sandra: The Fairytale Detective uses a clever and inspiring color palette combined with a klutzy sense of humor to bring young viewers into the familiar realm of fantasy, but with a detective twist.

Like many kids her age, Sandra gets into arguments with her classmates, doesn't clean her room very often, and enjoys taking on a good challenge. But when her assistant and friend Fo, a 500-year-old elf with the guise and spirit of a child, arrives to say that there's a problem over in The Land of Once Upon a Time, the girl dons her overcoat and jumps into action. Maybe the adorable puppet-boy Pinocchio is kidnapped, or maybe Cinderella loses her glass slipper… for real, or maybe Snow White's evil stepmother's mirror mysteriously goes missing. Sandra is on the case; the kid detective lives for the challenge of the mystery, often using some convenient and humorous blend of magic and deductive reasoning to solve each riddle.

You can read the rest of the article HERE.Imira Entertainment (the developers/creators) have already planned to use 52 different fairy tales (that's a loose term as there are some legends on the list such as King Arthur). Here's the rundown of what appear to be 'case' titles (ie. episodes) and the tales they're from:

BAD WOLFE - Three Little Pigs.
BUBBLES - The Little Mermaid.
THE GOLDEN KEY - Hansel & Gretel.
A PRODIGIOUS NOSE - Pinocchio.
THE MISSING SLIPPER - Cinderella.
PESKY RODENTS - Pied Piper.
INVENCIBLE DRAGON - Saint George´s Legend.
FRUITS OF THE FOREST - Little Red Riding Hood.
THE OUTLAWED CAT - Puss In Boots.
THE CURSED APPLE - Snow White.
THE ROYAL EGG - Ugly Duckling.
KING OF MORTADELA - Pinocchio Case 2.
EVEN MORE DIFFICULT - Beauty And The Beast.
A QUESTION OF SMELL - Jack And The Beanstalk.
ASSAF THE SORCERER - Aladdin.
THE WILD PARTY - Tom Thumb.
THE MISTERIOUS CRYSTAL BALL - The Princess And The Pea.
FROGS - Frog Prince
SHOW US YOUR PAWS - The Wolf And The 7 Little Kids.
FOREST WITHOUT MAGIC - Rapunzel.
THE THREE ANCHORS - Cinderella Case 2.
THE WATER OF LIFE - The Shoemaker And The Elves.
TOY ROOM - The Steadfast Tin Soldier.
DIE LAUGHING - Emperor´s New Clothes.
THE 22.30 EXPRESS - Little Red Riding Hood Case 2.
HONEY SHAMPOO - Goldilocks & 3 Little Bears.
ACORNS - Little Red Riding Hood Case 3.
GREEN MONKEY - The One Thousand And One Nights
AVALON ISLAND - King Arthur.
THE REPEATING GHOST - Fearless John.
THE FAT WORM - Thumbelina.
THE RIDDLE CHAMPION - Rumpelstiltskin.
MAKILAKISKI - Makilakiski.
THE GUIDE´S SERVANT - Ali Baba.
THE SECRET BOOK - Sleeping Beauty Case 2.
THE MAGIC FACTORY - Hansel & Gretel Case 2.
THE GREAT MANDFREDI - The Bremen Town Musicians.
THE FORBIDDEN ROOM - Bluebeard.
THE PRINCE OF THE POOL - The Frog Prince Case 2.
SIMPLETON - The Queen Bee.
GIANT LOVE - The Brave Little Tailor.
CAPTAIN BLACKBEARD - The Little Mermaid Case 2.
THE SUPREME LAW - Sinbad.
THE CUP FINAL - The Snow Queen.
BROTHER OGRE - Puss In Boots Case 2.
SCHOOL FOR PRINCESSES - Snow White Case 2.
THE PRINCESS OF THE LAKE - Swan Lake.
AN UNFORGETTABLE JOURNEY - Three Little Pigs Case 2.
THE MAGIC HARP - The 12 Dancing Princesses.
SCOLYMUS - The Sorcerer´s Apprentice.
PETUNIAS - Snow White Case 3.

Did you notice BLUEBEARD is on the list? I'm very curious to see how that's presented by and for kids beyond a blue-bearded dude!

The website HERE has a LOT of information about premise, characters and episodes. You can see some artwork of both characters and locations (although the cutesy look isn't really to my personal taste I do like the landscapes I've seen - very interesting design work!) and there's even an episode to watch.

Here are the Spanish titles (you can see an English version at the website) - they give you a good idea of how the cartoon will work.


It'll be interesting to see how this affects how fairy tales are thought of. If the series does well, becoming part of the standard viewing component for children, we should see some interesting developments regarding fairy tales in the years to come.

I couldn't let a post on a fairy tale detective go by without mention the recent hit novel series for kids called The Sisters Grimm. It's one of those "why didn't I think of that?!" ideas that's obviously striking a chord with kids (and older readers) everywhere.The series was created (and is being written) by Michael Buckley and follows apparent orphans (their parents were kidnapped) Sabrina, 11, and her sister Daphne, 7, who are adopted by their eccentric granny. The granny has some odd secrets she shares with the girls, clueing them in on their heritage, involving them in her detective work among the fairy tale inhabitants of a small town.

You can see an image of the first book above (there are seven so far). If you're not familiar with the series but are interested, I recommend finding the lovely cloth bound hard covers. With old-fashioned rough cut pages and wonderful illustrations every so often, they're the sort of books I think of when people say 'book'.

The WEBSITE is a lot of fun too!

Here's the promotional video for the series:

"Jack Milton: Fairy Tale Detective"

I recently discovered another fairy tale detective: "Jack Milton: Fairy Tale Detective"

Apparently this 18 minute short film won awards on the film festivals circuit! And don't let the funny animal costumes put you off - it's not really for kids.

From the YouTube description:

In a dark and morally corrupt fairy tale world, Detective Jack Milton and his trusty sidekick, Tom Thumb, strive to solve the murders of the world's most famous storybook characters.

Filmaker Tod Norwood created the film a few years ago in collaboration with 7 Fluid Oz. Productions. Says Todd (from his BLOG):

It was a fun film to shoot and it was a blast to travel the festival circuit with it. The cast is great in this and I met many long time collaborators who I’ve worked with many times later..

I sometimes get asked if there are any continuing adventures of Detective Milton and Tom Thumb. And the immediate answer is “yes.” I wrote a feature script about them. It follows our two intrepid heroes as they join forces with his estranged girlfriend, Snow White, and a new character, Freddy the Frog, (really the Frog Prince) as they uncover a worldwide conspiracy affecting all of Fairy Tale land.

The script uses select scenes from the short and spins it off into new directions. It’s very much a mystery/road trip flick, and introduces a lot of other famous characters in strange situations.

The film looks like a lot of fun so I'm really interested to see what a feature film would be like. In the meantime, hopefully Todd will release this little one on DVD.

He uploaded the short film to YouTube in July so everyone could see it but had to break it into four chapters to fit (which he says was an interesting experience - tends to give one a case of itchy-editors-fingers!) but he promises he didn't 'pull a Star Wars" and has kept the film intact (he did hint there may be an extra digital sheep or two in there though!)

Here are the four chapters for you to enjoy: