'Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge' Premieres on Syfy March 25 (Squee!)

Labyrinth, The Storyteller and Dark Crystal fans rejoice: coming to your (US) TVs at the end of this month (March 25th) is a new contest reality show, seeking out and challenging the best aspiring fantasy creature-makers out there! Introducing Jim Henson's Creature Shop Challenge. (Woo hoo!)

While Face Off can be a lot of fun, and I find the creation process fascinating (from pulling together pieces of legend to make a new story, to using unconventional inspiration and materials) I get a little tired of the horror creatures. That 'otherness' that I love in fantasy and in fairy tales is often missing but now we get a show that's likely to be a little closer to our hearts.

Basically, these guys (above) will do their best to pay tribute to one of my all time heroes, Jim Henson and his creature creations, aka this adorable rabble below:

I adore this photo. It has been in an inspiration scrapbook of mine since I was a kid.

Not only will this be a little like Project Runway (with muppets) but the challenge will go beyond design as well. These guys are going to have to manipulate their creations and bring these creatures to life - and to make you feel something when they do.

Ten aspiring creature creators competing to out-imagine one another in a series of challenges where they build everything from mechanical characters to whimsical beasts, bringing high-end creature designs to life. The contestants compete for a prize worth up to $100,000 including the opportunity for the job of a lifetime - a contract working at the world-renowned Jim Henson’s Creature Shop™.

That sounds... huge. I don't know what the time frame for an average challenge is but !!! Take a look at my favorite promo for this show to date:

OMG so cute. (My son wants to adopt the last one...)

And if they need ideas I'd have to say: please create a kelpie. In water. That transforms.

Or Baba Yaga's hut, complete with working legs, flaming skull fence and toothy, hungry door.

Or Ent wives. It's about time someone found them, don't you think?

Or a firebird. That's on fire...

Also: MORE STORYTELLER PLEASE!  (Here's a little visual trot down nostalgia lane to inspire you.)

Ah good times. The Storyteller tales are still some of the best fairy tale presentations to ever to grace our TVs and I still recommend them highly to anyone wondering about fairy tales.

(If you need me, I'll be programming the DVR and staking out the Creature Shop here in LA...)

"Wicked and Loving It": The Maleficent-Meets-EW Interview

Courtesy of Team Jolie, those of us without access to this issue of Entertainment Weekly (#1302, dated March 14, 2014 - on stands March 7, 2014), can view and read the interview and bonus bits for ourselves. Although this is (obviously) not a dense discussion on fairy tales, fairy tale villains or Sleeping Beauty in general, Ms. Jolie does have a lot of insightful things to say and despite her ranging over a few subjects apart from the film, the themes and her emphasis for each of them clearly work together and, at the time, affected each other.

In fact, one of the reasons I think this interview is worth reading is because it shows how the issues raised by fairy tales are directly applicable to life, learning and raising better people (whether that's our children or ourselves).

Please find the pages below. As I mentioned in the previous post, I will be hunting down and purchasing a proper copy for myself, just in case this movie turns out to have significant impact on society's view of , not only the Disney movie but also (unavoidably) the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale.

Just click on the images to view them full size so you can read the text a little easier.

Note: I'm a little vague on whether or not EW is OK with this being published elsewhere on the web at the moment, especially seeing as it's been up in other places for a short while already, but if it comes to my attention that EW want it taken down, I will do so immediately. Should that happen you should still have enough information from this post and the cover image if you need to hunt it all down at a future date.

Enjoy!

Maleficent: New Poster, New Pics (& More Coming)

Marketing for Maleficent is heating up and we're starting to get some very interesting glimpses behind the horns. And if you had any doubt about Maleficent actually being evil at some point, this poster should "dispell" (ha!) that notion. She looks downright vampiric here. I'm rather relieved by this. Although I know it's a family film kids have no trouble understanding how someone, who was good, can get hurt and make bad decisions. In fact, I'll bet you it'll be kids that have the least amount of trouble with Maleficent turning bad and that they will be the ones saying it straight, as in: "Why would you go do that? You KNOW that's a bad thing to do!" Kids will get this - just like they do in fairy tales. It will be the adults who will be uncomfortable, wondering, "shouldn't we be offering therapy?.."

I'm extra looking forward to this now.

So, first up in Maleficent news is the new poster. Well, posterS. The one with Aurora in her cursed sleep, superimposed over the bottom half of Maleficent's form is really just a spiffier version of the plain one, but it's gorgeous nonetheless. Here's a closer look at the added image/s.

Sidenote: how many of the above flowers are pretty-but-poisonous?

In fact, that's one thing that seems guaranteed about this film: no matter what concerns we might have about the script or Disney' s treatment of a classic villain, the only hiccup in the visuals presented to date has really been the good fairies. Even the often-displayed-as-campy Maleficent, looks amazing (thanks not only to Angelina Jolie's movie star looks but her input on the character design). But we're getting a better look at these guys too and the most recently released image isn't too terrible...

These fairies "Knotgrass", "Flittle", and "Thistletwit" are markedly smaller and cuter than the dark and imposing Maleficent. But they are crucial to the story. (Source)

A look at the fairy on the right shows similarities to the early Maleficent look we've seen in the trailers. I'm glad to see they'e made an effort to show Maleficent is actually a fairy (or was before she went bad). I find myself hoping that these good fairies decisions are juxtaposed against Maleficent's decisions, showing their potential to become dark as well, (though that doesn't explain the odd size difference to me).

The other thing is that Ms. Jolie is starting to give significant interviews about this film and her first role as a villain (can you believe this is her first villainous role? I have to go check the facts on that...) and with those interviews is more information into the iconic character and what the movie is really about. in fact, this quote here from Screenrant, just about sums it up (I made the important part large and bold):

She also confirmed that the Sleepy Beauty re-imagining has a similar philosophical outlook as Wicked, as illustrated nicely by the following quote: “The exercise wasn’t how can we have fun with a villain? It was: What turns people evil and vile and aggressive and cruel? What could have possibly happened to her?”

From ComicBookMovie:

The movie will not only tell the story of Sleeping Beauty, but it will look at the origins of the captivating evil fairy queen. In this telling, Maleficent is so cruelly betrayed as she attempts to protect the forest she lives in from an invading army, that her heart turns to stone. Her curse on Aurora (Sleeping Beauty) is part of her struggle against the invading king's successor.

Ms. Jolie has also talked a little about the debut acting role of her daughter Vivian Jolie-Pitt as the young Princess Aurora (seen in the poster/promo image released below) which was apparently at least as practical a decision as taking advantage of an opportunity (possibly more so).

“The other 3- and 4-year-old [performers] wouldn’t come near me,” she told the site. “It had to be a child that liked me and wasn’t afraid of my horns and my eyes and my claws. So it had to be Viv.” She even freaked out her ten-year-old son Pax. “When Pax saw me for the first time, he ran away and got upset — and I thought he was kidding, so I was pretending to chase him until I actually found him crying. I had to take off pieces [of the makeup] in front of him to show him it was all fake and not freak out so much.” Incidentally, Pax and sister Zahara were extras in the christening scene in which Maleficent curses a baby Sleeping Beauty. (Source)

In fact, Jolie talked a lot, with EW, about how important her kids were in helping her realize this role, and in speaking to them about the importance of them understanding how decisions can adversely affect them (the interview of which I'll be posting on next).

Why am I bothering adding this behind-the-scenes Hollywood-style trivia to the blog? Because the consideration of darkness in fairy tales is prominent, as is the consideration of the classic Disney fairy tale villain, and when society at large starts thinking about all that differently, they're thinking about fairy tales differently, and that's worth noting.

Meanwhile, Disney World's new Festival of Fantasy has debuted and we've been treated to new characters (and costumes) from the world of Maleficent, along with the highly anticipated giant steampunk dragon. It's the prominence o the additional characters that's interesting - again, adding to this fairy tale's Disney canon in the long run. I'm fairly sure that these aspects will be mirrored in the movie, at the very least as well, and when minor characters get their stories told, other stories unfold and intertwine and suddenly you fins Sleeping Beauty related to tales like the Six Ravens and the popular fairy legend of Titania and Oberon. If the movie does well, the possibilities of opening this "world" are almost unlimited. I'm excited about the potential, but we'll just have to wait and see what's the movie is actually like and how it's received.

A fire-breathing Maleficent in dragon form glides through Magic Kingdom in Disney's Festival of Fantasy parade. 

The Raven is part of the 'Sleeping Beauty' unit, where the heroic Prince Phillips battles a Steampunk-inspired Dragon as the wicked Maleficent.

Disney debuts some of its 'most elaborate' costumes in Disney Parks history, including this Thorn stilt-walker from the 'Sleeping Beauty' unit

I will have another post for you shortly, which will show you the EW interview Ms. Jolie did. It's worth reading the whole thing for some extra insight and the interesting consideration of this fairy tale. in fact, I might hunt down a physical copy of this issue to keep. If things keep going the way they're trending, this movie could play quite a significant role in how filmmakers view and remake/retell fairy tales in the future.

Here's one more look at Angie in full villain mode.
"Like!"

Fairy tale bonus of the day:

In the images from the new Festival of Fantasy parade, I noticed an interesting addition. There's a whole "category" (for want of a better word) called The Princess Garden. Along with the expected princess appearances was this:

Faux-feathered members of the Swan Court are in the very first unit called 'The Princess Garden,' which is a pageantry of princesses celebrating Disney royalty.

The "Swan Court"? What? Exactly which Disney property did these emerge from? Are they a shout out to Swan Lake? Disney didn't make - and doesn't own - The Swan Princess so... ?? I guess it's a mystery for another day...

Ask Baba Yaga: Should I Make a Vision Board?

Baba Yaga, Vasilisa & Chicken Legged Hut by Forest Rogers

A vision board sounds like a good idea for keeping a goal, doesn't it? Yet Baba Yaga has some interesting things to say about that, especially if you're very frustrated in the paths you've been taking...

This week's question and answer (via poet and oracle Taisia Kitaiskaia* of The Hairpin):

(Originally posted at The Hairpin HERE)

Oh the responses! Clearly, Baba Yaga has seen straight to the heart of the matter (..."narrow paths are made by those who do not know the forest & fear it, & hack it open blind...") and her advice has had some very grateful recipients so far:

• "so throw yr vision board back into its hell river" Boy, do I plan on using this retort when anyone brings up "The Secret"-related claptrap. (greyeminence)
• @greyeminence I expected a "sure, why not" on the vision board idea, but certainly "hell river" is better. (adorable-eggplant)
• Be a better woodsdweller & do not cut down every tree you meet, but first ask why it is there, & know it—only then.can you get through the woodshouse safely. UGH so real and so good. Working on this. (stonefruit)

@stonefruit - yes! A woodsdweller and not cutting down every tree you meet... This is such a great way to think of it!

I, too, expected good things about vision boards but I have to admit, the last time I employed that very tactic, the "dream" was actually quite the nightmare. If there were clues along the way about what was to come, I completely missed them in my driven, single-mindedness (aka "narrow path").

This advice, really is uncannily good.

What do you think of Baba Yaga's advice?

Want to ask Baba Yaga a question of your own?

You can!

There's now an email address where you can send your questions

directly to Baba Yaga herself.

AskBabaYaga AT gmail DOT com

To encourage Baba Yaga to continue imparting her no-bones-about-it wisdom (ok, there may be some gristle in there... bones too), I suggest we not to leave her box empty... 

Thank you Baba Yaga (& Taisia).

* Taisia Kitaiskaia is a poet, writer, and Michener Center for Writers fellow. Born in Russia and raised in America, she's had her poems and translations published in Narrative Magazine, Poetry International, and others.

2014 Oscars Pay Tribute to 'The Wizard of Oz'

We knew it would happen but we weren't sure what was the big secret plan was for the tribute moment. Thankfully, it turned out to be elegant and heartfelt.

Simply and sentimentally introduced by Whoopi Goldberg (who lifted her skirts to show her ruby high heeled slipper and striped stockings), a beautifully edited montage of scenes from MGM's Wizard of Oz played on a large screen behind Pink, who gave possibly the best performance of the evening, singing Over the Rainbow. The star studded audience, complete with the reunion of Judy Garland's three children, thought so too, quickly giving Pink a standing ovation after her last notes. Alecia Moore (aka Pink) gave the song her own phrasing and a more sombre, slightly sad, retrospective emphasis to the interpretation, which the audience clearly felt too. If you missed it and have any feeling for The Wizard of Oz - book, film or both -  you'll want to take time to watch this. It's nothing fancy, just beautiful:

Afterward we were treated to host Ellen DeGeneres in her Glinda the Good Witch get-up which was a light and lovely bubble of 'pink love' to button up the moment with. All, in all, it was unexpectedly grounded while still sentimental. We applaud it.

Fashion: Kate Upton's Modern Beauty Likes Her Beast

Clearly inspired by Cocteau (and Gans' latest offering), model Kate Upton (most recently known for her gravity-defying -literally- Sports Illustrated shoot), models a modern, and much more covered up, Beauty for the 2014 CR (Carine Roitfeld) Fashion Book.

What is with the corset business here? It just looks a little thrown together and has nothing approaching the level of art or storytelling out of a fairy tale themed Vogue shoot or the dark fairy tales shot by Tim Walker or Paolo Roversi. (Just my opinion.)

Apparently the groundbreaking thing here (apart from the amount of clothes she has on) is that this Beauty ends up liking her Beast in this 'photo story.'

While it doesn't feel particularly different or inspired to me I can't find other fashion shoots that have such a close concept to Cocteau's film either (the closest being the Drew Barrymore Vogue shoot from 2005, shot by Annie Leibovitz, which I prefer by a long shot), so perhaps I'm just spoiled by the many art, story, theater (and also cosplay) offerings, inspired by the same. I don't know. I see a lot of missed opportunities here, but then I'm not trying to sell clothes either.

Being very short on time today, I'm just going to put this out there for you to see now, enjoy the fact that Cocteau's Beauty is having a 'revival inspiration season', and get back to my regularly scheduled news tomorrow.

'Descendants' Movie Mirrors 'Ever After High' (We Hope...)

It would appear that the profitable 'Ever After High pie' has Disney drooling for a piece of their own.

Enter the 'Original Disney Movie, Descendants'. The show's development has certainly been boosted by the high anticipation surrounding the live action Maleficent as well. Clearly, the trend of villain stories and anti-heroes isn't going away any time soon for Disney. While it's been in development for a few months already (it was announced in December, I believe), we now have a release window and format: it's heading straight to Disney Channel, in live action form, and is set to air sometime during 2015.

The Descendants is going to be Disney's original movie that will feature the now teenage children of the heroes and (more specifically the) villains. 

Beast and Belle (of Beauty and The Beast) rule over an "idyllic kingdom" with a son of their own, who's waiting to take over the throne, according to Entertainment Weekly. In his first proclamation, the young prince looks to give some redemption to his not-so-well-behaved classmates Carlos (son of 101 Dalmatians' Cruella De Vil), Mal, (child of Sleeping Beauty's Maleficent), Evvie (daughter of Snow White's the Evil Queen) and Jay (son of Aladdin's Jafar).They all attend the kingdom's prep school with offspring of other Disney favorites like The Fairy Godmother (from Cinderella), Sleeping Beauty, Rapunzel and Mulan.  

The children of Disney's villains are about to face a dilemma of whether to take the evil steps laid out by their parents or to follow the goodness in their hearts.

The famous High School Musical director will be directing Disney Movie Descendants with the script written by Josann McGibbon and Sara Parriott (The Starter Wife, Runaway Bride). Mark Hofeling, another High School Musical veteran will be in charge of the production design for the Disney movie "Descendants."

Disney Channel, despite some decent animation series in their offerings, doesn't have as stellar a track record with it's live action shows, other than High School Musical. Despite the credits of those involved being noteworthy, I still have my doubts about this. My guess is, if the movie does well, it may have the option to branch into a series.

The movie's redeeming factor - and the one thing that will set it apart - is that it will be focusing on the Disney VILLAINS' offspring, rather than all the possible offspring. It has good potential using this emphasis, but I'm very leery of the live action approach in comparison to the other Disney live action shows. Kitsch is just too easy a trap to fall into with whatever formula it is they use, but we'll see. Hopefully we'll be pleasantly surprised.

But why, do you ask, am I hoping that Descendants will mirror Ever After High? (At least, in some respects.)

Far from first impressions, Ever After High is, to coin a phrase from critics of The Lego Movie*, "far better than it has any right to be". Seriously. The designs are crazy-girly, the animation has a lot of flash bopping about but the characters, their development, the writing and the story lines are ridiculously good. Even the designs have far more to them than first looks imply. It's yet another one of those things I've been dismissing, only bothering to give it another look because respected fairy tale author, Shannon Hale's name remains attached.

I'm really glad I did.

Here's the premise (from Wikipedia), in case you have no idea what I'm talking about:

The Ever After High storyline is based on the lives of the teen children of famous fairytale characters who are destined to follow in their parents’ footsteps in order keep their stories alive through the generations. If they do not, these stories will cease to exist and the characters will disappear. 

The main characters are Raven Queen (daughter of the Evil Queen), who is unhappy with her destiny, and Apple White (daughter of Snow White), who is destined to "live happily ever after." Raven would prefer to create a new destiny for herself, while Apple White believes that if Raven changes her own story. this will put her own "happily ever after" in jeopardy. The school gets divided into "Royals and Rebels". The Royals are supporters of Apple who also know they will have a "happily ever after" and are content (even enthusiastic) with their fates. The Rebels are supporters of Raven who prefer the idea of creating their own destinies. Many disagreements and fights result between the groups.

When I finally took the time to have a proper look, I was truly surprised that something so 'fluffy looking' had so much real fairy tale soul. In fact, I would bet that there are a LOT of fairy tale references in the dialog, plots and designs that are completely missed by those not up on their slightly-more-obscure fairy tales reading. And I LOVE that! For the EAH fandom (which is growing fast) who are really getting into the characters (and they really are!) there's always more to mine and if you take time to peruse the EAH fandom Tumblrs you see the discussions border on 'Buffyverse depth' at times (if you're not Buffy-savvy, that means it's a good thing).

The fandom are getting into the ideas so much they're looking up the 'original' tales for themselves so they can better speculate motivations, among other things, and discovering other lesser known tales they'd like to see explored as well. Here's an example in 'Ever After High Confessions' format:

I want a child of the princess and the pea, and I want them to either have insomnia or be a sleep walker. I feel like it’d work with the princess and the peas story line.You could even make that character constantly worried that because of his/her insomnia or sleep walking, they won’t be able to follow their parents story right. It’d be a super intense storyline. I’d LOVE IT! (Source)

HERE's my original post about the toy line and series before it premiered. You may notice the bit about "is it 'scarier' than Monster High?', meaning, are little girls everywhere in for another disturbing dose of pop-sexism? Surprisingly, the answer is 'no, they're not'. In fact, those 'out there' concerns, commented on by Tumblr people when they heard the announcement of the dolls (eg, "...this is giving me some serious NO REALLY THIS IS F***ING DISTURBING feelings regarding fate and free will and the fact that some of these kids are expected to have no choice beyond ultimately dying in unbelievably gruesome ways..." ), are specifically being addressed - smartly! - by the writing. And all this effort is primarily for A TOY LINE.

Clearly, someone understands just how influential dolls can be and has chosen to not only give them what they think they want (sparkle, girly, glitter, pink, SHOES!), but dose it liberally with real issues and embed it with some meaty tale explorations.

Thank you Ms. Hale!!

I discovered this by realizing I hadn't really given the series the time of day and that Ms. Hale's work deserved better attention than that so set up the Ever After High Valentine's Day special to record as a reminder. Cleaning out the DVR last week I let the special run while I was doing other things "just in case there was anything worth noticing, fairy-tale-wise". Boy was there ever! I went back to watch the whole thing without distractions and, although I couldn't stop wincing at the over-the-top sparkly-curlicue designs (and the thinness - although they are not as thin as the Monster High dolls - and the crazy high shoes) I was amazed at how layered it was.

How they/Ms. Hale, struck this balance, I have no idea. It feels as ridiculous on the surface as the 'pinkest' shows out there (I know, you know what I mean) and yet... we have a truly girl-empowering show (and - surprise - boys too!) that sneaks in really solid fairy tale motifs, themes, plot lines and archetypes with many a modern twist. While 'choose your own destiny' seems like a simple enough premise at first, the Ever After High treatment of the (very large) topic has more gravitas than much of what I've seen come out of Once Upon A Time on the same theme.

Take, for instance, the True Hearts Day special, in which Valentine's Day celebrations have been banned because of the danger that the kids might consider people other than their 'destined partners' as potential mates. This all comes across as 'our fun party has been sabotaged by the meanie school principal' but you look closer and realize a key antagonizer in this episode is Odile, the 'false', black swan from Swan Lake and you start to get an idea of the layering.

At the end:

-- SPOILER ALERT!!!!--

 (highlight the space below to read the text)

The kids are able to give their (physical) valentine tree hearts to the person of their choice and while it's completely expected that Cinderella's daughter (Ashlynn), who is in love with a 'rebel' (the Huntsman) instead of her destined Prince Charming, finally gets the courage to stand up to her friends and choose him no matter what their response will be, the surprise is that Apple White (Snow White's daughter, who has a serious problem with the Evil Queen wanting her own destiny instead of ending up Evil and thus guaranteeing Apple's preferred happy ending) gives HER valentine heart to her friend, Cinderella, saying "although I don't always agree with your choices, it doesn't mean you're not still my friend."
Gasp! I did not see that coming. Nicely done, Ms. Hale!

--END OF SPOILERS--

(Once again), I feel embarrassed by my initial dismissal of the show but even if it's too sparkly for your taste to sit through, you can be comforted in knowing that any girls (and boys) watching, will be getting good content. REALLY good content. And that the main things the girls buying these dolls are thinking about are not so much fashion and make-up but the issues of free will, destiny, responsibility and choice.

If you'd like to read more, you can currently get ebook samplings of the writing for free for the Kindle HERE by downloading various character stories (one link hooks you up to the others. There are six different character stories available for free download. To catch up you can watch the webisodes (which have already aired on TV) HERE (note: as girly as it looks, you may want to pay close attention to the various designs used. There's been a lot of research and thought about story going into all that as well), and, as of this week, you can also read the first two chapters of the second Ever After High novel, The Unfairest of Them All, for free on your Kindle HERE (the whole novel will be released on March 23rd).

Whether or not Descendants has any of the same type of substance as Ever After High has proven to have, remains to be seen, but we are hopeful... After all, once you start taking a closer look, fairy tales are rarely as dismissible as people are led to believe.

Additional source: HERE

*If you haven't yet seen The Lego Movie - see it. It has mythic aspects to it and is a wonderful, affirming ride to the land of make-believe.