Product Details

• Actors: John Hurt, Brian Henson, Frederick Warder, David Greenaway, Robert Tygner
• Writers: Anthony Minghella, Jim Henson
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Language: English (Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo)
• Region: Region 1 encoding (US and Canada only)
  PLEASE NOTE: Some Region 1 DVDs may contain Regional Coding Enhancement (RCE). Some, but not all, of our international customers have had problems playing these enhanced discs on what are called "region-free" DVD players. For more information on RCE, click here.
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 2
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
• DVD Release Date: May 23, 2006
• Run Time: 310 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (77 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000EU1Q5E
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #20,800 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Jim Henson's the Storyteller - The Definitive Collection" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

THE STORYTELLER: From the creators of THE DARK CRYSTAL and LABYRINTH comes this nine-episode series utilizing first-rate casts and elaborate special effects to spin variations on beloved myths and legends. John Hurt stars as the Storyteller, who, along with help from his cynical dog, narrates these fascinating, beautifully constructed fables guaranteed to capture the imaginations of your entire family. The special effects were created by the Jim Henson Creature Shop. GREEK MYTHS: A storyteller in a labyrinth tells his dog of legendary Greek mythological stories that come to life in two installments of Jim Henson's celebrated series for young viewers. This collection includes the tales DAEDALUS AND ICHARUS, ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE, PERSEUS AND THE GORGON, and THESEUS AND THE MINOTAUR.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

100 of 103 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get ALL of them in one package, April 18, 2006

By 

SRFireside "ZOOM!" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Jim Henson's the Storyteller - The Definitive Collection (DVD)

What you're essentially getting here is all nine episodes of The Storyteller series AND all four episodes from The Storyteller: Greek Myths on a two DVD set. Considering they stopped shipping the previous Storyteller and Greek Myths DVD's this will be what you will be seeing in stores. The good news is the MSRP on this collection is actually less than the release price of the original Storyteller collection and about the same price of the release of Greek Myths disk. You'll be getting the best deal ever offered with this collection.

If you don't currently have both collections I recommend getting this. Even if you have one of the two collections the price point makes it worthwhile (sell your old set and save even more). Obviously if you have neither DVD this is the perfect opportunity to pick up some of the best family entertainment out there.

40 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bloody brilliant!, June 16, 2006

By 

Michael S. Goldfarb (Verplanck, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jim Henson's the Storyteller - The Definitive Collection (DVD)

I had only seen some of these when they first aired as part of "The Jim Henson Hour", but I was totally enchanted by them, and am thrilled to have them now in their entirety, to revel in and share with my own kids.

What I really like about them - besides the stories themselves, the wonderful set, costume, and puppet designs, the acting and so on - is that they resurrect the importance of *telling*. There is a love of language in Minghella's scripts ("a princess of sweetness and cherry pie", "he heard a song that sounded like hello and goodbye"), and in John Hurt's charming performance, that reminds us of the importance of the human voice... even as we are seduced by the stunning visuals.

This is great stuff, some of the best old-school fantasy every produced for TV, and - despite the puppets and magic - in no way geared to kids. It's "general audience" in the original sense: everybody gathered together around the Storyteller's bewitching voice, different ages envisioning different things as the stories play out.

A word on the second batch, the Greek Myths: These are at a much lower wattage than the European stories, and I'm not sure why, as the stories themselves are great. But Michael Gambon's Storyteller lacks the charm of Hurt's, the scripts (not by Minghella) are more perfunctory, and perhaps the stories are too familiar to have much surprise. They are beautifully produced, and have some good performances (Derek Jacobi as Daedalus, Robert Stephens as Hades), but they aren't as essential as the earlier group. (But given the low price for the whole set, they're well worth owning, even if they lack the "repeatability factor" of the earlier batch.)

Yes, the video quality is pretty wobbly, and the extras are non-existant... but The Storyteller triumphs anyway!

26 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good entertainment for the whole family., September 10, 2006

By 

Newton Ooi (Phoenix, Arizona United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Jim Henson's the Storyteller - The Definitive Collection (DVD)

Jim Henson is one of the most respected and famous names in family entertainment. Creator or co-creator of such classics as the Muppets and Sesame Street, his company put together this string of TV shows in the late 1980s. Comprised of 13 tales; 4 from ancient Greece and 9 from medieval Europe; each is turned into a separate story of 20 - 30 minutes in length. Each tells one or more morals; and comprises elements of romance, comedy, tragedy, suspence and action. The four Greek stories are well known to anyone who stayed awake in their high school literature classes. The 9 European stories, on the other hand, are less well known. But all are told wonderfully, from the point of view of the storyteller, and his dog. The storyteller character is portrayed by Michael Gambon (Dumbeldorf in the Harry Potter movies) and John Hurt. The stories themselves have both human and muppet characters. A careful viewing reveals many actors and actresses who would go on to become famous; Colin Farrel, Sean Bean, Miranda Richardson, etc...

All the stories have good dialogue, no sex or nudity, no bad language, and enough action to satisfy teenagers but without scaring the kids. Great DVD set and I highly recommend it.