The Fairytale Police Department (2002 - 2002)
Children's series
26 episodes x 30 minutes
Series synopsis:
For some reason, the world’s best-known fairytales aren’t ending the way they should: Rapunzel is missing from her tower, Little Red Riding Hood isn’t making it to Grandma’s house and the handsome Prince is refusing to kiss Sleeping Beauty. To get to the bottom of this, two real-world police officers, Detectives Chris Andersen and Johnny Legend are sent in to clean-up the fairytales and get them back on track. It proves a tricky posting, and these intrepid police officers quickly find that while they need all their regular police skills, they also have to learn to ride broomsticks, use magic and talk to animals. There’s no end to the possibilities in this amazing and bizarre land.
Curator’s Notes:
In a refreshingly original Yoram Gross co-production with German partners EM.TV and Victory Media Group, The Fairytale Police Department is a very clever animation and a lot of fun. The strong female lead, detective Chris Anderson, is an important feature. Forthright, clever and tough, she could have stepped out of any one of the current American forensic investigation genre cop shows, a delightful contrast to her vain, bumbling partner Johnny Legend, who is always in trouble and may have escaped from a B-grade shonky cop show.
It looks terrific, and in a slightly risky and interesting touch, some of the best-known fairytale characters are strongly based on their highly recognisable Disney counterparts including Pinocchio, Wanda the witch, the Evil Queen, and Snow White, making the premise even more believable for the younger audiences. In comparison, the two ‘real life’ police heroes are drawn from recognisable live drama TV show characters, which makes an interesting blend.
With strong scripts, interesting and diverse characters, multitudes of unlikely villains, lots of twists, turns, jokes and borrowings from other animations and television police shows, this is a rich and multilayered series.
Titles in this series
The Fairytale Police Department – Black Day for Snow White 2002
Intrepid real-world Detective Chris Anderson and her bumbling partner Detective Johnny Legend have been transferred to Fairytale land, and it seems like a dream job. There is certainly a lot to do. The crimes committed in Fairytale land mean that ...
