Australian
Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows the visual sequences and theme song that begin each episode of the children’s animation series The Fairytale Police Department. It opens with scenes from various fairytales including The three little pigs and Snow White, and the theme song’s lyrics set the series in Fairytale Land, which is experiencing a crime wave. Asking ‘Who can we turn to?’ the song and visuals introduce two detectives from the Fairytale Police Department who are then shown ‘quickly on the trail’ investigating the subversion of various fairytales.

Educational value points

• The visual sequences and theme song seen and heard in this clip set the scene and introduce the characters at the start of each episode, a typical structure for this type of television series. The scenes locate the episode in Fairytale Land and introduce the two detectives who solve the Fairytale Land crimes, which include Sleeping Beauty losing her beauty and the poisoned apple being stolen from the Evil Queen in Snow White.

• The clip indicates that The Fairytale Police Department series combines the genres of fairytale and police detective television shows and satirises both. Genre markers for the fairytale include the fairy godmother, the dragon, the handsome prince, the pumpkin and the requisite happy ending, while the attractive female detective, the square-jawed male detective and the bald-headed chief represent typical characters from a police detective series.

• The opening scenes suggest that the action will be fast paced, the storylines quirky and the characters amusing parodies of stereotypical figures. This sequence is structured using a montage of excerpts taken from the most representative fairytales and edited together in quick succession with multiple scene freezes and a jaunty theme song that provides a preview of what the viewer can expect to see in the series.

• The attractive animation and fairly frenetic opening with the narrative carried by the appealing theme song exemplifies the work of Yoram Gross-EM.TV, one of Australia’s most prolific producers of children’s animated programming. Established in 1968, the company (now Flying Bark Productions) has produced the feature Blinky Bill, the mischievous koala (1992) and numerous television programs including Skippy, Adventures in Bushtown (1998) and Old Tom (2001).