The Secret Adventures of WriterGirl

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): No Light, No Light by Florence + The Machine.




Again, if anyone can point me to the artists of the unknown pieces, I would be very grateful.

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Outside the City by Young Galaxy.









Some, for the life of me, I could not find the source image. If anyone knows, please tell me. I would love to give credit to these extraordinary artists.

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Rolling in the Deep by The Piano Guys.






A new take on the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Enjoy! (and have a fantastic weekend. The sun is shining!)

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Ghost Story by Sting.



For More Fantastic Unknown/Forgotten Fairy Tales - Part 1
More Fantastic Unknown/Forgotten Fairy Tales - Part 3
More Fantastic Unknown Fairy Tales

Tatterhood - Tatterhood is just happy to be exactly who she is, which I think is super awesome.


The Little Girl Sold with the Pears - I LOVE that in this one the prince is actively helping her. Not just in ideas of how they can get together, but in the actual work. Heck YES!


The Singing, Soaring Lark - The closest thing to "Beauty and the Beast" in Grimms you'll find (wonder how many of you knew B&B is not a Grimm's fairy tale, eh?). :) And guess what? Their falling in love is only the beginning of the story. This one also includes three pretty dresses and a griffin the girl rides across the ocean to save her husband. And the beast is a lion. With a whole pack of lions at his call. Rock. On.


Snow White and Rose Red - Not of the the necrophiliac glass coffin affinity. This one is about two sisters, who *gasp*, like each other! And the great thing is, you can interpret this as two young sisters to two much older sisters, depending on the telling.


Don Giovanni de la Fortuna - Making a deal with the devil not to bathe for three years, three months, and three days for unlimited wealth? Sign me up. So much potential in that story!


The Golden Ball - a ballad, but still wicked cool. About a girl with is about to be hanged for unknown reasons. Her brothers and sisters don't saver her, neither do her parents, but it is her love in the end who does it. The sheer openhandedness of if just screams for a retelling.


Donkeyskin - Disturbing and unnerving, the disquiet of this fairy tale makes it more appealing, and the happy ending of it that much sweeter, I think.


Cap-o'-Rushes - Similar to Donkeyskin, minus the enormous factor of incest, it holds a deeper similarity to Allerleirauh, and I love that when she goes to the balls there is no mention of her having these insanely gorgeous dresses to show her "true beauty" underneath and rather that she is just herself instead. The cinched up ending with the salt is also super cool.


The Three Dogs - While irksome with the aggravatingly complacent (and basically fainting) heroine, there is a lot of fun things that could be done here with a modern revamp. I especially like the potential for the relationship between the brother and sister.


The White Snake - I don't know why eating a white snake and-thus-giving-you-the-ability-to-talk-to-animals is so cool, but, you know, it is.

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): When Can I See You Again? by Owl City [Wreck-It Ralph soundtrack].






Thanks to Debz's comment on the scoop behind Disney's Frozen (formerly The Snow Queen), I realized there was indeed some information I left out. If you read the first post, originally they had wanted Alan Menken to create the music, and he was in fact attached for a long long time. But the baton has been passed to Tony award-winning composer Robert Lopez (Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon) alongside Kristen Anderson-Lopez (In-Transit).

And the second piece I forgot, which actually turns a previous statement I made in my first post a lie *gasp* - there IS one piece of concept art from the revamping! And here it is!

And for the full image.








I have to admit, I was kind of hoping for a different hair color since Rapunzel kind of nabbed all the gorgeous golden locks territory. But I am very curious to see what they've done and am wondering when they'll finally be releasing a trailer of all of us to see.  And I cannot remember where I saw it, but someone has been doing a re-imagining of what would have happened if Disney had set Frozen/The Snow Queen high in the Andes mountain of South America. It was a fascinating series of renditions of what could have been possible if they'd broadened their horizons. Llama reindeer? Heck yeah. I loved the idea. And it made me want to watch Emperor's New Groove all over again. :)



More unknown fairy tales coming on Wed! :D

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): King of Lullaby by Eiffel 65.





This is for Pi Day (which was yesterday) but you can still celebrate Pi(e) Day anyway! Because pie is just that good. Have a fantastic weekend, everyone!

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): First Time by Lifehouse.




For
More Fantastic Unknown/Forgotten Fairy Tales (the original list)
More Fantastic Unknown/Forgotten Fairy Tales - Part 2
More Fantastic Unknown/Forgotten Fairy Tales - Part 3

Girl in the Iron Shoes


The Story of Three Wonderful Beggars


The Nine Pea-hens and the Golden Apples


The Four Clever Brothers


The Lute Player (or The Tsaritsa Harpist)


Jesper Who Herded the Hares


Jorinde & Joringel


King Lindworm

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Man by Belle Histoire.

So this story begins at least back in 2002 when a retelling of The Snow Queen was first whispered to be in the works, or at least in the lineup. Then in 2003 famed animator Glen Keane stepped away from the project, apparently devastating its production.





There is a wonderful rundown of the earliest stages of development at Always Animated blog. Here are some key quotes:

In 2006, Disney's famed in-house composer Alan Menken was writing a stage musical version of the story but news of the project also halted.

Various names have been attached to the project over the years including the Brizzi brothers, Dick Zondag, and Dave Goetz. News has been spotty at best. The feature was finally proclaimed dead in the water by Disney fans when no more news emerged in several years.

In October 2008, concept art was shown off by Don Hahn at an event promoting his new book The Alchemy of Animation. However, no explanation of its status was given.

and

Whispers concerning this film's status have never ceased. Many a Disney animation project have come and gone in silence, however the exact status of "The Snow Queen"'s production has remained a popular debate in forums. The most recent rumors being that Mike Gabriel (co-director of "Pocahontas", "The Rescuers Down Under") was directing for a 2013 release and it would be traditionally animated. Dean Wellins (screenplay of "Rapunzel") has also been on-again, off-again reportedly attached to the project.

Seriously though, go read through that post for the nitty gritty. It is fascinating stuff and I certainly don't want to steal his thunder here. Speed up to 2009 and you have the official confirmation of the movie.

In this brief article in December 2009, it was officially revealed that The Snow Queen was back in action (along with some other, sadly now defunct, projects). It was slated to be the next hand-drawn animated feature, following Disney's Winnie the Pooh movie, after the apparent "revival" of hand-drawn animation starting with The Princess and the Frog.





The excitement built up for a few months quietly behind the scenes. People who had been hoping to see this project come to life for years were finally getting their wish. That is, they got their wish for about three months, until rumors seemed to be confirmed that The Snow Queen had frozen again.

Some hope remained, until the axe fell with the announcement that Tangled would "be the last fairy tale produced by Disney's animation group for the foreseeable future."

And this was announced right after Tangled was headlined as Disney's biggest opening ever, and had just made the top 10 highest grossing domestic animated features of all time.





Yes. You may pause to digest that teensy bit of contradicting information.






Something to do about pegging themselves into a niche or not appealing to boys or something. Because Tangled didn't do that, either, of course.


Then.... Nothing.



For a very very long time. It was as if the final nail had been laid in this story's coffin.





I was here actively for this part, ever since the official announcement The Snow Queen would be a hand-drawn animated feature. I remember the announcement that Disney would be doing no more fairy tales and you could not imagine how stunned I felt. So yes guys, between here and the next announcement was a long time time in coming. Almost two years of silence.



...









And then a new announcement came, one that changed everything all over again. At the end of 2011 it was declared The Snow Queen had come back to life, but now it was now going to be in 3D and was Snow Queen no longer, but Frozen, getting the Rapunzel-to-Tangled treatment in both respects.





There has been no official art since the change, and no trailer released at this point, but there is now a plot synopsis -

When a prophecy traps a kingdom in eternal winter, Anna, a fearless optimist, teams up with extreme mountain man Kristoff and his sidekick reindeer Sven on an epic journey to find Anna's sister Elsa, the Snow Queen, and put an end to her icy spell. Encountering mystical trolls, an amazing and comedic snowman named Olaf, Everest-like conditions and magic at every turn, Anna and Kristoff battle the elements in a race to save the kingdom from destruction.

It is both curious and disheartening. It seems "loose adaptation" is quite an apt phrase here, and there is so many complex aspects that could be mined from this story. Kirsten Bell will play the title character Anna, and Idina Menzel (of the Wicked "Elphaba" fame) will step into the role of the Snow Queen. I will be waiting with quiet and hesitant anticipation to see just what they have done to adapt this story after all these long years. It comes out November of this year. *knock on wood - goodness*


The concept art you see is from Harald Siepermann's blog, which covers 25 years of his animation career (and includes such projects as Tarzan, Roger Rabbit, Mulan, and a ton of others. It's cool stuff).  All save for the settings, which are done by Paul Felix. All of this is for the earlier 2D animated Snow Queen, remember. Still, it is pretty stuff. It will be interesting to see what has changed. So there you have it! The SCOOP of scoops on a Disney feature. :)

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Jord Och Himmel (Heaven And Earth) by Ale Moller.






Here is a trailer (haven't had one of those in a while, have we?) that if it isn't based off of a fairy tale, it feels like one. I now want to find it and check it out.

Current Theme Song (aka what's playing on my ipod right now): Symphonies by Dan Black.