Long Ago and Far Away (TV series)


Long Ago and Far Away is a television series that aired on PBS Television from January 28, 1989 to December 5, 1992. It was created by WGBH, a public television broadcast service located in Boston, Massachusetts. WGBH is a member of PBS, which allowed for the series to be viewed on various other PBS stations.
Each episode began with host James Earl Jones sitting in a chair in a room with a table, lamp, and window. The walls were blue with white dots in order to make it appear as if the room was sitting out in space or the night sky.
James Earl Jones talks during the short opening section, then acts as narrator for the balance of an episode. This series, aimed at children aged six to nine years old, presents stories based on traditional fairy tales. A number of presentation methods were used to tell these stories, with stop motion animation, live-action or cel animation being used depending on the episode.
James Earl Jones only hosts in seasons 1 & 2 but does not host in seasons 3 & 4.
Long Ago and Far Away also featured a number of guest narrators, including Tammy Grimes ; Kim Loughran ; David Suchet ; Mia Farrow ; Robert Hardy ; and Kevin Kline. In the episode "Emperor's New Clothes", Regis Philbin provided the voice of the Emperor, In the episode "The Wind in the Willows", David Jason provided the voice of Mr. Toad and In the episode "The Reluctant Dragon", Simon Callow provided the voice of the dragon.
After the last episode aired, the show went into reruns until October 24, 1993.

Awards

Season 1 (1989)