Good start, but then it gets ruined

Boring

The biggest problem with this movie is it’s a little better than you think it might be, which somehow makes it worse. As in, it takes itself a bit too seriously, which makes most of the movie feel kind of dull.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

I remember my dad hiring these episodes on video. My whole family loved them, and now that I have moved away from home and have my own life I am trying to share these fabulous Jim Henson creations with my Husband and stepson but as I am starting to find out not everyone is a Henson fan. Which is a pity since it means they will just have to put up with me searching for this series. But even though they don't find these interesting, I would highly recommend anybody getting hold of the Storyteller. You will be lost in a world of tales from a time when people could only talk about unexplained situations through stories and how people need to care if they were ever confronted with these situations.

If you watch this show from the perspective of a grown person, as opposed to a child, you will realize that it is completely tripped out. The puppets are either really ugly or really freakish, and the stories are insane! They're mostly derived from early folk tales from Hungary or Germany, but they make no sense. They don't have morals at the end, except maybe "Always carry a sack that you can put little red demons in." The Storyteller himself isn't particularly great, nor is his dog--who is voiced, mind you, by the same person who did the voice of Hoggle in "Labyrinth." Also, in the episode "The Three Ravens," the girl who plays the princess is the same woman who plays Julia McNamara on "Nip/Tuck." Just a bit of trivia for you. In conclusion, the episodes are engrossing, and kind of funny. Recommended for when you're not exactly the picture of sobriety.

This is the best television series for children (and adults) ever. John Hurt is a great actor, with many excellent performances over many years, but he was born to play the storyteller. The scripts for almost every episode are superb pieces of craftsmanship, and the productions run the gamut of the emotions, being alternately funny, sad, happy, exciting, and always hauntingly beautiful. It is hard to pick a best episode from so many excellent contenders, but "The Soldier and Death", with its timeless pathos, is unbeatable. It is a series to watch with your children, over and over again.

The Storyteller is excellent on so many levels. It tells fables or fairy tales from a variety of cultural sources and "universalizes" them somewhat for people who don't understand the particular cultural context. It's filmatic techniques are fantastic, such as the many clever segues from scene to scene. And, the creature effects are still better than anything anyone else has tried to do. The entire series is a testament to the creative genius of Jim Henson that has, unfortunately, been lost with him.