TV shows that I miss: Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics

As a small child, I loved Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics on Nickelodeon. The show, originally from Japan, was created by the Nippon Animation Company. It was part of the Special Delivery block that Nick Jr.  featured. As a pup,  I would always hope for this show when I saw the Special Delivery intro, but occasionally it would be one of those ridiculous live-action mini-movies from the early 80's. 

The theme music is one of my personal all-time faves. Here are the lyrics:


Hey, come along and join the fun.
It's a time for fairy tales.
Magical kingdoms in the sun.
Come along, come along.
Meet friendly elves and witches too
In a world of fairy tales.
Enchanted castles wait for you.
Come along, come along.

To where life is a fantasy,
and every story ends so happily.

This is the place where dreams come true.
A world of fairy tales for you.



I wish I could get the theme in a decent mp3. The lyrics alone don't do it justice; search for the intro on YouTube if you want the full effect.

The episodes are well animated (especially the intro) and there were many tales that I had never heard of before. Although it was a children's show, there were some aspects that definitely weren't for kids. I don't want to give any spoilers here, but some of the heroes in some of the stories had strong desires for revenge and some had vicious streaks that went beyond just evening a score. Some of the stories don't have traditional heroes/villains at all: The Marriage of Mrs. Fox episode features Mr. Fox, who questions the love that his wife has for him and pretends to be dead as she is propositioned by various suitors. I'm not sure if there were really a lot of lessons to be learned, but the show was very fun.

It's a shame that Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics hasn't been released on DVD yet. Bootleg sellers have released it on their own and there are chunks of show that you can watch on YouTube, but I imagine that it won't take long before the series gets a cheap DVD boxed set or is granted a place in the lineup of a streaming service like Netflix. There's no reason we should have to miss out forever. The show has pretty hefty nostalgic value, in addition to just being quality goods.