Updated 10/21: Missed scene from this episode added. Thanks to JTurner for informing me about it.
Ok this is a follow up to the Snow Queen post earlier this week... a different animated adaptation of the tale. ^_^ This one is from a Danish animated series based on Hans Christian Andersen's stories called the Fairytaler from 1998. ^_^ For the most part this version of the Snow Queen story is very similar to the last version. The animation style of the cartoon is really different though and I think the characters tend to look a little cuter in this one. Lucky for us this version still includes Gerda sacrificing her shoes in order to find Kay.
Just to elaborate a bit on what is happening in this story, Gerda receives a brand new pair of shoes on her birthday from her Grandmother after Kay.
Kay who was abducted by the Snow Queen hasn't been seen in months and is believed to have drowned in the river.
Gerda who refuses to believe Kay is gone goes to the river with her new shoes.
She gets in a boat offering her new shoes to the River if it will take her to Kay
She throws her shoes into the water and suddenly the river current pushes her downstream.
It moves her in the direction of Kay seemingly having answered her prayers.
Even on the right track...It still an incredibly long journey for Gerda to reach the Snow Queen though!
Extra Scene:
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(These are from a two part episode of the Fairytaler Episodes 17 and 18 titled The Snow Queen Part 1 and 2 respectively. A Massive Thank You to Kitty Pakah for recommending this adaptation. A huge thanks to JTurner as well for inspiring this segment.)
The Previous Snow Queen Tribute:
Since we are posting these two versions back to back let's cover some differences between adaptions. The Fairytaler cartoon series is set up having Hans Christian Andersen tell various stories of his to children. As such he narrates the stories but they also have voice actors playing the characters as well. The voice acting contrasts a little bit with the picturebook feel of the Sigourney Weaver version.
This two part version is also double the length of the previous adaptation allowing for some details of the story not covered in the other version to be fleshed out. One of the things this version did really well is go into detail about what was happening while Kay was imprisoned by the Snow Queen. The Snow Queen is under a curse and she believes Kay is able to release her from it which is why she has makes him her captive. To do it however Kay has to assemble a puzzle that will take an Eternity to complete. Some elements of the original story get altered in this adaptation though. For example an Old Lady that Gerda comes across in her adventures winds up transforming into a crow in order to assist the girl. In this version Gerda just meets the crow as a separate character.
Another key difference that you guys should note is that in this version Gerda doesn't remain barefoot throughout the story. She is barefoot for most of her adventure but receives shoes (as well as a Jacket) from a couple that she comes across. There are also some animation mistakes that foot fetishists can probably catch involving a couple of frames where Gerda is mysteriously wearing Shoes when she should be barefoot earlier on. That said Gerda wind out with quite a bit of barefoot screentime in this incarnation and has over 800 frames of barefoot material. There are also quite a few scenes of her putting on her shoes and taking them off before she gives them to the river in this version as well. ^_^
Ok guys that's all for tonight. As always... more to come soon!
-KSC
