Of Slippers and Spindles - Fairy Tale Retellings and Adaptations in Books, Film, and Theatre

Cassie and Daurie kick off our second Little Mermaid era with a short and sweet episode for a short and sweet story -- "The Little Android," found in Stars Above, Marissa Meyer's Lunar Chronicles anthology of short stories. "Smart" is the word of the episode, as it always is with a Marissa title. We discuss how she fits the Little Mermaid into her larger worldbuilding, the...

Cassie and Matt wrap up their final thoughts on  Beauty and the Beast with a discussion about how more modern retellings are changing the focus and the story's definition of Happily Ever After for the better. Then Cassie and Daurie turn their attention to a revisit of  Little Mermaid. For a more in depth discussion of this story, go back to episode 25 about halfway through! We're splitti...

Matt and Cassie wrap up our second Beauty and the Beast era with the podcast's very first Mercedes Lackey episode!  The Fire Rose is book zero in the Elemental Masters series. We discuss Disney's influence on this gritty retelling, Mercedes Lackey's exceptional research and how it contributes to the vibes, and how the book uses the San Francisco earthquake as the backdrop for the fa...

Cassie and Matt discuss a little-known YA adaptation of Beauty and the Beast, Beast Charming by Jenniffer Wardell, talking about their love of witty banter, found family relationships, and circumvented tropes in this fun novel that creates a wonderfully whimsical modernized fairy tale world. Join our community ! View all of the benefits of joining our Patreon including the Official Of Slippers and...

Cassie, Matt, and special guest Bri discuss  A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer, touching on subjects like disability rep, portal fantasy, and the true complexity of no-win situations. Bri can be found on a whole host of podcasts, and is an indie author whose works can be found here and here . Join our community ! View all of the benefits of joining our Patreon including the Official Of...

Cassie and Matt kick off the second Beauty and the Beast era with a look at one of the most classic adaptations -- the 1946 French film by Jean Cocteau,  La Belle et La Bete . While considered by many to be a shining example of French cinema, Cassie and Matt were . . . it's a weird film, y'all. They chat surrealism, strong but not necessarily great acting choices, and the clear influence...

Cassie and Laura say farewell to our revisit of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs with a discussion of how else we'd love to see the story tackled, and then Cassie and Matt turn their attention to our revisit of  Beauty and the Beast . For a more in depth discussion of this story, go back to episode 18 about halfway through! We're looking at a classic film and several more modern book adap...

Cassie, Laura, and guesting co-host Daurie finish up our second Snow White era with Disney's live action remake of their original animated feature film, starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot. Cassie apologizes for how sick she sounds and how increasingly obvious it becomes that she is talking around cough drops, but it shouldn't hamper your enjoyment of our discussion about whether or not...

Cassie and Laura are joined by Bethanie of Prince Kai Fan Pod to discuss one of Bethanie's favorites, Mirrored by Alex Flinn, third in the Kendra Chronicles. We discuss Alex Flinn's growth as an author through this series, the pros and cons of multiple first person narratives, and the stunning and complex choices made as this tale is translated to a modern setting. Listen past the end mu...

Cassie and Laura tackle a novel from up-and-coming fairy tale reteller T. Kingfisher with her Snow White adaptation  Hemlock and Silver . They discuss the beauty of a looser retelling, the importance of a strong narrative voice, and their delight with the unique and occasionally brain-breaking world-building. Spoilers somehow again for  Across the Wide and Lonesome Prairie a little bit. Content wa...

Cassie, Laura, and special guest Christian begin the Second Snow White era with Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre episode of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, starring Elizabeth McGovern, Vanessa Redgrave, Vincent Price, and Chip Zien's blonde doppelganger Rex Smith. They discuss the messiest mirror in Snow White retelling history, truly immersive set design, and the true delight that...

Cassie and Laura return from the holiday hiatus to sit down to revisit Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and introduce the books and movies we'll be exploring in this fairy tale's second era. All discussion of killing children really does require context. We will release in a slightly different order than listed in this episode, due to illness in Cassie's household affecting recording...

Merry Christmas! Cassie, Daurie, and Matt take a few moments out of this busy holiday season to discuss an absolutely classic -- The Muppets Christmas Carol.   Of Slippers and Spindles will be back from hiatus on January 28! In the meantime, thank you for being part of our podcast family, and happy holidays to all who celebrate! Join our community! View all of the benefits of joining our Patreon i...

Cassie, Daurie, Laura, and special guest Daniel wrap up their thoughts on the 2000 miniseries The 10th Kingdom . We discuss changes we would make to the story, the script, and the world, and leave you with our overall impressions. Of Slippers and Spindles will be taking a two month hiatus for the holidays, but we will be back in late January 2026 with our revisit of Snow White! In the meantime, ca...

Cassie, Daurie, Laura,  Matt, and special guest Daniel continue their discussion of the 2000 miniseries The 10th Kingdom with the final episode in the series, episode 5. Subtitle: The Script Doctors. We talk about how close this came to reaching its potential, Matthew's extensive apple knowledge, the inescapable pull of saying "Destiny" as an answer to every question, and how well t...

Cassie, Daurie, Laura, and Matt continue their discussion of the 2000 miniseries The 10th Kingdom , and look at episodes 3 and 4. Our love for Lucy Punch is on full display throughout the episode, and we also touch on our favorite elements of these two much stronger episodes -- their portrayal of Snow White and her story, the inclusion of the courtroom drama and all its tropes, and what happens wh...

Cassie, Daurie, Laura, and special guest Daniel dive deep into the first two episodes of the 2000 miniseries  The 10th Kingdom , starring Kimberly Williams, John Larroquette, Scott Cohen, Dianne Weist, Ed O'Neill, and more . They discuss fairy tale characters in the real world and real world characters in fairy tale land, debate how to properly format magic wishes, and analyze what approaches...

Cassie and Daurie wrap up their thoughts on Hansel and Gretel, including talking about some of the other adaptations out there, and then all four cohosts join together to introduce that cult classic fairy tale mash-up,  The 10th Kingdom . Featuring many a side conversation and tangent, and a truly impressive run down of "Where You Know Them From." Join our community! View all of the bene...

Cassie and Daurie wrap up the Hansel and Gretel era with the loosest retelling this time around, Sweetly by Jackson Pearce . They discuss modernizing fairy tales, the Twilight Effect of the early 2010s media, and how to deal with surprise werewolves.  Content warning for gore and violence. Join our community! View all of the benefits of joining our Patreon including the Official Of Slippers and Sp...

Cassie and Daurie watched the 2002 movie version of Hansel and Gretel, featuring Jacob Smith, Taylor Momsen, Howie Mandel, Alana Austin, Delta Burke, Tom Arnold, and Lynn Redgrave  to answer the age old question: does it deserve that 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes? And the verdict is, yes. Yes, it really does. We watched it so you don't have to; all you have to do is listen to our discussion on...

Cassie and Daurie give you two discussions for the price of one, as their exploration of A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz  reveals a novel with Hansel and Gretel as the main characters, but a novel that isn't really a retelling of that classic story. So they pull in an old favorite and also look at how Hansel and Gretel was incorporated into  Transformed: The Perils of the Frog Prince by...

Cassie and Daurie begin Hansel and Gretel's era with the Cannon Movie Tales Hansel and Gretel featuring Helen Stoltzfus, Allison Brody, Sam Carter, Gene Morrill, Bo Patterson, and more. This movie pulls heavily from the Humperdinck opera, and features the acting talents of David Warner; Hugh Pollard; Nicola Stapleton; Emily Richard; and Cloris Leachman. We discuss how Cassie is a lying liar w...

It's time to bid another farewell to the ultimate storyteller's tale and turn to a pair of siblings getting lost in the woods and finding a house of questionable building materials. Cassie and Laura start us off with our final thoughts on The Arabian Nights and how its walking red flag was handled overall. Then Cassie and Daurie begin a journey into an apparently overlooked classic, Hans...

Cassie and Laura wrap up their The Arabian Nights era this week with a discussion of two of Cassie's favorite books of all time-- The Wrath and the Dawn and The Rose and the Dagger by Renee Ahdieh. We discuss the refreshing approach of Shahrzad as a would-be assassin, loopholes within curse loopholes, impressive trope subversions, and the surprising thing these books have in common with Pirat...

Cassie and Laura discuss a looser retelling of The Arabian Nights this week -- A Thousand Nights by E.K. Johnston  -- and touch on a variety of topics including our shared love of thread-based magic in fantasy, what kind of storytelling counts in a retelling of Shahrezad, and how the choice not to name any of the characters can be both fascinating and frustrating at the same time. Join our communi...