Cartoon
Britannica's Tales Around the World
The story
Britannica's Tales Around the World (also referred to as Britannica's Fairy Tales from Around the World and Familiar Tales Around the World) is a direct-to-video animated educational series that was released in 1990.
Premise
Britannica's Tales Around the World, written by Douglas Lieberman, teaches kids a familiar fairy tale from around the world, followed by two lesser-known stories that share a similar theme. The series opens up in a computer-generated landscape, containing a floating castle and the planet Earth in the background. Pat Morita would explain the significance of each of the three stories and then the camera zooms to a country on Earth where the fairy tale was traditionally told.
United States
These tapes were released by Kids Klassics and GoodTimes Entertainment.
Cinderella and Other Tales
Sleeping Beauty and Other Tales
Beauty and the Beast and Other Tales
Rumpelstiltskin and Other Tales
Hansel and Gretel and Other Tales
Rapunzel and Other Tales
These DVDs were released by Encyclopædia Britannica on their online store.
Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, and Other Animated Tales
Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, and Other Animated Tales
Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, and Other Animated Tales
A further release titled Aesop's Animated Fables contains animated shorts that were not originally produced as part of this series.
United Kingdom
These DVDs were released by Pegasus in 2005.
Beauty and the Beast, Sleeping Beauty, and Other Animated Tales
Cinderella, Rumpelstiltskin, and Other Animated Tales
Hansel and Gretel, Rapunzel, and Other Animated Tales (re-released by Brightspark Productions in 2010 under the title "Tangled Up")
A further release titled Aesop's Animated Fables contains animated shorts that were not originally produced as part of this series.
The complete collection was released containing all stories.
Controversy
When Brightspark rereleased episodes of Britannica's Tales Around the World under the title Tangled Up, The Walt Disney Company accused the company for "misleading consumers with numerous releases that confuse and undermine the trust those consumers have in Disney", especially when the re-release contained a similar title and cover artwork to Disney's 2010 film Tangled.