Treasure Trove: Snow White - Fairest Of Them All (2001)

Snow White - Fairest Of Them All is a ropey, old TV movie dusted down and given a new name so it could be rereleased on DVD to co-incide with the cinematic début of Snow White And The Huntsman.

Using extreme magical logic, it begins with the birth of Snow White and the death of her mother Josephine (Vera Farmiga). Her father John (Tom Irwin) wanders off into the snow to find milk for the infant, but instead frees a trapped troll (Clancy Brown). The wish-granting monster not only provides milk for baby Snow White, but makes John a king of his own kingdom.

The troll then transforms his own sister, Elspeth (Miranda Richardson), into a queen for John (as he cannot bring the dead Josephine back to life).

Years pass and Snow White (Kristen Kreuk) turns 16, but ageless Elspeth is bored of her enchanted husband and step-child, so seeks fresh meat when young prince Alfred (Tyron Leitso) arrives to woo the princess.

When he spurns the wicked queen, Elspeth turns him into a bear, then charges smitten courtier Hector (Jose Zuniga) with leading Snow into the woods and cutting out her heart.

Snow flees and ends up in the company of the seven colour-coded dwarves (think Teletubbies, but dressed in charity shop cast-offs), who are actually elemental representations of the days of the week as well as weather-sprites.

Miranda Richardson's Elspeth is a delightfully loopy, fairy tale cougar (you can't help but smile when she makes her pass at the young prince and he runs a mile) and definitely comes off best when compared to Kristin Kreuk's hippy, whiny little mare of a Snow White.

This story is full of bright colours and wild magic - especially where the Queen's mirror is concerned (it flies, it spies, it transforms people, it shrinks things, it turns them to stone etc etc) - but while clearly aimed at a very young audience, the surprisingly subtle moral of the piece might go over their heads.

Elspeth is given everything by her brother, has access to powerful magics, but is never satisfied and is ultimately brought down by her own hubris. In a sense the traditional story of Snow White is simply a test of character by Clancy Brown's character of his sister.

FAIREST OF THEM ALL:
Evil Queen: 2 Snow White: 0

GAME MATERIAL:

The Mirror Of Elspeth

This hand-mirror was created by the troll-witch Elspeth to reinforce her power and has become one of the strongest artifacts in the known world due to the amount of bitterness, jealousy and vitriol she poured into it over the years.

It was crafted from the largest fragment left intact when her brother forced her to smash the original Magic Mirror.

Sometimes a few fragments of that original mirror will be found and they too have their own dark powers.

Firstly, the hand-mirror has its own (albeit low-level) intelligence and is able to take and follow commands from its own.
Its known powers include:

• Fairest Of Them All: If asked "who is the fairest of them all", the mirror will shape its surface into a three-dimensional image of the most attractive person in the realm (in which it is located) which also speak the name of the person pictured.
• Flight: The mirror is capable of independent flight, at a speed of 30. It can make a single attack in this mode, as a projectile weapon (attacking as a 10HD monster and causing 1d12 damage if it hits), but its main purpose to to act as a spy. It will "record" the sounds and images of everything it travels over until it reaches a designated spot, where it can hover for up to an hour, then return to its owner and 'replay' everything it has seen and heard.
• Transportation: As an adjunct to its flight capability, the mirror is able to transport its owner to designated locations as well. She appears to dissolve into a shower of star-shaped mirror fragments and pour into the mirror, then when it reaches its target location she flows back out again.
• Transform: Once per day (for each power) it can cast polymorph self (Swords & Wizardry pg 65) and polymorph other (S&W, page 66), it does this warping reality so that it appears the target is stepping into - and through - the mirror. If the subject isn't a willing target they are allowed a Saving Throw (but at -1 for every Experience Level they are below the Level of the mirror's owner). 
• Petrify: Once per day, the mirror can turn someone to stone. The target is allowed a Saving Throw (but at -1 for every Experience Level they are below the Level of the mirror's owner).
• Shrink: Once per day, the mirror can shrink someone down to three inches in height. The target is allowed a Saving Throw (but at -1 for every Experience Level they are below the Level of the mirror's owner).
• Ensnare: Once per day, the mirror can trap someone in a magical glass bubble. Like the transform power, this power only works on creatures the mirror physically touches. The target needs to have been 'shrunk' first first as the bubbles are only about four inches in diameter - but are indestructible from inside. If someone outside the sphere tries to smash it though it only requires six points of damage, then the captive will be freed and restored to full size.

All effects are permanent (unless stated otherwise) until a Dispel Magic is cast on the victim (the Mirror counts as a 20th Level wizard) or the Mirror is somehow destroyed.

Mirror Fragments: These pieces of magic mirror come in a variety of shapes, but are mostly the size of splinters. They can be thrown (attack at 10HD beast) and will magically target their victim's eyes. They can also be slipped into food and drink, but if swallowed then require eight hours (a night's sleep) to work their way through the body to the eye, where their true power kicks in.

A person under the spell of a mirror fragment can only think about the person who owned the mirror fragment. They will become totally besotted to the extent that all their other senses will be numbed and all they can focus their thoughts on is the object of their desire.

The victim will do anything to please their love, but will gain no experience points while under this spell. However if made to do something against their alignment, or if they are hit in the head/face for more than three points of damage, they may make a Saving Throw versus magic. If successful, the shard of mirror will pop out of their tear duct in a small, bloody tear and they will be free of the magic. A fragment thus removed from an enchanted person loses all its magical power.

A person freed from the mirror's spell will suddenly feel as though he is seeing the world in intense detail, amazing scents and bright colours after his period of magically muted awareness.