CD-Rom -- ''Peter And The Wolf''
"Peter and the Wolf" Time-Warner Interactive (800) 482-3766 Windows, Macintosh $49.95 -------------------------------
Days grow shorter and colder, winds howl through shivering bare branches - it must be time to gather around the PC for a story.
And if you're a parent or grandparent looking for about 25 minutes of first-rate lap time, consider Chuck Jones' "Peter and the Wolf," a CD-ROM set from Time Warner Interactive for both multimedia PCs and the Macintosh.
The story of Peter, his grandfather, his cat, a friendly bird, a stupid duck, the hunters and the wolf came from composer Sergei Prokofiev. For many of us, the classic score provided our first lesson in identifying different instruments in the orchestra, as they represented characters in the story.
But for children and adults alike, it's also a good story: a disobedient but brave little boy outwits a ferocious wolf and triumphs.
Jones, whose animation talents fuel Bugs Bunny and Road Runner, did the animation for the tale, creating an appropriately mischievous Peter and a menacing wolf. To that add narration by Kirstie Alley, Lloyd Bridges as grandfather and Ross Malinger as Peter.
The best way to go through the software the first time is to set it on automatic and let it run through the tale. Although the only casualties here are a few ruffled tail feathers and the wolf winding up in a zoo, people less than 6 years old should probably see it first on a lap.
In addition to the story, the software contains an exploration of the orchestra, with sound and video, and an arcade-type game. While no one with any kid sense is going to expect a 5-year-old to click on explanations of the development of stringed instruments, an 8-year-old slumming in "kid stuff" just might. There are also mini-documentaries on Jones and Prokofiev.
Besides the computer CD-ROM disk, there's an audio disk that contains the narration and music alone, and a version with just the music. Music in all cases comes from the Time Warner Symphony Orchestra.