Once Upon A Time on ABC

[Hordak Alpha]

Thus far, the show is pretty good, albeit a few issues. First, using the Lost-style out of order flash backs to tell the character history at times gets a bit tiresome as does the "real world" soap drama.


The concept of the show can work as long as we actually get some development. If the show, say, goes possibly five or more seasons, I'd rather the characters not still be stuck in the "real world" with no memory of who they are for five seasons.


Since the show has a full season order, they could tell the story of the curse where everyone is stuck on Earth and then, maybe for a season two, the curse is reversed and Emma gets stuck in the fairy tale world or something like that. Just my opinion.

[Drakken]

I've been watching this how and I've really enjoyed it. I never watched Lost, so I don't have that frame of reference insofar as how the story is told. The latest episode makes it quite clear that the queen/major is as evil as it gets...

[TechTrek]

Disney is doing this, so it's possible, although I think Alice takes place centuries after the ones like Snow White, so maybe not her. The rights to Peter Pan are weird in that they are not in public domain. Originally in the comic book 'Fables' (which if you like this show, you MUST read), the main villain was going to be Peter Pan, but DC/Vertigo couldn't get the rights. The Little Mermaid is likely though.

i heard about the peter pan story line.

i really really liked the concept, and have wrote some notes on my own versions.... its really interesting.


did any of you see the neverland syfy mini??

[wyldman11]

i heard about the peter pan story line.

i really really liked the concept, and have wrote some notes on my own versions.... its really interesting.


did any of you see the neverland syfy mini??

I did, some interesting concept, the first half was a bit of a chore to get through though because it seemed like it wasn't going anywhere.

[gbagok]

i heard about the peter pan story line.

i really really liked the concept, and have wrote some notes on my own versions.... its really interesting.


did any of you see the neverland syfy mini??

I did and thought it was as misguided a prequel as Hook was as a sequel. It gave Peter too many adult worries (now with fairy-induced Alzheimer's?), complicated something that was really very simple just for the sake of filling time, and it added characters for no good reason. Fox added nothing and had a pointless death, same with the alchemist from Queen Elizabeth's court. Captain Bonny served slightly more of a purpose, but Chuck from Pushing Daisies was really miscast as a lady pirate captain. The whole conflict between Peter and Hook was just contrived. Basically they turned Hook into Fagin meets Professor Snape but without the depth of either. Rhys Ifans wasn't bad despite all that, he reminded me of a young David Warner, but I think they really missed the point of the characters. They didn't even make anything out of throwing the hand to the crocodile. Maybe if it had been as completely bizarre as Alice and Tinman, I wouldn't have cared.

The best description of Hook and Peter's dynamic that I've ever read was a metaphor of a lion in a butterfly. A lion is trapped in a cage, and then a butterfly flies through the bars and taunts the lion. If the lion were free, he wouldn't pay any attention to the insect, but he's not free, so the butterfly drives him insane as he tries to rid himself of it.

Disney is doing this, so it's possible, although I think Alice takes place centuries after the ones like Snow White, so maybe not her. The rights to Peter Pan are weird in that they are not in public domain. Originally in the comic book 'Fables' (which if you like this show, you MUST read), the main villain was going to be Peter Pan, but DC/Vertigo couldn't get the rights. The Little Mermaid is likely though.

That could be, although I think even more of an obstacle than the time periods was that those settings of Wonderland and Neverland were already set in contrast to the "real world" of their respective stories while Snow White and the others always only existed in a long time ago in a land far away. The whole point of Alice was getting away from the real world, while the whole point of Peter was not growing up. The only way I can see them featuring is when the walls between reality and fantasy start to crack and characters start returning to their fantasy world. Although I still can't seen Wonderland and Neverland fitting in with the rest of the fantasy world that's been shown so far, I also think they haven't always shown fidelity to the fairy stories either. They basically took Cinderella out of her story and put her in the Rumpelstiltskin tale as a single mom with debt problems. Honestly, that should have been the heroine from his story and not Cinderella at all.

I did try reading Fables but I lost track of it and don't know if they ever finished it. Who was the villain in the end (oddly I could see a villainous Peter Pan working though)?

[wyldman11]

Fables is still going, 100+ issues now. I think there were a few spin off also.

[Sword2Blanket]

I have really enjoyed both this show and Revenge. However, both seem to have a similar problem to me (which has already been pointed out somewhat). Both of these shows have a clear "endgame" premise; Revenge is about getting revenge on certain people and Once Upon a Time is about making all these people in Storybrook remember they are really fairy tale characters. This never seems like a formula for enduring success to me. Either you can have a culmination of the concept and force yourself into a vain attempt at coming up with something as good for future seasons (i.e. Heroes--and honestly Heroes wasn't even painted into a corner as bad as these two would be, yet still crashed and burned) OR you can beat the concept to death and ultimately never ever have the status quo change (i.e. Inuyasha--granted Inuyasha was pretty successful, just not for good reason in my mind, ).

Conceptually, the only other problem I have with this show is that a whole town of people are supposed to just never think about the fact they have no memory whatsoever beyond x amount of time ago. They live in a city where everyone knows each other, yet NO ONE remembers how they met ANYONE. Seriously, just stop and think about that for a minute. Every single person you know has absolutely no concept of personal history and that never comes up in conversation? I'm all for the willing suspension of disbelief, but that seems pretty absurd to me.

Actually that reminds me of another issue I had forgotten about. Presumably all these people were immortal/nonaging at least until the town clock started. Ok, so for 30ish years all these people lived their lives and didn't consider the fact that no one aged and presumably no one died. Fine. Everyone remained relative to each other in age. Maybe it was essentially a Ground Hog's Day type of existence. I can accept that I suppose. What about when Henry came to town? This one kid in town clearly progresses through time and everyone else doesn't? How is that even possible? I mean sure, it's possible, but if it happened it would surely blow ever single townsperson's mind.

[TechTrek]

I did and thought it was as misguided a prequel as Hook was as a sequel. It gave Peter too many adult worries (now with fairy-induced Alzheimer's?), complicated something that was really very simple just for the sake of filling time, and it added characters for no good reason. Fox added nothing and had a pointless death, same with the alchemist from Queen Elizabeth's court. Captain Bonny served slightly more of a purpose, but Chuck from Pushing Daisies was really miscast as a lady pirate captain. The whole conflict between Peter and Hook was just contrived. Basically they turned Hook into Fagin meets Professor Snape but without the depth of either. Rhys Ifans wasn't bad despite all that, he reminded me of a young David Warner, but I think they really missed the point of the characters. They didn't even make anything out of throwing the hand to the crocodile. Maybe if it had been as completely bizarre as Alice and Tinman, I wouldn't have cared.

The best description of Hook and Peter's dynamic that I've ever read was a metaphor of a lion in a butterfly. A lion is trapped in a cage, and then a butterfly flies through the bars and taunts the lion. If the lion were free, he wouldn't pay any attention to the insect, but he's not free, so the butterfly drives him insane as he tries to rid himself of it.

great description of them. I really liked this actor of hook. he was the main good thing that came out of this mini.

[GP Legend]

Also I like that they finally, in the last episode, shattered any doubt that the fairy tale parts are true. We saw the Mayor's secret chamber where she worked magic. So there's proof it's all real, and it can't stay a matter of "maybe, maybe not, you've got to have faith" forever. How long will Emma be in the dark though? It's no fun watching a character who's so far behind the audience as she seems to be.

Exactly. That's the main problem I had with the show up until the last episode. I felt this weird disconnect with the show where I had doubts that the fairytale world was real. I couldn't help think that it was possible Henry really was crazy. I still want to know how he knows everyone's a fairytale character. How could he read that book and think everything was real and there was a curse and not assume it was just a plain old story book?

Also, the last episode should also now remove doubts that the evil queen knows she is the evil queen and that there is a curse.

I know Emma's the one who is supposed to break the curse. But, isn't Henry able to break the curse, too? He is Emma's son, afterall.

[Burtonnut]

I love this show. It's one of the few tv shows I watch anymore. I like Mr. Gold and Archie. So far my favorites are That Still Small Voice, Skin Deep, Dreamy, Pilot episode, Desperate Souls, True North, Red-handed, and Heart of Darkness.

[Penny Dreadful]

I did try reading Fables but I lost track of it and don't know if they ever finished it. Who was the villain in the end?

The Adversary turned out to be

 

Gepetto.

Mossman710179, Emiliano, and this lady I met at SDCC all hipped me to Fables and I'm glad they did. It's great. I've devoured all the collections released thus far.

I really enjoy watching Once Upon A Time. It's a very cool show. While it is a bit different from Fables, I think the program owes a debt to the comic series and its creator Bill Willingham.

Interesting tidbit - Sneezy on Once Upon a Time is played by Gabe Khouth who was the voice of Orko and Mekaneck in the MYP cartoon!

[Kevenn]

I'm trying to figure out who August really is? Any guesses? My one guess has been that he's one of the Brothers Grimm.

[wyldman11]

Previews for next week have him saying he is a fairy tale character, but I have a feeling it's a ruse similar to what he pulled in the last episode. His ability to leave town, his knowledge, and his ability to write.

I was thinking a Brother's Grimm, Hans Christian Anderson, I don't know of any characters who write off the top of my head. I also thought Regina was a bit confused at who he was.

[Burtonnut]

I didn't know Gabe Knouth also played Meckaneck. I thought he only did Orko. And his brother is also a voice-over actor (Samuel Vincent, best known for playing Edd AKA Double D from Ed, Edd, n Eddy).

I saw clips from the new episode and it looks awesome.

[SCB]

I can't believe we have two really good fairy tale shows at the same time. This and Grimm are awesome.

[Pixel Dan]

Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin is such an awesome character. My wife and I both find him to be the most interesting on this show. We both love him!

We're both also wondering if August is somehow a future version of the boy (whose name escapes me at the moemnt for some reason.)

[Adam_Prince of Eternia]

I'm just not sure how long it can go without the main character finally realizing that it's all true or some major shift in direction. It could run out of steam fast if the status quo stays where it is for more than a season or so. Recent events seem to point to a major turning point in the not too distant future, but someone other than Henry is going to have to start believing soon to keep things moving.

Precisely this. I really liked this show in the beginning, but I am tired of the show teasing progress only to maintain the status quo. I do not care how the show is going to keep Snow White and Prince Charming a part this week. Having a lot of things happen from week-to-week is not a substitute for advancing the plot. It is like a soap opera; there are new scenes every day but at the end of the week, the characters are in the same room, having the same conversation.

[wyldman11]

I can't believe we have two really good fairy tale shows at the same time. This and Grimm are awesome.

I almost gave up on Grimm three episodes in. It got better though, but I still think if both were to get cancelled I would be more upset with losing Once Upon a Time.

I think putting the main story line a bit more as the story in the back it's helped with the whole nothing seems to be changing. When it's the forefront it's really makes you think why hasn't anything changed.

[EldestSon]

Precisely this. I really liked this show in the beginning, but I am tired of the show teasing progress only to maintain the status quo. I do not care how the show is going to keep Snow White and Prince Charming a part this week. Having a lot of things happen from week-to-week is not a substitute for advancing the plot. It is like a soap opera; there are new scenes every day but at the end of the week, the characters are in the same room, having the same conversation.

and the villain gets over on the hero 99% of the time. the villain is ALWAYS 100 steps ahead of the hero.

[TechTrek]

Mr. Gold/Rumpelstiltskin is such an awesome character. My wife and I both find him to be the most interesting on this show. We both love him!

We're both also wondering if August is somehow a future version of the boy (whose name escapes me at the moemnt for some reason.)

agreed. the actor that plays rumple is sooo well done. he is just corny, but creepy enough to be very cool.

i think the same thing with the boy, especially when, this past week we reveal a random plot (who knows why) that rumples kid falls into a time portal thing. basically telling us ANYTHING is possible.

so with that thought said, I would think it could be cool if FUTURE HENRY, is coming back (august) to try and fix the book/story, all these years later he still is trying to fix it for his birth mother, and birth grandmother (SW)....... it would be interesting.

but i have a strong feeling its going to be the crickets best friend.........

[gbagok]

I think the producers said that August isn't Future Henry.

Currently I'm guessing

 

you're right and he is Pinocchio, as his father Gepetto created the wardrobe that sent Emma to the real world in the first place and so he probably made some kind of deal to save his "son" in that process.

I'm also enjoying the show. Gold is my favorite character too. I'm kind of disappointed in Regina, I think she's not as nuanced as Gold, although I suspect that the dead stable boy isn't really the full reason she is so nasty. For now I think just like Rumple inherited the curse of the dark one, Regina did something that made her powerful and more evil. I used to think she killed her mother, but I'm thinking her mother is the Queen of Hearts.

Anyway, I'm a little skeptical about the latest claim that there's no magic in Storybrook. Didn't Regina use magic to kill Sheriff Graham? And didn't the Mad Hatter vanish when he fell out the window because his hat finally worked?

I am hoping that Gold's son (his name is Baelfire, which is kind of ominous) is Henry's real father.

[Hordak Alpha]

I think the show would be a lot more interesting if, depending on if there is a second season, the show shifts entirely to the parallel 'fairy tale' world. The real world setting gets a trifle boring after awhile and nothing ever happens to even get Emma questioning if her son is actually, perhaps, right in all he says.


I actually enjoy the 'backstory' segments a lot better than the 'real world' segments. I also think 'Charming' is a complete nimrod in his 'real world' incarnation. Everything he does is one stupid decision after another.

[Mern-Ra]

Yeah, the wife and I love it!

[Ntumbuluku]

My wife and I have watched this show. But we have about 5 episodes saved on our DVR to watch. Which usually means that we're losing interest.

[Hordak Alpha]

I hope the writers aren't planning on having Emma continually doubt what her kid and August keep telling her for more than just the first season. The 'over reluctant, never wanting to do the job' character gets old. That writing mentality was over saturated on 'Heroes', which is why the show became pointless after awhile. I certainly hope that doesn't happen to 'Once Upon A Time'.