Magic, prophecies, and a coastal New England community. Not exactly a likely group, but all of these things and more culminate to form ABC's Once Upon A Time, the most profound network fantasy program since NBC's miniseries The 10th Kingdom in 2000. ABC's . Once Upon A Time could be described as Urban Fantasy meets Stephen King lite.
Premise
Once Upon A Time provides a refreshing perspective on many classic fairy tales. The magical, fairy-powered lands of enchantment in which these stories have taken place find themselves in a melting pot of sorts for fairy tales. In this land, Snow White has found herself at odds with The Queen. The Queen's inexhaustible hatred for Snow White, for what is, as of yet, an unknown reason, has led her to seek out a deal with the devil, or rather Rumpelstiltskin. The Queen decides that her revenge-plot of choice is to bring forth a typhoon of evil that will whisk away all of magical, fairy-powered land of enchantment's inhabitants to a land so terrible, so horrendous that the unspeakable atrocities that emanate from it are not spoken of out of fear. To further accentuate the hardship that The Queen wants to inflict upon the residents of this fair realm, none of them will remember the joyous experiences they had in their homeland; in fact, their entirety of their memories will be erased.
Snow White and Prince Charming want to uphold all that is righteous and peaceful in their kingdom, so they seek out their last possible resource - a deal with Rumpelstiltskin. Rumpelstiltskin understands that all magic is fallible; fortunately for the protagonists, Rumpelstiltskin knows exactly how to counter The Queen's imminent reign of destruction. Rumpelstiltskin prophecies that there is a chosen one who will return peace to the kingdom of magical, fairy-powered land of enchantment. This person will begin her quest to restore happiness to the homeland upon her 28th birthday. This prophetic, kingdom-savior of legend is none other than Snow's unborn child Emma. In exchange for this prophecy, Rumpelstiltskin wanted to know the name of Snow's unborn child because apparently when a universally loathed man tries to make friends, his plan is to form a community where everybody knows your name.
Snow and Charming wait anxiously for the advent of The Queen's menacing curse and the birth of their child. On the night of the curse's arrival, Snow goes begins going into labor. As the maniacal essence of darkness begins to envelop the drawbridge of the castle, Charming carries his minutes-old newborn daughter into a spiral tower's keep. The sanctuary contains a magical wardrobe that will shield those inside from the devastating impact of The Queen's curse. Charming gently places the chosen one into her sanctum before quickly becoming overwhelmed with mooks and slaughtered.
Baby Emma finds herself in a ditch next to a freeway and grows up in Massachusetts' foster system, having never known the land in which she was born. The timeline of events for the "real world" and "fairy world" don't exactly, but the show utilizes flashbacks and juggling several subplots excellently. As Emma is growing up, she finds herself pregnant at 18 and gives her son up in a closed adoption.
On her 28th birthday, a 10-year-old boy named Henry knocks on her door, claims to be her son, and explains the curse from a story book. Emma, having no recollection of the events, returns the boy to his home in the evil land of horrific wickedness is none other than...Storybrooke Maine? Quite underwhelming.
As Henry trudges along the walkway to his home, viewers recognize a menacing figure at the door, the same actress who portrayed The Queen! The figure is Henry's adoptive mother and introduces herself as Regina. Emma detects an unnerving aura about Regina and decides to remain in Storybrooke to check things out. Throughout her stay she encounters several former residents of fairy tale land, none of whom remember anything of their past lives. The residents of Storybrooke, all of whom have "fairy world" counterpart selves, experience an unexpected upheaval and many Lost-like mysteries unfold to engulf viewers' attention as the characters learn more and more about themselves in one of this year's best new dramas.
Trailer
Adam and I just wanted to write about something hopeful that for one
hour a week allows one to put everything aside and have that feeling
that your dreams just may come true.
- Edward Kitsis, Co-Creator/Executive Producer
- Edward Kitsis, Co-Creator/Executive Producer
Style
Although Once Upon A Time's premise might initially comes across as confusing, it makes sense in context. Each episode is centered around a certain character. The image below demonstrate the show's mysterious tone and, when combined with the coastal Maine setting, Once Upon A Time comes off with a hint of the distinct Stephen King feeling. Despite this, in essence it really is a lighter and softer fantasy set in modern times as opposed to a full fledged horror thriller.
Fruit of the Poisonous Tree
This particular episode focuses on The Genie, known as Sidney Glass in Storybrooke. Many viewers will recognize him as Gus Fring. Due to its two separate realms, Once Upon A Time is able to utilize significant scene breaks that will often cut from a scene in the fairy tale world that will be relevant to the plot in Maine. As for summarizing, do as Jeff Jarvis said - cover what you do best and link to the rest.
Fairy Tale Land
The King, known to some as Toby Ziegler of The West Wing, discovers a magic lamp that contains a Genie. With his wishes, The King wishes for his kingdom to prosper, The Genie's freedom, and for The Genie to have the final wish. The Genie expresses a desire to find true love. The King brings The Genie back to his castle and allows The Genie to reside there as well. The King expresses angst because his first wife, Snow White's mother, died and The King does not feel a fulfilling life with his new queen.
The Genie speaks to The Queen who shares The King's feelings of dissatisfaction. The Queen expresses interest in The Genie and writes about it in her diary. The King discovers his wife's diary and intrusts The Genie to find the man that his wife is after. The Genie knowing that the man that The King wants him to find is in fact himself makes for quite the awkward scenario. The King decides to lock The Queen away in a tower because he does not trust her.
The Queen's father seeks out The Genie and gives him a sealed chest that he wants delivered to his daughter because he is not allowed past the guards in the tower.
The Genie brings the chest to The Queen and they declare their love for one another - a love that has apparently been burning in their hearts for the 36 hours that they've known each other. The chest contains a pair of venomous snakes from Agrabah and The Queen expresses an interest in taking her own life. The Genie stops her and The Queen claims that the only alternative plan is to kill The King, which The Genie agrees to do so the two of them can be together. The Genie proceeds to poison The King with the snakes.
As The Genie returns to The Queen to inform her of his deed, she gives him insight on her true plan. She did not love the Genie and was only using The Genie. She had been waiting for an opportunity to have the king killed for two years. She knew that the guards would be able to trace the snakes back to The Genie, both being from Agrabah and all, and gives him an opportunity to flee the kingdom. In the heat of The Genie's rage and unconvincing love, he uses his last wish by saying "I wish to be with you forever. To look upon your face always. To never leave your side." He then finds himself trapped inside The Queen's mirror mirror on the wall. Needless to say, he didn't exactly get what he was planning on.
Maine
Henry buries the book that tells the story of the prophecy under a play structure that he refers to as his castle. Emma and Regina consistently find themselves at odds and Regina frequently finds herself with the upper hand. Emma suspects Regina, mayor of Storybrooke of stealing money from the city.
Emma is contacted by Sidney Glass (The Genie) who claims to have information regarding Regina's actions. The pair meet up in a mysterious, secret location and decide to combine forces to dismantle Regina's authority.
The pair break into Regina's home and ascertain the missing city documents that will incriminate Regina as well as planting listening devices in her office. They discover that Regina is meeting someone and they decide to follow her. As they pursue her through the woods, the car's brakes fail and it is made clear that they have been tampered with. The duo decides to continue their trek on foot. They soon discover Mr. Gold (Rumpelstiltskin) and he informs them that Regina has just purchased that area of the woods from him.
Sidney admits that while he was employed by Regina, he had been spying on Emma and knew about Henry's attachment to his castle. Due to Regina's never ending intention of evil doing, she orders Henry's castle to be demolished, claiming it is a safety hazard.
It is at this point that Emma decides to go to a city council meeting and call Regina out. Regina claims that she used the city's money to buy Mr. Gold's land in the forest to build a new playground. Emma does not believe that Regina's intentions are what they seem, but Regina still claims that she did not tamper with the brake cables of Emma's car and tells Emma that she is barred from visiting Henry...even though that has never stopped her the other four times Regina has said it.
Sidney meets Regina in her office and viewers learn that he had been working for Regina all along; no one ever expects a triple agent. A romantic relationship between Regina and Sidney is implied, but her last relationship was with one of her other employees who she killed when the former employee refused to keep working for her.
Although they are only sub plots for this episode, they have been ongoing during several other episodes. A drifter has recently passed through town and is shown to be in possession of Henry's book. Mary Margaret (Snow White) and David (Prince Charming) have a secret picnic in a romantic setting without the knowledge of David's wife Kendra.
Drawing Comparisons
Some professional reviews have compared Once Upon A Time to NBC's Grimm because they both began airing within days of each other and present light fantasy elements whose origins can be traced to the Brothers Grimm. Despite these similarities, they are fundamentally two different shows. Once Upon A Time is a wholesome family drama and Grimm is a police procedural akin to CSI with an added gimmick.
Their respective locations are also very distinct. Once Upon A Time's setting is a rural small town while Grimm has chosen Portland, Oregon for their location, which is only significant because Portland, has been the "It" city for several other productions over the past decade. The big-city feel often detracts from programs if it is not absolutely required for the program to function. Imagine Law & Order without a big city; there wouldn't be much crime.
Hopefully Once Upon A Time along with shows like Revenge will bring prosperity to prime-time soaps, dramas, and serials of all kinds.
Their respective locations are also very distinct. Once Upon A Time's setting is a rural small town while Grimm has chosen Portland, Oregon for their location, which is only significant because Portland, has been the "It" city for several other productions over the past decade. The big-city feel often detracts from programs if it is not absolutely required for the program to function. Imagine Law & Order without a big city; there wouldn't be much crime.
Hopefully Once Upon A Time along with shows like Revenge will bring prosperity to prime-time soaps, dramas, and serials of all kinds.
Reviews
If I was a foreigner, I would think all aspects of US culture took place in Vancouver, British Columbia. A great strength of the program is the setting, the sets, and the shooting locations, which would lead foreign viewers to believe that American culture entails significant amounts of time wandering in the wilderness.
The Los Angeles Times made a remark about psychologist Bruno Bettelheim would wonder if the climate of financial and socio-political unease that we are living in has led us to seek stories from our childhood so we can contend with and surmount our fears by using metaphor. Although this was probably not the intention of the show's production team, it is something to think about. While some argue that the rise in popularity of comic book movies, remakes, excessive sequels, and three-dimensional movies are unoriginal and gimmicks, they could be a signal that movie goers feel a desire for familiar stories that they can take comfort in during these uncertain times...or that we're just sheep and will enjoy anything that's put in front of us. Of course no one's life has the same amount of drama in it that the characters in network dramas do, save perhaps the lives of teenage girls, so it does not mirror a very large portion of society. Even if the fantasy elements are ignored, how many people are involved with the process of adoption? Not many. How many have found themselves with their long-lost 10-year-old son on their doorstep? Fewer still.
The program excels in its technical aspects and offers some very impressive camera angles. Although drama lives off of conflict, many of the conflicts, especially the conflicts related to romantic relationships seem very forced and out of place to many viewers. It is very clearly a fantasy program, but the scenes that take place in the real world are what I would expect a small community in Maine to be like in real life...then again, my expectations of what a small town in Maine stem from the media, so at least they're consistent. Once Upon A Time is by no means a parody of itself, but really, it's television - when has real life ever been accurately depicted on television? Obviously the way one perceives real life is specific to each one of us.
The Washington Post ranks Once Upon A Time above all other shows in the fall season, praising it for light fantasy and family drama qualities. My personally favorite quality of Once Upon A Time is its ability to balance its fantasy elements in a modern setting, similar to Kyle XY and Roswell. Its most memorable feature is its Lost-like qualities, which clearly stem from the writing of its creators, which enable viewers look past some of the poor relationship writing.
After stumbling across Once Upon A Time part way through a marathon of the seven episodes that had aired at the time on New Year's Day, I was hooked. My mom and I decided to watch Once Upon A Time together every Sunday night. I am a fan of Once Upon A Time on Facebook, but I do not check its content regularly. I do not visit its website often, but I do frequent its IMDB, Wikipedia, and TV Tropes pages.
Conclusions
Upon further examination I tried to take the perspective of families who would likely take offense to Once Upon A Time's content. Families such as these have criticized the show for its sporadic use of crude language, brief conversation about one night stands, and an improper sexual relationship between two of the characters. Two of these three concerns have been addressed in one way or another. The conversation about one night stands made sense in context and the plot line to which it related has since been resolved, so it won't come back again. While not necessarily being any "better," one of the characters involved in the sexual relationship has been killed (by the character's own partner!), so that plot line will no longer be showing up. Despite these villainous characters, Once Upon A Time is rooted in light fantasy and family friendly.
Cast & Crew
Regulars
Regulars
GinniferGoodwin – Mary Margaret – Big Love
JenniferMorrison – Emma – House M.D.
LanaParrilla – Regina – Spin City
JoshDallas – David – Thor
JaredGilmore – Henry – Mad Men
RobertCarlyle – Mr. Gold – SGU Stargate Universe
RaphaelSbarge – Archie – Independence Day
Edward Kitsis – Co-creator – Lost
Adam Horowitz – Co-Creator – Lost
Bryan Spicer – Director – Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie
Andrew Chambliss – Writer – Heroes
Ian B. Goldberg – Writer – FlashForward
Advertisements
During the five breaks, the following commercials were aired. The ad for A Smile As Big As The Moon aired three times because it aired at 9 pm, directly after Once Upon A Time. Sunday prime-time has historically been known as a time when families can congregate in their living rooms and bond with shared interest in programming as their luminescent boxes enrich their lives with storytelling to distract from the looming week on the horizon.
Several advertisements for cell phones and household products aired during this block of programming, which go along with the target demographic. Car commercials were limited to sedans, some of which appeal to families. Family restaurant such as Chili's and KFC advertise and appeal to some viewers. January's proximity to Valentine's Day would explain commercials for jewelery and date movies.
V8
Smoothies
JC
Penny Clothes
Mentos
Gum
American
Family Insurance
KFC Hot
Wings
ABC/Hallmark
TV Movie A Smile As Big As The Moon
Oscars Awards Show
Verizon
cell phone
Chili's
restaurant
Ford
Focus Cars
Big
Miracle film
The
Bachelor ABC TV show
M.
Jacobs Furniture Store – local ad
My
Limit 1-800 Gambling Treatment
Simple
skin care product
K
Jewelers
Journey
2: The Mysterious Island movie
Sprint
/ iPhone
Lowe's
hardware
State
Farm Insurance
Wife
Swap ABC TV show
Grey's
Anatomy TV show
Nokia
cell phone
Target
clothing
Campbell's
Soup
Subway
sandwiches
The Vow
film
ABC/Hallmark
TV Movie A Smile As Big As The Moon
GCB ABC TV show
Jerry's
Hardware – local ad
The
Mill Casino – local ad
Oregon
Community Credit Union bank – local ad
The
River ABC TV show
H&R
Block Accounting
Treasure
Buddies movie
Home
Depot
Nicorette
nicotine gum
Toyota
Camry car
The
Woman in Black movie
ABC/Hallmark
TV Movie A Smile As Big As The Moon
The
River ABC TV show
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