Once Upon A Time (ABC)

[Greg Anderson]

Mainly the concept of fairy tale characters in the real, modern world. Other than that, not much. So far, none of the grace notes of Fables have come through other than having Snow White central to the story. Prince Charming isn't a womanizing cad. Geppetto isn't a cruel dictator. There's been no sign of the Big Bad Wolf at all yet. No one's going around calling regular people an insulting term like "Mundy". The primary reason people are saying it's a rip-off is because ABC was reported to have a Fables pilot in the works that never happened, then this show appeared.

However, like I've said before, it's not the most original of ideas. Maybe it's because they're both dramas.

Yeah, I honestly don't get the whole, "It's Fables" things. I've only read the first 3-4 trades of Fables and caught this first episode and besides Fairy Tales and modern time, they're nothing a like. And while Fables may have been done first of the two, it's not an original concept at all. It's like saying Daredevil and Spider-Man are both superheroes in New York, therefore they're the same.

[marshal99]

So are the queen and Rumpelstiltskin self aware of who they really are ? If the queen knows who she is and who emma represents , shouldn't she be like trying to kill her to prevent the prophecy from coming true ?

[Grand Entrance]

So are the queen and Rumpelstiltskin self aware of who they really are ? If the queen knows who she is and who emma represents , shouldn't she be like trying to kill her to prevent the prophecy from coming true ?

I doubt Rumpelstiltskin is. It looked like they were just showing that he has power because he'll know her name if he recalls his memory. But it does seem like the queen knows. And yeah, if that's the case she could just go out and try to off the girl. Hopefully, they'll address that soon.

[Greg Anderson]

I don't think the Queen knows.

[kalorama]

I don't think the Queen knows.

Neither do I. Which means she's either a crap sorceress, who didn't think ahead to protect herself from her own spell, or that someone else (likely Rumpelstiltskin) is running their own game, counter to her plan.

[Pro]

And yeah, if that's the case she could just go out and try to off the girl.

She did offer her the best applecider in the world.

[AdamYJ]

She did offer her the best applecider in the world.

I would avoid anything apple based that this woman offers. Also, going by other variations of the story, I'd avoid combs, hair pins and bodice laces.

Anyway, one thing that struck me about this story that I'm surprised no one else noticed is that Emma is essentially "fairy tale Superman". Her parents sent her away from a beseiged world to save her. Except, instead of a rocket it was a cabinet carved by Gepetto.

[boyhangover]

I would avoid anything apple based that this woman offers. Also, going by other variations of the story, I'd avoid combs, hair pins and bodice laces.

Anyway, one thing that struck me about this story that I'm surprised no one else noticed is that Emma is essentially "fairy tale Superman". Her parents sent her away from a beseiged world to save her. Except, instead of a rocket it was a cabinet carved by Gepetto.

I seem to remember she tried a variety of things in the disney version with the Apple being the one that succeeded.

[AdamYJ]

I seem to remember she tried a variety of things in the disney version with the Apple being the one that succeeded.

In folk and fairy tales, things almost always happen in threes. In the German version the Brothers Grimm collected, first the queen tried to crush the breath out of her with a bodice lace, then jabbed a poisoned comb into her head and finally got her to eat a poisoned apple (the hair pin was from the Italian equivalent). The first two were removed by the dwarves, the apple which got caught in her throat was dislodged when the prince and his men tried to carry away her glass coffin.

They also punished the queen by making her dance to her death in red hot iron shoes. If they had thought of that in this show, they wouldn't have to deal with the whole Storybrook situation.

[dupersuper]

You mean how Willingham wanted Peter Pan as the villian

I wonder how that was supposed to work...

competing against Supernatural and Fringe to boot.

No wonder I hadn't heard of it.

There's been no sign of the Big Bad Wolf at all yet.

I'm not so sure of that.

[boyhangover]

I wonder how that was supposed to work...

I'm not sure what you mean?

[snarkbunny]

I wonder how that was supposed to work...

Peter Pan as villain?

BW: The most well-known example is that I wanted the Adversary to be Peter Pan. Even when I was a kid, I couldn't understand why he was considered the good guy in these stories. Basically, he would come to our world and steal our kids. That just seemed pretty sinister. I thought, "Okay, we'll do a little turnaround on that, and make Peter Pan the evil Adversary, and that means that Captain Hook and his pirates were really were a crew that were going to Neverland and rescuing these kids, and they were painted as pirates only because Peter was doing the press releases.

From an AV Club interview...

[Libaax]

Mainly the concept of fairy tale characters in the real, modern world. Other than that, not much. So far, none of the grace notes of Fables have come through other than having Snow White central to the story. Prince Charming isn't a womanizing cad. Geppetto isn't a cruel dictator. There's been no sign of the Big Bad Wolf at all yet. No one's going around calling regular people an insulting term like "Mundy". The primary reason people are saying it's a rip-off is because ABC was reported to have a Fables pilot in the works that never happened, then this show appeared.

However, like I've said before, it's not the most original of ideas. Maybe it's because they're both dramas.

Those two parts are what Fables starts out with. Fairy tales characters living in real modern world, being chased out by evil characters and there being a war. Just like parts of this show. Those parts are what made Fables look interesting when it came out.

Of course they couldnt make Big Bad wolf the hero and Geppeto the dictator etc. They are smart enough not to be exactly like Fables.

Still doesn't matter really bad writing wont save them from cancellation just because they use fairy tales characters everyone knows.

[cbrer]

10th Kingdom >>>> This.

And LOL at the Prince Charming. He is neither hot nor charming.

That Sheriff/Huntsman though... now he fiyine.

[Tracer Bullet]

Snow White isn't all that pale either.