Once Upon a Time

Even though the initial premise sounded intriguing, I was wondering how this show was going to translate to a series, given how badly most sci-fi/fantasy shows fare on regular network stations. Then I saw the trailer and boy, it looks like it's going to deliver in spades. I was picturing something cutesy, hokey, and very twee, but this is going full tilt for a more serious and dark-ish drama feel. The production values look terrific, as does the cast (Robert Carlyle, woo!!)

I can't wait until Sunday now!

I watched the pilot on IMDB and I thought it was pretty good. I don't know how long the concept can last but I'll certainly be watching. If nothing else Ginnifer Goodwin is perfectly cast as Snow White, she just seems like a Disney princess already.

I haven't watched the new episode yet, but I'm definitely very excited to see it. The trailer reminded me of one of my favorite comic books called Fables about fairy tale characters being in the real world.

I've been looking for soapy goodness with a twist since my Glee burnout, so I'll be giving this a shot.

The casting of Ginnifer and Jennifer was spot on - I spent the first scene as Snow White woke up trying to decide whether or not that was Jennifer Morrison, so I can totally buy them as mother/daughter in spite of the wonky age thing.

I really enjoyed it, though with the Big Bad Wolf in the role of town sheriff I think the show is, in general, treading a little too closely to Fables - I think Bill Willingham and DC/Warner Bros. could probably mount a case if they wanted.

The built-in flashback structure is very Lost.

Basically, what I'm saying is that the show's DNA and ABC's intentions for it are not at all subtle and might actually be a bit off-putting to me, but I'm hoping that the show is able to rise above it because I missed having Jennifer Morrison on my TV ever since House went off the rails.

I loved it! I was really looking forward to this show after seeing previews from ABC months ago. When the episode was over I was actually sad it wasn't a two hour pilot. Now I just hope things don't go rapidly downhill after such a great open.

laddical wrote:The casting of Ginnifer and Jennifer was spot on - I spent the first scene as Snow White woke up trying to decide whether or not that was Jennifer Morrison, so I can totally buy them as mother/daughter in spite of the wonky age thing.

I really enjoyed it, though with the Big Bad Wolf in the role of town sheriff I think the show is, in general, treading a little too closely to Fables - I think Bill Willingham and DC/Warner Bros. could probably mount a case if they wanted.

The built-in flashback structure is very Lost.

Basically, what I'm saying is that the show's DNA and ABC's intentions for it are not at all subtle and might actually be a bit off-putting to me, but I'm hoping that the show is able to rise above it because I missed having Jennifer Morrison on my TV ever since House went off the rails.

So the Sheriff is the Big Bad Wolf? Oh yeah, I call shenanigans then! While watching I had to try to stop thinking of Fables, though I did wonder if there is only one Prince Charming for all the other princesses or do they even count with Snow White around. But I did enjoy it for the most part. I had no idea Emma was supposed to be Snow and Charming's daughter until Snow showed up pregnant and I thought "wouldn't it be funny..." And the actresses really do resemble each other.

I guess going back it's not spelled out whether Mr. Brown is the Big Bad Wolf or not, but there's the moment between him and Mother Mayor as Emma's leaving, then we see the wolf in the middle of the road, and then Emma wakes up in jail. If he's not the Big Bad Wolf that sequence becomes a little more "WTF".

While watching I had to try to stop thinking of Fables, though I did wonder if there is only one Prince Charming for all the other princesses or do they even count with Snow White around.

Since Disney is most people's touchstone for these stories now, I just want to point out that in Disney lore, each of the princes has a different "name" - only Cinderella's is actually Prince Charming. Snow White's is simply "The Prince", Aurora's is Philip.

I liked it enough to keep it on the DVR schedule. I did wish the Evil queen/Mayor was played by Carla Gugino. Mostly because that's who I thought in was in all the commercials for the show.

I thought the Evil Queen was Carla also until we saw her as the Mayor and I realized it was someone else.

I've seen speculation that the Sheriff could be the Hunter from the Snow White story, the one who was supposed to kill Snow but let her escape.

laddical wrote:

The built-in flashback structure is very Lost.

They even zoomed in on Emma's eye when she woke up in jail. And what kind of police department takes an unconscious driver after an accident to jail and not to the hospital. Call shennanigans, Emma!

I liked it - the opening sequence of Charming on his horse was beautifully photographed. I also wish it was a two-hour pilot; they could have used more time to establish things.

PS: Ginnifer's Snow White wig is bananas. I think birds live in there.

I saw this on the plane and thought it was boring, mostly the fairytale flashbacks, but thought I would give the show a few episodes thinking that was only going to be the structure for the pilot for the backstory but apparently every episode is going to have flashbacks, so I am not sure. I might watch the next episode to see if it's for me.

So far, I'm loving it! While I had Fables in mind, it was very un-Fable-y to me. Maybe since Geppetto and the seven dwarves weren't evil and Prince Charming wasn't an ass. I think it would be really cool if the Big Bad Wolf was the sheriff though, it just fits so well.

Question: just to be sure, the Mayor is the Evil Witch right? Was that implied somewhere? My friend says the Mayor is Snow White but I left that episode feeling that the Mayor was the Evil Witch. I might have to watch this episode again.

The Mayor is the witch, Snow White is her son's teacher.

That's what I thought! I just couldn't recognize her without her huge hair.

And her torn feather dresses!

I just watched and I love it! Not sure how they can possibly sustain it for more than a season, but what the hell. It can't be worse than Heroes*.

On a extremely shallow note, lots of hot men hooray!




*personal opinion, 1st season ended badly and 2nd just lost my interest.

I thought the pilot was interesting, even if it wasn't that great--they clearly had way too much exposition to get through. It is an interesting concept that shows promise, so I'm going to stick around for awhile. Especially if we get more details about the non-Snow White-related characters. I'm still not sure who everyone in the fairytale flashbacks was even supposed to be. (Was the angry guy with the beard supposed to the hunter? And is Granny-the-B&B-runner Red Riding Hood's Granny?)

The little boy wasn't bad but I hope the actor starts enunciating more. Also, the tiny blue good fairy in the flashbacks had one hell of a bustier.

(Though yeah, I'm not sure how many seasons they can get out of this plotline, either. Maybe they've got a real endpoint in mind and another plot ready to move onto? Revenge seems to...)

Lana Perilla (the wicked witch/mayor) can pretty much do no wrong in my eyes, so I will keep watching for her. Also, I dig Robert Carlyle (did I spell that right?) as Mr. Gold/Rumpelstilskin.

That said, I am a huge Fables fan, and it will be tough for any TV show to live up to the "fairy tale characters in exile to the U.S." premise, because the comic does it so well.

I really wanted to like this, because I love fairy tales (Disney and otherwise), love Ginnifer Goodwin, was excited about the Lost writers... But I was not that impressed. It all started with the Prince's haircut. The actor is very cute (and I must admit I find myself invested in his John Doe and Ginnifer's teacher already) and I know they're trying to make him attractive to the audience, but I couldn't buy his haircut. It just felt anachronistic. I can't even explain to you why. And then Snow White's hair was completely cray-cray... More substantially, I did not like how the dialogue was written for the fairy tale pieces. Way too colloquial. It took me out of their scenes every time. I also found the CGI to be very cheap-looking. Is Pan Am on ABC? Because it suffers from the same fake/cheapiness. Meh, not doing it for me.

I looked on their website, and the kid is so familiar because it's (one of the!) Bobby Draper(s)! No wonder he looked familiar. Cute kid, but needs a few more emoting lessons, I think.

I hated Jennifer Morrison on HIMYM, so I was pleasantly surprised to not loathe her in this, but I went and read EW's review of the show, and their problem with it was that the show, and she herself in the pilot, were so grim (ha! No pun intended with the other show.). But, I find myself liking her on this show.

Rumpelstiltskin freaked me the FUCK out. The actor was wearing some contact lenses or something, but I found it effective.

I was more intrigued by the end than the beginning, and I'll give it a chance for a few more episodes (I want John Doe to wake up and reunite with Snow White!). But it didn't quite fire on all buttons for me from the beginning.

On a shallow note, I loved Jennifer's hair, but wondered who the hell Ginnifer pissed off to make her look awful in both fairy tale land and our world. She's so pretty -- why are they fugging her up? Her haircut and eyebrows in the modern day were very distracting. If they're trying to downplay her looks, surely there was a less aggressively ugly way to do so?

I don't know why I'm being so harsh today. I am sorry, show! I will give you another chance.

I liked it a lot more than I thought I would - it was a lot less cheesetastic than I expected.
So I know the fairy tale characters don't age, and I know Henry isn't one of them, which is why he does age. But does part of the curse mean that no one else notices he's getting older? And there was a school room full of kids in his class - do they not age?
(...I may be focusing on the wrong thing here. But it bothered me, and I couldn't unthink it!)

I really liked it and thought it was a lot of fun. I thought Robert Carlyle was awesome (as he would be), and his Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold was wonderfully creepy and intense. I also thought the actress playing the Evil Queen was great as the Mayor - nasty with a very believable 'don't fuck with me' vibe. I was prepared for both evil characters to be over the top vampy but both she and Carlyle are menacing and threatening in a very real, visceral way.

I think the cutting back and forth was handled quite well, and it kept the story interesting, too. I liked seeing how the fairy tale characters translated to the modern world, and that it wasn't necessarily blatantly obvious, like how you saw the shrink open up his umbrella in the background as he's walking away from Emma and Henry (plus his name - Mr. Hopper! Ha!). I couldn't figure out who the Sheriff was supposed to be but The Huntsman makes sense - although the wolf appearance could make a case for him being the wolf (he does have that prominent beard, too).

The only thing that kind of bugged me was Emma's reaction to Henry. She had that little emotional moment in the bathroom but then seemed to take the reappearance of her son like he was just another kid she ran into on the street. Her response to him was so low key that at one point I was wondering if he was actually her son or if she was just humouring him in order to get him back home safely. I would think this would be kind of a big deal - your son suddenly showing up ten years after you gave him up for adoption - that would warrant a bit more of an emotional response.

So other than that I really enjoyed it and hope it stays around.

I enjoyed it. I think it's the type of show that could turn sucky fast if it's not handled right, so here's hoping they don't drag things out too long or get too tangled up in the mythology (that's why I quit Lost around season 3). I hope things move along quickly, and that they don't muck around too much with the fairy tales: I'm all for expanding on a story and I like what the show's done so far, but I want the fairy tale world to at least resemble the original stories--unlike some of the recent movies that have retold fairy tales to the point where I barely recognize the original. I was reminded a lot of The Tenth Kingdom while watching. I haven't read Fables yet, but it's been in my to-read pile for years now. I really should get on that.

I wasn't very impressed with the actress playing Emma (I'm not familiar with anything she's done) but I think she'll improve once she's settled into the character.

They even zoomed in on Emma's eye when she woke up in jail.

My mother said, "It's Jack's eye!" (She hung onto Lost till the bitter end).

I streamed it last night and enjoyed it. I don't have more to add except to see how it unfolds now that the clock is moving.

Hadn't planned on watching this, but snowed in at my sister's last night we watched her DVR copy of it, and I liked it. It was silly, but it captured my imagination a bit. I'll stick around for a while. That means The Simpsons is officially off the DVR, but I can Hulu it. Sorry, Simpsons. I know I take you for granted.

Well, I just finished the second episode, and

Spoiler: