"Once Upon a Time" ~ from Rob

The following guest piece comes from Rob, aka firebird21 on Youtube.  He did a piece for us last year on the movie "Snow White: A Tale of Terror," which, if you haven't seen it, is fantastically cheesy (in the good horror way), and horrifically faithful to the original tale (which yeah, not so pretty. Lots of murder attempts and cannibalism...)
This year he's back, taking on the lighter - and pretty universally loved - Once Upon a Time!
Check it out:

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If you are like many of us, you grew up listening to fairytales and watching them on Television or in movies. We all know the tales of Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, Jack and the Beanstalk etc. Did you know that Snow White and Prince Charming had a little girl named Emma? Well, I sure didn’t, at least until I watched ABC’s “Once Upon a Time”.

This show is brand new as of the 2011-12 season and it centers around Snow White and the feud with the Evil Queen (named Regina apparently). Regina was forced to marry Snow’s father the king after the death of Snow’s mother even though she loves a stable boy. Regina’s mother does not approve as she wants only the best for her daughter so she makes sure the relationship goes nowhere. This is just evil as many would agree but I digress.

This show is a broad retelling of many different fairytales but it does center on some great main characters. There is of course Snow White and Price Charming as well as the Evil Queen (Who is the mayor of Storybrook now) but one will recognize other characters as well such as Red Riding Hood, Sleeping Beauty, and even Rumplestilskin. Yes, I said Rumplestilskin who controls more than he lets on. The whole series centers on a curse cast by the evil queen which moves all of our favorite characters to a fictional town in Maine called Storybrook. It is there where we meet Emma who is Snow White and Charming’s daughter (They are named David and Mary Margaret in Maine) as well as Regina who is the only one who really knows what is going on for the entire first season which allows for a great world creation and setup for the fairytale characters to dive into. I could not mention all the characters that have appeared so far as there have been so many but they serve to continue to build the world of Storybrook and advance everything ahead. This makes the show so much fun.

We are also introduced to a little boy named Henry who has been adopted by Regina but is Emma’s child whom she gave up for adoption at a young age. He is the only character that believes the rest of the characters are from Fairytale land right away and works so hard to convince everyone else through the first part of the first season (he does eventually succeed but not without some major roadblocks, not the least of which is being poisoned by Regina by accident). This all sets up and continues different stories throughout the series and we are introduced to a myriad of characters and even get to know what the back stories to many characters are which is very interesting and in my mind a great way to re-tell these classic tales.

The series continues to introduce many of our classic characters such as Mulan, Aurora from Sleeping Beauty, and even the vengeful Captain Hook who is after Rumplestilskin for taking his hand off. The characters all have a depth and back story that is fun and sometimes unbelievable.

I have watched the whole first season of this engaging show and am enjoying season two right now. I find the writing to be engaging and fun. I love the world building the writers have taken great license with but when you are retelling stories that are such classics that is ok, right? Each week continues the adventures but the series does it without being hokey most of the time even though there are some episodes that I ask myself what the heck is going on and then it gets answered the next week as each week tends to weave together and give such amazing insight into the minds of the characters and how both Storybrooke and Fairytale land in all its various forms weave together. I truly enjoy this engaging show and recommend it for anyone who loves Fairytales and what could have been had they been real. So sit down, relax and get lost in “Once Upon a Time” every Sunday night at 8PM EST. if you like a great escape and fun, fast paced show with a kick. A certain amount of suspension of belief is needed but these are fairytales after all and they are by definition unbelievable.

~ Rob

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where you can access the schedule! Or go here to get involved!
Credit to these awesome Deviants for our button [ 1, 2 & 3]!