Looking Back: Once Upon a Time Season 1

Once upon a time.. it is the way most stories begin. However, don’t expect your normal prince meets princess and they all live happily ever after. No, first they have to fight dragons, defeat an evil queen, and break a curse that traps them- traps them in the “real world”. This begins a story full of mystery, sword fights, and most important Disney magic. Recently, my co-hosts and I had a discussion about Once Upon a Time on Generation Mouse in which we dissected the series and talked about our impressions. Here are some of mine.

As we all know, I love a good story, and this is what Once Upon a Time delivers. The characters are believable and they are the sort that you root for- to win over evil. What was really cool to me was the characterization because Snow White wasn’t just a damsel in distress “rescue me” princess. No, this princess was willing to fight for her prince. She had no qualms about picking up a sword or using a bow and arrow to make a point. This was a big selling point for me because- well- how awesome is it to see Snow White with a sword?

Rumpelstiltskin is a key player in all of the stories. He is the person who made the curse. He even used True Love to allow the curse to be broken (classic fairytale move right?). What was interesting about him was how he could be so cryptic and seem to know everything and be everywhere. In the real world, he is known as Mr. Gold, and he is basically the owner of the town. Although he seems to hate Regina (the evil queen/ mayor) he also tends to work with her both to help her, and thwart her. Some of his motives for this are revealed in the Skin Deep episode in which he is the beast. The writers had a wonderful take on Beauty and the Beast, and we actually got to see Rumpelstiltskin fall in love. This also fuels his rage when that love is taken from him.

Robery Carlyle as Rumpelstiltskin

Now, let’s talk about the real world. Regina has sent all the fairytale characters to the real world. They have no idea of their true identities or past relationships. This leads to some drama as Prince Charming (now David Nolan) and falls in love with Snow White (now known as Mary Margaret Blanchard). The problem here is that David is married to another woman, so he and Mary have an affair, which of course Regina finds out about as she has her nose in all business around the town. Snow and Charming have a daughter named Emma. She was put in a magical wardrobe when she was born to protect her from Regina’s curse. Emma is now 28 years old and has a ten year old son named Henry who calls her the savior. What I like about Emma is that she is very similar to Snow. She doesn’t take everything at face value, and she is skeptical about Henry’s “stories” until the end of the season when his life is at stake.

Emma is the savior. She was prophesied to save all the fairytale characters on her 28^th birthday. Well, the story starts out on her birthday, and so she has ended up in Storybrook as a protector for her son. Long story short, she does break the curse and saves her son. However, because of true love’s kiss, a whole other can of worms is released as magic has been brought back.

Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan

So, a lot of this was discussed on the episode. There were moments like these, and character interactions like those between Emma and Regina that were wonderful. ABC did an amazing job of giving the audience back-story to characters that we know and maybe love. The evil queen had been in love with a stable boy, and Snow told her secret, so that is why she hates Snow. Rumpelstiltskin had a son that he lost because of his desire for power, so he became obsessed with first born children. There are so many stories that have a new twist on them, and honestly I could go on for hours about them. Disney/ABC has truly hit gold with Once Upon a Time. I believe this story is one that could go for a long time. I am interested to see what season two brings now that the curse has been broken and magic has returned. Will we see an epic battle between Emma and Regina? Will Emma finally get to know her parents since she is a lost princess? What happens to August Boothe (Pinocchio?) These are all questions that will hopefully be answered in season two. Until then, I think I will continue to watch season one and enjoy the epic soundtrack by Mark Isham.

What do you all think? Have you seen Once Upon a Time? What is your favorite story?

Contributed by: Mark Weaver. Mark is the owner of Illuminating Epcot, a website dedicated to all things Epcot and a co-host on the Generation Mouse Podcast.

Tags: ABC, Once ABC, Once Upon A Time

This entry was posted on August 6, 2012 at 8:00 AM and is filed under Columns, Disney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.