(June 20th, 2011.)               Ginnifer Goodwin (Big Love), Jennifer Morrison (House MD), Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, Trainspotting), Lana Parrilla, Jamie Dornan, Jared Gilmore (Mad Men), Josh Dallas and Raphael Sbarge star in the offbeat drama Once Upon A Time, airing Sundays at 8pm on ABC starting this fall.

Once Upon A Time is a bold new imagining of the world, where fairy tales and the modern-day are about to collide. And they all lived happily ever after, or so everyone was led to believe. Emma Swan knows how to take care of herself. She’s a 28-year-old bail bonds collector who’s been on her own ever since she was abandoned as a baby. But when the son she gave up years ago finds her, everything starts to change. Henry is now 10 years old and in desperate need of Emma’s help. He believes that Emma actually comes from an alternate world and is Snow White and Prince Charming’s missing daughter. According to his book of fairytales, they sent her away to protect her from the Evil Queen’s curse, which trapped the fairytale world forever, frozen in time, and brought them into our modern world. Of course Emma doesn’t believe a word, but when she brings Henry back to Storybrooke, she finds herself drawn to this unusual boy and his strange New England town. Concerned for Henry, she decides to stay for a while, but she soon suspects that Storybrooke is more than it seems. It’s a place where magic has been forgotten, but is still powerfully close… where fairytale characters are alive, even though they don’t remember who they once were. The epic battle for the future of all worlds is beginning, but for good to win, Emma will have to accept her destiny and fight like hell.

Wow. I need a program so I can figure out who all the people in this cast are. It is going to be a big challenge for this offbeat dram to catch on, if we are always trying to figure out who is who. I think less characters and a simplified story would be the better route.

Isn't it odd that the success of this series will come from a generation that probably has not read a fairy tale in years, if they ever have. The story that this show is based is not something that will be not familiar to anyone under 30. Disney has done a very poor job protecting their version of this story and the legacy that surrounds it. This modern telling of he tale will sink or swim on its own, with little help from the past versions.

Is this show different? Yes. Is it creative? Yes. Is it interesting? Yes, but with a qualifier. I am old enough to remember the original fairy tale. The rest of the audience will be forced to decide about this one based on the facts presented in the pilot episode, and that may be harder for much of the intended audience. Also the fairy tale angle of this drama may attract a young audience, but the plot of this drama is anything but a children’s tale. There is a reason that these stories have been told with beautiful animation and soothing music in the past. Without them, there is likely a little more drama here than the younger ones will be able to tolerate.  

 

 - Editor

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