Once Upon a Time (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Once Upon a Time is an American fairy tale
drama
television series that premiered on Sunday October 23, 2011, on ABC
. New episodes air Sunday nights at 8:00 pm ET
/7:00 pm CT
.
On November 3, 2011, ABC ordered the back nine episodes for Once Upon a Time, bringing the first season to a total of 22 episodes.
(Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming
(James) (Joshua Dallas
), the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla
) arrives and delivers an ominous threat about a powerful curse she intends to release upon them. Some time later, a pregnant Snow White is worried about the curse and visits Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle
), who issues a prophecy that the Queen's curse will take them all someplace terrible where there will be no happy endings. He also reveals that Snow White's unborn daughter, Emma, will return when she is 28 years old to rescue them, thus beginning the final battle with the Queen. On advice from the Blue Fairy
, Geppetto (Tony Amendola
) and Pinocchio
fashion a wardrobe from a magical tree which will allow one person to escape the Queen's curse. Prince Charming intends for Snow White and their unborn daughter to use the magic tree to escape the curse, but Snow White goes into labor and gives birth to Emma just as the wardrobe is about to be completed. On the day Snow White gives birth to their daughter Emma, the Queen's curse strikes. Prince Charming places their daughter in the magic wardrobe, but is grievously wounded battling the Queen's henchmen. The Queen stands triumphantly over Snow White and Prince Charming as the curse takes them to "someplace horrible."
In present day Boston
, Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison
) lives a lonely existence working as a bail bondsman
and bounty hunter
. On her 28th birthday, Emma is approached by a ten-year-old boy who identifies himself as her son, Henry, whom Emma had given up for adoption as a baby. Not wanting a relationship with him, Emma agrees to drive him back to his home in Storybrooke, Maine. Along the way, Henry shows her a large book of fairy tales, insisting that all of the stories in it are real. When they arrive in Storybrooke, Henry informs her that everyone in town is in reality a fairy tale character, exiled by the curse and with no memory of their real identities. This includes his therapist, Dr. Archie Hopper, who is really Jiminy Cricket
, and his teacher Mary Margaret Blanchard, who is really Emma's mother Snow White. He claims that time is frozen in Storybrooke, and the people are unable to leave, but that the curse will be broken by Emma since she is the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. A skeptical Emma returns Henry to his adoptive mother, the town's mayor who is really the Evil Queen. When Henry soon runs away again, Emma finds him and decides to stay in Storybrooke temporarily. This decision causes the hands of the town clock, previously frozen, to begin moving again. Emma finds out that due to the Evil Queen's curse, her father Prince Charming is in a coma and has no memory of who he is.
conceived the show in 2004, prior to joining the writing staff of Lost
, but wanted to wait until that series was over to focus on this project. The script was picked up to pilot
on February 4, 2011. ABC
commissioned a series, airing from fall 2011 on Sundays at 8/7 Central.
In May 2011, Jane Espenson
was added as a co-executive producer
and Liz Tigelaar
was brought on as a consulting producer. Damon Lindelof
served as a consultant on the show's pilot. Kitsis described Lindelof as his and Horowitz's "godfather", while Horowitz said that Lindelof's "name isn't on the show, but his DNA is in it," and that he will continue to advise the two. They also noted that Disney has allowed them access to their fairy tale characters for use in the series. "They've given us license," Kitsis said. "I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time anyone's shown Snow White with a sword, or pregnant."
Both Horowitz and Kitsis later emphasized that the series will focus more on the characters themselves and won't feature a "complex" storyline, which reportedly was the primary focus. "We don't want this to be a mythology show," said Kitsis. "It's about characters and characters first."
On September 27, 2011, the producers made some changes in the casting department, with Kristin Bauer van Straten
replacing Paula Marshall
as Maleficent after revealing that it was going in a different direction. Marshall was originally tapped for the role in June 2011.
The show also has a similar premise to Bill Willingham
's comic series Fables
, to which ABC bought the rights in 2008, but never made it past the planning stages. Horowitz and Kitsis have "read a couple issues" of Fables but state that while the two concepts are "in the same playground," they believe they are "telling a different story." Comic-book reporter Rich Johnston
, on his column on his Bleeding Cool site, called the series a "rip-off" from Fables. The storyline also seems drawn from ABC's own 1987 sitcom The Charmings
and the Disney film Enchanted, and is also reminiscent of The 10th Kingdom
, a 2000 Hallmark Entertainment
mini-series produced for NBC
, as well as in the Sisters Grimm series. The story book owned by Henry, depicting the events in the fairy tale
world is illustrated in watercolors by Marvel
comic-book artist
João M. P Lemos
.
As a nod to the ties between the production teams of Once Upon a Time and Lost, the new show contains allusions to Lost
, and is expected to be a continuing theme throughout the series.
Fairytale and Disney Allusions
The show, as a production of Disney-owned ABC, contains multiple allusions to the Disney versions of the stories that form the basis for the series. Snow White's dwarfs, unnamed in traditional versions of the story, here have the names they were given in the Disney film
. Similarly, Sleeping Beauty
was cursed by an individual named Maleficent
, again the name used in the 1959 Disney film
for the wicked fairy godmother
that lacked a name in many other versions (In Tchaikovsky's ballet, she was named Carabosse). In the pilot episode, Leroy (the real world counterpart to the dwarf Grumpy) whistles Whistle While You Work
, a song written for the 1937 film
. Gepetto's fairy friend is called The Blue Fairy as in the 1940 Disney film
, rather than The Fairy with Turquoise Hair and Jiminy Cricket
rather than "the Talking Cricket," as in Carlo Collodi
's novel. It should also be noted that the princes from Snow White
and Cinderella
have been given the names of "James" and "Thomas" respectively. They were unnamed in their original Disney films and traditional versions of their stories. In episode five, it was revealed that Archie Hopper had a dalmatian
named Pongo, which is the same name of the main character in the 1961 film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians
, and it was alluded that Jiminy's parents and their background are somehow based on another set of characters from Pinocchio, Gideon and the Fox.
, it was given a score of 66 out of 100 with "generally favorable reviews". E!
's Kristin dos Santos cites the show as one of the five new shows of the 2011–12 season to watch. Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe
gave the show a "C+" grade commenting "From a pair of Lost
producers, this is a love-or-hate proposition. The ambition is impressive, as it asks us to imagine Goodwin’s Snow White and Parrilla’s Evil Queen as moderns. But Morrison is a wooden lead, and the back stories—a random collection of fairy tales—don’t promise to surprise." In a review from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
, TV critic Gail Pennington hailed it as one of the "Most Promising Show of The Fall", and unlike Gilbert, had high marks for Morrison. USA Today
's Robert Blanco has placed the series on its top ten list, declaring that "There's nothing else on the air quite like it." Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
compared this series to another fairy-tale themed drama, Grimm
, and preferred this series over the other, citing that the premise takes its time building up the charm and that the producer "has that part nailed". She also gave excellent reviews for Morrison's character: "Her Emma is predictably cynical and prickly—fairy-tale princess, my Aunt Fanny—but she's sharp and lively enough to keep audiences begging for 'just a few more pages' before they go to bed."
Canadian broadcast: The series will air at 7 pm in all regions except in Saskatchewan
and Winnipeg
, where it will air at 10 pm. All times local time.
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
drama
Drama
Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning "action" , which is derived from "to do","to act" . The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a...
television series that premiered on Sunday October 23, 2011, on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. New episodes air Sunday nights at 8:00 pm ET
Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
/7:00 pm CT
Central Time zone
In North America, the Central Time Zone refers to national time zones which observe standard time by subtracting six hours from UTC , and daylight saving, or summer time by subtracting five hours...
.
On November 3, 2011, ABC ordered the back nine episodes for Once Upon a Time, bringing the first season to a total of 22 episodes.
Synopsis
On the wedding day of Snow WhiteSnow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
(Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming
Prince Charming
Prince Charming is a stock character who appears in a number of fairy tales. He is the prince who comes to rescue of the damsel in distress, and stereotypically, must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell...
(James) (Joshua Dallas
Joshua Dallas
Joshua Dallas is an American actor who played Fandral in Thor, a film adaptation based on the Marvel Comics character. He is currently starring in the ABC television series Once Upon a Time.-Early life:...
), the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla
Lana Parrilla
Lana Parrilla is a Puerto Rican-American actress, best known for her roles on Spin City, 24, Boomtown and Miami Medical...
) arrives and delivers an ominous threat about a powerful curse she intends to release upon them. Some time later, a pregnant Snow White is worried about the curse and visits Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle
Robert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
), who issues a prophecy that the Queen's curse will take them all someplace terrible where there will be no happy endings. He also reveals that Snow White's unborn daughter, Emma, will return when she is 28 years old to rescue them, thus beginning the final battle with the Queen. On advice from the Blue Fairy
Blue Fairy
The Fairy With Turquoise Hair is a fictional character in Carlo Collodi's book The Adventures of Pinocchio. She repeatedly appears at critical moments in Pinocchio's wanderings to admonish the little wooden puppet to avoid bad or risky behavior...
, Geppetto (Tony Amendola
Tony Amendola
Tony Amendola is an American actor who is best known for his recurring role as the Jaffa master Bra'tac in Stargate SG-1.-Career:Major movie roles include Blow, The Mask of Zorro and its sequel, The Legend of Zorro...
) and Pinocchio
Pinocchio
The Adventures of Pinocchio is a novel for children by Italian author Carlo Collodi, written in Florence. The first half was originally a serial between 1881 and 1883, and then later completed as a book for children in February 1883. It is about the mischievous adventures of Pinocchio , an...
fashion a wardrobe from a magical tree which will allow one person to escape the Queen's curse. Prince Charming intends for Snow White and their unborn daughter to use the magic tree to escape the curse, but Snow White goes into labor and gives birth to Emma just as the wardrobe is about to be completed. On the day Snow White gives birth to their daughter Emma, the Queen's curse strikes. Prince Charming places their daughter in the magic wardrobe, but is grievously wounded battling the Queen's henchmen. The Queen stands triumphantly over Snow White and Prince Charming as the curse takes them to "someplace horrible."
In present day Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Morrison
Jennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...
) lives a lonely existence working as a bail bondsman
Bail bondsman
A bail bond agent, or bondsman, is any person or corporation that will act as a surety and pledge money or property as bail for the appearance of persons accused in court...
and bounty hunter
Bounty hunter
A bounty hunter captures fugitives for a monetary reward . Other names, mainly used in the United States, include bail enforcement agent and fugitive recovery agent.-Laws in the U.S.:...
. On her 28th birthday, Emma is approached by a ten-year-old boy who identifies himself as her son, Henry, whom Emma had given up for adoption as a baby. Not wanting a relationship with him, Emma agrees to drive him back to his home in Storybrooke, Maine. Along the way, Henry shows her a large book of fairy tales, insisting that all of the stories in it are real. When they arrive in Storybrooke, Henry informs her that everyone in town is in reality a fairy tale character, exiled by the curse and with no memory of their real identities. This includes his therapist, Dr. Archie Hopper, who is really Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket is the Walt Disney version of "The Talking Cricket" , a fictional character created by Carlo Collodi for his children's book Pinocchio, which was adapted into an animated film by Disney in 1940...
, and his teacher Mary Margaret Blanchard, who is really Emma's mother Snow White. He claims that time is frozen in Storybrooke, and the people are unable to leave, but that the curse will be broken by Emma since she is the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White. A skeptical Emma returns Henry to his adoptive mother, the town's mayor who is really the Evil Queen. When Henry soon runs away again, Emma finds him and decides to stay in Storybrooke temporarily. This decision causes the hands of the town clock, previously frozen, to begin moving again. Emma finds out that due to the Evil Queen's curse, her father Prince Charming is in a coma and has no memory of who he is.
Cast and characters
- Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow WhiteSnow White"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
/Mary Margaret Blanchard - Jennifer MorrisonJennifer MorrisonJennifer Marie Morrison is an American actress, model and film producer. She is best known for her role as Dr. Allison Cameron in House, whom she played for five-and-a-half years, and also as Zoey Pierson in the sixth season of How I Met Your Mother...
as Emma Swan - Lana ParrillaLana ParrillaLana Parrilla is a Puerto Rican-American actress, best known for her roles on Spin City, 24, Boomtown and Miami Medical...
as The Evil Queen/Regina Mills - Josh DallasJoshua DallasJoshua Dallas is an American actor who played Fandral in Thor, a film adaptation based on the Marvel Comics character. He is currently starring in the ABC television series Once Upon a Time.-Early life:...
as Prince James 'CharmingPrince CharmingPrince Charming is a stock character who appears in a number of fairy tales. He is the prince who comes to rescue of the damsel in distress, and stereotypically, must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell...
'/David Nolan - Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills
- Raphael SbargeRaphael SbargeRaphael Sbarge is an American actor and voice actor.-Early life:Sbarge was born into a theatre-oriented family in New York City. His mother, Jeanne Button, was a costume designer, and his father, Stephen A. Sbarge, was an artist, writer and stage director who named his son after the Renaissance...
as Jiminy CricketJiminy CricketJiminy Cricket is the Walt Disney version of "The Talking Cricket" , a fictional character created by Carlo Collodi for his children's book Pinocchio, which was adapted into an animated film by Disney in 1940...
/Archibald 'Archie' Hopper - Jamie Dornan as Sheriff Graham
- Robert CarlyleRobert CarlyleRobert Carlyle, OBE is a Scottish film and television actor. He is known for a variety of roles including those in Trainspotting, Hamish Macbeth, The Full Monty, The World Is Not Enough, Angela's Ashes, The 51st State, and 28 Weeks Later...
as RumpelstiltskinRumpelstiltskinRumpelstiltskin is the eponymous character and protagonist of a fairy tale which originated in Germany . The tale was collected by the Brothers Grimm, who first published it in the 1812 edition of Children's and Household Tales...
/Mr. Gold
Episodes
| Season | Episodes | Originally aired | DVD DVD A DVD is an optical disc storage media format, invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. DVDs offer higher storage capacity than Compact Discs while having the same dimensions.... release date |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season premiere Season premiere In North America, a season premiere is the first episode of a new season of a given television show. It often airs in September or October, after several months of reruns.-Evaluating the changes:... |
Season finale Season finale A season finale is the final episode of a season of a television program... |
Region 1 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
Region 2 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
Region 4 DVD region code DVD region codes are a digital-rights management technique designed to allow film distributors to control aspects of a release, including content, release date, and price, according to the region... |
||
Ratings
The pilot episode was watched by 13 million viewers and received a 4.0 rating in Adults 18-49. It was the season's #1 rated drama debut among Adults 18-49 and ABC's biggest debut in five years. The show's next three episodes have had consistent ratings every week with over 11 million viewers.Production
Adam Horowitz and Edward KitsisEdward Kitsis
Edward Lawrence Kitsis, also sometimes credited as Eddy Kitsis, is an American screenwriter and producer, best known for his work on the popular American television series, Lost and Once Upon a Time.-Life and career:...
conceived the show in 2004, prior to joining the writing staff of Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
, but wanted to wait until that series was over to focus on this project. The script was picked up to pilot
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
on February 4, 2011. ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
commissioned a series, airing from fall 2011 on Sundays at 8/7 Central.
In May 2011, Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson
Jane Espenson is an American script writer and television producer who has worked on both situation comedies and serial dramas. She had a five-year stint as a writer and producer on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and shared a Hugo Award for her writing on the episode "Conversations with Dead People"...
was added as a co-executive producer
Television producer
The primary role of a television Producer is to allow all aspects of video production, ranging from show idea development and cast hiring to shoot supervision and fact-checking...
and Liz Tigelaar
Liz Tigelaar
Liz Tigelaar is an American television writer, producer and author. She has worked on the series Brothers & Sisters, Melrose Place, American Dreams, and Once and Again. In 2010, she created and executive produced The CW series Life Unexpected. Until its cancellation in January 2011.Tigelaar has...
was brought on as a consulting producer. Damon Lindelof
Damon Lindelof
Damon Laurence Lindelof is an American television writer and executive, most recently noted as the co-creator and executive producer for the television series Lost. He has written for and produced Crossing Jordan, and wrote for Nash Bridges, Wasteland, and the MTV anthology series Undressed...
served as a consultant on the show's pilot. Kitsis described Lindelof as his and Horowitz's "godfather", while Horowitz said that Lindelof's "name isn't on the show, but his DNA is in it," and that he will continue to advise the two. They also noted that Disney has allowed them access to their fairy tale characters for use in the series. "They've given us license," Kitsis said. "I could be wrong, but I think this is the first time anyone's shown Snow White with a sword, or pregnant."
Both Horowitz and Kitsis later emphasized that the series will focus more on the characters themselves and won't feature a "complex" storyline, which reportedly was the primary focus. "We don't want this to be a mythology show," said Kitsis. "It's about characters and characters first."
On September 27, 2011, the producers made some changes in the casting department, with Kristin Bauer van Straten
Kristin Bauer
Kristin Bauer van Straten is an American film and television actress, perhaps best known for her role as vampire Pam in the HBO series True Blood.-Biography:...
replacing Paula Marshall
Paula Marshall
Paula Marshall is an American actress.-Career:In 1992, Marshall had a three-episode guest role on The Wonder Years and later guest-starred on shows such as Seinfeld, Nash Bridges, Grapevine and Diagnosis: Murder. In 1994, she got her first sitcom role on Wild Oats...
as Maleficent after revealing that it was going in a different direction. Marshall was originally tapped for the role in June 2011.
The show also has a similar premise to Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham
Bill Willingham is an American writer and artist of comics.-Career:Willingham got his start in the late 1970s to early 1980s as a staff artist for TSR, Inc., where he illustrated a number of their role-playing game products...
's comic series Fables
Fables (comics)
Fables is a comic book series created by writer Bill Willingham, published by DC Comics's Vertigo imprint beginning in 2002. The series deals with various characters from fairy tales and folklore – referring to themselves as "Fables" – who have been forced out of their Homelands by "The...
, to which ABC bought the rights in 2008, but never made it past the planning stages. Horowitz and Kitsis have "read a couple issues" of Fables but state that while the two concepts are "in the same playground," they believe they are "telling a different story." Comic-book reporter Rich Johnston
Rich Johnston
Rich Johnston is a writer who writes about the comic book industry.-Early life:Johnston grew up in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, studied politics at University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and was an advertising copywriter until 2009; he currently lives in Kingston Vale, London, with his wife, Janice...
, on his column on his Bleeding Cool site, called the series a "rip-off" from Fables. The storyline also seems drawn from ABC's own 1987 sitcom The Charmings
The Charmings
The Charmings is an American fantasy sitcom that aired from March 1987 to February 1988 on ABC.-Synopsis:The opening voice-over set-up the premise:...
and the Disney film Enchanted, and is also reminiscent of The 10th Kingdom
The 10th Kingdom
The 10th Kingdom is an American epic fantasy miniseries written by Simon Moore and produced by Britain's Carnival Films, Germany's Babelsberg Film und Fernsehen, and the USA's Hallmark Entertainment...
, a 2000 Hallmark Entertainment
RHI Entertainment
RHI Entertainment , formerly known as Hallmark Entertainment, is an American producer of television movies and miniseries, founded in 1979 by Robert Halmi Jr. and Robert Halmi Sr. as Robert Halmi Incorporated....
mini-series produced for NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, as well as in the Sisters Grimm series. The story book owned by Henry, depicting the events in the fairy tale
Fairy tale
A fairy tale is a type of short story that typically features such folkloric characters, such as fairies, goblins, elves, trolls, dwarves, giants or gnomes, and usually magic or enchantments. However, only a small number of the stories refer to fairies...
world is illustrated in watercolors by Marvel
Marvel Comics
Marvel Worldwide, Inc., commonly referred to as Marvel Comics and formerly Marvel Publishing, Inc. and Marvel Comics Group, is an American company that publishes comic books and related media...
comic-book artist
Comic Book Artist
Comic Book Artist was an American magazine founded by Jon B. Cooke devoted to anecdotal histories of American comic books, with emphasis on comics published since the 1960s...
João M. P Lemos
Joao M. P. Lemos
Joao M. P. Lemos is a Portuguese illustrator and comic book author.A member of the former Bica Studio, in Lisbon, he works for Marvel Comics, having designed, penciled and inked Avengers Fairy Tales #1, where the characters of the Avengers were mixed with the cast from J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan. The...
.
Allusions
LOST AllusionsAs a nod to the ties between the production teams of Once Upon a Time and Lost, the new show contains allusions to Lost
Mythology of Lost
The television show Lost includes a number of mysterious elements that have been ascribed to science fiction or supernatural phenomena, usually concerning coincidences, synchronicity, déjà vu, temporal and spatial anomalies, paradoxes, and other puzzling phenomena...
, and is expected to be a continuing theme throughout the series.
- In the Pilot episodePilot (Once Upon a Time)"Pilot" is the first-season and series premiere of the American Fairy Tale/Drama television series Once Upon a Time. It premiered in the United States on ABC on October 23, 2011...
, the clock tower is stuck at the time 8:15, an allusion to Oceanic flight 815. - It is also revealed in the pilot that Regina and Henry's house address is 108, an allusion to the button needing to pushed every 108 minutes.
- In the pilot episode, a scene starts with a closeup of Emma's eye, which was a common scene starter in LOST.
- Henry tells Emma that "no one can leave [Storybrooke] because bad things happen if they do." This quote (sans the Storybrooke reference) was also used by Ben, Locke and Jack when they talk about trying to escape the island on LOST.
- Emma has a Geronimo Jackson bumpersticker, which was a fictional band sometimes mentioned in LOST.
- In "The Thing You Love MostThe Thing You Love Most"The Thing You Love Most" is the second episode of the American Fairy Tale/Drama television series Once Upon a Time, which aired in the United States on ABC on October 30, 2011....
," the numbers that add up to 108 - 4, 8, 15, 16 and 23 - are summed up: The clock moving from 8:15 to 8:16, followed by the next morning when Regina and Archie sees the clock at 8:23, followed by Regina going to Emma's room at Granny's Bed & Breakfast, which is numbered 4. - In the episode "Snow FallsSnow Falls"Snow Falls" is the third episode of the American Fairy Tale/Drama television series Once Upon a Time, which aired in the United States on ABC on November 6, 2011....
", Henry yells out, "We have to go back," alluding to the line uttered by JackJack ShephardDr. Jack Shephard is a fictional character and protagonist of the ABC television series Lost played by Matthew Fox. Lost follows the journey of the survivors of Oceanic Airlines flight 815 on a mysterious island and their attempts to survive and escape, slowly uncovering more of the much broader...
in the Season 3 finale. - In the episode "That Still Small VoiceThat Still Small Voice"That Still Small Voice" is the fifth episode of the American Fairy Tale/Drama television series Once Upon a Time, which aired in the United States on ABC on November 27, 2011....
", Henry is carrying the Apollo candy bars, which are the same candy bars in the Dharma food packages. Also, the scene where the shaft is opened bears similarities with the opening of the hatch in the Season 1 finale. - Emma's last name is Swan, same as the name of one of the main DHARMA stations.
Fairytale and Disney Allusions
The show, as a production of Disney-owned ABC, contains multiple allusions to the Disney versions of the stories that form the basis for the series. Snow White's dwarfs, unnamed in traditional versions of the story, here have the names they were given in the Disney film
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
. Similarly, Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty
Sleeping Beauty by Charles Perrault or Little Briar Rose by the Brothers Grimm is a classic fairytale involving a beautiful princess, enchantment, and a handsome prince...
was cursed by an individual named Maleficent
Maleficent
Maleficent is a fictional character and the main antagonist in Walt Disney's 1959 adaptation of Sleeping Beauty. She is the self-proclaimed "Mistress of All Evil" who, after not being invited to the baby's christening, curses the infant Princess Aurora to "prick her finger on the spindle of a...
, again the name used in the 1959 Disney film
Sleeping Beauty (1959 film)
Sleeping Beauty is a 1959 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the fairy tale "La Belle au bois dormant" by Charles Perrault...
for the wicked fairy godmother
Wicked fairy godmother
The wicked fairy godmother, a figure rare in fairy tales, is nevertheless among best-known figures from such tales because of her appearance in one of the most widely known tales, Sleeping Beauty, and in the ballet derived from it...
that lacked a name in many other versions (In Tchaikovsky's ballet, she was named Carabosse). In the pilot episode, Leroy (the real world counterpart to the dwarf Grumpy) whistles Whistle While You Work
Whistle While You Work
Whistle While You Work is a song with music written by Frank Churchill and lyrics written by Larry Morey for the 1937 animated Disney movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. It was performed in the movie, at least unofficially, by voice actress Adriana Caselotti...
, a song written for the 1937 film
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937 film)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American animated film based on Snow White, a German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. It was the first full-length cel-animated feature in motion picture history, as well as the first animated feature film produced in America, the first produced in full...
. Gepetto's fairy friend is called The Blue Fairy as in the 1940 Disney film
Pinocchio (1940 film)
Pinocchio is a 1940 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the story The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi. It is the second film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics, and it was made after the success of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and was released to theaters by...
, rather than The Fairy with Turquoise Hair and Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket
Jiminy Cricket is the Walt Disney version of "The Talking Cricket" , a fictional character created by Carlo Collodi for his children's book Pinocchio, which was adapted into an animated film by Disney in 1940...
rather than "the Talking Cricket," as in Carlo Collodi
Carlo Collodi
Carlo Lorenzini , better known by the pen name Carlo Collodi, was an Italian children's writer known for the world-renowned fairy tale novel, The Adventures of Pinocchio.-Biography:...
's novel. It should also be noted that the princes from Snow White
Snow White
"Snow White" is a fairy tale known from many countries in Europe, the best known version being the German one collected by the Brothers Grimm...
and Cinderella
Cinderella
"Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper" is a folk tale embodying a myth-element of unjust oppression/triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The title character is a young woman living in unfortunate circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune...
have been given the names of "James" and "Thomas" respectively. They were unnamed in their original Disney films and traditional versions of their stories. In episode five, it was revealed that Archie Hopper had a dalmatian
Dalmatian
Dalmatian may refer to:* Dalmatia, a region mainly in the southern part of modern Croatia* Dalmatae, an ancient people from the region* Dalmatian language, an extinct Romance language* Dalmatian , a breed of dog...
named Pongo, which is the same name of the main character in the 1961 film, One Hundred and One Dalmatians
One Hundred and One Dalmatians
One Hundred and One Dalmatians, often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians, is a 1961 American animated film produced by Walt Disney and based on the novel The Hundred and One Dalmatians by Dodie Smith...
, and it was alluded that Jiminy's parents and their background are somehow based on another set of characters from Pinocchio, Gideon and the Fox.
The Opening Sequence
Beginning with the second episode, the opening sequences that appears below the show's title features a mythical creature, person, or a item that is tied into the episode.- "The Thing You Love Most": Unicorn
- "Snow Falls": Bridge Troll
- "The Price of Gold": Cinderella's fairy godmother
- "That Still Small Voice": Rumpelstiltskin's spinning wheel
Critical reception
Several critics who saw the pilot reviewed the series positively. On MetacriticMetacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
, it was given a score of 66 out of 100 with "generally favorable reviews". E!
E!
E! Entertainment Television is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by NBCUniversal. It features entertainment-related programming, reality television, feature films and occasionally series and specials unrelated to the entertainment industry.E! has an audience reach of...
's Kristin dos Santos cites the show as one of the five new shows of the 2011–12 season to watch. Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
gave the show a "C+" grade commenting "From a pair of Lost
Lost (TV series)
Lost is an American television series that originally aired on ABC from September 22, 2004 to May 23, 2010, consisting of six seasons. Lost is a drama series that follows the survivors of the crash of a commercial passenger jet flying between Sydney and Los Angeles, on a mysterious tropical island...
producers, this is a love-or-hate proposition. The ambition is impressive, as it asks us to imagine Goodwin’s Snow White and Parrilla’s Evil Queen as moderns. But Morrison is a wooden lead, and the back stories—a random collection of fairy tales—don’t promise to surprise." In a review from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch is the major city-wide newspaper in St. Louis, Missouri. Although written to serve Greater St. Louis, the Post-Dispatch is one of the largest newspapers in the Midwestern United States, and is available and read as far west as Kansas City, Missouri, as far south as...
, TV critic Gail Pennington hailed it as one of the "Most Promising Show of The Fall", and unlike Gilbert, had high marks for Morrison. USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
's Robert Blanco has placed the series on its top ten list, declaring that "There's nothing else on the air quite like it." Mary McNamara of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
compared this series to another fairy-tale themed drama, Grimm
Grimm (TV series)
Grimm is an American fantasy/mystery/crime drama series that made its debut on NBC on October 28, 2011. It airs Fridays at 9:00 pm ET/8:00 pm CT. The show has been described as "a cop drama—with a twist.....
, and preferred this series over the other, citing that the premise takes its time building up the charm and that the producer "has that part nailed". She also gave excellent reviews for Morrison's character: "Her Emma is predictably cynical and prickly—fairy-tale princess, my Aunt Fanny—but she's sharp and lively enough to keep audiences begging for 'just a few more pages' before they go to bed."
International broadcasts
The series has been picked up for international broadcasts in these countries:| Country | Channel | Premiere date | Timeslot |
|---|---|---|---|
 CanadaCanada Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean... |
CTV CTV television network CTV Television Network is a Canadian English language television network and is owned by Bell Media. It is Canada's largest privately-owned network, and has consistently placed as Canada's top-rated network in total viewers and in key demographics since 2002, after several years trailing the rival... |
October 23, 2011 | 7 pm & 10 pm |
 ItalyItaly Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and... |
FOX Fox (Italy) Fox is an Italian Entertainment TV channel, owned and produced by Fox International Channels Italy and broadcast in Italy by Sky Italia on Channel 111. Timeshifts of the channel are available at channel 112 and 113... |
December 25, 2011 | 9 pm |
 SpainSpain Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula... |
Antena 3 Antena 3 (Spain) Antena 3 is a Spanish terrestrial television channel owned by Antena 3 de Televisión. Some of the more popular programmes broadcast by Antena 3 include Aquí no hay quien viva, El Barco, Los Protegidos, Los Simpson and El Internado.... |
TBA | TBA |
 PortugalPortugal Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the... |
AXN Portugal AXN AXN is a Pay television, cable and satellite television channel owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, which was first launched on May 22, 1997. The network is now spread across several regions in the world, including Japan, Europe, other parts of Asia and Latin America... |
TBA | TBA |
 AustraliaAustralia Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area... |
Seven Network Seven Network The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach... |
2012 | TBA |
 BrazilBrazil Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people... |
Globo Rede Globo Rede Globo , or simply Globo, is a Brazilian television network, launched by media mogul Roberto Marinho on April 26, 1965. It is owned by media conglomerate Organizações Globo, being by far the largest of its holdings... |
2012 | |
 GreeceGreece Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe.... |
Star Channel Star Channel Star Channel is a Greek television network that broadcasts a mix of foreign and Greek programming. It launched in December 1993 and is owned by Nea Tileorasi A.E.. The main news bulletin is called Star Eidiseis, which is currently hosted by Aimilios Liatsos... |
2012 | |
 IsraelIsrael The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea... |
Yes | 2012 | |
 New ZealandNew Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga... |
TVNZ | 2012 | TBA |
Canadian broadcast: The series will air at 7 pm in all regions except in Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....
and Winnipeg
Winnipeg
Winnipeg is the capital and largest city of Manitoba, Canada, and is the primary municipality of the Winnipeg Capital Region, with more than half of Manitoba's population. It is located near the longitudinal centre of North America, at the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers .The name...
, where it will air at 10 pm. All times local time.