Monday, October 24, 2011

Once Upon a Time: What'd You Think?



So Once Upon a Time's Pilot [HD] premiered last night. I didn't see it live--rarely will due to Sunday night family time--but once we got home, John and I sat down to watch it. I will tune in again for the next episode and am interested although filled with trepidation since it will need quite a few viewers to pay for its high production costs. (I'm still bitter over the demise of Pushing Daisies.) Plus, my personal bugaboo is a series that cannot be watched as episodic vignettes. I hate thinking it may take five years to reach a conclusion of something, especially when no show has ever maintained its quality over five years. I'm also the one who will rarely read trilogies until they are finished either. I avoid cliffhangers. Book series are different since they tend to have internal conclusions.

But it was fun with just an edge of campy and the actors pulled off their roles well. I was afraid of scenery chewing and there was little of that, most of it in the first few scenes. Then there is picking out the visual hints and lines. The apple imagery and allusions were funny---Apple cider, anyone? And Red Riding Hood and Granny could be fun, too. There were references to Alice in Wonderland and Oz and, of course, Pinnochio so those are all being included in this fairy tale realm, too.

The episode also appears to be available for viewing for a short time on IMDB, probably only for US viewers. Amazon also has it for purchase which will keep it in your permanent library forever with them.

Next up will be Grimm this Friday...

5 comments:

  1. I was pleasantly surprised by it. Didn't know what to expect, but the pilot I felt was well done.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I definitely went into this very skeptically, but the pilot did leave me wanting to see more. I was worried at first when they were clearly going with the Disney interpretation on many levels (I.e. True love's kiss, personalities of the dwarfs) but I'm hoping that they venture beyond that as the series goes on. I'm also skeptical about the inclusion of non-fairytale bedtime stories like Pinnocchio and Alice in Wonderland (I may be mistaken about Pinnoccio). However, I got a kick out of the interpretations of Rumplestiltskin and Red Riding Hood. It'll be worth watching!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I loved it although it reminds me of Disney and Fables a little too much, especially Fables. Although I've read Disney is the parent company and some Disney characters will be making an appearance. I loved the fact that LRH became a goth and that she and granny seem to have some sort of role in the show!
    I think it definitely has potential and I like Emma as a lead.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I liked it. Sure, there's some cheese, but I think it's off to a good start. Even my (non-fairy-tale-obsessed) husband was like, "When is the next episode?"

    ReplyDelete
  5. It got a four in the rating demos! So happy.

    ReplyDelete