OUAT vs. Other Fairy Tales: Compare & Contrast

[Camera One]

So I was really bored and avoiding doing what I was supposed to be doing, so I typed in various characters into Google images.

 

I tried Snow White, and none of the first 100 pictures had Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White... you had to scroll way down.  There were tons of the animated one, some people wearing Snow White Halloween costumes, Kristen Stewart, etc.

 

I tried Robin Hood, and it was even worse for the "Once" version.  I got to 100 and gave up.

 

Captain Hook had the 48th picture.

 

Prince Charming had the 36th picture.  Most of them were actually Cinderella's Prince.

 

Evil Queen had the 3rd image being Regina.

 

Rumplestiltskin as expected got the 1st image.

Edited August 2, 2014 by Camera One

[tennisgurl]

Anyone interested in the Rumpelstiltskin story, or in the "fairytale with a twist" aspect of the show, should read "The Rumpelstiltskin Problem" by Vivian Vande Velde. Its a YA book where each chapter tells a different take on the Rumpelstilskin story. Some are funny and light, some are more dark fantasy, some are told from Rumpelstilskins perspective, some from the millers daughter, one is even told from the kings. Its a good read, especially after watching the show.

[KingOfHearts]

There is a series on Oz called Emerald City coming to NBC this fall. It's supposedly a darker and more war-like take on it. I enjoyed Tin Man, so I'm hopeful this show will be interesting as well. From the looks of it, it'll also draw lore from the other books in the Oz series besides the first one. However it turns out, it'll be a better adaptation of Oz than Once was!

Edited August 5, 2014 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

Here's a list of characters for the Emerald City show.  It's going to be quite a different adaptation going from this casting list and the descriptions of the characters.

http://tvline.com/2014/06/19/emerald-city-cast-nbc-wizard-of-oz/

[KingOfHearts]

Thanks, Camera One. I'm hoping there are actually South and East witches too. I know they want to go dark and weird, but I was hoping to get something more like Once in tone. Doesn't look like that's happening, unfortunately.

Edited August 5, 2014 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

In the "classic" era (pre the Little Mermaid revival), the only cartoon prince who got a name and a personality was Philip in Sleeping Beauty. Otherwise, they were nonentities, and I think our David is way, way more interesting than Snow White's Prince Charming, who had just about zero relationship with Snow White before kissing her corpse and who didn't do much of anything. Actually, our David is essentially the movie Philip -- he ran into his true love in the woods and then decided against going into an arranged marriage (though in Philip's case, the arranged marriage turned out to be the girl he met in the woods), he rebelled against his father about the arranged marriage, he has a dry sense of humor and a great deal of courage and he battled dragon Maleficent. All he's missing is the contentious relationship with his horse. Show Philip is missing movie Philip's snark (though I'm not sure he's supposed to actually be the counterpart to movie Philip, since our Aurora is apparently the daughter of movie Aurora). The other princes, like their movie counterparts, are mostly set dressing.

 

 

Well, he was attracted by her singing and eagerly approached to sing the last note of her song.  Then he serenaded Snow while Snow watched from her room, reinforcing their mutual ideals of dreams of true love.  Even her birds approved.  It's so rare to have so much affinity with someone you break into slow love ballad with them.  Since she was on the run immediately after this scene, he then devoted his time to trying to find her, only to realize it was too late.  I don't fault him for not getting to know her more since he never even got the chance to. 

 

I'm mostly half joking, but yes, those animated movies often had no interest in fleshing out stories of the Prince.  Kinda refreshing actually, since with "Tangled" and "Frozen", Disney actually intentionally made more male-friendly elements in the film, including changing the names from "Rapunzel" and the "The Snow Queen", so they wouldn't just get the Princess crowd.

[myril]

I'm mostly half joking, but yes, those animated movies often had no interest in fleshing out stories of the Prince.  Kinda refreshing actually, since with "Tangled" and "Frozen", Disney actually intentionally made more male-friendly elements in the film, including changing the names from "Rapunzel" and the "The Snow Queen", so they wouldn't just get the Princess crowd.

 

The boys had the comics world, Marvel, DC, superheroes, and the girls got the Disney princesses. Now the boys get some princes and the girls, oh, wait, where are the women superheroes? Okay, there are a few women now as sidekicks to the male superheroes, bit of brain, plenty of boobs and naked skin and mostly impractical costumes, but it's a start. In exchange the Disney princes got names. ;-)

Edited August 5, 2014 by katusch

[Shanna Marie]

I think that making the "princes" (though Flynn and Kristoff aren't actually princes) real characters instead of ciphers improved the stories, regardless of why they were added. I was a big fan of the classic Disney cartoons when I was a kid, but when I've watched them as an adult, I find them pretty boring and insufferable. Cinderella and Snow White are so goody-goody they make even my teeth ache, and I'm the one who loves good good guys and isn't interested in villains. Their princes are bland and there's no development of the relationship. I think I mostly liked the music and the look of these things as a kid, since back in the Dark Ages we didn't have home video, and most of my exposure to those movies was the "story and the songs" record albums, in which one of the characters would narrate the story, with the songs interspersed. I probably mentally filled in a lot of gaps, and my mental versions turned out to be a lot more interesting than the actual movies. The only one that holds up for me is Sleeping Beauty, in which the prince got a name and an actual personality.

 

In the modern era, Eric was still mostly a cipher, though he did at least get lines and a name and got to do a few interesting things. The Beast was another improvement. Flynn may have been the most interesting of all because he also got a character arc. To me, making the guys more interesting forces the girls to also be more interesting and it makes the relationships more interesting. You can believe that they'll stick together because their relationship is based on more than her shoe size.

 

As I said in the All Seasons thread, it seems like they used movie Philip as the basis for the show's Charming, but it would be nice if they put equal effort into fleshing out the other guys. For instance, the show's Robin Hood could learn a lot from that fox.

[ShadowFacts]

 

The boys had the comics world, Marvel, DC, superheroes, and the girls got the Disney princesses. Now the boys get some princes and the girls, oh, wait, where are the women superheroes? Okay, there are a few women now as sidekicks to the male superheroes, bit of brain, plenty of boobs and naked skin and mostly impractical costumes, but it's a start. In exchange the Disney princes got names. ;-)

 

Well, I know a little 4 year-old girl who runs around calling herself a "shuperhero", so I guess that's a good place to start -- make yourself the hero instead of waiting for the culture to get with the program. 

[Camera One]

I was a big fan of the classic Disney cartoons when I was a kid, but when I've watched them as an adult, I find them pretty boring and insufferable. Cinderella and Snow White are so goody-goody they make even my teeth ache, and I'm the one who loves good good guys and isn't interested in villains. Their princes are bland and there's no development of the relationship.

 

That's too bad.  It always sucks when you grow up and you find you no longer can access the part of you which used to enjoy something.  I was babysitting and watched "Cinderella" with some kids tonight.  While I was a little annoyed at the antics with the animals, I didn't have any problem with the goody-goody nature of Cinderella.  I actually admired how she managed to try her best to be optimistic and kept her sense of humor even though she was pretty much a slave.  And it was very Snow White of her to try to think the best of those you can't get along with, as that advice she gave the dog.  Unlike some other princesses, "A Dream is a Wish" was more about never losing hope, and she actually never mentioned love until during the Ball itself.  I had to do a lot of housework as a kid, so I could actually relate to her toiling away, LOL.  That was definitely true there is absolutely no development of the relationship with the Prince, but I did like the part where his Father was going on and on about how he seems to have no interest in girls and he was looking so bored at the parade of girls being presented to him.   Anyway, I found it pretty easy to cheer on Cinderella.  Not necessarily to get married but just to escape that hellhole.  

 

Now that evil stepmother was a real piece of work.  It's really too bad she didn't get pushed off a cliff since she deserved it as much as any of the more blatantly evil villains.  

Edited August 11, 2014 by Camera One

[KAOS Agent]

I've never minded Cinderella so much because that was someone who was pretty well trying to make the best of an unescapable situation. She wasn't looking for a prince to take her away from it all or really expecting a fairy godmother to save her. And really all Miss Bibbity Bobbity Boo offered to do was give her a night away from it all which gave her a nice break and a bit of wish fulfillment. That the prince fell in love with her was happenstance. Disney's Snow White, on the other hand, is awful. She's living in the middle of the forest with some dwarfs singing about how someday her prince will come, but never doing anything about fixing her life on her own. Yeah, sitting around waiting for Prince Charming to show up sounds like a great idea. That he actually shows up and immediately falls for her sends a terrible message. I won't even go into how stupid she is to accept and eat food from a creepy stranger. Emma would knock that woman upside the head and tell her to get a life. I think even Mary Margaret would be embarrassed about that version of herself.

[Camera One]

Snow White certainly is one of the least developed protagonists of the Disney fairy tales, and she was beyond naive.  But with that movie, I think back to the fact that it was made in 1937, when there was a whole different set of social mores and outdated beliefs.  When I watch that movie, I think of it as a relic from the past, so I do find some charm in it.  As for "never doing anything about fixing her life on her own", what could she have done?  She knew the Queen still waned her dead, though she recovered pretty quickly from the murder attempt with the Huntsman and made herself a new life in the Dwarves house.  The story was simplistic and pretty much the straight-up basic fairy tale, which I appreciate in some ways, since it did not have all the distracting subplots.

[KingOfHearts]

Since the Queen's intent was to kill her on sight, there really wasn't much she could do. As far as the Prince goes, that's more on the Prince than Snow White... I don't think Snow ever fell into his arms until after he woke her from her sleep, but he had just saved her life. She was in a very, very weird situation the whole movie with everything.

 

In the original tale, the Queen disguised herself as different people, with two other failed attempts at killing Snow. The only reason Snow ate the apple was because the Queen "proved" it wasn't poisonous by eating the good half of the apple, then letting Snow eat the bad half. She did that in the disguise of the farmer's wife, not the old hag like the Disney version.

 

The other two murder attempts included giving Snow White a bodice and tightening it so tight she faints. The other was a comb laced with poison. The dwarves came and rescued her these two times before she could die.

Edited August 11, 2014 by KingOfHearts

[Camera One]

I just watched "Return to Oz" for the first time after re-reading Book 2 and Book 3 of the Oz series.  There would have been so much potential in Oz for a "Once Upon a Time in Oz" spinoff.  Especially since the new series "Emerald City" doesn't look like it will even try to do a proper adaptation and is more of a modern re-telling.  I guess I'll post more about my thoughts on that "Return to Oz" movie in the Emerald City forum of this message board.

[Camera One]

A lot of the Frozen appeal is from the songs, mostly Let It Go. There isn't too much buzz about the story or non-Elsa characters. A lot of little girls love dressing as an ice princess and singing. I liked Frozen before it became uber popular, mostly because I'm a Disney fanatic and music lover.

I love the more artsy romantic Disney films, like Beauty and the Beast and Sleeping Beauty.

 

I think I have a bias towards traditional animation.  Something just felt "off" about "Tangled" and "Frozen".  I think the 1990's movies did a good job of providing some kid-friendly scenes without going completely off narrative.  I just got so bored with the action sequences of "Tangled" and "Frozen".  I hardly laughed in those two movies, and the villains were lame.  Even though the heroines were supposed to be deeper, Anna and Rapunzel were way too giggly to take seriously.  I mean, at least Ariel had her serious moments.  Meanwhile, Elsa was ultra serious and maybe it's the Regina-effect but her pity party just annoyed me.  I didn't even feel the whole sisterly bond so the whole true love's kiss left me cold (and I swear I didn't give my heart to Robin Hood).  As I've said before, I didn't like that these new movies didn't even try to connect back to the original tales.  Now, with the old classic animated films, the charm of the era and the music attract me more, and the protagonists even though they are not as developed.  However, the old classic animated films sometimes they get carried away with the animal antics, which I don't find engaging.  That's probably why I haven't rewatched Bambi or Dumbo or the animal-heavy ones for a long time.

Edited August 15, 2014 by Camera One

[KingOfHearts]

 

However, the old classic animated films sometimes they get carried away with the animal antics, which I don't find engaging.  That's probably why I haven't rewatched Bambi or Dumbo or the animal-heavy ones for a long time.

 

Meh, I can't rewatch those either. I love the animated movies that have deeper stories and characters, like some of the less marketed ones such as Hunchback of Notre Dame. I also gravitate toward the art of the animation itself, which movies like The Little Mermaid and Fantasia nail on the head. Basically the more mature and elegant the better.

 

I'll take a breath-taking classic fantasy romance any day.

Edited August 15, 2014 by KingOfHearts

[FurryFury]

I think I liked Mulan and Tangled the best from what I've seen (but I certainly haven't seen any of the older stuff, it sounds terribly boring, to be honest - I prefer a more complex narrative). Frozen, story-wise, was very "meh", but I did like Elsa (although I tend to fall for her character type all the time, so it was expected), but Anna and Kristof bored the hell out of me, as did everything else (I was also spoilered about Hans). It did have nice music, though, but comedic bits were much worse than Tangled, as were the character interactions. And Mulan was awesome because it was actually about a hero (most of Disney stuff isn't, maybe that's why I'm not a big Disney fan in general), set in a less explored (and thus more interesting) time period and had a non-princessy female lead, while also downplaying romance.

 

I also have a soft spot for "Aladdin" because of childhood nostalgia and the cartoon series.

[RadioGirl27]

I have a soft spot for "101 Dalmatians" because it was the first film I ever saw on a big screen, and for "Lilo and Stich", but I've never been a Disney girl. I don't know why, because I was the right age when "The little mermaid" was released (10-11), but I've never been really into it. I was more the reading type and I had all this books with the original tales that I prefered.

But I love Pixar. Films like "Up" or "Wall-E" are more complex and interesting without loosing the fun.

Edited August 16, 2014 by RadioGirl27

[FurryFury]

Wow, when I was 11, I read Stephen King. In hindsight, my childhood was weird.

 

I really don't get Pixar. All the talking cars and toys and robots, it's just not my thing, I want to watch humans or humanoid characters. Otherwise, I just lose interest. Maybe it was different in early childhood, I remember loving Winnie the Pooh when I was 7 or so.

Edited August 16, 2014 by FurryFury

[RadioGirl27]

Wow, when I was 11, I read Stephen King. In hindsight, my childhood was weird.

Now that you say this, at that time I had already started reading Agatha Christie's books, so probably that was a good reason ;-)

[FurryFury]

Oh, I read a lot of Christie, too! But I don't think it's weird, she's pretty tame. My dad actually let me read the unabridged version of "The Stand", which was probably too much. I still remember some of the more graphic scenes :)

OK, sorry for going off topic, that was the last of it!

[Jean]

A lot of the Frozen appeal is from the songs, mostly Let It Go. There isn't too much buzz about the story or non-Elsa characters. A lot of little girls love dressing as an ice princess and singing.

Yes and the people behind Fozen had enough know how of their audience to predict this. I thought it was interesting when they practically admitted that they changed their story that they had worked on for more than a year to fit around Let It Go. Prior to hearing the song Elsa was really a villain and when they heard it they went back and changed Elsa from a villain to what we got.

[sharky]

I saw this and thought it belonged here.

The Pros and Cons of Dating a Disney Prince

 

Definitely a different take on the Disney fairy tales -- and the Once counterparts by proxy. I particularly liked this one.

Pro: They’re willing to save the day.

Whatever trouble you’re in, be it with a sea witch or a regular witch or just a garden-variety wicked stepmother, Disney princes are pretty great at saving you when you need assistance.

 

Con: It might get a little creepy.

I know it’s supposed to be this great romantic thing when the Prince wakes up Snow White with a kiss, but can we just think about the fact that he doesn’t know she’s only sleeping and basically thinks he’s kissing a dead girl?

 

 

[daxx]

Just rewatched the Paul Revere episode of Sleepy Hollow. The kitchen sink and out of time conversations are just brilliant. I so wish OUAT would do some of that.

[ParadoxLost]

It should be fun around here in season 4 if snark about Frozen and Once always get this response.  Not worth it. Deleted

Edited August 23, 2014 by ParadoxLost

[Rumsy4]

I couldn't finish that video--I just wanted to say STFU to the narrator! It seems like one cannot enjoy a simple story anymore, without people nitpicking a 1001 things. So what if non-romantic love has been portrayed in other disney/animated movies? Frozen had its own lovely take on that. I also liked the fact that the protagonist was dealing with a mental-illness like condition, and had shitty (not evil or goody goody) parents. I wouldn't call it a outstanding movie, but it was very enjoyable, and the songs were great. Half the criticisms of the movie are not even legit. Besides, not every movie has to have a unique concept or story (most ideas in movies are recycled anyway). People can and do enjoy the comfort of familiar story-beats. I understand if people find the movie boring, but I just don't get the bashing. 

[Rumsy4]

It should be fun around here in season 4 if snark about Frozen and Once always get this response. Not worth it. Deleted

My post wasn't directed at you, PL. I'm just tired of the Frozen-bashing and Frozen-hate I see online. Besides, I think Elsa makes a really good "misunderstood villain", when compared with what they make of that trope in OUAT.

Edited August 23, 2014 by Rumsy4

[Writing Wrongs]

NBC dropped Emerald City.

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/nbc-passes-on-oz-inspired-emerald-city-1201288657/

 

I was gonna watch that.

[KingOfHearts]

Aw that stinks! I was going to watch that too. It may have been too dark for what the network wanted, since they probably wanted to rival Once Upon a Time. It could have been for a number of reasons, though. 

Edited August 23, 2014 by KingOfHearts

[Kaw912]

Look at it this way- you probably dodged a bullet. If the show was greenlighted and then dropped , the scripts coming in must have been bad.

[wingster55]

So I was really bored and avoiding doing what I was supposed to be doing, so I typed in various characters into Google images.

 

I tried Snow White, and none of the first 100 pictures had Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White... you had to scroll way down.  There were tons of the animated one, some people wearing Snow White Halloween costumes, Kristen Stewart, etc.

 

I tried Robin Hood, and it was even worse for the "Once" version.  I got to 100 and gave up.

 

Captain Hook had the 48th picture.

 

Prince Charming had the 36th picture.  Most of them were actually Cinderella's Prince.

 

Evil Queen had the 3rd image being Regina.

 

Rumplestiltskin as expected got the 1st image.

It may have changed but Ginny-Snow was 29th when I just did it. Regina was 4th, Charming 28th, Rumple still first

Edited August 24, 2014 by wingster55

[myril]

It may have changed but Ginny-Snow was 29th when I just did it. Regina was 4th, Charming 28th, Rumple still first

 

Google search is not giving everybody the same results,for example it depends on location. You can test that with using different proxy servers. No, Google doesn't simply let you change location in their settings. The downside of making things oh so comfortable for everybody on the web for example through tailoring searches to whatever they think you are more interested in based on location and past searches and social media profiles. For research useless.

[Shanna Marie]

Since we don't have a Once Upon a Time vs. Other Shows Set in Maine, I guess this goes here:

 

I switched over to marathoning Haven for a while (as it's premiering earlier), and that gets kind of freaky after having watched a lot of Once Upon a Time. They have very different tones and styles, with Disney vs. Stephen King, and although they're both set in quaint (but freaky) coastal towns in Maine, the towns look very different, since one is actually filmed near Vancouver and the other in Nova Scotia (so at least it's the right ocean). But there are also a lot of similarities, including the main character being a snarky blond cop who grew up in foster care and who has a lot of emotional walls. I kept catching myself applying the "rules" of Once to Haven, like getting anxious when some characters were about to leave town (oh no, their memories would be wiped!). And then there was the episode in which the villain learned that his wife had actually faked her own death in order to leave him (and their child) and run off with her lover. Only instead of murdering her, he actually listened to her and was persuaded by her to have his one true moment of humanity in the series. Which might officially make a Stephen King villain less evil than Rumpelstiltskin. And then there was the episode in which the main characters spent a lot of time searching for a kid named Henry, who kept getting himself in trouble.

 

I'm sure there's got to be some crossover fanfic. In my head, Haven is just down the road from Storybrooke.

[FurryFury]

Too bad I had to stop watching Haven, Nathan really annoyed me and I hated the romance storyline.

I also think it's really, really bad with monster of the week plots. Almost unwatchable.

[KingOfHearts]

I finally watched Disney's Sleeping Beauty for the first time in ages. Needless to say, it's now one of my favorites! Watching it made a lot of things on Once make sense. It filled in a lot of the lore we saw in S1 and 2A, especially with the fairies and Phillip/Aurora. I had no idea how much of it was actually from the Disney movie. 

After watching it, it's a pretty safe bet Maleficent is the Dark Fairy. She fits the description perfectly.

[InsertWordHere]

So Doctor Who just had an episode entitled Robots of Sherwood, featuring Robin Hood, as you all could probably guess. Who's Robin Hood, even when dealing with robots, was perfectly characterized as the outlaw who steals from the rich and gives to the poor. More importantly, the show actually delved into the reasons why the Robin Hood legend has endured through the ages. While an awesome episode, all it did was serve to remind me that OUaT has not bothered to give its Robin Hood any of the qualities traditionally found in everyone's favorite prince of thieves. Tom Ellis showed some of Robin's panache in Lacey, but even that was over and done with relatively early in the episode, IIRC. Robin Hood is one of my favorite stories, and I enjoyed Who's take not because the episode was particularly witty, but because it feels like it's been a long time since I've seen my Robin Hood onscreen. Bandit Snow seems more like the legendary Robin Hood than McGuire's Robin does. I don't need a literal interpretation, but the spirit of the character should be there, IMO.

 

On a shallow note, I will say I find both of OUaT's Robins (but most especially Tom Ellis who I first knew as Martha's hot doctor on Doctor Who, oddly enough) to be more attractive than Who's version. Of course, no one can ever replace Carey Elwes and especially that Foxy cartoon as sexiest Robins, IMO. Although I give all three props for speaking with an English accent, unlike some other Robin Hoods ;)

 

Also, the OUaT viewer in me got a kick out of the fact that (Doctor Who)

a time traveler reunited Marian (whose name was not revealed until the end and who said time traveler encountered while both were imprisoned in a dungeon) and Robin. Of course, unlike OUaT's version, it was portrayed as a joyous and positive reunion.

Edited September 8, 2014 by InsertWordHere

[Writing Wrongs]

If anyone has Netflix, they have the animated Snow Queen movie that came out around the same time Frozen did. It's not that bad and for someone (like me) who didn't know the original story, it's a good start. Here's the trailer for it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJrTHEDgHfY

 

 

Apparently they are making a sequel to it :

http://variety.com/2014/film/news/the-snow-queen-2-sells-to-10-territories-adds-hollywood-voicecast-1201303067/

[Camera One]

I'm reading the Hans Christian Anderson "Snow Queen" story today as homework preparation for tonight, in case they use any elements from the story.  Oh, who am I kidding, LOL.

[Camera One]

Now that I've read the original story, I can understand why the "Frozen" movie changed the story so much.  I'm not sure how that could be made into a simple movie.  I'm also not sure what elements from the story "Once" can include.  The Snow Queen character was very vaguely described.  It is unclear what her motivations were.  I do like the idea of the pieces of the magic mirror getting into people's eyes and giving them a pessimistic view of the world, and making them cold and unfeeling.  That might work better than a frozen heart, since by this point, who cares if your heart is frozen when you don't even need one to live and love anyway.

[Writing Wrongs]

I just remembered a great book I listened to called Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu. It was inspired by The Snow Queen story.

[jhlipton]

I liked the movie Frozen but the parents were so dumb!  Instead of locking Elsa away, why not send her off to a desert tribe, where she can learn how  to control her power?  I know -- PLOT!!!  But that really bugged me!

 

 

Top 5 "Things Supernatural Does Right That You Could Learn From:"

 

 

All of those apply to Sleepy Hollow as well.  

 

 

=======================================================

 

Re Cinderella, Snow White et al vs Merida, Elsa, et al -- This "Princess Rap Battle" video is pretty awesome (contains strong laguage)

[Shanna Marie]

I went to see the Sleeping Beauty ballet today, and one thing I found amusing was that the dark fairy's henchmen were winged monkeys. There was no flying action, but they had bat-like wings on their backs, and the dancers gave them very simian movements. They had these kind of demonic monkey masks, with red LED lights for eyes. I found myself wondering if Maleficent took over Zelena's henchmen.

 

When I was reading the program during intermission, I noticed that it mentioned characters from other fairy tales showing up at the wedding and was wondering if we'd see Snow White and Cinderella. It turned out to be Puss in Boots, the White Cat and the Bluebird. I'll have to look up if this is original to the ballet or a more recent addition. If it's original, it's a sign that the concept of all the fairy tale characters being in the same universe and knowing each other goes pretty far back.

 

It did make me wonder what the Once Upon a Time story of Maleficent is. If she cursed an infant to die/sleep because she didn't get invited to a baby shower, then no wonder she and Regina were besties. They have a similar worldview.

[orza]

The many fairy tales characters were part of the original Petipa staging from 18909.

I went to see the Sleeping Beauty ballet today,[...]

 

When I was reading the program during intermission, I noticed that it mentioned characters from other fairy tales showing up at the wedding and was wondering if we'd see Snow White and Cinderella. It turned out to be Puss in Boots, the White Cat and the Bluebird. I'll have to look up if this is original to the ballet or a more recent addition. If it's original, it's a sign that the concept of all the fairy tale characters being in the same universe and knowing each other goes pretty far back.

The many fairy tale characters at the wedding in the third act were part of the original 1890 Petipa staging. It was probably more a sign that everyone was reading the same Grimm collection of stories. I wouldn't read any more into it. Historically, the big party scenes in the classic story ballets were put in mostly for the dancers to show off rather than to advance the narrative.

Edited October 19, 2014 by orzamonium

[Featherhat]

Yeah, I've been to quite a few ballets and the "and now there's a wedding/party" 3rd act is basically nothing to do with the story. Regardless, the concept of fairytales mixing up isn't new, although I think OUAT is the first time such mixing up has been done using the Disney versions with Disney's support.

[myril]

Does anyone here know the Czech TV series "Arabela"? It was quite popular in the 80s in some European countries, like in Germany (aired in West-Germay as "Die Märchenbraut" the fairy tale bride). People from our world cross over to the fairy tale world and fairy tale characters come to our world, the effects rewrite all fairy tale books, and they have to do some damage control. It's some childish fun, how our world characters mess up the fairy tale world, and the fairy characters handle modern tech, and of course there is a world crossing love on first sight happening.

 

Saw Sleepy Hollow's take on the Pied Piper (which different from what some think is no fairy tale but a saga though), and liked that one a more than what they did on OUaT with it.

[FurryFury]

I think it was shown here in Russia as well, but I don't remember it at all.

I do remember a Czech/Australian (or Polish/Australian?) TV show about some children from our world that crossed over to some fantasy land. There was magic and adventure and an evil sorceress called Ashka or something like that. That was weirdly fun. It was a kid show, though, so nostalgy factor's in play for me :) Wonder what it was called.

[RadioGirl27]

In Spain, Antena 3 has a show called "Cuentame un cuento" (Tell me a fairytale), a modern version of classical fairytales like Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, Hansel and Gretel or Three Little Pigs. The premiere would be "soon" (but with them, soon could mean next year). The only thing I know about this show is that the Three Little Pigs are bank robbers or that the Beast is an actor with his face disfigured, and that some of the most popular tv actors in Spain are working on the show. A very short promo can be seen here.

Edited October 19, 2014 by RadioGirl27

[myril]

@RadioGirl27 That looks interesting to me. Taking the psychology of the fairy tale dramas into our modern world setting. Thanks for the tip.

 

@FurryFury Looks like you mean Spellbinder, Australien-Polish production from 1995

Edited October 19, 2014 by katusch

[Camera One]

That looks a little like "Grimm" to me.  I still haven't had a chance to try that show yet.  I'm not huge on crime procedurals, so maybe I'll wait 'til I can marathon it on DVD.

[Rhetorica]

I went to see the Sleeping Beauty ballet today, and one thing I found amusing was that the dark fairy's henchmen were winged monkeys. There was no flying action, but they had bat-like wings on their backs, and the dancers gave them very simian movements. They had these kind of demonic monkey masks, with red LED lights for eyes. I found myself wondering if Maleficent took over Zelena's henchmen.

When I was reading the program during intermission, I noticed that it mentioned characters from other fairy tales showing up at the wedding and was wondering if we'd see Snow White and Cinderella. It turned out to be Puss in Boots, the White Cat and the Bluebird. I'll have to look up if this is original to the ballet or a more recent addition. If it's original, it's a sign that the concept of all the fairy tale characters being in the same universe and knowing each other goes pretty far back.

It did make me wonder what the Once Upon a Time story of Maleficent is. If she cursed an infant to die/sleep because she didn't get invited to a baby shower, then no wonder she and Regina were besties. They have a similar worldview.

I saw the movie "Maleficent" with Angelina Jolie this summer. It was disturbing. But well done.

ETA: ok I didn't see it with Angela. Should've written starring...

Edited October 19, 2014 by Rhetorica