scene to seen: once upon a time

Sundays used to be a dead man's land in the television world. Not anymore, thanks to ABC's Once Upon a Time.

Once Upon a Time, (nicknamed Once by reporters and bloggers who don't want to type out the full name) is a re-imagining of Disney's fairy tales. It's important to note this distinction, because NBC's Grimm is based off of (you guessed it!) The Brothers Grimm's fairy tales.

I first heard about this show while watching Ginnifer Goodwin on a late night talk show. She was there to promote her new movie, Something Borrowed (based on the book by Emily Griffin), but she couldn't stop talking about this amazing new project that she had in the works. This was before it had even been picked up, but because she was so passionate about it (and let's be honest-- I love fairy tales), I decided I had to see it.

As I mentioned, it's based on Disney's version of fairy tales. It's not quite as dark and gruesome as its "cousin," Grimm, but it still has its dark moments. Once takes a well-known fairy tale, such as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, and turns it on its ear. We get the back story of characters that we never got in Grimm's Fairy Tales.

**Warning: Spoilers for episodes aired. ** 

For instance, in Once's canon, Snow White and Prince Charming weren't always happily in love. In fact, they had a less than pleasant first meeting. That being said, most of the story as we know it remains true. Snow White's stepmother is the evil queen. The evil queen orders the huntsman to take her out in to the woods and kill her. To show proof that he did so, he has to give her Snow's heart.

We haven't seen the middle of the story -- where Snow lives with the Seven Dwarfs, but I'm sure it's coming. We have seen where Prince Charming kisses her and they get married. In Once's canon, the evil queen interrupts the wedding, and lets everyone know that she'll destroy them and their happiness. Snow and Charming eventually have a baby girl, who they send to our world.

Now, let's look at how that's different from Grimm's Fairy Tales. The beginning starts out like we all know it – Snow's mother dies, and the King takes a new wife. The Evil Queen asks her enchanted mirror every morning

Mirror, mirror, on the wall,

Who in this land is fairest of all?

and every morning, the mirror answered,

You, my queen, are fairest of all.

She was happy, until Snow White turned seven. That's when the answer became,

You, my queen, are fair; it is true.

But Snow-White is a thousand times fairer than you.

Basically, to make a long story short, the Queen tried to kill Snow four different ways. She got the Huntsman to kill her, and instead of cutting out her heart, she wanted Snow White's liver and lungs. The Huntsman brought back a boar's liver and lungs, and the Queen boiled them and ate them.

After she found Snow wasn't dead, she tried to suffocate her with a magic lace bodice, poison her with magic hair combs, and finally, poisoned an apple. Snow ate the apple, and the rest, as they say, is history. Prince Charming found her, kissed her, and they got married.

However, Grimm's tale ends with the Queen being strapped into iron shoes that had been placed in hot coals. She danced in these shoes until she died. 

What do you think about ABC's adaptation to the fairy tales? Have you been watching?