ONCE048: New synopsis, Wizard of Oz, True North, news, and spoilers

September 6, 2012 by 17 Comments
play audio ONCE048: New synopsis, Wizard of Oz, True North, news, and spoilers

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

Flying Monkeys from Wizard of Oz s01e01 Pilot 600x337 ONCE048: New synopsis, Wizard of Oz, True North, news, and spoilers

More DVD/Blu-Ray bonus features, Dr. Whale as the Wizard of Oz, storyline elements from True North, and Once Upon a Time news and spoilers for season two.

Big thanks to our sponsors!

  • Sandra

You can sponsor ONCE podcast, too!

News

Feedback & discussion

From the rewatch: Hansel and Gretel’s story as it was in the book.

Daniel was wrong s01e07 The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter 600x337 ONCE048: New synopsis, Wizard of Oz, True North, news, and spoilers

Henry’s father idea

Hi, guys! Yesterday I was sitting in my room working on Geometry, and my mind starting wandering. I got this idea and I wanted to share it with you. What if Henry’s father is the Wizard of Oz? We know he has to be someone from the Fairy Tale World, because it would be really lame if he wasn’t, and we all know how often those flying monkeys come up in Henry’s book. Plus, other than Bae, he’s the only character we know of who has travelled back in to our world from the fairy tale world, meaning he would be free of the curse. (And just because he was old in the books, doesn’t mean he would have to be in Once.) Just an idea, I’d love to hear your thoughts on this. You guys are great!

~Hannah97

Interesting take!

Was True North a throwaway episode?

Fellow Oncers,

Since you’ve been doing the re-watch – now that we’re at the end of the first season, I looked back at and tried to make a big picture.  I’m not sure how to say this, but True North seems to be a complete throw away.  Not to say it was a bad show in any way, but it just didn’t seem to move either the Enchanted Forest story line along, nor the Storybrooke line.  Well, except for the last minute when August first rolls into town, but they could have put that at the end of any episode.

Think about it, in all the other episodes, we saw pieces of the back story for Snow and Charming, Evil Queen, Rumple, and intros for the other main characters (Red, Jiminy, Dwarfs, etc), but this story introduced three characters, that just disappeared back into Storybrooke.  We got tiny insights into EQ and Emma, but nothing that would have been really missed if we hadn’t seen this episode.

What do you think?  Was there some other redeeming quality, some other facet to this that I’ve missed?  Surely the whole point of the episode wasn’t to have a 42 minute lead-in to make the 1 minute mysterious stranger seem more foreboding.

Larry

We think there were several storyline-moving elements in “True North”:

  • Emma said things about Henry’s dad—some lies to Henry, but probably some truths. She also told real things to MM.
  • In Enchanted Forest, we saw how the queen got the apple, and can probably expect more of a story there someday.
  • We were also introduced to the infinite forest, which doesn’t come back until “A Land Without Magic.”
  • In SB, MM and Emma’s relationship builds and opens in new ways.
  • See spoiler section below for something additional.

Hi, Podcasters!!!

I’ve been away in camp for a while, but I’m back now and excited for September 30th!

One thing I remembered from before I left was how Daniel wanted an “on air” sign for when you guys do the podcast. Which would, of course be awesome. icon smile ONCE048: New synopsis, Wizard of Oz, True North, news, and spoilers

So, though I couldn’t buy one, I decided to make a virtual representation I thought you might like icon biggrin ONCE048: New synopsis, Wizard of Oz, True North, news, and spoilers

Thank you so much for the podcasts! You guys are awesome and I can’t wait to see the next one!!!

~ Clockwatcher icon smile ONCE048: New synopsis, Wizard of Oz, True North, news, and spoilers

Screen Shot 2012 08 31 at 7.45.28 PM 600x259 ONCE048: New synopsis, Wizard of Oz, True North, news, and spoilers

Synchronized rewatch

We’re having a great time rewatching the first season of Once Upon a Time! We rewatch two episodes 7–9 p.m. (EDT/GMT-4) every Sunday, July 15 through September 23.

To participate, join our live rewatch chat during the rewatch time. Have your own access to all the Once Upon a Time episodes, and we’ll let you know how to synchronize with us.

Until the season one DVD/Blu-Ray set ships, your can rewatch Once Upon a Time with any of the following.

Get more details here.

Summer schedule

With the summer hiatus, we’re adjusting our live podcast schedule. We’ll record live episodes biweekly at 8:00 p.m. (EDT/GMT -4:00) on ONCEpodcast.com/live.

  • September 19, 2012
  • Possible final predictions episode on September 26
  • September 30, 2012—Season-two premiere and initial-reactions podcast!

This schedule will remain in effect unless otherwise announced.

Please retweet this!

What did you think?

Help us out!

Follow us

Check out our other podcasts

Spoilers

The updated Once Upon a Time synopsis hints at some changes in season two.

Now the fairytale characters must contend with magic in their quest to find a way home, as new fairytale characters are revealed, old acquaintances are revisited, and some we had come to believe could be trusted will turn against their own kind.

One of these characters to turn against the others could be the Mad Hatter, slated for no fewer than three episodes!

Mulan and others

Hi ONCE crew,

I have a question regarding the spoiler on the appearance of certain Characters. We have established the fact that OUaT is likely to not just cover Fairy Tales since we have seen other storybook tales (like Pinocchio) as well as Greek mythology (like Midas). Which brings me to the appearance of Mulan. Are me now also going to see stories that are legends which might have been real stories?

Mulan has been actually telling the story of an ancient Chinese poem titled the Ballad of Mulan and was believed to have lived during the Northern Wei dynasty which lasted from 386CE to 534CE. According to the legend she fought for twelve years. During that time she was offered twelve ranks as a way to reward her for her skill in battle. Although the first versions of the legend date from the 6th century CE a later version of the book expanded on the original poem. It is unclear if Mulan has actually lived or not, but this gives us the chance to theorize about Pocahontas as well. Are we going to see Characters that have depicted in Disney movies? No matter if they were historical figures, legends, Fairy Tales or Storybook Characters?

Just throwing it into the mix as well.

Thanks,

Annemarie

Dr. Whale as the giant, or Jack?

Hello Once Podcasters!

I am currently listening to the Dr. Whale episode and suddenly had a revelation.  I included “spoiler” in the subject line b/c I know one of you don’t want to know anything about Season 2, and this has to do with something that was revealed about Season 2.  So here is who I think Dr. Whale is:

The Giant from Jack and the Beanstalk.

First, we know that Jack and the Beanstalk will be in Season 2 (from the title sequences that were revealed). Second, a whale is a giant creature, and the writers could have just used a play-on-words for his name.  Third, he is in a position of power in Storybrooke, which has usually meant that the person what either evil or the queen had manipulated him/her to evil purposes, and the Giant was the “bad guy” in Jack and the Beanstalk.

Thats my theory, I would love to hear what you might think.

Sara

This is creative thinking, but we recently learned that Jorge Garcia will play “The Giant” in season two. Perhaps Dr. Whale will be Jack, the giant’s counterpart.

Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
  • http://obisgirl.tumblr.com obisgirl

    I don’t think OUAT does should do real world characters. I agree with you, Daniel, Pocahontas is messed up as she is. No need to mess with her story anymore. I wouldn’t mind seeing Buttercup and Wesley from The Princess Bride.

    • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

      Thanks for the agreement! I think there are enough “storybook characters” they can use without introducing time travel or immortality for historical characters.

  • LisaFromOH

    I agree with Daniel and obisgirl that they shouldn’t do Pocahontas or any other real historical people (sorry, Jenny). Love the Princess Bride discussion. Did you guys know that there is a Princess Bride book by William Goldman? There’s lots of great stuff in it that they couldn’t fit in the movie.

    • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

      I’d love to read the book someday!

      • http://twitter.com/queen_frostine Diana

        You should! It’s as good as the movie, and in some ways better.

  • Karlie

    When they were talking about the Regina knowing about the dagger, I think Dave forgot that Regina had the book in the beginning, but the dagger picture wasn’t in it until August fixed the book. After all, wasn’t that picture in the stack of papers Gold found that led him to thing August was Bea?

    • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

      I did bring this up that Regina read the book in the early episodes after Henry ripped Emma’s pages.

      I was wrong about the dagger picture. It was never in the book, not even added by August.

      • http://www.facebook.com/kim.hillis.7 Kim Hillis

        What dagger? Is it the one the Huntsmen has from the pic above? If it is it was in the book the whole time

        • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

          The above dagger photo was what Henry showed Sheriff Graham in “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter.”

  • http://twitter.com/queen_frostine Diana

    Re the True North discussion: I thought True North was a big, important episode for Emma as a character. The Enchanted Forest backstory may have been about Hansel and Gretel, but in Storybrooke Ava and Nicholas were the vehicle the writers used to explore Emma’s past (her time in foster care, her hunt for her birth parents, her feelings of abandonment after never finding them, and the bad relationship she must have had with Henry’s father) and how it shaped her.

    The story line also helped move Emma farther along to becoming the person she needed to be in order to break the curse. If I’m not mistaken, True North was the first episode in which she admitted aloud (and maybe even to herself) how much she wanted to be Henry’s *mom* and not just a part of his life. She’d hinted at that before, but she never spelled it out as explicitly as she did in True North when she confronted the father of Ava and Nicholas. I can’t remember the exact quote, but when Emma was trying to convince the dad to take his kids in, she said that the only reason she didn’t have custody of Henry was because she didn’t have a choice. That’s not the kind of thing you say if you’re content with your position in the kid’s life. Considering that it was Emma’s true love for her son that broke the curse, I think that development was pretty key to the overall narrative of the season. I think this episode had to happen to make Emma’s near-kidnapping of Henry later in the season believable. Without it, Emma’s pursuit of custody with Henry might have looked more like part of her ongoing clash with Regina than as a desperate act of a mother who truly wanted to get back the son she gave up.

    • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

      Great points, Diana! Truly, this was an episode that shaped Emma, but we don’t tend to remember those things when we’re thinking about the major plot points.

  • Jeff Childs

    What if the giant isn’t bad in the OUAT version of Jack & the Beanstalk?

    • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

      Just misunderstood? :P

      That could be really interesting!

      • http://www.facebook.com/louise.mcg.9 Louise Mcg

        Actually, in the original verson of Jack
        and the Beanstalk, the giant wasn’t bad. Jack is actually portrayed as
        morally ambigious since he broke into the giants household, manipulated
        his wife and stole his goose and harp etc and killed the giant with the giant having done nothing to deserve it. With this in mind, it might
        explain why Dr Whale (if he is Jack) looks so shocked and horrified upon
        remembering who he was.

        • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

          Ah, very true! Jack was the intruder in the story—even the Disney version!

  • http://www.facebook.com/kasey.thacker Kasey Thacker

    So I’m rewatching True North and couldn’t help wondering about the question you posed on this podcast: What was the point of True North? And I came to some interesting conclusions…

    Regina’s actions in the fairy tale land in this episode were a little confusing. Why did she offer Hansel and Gretel a place in the castle? You could say it was because she was just being evil… but while Regina is evil she’s not evil for evil’s sake. She’s too goal orientated for that. Why did she feel the need to test the kids resolve? You can see in her eyes that when she asks them why would they choose their father over riches you can see that the question means a lot to her. And then I thought about what she told Jefferson in Wonderland “You don’t abandon family”. Could this be hints about what happened to her mother Korra?

    There’s also the paralells between Henry’s father and Hansel and Gretel’s father. They’re both men who didn’t know they had children… Only one man was given a choice whether to accept his child and Henry’s father doesn’t even know he exists…

    Please, no spoilers in the reply! I’m avoiding them until the season finale.

    • http://DanielJLewis.net/about Daniel J. Lewis

      Yes, I noticed the same “don’t abandon family” theme between “True North” and “Hat Trick.” It really makes it sound like Regina did, but now she’s trying to find redemption.