If you became the writers, what would be the first thing you'd change?

[PriceofMagic]

i’ll stop now. it’s funny because all this came to me as I was writing this post. this post was going to be a short one.

I know what you mean. My post ended up longer than it was intended to be 😆

[betsypaige24]

I’d change the way Belle is horribly treated on the show, as if she’s not a person with feelings, as if she actually has a voice.

1) It’s unforgivable how  Hook and Regina have gotten away with the ***** they did to her. I despise them and will always do so.  I will be forever angry at Adam and Eddy for denying Belle the right to confront these two

2) I would stop having the Charmings look right through her – same goes for Emma. I used to want Belle to be friends with them, but no way now. I want Belle to have people who care about her, aside from Gold.

3) Get this girl on the SCREEN; she’s a fabulous character – intelligent, clever, brave, kind, compassionate…….and doesn’t take *** from anyone even so.

I’d stop separating Rumbelle. I would recognize their huge potential and their incredibly beautiful storyline and I’d write them a story that would have them together, facing lifes ups and downs. MORE romance, more screentime. Bobby and Emilie are remarkable; I’d use them as much as possible until the show ends.

 

[Josephine]

I’d want to change a few things:

1.  More Belle and less drama for her.  She’s been enslaved as an indentured servant, fell in love with her master, had her heart broken, kidnapped in many worlds, locked in an asylum, father tried to erase her memories, shot, amnesia, cursed personality, and that’s not all.  That girl needs an “I’m sorry”, “Thank you” and a multitude of other apologies made to her.  What does she get?  Separated from her true love once again.  And this is all with the least amount of screen time of any other character.  Enough.

2.  Rumple/Neal/Henry.  We haven’t had enough about Neal and Henry.  Here is a man who just found out he’s a father and took to it like a duck to water.  I want to know his emotions about being ripped from his son.  I want more story about him and the father/son dynamic between all of them.

3.  More talk, less action.  I wish people would just slow down and talk.  We don’t need action upon action.  Even wars have periods of calm and planning between battles.  This constant action is giving us fans whiplash.  Nobody sits down over a pot of coffee or tea anymore.

Keeper of Rumplestiltskin's and Neal's spears and war paint and crystal ball.

[RumplesGirl]

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since I saw the thread posted. My initial gut reaction was: nothing! I wouldn’t change a thing.

But the more people talked the more I thought about it. My list of things that I would change are less narrative based (I guess) and more dealing with the aftermath certain episodes/moments have caused the fandom. I like peace and getting along more than fighting, lol.

1) Tallahassee. Don’t get me wrong. It’s a great episode. But I consider it to be a watershed moment in the history of the show and its internet fandom. I wish I could go back, sit down with Jane and Christine, and explain to them what this will do to the fans and how in turn the fans fed back into the writing process. I think they needed to extend the scenes between August and Neal because right now everyone has their own interpretation/headcanon of what happens after Neal hears August out. We haven’t seen it and while Adam says we will or has denied on Twitter what some think happens next, we really need to see it, if only to move on with that topic. One of my biggest fears is that they will leave it behind, never return to it, and people will fight over it forever.

2) The Neverland Arc. Again, don’t get me wrong. I thought the first 11 episodes of S3 were quite good, better than the back half of S2 to be sure. But when I really sit and compare S3A to its literary origin, man are there things that are screwy! And yes, that’s the point of ONCE–a reinterpretation of the classics but they are supposed to still be based on those classics. Take Snow and the Evil Queen. They started with Snow White’s story and changed it to fit their agenda (The Evil Queen has a backstory!) BUT they stayed within the perceived tradition of Snow White (the actual Snow White story from the Brothers Grimm is…strange, but A and E used the Disney story as a template): there was an apple and a charming prince and a huntsman and dwarves. It still felt like the Snow White story. The NL/PP story resembled Barrie’s tradition in name only. NO PP and Tink interaction (I will never get over this point); A Captain Hook who isn’t Captain Hook but instead a romantic Hollywood version based on popular depictions of pirates like Captain Jack Sparrow and more to the point a totally watered down version of the Hook/PP history. Making PP Rumple’s father only worked, for me, because of Robbie and Bobby–brothers at least as roots in the Barrie story. I wish A and E would have incorporated more of actual story into their own so it didn’t feel totally alien.

3) Less action, more talk. I’ve said this many times now but A and E think that the way to create watchable TV is through action and violence and big bads. But when you look at their most successful season, it was all internal human drama as opposed to external mythical drama. I love other worlds and seeing villains and heroes from my childhood, but I’m also really tired of the rug sweeping that is happening between our main cast of characters. Snow/Regina/Charming still have so many issues to work out; Hook/Nealfire/Rumple really need to sit down over a cup of tea; Emma/Neal; Emma/Charming/Snow; Rumple and EVERYONE; Regina and EVERYONE. There is so much left unsaid or undone because the writers focus on “the next big thing” that the quieter human moments only happen in between Action A and Action B. And quieter human moments also give us insight into the inner workings of those characters so that we aren’t trying to guess at how they feel or respond and we could come to a consensus about a few issues.

 

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[once_dude]

i definitely agree with the consensus that more conversations need to happen but  heres the million dollar question: who apart from a die hard fan of the show would watch such episodes of everyone just sitting around and discussing thier issues? can writing really withstand believable redemption without a greater evil to fight against? more to the point are snow and david cookie cutter disney heroes (now i dont think so but i could name others who do think they are in the present time not the past). i am just trying to play devils advocate because i really do believe that conversation episodes are exactly what this show needs something like “the town has a picnic” sort of an episode, or an important flashback episode interspersed with conversations in gold’s shop or the mayor’s office.

Magic always comes with a price, so I pay with visa.

[MatthewPaul]

One of the biggest faults I would change is the way the show handles its recurring characters. I get that they can’t make everybody a regular and that they have to keep the focus on the main cast, but I’ve still seen it handled better on so many other shows. I’m sick of characters only appearing for a few episodes, and then disappearing. The recurring characters should be further developed with a well thought out arc. What frustrates me even more is when recurring characters still have loose ends, but those loose ends have yet to be addressed on the show. This happened with Phillip, who we have yet to see how exactly Mulan and Aurora saved him. Then there are characters who have their storylines rushed too quickly. This happened with the Ariel and Eric reunion in “The New Neverland”, which literally only lasted like 1 minute and then they were swept under the rug for the rest of the episode. We also have issues where it feels like the recurring characters are just there to be plot devices. Jefferson suffered this fate in the last two episodes of Season 1. Jefferson was only there so Regina could get her apple and so Jefferson could free Belle. The Belle thing still feels like a huge plot hole, because it just felt too out of place that Jefferson knew about Belle’s relationship with Rumple and being locked in the asylum. Eddy and Adam addressed this on the official podcast that Jefferson knew because he spied on the town, but it still feels like a stretch.

[RumplesGirl]

One of the biggest faults I would change is the way the show handles its recurring characters. I get that they can’t make everybody a regular and that they have to keep the focus on the main cast, but I’ve still seen it handled better on so many other shows.

Yeah I agree. It’s getting to the point where I see new characters come and I just sorta cringe knowing that they’ll serve only one purpose and then be gone. Or if they do stick around, they hardly do anything. I’m still not over Tink and PP not having any scenes together, despite Tink telling out guys that PP trusted her. The one timers are becoming sorta plot devices–need pixie dust, find Tink. Need a bean field, enter Tiny.

"He was a lot of things to me" "The only conclusion was love"

[Author]

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