ranting a bit, but not to bad!

[Grimmsister]

Yes I feel the need to rant over the show a bit, though I realize I may not find much sympathy on these boards.
Once used to be my favorite show, the first season was awesome. Season two I kept my hopes up that they were just trying to widen up the stories a bit and that they would get back to the core of things eventually (I suppose my vision of what the “core of things” was, might not have matched theirs, and perhaps therein lies my problem) And now this season- granted, its somewhat exiting, drama and action filled- but it just does not live up to my expectations of what I thought this show was.

I thought they tried to link fairytales with each other and with myths and give a new perspective, interesting new ways of reading the myths/fairytales. If that IS what they try to do they are not doing a very good job.

They are taking their mouths waaay to full, throwing the stories this and there, not fulfilling the original aspects of the fairytales they so recklessly use, then spit out to the side all chewed up, and then on to the next like a three headed chimera monster :'( ..’makes me sad.

What they arguably, and I would go as far as to say, too some extent (okay I’m being a bit sarcastic here 😉 trying anyways) doo, doo a good job at, is making cozy=(lazy) drama that steals the Hearts of the fanbase and renders them a bit gullibly unconscious, basically what most American tvshows doo…. Am I being mean here? Let me put it on the showwriters ball Court instead, what Im saying is- They make the show for the doe. To put in their own back pockets, not as good food for our brains, or for the arts or any noble cause like that… off course also probably because they have fun, which is good. Okay, okay ! I’ll put it in my own ball Court then, I had too high hopes for this show in the beginning and I doo realize now, So I should just try and enjoy the show for what it is, it’s still got some good things going for it for sure.. like wonderfull acting.

Ah nice to get this of my chest, If anyone got the points I tried to make I would love comments, agreements or the opposite, welcome too all 🙂

 

[Grimmsister]

holy ….! What happened to the text? I put it in Word ( the writing program) to check the spelling and wierd magic ruined it.. ??

:0

This is all Rumples fault!!

[Grimmsister]

was enlightened by a rose and fixed the problem, nomore bad rumple magic here.

[RumplesGirl]

I put it in Word ( the writing program) to check the spelling and wierd magic ruined it.. ?

You cannot use Word and then transfer it over here. It becomes seriously encoded. Either use notepad or you must go in and fix all the code yourself.

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

[Myril]

Hello Medchen! Missing your thoughts on the stories behind the stories.

Know frustration with the show, you’re not alone. The way they handle fairy tales and mythology is part of my frustration as well. The show is by now off my have-to-watch list, but somehow still can’t let fully go of it, so still hang around on the board and chime in once in a while.

Just think, this show could have been more than lazy (Sunday) evening entertainment, more than pretty much standard TV formula family soap opera with fairy-talish characters. It by now goes a lot more into the direction I thought it would, when I first heard about the plans of a fairy tale show for mainstream US broadcast network television: entertaining but shallow. Some might say, entertainment is always shallow, but I’m not giving up hope, that something can be entertaining many and nevertheless come with some depth and thought. Not expecting big profund philosophy on screen, and don’t mind mixing up and encourage new perspectives, but I do expect a knowledgeable approach.

Was close to write a lengthy dissection of how they used the legend of the Pied Piper, different from most I very much disliked what they made of it. Maybe because it somewhat hit home, it’s more than some other fairy tale from a colored book to me, it’s part of my homeland’s folklore. So of course have a different, you can say biased view on that story. But as well was speechless how they wasted the myth of Medusa just recently. Just to name current examples. It leaves me with the impression, that they don’t care about the fairy tale stories and myths they are using, only as much as they are useful for whatever their story is they’re telling, and sometimes not even that. That is disappointing.

Guess there is a problem with this show, when one is geeking out about folklore, mythologies, legends, fairy tales – in my case since childhood.

What else to expect from a show made for mainstream primetime broadcast network? Although cable is not that much better in producing more than the best digestible soup of average entertainment, they just like to add more naked skin and theatrical blood for the yuk factor there at the moment. It’s not just a problem of US production or productions for US market though. The British fantasy-adventure Atlantis is even worse, I think, although it’s a show most certainly produced with US-American TV market in mind as well, not just UK and Europe.

OUaT is still great if it comes to acting, soundtrack, costumes (minus the disaster of the ball with Ariel and Snow), props, although they maybe should consider to do less CGI. But I do have issues with the writing.

I wouldn’t rant and still stick somewhat around if I wouldn’t think they could do better. But of course it’s their show.

By the way, Medchen, I was wondering, if you’ve heard and participate in the free MOOC (mass open online course): The Future of Storytelling (it’s on Iversity, new MOOC platform. Course will end in one week, and I don’t know if and how long they might keep things online, but take a look at it, if you haven’t already. That goes for everyone: Take a look, it’s free. Edit: Just read on their Facebook page, that the course will be online for a while, but you have to enroll before Dec. 20th to have access.
And they have a youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/officialStoryMOOC/

¯\_(?????? ?)_/¯

[once_dude]

Ok, I can see somewhat your point, here is how I see it.

I loved what they did in season one, they built a world to play in, with the story behind Snow White, Prince Charming, Regina, and Rumplestiltskin. They did some interesting stories too like Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood, (nice twist that not a lot could have predicted) and the Mad Hatter (again just taking a character in name only)

Season 2 I absolutely hated. It had emphasis on plot rather than character, and the plot was not even that good most of the time. They tried to show a redemption arc for Regina and it just failed. There were only three really good episodes from last Season: Manhattan, The Queen Is Dead, The Miller’s Daughter.

This season I feel they are really going where the show was meant to go. They are having adventures wherein people like Snow White, Charming, Regina, Emma, even captain Hook, find out who they really are beyond the facade that others see of them. We see Rumplestiltskin with his inner conflict about whether he should be noble or fight for himself and his nasty habits like he has always done. We see a very twisted origin of Peter Pan and yet they keep the spirit of his Neverland self close to the book with some of the expressions they use and the way he is always playing games.

Ok i grant you they are not doing strict retellings offolklore and fairy tale and they have now expanded borders to Neverland and Wonderland and some sort of world without colour (what is up with that I still want some answers there) but I never thought they would just stick to fairy tales. True they have explored beyond Storybrooke, but when you have fairytales you have to have quests and that is what this first arc of the season was. (they tried to do a quest in season 2 and failed miserably)

I don’t know if any of my opinions made sense but hope you appreciate them. The one point I agree with you on is that it would be best for eveyrone to just pretend that the second season never happened for the most part.

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

[Grimmsister]

Thanks for your thought Spoekenkieker, nice Im not alone with this view.

You say you cant fully let go of the show. That is exactly how I feel. Because by now Im hooked on the characters wich I care for and love, they stole my gullible Heart as well, as I mentioned in previous post. But the stories are pretty crapy by now compared to what they could be if the writers would get their act together. Theyve got to many jongleurs balls in the air and the’ve dropedd the prettiest and shiniest ones that they threw up there juring the first season, then they just keep picking up new ones and pretend like nothing happened- Clowns !! (kidding .. a bit, I get carried away when I talk in metaphors… but its still true)

I admit I did think this show was more then avrage when I first started watching and I might have read things in to it that they didnt even mean to be there, I came to expect big profund philosophy on screen, but didnt get it 🙁 (but I havent given up hope there might be something there yet to come, but they gotta learn to catch their balls pretty soon)- (instead of just picking them!- up, I mean)    ups.. did I write that? No I didnt 😉

quote Spoekenkieker: “Was close to write a lengthy dissection of how they used the legend of the Pied Piper, different from most I very much disliked what they made of it. Maybe because it somewhat hit home, it’s more than some other fairy tale from a colored book to me, it’s part of my homeland’s folklore.

I wish you had I would’ve loved to read it. Even if it didnt hold water, ’cause Im the same, thinking Uh! thats what they are doing with this or that fairytale, getting all exited and then a bit deflated later on.

I’ll check out that online course you mentioned, havent heard of it, thanks 🙂

 

[Grimmsister]

Hey OnceDude, I do appreciate you writing your opinions here alot thank you, and think they made sence 🙂

but I think you missunderstood me on this- quote You: “Ok i grant you they are not doing strict retellings offolklore and fairy tale and they have now expanded borders to Neverland and Wonderland and some sort of world without colour (what is up with that I still want some answers there) but I never thought they would just stick to fairy tales” I never wanted them to do strict retellings of the old tales. I wanted them to tell them in new profound ways and to twist them and spin them and mix them up with eatchother, I was all for that and thats what got me watching to begin with- that I felt they were trying to do that- but I wanted them to do it in a clever way.. One that would make us wiser on the old myths and tales, and not in a way that were just for  action and higher ratings. But perhabs they doo feel they are doing it the clever way, and then its just me whohavent quite caught on to that way yet, that is always a possibility off course.

I agree with you that they doo write good characters, for the most parts, and that is what keeps me watching.

 

[nonnie]

I think part of the problem is that the fantasy show H&K envisioned hit REALITY of TV … they had to deliver ratings.   Season ONE was a SURPRISE hit … they ended the curse then they were stuck with trying to top season one in season two.  H&K tried some stuff that was not well received and ratings decreased.  THIS season PLOT DRIVEN but is packed with action cause action always sells … a better plot with a better villain so the show is maintaining their ratings  since they are going up against MAJOR sports / football events.  

I do not think we will revert to CHARACTER driven stories because we know the major characters… We will get new villains  but our main characters are the core of future episodes… as it should be.        .

Personally I am not sure how I like this divided season but I do like the fewer hiatus …  I just do not know what I will watch instead of ONCE       …

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[TheWatcher]

This season to me as been one of the best so far. However, I am now at the point where I want all my unanswered questions to be answered. That is my only complaint. Once is a GREAT show but I feel like sometimes they just breeze right through things not bothering to realize that the audience might question it. Like Blue Fairy and her sneakiness. Like Jeffs time traveling hat which could have solved a lot of problems >> like Pan using different ingredients in the cure (as far as I know). Like why is Snow White PERSEUS! I can suspend my belief for a lot of things but that last one was too much.

When I first started watching this show, it was easy for me to kind of accept this as a “true” version of tgevtale, going back and looking at some Disney films and saying “Ha! Thats Not happened 😉 ” But now its gotten a bit more difficult to that. I am now and will forever watch the show. But I hope they don’t get like True Blood and just get progressively worse as the seasons go on.

"I could have the giant duck as my steed!" --Daniel Radcliffe
Keeper Of Tamara's Taser , Jafar's Staff, Kitsis’s Glasses , Ariel’s Tail, Dopey's Hat , Peter Pan’s Shadow, Outfit, & Pied Cloak,Red Queen's Castle, White Rabbit's Power To World Hop, Zelena's BroomStick, & ALL MAGIC

[Author]

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