I can haz her jacket? Doubles as a cosplay for Rose Tyler. Win.
by Karissa Barrows, Editor
Once upon a time, two fairy tale-based television shows were set to premiere in the same fall season. One was called Grimm, the other Once Upon A Time. Having already seen the pilot of Grimm on Hulu, I was definitely looking forward to it, and not as much to Once as I was not the biggest fan of Jennifer Morrison (House, M.D., Star Trek (2009), Mr. and Mrs. Smith), who plays a main character on the show named Emma Swan. (For the record, I absolutely love her in this role!! Far better than her role as Dr. Cameron!) Regardless, I wanted to watch. By the first episode, I was intrigued. By the second, hooked. By the third episode of both fairy tale shows, I was tentatively admitting to myself and others that Once was the superior show. Throughout the first season of both shows, my conclusion became increasingly evident as absolutely right. From the music, to the writing, to the acting, to the creativity of the storylines, Once Upon A Time outshines Grimm and, while I enjoy the latter show, it became one I caught up with if I had time, rather than tuning in like clockwork every week for Once. As such, you can imagine my excitement when the opportunity to review the Blu-ray of the first season came up.
“You know you just saved an evil witch from this burning building, right?”
Once Upon A Time is set in the town of Storybrooke, Maine, where every town resident is an amnesiac fairy tale character trapped in stasis of time in the “real world” void of the magic on which they all so heavily depended upon, thanks to the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla – Lost, 24, Spin City) and her thirst for revenge on Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin – Walk The Line, Robot Chicken, Something Borrowed) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas – Thor, Doctor Who, Five). Snow and Charming’s daughter, Emma, was saved from the curse thanks to an enchanted tree which sent her and a young Pinocchio (Jakob Davies – Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules, The Tall Man, This Means War) to the “real world,” as she was to save the entire fairy tale population from the Queen’s curse. Emma’s pre-teenaged son Henry (Jared Gilmore – A Nanny for Christmas, The Back-up Plan, Mad Men), whom she gave up for adoption at birth, shows up at her door on her 28th birthday (not-so-coincidentally the age at which she was prophesied to come and save all the fairy tale characters from le Queen) to tell her she has to come with him to Storybrooke. The rest of the first season follows Emma and Henry, along with the other characters popping up throughout the season, as Henry, and later an adult Pinocchio (Eion Bailey – And Starring Pancho Villa As Himself, Almost Famous, Fight Club), struggle to help the extremely skeptic Emma believe in the truth of what’s going on as the Mayor/Evil Queen (who, by the way, happens to be Henry’s adoptive mother), as well as Queenie’s efforts to destroy any happiness Mary Margaret Blanchard/Snow White and David Nolan/Prince Charming try to have (albeit scandalously).
Featured characters include Red Riding Hood (Meghan Ory – John Tucker Must Die, Psych, Supernatural ) and her Granny (Beverley Elliott – Unforgiven, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, 2012), an incredible interpretation of Rumplestiltskin by Robert Carlyle (The Full Monty, Trainspotting, 28 Weeks Later), Belle (Emilie de Ravin – The Hills Have Eyes, Remember Me, Lost), Cinderella (Jessy Schram – Keith, Unstoppable, A Smile as Big as the Moon), the Mad Hatter (Sebastian Stan – Hot Tub Time Machine, Black Swan, Captain America: The First Avenger), and my personal favorite, the human (and sometimes insect) version of Jiminy Cricket, portrayed by the incredibly kind Raphael Sbarge (Independence Day, Mass Effect, Pearl Harbor). (And yes, Sbarge’s character being my favorite has at least something to do with the fact that he also voices my favorite biotic space husband in the Mass Effect series, even though I didn’t know that until halfway through the season. Don’t judge me!)
Jiminy Alenko himself, ladies and gents. Sweetest man on the planet.
We’re practically besties. (Hey, a girl can dream!)
Blu-ray Features
The Once Upon A Time: The Complete First Season Blu-ray is delightful. The packaging has the easiest disc pop-out mechanism I have ever seen – so easy that I thought it was worth mentioning. Do you know how many freakin’ discs I’ve been afraid to dislodge for fear of snapping it in half because of how difficult they are to pop out of the packaging? (Looking at you, Mass Effect 3 Collector’s Edition packaging. Even though I love you.) Disc 1 includes the first five episodes, audio commentary, and the Once Upon A Time Orchestral Suite from the show’s soundtrack (which, by the way, is phenomenally done by the amazing Mark Isham, who has also composed for Crash, Fame, and Don’t Say A Word, among many others). Discs 2 through 4 include four episodes each and an audio commentary bonus feature. Disc 5 has the final four episodes of the first season, as well as the bulk of the Blu-ray bonus features, which include:
- Fairy Tales in the Modern World – Filmmakers and cast discuss their early love of fairy tales and how it inspires their work on the show.
- Building Character – Follow the character of Belle from initial concept, though casting of Emilie de Ravin and costumes, to filming.
- Welcome to Storybrooke – Meet the residents and watch the small port town of Steveston, British Columbia, transform into an East Coast village trapped in time.
- The Story I Remember … Snow White – The cast’s childhood memories are interwoven in this retelling of the beloved tale.
- Fairest Bloopers Of Them All – these are delightful. Be sure to watch. (Thanks to my carefully concealed inner fangirl, I especially loved Raphael Sbarge’s bloopers. “Did I say Emma Stone again? Shoot!” D’aww.)
- Audio Commentary
- Deleted Scenes (Jiminy has one!! YAY!)
- Exclusive to the Blu-ray! Once Upon A Time: Origins – Travel back through the centuries with Josh Dallas to uncover the rich historical origins of classic fairy tales. I loved this feature. Interestingly, of the six or so fairy tales explored, only one – The Little Mermaid – cited a Disney film as one of the stronger inspirations for the best-known version of the tale. Also interesting is the fact that this was the only fairy tale examined in the feature that was not featured in the first season. (Rumor has it our dear Ariel is making an appearance in the second season… but don’t quote me on it!)
Field trip!
While I always enjoy good bonus features, it’s unusual for a product to have bonus features that are all good (you know how you always have that reject feature you skip constantly?). I’m happy to say that every single bonus feature on Once Upon A Time: The Complete First Season is wonderfully interesting and totally worth the watch, including the audio commentary (which I normally would skip). The Once Upon A Time: Origins really makes the Blu-ray worth the extra cost over the DVD, I might add. Such a cool feature!
Tech Specs
- 1080p High Definition Widescreen (1.78:1)
- English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio
- English 2.0 Dolby Digital
- English SDH, French and Spanish subtitles (applies to feature content only)
- Run time – approx. 946 minutes
In which Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper pwns the Evil Queenbee.
The Nutshell
It’s not often that I’ll recommend buying a Blu-ray (or DVD, for that matter) when a show is on Hulu+ or Netflix (so far just on Hulu+ that I’ve seen), but in this case, I’m making one of my few exceptions. The quality of all of the special features so wonderfully enhances one’s entire experience in regard to the show, that it would be a shame not to own this product. Admittedly, some scenes in the show are a little cheesy, so if you’re super sensitive to that, you might want to skip the show entirely (I recommend giving it a chance!). Overall, though, this show is something you want to be watching and the Blu-ray of Once Upon A Time: The Complete First Season is something you want to buy for your media library. Everything is so well done in the show that the cheesier moments are more or less eclipsed by how awesome the story is. Try it out on Hulu+ first if you like, but take my advice if you like the show and/or the genre – get you some of this Blu-ray! The season 2 premiere airs on Sunday, September 30, at 8 PM Eastern on ABC, so you’ve got a month to get caught up if you aren’t already. J I, in the meantime, will be counting down the days.
Rumplestiltskin and his kidlet
ComicsOnline gives Once Upon A Time: The Complete First Season Blu-ray
4.5 out of 5 magic sleep apples.
(Don’t eat ‘em, though.)
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