Once Upon A Time

Once Upon a Time is the best. I repeat BEST show in existence.

From the creators of 'Lost' and ABC (owned by Disney) have created a masterpiece. Because ABC is owned by Disney, the fairy tale characters closely resemble the Disney costumes (ex: Belle and Cinderella shown below).

The season finale came out last week and I absolutely loved it. This is a series that I would actually consider buying instead of just watching it once it was that good.

Belle

Cinderella

I don't want to give too much away but...

Once Upon a Time, if you don't already know is the story of Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin, He's just Not that Into You, Something Borrowed) and her prince (Josh Dallas) but combined with every other fairy tale imagined.  It starts as the classic tale, the prince and princess defeat the evil queen and live happily... for a while.

Snow White and Evil Queen Regina in Fairy Tale world

As Snow White and Charming prepare for the birth of their first child, the evil queen (Lana Parrilla) casts a curse on the kingdom that moves every fairy tale character into our world, which has no magic so the she will be the only one with a happy ending.  The only way the curse can be broken is by Snow White and Charming's daughter, Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison, How I Met Your Mother), when she turns 28, sent to the our world beforehand to avoid the complications of the curse. On her birthday, her son (given up for adoption at birth), Henry (Jared Gilmore) finds her so that he can help break the curse, he is the only one who knows the truth.  Emma Swan travels to the tiny town of Storybrooke to protect and care for her son who has been adopted by the evil queen who is mayor of Storybrooke.

Snow White, Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood in our world

As the series progresses, you learn about the character's pasts in fairy tale land and the effects of the curse in Storybrooke with some surprising twists and turns. Need I mention that Rumpelstiltskin or Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle, 28 Weeks Later) is behind most of the schemes that arise?

With this all-star cast and amazing plot line, I am going to be addicted to this show for a while. I wonder how they will continue season 2... If you haven't seen it yet, catch up while there is still time!

Emma Swan

Snow White

What a better way to start Princess Week than with the original Disney Princess herself: Snow White?

As with any of the original fairy tales (Especially the Grimm's Fairy Tales), Snow White's story has taken many alterations since it's original debut in 1812 with the Brothers Grimm in Germany. Although there are many alterations, the very basic plot remains the same.

Snow White is an extremely beautiful princess with a very jealous stepmother. The stepmother demands a huntsman to take her into the woods and kill Snow White after the queen's magic mirror tells her that Snow White is the fairest in all the land (so she can eat her lungs and liver for dinner, GROSS). The huntsman takes pity on her and let's her go.  Snow White then find seven dwarfs living together to help her.  When the queen discovers that Snow White is alive and well, she creates a poisoned apple that Snow White eats and falls into a coma. The dwarfs place in a glass coffin until Snow White's prince arrives (and takes her back to his kingdom where the ride jostles the apple out of her throat) and kisses her awake (in the Disney version). The queen then dies by being burned alive (not in the Disney version). They then live Happily Ever After.

Grimm's Fairy tale

Snow White has multiple movies made about her such as the popular Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs released in 1937 but also has a  play, special appearances, spin off's (Sydney White), is known worldwide, and even video games!

The most recent adaptations of Snow White include Once Upon a Time, an ABC original series that puts fairy tale characters into reality due to a curse cast by the evil queen (I HIGHLY recommend you watch this), Mirror, Mirror (this one has Julia Roberts), and Snow White and the Huntsman (this one has Kristen Stewart, I may avoid this as long as possible).

SUCH A GOOD SHOW

Kristen Stewart looking bored 

Looks Promising

Like most fairy tales, Snow White is very gruesome (the dying of the queen, wanting to eat the liver and lungs, etc.) but was transformed by Walt Disney for a children's film and also preserved the original fairy tale (to some degree).

Fun Facts:

The total cost of Snow White was 1.5 million dollars and Walt Disney had to mortgage his home in order to pay for the extra costs. The film then pulled it 8 million dollars at the box office.

Adriana Caselotti voiced Snow White for Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs  and was blacklisted by Disney so that the voice of Snow White could not be ruined by being hear too much. She had one voice over, uncredited in The Wizard of Oz with the line "Where for out thou, Romeo?' in the Tin Man's song (source).

Happily Ever After <3