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

Cinderella

Now for the popular favorite... the second official Disney Princess... Cinderella! 

Where do I even begin with this girl?

Cinderella or The Little Glass Slipper was first published in France in 1697 by Charles Perrault but is known throughout many different countries with small twists to each of them. Cinderella continues to influence many modern stories such as A Cinderella Story. Because there are so many different versions, I'm going to stick with the Brothers Grimm version (like I have done for the other princesses).

When Cinderella's mother was dying, she called her to her death bed and asked Cinderella to always remain kind and generous and God would protect her. Cinderella's father after some time, married another woman that had two daughters of her own, like the classic Disney tale, they were all wicked and cruel (...This never ceases to amaze me how dumb the father was to marry into this mess). Cinderella plants a hazel tree at her mothers grave and goes to it three times a day to pray.

One day the King decides to throw a ball for the land, wanting his son to choose a girl to marry. All eligible women are asked to attend. Cinderella begs her stepmother for permission to go and the stepmother threw lentils into the fireplace ashes stating that Cinderella could only attend if she picked them all out within an hour. With help from two white doves, Cinderella accomplishes the task the stepmother quickly rushes out with her two stepdaughters leaving Cinderella weeping. When Cinderella returns to her mothers grave wishing to go, the birds drop a sliver gown and gold shoes (pimped out) down from the tree and assists Cinderella but she must leave before midnight. She goes to the ball and falls in love with the prince.

Cinderella loses track of time and runs out losing a shoe in the process.  The Prince goes on a quest to find her and tries the shoe on her stepsisters feet first. In order for the shoe to fit, one stepsister cuts off her heel and the other cuts off her toe. The prince was only alerted to the trickery by the birds. The prince comes back a third time and Cinderella tries on the shoe and the prince instantly recognizes her (really dude?).  They are soon married and the stepsisters try to gain favor with the prince and new princess but the doves swoop down and peck out their eyes. And they lived Happily Ever After.

Into the Woods (a musical) follows this plot (intertwined with others of course) pretty well in terms of Cinderella.

The Disney version seems to follow Perrault's version (it has a fairy Godmother and such).

Fun Facts:
In the Disney movie: Cinderella's bed sheet has patches, but when the birds fold it, the patches are gone.

Ilene Woods, voice of Cinderella, got her show biz start at age 2 and quit at age 17 when she married and became a mother!

Facts from IMDB and story help from Wikipedia.