Once Upon a Time EW article: interesting backstory

[amanuensis1]

Entertainment Weekly has a cover story on Once Upon a Time, and in it we learn that the creators had planned one element in the pilot to go quite differently: Charming was gonna stay dead. But they were met with uniform resistance from the network executives: "You cannot do this; you've taken away any chance of this show having a happy ending." The creators thought it had been an edgy, interesting way to go, but when seeing the uniform reaction they reconsidered.

I completely agree with the network executives; it would have utterly altered the tone and the concept--what are they fighting so hard for in this show, if not true love and happy endings?--but having read that, I feel all weird. Like what I'm watching is actually a fix-it fanfic instead of the original vision. Bah. I love this show and I actually squealed in joy when Charming proved to be a comatose John Doe in Storybrooke at the end of the pilot, and the decision was right, I do believe that. But I still feel weird. As though someone thinks an edgy death is somehow "cooler" even if it goes against narrative expectations. Darnit, no.

Comments

[lady_songsmith]

I read that article and I was just boggled. I can't even imagine how the first season would go without Charming -- what would they do with half the episodes? Would we have seen Charming in flashback but not had David in Storybrook? What would Mary Margaret's conflict arc with Regina have been? I mean... this literally Does Not Compute. I like a 'what if' AU exercise as much as the next person, but I seriously can't figure out how to write out Charming.

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

If we had seen the backstory with Charming, all the while knowing that David was dead, our reactions would have been, "It doesn't matter! We're no longer letting ourselves invested in this story because he DIES TRAGICALLY!" It's a lot like my disappointment with Deathly Hallows because we get all this controversial backstory about (do I need to warn for HP spoilers at this point? Well, okay: HP SPOILERS FOLLOW) Dumbledore after he's dead, plus Snape gets offed and only then do we get a huge chapter of his backstory. NO. Tell us the backstory and invest us in his story and his survival BEFORE you kill the guy.

[owens-mom.livejournal.com]

But then maybe they could have turned the whole thing into a show about the Mad Hatter.


What?

[amanuensis1.livejournal.com]

Why, no, we fans never have agendas, of course not! :D