Tally-ho! It's "Galavant"! (Finally) Huzzah!

Tomorrow. It's finally happening.

Galavant has taken his time getting onto our screens (I was blogging about his imminent arrival in the middle of last year), but this is for good reason/s (I'm led to believe) and both the critical and pop culture buzzes are excellent.

If you're new here and are wondering "What be this Galavant?" (imagine I used an Olde English font there, would you?), here's a brief low-down:

Once upon a time, the dashing hero, Galavant (Joshua Sasse) lost the love of his life, Madalena (Mallory Jansen), to the evil King Richard (Timothy Omundson). Now, our fallen hero is ready to take revenge and restore his “happily ever after.” But it won’t be without a few twists and turns (and random show stoppers) along the way. 

Insert your own snarky caption here...

Galavant's creators have quite the pedigree, which if the premise worries you at all, should give you a reason to consider taking a peek at this one. Here's the promo list from the official website:

Screenwriter/executive producer Dan Fogelman (Crazy, Stupid, Love, Tangled, Cars) teams up with Broadway and Hollywood award-winning musical team -- composer Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast) and lyricist Glenn Slater (Tangled) -- for a 4-week comedy extravaganza. 

They've already managed to attract some celebrity guest stars too (John Stamos, Weird Al, Ricky Gervais), which is almost unheard of on a new series. And then there's this aspect that has me looking forward to it very much as well:

"... we shot it in real, practical locations, as opposed to shooting on sound stages and sets; we went and shot it in England in real castles and real fields. And we had the costume designers from Downton Abbey so even though it's a silly comedy and sometimes people are breaking into song, it is the real thing." ~ creator Dan Fogelman (source)

If you like Monty Python, The Princess Bride, Once Upon A Mattress and musical comedy that doesn't take itself at all seriously with toe-tapping tunes, then Galavant is for you - for us! It's a very ambitious project which is likely to either shine or flop at each point of it's journey.

The Main cast, supported by hundreds of other excellent and silly people

I have my fingers crossed for their success. Mainstream storytelling has been so serious for so long, that despite some of it being excellent, we're incredibly overdue for some smart and fun series to inspire us and the next generation (and perhaps remind us to laugh at ourselves every once in a while).

The mini-series/limited run/whatever you want to call it, is designed, ABC programming-wise, to fill the gap during Once Upon A Time's lengthy hiatus, and it might well do the trick. Or, if it's as good as it looks like it might be, Once Upon A Time is going to have a hard act to follow for the second half of their season with the (now-banished from Storybrooke) Rumple and the trio of wicked women (Ursula, Maleficent and Cruella)!

Take a look at the animated sing-along lyrics for a taste of the style and audience "participation" the cast and crew are hoping for:

And here's one of the best promos for any new show that I've seen in a while (and yes, this is an official one):

What are you waiting for? Go set your alarm clocks (or DVRs) and get ready to find yourself humming tunes and snatches of ridiculous/hilarious lyrics in inappropriate places... ;)

OUAT: The Ice Queen (press release - no spoilers) & "GALAVANT" Is the Bridge For How We Get There (TRAILER ALERT!)

Hi Elsa! (And probably Anna too.) This is your official welcome by ABC to the world of Storybrooke, Maine and the Once Upon A Time fandom:

 

By the way, I've been seeing complaints (and occasionally outrage) that there are "so many people" getting upset that ABC is doing the Frozen version of Elsa instead of The Snow Queen. I just gotta say.... well that's interesting! (And it's not from me.) While I'd personally love to see a little traditional fairy tale Ice Maiden/Snow Queen input, it's pretty clear that OUAT's format and popularity relies upon using known fairy tale characters (usually, but not always, from the Disney canon) in order for the twists in their stories to have so much impact, so, of course it's going to be Elsa from Frozen. I'm very curious to know where all these "fairy tale hipsters"(their term, not mine) causing such a ruckus are from. Although I think it's a little misguided because of what the show essentially is, I kinda love that they're making fans of OUAT and Frozen take somewhat of a look at the old tales, even if it's only to note that they exist.

The other main beef on the interwebs today? That Dreamworks owns the Jack Frost character that a huge portion of the (various) fandoms want to 'ship with Elsa (who is Disney) - and the tears of despair that there is no way that can possibly happen because Dreamworks/Disney = mortal enemies. O.o

Elsa & Jack cosplay by Akatsuki Tsukasa
(click this to see more amazing cosplay including with Anna)

We're so far out from how they're going to manage this yet... I'm just going to say it: let it go, people!  (Don't kill me. )If you're a fan, odds are you will love what they do, if for no other reason than apparently the writer room is like a Frozen mini-fandom and cares just as much as you do. Chill. (And please don't kill me.)

Worried about how you're going to last that long? Enter Galavant (the musical comedy fairy tale show I've posted on HERE as being in development at Disney).

But before it gets too boring to keep reading, look! A crazy, fun, Princess-Bride-meets-Monty-Pythonesque trailer (but with less dirt) to show you we're very unlikely to be bored while we wait... From the writer of Crazy, Stupid, Love and Oscar-Winning Composer Alan Menken… ABC brings you… um, this:

This is so much better than expected. I'm heaving a huge sigh of relief. (And I'm going to take it as an excellent sign that my kid thought it was funny too.)

And yes, it makes complete sense that Galavant would be the bridge show for Oncers. We also know that this time they're not going to screw up the between season programming for this show either, after what happened with OUATinWonderland (for OUATinW it was a mid-season kafuffle, but still, cancellation is a serious price to pay for an oops).

So: fairy tale shows from ABC for the next year at the least. Woot!

(Note: Fairy tale writers: got an ice maiden or Jack Frost story bubbling away? This is the year to get it out there. Just sayin'.)