OUAT's #HeroesAndVillains Season Finale Is Going to be a 2 Hr TV Movie On Sunday

OUAT fan art of villains by DadoSuperstar90 (characters by Adam Osgood)

Note: I'm not convinced there are really spoilers here. I don't think it reveals very much about what's happened all season and with this twist, everything is completely different anyway, so I think you'll be safe... Maybe don't watch the trailers if you're truly concerned about spoiling your finale viewing.

There are all sorts of promises being made about this season's finale for Once Upon A Time. 

You're probably aware that the first half of this season was the "Frozen" season (-sigh-) and that the second half has been about the villains looking for their happy ending (ditto -sigh-).

I have to say, I've been less than riveted for most of it BUT we have been promised writing that uses a full two hours to explore a whole flip side to the storyline - thanks to a devious move of "rewriting" by the nefarious 'Author', everyone switches roles: the good become "evil" and the 'evil' become good.

There have been a few gem-like pieces of writing that have been stand-outs this season* so I know they have the chops. I'm really hoping they had someone work as hard on getting this finale to work 'just right' for as long as it took, rather than have it be handled in the usual speed-writing manner of TV series, because, if they do it right, it could bring Once Upon A Time back onto the 'series you should be watching' map, but if they do the "everyone switches roles exactly and says each others' lines from previous episodes" (like the example preview I saw), I'm not going to be too impressed. (Must think positive!)

This finale, titled Heroes and Villains (add the hashtag to follow all the crazy on Twitter!) has potential to be interesting, that's for sure, and I'm glad they're just keeping it to the two episode/two hour length to explore it too - hopefully that will keep it tight and focused.

Here's the official description and promises making the rounds to get you excited before Sunday. But hang on - we need the trailer too. Make that two trailers...:

Things are really getting shaken up in the "Once Upon a Time" Season 4 finale. 
The above clip shows that the Author (Patrick Fischler) is having fun switching roles. The Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) is good, while Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) have slipped to the dark side.  

What else is in store for the finale? Creators Adam Horowitz and Eddie Kitsis tell Zap2it that fans should be ready for "Once Upon a Time" film experience. 
"The finale has to be when the Author starts writing," Kitsis says. "[Fans] should be prepared for a two-hour movie."   

This means the Season 4 finale will work much like the Season 3 season finale that introduced the "Frozen" story arc, rather than two different stories being forced together. 

"There's a unifying story idea that takes place over the two hours. It's not two separate episodes back to back," Horowitz clarifies.  

Kitsis uses the phrase 'concept world' to describe the changes coming to the Enchanted Forest -- but he doesn't want over-hype the finale before people get a chance to see it.  

"We don't want to over-promise, but just maybe. Our hope is that people will say that."  

See who turns out to be hero or a villain when "Once Upon a Time's" Season 4 finale airs Sunday, May 10 at 8 p.m. ET/PT 

Oh and in other OUAT news? It has been renewed for a FIFTH season. (Please don't hit the reset button - again!) 

Is that watery ink..? 

* The Ice Queen was wonderfully drawn/written - and especially wonderfully played. Ursula's story was really interesting but far too short and easily wrapped up and the Author being revealed as a job rather than a specific person was great too. Despite my lack of love for the villains in general, Maleficent losing her egg-baby was heart wrenching and Cruella De Vil was completely evil through and through - and she always had been. It was wonderfully refreshing after the patterns we've seen. 

Waiting Impatiently For 'Maleficent'? Read A Book, Have A Cup of Villain Tea...

MALEFICENT BLEND*Smooth and velvety, with a glamourous sprinkling of rose petals.
This blend is elegant with just a hint of something murky, waiting to surface.

Note: All teas shown are by Adagio Teas, the number one tea site that creates teas with pop culture themes. There are TONS of blends and themes here! All version of Disney, of course, but also Doctor Who, Harry Potter, Princess Bride, Sherlock, Buffy, Game of Thrones, Rise of the Guardians, Wonderland, Once Upon A Time, Beauty and the Beast, Star Wars, Grimm, Labyrinth, The Neverending Story, the Tolkien themed, Tales & Tea Leaves and a LOT more. Heck, there's even a Kate Crackernuts tea blend! (Be warned: it's a tea rabbit-hole!)

Fairy Tale Book Lists are popping up all over the place under the "While You Wait For Maleficent" banner.

URSULA BLEND**
Tropical and fruity, this blend
is reminiscent of the ocean, with
just hints of tanginess throughout.
It'd be very helpful if you were
to lose your voice. Not that there's
any reason that'd happen.

Ta da! This is one of those moments where fairy tale writers go - look! They're searching for us again! Not that readers have really stopped. For some time now fairy tale retellings - especially those with a little grit - have been in demand and now, if your book is currently on the shelves with the hashtag of #darkfairytale attached, there's a very good chance you will be making some extra sales this month.

A recent and decent one come from HuffPost HERE. It seemed for a while that fairy tale retelling lists had the same recommendations overall with only a slight variation between them according to the columnists taste. This list, however, has a much more variety - and many newer - books.

Specifically these are on the conflicted protagonist theme and I wasn't surprised to see Gregory Maguire's Wicked topping the list. I did, however, have the urge to give a little woot and fistpump on seeing Angela Carter's fairy tales in there. That will be an interesting fairy tale primer for the unsuspecting! Hopefully they'll fall in love and we'll have more fairy tale friends than ever.


There are NO SLEEPING BEAUTY RETELLINGS LISTED HERE! I wonder why? Or have we just not been as keen to rewrite her story in novel form as much as some others?

CHERNABOG BLEND***
Dark, bold, with hints of cocoa, this blend reflects the night with perfection. Drinking it in the morning may provide difficulties, like a choir singing to try to stop you.

I can think of lots of short stories and some older Sleeping Beauty novels but not a whole lot recently (ie the last five to ten years)... Hm.

Here's the HuffPost list:

(Note, that at the link, there is a very brief summary of the book and why it's Maleficent-esque reading)

• Wicked by Gregory Maguire
• Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce
• Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes
• The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
• Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
• Snow White Sorrow by Cameron Jace
• The WoodCutter Sisters series by Alethea Kontis
• The Bloody Chamber and Other Stories by Angela Carter
• Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
• Of Beast and Beauty by Stacey Jay

THE EVIL QUEEN BLEND*****
This blend is full of the scent
of apples and sugar, a very pleasant
combination in deed. There is just
something bitter in that of
aftertaste that may leave you suspicious.

My pick to add in the "Maleficent-like" vein would be Fairest of All by Serena Valentino. It tells a very similar story, of a hurt woman changing to a downright evil woman from the Queen's perspective so that makes it even more interesting to follow (plus the writing is simply stylized yet poetic and lovely, while the story, no matter the twists it takes, stays very true to the Disney movie).

What would you add to the list, considering people want a Maleficent-like story (according to what we know from the trailers etc so far anyway)?



* MALEFICENT BLEND:  ingredients & lore: blended with black tea, yunnan jig tea, cinnamon bark, ginger root, wuyi ensemble tea, natural blackberry flavor, cocoa nibs, blackberry leaves, natural chocolate flavor, natural cinnamon flavor

teas: mambo, blackberry, chocolate chai

accented with cocoa nibs and rose petals

steep at 212° for 3 mins

** URSULA BLEND: ingredients & lore: blended with yerba mate tea, pu erh tea, apple pieces, hibiscus flowers, rose hips, dried coconut, natural coconut flavor, natural mango flavor, marigold flowers, natural pineapple flavor, pineapple pieces, mango pieces, papaya flavor

teas: pu erh tahiti, pina colada, mango mate

accented with ginger and hibiscus

steep at 195° for 4 mins

*** CHERNABOG BLEND:  ingredients & lore: blended with pu erh dante, pu erh tea, black tea, orange peels, cocoa nibs, natural chocolate flavor, blue cornflowers, natural orange flavor, natural caramel flavor, natural vanilla flavor

teas: pu erh chorange, pu erh dante,tiger eye

steep at 212° for 4 mins

**** QUEEN OF HEARTS BLEND: ingredients & lore: blended with green tea, rose hips, hibiscus flowers, apple pieces, orange peels, natural wild cherry flavor, dried cherries, rose petals, natural orange flavor

teas: dewy cherry, blood orange, cherry green

accented with hibiscus

steep at 205° for 4 mins

***** EVIL QUEEN BLEND: ingredients & lore: blended with black tea, rooibos tea, apple pieces, cinnamon bark, natural caramel apple flavor, natural caramel flavor, natural apple flavor, natural cinnamon flavor

teas: candy apple, caramel, rooibos cinnamon apple

accented with aniseed

steep at 212° for 4 mins

QUEEN OF HEARTS BLEND****
Paint this tea as red as you want. With levels of cherry, blood orange, and hibiscus, the longer you brew it, the redder it becomes.

Hannah New Talks About Her Role as Aurora's Mother (aka 'Maleficent' News)

Apologies for a quiet weekend on the news front. It's been close to impossible to get to a computer I can blog on for days now, but I hope to put up a few shorter - and, sadly, less detailed - posts over the next couple of days to catch you up a bit.

First of all, the cast for Maleficent is beginning to be allowed to talk about their work on the film. The following excerpt is from an interview with Hannah New who plays Sleeping Beauty's mother when SB was a baby:

From CraveOnline:

You also worked on Maleficent. What’s your role in that?
It was fab. I got to play the mother of Sleeping Beauty which was an incredible role. Sleeping Beauty is a film that I remember very vividly as a kid and I remember all of those scenes, so revisiting the dark side of these fairy tales is almost cathartic as an adult. I think it’s an interesting trend that’s happening now that all of these tails are being explored from both sides, from the good and evil side. I’m very excited to see it. I haven’t seen it yet.

Is her mother out of the picture by the time Maleficent comes along?
Obviously when she’s born, that whole scene from the Disney film when she curses the baby is going to be in Maleficent. It’s the core conflict that happens in the story. Yeah, she then is obviously, because much of the story covers when she’s older, when she’s 16 so obviously I’m only playing her mom when she was a baby.

That still must have been a fun scene to do in live action.
Yeah, totally, it was awesome and also kind of was the culmination of lots of dreams because I’d always dreamed of working at Pinewood because it’s such an institution for us Brits. Obviously that childhood dream of being a Disney princess and getting dressed up in amazing, amazing costumes. The costumes are just out of this world, and obviously working with such incredible actors was another incredible bonus to that job. I’m just really, really glad to be part of it.

I think we're going to be seeing a lot more talk about looking at the darker side of fairy tale, aka seeing stories from the villain's POV in the immediate future. Even though it feels (to me) like we've been discussing this "darker side of fairy tales" thing for a few years now, I guess being sympathetic with the villain's story is a more specific strain of that, and people are completely fascinated by it. There are quizzes and hypothetical posts all over on "who will/should get the Maleficent treatment next?!".

I do think the consideration of the anti-hero, the misunderstood hero who sacrifices all (including reputation and their correct place in history) is a reflection of our current social considerations.. but that's for someone else with more time (and a bigger brain!) to discuss! Feel free to weigh in though. I'd love to see what your thoughts are on this.

A Dark Rapunzel Coming to OUAT (No, I'm Not Talking About Her Hair or Skin Color, Although She's Not Blonde Either)

Here we come to one of those times when the internet shows it's personality disorder: "..we want more diversity among Disney princesses!" is currently having a head-on clash with "..why is OUAT's Rapunzel not blonde?!".

:/ Yeah.

What is more interesting (to me) is not how 'non-white' the new Rapunzel character for OUAT's features will be, but how dark the storyline is promised to be (by OUAT creators Kitsis & Horowitz), and when we say "dark" here we mean The Grudge Japanese horror film dark.

Apparently.
No doubt it will be toned down a lot to keep the current mostly-family-friendly rating but that's the promise: The Grudge-dark.

In the second half of season three, we will meet Rapunzel (Alexandra Metz).

 

The executive producer, Adam Horowitz, has confirmed this to be true. 

However, he stated that, “We’re not doing Tangled; we’re doing our spin on the character.” This just makes the news all that more exciting. 

Kitsis went on to describe Rapunzel’s character. He said that she is going to be a little darker and freakier. Think of a horror story like the vein of The Grudge. 

The long-locked damsel (Alexandra Metz) will be visited in her tower by Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) as well as a mysterious hooded menace. Might it be the Wicked Witch of the West (Rebecca Mader) lurking under that hood? "I can't tell you," says Mader.

I'm immediately reminded of the Fairest (Fables comic spin-off) Rapunzel and how perfectly that Japanese horror aspect is explored, not to mention how well it fits with Rapunzel's story. I guess the OUAT people aren't keeping up with Willingham's Fables/Fairest? Or are they?

Not only is the trend for understanding the villains' side of the story continuing but it has well and truly expanded into "the heroes aren't exactly as squeaky-clean as you thought..".

I have to say I'm enjoying the look at the anti-hero a lot - the perfect princess/hero approach of the last 20+ years has been cloying but at the same time this trend of villain stories and exposing the dark hearts of the heroes can occasionally feel a little forced. I'm curious to see where on the spectrum this storyline lands.

The way people are viewing fairy tales is certainly richer than it was a few years ago but instead of mining the multitude of stories that already have complex heroes and villains we're still in re-mix mode for the familiar ones.

This is not a complaint - exactly - more of a sigh at a missed opportunity but honestly, I'm just glad people are still considering different aspects of fairy tales more than they have for some time.

Sources: HERE & HERE