One Upon A Time Opener Adds Refugees from The Land of Untold Stories

"Nothing is more dangerous than an untold story..." 

So begins the 6th season of Once Upon A Time. And we truly hope this is a promise and not just a catch phrase (though it appears it's going to take a few episodes to get to the 'untolds' in question #wevoteCinderellastepfamily).

In this season Storybrooke will be "invaded" by "The Land of Untold Stories", where characters from the series have discovered that "there are more stories and tales out there than we ever dreamed..". (Note: while this was the teaser, the first episode treated inhabitants from this land more like refugees, given blankets after surviving the crashed dirigible.) Our optimistic hearts leapt at the thought that perhaps the producers and writers were finally open to delving into the myriad fairy tales (and myths and legends) from around the world. Where the lands of Storybrooke and other realms of Once Upon A Time had seemed limited and going in circles, it seemed there was finally the possibility of developing and exploring the hundreds and thousands of unexplored tales. Our optimism was abruptly bridled on reading the cast from the series had expressed thoughts that it "seems like we're running out of tales" at ComiCon, even though they hastened to add, "but of course that would never happen". 

It's a strange dichotomy: the series becoming open to "the land of untold stories" and delving into 1001 nights of Scheherazade's stories, while the show seems to be struggling with finding tales to tell. They're also making sure to mention that they're going "back to basics" with this season so the hope is that rather than just watching another version of having the reset button hit, that any first season story lines that are revisited will be explored in greater (and we hope, fairy tale related) depth. We do know Cinderella is set to return (although living in Storybrooke this whole time, we really haven't seen, if nay of her), but this time we'll see more of her stepmother and stepsisters as well. Since Cinderella has already been given her "happily ever after" (she was Emma's first success story, which, in part, led her to stay on in the town) we're curious to see if this will be dismantled and redefined or if indeed the show is taking a serious look at what "happily ever after" really means.

Meanwhile, the season opener on Sunday reported boosted ratings, due to the expectation of Aladdin, Jasmine and flying carpets, further exploration of the Disney version of the Beauty and the Beast story, along with a resurgence of the Wicked Queen persona. It probably helps that the budget seems to have had a boost as well. (Cue full sized dirigible set/prop piece #piratescaribbeanleftovers? and decent 3D animation for its appearance.) Though the special effects continue to be less than stellar from time to time, (#oraclebirdredeye) the production values are better and the sets, props vehicles and costumes seem to have noticeably improved (or the photography of those has improved - either way - things look better overall than they did).

The Belle-Rumpel story line (we left Belle pregnant and in an enchanted sleep at the end of last season) has its usual complications, though, without spoiling too much, it was refreshing to see "dream Belle" resist falling into her old ways with Rumpel. Children give you strength to do the most difficult things, which it seems will be a theme that will be explored in this season. And hers isn't the only baby around. Zelena (the Wicked Witch and sister of Regina/Evil Queen) has a baby too. But we're wishing on stars that isn't the only role these children will fill. With so much fairy and fairy tale lore surrounding births and babies, we sincerely hope the writers will be exploring some of these aspects as well, rather than just having infants complicate a situation (not to mention there is potential for both children to be "magical" given their parentage). Pregnancy, birth, infants and new motherhood in fairy tales is a fairy new area being explored in depth in fairy tale scholarship and, along with related fairy lore, there's so much potential for furthering fairy tales here.

Regarding the plot for the opener, not a lot happened, (other than the set up for which certain moments were included) so there's not much, if anything to truly spoil. Things should begin to develop in the next episode though, so we have eyes-on to see if any of these potential threads are followed.

The preceding hour recap of the series and introduction to season 6 with Kitsis and Horowitz 'answering questions', was much more intriguing. Things often take a long time to happen on the show just due to the enormous amounts of conversations and discussions so extracting the moments of magic and the touchstones for different characters and putting them together for discussion and review is interesting. While we understand the "drama" aspect appeals to many of the viewers, we find it often gets in the way of the storytelling, especially when retelling various fairy tales which tend toward flatness and are spare on unnecessary details. Highlights remind us that there have been many different explorations of tales of the show that are worth attention, and often work to bring different themes and threads into clearer focus as well. 

In the recap, there was a discussion of Easter eggs from the final episode of last season, confirming possible characters and classics that would appear this season. Agrabah folk, which have been the main teasers before the season premiere, Victorian London, which we already saw with Hyde, along with Paul Bunyan and other clues. There were also many mentions of fairy tale motifs and moments that were presented differently, which are interesting to reflect on. The exploration - and promise of exploration - of Snow White's character is something the teasers have pushed during the hiatus but the story that started it all (Snow White and Charming) has been "background soap" for the last few seasons, confirming for us that many writers are a little lost in trying to find "the magic in marriage" and make it "exciting TV". That they're promising to bring it front and center again is interesting (and we could suggest some great  tales for them to use to do that) but without the threat of terrible things (and Stockholm syndrome) as shown in the Belle/Rumpel dynamic, making it the equivalent of a train wreck you can't look away from, Snow and Charming are likely to have to deal with something extreme to bring back the fan-obsession. We have to wonder if part of the problem isn't to do with the lack of Charming's own mythic story. Although he's been given interesting background, matching the level and strength of a Snow White myth is a tough call, and for Snow to be wedded (literally) to a weaker arc, has the result of making her appear weak too. If that turns around to indeed become central again (and hit those' epic fairy tale' heights), it might make all the difference. We choose to cheer them on toward this goal.

A last aside: among the various questions asked of the creators, one random one was: "If Henry is the Author, who is the Illustrator?" We weren't happy with the lack of acknowledgement of the people who create the visuals - including those of the Once Upon A Time book, and the reply that the magic pen gave the Author powers of illustration as well was a blatant cop-out. It was also a missed opportunity for expanding the OUAT mythos. Given this is a visual information age, and that fairy tale illustrations have been key in keeping fairy tales alive in our time, not to mention that illustrations are a unique way of relating fairy tales and stories and a completely different skill set from writing, we felt let down by the lack of understanding here.

On a pro note: we were told very specifically that Dopey, who was turned into a tree some time back and has generally been forgotten about, will make a return appearance and fill in the gaps in relation to that story as well. We haven't had tree-related stories for a while (though the Merlin story line made use of one) and they were a key foundation, with Regina's apple tree in the first few episodes helping set the tone, twists and mythology for the series, and there's so much tree lore in fairy tales, it's a rich mine to pull from. We hope this will be a wonderful addition.

From Jennifer Morrison, who plays Emma, Snow White & Prince Charming's child and the Savior of Storybrooke:

"It's also showing that it's a return to returning to happy endings. The original concept of the storytelling of Once Upon a Time was that we were going to restore the happy endings," Jennifer explained. "So as we look at our characters in more depth and sort of introspectively deal with some of their baggage and all of the things that have happened over the last six years, they're also returning to the identity that they have. As the heroes, they're going to help save these happy endings." (source)

Bonus OUAT Season 6 Opener Drinking game:

(created by our Once Upon A Blog newsroom team)

Do a shot:

- every time you hear the word "story" in episode 1 

- every time you hear refrains from Beauty and the Beast 

- every time you hear the word "Savior" 

- every time Emma does her "anguished" face

Enjoy your OUAT hangover! 

Fairy Tale Bonus of the Day (or at least a OUAT bonus):

In case you haven't been keeping up with the OUAT buzz over the Summer, there are reports that for two episodes and once story arc, Princess Leia (yes, Star Wars Leia), will be, not only making an appearance but add some twists to the twisted family tree of the Once characters. I'll just include extracts as taken from an interview with the creators earlier this year after the jump:

✑  ✑  ✑  ✑  ✑  ♛ (click the "Read more" link below this line) ♛  ✑  ✑  ✑  ✑  ✑

ABCs "Once Upon A Time" Returns September 25th (Cue Flying Carpets & Lots of Evil Queen)

With yet another version of a "re-set" in which Regina splits herself into her good and bad halves, ABCs Once Upon A Time is set to begin season 6 with the Evil Queen in full force and on the loose, with a mish-mash of "various story worlds" making appearances and a side trip or three into Arabian Nights territory with Aladdin, Jasmine, Jafar, Sinbad and Scheherazade.

While we would love to see some real story spinning, Scheherazade style, we have decided we will settle for her at least being a strong and smart character, who uses her words wisely and well.

Here's a long trailer, shown at Comic Con in July, showcasing the Evil Queen arc (shown for the first few minutes) and a preview of the introduction to Aladdin.

We're very curious to see if this season is as popular with fairy tale fans and to see if it will continue on to season 7.

Disney's "Descendants" Is Not Done - Next Up: The Animated Series

Someone decided waaay before Descendants aired that this was going to be a huge hit. How do I know? Because they went ahead a spent a tidy chunk of change on getting a short-form series animated, and it's set to air very soon - in September.

From the Press Examiner:

The official word: “Descendants Wicked World“, an animated short-form series set in the Auradon and Isle of the Lost worlds of Disney’s hit movie “Descendants“, is set to premiere FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 18 on Disney Channel and its digital platforms, including WATCH Disney Channel.

Here's the teaser trailer:

 I know they were trying to draw in the tweens and teens with the live action, which is why they went in that direction first, but with the doll line for Descendants already out (I told you someone was banking on this being a hit) and this approach as an Ever After High-type rival, they look to be settling on the pre-teen demographic, which explains to me why they have the wardrobes they do (ie they look fine on dolls - real people, not-so-much). Actually. for pre-teens, the animated series looks just fine and on target (am I seeing traces of the Sophia approach in there? Anyway, girls who like Sophia, should graduate to this short series just fine.)

Oh and if you're an adult and want to catch up and have a little of fun at the same time, it's been suggested that you engage in one of the many suggested drinking games while watching the recently aired Disney Channel movie. (Seriously: google "drinking game" and "Disney's Descendants". There are a TON of suggestions as to how to go about this!) From the looks of it, it appears to be a very fun way to get up to speed!

"Once Upon A Time"'s Dark Swan Season Teaser

Before I get into a discussion which, I promise, is not spoilery, nor is it "down" on OUAT, take a look at the promo.

I like the echo of the twisted thorns that surrounded both Snow White and the Evil Queen in the promos for the first season. Those twisted black branches always felt like an incarnation of the curse to me. Now Emma is in the middle of twisted black, er, ribbons? Slime? Dark matter?? Whatever, the concept echoes the first season, and from the extended Snow White monologue promo for season 5, (which you can see HERE) which implores Emma to remember who she is, right from an actual "Once upon a time..." narrated beginning, complete with harking back to season one imagery and more, it may even be solidifying the mythology and original themes somewhat. That would be a good thing.

Though a Light Swan/Dark Swan concept isn't new to fairy tale folk (or ballet folk.. or people who watched critically acclaimed films of the past few years.. ahem) it may seem a very different idea for many and I've decided to stop griping about the regurgitation of ideas and just let them be discovered by a whole new generation of society/folk.

I have to admit, sometimes things that feel, to me, to be "done to death", really are new ideas to younger people. This generation didn't/isn't grow/ing up with every little girl being sent to ballet and knowing Swan Lake, just like they're not a generation that got beautifully illustrated fairy tale collections as a standard part of their standard childhood library. From a story perspective, it's incredibly sad, but it also provides an opportunity to revisit tales and to do it in a different, more contemporarily reflective way, than they might have, had the tales been passed on in "full form". (It also means, for storytellers and anyone working with tales, that when you see pop culture and general society sucking up this stuff so greedily, that there's an awesome opportunity for using your creativity and craft to bing stories back.)

Aside: I have a theory that this 'tale vacuum' that a large section of generation X grew up in, helped provide the  opportunity to successfully publish Schoenworth's collection, contributed to the intense popularity of Willingham's Fables, and, currently, supports the Disney live-action retread of classic films. It likely also contributes to keeping OUAT alive, despite it's many shortcomings. People are thirsty for traditional tales and when presented with them - especially if they believe them to be "new" or at least "fresh twists" (eg Tale of Tales film or Schoenworth's collection - tales from both of which have really been around for hundreds of years, just in relative obscurity to Grimms and Andersen's)- will lap them up and ask for "more!")

Above: Up on the left, the only time I have seen this poster is in a search so I suspect an excellent fan made job (and if it is it truly is excellent!). I particularly like the swan neck being the hook. Further down on the right is a fan made image calling back the idea of the thorns and the curse surrounding Emma, as well as the Dark One being able to be 'summoned' by whomever holds the dagger.

But back to OUAT's coming Dark Swan: One thing OUAT does well, is provide ample fodder in the way of visuals, one-liner summaries and fairy tale concepts that fans then take and make their own in the form of memes, fan art, cosplays, fan fiction and so much more (see image above for an example). The visuals (via screencaps and more) are easy to work with because they're fairly typical in their presentation so, while lack of originality in framing and filming might seem annoying at times, it gives fans tons of opportunities to run with their personal ideas and make new forms of expression (especially with all the awesome free graphics and filter programs available on the web for free these days. Anyone with a solid idea and some creativity can produce some really gorgeous and interesting images to share, express feelings or to tell the story - or stories - their way, as they see them.)

Though it's been a while since I added to it properly to cover the series, I have a board on Pinterest of interesting fan art inspired by Once Upon A Time HERE and it's worth a look. Why? Because this is people retelling the stories - and fairy tales! -, in their own way, with their own creativity, putting their own spin on the tropes and spreading those stories through popular culture, with the undeniable thumbprint of the present embedded as well.

This coming season promises MANY fan made stories circulating the internet via images, memes and heart-felt sentiments. I'm actually looking forward to seeing what the fans focus on, and what tales - and forms - become popular as a result.

"Stepmothers and the Big Bad Wolf" - Review by Tahlia Merrill Kirk

"Stepmothers and the Big Bad Wolf - Fairy Tale Villains Reimagined"

Edited by Madeline Smoot

Review by Tahlia Merrill Kirk

Editor's Note: You know when the Editor of Timeless Tales Magazine, offers to write a review. that the book is either something special, or unique, or perhaps both...

Jacket description: 

There are countless villains found in the pages of fairy tales—ogres, giants, even a witch or two—but none seem to capture the imagination like the stepmothers and wolves. Here nine authors tackle these villains. In some, the wolf or stepmother becomes the hero. In others, they retain their original threatening nature. In all the stories, the villains are presented in a new light. Rediscover your favorite villains in these new fairy tales.

This spring, I attended the SCBWI Austin writing conference where I made lots of new friends and learned about every aspect of the publishing process, from social media to book contracts. Having a limited budget, I hungrily eyed the book sale table like Charlie Bucket trying to decide which candy bar to buy with his last dollar. 

And then I spotted this little gem:

Being in the fairy tale business, there was no question in my mind that this would be the book I took home. My newly acquired treasure is even signed by the editor, Madeline Smoot, who I had the pleasure of meeting a minute after buying the book (wish I’d snapped a pic!). 

The book’s title ended up being 100% accurate--Stepmothers and the Big Bad Wolf is a collection of ten short stories that focus exclusively the two iconic characters of stepmother (Cinderella’s specifically) and wolf. 

Since the current trend is to write tales from the villain’s perspective, I was expecting lots of echoes of Maleficent here, especially in the stepmother stories. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find that none of the stories utilized the cliche first person narrator saying “let me tell you my side of the story”. 

In fact, the key to these retellings’ success is that most of them have antagonists rather than villains. Villains are characters designed to be destroyed. They lurk and cackle in Antagonists are meant to cause conflict that can be resolved. The conflict causers in this collection take many forms--from an abusive husband to Cinderella herself. 

Perhaps my favorite part about this collection is the wide variety of settings. For example, “Soteli Ma” takes place in an Arabian-esque world, but instead of the expected domed palaces and handsome sheiks, writer Laura Ring surprises readers with a wilderness survival story. Jump over to the UK, right after Arthurian Legends, and you find “Wolfsbane” full of torchlight and heavily guarded fortresses. Keep reading, though, because there’s even a story set in futuristic Antarctica! 

Be sure to read to the end where you’ll find my personal favorite, “The Wolf Listens”, which features a Native American girl forced to live in a British school. She is surrounded by teachers who actively work to erase her racial identity. Basically, If you feel like you’ve been-there-done-that with fairy tale retellings, you’re definitely in for a treat with Stepmothers and the Big Bad Wolf. It takes two of the most popular tales, breaks down their walls, and reassembles them into radically different structures.

This review was written voluntarily, without any compensation or affiliation with any of the authors or editors for business purposes.

Tahlia Merrill Kirk is Editor of Timeless Tales Magazine, and an official partner of Once Upon A Blog.

Disney's "Descendants": First 6 Mins Preview

I've been seeing Descendants getting a lot of mention right alongsideABCs Once Upon A Time which is a little brow furrowing for me - not in confusion but slight concern, so when the six minute preview was released I took a look to get a better idea of what audiences are in for (because the marketing push seems to be getting bigger and I'm beginning to see merchandise. ! )

Here's the extended preview if you've missed what this is all about:

So onto the preview: I didn't think this would be my cup of tea so I'm not too surprised by what I'm seeing but I'll let you be the judge. (I was starting to come around until the song kicked in.)

Take a look:

Disney's Descendants is scheduled to premiere on Friday July 31st at 8pm (EST) on the Disney Channel.

Once Upon A Time Season 5 Promises A Dark Swan

You've probably seen at least some of the update on OUAT's plans for season 5, especially if you follow on Facebook or Twitter, since I sent an article link on this to both in the past couple of days. (In case you're not aware, I've recently been linking to additional fairy tale relevant articles and interesting news and tidbits I haven't had time to get to, from a remote app I can use while doing other things, without having to log in to the blog, to FB or Twitter. So far so good!)

By now you also probably know that at the end of the last season...

END OF SEASON 4 SPOILERS!!!

LOOK AWAY IF YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW...>>>

... Emma Swan picked up the Dark One's dagger and we saw the start of the Dark One curse taking over her - something she purposely did to save Regina from doing it (and because someone had to do to "save the world" etc...)

SPOILERS OVER (pretty much, more later)

Since Emma Swan's name is "swan" it has been an obvious and likely plot possibility from the very beginning - that the light and dark sides of Emma be explored - think Odette/Odile in Swan lake, except I'm guessing there'll be less tutus.

(Oh boy. I hope there are less tutus...)

However... (Wait for it..)

Despite it seeming to be a fairly obvious take-off of Black Swan (the amazing-disturbing movie with Natalie Portman playing a ballerina who gets to finally dance the lead in Swan Lake), it looks like the promotional material (which you're not going to be able to avoid, especially if you're anywhere near LA or San Diego's ComiCon) is directly taking those visual motifs and repurposing them (other people might use a stronger term) for the upcoming season.

The emphasis is on ravens and raven feathers, rather than swans but really, the black-on-white/white-on-black with a slash of red, is clearly the same idea.

MORE SPOILERISH THINGS

& RANDOM SPECULATION BELOW

My thoughts on the Black Swan approach: it's been coming for a long time so no surprise there BUT I do love the Swan Lake tale and am intimately familiar with all the nuances in the ballet. There's a LOT to play around with in the story and I'm curious to see if they touch on that at all.

From The Movie Network:

Obviously there's a good portion of the half-season where the light side loses, at least enough for Kitsis and fellow EP/showrunner Adam Horowitz to give her the new nickname 'Dark Swan.' 

The real question is how the powers of the Dark Swan — yes, that’s what they’re calling her! — will differ from Rumplestiltskin’s (Robert Carlyle). “How a Dark One manifests is specific to each person who takes on the mantle,” says Horowitz. “Emma will have her own unique spin on what it means to be a Dark One.”

Big question: will the creators take a stab at dealing with mental illness issues along with general interior conflict? I can just about guarantee it will come up on Tumblr, even if it isn't intentional on the part of Kitsis and Horowitz.

Big question #2: will they finally acknowledge/touch on the Swan Queen vibe (aka Emma & Regina) that so many fans believe is there (and many are rooting for), as their long-time promised, yet not-yet fulfilled, gay character exploration? (Personally, with how Regina's character is looking, I can't see that being a two-way street if it does - her character clearly loves Robin - but that doesn't mean they won't have Dark Emma make a pass at Regina. Not exactly the best way to handle the idea though, as in this would then be a dark trait/manifestation, so I'm hoping this isn't the plan...)

The B-plot, by the way, is Arthurian and all things Camelot. They've gone into this territory before, and more than once, (Lancelot - who will apparently be returning, somehow, and the Lady of the Lake complete with sword, just to name the biggies, but there have been other references too), so here's my prediction: Season 5 is going heavily into princes, princesses, castles and dragons land - that is, the pop-culture idea of what a fairy tale is (see Fairy Tale Fandom's great post on Saint George and the Dragon, which is relevant here). What will this probably overlap with? Maleficent, Lily and whatever draconian familial issues are going on there as well as anything to do with knights errant (be that actual knights or Hook as Emma's knight or whatever).

Plus: Merlin, Merlin, Merlin, who is yet to be cast. He's supposed to be a "big dealio" and key to getting "the dark out of the swan".

SPOILERY THINGS OVER

No doubt we'll find out many other tidbits during the ComiCon panels, come mid-July.

I'm not really getting on board with the Dark Swan look, I'm afraid, but yes, I will be watching. Gotta keep up with what regular folk are considering as being fairy tales these days!

Once Upon A Time season 5 is set to premiere on September 27th.

"Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of A Sea Witch" by Serena Valentino Now Releasing 2015

If you've been a fan of fairy tales and comics in particular, you're probably aware of the name Serena Valentino. She's also a multi-published novel author and is currently under contract with Disney Press to do a series of novels telling the stories of classic Disney villains. (Apparently, her fairy tale comics, Nightmares & Fairy Tales, were a major factor in her getting the Disney contract, which is interesting since they're very far from what is usually considered the "Disney brand" style and subject material.) Her first, Fairest Of All: A Tale of the Wicked Queen, first published in August 2009 was impressive: lyrical, poetic, fresh and somehow still very true to the movie. I really loved it - both as an alternate look at Snow White and the character of the Queen and as a very different stand alone book. (We had an overview back in 2009 HERE.) To her credit, it didn't feel "Disney" as we usually think of either. I didn't expect it to stay on my "fairy tale retellings to keep in reach" bookcase, but it has a permanent place there.

Her second villain novel was The Beast Within: A Tale of Beauty's Prince published July 2014. (Don't jump on me for calling The Beast a villain - you need to read the book to see just whom it's about and why it's a villain's story.) It shared some aspects of the first novel, in particular three intriguing, yet bizarre characters - Odd Sisters - who are very much like The Fates. Personally I didn't enjoy it nearly as much as the first, although some of the pre-Belle's story scenes of The Beast trying to figure out relationships and friendships were wonderful.

We've known for a while now that she's been working on the third installment, based on Ursula from Disney's The Little Mermaid. (Yes, all of the books take the disney story as the starting point and develop from there, sometimes weaving back into classics, and Angela Carter, other times, moving somewhere altogether new.) While the title is yet to be confirmed, it looks like it will now be Poor Unfortunate Soul: A Tale of a Sea Witch, and that the release date will be moving up from sometime in 2016 to this year instead. Ms. Valentino is currently working on the first pass editor notes for the completed draft (which was very favorable, hence the hint at an earlier release), and just this past week shared little bits from the first chapter.

Here's a sneak peek at the first glimpse:

And here's what she shared with her Facebook friends this week:

As you can see above, so far the covers for the series all show the "classic villain" on the outer dust jacket and the hard cover of the book shows the "unseen" side. I'm curious to know what the inner one will be for Ursula...

Note: A fan put this pic of the dual cover for Fairest together - creepy cool:

You can follow Serena Valentino for all her fairy tale writing news via her Twitter HERE and see her journal updates on her website HERE.

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.