Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Disney references in Once Upon a Time

I mentioned before that I am completely obsessed with the tv show Once Upon a Time, right?  It's a natural fit for a Disney fan, combining all sorts of storybook characters into one giant mish mashed fanfiction.  Then there is the added bonus that the show is on ABC and actually produced by Disney, therefore they have access to the entire Disney canon!  Granted the stories on the show take a very different path than their Disney counterparts, but they love to throw in little tributes to the films.  I'm going to see how many of them I can remember.

Snow White:

The most obvious one here is the names of the dwarfs.  In the original versions of the Snow White story, the little men are are just alike, generic figures with no names.  It was Walt Disney who decided to give them distinct personalities, and the classic names we remember from the film are all there in the tv show.  Fun fact- here is a way to remember the names of the 7 dwarfs: 2 D's (Doc and Dopey), 2 S's (Sleepy and Sneezy), and three emotions (Bashful, Happy, and Grumpy).

We occasionally get a snippet of a song.  The episode "Tiny" has the dwarfs singing "Hi Ho."  In "Heart of Darkness" Snow White is heard humming "With a Smile and a Song" right before whacking a bluebird!  In the same scene, she's also wearing the famous red hair bow.

Dopey wears his signature purple hat.

Cinderella:
Before Billy the auto mechanic meets his grisly fate, he reveals that he was once a little mouse named Gus who lived with Cinderella- it's Gus Gus!  Poor Gus Gus...

Interesting fact: In the Disney films, Prince Charming is actually the name of Cinderella's prince, not Snow White's.  Snow White's prince is known in the film only as The Prince.  Backstage at Disney, they refer to him as Snow Prince.  

Sleeping Beauty:
I'm not 100% certain, but I think all the names: Prince Philip, Aurora, and Malificant are specific to the Disney version.  Malificant in the Onceverse also borrows her look a bit from the film with the horns, but lacks the green skin and wears purple instead of black.

Pinocchio:
Jiminy Cricket being Pinocchio's conscience is really a feature of the Disney film.  In the original book, he is killed off almost immediately.

Beauty and the Beast:

Obviously this one is my favorite, but I think it wins the record for the most direct tie ins to the Disney version.  Here we go:

The most obvious is the names.  Belle, Gaston, and Maurice are all Disney specific.

Belle wears both her signature dresses, the golden gown and the blue dress.

Then, course, everyone gets the reference of the chipped cup to Chip, although the objects don't come to life here.

When Gaston bursts in and tries to reclaim Belle, Rumple turns him into a rose.  Belle asks who was at the door, and he replies, "Just an old lady selling flowers" which is directly out of the Beauty and the Beast prologue.  "One winter's night an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in exchange for shelter from the bitter cold."

Belle loves to read just as in the Disney film and as in the Disney film receives a library for a gift.  In fact, Rumple presents one to her twice both in Storybrooke and in the Fairytale world.

Did I leave anything out?  Is there something you caught that I missed?  Let me know!  I love this show so much, and it is even better when you are a Disney fanatic.  There's a chance I might be able to make it to a big Once convention in Orlando this November.  If I make it, I'll be sure to blog about it!  I'm also going to the D23 Expo in August- woohoo!

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