Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

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Name: Once Upon A Time In Wonderland
Abbreviation(s): OUATW, OUATIW
Creator: Edward Kitsis
Adam Horowitz
Date(s): October 10, 2013 - April 3, 2014
Medium: Television
Country of Origin: United States
External Links: official website IMDB site
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Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is an American fantasy-drama television series that began airing on ABC in October 2013, the show focusing on Alice and Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

Overview

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is a spinoff of Once Upon A Time that takes place in the same universe, following the story of Alice and her adventures in Wonderland. Much like its parent series, the show makes use of flashbacks in each episode that connect to the main characters' journeys in the present and elaborate on how the characters became the way that they are now.

In the first episode, Alice has been sent to an asylum because her father and the doctors there believe that she is lying about Wonderland and everything she experienced there. She goes along with it due to the Red Queen killing her the love of her life, a genie named Cyrus. However, the Knave of Hearts and the White Rabbit travel to Alice's world (an alternate version of Victorian England) and reveal to hear that Cyrus is alive. With her hope restored, Alice breaks out of the asylum and returns to Wonderland with them to search for Cyrus. Meanwhile the Red Queen is revealed to have used the knowledge of Cyrus' survival to lure Alice back to Wonderland so that she and her ally Jafar can make Alice use her three wishes and allow the villains to use Cyrus' powers to achieve their own goals.

The series wrapped up all of its major plotlines by the end of its first season, and due to low ratings was not renewed for a second season.

The Knave of Hearts later appeared in the fourth season of Once Upon A Time as a series regular, and briefly served as Belle's rebound boyfriend after her latest breakup with Rumplestiltskin.

Characters

  • Alice - the main protagonist of the show. A girl from Victorian England who made frequent trips to Wonderland to find proof to convince her father that everything she saw was real before her grief over Cyrus' supposed death drove her to want to forget it all.
  • Knave of Hearts - also known as Will Scarlet. A thief who used to work for the Queen of Hearts before Alice helped him get his heart back and escape.
  • The White Rabbit - A talking rabbit with the ability to dig portals between worlds. Though allies with Alice, he spends the first half of the series being blackmailed into spying on her for the Red Queen
  • The Red Queen - The ruler of Wonderland and one of the main antagonists of the show. She allied herself with Jafar.
  • Jafar - One of the main antagonists on the show. A sorcerer who allied himself with the Red Queen due to her powers and connections with Wonderland.
  • Cyrus - Alice's lover and a genie. He spends the first several episodes of the series imprisoned by Jafar.
  • The Old Prisoner - an elderly man imprisoned in Jafar's dungeon who Cyrus has developed a friendship with.

Connections with OUAT

Due to being a part of the Once Upon a Time universe, Once Upon A Time in Wonderlad makes periodic references with the show it spun off from. Some examples include:

  • The introduction of the Knave of Hearts shows him in Storybrooke during the events of "Broken", the first episode of Once Upon A Time's second season. He briefly knocks into Ashley Boyd (Cinderella) and Leroy (Grumpy), while Emma Swan's yellow beetle is briefly seen beforehand.
  • The Mad Hatter's cabin is shown in the pilot, with it being abandoned as a result of the Hatter and his daughter being trapped in Storybrooke.
  • The third episode reveals that Will had once been part of Robin Hood's Merry Men and convinced them to steal gold from Maleficent's castle. Both Robin Hood and Maleficent first appeared on OUAT and were played in this episode by the same actors.[1]
  • The Red Queen is later revealed to be Anastasia, Cinderella's step-sister.
  • Cora (the Queen of Hearts) makes a guest appearance in the eleventh episode and is the one to train Anastasia in magic.[2]
  • The same episode has Alice and Cyrus travel to Storybrooke to find Will's heart.[3]

Fandom

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland has a very small fandom compared to its predecessor. The fandom is mainly on Tumblr and there are already a few Youtube videos.

Terminology

Pairings

The main pairings for the OUATW fandom is for the canon couple of Alice/Cyrus and the non-canon ship of Alice/Will. There are a few fans of Jafar/Red Queen. When Anastasia was revealed to be the Red Queen's real name and her story with Will, the pairing of Anastasia/Will grew in popularity. Some of the rarer pairings include Alice/Red Queen and Alice/Jarfar.

Alice/Will is often compared to Emma/Hook (from OUAT).[4]

Example Fanworks

Fanfiction

Fanart

Vids

Meta

Archives and Communities

Resources

References

  1. ^ Maleficent first appears in OUAT Season 1 Episode 2 "The Thing You Love Most". Robin Hood first appears for the first time in OUAT Season 2 Episode 19 "Lacey".
  2. ^ OUATIW Season 1 Episode 11 "Heart of the Matter"
  3. ^ OUATIW Season 1 Episode 11 "Heart of the Matter"
  4. ^ mirchoffism Emma/Hook & Alice/Will gif-picspam. Posted October 12, 2013. Accessed October 19, 2013.