Once Upon a Time

Once Upon a Time is a television show that premiered on October 23, 2011 on ABC. It is produced and created by Adam Horowitz and Edward Kitsis. The soundtrack for the first season was released on May 1, 2012. The full-disc DVD/Blu-ray set of Season One was released on August 28, 2012.

Season Two premiered on September 30, 2012, and ended on May 12, 2013.

Season Three has been confirmed and filming started on July 12, 2013. It will premiere on September 29, 2013.

Summary
To ensure that no one in fairytale land - especially Snow White - had anymore "happily ever afters," Evil Queen Regina cast a curse which trapped the fairytale characters, frozen in time, and brought them into our modern world. Although still alive, they had no knowledge of their former selves and were sleepwalking through life - ageless—for 28 years, until their savior arrived in the form of Emma Swan. Unbeknownst to Emma, she was the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming who whisked her out of fairytale land and into our world as an infant to save her from the curse. Abandoned as a baby, Emma's life was anything but magical. When her 10-year-old son, Henry, whom she gave up for adoption years ago, appeared on her doorstep with a book of fairytales and told her a crazy story about how she's the prodigy of fairytale characters who are all trapped in a town called Storybrooke, she thought he was nuts. But curiosity got the better of Emma, and she brought Henry back to the town and soon found out that Storybrooke was more than it seemed. Regina, ever the control freak, had placed herself as Mayor of the town and was Henry's adoptive mother. Over time Emma began to see through the cracks of the curse, believed that the stories were true and was finally able to break it. Reality and myth merged as the fairytale characters began awakening once the curse was lifted and remembered who they were. But to their dismay, they weren't transported back to fairytale land. To make matters worse, Rumplestiltskin - aka Mr. Gold - decided to gain the upper hand in his power struggle with Regina and introduced magic into the town. But this is our world, and magic has a tendency to have unfathomable implications.

Story
The story is set in the fictional small town of Storybrooke, Maine. The town is populated by characters from fairy tales, who have been exiled to the real world by a curse cast by the Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) as part of a revenge plot against Snow White (Ginnifer Goodwin) and Prince Charming (Josh Dallas). Because of the curse, most of the inhabitants of Storybrooke have no memory of their "true" identities, and have been stuck in Storybrooke for years.

This changes when Henry Mills (Jared Gilmore), the adopted son of Storybrooke's Mayor Regina Mills, seeks out his birth mother, Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison), a bounty hunter living in Boston. He convinces her to come to Storybrooke. Henry knows about the curse from a book given to him by his teacher, Mary Margaret Blanchard. He tells Emma that she is the daughter of Snow White and Prince Charming, and that she is destined to break the curse holding everyone in Storybrooke. Skeptical, Emma decides to stay in Storybrooke only after seeing how lonely Henry is, and how emotionally neglected he is by his adoptive mother. In staying, Emma continues to run afoul of Mayor Mills. This conflict increases when Emma becomes the town Sheriff.

Each episode usually focuses on one main character who is experiencing some sort of conflict in Storybrooke. Flashbacks show what the character's story was in the fairytale world. In the first season, almost all of the flashbacks involve Rumplestiltskin (Robert Carlyle) making deals with the protagonists as part of some sort of complicated plot. In Storybrooke, Rumplestiltskin is known as Mr. Gold, the wealthiest man in town.

Beginning in Season Two, the curse has now been broken, but the narrative continues to follow a similar pattern, with multiple storylines being followed each episode. The first episode of the season sees Mary Margaret and Emma transported to a post-curse Enchanted Forest, so some episodes alternate between present day Storybrooke and present day Enchanted Forest. The Second Season also explores a previously unseen time period, the events of Emma's past in the Land Without Magic during the curse. Season Two also sees the introduction of another world, the Land Without Color where the infamous Dr. Victor Frankenstein originates.

Main characters

 * Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison) - A persistant bails bond collector that later becomes Storybrooke's town sheriff. Birth mother to Henry, who she gave up for adoption.
 * Evil Queen/Regina Mills (Lana Parrilla) - The Evil Queen has a conflicting past with Snow White, and strives to take away everyone's happiness. As Regina, she controls the town of Storybrooke as mayor.
 * Henry Mills (Jared Gilmore) - Son of Regina who begins believing everyone in town is a fairy tale character and seeks out his birth mother, Emma, to help break the curse.
 * Prince Charming/David Nolan (Josh Dallas) - A shepherd turned prince who finds true love with Snow White. As David, he lays asleep in a coma until awakening and resuming his loveless marriage with Kathryn.
 * Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold (Robert Carlyle) - Rumplestiltskin is a cowardly man who gains corrupting magic powers as the Dark One. As Mr. Gold, he is the owner of the entirety of Storybrooke and collects rent money from his tenants every month.
 * Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard (Ginnifer Goodwin) - A runaway princess turned thief who finds true love with Prince Charming. As Mary Margaret, she is a timid school teacher.
 * Neal Cassidy (Michael Raymond-James) - Emma's ex-boyfriend from 10 years prior who left her due to obligations, and has a secret past of his own. Is the biological father of Henry.
 * Belle (Enchanted Forest)/Belle (Storybrooke) (Emilie de Ravin) - Belle is a pure-hearted, noble-ranked woman who believes there is good in everyone and forms a bond with Rumplestiltskin. As her Storybrooke counterpart, she is an unnamed patient imprisoned in the psychiatric ward of the hospital until the breaking of the curse, and later, an alcohol-consuming party girl named Lacey who frequents the local bar and is attracted to Mr. Gold's villanous ways.
 * Hook (Colin O'Donoghue) - A vengeful pirate who is the captain of the Jolly Roger and has a long awaited score to settle with Rumplestiltskin.

Supporting characters

 * Abigail/Kathryn Nolan (Anastasia Griffith) - Daughter of King Midas and accepts an arranged marriage with Prince Charming, but later is reunited with her true love Frederick. As Kathryn, she and David have a rocky and terrible marriage that gets worse after he awakens from his coma.
 * Aurora (Sarah Bolger) - A princess put under a Sleeping Curse by Maleficent.
 * Blue Fairy/Mother Superior (Keegan Connor Tracy) - A wise and helpful fairy who grants the wishes of those that call for her help. As Mother Superior, she is the head of the nuns and follows a strict decorum in morals.
 * Cora (Barbara Hershey) - A miller's daughter whose ambition to gain power and wealth forces her to make sacrifices. As mother to Regina, she is critical and stubborn in her master plan to make her daughter the future queen.
 * Granny (Enchanted Forest)/Granny (Storybrooke) (Beverley Elliott) - The maternal grandmother of Red Riding Hood. She keeps the secret about their family history as shapeshifting wolves, but is forced to deal with the consequences when Red Riding Hood finds out. As her counterpart, Granny is constantly at ends with Ruby and frankly dislikes her granddaughter's partying and flirting ways.
 * Greg Mendell (Ethan Embry) - An ordinary man whose father was kidnapped by Regina when he was a child. Is back in Storybrooke in order to find him and to destroy the magic that was brought into the town.
 * Grumpy/Leroy (Lee Arenberg) - A mining dwarf who was originally given the name "Dreamy", but an experience in heartbreak leaves him changed along with a new name "Grumpy". As Leroy, he's known as the town drunk and is avoided by most people, but has a change of heart after meeting a nun.
 * Huntsman/Sheriff Graham (Jamie Dornan) - The Huntsman is commanded by the Evil Queen to kill Snow White and extract her heart, but in a moment of remorse, he allows the princess to escape. In payment for his failure, the Evil Queen takes his heart. As Sheriff Graham, he acts under Regina's thumb and is also her secret lover.
 * Jiminy Cricket/Archie Hopper (Raphael Sbarge) - Jiminy is the son of con artists and in his desire to change his life, he is granted a wish by the Blue Fairy to become a cricket with a voice of consciousness. As Archie Hopper, he is the town psychiatrist who is pressured by Regina to do morally incorrect things.
 * King George/Albert Spencer (Alan Dale) - King George is father to James, who he later tries to replace with Prince Charming, but to no avail. In bitterness, he does his best to separate Charming from his true love, Snow White. As Albert, he is Storybrooke's district attorney. Albert lives a life under the radar until the breaking of the curse and resumes wrecking havoc on David's life.
 * Mad Hatter/Jefferson (Sebastian Stan) - Originally an inhabitant of the Enchanted Forest who in turn becomes trapped in Wonderland and driven mad by an obsession in making hats to replace his old one. As Jefferson, he retains memories of his previous life and seeks Emma to use magic and return him to his old life.
 * Magic Mirror/Sidney Glass (Giancarlo Esposito) - Originally a genie transformed into a magic mirror due to his own undoing. Serves as a confidante and ally to the Evil Queen. As Sidney, he is a newspaper reporter that acts under Regina's orders.
 * Mulan (Jamie Chung) - A female warrior who journeys with Prince Phillip to find Aurora.
 * Pinocchio/August Booth (Eion Bailey) - A stranger who arrives in Storybrooke to help Emma see the truth about the curse and is secretly Pinocchio who managed to escape the curse alongside Emma in order to look after her, but soon abandons her when he is tempted to leave the cruel orphanage that they are placed in.
 * Prince Phillip (Julian Morris) - A prince who journeys with his comrade, Mulan, to find and awaken his true love, Aurora, but whose soul is captured by a wraith soon afterwards.
 * Red Riding Hood/Ruby (Meghan Ory) - Red is an ordinary village girl until finding out her alter ego lies in the ability to shapeshift into a wolf. As Ruby, she is a flirtatious waitress who likes to party but has self-esteem issues.
 * Tamara (Sonequa Martin-Green) - Neal's fiancée who seemingly comes to Storybrooke to support him, but is actually part of a team alongside Greg Mendell in order to destroy the magic in the town.
 * Dr. Victor Frankenstein/Dr. Whale (David Anders) - A scientist who resurrects the dead through implanting hearts into their bodies. As Dr. Whale, he is the main doctor of the hospital as well as a womanizer.