Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-25355646-20140930163721/@comment-24674051-20150112182315

I don't know if I would go so far as to say that magic has become the main element of the story. I agree it is important for certain characters (**cough**Rumple**cough**), But characters like Robin, Killian, David, Snow, and Belle get along fine with minimal magic (none of their own, and limited use of magical items).

Also, There are plenty of fairy tales and other classic literature out there in the Public Domain that Disney has not tackled yet. Some are quite obviously a little darker, and maybe don't lend themselves well to sanitation, at least enough to be useful to Disney.

Also, at some point, it is conceivable that A&E will take a whole new direction with the characters, coming up with something really novel and unique not based on any existing Fairy Tales (other than using the current set of characters). For Instance, depending on where they go with the story line for the Dark One, that could lead to an interesting original storyline.

I think the point here is that the show will go as far as ABC's budget and A&E's imagination will allow it to go. And ABC's budget is likely to run out well before A&E's imagination.