Tor Post: Once Upon a Time Vs. Grimm – THE FINAL BATTLE

Well, we’re finally here! The moment Oncers and Grimmsters have been waiting for. The winner of the Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows has been announced at Tor.com! But first, reviews of the season finales of Once Upon a Time and Grimm…

Excerpts:

Once Upon a Time -

Everything that needed to happen, like Emma kissing Henry with the Kiss of True Love, happened predictably in a by-the-numbers way. And when things were unpredictable, like Emma suddenly believing in the curse despite being so reluctant for so long in the most inorganic moment I’ve seen in a while, they didn’t make much sense. The way that moment was handled, it looked as if she touched Henry’s book and it sent visions of the truth shooting into her, which was hugely unsatisfying. I’ve seen various explanations online that say that she believed in that moment either because “she was ready,” or because “Henry’s condition primed her to believe, the way that people will suddenly turn to God when loved ones are ill even if they’ve never believed before.” I would’ve believed either of those had they been indicated in the script at all, but they weren’t. Emma just went from not believing to touching the book and believing. Had there been moments of her deliberating in previous episodes, or even in this one, that moment might have been earned, but it was not. She’s been so adamant about not believing for so long that I just couldn’t buy this sudden turnaround, and it tainted the rest of the episode, because I couldn’t be as invested in her quest.

Grimm -

However, that doesn’t mean there were no hiccups. The moment when Nick finally tells Juliette about being a Grimm was handled surprisingly poorly. I know that it was important for Juliette not to believe him, certainly not right away, but did Nick have to suddenly forget how to speak English? Rather than starting with the fact of the hair she couldn’t explain, as well as the fact that she brought up the point that perhaps stuff like Bigfoot was real, he just starts naming things around his trailer like a babbling idiot. Meanwhile, Juliette was way too skeptical from the get-go. She wants the truth, and yet everything she says and does leads us to believe that she’s dead set on not believing him no matter what he says. That entire section between Nick and Juliette didn’t play the way I think it was supposed to. Either that, or it did, and the way it was supposed to play was just wrong.

For the full reviews, to comment on the post, and to FIND OUT WHO WON, CLICK HERE!

Tor Post: Once Upon a Time Vs. Grimm – Stepmothers and Stepsisters

Oy, oy! You lucky people! (anyone get that reference? Anyone? Lemme know in the comments below!) You get second helpings of Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows goodness this week, and this latest post brings us totally current!

Excerpts:

Once Upon a Time -

And Henry. Wonderful, fabulous Henry. I knew the moment that Henry came over to Emma’s apartment that the only thing that would spur Emma to action would be if he ate it. But honestly? I wasn’t sure if they’d do that. Putting kids in danger, even fairy tale danger, is less palatable in a real-world setting than it would be if, say, Henry existed in the fairy tale world and we watched him be trapped by a witch. However, I’m so glad that the show was brave enough to allow this young character to do the necessary thing. One of the things I love most about this show is that it treats children with respect, and allows them to make choices for themselves, even questionable or harmful ones. In this moment, Henry got to be as noble and heroic as any fairy tale character, and watching him do it was magic.

Grimm -

This episode was so bad, I found myself getting progressively angrier as it went on. Not since Episode 2 (ie: Gilda and the Stupid Bears) have I been so disappointed in an episode of Grimm. And they both contain blondes stripping down to their underwear for no good reason. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The fact that this was actually an episode written by the show’s creators was hugely surprising to me, considering that the biggest problem I had was that the main characters and plot were hardly a part of it. This felt like an episode they handed off to someone else, and that someone else got it wrong, but they had to use it anyway. This was not the case. *sigh* “Happily Ever Aftermath” was way too unbalanced in favor of the guest stars.

For the full reviews, or to comment on the post, CLICK HERE!

Tor Post: Once Upon a Time Vs. Grimm, Part 16 – Wood and Beavers

We’re finally back to another installment of the Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows! And there’s some clarification on the scoring process that I lay down in the comments, so make sure to give those a look, too.

Excerpt:

Once Upon a Time -

Two things stood out during this episode. The first, of course, being the clever retelling of the story of Pinocchio. We all know the ending of Pinocchio — the Blue Fairy turns him into a Real Boy. But what happens after that? We don’t take into account the fact that the Blue Fairy did leave him with a challenge to remain “good, brave, and true,” and so it’s interesting to see that what has brought Pinocchio (now August) dangerously close to reverting to his wooden self is his inability to be true. It was inspired to put him in a long-term situation, like protecting Baby Emma, that would challenge the most difficult of the three things expected of him.

Grimm -

However a majority of the episode, most of which had to do with Nick coming into his own as a Grimm, was wonderful. The humorous opening scene of Nick doing weapons training with Monroe set the stage for more humor between them as they try to navigate their relationship during dinner with Juliette. The humor of those interactions then proved a wonderful counterpoint to the end of the episode, where Nick is flipping over Reaper scythes to kill two Reapers who’ve come after him, and Monroe helps him chop their heads off so that he can send them to Europe as a warning. It was a delight to see Nick be his most badass self, Monroe at his most clingy and flustered, and the cracks starting to show in Juliette’s tolerance.

To read the rest of the review or post a comment, CLICK HERE!

Tor Post: Once Upon a Time Vs. Grimm, Part 15 – Hunting Season

Yeah, yeah, I’m late. There’s stuff and things going on. Sorry!

BUT, the Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows is back, and you’ll be getting a twofer this week! First, my reviews for last week’s episodes of Once Upon a Time and Grimm are up at Tor.com.

Excerpt:

Once Upon a Time -

As good as the episode was, it promised a resolution that didn’t come. Obviously, resolutions don’t always happen when we want them to, but in the case of August Booth, the mystery had been coming to a boiling point, and should have bubbled over in this episode. We should’ve learned who he was. Yet, the entire episode was a red herring, and that felt cheap. Like a plot twist for the sake of a plot twist, a la M. Night Shamaylan in every movie after The Sixth Sense.

Grimm –

This episode has given Grimm a global scope after hints in previous episodes, and it effectively introduces an entirely new aspect to the Grimm mythology by unironically tying the Wesen World to real historical events. The seamless blending of “Old World” and modern world has always been one of the strengths of the show, and “Cat and Mouse” is a prime example of how well it can work. Even as Nick resides in a thoroughly modern world, I couldn’t help but imagine the entire cast in period 1940s costume.

For the full reviews, or to comment on the post, CLICK HERE!

Tor Post: Keep Your Mouth Shut, and Keep Your Hands Off the Cookies!

The Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows was back on this week! Once Upon a Time gave us a perfect Ginnifer Goodwin clone, Grimm gave Monroe a girlfriend, and characters on both shows learned some very important lessons the hard way.

Excerpts:

Once Upon a Time – It is completely understandable that Snow would see one’s relationship with one’s mother as paramount, considering the loss of her own mother, and it makes sense that she would consider helping someone “not lose their mother” as a great kindness, unable to imagine a scenario where this would be undesirable. This is fascinating, because of how Regina reacts. She has lost her One True Love at the murderous hand of her own mother. Yet, rather than take her rage and sadness out on her mother, she takes it out on the little girl who made an understandable mistake. The punishments Regina inflicts on Snow/Mary Margaret do not fit her crime. They are misdirected. But this speaks volumes about Regina’s tragedy. Not even losing the only man she ever truly loved was powerful enough to allow Regina to act against her mother. Regina exhibits symptoms of an abused child. She’s been so intimidated by her mother’s magic and power that she is incapable, even when she’s acquired powerful magic of her own, of punishing her mother. It seems that Regina is as protective of motherhood as Snow.

Grimm – It opens with a wonderful scene between everyone’s favorite schemers, Renard and Adalind, complete with witty banter and a deeper glimpse into their relationship and Renard’s personality. There’s the way that the neighborhood wesen have taken to showering Nick and Juliette with gifts to appease them. There’s the fact that Monroe has a new lady love, because no one deserves a lady love more than Monroe. And, of course, there’s Wu’s new condition, which seems to have moved beyond a bad skin condition. The problem with the episode was that the wesen drug storyline was just plain boring. Watching Nick and Hank actually work the case just seemed like filler in between all the stuff I actually cared about.

For the full reviews, or to leave comments at the post, CLICK HERE!

Tor Posts: Mad Hatters and Magic and Geek and Sundry

Hello there, everyone! When it rains, it pours!

I’ve got two faboo posts up at Tor.com today. First is my very, very late Once Upon a Time Special for “Hat Trick” as part of the Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows. Sorry. Life’s a bitch sometimes, and sometimes she’s a bitch who won’t let you write things.

Excerpt:

While the story behind the Mad Hatter is interesting, the character of Jefferson is not. There’s also the fact that this episode revolved around a character we’ve never met before and in whom we had not yet become emotionally invested. Once Upon a Time works best when characters emerge organically and step into the spotlight, rather than when it continually has new characters pop up out of nowhere for their own episodes. Jiminy Cricket and Red Riding Hood are two great examples of character exploration done right. Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel? Not so much. Now, we can add the Mad Hatter to the “not so much” list.

For the full review and to leave comments, CLICK HERE!

Me, Tom Merritt, Veronica Belmont, and Felicia Day at the Geek and Sundry signing at WonderCon 2012.

Next up is my write-up announcing the premiere of Felicia Day’s Geek and Sundry YouTube channel, which provides an entire slate of geek programming for your viewing pleasure. I’ve actually watched all the eps that premiere today, and they’re awesome! Go check them out!

Excerpt:

Yesterday, [Day] hosted a Google+ Hangout “subscribathon” for Geek and Sundry, bringing together high-profile geeks to encourage people to subscribe to the channel, and as of this writing Geek and Sundry has 106,949 subscribers (by comparison, Chris Hardwick’s Nerdist Channel, also featuring an entire slate of upcoming shows premiering today, has 45,235 subscribers). Clearly, Day owns New Media. The truly great thing about Geek and Sundry is that all of the shows seem to come from a genuine, unironic, fun place. These aren’t geeks trying to be hipper than thou. These are wonderfully dorky and earnest people doing geeky things, and we love them for it.

For the rest of the write-up (as well as descriptions of Geek and Sundry’s programming) and to post comments, CLICK HERE!

Lastly, I also received my long-awaited copy of Womanthology: Heroic today, along with a copy of China Mieville’s Embassytown – my first of his novels. Very excited to read both! Such a great geek day today!

Tor Post: Once Upon a Time Special – “Heart of Darkness”

Well, the Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows won’t be including Grimm this week, as Grimm didn’t air a new episode last Friday (didn’t air one last night, either – the next new episode of Grimm airs March 30th). The good news? Grimm is getting a Season 2! Huzzah!

Meanwhile, Once Upon a Time aired a wonderful episode on Sunday night, and I wrote all about it over at Tor.com!

Excerpt:

Andrew Chambliss and Ian Goldberg have written a surprisingly dark and harrowing episode. Even more surprising are the shocks of humor they managed to inject into the script. Watching Snow White doing her signature singing and attracting a little blue bird was made hilarious when we see that she’s only doing so to swat it with a broom! The intervention scene was amazing and funny, and I wanted to punch Snow in the face myself for making Happy not happy! However, all that humor existed to take the edge off of the episode’s greater darkness.

To read the full review, or to leave comments, CLICK HERE!

Tor Posts: Fairy Tale Shows and a New Fantasy “Saga”

It’s a big Teresa day over at Tor.com today! First, there’s my weekly Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows featuring reviews of Once Upon a Time and Grimm.

Excerpt:

Once Upon a Time -

In “Red-Handed,” Jane Espenson has given us an exciting, suspenseful, and ultimately heartwarming episode of Once Upon a Time that moves both plot and characters forward like a speeding train. Sure, what she did with Archie in “That Still Small Voice” was great, but Ruby is so. Much. Better. One can never look at the character the same way again after this episode, and her journey from dissatisfied waitress to discovering just how competent she is was fascinating to watch. Likewise, Red Riding Hood’s story. She is the Big Bad Wolf, and that’s when I fell in love with the character. The episode seemed to be all about the fact that we are our own worst enemies, our own harshest critics, and very often the only real obstacle keeping us from doing what we want and need to do with our lives.

Grimm -

I just want to give Alan DiFiore and Dan E. Fesman huge hugs, high fives, or whatever other congratulatory gestures they’d accept for their wonderful writing of Nick and Juliette’s relationship in this episode. All along, we’ve been getting bits and pieces the humor and the personality quirks that make them special, but this episode really showed us a fully-functioning (then dysfunctioning) couple. The scene where Nick has to defend himself against an accusing Juliette without telling her about his being a grimm is amazing in its total awkwardness and absurdity, and later, when Nick knows he’s going to have to go to Ariel’s home again, he makes sure to call Juliette and tell her in advance while also telling her that he’s going to take Hank with him. Rather than do the standard Male Character On TV Thing leading to more hackneyed misunderstandings later, he’s up front and prepares himself…like a real person would.

For the full review, and to leave comments, CLICK HERE!

Then, there is my write up of the Brian K. Vaughan midnight signing event at Meltdown Comics in L.A., moderated by Damon Lindelof!

Excerpt:

When Lindelof asked him if he has the ending to Saga planned, “because fans hate it if you don’t have everything planned out,” Vaughan half-joked, “Yeah, cause it’s so irresponsible not to have every single part of your story planned out from the beginning!” For Saga, as he did with Y: The Last Man, he knows what he wants the last page to be, but he’s leaving plenty of room for him and his artist, the fantastic Fiona Staples, to play between now and then. If things diverge from a certain path, it’s because they’re supposed to. Though Lindelof did reveal that when Vaughan came in to meet about writing for Lost, and he asked “So, what is the Island?” the response was, “What do you think The Island is? I mean, we know, but just out of curiosity, what do you think?” Heh.

For the full report, or to leave comments, CLICK HERE!

And yes, there will be a less professional, more fangirly report here at the blog shortly. Stay tuned.

Tor Post: “Once Upon a Time Vs. Grimm: A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes”

We’re back to dual reviews over at the Battle of the Network Fairy Tale Shows as both Grimm and Once Upon a Time had new episodes this week, both of which gave us a deeper look into the dreams of some wonderful supporting characters.

Excerpts:

Once Upon a Time – “Also interesting is the approach that the episode took to dreams. On a show about fairy tales, one would expect that dreams are all good and all possible. While several of the characters feel that way about it, the moral of the episode seems to be that some dreams need to be rewritten; that sometimes, if you love someone, and your dream is in conflict with something that’s good for them, you have to let your dream go, even if it makes you, well, Grumpy. However, it’s not as bleak as it sounds, because sometimes dreams come true in a way that you weren’t expecting, but in a way that’s good for you.”

Grimm – “One of the most interesting things about this story was that it employed Greek mythology rather than Grimm’s fairy tales, giving the show a more global feel than Germanic tales alone would allow. The episode also, more successfully than “Last Grimm Standing” before it, had the case of the week exist firmly within the wesen world, which seems to be when Grimm does best. The story was fast-paced and enthralling, because the drama was so firmly rooted in the characters we love. From finding out that Nick’s parents were murdered, to Hank acting all crazy, to Monroe geeking out again about being in Aunt Marie’s trailer, to Captain Renard having an Evita Moment on his balcony, we received insights into the things that make us care about the show.”

For the full reviews, and to join the conversation, CLICK HERE! Please leave all comments over at the Tor post. Thank you!

Fun With Fandom!

My Fandoms (ie: the fictional worlds I love, and that I love to explore with other fans):

Doctor Who (both New and Classic)

Grimm

Fringe

Once Upon a Time

Star Trek (all series, except Voyager, which is the only one I haven't watched yet)

Battlestar Galactica/Caprica (yes, equally!)

Lost

The Whedonverse

So…I came across this on Tumblr, but since my Tumblr’s so very specific, I don’t like to bog it down with fangirl squeeing (unless that fangirl squeeing has some sort of feminist bent!). But I love surveys/questions/memes like this, so I thought I’d bring it home to the blog. In a comment, choose three letters you’d most like me to answer, and I will reply.

Yay! I love answering questions!

FANDOM EDITION: Are these the kind of things you’d like to be asked? (courtesy of imafangirlnotadoctor)

A – Your current OTP
(“One True Pairing” for my non-geek friends!)

B – A pairing you initially didn’t consider but someone changed your mind

C - A pairing you have never liked and probably never will

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t

E – Have you added anything stupid/cracky/hilarious to your fandom, if so, what

F – What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom

G - Do you remember your first OTP, if so who was in it

H - Do you prefer characters from real action series or anime series

I - Has tumblr (or social media) caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why

J - Name a fandom you didn’t care/think about until you saw it all over tumblr (or social media)

K - How do you feel about the other people in your current fandom

L – Your favorite fanartist/author gives you one request, what do you ask for

M – Your favorite fanart or fanartist

N – Your favorite fanfiction or fanauthor

O – Choose a song at random, which OTP does it remind you of

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas)

Q – A ship you’ve abandoned and why

R – A pairing you ship that you don’t think anyone else ships

S – Show us an example of your personal headcanon

T - If you mostly have homoships, do you have any heteroships

U – If you mostly have heteroships, do you have any homoships

V - Are you one of those fans who can’t watch anything without shipping

W – 5 favorite characters from 5 different fandoms

X –  3 OTPs from 3 different fandoms

Y – A fandom you’re in but have no ships from

Z – Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go