Once Upon a Time in Wonderland

I can't help but feel slightly disappointed with Once Upon a Time in Wonderland. I have only seen the first two episodes, and maybe there will be hope for the rest of the season, but right now I'm not too pleased.

The thing about this show is that it's actually pretty good as far as the actors go, and visually it's nice. I like the fact that everything in Wonderland looks pretty unreal, as if you've jumped into a hallucination. Sophie Lowe as Alice was a perfect choice, and her genie is very attractive. The writing is interesting, and I think it's awesome that they were able to weave in the parent show as well.

So if everything else is fabulous, what could be wrong with the show?

Well, in my opinion, it makes too much sense.

I know, that sounds weird, but think about it...Lewis Carrol's Wonderland is supposed to be a world occupied by insane, head-strong, eccentric, and often obnoxious characters. There is no madness in this story, and the characters are all quite logical and perfectly sane. It's just NOT Wonderland.

I don't think that movies/shows inspired by or based on books have to be carbon copies of the source material. That just wouldn't be realistic, of course, and I have no problem with a sequel/spin-off, just like I had no problem with Tim Burton's film. In fact, I loved his adaptation, because he captured the real essence of Wonderland, not the squeaky- clean Disney cartoon of the 1950s. And all the characters were a bit mad and rude.

But this version of Wonderland isn't really Wonderland. Again, I'm no stickler, but is it too much to ask that Wonderland is a world of madness? That's the most basic element of book, and the fact that this ABC version hasn't showcased that at all is a bit annoying.

To begin I'd like to point out that the trailer is definitely more exciting than the series is. It's a nice idea, the crossover kind of works. But it also does not for several reasons. Some actors are either really bad, or their characters are unintentionally very annoying. Like Alice for example. Throughout the storyline she is just too perky, too determined and too optimistic. Her fighting skills also are not well staged. The red queen has too much botox and a whiny voice. But her character becomes more likable throughout the story line. The truth of the matter is that the flashbacks are more interesting than the actual story. The show becomes better when it progresses and has some surprisingly interesting ideas. The genie story seems to work out slightly better than the wonderland story. But in the genie story, the characters are unrealistic in the sense that mother and sons seem to have an age difference of less than 10 years and some of them look more European-Arabic, which slightly annoyed me. The show does have some very good scenes, some great actors and very nicely placed characters like the white rabbit and the jabberwocky. The actors have chemistry and the show flows nicely with some scenes better than the others. Which makes it worth watching.

I wasn't sure what to think when I saw that there was a spin off of "Once Upon a Time". I was initially skeptical of that show, but it grew on me. Maybe Disney just can't resist the tie-in to all those potential money-making cartoons of theirs already out there.

It's not bad, although the initial scenes of Alice in the asylum reminded me very strongly of the beginning of "Return to Oz". The brief scene in Storybrooke at the start was a bit useless, but I found the actors to all be quite likable, oh yay, more actors from Lost, and wow, doesn't that Red Queen have some lips! It will be interesting as time goes by (provided Disney/ABC doesn't cancel it after 3 episodes like they do most everything else) to see what characters may crossover between the shows.

I was really looking forward to hearing Paul Reubens take on the white rabbit, but maybe it will come out later.

I actually didn't expect for this show to be this good and fun because I don't trust the spinoffs but this one is really really perfect from episode 1 till the last one , I love the characters it's full of adventures and the love stories are so beautiful and the red queen is super pretty I liked Alices character its strong and. Determined

Not only is this (admittedly) spin-off series cleverly written, plus a cast that doesn't look Hollywood mannequin-esque, but is wonderful to listen to and look at, and it manages, as few old-school networks do, to make more quality-driven T.V. as is now being delivered on cable channels! Thank goodness that a mainstream, non-cable network has the proverbial balls to air such an engaging new series!!!! The lead, Alice, is refreshingly cast and portrayed by a skilled actress who, physiologically, does NOT (thankfully) look like just another robotic or plastic model, This series has major promise in terms of quality, client writing and performance, which leads me to believe based on extensive experience with decades of mainline 3-network TV. that this series might not survive!