Once Upon A Time Season 4

[Dream]

Since for all intents and purposes Storybrooke doesn't exist within the realm of the show, I doubt the Federal or State government collects any taxes from the locals. Perhaps when everyone remembered their past in the Enchanted Forest, they decided to adopt some kind of medieval "serfdom" economy, but that's very unlikely and has never been shown.

I imagine they do pay some kind of tax to maintain the town and that sort of thing. But where does the clothing/goods/food come from? Is it delivered from outside, or does it show up magically at the stores/shops?

We never see the other townspeople in the present treat Mary Margaret and David as royalty really.

Storybrooke is a fraud, and all the characters should be trying to get back to the Enchanted Forest at every opportunity. If the show had been a short miniseries, I imagine them all regaining their memories and moving back to the EF to be the ending.

But that isn't the kind of story the writers want to tell for a several seasons show.

 

[Admiral2]

Yeah, see, everybody's responses just bring up a boatload of more questions.

Even small towns don't exist in vacuums anymore, and even if it's true that the original spell that created Storybrooke also isolated it from reality, that spell was broken, wasn't it? So unless Regina and Rumple are magically supplying the town with everything it needs by themselves they can't possibly stay isolated. Regina has to supply municipal offices with stuff not manufactured in town. Rumple can't just offer things in his shop that only magically appear in Storybrooke (especially if they're things he wants to use himself). And there's a pharmacy? Unless there's a giant conglomerate pharmaceutical company in Storybrooke, how in the hell does that get supplied with no outside-world contact?

Which all leads back to my original question, because at some point somebody in the Maine state government is going to notice a town that just appeared out of nowhere with a totalitarian Mayor, no legislative body and not contributing a single tax to the state or a single dollar to the state economy. And then the feds will find out, and nobody's magic is strong enough to beat the IRS.

 

[Gryffindorian]

While the people of Storybrooke may be able to sustain themselves with homegrown food (produce, etc.), it still raises the question of where they get other supplies - clothing, medicine as you mentioned, weapons, construction materials, tools, cars. One explanation could be that magic (Regina's in particular, since she was the one who cast the original curse) sustains the town and gives the populace all that a typical small American town provides, without having any physical or visual contact with the outside world.

On the other hand, some outsiders like Neal, Tamara, the Darling brothers--even Emma herself--have been able to get to Storybrooke without breaking any spells as I can recall. Regina and Gold have even ventured into the outside world while keeping their memories intact with a magic spell. Hasn't it been established before that Storybrooke did appear to outsiders at some point? I'm thinking back to the episode where a man and his son (Greg Mendell) were camping out in the woods when Storybrooke materialized. So could it be possible that when Storybrooke appears in the "real world," it does so in continuity with history, as though the town were always there from the very beginning?

 

[Admiral2]

While the people of Storybrooke may be able to sustain themselves with homegrown food (produce, etc.), it still raises the question of where they get other supplies - clothing, medicine as you mentioned, weapons, construction materials, tools, cars. One explanation could be that magic (Regina's in particular, since she was the one who cast the original curse) sustains the town and gives the populace all that a typical small American town provides, without having any physical or visual contact with the outside world.

On the other hand, some outsiders like Neal, Tamara, the Darling brothers--even Emma herself--have been able to get to Storybrooke without breaking any spells as I can recall. Regina and Gold have even ventured into the outside world while keeping their memories intact with a magic spell. Hasn't it been established before that Storybrooke did appear to outsiders at some point? I'm thinking back to the episode where a man and his son (Greg Mendell) were camping out in the woods when Storybrooke materialized. So could it be possible that when Storybrooke appears in the "real world," it does so in continuity with history, as though the town were always there from the very beginning?

Okay, all that makes sense...if Regina's the main source of the entire town's material livelihood, I suppose kicking her out of City Hall would be problematic.

Except:

-if she's as changed as she keeps claiming to be wouldn't she rather be Mayor according to the town's wishes instead just through magical inertia, the way it is now?

-didn't she lose her powers at some point? And if her powers are what maintain the town's logistics wouldn't losing them cause at least a little bit of a material crisis?

-if Rumple's power rivals her own, that also means the town has a potential rival candidate for Mayor. I know from what little I've seen of the show that he'd rather be wealthy than have political power, but if he should ever change his mind there should be a mechanism in place that allows for an election that doesn't require Regina's permission. (i know we're talking lesser of two evils here, but that's how Storybrooke evolved...)

I know I'm overthinking things a bit, but since I haven't been a regular viewer (and i failed utterly trying to binge watch the other seasons on Netflix) some things about what I have seen just make my head spin.

And anyway, we need something to talk about until sunday night...

 

[Masiral]

I have no clue where Red disappeared off to.

CBS

 

[Dream]

-if she's as changed as she keeps claiming to be wouldn't she rather be Mayor according to the town's wishes instead just through magical inertia, the way it is now?

A huge problem with Regina is that she is always trying to live up to someone else's standards of being "good" without really getting it, and without really feeling all that bad about the way she used to be. Regina doesn't feel sorry about what she did her the past which I find to be a huge problem. She expects to rewarded for trying to be good, and constantly blames others for her unhappiness.

The Evil Queen in the past was quite evil and ordered the death of entire villages for not giving her information about Snow White when she was on the run. Present Regina isn't much better, she tried to poison Emma, the lead character once at the end of the first season.

The writers treat the Evil Queen and Regina as the same characters, and I find it hard to root for her. One of the only good things about her is that she truly loves her adopted son.

-didn't she lose her powers at some point? And if her powers are what maintain the town's logistics wouldn't losing them cause at least a little bit of a material crisis?p

Regina lost her powers when the first curse broke and everyone remembered who they were. A town mob was formed and they went after her, but Emma convinced the crowd not to kill her. Regina got back her powers the same episode, and the whloe mob thing as mostly been dropped by the writers.

-if Rumple's power rivals her own, that also means the town has a potential rival candidate for Mayor. I know from what little I've seen of the show that he'd rather be wealthy than have political power, but if he should ever change his mind there should be a mechanism in place that allows for an election that doesn't require Regina's permission. (i know we're talking lesser of two evils here, but that's how Storybrooke evolved...)

Rumple taught Regina everything she knows about magic, so he can more than handle her. With his background as an licensed attorney, he also more than capable of being Mayor. But at the moment he seems to be in his own world with Belle right now. He can end threats rather easily, so the writers have to find excuses to keep him out of the main story. That's the reason he spent much of the second half of season 3 as the main villain's slave.

 

[RJDiogenes]

And then the feds will find out, and nobody's magic is strong enough to beat the IRS.

That's the arc for next season: The Revenooers show up.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Storybrooke is off the books.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Does Disney own Snuffy Smith? 'Cause he could be next season's breakout character.

 

[Admiral2]

And then the feds will find out, and nobody's magic is strong enough to beat the IRS.

That's the arc for next season: The Revenooers show up.

If you challenge them, you die the death of a thousand paper cuts.

 

[JD]

This is the kind of show where you just can't think about any of it realistically. You pretty just need to accept the suspension of disbelief and accept what's on screen.

Does Disney own Snuffy Smith? 'Cause he could be next season's breakout character.

According to Wikipedia, Snuffy Smith's strips are syndicated by King Features, and the last adaptation (on there at least) was a '60 cartoon series produced by Paramount Cartoon Studios (which was shut down in 1967).

 

[RJDiogenes]

I was kidding, of course, but that's interesting. I never knew there was an animated Snuffy Smith cartoon.

 

[Admiral2]

And here's where I ask "Who the hell is Snuffy Smith?"

 

[Dream]

New episode tonight!

"White Out"

ABC will be rerunning the first episode just before the new episode.

 

[Admiral2]

Wow. It was nice of grumpy to answer all of my previous questions for me...

And, this was the first episode where I actually liked most of the characters, especially Snow White: "You spent most of your lives without electricity! Find a flashlight!"

 

[bigdaddy]

Wow. It was nice of grumpy to answer all of my previous questions for me...

And, this was the first episode where I actually liked most of the characters, especially Snow White: "You spent most of your lives without electricity! Find a flashlight!"

I loved that line too.

 

[Gryffindorian]

"Maybe we should call Dr. Whale."

"He's a doctor, not an electrician!"



Emma to Elsa: "Aren't you cold?"

"It never bothers me [anyway]."



So Elizabeth Mitchell might be the Ice Queen from Narnia?

 

[Masiral]

"Maybe we should call Dr. Whale."

"He's a doctor, not an electrician!"

Loved the possible ST reference, but it does make a bit of sense - he is Dr. Frankenstein, after all.

So Elizabeth Mitchell might be the Ice Queen from Narnia?

I believe she's supposed the Snow Queen from Hans Christian Andersen's story (upon which Frozen was based).

 

[Dream]

I really liked his week's episode. It was better than last week's episode because we took a much needed break from Regina and Rumple to focus on the Charming family.

I enjoyed the friendship between Emma and Elsa. I can't believe how similar their characters are. Both blondes. Both have a hard time controlling their magic. Even their names are similar, starting with the letter E and end with an A! Talk about coincidences!

Emma's original name was suppose to be "Anna", so the writers dodged a bullet when making the show.

Glad to see Emma back to doing her job as the Sheriff. I was worried that the writers had forgotten about that.

I thought the flashback with David and Anna was good at developing both characters. OUAT does their own twist on fairy tales by making Bo Peep an evil magical warlord. It could have been very ridiculous, but the actress somehow managed to sell it. The writers also made Anna more badass than her movie version by making her good with a sword.

I saw the twist coming at the end since I had read a magazine article mentioning her character, but it was still cool. I just knew the writers couldn't resist bring in more LOST actors. Looking forward to seeing Elizabeth Mitchell in action. I'm very curious if they are going to make her character and Elsa related or not.

 

[DigificWriter]

So Elizabeth Mitchell might be the Ice Queen from Narnia?

She's not Jadis; as was mentioned above, she's the Snow Queen from Hans Christian Andersen's original fairytale.

As an aside, Frozen is only LOOSELY based on said fairytale, given that said fairytale is so vastly different from Frozen so as to make the latter effectively a wholly original story.