Don't take candy from strangers...

This was the ultimate advice that could have been given to Hansel and Gretel in last night's episode of Once Upon a Time! Actually, the evil queen did give the children that advice, but I guess candy and sweets are just too tempting for kids. I don't want to give too much away for those of you who haven't seen the episode yet. I will say this much: The blind witch who lives in the gingerbread house is looking better than any storybook witch ever has, and the evil queen gets some awesome Steampunk type outfits. Here's a brief video clip showing some of her stylish clothes:



I've never disliked a character so much, while at the same time wishing I had her wardrobe. It's almost conflicting in a way.

The next clip is a preview for the episode. You can catch a brief glimpse of the blind witch in this:



Didn't they find the most precious children to play Hansel and Gretel? If you would like to watch the entire episode, you can do so here:

Hansel and Gretel episode

Hansel and Gretel is one of those fairy tales that is probably supposed to leave children with a message. It was the original "Don't take candy from strangers" story! Of course, being a Grimm tale meant that it had its gruesome parts. I decided that a story that was grisly enough to involve a witch in an oven deserved a place here. So, I'm going to delve a little further into the story... 

In the original Grimm version of Hansel and Gretel (which is probably the one we all know) the children live with their biological parents, who share the blame for abandoning them. I was surprised to learn that they later adapted the story so that the children live with their father and stepmother. From what I've found online, the story was updated in the 1850s. In the updated version, the stepmother would like to get rid of the children and sends them into the woods to fend for themselves. According to Wikipedia...

Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm heard "Hansel and Gretel" from Dortchen Wild, and published it in Kinder- und Hausmärchen in 1812. In the Grimm tale, the woodcutter and his wife are the biological parents of the children and share the blame for abandoning them. In later editions, some slight revisions were made: the wife is stepmother to the children, the woodcutter opposes his wife's scheme to abandon the children, and religious references are made.

In both versions of the story, the children end up at the witch's gingerbread house, which lies deep in the woods. The witch plans to eat Hansel and Gretel, but the children manage to outwit the witch and throw her into the oven. In the revised story, the evil stepmother mysteriously dies of unknown causes at the same time the witch is burnt up in the oven. Hmm... Could it be that the witch and the evil stepmother were the same person? In that story, the children and their father live on in the witch's house and enjoy her wealth.

I was reminded of a funny scene from Addams Family Values where Morticia gets a job reading to school children. You'll have to watch a few other scenes first. Morticia's unique take on Hansel and Gretel:

Job Agency Lady: Major?

Morticia: Spells and Hexes

Job Agency Lady: Liberal Arts

If you'd like to learn more about the origins of Hansel and Gretel and related stories from around the world, you'll want to check out this informative web site:

The History of Hansel and Gretel Tales

The frightening side of fairy tales

We're all familiar with the Disney version of classic fairy tales. There's always a beautiful princess, a prince charming, and cute little creatures performing musical numbers. For the most part, things don't get too scary. Aside from Maleficent (above) who really freaked me out when I was young! Of course, the original stories these Disney movies were based on were much darker. This season we are lucky enough to have two TV shows depicting the darker side of fairy tales. One is Grimm and the other is Once Upon a Time.

I was really anticipating Grimm, because I heard it was produced by the same people who brought us the Buffy the Vampire Slayer show. So far, all my expectations have been met! The show has had some genuinely creepy moments, while making me laugh at the same time. It has about the same dose of creepy and funny as Buffy did. Without giving too much away, the main character is descended from the original Grimms. You know, as in Grimm's fairy tales. He's also a police officer. It's a little like CSI only the crimes are being committed  by supernatural creatures. A fun element of this show is that the creatures are new. Well, you might recognize a few of them from the old stories, but the names are all new. They mostly sound Germanic. The Grimm character has a sidekick who is a "Blutbad" which is comparable to a werewolf. He's my favorite character so far. Here's a trailer for the show. The bearded guy with the beer is the Blutbad:



The second fairy tale show, Once Upon a Time is similar only in that it includes characters from old stories. That and the main characters in both shows drive yellow VW Beetles. Once Upon a Time is not a show about crime. Basically, the show is a drama about fairy tale characters if they lived in modern times. As the story goes, an evil queen put a curse on all the other fairy tale characters so they must suffer in various ways in the modern world. The modern version of the evil queen is the evil mayor, Regina. And, wow is she ever evil. This is the first time in a while that I've yelled at the TV. At a fictional character, yet! She's just that terrible of a person. Here she is:

I know she doesn't look all that bad here, but trust me, she is. She's an irritating authority figure who misuses her power to a degree you can't even believe. Regina may be evil, but she isn't the creepiest character on this show. That prize goes hands down to Rumpelstiltskin, who in the modern world is Mr. Gold. He owns a pawn shop in modern times and appears to be shaking down the town folk like he's in the mob. Here he is:

He plays his role like a reptile mixed with Golum. The story does have a protagonist named Emma. She's the only hope for any of these characters. Emma is brought from Boston to "Storybrooke" by the son she gave up for adoption. He is desperate to get away from his adoptive mother, Regina. Yeah, the evil queen adopted him. Poor kid! Here's the show's trailer:



Has anyone else been watching these shows? If so, I'd like to hear what you think so far! I like both shows equally, for different reasons. If you haven't had a chance to watch the shows yet, you can catch up here:

Episodes of Grimm

Episodes of Once Upon a Time 

Just click on the 'video' tab to watch full episodes.

Also, if you want to watch these shows on TV, Grimm is on NBC channels and Once Upon a Time is on ABC channels. We all have different time zones, but Grimm is on at 8:00 American central time on Friday nights and Once Upon a Time plays at 7:00 on Sunday nights.  This is always a good place to check what's on TV near you: http://www.tvguide.com/