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Oct 23, 2011 · Pilot: Directed by Mark Mylod. With Ginnifer Goodwin, Jennifer Morrison, Lana Parrilla, Josh Dallas. Emma Swan is taken to a strange town by her son Henry, who she gave up for adoption years ago, and tells her of a curse cast by the Evil Queen.
- (3.9K)
- Adventure, Fantasy, Romance
- Mark Mylod
- 2011-10-23
- Synopsis
- Recap
- Deleted Scenes
- Cast[1]
- Trivia
And they lived happily ever after...or so everyone was led to believe. Emma Swan knows how to take care of herself. She's a 28-year-old bail bondsperson who's been on her own ever since she was abandoned as a baby. But when Henry—the son she gave up years ago—finds her, everything changes. Henry is now 10 years old and in desperate need of Emma's help. He believes that Emma actually comes from an alternate world and is Snow White and Prince Charming's missing daughter. According to his book of fairytales, they sent her away to protect her from the Evil Queen's curse, which trapped the characters of fairytale world forever, frozen in time, and brought them into our modern world.
Not believing a word of Henry's story, Emma brings him back to Storybrooke, but finds herself drawn to this unusual boy and his strange New England town. Concerned for him, she decides to stay for a while, but soon comes to suspect that Storybrooke is more than it seems. It's a place where magic has been forgotten, but is still powerfully close...where fairytale characters are alive, even though they don't remember who they once were, and where the Evil Queen, known as Regina, is now Henry's foster mother. The epic battle for the future of all worlds is beginning, and for good to win, Emma will have to accept her destiny and fight like hell.
In the Enchanted Forest, Prince Charming races his horse along a road and into a forest. As it begins to snow, he meets with the Seven Dwarves. They tell him that he is too late as he looks to the sleeping woman that they have placed in a glass casket. He tells them to open it, but is reminded she is gone. When the Prince asks for the chance to say goodbye to his love, they open the casket and he kisses her. A wave of energy sweeps outward and the woman awakens. The Prince promises that he will always find her and kisses her.
Snow White and the Prince marry in front of their kingdoms as everyone applauds. The Evil Queen comes in and casts aside the guards who try to stop her. Snow White grabs Prince Charming's sword, telling her that she is no longer Queen. Prince Charming reminds her that she has already lost and that he will not let her ruin their happy wedding. The Queen informs them both she has a gift for them and she makes a vow of her own. Soon everything that everyone in their world loves will be ripped away from them, and her victory will arise from their suffering. She promises to destroy their happiness if it is the last thing she does. Before she makes her final exit Prince Charming throws his sword at her but she dissolves into a cloud black and purple smoke and disappears.
In the "real" world, Henry Mills is reading a fairy tale book as he rides the bus to Boston. When he arrives, he hails a cab and pays for it with a credit card.
A man named Ryan sits down at a table with a blond woman and they begin to talk. They are both on a blind date, happy to find the other person is who they say they are. Emma tells Ryan it is her birthday and she has no family to spend it with, so decided to go out with him that night. She then tells Ryan that she knows he embezzled money from his employer and abandoned his wife and children. He realizes that she is a bail bondsman and makes a mad dash for it, but discovers that she has booted his car. When Emma suggests that Ryan should give what money he has to his family, he asks her what she knows about family. Emma knocks him out and says "nothing." She then goes home and lights a cupcake for her birthday. The doorbell rings and Emma finds Henry at her doorstep. She has no idea who he is, but Henry knows her by name. He introduces himself and says that he is her son.
Henry enters the apartment and explains that he is the baby she gave up for adoption ten years ago. Emma asks him to give her a minute and retreats to the bathroom. When she calms down and comes out, Henry asks her to come home with him. When she threatens to call the police, Henry says that he will claim that she kidnapped him. Emma says that she can tell when people are lying and starts to make the call, but Henry says that he needs her to come with him to Storybrooke, Maine. Emma reluctantly agrees.
In the Enchanted Forest, a pregnant Snow White contemplates the Queen's threat. Prince Charming tells her that they were only words. Snow White reminds him that she poisoned her, all because she thought Snow White was prettier than her. Prince Charming asks what he can do to reassure her, Snow White asks to talk to the prisoner who can see the future. The Prince hesitates, but Snow White insists that he can assure that their child will be safe. The Prince reluctantly agrees.
"Meet Rumplestiltskin" (Scene 1)
A guard enters the mines with a tray of food. In the distance, laughter can be heard. The guard walks forward and is stopped by another guard who pulls a small twig out of the food; warning him what "he" could do with it. The laughter continues, making the guard curious; the other one tells him he has been doing it for two days. The guard places the food in the cell, and before he leaves, Rumplestiltskin grabs him and tells him, "It has begun."
"Cradle" (Scene 9)
An extended version of the scene where Snow White and Prince Charming talk about Rumplestiltskin. Grumpy and Dopey are arguing in Emma's nursery. Prince Charming enters and asks them to leave so he can be with Snow White. As he approaches her, the scene proceeds as it does in the actual episode, with a blue bird flying from her hand, and him asking her what is wrong, but she replies, "Nothing."
"Regina's Sheriff" (Scene 22)
Emma leaves Regina's house and is surprised to see Sheriff Graham outside leaning on her car. Graham thinks she should stay at Granny's for the night due to Regina's drinks being strong. Emma disagrees and believes she is fine to drive and would pass a breathalyzer test. He agrees to let her go and she drives off.
Starring
•Ginnifer Goodwin as Snow White/Mary Margaret Blanchard •Jennifer Morrison as Emma Swan •Lana Parrilla as Evil Queen/Regina Mills •Josh Dallas as Prince Charming/David Nolan •Jared S. Gilmore as Henry Mills •Raphael Sbarge as Jiminy Cricket (Voice)/Archie Hopper •Jamie Dornan as Sheriff Graham •Robert Carlyle as Rumplestiltskin/Mr. Gold
Guest Starring
•Tony Amendola as Geppetto/Marco •Lee Arenberg as Grumpy/Leroy •Peter Bryant as Jailer •Warren Christie as Ryan •Beverley Elliott as Granny •Meghan Ory as Red Riding Hood/Ruby •Keegan Connor Tracy as Blue Fairy •Darren Dolynski as Nervous Guard
Co-Starring
•James Bamford as Black Knight •Michael Coleman as Happy •Keith Blackman Dallas as Cabbie •Jakob Davies as Pinocchio •Faustino di Bauda as Sleepy •Darla Fay as Old Woman •David-Paul Grove as Doc •Jeffrey Kaiser as Dopey •Gabe Khouth as Sneezy •Mig Macario as Bashful •Tom Pickett as Bishop
Title
•This is the only episode to not include a title card. Instead, it features four slides that set the premise for the series.
Production Notes
•This episode has the highest ratings of the entire series. •MUSICAL INSPIRATION: Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz were inspired by "The Song Remains the Same" by Led Zeppelin to create this episode's opening scene. •Some shots of the opening scene were filmed from a helicopter, even though Mark Mylod, the director, was afraid of flying. •As the kiss scene was being filmed, real snow began to fall. That scene was filmed on April 7. •The opening scene features the ending of the fairytale, "Snow White," to show that there is more that goes on beyond the happy ending. •The wedding scene was filmed during the spring of 2011, with 200-plus fairytale costumed extras. More costumed extras were added with visual effects. •Emma's introduction scene was written to subvert expectations and make her look like a woman who is looking for love, and then twist the story into what is to come, as Emma has a lot more going on. •The birds that Snow White and her Storybrooke counterpart set free were green birds that were CGIed blue in post production. These birds are actually lovebirds. •OBSERVATIONS: Snow White claims the Evil Queen poisoned an apple because she was "prettier than her." However, in "An Apple Red as Blood," this is revealed to be untrue, and that the actual reason why the queen fed her the poisoned apple was because she blamed Snow White for the death of her fiance. •While filming the scene where Emma and Henry are driving though Boston, the crew were on a tight schedule, and some of the shots were taken from moments where Jennifer Morrison and Jared S. Gilmore were being themselves and thinking they weren't actually filming. •It was Robert Carlyle's idea that Rumplestiltskin should drop down from the ceiling in his cell. •Mifflin Street, the address of Regina's house, is a shout-out to a street in Madison, Wisconsin, near the University of Wisconsin, which Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz both attended. •Caitlin Ffrench, a fiber artist from East Vancouver who made Emma's baby blanket, taught Beverley Elliott how to knit for Granny's filming scene at the war council table. •REUSED FOOTAGE: Footage from the filming of the opening shot of the scene where Emma brings Henry home at night was reused for an establishing shot of Regina's house in the Season Six episode "Page 23" and the Season Seven episode "Is This Henry Mills?" The identical position of the curtains in the windows and the lighting behind them, the shadows on the walls and the open window on the second floor, are a dead giveaway. •One of the people in Henry's e-mail inbox is Damon. a reference to Damon Lindelof. Although his name is not on the show, he was one of the people involved in the conception of Once Upon a Time. •The first scene that was filmed for the show, was Mary Margaret teaching at school. •Prince Charming was originally supposed to die in this episode, but the writers decided that it would be really difficult to continue with the show without him since they wanted Snow White to get her happy ending after all. •According to Edward Kitsis, ABC president of entertainment Channing Dungey, who was ABC head of drama during the show's development, is at the origin of this change. She sent a note to Kitsis and Horowitz saying that for a series about hope, there is not a lot of hope in killing Charming. •Originally, real exploding glass was going to be used for the scene where the curse transports the Evil Queen and Snow White to Storybrooke, but the crew experienced a slight hitch during the shooting of this scene and forgot to film it. •Mr. Gold regains his Enchanted Forest memories upon hearing Emma's name when he first meets her at the inn. •ABANDONED IDEAS: The hospital scene with John Doe was originally the idea for the ending of episode two, but the show creators wanted to give the audience a sense of hope that Snow White and Prince Charming would be reunited. •REUSED FOOTAGE: The close-up of the town clock seen when time starts moving in Storybrooke in this episode and "The Thing You Love Most" is reused in "A Land Without Magic," the Season Four episode "Darkness on the Edge of Town" and the Season Six finale "The Final Battle Part 2." In "A Land Without Magic" and "Darkness on the Edge of Town," the lighting has been changed to daylight and a cloud of magic has been digitally added to the former. •OBSERVATIONS: "The Stranger" and the Season Two episode "Selfless, Brave and True" establish that time starts moving in Storybrooke on October 23, 2011, the same day that the show premiered. As seen in "Selfless, Brave and True"; this is proven when August's wooden state is triggered in Phuket at 8:15 A.M. on October 24. – the very same moment that Emma accepts the room key at 8:15 P.M. (as alluded to by August, the time zone in Phuket is 12 hours ahead of Maine's timezone).
Event Chronology
•The Enchanted Forest flashbacks occur in various places of the overall timeline. •The events of Prince Charming and Snow White sharing a true love's kiss occur after "A Land Without Magic" and before "Lost Girl." •Snow White and Prince Charming's wedding occurs after the last scene of "The Cricket Game" and before "The New Neverland." •It also occurs immediately before the scenes of the Evil Queen teleporting herself to her palace in "The Thing You Love Most." •The events of Snow White and Prince Charming paying a visit to Rumplestiltskin's dungeon occurs after the last scene of "The Price of Gold" where Rumplestiltskin is captured and immediately before "The Song in Your Heart." •The crisis meeting occurs after the scene in "The Stranger" where Blue Fairy asks Geppetto to carve a magic wardrobe. •The events of the Dark Curse whisking all of the Enchanted Forest occur after the scene in "The Thing You Love Most" where Regina enacts the Curse. •They also occur concurrently with the last scene of "Queen of Hearts" where Cora casts a protection spell. •The Evil Queen's glory against Snow White occurs after "Save Henry" where she talks to Rumplestiltskin in his dungeon. •The Land Without Magic events of this episode occur after "Firebird," and before "The Thing You Love Most." •The scene where Emma accepts the room key at the inn takes place concurrently with the opening scene of "Selfless, Brave and True."
- 2 min
"Pilot" is the series premiere of the American fairy tale/drama television series Once Upon a Time. It introduces each of the main characters in the fictional seaside town of Storybrooke, Maine, as well as establishes the basic premise of the series, which details the beginnings of a curse placed upon the Enchanted Forest and the start of a ...
- Season 1, Episode 1
- Mark Mylod
- October 23, 2011
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Oct 23, 2011 · Pilot Lyrics. In The Enchanted Forest it's a flashback, Prince Charming is riding through the land on a steed. He comes upon the Forest, and [Snow White in her glass coffin, surrounded by the ...
Oct 23, 2011 · Once Upon A Time - Pilot - YouTube. Watch this episode on YouTube. Once Upon A Time S1 • E1. This full-length episode is available for purchase. Once Upon A Time -...
Trivia. FAQ. IMDbPro. All topics. Plot. Pilot. Once Upon a Time. Jump to Edit. Summaries. Emma Swan is taken to a strange town by her son Henry, who she gave up for adoption years ago, and tells her of a curse cast by the Evil Queen. Emma Swan's world is turned upside down when the son she gave up 10 years ago knocks on her door.
Oct 23, 2011 · Pilot. Available on Disney+, Hulu. S1 E1: Emma's life turns upside down when she is visited by Henry, the 10-year-old child she long ago gave up for adoption; Emma brings Henry back to his foster mother in a strange town called Storybrooke. Adventure Oct 23, 2011 41 min.
