News 

Willingham Speaks On The "Battle" Between Fables and Once Upon A Time

By | December 5th, 2011
Posted in News | % Comments

Once upon a time (sorry, we had to), there were stories of ABC putting together a show based on DC/Vertigo’s popular Fables. While that show has since fallen apart (a pilot script was produced, but nothing beyond that), a new show rose in the wake of both it and popular TV series LOST, entitled Once Upon A Time. Featuring fairy tale characters trapped in our world due to an evil curse, fans began to beat the drums of war at the latent similarities between the two. While show runners Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz admitted to having read Fables, although they felt their show wasn’t similar beyond base elements.

That hasn’t stopped fans from going on and on about the comparison, however. To that end, it appears that Bill Willingham, creator of Fables, has finally gotten tired of being asked about the show himself, and has taken to the internet to address these things. Conducting an interview with himself hosted on Comic Book Resources, Willingham addresses every element of the argument you could imagine, effectively saying what boils down to this: Yes, they are somewhat similar in ideas, but no, he doesn’t think Once is a rip-off of his book. As Willingham puts it, “Our fantastic literature is rife with “they’ve been hiding amongst us all along” scenarios. There were plenty of such tales long before “Fables” came along. There will be scads of them long after “Once” has aired its final episode and “Fables” shipped its final issue.” He also notes that just as it seems Once takes from Fables, Fables itself has taken from other things (both on purpose and not on purpose), such as  “the “Fractured Fairy Tales” cartoons, “The 10th Kingdom,” “The Charmings” (which I never saw in its short run, but I knew about), “Into the Woods,” “Castle Waiting” and so many more.”

Willingham goes on to note the rise and fall of the Fables show, adding that he had literally nothing to do with the Fables show and that even supports Once quite a bit. “I’d hate for “Fables” to be the only fairy tale-based story out there,” Willingham says to himself in the interview. “If that were the case, I’d have nothing to read or watch for pleasure in this genre I love. I want more of what I want. Snacks are nice, but a feast is better.” Willingham notes that he has spoken with the show runners on numerous occasion and is privy to some of the shows secrets, which also seek to separate the show from Fables. “I want more of what I want. Snacks are nice, but a feast is better.”

Once, now having fully aired six episodes, has certainly found its niche in the Sunday night airings. The pilot earned a warm review from us, in which I wrote, “after the first episode I’d say it’s fairly easy to be optimistic about what is to come,” and the pilot was watched by 13 million viewers, and is not only the highest-rated drama debut among adults 18-49 for this season but was also the highest debut ABC had seen in five years. Since its debut, it has easily separated itself from Fables both in the essence of “fairy tale characters in a real world” but also the direction of the show. “I like anything that raises the awareness of fairy tales and folklore as the raw stuff from which some of our best stories are being told today,” notes Willingham. “If you like “Fables,” you needn’t dislike “Once,” and vice versa. Join me in wallowing in all of it. … The Brothers Grimm didn’t collect one version of every folktale; they discovered dozens of versions of each one, because it’s the nature of folklore to be altered to suit every different folk who wants to make use of it. Why should today be any different?”

For Willingham’s full interview with Willingham, be sure to check out Comic Book Resources. Also, stay tuned later today when we here at Multiversity actually cast what we’d like to see from a Fables TV show!


Matthew Meylikhov

Once upon a time, Matthew Meylikhov became the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Multiversity Comics, where he was known for his beard and fondness for cats. Then he became only one of those things. Now, if you listen really carefully at night, you may still hear from whispers on the wind a faint voice saying, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine is not as bad as everyone says it issss."

EMAIL | ARTICLES