Once Upon a Time: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Once upon a time there was a [[Trope]]. This trope was a [[Stock Phrase]] and a [[Older Than Print|very old one]]. In fact, according to Webster's, it goes back at least to 1380. It began almost every [[Fairy Tale]] there ever was.

It was a [[Omnipresent Tropes|very popular trope]]. In [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French|French]] it was ''il était une fois'' and in [[Gratuitous German|German]] it was ''es war einmal'', which literally meant "It was once." Sometimes it was translated as "Once there was" or "A long time ago," but most often, this trope was simply translated as "[[Title Drop|Once upon a time]]." Other languages have translated it directly - Polish has ''"Raz na czasie"'', which is a literal translation and may have a bit of [[Blind Idiot Translation|blind idiot]] in there. Russian fairy tales often start ''"Zhyl-byl..."'', that is, "Once there lived...".

 

 

Now, are you sitting comfortably? Then let's begin. Once upon a time...<ref> Once upon a time there was a boy who decided to stay up late and read [[TV Tropes]]. Even though his parents had warned him that doing this was a bad thing, still he was compelled to do so. So, the lights of the screen illuminating his face, he carefully surfed the site, reading trope descriptions and examples, going over works pages and forum threads, until finally he looked at the clock and realized it was well past the reasonable amount of time one would surf the web. And then the boy knew his parents were right -- that by surfing [[TV Tropes]], he had [[Tropes Will Ruin Your Life|ruined his life]] in such a way that he could now never go sleep. He was cursed to forever surf [[TV Tropes]], haunting the YKTTW, quietly drifting from page to page like a ghost in the machine; until one day, he met someone who had been similarly trapped. She was named [[Trope-tan]]. Together, they decided that perhaps this wasn't such a lonely place to be stuck. And so they lived and troped [[Happily Ever After]].</ref>

 

{{examples}}

 

 

== Film ==

* ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'':

{{quote| '''Once upon a time,''' in Nazi-occupied France.}}

* ''[[Star Wars]]'':

* ''[[Once Upon a Forest]]''

* ''[[Once Upon a Time In Mexico]]''

{{quote| '''Twas a long time ago''', longer now than it seems<br />

In a place perhaps you've seen in your dreams... }}

* ''[[Enchanted]]'':

{{quote| '''Narrator:''' '''Once upon a time''', in a magical kingdom known as Andalasia, there lived an evil queen. Selfish and cruel, she lived in fear that one day her stepson would marry and she would lose her throne forever. And so she did all in her power to prevent the prince from ever meeting the one special maiden with whom he would share true love's kiss.}}

* ''[[Yellow Submarine]]'':

{{quote| '''Narrator:''' '''Once upon a time''', or maybe twice, there was an unearthly paradise called Pepperland. 80,000 leagues beneath the sea it lay, or lie. I'm not too sure.}}

{{quote| Now then, what was that phrase you use? Oh, yes. '''Once upon a time...'''}}

* Inverted in Emir Kusturica's ''Underground'' - the final words in the film are ''"'''once upon a time''' there was a country called Yugoslavia..."''

{{quote| '''Once upon a time''', back before I even learned how to tie my shoes, the Sun came up. Well, I know that each day, sunrise isn't such a big deal to some folks, but imagine for a moment, instead of rising up like this: (the Sun starts to rise from Earth orbit) One morning where you live, she took a look around, and decided to go back to sleep. This actually once happened to us. Let me tell you all about it..."}}

* ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'':

* ''A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man'' by [[James Joyce]]: "'''Once upon a time''' and a very good time it was there was a moocow coming down along the road and this moocow that was coming down along the road met a nicens little boy named baby tuckoo..."

* ''Stranger in a Strange Land'' by [[Robert Heinlein]]: "'''Once upon a time''' when the world was young there was a Martian named Smith."

{{quote| 'We've strayed into a zone with a high magical index,' he said. 'Don't ask me how. '''Once upon a time''' a really powerful magic field must have been generated here, and we're feeling the after-effects.'<br />

'Precisely,' said a passing bush. }}

Arrowroot cleared his throat. "'''Once upon a time,'''" he began.<br />

[[Moby Dick|"Call me Ishmael,"]] said Gimlet.<br />

* ''[[The Eyes of the Dragon]]'' by [[Stephen King]]: "'''Once, in a kingdom called Delain''', there was a King with two sons."

* Near enough every single fairytale ever written:

 

== Live-Action TV ==

{{quote| '''Narrator:''' '''Once upon a time''', there was a typical American girl, who happened to bump into a typical red blooded American boy. And she bumped into him, and bumped into him. So, they decided they'd better sit down and talk this over before they had an accident. They became good friends. They found they had a lot of interests in common. Radio. Television. Trains. And when the boy found the girl attractive, desirable, irresistible, he did what any red-blooded American boy would do: He asked her to marry him. They had a typical wedding. Went on a typical honeymoon, in a typical bridal suite. Except, it so happens that this girl is a witch.}}

{{quote| In the third season, Baldrick reads the story he wrote: "'''Once upon a time''', there was a happy sausage named Baldrick. And he lived happily ever after. The end."}}

{{quote| '''Charlie Townsend:''' '''Once upon a time''' there were three little girls who went to the police academy - two in Los Angeles, the other in San Francisco - and they were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I took them away from all that, and now they work for me. My name is Charlie.}}

* ''[[Dead Like Me]]'':

{{quote| '''Georgia:''' '''Once upon a time''', or more specifically at the dawn of time, god, lower case "g", was getting busy with creation, as the kids these days are saying. He gave Toad a clay jar and said, "Be careful with this. It's got death inside". Pleased as punch and oblivious to the fact that he was about to become god's fall guy on the whole death issue, Toad promised to guard the jar. Then one day Toad met Frog. "Let me hold the jar of death, or what ever you call it", Frog begged. With a nod to Nancy Reagan's pearls of wisdom, Toad just said no. But Frog was determined, and after much whining Toad finally gave in. "You can hold it, but only for a second", he said. In his excitement, Frog began to hop around and juggle the death jar from one foot to the other. Frog was an asshole. "Stop!" Toad cried out, but it was to late. Frog dropped the jar and it shattered to the ground. When it broke open, death got out, and ever since then all living things have to die. Makes you wonder how much better the world would be if frogs just stuck to hawking beer. So there you have it, the mystery of death finally revealed. We all die, some of us sooner then later. For me it's going to be much sooner. But that's only the beginning of my story.}}

{{quote| '''The Doctor:''' '''Once upon a time''' there were three sisters, and they lived in the bottom of a treacle well. Their names were Olga, Marsha and Irena... Are you listening, Tillie?... I feel disorientated.}}

{{quote| '''Al Bundy:''' '''Once upon a time''', there was a young boy. A boy... full of hope. He was single, and he was happy. Then one night, much like tonight, something rose from the swamp. He heard a noise behind him: thump-thump, thump-thump. He walked a little faster. Thump-thump-thump-thump. Then he saw it. There, in the light of a bar, stood the evil, redheaded, high-heeled spandex monster. He ran from it. He stood it up, he dated others, but nothing could stop it! He could hear it's wild call: "oh honey? Honey?" It was horrible. Finally... it trapped him. Opened... opened its hideous mouth, bared its fangs and said, "Marry me?"}}

* ''[[My Name Is Earl]]'', "Creative Writing":

{{quote| '''Ken Titus:''' I got a little story I wanna tell you. '''Once upon a time'''... NO! If I help you now, you'll never learn to help yourself! [leaves]<br />

'''Ken Titus:''' I got a little story I wanna tell you. '''Once upon a time''', your dog got hit by a truck this morning! }}

 

 

 

== Poetry ==

{{quote| '''Once upon a midnight dreary,''' while I pondered, weak and weary...}}

* Also from Poe, "Annabel Lee"

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Blaz Blue]]: Calamity Trigger'', Hakumen's arcade ending is a telling of how the story of the [[Blaz Blue]] franchise began, and it even begins with Rachel narrating, "'''[[Once Upon a Time]]''', there was a Black Beast."

{{quote| '''Sniper:''' Here's a touching story. '''Once upon a time''', you died and I lived happily ever after.}}

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* Albert Barillé produced tons of educational animated series which all got [[Once Upon a Time]] in their title, completed with the main subject (man, space, life, America, inventors, explorers...). They also shared a very similar cast of reccuring characters.

* The animated feature ''[[Twice Upon a Time]]'' uses this phrase in its opening narration.

* ''[[Shrek]]'' appeared to use this trope at first, but lampshaded it and used it as toilet paper.

* One episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is called "Once Upon a Time in Springfield".

 

{{reflist}}