The 10th Kingdom: Difference between revisions

* [[G -Rated Mental Illness]]: Played with. {{spoiler|Christine}} is described as having been mentally ill and was “getting worse and worse”. No specifics are given about the illness but {{spoiler|her homicidal tendencies toward young Virginia are disconcerting to say the least.}}

* [[How Do You Like Them Apples?]]: The Queen's [[Spirit Advisor]] suggests she use poison apples to gain the upper hand. {{spoiler|She follows through by poisoning an entire orchard of apples to kill the trolls.}}

* [[IllI'll Take Two Beers, Too!]]: Two examples, both from the Grill on the Park. One diner, there with his wife, orders a slew of drinks and dishes, then follows this up with "And my wife will have..." Meanwhile Wolf's order of lamb with six glasses of warm milk highlights his [[Big Eater]] nature.

* [[A Little Something We Call "Rock and Roll"]]: In a "shepherdess contest" which includes a singing portion, Virginia goes with "We Will Shear You" (in the style of Queen's "We Will Rock You").

* [[Our Werewolves Are Different]]: Though admittedly we only meet a half-wolf, not a true werewolf. To judge from Wolf, Nine Kingdoms wolves do not seem to be vulnerable to silver, change only on the three nights of the full moon, and while changed have no control over their actions and no memory of what they have done. They also seem to be afflicted by the 'take on lupine mannerisms and characteristics' aspect of this trope, since Wolf is constantly scratching at his temple, whines and whimpers and growls, nuzzles Virginia, and scrapes the ground with his feet to cover his tracks—although this may merely be a product of actor Scott Cohen's enthusiastic character immersion. What makes the half-wolves interesting is the twists: they ''always'' possess tails, even in human form, [[Freud Was Right|which change size with the time of the month]] and apparently act as [[Fantastic Arousal|erogenous zones]], and explicit reference is made to the female cycle by how Wolf starts gaining PMS-like symptoms as the full moon approaches and, when fighting the change, ends up with...[[Does This Remind You of Anything?|cramps]]. Still more interestingly, it is never truly explained what the term 'half-wolf' actually means. Are they the literal product of [[Hot Skitty -On -Wailord Action|a coupling between a full wolf and a human]], and this is what grants them their ability to change forms? Or is it merely a euphemism for werewolf, which could be considered a half-wolf because they can also appear as humans? Or is it even possible, taking into account the [[Fantastic Racism|prejudice]] against them in the Kingdoms, that the term is meant to be parallel to mulattos, quadroons, and octaroons in the real world—so if a half-wolf had a child with a human, their offspring would be a quarter-wolf, and so on? Wolf's sole [[Transformation Sequence]] during the miniseries is inconclusive, since all we see is him becoming a typical Lon Chaney [[Wolf Man]]. According to [[Word of God|Simon Moore]], however, Wolf was intended to become a Dire Wolf, but they didn't have the budget for such special effects. What this says about the nature of half-wolves isn't clear.

* [[Out -Gambitted]]: The Troll King arrives early for his meeting with the Queen in an orchard to position his men to ambush her. The queen had already been there hours before to poison all the apples, even choosing a poison that would take just long enough to kick in at the dramatically appropriate moment.

* [[Single -Issue Psychology]]: Subverted and lampshaded: Wolf's issues with food, love, and his animal urges are hilariously sent up in scenes with a New York Jewish psychiatrist, and after only ''one session'' (which he later describes to Virginia as "extensive therapy") he suddenly pronounces himself a changed man and produces "the books to prove it," consisting of several titles of real, well-known self-help books. However, Wolf only shows the beginning of change (acknowledging that he has the problem) and several times shows that he is still a slave to his stomach. Later, the others read passages that relate to each of them, but show no immediate changes. Similarly, but much more darkly, the source of [[Big Bad|the Evil Queen]]'s wicked nature seems to stem from one event: {{spoiler|once it is revealed that she is actually Virginia's [[Mysterious Parent|missing mother]], Tony then reveals that she [[Offing the Offspring|attempted to drown Virginia as a little girl]] because she was 'sick and getting worse and worse', a rather vague statement of mental illness. And it was this instability that made her easy prey for [[The Man Behind the Man|Snow White's Wicked Stepmother]].}}

** Her method of dealing with the Troll King is even better: after using [[I Have Your Wife|a threat to his children]] (whom she didn't even have) to get him to agree to a meeting, if Relish had agreed to withdraw his armies and cease threatening the Fourth Kingdom, her plans would be back on schedule. But if he didn't agree and [[The Starscream|tried to kill her]], she planned to poison him, counting on his greed and [[Through His Stomach|gluttony]] (as well as being [[Genre Blind]]--meeting the protege of Snow White's stepmother in an apple orchard?) to be his undoing. This not only eliminated his threat to the kingdom (and Wendell's advisors signing away sovereignty so she couldn't use the Dog Prince's coronation for her murder spree), it provided an "act of bravery" to present to the courtiers at the ball. And when Relish revealed he had arrived early and broken her demand to [[Come Alone]], she in turn revealed [[Out -Gambitted|she'd arrived even earlier]], and the poison was thus there to eliminate not just him, but his soldiers too.