ONCE: Wonderland... and You.

Dearest Oncers,

I'd love your input on something. I enjoy writing about ONCE Upon A Time so very much and will continue to do so because it makes me very happy and deeply reflective. I hope that when you visit this site that through my obsessive detailed note taking, you are able to find something that adds to your ONCE Upon A Time experience as well. Due to the amount of writing, note taking and researching each ONCE episode, combined with the cross referencing and connecting to LOST, it is hard for me to post within a few days of the aired episode. Please know that I always appreciate your ongoing support and patience waiting for the posts.

I'm very, very excited for the ONCE Upon A Time spin-off, ONCE: Wonderland, by the dynamic duo, Adam Horowitz and Eddy Kitsis. Love them!  I need to find a quicker and streamlined way to post my ONCE Upon A Time notes, as I'll also write about ONCE: Wonderland and subsequent spin-offs (if more should come our way).  Even though the two shows won't likely run simultaneously, this is the perfect time for a revamp of the notes format. This is going to require some intense thought because I've written my notes in the same format for many years for LOST.

ONCE Upon a Time is an absolutely beautiful and heartfelt tale that stands completely on its own. The rich stories, multi layered characters, the spot-on costumes, and the look of the show, for me, gives me the same warm fuzzies and intense excitement I get while reading a great book that I can't put down. I look forward to each and every episode and actually dread when each episode ends because I always want more. It is true adventure and escapism.

ONCE Upon A Time's connectivity to LOST and the "Island" is undeniable, therefore I will always include the important connections to LOST via my "Golden LOST Thread Woven into the Tapestry of this Tale" section, but maybe reworking the format using the key symbols (✈, ๑, etc.) to indicate connections to both stories, or something like that will work better when streamlining things.

I'd like to know honestly what you like about the current lengthy format to these episode notes, and what you don't like.

Here are a few things I'd like to know...

• Do you want a detailed episode recap? 
• Do you find this detailed recap enlightening at all or do you not even read that part of the notes?
• If you do read the detailed recap, do you find the "highlighted hints" helpful? 
• Right now I include my write up at the start of each post and the detailed recap- Would you prefer just the write up about the episode?
• Do you find the "Things to Note... Questions to Ask..." segment helpful?
• Do you find the "Vocabulary and Research" segment helpful? 
• Do you find the screen-shots with clues shown, helpful? 
• Do you find the comparison screen shots of ONCE Upon a Time and LOST helpful?  

Email at Karenslostnotebook@gmail.com or message me your thoughts and suggestions at twitter or Facebook.

It's awesome that ONCE: Wonderland will film in Vancouver where ONCE Upon A Time is set, and the story will take place in pre-cursed Wonderland. About this spin-off, Eddy Kitsis says “It’s much more in the vein of an American Horror Story, with a beginning, middle, and end.”  I'm excited about this concept as it may give us more of a "chapter" feel to the whole of the ONCE Upon A Time story, filling in the puzzle for the big ONCE Upon a Time picture; also that it will leave room for other tales to be told and added into the story as well- but that expanded universe remains to be seen.

Actress Sophie Lowe is cast as Alice, Michael Socha, as the Knave of Hearts, and Peter Gadiot will play Alice’s mysterious love interest, Cyrus.  Television producers and screenwriters Zack Estrin and
Jane Espenson (ONCE's consulting producer) are on board for the show.

Read more about the creative team and cast for the spin-off at EW.