History Main / OnceUponaTime

[[quoteright:330:[[Literature/ThePrincessBride https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/once.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:330:Once upon a time, there was a caption that tried to explain a picture over it, but didn't have the guts.]]

!!For the Creator/{{ABC}} series, click [[Series/OnceUponATime here]], and for the Chinese film, click [[Film/OnceUponATime2017 here]].

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

'''Burned by the embers of Armageddon, his soul blistered by the fires of Hell and tainted beyond ascension,''' '''[[HellSeeker he chose the path of perpetual torment.'''\\
'''In his ravenous hatred he found no peace; and with boiling blood he scoured the Umbral Plains seeking vengeance''' '''against the dark lords who had wronged him.]]'''\\

--> '''In the first age, in the first battle, when the shadows first lengthened,''' one stood.\\
Burned by the embers of Armageddon, his soul blistered by the fires of Hell and tainted beyond ascension, [[HellSeeker he chose the path of perpetual torment.\\
In his ravenous hatred he found no peace; and with boiling blood he scoured the Umbral Plains seeking vengeance against the dark lords who had wronged him.]]\\
He wore the crown of the Night Sentinels, and those that tasted the bite of his sword named him... ''''''[[TheDreaded The Doom Slayer.]]'''''

Now, are you sitting comfortably? Then let's begin. Once upon a time... [[note]]there was a boy who decided to stay up late and read Website/TVTropes. 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 [=TVTropes=], he had ruined his life in such a way that he could now never go sleep. He was cursed to forever surf [=TVTropes=], haunting the TropeLaunchPad, 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 JustForFun/TropeTan. Together, they decided that perhaps this wasn't such a lonely place to be stuck. And so they lived and troped HappilyEverAfter.[[/note]]

* The ''Film/{{Hairspray}}'' ScreenToStageAdaptation uses this phrase at the beginning of almost every verse of "Mama, I'm a Big Girl Now".

* ''Series/OnceUponATime''

* ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'':
-->'''Mr. Wick:''' Gather around, everyone. Story time. Come on... gather around. '''Once upon a time'''... Johnson was fired. And everyone else lived happily ever after. Freaked, but happily.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'':
** The first movie appeared to use this trope at first, but lampshaded it and used a page of the book as toilet paper. Not surprising, since the movie is a DeconstructiveParody of fairy tales.

-->'''Once upon a time''', in a castle by the sea, there lived a handsome prince. Well, it wasn't really a castle. It was a chateau on the French Riviera. And he wasn't really a prince, although people thought he was, especially his victims.… Although his victims gave up priceless treasures, there was none but felt that it was a poor price to pay for such a glorious adventure. Meanwhile, in a forest surrounding a little German village, there was a wolf. He prowled the countryside in search of victims. Like the prince, he preyed only upon women.

-->'''Once upon a time...''' Not ''your'' time, not yet ''my'' time. But ''one'' time... I was goin' fishin', and I was just thinkin' how the flowers and critters is curious things. They can look in your heart and tell when it sings. If it's whistlin' a tune or singin' a song, they'll all say "Howdy!" when you come along.

-->'''Narrator!Jiminy:''' It's a story that begins a long time ago. Well, actually, it's a story that begins ''once upon a time'', a long time ago. That's right, much better, much more precise.

* The James Taylor song "Our Town," used in the movie ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', begins

* ''Anime/TheAnthemOfTheHeart'''s first line is "Mukashi mukashi, aru tokoro ni." The protagonist, as a child, thought about everything in fairy-tale terms.

* '''Once Upon A Time''' ''may'' be the proper name to the story of ''ComicBook/JLAAvengers,'' given that the phrase starts off each chapter, in the kind of fancy printing and placement usually used for story names in comics.

* ''WesternAnimation/YellowSubmarine'':
-->'''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.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cinderella}}'':
-->"'''Once upon a time''' in a faraway land, there was a tiny kingdom; peaceful, prosperous, and rich in romance and tradition. Here in a stately chateau, there lived a widowed gentleman, and his little daughter, Cinderella. Although he was a kind and devoted father, and gave his beloved child every luxury and comfort, still, he felt she needed a mother's care. And so he married again, choosing for his second wife, a woman of good family, with two daughters just Cinderella's age, by name, Anastasia and Drizella. It was upon the untimely death of this good man, however, that the stepmother's true nature was revealed: cold, cruel, and bitterly jealous of Cinderella's charm and beauty, she was grimly determined to forward the interests of her own two awkward daughters. Thus, as time went by, the chateau fell into disrepair, for the family fortunes were squandered upon the vain and selfish stepsisters while Cinderella was abused, humiliated, and finally forced to become a servant in her own house. And yet, through it all, Cinderella remained ever gentle and kind, for with each dawn she found new hope that someday her dreams of happiness would come true."
* ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'':
-->"'''Once upon a time''' in a faraway land, a young prince lived in a shining castle. Although he had everything his heart desired, the prince was spoiled, selfish, and unkind. But then, one winter's night, an old beggar woman came to the castle and offered him a single rose in return for shelter from the bitter cold. Repulsed by her haggard appearance, the prince sneered at the gift and turned the old woman away, but she warned him not to be deceived by appearances, for beauty is found within. And when he dismissed her again, the old woman's ugliness melted away to reveal a beautiful enchantress. The prince tried to apologize, but it was too late, for she had seen that there was no love in his heart, and as punishment she transformed him into a hideous beast and place a powerful spell on the castle and all who lived there. Ashamed of his monstrous form, the beast concealed himself inside his castle, with a magic mirror as his only window to the outside world. The rose she had offered was truly an enchanted rose, which would bloom until his 21st year. If he could learn to love another and earn her love in return by the time the last petal fell, then the spell would be broken. If not, he would be doomed to remain a beast for all time. As the years passed, he fell into despair and lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?"
* ''WesternAnimation/FunAndFancyFree'': The "Mickey and the Beanstalk" segment starts this way, which is lampshaded by Charlie [=McCarthy=]:
-->'''Edgar Bergen:''' '''Once upon a time''', long, long ago...\\
'''Charlie:''' Funny, nothing ever happens nowadays.
* The animated feature ''WesternAnimation/TwiceUponATime'' uses this phrase in its opening narration.
* ''WesternAnimation/OliverAndCompany''
--> Now it's always '''Once upon a time''' in New York City
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}}''
-->'''Jiminy Cricket:''' '''One night, a long time ago,''' my travels took me to a quaint little village. It was beautiful night. The stars were shining like diamonds high above the roofs of that sleepy old town, pretty as a picture. As I wandered along the crooked streets, there wasn't a soul to be seen. The only sign of life was a lighted window in the shop of a woodcarver named Geppetto. So, I hopped over and looked in.

* The opening narration of WebAnimation/Beauty And The Beast Phelous begins with: "'''Once upon a time''', there was a damn idiot in a castle."

!!''For the Creator/{{ABC}} series, click [[Series/OnceUponATime here]], and for the Chinese film, click [[Film/OnceUponATime2017 here]]''

* Inverted in Emir Kusturica's ''Underground'' - the final words in the film are:

* ''Literature/{{Crictor}}'': The children's book begins thusly:

!!''For the book series, click [[Literature/OnceUponATime here]], for the Creator/{{ABC}} series, click [[Series/OnceUponATime here]], and for the Chinese film, click [[Film/OnceUponATime2017 here]]''

It was a [[OmnipresentTropes very popular trope]]. In [[EveryThingSoundsSexierInFrench French]] it was ''il était une fois'' (Literally:"It was a time") and in [[GratuitousGerman 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 "[[TitleDrop Once upon a time]]." Other languages have translated it directly. Russian fairy tales often start ''"Zhyl-byl..."'', that is, "Once there lived...". In Ireland it was " There was this man...." which comes from the Irish language " Bhí fear ann fadó...." (There was a man a long time ago...). Armenian folk tales would typically start with "There once was and was not", indicating that the story was fictional.

-->'''Uncle Remus:''' '''Once upon a time...''' Not ''your'' time, not yet ''my'' time. But ''one'' time... I was goin' fishin', and I was just thinkin' how the flowers and critters is curious things. They can look in your heart and tell when it sings. If it's whistlin' a tune or singin' a song, they'll all say "Howdy!" when you come along.

Now, are you sitting comfortably? Then let's begin. Once upon a time... [[note]]there was a boy who decided to stay up late and read Wiki/TVTropes. 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 [=TVTropes=], he had ruined his life in such a way that he could now never go sleep. He was cursed to forever surf [=TVTropes=], haunting the TropeLaunchPad, 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 JustForFun/TropeTan. Together, they decided that perhaps this wasn't such a lonely place to be stuck. And so they lived and troped HappilyEverAfter.[[/note]]

It was a [[OmnipresentTropes very popular trope]]. In [[EveryThingSoundsSexierInFrench French]] it was ''il était une fois'' (Literally:"It was a time") and in [[GratuitousGerman 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 "[[TitleDrop Once upon a time]]." Other languages have translated it directly. Russian fairy tales often start ''"Zhyl-byl..."'', that is, "Once there lived...". In Ireland it was " There was this man...."
which comes from the Irish language " Bhí fear ann fadó...." (There was a man a long time ago...). Armenian folk tales would typically start with "There once was and was not", indicating that the story was fictional.

* Near enough every single fairytale ever written:
-->"'''Once upon a time''', long, long ago..."\\
"'''Long ago''' there lived..."\\
"'''Once''' there was a gentleman..."