From the department of over-thinking ...

[sholio]

WHEW, I am HOME, and currently basking in solitude and uninterrupted computer time.

On the drive back, I was thinking about Once Upon a Time, and specifically, the "time stood still in Storybrooke for 28 years" part of it. I know that I'm seriously over-thinking things, but ... how did that even work? No one aged (including the kids), yet Henry was able to grow up ... is that an aspect of his specialness, or maybe because he was born in the real world?

And what about the mechanics of it? Did the seasons change? I kinda want to write the fic about the town experiencing a major U.S. holiday for the first time. (Halloween or Christmas are the ones that come to mind ...) Do people remember what happened to them on a day-to-day basis? If one of the kids memorized some French vocabulary as part of a school assignment, for example, would they still know it the next day? Could they make friends and learn new things and change as people, or did they just repeat the same day over and over? (If so ... good heavens, poor Henry. As the only person who could remember anything new, it's a wonder he's sane.)

Do they get TV reception? Cell phone service? Where do they send their utility bills?

Along those lines, one thing that I wondered about when I was watching the early episodes is where the town gets all its supplies. The pharmacy and restaurant are fully stocked; the hospital and school don't appear to be experiencing shortages of anything. Is it part of the magic? (Snow's teacher desk spontaneously generates boxes of pencils and Scotch tape ...) If so, are they now experiencing shortages for the first time ever? Or have delivery trucks always been able to get through? There's that one scene where Red is waiting at the bus stop ... would a bus actually have come, or would she just have waited forever?

*overthinks*

Comments

[meridian_rose]

I've wondered about this too, the age thing, and the deliveries in particular. If no one ever enters or leaves Storybrooke, how do they get mail? Which they do, because Kathryn had the letter from Boston.

Does the town appear on any maps? I'd guess not. But the roads are there because Emma and August are able to enter since they're part of the original world.

Overthinking? No :D We can suspend disbelief so far, but if we're going to engage with a fictional world, we expect it to make sense according to its own rules!

[sholio]

Yeah, and the more I think about it, the more I can't figure out how it's supposed to work. Although, like I just wrote in a comment over on LJ, it's possible that the "no one can enter or leave" thing is an oversimplification of a more complicated situation. Perhaps delivery drivers or bus drivers can actually pass through as long as they don't intend to stay and don't interact with the residents very much.

[schneefink]

I don't know canon, but they had to forget some of what they learned, otherwise the kids would become scary smart and the teachers wouldn't know what to teach them anymore. Maybe time repeated every year? If there was one child who remembers, ouch, poor kid, that must have been terrible.
Otoh if they didn't forget and you suddenly have classrooms full of genius children in one town going to college and uni somewhere else, that would be fun *g*

[sholio]

Canon is extremely vague on this point. *g* The show basically follows fairy-tale logic rather than real-world logic, which works up to a point, except that it's IN the real world, so I keep wanting it to make sense...

[thingswithwings]

These are the questions that bother me too! I'd be fine with "time stood still in Storybrook" if it weren't for the issue of Henry having to grow up and go to school and become the sweetheart he is. But even then I really want an explanation of what "time stood still" means, agree. It's v. annoying.

[sholio]

Yeah ... the more I think about it, the most plausible thing I can come up with is that everyone in Storybrooke must have been just a little bit mentally hazy all the time, not really curious about things, not really remembering anything that wasn't recent (except for the curse-induced false memories of their new lives). But that sounds like absolute hell for Henry. I agree with you, it works a whole lot better if Henry isn't a factor, because you can imagine they're just in a little pocket universe where time doesn't really pass. Except ... Henry! Augh. I think that I'm trying to take a science-fictional approach to a show that relies on fairy-tale logic.

[settiai]

No one aged (including the kids), yet Henry was able to grow up ... is that an aspect of his specialness, or maybe because he was born in the real world?

Most of the speculation I've seen on the subject is that, yes, he was able to age because he was born outside Storybrooke. Also, the fact that nobody around him was aging - including his classmates at school (who presumably stayed behind in previous grades as he aged and moved on?) - would explain just why he was so certain that the curse was real.

There's that one scene where Red is waiting at the bus stop ... would a bus actually have come, or would she just have waited forever?

And, don't forget, Henry managed to leave town on his own via bus in the very first episode. Did a bus actually arrive? Or did he walk out of town to catch one?

[sholio]

Most of the speculation I've seen on the subject is that, yes, he was able to age because he was born outside Storybrooke. Also, the fact that nobody around him was aging - including his classmates at school (who presumably stayed behind in previous grades as he aged and moved on?) - would explain just why he was so certain that the curse was real.

Ohhhhh, I never thought of that! What a fascinating suggestion, because YES, of course he would have noticed that his classmates weren't aging like he was. (Although ... how did Regina not think of this? Or did she believe that Henry was as affected by the false-memory curse thing as everyone else?)

And that's a good point about the first episode, too! Aagh. I think I'm trying to apply science fiction logic to a show that relies on fairy-tale logic instead, but it's still making me flail trying to figure it out.

[madripoor_rose]

A part of me always took that as a dig at small towns, heh.

I've been assuming that yeah, none of the other kids aged, that's one of the reasons Henry knew about the curse.

That deliveries and buses and everything came through town, but noone ever stayed long enough to notice anything funny going on.

[sholio]

That's a really fascinating point about Henry aging while the other kids didn't; someone else pointed that out, too, and I hadn't even thought about it, but there's basically no way he could NOT know there was something weird going on if that was the case!

I suppose it's possible that the statement about no one being able to enter or leave Storybrooke is an oversimplification of a more complicated situation, and people actually can pass through as long as they don't stay or interact with the residents very much.