Written by Edward Kitsis, Adam Horowitz, Zack Estrin, and Jane Espenson, and directed by Ralph Hemecker, it premiered on ABC in the United States on October 10, 2013.
The premiere received generally positive reviews from critics, despite low ratings; the episode was watched by 5.8 million viewers.
[1] A title card which states "Once Upon a Time..." Alice (Sophie Lowe) returns home to her father (Shaun Smyth), who tells her that everyone thought she was dead.
Her imaginative stories about a talking White Rabbit (John Lithgow) and a mystical place called Wonderland end up getting the attention of Dr. Lydgate (Jonny Coyne), a psychologist from an asylum.
After capturing her proof in the form of the White Rabbit, she encounters Cyrus (Peter Gadiot), a genie with whom she falls in love.
The two lovers have several adventures, leading to a fateful day on the cliff of the Boiling Sea, where Cyrus proposes to Alice.
In a final flashback, it is revealed that Cyrus actually survived the fall into the Boiling Sea, as Jafar saved him with his flying carpet.
The Rabbit complies and sadly walks away, when the Agrabahian sorcerer Jafar (Naveen Andrews) begins to talk to her.
On May 14, 2013, ABC announced that the spin-off will air in the Thursday night timeslot instead of making it a fill-in for the parent series.
Whatever it ends up being, we'll have told a complete story ..."[5] The premiere was watched by 5.82 million American viewers, and garnered an 18-49 rating/share of 1.7/5, placing third in its timeslot and tenth for the night.
[6] Alex Strachan of Canada.com said, in regards to ratings, "Wonderland's future may well depend on a change of scenery — a new day and time, no pun intended — where it can be given room to breathe and find an audience" as the series faces competition with The Big Bang Theory.
I really only have two concerns about the ongoing series: how they will sustain the plot and keep it interesting and how they will maintain the standard for the large number of visual effects.
"[9] Rick Porter of Zap2it gave the episode a moderate review, saying "If you're a devotee of the works of Lewis Carroll, "Once Upon a Time in Wonderland" will probably make you cringe more than once.
"[10] Margaret Lyons's review via Vulture was more mixed, as she said "ABC's fairy-tale mishmash Once Upon a Time can be exciting and fun and sexy and a little badass.
"[13] Robert Bianco of USA Today gave the premiere a negative review, rating it a 1.5 out of 4, saying the show "is lovely in an overly CGI kind of way, and yes, the fantasy-laced story is a welcome change from the usual TV pace.