MovieChat Forums > The 10th Kingdom (2000) Discussion > Abandoned TV series & OUAT?

Abandoned TV series & OUAT?

posted 10 years ago by atomicseasoning
7 replies | jump to latest

I just borrowed it on DVD and recently watched it. Based on the ending though, I wonder if it was originally slated to be the intro/pilot for a much longer TV series...since it gave an open ending that alluded to more adventures for Virginia & Wolf in the future.

Also though, given the live action, fairytale premise, allusions of 'two worlds', connection to 'Snow White', and the fact that Kimberly Williams' pixie cut made her look more than a little like Ginnifer Goodwin now, I wonder if whoever thought up 10th Kingdom just sat on the storyline for a decade (after it wasn't picked up for more than a miniseries) retooled it, and sold it to ABC as 'Once Upon A Time'? lol Anyone know?

[–] smck_82uk 10 years ago

Yes apparently there was going to be a second Mini series made but the original NBC ratings were not strong enough to warrant a renewal sadly.

With the success of "Once Upon a Time" in recent years its sad that it never happened perhaps it was just before its time? I still love and treasure this Mini series though and I am very glad it was made and can be enjoyed forever on DVD.

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[–] wiseowl103 10 years ago

I think 2 big factors were at work there that prevented it from being successful. The first was, the marketing campaign for the program was bad (really bad). 2nd, and very important is that while it did drop names like Snow White, none of the most famous characters in those stories were major characters.

The Disney name and promotional engine is behind Once Upon a Time. As enjoyable as Once Upon a Time is (particularly season 1), the 10th Kingdom was better. It's a shame it wasn't more successful, but we'll always have the DVD.

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[–] MissFortuneCookie 10 years ago

Well the 10th kingdom was on the hallmark channel while OUAT is on ABC. Two very different networks. Plus this series is obviously an expensive one to make and I doubt hallmark can afford a sequel.

I don't want a sequel. This was perfect as it was and I'm glad I have a did of it and can watch it over and over. OUAT is also really enjoyable. I love both equally.

[–] Iaaat 10 years ago

Actually The 10th Kingdom originally aired on NBC in primetime. I remember the scheduling for the original airing was really bad. Part 1 aired Sunday Feb 27, 2000 from 9pm to 11pm, Part 2 aired Monday Feb 28 from 8pm to 10pm, Part 3 aired Wednesday Mar 1 from 8pm to 10pm, Part 4 aired Sunday Mar 5 from 9pm to 11pm and Part 5 aired Monday Mar 6 from 8pm to 10pm. I think if they aired them at the same time, one part each night, over 5 consecutive nights, or one part the same night over 5 weeks, it might have done better. As someone who was loving it and looking forward to watching the whole thing, I remember it was hard for ME to keep track of what day and time it was on next, so you can imagine how casual viewers probably felt with the inconsistent schedule. And, remember, this was a time before DVRs were in almost every house in the country! Back then, we had to manually program our VCRs if we wanted to tape things like that.

Also, as much as I love The 10th Kingdom and wish it had been three or four times as long, at 10 hours, it was pretty long by mini-series standards and the main characters didn't enter the 9 Kingdoms until near the end of the 2-hour Part 1. It was a slow build kind of story, which more and more people don't have the patience for, unfortunately. I can see people, who were waiting for the story to "get going," turning it after an hour or so. If only they had stuck with it a little longer, the story would have paid off as many of us fans feel it did.

That and the weird scheduling contributed to its lackluster ratings and success I believe. Maybe it was a little ahead of it's time, too. We're now in the "fandom era" and had it been aired today, with the internet and social media being as integral as it is to the entertainment industry and more people being FANS of things rather than just viewers, I think it would've gotten the kind of success it deserved. You just KNOW that #HuffPuff and #SuckAnElf would be trending every night it aired.

[–] rackyroo 10 years ago

Not only was the schedule kind of weird, but each episode started earlier than the advertised times. If you started watching the first night at the scheduled time, you came in when the queen is releasing Wolf from his prison cell to track the dog/Prince. It wasn't until I purchased the dvd upon release that I found out what happened before then. I scheduled my dvr to start the rest of the episodes early. Had I not done that I would have missed at least 15minutes at the start of each night. I think that is what made most people stop watching early on.

[–] ZeoRangerFive 9 years ago

I'm probably wrong but I don't remember the schedule being that weird. I swear it was advertised and aired one part for each night for 5 consecutive nights. I swear that's how I watched it. I missed most of the first part because I didn't know about it, but I swear I remember watching the rest of it throughout that next week. And I remember it being advertised like crazy, because I remember it being advertised as "the biggest mini-series ever produced".

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[–] LeMarchand 10 years ago

The writer, Simon Moore, gave out a few details a few years back:

In the meantime, however, I thought you might all like to know a little bit more about my plans for series 2. Now this story of course is not written yet, and it may change in many ways when and if I do write it, but I thought I'd give a little teaser of some of my ideas to you, my wonderful and loyal fans.

The second adventure will be called 'House of Wolves' , and take us primarily into the wooded world of Red Riding Hood's Kingdom, where schoolgirls in long, crimson caped uniforms are trained to deliver secret messages throughout the kingdoms, risking their lives to travel through the dark, dangerous forests.

The story begins in New York, some time after our previous adventure finished. Wolf and Virginia have opened their restaurant, which serves only meat of course, and only rare meat at that! Virginia is very pregnant with Wolf's baby, and is getting concerned because she has been pregnant for much, much longer than is usual... Wolf says this is a sure sign that the baby will be a magic baby.

When Virginia does finally give birth, it is to a furry baby wolf cub!!! Wolf is thrilled, but Virginia is most certainly not, and doesn't like the strange looks she gets when she wheels a little wolf cub around Manhattan in a pram. She is very upset and says she wants a human baby. Wolf promises to return to the Kingdoms with her and see if there is some magic spell that will turn their baby into human form. Indeed, perhaps someone has bewitched their baby... but who would do a thing like that?!

They travel to Red Riding Hood's Kingdom, where wolves are demonized and forced to live in hidden underground villages deep in the forest. Wolf is shocked to see that girls at the Riding Hood Academy For Young Ladies are taught the most appalling, prejudiced ideas about wolves, and he decides to enroll as a teacher (without telling anyone that he is a Wolf, of course) to put the record straight. As you can imagine, a Wolf at a girls boarding school causes quite a few problems...

So many other things happen in our story, including Wolf discovering that his parents were not burned to death as he believed, but still alive! The story also features the magical, woodland full moon marriage of Wolf and Virginia! Old friends will return... some as small as an Acorn... And there will be many surprises - such as the fact that the new Troll National Anthem sounds very much like a Bee Gees song... Oh and one thing I can certainly promise - there will be magic aplenty! Magic everywhere, in all it's wondrous forms. And there will be romance and hope and danger and adventures to take your breath away!

I also seem to remember reading that he'd done stuff to account for the actors ageing. Unfortunately, this was all a long time ago and I supect that in the unlikely event of a belated sequel there might have to be some major recasting.

As for OUAT and 10K, my suspicion is that the former grew out of ABC's aborted attempt at Bill Willingham's "Fables" comics http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fables_%28comics%29 (well worth a read) rather than 10K.

No tears please, it's a waste of good suffering.