History Series / The10thKingdom

* BrokenAesop: Snow White tells Virginia the original version of how she died, that the Evil Queen visited her three times, once with a poison comb, once with a corset to crush her ribs, and then finally with the iconic poison apple. When she gets to that part, she mentions the Dwarves warned her not to answer the door or talk to strangers. But she then says to Virginia, "Why did I let her in? Didn't I know she was bad? Of course I did. But you can't keep the door closed your whole life, just because it's dangerous, just because there's a chance of getting hurt." On the surface this would seem to be a good Aesop about not letting fear control your life...but if she hadn't opened the door to a suspicious old stranger woman, she wouldn't have ended up being poisoned and killed at a young age, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath dying choking in the woman's arms]]--meaning she was ''wrong'' to take the risk. There's a difference between "not being afraid" and just grabbing an IdiotBall. Granted, Snow White was then resurrected by the Prince and lived out a long enough life for her grandson Wendell to remember her, but she had no way to know that when she opened the door to the old woman.

Take just about [[FairyTaleFreeForAll every]] well-known Western FairyTale, myth, legend, oral history, and fantasy story known to man. Cross them with screwball comedy, an epic [[TheHerosJourney Hero's Journey]], fantastic (for television, anyway) special effects, and a lot of surprising twists. Add a dash of tragedy and mystery, a sprinkling of some rather serious ([[IncrediblyLamePun or should we say, ''Grimm''?]]) issues, and some great British casting, and what do you get?

* TheReveal: [[spoiler:The Queen is Virginia's mother]]. See also [[spoiler:LukeIAmYourFather]] above. Made particularly well done because the few bits of {{Foreshadowing}} relevant to it were very subtle. [[spoiler:The {{Backstory}} about Christine seems on first viewing to be merely setting Virginia up as yet another protagonist dealing with ParentalAbandonment issues, not a MissingMom who will actually become directly relevant to the plot; the fact the Queen has another Traveling mirror (and thus could conceivably have come from Earth) is only noticeable using FreezeFrameBonus or if the viewer is paying very close attention (and is revealed in the narrative only a short time before her identity is); and the "strange feeling" Virginia gets in her cell could easily be chalked up to magic.]]

* SpoiledBrat: Sally Peep is a realistic example, since she comes from a family who always win and have the best of ''everything'', so she doesn't take losing very well - Virginia was even perfectly happy to leave the Peep family with the trophy and prize money as long as she could have the mirror, but obviously this doesn't work.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

** Relish the Troll King. After seeing him not only continually abusing his children, but also spending most of a month attacking the Fourth Kingdom, ravaging the countryside, and imprisoning/flogging/slaughtering its people, it's quite satisfying to see him [[spoiler:get poisoned by the Evil Queen (after rather stupidly consuming apples from the grove where he goes to parlay with her), then be decapitated]].

%%zce* QuirkyMiniBossSquad: The Troll children.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: NBC was notorious for doing this during most if not of all of their miniseries "events", but a particularly JustForFun/{{egregious}} example occurred twice: just after the suspenseful scenes in which Virginia and Tony were trying to buy the Traveling mirror at auction, the trailer revealed [[spoiler:that it gets broken]], and right as we're wondering if the heroes will get to the ball and stop the Evil Queen's plot in time, the trailer revealed [[spoiler:all of Wendell's guests collapsing from poison]]. Next commercial break then shows us both [[spoiler:the same guests awakening, revealing they weren't really dead]] and [[spoiler:Prince and Wendell switching back—though granted, this was something of TheUntwist by that late in the game]]. About the only major plot point not revealed by the trailers, thankfully, was that [[spoiler:the Evil Queen was Virginia's mother]]. Not to mention [[spoiler:Wolf stopping the Huntsman from killing Virginia at the end]].

** One scene features Virginia and Tony deciding which path to take to their destination. One road takes 39 miles and the other takes 13. The 39 mile path is a pleasant road that cuts through the countryside lined with trees. The 13 mile road on the other hand is through a thick dark wood. Virginia chooses the 13 mile road. Tony's reaction to her decision is priceless. Then of course, we learn that the 13 mile road leads into the [[NotQuiteTheRightThing Deadly Swamp]].

** Clayface the Goblin abruptly drops out of the narrative [[spoiler: once Tony escapes prison, after giving Tony a startlingly prophetic carving.]] According to the {{Novelization}}, which was based on an earlier version of the script, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen he was originally going to be]] the one encountered at the Swamp Witch's cottage rather than Acorn [[spoiler:although with the prophetic carving still left unexplained, interestingly enough]].

** Also invoked by Wolf when they have the Huntsman at their mercy. Virgina stops him from doing it. Justified, since Virginia doesn't want to be [[TechnicalPacifist a murderer]].

** The Huntsman [[spoiler: inadvertently killed his own seven year old son]] to prove his worthiness to the Queen. Later, he kills [[spoiler: an entire romani camp including an innocent half-wolf boy]].

** Sally Peep is a downplayed example. The shepherdess is most certainly unlikable from the first moment she's encountered, not only hitting on Wolf despite him being interested only in Virginia but also acting like a smug AlphaBitch for nearly her entire screen time--mostly due to her family's great wealth and status in the village making her feel entitled to all the attention and praise, though she also comes across as rather vain as well. So when she ends up dead, it's difficult to muster much sympathy. However, her flirting with Wolf is actually inadvertently encouraged by him (thanks to the moon being full), while Virginia has yet to reciprocate Wolf's interest. And while Sally's spoiled reaction to losing the shepherdess contest is another mark against her, knowing that the Peeps are so fortunate only because [[spoiler:they've trapped the magic well water for only their own use]] makes her retaliation against her grandfather rather cathartic. [[spoiler:Threatening to kill her if she tells anyone about the well, and then actually doing so after she destroys it, is also played for the disturbing drama it rightly should be; knowing her last word was to shriek her grandfather's name is rather heartbreaking.]]

* RunningGag: After entering New York and discovering what Earth culture was like, the three Troll siblings come upon a CD boom box with the Bee Gees' ''Saturday Night Fever'' soundtrack in it. Upon hearing it, they immediately become instant fans, toting it everywhere with them and singing along as loudly and annoyingly as possible until the batteries on the boom box die. They attempt to explain the music and its origin to their father, with genuinely hilarious results — although the usage of the Bee Gees' full name as the Brothers Gibb, hardly common knowledge, seems rather out of place, especially coming from such moronic characters who can't even read properly. (See: East Eighty-onest Street.) Presumably this was included in order to avoid being obvious or [[RuleOfFunny to make it funnier]]. (And it works.) They then proceed to continue singing the song for the rest of the miniseries. Possibly also a nod to "the Brothers Grimm", famed collectors of fairy tales.

* OurWerewolvesAreDifferent: Though admittedly we only meet a half-wolf, not a true werewolf. To judge from Wolf, Nine Kingdoms wolves do not seem to be vulnerable to silver, change only on the three nights of the full moon, and while changed have no control over their actions and no memory of what they have done. They also seem to be afflicted by the 'take on lupine mannerisms and characteristics' aspect of this trope, since Wolf is constantly scratching at his temple, whines and whimpers and growls, nuzzles Virginia, and scrapes the ground with his feet to cover his tracks—although this may merely be a product of actor Scott Cohen's enthusiastic character immersion. What makes the half-wolves interesting is the twists: they ''always'' possess tails, even in human form, which change size with the time of the month and apparently act as [[FantasticArousal erogenous zones]], and explicit reference is made to the female cycle by how Wolf starts gaining PMS-like symptoms as the full moon approaches and, when fighting the change, ends up with...[[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything cramps]]. Still more interestingly, it is never truly explained what the term 'half-wolf' actually means. Are they the literal product of [[HotSkittyOnWailordAction a coupling between a full wolf and a human]], and this is what grants them their ability to change forms? Or is it merely a euphemism for werewolf, which could be considered a half-wolf because they can also appear as humans? Or is it even possible, taking into account the [[FantasticRacism prejudice]] against them in the Kingdoms, that the term is meant to be parallel to mulattos, quadroons, and octaroons in the real world—so if a half-wolf had a child with a human, their offspring would be a quarter-wolf, and so on? Wolf's sole TransformationSequence during the miniseries is inconclusive, since all we see is him becoming a typical Lon Chaney WolfMan. According to [[WordOfGod Simon Moore]], however, Wolf was intended to become a Dire Wolf, but they didn't have the budget for such special effects. What this says about the nature of half-wolves isn't clear.

* NothingExcitingEverHappensHere: In an odd variation, despite living in the BigApplesauce, Virginia thinks to herself (in voiceover narration) on the way to work at the beginning of the miniseries that she knew "nothing exciting was ever going to happen" to her and "some people just lead quiet lives". Cue her running into a golden retriever on her bicycle [[FreakyFriday who is actually a transformed prince]] from the [[FracturedFairytale world of fairy tales]], [[CallToAdventure and...]]

* CommieLand: The Ninth Kingdom is run by a "Dwarf Union," with a banner that includes red figures and crossed pickaxes, and they even call people "comrade." Them insistently referring to Dragon Mountain as "''our'' mountain" also becomes HilariousInHindsight due to [[MemeticMutation memes]].

* LoveIsInTheAir: The entire purpose of the ludicrous Kissing Town, which makes this trope quite literal, since not only are there magical hearts floating everywhere around every happy couple getting married, but every time Virginia seems ready to dismiss Wolf as a love interest, in swoop the hearts to change her mind and turn her into a hopeless romantic. [[{{Anvilicious}} They even form a gigantic heart over the pair's heads when they share their first kiss]].

** On the wall of Snow White Memorial Prison, so that both the hapless heroes TrappedInAnotherWorld and the viewers can learn exactly what the Nine Kingdoms look like. Unlike most versions of the fantasy map, it displays places which are never visited in the miniseries, since the story remains confined to the Fourth Kingdom (with brief forays into the Third and Ninth). It also has the amusing location marker "You Are Imprisoned Here" -- this becomes a slight RunningGag in the {{Novelization}} with a map in Kissing Town marked "You Are Romantically Here" -- and has the interesting feature of being remarkably similar in outlines to Europe... a feature which has led to some interesting EpilepticTrees among the fandom, ranging from [[AlternateHistory the Nine Kingdoms having diverged from our timeline centuries ago]] to our world being a nonmagical, cursed offshoot of the Kingdoms.
** According to WordOfGod, if any of the sequels he'd planned to write had been allowed to make it out of DevelopmentHell, they would have involved visits to or taken place entirely in each of the other kingdoms. The first sequel, which was to be called ''House of Wolves'' (about Wolf's past), would have been set in the Second Kingdom, Red Riding Hood's.

* ExplodingCloset: Happens to Wolf with a broom closet near the end when he, Tony, and Virginia are looking in Wendell's palace for the Evil Queen's room of {{Magic Mirror}}s. Played with in that as a wolf his senses should have told him it was the wrong room, except [[spoiler:at the time he was actually working for the Queen, but only to fool her so he could save the poisoned guests and eventually Virginia), so he did this on purpose to keep anyone from being suspicious]].

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: While in the dungeons of Wendall's castle, Virginia and Tony come across a carved message, in German, left by [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm Wilhelm Grimm.]]

* BondOneLiner: The Queen, after poisoning all of the guests at "Wendell's" Coronation.

* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: While in the dungeons of Wendall's castle, Virgina and Tony come across a carved message, in German, left by [[Creator/TheBrothersGrimm Wilhelm Grimm.]]

* BecauseDestinySaysSo: Played with. It is apparently Virginia's destiny to stop the Evil Queen, save all the monarchs of the Kingdoms, and restore Prince Wendell to his rightful throne, but the whole reason she is able to do so is because [[spoiler:the Queen is her [[MysteriousParent long-lost mother]]]], so thus she has a special advantage; this might even be seen as her responsibility, a personal problem she must clean up after. She is also receiving help from her SpiritAdvisor, Snow White, and at least part of her motivation in doing so is simply so [[ItsAllAboutMe she can get to the Traveling mirror and go home]]. Yet to judge by the Gypsy Queen's fortune she has "a destiny that stretches way back in time", and Snow White tells her that Wendell "needs you to save his kingdom, we all do," so you get the feeling there's something rather arbitrary about all this. The fairy godmother does do a very good (if slightly anvil-on-head) job of comparing her life to Virginia's to explain why she "found the right person." On the other hand, Virginia would never have come to the Kingdoms if Wendell hadn't [[ContrivedCoincidence knocked over the mirror]] when running from the Trolls and Wolf, then gone through it, there is no indication how or why the mirror ended up in the basement of a prison, and [[spoiler:Christine becoming the Evil Queen]] was made possible by the Swamp Witch having a mirror which opened to New York. So clearly some sort of organizing principle seems to have guided the plot. By the end, after [[spoiler:killing her mother in self-defense [[KarmicDeath with the poison comb]]]], when Wolf tells her it was not her fault, even Virginia seems to buy into it by saying the fateful words: "It was my destiny..." One possible [[WildMassGuessing explanation]] as to how the mirror ended up in the basement of a prison is that the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen Evil Queen]] mentions to fake!Wendell that Snow White's EvilStepmother once had five castles, and one of the prison guards mentions that the stuff in the basement of the Snow White Memorial Prison is from ''before'' the SWMP was a prison. It's possible that the prison was one of her castles, and that it was turned into a prison after her exile. Not only would that explain why a magic mirror just happened to be in the basement, it would also make for delicious irony that the Swamp Witch's apprentice was imprisoned in her mistress' former castle.
** It is very strongly implied throughout the story that Virginia is actually a reincarnation of Snow White. She has the look - dark hair, pale skin, very blue eyes, and her mother left her when she was young. (Her mother being a combination of both the kindly figure who died and the WickedStepmother, since [[spoiler: Christine tried to drown Virginia in a moment of madness, but Virginia still makes it clear she loved her mother very much and Christine reciprocated - even as the Evil Queen, she kept wanting to let Virginia go even though she didn't know why. The original Evil Stepmother was manipulating Virginia's mother into carrying out her revenge.]]) Snow White appears only before Virginia and guides her on her journey and Prince Wendell tells Virginia that on the day Snow White left, she left him a rose and told him they would meet again - just in another form.

* ActorAllusion: Wolf is in trouble in Little Lamb Village, but Tony says he'll be able to help -he used to be a lawyer. Tony is played by Creator/JohnLarroquette, who also played D.A. Dan Fielding on ''Series/NightCourt''

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Subverted. Wolf does get the girl in the end, but being a bad boy didn't help, and after his disastrous initial encounter with Virginia he spends a good part of the series reading self help books to reform himself. Played straight however with Sally and the shepherdesses, it seems. However, they're implied to be more of ReallyGetsAround, and directly accused as such at one point.

Not to be confused with ''Literature/TheTwelveKingdoms'', ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', any of the several works named ''SevenKingdoms''.

%%* AssholeVictim:
%%** [[spoiler: Relish the Troll King. Sally Peep is a downplayed example.]]
%%** The Gypsies are also portrayed as this, mainly due to the {{Curse}} they cast on Virginia and they traffic in [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman sentient creatures.]] Plus their matriarch insists on giving Virginia a fortune telling when she tries to politely decline and drags out some painful memories.

* SurroundedByIdiots: The Troll King, who is fairly clever and competent (though no match for the [[MagnificentBitch Queen]]), is supported only by his dimwitted children and soldiers. He doesn't seem happy about this lack of competence in his henchmen. (In the {{Novelization}}, when one of his advisors questions why they were in the apple grove so long before meeting the Queen, Relish thinks to himself that this Troll was no longer his advisor, though "[[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness he didn't know that yet]]".)

Not the WickedStepmother's potion, but the 2000 Hallmark miniseries ''The 10th Kingdom.''