We had some discussion about the time the clock stopped on, and I know this is late, but here is (to me) conclusive proof that in the Once Upon a Time finale (A Land Without Magic), the clock stopped on 8:16
Let’s see an establishing shot showing 8:15 as the purple smoke began to envelope the clock tower
The next view of 8:15
The hand moves to 8:16 as the purple smoke envelopes it
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Well, everyone’s entitled to their opinions 🙂
Still looks like 8:15 to this viewer.
Hmm…my comment never posted for some reason but I was gonna point out that these screenshots prove to ME that it’s 8:15! If you start counting individual minutes at the 5 (easiest to line up and see) it clearly starts at 8:14 and moves to 8:15.
Also, and more importantly, in the first 2 shots (the “before it moved” screenshots), the minute hand isn’t level like it would be if it were 8:15 to start with. It levels off in the “after” pic.
I really think we’ll see that next season picks up where this one leaves off and the clock will click to 8:16, just like it did in last year’s season premiere! Moving to 8:16 right now just doesn’t make any sense to me, whereas having it be covered in purple smoke at 8:15 leaves TONS of suspense and to what Rumpel has caused now!
I freaked out when I saw it the first time BECAUSE it moved to 8:15. Moving to 8:16 would not have had that affect whatsoever and I think they showed it to cause just that: to make people wonder what’s happening. Are we back to where we started? Is there a new and different curse? Is the clock stuck at 8:15 AGAIN or just passing over it as magic is returned?? 8:16 does none of that.
Love you guys but I am 100% that this clearly shows 8:14 moving to 8:15.
Hey Oncers!
A las, I bring a third option to the table…. I was searching something else and came upon this “old” July 2011 (before the airing of the Pilot) Ytube interview where I believe Adam, unknowingly, gives away the ending to season one and answers our question about the clock, while answering a question about the “Walt Aging Syndrome” of LOST. The question is asked at 3:50 and here’s the link:
http://youtu.be/Zq9YCgfOXMg
This was from a year ago before the series began and he probably figured “who’s gonna see this??” Ha ha!….. oops!
Anyway, My take is that, as he says, “Will we end with a clock tic…. *time is moving forward* and we’re not tied to the real tiime, so… there is a little wiggle room if his (Henry’s) voice changes. I take that to mean that the clock doesn’t stop at all!!! It keeps right on ticking keeping time….. which fits into my time theory as well. They have gone to a “lot of trouble” to show us that the show runs in time, side by side, with our present calendar,only 28 years apart, as the clock must march forward to keep from happenning to Henry what had happened to Walt in LOST. IF,…. during the hiatus, Henry hits a 3″ to 5″ growth spurt and his voice changes, they have wiggle room of about….. well, they wrapped on March 31, and filming begins in July, so roughly 3 1/2 to 4 months to move the storyline ahead from where we left off in the finale, not only to explain Henry’s possible growth, but, to catch us up to present day time in Storybrooke….. which I can almost guarantee will be the same time as when the season 2 premier airs, just as all the episodes, after ep’4 did in season one. But, that’s just my take…… 8^)) Miss you guys! LOTS!
I agree that once the clock started moving in the pilot that time has passed as we would expect it to so Henry can age normally and it won’t cause any problems. The reason they had an issue with time on Lost was because the first 3 seasons equaled roughly 3 months I think. Therefore any obvious aging would be a problem and Walt was only 10 when the show started so being 13 only 3 months later would be bad!
The clock did tick to *something* at the end of the finale, it just didn’t freeze there again so time is still “moving forward” even if it goes to 8:15 in that shot. However, like I said before I think it did land on 8:15 to make people question what happened. More possibilities come from 8:15 than 8:16 but I’m sure we’ll see it move right along when we pick back up where we left off (we better pick up where we left off, too many reunions I want to see!)
Jeff I know you tweeted me back saying that you took into consideration the angles and I get that, but looking at that top shot since it’s back a bit further, the minute hand should still look relatively level and it doesn’t. Also in the last shot, the minute hand doesn’t look like it’s off at a potential angle like in the 2nd one, it looks right on its mark and level which tells me once again: 8:15. The 3 shots together are what make me sure of it. If it started at 8:15 (saying that the angle of the 2nd shot just makes it look like it’s at the 14 minute mark) then why isn’t the hand level when the rest of the clock is? It’s clearly up at an angle whereas the rest of the clock is normal looking.
Hope we get some confirmation eventually or that they do a better job of showing it but if it looked remotely like it moved to 8:16 when the episode ended I would have been very disappointed and meh about whereas 8:15 has so many possibilities with it!
If it turns out that way then fine but in that case the ending of the finale wasn’t as epic as I thought and frankly kinda boring. It was that closing clock moment that made the ending what it was. In my opinion it’s best to leave 8:16 for the opening of season 2 to show time is continuing on and leave us hanging at 8:15 to make us question stuff over the break.
In the meantime I can’t really agree that this is case-closed. Not enough proof either way since nobody’s budging.
Hey Kate!,
I totally agree with you about the shot being deliberate, as well as the angles, to invoke the questions that would linger throughout the hiatus. But, from a purely logical point of view, it would seem to me, now that we have a bit of insight as to what was intended by the writers, (time moving forward), that it would be intended for the clock to reset at 8:15 (as to suggest a reset in plotline) AND then,…. a clock tic forward to 8:16 to inform us that time did not freeze and continues to move forward.
However, had the writers intended to freeze time at 8:15….. then, I would have to agree that the clock was at 8:14 AND then, with a clock tic, freezes at 8:15. But, again with this new insight about time continuing to move forward, I would have to say, despite the sneeky shot angles and from a purely logical point of view, that what we’re seeing is the clock reset at 8:15 and ticking forward to 8:16.
I think what we’ll see in season two, at least, for the first few episodes, is that we will pick up where we left off time wise, just to catch us up with the new storyline and the current calendar date,which took season 1 almost 7 episodes to do,…. but, that was b/c of a month late Oct series launch. I don’t believe we’ll have that problem again. It should take just a few episodes of the new season to set up the new plot and bring us current.
UNLESS! LOL! Henry has grown and they open with a recap of the *finale* and then just flash a caption reading “Four Months Later” and go from there! Ha haa!!
I hope not, but,………… lol
I really think we’ll start right where we left off and perhaps see the smoke disappate and focus in on the clock moving to 8:16 in that first minute when the smoke is clearing. That way we can see more of the reunions / instant reactions to what just happened since there’s bound to be TONS of stuff going on in the first episode. They can’t really just ignore all the reunions, right? So I hope we don’t see a time jump right off the bat except to see that clock move to 8:16 as the smoke is going away from it (since we saw the smoke envelope it when I swear it went to 8:15).
I really truly believe that the smoke covered it up as it hit 8:15 to make us worry about whether it’s frozen or not, and then we’ll open it up with that next minute showing us “phew, we’re ok…now what just happened??” It just makes way more logical plot sense. (Us die-hards know or have strong reason to believe it is merely functioning as a normal clock and not restopping / freezing on 8:15 but it’s far more dramatic and hiatus-worthy in the questions it begs. Otherwise why show it at all?)
As I said before, 8:16 doesn’t say ANYTHING to me over the break. First minute of the season sure, it says we’re ok, not frozen in time, progress is being made. Over the break with the “What did Rumple just do?” question lingering? Absolutely nothing comes to mind if it were to show 8:16.
I guess some could make the argument that it shows we’re not frozen still, but that just seems awkward and we’re left hanging in a totally different way that’s just kinda blah. It says, time is moving forward but what did he just do? 8:15, to me, says “What did he just DO???” It’s far more dramatic.
I think some of the confusion lies in what we think they meant by time moving forward. I think in their given context they meant that once the pilot was done and Emma decided to stay, time has been moving ever since. Even though they showed it ticking to 8:15 in the finale, it will continue ticking like normal when we pick back up.
They were just pointing out that they wouldn’t have to worry much about Henry aging in the series cause he naturally would (as well as everybody else in the town now) since they are no longer frozen in time. Walt was supposed to stay 10 for 3 years of television. Henry is allowed to age normally, so they were just saying this wouldn’t be an issue here.
I see what you’re saying about the possibility of jumping a few months which they could do if necessary but I’m hoping we at least get to see some of the reunions and focus on “taking back the kingdom” stuff.
They really book-ended the season by having a lot of the finale go back to the pilot and I know they talked about that somewhere too (can’t remember where at the moment) but we started with the clock on 8:15 and I truly truly believe we ended with it ticking (not freezing, not stopping, just staying there for exactly 1 minute) at 8:15. Yes in the pilot they also advanced the clock to 8:16 AT THE END. A true bookend however would get us right back to where we STARTED which was….8:15.