For most high school students, fairytales and pixie dust are a thing of the past. Teenagers have grown apart from Prince Charming and Cinderella simply because these characters no longer possess engaging traits to them.

However, it seems the ABC drama television series ‘Once Upon a Time’ may reunite young adults with childhood concepts in a rather peculiar way. Fairytale characters are submerged into a realm with no happy endings: our world.

They all reside in the fictional town of Storybrooke, Maine and are cursed as ordinary people absolutely oblivious to their past lives. Everyone within the town is trapped in a metaphoric prison as the curse upon them limits their mobility. Bad things start happening if these delirious individuals attempt to leave town.

Emma Swan (Jennifer Morrison, CBS’s ‘How I Met Your Mother’), an independent woman that lives in Boston, is enticed to visit Storybrooke by her 10-year old son, Henry Mills (Jared Gilmore) who she gave up for adoption.

Mills is well aware of the true identity of the town’s residents. His reasoning is entirely influenced by a book given to him by his teacher, Mary Margaret Blanch (Ginnifer Goodwin, HBO’s ‘Big Love’).

Although Swan may be viewed as just another ordinary person, it’s up to her to break the curse. This task proves to be difficult considering she doesn’t believe in the curse herself.

The show is bizarre but extremely addicting. Each episode uncovers more information about people’s lives as fictional characters. Mills’ psychologist, for instance, is believed to have been Jiminy Cricket before he was cursed.

The series incorporates numerous flashbacks to alternate between modern day society and the alternate fairy tale reality.

I can honestly say that the characters depicted in flashbacks do not in any way resemble the innocence of those portrayed in Walt Disney classics. They are much more complex when it comes to interacting with their surroundings.

So much so that the show’s version of Snow White goes beyond just kissing her true love.

There is no room for mainstream storyline in this series. Each character’s behavior could never be compared to that of their original stories. One character in particular caught my eye early in the series.

Rumpelstiltskin (Robert Carlyle, Syfy’s ‘Stargate Universe’) takes his mischievous dealing to a whole new level. Carlyle does an excellent job of portraying a demented personality who profits from the misfortunes of others. Everything from his deranged laugh to his rotting teeth makes him stand out from surrounding cast members.

In general, all characters have exceptional chemistry with one another.

Viewers are led to believe that the residence of Storybrooke have known each other as ordinary people for as long as they can remember. Swan’s relationship with her new found son can also be described as genuine.

"The whole project was attractive to me because it’s not a procedural show," said Morrison in an interview with Pop Culture Passionistas. "I wanted to do something that was character driven. Emma Swan is such a diverse character and it’s very rare on television to get to play a character that is so multifaceted. From an acting perspective, it was just an incredible challenge to take on and it’s exciting to know that there was going to be so many different things that I was going to try and be a part of as this character."

The series has a good amount of production value. Some scenes that involve scenic establishing shots are nothing short of impressive.

In addition, it seems the show’s wardrobe department will never own anything from a clearance bin at Marshalls. It is obvious that ABC spared no expense on attire. The costumes featured are in direct competition with that of full feature length films.

The show currently airs on Sundays at 8:00 pm EST. For a limited time, full episodes can be found on abc.com. Season one has a total of 22 episodes.

‘Once Upon Time’ is most definitely worth watching.