I know I’ve said before that I was sticking with proper
fairy tales for Fairy Tale Media Fix but I’m afraid I can’t quite keep that
promise. For one thing, reviewing
versions of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk
repeatedly gets kind of boring. So, I’m
going to have to loosen things up and include some children’s literature.
Now, I know I’ve talked about the Oz books before. They’re an interesting subject. Partially because they’re part of what was a
common endeavor among writers for a couple of centuries to create the “American
fairy tale”. And partially because it’s
a case where a sprawling, popular series of 43 books (including 14 by original
author L. Frank Baum) has largely been forgotten by the general public to be almost
replaced by a movie adaptation of the first book made in 1939 (it’s a good
movie, but come on). It makes you wonder if other landmark works of children's literature will fade into semi-obscurity someday. Someday, will people only remember the Harry Potter books for their Warner Bros. film adaptations?
The MGM film isn’t the only legacy of Oz, though. There are Oz cartoons too. Not a lot of them, but probably more than
you’d think. Just like the books now do,
they tend to slip under the radar. There
was a short in 1933. There was Tales of the Wizard of Oz in 1961 from
Rankin Bass (the same people who made Pinocchio’s Christmas). There was a DiC Wizard of Oz series from 1990 based on the 1939 movie. There was even a second generation show called
Oz Kids. That's just counting TV shows too and not animated movies. Even right now, there are a couple of
options. Options that I, luckily, have
had the chance to view.
Dorothy and the
Wizard of Oz
Dorothy and the Wizard
of Oz is an animated show made by
Warner Bros. Animation that airs on Cartoon Network’s streaming service
Boomerang. Boomerang, incidentally, is a
streaming service I do not subscribe to because I am not made of money. So, I thought I wouldn’t be able to see this
show. Luckily, there was a DVD release. Now, Dorothy
and the Wizard of Oz is based on the 1939 movie. So, a lot of that actually makes it into this
show. The Scarecrow, Tin Man and
Cowardly Lion all have voices that sound a lot like the voices of the actors in
the movie. The ruby slippers are still
around and Dorothy uses them as a teleportation device. The Wicked Witch of the West is still around
in all her green, cackling glory.
Though, the witch is just a spirit living in a crystal ball at this
point. However, even beyond all the
movie influences, they still draw a lot from Baum’s books. From the episodes I was able to watch, other
Oz characters from the books that appear in the show include: Ozma, the Woozy,
the Hungry Tiger, Ojo the Unlucky, the Nome King, H.M. Wogglebug T.E., the
Patchwork Girl, Tik Tok and the Crooked
Magician. None of them are
exactly like their literary counterparts.
Ozma comes across as a little more ditzy. The Patchwork Girl is less crazy poetry girl
and more of a highly skilled royal dressmaker.
Strangely, from the episodes I’ve seen, one of the few Oz characters not
in the show seems to be the Wizard himself, despite his name being in the
title. The one major new addition that’s
not from either the books or the movie is a new character named Wilhemina. Wilhemina is a young witch and the Wicked
Witch of the West’s niece and she’s set up as a rival of sorts for
Dorothy. While her aunt’s spirit is
constantly trying to get Wilhemina to retrieve the ruby slippers, Wilhemina
usually wants to mess with Dorothy out of pure jealousy and spite. In this endeavor, she’s helped by her two
flying monkey henchmen, Lyman and Frank (I see what you did there). And you know, the show’s not half bad. It’s a very episodic show aimed at pretty
young children, so you take what you can get.
The art’s expressive. The
animation’s fluid. The actors put in a bang
up job. I particularly like the show’s
new take on Dorothy. Despite being so
influenced by the 1939 movie, this Dorothy isn’t the “damsel-in-distress” she
often seemed to be in that film. The TV
show’s Dorothy is a plucky country tomboy who eagerly rushes off to help others
with a click of her heels when she finds out someone needs help. So, if you get the chance, give it a
look. It may not be appointment viewing
unless maybe you’re watching it with one of the small children in your life,
but it’s at least worth a casual watch.
Lost in Oz
Lost in Oz on the
other hand is on Amazon Instant Video, a streaming service that I am subscribed
to. Now, first of all, I should make the
point that this is in no relation to another show called Lost in Oz from 2000 that was produced by Tim Burton never got past
the pilot phase. This Lost in Oz is a
daytime Emmy winning computer animated kids’ show that premiered last year. The story follows an inventive
twelve-year-old girl named Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto as a magical journal
whisks them off to Oz. This Oz is very
different, just as this Dorothy is different.
This modern day Dorothy lands in a bustling, modern Emerald City. The magic of Oz is now channeled into the
technology that runs the city. In fact,
their knowledge of magic seems to have advanced as well. Magic is now defined as “the art and science
of transformation” and it’s controlled by magical elements that all appear on
their own complex periodic table. Essentially,
magic is the physics of Oz. Anyway,
Dorothy finds out that she needs one of each magical element to get home. Along the way, she meets some new friends
like an oversized Munchkin boy named Ojo (which I’m guessing is a common
Munchkin name now), a sarcastic young witch named West and a paranoid
conspiracy theorist lion named Reigh.
She also gets embroiled in a mystery and runs afoul of some
villains. We also find out that this
Dorothy isn’t the first Gale to visit Oz or even the first Dorothy for that
matter. Lost in Oz is a STEM-infused, techno-fantasy mystery adventure show
inspired by a turn of the century children’s fantasy book series and it is very
good. I think the characters are
great. This Dorothy is a bright, brave
young heroine with a knack for inventing devices and experimentation. Reigh’s paranoid conspiracy theorist
personality is a unique twist on the Cowardly Lion. Sarcastic and streetwise West is probably my
favorite new take on the Wicked Witch of the West ever (that’s right, Wicked fans. Come at me).
Ojo, while maybe not as big a character as the others, is useful as a
slightly more down-to-Earth presence.
And I just love the more scientific and technological approach to
magic. It’s rare I say that. When books, movies or TV shows try to go into
the “science of magic” it usually results in the magic being diminished in some
way. That doesn’t happen here. Probably because this approach is used to
develop a system of magic for Oz, not to explain it away. It’s something that makes sense for Oz too. Oz grew out of the environment of a rapidly
industrializing and scientifically growing United States. L. Frank Baum even made use of some of this
new technology, the motion picture camera, to make some of the first Oz movies (though, there were also a couple made without his input). Heck, some of the fantasy
devices in the Oz books seemed to predict the future. In the book Tik Tok of Oz, Baum has it so the Scarecrow carries a special
two-way transceiver that he can use to communicate with the Emerald City. That’s right.
The Scarecrow may have had the first cell phone in literary history. I will heartily recommend Lost in Oz. People keep looking for ways to put new
twists on public domain properties, but this is one of the few that really
feels different. It’s not another dark,
dystopian take like Emerald City or Tin Man or that Tim Burton Lost in Oz project, while still skewing a bit older than stuff like Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. This modern, science fantasy Oz just feels
like no take on Oz I’ve seen before.
Really, check it out if you get the chance.
That ends this particular Oz-themed installation of Fairy
Tale Media Fix. I’m not sure where the
next post will take me, but until then I think I’ll just head down this Yellow
Brick Road a little farther.
Until next time.
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