NOTE: Please do not take any of the little nitpicks in this review (or any of my other reviews, for that matter) seriously. I write these reviews in the hopes of making people laugh. Those nitpicks are really just dumb little observations that I'm attempting to make jokes out of, not complaints that add to whether or not I like something.
I think the first time I ever watched The Wizard of Oz was on Halloween. My sister, my cousins and I had finished trick-or-treating and we found The Wizard of Oz airing on TV for some reason. I think it was on TBS, and recall during the ads there were fun facts about the film. Yes, I remember that, but I don't remember anything I learned about algebra in math class. Go figure.
So, for that reason, I tend to associate The Wizard of Oz with Halloween, though recently my family has also found it airing around Thanksgiving. I think the presence of a witch helps with that. So this qualifies as a Halloween review. Sort of. Look, it's MY blog.
I briefly mentioned this 1990s Wizard of Oz cartoon in a previous blog post. First airing in September 1990, a year after the film's 50th anniversary, the show was produced by DiC Entertainment. Unlike Journey Back to Oz, the show was based entirely on the movie, so don't expect much in the way of elements from the books.
One thing this show did have in common with the books as opposed to the movie is that Oz was a real place this time. Dorothy (voiced by Liz Georges) and Toto (voiced by Frank Welker) are whisked back to Oz by the ruby slippers because somehow the Wicked Witch of the West (Tress MacNeille) returned. Maybe they put her melted remains in a freezer and she resolidified, I dunno (if the show ever actually explained how she returned, please let me know). She steals the Scarecrow (David Lodge)'s diploma, the Tin Man (Hal Rayle)'s clock heart, and the Cowardly Lion (Charlie Adler)'s medal of courage, traps the Wizard (Alan Oppenheimer) in an evil wind, and takes over the Emerald City. Though the good guys succeed in saving the Emerald City in the show's two-part pilot, the Wicked Witch is still around, and they need the help of the Wizard to defeat her. So the four friends travel across Oz to bring the Wizard back, traveling to such strange locations as Mechanica, where everything is mechanical, and Pop Land, full of jack-in-the-boxes.
Andy Heyward, DiC's then-president and the executive producer of the show, said in an interview, "We all felt a great sense of responsibility. We felt that we were dealing with something that was almost sacred - not based on toy products or something transitory, but one of the treasures of American film." Mike Maliani, DiC's vice president of development, also said, "I think we kept the integrity of the classic and mixed in enough new for today's audience." Apparently, it wasn't enough new after all - after premiering on ABC, the show only got thirteen episodes.
So, should you follow the Yellow Brick Road to DiC's Land of Oz, or should somebody drop a house on this show? Let's find out, shall we? We're going to watch the nineth episode of the show (or the eighth, if you consider the two-parter pilot to be one episode), "Time Town". This is The Wizard of Oz.
The episode starts off with Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion making their way through a spooky-looking area with rotting trees and babbling brooks. Oddly, while the Cowardly Lion is an obvious Bert Lahr impression and Dorothy's voice is at least sort of similar to Judy Garland's, the Scarecrow and the Tin Man don't sound like Ray Bolger or Jack Haley at all. Their voices both sound a bit like Ed Wynn.
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| "Hey, did you know that in the background of this scene, there's a hanging-" "No, there's not! That's just an urban legend!" |
Suddenly, they hear what is clearly the caw of a crow. But apparently they don't know what a crow sounds like, because the Cowardly Lion says it sounds like a roar or a growl, and Dorothy "identifies" the sound as being from an approaching pigeon. You'd think that the Scarecrow, a being who spends most of his time around crows (there's a reason why he's called a scareCROW, after all) would know what a crow sounds like, but he doesn't say anything.
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| Fun fact: according to Mike Maliani, this show's version of Dorothy was designed to resemble Ariel from The Little Mermaid. I'm not sure I see the resemblance. |
The pigeon, much like the ones in Valiant, is a messenger pigeon with a singing telegram for Dorothy. It sings an awful but fortunately short song about how the Wizard of Oz is in the Emerald City. I guess he got out of that evil wind himself. Odd, seeing as there were five more episodes after this and TV Tropes claims that the show didn't have a proper ending.
So the good guys dance awkwardly to the Emerald City singing "We're Off to See the Wizard".
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| Had to make a GIF of this, just to show you guys how awkward-looking their dancing is. |
They arrive at the Emerald City... which looks more like a fortress from Star Wars or something...
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| Is that a giant gun sticking out of the top? I guess this time they're not taking any chances if the Wicked Witch flies overhead on her broomstick... |
"What happened to the Emerald City?!" Dorothy exclaims. And why is the Wizard's hot air balloon crashed by the side of the Yellow Brick Road? And why is the Wizard standing next to the balloon, working in a garden and dressed like a farmer?
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| Tonight, the role of the Wizard of Oz will be played by Sam Elliot. |
The Wizard doesn't even recognize Dorothy and her pals. Maybe Glinda, the Good Witch of the North (BJ Ward), can shed a little light on this situation. Maybe she can also explain why she now looks like a giant Barbie doll.
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| The Scarecrow seems oddly happy about the Wizard not recognizing them. |
Unsuprisingly, the Wicked Witch is behind all this. You see, the entire history of Oz has been recorded in a book. That book has been safe for years inside a time capsule, but the Wicked Witch just walked up to it and stole it. Because apparently it wasn't being guarded at all?
And now that the Wicked Witch has it, she's been erasing the history of Oz page by page. I can't help but wonder if she plans to replace it by writing down a new version of events that paints her as the good guy and the Wizard as the bad guy, thus creating Wicked. By the way, no, I did not choose to do a review of this show simply because the second part of the Wicked movie is being released this year.
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| "With this, I can make myself look like Idina Menzel!" |
"Now you must go to Time Town and stop the Wicked Witch before it's too late!" Glinda says. "Time Town is high in the Sawtooth Hills!" But before she can tell them where the secret entrance is, she suddenly turns into an Obi-Wan Kenobi cosplayer and forgets what her name is.
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| So, the Wizard is now a farmer, Glinda is now a Star Wars Celebration attendee... what's next, is the Witch gonna turn the Scarecrow into Michael Jackson? |
The Wizard leads the good guys up the Sawtooth Hills, and then he gets distracted by... a whirlpool of dirt? At least I'm ASSUMING that brown stuff is dirt. It could be chocolate pudding for all I know.
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| "Why, this is my lucky day! I've always wanted to go swimming in Nesquik!" |
The Tin Man attempts to pull the Wizard out of the whirlpool with his axe, but the Wizard is too stupid to grab the axe, and down he goes. Toto, for some reason, jumps into the whirlpool too. Suddenly, they hear the ticking of clocks. "I do believe this is the secret entrance to Time Town!" the Scarecrow declares. Yes, the entrance to Time Town is a whirlpool. Maybe it's a reference to that spinning vortex you always see in cartoons when characters go back in time?
So into the whirlpool they jump. Meanwhile, the Wicked Witch is gloating to her right-hand flying monkey, Truckle (also Frank Welker), about how she's using her magic smoke and a giant pendelum to erase the history of Oz. Then she can make Oz into anything she wants! But her crystal ball tells her that Dorothy, the Tin Man, the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion have found the secret entrance to Time Town. She'll just have to send them a welcoming surprise...
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| "Ugh, where's the remote control for this thing? I wanna see if Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is on..." |
The whirlpool empties out into a giant hourglass, and out of it slide the good guys. The Wizard and Toto are waiting for them. They're standing outside of Time Town, a city with more clocks than your local Hobby Lobby.
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| Nobody ever has to wonder what time it is in THIS town. |
As the good guys walk over to the time capsule where the book usually is, Truckle attempts to clean their clocks (couldn't resist) with a giant bell. To get inside the time capsule, they just have to adjust the hands on the giant clock that hides the entrance, but before they can step inside, down the bell falls on top of them. "They'll never get out of there!" Truckle cackles as he flies off. Fortunately, the Wizard gives everyone the idea to just dig their way out from under the bell - good thing the ground in Time Town is dirt as opposed to cement or something.
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| I didn't know you could dig with an axe. |
Eventually, the ground gives way and they fall into a tunnel filled with giant gears. They find another door, and when they push it open they discover these guys.
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| Oh, so THESE are the droids they were looking for... ...why am I making so many Star Wars references in this review? |
The little robots have heard of Dorothy, it turns out, and they're very excited to see her. One of them explains that they're the "Minute Men", guardians of Time Town, and they're hiding from the Wicked Witch. Even though the show generally doesn't take much in the way of elements from L. Frank Baum's books that weren't in the movie, I can't help but notice that two of them look a lot like Tik-Tok, the robot who first appeared in Ozma of Oz (and who also appeared in Disney's 1980s film Return to Oz).
The Minute Men don't know where the Wicked Witch took the book, but perhaps Father Time, who lives in the Cuckoo Forest, does. The two Minute Men who look like Tik-Tok offer to take them there, armed with an alarm clock that will warn them of danger - which makes the name "ALARM clock" pretty fitting.
Alas, the Wicked Witch sees them in her crystal ball again, and she's not pleased. "Take a squadron of monkeys and stop them for good!" she orders Truckle.
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| "What do you mean I don't look good in purple?!" |
The good guys are traveling through the Cuckoo Forest, where the trees all have cuckoo clock birds living in them. The flying monkeys show up to ambush them, but the Scarecrow gets the idea to fend them off by making a lot of noise. With the monkeys discombobulated, Dorothy and the others run to the "time stream" and jump aboard a floating sundial. Now they just have to brave the rapids.
They get to Father Time's house, who complains that ever since the Wicked Witch stole the History of Oz book to Pendelum Mountain, everything has been a mess.
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| That's quite a forehead Father Time has. |
"Thanks for your time. We're off to Pendelum Mountain!" the Tin Man says, but before they leave, Father Time gives them a bag of magic sand - the Sands of Time, that is. He does not, however, tell them what to do with it, when the Scarecrow asks he just says that they'll figure it out. Way to be unhelpful, Father Time.
So into Pendelum Mountain they sneak. Now they just need to think of a way to defeat the Wicked Witch. Here's a suggestion, why don't you just find some water and MELT HER? It worked the first time. Unfortunately, the Wizard winds up giving them away before they can think of a plan. As chaos unfolds, the Scarecrow does his best Miley Cyrus impression:
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| "I came in like a WREEEEEEEEC-KING BALL!" |
The Wizard uses the Sands of Time to extinguish the fire that the Witch was using to create the magical green smoke. All the history of Oz that she erased magically reappears after the Cowardly Lion flips the pages of the book with a sneeze. The Witch's plan is foiled. "I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS!" she shrieks.
"I don't know how, but we reversed this spell!" the Scarecrow says. Don't worry, Scarecrow, I'm not quite sure how you did it either. The pendelum disappears, and since the Witch's messing with the book was apparently erased from Oz's history, everyone is teleported out of the mountain. Downside: the Wizard flies off in his balloon again - but at least he's back to being the Wizard.
Glinda shows up and praises Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, and the Cowardly Lion for saving the day. Quick question, why didn't SHE make any sort of attempt to stop the Wicked Witch? Before she got her memory erased, I mean?
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| Hey, Scarecrow, Mickey Mouse called. He wants his gloves back. |
What's the Verdict?
So that's The Wizard of Oz, and while it's not the greatest cartoon ever, it makes for a pretty good sequel series to the film. They do a lot of creative stuff with the time land, the voice actors all do a good job, everyone is in-character. I do have two complaints, though. First of all, the animation, while competent, is riddled with errors. Most of the character designs are good, but Dorothy and Glinda are a bit off-putting (I think it's the eyes). Second, while you'll hear no complaints from me over the show being based on the iconic 1939 film, I think it was a bit of a missed opportunity not to include stuff from the books that wasn't in the film. I mean, in total there are FORTY Oz books, including the fourteen written by L. Frank Baum. Surely you could've had the Kalidahs or something pop up in one episode. But I digress.
If you like the movie, you'll probably like the cartoon. You can find every episode on YouTube, and there are also some VHS and DVD releases (only one, the tenth episode, was never released on home video). And now, a word from our sponsor.
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