Dorothy Meets Alice

I wrote a little piece for the latest Down the Yellow Brick Pod Pod Squad Party. Sharing it here... This is set just before the opening of Ozma of Oz.

 Dorothy Gale found her way to the chicken coops on the deck. It had been a few days on board the steamship to Australia with Uncle Henry and although she wasn't feeding these chickens, going to them reminded her of home in Kansas.

"Birds are funny things, aren't they?" asked a voice behind her.

Dorothy turned to look at the person behind her, a tall, stately woman wearing a shawl over her dark blue dress. Under her stylish hat, Dorothy could spot blonde hair with a light streak of silver.

"I live on a farm," Dorothy explained. "I miss the chickens at home."

"Ah," the woman continued. "Where do you come from?"

"Kansas," Dorothy replied.

"You're a long way from home, but you seem to handle it well."

"And you?"

"Ah, I suppose that depends on which way you want to look at it, though I suppose I'm about the same distance either way. I'm from London."

"Oh, that is a very long way away." Dorothy looked down shyly. "I wish my dog Toto could be here, but he wouldn't like how much the ship rocks."

"Have you got your sea legs?" the woman asked.

"I just have my own legs," Dorothy replied, only to find the woman laughing softly.

"It means you know how to handle being at sea."

"Well, I hope I do." Dorothy realized she didn't know the woman's name. "My name is Dorothy."

"Dorothy, I'm glad to meet you. My name is Alice. Australia is where I'm headed next."

"I'm going with my Uncle Henry, he's been very ill lately and the doctor said the trip will help him."

"I hope it will. How did you find the journey from Kansas so far?"

"I thought the train was nice, I liked looking out the windows."

"Met any people?"

"Oh, yes, lots. Some of them were very kind, but some of them were very... different."

Alice sighed. "It takes all types to make a world, they say. Some people are kind, others can be disagreeable. Others are quite mad."

Dorothy looked up. "Some can even be wicked, or humbugs."

"The important thing," Alice said, "is to know who you are and stay true to that."

"It always helps to have a friend, too," Dorothy added. "With good friends, you can get through anything."

"You're already a very wise little girl!" Alice commented. "I'm impressed. Have you ever had tea before, Dorothy?"

"I have. It's a nice drink."

"Oh, I mean a proper tea, inviting someone over to have a proper social."

"Oh. I don't think so, but I have been to some wonderful celebrations."

"I should like to hear about them, if you'd like to visit my cabin this afternoon. Why don't you ask your Uncle Henry? He can come along as well if he'd like."

"I'm sure he would. We're in the big cabin with all the other people."

"You're traveling light, I take it. Not too much luggage?"

"Yes, we didn't have much to pack."

"That's fine, just bring your best selves."

"Thank you."

Alice gave Dorothy her cabin number and the two parted.

Dorothy gazed at a yellow hen giving her what looked like a friendly glance.

"It's nice to meet you too," she commented.

The Royal Podcast of Oz - Movies of Oz: Guardians of Oz

 Jay and Sam review Guardians of Oz, the 2017 animated film from Mexico featuring the Flying Monkeys.

Check it out on Spotify here!

The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Parodies of Oz - Black Dynamite and The Wizard of Watts!

 

Jay and Sam talk the finale of the animated series Black Dynamite, which happened to be an edgy Oz parody with some still relevant social commentary.

Check it out on Spotify or wherever you get podcast!

Wicked on Home Video

 

I'm writing this two weeks after the physical home video release of Wicked, having just finished the audio commentaries.

I actually had to take a second to realize that Wicked is the first Oz film to get a 4K UHD release in its initial home video release rollout. As of yet, the only other Oz movie to be on the format is MGM's The Wizard of Oz, which made its 4K debut 80 years after the movie's release, long after its first home video releases. (I'd love to see The Wiz movie and Disney's Return to Oz get the 4K treatment, but that's up to the studios and any boutique labels who'd be willing to make it happen.)

The home video release of Wicked is available on multiple formats: digital copy, DVD, Blu-Ray and 4K UHD. Digital copy codes come with the Blu-Ray and 4K/Blu-Ray editions. Which edition is right for you will depend on your home video needs and what devices you own. I will note that if you go digital only, if you're in the US, make sure you're enrolled in the free service Movies Anywhere, which will make your digital copy available across multiple services. Some bonuses have not been available on all services, so this will make it so you can access all of those services without making another purchase. 

As of this writing, I have not handled or looked at a DVD edition of Wicked, having only played the 4K UHD disc. I only purchased the 4K edition, which contains two discs: a 4K UHD disc and a standard Blu-Ray. Looking at an image of the back cover of the DVD, it appears to not include any bonus features or digital copies.

I was very pleased to see all of the bonus features were included on the 4K disc. Since the inception of 4K discs, it has been pretty common practice for big studio releases to bundle the 4K with a standard Blu-Ray that contains the bonuses while the 4K just contains the movie. That's changed with Paramount and Warner Brothers now doing 4K only releases that do include the bonuses on disc, but changes it so you're now paying a premium price ($30 is about standard) for just one disc version and a digital copy. As of yet, Universal is still doing 4K/Blu-Ray/Digital combos. I was glad I could just use one disc and watch it all without swapping discs.

Video quality: 4K allows for a premium experience, this is probably as good as optical disc media will get and frankly, I fail to see how larger image will really improve the experience except for those with massively huge screens. Wicked was shot on digital, yet retains a fine film grain pattern to give it that classic film look we expect to see in theaters. That image is faithfully reproduced on the 4K disc, evident on even my smaller 4K TV (43 inch). The film's nearly pastel colored palette is also faithfully reproduced, so if you missed the movie in theaters, it's not lost in the home media release.

Audio quality: Here I need to make a complaint. To watch the movie, I had to crank my volume up a bit with my Atmos soundbar to really hear it. I don't know if the mix is lowered for home video or it doesn't translate well from theater to home media, but for many films, the audio mix needs a volume boost to really enjoy it. Which then means you need to lower it before watching something else with a different mix. The audio from the theatrical mix is faithfully represented, I just wish it had a louder mix for home viewing.

Additional playback note: as is standard with Universal Blu-Ray and 4K UHD discs now, if you power off the player before finishing the film, when the disc is started again, it will ask if you want to resume it as it plays the studio logo. It will even resume subtitles and audio commentary. Also, a Universal logo will pop up if the movie is paused for awhile, which often keeps the player from automatically powering off.

Bonuses: The movie's YouTube channel and social media pages have a wide variety of trailers and promotional videos and these go surprisingly indepth into the making of the movie. There was also a TV special preceding the movie titled "Defying Gravity: The Curtain Rises on Wicked." However, none of these are on the disc. Instead, we get a 45 minute documentary, "Making Wicked," which nicely covers the making of the movie, including casting and costume production.

There's also about 10 minutes of deleted scenes, showing some delightful or character-defining moments that would have been nice to see finished on the big screen (there are unfinished effects in these), but would have thrown off the pacing. Not everything we heard was filmed is included, nor do we get re-inclusion of stage lines that got dropped. (Such as "No need to answer, that was rhetorical" or "What's in the punch?" "Lemons and melons and pears." "Oh, my!") There is a potential we'll get further deleted scenes in a future edition, or we'll see some in the forthcoming second film, or there may yet be an extended edition in the works.

There are also three featurettes: "Welcome to Shiz," highlighting the setting for most of the film, the Gillkin university, and that much of it was an actual film set; "A Wicked Legacy," highlighting how the movie pays tribute to the stage show; and finally "The Wonderful Wizard," highlighting Jeff Goldblum's take on the Wizard of Oz.

Finally, we get a pair of audio commentaries. Director Jon M. Chu has one in which he reveals production trivia and what he wanted to convey with his filmmaking choices. Stars Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande have the other as they fangirl about fellow cast members and crew (even the librarian who attempts to shush Fiyero) and tease a few things about the second film and talk about working on the movie. Both make good listens if you can find the time.

The lone thing I didn't really check out was the singalong version in which the lyrics for the songs appear onscreen. This isn't listed in bonuses, instead being a prompt you can select after choosing to play the movie.

There's been a big shift in the physical home media market. Gone are the days when some movies would get an extra disc of extensive bonuses, sometimes even getting two or three additional discs if the movie was that big. These days, you get little more than a few deleted scenes, maybe a gag reel or a trailer, and a few press interviews edited together as what should've been a promotional piece serving for a behind the scenes look.

Wicked getting over an hour of video bonus content and two audio commentaries felt refreshing, and the fact I could access all of it on any of the three formats included in my purchase made it feel worthwhile.

While I continue to have my quibbles about home video audio mixes for movies (a good soundbar is a must these days unless you have a better audio system), I had to heartily commend Universal for putting together a great package.

Spoilery Wicked details

 So, I just saw Wicked: Part 1 for the third time after seeing it twice on opening weekend, then not seeing it again after a whole month. (It's getting ready to drop for home release with digital sales and rentals this upcoming Tuesday and physical media on February 4.)

But, I wanted to talk to some points that are a little more spoilery than my review spoke for, as well as the spoiler podcast I had with some friends. (I really need to start posting the podcast on the blog again. Problem is I usually blog from one laptop and do my podcasts on another one.) So, if you haven't seen the movie and want to go into your experience spoiler free, this is your warning to stop reading now.

A major thing that's noted early on is that Elphaba wears black as a child in an added for the movie scene, and later, it's the prominent color in her wardrobe, wearing a similarly black outfit when she arrives at Shiz. In the musical, she wears a regular Shiz uniform. In the musical, she's first seen in black during the OzDust Ballroom part of "Dancing Through Life." In film, they can do a wide variety of costumes to show that sequences can take place over different days. Onstage, the main cast doing costume changes is very limited as they're often carrying the story and as such aren't given a lot of opportunity to be offstage.

Elphaba wearing black isn't just a nod to her being the Wicked Witch of the West. This is visual storytelling. When I was growing up and being homeschooled, we read a lot of books about frontier life like the Little House on the Prarie series, The Yearling and others. A little bit about fashion popped up. White clothes and dyed and pattern-printed clothes were often kept for special occasions rather than day to day wear, especially if you didn't have a lot of money to purchase new clothing often. Black and other dark colored clothing, especially sturdier fabrics, would be very common for pants, dresses and stockings. Black was less common for women to wear day to day as wearing black was often for mourning, but not necessarily limited to it.

Black clothing is low maintenance. Stains don't show up on it, and most things that would show could easily be washed off with normal cleaning. So Elphaba wearing black as opposed to her sister Nessarose's fashionable clothing tells us a lot about the care they get.

Another point is that the Silver Shoes in this film version of the story are revealed to have belonged to Elphaba and Nessarose's mother and are gifted to Nessarose by their father on her first day at Shiz. We're not informed that any clothing of their mother's is given to Elphaba. It's possible some was.

However, the only thing that Elphaba has that we're clearly told belonged to her mother is the telltale bottle that once held green elixir.

Nessarose got a pair of pretty shoes. Elphaba got an actual piece of garbage. You begin to wonder how exactly Elphaba got that...

Elphaba clearly has trauma from how she was raised that she later expresses to Galinda: her father, fearful of having another green child, made his wife chew milkweeds while pregnant. However, the plant had a different effect in making Nessarose be born premature and making her unable to walk. In addition, their mother dies in childbirth. Elphaba claims it's her fault, and given the context we've seen in the movie, she didn't come at that conclusion herself. It's also telling that during one of her visions, she sees her father saying "Take it away!" just after her birth.

Galinda is depicted as someone who wants to appear to be good, made very clear in the song "Popular." She doesn't do nice things because people need help, she does it for the attention. The story shows us her being very unkind to Elphaba: when she accidentally volunteers her private suite for Elphaba's lodgings, she gives her a very small corner of the room that she even piles her numerous belongings around.

When Galinda decides to rename herself, it's a fairly hollow gesture that doesn't really help anything. Yet, Elphaba respects it and never "deadnames" her.

That said, we do see the origins of "Glinda the Good." Galinda originally invites Elphaba to join the party at the OzDust Ballroom and gives her an ugly hat so she can be mocked. This is after she blows off Boq asking her for a dance by suggesting he ask Nessarose.

However, Elphaba doesn't see this as Galinda being unkind. Nessarose enjoys getting attention from Boq, and the hat is likely the first gift anyone's ever given Elphaba that had any thought put into it. As a result, Elphaba decides to get Madame Morrible to teach Galinda sorcery as well.

Elphaba arriving at the party kind of reminded me of Disney's animated film adaptation of Cinderella, in which our heroine didn't go to the ball in hopes of winning the affection of the prince, but because she just wanted to have a good time. Elphaba just wanted to have a good time at the OzDust Ballroom with her peers, but instead they single her out and mock her.

Galinda deciding to dance with Elphaba is a powerful moment for her. She recognizes this is someone she harmed who didn't deserve it. She stops seeing Elphaba as her inconvenience and sees her as a person. When they get back to their room, Galinda lets Elphaba speak about her trauma involving Nessarose and her mother and tells her it wasn't her fault. While "Popular" says a lot about Galinda's superficial stances, it's also her trying in her own way to make it up to Elphaba for her former treatment, the two becoming fast friends afterward.

She's not Glinda the Good yet, let her cook.

During the "One Short Day" sequence, the Wizomania bit has been expanded with basically a brand new song sneaked in, telling us the history of the Grimmerie. Denslow-ish costume designs appear for female guards (looking like Glinda's guards, just green) and performers on stilts dressed as the Soldier With The Green Whiskers, while the Hammerheads (faithfully reinterpreted from Denslow's illustrations for the stage) have been reimagined. The nods to Denslow's designs are an interesting way to pay tribute to the original Oz books.

During "One Short Day," we also see four posts that seem to also be mailboxes that are colored red, blue, purple and yellow, the four colors of the Land of Oz from the original Baum books. However, we see that—akin to Volkov's Magic Land—the colors have been switched up as Winkie Country is now blue and Munchkin Country is yellow on the map seen in the film and on the Shiz University website.

We're going to have to wait for next November to see just how malicious Jeff Goldblum's Wizard might be. From what we've seen in the first movie, I think Madame Morrible might be the actual malicious intent behind the throne. This take on the Wizard isn't without fault as he's letting the Animals be caged and pulled from public life. I hope the second film gives us a little clarification on the reasons as while Dr. Dillamond speaks of the Great Drought and the Wizard cites a need to "bring folks together," we're not seeing a lot of discord in the people of Oz yet. In fact, they seem really easy to sway.

"Defying Gravity" is really the culmination of Elphaba's character arc in the film. She has to put away her childhood dream of meeting the Wizard and getting her heart's desire and now she has to defy him as Madame Morrible and the Wizard turn Oz against her.

As in the musical, Elphaba asks Glinda to join her in defying the Wizard. While Glinda understands what her friend is doing, she can't bring herself to defy the status quo that's always been in her favor. Although Madame Morrible treated her icily at Shiz, at the end of the film, Morrible embraces Glinda, seeking to make her a tool for her ends.

Wicked has been a pretty meaningful piece about questioning authority and where you stand and what your influence is. The film does a very good job of conveying that, possibly even more effectively with the increased time and ability to zoom in on moments that you can't really do onstage.

How The Nome King Stole Ozma!

 I've had a little Dr. Seuss parody in mind for years, and decided, with a little help from using Google's Thesaurus functions, to make something of it. This isn't intended to be a proper canon Oz story, but if one insisted on adding it, I suppose it'd fit in after The Emerald City of Oz, but before Tik-Tok of Oz.

Every Ozian in Oz loved Ozma a lot, 

But the Nome King, who lived somewhere under Oz, did not.

The Nome King loathed Ozma, her grace and her charm. 

Her kindness, her laughter—it set off alarms! 

He grumbled and growled in his deep, rocky hall, 

“I’ll snatch her away—she won’t rule at all!”

For the Nome King had hatched a most terrible scheme,

“I’ll kidnap that Ozma, that goody-two-shoes queen! 

Without their dear ruler, those fools will despair, 

And Oz will be mine—what a marvelous affair!”

So one winter eve, while Oz danced with delight, 

He snuck to the surface, cloaked by the night. 

With a clever disguise—a humble old man, 

He mingled with Ozians to put forth his plan.

He shuffled through streets with his head bowed low, 

But he couldn’t resist seeing what he’d overthrow. 

In the heart of the city, there Ozma stood tall, 

Welcoming all to her grand Emerald Hall.

“Come one, come all, there’s room for each guest!” 

She said with a smile that shone of her best. 

The Nome King froze, his plan paused a bit, 

For he saw her console a child whose gift had been split.

“You’ve broken your toy? Oh, let’s fix that right here,” 

Ozma said gently, erasing the tear. 

With a wave of her hand and a soft little hum, 

The child’s broken toy was as good as new—done!

The Nome King blinked, his disguise growing slack. 

“Bah! Just a trick! A cheap little act!” 

But as he skulked closer, he heard more and more— 

Ozma helping the weary, the hurt, and the poor.

An old Munchkin farmer bowed low to her grace, 

“Your kindness, dear Ozma, none can replace.” 

And from every corner, the gratitude rang, 

In laughter, in stories, in songs that they sang.

The Nome King, bewildered, forgot his dark ploy. 

He stood in the hall, feeling something like joy. 

Why did they love her? Now he understood: 

It wasn’t her power, but her heart that was good.

Summoning courage, he approached her at last, 

His sinister scheme now a thing of the past. 

Ozma turned gently, her eyes met his own, 

“What troubles you, friend? You’re not here alone.”

The Nome King stammered, his malice all gone, 

“I planned to take you, to make Oz my pawn. 

But seeing your kindness, your love for your land, 

I cannot proceed with the scheme I had planned.”

Ozma smiled warmly, her hand touched his arm, 

“Everyone’s welcome, no need for alarm. 

Join us in friendship, there’s no need to flee. 

What can I do to bring you some glee?”

The Nome King pondered, his heart feeling light, 

“I wish you well, Ozma. I’ll return to my night. 

But know that your goodness has softened my heart, 

Perhaps in the future, we’ll make a new start.”

So he slunk back to his cavern, his plan left undone, 

Though his heart, just a little, felt touched by her sun. 

And each year after, though still rough and gruff, 

He’d send Ozma tributes, some real pretty stuff!

For the Nome King had learned what the Ozians knew: 

True greatness is kindness, and it shines through and through.

Wicked: Part One Review

 After 21 years of anticipation, the first installment of the film adaptation of Wicked has arrived. In order to flesh out the story, give it cinematic pacing and not have to cruelly cut songs (and hopefully double dips in the box office and home media sales), the two acts of the musical are being released as their own films. And the first one is 2 hours and 40 minutes long.

When Oz comes to screen, we have so many ideas how it should be done that a number of us can forget to embrace each version for what it is. To make matters more complicated, this is Wicked, a musical that's been on Broadway since it opened, and has had productions and tours all around the world. People have a lot of preconceived ideas about what Wicked should be rather than what it can be.

Wicked on film is clearly adapted from the musical, but it is not a slavish recreation of the Broadway show now with the added bonus of immersive scenery, CG effects and animal characters. Likewise the show wasn't trying to stick closely to Gregory Maguire's novel, taking concepts and ideas to create their own take on the question "What is evil?" Reading the book, seeing the stage show and now seeing the film adaptation will all present their own experience.

Wicked: Part One (marketed as simply Wicked) opens in the aftermath of the death of the Wicked Witch of the West as depicted in the story of The Wizard of Oz, taking us to a celebration in Munchkinland where Glinda (Ariana Grande-Butera) arrives in her bubble to confirm the news of the Witch's death. As the Munchkins praise the news and condemn wickedness, Glinda is asked why wickedness happens. Glinda reveals details of the Wicked Witch's birth, suggesting she knows far more than she lets on. However, when asked if it's true that she was friends with the Witch, we begin the main part of the narrative.

Elphaba Thropp (Cynthia Erivo) was born with green skin and a weird quirk of making things fly into the air. Seen as the black sheep of the family, she spent more time with the Animal (talking animals in Wicked lore are referred to with a capital A) servants. But as we begin, she's accompanying her wheelchair-bound sister Nessarose (Marissa Bode) to Shiz University in Gillikin Country. Young Galinda Upland is also arriving this semester, hoping to get into the sorcerey seminar of Madame Morrible (Michelle Yeoh). However, when Elphaba accidentally lets her quirk display itself, Morrible recognizes it as a talent for magic and enlists Elphaba in her seminar, getting her a scholarship to Shiz, scorning Galinda, who also accidentally volunteers her private suite when trying to find Elphaba lodgings, landing the two students at odds with each other.

Often scorned by the other students, who wind up supporting Galinda in the two students' rivalry, Elphaba finds herself drawn to the dwindling number of Animal teachers at Shiz, especially the kindly Dr. Dillamond (Peter Dinklage), who teaches history, trying to warn the students of how Animals are being removed from the public eye. Being told that her magical abilities could land her a position in assisting the Wizard of Oz (Jeff Goldblum), Elphaba determines she'll try to help the Animals.

Things at Shiz begin taking at turn with the arrival of Fiyero Tigelaar (Jonathan Bailey), a prince from Winkie Country, known for his relaxed and fun-loving attitude. Can the relationship between Galinda and Elphaba improve? And what will happen when Elphaba finally meets the Wizard? And how does she become the iconic Wicked Witch of the West?

Wicked doesn't fit neatly into the MGM film's world and timeline and it doesn't match up with L. Frank Baum's world at all. It's best to see it as its own take on the ideas of Oz with its indelible themes of friendship and learning to accept the unusual people in society.

This might be the most diverse Oz we've seen onscreen as not only is Oz not limited to just white people, but we also get clearly gay characters as some men swoon over Fiyero as well, including Galinda's genderbent friend Pfannee (Bowen Yang). Some are claiming Fiyero is pansexual in the film as he clearly knows he's good looking and uses his charisma to get others to go along with what he's doing, regardless of their gender. (Both Bowen Yang and Jonathan Bailey are openly gay.)

This is a visually lush film, and a lot of the sets were actually built to make the cast react realistically with the scene. The set design really makes Oz look like a lived in world. And no notes on VFX when CG comes in to depict Animal characters or to marry different landscapes or depict them when they couldn't be filmed. Even when you know the character or landscape is created in a computer, it looks great.

The cast is top-notch and there's no slouches. Cynthia Erivo is a capable lead and deserves recognition for offering a nuanced, emotionally complex version of Elphaba. When I saw the show live, the actress playing Elphaba seemed just angry more often. To be fair, she was likely doing theatrical acting while film allows for quieter, more grounded performances because the camera and audio can focus on one point while the back row needs to see and hear what's onstage. Cynthia, however, manages to be vulnerable, endearing, but also strong-willed and determined, all the while acting under green makeup and a wig. Her Elphaba will likely be the Elphaba for families who watched the movie somehow and didn't get to see the show live. And I'm absolutely okay with that.

Ariana Grande might have had a different hurdle to clear as she's known for her pop star career, which has different standards than musical theater or film. But she has a theatrical background and clearly understood the assignment paying homage to the many actresses who've left their mark on the character while also bringing her own twist.

The singing and music is also excellent, with the melodies of the songs (and a few MGM Wizard of Oz Easter Eggs) worked into the score.

The timing of the story of Elphaba being an ally to the Animals comes at a very politically charged time as during one of the campaigns in the latest election in the United States, a number of groups were targeted as being problems for American people. But the politics of Wicked have felt evergreen over its run on Broadway as sometimes, when you're telling a story inspired by things that keep happening, we keep finding the fantasy of Oz a mirror to our own times.

So, I was absolutely delighted by Wicked: Part One and look forward to my second screening tomorrow, and of course seeing Wicked: Part Two next year.

The Mysteries of Oz documentary review

 You might have noticed that I lamented that Warner Brothers was not really doing anything to take advantage of the 85th anniversary of MGM's The Wizard of Oz and the hype around the film adaptation of Wicked. (To recap, we got a steelbook repack of the 4K edition that offers nothing new for a very premium price.)

The saltiness of my opinion burns even more while watching The Mysteries of Oz, a 3-episode documentary available for purchase exclusively through Amazon Video for $9. Because, why was this on Amazon instead of getting a release on Max? It's not made by Warner Brothers, but given the use of clips from the MGM film, they had to have licensed it.

AMS Films is the producer behind the documentary, doing three episodes instead of a massive nearly 3-hour documentary. It's a good choice as it allows you to pace your experience, while also allowing you to binge it if you wish to watch it all in one go.

The documentary is presented as a countdown of eighty-five questions about Oz, mostly centered around the MGM film. Answering them are a number of familiar faces to me. Representing the current generation of Oz fans are Tiffany Sutton (followtheyellowbrickgirl on Instagram), Sean Barrett (art director for the Land of Oz park), Victoria Calamito (Tori of the Oz Vlog), Nichelle Lewis (Dorothy from the most recent Broadway production of The Wiz) and Tara and EmKay of the Down the Yellow Brick Pod podcast. We also get Jay Scarfone and William Stillman, who have written four well-researched books on the MGM film. There's also drag performer Ginger Minj, who does her answers almost as a standup routine in front of an audience. There's also Books of Wonder's Peter Glassman, Jane Lahr, Bert Lahr's daughter, Ryan Bunch, current president of the International Wizard of Oz Club, and Gregory Maguire, author of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West and its three sequels, the "Another Day" trilogy, Tales Told in Oz and the upcoming Elphie. Other experts, including Joey Luft and surviving child Munchkin cast members, are also involved.

If you want to know about factual accuracy, nothing really stuck out to me as being inaccurate, so let's get that out of the way. The talking heads do a great job of answering, being concise, giving more context when needed, keeping up the energy very well, as well as the use of relevant film and video clips, images, and even an audio clip of Bert Lahr's hosting the first telecast of the MGM first with Liza Minnelli. (I was very surprised to hear that.)

The documentary does a great job of addressing the myths around the movie as well as more about Oz lore. I wish there had been a bit more about Oz fandom and the international impact of Oz, but hey, even three hours and 85 questions about Oz can't do everything.

In addition to being informative, this was a great celebration of the MGM film and Oz as a phenomenon. It just about makes up for Warner Brothers not really doing anything. Just about.

You can find out more about the documentary on their website.

Also, here's a link to the documentary on Amazon.

Let Cynthia Erivo feel how she wants.

 When tickets for the Wicked movie came on sale, one of the posters that popped up scratched an itch a lot of fans had. Showing Ariana Grande's Glinda whispering to Cynthia Erivo's Elphaba, it clearly re-enacted the classic poster/Playbill cover for the musical.

However, some fans weren't pleased at the tribute to the poster because it didn't mimic the original poster closely enough.

The original poster is a little brilliant in how minimalist it looks. As Wicked would have its cast change, the decision to not clearly depict the original cast members means it would work after they'd been replaced. And as such, over 20 years later, it's still the artwork used to promote the show. When the show opened in London's West End, it even got a remake with more detailed human figures.

Well, it seems some fans got into Photoshop and decided to make the movie poster look more like the Broadway image. I've elected not to use it here. Apparently, who made it is no secret and there's a video where they talk about it, but I do not wish to harass or call them out specifically, I am going to take the charitable reading that they wanted to make it more closely resemble the musical poster and as such did some touch ups in Photoshop and posted it online where it got passed around.

The main edits were putting a shadow over Elphaba's eyes to hide them and make her lips red and twist them into a smirk. Glinda, whose outfit doesn't resemble the poster at all, only got an edit in raising her hand over nose.

Cynthia Erivo shared the fan edit on her social media with a message strongly disapproving of it:

This is the wildest, most offensive thing I have seen, equal to that awful Ai of us fighting, equal people posing the question "is your ***** green

None of this is funny
None of this is cute
It degrades me
It degrades us

The original poster in an ILLUSTRATION. I am a real life human being, who chose to look right down the barrel of the camera to you, the viewer ...because, without words we communicate with our eyes.

Our poster is an homage not an imitation, to edit my face and hide my eyes is to erase me. And that is just deeply hurtful.

I have only transcribed the text, no editing. I'll also note that her post included the edit as shared by a Wicked Mexican fan account, so not the original artist's posting, but a share by an account representing the fandom.

The reaction to Cynthia Erivo's objection has been mixed and given the internet, can be very shortsighted and even very nasty. Ultimately, people are going to be watching the movie as people will likely be able to eventually stream it or get a cheap DVD copy and not much will be thought about the poster. But right now, some fans are heated up about it.

Some feel Cynthia shouldn't have said anything, implying she's privileged if this is the most offensive thing she's experienced. Others have been more empathetic.

I guess I need to disclaim that I'm a cisgender gay man who describes himself as white, Cynthia is a woman of color who identifies as queer. I am not the same as her. As such, I am referring to how I've heard people of color talk about their experiences, not from a place of authority. As such, if I make a misstatement, I welcome correction in the comments. And I must state, people of color are not a monolith and can have very different experiences.

People of color, especially in the entertainment industry, often feel disadvantaged as opposed to their white counterparts. Dylan Marron, a man with Latin heritage, has publicly stated that he went to a casting call for Home Alone 3 and was clearly turned away for not being white, not even being considered out the gate. Donald Glover's comments on how Hollywood wouldn't consider him for Spider-Man led to the creation of the popular Spider-Man character Miles Morales, which is a nice outcome, but Donald Glover hasn't yet been able to have a featured role in a Marvel movie. (He's appeared in two, so maybe one day.) And too often, when people of color found roles for them asked for, they often have to play stereotypes or criminals.

In an Oz example, the 1925 silent slapstick film The Wizard of Oz includes African-American actor Spencer Bell using his stage name G. Howe Black as the ironically named character Snowball, who plays up many stereotypes for comedy, his character first being seen eating a watermelon. And this was the most we'd seen a person of color associated with Oz until The Wiz opened on Broadway fifty years later.

There are improvements happening, for example, we have stories intended for people of color to tell in film and television, Cynthia Erivo herself coming to prominence in the musical adaptation of The Color Purple, a story specifically about an African-American woman's life in post-Civil War America in the southern states. Still, we've got a long way to go.

As Elphaba, Cynthia Erivo had to wear makeup and a wig for basically every scene she filmed. (As I haven't seen the films myself yet, I can't say this for sure, but given the source materials, I doubt we'll actually see a "de-greenified" Elphaba.) You don't see her actual skin in the film. As such, in the poster, her eyes are the only thing that is 100% her.

This also ties into how women and especially women of color are expected to maintain a certain appearance in public, leading to how often they use makeup, hair care products, hair extensions or even full wigs. Meanwhile, men generally just have to make sure they don't look terrible.

What I'm trying to get at is that as Elphaba, Cynthia Erivo likely feels a lot of pressure as a woman of color starring in a major motion picture in an adaptation of an internationally beloved musical with a built in fan base. If she doesn't like to see how her image is being altered and presented by fan pages online, let her say so. We've heard enough to get that she had a lot of input in how her version of Elphaba would look and be presented.

Film is a collaborative art. I get it's also subjective. We've been expecting Wicked's film adaptation basically since it became a hit on Broadway. We all have ideas on how moments should've been done or how designs should've been done for a big screen version.

But consider that the people who made the decisions of how it should look and actually were photographed are people themselves. Ariana Grande has commented that bringing the musical to life on film was very emotional, so people really put their all into this. To see their work remixed without a thought as to how they might feel can really be a blow.

And consider this. The film is actually just the first part of the story, adapting the first act of the musical, except they've made it just just twenty minutes shy of three hours long. There's a lot in the film that's not in the musical. We've yet to see and fully appreciate just what these efforts are. And as such, that the poster paying homage to the musical's famous artwork isn't an exact mimic should really be expected.

And I'd be a hypocrite to criticize fan edits having done some myself, but they should be done and presented as tributes or imagining ideas, not presented as an alternative to a realized creative vision.

And when people feel something diminishes their own work, maybe instead of telling them they're entitled or that they shouldn't have said anything, maybe try hearing them out with an empathetic heart instead.

Wicked hype and who's sitting it out

 As of this week, tickets are on sale for the long-awaited film adaptation of the musical Wicked. The film is confirmed to run for 160 minutes, 20 minutes shy of three hours. Winnie Holzman better have written the heck out of the story in this new, expanded form because this movie is only adapting the Act 1 portion of the musical with Act 2 making up Wicked: Part 2 next year.

The cast and crew are doing interviews and planning tours, some fans have gotten huge promotional gifts and have even seen the movie early. (Not that they can say anything.)

And there's a ton of merchandise from tie in books to a board game, a Monopoly game, clothing (including a Target exclusive line of clothes designed by costume designer Paul Tazewell), prop replicas, Halloween costumes, Funko Pops, LEGO sets, Squishmallows and dolls.

I decided to get the dolls based on picking up earlier lines of dolls tying in with Oz the Great and Powerful, the 75th anniversary MGM Wizard of Oz dolls, and a doll based on Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return as well as customizing my own dolls based on Polychrome, Ozma and Glinda.

Given that the Wicked dolls are likely to be popular, I've been proactive about getting them, preordering them before they can sell out.

Here's what's available: six dolls are available from most retailers, please note that only dolls with the word "deluxe" in the name or description include a doll stand. All other dolls don't, so if you collect Oz dolls for display, either leave them in box or prepare to invest in some stands.

• Deluxe Elphaba (based on the "Defying Gravity" sequence, complete with hat, bookbag, cape and broom)
• Deluxe Glinda (based on the "bubble dress" she wears during "No One Mourns The Wicked, including a crown and wand)
• Singing Glinda (based on her outfit during the "Popular" sequence, the doll plays two clips from the song)
• Nessarose (based on her appearance during the OzDust Ballroom sequence with her wheelchair)
• Elphaba (based on her appearance during the OzDust Ballroom sequence with her hat and a bookbag)
• Glinda (based on her appearance during the OzDust Ballroom sequence)

Three dolls are exclusive to Walmart stores and being sold online:

• Elphaba at Shiz University (dressed as she appears in scenes in the film as seen in trailers, featuring a striped asymmetrical jacket and a pleated asymmetrical skirt)
• Glinda at Shiz University (dressed as she appears during her arrival at Shiz)
• Madame Morrible (dressed as she appears early in the film)

Two dolls are exclusive to Target stores and are available online:

• Singing Elphaba (dressed as she appears in the latter portion of the film during "One Short Day" and going forward, but without her "Defying Gravity" cape and broom, the doll plays two clips from "Defying Gravity")
• Fiyero (dressed as he appears during the "Dancing Through Life" sequence)

In addition, Mattel Creations online is selling a deluxe two-pack of Madame Morrible and Elphaba as they appear during tutoring sessions as seen in trailers, this is the only Elphaba doll to include the glasses she wears in the film.

With thirteen dolls, the Wicked line is already expansive, and there's a second movie coming next year, and potentially even more merchandise to keep the pegs warm until then.

Personally, I hope the Wicked line gives us a doll of Jeff Goldblum's Wizard, as the character hasn't gotten much love in fashion doll form for any Oz line, with the exception of Oz the Great and Powerful, though James Franco's Wizard might not be the preferred one to include with dolls from other lines.

The soundtrack is releasing November 22, the same day as the film's wide release so you can listen to the songs right after seeing the movie. The tracklist as announced does not include any new songs or tracks from the score, but no Act 1 songs from the musical have been dropped. It'll be available to be streamed from digital music platforms or purchased for your own library, and there are multiple vinyl and CD editions available for preorder.

It's a good time to be an Oz fan, even if you don't care for Wicked, because if the movie does as well as the current hype is suggesting, studios might be open to making more Oz films or television productions. The recent Broadway revival of The Wiz with its new Amber Ruffin-penned book has already had some rumblings about a film version, but as it would be under Universal and they're currently doing Wicked, they'd wait until this one is over and then produce it if they chose to. Maybe Warner Brothers could finally make an Oz film of their own instead of just exploiting the MGM film.

And speaking of the MGM film, Warner Brothers has barely done anything with the fact that it's the 85th anniversary of MGM's The Wizard of Oz, which they own the rights to. They will be reissuing the 4K disc and Blu-Ray in a steelbook edition with recycled cover art from the 2005 3-disc DVD collector's edition of the film, featuring the Wicked Witch of the West's silhouette over her crystal ball with Dorothy and her friends visible inside against a green background. It also includes some paper goods the 2005 set included: a reproduction ticket, invitation and program for the premiere of the film with reproduction lobby cards and reproductions of different 1939 posters on cards. Which would be fine if it was selling for about $40 or less, but the price on preorders ranges from $53 (DeepDiscount) to $80 (Amazon), which makes it unattractive for those of us who already own the film in 4K as we've had no indication that there'll be any new content on the discs.

If, say, Flicker Alley released a collection of the Oz silent films restored in high definition, I'd expect to get it for about $45, what they charge for one of their Laurel and Hardy collections, and I'd love to buy that as soon as possible if it was available. But I own MGM's The Wizard of Oz on four DVD sets, a 3D/standard Blu-Ray collection and the first 4K release, and a laserdisc set and a handful of VHS tapes I can't use, but the packaging is pretty. I'm not interested in paying a premium price for essentially no new content.

And this is the only major new thing coming from the MGM film's branding aside from more licensed merchandise. No new books on the making of the film, no exciting publications of production materials, Mattel isn't even reissuing their famous Barbie Oz dolls, trying to see if they can get an even better Judy Garland likeness.

With the closure of the Boomerang streaming service, the recent animated series Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz is now only legally available for digital purchase with a nice bundle price exclusive to iTunes. And may I note, it bummed me out that the series began as a Boomerang exclusive but they never released all of the episodes on that service, keeping the last several for broadcast and purchase only. And no, it's not available to stream on Max. The series got 20 episodes released across two DVDs. There's no announcement of a Blu-Ray release yet.

Frankly, it's just frustrating to see Oz back in a big way in the public consciousness and Warner Brothers doing almost nothing to even exploit the MGM film or other Oz properties they own. Even Books of Wonder plans to begin reissuing the Thompson Oz books in hardcover now that more are in the public domain, and a Baum family member wrote a new Oz picture book. Gregory Maguire has turned out a book about young Elphaba that'll be available early next year titled Elphie, expanding his work for his take on Oz to eight novels and one short story collection.

... Sony/Disney? Can we get a Return to Oz 4K upgrade for next year? I'll preorder and tell my friends.