The Royal Blog of Oz

Movies/TV Update

2012-01-27T17:13:00.000-06:00

The two-part version of "The Witches of Oz" (previously available on Pay-Per-View in the U.S.) will be out on DVD & Blu-Ray on April 3rd, 2012 from Image Entertainment. You can pre-order it on DVD here or Blu-Ray here.

The much talked about theatrical version of the film, re-titled "Dorothy and the Witches of Oz", will still proceed with a limited U.S. theatrical run in February, and a separate home video release to follow later on in the year.

In other news, I stumbled upon a direct-to-video movie from Fox coming out in March called "Berry Brick Road" in the Strawberry Shortcake line. As you could guess, it's Oz-themed. Doing a bit more research, I found the DVD cover for the movie online. It's out March 6th, so it comes out as a bit of a surprise that there has been no talk about it... Amazon.com lists it for $11.99, so you can pre-order that here.

That's all for this week.

PORTALS in Oz

2012-01-26T18:59:00.001-06:00

In C.S. Lewis' Prince Caspian, Aslan tells about "chinks and chasms" in between worlds that allow people to pass from one world to another. In the Oz books, however, traveling to the land of fantasy is very different.

It seems to be Baum's intention that Oz was a hidden place somewhere on Earth. Irregardless of this, some fans consider it to be in another world, or an alternate dimension. Some fans have complicated explanations.

I, however, go for Baum's intention. Saying that dimensional rifts or warps opened up every time someone went to Oz in the books is a bit much. In other works, like Narnia, it is implied there is some force who has allowed the passage to open. With the exception of The Road to Oz and The Emerald City of Oz, no one in Baum's books forces their way into fantasyland, but enters quite by accident. In most cases (such as Ozma of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, and The Scarecrow of Oz), somewhat plausible explanations are provided. (Plausible once disbelief in fairyland is suspended.)

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Oz was just an isolated country surrounded by desert. Like Alexander Volkov's Magic Land, it could have been hidden in North America. But as soon as Ozma of Oz, it was made clear this was not the case. Now, past the desert, there are other kingdoms, many of which border the ocean. In The Marvelous Land of Oz, the Gump flies over the Deadly Desert, and the Scarecrow fears they're in Dorothy's outside world, but later maps of Oz show us they are simply in bordering countries. (Bordering countries that use paper dollars in money.)

So, how did that cyclone carry Dorothy's house away from Kansas, the continental United States, over the ocean, over the borderlands of Oz, and straight into Munchkin Country, luckily squashing a Wicked Witch?

Some Oz fans suspect the Good Witches may have had a hand in that happenstance. In fact, in Volkov's The Wizard of the Emerald City, the Good Witch of the North (Villina) reveals that the Wicked Witch of the East (Gingemma) was going to have the storm that brought Elli kill all human life on earth. Villina altered it so that a house that should have been abandoned would be dropped on Gingemma. It was a fluke that Elli was there at all.

In the original Wizard of Oz musical, fairies protect Dorothy's house while it is in the air. If this was Baum's intention (the moment is orchestrated wonderfully by Paul Tietjens), it seems these fairies sent Dorothy somewhere safe. Why that's on top of a witch, we don't know. Or perhaps somehow the house entered a rift in space or portal that sent Dorothy to Oz. Or it got hurled through the air. Really, really hard. And the fact that it landed on the Wicked Witch of the East was just coincidence.

None of Baum's other books have travels to fairyland this problematic. In Ozma of Oz, Dorothy is adrift at sea in a chicken coop and awakes off the coast of Ev. In Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, most of the action occurs underground (which Baum later revealed in his maps to be under Boboland) which was caused by an earthquake, and later the Magic Belt brings everyone to Oz. In The Road to Oz, Ozma oddly brings Dorothy to a crossroads in a southern borderland of Oz (according to the map). I can only suppose she wanted Dorothy to have an adventure. In The Emerald City to Oz, the Magic Belt again brings Dorothy, Toto, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and (not mentioned but revealed later in the series) Eureka to Oz.

In Tik-Tok of Oz, another storm at sea brings Betsy and Hank to the Rose Kingdom, and they are later brought to Oz with the Wizard's magic. In The Scarecrow of Oz, Trot and Cap'n Bill are sucked into a whirlpool and journey underground before emerging on Pessim's island, where they fly to the Valley of Mo, and from there fly to Oz.

Thompson didn't really deviate too much from the ways to get to Oz that Baum had established. Peter is kidnapped by a balloon bird then travels with Ruggedo, wishes himself to Oz for change, and finally shipwrecked. Speedy flies to Oz but goes underground in a rocket ship first, then later is blown onto Umbrella Island by a geyser. Bob Up and Notta Bit More accidentally stumble on a magic chant that take them to the Munchkin Country of Mudge.

The curious one is the live statue Benny: he falls into Oz. This is problematic as it seemed like Oz was on the surface. We can only assume it must have been a space rift, possibly caused by that magic spell that brought him to life.

In Neill, Jenny Jump jumps high into the air and spies Oz and decides to land there. Lucky Bucky is hurled through the air by an exploding boiler and is rescued by Davy Jones the wooden whale who takes him to Oz. Snow's only case features a television screen turning into a gateway to Conjo's Island for Twink and Tom, who, with the Shaggy Man, make their way to Oz. Cosgrove's Jam flies to Oz by kite, while the McGraws and Merry send Robin and Merry off to Oz by having them fly off a merry go round.

Only two "borderland" books have people going to fairylands that are part of Oz (the two Trot books don't count here): Dot and Tot of Merryland and John Dough and the Cherub. John Dough has John Dough and Chick fly to different islands either by rocket, flying machine, or flamingo.

Merryland is more troublesome. Dot and Tot enter Merryland through a tunnel their boat floats into and are later sent out another tunnel. This would suggest Merryland is hidden in the United States, but when we see a map of Oz's surrounding countries, there's Merryland, bordering the Deadly Desert. There are three explanations: one is that there was a space rift or portal inside the first tunnel at least, and the Queen opened another one to send Dot and Tot home. Second is that Merryland was hidden in the US, but after Dot and Tot left, the Queen's fairy magic moved it to Nonestica. Third is that those tunnels were very, very, long, but Dot and Tot didn't realize it because it was dark. For that to work, the boat would have to have been moving very fast. Or it happened while Dot and Tot were asleep.

In whatever case, I see no reason in the Famous Forty Oz books (and the expanded universe stories) that Oz isn't a hidden country on Earth.

Wiki-ed Witches

2012-01-22T21:44:00.000-06:00

Recently, I've been puttering at the Royal Wiki of Oz again.

Tonight, I mentioned to Oziana editor Marcus Mebes that I'd like to have a complete index of Oziana on the wiki. He mentioned he had been wanting to compile such a thing. I had the site, so a page about Oziana is up on the wiki, listing every single issue.

Every issue can have a page, every writer can have a page, and every story can have a page.

However, Marcus and I can't do it alone. Marcus, just now, has assembled issue listings for 2005-2011. We'd need some help. This is the page we've set up for the 2011 issue. That gives you an idea of how we'd like the pages to look.

And why a new Oz wiki when there's Wikipedia with an Oz section and an Oz wiki on Wikia? Wikipedia isn't comprehensive in these areas, and won't allow the same scope of articles I want for the wiki. And I don't know who runs the Wikia wiki, which has several strange gaps and incorrect information.

Come on folks, I wanna see some action that isn't an unavoidable spammer or me updating!

Weekly Update: Dorothy of Oz

2012-01-20T15:31:00.003-06:00

Since there's not much movie news this week... I thought I'd write up a blog talking about the upcoming movie "Dorothy of Oz", which is supposed to be out in theaters this year. For those who don't know (I think that most do by now), the movie is a CG animated musical based on the book by Roger S. Baum. Even though from the looks of it, the movie's not much like the book. The movie starts when Dorothy gets back to Kansas in "The Wizard of Oz" and is called back to Oz immediately after by the Scarecrow's latest invention, the Rainbow Mover... yeah. None of that was in Roger Baum's book. The movie's got Lea Michele, Dan Aykroyd, Jim Belushi, Martin Short, Kelsey Grammer, etc.

Though I'm not involved in the movie or have any direct association with the production, I do happen to stay in contact with several investors and animators from the movie. And though the Facebook and Twitter page have been keeping quiet for some time now, there's a lot going on behind the scenes...

For starters, half of the movie is being done in California and half of it is being done in India, which is pretty difficult to manage for one director. So, they added Will Finn as a second director, to help out Dan St. Pierre. They are now both in India as well as producer Bonne Radford to supervise work that's being done there by Prana Animation Studios, who was already deep into animating the movie. It seems like when they got there, they noticed a ton of things that needed to be changed with the movie. Especially the characters' design. The designs for the characters that they had done before have apparently been denied because they were too similar to those of the MGM movie, which as we've all heard, is being kept tightly by Warner Bros.

According to an animator I was speaking to, things are crazy right now. The whole production is a mess. The movie is getting constant re-writes and new designs, which seems to really be slowing down the process. It's less than eight months to the proposed release date, and by the looks of it, the movie will not be ready in time. Which calls for a delay.

I want to mention that the movie was first announced in 2007 through Animation Magazine, and that the release date has been moved back more than once, so this may not come as a surprise to those who have been really following the movie since before all the recent publicity.

Another thing that may have slowed the production down is that the state of California has been getting after them on investor-related terms. After filing a complaint against the company (then called Alpine Pictures) in 1999, a Desist and Refrain Order for violations of the Corporations Code was issued by the state in late 2009. Several people who have invested in independent films done by the studio in the past have openly shared their experiences online on websites like this.

The producers and directors are trying their hardest to get the film released in the winter, but it could be likely that we won't see this film until mid-next year. It's been a long wait for this movie, and there's been a lot of hype surrounding the production. This delay will disappoint people who were interested from the what now seems to be premature advertising. Also, by winter, we'll probably be seeing promotion for Disney's Oz: The Great and Powerful going into high gear, making the release of another Oz film during that time awkward.

Much as we at the Royal Blog of Oz want to support these films, the timing will almost certainly mean less of a success for one of these.

EDIT: Speaking to a different animator from the film, I have just been informed that it is not that far away from being done. There was a design mixup with one sequence in the movie involving the Emerald City, so they're now re-starting and modeling that from scratch which is taking time. The movie will now move into post production in May, so it will not be ready for release in August. It is now planned for release in late 2012, if all goes to plan from now on.

All in the family!

2012-01-19T23:21:00.000-06:00

The fun thing about being an older brother and an Oz fan, you have younger siblings to share Oz with. It's more or less because of me that my three youngest siblings, Genevieve, Arthur, and Daniel got to see the MGM Wizard of Oz. And Disney's Return to Oz. And a large number of other Oz films as well.

Since Mom didn't approve of Oz, when she'd go away with Dad for an evening, my Oz tapes got to be watched. In fact, they even really enjoyed the silent Oz films, which I had on videocassette. (I donated them to a church sale after upgrading to DVD. I kinda wish I'd hung onto them and made sure they'd gone to actual Oz fans, but it's not really something I regret.) Along with me reading the title cards to them, we'd often create dialogue for the characters.

One case was a lot of fun. The Wonderful Land of Oz seems to have a low audio volume on video prints, so one time, we just turned the audio all the way down and made up new dialogue and songs, with no care about how well it actually fit the story. When Mombi is about to leave Tip downstairs. My sister Audrey (younger sister, but not little) ad-libbed "I'm going to climb up this ladder and then fall down and break my neck and die! Except... I don't think I want to do that. I'm a chicken. (At this point, Mombi points at Tip.) Just like you."

This was then followed by my ad-libbed song, "This cheese is as hard as a rock." Later, when Tip is holding up the cloth that held their food, saying that was the last of it, it became, "Jack, why did you dump all our food out on the ground?" Jack protests, "I had to sneeze!"

There was one accident, though. For some reason, The Jitterbug video at the end of Warner Brother's Wizard of Oz tape was enough to terrify Gen and Arthur. When they had to go bed one night, they protested they didn't want to because they were afraid of the Jitterbug. Mom told us we weren't allowed to watch fantasy movies then, something that didn't hold. (They didn't have such a bad reaction to anything in Return to Oz, except when Mombi's heads start screaming. Then they covered their eyes.)

But the real fun came when I retold them Oz and Baum stories. I more or less told straight retellings of Baum's Oz books and The Sea Fairies and maybe other fantasies, with few changes. One was that in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, they stumble into the Voe fish market, an alteration made due to the humorous way I'd say "feeesh!"

The most popular stories they'd ask for actually came from Baum's American Fairy Tales, particularly, "The Magic Bon-Bons" (which I just renamed "The Magic Candy" for simplicity's sake) and "The Box of Robbers." (Italian accents are funny!)

They didn't ask to read the Oz books and I never made them, but when I had Oz comics (either from the library or I'd added to my collection), they'd enjoy those with me willingly. When I got a copy of Dick Martin's Cut and Build the Emerald City of Oz, Daniel looked forward to the day when it would be put together, something that didn't happen until 2010.

Today, Gen lives in Texas with Audrey and her husband Shaun, where she enjoys her own interests. Arthur still lives with my parents (-ish, it's complicated) and is a fledgling cartoonist and filmmaker. Daniel lives with my oldest brother Aaron, his wife Jessica, and my niece Amber. Daniel has a shelf of books he's read, including The Chronicles of Narnia and other novels.

As for Amber, last Christmas, I decided it was past time I put some Ozzification in her life, so I gave her a copy of the Del Rey Wizard of Oz paperback and the MGM movie on DVD. Ah, we Oz fans, infecting the next generation...

Audio and Oz

2012-01-18T23:49:00.000-06:00

In all my time reading about L. Frank Baum, something has always made me wonder: why didn't he ever make a recording of his voice? In the now long-gone Fairylogue and Radio Plays films, he appeared on film. It's even been suggested he may appear in the existing Oz Film Manufacturing Company films, although no one's been able to definitely spot him.

Baum, being an actor, merchant, and newspaper man before turning to writing for children must have had no reservations about his voice. And we know he was fascinated by new technology. There's even a phonograph in his Oz stories. So, why did he never commit his voice to phonograph? And if he ever did, why has it not turned up?

I am also unaware of any available recordings of Ruth Plumly Thompson. She was on television for an interview in 1963, and I read in The Baum Bugle how a tape of it was played at an Oz convention. It's debatable if it was video tape or audio tape, and goodness knows if it yet exists or where it is. (In fact, was that interview—which was filmed ahead of time according to another article—just junked after it aired, or has it been lost?)

I would be expecting less to find audio of John R. Neill or W.W. Denslow. But another lack of audio that has really puzzled me is Jack Snow. I mean, the guy worked for a radio station. Surely his voice had gone out on the airwaves. Who knows, there may be recorded audio of Jack Snow somewhere and we don't know it's him.

When it comes to the last two Royal Historians, we've had better luck. As I linked to over the weekend, Rachel Cosgrove Payes appeared in the documentary Oz: The American Fairyland, preserving a glimpse at her personality. In addition, David Maxine has informed me has an audio tape of Rachel at a convention he intends to transfer to digital audio and eventually share. (Or so I think. Hope I'm not misunderstanding.)

As for Eloise McGraw, David Maxine again helped out by recording a talk she gave at a Winkie Convention and has had it online for quite awhile! I find it odd I can't find video of her, though. Ah, well. That talk really gives you a look at her personality.

Other people associated with Oz have been luckier. Again with David Maxine, his 2-CD set Vintage Recordings From The 1903 Broadway Musical The Wizard Of Oz includes songs not from the show that feature some of the stars, including the original Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, Fred Stone and David Montgomery. Some of their recording include their corny jokes and give a peek at the humor of the day.

Fred Stone later appeared on the Maxwell House radio show in 1939, as part of the promotion for MGM's film version of The Wizard of Oz. He got to talk to Ray Bolger, and said Bolger would have been his choice to play the Scarecrow, more or less giving his blessing. Frank Morgan butts in, and makes the ridiculous claim to have starred in the original Broadway Wizard of Oz, but he doesn't know who Fred Stone is. He tells a ridiculous story, and Fred says it's very interesting. When Frank is finally caught in his lie, Fred leaves, giving a little laugh, saying, "That's not static, folks, it's the old, old Scarecrow!" (This has been an audio feature on Warner Brother's Wizard of Oz DVDs since 1999.)

Such delightful gems from the past could easily have been lost to us if people had not taken the trouble to preserve it. To me, preserving the past is important. New technologies arise helping to do this easily. Old books, photos and documents may be viewed easily by a good scan, meaning they only need to be put through one more use before being able to be preserved themselves. Video and audio were once expensive mediums but now can be enjoyed for free online. By these mediums, items that would once be rare and difficult to find and use in research may be used by all.

The internet has made research so easy in the past several years. Even if you can't find what you're looking for online in a digital form, you can find where to find it, whether in a library or where you can buy it. Thanks to the internet, my Oz collection has grown vastly over the past couple years. I recently began adding vinyl records to my collection. To be sure, I don't currently have a way to use them, but I think I can take care of that soon.

Another peek at Outsiders

2012-01-17T23:10:00.000-06:00

This was in another batch of illustrations Shawn Maldonado sent in for Outsiders last night. Yes, that is a Rubik's Cube. (Except I just call it "puzzle cube.")

Rachel Cosgrove Payes in "Oz: The American Fairyland"

2012-01-13T23:23:00.000-06:00

In June, 2008, I got a message from a YouTube user. They've since closed their account, so there's no point in saying their screen name, the only name I knew. By this time, my Wonders of Oz and other Oz videos had kind of made me a go-to-Oz guy on YouTube. I've more or less relaxed since.

Anyway, this is what they said:

A cousin and I have been researching or family tree and we just found out that we are related to Rachel C. Payes. I thought let me give it a shot and type the name in youtube...this is great...do you have any other info on her?
Also do you know where I can find the film OZ: The American Fairyland?

Unfortunately, I didn't know more about Rachel Cosgrove Payes at the time. I do now, however. And I didn't own Oz: The American Fairyland, either. However, I looked for the videotape and eventually purchased it.

Oz: The American Fairyland was an excellent (if a little dull) documentary about the origins of Oz and a look at the phenomenon as a whole. There was an odd focus on Oz dolls in the second half, and I've spotted one factual inaccuracy.

Since it was 2008 and VHS was getting harder to use, I needed to convert it to a digital version quickly. Fortunately, I had a couple other Oz transfers I needed to do so I already had most of the stuff I needed. I needed to upgrade my system, which I did in early 2009, and finally got a transfer finished.

The user contacted me again and I said I could try to get a DVD to them, but they never contacted me with their address.

Well, instead of putting it on a regular DVD myself, I burned the video file to a DVD-R as a data disc with some other things and then put it away.

However, as my family will tell you, I have THOUSANDS of DVD-Rs of data on them. And I'm VERY bad at labeling. (In fact, my brother says that is "extraordinarily true.") So, when I was re-reading Rachel Cosgrove Payes' Oz stuff for my FF+ blogs, I did want to see her interview again, but I couldn't find my video transfer. I had the VHS, but I'd upgraded my computer again and my old transfer hardware was incompatible.

Finally I managed to recover the file earlier this week and watched it again. I don't know if that person who'd contacted me is still looking for this, even if they were for real. I edited the clips of Rachel into a single video, though cutting it with VirtualDub was a little rough.

The factual inaccuracy was in that clip. John R. Neill's last Oz book was Lucky Bucky in Oz, not The Scalawagons of Oz.

Getting an Illustrator

2012-01-11T22:57:00.000-06:00

So, how did I get Shawn Maldonado to illustrate The Outsiders from Oz?

To be honest, he offered. A long time ago, he tweeted on Twitter that if Nathan DeHoff or I had something to be illustrated, he'd do it. And I warned him I might take him up on it.

Not that he was actually my first choice. I asked my Scottish friend Al Cook if he'd be interested, and he was, since he enjoys drawing Oz characters but rarely has a reason for it. However, we had a snag: I was still writing the book and didn't want an illustrator to draw something I might change or remove later, thus wasting their effort. Since he was unable to schedule it and had other illustration jobs coming (plus concepts for a morbid webcomic in his head), Al eventually declined.

I also asked Sam if he'd be interested, but since he hadn't done any professional art, he wasn't sure he could do it. However, I later asked him to do "decorations," so he provided chapter headings and a design for the table of contents.

But that came after Shawn agreed to do it. I had just about always had him in mind, but considering his cartoony style for Oz, I wasn't sure if he'd be appropriate for my story, which, while it isn't a dark story, does have some heavy stuff in it. (Or at least, I think so.)

The first completed picture for the book I saw Shawn posted on his blog. I had to ask him to revise how the Wizard looked, but it looked all right. Still, it was the first chapter, which set up the two alternating plots throughout most of the book. I wasn't really sure if Shawn's work matched the tone.

In late May (Shawn was working on two other illustration jobs at the time, and I know he just finished one of them, not sure about the other one), I saw another picture. This one featured Button-Bright, who was one of the principal characters. I had previously indicated to Shawn that I wanted an "older" Button-Bright from what he'd drawn for other projects, such as "The Ransom of Button-Bright" in the 2009/2010 Oziana. I'd expected Shawn would have Button-Bright based on his look in Sky Island and The Lost Princess of Oz.

So, imagine my surprise when I got a boy with neat but shaggy hair, a t-shirt, and khaki shorts. But, for some reason, I liked it. Yes, the classic Button-Bright was a favorite of mine, but I was able to embrace this new version as well. In my writing, I was not specific as to when the story took place, willing to let the reader make up their own mind about that, if they so chose. It was definitely post-Baum. Shawn's illustrations put it in more modern times.

So, I like where Shawn is going with the illustrations, but at the time, I didn't know if he could pull off the tone I needed.

Some of my story was derived from plot elements in Baum's Oz-related The Magical Monarch of Mo, which had been illustrated by Frank Ver Beck. In fact, the Monarch of Mo himself does appear in the story. Ver Beck's illustrations showed the Monarch as a dumpy silly character. One of the next illustrations Shawn showed was the Monarch, based on his appearance in Mo, but he was tall and stout rather than squat and dumpy. It was a excellent mesh between the Mo Ver Beck showed us, while working within the world we know from John R. Neill's illustrations.

Still, the tone. Early in the story, the Wizard and Button-Bright find themselves among some ruins. On June 17, my birthday, I got an illustration of this part of the book. Shawn's picture presented a gloomy landscape with Button-Bright and the Wizard looking for a way to leave it. Perfection!

As I've assured folks, Shawn is working hard on the illustrations and he wants to complete it soon. He's been busy and 2011 wasn't kind to him at all. Unlike John R. Neill who didn't take more than a month to illustrate an Oz book, he doesn't get paid that type of salary. While I intend to compensate Shawn for his amazing art somehow (in fact, there's a few pieces of art I may offer to buy from him), it's fact that we Oz fans write our stories and create pieces of art out of a love for Oz rather than a desire to make money from it.

The Wizard of Oz — Seta's Super NES game

2012-01-10T22:53:00.000-06:00

The Seta Corporation got the license to make video games based on the MGM Wizard of Oz film in the early 1990s. However, only one game was created for the Super NES in 1993.

A book from the period that the game was in production actually featured the game's development, revealing that Seta was taking suggestions from players for the game. One feature they showed was changing the color of the landscape in the game. The Baum Bugle mentioned Seta was also taking suggestions for future games.

The game features music from the MGM film and some new pieces of score, digitized and rearranged into looping music. It's a little grating however. There's only so many times you can listen to 16-bit versions of "We're Off To See The Wizard," "If I Only Had A...," "Optimistic Voices," and yes, even "Over The Rainbow." As for the other pieces of music, they're not memorable.

In this game, Dorothy and Toto have been blown to Oz, where Dorothy is suddenly given the Ruby Slippers. The Wicked Witch takes Toto away, and Dorothy has to go through Oz to the Emerald City. Along the way, she is joined by a Scarecrow, a Tin Woodman, and a Cowardly Lion.

The graphics for the opening cutscenes are pretty flat. While Toto, the Tornado, and everything else moves, Dorothy is a static sprite. Other reviewers say she looks dead. That's actually pretty accurate.

The in-game sprite is an improvement, though instead of her braids and pigtails, Dorothy has her bob from her appearance from after the Wash & Brush Up scene in the film. (Other reviewers have stupidly claimed that this means she's not based on the movie.)

The appearances of Glinda and the Wicked Witch of the West are weird. They're both bubbles! Glinda's shows her from the shoulders up, while the Wicked Witch is just the head.

The Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Cowardly Lion have okay sprites, though none of them really call to mind Ray Bolger, Jack Haley, or Bert Lahr. (The Cowardly Lion actually looks more like a giant teddy bear with a lion's tail and mane.)

Each character has a different move set. Dorothy can kick, duck, jump, and shoot bubbles and stars that she can pick up. She can also float if you pick up a winged slipper. The Scarecrow stabs with his pitchfork, duck, and jump. The Tin Woodman uses his axe and kicks (his lack of jumping has been criticized as a flaw in a platformer game). The Cowardly Lion can slash with his claws, jump, duck, and climb trees. All characters can throw yellow gems.

Each character has their own health rate and set of lives. You can switch between characters immediately with the "select" button. You can find items to increase health and lives. For health, Dorothy has a purple bubble, the Scarecrow has tiny haystacks, the Tin Woodman has oil cans, and the Cowardly Lion has tofu. (The manual says he's a vegetarian.) For lives, Dorothy has a blue bow, the Scarecrow has a mortarboard, the Tin Woodman has a heart, and the Cowardly Lion has a badge.

Some reviewers claim that once the Cowardly Lion "dies," he doesn't come back. This is because when you get the Lion, he only has one life and if all lives for a character are depleted, they are unavailable. Permanently. I have played the game, attained extra lives for the Lion, had him die on me, and he was still available. If Dorothy loses all her lives, the game is over.

As I just said, this is a platformer game. You jump through obstacles and fight enemies to get through levels through four (yes, four!) countries in Oz before reaching the Emerald City. And book fans will likely be glad to hear that the countries do have defining colors: yellow, red, blue, and purple. However, don't get your hopes up too high, because the Munchkin Country is defined by yellow, while the Wicked Witch's land is in the purple country.

The levels are rather difficult, actually. There are barrages of enemies in virtually every level, and the few that don't have them have many pitfalls that are easy to fall prey to. Villains include giant frogs, lemon drops that drop on you, live chairs, jumping little men, guards, flying monkeys, crabs, fish, jumping dentures, cats, buzzards, and even bluebirds. Yes, even the "happy little bluebirds" want to kill you.

Each country has a "boss." In the first three countries, defeating the boss gets you your companion. To get the Scarecrow, you must defeat a giant crow. The Tin Woodman, a locomotive. The Cowardly Lion, a giant mouse with a crown. ... If they had the Queen of the Field Mice in mind, I don't know what they were thinking. The final boss is the Wicked Witch of the West, but you don't see Dorothy get Toto back for some reason.

Each country has different colored bricks to complete a road to finish the last level of each country safely. About 99 bricks does it. However, to get them all requires replaying levels. Fortunately, each one can be ended early by walking back to the beginning.

In addition, to get to the Emerald City, you have to have six tickets from each country, a fact you don't learn if you don't have the manual until you get to the Emerald City! These can be found hidden away (or just lying there) or by playing a mini-game where you play as Toto. Most of these are easy to complete, though some are tricky. They are accessed by touching a dog bone you see hanging around.

The most difficult mini-game involves clearing off numbers that you get by rolling dice. Why this is so difficult is that as you go on, you run out of numbers to clear, and if you get a number that's already been cleared off, you have to find the dog bone again and start over. If you're playing the game on a real Super NES, this would be extremely frustrating. I've played it on an emulator, and fortunately, that lets you save and restore states so you can try again without the hassle. Still, it is frustrating because it takes awhile before you get a number you can clear off.

After beating a boss or completing a country, you're given a password you can enter when you start the game so you can start from that part again.

In the Emerald City, you must find keys to go through giant emeralds that don't look like doors. Finally, you meet the Wizard, who appears in a globe and tells you that the magic of the Ruby Slippers has been depleted and now "neither witch will want them." (WHICH other witch?) Dorothy and Toto are sent home in a balloon.

The game has a lot of great ideas for a Wizard of Oz-based action platform game, but the overflow of enemies feels un-Ozzy. In addition, the difficulty is just too difficult when you start. My first attempt, I had only beaten the first level before all my lives were depleted. The game is not intuitive at all. So, this is not a game for someone who isn't a seasoned gamer. And the seasoned gamer will likely not be interested. It is a case where it failed to find an appropriate audience. The difficulty and repetitiveness required to finish the game will turn off anyone who isn't determined to complete it.

And I never figured out how to change color. There was nothing about it in the manual. (Maybe that feature was dropped before release.)

The Royal Podcast of Oz: Oz News - January 2012

2012-01-08T00:00:00.000-06:00

Jared reports Oz news, including the first Oz book of 2012, and talks to Cindy Ragni about her new site wonderfulbooksofoz.com and to Peter Hanff about the origins of the Winkie Convention.

As always you can listen and download at the podcast site or use the player below.

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Movies/TV Update

2012-01-06T14:10:00.003-06:00

It feels like it has been quite a while since I've typed up a movies/TV blog update! There hasn't been much to report lately. Let's get right on to it then...

A U.S. release date for Dorothy and the Witches of Oz (formerly titled The Witches of Oz) has been locked and will be announced next week along some other neat things that will go on on the website including a new trailer. You can follow @TheWitchesofOz on Twitter for the latest. By the way... I will be in the 'Special Thanks' area in the end credits of the movie! How cool is that?

Have any questions to ask director/writer Leigh Scott or producer/star/composer Eliza Swenson? The Dorothy and the Witches of Oz blog is hosting a Q & A with them! Get your questions in by January 13th and keep them appropriate. More on that here.

Our friends over at L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz have put out some new desktop wallpapers on their website. For those who don't know, it's a faithful adaption of the book that they're hoping to release by the end of this year, or if not, early next.

The Dorothy of Oz Facebook page has put out a new still from the movie as a special holiday treat for the fans. You can check that out here.

Last August, actor Bruce Campbell announced that he was given a surprise role in next year's Oz, the Great and Powerful, directed by his friend Sam Raimi. Then, in November, Campbell tweeted, saying that his role was cut out of the film before filming. Now, we're hearing that he's BACK in the movie! Read more about that here.

Director Pearry Teo (who was originally said to be directed a film based on the 'Dark Oz' comics) is set to put a sinister twist on characters from Wonderland and Oz, specifically Dorothy and Alice. The project is called Bedlam Stories and is a fantasy/horror project that involves Dorothy and Alice being brought into the asylum to treat their fantasy land delusions. Two pieces of concept art for the movie as well as a poster have been released, and it definitely looks to be creepy. Teo plans to do all of the visual effects practically, so you may kill me for saying this, but I think this could have potential to be cool if done right. Check out the announcement, poster, and concept art for the movie here.

That's it for now! Enjoy your first weekend of 2012.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Wizard of Oz, 1925 and 1933

2012-01-03T18:09:00.000-06:00

Jared and Sam painfully discuss the 1925 silent comedy film based on The Wizard of Oz then get back into Ozzy spirit by discussing the very first Oz cartoon. And they get ready for the next movie...

As always you can listen and download at the podcast site or use the player below:

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The Tik-Tok Man of Oz

2012-01-03T00:58:00.001-06:00

If you've read Tik-Tok of Oz, you may have noticed that a good portion of the plot seems recycled. Basically, the main reason for this is that the book is largely the novelization of a stage play, which in turn was based on elements from earlier Oz books. From Ozma of Oz came the character of Tik-Tok as well as the basic plot structure, with a girl washing up on shore after a shipwreck and trying to rescue a prisoner of the Nome King, and the small army with only one private. Not much of Dorothy and the Wizard appears in it, but that is the source for a princess being picked from a bush. And from Road came the Shaggy Man, the Love Magnet, and Polychrome. Since the stage play wasn't intended to be part of the continuity of the books, L. Frank Baum was free to mix up earlier plots and characters. The result was Ozma of Oz, with the title later changed to The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, possibly because Tik-Tok was a more interesting character to put in the title. Also, while there is AN Ozma in the play, it isn't THE Ozma. Anyway, a draft of the libretto from when it was still called Ozma has been put up on the Internet, and in many ways it is quite close to what would eventually become the book Tik-Tok. As many people have suspected, the rather direct transition from play to novel explains many of the oddities in the book, like why the Shaggy Man doesn't immediately recognize Polychrome and Tik-Tok. Similarly, it's likely why the Nome King has a different name and title this time, Ruggedo the Metal Monarch. Perhaps because it became the third book with the Nome King as the villain, his defeat was considerably grander in the book. There's no trace of the Great Jinjin or the dragon Quox in the play, but I've seen it proposed that he was likely inspired by the mechanical dragon in stage performances of Wagner's Ring Cycle. It's certainly not outside the realm of possibility that Baum wanted to put a dragon in the play but lacked the budget, and therefore stuck him into the novel instead.

Tik-Tok is also particularly heavy on vaudeville-style humor, much of which also comes from the script. I did notice that, while Baum kept in a lot of the puns, he left out many of the topical references, possibly because he realized the play could be changed while the book was likely to remain the same way after those references were no longer relevant. What's kind of odd is how many lines of dialogue come from the play, but with a cheap joke omitted. For instance, in Act I, Scene 3 of the script, Shaggy informs Queen Ann that the Metal Monarch "[o]wns all the metal in the world--gold, silver, copper, iron, politicians, radium, tin, life-insurance agents and brass." In the book, he has a similar line: "He owns all the metal that lies underground—gold, silver, copper, brass and tin." And speaking of jokes being removed, Tik-Tok comes across as much more comically clunky in the play. In the books, he is a bit jerky and has to be wound up to function, but he doesn't run down anywhere nearly as often as in the play. The script also has a running gag where Tik-Tok misquotes a common phrase, and when corrected, says to "blame the patentee." The book of Tik-Tok presents a more consistent characterization with what we'd seen in previous volumes. It does, however, incorporate the stage Tik-Tok's habit of repeating "Pick-me-up!" after falling down, which interestingly also appeared in the movie Return to Oz. I suspect the screenwriter for the film must have read Tik-Tok, and the reference to Tik-Tok as "Royal Army of Oz" adds credence to this. Tik-Tok is never the Army of Oz (that's the job of the Soldier with Green Whiskers), but he IS the Army of Oogaboo in Tik-Tok. Another strange scene from the play involves Betsy (known as Betsy Baker in this draft of the script, but later called Betsy Bobbin, which is actually a name from a nursery rhyme) getting hold of the Love Magnet and Shaggy and Tik-Tok getting into a duel over her, during which Shaggy presses the mechanical man's self-destruct button. Ruggedo eventually puts Tik-Tok back together again. Obviously this bit didn't appear in the book, but there is a similar occurrence in the Little Wizard Story "Tik-Tok and the Nome King," in which Ruggedo breaks Tik-Tok and Kaliko reassembles him. The King's reaction to seeing the restored copper man is much the same as Shaggy's in the play.

If I may mention one final oddity about the script, it's that Betsy initially arrives in the Rose Kingdom with both Hank the Mule and a chicken named Baden-Baden, but after the first scene the chicken disappears entirely. I have to wonder if Baum introduced the chicken with the intention of incorporating the Nome King's fear of eggs into the plot, but later decided against it, and forgot to edit out the mentions of Baden-Baden in the first scene. Eggs do come into Ruggedo's defeat in the book, but a chicken doesn't. I have no idea whether Baden-Baden made it into any actual performances of the Tik-Tok Man play, but I suspect she didn't.

Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad

2012-01-03T00:05:00.000-06:00

Well, I'm done with the second Aunt Jane's Nieces book.

Oh, the worries of the rich! Uncle John bought a business out of mercy, as it was failing and the eventual failure wouldn't ruin him, and somehow it flourished again. So, he has a lot of money to get rid of suddenly. So, what does he do? Go to Europe with the nieces!

Patsy and Beth are glad to get the trip, but Louise's mother has an ulterior motive: a young man is courting Louise, but he has been disinherited. Louise loves him, but as her mother wants her to marry into wealth, this is disapproved of.

On their way to Italy, they witness Mount Vesuvius erupting and meet the young Count Ferralti. During their travels in Italy, Uncle John and Ferralti are kidnapped by a brigand named Il Duca who wants them to buy ancient jewelery from him at exorbitant prices, or they will be killed. Ferralti is revealed to be Arthur Weldon, the young man who was courting Louise.

While Uncle John is kidnapped, he discovers that Arthur is of Sicilian descent by his mother, and his father has recently been killed in a railway accident before his son could be removed from the will. In fact, Arthur's mother was the sister of Il Duca, who is keeping them hostage, and Il Duca's mother is Arthur's grandmother, and Il Duca's little daughter Tato is his cousin.

When Uncle John understands the money for the jewelery is to be used to raise Tato, he would prefer to donate it instead. This suggestion is not approved of. The brigand's mother tries to throw Tato into a pit, but falls in herself and dies.

Finally, Uncle John and Arthur arrange for the money to be sent to them, but the nieces (who have been joined by Kenneth and Silas Watson) arrange it so they can rescue Uncle John and Arthur without turning over the money.

Arthur makes his case plain to the nieces, and it is revealed that Louise knew who he was the whole time. Il Duca and Tato come out of hiding and apologize and Il Duca announces he's turning over a new leaf and wants to get a new, honest home set up for him and his daughter. So he asks if Tato may accompany them on their travels until he sends for her. This, they agree to.

One day, after traveling other countries, Tato vanishes. She leaves a note stating it was a trick to get the ransom money. She had stolen the key to Uncle John's trunk where he kept his money and waited until he gave it up for lost, and found where Arthur had his money hidden. She writes that they will never see her again, she and her father will change names and live off their stolen money until she marries.

Although they are dismayed that their friend betrayed them, they write the money off as a loss and conclude their travels.

What I find a little off about Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad is that the most exciting part of the story doesn't involve the nieces. We have a travelogue, then an exciting visit to the hidden valley where Il Duca keeps hostages. But this mainly focuses on Uncle John and Arthur. The nieces do get to be heroines by scheming with Kenneth and Silas on how to rescue Uncle John without turning over the money, but in the end, they get tricked most wickedly.

Baum is often at his best when he has his characters' lives hanging in the balance, and this spurs on the part of the book where Uncle John and Arthur are held hostage. He didn't do this in the Oz books, or at least, not for a long period of time. (An exception is in Glinda of Oz, in which a similar plot, not involving death, is explored in how to rescue the people from the submerged Skeezer Island.) These types of plots also drive plots in books like The Flying Girl and Her Chum, The Boy Fortune Hunters series, and some scenes in The Last Egyptian and Daughters of Destiny.

Also, Baum turns to a favorite theme of deception. It comes up quite often in his work, whether the deceiver's intent is malicious or not. The Wizard has successfully deceived the entire land of Oz in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and later tricks the Mangaboos in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. The Nome King in Ozma of Oz traps Ozma's rescue party under a guise of good nature and later lies to Kiki Aru to win his help. Queen Zixi of Ix finds the titular character hiding her age in a magical manner, while Prince Marvel in The Enchanted Island of Yew hides his true identity from almost the entire island. In Daughters of Destiny, the Khan of Baluchistan dies and as the rightful heir doesn't want the throne, someone else assumes his identity. And, as my final example (but by no means the last in Baum), Sam Steele's Adventures on Land and Sea (or The Boy Fortune Hunters in Alaska) and Annabel both involve a would-be benefactor hiding a fortune from the rightful owners.

Finally, Baum exhibits his fascination with other cultures. While he was a proud American, he had to respect other gorgeous countries, even though many times the characters encountered are dishonest and not completely good-natured. Baum reassures us that not everyone abroad is bad, and in his defense, if there weren't disagreeable characters in the lands his main characters visit, it would be a rather dull story. Baum's international characters also sound different, even though sometimes his depiction of their dialect isn't flattering. That doesn't really happen here, though.

However, a lot of Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad is just travelogue. Better examples of Baum's plots may be found elsewhere. Still, as a work of Baum, the first Royal Historian of Oz, it shouldn't be passed up.

I'm rotating my reading between my Baum Bugle backlog and also started reading Oziana from the beginning, so I'm not jumping into Aunt Jane's Nieces at Millville quite yet. And I also have The Fate of a Crown and some Thompson works as well. So, these Aunt Jane's Nieces blogs might not quite be so regular. Keep reading, folks!

The Royal Explorers of Oz: The Voyage of 'The Crescent Moon' — Now on sale!

2012-01-01T16:47:00.001-06:00

As promised, the first Oz book of 2012 is now on sale!

Prince Bobo of Boboland is on a mighty quest: to unify the Nonestic nations against such threats as the Phanfasms and the Mimics! But with his ego, can he successfully carry it out?

Captain Salt is exploring the Nonestic Ocean once more with his faithful crew, Ato, Tandy, Roger the Read Bird, and Nikobo the hippopotamus. They soon gain a few extra members for their crew in Arko and Orpa the mer-folk couple, and Sally the Sea Fairy.

Little do any of them realize that they are setting out for an adventure that will change all of them forever.

The Royal Explorers of Oz is a trilogy based on the fantasies of L. Frank Baum and Ruth Plumly Thompson.

THE ROYAL EXPLORERS OF OZ

The Voyage of The Crescent Moon

by Marcus Mebes, Jared Davis, and Jeff Rester

Illustrations by John Troutman and Alejandro Garcia

Available now

Paperback

Hardcover

Order before January 7th and use the coupon code ONEMORETHING for 25% off

Coming soon

The Outsiders from Oz

by Jared Davis

Illustrations by S.P. Maldonado with decorations by Sam Milazzo

THE ROYAL EXPLORERS OF OZ
The Crescent Moon Over Tarara

and

The Scourge of The Crescent Moon

by Marcus Mebes, Jared Davis, and Jeff Rester

Illustrations by John Troutman and Alejandro Garcia

A Bucket(head) of Books

2011-12-30T23:31:00.007-06:00

Here's reviews of four books published by Chris Dulabone under the imprints of Buckethead Enterprises of Oz or Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends.

Up first is A Viking in Oz, from 1988. Dulabone wrote and illustrated it. A Viking named Victor lives with the Sea Fairies until present day, when he surfaces and winds up in Noland and soon, Oz.

Dulabone writes humorously, and also did a bit of research about Vikings, making this Norseman convincing. But the plot isn't very stong. However, strong plots aren't always a trademark of Oz stories. (The Road to Oz, for example.)

Being one of the earliest Buckethead Enterprises books, the typeset is weird. Chapters are not numbered, and sometimes the text is tilted. Sometimes typos have been corrected by hand. Many of the illustrations are actually photographs, sometimes with hand-drawn addition. (A picture of a woman in a cave, for example, has a mermaid's tail drawn over her legs to turn her into a mermaid under the sea.)

Altogether, it's a fun, early attempt at a new Oz story, though far from one of the best. It's from a time when the great rush of new and unauthorized Oz books were just beginning. Times have changed and work has gotten better, but it's still worth looking at just for that purpose. And you might even enjoy it. I did.

11 year old Ryan Gannaway's A Wonderful Journey in Oz appeared in 1990. This is another case where author also illustrated.

The story takes many elements from Baum's Oz books and Sky Island and puts them together. Throw in some time travel, thanks to Button-Bright's newly-reacquired magic Umbrella, and it's a story that, while not especially notable, is a lot of fun.

Discovering the magic Umbrella can travel through time as well as space, Button-Bright, Trot, and Cap'n Bill head back to meet Queen Ozara, Ozma's grandmother. They also bring her forward in time to meet Ozma. However, more adventures involving the Wizard, Dorothy, Toto, and the recently-restored Ruggedo occur.

Time travel stories are tricky bits of business (people debate endlessly about Back to the Future, or how the Doctor got out of the Pandorica in Doctor Who), and frankly, 11 year old Ryan didn't care. There's one little misadventure that does have some time-travel risks, but I won't spoil that. Ryan set out to write a fun adventure, and it was fun. Not especially plotted extremely well, but fun.

The illustrations are definitely by an 11 year old, however.

A Small Adventure in Oz appeared in 2001, after the re-branding of Buckethead Enterprises of Oz as Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends. By this time, Dulabone's methods of printing had improved greatly. His books looked more like proper books you'd find at a bookstore rather than something that screamed that it was self-published. And it wasn't just the covers and design that improved, so did the stories. I've already blogged about Melody Grandy's books which Dulabone also published.

Peter B. Clarke's book finds the people in the Ozma's palace playing a grand game of hide and seek. To make the odds fair, magic is not allowed to be used during the game, animals who can dig cannot go underground, anyone capable of flight cannot fly, and those who'd run fast must keep to a normal pace.

Dorothy and the Scarecrow find a mysterious map of Oz and suddenly are transported to a strange, alternate version of Oz that is quite unlike anything they'd imagined with little idea of how they'll get back.

Back in the Emerald City, no one can find Dorothy and the Scarecrow, and as time drags on, it becomes apparent the magic of Oz is stopping due to the rule that no magic can be used during the game. But the game won't be over until Dorothy and the Scarecrow are found. But how can they be found? And can that happen before Oz loses its magic forever?

A Small Adventure in Oz is a very good story. The story is compelling and neatly plotted, with high stakes for our friends in Oz.

Marcus Mebes illustrated A Small Adventure, and the artwork's really good, though I'm not a huge fan of the child characters.

Finally, The Cloud King of Oz was published in 2002. Apparently, one of the problems Dulabone had with getting books out was that he didn't want to do text-only books. Oz books needed pictures. However, finding illustrators willing to illustrate for a small, non-profit press wasn't easy. Dennis Anfuso, who has since risen to a more prominent artist, finally helped out. Cloud King was by Amanda Marie Buck, who was eleven by the time of publication.

The Cloud King, who lives on a Gillikin Mountain, has kidnapped many residents of Ozma's palace and the Magic Belt. Dorothy and the Wizard lead a rescue party, but soon, Thunderhead the Cloud King takes them as well. It's up to Ozma to rescue everyone!

Cloud King reminds me a lot of Invisible Inzi of Oz, now that I think about it. However, the Cloud King is a decent villain, and the story doesn't wander so much and flows very well, even if it is rather short. It's quite obvious that Amanda was very young when she wrote it. Dennis Anfuso's art complement's the writer's style very well.

Altogether, these four books represent the pure heart of Oz pastiches. Maybe the stories aren't the greatest ever. Maybe the printing isn't perfect. But the writers love Oz and want to share the stories they've invented. When that is apparent in an Oz story, that's the most important element for other fans. To be sure, these books might not be the best to hook in new fans, but established fans are sure to find a kindred spirit in the writer's style.

Royal Explorers of Oz Update!

2011-12-29T18:40:00.003-06:00

Last night, I got to see the first proof of The Royal Explorers of Oz: The Voyage of The Crescent Moon. It was still in need of work and two illustrations had yet to be included. And you might think, "We've heard that before..." But they arrived today!

So, right now, Marcus is getting the layout completed. The book will be a bit taller than regular Oz books to show the detail of the wonderful artwork.

We have two illustrators. John Troutman has properly illustrated the book while Alejandro Garcia has drawn poster-like art. What this is used for, I'll let you find out on the title page. The idea is set up in Captain Salt in Oz, though.

The book, the first in a trilogy, isn't very long at about 74 pages. The next two books, however, is where it gets deep. This first volume more or less sets up the last two.

About timing, Marcus could get it out before year's end, but I had a different suggestion: release it on January 1st. There will be a new Oz book for a new year!

So, I hope you all will join us as we set sail for a new adventure on the Nonestic Ocean!

End of 2011 report!

2011-12-27T19:37:00.000-06:00

2011 has been a good year for the Royal Blog of Oz and Royal Website of Oz crew.

The Royal Podcast of Oz has switched to a semi-bimonthly format, after monthly episodes since April. We started a series focusing on film adaptations of Oz and interviewed several interesting names, kicking off with Susan Morse in her first time speaking out to Oz fans about her singing work on the 1964 Return to Oz. Other interviews included Leigh Scott of The Witches of Oz, Jerry Robbins of Colonial Radio Theater, Sean Gates and Clayton Spinney of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Tommy Kovace of Royal Historian of Oz, and Oz Club charter member Ruth Berman.

We also had our first live recorded podcast highlighting the Winkie Convention, where Sam Milazzo met several Oz friends in person for the first time. The podcast also has its own Facebook page which is mirrored onto Twitter.

The Royal Website of Oz saw a complete overhaul. In the summer, a wiki intended for reference purposes began, though there aren't many articles on it yet. In the fall, the site was recreated in Drupal, allowing for user-generated content. Unfortunately, it was impossible (or too difficult) to have all sections of the site require a single login.

In late September, the International Wizard of Oz Club closed their popular online forums and moved to Facebook. Because many users preferred to discuss Oz in a forum format, I stepped up with the Royal Forums of Oz, a new section in the Royal Website. After launching in bbpress, we attempted an unpopular move to Drupal's forum system. The forums are now run with Invision Power Boards. The usership has not quite reached the level of the old forums, but we do have a community going.

The Royal Blog of Oz itself has turned out popular articles, including several about upcoming Oz productions thanks to blog writer Angelo Thomas, for the blog has gone from just me writing to a more communal blog, featuring insightful blogs from Nathan DeHoff, Sam's blogs about his perspective on Oz, and occasional entries by Shawn Maldonado and Mike Conway.

I myself managed to finish my series on all the Oz stories by Baum, Thompson, Neill, Snow, Cosgrove, and the McGraws and move on to other works.

Outside of the blog, Sam and I both had work published in the International Wizard of Oz Club's Oziana. I contributed the story "Bud and the Red Jinn" for the retroactively numbered 38th issue, while Sam provided the cover for the 2011 issue. I've also contributed writing for future issues, or at least, that's the plan. Nathan will also be returning to Oziana in the near future, I hear.

I had an article published in the program book for this year's Winkie Convention and completed my Oz book Outsiders from Oz, which will be published early next year, illustrated by Shawn with decoration work by Sam. Mike's Oz book, Passion Fire of Oz, won the NaNoWriMo award this year.

When it comes to finances, I have never made it a secret that I pay the expenses for hosting the podcast and the domain name for the website out of my own pocket. I started a Zazzle shop and an Amazon affiliate store to hopefully make this back. Last year, it earned less than $20 altogether. This year, we have surprisingly earned far more than enough to reimburse me for those. So, thanks to all of you who helped out!

Next year, aside from continuing the podcast, blog, and publishing my Oz book, I'm also presenting at the 2012 Winkie Convention. I have plans for another Oz book, but we'll see how that goes. I also have thoughts about rewriting the online Round Robin story The Ruby Ring of Oz, but we'll see if that comes about. I might go on to write several Oz books and stories, or I might write a few more and never again.

Sam has not confirmed if he will be returning to the Winkie Convention, and considering how late it's getting, I'm thinking he won't. So for all of us who got to meet him this year, treasure those memories because it might be awhile before we have him back.

We're arranging a podcast interview with Eric Shanower (which I think people have expected us to do for a long time) and we'll be attempting a different type of podcast next month as well.

I have considered putting the podcast on CD, but I'm thinking this would be done simply as a service for those who do not use sound on their computers (because they're out there), so this would be sold only at the cost of producing the CDs. Not for profit, which wouldn't be fair to my guests who didn't agree to do a commercial recording.

Plans are all subject to change, and since I do Oz stuff in spare time, I don't announce definite time tables. For example, there's a podcast I need to finish editing now...

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-24T00:04:00.002-06:00

It's just turned Christmas Eve in Missouri, so here goes.

Sam Milazzo and I have both produced videos this month for you all to enjoy. First up is Sam's video featuring clips from Oz-related films.

Second is my own. While I was going over versions of The Nutcracker for my other blog's entries later this month, I came across the song "I'll Always Come Back To You." I wondered if it might be given an Oz connection, since the song wasn't specifically Christmas, and then got the idea of making a video about Dorothy's return visits to Oz before moving in The Emerald City of Oz. I originally intended to use video clips, but instead used scans of pages from the Oz books, experimenting with extensive video panning.

My first result, which I removed from YouTube and replaced with the one below, attempted to zoom in on certain areas with two different filters. The first one turned the image with the panning effects into video, then the second zoomed into this. Problem is, now the pictures became blurry. VERY blurry. Feeling very dissatisfied, I went back in, removed the second panning effect and re-did the effects with the first one. As you can see, the end result was much better!

Merry Christmas!

Aunt Jane's Nieces

2011-12-22T00:13:00.003-06:00

So, I've been talking about collecting the Aunt Jane's Nieces series in vintage editions. But what about the stories?

Just to recap, the Aunt Jane's Nieces series was one of the best selling series for Reilly & Britton, later Reilly & Lee. L. Frank Baum penned them under the pseudonym Edith Van Dyne. Presumably, it was thought girls would be more likely to read books by a woman.

Pseudonyms allowed Baum to vary in his output. His real name was used mainly for his fantasies, Laura Bancroft got to do lighter fantasy tales, Captain Hugh Fitzgerald got to do adventure stories for boys, while a variety of pseudonyms (and one case of anonymity) produced some excellent adult novels. Suzanne Metcalf and Edith Van Dyne told tales of lives of regular Americans, though they would often feature "rags to riches" plots.

And we see such an example in Aunt Jane's Nieces. The first book appeared in 1906 and was followed by nine sequels.

The books follow Patricia "Patsy" Doyle, Elizabeth "Beth" DeGraf, and Louise Merrick, three cousins who became fast friends in the first book.

In the first book, old Jane Merrick is feeling ill and realizes she doesn't have much longer to live, but she has no heir. So, she decides her three nieces, who she has never met before, will visit and she will choose one of them to be her beneficiary.

The nieces are of three different classes. The Doyles working class, while the DeGrafs are middle class. The Merricks are uppercrust folk, though none of them really have any significant amount of money. Aunt Jane, however, is rich.

Beth and Louise arrive at the country estate of Elmhurst to coax Aunt Jane into making them their heir. Patsy frankly refuses. If Aunt Jane never wanted a relationship in life, there's no real point in leaving her job for a time to wait for the old woman to die. However, Jane re-extends her invitation to Patsy, and she eventually accepts, though she has no intention of getting Jane's money.

The three nieces meet Kenneth Forbes, the nephew of the Jane's fiancee Thomas Bradley, who died and left his money to her. Silas Watson, Jane's lawyer, thinks Kenneth has the right to the fortune, but Jane refuses. During the visit at Elmhurst, Jane's brother John arrives and stays with them, and the nieces become friends with John and Kenneth.

Eventually, Patsy's independent spirit wins Jane over, but Patsy still refuses to become the beneficiary. So Jane makes a will according to Patsy's wishes, but later makes a new one naming the girl her heir anyway. Shortly after, Jane dies and her last will is revealed. However, a twist arises when it is revealed that Thomas Bradley also had a previously unknown last will and testament. Jane was indeed bequeathed Elmhurst and the money, but only as long as she lived. In the event of her death, everything was to go to Thomas' sister or her heirs, meaning Kenneth.

Patsy is glad she isn't the heir, but Beth and Louise go home distraught. Uncle John says he has nowhere to go, so Patsy invites him to stay with her, meager though her home is. After a short time of living with Uncle John, Patsy and her father (the Major) are let go from their jobs. They are also evicted from their apartment and are given their own apartment building to run. Major Doyle is given the job of auditor of accounts at a bank.

Patsy's father eventually discovers that there is a very rich man named John Merrick. He thinks it's a coincidence, but eventually mysterious ties appear between Uncle John and John Merrick. Finally, he demands an explanation from Uncle John who admits to being the same John Merrick. He wasn't poor, everyone just assumed so and he never objected to their assumptions. He also gives the other nieces' families a hundred thousand each to help sustain them. He asks to retain his residence with Patsy and the Major, which they both willingly give him.

While everyone gets a happy ending, it feels a bit too nice. And really, I didn't like Louise and Beth at first. I didn't mention their rivalry, despite their eventual friendship. Early on, if you're reading the books with knowledge of a series, you might think, "These are main characters in the series? They're horrible people!" But Beth and Louise eventually win over the reader. They're not bad girls, they just really need help.

So, how do Aunt Jane's Nieces develop as a series? Let's see. I'm reading Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad right now, so I'll let you know what I think of that one.

A Kidnapped Santa Claus (Alex Robinson's adaptation)

2011-12-21T21:16:00.002-06:00

A Kidnapped Santa Claus, by L. Frank Baum, adapted by Alex Robinson - I'm sure I've already written about the original story, which isn't really too developed in terms of plot (especially since we pretty much already know the Daemon of Repentance is going to let Santa go), but is an interesting expansion on the mythology Baum developed in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus. And since it is Christmas-related, it's not too surprising that someone would produce a new take on it. In this case, the new take is a comic by Robinson, who has a rather modern and cute drawing style. The lack of physical description in the original story gives Robinson free reign with many of the characters, and while he does take some liberties with the original text, I quite like it. Wisk, a male fairy in the original story, is now a girl with glasses. While it's the Knooks who are the grumpy ones in Baum's fairy lore, Robinson transfers this trait to the Ryls, and instead focuses on how the Knooks are the protectors of animals. He makes them rather dog-like, and one is even named after and probably modeled on his own dog Wrigley. Kilter the Pixie, introduced in Life and Adventures as "the Silent and Swift," is more of a country boy in Robinson's adaptation. Admittedly, this is bringing in information from another source; there isn't much description of Kilter in the short story, and he has the same amount of lines as the rest of Santa's helpers (i.e., one). I think the adaptation works despite (and perhaps in some cases because of) the changes, though. Robinson also works in a few sly references to media released after Baum's lifetime, including the television special of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, The Dark Crystal, Stan Freberg's "Christmas Dragnet," and even Star Wars.

A peek at Outsiders

2011-12-18T23:46:00.000-06:00

While Shawn finished the illustrations on The Outsiders From Oz (you know, I called it Outsiders for short so much, I forgot there was a "The" in the title), here's a teeny peek.

This is a map that will appear in the book. Almost every location in the story is on the map; a couple were too far west to be shown. (I had to pinpoint which river in Mo was the river of needles.)

And here's a tiny excerpt:

The Quadling Country is not the easiest place to travel in Oz. The country is rough and filled with dangerous peoples. With the Red Wagon and the Sawhorse, it was easy, but on foot the walking was rough and tiring.

The Wizard was, at heart, a very practical man when needed. However, his knowledge of magic helped him create shortcuts. If a stream crossed their path, he now had his buoyancy solution made from the Voe leaves to help him cross. So, being very careful to not exhaust their strength too soon, he and Button-Bright were making good time on foot.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus

2011-12-18T21:02:00.001-06:00

Jared and Sam discuss the adaptations of L. Frank Baum's The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus from 1985 and 2000.

As always, you can listen and download at the podcast site or use the player below.

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Oziana 2011

2011-12-16T08:54:00.003-06:00

I have only gotten a handful of Oziana issues since I first joined the International Wizard of Oz Club some years ago, but I think the latest issue printed is my most favourite.

Okay maybe contributing to the cover has something to do with it, but even without that I feel like the stories in this issue are the Best!

What I really like about this issue is the subtitle on the first page: "Origins and Explanations . . . maaaaaybe."
Usually some Oz Books suggest that their stories actually happened and should be taken as fact. And while we fans can choose to believe what is canon and what is not of Oz, that term " . . . maaaaaybe" offers us even more fun and a lighter approach to reading these stories, in that they are saying they should be believed only if we choose to accept them - and they are actually good stories coming up.

Something else that is quite interesting is how almost all the stories focus on (aside from POSSIBLE explanations and origins) how these selected characters were one thing then became another.

First up is David Tai's "Voyaging Through Strange Seas of Thought, Alone". It's almost like a poem, but more like a collection of thoughts, a list of words, of expressions and a lack of clarity. At first it does seem vague, but then it appears to hint on how the Glass Cat known as Bungle got her pink brains restored as well as her sassy vanity (another explanation was approached in the 2004 Oziana story "A Bungled Kidnapping in Oz" written by David Hulan and illustrated by John Mundt, Esq.). Here Kim MacFarland does a nice lined drawing of the protagonist. This story lasts about 2 pages.

Following this is a 5-page story written by Justice C. S. Fischer addressing the possibility of how after being melted, the Wicked Witch of the West became "Blinkie of Oz" and how the Oz characters dealt with this situation when it was brought to their attention. While Dorothy looks more like a six-year old Judy Garland, I did like how Dennis Anfuso illustrated the Tin Woodman.

I've sometimes wondered if it is possible for you to write a new character for a story and then actually say that anybody else could use that person if they so wished . . . well, my curious thought was addressed with Kass Stone's "Jenny Everywhere in Oz" (How, exactly, I will leave for you to discover for yourself). Jenny's encounters also make homages or allusions to things like "Transformers", "Narnia" and something else I couldn't quite put my finger on. When Jenny does get to a certain place, we have another 'human from outside world finally coming to and saving Oz' story, but this one is definitely one to enjoy reading with the little jokes, descriptions and events in this story. Old friends Jack Pumpkinhead and the Saw-Horse join her to meet Glinda and the villain is somehow related to the Wicked Witch of the East, a new character Baum would probably have enjoyed reading about. My most favourite part of this story is the inclusion of different and alternate universe versions of Glinda (though it may not be exactly as you expect). In this 9-11 page story, Alejandro Garcia does only three drawings, but the double-page spread of 'the Legion of Glindas' makes up for that (I must confess, having been so used to seeing how Eric Shanower illustrated Glinda, it took me a while to spot our Glinda in Alejandro's style). I do wish there had been another set of drawings for this story across the double-page spreads of text.

Next up, Mycroft Mason asls some of Trot's questions as she attempts to know more about "The Solitary Sorceress of Oz", otherwise our wise and often taken for granted friend, Glinda. Yep, our favourite Good Witch/Sorceress of the South's identity is questioned, approached and . . . MAAAAAYBE answered, across 7 pages (with Chapters + Titles). I won't say anything much else about this story either, as you will have to discover out the fun for yourself as well. And wherever Trot is, you can be sure Cap'n Bill will also make an appearance, but no longer than necessary (but I must admit I didn't recognize him at first, though Trot looks interesting and nice, as does Glinda especially!) I will say how refreshing it was to actually got closer and a bit more personal with Glinda and her life, or rather some of it, as we always see her as a powerful figure in red and white with blue eyes and an "all-seeing" Book, without ever really thinking about her needs and maybe wishes, or how her life was like growing up. I do wish this story had been longer, however. Isabelle Melancon does great work here illustrating Trot and Glinda, especially in their touching moment at the end.
What, you don't recognize the name Isabelle Melancon? Well, here's a little hint: Namesake.

Last up we have "Cryptic Conversations in a Cornfield (a prolusio in umbra)" by Jeffrey Rester. To put it simply, the Origins of Scarecrow. Yes, originS. We all know L. Frank Baum's simple yet mysterious and gap-holed recollection from Scarecrow about how he was made. But Scarecrow says himself how with his life being so short he knows nothing whatever:

"I was only made day before yesterday. What happened in the world before that time is all unknown to me."

And we all know, though many reject, Ruth Plumly Thompson's "reincarnation" approach. But here that consideration is mentioned briefly while other approaches take up the story. Scarecrow's Farmer is given the name Pax and his friend Lix. Ruled by the Wicked Witch of the East, the Munchkins are terrorized and teased by pesky crows and ravens, who sometimes appear supernatural, until the two Farmers decide to try and get rid of the birds from their crops. Their first Scarecrow is left alone, face untouched (no paint) and the Witch attempts to use some certain powder on it which doesn't work (you can probably guess why if you read it) so she demolishes it, the birds taking the blame when the Farmers return. Their next attempt is more successful and complete (I loved how Jeffrey took to quoting, with slight adjustments, L. Frank Baum's original writings for this part) and hung up left alone, despite the odd feeling Pax has of a beanpole in the field. After a little encounter with an owl, it is not too long before the Scarecrow is a failure at protecting the corn. But one crow, Solomon, befriends the straw man (I thought this was a Good point, as this not only reforms the black birds and makes them seem a bit better than earlier introduced, but it also teaches Scarecrow speech, which he wouldn't have much practice at or knowledge to do when Dorothy came). A Pair of Ravens recites some form of prophecy to the Scarecrow concerning the lost emperor Chang Wang Woe, which would be forgotten upon their passing. But the Witch of the East makes her second encounter with the Scarecrow and it is here that he learns about his fear of fire and its danger, only to be saved from certain destruction by some windy clouds bringing a storm. The next day, the Scarecrow sees the Silver Shoes making their way towards him again, only now worn by a little girl with her little black dog beside her, bringing him hope . . .

Although a long read of 20 pages, the expanded origin of our favourite straw-stuffed thinker is a highly enjoyable and fun read once you actually get into it, with a few Latin words thrown in (I can't say I know what they mean). And Luciano Vecchio helps us get through the story with his excellent pictures, stylistically lined in shading and lighting and other details, among them the Witch's look: she is portrayed as 'eldritch' (I thought more like a Native American/Indian shaman, with her hair partly tied in a braid with a tiny dreamcatcher, a wooden cane and shawl, her face in close-up is effectively shown in hideous glory), Scarecrow has bells on his hat like all the fellow Munchkins are described and the brief glimpses of Oz scenery are whimsical. Luciano Vecchio also contributes to the back cover art by showing the Dorothy-perspective of Scarecrow, while the story ends with HIS perspective of his coming friend.
The only thing I didn't quite like about the story was the Witch's occasional, slight, obsession with the scarecrow, thinking a big deal out of something so simple. Nor did I like the idea of the Witch of the EAST being afraid of water, but considering it saved scarecrow I can let that go. And though there are two times when we get double-pages of text, I would have liked an extra drawing or few by Lucian. But I suppose "Jenny Everywhere" would actually need that more.

Finally, we have another drawing of Bungle "The Glass LOLCat of Oz" by Kim MacFarland, only this time it is a colour painting, printed in black-and-white, with "I Can Has CheezBurger" text.

While I may sound a bit biased, I am happy to say that this is definitely the Best Issue (and maybe slightly longest - it feels thicker than past issues) of Oziana I have ever received and read, with stories that do not have to be taken as complete canon unless you choose to.

I hope to contribute to other issues of Oziana soon, especially in working on stories!

Illustrating Outsiders

2011-12-15T15:53:00.001-06:00

S.P. Maldonado here and I'm the illustrator for Jared Davis' upcoming book, The Outsiders from Oz. I know that many people are very interested to see this book in print. I assure you that I am working on it and will try to get it done as quickly as possible. My life has been very hectic this year with me losing my job, going back to school, and busting up my knee. Now I have a break from school and I'm getting more pictures done. I just want to make sure the illustrations are as wonderful as the story that Jared has written. Thank you for your patience.

Updates!

2011-12-14T20:22:00.000-06:00

Oziana 2011 is now available for ordering! This year we've gotten three issues of Oziana, spanning 2008, 2009, 2010, and finally 2011 as the International Wizard of Oz Club's creative magazine is finally back on track! The 2012 issue is in the works now and will definitely be released on time.

I didn't contribute to this issue, but I did receive a review copy, so expect a review soon.

And speaking of Oz stories, co-blogger Nathan DeHoff is the first to put his Oz fan writings on our website! Check them out and write your own! Maybe you can even be in Oziana soon!

And speaking of reading Oz stuff online (which you're doing right now), the New York Public Library's blog is doing a series of blogs about the very first adaptation of The Wizard of Oz: the 1903 stage production. The first is online now, and with it is a goodie: the script of the play. (Which was followed loosely with various songs and jokes being added and changed.)

Also, it says "In the coming days several Oz scholars and fans will be contributing blogs about the history of this particular text," so keep an eye on the blog there. I have a feeling I'll be seeing some familiar names... (You don't read the first 34 years of The Baum Bugle and not learn anything...)

The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (2000) DVD review

2011-12-12T17:12:00.000-06:00

I'm glad to announce that the fully animated adaptation of L. Frank Baum's The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus that was released in 2000 is now available on DVD.

DVD cover

I just got my copy. There's no special features, but then, what could they add? (There's a small trailer that was on some other Universal VHS releases about that time, but it's hardly worth watching when you have the entire movie.)

Subtitles are on the disc in English and French, and there's also an alternate Spanish language track. The menus are static, and while designed for the title, are rather plain and silent. They are not animated.

The video quality is very clear, as is to be expected. Here's a comparision between my VHS transfer from a few years ago and the new DVD. (Note: VHS has a lower image resolution than DVD, and VHS image quality degrades with age.)


VHS transfer

DVD

As you can see, the image is clearer and the colors are vibrant.

As for the feature itself, I reviewed it in 2009. Please refer to that blog entry.

At the top of the blog is a scan of the cover art, using some of the same artwork as the original VHS release.

VHS cover

The case is a standard white case. While I noted the "recycling" logo inside, instead of having holes in the case, these designs show thinner spots in the casing plastic.

So, if I was rating this DVD by content alone:
Video: 5/5
Audio: 5/5
Language features: 5/5
Special Features: 0/5
Menus - navigation: 5/5
Menus - design 3/5
Package: 5/5
Overall: 4/5
While the menus could have been prettier and while they could have thrown extra features on the disc, overall, it's not necessary.

Baum fans should pick it up.

"Outsiders From Oz" update

2011-12-12T00:06:00.000-06:00

I'm very sorry to announce that my first Oz book, Outsiders From Oz, will not be available until early next year. The reason being that we're still awaiting the rest of the illustrations. Shawn's been a busy guy, and given our arrangements, other projects he's been tied to have taken dominance.

Even if Shawn got the remaining illustrations to me right now, we'd still need to layout the book. I've already decided I want a classic Oz book layout to it.

Don't think I've been slacking on the writing. The book has been written since June. I have revised the introduction and gone back through and fixed a few errors here and there, as well as added a dedication and acknowledgements.

I could release it text-only or with the illustrations we have so far, but a few chapters would be completely without illustration.

Shawn isn't the only artist on the book, though. An additional artist did a table of contents and chapter heading image for the book.

That's just a sample. Not saying who that is, though.

The irritating part is that I know people want to read my story, and I want to get it out to them. And yes, I do plan on sending out some review copies. (My budget restricts me from just handing them out, though.) Not to be self-laudatory, but I think it's a good story. (Of course, that's obvious, I wouldn't knowingly release a bad story, especially for sale.)

It's an awful thing, sitting on a good story like this...

December Edith Van Dyne Update

2011-12-10T20:39:00.001-06:00

Well, here's my collection so far. All but Millville are Reilly & Britton, while that one is an early Reilly & Lee. I know Red Cross is a first, and it has the dustjacket, and Uncle John may be a first, as it only lists all books in the series up to it.

Hope to complete my set early next year, and then on to the Mary Louise books.

Where's the late Reilly & Lee Aunt Jane's Nieces? I still have it, but I'm offering it for sale or trade now.

Now where's my Oz comics???

Interview with Hugh Gross, director of 'After the Wizard'

2011-12-09T14:31:00.016-06:00

Earlier this week, I got the opportunity to interview Hugh Gross, the director and writer of the indie film 'After the Wizard', which premiered in Kingman, Kansas on July 2nd. 'After the Wizard' is a modern sequel to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and tells the story of a young Kansas girl named Elizabeth, played by Jordan Van Vranken.

Could you tell us a little bit about how the movie came about, and what the premise of the movie is?

I had a vision some years ago about the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman coming to Kansas to find Dorothy. It was very sketchy and I didn't do much about it until six or seven years ago when I wrote “After The Wizard” as a children’s book. I’m a published novelist and playwright and I did have an agent, but we were unable to interest a publisher. In 2009, while a play I wrote called “Stated Income” had a production at a small theater in Hollywood, I started thinking about other projects I could adapt for the theater. I tried to adapt an unpublished novel I’d written about a professional poker player, which didn't work well on the stage, and I tried “After The Wizard,” which did. However, the challenges involved with a 12-year-old lead, dog, balloon launch and tornado were overwhelming. I had previously worked in video production and post-production so I was somewhat aware of recent advances in camera technology and editing software. It made much more sense to proceed as a film than as a stage play. I adapted the work as a screenplay and was able to secure financing.

Did you take any inspiration from the 14 Oz books by L. Frank Baum, or did you mostly rely on the 1939 movie and your own ideas?

Everything in “After The Wizard” is drawn from the original books by L. Frank Baum, which are in the public domain, or original to our movie. We were very conscious on all fronts – story, dialogue, design, music, etc. – not even to wink at the 1939 movie or any of the other later adapted works such as “The Wiz” and “Wicked” which are not in the public domain and to which we do not have rights. That is why, for example, you will not find ruby slippers or even a spoken reference to ruby slippers in “After The Wizard.”

Last we heard, distribution was being worked on by the production. What are the current distribution plans or hopes? Any idea when we'll be able to see the movie?

Producer’s rep Ronna Wallace of Eastgate Films just signed to represent the film. Ronna has placed many significant independent films. This is a great development for “After The Wizard” and I’m very optimistic. With just a little luck the movie should be available for viewing in 2012.

How was the general reaction from the audience at the premiere screenings in Kingman, Kansas over the summer?

The response was overwhelmingly positive. We had more than two hundred volunteers from Kingman who participated as extras or behind the scenes in the movie so perhaps it wasn’t an entirely objective audience. Still, we had coverage from Wichita network affiliates of CBS, NBC and ABC. An article that appeared in the Hutchinson Times (we also filmed in Hutchinson) was picked up by Associated Press and ran as far away as The India Times. As you know there is an incredibly deep affection for the original story and characters. In addition, “After The Wizard” is a true family film, which seems to come as a relief and broadens its appeal. Audience members particularly seem to enjoy a sense of having the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman visit America.

How was your overall experience working on the film? Did the cast and crew get a long when the cameras weren't rolling?

Working on “After The Wizard” was immensely satisfying. There were deep friendships made through production and post. At the same time, and speaking honestly, I don’t think there’s ever been an independent film in the history of the world where everyone got along at all times. We filmed in six states. Our schedule was brutal. Definitely, there were some tensions among the crew. Without question it was a very talented group that came together to make the movie and I trust now that we’re done everyone will take great satisfaction in what we've been able to accomplish.

Why do you think Oz fans should check out this movie in particular?

“After The Wizard” is not only a take-off and/or adaptation involving the original characters, it’s about what the original story and characters mean to those who love them. The movie is therefore a little unusual even in the Oz-inspired universe, heartwarming and hopefully inspiring to all.

Thanks to Hugh for doing the interview! Looking forward to seeing this movie. Let us know what you think of the movie in the comments below!

My Early Years in Oz

2011-12-08T22:14:00.001-06:00

And we all wonder, "What happened?"

I was introduced to Oz at a young age when I saw the MGM musical The Wizard of Oz on television. To this day, I have a love of fiction, be it literature or film, that's either fantasy, grittily realistic, surreal, or just plain weird. So it was no wonder that Oz caught my eye.

To be sure, I can't honestly remember too much about the film after I first saw it. The image that stuck with me the most was Dorothy and her friends venturing into the Witch's forest. Not Munchkinland, not the Emerald City, not the poppy field, not the yellow brick road, not even the Witch herself or the Flying Monkeys. It was a little girl, three strange looking companions, and a dog going somewhere dangerous and spooky. (I also love stories that scare the heck out of me with something besides gore.)

We lived in a little house that was across the street from an elementary school. We had a big back yard with two big trees and a garage my dad kept his stuff in, aside from our lawnmower, bicycles, and the garden hose. (It was more like an oversized shed with a dirt floor.) Even though our parents objected, we'd often look through dad's boxes. They contained many, many books and comics. I'd learned to read during the first grade, and over the summer developed it independently. And two things that really helped were a few things I'd fished out of the garage.

I wasn't sure what the story in these books was, but I could see they had the word OZ in them in big letters. Looking at the title a bit harder, I could make it out better: Return to Oz. There was a coloring book and a comic book. Later, I found a copy of Return to Oz: Dorothy in the Ornament Rooms in the back of our van. These were lots of fun to look through.

At some point, our school showed us Dorothy in the Land of Oz and MGM's The Wizard of Oz. I looked in the school library to see if there was a Wizard of Oz book. It was years before I realized which edition I was holding. It was a long book with lots of odd-looking pictures of little people all in black and white. The front cover showed the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman carrying Dorothy through the Poppy Field, while the Cowardly Lion wiped a tear from his eye with his tail on the back. I know now that it was a "white edition," with illustrations by Denslow with a lot of art adaptation work done by Dick Martin.

One day, my grandfather had my dad and my brother and I over as he was moving and he was turning some more of dad's things over to him. I recall one book as it was packed up: a Grosset and Dunlap Illustrated Junior Library edition of The Wizard of Oz. I looked at it all the way home. Sometime later, I fished it out of the garage. After looking at Evelyn Copleman's lovely MGM-influenced art, I eventually put it away.

One day, we were at the library and my dad asked if there was a video I'd like to check out. Well, I hadn't seen the MGM film for a year or so, so I asked for The Wizard of Oz. When we told the librarian, we were presented with a videocassette in a plain black clamshell. I was so excited and clutched it tightly until we got home. Then, I opened it eagerly.

Imagine my dismay when my brother read what was written on the videocassette: Installing Kitchen Cupboards And Cabinets. The next week, we returned it and informed the librarian of the mistake. We placed a hold on the tape and it eventually came in. There was no mistaking this one: there was Margaret Hamilton, all in her green wickedness, with a flying monkey and her crystal ball.

We were going to watch it one Saturday afternoon, but we got to Munchkinland and suddenly, the VCR broke. After we established it'd be awhile before we could fix or replace it, I was a little disappointed. Going to my room, I looked through my books and found dad's copy of the book. I opened the book and went to the first page. I'd already read The House at Pooh Corner, so I felt sure I could do this.

"Dorothy lived in the midst of the great Kansas praries..."

I recall it took me awhile to get through the book. But I finished it during the Thanksgiving drive to our grandparent's house in the country. Shortly after, my dad spent a dollar at Wal-Mart for Aerie paperback editions of Ozma of Oz and The Lost Princess of Oz. I ate up Ozma, but I didn't read Lost Princess for a long time. My mom was impressed as she read Ozma afterward and placed it at a 7th grade reading level. (I'm not sure if that's accurate...)

Starting with third grade, my mother decided she'd homeschool me along with my brothers. (She felt my oldest brother wasn't being educated properly.) One day, she took us to the library during the afternoon, and I wanted to see if the library had any other Oz books. Mom found me the second Oz book, which was a Del Rey copy of The Land of Oz, and a copy of Who's Who in Oz. (Yes, it was the late 1980s reprint.)

I recall reading The Land of Oz with a flashlight at night, and skipping the chapter "The Tin Woodman Picks A Rose" because it didn't sound interesting enough. I later discovered what a great mistake that was... (Thanks, Flo Gibson!)

My Oz collection wasn't big or notable. It was supplemented one Christmas with a big box of Aerie paperbacks: The Land of Oz, Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, The Road to Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, and Rinkitink in Oz. (To date, I have been unable to discover if any other books were issued in these editions, aside from Wizard.) I read these, supplemented by Del Rey editions of The Patchwork Girl of Oz (which I took with me to my grandparents where I stayed for a few days in the summer one year), The Scarecrow of Oz, and The Tin Woodman of Oz, thanks to the library. Later, I got library editions of Mister Tinker in Oz and Dorothy and Old King Crow from library book sales, as well as Return to Oz: Dorothy Returns to Oz.

My dad turned a copy of the Classics Illustrated Junior Wizard of Oz over to my collection, and I collected a lot clippings and a read along book and tape by Disney of the first Oz story.

I drew lots of Oz pictures, even in my Aerie editions, since they didn't have interior illustrations. One Sunday afternoon, my dad and I took a huge piece of butcher paper and drew a scene on the yellow brick road. There was a big gap in the road, just like in the book. I vividly remember my dad's Cowardly Lion, chewing his claws nervously as the group pondered how they'd get across. The Emerald City was in the background. (Don't ask.) The Wicked Witch was flying on her broomstick, the Wizard was in his balloon, and Glinda was ... also in a balloon. (It was more fun than a bubble.)

My dad later found a paperback Ozma of Oz and gave it to me. It was by either Rand McNally or Scholastic, and was similar to the white editions. I remember being struck at how different Dorothy looked. When I'd seen her on the cover of a Books of Wonder Ozma at the library before, I'd thought the girl on the front was Ozma.

I got a pen pal who also read the Oz books, and one day, while looking for later Oz books at the library, I met an older girl who also read them. I wish I knew who these people were now. These were the only fellow Oz fans I knew of.

My dad also turned up Eric Shanower's The Secret Island of Oz and The Ice King of Oz at the library, and I eagerly read these and The Blue Witch of Oz, which I found later. I also recall looking for pictures in the library's copy of The Making of the Wizard of Oz.

I made Oz clothespin dolls and one year, my mom made my birthday cake with pale green icing with a castle and a road leading to it outlined in chocolate chips. (It didn't taste that good, but I didn't mind too much.) We visited Kansas once, and I found some Oz-themed postcards that I was allowed to get. Every time I saw something that was Oz, I was thrilled.

I would love to say my love for Oz continued throughout my childhood and I found the rest of the Baum books and eagerly read them and the others in the Famous Forty, discovered the International Wizard of Oz Club and joined at a young age. And I'd love to say that Oz instilled in me a great love of literature and I read lots of books, not just Oz.

Sadly, none of that would be true. A lot of Oz fans say they leave Oz behind when they got older and returned to it later. You could say that happened, but the truth was, my Oz love was cut short before I was 11. And not by my choice, though I did consent, believing a certain person knew better than me at the time.

At age 40, my mother became very religious. And one day, I guess she felt "convicted" about my love of Oz, and told me she didn't want me to have anything more to do with witchcraft, which she felt was the main theme of Oz. Like I said, I thought she knew best, and so my entire Oz collection went into the garbage. (My dad wasn't thrilled about it.)

What mom failed to notice is that my interest in reading waned after Oz was disposed of. The only book I can really recall reading thoroughly and enjoying during those years was The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. I felt like I was a lazy reader. Probably the more likely reason was that anything that really, really interested me, I was forbidden to enjoy. I checked out an audiobook of The Hobbit from the library and, when attempting a second listen-through, I was told to shut it off by my mother because she heard something about a necromancer. When I attempted readings of Alice in Wonderland, I was told I shouldn't spend too much time on nonsense.

I think the best example of the results of this is when I was told to read Shakespeare and literally fell asleep on the first page.

I firmly believe that children should be allowed to read books they enjoy. As they do this, their interests grow, and they try reading more things. The more varied their reading, the bigger a vocabulary they will have, and they will notice how to write properly as they read. Instilling the thought that some literature is dangerous at such an impressionable age is much more dangerous than a book could ever be.

By some lucky happenstance, I had second thoughts about Oz years later when I saw the MGM Wizard of Oz at a youth center I visited regularly. This wasn't a story about witchcraft. It was a story about friendship and love for your family. Good versus evil! What was so wrong about Oz after all? Nothing I could see.

Thanks to the library (libraries are awesome), I sneaked in Oz books. Eventually, mom found out. She appeared okay with it at first, but there were times when she would lecture and even yell at me about it. One time, she even attempted to pray it away. But I'd made up my mind. The enjoyment I was getting from Oz was much better than those years of lazy reading where I found little to interest me except sneakily read comic books from dad's collection. (Yes, she disapproved of these, too.)

I found out a lot more about Oz thanks to the internet and read some of Baum's non-Oz work by downloading it online at the library on a floppy disk and reading it at home on our Windows 3.1 computer. ("In 2000?" We were really late-bloomers in the computer age.) I started collecting Oz frequently and joined the International Wizard of Oz Club after I began working a job in 2004, right after I'd passed the GED test and turned 18. After I turned 20, my sister and I moved out into our own apartment partly because mom and dad were moving, too, and partly because we just didn't want to live with mom anymore. (They'd actually lost our childhood home by defaulting on our mortage, which they'd gotten because mom wanted new windows.)

Many items from my original Oz collection have since been replaced, either by better editions, similar editions, or the same editions. Of course, my Oz collection now overflows from a bookshelf. I have three big plastic tubs full of The Baum Bugle, Oziana, and various Oz comics and other publications. I have another tub I've devoted to more Oz books. Hopefully I can move to a larger home in the near future where I can let my Oz collection be displayed more properly.

And that's my story.

Sweet Wishes and Pegasus

2011-12-05T23:16:00.001-06:00

Sweet Wishes from Oz, by Marin Elizabeth Xiques - As might be expected from the title, the book is a bit saccharine, but still a fun read. It involves Wintergreen, a candy-making elf who works at the North Pole, opening a candy store in the Emerald City in order to gain inspiration. Meanwhile, a boy named Andy tries to perform an elf's work at Santa Claus's workshop. A major plot point involves Andy's parents, who, after an unfortunate accident involving bags of chocolate coins, no longer enjoy the holidays and instead just go through the motions in order to impress the neighbors. The reference to people who have traded in the holiday spirit for commercialism and making a show is obvious, but I think the story gets a little un-Ozzy in order to make its point. I can't really buy that Oz has camcorders, especially when it apparently still doesn't have television. Oh, well.

Pegasus in Oz, by Annie Brzozowski - The author was quite young when she wrote this, and as it doesn't appear that Chris Dulabone generally does all that much in the way of editing, it shows. The thing is, the plot is actually pretty good, and there are a lot of ideas that have potential. It's just that they're never fully developed, and the dialogue is rather stilted. Mind you, I commend anyone who can get a book they wrote as a kid published, even if it's by a small non-profit organization. I feel, however, that it could benefit from a good rewrite. The story involves several Ozites journeying to Ev to save the last remaining pegasus from a ravenous cyclops, and there are some interesting twists at the end.

Santa Claus: Baum vs. Everyone Else

2011-12-04T00:22:00.000-06:00

Santa Claus has many forms all over the world, but the most popular version is how he's evolved in the United States. Our version is an amalgamation of many worldwide traditions. The popular image of Santa Claus was established by the end of the 19th Century, mainly by Clement C. Moore's famous poem, "The Night Before Christmas" and the the drawings of Thomas Nast.

America's Santa Claus lives in the North Pole where he spends the year making toys for good children, assisted by Elves (normally depicted as brownie-type beings) and, sometimes, Mrs. Claus. Every year on Christmas Eve, Santa visits the homes of children to deliver gifts. Some maintain that Santa keeps track of which children have been good and which ones have not, these traditions being that only good children get toys while bad children get coal, switches for their parents to spank them with, or nothing. Santa makes his visits by night, carried by eight reindeer (or nine, for those who add Rudolph) on an airborne sleigh.

Santa Claus normally wears red and is a chubby fellow (some depict him as stocky built, some make him obese), and makes his entrance in people's homes by descending through chimneys.

It seems that one Lyman Frank Baum didn't go for this. Baum never had that Santa in his fantasies. The first time Baum wrote about Santa Claus was in the story "Little Bun Rabbit," the last entry in Mother Goose in Prose, his first published children's book.

I described the story in full on this blog two years ago. In it, no mention is made of Santa neglecting naughty children. Santa lives in a castle on a hill with Mother Hubbard, his only assistant. As the rabbit in the story says he can run home from Santa's workshop, it appears Santa lives somewhere in America. In fact, only ground travel is implied.

Later, Baum gave Santa Claus a complete overhaul in The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus, quite possibly one of the oddest fantasies he ever penned. Most of his fantasies were linear stories, while Santa Claus is a history with many sections told in detail, which is unusual for a biography.

I've blogged about the book many times in the past, but I'll sum it up here. The book features Immortal beings, one of whom is Ak, the Master Woodsman of the World, who finds an abandoned baby on the outskirts of the Forest of Burzee. The child is raised by a wood-nymph and is named Claus, and later, he is taken by Ak to see the sufferings of his fellow humans. Feeling compassion for children, Claus determines to bring joy to their lives while he can, becoming a friend to all the children he meets.

Claus goes to live in Laughing Valley, where the Immortals build him a home. He visits children until winter, when the weather forces him to stay home. He makes his first toy, a wooden image of a cat and soon realizes that children like these to play with and begins making many more to give away.

One winter night, two reindeer offer to help Claus deliver toys by pulling a sledge he quickly fashions. It is at this time he begins his nocturnal visits and going down chimneys and leaving toys in stockings to save time. He is allowed to use ten reindeer to make an annual visit to children, assisted in making toys by ryls and knooks, fairies of nature that Baum created. For his visits, Claus is called a saint, which, over time, turned into "Santa Claus."

One little bit flies in the face of an established Santa Claus tradition:

...when a child was naughty or disobedient, its mother would say:

"You must pray to the good Santa Claus for forgiveness. He does not like naughty children, and, unless you repent, he will bring you no more pretty toys."

But Santa Claus himself would not have approved this speech. He brought toys to the children because they were little and helpless, and because he loved them. He knew that the best of children were sometimes naughty, and that the naughty ones were often good. It is the way with children, the world over, and he would not have changed their natures had he possessed the power to do so.

Baum himself did not approve of punishing children severely, believing that kindness was a more powerful alternative. One of Baum's sons reported that his mother had made his father spank him as a punishment, but Baum was troubled at this and later apologized to his son and vowed never to spank any of the boys again, a vow he kept. Thus, Baum's dismissal of the rule that "naughty children don't get toys" makes sense for his outlook on life.

Later, when Santa Claus is about to die, the Immortals quickly meet and vote to extend his life indefinitely by giving him the Mantle of Immortality. The biography ends with an explanation of Santa Claus' deputies among the Immortals and even parents.

Surprisingly, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus has proved popular, especially in adaptation. (Having uploaded clips from the most prominent adaptations to YouTube, I've noted they have received many fond comments.) However, Baum's Santa Claus—which dismissed Mrs. Claus, Elves, the North Pole, and the rule of only eight reindeer—has yet to become the more popular version. Perhaps the appeal of the story is how simply novel it is to have a Santa Claus that still delivers toys in a reindeer-pulled sleigh on Christmas but yet shares no connection to any other version.

For me, I simply love that Baum gave Claus a background. Some criticize his Santa for having no defining character traits, but that's to be expected given that he's raised in Burzee, which is more or less a fantasy Garden of Eden. He had no evil influences in his life so that when he did come across them, he could resist them easily. It actually makes sense for his character.

Anyway, if you're an Oz fan, Laughing Valley is right beyond the Deadly Desert. In fact, Baum's Santa Claus visits the Emerald City in The Road to Oz with some ryls and knooks. So we know Baum's Santa Claus has to be real. Are we going to say Ozma isn't real either?

Santa Claus in Oz

Congratulations to Mike Conway!

2011-12-01T08:37:00.000-06:00

Congratulations to Mike Conway, who won NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) with his novel Passion Fire of Oz. And yes, he intends to publish it.

Mike is one of the writers here at the Royal Blog of Oz and has narrated most of our story podcasts. He is also working on Heroes of Oz, his own Oz-based RPG system.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: Dorothy's Christmas Tree

2011-12-01T00:07:00.000-06:00

Mike Conway, Zach Allen, Doug Wall, Miriam Goldman, and Peter Heimsoth perform W.W. Denslow's "Dorothy's Christmas Tree" from "Denslow's Scarecrow and Tinman."

As always, you can listen at the podcast site or use the player below.

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Aunt Jane's Nieces Collection Update!

2011-11-30T18:48:00.000-06:00

So, how's that Edith Van Dyne collection coming? Ummm...

Nicely.

Up above are the first four books in the Aunt Jane's Nieces series. The first book and Abroad are Reilly & Lee editions. (And for those who don't know, Reilly & Britton changed their name to Reilly & Lee in 1919, meaning these are later editions.) Abroad has the standard features that the earlier ones did, the frontispiece matched the story and the cover still has the pictoral design. I'm completely satisfied with it.

Aunt Jane's Nieces, however, is one of the late Reilly & Lee editions. The pictoral cover design has been dropped, and instead of this frontispiece...

...this one appears.

Which doesn't match the story at all. It's actually from Aunt Jane's Nieces on the Ranch. And is it just me, or do those two guys back there look like they're about to have a passionate moment? At the last Winkie auction, while displaying an Aunt Jane's Nieces book, auctioneer Bill Thompson pointed out the simple cover design and incorrect frontispiece, explaining that in the series' later years, the publisher wasn't so particular. (See? You can learn so much at Winkies, even at the auction!) So, a frontispiece that didn't match the text is a common feature in late edition AJN books. In fact, I think other publishers wound up doing it with other series books.

Back to looking for one that will match the rest. (I consider my dustjacket Red Cross 1915 a very lucky find.) I was informed the first edition had six illustrations, including the frontispiece. I'd LOVE to find one of these, but it might be out of my price range (and where I've been looking, difficult to find), so I'll settle for one with the pictoral cover and original frontispiece.

Oh, and I'll have to find a 1918 or after Red Cross as well... And no, I haven't forgotten the Mary Louise books, but it's not like I can buy all the Oz stuff I want when I want. Anyway, if I could, I'd deplete my wishlist too fast and have nothing to look for.

The Wonderland of Oz

2011-11-30T15:14:00.001-06:00

In 1932, Reilly & Lee attempted a new Oz publicity stunt: a comic strip. The Wonderland of Oz was serialized in newspapers through 1932 and 1933 and Reilly and Lee even offered a collector's album for children to put the comic strip. (If anyone has one of these albums, I'd love to see a photo of it.)

Now, these were not comic strips as we know them today, but pictures that told the story with text underneath. Here's an example:

You might note that it says "Based on the stories by L. Frank Baum and Ruth Plumly Thompson." Apparently there were some lofty plans for this series. However, these strips only adapted The Marvelous Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, The Emerald City of Oz, The Patchwork Girl of Oz and Tik-Tok of Oz. Walt Spouse did the artwork, modelling his designs very much on the illustrations of John R. Neill. It's unclear if he wrote the text himself or if a staff writer did so. As it is, there are some changes that were made to the stories that required new text not found in Baum.

After the series' end, some comics were reprinted in comic magazines like "The Funnies." This time, word balloons with newly written dialogue were sloppily added to the artwork. Example:

And aside from some mentions in The Baum Bugle, the strip languished in obscurity for years until Hungry Tiger Press' first issue of Oz-Story Magazine in 1995. That volume presented a new version the first half of Walt Spouse's The Land of Oz, this time presented as a regular comic. Each panel was carefully redone by Eric Shanower, sometimes adding extra bits of art and writing in new dialogue based closely on Baum's text. Word balloons were carefully placed so as not to interfere with Spouse's original art, which was treated as the actual star of the presentation.

In the remaining five annual issues of Oz-Story Magazine, the rest of The Land of Oz, Ozma of Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz were serialized with identical treatment. The final issue announced the remaining stories would be presented in a collected edition of the entire series. Such a volume, however, has yet to emerge. (I think a contributing factor to this is that the guy who did the new adaptation and art restoration is extremely busy with things like Age of Bronze and now adapting the Oz books for a different comic series...)

In 2007, all three completed stories were released in single graphic novel formats with newly colored attractive covers. Since I'd already bought a complete set of Oz-Story Magazine, my interest wasn't too high since I didn't want a lot of duplicates of the same content in my collection, but I eventually picked them up at the Winkie Convention this year. (That anti-duplicate rule, I've given up on.)

Or maybe I'm a sucker for colorful Ozzy covers...

The stories are very faithfully based on Baum and would likely be a nice gift for children who've only begun to read. For experienced Baum and Neill fans, little is offered aside from the few changes (in these three) in the story and scenes that Neill never drew. As a bit of Oz history and quality comics, they're worth it. The Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz contain examples of previous incarnations of the comic strip.

Now, about these changes and things that Neill didn't draw? Well, there's additional moments from the stories that Neill didn't draw, but as Spouse retold the story through drawings, these show up. I'll only mention the most notable below.

The Land of Oz

Tip attempts to flee Mombi's house when she tells him she'll transform him into a marble statue. (Then why didn't she lock the door?)
The home of the Queen of the Field Mice is shown.
All of Mombi's transformations are illustrated.

Ozma of Oz

No real story changes, but we get a comical drawing of the Sawhorse kicking the Nome King!

The Emerald City of Oz

The Shaggy Man does not exist in this version of Oz, so all of his scenes that really bear on the story are given to Uncle Henry or the Wizard.
The trouble with the bank is made clear not through prose but by a visit by a man from the bank.
Toto eats an elocution pill and sings from "The Barber of Seville"
Unlike Neill's illustrations, we get to see the Phanfasms in their true forms.
The creation of the barrier of invisibility is omitted. Shanower's text accompanying the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Jack Pumpkinhead walking home says, "Come see us soon, for we shall not have any more adventures for awhile." (Come on, Scarecrow, you live in the Land of Oz.)

So, would I recommend buying The Wonderland of Oz? Yes. It's an important part of Oz comics history and Oz art. In addition, if you read them alongside the new Marvel comics, it's fun to see Shanower's different adaptations of Baum's text in The Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. And with Christmas coming up, if you have a kid on your Christmas shopping list who you'd like to introduce to Baum's Oz beyond The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, these would make a nice introduction! And they're not badly priced at $10 each.

You can order the graphic novel collections from Hungry Tiger Press with the links below:
The Land of Oz
Ozma of Oz
The Emerald City of Oz

Here's hoping we might finally get to see Spouse's The Patchwork Girl of Oz and Tik-Tok of Oz!

All images are from the Hungry Tiger Press editions of The Wonderland of Oz. Copyright Hungry Tiger Press.

Nuts!

2011-11-30T03:42:00.001-06:00

If you've been enjoying my blogs about Oz books, movies, etc. here at the Royal Blog of Oz, I've got something on my non-Oz blog that may interest you.

It's no secret that Oz is considered the first American fairyland, but of course there were fantasy stories that featured children visiting magical lands that preceded it. Right off, Alice in Wonderland. But there was a little German fantasy story in 1816 that was largely neglected until the late 19th century when it was made into a ballet. I'm speaking, of course, of E.T.A. Hoffman's The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

Frankly, I've loved this story since I was a kid, and this year, prepared 18 blogs about various incarnations of the story throughout the years. They'll appear daily, early in the morning, Central Standard Time. And since they've been written early and will appear automatically, they won't take me away from writing for the Royal Blog of Oz at all.

If you're interested, go on over to my non-Oz blog and check them out, starting December 1st. There'll be a final blog on the 19th.

(Maybe next year I'll tackle another Christmas story that's been retold many ways...)

Mister Tinker in Oz - Sam's Retrospective

2011-11-28T21:13:00.003-06:00

Two months ago Jared made a review about the Random House Oz Short Story "Mister Tinker in Oz" by James Howe, illustrated by David Rose. You can see his review of half the book here.

As Jared said before I have this book in my collection and would like to offer my perspective.

Everybody knew the story of "the Wizard of Oz", or at least knew the LOOK of the story (a girl, a dog, a Scarecrow, a tin man with an axe, a lion, all walking together down a road of yellow bricks, usually to or away from a city of emeralds). Of course we had the Ladybird story as an abridgement too (illustrated by Brian Price Thomas) at my primary school library, Daceyville, but surprisingly we also had a copy of this blog's book, the cover () of which has always stayed with me since, including some of its illustrations. Not everyday that you have an abridged Oz book that's by an author NOT Baum, Thompson, etc!

I was too young to really read the book, so like all little children I just looked through the book unless I saw a picture, which there is a good number of - but you can never have enough or too many pictures as a kid!

For many years I remembered a few of the images from the book: the colour cover having a girl with her long hair in braids standing at a fence as she watched a man in a black cloak coming down a ladder from the clouds/sky, Dorothy sitting with a group of babies surrounded by giant ants, Dorothy and the babies now with the man, Dorothy looking at a clock the man showed her in his hand and finally Dorothy resting in an armchair with Toto (and a book?) in front of a fireplace.

Only once did I go on the internet, find "the Oz Project" and come across the interesting title did I find the book I remembered only through pictures and not words. It would not be until July-August 2006 that I ordered the book, not from ebay, but an online secondhand-bookstore called BiblioQuest.

I loved the book soon as I got it. And, as is often the case with memories and time, I saw how the drawings were slightly different to what I imagined: Dorothy's hair wasn't as long as I thought it was, nor did Mister Tinker look like a Clown in a black cloak. And of course now that I had grown up, I could actually read the book and remember the story - there is also an extra character, an old lady named Astoria who I thought looked like the Good Witch of the North in her one illustration (before actually reading this time), who helps add to the story.

I don't need to tell you what happens as that was already explained in Jared's blog, but I can say how the best thing about this book is that there is adventure not just in getting to Oz but also after having arrived in the Emerald City. Most importantly Dorothy helps Mr Tinker to find there was nothing wrong with him throughout the story after all. A big cliche is the asking of "Will Dorothy get home again?" or "Will everything be alright?" and that is actually addressed here, in which the Emerald City ISN'T "alright" upon visiting, so that allows the story to go on a bit longer with Dorothy and Mr Tinker and their friends all helping Oz to become normal again.

A GOOD Short Oz story, with sketchy illustrations but still some nice drawings nonetheless, which brings a backstory character to the spotlight (Tik-Tok's creator) in a simple yet extremely fun adventure in Oz. I should like to see this book as a short film someday, if possible. And maybe try some new illustrations too.

I wonder though, if L. Frank Baum had remembered Tik-Tok's story of his creators back in "Ozma", would he have thought of a way to include the 1000 year warranty and its moon-based creator in "Tik-Tok", in the rewrite of the Ozma Musical?

Royal Explorers of Oz

2011-11-24T00:26:00.000-06:00

Announcing Royal Explorers of Oz, a trilogy combining elements from the works of L. Frank Baum and the fantasies of Ruth Plumly Thompson.

Prince Bobo of Boboland is on a mighty quest: to unify the Nonestic nations against such threats as the Phanfasms and the Mimics! But with his ego, can he successfully carry it out?

Captain Salt is exploring the Nonestic Ocean once more with his faithful crew, Ato, Tandy, Roger the Read Bird, and Nikobo the hippopotamus. They soon gain a few extra members for their crew in Arko and Orpa the mer-folk couple, and Sally the Sea Fairy.

Little do any of them realize that they are setting out for an adventure that will change all of them forever.

ROYAL EXPLORERS OF OZ

The Voyage of the Crescent Moon

by Marcus Mebes, Jeff Rester, and Jared Davis

Illustrations by Alejandro Garcia and John Troutman

Coming early 2012

To be followed by

Crescent Moon Over Tarara

The Scourge of the Crescent Moon

(And for anyone wondering, all three books have had their first drafts completed.)

The Royal Podcast of Oz: A Chat With Ruth Berman

2011-11-23T21:37:00.001-06:00

Jared talks with legendary Oz fan and International Wizard of Oz Club charter member Ruth Berman.

As always, you can download or listen at the podcast site or use the player below!

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Fun with Fairies

2011-11-22T00:40:00.001-06:00

The most popular conception of fairies is that of tiny people with wings, but not all fairy lore uses this idea. In fact, it appears to be a relatively recent development, with the more traditional take of fairies making them more like minor deities. They play such roles in many fairy tales, and L. Frank Baum adopted this general idea in his own books. Well, most of the time, anyway. His definition of the word "fairy" seems to vary considerably, sometimes even within the same volume. As I mentioned in this post, The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus makes Fairies specifically the guardians of mankind, but it's used elsewhere in Baum's work to refer to any and all immortal beings. Sometimes it's used even more broadly than that, which I think reflected popular usage at the time. Even today, the category we call "fairy tales" includes a great many works (perhaps the majority, in fact) that don't include fairies at all. Similarly, "fairyland" often just means "magical land," not specifically a place where actual fairies live. I believe the first reference to the Land of Oz as a fairyland or fairy country appears in Ozma of Oz, but he must have had it in mind before, as one of the proposed titles for the original The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was From Kansas to Fairyland. The name seems to primarily separate such lands from non-magical civilized countries like our own. In Emerald City, Baum writes, "Oz being a fairy country, the people were, of course, fairy people; but that does not mean that all of them were very unlike the people of our own world." And in Road, Dorothy refers to the Tin Woodman as "a fairy prince." Baum was obviously not above using the term loosely, as the Tin Woodman is certainly not an immortal with magic powers. Ozma is eventually revealed to be a full-fledged fairy, but we don't actually see hints of this until Emerald City, and she doesn't display any real magic powers until Lost Princess. Tin Woodman tells us that Oz was enchanted by a fairy queen named Lurline, but this happens so late in Baum's books that it seems to be almost an afterthought on his part, although later authors did more with this.

One interesting character to examine in this light is Glinda, who largely plays the role of the fairy godmother, but is not a fairy herself. Or is she? In Lost Princess, the Wizard of Oz says, "Ozma is a fairy, and so is Glinda, so no power can kill or destroy them, but you girls are all mortals and so are Button-Bright and I, so we must watch out for ourselves." And in Jack Snow's Shaggy Man, the King of the Fairy Beavers insists, "Glinda is a fairy just as Ozma is." He goes on to say that "fairies...are creatures of the light and air," even though this is hardly always the case. The Nomes, for instance, are considered rock fairies, and they live underground. Anyway, despite these statements, I think most of the evidence points to Glinda being a human who has achieved a lot of magical power, rather than a magical being in and of herself. That said, it's certainly not impossible that she has some fairy blood.

"The Origins of Oz" coming soon

2011-11-21T13:20:00.000-06:00

Jane Albright just announced on Facebook that the Smithsonian Channel will be airing "The Origins of Oz," the American version of the previously aired "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz: The True Story" in the UK.

Eric Shanower, who appears on the documentary, told me he's seen the American version and believes it's a different cut than the version that aired on BBC Four.

"Origins of Oz" airs on December 11th. Check the site for more details.

What I might be collecting next...

2011-11-18T00:25:00.000-06:00

I got this in the mail today.

It's a 1915 edition of Aunt Jane's Nieces in the Red Cross, with the dustjacket.

It's in really great shape, too. There's an inscription inside, but that's all the marking I've found so far.

Okay, there is annoyingly a sticker on the side of the dustjacket that I don't dare remove for fear of ruining the jacket. So I might as well tell you now that the seller I got it from had absolutely no idea what they selling. Their price for it was only $5.

Aunt Jane's Nieces was a series by "Edith Van Dyne." In the Red Cross was the last of the 10 volume series and was re-released in 1918 with a rewritten ending that more accurately depicted the effects of war.

The big secret of Edith Van Dyne was that she wasn't a she. It was, in fact, L. Frank Baum under a pseudonym. Those handy little things allowed Baum to branch out in his writing and write stories that were very different from his Oz books. While the late Jane Merrick's nieces might have found a benefactor in their Uncle John, he wasn't a fairy godfather.These stories were very much set in reality.

I'm now itching to pick up some more of the Aunt Jane's Nieces series as most of the "Edith Van Dyne" books are among the few Baum books I have left to get. (Also The Army Alphabet and The Art of Decorating Dry Goods Windows and Interiors.) I have the International Wizard of Oz Club's reprint of the first book in the series, but that's all. The other books have been reprinted as their texts came online as cheaply done (yet bogglingly-priced) print on demand editions, and I haven't felt them to be worth my money. (Until this, I was seriously considering making my own omnibus reprint.)

So, what will I pick up as I attempt to piece together a collection of Edith Van Dyne books? Stay tuned!

Weekly Update: R.I.P. Karl Slover

2011-11-17T18:41:00.009-06:00

As many of you surely know, one of the last surviving Munchkins passed away this week. Karl Slover, who just appeared at an Oz event a little over a week ago, died at age 93 on November 15th, 2011. There are now three surviving cast members from the 1939 movie, and they're all Munchkins. Check out these videos of Karl singing his famous acapella rendition of "Off to See the Wizard".

In other news, ABC aired a brand-new episode of "The Middle" that had an Oz theme to it. In the episode, a community theater performance of "The Wizard of Oz" is doing auditions, and there's some jealousy over who gets what part. It was a very funny episode, and the costumes and sets in the production that were shown actually looked awesome I must say! Read more about the episode here.

 Actress Michelle Williams talked to The Los Angeles Times in an interview earlier today about her daughter's visit to the set of "Oz, the Great and Powerful". Read what she had to say about the experience her daughter had on set here.

That's all for now. Have a great weekend!

Invisible Inzi of Oz

2011-11-15T21:33:00.001-06:00

Now that we looked at the latest Oz book, let's look at one of the first (if not THE first) published Oz stories outside of the Famous Forty: Invisible Inzi of Oz.

Virginia and Robert Wauchope were 13 (or 14) and 9 respectively when they wrote this Oz book. They claim it was dictated to them by a Ouija Board, but I have my questions about that. Furthermore, since the story reappeared in the 1980s, it's been claimed the story was dictated by L. Frank Baum's ghost. And at that, I have to really suspend disbelief.

Their mother Elizabeth typed the manuscript a few years later, editing it as she went. This was sent to Maud Baum herself, who suggested it be submitted to A Child's Garden magazine. A Child's Garden accepted it and serialized it, beginning in October 1926.

Later, Fred Meyer wrote to Robert, after a friend had uncovered the story in the Library of Congress. Shortly after, the story was published in the Winter 1980 and Summer 1981 Baum Bugle. (Why there was a Summer Bugle that year is a story all in itself.) In 1993, a book edition by Buckethead Enterprises of Oz appeared, illustrated by Eric Shanower. (Someday, I shall have to ask how he came to do it.)

The story opens with Betsy telling Dorothy that Glinda's Books of Magic are gone. Glinda asks Ozma to get a recovery party together which consists of the Wizard, Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and Scraps. After Musicton, Flattown, and a run-in with Kalidahs, they find the castle of Kuik Blackbab, who the Book of Records identified as the thief of Glinda's books. However, Kuik imprisons them. Ozma goes on a rescue mission herself (with a little long-distance aid from Glinda), but Dorothy's party finds another helping hand in a mysterious creature who remains invisible to them.

Overall, the story isn't too bad, but it's not very great, either. Not bad for a couple kids in the early 20th century, but there is definitely no mark of Baum. If a Ouija board did play a part in the writing, I'm sure its role was greatly expanded by the imagination of the kids telling about it later. After all, they did wait a few years in between writing and publication before their mother edited and typed it for them.

The major flaw is that Kuik gets no serious punishment. The Wizard steals the books back and Ozma warns that if Kuik does anymore magic, he'll be made to drink the Water of Oblivion. There's no real payoff to his villainy. Another is that the way the characters speak is a little stilted. It just sounds a little off.

The book is hard to find, adding some intrigue to the story, though I'm sure the Baum Bugles it was serialized in could be obtained with a bit of searching (I was able to get them just by looking on various book sale sites and asking around). I was amazed to find a copy on the Swap Meet Table at the Winkie Convention this year.

Eric Shanower's brilliant illustrations help the book look attractive. There are ten full page illustrations as well as the cover, and many little images of characters from the story, though most of them are of the classic Oz characters.

Aside from Shanower's illustrations and the history behind it, there isn't a lot to make me recommend Invisible Inzi of Oz above many other Oz books.

The Red Jinn in Oz

2011-11-14T18:30:00.001-06:00

The Red Jinn in Oz, by Mildred L. Palmer - I'd heard about this book, which was written some time ago, but I'm not sure exactly when. I think it might have been in the fifties or so. Anyway, it remained unpublished for years, but I did a Google search on a whim a week or so ago, and it's actually available as a free download on Lulu. The copyright date on it is 2007, but I don't know how long it's been up there. Oddly, it doesn't appear in Lulu searches, supposedly because it's not "interesting content." Wait, Lulu, who decides that? Anyway, this was a traditional and quite fun Oz story, largely following up on The Purple Prince of Oz. In that book, Faleero took over Pumperdink, and Ozma punished her by turning her into a raven. In this book, she seeks revenge by transforming Ozma and taking her place, while her cohorts take the forms of Glinda, the Wizard of Oz, and Jellia Jamb. It's sort of like Magical Mimics in this respect, but not enough to seem repetitive. Besides, I'm not sure when this was written relative to Magical Mimics. Unfortunately for Faleero, she has trouble controlling her temper, and Dorothy soon realizes something is amiss. She and the Cowardly Lion seek the help of the Red Jinn, and the three of them return to set things to rights, after a stop in the sky kingdom of Cumuland to restore the rightful ruler. Everyone is in character, and it very much feels like an old-school Oz book, particularly one of Ruth Plumly Thompson's (not surprisingly, since it follows up on one of her plots). The bit about Guph having conquered the Nome Kingdom from Kaliko was never really developed, but maybe that's something that can be expanded on in a future story.

An interesting thing about Red Jinn is that Dorothy and the Cowardly Lion use the Nome King's tunnel under the Deadly Desert to get from Oz to Ev. The tunnel was also used as a plot device in Shaggy Man, but I don't know that Palmer had read that one. Regardless, it seems like both of them missed a relevant passage from Chapter 29 of Emerald City: "That day she watched her Magic Picture, and when it showed her that all the Nomes had returned through the tunnel to their underground caverns, Ozma used the Magic Belt to close up the tunnel, so that the earth underneath the desert sands became as solid as it was before the Nomes began to dig." So why would it still be intact several decades later? One possibility is that something went wrong, and the tunnel was never sealed, except for the two ends. If we want to accept both this passage and the plots that involve the tunnel, however, there must have been some kind of restoration. One idea that comes to mind is the idea in the Discworld books that it's easier to magically change someone or something if they can remember having had that form before. In Witches Abroad, the witches turn Nanny Ogg's cat Greebo into a human, and although he's later changed back, we learn in later books that he can take human form on his own in certain situations. So if that sort of magic is possible in Oz and its surrounding fairylands, perhaps the tunnel could be restored without too much trouble because it can remember having been there before. Or perhaps it was some sort of regression magic, which is something I wrote about in a multi-authored story called "The Ruby Ring of Oz" on the old Oz Club forums. Someone else had brought the Shaggy Man's brother back to the Metal Forest, and I explained this by introducing a wizard who could cast spells to restore someone's state and location from an earlier time. Neither of these explanations has any real basis in what we know about Oz, but hey, they're always possible, right?

And we are live!

2011-11-14T00:32:00.000-06:00

And the new version of The Royal Website of Oz is live! If you were a user at the forum, then you already have an account.

So, what's new? Well, for one thing, you can log in and do stuff. You couldn't do that on any previous versions of the site. We merged the message board in (your bookmarks to it will still work, I was adamant we get that set up), and my concept of a fan fiction site has been implemented as the concept of a communal blog with tags. In addition, we have blogs and a chat box.

We were going to have image galleries or albums users could create, but all the modules we found caused problems with the rest of the site. Once we find something that will play nicely with others, we'll roll that out.

The library section has also not been launched, but it is underway.

The wiki is still online, unchanged. We were unable to find a way to link the site and wiki so you could use one login without making something not work. I had wanted that to be the case so users wouldn't feel they'd need to be bothered with a separate login to contribute information. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the two to link up and we also could not find an alternative.

Anyway, what's up is up. Enjoy!

http://dorothyandozma.com

Out of Oz

2011-11-12T22:09:00.001-06:00

Probably you know about Wicked by now. It all started in 1995 when novelist Gregory Maguire released Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. This book provided a bold new re-imagining of Oz as a darker and grittier and much less magical land. Cultural prejudice abounds, and the Wizard is far from Baum's warm and friendly Oscar Diggs. Enter Elphaba Thropp, the child of an affair, mysteriously born with green skin. She will later attend Shiz University with her sister Nessarose and Galinda Upland. Through their lives and endeavors, they wind up becoming the "Wicked Witch of the West," the "Wicked Witch of the East," and Glinda the Good.

Wicked met a mixed reception by Oz fans. Some loved it, some hated it. Others were indifferent. Later, the novel was loosely adapted into a very successful stage musical, and soon, Maguire brought out a sequel, Son of a Witch in 2005. The novel further explored this revisionist Oz after the events we know from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz through the eyes of Elphaba's illegitimate son, Liir. 2008 brought A Lion Among Men, in which Maguire offers the story of his Cowardly Lion, named Brr (after Bert Lahr).

The series got named The Wicked Years, and a fourth (and intended to be final) book was announced: Out of Oz. And it was released early this month.

Me, I didn't like Wicked, and it took some time before I decided to try Son of a Witch. For some reason, I liked it. However, I didn't find A Lion Among Men so interesting. So I was completely unsure of what I'd think of Out of Oz, which was the first Maguire book I bought new.

Munchkinland is at war with the other sections of Oz, "Loyal Oz" in Maguire's revisionist take, refusing to be under the government of Shell Thropp, the current Emperor in the Emerald City.

Lady Glinda (she's not big on doing magic) is under house arrest along with her staff, including a little girl named Rain. Rain becomes a point of attention for General Cherrystone, who begins to teach her how to read. Glinda is suspicious of his attention, and soon suspects he wants Rain to read the Grimmerie, which winds up in her care when they are allowed to see the Clock of the Time Dragon. Eventually, the pressure gets to be too much for Glinda, and when the Clock of the Time Dragon returns, she gives them the Grimmerie and turns Rain over to the company.

Rain gets the most attention in Out of Oz and it's soon no secret that she is Elphaba's granddaughter. She rejoins her parents, and even gets to attend school, where she begins to be enamored with a boy named Tip. (People who've read The Marvelous Land of Oz can guess that won't end well...)

Dorothy winds up back in Oz after an accident on a trip to California while she's in a lift with Toto. After she recovers, she is put on trial for the deaths of Nessarose and Elphaba by the Munchkinlanders, who are set on a guilty verdict and also execution to boost the public morale.

I guess my favorite character in The Wicked Years is Liir, since I was also pretty glad we got to follow him and his wife Candle for a bit.

Out of Oz moves along slowly, though there are signs that things are coming to a head. Maguire, however, isn't one to be fast-paced, and when something catastrophic does happen, he still takes his time.

Surprisingly, overall, I liked Out of Oz. It provides a relatively happy ending for a gritty, somber take on Oz. There are still some threads left hanging, but apparently, Maguire has elected to leave these that way.

Maguire also throws in some humor for Oz fans. Dorothy's trial was originally set to be in a place called "Densloe Den," but when they fear it will be too small for the expected crowd, they go to "Neale Hall." A few sly nods to other books in the Famous Forty creep in as well. There's also talk of people dressing up as Dorothy, such as entertainers and even male escorts who might pull it off so convincingly, they may be mistaken for her.

Would I recommend Out of Oz? It depends on you. If you've gotten through A Lion Among Men, definitely. If you decided you didn't like Wicked and wouldn't read anymore, then that book stands on its own well enough.

So, thanks for an intriguing take on Oz, Mr. Maguire. We'll see you again when Oz pulls you back.

(Almost) Weekly Update

2011-11-11T15:35:00.005-06:00

I didn't do an update last week, and I don't think I did one the week before either, so I decided that I was going to try to put one together for this week.

Our friends at "L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" have released some new footage as Jared mentioned in one of his blogs. They've also added new VFX test stills, among other things to their website. You can check out all of that good stuff and more on the official website.

Summertime Entertainment's 3D kid's flick "Dorothy of Oz" will be released in U.S. theaters on August 3rd, 2012, according to branding associate Travis Rutherford. "Dorothy of Oz" will compete with "The Bourne Legacy" and "Total Recall" at the box office during its opening weekend.

A few more stills from the yet to be released theatrical version of "The Witches of Oz", titled "Dorothy and the Witches of Oz", have been released on the film's official Twitter page. "Dorothy and the Witches of Oz" was completed over the summer over at Palace/Imaginarium, and a U.S. release date has not been announced.

Some pretty cool developments have been made in the super-secret project that I mentioned in my last update. Hopefully, we'll be able to make an announcement on that in the next few weeks. Wish I was allowed to say more!

The previously reported Bruce Campbell cameo in Disney's "Oz, the Great and Powerful" has been cut from the film, Campbell announced on Twitter earlier today. Read more about that here.

That's all for now. Hopefully Disney will release some stills or footage from "Oz, the Great and Powerful" soon! Enjoy your weekend and have a happy Veteran's Day.

Books of Wonder's Oz reprints

2011-11-10T20:29:00.003-06:00

If you've been reading David Maxine's Oz blog along with mine (and if you haven't, why not?), you'll see he and his partner Eric Shanower have stuck with the Bradford Exchange's editions of reprints of the Oz books. If you've read his blogs, you know why I say "reprint." (If only the Bradford Exchange would say that.)

Anyway, in the comments and even the blogs themselves, you might have noticed mentions of Books of Wonder's editions of the Oz books. Since these editions are still very much available, it might seem odd to talk about them, especially as most Oz fans own a set.

This series began in 1985 with a reprint of The Marvelous Land of Oz utilizing all the color plates of the original edition as well as reproductions of the original pages, changes being made to the copyright page, title page, and spine to indicate the actual publisher. William Morrow did the actual publishing of the book, putting a book just about every bit as handsome as the original edition out in the wide open book market.

Other changes were made as well. The original endpapers showed an image of the Woggle-Bug, Tip, and Jack Pumpkinhead cheering as the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman rode in a wagon being pulled by the Sawhorse, except instead of Neill artwork for the two in the wagon, photographs of Fred Stone and David Montgomery (who played them in the original Oz musical) in full costume were used instead. This also required a slight redesign of the title page, as the original mentioned the endpapers. In addition, a new dustjacket was designed.

Overall, fans were not fussed about these changes. Having such a high quality edition was enough. In 1987, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz appeared, also in a faithful reproduction of the first edition (with alterations for it being as different publisher) without any artwork dropped. (Rather than a photo-facsimile, it seems some color elements were re-done, however, the method of doing these was faithful to the original's design.)

From that time on to the year 2000, all fourteen of Baum's novels were treated to such editions. Also, Little Wizard Stories of Oz was reprinted. The Road to Oz was printed on colored paper, just like the original edition, though I've heard some say the coloring of the paper and the placement isn't exactly the same. In The Emerald City of Oz, the original color plates had been embellished with metallic green ink. Since this proved too costly for Books of Wonder to replicate, green ink with gold glitter was utilized instead.

Controversially, The Patchwork Girl of Oz saw a couple text edits and an illustration dropped in light of politically correct sensibilities. As the Books of Wonder editions were not actually facsimiles (though it seems their marketing people screwed up a bit), these changes can be overlooked, especially as other editions without the edits remain. However, no mention of the alteration is in the book. Eric Gjovaag goes into this controversy in greater detail in this online column.

Rinkitink in Oz also saw an illustration dropped, but this time, it was noted on the copyright page.

Because the Books of Wonder/William Morrow (now Harper Collins) editions have been going for over 25 years, there have been some changes. Early versions used textured boards to simulate the original cloth binding. At some point (possibly when Harper Collins took over), this was dropped and slick case-bound covers (with all the images in the appropriate colors) were used instead. (This change caused their Ozma of Oz to become thicker. I've seen both versions.)

It's also worth noting that the dustjackets were not always replicas of the originals. Now, they use a stylized design on the spine, and the original dustjacket designs of the first three books were not used at all. (Their edition of The Road to Oz was the first to use a gold background on the dustjacket image since the original editions. Reilly & Britton had dropped and changed it after a time.) In addition, Peter Glassman provided an afterword to all the books, except Tik-Tok of Oz where a small note appeared in the front matter. Also, listings of other Books of Wonder titles may be seen.

In 2000, along with Glinda of Oz's release, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was re-released by Book of Wonder and Harper Collins in a centennial edition, this time made taller to match the later Oz books as well as a new dustjacket design. This version also used a textured cover.

Overall, Books of Wonder did a wonderful job reprinting the Oz books. The text is still easy to read and the illustrations are printed clearly. To be sure, I recently scanned an image from one of their Marvelous Land color plates at a high dpi and zooming in, it quickly broke up into dots and pixels. Given the changes in printing technology (we still use three color printing, but our means of printing it have changed), this is understandable, and it looks just fine in print to the naked eye. (It might also be a way to prevent people from pirating their restoration work.)

If you're not interested in (or feel you could care for) a set of first or early edition Oz books, Books of Wonder is your best choice. Given the noted changes, though, there is yet a market for "exact replicas" of the original editions, but that void has yet to be filled.

Fairyland Indus Trees, Inc.

2011-11-08T13:28:00.000-06:00

I was wondering recently about how industry works in Oz. While I would imagine many functions are fulfilled by small businesses and magical trees, there is the occasional mention of a factory. The Scalwagons are produced in a factory that the Wizard of Oz set up on Carrot Mountain. There's a jam factory in the Hidden Valley in...well, The Hidden Valley of Oz. In Merry Go Round, Roundabout has factories that make round objects, which are always perfect and never wear out. They'll have no truck with planned obsolescence in that city. And in Yankee, the Kingdom of Wackajammy has several factories that produce baked goods. Note that these are all from the forties or afterwards, as if that was the point when writers could no longer imagine an Oz without a manufacturing industry. Did any factories appear in earlier Oz books? I know there's a mention of a pickle factory in Purple Prince, but we don't actually see such a place. Besides, I would imagine that pickles grow on trees in at least some parts of the fairyland. Anyway, there are some factories in outlying parts of Oz, but does the Emerald City have any? I would guess offhand that it doesn't. Even though Ozian factories might well not pollute as much as their Outside World counterparts, they'd probably still be rather distracting to find in an idyllic city. But what about a power station or a waterworks? I mean, the city has to get these utilities from somewhere, right? Or does some sort of magic take care of all that? It's an interesting thing to think about, and maybe something that should be addressed in a future Oz story. Actually, my wife, who sometimes likes to come up with weird hypothetical titles, once proposed "Terry Carruthers and the Water Filtration System of Oz." Not sure where she got "Terry Carruthers," but apparently there's a boxer with that name.

And since I'm writing about industries in the Oz books, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention the Indus Tree in Down Town, a community beneath the surface of the Land of Ev visited in Hungry Tiger. Down Town is positively obsessed with money, and the Indus Tree is an enormous plant that grows in the public square, where people can pick various objections for their professions. Carter Green picks a wheelbarrow from this tree, and Prince Evered a sword. I suppose the profession for which you'd need a sword is a soldier, but I don't know that Down Town has a military force. If we could only grow trees like this in the Outside World, it would definitely cut down on the costs of starting a business. I tend to doubt it's been upgraded to grow computer terminals as of yet, though.

Writing Oz: What not to do

2011-11-07T17:24:00.002-06:00

My editor has pestered me to write blogs about how I wrote Outsiders from Oz. My intent is to wait for this until the book is available. I hope that will be soon, but until then, I'll tease you with a few things I learned not to do.

Don't overwrite
Unless your story requires it, a lot of exposition is not encouraged. In the first draft of Outsiders, I spent many paragraphs talking about Jellia Jamb. None of what I wrote was bad or anything, but it was all eliminated in the final version. In fact, I'd rewritten the first chapter from scratch.

The reason why was because Jellia only appears briefly in the book. This was always the intention for the story, so why spend so much time on a character who isn't in the book for very long? Jellia does get a brief introduction, but that's the key: it's brief.

Exposition should be kept on a strictly need-to-know basis. Of course, I also advise against breaking the momentum of a scene for exposition. I set up a little mystery for the characters in Outsiders, though I'm very sure my readers will piece it together quickly since they get both sides of the story. By the time the story came to the conclusion, everything was ready for a fast paced finale.

Don't drag your story out
While you want your story to fill a good number of pages, if you find yourself slipping in visits to Buxleyburg or Whoozywoozyville for no purpose than to make the story longer, it might be better to reconsider how long you need your story to be. I had intended for Outsiders to be 20 chapters, like most of Thompson's books, but wound up being 16.

If you find yourself adding in filler material, try to rework it to work with the plot. Since Outsiders follows two separate parties for a large portion of the book, I found myself needing to fill some time between when the two parties would meet up. So, I came up with an additional episode that would introduce a new little creature to Oz's zoology. However, I wound up making them part of the story's conclusion.

And that was much better than the original version of that chapter where they literally sat and talked around a campfire. That was just too tonally different from the rest of the story.

Don't throw in everyone
We all have favorite Oz characters, and when you write an Oz story, it's almost a no-brainer to grab from that list of characters. However, this can easily become a difficulty: once you have a character in, what are they going to do?

There is one character in Outsiders that I wonder if people will mention when they review or comment on the book. He is one of the main characters and one of the most-loved, but even I had to look at him at the end and realize he didn't do much. However, considering what I'd already written, I could neither drop him or expand his role in ways that wouldn't feel out-of-character or absurd.

One Baum case of too many characters I remember quite well is in Glinda of Oz. Many, many characters go to the island of the Skeezers to rescue Dorothy and Ozma, but it could easily have been pared down to just the Wizard, Glinda, the Scarecrow and Scraps. Another case is having all three formerly American girls in Dorothy's search party in The Lost Princess of Oz. While this was Baum's intention to have an adventure with these three and Scraps, the girls don't have much of a chance to do much with all of their companions and Dorothy's magic belt.

So, yes. Consider your plot and which characters work best for your story. Also, remember that a common occurrence in Oz books is new characters. In addition to keeping the old characters in character (and build on, if that's what you're going for), you now have new ones to develop. Less characters allows you more room to have your characters grow. That's not to say you can't have cameos, but these should also be worked in relevant ways to the plot.

In Outsiders, I chose against creating many new characters, considering the number of Baum characters I was already using. There are a few new ones, but I spent more time focusing on developing the characters established by Baum, some of them not having appeared in new adventures in over a century. At the end of the book, there are a few cameos, including Betsy and Trot, and a couple other who I don't say who they are. (All in good time.)

More web building in Oz

2011-11-06T23:09:00.002-06:00

Well, tonight we attempted two things in getting the new website live.

First, we attempted to ensure Drupal (our web building software) and MediaWiki (our Wiki software) could be bridged so users could use a single login. It didn't work.

Second, we attempted to move the forums. While the order I had set up for it broke, I thought, "No matter, we can reorganize."

But then I noticed almost all the posts said "Anonymous."

Roll back the web site...

Well, we know what didn't work... We'll try again soon.

Jared: We should use our new Oz logo for the wiki logo.
Tech guy: The newer one?
Jared: Yeah, the one we're using on the new site.
Tech guy: Isn't there another Oz wiki with an eerily similar logo? Just wondering.
Jared: Yeah, but forget 'em. OZ IS OURS.
Tech guy: That's right.
Jared: I sound like the Nome King. Which makes you General Guph.
Tech guy: Whatever man, you're not getting my diamond forest.

MECO's The Wizard of Oz

2011-11-05T19:28:00.001-05:00

You ever listen to the MGM movie's score and think, "this needs a disco rearrangement?"

... Anyone?

Okay, well, it happened in 1978. The band MECO, famous for their Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk album gave a similar treatment to Oz.

The album has only been released in entirety on vinyl LP records. Which, if you're from a later generation than me, those are those big, flat black discs with grooves on them a needle replays the sounds from it while a turntable spun it around at the right speed. (My dad had SO many records...)

So, how's the album? Well, if you hate how this sounds, then I wouldn't recommend it:

Now, if you stuck around after that, I'll say this: I loved it.

Since the running time is only about a half hour, the entire score is not represented. Every song is not sung, for example, as in the above sample, "Over the Rainbow" is only an instrumental. The only songs sung are "It Really Was No Miracle," "Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead!," "You're Off To See The Wizard" (preceded by Munchkin voices saying "Follow the Yellow Brick Road," but it's not sung), and "Optimistic Voices."

There's voice acting as well. The only bits of dialogue is from the Wicked Witch, the Wizard, and the Cowardly Lion, aside from those Munchkin voices and Toto barking. In addition, just before the Lion has his first lines, we hear the classic "Lions and tigers and bears, oh my!" Also, the Winkie guards are heard singing their iconic chant, though I think they got it wrong. It's "O-Ee-Yah! Eoh-Ah!" but here it sounds like "O-Ee-Yum! Ee-Oh-Um!" (And when you note THAT error, you know you're an Oz fan.)

The album also doesn't forget it's in stereo. There's a number of stereophonic effects, most notably alternating beats in the cyclone, but the most effective is in the first track when we hear the Wicked Witch cackle. It begins in the right audio channel, then moves over to the left, then back again, creating the audio impression that the Witch is flying back and forth on her broom.

As for the music itself, it's very lively and fun to listen to. The themes are still quite recognizable, so only people who don't enjoy this type of music should find it objectionable. While "If I Only Had A ___" is not anywhere on the album, the music moves so lively that you don't miss it. I particularly enjoy the lively Emerald City beat headlined by "Optimistic Voices" just after the mellow Poppy Field themes. And "If I Were King of the Forest" is part of the Wicked Witch's demise as a triumphant beat following a reprise of "Ding-Dong! The Witch is Dead!"

The best part is at the very end, when there's an upbeat medley of the score's highlights, this time not in disco. It's really a lovely bit and very Ozzy as well!

So, go ahead and buy the album. There's plenty for sale on eBay last I checked. There's a version that used yellow vinyl instead of black (yellow brick road), and no, that's not what I own.

And whoever owns the rights to this, GET THE WHOLE THING BACK OUT THERE!!!

The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Zim Greenleaf of Oz

2011-11-03T21:37:00.001-05:00

And so, in 2005, The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz trilogy was finally completed. Melody Grandy, for reasons of her own, had left it rather unfinished, so a few writers who'd written for Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends took silent credit and polished it off for publication. Melody did do a final edit, though. The handful of her completed illustrations were supplemented with new art by Luciano Vecchio and Marcus Mebes.

Now that Zim is known throughout Oz, he has some things to take care of as Wizard of Munchkinland. First off is helping Orlando recover his mother and step-father from Herku, then settle the giants of Huge Mountain as Orlando takes leadership of them.

Also, Thorns and Private Files of Oz gets its wrap up with a twist you didn't see coming, and neither did Zim, which gives a new perspective to his character.

Later, Zim attempts an experiment, but ends up putting a lot of trouble into the Wizard of Oz's hands: he splits into 31 pint-sized versions of himself, each a personification of one of Zim's traits, some he's kept subdued, including Love and Cruelty. While this might seem like a cartoon plot, it's a lot of fun to read, especially considering the trouble the Wizard and the Emerald City folk have containing Zim's traits, much less finding a way to get him put back together!

But get back together Zim does (though I'm not telling you how, you'd figure out that happens just by looking at the table of contents) and resumes his duties. He investigates a giant who makes people play a board game called the Battle of Kipo until they win.

Zim and Tippetarius visit Zim's great-grandmother in Tir Na n'Og, where Zim must defeat the Black Druid, who has been terrorizing the faeries who live there. And then, Zim finally answers summons from Tititi-Hoochoo, the Great Jinjin.

And also a couple final loose ends of the trilogy are tied up, but I'm not saying how. You should really just read these for yourself.

While Zim Greenleaf of Oz answers many questions, that turns out to be its major weakness: an answer is never as interesting as a question. However, since we were following these questions for two or three books (if you count Thorns and Private Files in Oz), we do want to see these answered, so it makes for a good read.

The illustrations vary quite a bit in style, all being wonderful in their own respects, but as the designs of the characters stay the same, it doesn't disorient the reader.

So, yes, if you've read the other two books (and Thorns and Private Files), by all means, pick up Zim Greenleaf of Oz.

Web building in Oz

2011-11-01T22:43:00.000-05:00

Well, we are officially working out some of the finer details of the new version of The Royal Website of Oz. The big thing here is localizing everything. The new forum will be imported in, meaning all users will still have their login, but it'll work for the whole site. The Wiki will be not be made a part of it, but it is hosted on the same server and domain, and we'll be setting it up so the site login will also work for the wiki. (I've instructed the tech guy that if we have any conflicts with forum and wiki user accounts, the forum login dominates.)

Unlike my previous builds of the site, this one is different in that users can add content to the site. We have sections so users can add fan fiction, write blogs, and upload images in galleries, as well as post on the forum, edit the wiki and use our new IRC-powered chat box, all with one login.

I never got the library going on the last version of the site. I was set on making PDFs, but I discovered that free-flowing text in HTML would be better. Now to convert all to that format... We would like to make the library better by expanding the scope to all public domain works by the Famous Forty authors. This will require a later launch, though.

Assuming all the details and the forum import get worked out smoothly, we should be launching this weekend!

Down and Out with Uncle Henry

2011-11-01T17:09:00.000-05:00

Recently, J.L. Bell wrote about Dorothy's Uncle Henry's financial trouble, as detailed in The Emerald City of Oz. Beth has told me that she didn't find a poor farmer like Uncle Henry taking a vacation to Australia to be realistic, and Emerald City at least tries to explain that, by saying it was on doctor's orders. Ozma does give a few other indications that Henry was a little more free with his money than he was before, however. There's a mention toward the end of the farm having "hired men and teams," while Wizard gave the impression that Henry could not have afforded employees if he'd wanted them. The "hired men" played a major role in the MGM movie, but the film portrayed a much larger farm than the books imply. Also, the farmhouse that was blown to Oz by the tornado had only one room, while the new one has a separate room for Dorothy in the attic. We're not talking about huge improvements here, but the mortgage apparently provided enough to slightly improve conditions and hire a few workers when Henry was out of the country.

As John indicated in his post, Uncle Henry's plight is hardly a thing of the past, with plenty of people still struggling to make ends meet and pay their debts. And while some people do make poor choices with their money, a lot of time this kind of thing is not the poor person's fault. L. Frank Baum alerts people to the problem without offering a viable solution, although I guess the bankers being more forgiving would be a step in the right direction. Only in fiction can someone escape his debt by relocating to a fairy country, and even then it probably wouldn't have happened if Henry's niece hadn't been the best friend of a fairy princess.

The Witches of Oz — What Jared had to say

2011-10-31T21:52:00.001-05:00

So, I watched The Witches of Oz on demand. I understand this was the miniseries cut, however, the two parts were sloppily put together and image was stretched to fit a standard TV screen.

But ignoring that, I enjoyed it.

I'm not going to say much because Sam is interested in reviewing his DVD, so here's the thing:

Dorothy Gale is a young woman who's been writing stories about Oz she has in her head as a series of children's books. She gets an offer to have her books made into a movie, and moves away from her widower uncle Henry in Kansas to New York where her agent Billie Westbrook has everything set up for her to start her new life.

However, everything's not as it seems to be. Witchy things begin to happen behind the scenes as tiny elfin folk begin to give Dorothy memory dust. What's going on? Whatever it is, it seems there's more to Oz than Dorothy realizes.

While it's definitely a reinvention of Oz mythos, the production shows great respect for the original Oz books. And it's not like they took random characters and events from the series and threw them together. Rather, elements all the way from The Magic of Oz and Glinda of Oz are referenced and even are worked into the plot, and worked very well, actually. The characters used are mainly in character, though a few liberties are taken. But as it is a reinvention, this can be forgiven, especially as the characters don't act unbelievably out of character.

Oh, and Christopher Lloyd as the Wizard? While he's not as spry and lively as Baum's Wizard, he's amazing in the role.

I understand there should be a movie edit released soon, with the story cut down to about half the length of the miniseries version, and I look forward to seeing it!

Which Witch on Halloween

2011-10-30T23:34:00.000-05:00

Check out our friends over at L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to see their Wicked Witch of the West!

Frankly, I like it. She's old, wrinkled and ugly. Someone get some water!

Dorothy and the Magic Belt

2011-10-29T19:34:00.000-05:00

And I finally got my hands on the last Random House "Brand New Oz Adventure" book! Well, actually, the copy I wound up with was a British edition published by Puffin. Still, same story, same illustrations.

Dorothy and the Magic Belt was by Susan Saunders. I can't find much but bibliography for her. She mainly seems to have contributed to small book series.

Anyway, her contribution to this little series: Dorothy goes to Oz abruptly while explaining how she signals Ozma to Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. While Dorothy takes the Sawhorse on an excursion in the Munchkin Country, a young boy plans to get back on Ozma: Dr. Nikidik's son, referred to as Nikidik the Younger or just Nik. He wanted to be a sorcerer, like his father, but since unauthorized magic in Oz is now illegal, Nikidik to Elder has agreed to follow the law.

Still, Nik wants to do magic, so what can he do? Go to the Emerald City and take the Magic Belt! He accomplishes this with "Youthing Powder," which makes people younger upon contact. When he makes all the people in the Emerald City into younger versions of themselves, taking the Magic Belt is a piece of cake! However, Tik-Tok manages to see what's going on.

Can Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and Jack Pumpkinhead get the Belt back from Nik and his aide, a youthful Mombi?

The story fails to fit in continuity about Mombi, Aunt Em and Uncle Henry, and Dr. Nikidik in the later Oz books. A new future for Mombi is written that doesn't fit in with what Thompson wrote and what the Scarecrow suspects in The Tin Woodman of Oz. Aunt Em and Uncle Henry are contacted by magic, meaning their skepticism about Oz in The Emerald City of Oz should be completely unfounded. As for Nikidik, this story's conclusion falls flat given we're told that Nikidik died later, and if you follow fan speculation that he was really Dr. Pipt, where's his son when we meet him in The Patchwork Girl of Oz?

David Rose's illustrations are still as good as ever, but now that I've seen four books, to be honest, I've seen Oz artwork I prefer over him. Not that he's bad, but he's got nothing on Denslow, Neill, or even Dick Martin.

Overall, I suppose the completist book collector would want this, but as it stands, it's just not a very great story.

Thorns and Private Files in Oz

2011-10-28T21:50:00.000-05:00

Little confession. I got The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz trilogy by swapping for them. However, when I was making the deal, they asked if I had Thorns and Private Files in Oz. I said, "No," so they threw it in. The illustrator of the book at hand, Marcus Mebes, confirmed that it should be read as The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz Book 2.5. So, I did.

The book is by Melody Grandy and Chris Dulabone. Writing styles of both are clearly evidenced in the text. According to the introduction, Marcus' pictures of some friends as a prince and princess bore a big resemblance to Jo Files and Ozga from Tik-Tok of Oz, inspiring the story. (You never know when you might influence someone to write an Oz story!)

You might think it's called Thorns and Private Files in Oz because Files is in it, right? Well, he is. But it turns out thorns and files that are private actually come into play in the story. How, I won't tell you exactly why.

Files and Ozga are living happily ever after in Oogaboo, reading and tending the book trees. However, when some of the stories on their trees prove to be Oz stories about the future, they and Hank the Mule (who's visiting) have to keep them away from Queen Ann. They manage to make the tree grow fiction, but not before Ann steals a few books. After they trick her with a copy of Dorothy Returns to Oz, they hide out in the forest, where they find a deserted castle full of overgrown rose bushes and thorns. However, Ozga disappears and Files and Hank must trust a gander and a curious old hermit woman to get her back.

The story feels incomplete. As it seems the plotline will resume in the final volume of The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz (the final illustration, by Melody Grandy, shows Files, Ozga and Hank with Dinny and Zim, which was later reused on the last book of the trilogy), it was a very odd piece on its own. At least it says "To Be Continued."

I guess I'll see if The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Zim Greenleaf of Oz closes this story suitably.

Oz Film/TV Update

2011-10-28T16:11:00.004-05:00

Several different pieces of artwork from the upcoming "Dorothy of Oz" movie are now available to purchase from Pop Culture Vault. Click here for more information.

A poorly-edited press reel for "Dorothy of Oz" has been released on YouTube by CW3PR. It has clips from the Entertainment Tonight segment, Good Morning America mention, etc. You can watch it here.

"The Witches of Oz" will be available on DVD & Blu-Ray in France on November 9th from Sony Home Entertainment. It will also air on FRANCE-4TV on Saturday, October 29. Part One airs at 20:35, Part Two airs at 22:05. Check local listings.

Several more screenshots from the director's cut of "The Witches of Oz", reportedly set to release in select U.S. theaters as early as next month, have popped up on the official Twitter page. Click here to see all the screenshots and new cast photos.

Our friends over at "L. Frank Baum's the Wonderful Wizard of Oz" have launched a countdown on their website, leading to the reveal of the Wicked Witch of the West. Did I mention I have a small role in this movie? Not sure if I did before. I'll be voicing two characters in the film; the Lead Crow and the Old Crow. Cool, right? Anyways, you can check out the countdown on their website here.

Speaking of my involvement in Oz movies, I'm working on a super secret project right now. I can't say what it is quite yet, but it's something some Oz fans have only dreamed of. Prepare for awesomeness. That's all I'll say for now.

Is anyone else surprised by the lack of press for Disney's "Oz, the Great and Powerful"?

Oziana 2009/2010

2011-10-28T00:58:00.000-05:00

The 2009 and 2010 issues of Oziana were printed in a single volume, but they each have their own themes. The 2009 part is devoted to parodies and humorous takes on Oz, while the 2010 contains stories regarding governing in Oz. In the 2009 section, Brianna Landon's "Toto Reveals" tells the story of Dorothy's first trip to Oz from Toto's point of view. Eleanor Kennedy's "Barry Porter and the Sorceress of Oz" has a rather familiar boy wizard pay a visit to Glinda. While billed as a parody and containing silly names (in addition to Barry himself, there are mentions of Alvin Grumblebore and Lord Vol-au-vent), the tone actually isn't all that silly, instead offering a rather sincere look at how the two fantasy characters might interact. "The Ransom of Button-Bright" is a story in comic form, written by J.L. Bell and drawn by Shawn Maldonado. As the title suggests, it plays on "The Ransom of Red Chief," with Button-Bright aptly taking the role of the kidnap victim who drives his captors crazy. There's also an appearance by High Boy. Finally, Steve Teller's "The Trouble with the Magic Belt" is sort of a meta-story, with its protagonist getting rid of the Magic Belt to make Oz stories more interesting. The protagonist's name, Sterl Nephel, is obviously a play on Teller's own, and other characters are obvious parodies of other Oz fans who attended conventions back in the day. This issue is not the first to include Oz stories that parody other works. Phyllis Ann Karr's "The Eldritch Horror of Oz" brought a warped version of Lovecraft's universe into Oz, and "The Merchant of Oz" riffed on The Merchant of Venice while still coming across as a valid Oz story that tied up several loose ends that L. Frank Baum left. I've always kind of wanted to try writing something like that, but I'm not sure what I'd parody.

The 2010 part opens with "Celebrating Ozma: The Silver Jubilee Issue," about a series of stamps depicting the highlights of Ozma's reign, some of them drawn by illustrator Tim Art-McLaughlin. It also contains some amusing information on the postal system in Oz, which is something I've wondered about before, especially after Terry Pratchett wrote a book about the postal system in Ankh-Morpork. According to the story, the Postmaster General of Oz is the Post Man from The Purple Prince of Oz, with some wooden Gargoyles serving as his staff. Speaking of Purple Prince, that book had Glinda celebrating her hundredth anniversary as Ruler of the South, while authors Andrew and Rachel Heller make a reference to "five centuries of Glinda's rule." Oh, Glinda, why must information about you be so contradictory? What is it you have to hide? "Fiddle's Revenge," by high school student Arianna Brown, has the son of the giant spider the Cowardly Lion killed seeking revenge, and the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman helping the Winged Monkeys to trick him. Finally, J.L. Bell's "Invisible Fence" is about the investigation and trial of a boy and a cat involved in an illegal magic ring. The Tin Soldier, the Iffin, Pastoria, and Snip all play parts in the tale, and it's good to see them again. I always liked Ruth Plumly Thompson's portrayal in Lost King of Ozma's father as a kindly, absent-minded man; and his appearance here picks up on that characterization.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Penhale Broadcast

2011-10-27T17:44:00.000-05:00

Marcus Mebes, editor of Oziana, reads Jack Snow's "The Penhale Broadcast" from Dark Music and Other Spectral Tales.

An experimental supernatural broadcast is carried out in the Penhale graveyard. Will the ghost of famed opera singer Sonya Parrish sing again?

You may also read the story here.

As always, you can listen and download at the podcast site, or use the player below.

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The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Tippetarius in Oz

2011-10-25T22:55:00.001-05:00

2000 brought the second in The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz trilogy. However, by this time Buckethead Enterprises had reorganized as Tails of the Cowardly Lion and Friends. A little goof happened during production and the book wound up being oversized. 11 inches high compared to the 8.5 inch of the other books. However, considering what happens in the story, it might be fitting that this book towers over the others in the series.

Aleda, a young woman from North Carolina, goes hang gliding but finds herself in Oz, befriended by a sixty foot giant she names Orlando who's very cautious about possibly hurting normal-sized people. Despite his good intentions, Orlando can't let her leave.

Meanwhile, Dinny decides he will travel Oz for a time, and to protect his secrets, Zim enchants him so he will not remember Zim when he is with other people. Dinny soon meets Orlando and Aleda, and they decide to make a break for it to the Emerald City before the people of Herku come to take Orlando away. However, Dinny is forced to travel on foot.

And meanwhile, in Lostland, King Whippetarius dies and Slippetatius is about to take the throne. However, the Queen tasks them to find their missing brother Tippetarius, who she reveals they knew better as Amalea their sister. (Go read book one.) They find neither, but they do find someone who looks a lot like their sister...

Orlando, being a good giant, is given golden rings he can wear to make himself a normal sized human being or remove to become a giant. Aleda and Orlando go on a tour through Oz with the Scarecrow and Scraps, and they come across a village ruled by a fairy princess named Celestia who was unaware that she is under another fairy's rule. The four manage to find Zim and when he discovers Celestia will attack the Emerald City, he must go and try to put a stop to it.

Many secrets about the characters are unraveled, but more questions arise. However, I can't say too much about those without spoiling it.

Grandy manages to keep her plots moving at a good pace so as not to lose the reader. I will note that the plots I mentioned get tied up about three quarters of the way into the book and there is a new focus for the rest of the book.

The illustrations, possibly because of the size of the book, feel more sparse than they did in book one. There are fewer illustrations of what happens in the story. Sometimes whimsical pictures of Zim appear instead of actual illustrations of what's going on in the story. The pictures that are there are good, I just wish there'd been more. (A picture of Brown Bleegum was obviously recycled from the first book.)

Anyway, this was a trilogy. But would it deliver in the end? We'll see... (Seriously, I haven't read it yet. I don't know.)

Oh, and you can get Tippetarius in Oz here.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz

2011-10-24T17:56:00.000-05:00

Jared and Sam discuss the third and final Oz film from the Oz Film Manufacturing Company. As always, you can download at the podcast site, or use the player below.

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"I spent my better years as a goat"

2011-10-21T19:44:00.003-05:00

Mr. Nathan DeHoff recently reviewed Oziana 38, including my first short story (and first published Oz story), "Bud and the Red Jinn." (The clever subtitle "~~Don't~~Always Look a Gift ~~Horse~~Goat in the Mouth" was a title suggestion by the editor, and I suggested it be a subtitle instead.)

As I wrote when I reviewed the issue, I was familiar with the characters, only needing some extra basics on Jinnicky. However, one character proved to be an odd one to tackle: Prince Bobo of Boboland.

Bobo was introduced in Rinkitink in Oz, spending most of the story as a surly goat named Bilbil. When the Wizard meets him, he's able to see that Bilbil is the enchanted Bobo and the Wizard and Glinda restore him.

Bobo humbly begged Rinkitink's forgiveness for having been so disagreeable to him at times, saying that the nature of a goat had influenced him, and the surly disposition he had shown was a part of his enchantment. But the jolly King assured the Prince that he had really enjoyed Bilbil's grumpy speeches and forgave him readily. Indeed, they all discovered the young Prince Bobo to be an exceedingly courteous and pleasant person, although he was somewhat reserved and dignified.

Sounds like he might be a nice guy, right? But at the end, Baum gives us a bit that suggests all might not be what it seems with this handsome prince:

And Bobo replied with a smile: "Like all your songs, dear Rinkitink, the sentiment far excels the poetry."

Hmmm... Something could be up there. Like he's masking his true feelings. Anyway, however you want to interpret this, it's all Baum ever wrote about Bobo, and the character never resurfaced in the later Famous Forty +.

When the editor and I were plotting my little story, we built up the story about Bud and Jinnicky meeting at a party held by Zixi and a guest would arrive with the worst gift you could give the Queen of Ix. I just randomly said "Prince Bobo of Boboland," and he was in, and I quickly came up with the idea that he was "attempting to re-establish diplomatic connection." In our plotting, he remained very much the nice guy Baum left him. He'd be an unaware antagonist.

However, when I was writing it, it struck me it would be more interesting if Bobo had a bit of an attitude. I mean, given what happens in my story, anyone might get upset at someone telling them they couldn't give someone a certain gift, and then not being able to give them a reason. But to play that up a bit more was irresistible, and I made it part of my take on Bobo. I did tell J.L. Bell about my story at Winkies a bit, and said Bobo was "a jerk," but that might be a bit much.

Bobo as drawn by John R. Neill

Anyway, that was just my story alone. However, my story is being incorporated into the first volume of the upcoming trilogy Royal Explorers of Oz by Marcus Mebes, Jeff Rester, and myself that will explore Bobo's character further. (It's mainly been written already.) I got to rewrite the first chapter that had my story in it, and got to work with Bobo a bit more and then added a small part later in the story. Bobo is one of the main characters, along with other Oz favorites like Captain Salt, Ato, and Tandy. And given more time, I do believe Bobo being called "a jerk" might be just a bit too nice...

Anyway, after I'd written and edited and sent in my story, I began to think how the characters would look. I knew I would want the Queen Zixi of Ix characters to look like how they do in Fredrick Richardson's illustrations for that book (I'll say it again: Neill's Zixi is ugly compared to Richardson's). Jinnicky's look was already established by Neill and it was impossible to think of him looking any different than that.

But what about Bobo? Neill had only drawn him once, and it wasn't much to go on. However, as I tried to visualize the story even more, Bobo suddenly grabbed a face that was in the back of my mind.

For you Doctor Who fans, yes, that's Francesco from the episode "Vampires of Venice," played by the amazing Alex Price.

I was excited that Anna-Maria Cool was going to illustrate my story, so I sent that first screencap as a suggestion for how I thought Bobo could look. This is what she came up with:

So, looks I had a pretty big hand in defining a character for Prince Bobo of Boboland and his look as well!

The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: The Disenchanted Princess of Oz

2011-10-20T21:40:00.000-05:00

In 1986, a new Oz publisher broke onto the scene: Chris Dulabone with his small imprint "Buckethead Enterprises of Oz." Intended to be non-profit, the imprint brought out new Oz stories, meant to flow with the continuity of the Famous Forty Oz books. Oz stories by Dulabone and other writers came out, and were of varying quality, but all had definite respect for the original Oz stories and made for fun reading.

In 1995, an elaborate-looking volume was published by Buckethead, titled The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: The Disenchanted Princess of Oz by Melody Grandy. Not only did Melody write the story, she also designed it, illustrated it, and took care of the cover design. The final result is a pleasant-looking Oz book.

The book opens with Princess Amalea of Lostland awakening from a nap in the royal garden. ... At least, she was Princess Amalea. To her surprise, she is now a boy! Unrecognized, she .... uh... he, I should say, must leave the palace. He's forced to go to Oz, where he takes the name Amadin, but most people wind up calling him "Dinny" for short.

Dinny arrives in the Seven Blue Mountains, where he meets Maggie the witch, who, when he tells her he's been transformed from a girl, she checks her magic mirror to make sure. The mirror reveals Dinny is in his natural form. So what happened?

One day, Dinny finds a tunnel, and curious, he follows it. However, he gets lost, but finds his way into a beautiful but mysterious garden. Eating a berry he finds, he suddenly shrinks to a tiny size. Talking to insects and other animals that live in the garden, he learns it has a sole caretaker, a man named Sim. Or Zim. (Dang praying mantis, couldn't pronounce S or Z properly.) Eventually, Dinny gets a message to Zim, who finds him and restores him to his proper size.

Zim, however, is quite an unusual character himself. Green-haired, lanky, and about eight feet tall, he seems friendly enough to Dinny once he has explained himself.

Zim, however, wasn't a new character for Melody. She'd "written" about him earlier. But not in a story. More like this:

Yep, he'd appeared in a text adventure! A text adventure that's a bit tricky to get running and even trickier to "win" properly. (A feat I've yet to accomplish.)

Dinny takes an interest in Zim's work and Zim takes him as an apprentice. And now I can't tell you much more because the rest of it should really be read to be properly enjoyed.

The book is very episodic, one or more chapters tell a story that are associated with our main characters. (In a recent blog, I mentioned the episode with Faraq, a man who becomes glass.) If you really don't enjoy episodic stories, then you might not like this one. However, I had no problem with it. (Mr. "I've read Magical Monarch of Mo and Life and Adventures of Santa Claus so many times.") Anyway, aside from that, I really can't fault Melody's writing. While she only just barely brings in established Oz mythos in, she doesn't contradict it either.

Melody draws from a number of the Famous Forty Oz books. You might think Dinny's story sounds familiar, and there is a reason for that. And if you think shrinking because you ate a berry sounds familiar, the berry had the name micromorphosa pessim. I suppose to fully enjoy reading Disenchanted Princess, you'd have to have read the Famous Forty, but I guess one could enjoy it well enough after reading just Baum's.

And would I recommend it? Yes. It's a great big story, spanning seventy-five years, and Melody's artwork is incredible! So, yes, go ahead pick it up.

Always on My Mettle

2011-10-20T02:39:00.001-05:00

Cross-posted from my WordPress.

As anyone who has read pretty much any of the Oz books knows, the Tin Woodman's most valued trait is his kind heart, which he associates with emotions. Obviously emotions really come from the brain, but since they can affect the heart, the organ has come to be associated with feelings. As per Nick Chopper's own admission in The Tin Woodman of Oz, his heart is kind rather than loving, although this distinction is basically just in his own mind. Anyway, in the latest issue of The Baum Bugle, an article by Richard Tuerk points out that Nick's quest in his own book isn't driven by love or kindness, but by a sense of duty. The fact that he doesn't even think of how Nimmie Amee might feel, but simply assumes that she's still pining for him like she was years before, shows that he's not particularly using his heart in this situation. With this in mind, I thought back to how Nick comes across in other books, and whether his heart is really as effective as he seems to think.

In the very first Oz book, we find the Tin Woodman, before he receives his plush heart from the Wizard of Oz, crying because he steps on a beetle. Later, he kills a wildcat that's chasing a mouse. Obviously he's not totally opposed to violence, and often does a fair amount of fighting with his axe. In Land, L. Frank Baum states, "The Tin Woodman was usually a peaceful man, but when occasion required he could fight as fiercely as a Roman gladiator." As a general rule, however, he tends to fight against those who are oppressing others. One of his most consistent traits is that he's a supporter of the helpless. In Patchwork Girl, he absolutely refuses to allow Ojo to take the left wing of a yellow butterfly, even though he needs it (or at least thinks he does) to restore his Unc Nunkie to life. Dorothy and the Wizard has him going along with the Wizard's plan to use trickery to save Eureka from execution. In Lost Princess, we learn of a ferryman whose power to communicate with animals was taken away at Nick's command as punishment for his cruel actions against a fox, a fish, and a bird. Exactly how the Tin Man accomplished this is unclear, but as the power for humans and animals to talk to each other is usually shown as pretty much absolute within Oz, it comes across as a pretty severe penalty. One exception to this rule, perhaps, is that he laughs off Jinjur's Army of Revolt. The girls have invaded and conquered the Emerald City, but they do have some legitimate grievances. Nick advises treating Jinjur kindly, but that's about it as far as his sympathy goes. Perhaps he's more biased than he would normally be due to the fact that the girls drove out his best friend, the Scarecrow. Also, as in Tin Woodman, he shows some signs of unwitting sexism.

Another consistent characteristic of the Tin Emperor is his pride, pertaining largely to his appearance. The Scarecrow points out in Land that his "friend was ever inclined to be a dandy," and we learn that he's taken the title of Emperor despite the fact that the Winkie Country is only a kingdom. (Actually, later books reveal that it contains other smaller kingdoms, so "Emperor" isn't really that far off, but it's true that none of the other quadrant rulers use it, nor does Ozma.) When Ruth Plumly Thompson, who used the Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion quite frequently but tended to relegate the Tin Woodman to bit parts, finally gave Nick a major role in Ozoplaning, it's his pride that she showcases. I'm not the only one to think Nick seemed a little off in that book, but as Kenneth Shepherd observed, his claiming Stratovania for Ozma fits pretty well with his insistence on being called an emperor. It sort of fits that the Tin Woodman's sense of pride and honor would occasionally get in the way of his kindness. He's a quite sympathetic individual, sure, but he's not at all humble.

Death and Dying in Oz

2011-10-18T22:33:00.000-05:00

In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the Land of Oz (meaning, in this case, the four countries and the Emerald City) really doesn't seem too different from anywhere: animals can talk, and some of them are very strange, and people can do magic. But later on in the series, we discover that people cannot die.

Animals, however, are not so lucky. The Wicked Witch of the West's wolves, crows, and bees are all dead, or so we are told, as is a giant spider the Cowardly Lion defeated, and also a wildcat. We are also led to believe the Kalidahs that pursued our heroes also perished. In The Road to Oz, we are told a pet bear choked to death and was made into a rug before being brought back to life with a Powder of Life. (With a notably different formula.)

So, if we assume Oz was always this way, it gets problematic. The Tin Woodman tells us his parents died, while somehow he managed to become completely metal by his body being replaced by metal and—seemingly—his "liveliness" and soul being moved to this new body. So much that he could even be taken apart and have replacement parts made and still be a live metal man.

Baum never gives us another such character with such a strange history, except for Captain Fyter, whose story is almost verbatim Nick Chopper's origin again.

Thompson played with it a few times. She offers the explanation that the Scarecrow's body is now the new home of the "liveliness" and soul of Emperor Chang Wang Woe, which feels odd to me, as the Scarecrow never feels like how she described the Emperor. Perhaps the Scarecrow got the Emperor's "liveliness," but not his soul.

Bill, a weathervane rooster in Grampa in Oz, came to life after being struck by a "live wire." But more interesting is Dr. Herby in The Giant Horse of Oz. Mombi tossed him into a bottling solution which dissolved him into liquid, seemingly, which would seemingly prevent him from living. However, when the bottle his liquid was poured into was broken, he reconstituted into a live form. (Not exactly his original form, though.)

Few Oz stories I've read have played with this extreme again. It's more or less maintained (as established by Baum) that a person could be thoroughly destroyed, which would be as good as dead. However, this extreme is hard to pinpoint: a person chopped into tiny pieces would still be alive. What if they were burned to ashes? Or... digested?

An Oz book I'm reading now has another example. It's outside the Famous Forty +, so it's bearing on canon is subjective. It's The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: The Disenchanted Princess of Oz by Melody Grandy. In one episode in the book, a man named Faraq falls into a vat of glass ready to be blown. He is presumed dead, but when a glassblower uses this glass, the glass forms into a crystal replica of Faraq, who is also alive. Like the Tin Woodman, Captain Fyter, and Dr. Herby, his body has been replaced with a non-flesh substance.

So it appears to me that as far as death in Oz goes, it is impossible for people to die, especially since the people of Oz have been enjoying a selective aging process since Ozma began her rule it seems. If an animal dies by some means, then it is dead. (As happens to one of Billina's chicks in The Emerald City of Oz, apparently animals are also not immune to disease.) However, if a body is unable to support life, the "liveliness" and soul of the person may enter another substance (sometimes, that which destroyed its body), and in the cases we know of, it attempts to take human shape. This now raises the question, wouldn't that mean that the "liveliness" (there's got to be a better term) and souls of many people who had "died" in Oz before Ozma's reign are either in new forms or floating about there?

... That's kind of creepy.

Oziana 2004; Return to Nomes

2011-10-18T16:58:00.003-05:00

Recently I just read a small selection of Ozianas I got from Marcus and among them was the above year issue with the mentioned story "Evrob and the Nomes", which I should like to review here.

Written by J. L. Bell and using illustrations "adapted from John R Neill", this story takes place after "the Emerald City of Oz" and involves of the Royal Family of Ev at the beach, one of the members in particular: young prince Evrob. He likes to dig and he does a good job at it, but, being part of a big family, his sisters and brothers doesn't let him have all the fun he wants in terms of using the pale and spade. Getting cross with his family (and Nanny Wheeler) he says how he'll go live with the Nomes which upsets his family and gets himself into a small bit of trouble. Being escorted back to the palace by Nanny Wheeler, Evrob instead walks away to a rocky area and eventually meets a big round Nome named Purfin. In time the two get along and being taken to the Chief Steward/Chamberlain Kaliko who is taking care of business for the absent-minded Nome King Roquat - or is it Ruggedo? Evrob just wants to dig . . . and here he is allowed to do that to his heart's content.
Dorothy is with Glinda and (vaguely) reads about Evrob being with the Nomes in her Great Book of Records and wants to help out, but Glinda tells her not to be too concerned about affairs in other countries (reading teh story sounds better than reading it here in my review). Regardless, Dorothy takes the Magic Belt and appears in the Underground Kingdom to "rescue" the Prince with the Belt's magic to defend herself and fight the Nomes, when Evrob's brothers come in and convince him to come back. Evrob agrees to go home, but also hopes to come back and dig some more soon. Before leaving, Dorothy speaks a firm word with the King.

I did enjoy the story but I had a few problems with the story. Nothing too drastic or major, but it may just be the way I felt about some things.

While I may not have as many siblings as Evrob does, I did get annoyed along with Evrob as his sisters and baby brother wouldn't let Evrob have his fun digging with the equipment he needed and the anxious pickiness of Nanny Wheeler. I was surprised when King Evardo was described as folding his arms "over his chest so his biceps looked bigger" - likewise it is unusual for other fairylands outside of Oz to be given bathing suits with "shoulder straps" that appears to be modern such as done with Oz nowadays.

I liked Evrob's time with the Nomes, especially Purfin, best and how Kaliko reacted when seeing the young prince of Ev makes him worry of dealing with Ozma and running about with orders to the Nomes.

Dorothy, here, I wasn't as happy with. I thought that her taking action was reckless and careless and done through not finding out the whole situation properly, disregarding Glinda's best advice.

And of course it reuses and "adapts" John R Neill's illustrations (except for the NEW one of Evrob in his beach clothes), which are from "Ozma" and "Tik-Tok" (not quite sure where the Nome King picture comes from, however). Like I said this story is set after "EMERALD CITY" but using a picture of Dorothy from "Ozma" and adding in the Magic belt (and changing an arm - adapting), it kept making me think it was more After "OZMA" than later.

I will probably enjoy the story more if I read again (and fix up any errors typed here). A Very GOOD short Oz story that involves the Family of Ev, no longer a group of victims as first introduced but a normal, royal yet regular, somewhat dysfunctional family in a Fairyland; a Story that also shows how the name change from Roquat to Ruggedo came about and, as pointed out, the possible 'promotion' from Chamberlain to Chief Steward (or vice versa) for Kaliko.

Again, a GOOD Oz Story that clarifies some name changes and shows the pains of a royal family but also a Dorothy who seems impatient and too eager to resolve a problem that wasn't really hers to be concerned about (I am sure had she not appeared, Evardo would have eventually managed to convince his brother to come home anyway). Hopefully another read will make me less irritated by these little things, and get used to the illustrations and costume descriptions . . .

He's the Wizard

2011-10-14T20:32:00.000-05:00

One of my favorite characters in the Oz books is Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs. (And yes, I did just type that from memory.) A few Oz fans, when they heard that, wondered why. "He doesn't do much!" one said. "I hate the Wizard! He's probably the Wicked Witch of the West's father!" said another.

Needless to say, I don't really take the second one's advice to heart much...

But it sure was a breath of fresh air when I was at my first Winkie Convention last year and people actually understood why I liked him before I had to explain anything.

Oscar was the son of a politician who ran away and joined a circus, learning sleight of hand, ventriloquism, and various other tricks. Eventually, he became a balloonist and went up to help publicize the circus. But one day, the balloon got away and he was taken to Oz, where the people named him a Wizard.

Unfortunately for Oscar, the land was held by four witches, two good and two wicked. Oscar must have known his lack of magic would likely make a close working relationship with the good witches as dangerous as facing the wicked witches, because we are never told he went to them for help.

We do know that either he lived in the land of the Winkies for awhile or tried to conquer the Wicked Witch of the West once. She used the Golden Cap to make the Winkies her slaves, then drive the Wizard out of the West. (Donald Abbot's How the Wizard Came to Oz explains he landed in the Winkie Country.)

We also know the Wizard had the Emerald City built, though it's controversial if it was on the site of an old capitol. Whether or not the Yellow Brick Road was built as a thoroughfare to the Emerald City through Munchkin Country is also debatable, though given how hostile the Wicked Witch of the West was to the Wizard, why would the Wicked Witch of the East be any different? Thus, it may be likely the yellow brick road was built before the Wizard arrived.

It's not clear when the Wizard shut himself up. Did he do it at the close of some victory against the Wicked Witches? Or was it just after the Emerald City was built?

Another messy subject is his supposed involvement with turning Ozma over to Mombi's care. He isn't present when we're told he did this, and Mombi tells us he did while wearing a pearl of truth. From what she says, he brought her Ozma and begged her to conceal the child. What his motives were for this is completely unclear. However, if it really happened this way, given his nature in other Oz stories, it seems likely he was under the impression that Ozma would be safe with someone who knew magic looking after her in private rather than her growing up in the palace. (According to Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, Mombi already had a shady past herself by this time.)

Then, for years, the Wizard stayed in the palace, either having servants help him or leaving the palace incognito. Finally, when he got word that Dorothy had killed the Wicked Witch of the East, he must have hoped the death of the Wicked Witch of the West would not be far behind. Because, you see, his staying hidden prevented the fact that he wasn't a real Wizard from getting out, thus letting the Wicked Witches know they could easily attack the Emerald City whenever they wanted.

Fortunately for him, Dorothy arrived in the Emerald City, so he tasked her to kill the last Wicked Witch that held part of Oz in bondage. Dorothy managed to do this. We can only assume he knew that with the Good Witch's mark (which he noticed), Dorothy wouldn't be harmed, so he didn't feel too badly about sending a little girl to do this.

We know how he gave the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Lion placebo gifts to simulate their desired brain, heart, and courage, a move that comes across as disturbing, but he did try to encourage them to look inside themselves for what they wanted. Then, he attempted to fly Dorothy back to Kansas in a hot air balloon, but Dorothy missed the flight.

Baum reveals later that the Wizard made it back to the United States safe and sound. Unable to find his old friends, he joined a circus again, possibly adding a new act with a collapsible sword and pistols to his repertoire, if it wasn't already there.

Also, he had a new trick with nine tiny piglets. He tells Dorothy in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz that he got them on the island of Teenty-Weent, where everything is small. However, in The Tin Woodman of Oz, the Tin Woodman and Scarecrow and their friends meet Professor Swyne and his wife, who say they are the piglets' parents. This could be explained that the Wizard picked them up before leaving Oz (he did say hot air isn't the best to work a balloon with), and somehow they became permanently tiny. The Wizard could have made up the Teenty-Weent story as part of his act, and had told it so many times that by the time Dorothy asked about it, he said it without thinking twice.

What else the Wizard may have done back in the United States is not revealed, though some speculation about The Woggle-Bug Book might indicate that someone stole a balloon he was working. However, if that's true, he got another one and when it went down, it slipped into a crack in the earth.

This led the Wizard into the adventure recounted in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, which reunited him with Dorothy and eventually returned him to Oz, where Ozma allowed him to stay as the royal Wizard, saying a humbug Wizard was the safest to have.

However, the Wizard's mind, now freed from work and worry, began conceiving machines to perform impressive feats with. He managed to create a machine that would blow immense soap bubbles that would harden to carry a person inside. Showing this off at Ozma's Grand Birthday Party, many guests opted to ride home in them, their bubbles being guided by magic to return them home. (Although they could support a person, I hope that magic also kept the bubble intact for the journey.)

The Wizard also began learning actual magic under Glinda's tutelage, becoming almost as an accomplished magician as herself. In later Oz adventures, he is able to take initiative and be depended upon, saving the day in The Magic of Oz, or seeing through enchantments in Rinkitink in Oz and The Lost Princess of Oz.

Later Oz books by Thompson and the others used him in varying roles, but Thompson was fond of creating her own magic workers. Her lovable Jinnicky the Red Jinn of Ev even gave himself a rivalry with the Wizard. She and Neill made the Wizard an inventor, turning out new magic tools and vehicles, and Neill even made him a bit of a busybody. Jack Snow had him step aside to let Ozana or the King of the Fairy Beavers do what they needed, while Cosgrove and McGraw only had him in minor roles.

Still, the Wizard, as he was conceived, proves to be an imaginative and curious fellow, one quite worth working with. (Yes, he is one of the main characters in my Outsiders From Oz.) I hope I'm not the only one who sees a lot of potential left in Mr. Diggs.

Autumn 2011 Bugle and Oziana 38

2011-10-13T15:55:00.002-05:00

Cross-posted from my WordPress.

Since I just recently received my copies of the Autumn 2011 Baum Bugle and Oziana 38, I might as well say a bit about them. First, the Bugle. This issue includes an article by Ruth Berman about mermaids, focusing on the ones in L. Frank Baum's fantasies, but also mentioning some literary antecedents. The idea of a being part human and part fish goes back to ancient mythology, with the Greek Triton having that form, and some suspecting the Phoenician Dagon did as well. As Ruth indicates, however, mermaid literature didn't really become prominent until the nineteenth century, and Baum plays on the idea of mermaids as beautiful but vicious creatures who cause hapless people to drown by having his benevolent sea fairies correct Cap'n Bill on this point. The article also mentions that Davy Jones and his staff from Hugh Pendexter's Wooglet in Oz were actually a callback to W.W. Denslow's The Pearl and the Pumpkin. I was not aware. There are also some reviews of The Sea Fairies from when it first came out, most of them being quite positive. As it turned out, though, this and its successor Sky Island didn't sell anywhere near as well as the Oz books, so Baum had to return to his cash cow a few years later. Another interesting article is Richard Tuerk's "Head Versus Heart in The Tin Woodman of Oz," which demonstrates that, for all his talking about his heart, the Tin Woodman actually focuses more on his head (at one point literally) during his own book. I think it might be interesting to examine Nick Chopper's other appearances with this in mind, and see how much he really is led by his heart. Tuerk makes the point that Nick is motivated by duty in Tin Woodman, and it seems to me this is a major character trait of the Tin Man's in other books as well, perhaps sometimes more significant than his kind heart.

Regarding Oziana, I have been in communication with most of the authors involved at some point or other. The Oz community has always been rather small, and now with the Internet, it's not too unlikely that anyone involved in Oz fandom knows a lot of the other participants as well. It makes it difficult to get unbiased reviews of Oz material, but I tend to be pretty biased when it comes to Oz anyway. There's also more of a link between the different stories than is common for Oziana, probably due to intentional effort on editor Marcus Mebes' part. David Tai's "Executive Decisions" deals with what really happened when Ozma supposedly had Mombi executed at the end of the Lost King, making the valid point that she promised to care for the former Wicked Witch of the North in her old age. Mind you, this contradicts the also excellent Bucketheads in Oz, which I just finished scanning for characters and hence is on my mind, but it's hard to achieve total consistency with everything even if you want to. Jared Davis' "Bud and the Red Jinn, or ~~Don't~~Always Look a Gift ~~Horse~~Goat in the Mouth" has Prince Bobo of Boboland pay a visit to Queen Zixi of Ix, and his stubbornness almost causes an international incident. When I tried to write a story featuring the disenchanted Bobo, I made him kindly and not all that interesting, building on the statement in Chapter 22 of Rinkitink that "Prince Bobo humbly begged Rinkitink's forgiveness for having been so disagreeable to him, at times, saying that the nature of a goat had influenced him and the surly disposition he had shown was a part of his enchantment." Jared makes Bobo retain some of his stubborn personality, and I must say I prefer his characterization. Then again, I WAS in high school when I wrote my story. "Polychrome Visits the Sea Fairies" is a tale by Gina Wickwar, author of The Hidden Prince of Oz and Toto of Oz, which is basically a sequel to The Sea Fairies. It returns to the island of seals that played a small part in that book, and says a bit about what happened to the devilfish after the death of Zog. Technically speaking, it's really not so much an Oz story as a Borderlands one. Even Polychrome, who was introduced in Road, also appeared in Sky Island, so she's not strictly an Oz character. Not that it makes a whole lot of difference anyway, since Baum eventually tied most of his fantasy lands together, but it's interesting. "Thy Fearful Symmetry," by Jeff Rester, features the Hungry Tiger, his past dealings with Mombi, and how his main character trait developed. Finally, "The Bashful Baker's Honeymoon" is a follow-up to Marcus Mebes' earlier Bashful Baker and Shipwrecked, bringing Maria and Derek to Captain Salt's ship in the Nonestic Ocean. All are worth reading, and the illustrations are also excellent. I still need to get the double issue, 39/40, which contrary to all reason was actually published before this one.

Podcast thoughts

2011-10-10T21:36:00.000-05:00

As of tomorrow, we will officially have three podcasts with recorded audio. With one more in the works. Oh, goodness...

I have a chat with Ruth Berman, "Movies of Oz" #4, the Halloween special, and the Christmas special has been completely cast and planned. (Actually, it's been that way since mid-August. Yes, we don't mess around with Christmas here. And that Halloween special was suggested last Halloween...)

That being said, what would you like to see happen with the podcast? New ideas for audio presentations?

I would love it if people with rare Oz audio treasures they could legally share could partner with the podcast (for one episode only) to allow these items to become widespread, if they'd be willing. They'd just have to understand that it wouldn't be a commercial release. I have to pay for the storage space for the podcast, and I don't regret it at all, however, it's not like the podcast makes that back.

Anyway, the payment gets me 300MB a month to store stuff, and with one or two podcasts a month, we're barely using that. (Yes, we don't get storage rollover.) So, yeah, if you've got Oz-related audio you'd like to share, given we have the legal right to, I'd be interested in releasing it. Just contact me.

Winkies 2012

2011-10-07T20:58:00.002-05:00

Okay, David Maxine announced next year's Winkie Convention in more detail today. And do I plan to go? ... I think I've already said yes.

Again, it's a triad of book celebrations with Baum's Sky Island, and Thompson's Kabumpo in Oz and The Purple Prince of Oz, celebrating their 100th, 90th, and 80th anniversaries respectively. So we have Sky Island and Pumperdink! Pink, blue, and purple. ... Hey...

Also, my little "discovery" of Susan Morse will be there. If you don't remember, she sang Dorothy's songs for the 1964 Return to Oz, and has also appeared in many musicals such as The Sound of Music and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. And we have another "half-Dorothy" in Caren Marsh-Doll, Judy Garland's stand-in for MGM's The Wizard of Oz.

Other events are pending announcement, but so far, Eric Shanower will be doing some sort of presentation, and—get this—I've signed up to do a presentation about Thompson's Oz. (Yes, this is one of those things I said I wasn't telling you about quite yet a few blogs back.) I just finished Thompson's books a few months ago, and now I'm giving a talk about them!

And of course there'll be the Winkie Quiz (again, I'm presenting the standard quiz, so study Sky Island), the Costume Contest (or Masquerade, either works... it's not always the costume so much as the "act" behind it!), and the Auction. And there'll also be the dealer's room with many tempting Oz oddities from the past and present, and it sounds like the swap meet was a success and will be repeated. (I'm already stocking up on stuff to bring!)

You never know who'll show up...

The cost has had to rise this year, just like everything else has just about, but David and Peter Hanff worked hard to minimize it. For a shared room, it'll be $339, only a $14 increase over last year. So, it shouldn't be too much of a stretch to cover this increase.

And remember, that covers just about everything you'll need at the convention: your hotel room, your meals, and you'll get the Winkie Convention 2012 program book, which has proved to be quite a hit with convention goers (it's a keepsake, a guide, and something fun to read in one package!) and Oz collectors!

So, how's about it? Will we see you at Winkies 2012?

Review: "Dorothy and the Witches of Oz" (2012)

2011-10-07T08:19:00.005-05:00

It's Friday! And today, I'll be doing a movie review!

The highly-anticipated feature film, "Dorothy and the Witches of Oz" stars Back to the Future legend Christopher Lloyd and gives the classic story a modern twist. Watch the official trailer here.

If you've been reading my previous blogs, then you know that I've been expecting a review copy of the theatrical version of "The Witches of Oz", now re-named "Dorothy and the Witches of Oz", for quite some time now. It arrived on Wednesday, and I immediately popped it into my Blu-Ray player to watch it! If you've seen the TV version of the movie, which I know many of you have, let me just say that the theatrical version of the movie is very, very different.

The theatrical version is not only shorter than the TV version, but 90% of the special effects have been re-done as well. There are fifteen minutes of all new footage, and overall, I was really impressed with this version of the movie. It works much better as a feature film than a TV mini-series. It flows much better in this version.

Dorothy and the Witches of Oz follows the exploits of the grown Dorothy Gale, now a successful children's book author, as she moves from Kansas to present day New York City. Dorothy quickly learns that her popular books are based on repressed childhood memories, and that the wonders of Oz are very, very real. When the Wicked Witch of the West shows up in Times Square, Dorothy must find the inner courage to stop her.

The Oz sequences in the movie really stand out visually. Oz is mostly CG, but all the characters, of course, are live-action. Throughout the movie, we get to see Baum characters like Princess Langwidere (played by Mia Sara most of the time), Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, Locasta, and the more common Oz characters like Dorothy, Glinda, the Wizard, etc.

All of the effects were great, except for a few shots of a CG dragon-like creature that the Wicked Witch sends out towards the end of the movie, which still looked a bit out of place with the rest of the shot.

The movie is cleverly written, and really does have a little bit of everything. There's a bit of romance, plenty of action, a lot of fantasy elements, and some comedy in there, too.

Even if you've watched the TV version, I really recommend watching the theatrical version. The effects are beautiful to see, and it's just an all around fun movie to watch. Now let's give this thing a score!

ANGELO'S MOVIE GRADING SYSTEM: A, B, C, D, or EPIC FAIL.

Acting: B+

Music: A+

Special Effects: A-

Sets: B

Plot: A+

Costumes/Make-up: B

Editing: A

OVERALL SCORE: 9.5/10

A limited theatrical release for "Dorothy and the Witches of Oz" is currently planned for early 2012 in the United States, with a home video release to follow shortly thereafter. The TV version of the movie is available to all Dish Network and Time Warner customers in the U.S. Follow "The Witches of Oz" on Twitter and Facebook for updates.

Dorothy and the Seven-Leaf Clover

2011-10-06T23:58:00.000-05:00

Remember those four Random House books? Well, I got another one. That's 3/4.

Dorothy and the Seven-Leaf Clover by Dorothy Haas was actually one of two Oz books she wrote for Random House. Her other book was a picture book titled Dorothy and Old King Crow. I guess she liked Oz! (She also shares a last name with Oz writer Mark Haas, but it doesn't seem they were immediately related.)

Dorothy accidentally makes the sign to be brought to Oz one Saturday morning (only up to Ozma of Oz when it comes to canon references, remember?), and Ozma assumed she wanted to be with her old friends, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion. As such, Dorothy gets to Oz on page 2, which is just fine, considering the length of the book.

The five (Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion) arrive just outside a cornfield, glad to be reunited. However, Toto chases a field mouse into the cornfield, where he gets trapped in a golden summerhouse. The inhabitant of the summerhouse is a boy made of gold who explains he was made gold by a witch. He refuses to let Toto go, and having a heart of cold metal, he is unmoved by Dorothy's pleading.

The way to restore the boy is to have him say the incantation while holding a seven-leaf clover. But can Dorothy and her friends find one? What dangers lie in their way? And can they convince the boy to actually do it?

Dorothy Haas writes a rather good, if short, Oz story here. The characters don't have to wait on a magical deus ex machina to solve their problems, they can handle it. The characters stay mainly in character with Baum's original, and the conclusion turns up a few surprises. David Rose's artwork was still at his usual standard. And yes, it can slip in right after Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz with no real continuity issues.

All together, Dorothy and the Seven-Leaf Clover is an all right little book. Maybe not one I'd recommend right away, but all right.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: A Chat With Tommy Kovac

2011-10-05T19:08:00.000-05:00

Jared talks with Tommy Kovac, writer of the comic series Royal Historian of Oz.

As always, you can download the episode at the podcast site or listen using the player below.

Note: This podcast was accidentally recorded at 64kbps.

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The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Story Lady in Oz

2011-10-04T21:49:00.000-05:00

As a special new addition to the podcast, here's a presentation of an Old Time Radio show.

Here we have two episodes of "The Story Lady." This nutty storyteller would tell a quick version of a classic fairytale and add a few strange spins. Well, she did The Wizard of Oz... twice.

Download here or listen below.

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New Forums

2011-10-02T20:41:00.000-05:00

Well, the Oz Club Message Boards are gone. As of late evening September 30th, they are closed from the public. As such, I decided to add a new forum to my Oz website!

We debuted...

...on Friday and already have 24 users.

Go ahead and join. Everyone's welcome!

Better late than never!

2011-10-01T08:07:00.002-05:00

So, I was grounded yesterday, so evidently, I couldn't blog! BUT, Jared said I could do a Saturday blog instead.

L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz has added a new column "Adapting Oz/Finding Frank" to their website. Expect a new entry to be posted every Wednesday. Also, Clayton has been adding tons of raw frames from the film to the Director's Blog. He's also been sharing some test composites that he's calling "Raw Frame Plus". If you'd like to see a particular frame, head over to their Facebook page and suggest it now, because they'll be retiring the Raw Frame feature here in a few weeks!

As mentioned in previous blog updates, there will be premiere screenings of the highly-anticipated The Witches of Oz (theatrical version) throughout the weekend at the annual Oztoberfest in Wamego, Kansas! Visit www.oztoberfest.com for more information.

I will be getting The Witches of Oz (theatrical version) on Blu-Ray for reviewing purposes on Tuesday! Very exciting, and I'll be sure to include my review of that in next week's blog.

Summertime Entertainment's all-new virtual world, Adventure in Oz, is now available to join for a limited amount of users. It is expected to open to the public by year's end. Sign up here.

'Till next week!

Back?

2011-09-27T22:54:00.001-05:00

My last few blogs were just reviews. Why? My computer was down for over a week and I could only blog at the library. Where you get two 1-hour sessions per day.

I intended to get two podcasts out in September, but my computer issues delayed the editing of one until now. I interviewed Tommy Kovac, writer of the Royal Historian of Oz comic series, but was forced to use my brother's laptop to make the call, and I wound up forgetting to set the recording program to record at 128kbps instead of the default 64kbps. So if you find the audio quality lacking a bit, there's your answer.

Something that happened recently is that The International Wizard of Oz Club Forums has decided to close, encouraging users to discuss things on the Club's Facebook page. For me, the forums is where I learned so much about Oz and the community. I asked questions, said some dumb things and said some good things. Eventually, I started blogging about certain topics rather that posting them for discussion there. And now here I am, over 600 blog entries later. (I think we're almost at blog entry 666...)

Since not everyone likes Facebook for a message board (I don't, there's no organization and you can't edit your posts), I have been consulting with my webhost about opening up forums as part of the Royal Website of Oz. More on that as it arises.

Given that, we're also looking at setting up a proper fan fiction site, because my last attempt at one, using forum software, didn't work out so well. Again, more on that as it happens. (The site might also expose talent for future issues of the Club's Oziana.)

And we're also looking at working on an extensive library site of public domain Oz and Oz-related works. I was going to put the Oz books on my site as PDFs to be e-reader friendly, but it looks like I should've just gone with plain flowing HTML all along... Thank goodness for Calibre!

So, with a wiki, playable games, a podcast, a blog, and forums, user-submitted fan fiction, and a library in the works, we might be becoming one of the biggest Oz sites.

Also, as people keeping up to date on the Winkie Convention probably already know, I'm hosting the standard quiz next year and providing the prize. I have picked a perfectly petite Pumperdinkian prize for the prizewinner. So peruse your paperback Sky Island (or hardcover, or ebook) and put by your pay and pop up at the 2012 Winkie Convention! And who knows what else I might do?

Finally, I've been collecting issues of The Baum Bugle and Oziana for reading and research purposes. (So this means I'm counting the Best of the Baum Bugle collections along with the issues.) Right now, I'm just reading The Baum Bugle and learning so much about the Club and Oz history. There's also so many images I hadn't seen before, including photos of the Royal Historians.

Bit of trivia, the Autumn, 1972 issue permanently broke a Baum Bugle tradition that had been in place since the first issue: it was stapled together. (And yes, some members were upset about this.) Also, if you ever see it, take a good look at the cover image. If you think you recognize it and have seen it before, look again.

So there we go, just Ozzing it up. And there's a few other Ozzy things I'm working on I'm not blogging about quite yet.

BBC Radio 4 - The Wizard of Oz

2011-09-26T17:03:00.001-05:00

1996 saw the BBC's first radio adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, now under its shorter title. (Is it just me, or did calling it "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" become widespread again after the centennial?) About two hours long, it was initially only available on cassette in the UK. Since then, it's been released on CD in the US and available on Audible.

The adaptation opens with a Judy Garland-esque sounding Dorothy playing with Toto. However this might strike you, it actually follows the book pretty well. Often times, dialogue is lifted directly from Baum and then expanded on. It's almost like something you'd give a MGM movie fan who was reluctant to read the book: something that follows Baum much more closely but flows a lot like the movie.

The nitty gritty: there are four witches, the DOA Wicked Witch of the East, the Good Witch of the North, Glinda, and the Wicked Witch of the West. However, the trip to Glinda's is omitted and she arrives in the Emerald City, saying she felt she was needed due to her "witch's intuition." The Wicked Witch of the West is introduced early, making her feel more like the major villain (unlike Baum), but she doesn't reveal herself to Dorothy like Margaret Hamilton's witch (though she does sound familiar). She keeps an eye on Dorothy from the moment she arrives in Oz, the scene shifting from Dorothy and Co. to the Witch. Early on, I can swear she says she's using a telescope, but later, she mentions her magic eye.

Now, the early introduction of the Wicked Witch allows for some nice moments to set up her character ("If I was a good witch, I suppose I'd go and warn them about those poppies..."), but making her role as a villain larger is one of the reasons why the trip to Glinda's wouldn't work: now the villain's defeated, it's time for the rewards. But in Baum, there isn't a central villain, just a challenge Dorothy needs to overcome: getting back to her family.

The voice acting, if a little MGM-inspired, is top notch! Though the Tin Woodman and some minor characters do have UK accents. The Lion is played up with a over-the-top Bert Lahr-ish Brooklyn accent. However, neither Good Witch really tries to channel Billie Burke.

The overall production quality is very good, but then, this is BBC Radio. However, I must admit to not being able to recall how any of the music sounds.

So, if one wants to hear how Oz has been adapted for audio, this is one version that shouldn't be missed, but given other adaptations of the book for audio have hewed even closer while still being great audio versions, it might not be the best.

BBC Radio 4 - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

2011-09-24T10:54:00.000-05:00

BBC Radio dramatizations are well known for being high quality productions with music and a faithful adaptation. But would you believe they've done The Wonderful Wizard of Oz twice?

Their first adaptation was done in the 1990s, but we'll get to that one later. The one at hand is a bit more recent, from December 2009.

The production runs about an hour with superb music, sound effects, and voice acting. The thing is, rather than rushing through Baum's story, writer Linda Marshall decided to do some revisions. The story opens right with the cyclone coming towards Dorothy's home, immediately setting up an exciting, serious, and suspenseful pace.

When Dorothy arrives in Oz, she sees smoke and thinks her house is on fire, but a Munchkin arrives and tells her that it is the Wicked Witch of the East dying. Shortly, they fight off a flying monkey together before the Good Witch of the North arrives. In Marshall's Oz, Witches are invisible to those afraid of them, which makes the Wicked Witches extra dangerous, and renders the Good Witches invisible.

Dorothy sets off down the yellow brick road, where she meets the Scarecrow, but as she tires, they find a cottage, and outside, the Tin Woodman (played by Torchwood's Burn Gorman), who has a different origin story this time: his dedication to his work made him heartless, as he replaced severed limbs with tin. (I do not think this change was for the better, as it makes him less of a likable character.) The lion soon appears and refuses to hurt Dorothy. He's fleeing for his life, as Kalidahs are nearby. (He even blames the Tin Woodman for cutting down too many trees, removing hiding places for animals.)

The Kalidahs attack and the lion is forced to carry Dorothy and the Scarecrow over a ditch to save them. The Tin Woodman has to cut a tree down so he can cross, and then manages to get it into the ditch, killing the Kalidah. Soon, they find the Emerald City, which sounds like a wonderful city with people living in poverty on the outside.

The Wizard does grant audiences, but he appears to people as the thing they fear the most. Dorothy finds herself in the cyclone again, the Scarecrow sees fire, the Tin Woodman sees water, and the Lion sees a fierce Kalidah.

The Winkie Country is a dry desert, and the Wicked Witch immediately sends the Winged Monkeys, who she had promised to set them free after one more task. After Dorothy defeats them and the Winged Monkeys drop them off, the king of the Winged Monkeys asks for his freedom, but Dorothy refuses until she gets home, making him say she's no different from the rest of the witches.

When the four friends enter the Wizard's chamber again, it sounds as their combined presence is too much for his pyrotechnics and other devices to handle, and they stop working, revealing him as the man he is. He tells the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Lion that they have to work on getting knowledge, love, and courage themselves, and they're already on a good start. However, his attempt to take Dorothy home in his balloon fails, and he calls down that they should try Glinda.

The journey south finds Dorothy finally stopping and coming to terms with herself before Glinda appears to her. What is Dorothy's problem? Fear. Fear of??? ... Admittedly, Marshall isn't too clear on this. Is Dorothy's home life so bad that she lives in constant fear? At the end, Aunt Em says she finally feels joy at Dorothy's return, but why would living with a gloomy aunt and uncle instill fear? I suppose an hour long production was just too short to work this idea out fully.

When the program aired, it was available on the BBC iPlayer, which allows radio programs to be streamed worldwide. (Videos are region locked.) It was aired a few times in December, but has not been aired since.

However, the production is available on Audible.com for about $5.

Overall, it's an interesting take on Oz, but some of the concepts introduced really needed some fleshing out.

Mister Tinker in Oz

2011-09-23T08:43:00.000-05:00

Following yesterday's post, why not look at the other Random House Oz book I got?

James Howe's Mister Tinker in Oz opens with Dorothy in Kansas, on a windy night. Aunt Em sends her out to fasten the gate, when Dorothy sees a ladder descend from the sky and a strange man climbing down it.

The man introduces himself as Ezra P. Tinker. He is Tik-Tok's surviving inventor, and according to his watch, Tik-Tok's thousand year guarantee is about to expire, so he needs to find Tik-Tok as soon as possible to make the necessary repairs.

Dorothy brings him up to speed on Tik-Tok's current whereabouts, as he had no way of knowing that Tik-Tok now lives in the Emerald City instead of Ev. So, Mr. Tinker comes up with a way to get them to Oz: mail. After addressing and stamping an envelope (with his foot), he shrinks them both so they can ride inside. However, the wind carries Dorothy away to Oz alone.

Emerging from the envelope, Dorothy finds herself surrounded by young children called the Widdlebits, who seek a caretaker from the Shiny Bellies, who are ants, but at Dorothy's present size, they are monsters. Can Mr. Tinker find them in time? And what other dangers lay between them and the Emerald City? And if they get there, will everything be all right? And most importantly, can Tik-Tok be found in time?

James Howe, writer of many children's books, including the Bunnicula series, actually proves a capable Oz storyteller, even in the standard six chapters of the Random House Oz books. He is witty, manages to have magic mastered by logic and perseverance, and altogether, provides a story that fits in well with Oz continuity. Unlike Ozma and the Wayward Wand, no specific time is given for the story, allowing it to fall easily after Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz, although the Wizard could not appear.

David Rose again proves a capable illustrator, though there are some spots where the story could have used a few more illustrations. I only wish this author and illustrator pair could have done a longer Oz story, because this really is a good little story.

Never mind that I'm not counting it as "canon" in my mind...

Ozma and the Wayward Wand

2011-09-22T13:42:00.002-05:00

In 1985, Random House Publishing issued four little Oz books, probably timed with the release of Disney's Return to Oz. They were Dorothy and the Magic Belt, Dorothy and the Seven-Leaf Clover, the surprisingly easy to find Mister Tinker in Oz, and the book at hand, Ozma and the Wayward Wand.

These books were not long, being small, thin, having large print, and under ten chapters each. Each of the four were written by a different writer, but illustrator David Rose illustrated them all. Ozma and the Wayward Wand was by Polly Berends. (What a suggestive title, by the way. Don't know what I mean? Good.)

Each of the books are supposed to be set after Ozma of Oz, as that was the last Oz book in public domain at the time. As I'd mentioned, Mister Tinker in Oz seems to be rather easy to find. I know Sam's at least read it, and he's in Australia, and I've owned two copies, a hardcover library binding edition in my first collection, and now a standard paperback.

Ozma and the Wayward Wand finds Dorothy wanting to go on a hot air balloon ride, but when she visits the fair, she spends her fifty cent piece at a fortune teller, who shows her a vision of Ozma and the Scarecrow missing her in Oz. Dorothy does go to the hot air balloon, though she has no money, and is given a free ride, but when Toto jumps out, the operator retrieves him, but before he can get back in himself, the balloon flies away.

The balloon eventually flies to Oz, where it starts to fall over the desert, but the Scarecrow in the reassembled Gump rescues Dorothy and Toto, and Ozma uses the magic carpet, which has become watery, to make a river that reaches out into the desert.

As Dorothy, Billina, and Ozma go boating, a little boy steals Ozma's wand and begins to make trouble in the Emerald City, not what he'd intended and a lot more trouble than he expected.

In the end, everything is returned to normal, and Dorothy goes back to Kansas in the balloon.

The little book isn't such a great Oz story. It specifically states Dorothy's last visit was Ozma of Oz, but that becomes problematic, as that book has Dorothy in Australia at the end, and the next book opens with her on the return journey. The ending has a moral for Dorothy and Ozma, which feels a little forced and doesn't make a compelling story at all. Dorothy feels too restless in Kansas (she even says "Drat!" at having to stay there, which just doesn't feel right), and Ozma seems too silly, alerting the entire Emerald City to Dorothy's plight when only a few people can actually help. And Ozma worries Dorothy's forgotten them, which would be silly indeed, considering Oz is the most exciting place Dorothy's been to.

The best part of the book is David Rose's illustrations. While he caters a bit to the MGM folk by giving Dorothy braids, his designs are largely based on John R. Neill's original illustrations. (Though I don't care for his Omby Amby, who has his beard back already, another contradiction of series continuity.)

Overall, while it's fine for a short kid's book, it's not a great Oz book.

WAS by Geoff Ryman

2011-09-20T21:19:00.000-05:00

A while back, I read Geoff Ryman's Was. And have yet to blog about it.

Well, here goes!

Well, despite hearing some things that made me think it was yet another re-invention of Oz, I was pleasantly surprised by Was.

The book follows a variety of people who are connected by Oz somehow. Judy Garland as a child is focus of one chapter, another follows her makeup assistant on The Wizard of Oz, and another chapter follows the mind of her mother.

One of the most inventive characters flows through many chapters: Dorothy Gael, a little girl who lost her mother to illness, and moves in with her country aunt and uncle Henry and Emily Gulch. But as Dorothy's life goes on, it gets progressively worse. Toto runs away from home (she finds him once, but then he runs away for good later), her only friend dies, and Henry gives into certain temptations.

Dorothy's sad life is briefly brightened by a substitute teacher at her school: a traveling actor about to return home soon. It it slowly revealed that he is L. Frank Baum himself, and during his brief time in Kansas, he becomes concerned for the little girl.

A doctor later meets an elderly and bitter Dorothy in a nursing home, and shortly before her death, she sees the first telecast of MGM's The Wizard of Oz.

Finally, AIDS afflicted film actor Jonathan is yet another subplot. A childhood fan of The Wizard of Oz, he decides to seek out the real Dorothy.

Despite how depressing the book sounds, I was surprised at how warm the ending is. And, as a historical buff, I was glad that an afterword explains where the author took creative liberties with fact. (Especially the stuff with Baum.) The text sometimes reads slowly like a dream, or sometimes quickly like a nightmare. Other times, it flows naturally like our day to day lives.

Given my age of 25, I can't say I'm sorry I didn't read it sooner, as it isn't for the younger Oz fan. Overall, I'd recommend it for someone who'd want a good story that isn't exactly an Oz story.

Somewhere Over The Red Tape

2011-09-19T17:40:00.000-05:00

Fellow blogger Angelo directed me to this article using MGM's musical adaptation of The Wizard of Oz as an example of how copyrights have been extended. According to it, the MGM film has a little over 20 years before it enters the public domain.

To be honest, the imagery of MGM's Wizard of Oz, whether you believe they correctly reflected Baum's vision or not, has undeniably entered our culture so completely that it's almost a surprise it's not already public domain.

But really, when 2035 hits and the movie is public domain, what's going to change? Unless another widespread movie version comes along that makes people forget the MGM film (HIGHLY unlikely!), it seems it'll still be loved. And while anyone could make a DVD/Blu-Ray/whatever we'll be using for video then, or a piece of merchandise, it's not guaranteed it'd be of high quality. I'd imagine Warner Brothers still doing video releases, or even claiming people can't use their video transfers of the film, because those transfers are their property. (And considering the price tag these transfers and restorations have had, I couldn't blame them.)

It's like many silent films now. You can get Douglas Fairbanks' The Thief of Baghdad for free from Internet Archive, but the really good version is only on DVD and if you want that, it's not the cheapest one out there. Same for other silents as well. And since these prints have been restored and have new scores, they do own a copyright of their version. We could very well see the same treatment for Oz.

Now, it's possible that Warner or a bunch of studios could press for another copyright extension, but as the article states, a 95 year copyright term is long enough. The copyright will (don't hate me for saying this) last longer than anyone who worked on the film. Even though Warner Brothers should be commended for their handling of the film, they only own the rights. They didn't make it. In a way, it isn't "theirs."

So, where will MGM's rainbow be in 2035? Most likely still out there, still bringing smiles to generations.

Change of plans...

2011-09-16T14:48:00.003-05:00

So, I was told that The Witches of Oz Blu-Ray would be here today, but it's apparent that it hasn't even been shipped. I was really planning on writing a review of that for today's blog, especially since I've been slacking in my blogs lately. So, there ya go. There's nothing to blog about, and I'm totally bummed out. I hope everyone has a great weekend, especially if you're going to the Chesterton Oz fest this weekend!

Doing Everything at Memorandum

2011-09-13T13:40:00.001-05:00

Cross-posted from my WordPress.

Sometimes the odd encounters in Oz books are so brief as to only cover a few pages, sometimes making a reader wonder why they were even included. Sometimes, however, the mysterious nature of such episodes makes them more interesting. One such case is the appearance in Ruth Plumly Thompson's The Royal Book of Oz of the twins Memo and Randum, or as they call each other for short, Mem and Ran. The two of them look pretty much identical, but their personalities are opposite. Memo is very neat and organized, and Randum quite untidy. The latter does everything at random, and the former at memorandum, meaning he has to act according to his book and take notes on anything he encounters. This makes both of them pretty ineffective at getting anything done. When Dorothy falls into the Winkie River, Memo refuses to save her because he only saves lives on Mondays. Randum does his best to help, but because he's random, he jumps into the river downstream from where Dorothy is. Memo leaves after being told off by his brother, and Randum runs away when he sees the Cowardly Lion, and that's the last we see of them. They do both merit brief mentions in Jack Snow's Who's Who in Oz, though. In the entry for Randum, Snow writes, "Randum has a brother named Memo, and we wouldn't be surprised if father was named Paddy Scratch," a joke I've never gotten. Anyone care to explain it to me?

Since one brother thinks without acting and the other acts without thinking, they bring to mind the brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus from Greek mythology, whose names mean "forethought" and "afterthought." Not that Prometheus doesn't act, but they still fit the roles of thinker and non-thinker. Not necessarily close enough for Thompson to have had the Titans in mind when coming up with these characters, but she was familiar with Greek mythology, so I guess it's possible. That's more likely just how my mind works, however, rather than Thompson's.

Next week, Blufferroo, Grand Counter of the Imperial Spoons of Samandra!

Why Hollywood Fails At Oz

2011-09-12T21:03:00.000-05:00

Sean Gates, writer of the independent film L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz wrote a Facebook note about feminism in Baum's works, especially The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. I'd recommend going over and reading that now, because it brings up some points I'd like to discuss below.

Baum's mother-in-law was women's rights activist Matilda Gage. While he had some hesitation about her (after all, his marrying Maud ended Matilda's dreams of a self-reliant daughter), once they accepted each other, Baum really respected her views, and as Michael Patrick Hearn points out in his Annotated Wizard of Oz, they found their way into the Oz books. As Sean points out, both Glinda and Dorothy defy the stereotypes they would fit in normal fairy tales.

The strong feminine characters are part of what makes Oz unique. Usually, the male characters are strong, but in Wonderful Wizard, Dorothy's friends feel inadequate and the Wizard, despite his noble intentions, has no actual magic power.

Now, unfortunately, mainstream movies don't seem to be able to capture the same unique sense of feminism. I would not attribute this to the writers, directors, and actresses of being unable to capture this. Rather, it's too different from what mainstream movies do. Because what they do is a business. They don't make movies with "let's make a game-changing movie that will set new standards in the film industry" in mind first, it's "let's make something that will sell." (On a business level, I understand this. As an artist, I find it disgusting.)

And unfortunately, rather than improve on the characterizations, they'd rather sell you over the top action and gore, CGI special effects and 3D.

The feminism of Baum has never been successfully captured on film by a mainstream producer, except in Disney's Return to Oz, where while Dorothy is scared, she is quite capable of finding solutions to her predicaments.

Sean mentioned the flaws of the MGM characterization of Dorothy, which has influenced many depictions since. One notable exception has been the film version of The Wiz, but the making Dorothy an insecure adult was problematic and does not reflect Baum's feminist themes.

Some of the more substantial depictions have been from foreign producers, one of the better versions being the anime series in the late 1980s. Dorothy is yet the leading force in the story, despite its alteration.

Frankly, I'm looking forward to Sean and Clayton's movie. By being independent, they don't have to worry about paying back investors and a studio getting in the way of what they want to do (although I'm sure they wouldn't mind if some studio threw some money their way). And, I sincerely hope, we'll finally see an onscreen version of Oz that was everything Baum intended it to be.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Magic Cloak of Oz

2011-09-11T22:36:00.000-05:00

Continuing the series of podcasts about the Movies of Oz, Jared and Sam look at The Magic Cloak of Oz, the second film from L. Frank Baum's The Oz Film Manufacturing Company, but it was actually based on Baum's Queen Zixi of Ix, a non-Oz book!

As always, you can listen and download at the podcast site or use the player below!

Podcast Powered By Podbean

Buy the book
Buy the movie:
(shorter version)
(Warner Brothers Oz 2005 set)
(2009 longer version on DVD)
(2009 longer version on Blu-Ray)

Update

2011-09-09T14:49:00.004-05:00

The Witches of Oz theatrical version will be screened at the Oztoberfest next month in Wamego! Click here for more information.

Dorothy of Oz will be showing off a clip and giving people a chance to win a cameo appearance in the movie next weekend at the Chesterton Wizard of Oz festival. Producers Ryan and Roland Caroll will be participate in the parade as well. Read more about the festival here.

The crew on Disney's Oz, the Great and Powerful are going to green! FOX-2 went inside the studio to get a look at how Raleigh Studios is going green. Watch the video exclusive here.

Head over to a thread on the IWOC message board that I'll be updating often listing release dates for The Witches of Oz.

David Tai on "Executive Decisions"

2011-09-08T17:50:00.001-05:00

As a side piece to last night's blog, David Tai wanted to share his own take on writing his first Oziana story.

I blame David Maxine and Jared Davis for "Executive Decisions," let me explain why.

It began, basically, with Jared's "Borderlands"... what he now is calling Outsiders from Oz. He'd asked me to review what he'd written. So naturally, I'd said that Dorothy was being overused for these kind of adventures, and why not, for once, leave Dorothy home? (Jared note: Dorothy was never going to go on this adventure.)

Naturally, then, I suggested he use the opportunity to make a secondary plot out of that if he wanted to write a novel. He chose, instead, to merge it with a different secondary plot. But that left Dorothy sitting around the Emerald City doing nothing, and that left me sad that something wasn't being done with that.

Around the same time, Jared wrote a blog entry about The Lost King of Oz. In the comments, David Maxine discussed how wildly out of character Ozma was, which led me to wonder, just, if there was a way to make the seemingly out of character attitudes make sense.

Why would Ozma so casually execute a witch?

And at around that same time, I'd been talking to Kim McFarland about her own work, A Refugee in Oz, and talking about how she should consider, for a new project, writing about the girls of Oz. She returned that a) she hated cute girls and b) she didn't see much distinction between the girls. So breaking down Trot, Betsy, and Dorothy turned out to be a fun exercise. Putting all that together, naturally, I had to use Betsy and Trot to help illustrate the difference between how each girl would approach a situation, and especially to highlight the decision that Dorothy would have to be making.

So naturally, first, why would Ozma execute someone she'd vowed to take care of?

Answer: she wouldn't.

But how the heck would she manage to do that? Looking again at Lost King, I couldn't help but note that they'd not shown the body, only brought back her shoes... and the answer was pretty obvious after that. But why spoil it? Read for yourself!

"Executive Decisions" is available exclusively in Oziana #38.

Oziana #38

2011-09-07T23:39:00.001-05:00

Hmmm... Is it fair for me to talk about Oziana #38? I mean... I have a story in it, helped with another, then checked half the issue for typos. So... Hmmm... How to tackle this?

So, Oziana is the creative magazine of The International Wizard of Oz Club. It began in 1971 and has been published by the Club until now. #38 (which is retroactively numbered, since we had an issue for 2007, then a double issue for 2009 and 2010, so #38 is meant to fill in for 2008, with a new issue coming later this year for 2011 and one already in editing stages for 2012) is the first issue to be hosted on Lulu.com, meaning the Club is free from paying for a print run, while at the same time offering a high-quality printed magazine. By permission of Reilly & Lee, Oziana stories are allowed to freely reference any books and characters from the Famous Forty. A number of Oz writers who are well known today got their start in Oziana.

Alex Garcia of Spain illustrates the cover of #38 as well as two stories. The cover shows a variety of characters from the story in a welcoming and exciting pose against the Emerald City.

The first story is "Executive Decisions" by new Oz writer David Tai. And this is the story I claim I helped with, though really, David did just well on his own. David served as editor on my upcoming book Outsiders from Oz, and there is a part in the book in which Dorothy is left to manage affairs of state in the Emerald City while Ozma is away. David thought I should tell about what Dorothy would do, but I was too busy writing everything else to throw in another subplot, so I decided not to visit this.

Another thing that happened was my blog about The Lost King of Oz and the surprising responses to it. David decided to tie these together into his first Oz short story.

"Executive Decisions" finds Dorothy fulfilling the duty of holding court so the people of Oz can air their grievances. When Mombi enters the throne room complaining about mushroom people building a tunnel under her house, Dorothy, Trot, and Betsy are surprised to see Mombi alive. They begin investigating Mombi's execution, and begin to find many questions before they finally get the answer.

Not only does David tell a good, compelling story and keep the characters in character, he manages to make Dorothy, Trot, and Betsy sound like different characters. (Let's face it, some stories feel like they used Betsy or Trot to avoid overusing Dorothy. Yes, Thompson, I'm looking at you.) Kim McFarland, author and illustrator of A Refugee in Oz, illustrates the story, with wonderfully done depictions of the characters taking cue from Neill, while mixed with Kim's own style.

And then we come to "Bud and the Red Jinn" by Jared Davis. I was commissioned to write the story simply because King Bud of Noland and Jinnicky the Red Jinn of Ev were on the cover but were not in any of the stories. Since I was still at work on Outsiders at the time, I got help coming up with the plot. As it is, the story is only three pages long, stretched to four with a couple of beautiful illustrations by Anna-Maria Cool.

Writing this story was fun. When I was asked to write about Jinnicky, I had to admit that I'd read nothing substantial featuring the character. I quickly got a copy of The Silver Princess in Oz. This way, if for some reason we couldn't be cleared by Oziana's Famous Forty permissions, I could claim the character's depiction was based solely on public domain material. I had read Queen Zixi of Ix many times, so I was familiar with Bud and other characters that I might reference. (And we managed to get Anna-Maria to base her Zixi on Fredric Richardson's instead of Neill.)

The story simply has Bud and Fluff making a formal visit to Zixi for her Queen's Festival, where Bud meets Jinnicky for the first time. (Since Ix is bordered by Ev, it made sense that he might be invited as well.) The two become friends and head outside, where they intercept a surprise visit by Prince Bobo of Boboland, who is about to make a very serious mistake.

I came up with the idea that Bobo has been sailing around the Ozian continent to make peaceful connections with all countries, and I'll tease you now that what I wrote for him in Ix is only a very small part of that adventure!

As for how good "Bud and the Red Jinn" is, I couldn't say. I don't think I'm qualified to as the writer. But I will say that I don't overindulge in details. It's a very quick read, and I got to read it to my parents a while back in the course of ten minutes. (So it's not boring either, it seems. They stayed awake.)

Next up is Gina Wickwar's wonderful "Polychrome Visits The Sea Fairies," again exquisitely illustrated by Alex Garcia. Polychrome meets Merla and Clia (mermaids from The Sea Fairies) and is allowed to have a mermaid's tail herself as she goes underwater, where she assists Queen Aquareine and King Anko in dealing with some of the last of Zog's devil fish.

While Gina's story isn't very long, it does give us a welcome revisit to the Sea Fairies, very much in character.

Gina's Polychrome story is complemented by a full page illustration of Polly by Marcus Mebes, accompanied with a poem.

Following this is Jeff Rester's "Thy Fearful Symmetry," another story involving Mombi, this time explaining how she's wrapped up with the Hungry Tiger. It's illustrated well by Dennis Anfuso.

To be honest, of all the stories in #38, Jeff's was the one I liked least. There isn't much humor, and at times I thought of Kipling rather than Baum, and not in a good way. And the use of old English and the Tiger even quoting a bit of scripture threw me off a bit. However, the concept and plot are good, so I still enjoyed it.

Finishing off the issue is "The Bashful Baker's Honeymoon" by Marcus Mebes, again elegantly illustrated by Alex Garcia. The story follows up with Maria and Derek from "The Bashful Baker of Oz" from Oziana 2003, sending them on a much postponed honeymoon aboard the Crescent Moon with Captain Salt, Ato, Tandy, Roger the Read Bird, Trot, Cap'n Bill, and a couple old friends from Shipwrecked in Oz, another previous Oz story by Marcus. Oh, and we might have a visit from a certain prince in here as well.

"Honeymoon" is just a honeymoon, a travelogue taking us around the coasts of the continent where Oz lies, and for what it is, it reads quite well.

So, overall, Oziana is back in the 21st Century and in good hands. #38 is a strong start, let's hope all of the creative Oz fans can keep it up.

Buy Oziana #38 here.

Bye Bye Bradford

2011-09-01T19:07:00.001-05:00

This morning, I cancelled my subscription to the Bradford Exchange's reprint series of Oz books. After spending over $120 on three books, I decided the print quality was not good enough to justify $50 plus shipping per book.

You might remember an enthusiastic entry I wrote about their Ozma of Oz. Upon closer examination, I had to remove it and say, no, we're still badly off-register with the color, especially in the plates. Ozma was the first Oz book since Wonderful Wizard to use color on the actual text pages (though it was reserved for the chapter headings.) The rest of the interior is nice, but if I wanted a nice reproduction of that, there's Dover and Books of Wonder. Considering Books of Wonder and even the publishers of the original edition of The Annotated Wizard of Oz could reproduce the colors so well, it's baffling why a specialty publisher like Charles Winthrope & Sons is finding it "difficult."

I already have a suitable and lower priced set from Books of Wonder and if I want something better, I can hope something else comes along (the books are public domain, so anyone could do a reprint series themselves and Bradford couldn't do a thing), or scheme to get actual Reilly & Britton (or Lee) editions. I already have rebound versions of three of Thompson's Oz books in Reilly & Lee editions (one with a new cover and some reproduced pages, one with a new spine, and another with a new back cover and spine), and one Thompson book and two of Neill's published by them.

I really had high hopes for the Bradford Exchange series and hoped to support them, but after three books with weird color plate errors, it's no longer worth my investment. I'm getting much more satisfaction from collecting Baum Bugles and Ozianas!

Weekly Update: 'Witches of Oz' on Pay-Per-View!

2011-09-01T15:28:00.006-05:00

Not much to blog about this week, so this will be a short one.

The TV version of 'The Witches of Oz' is now available to rent on demand on several North American cable providers including: Insight Digital Cable, Mediacom Cable Services, Time Warner Cable, and Dish Network. Several other cable providers in North America have it available too, so check to see if you have 'The Witches of Oz' available on your DVR box!

Okay, so let me give you a run down on the version that's available on pay per view.
The prologue sequence is no different than the version that has been leaked online. All the Oz flashbacks are the same. The Kansas 1899 sequence is the same as well, which means it has crappy special effects.

Some of the effects do look better, some that I noticed below:
the parts involving fire, the shots where various characters are standing on the balcony in New York, some bits in the disaster sequence near the end, and some of the fighting sequences look better.

Overall, I'd wait until the theatrical version comes out. The Pay Per View version is better than the Eastern Europe version, but it's not even close to the theatrical version.

Next week, I'll be reviewing an exclusive screener's copy of the theatrical version on BluRay, that the production company is sending me for review purposes. I'll be sure to share that review with you.

The Royal Blog of Oz

Movies/TV Update

PORTALS in Oz

Wiki-ed Witches

Weekly Update: Dorothy of Oz

All in the family!

Audio and Oz

Another peek at Outsiders

Rachel Cosgrove Payes in "Oz: The American Fairyland"

Getting an Illustrator

The Wizard of Oz — Seta's Super NES game

The Royal Podcast of Oz: Oz News - January 2012

Movies/TV Update

The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Wizard of Oz, 1925 and 1933

The Tik-Tok Man of Oz

Aunt Jane's Nieces Abroad

The Royal Explorers of Oz: The Voyage of 'The Crescent Moon' — Now on sale!

A Bucket(head) of Books

Royal Explorers of Oz Update!

End of 2011 report!

Merry Christmas!

Aunt Jane's Nieces

A Kidnapped Santa Claus (Alex Robinson's adaptation)

A peek at Outsiders

The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus

Oziana 2011

Illustrating Outsiders

Updates!

The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (2000) DVD review

"Outsiders From Oz" update

December Edith Van Dyne Update

Interview with Hugh Gross, director of 'After the Wizard'

My Early Years in Oz

Sweet Wishes and Pegasus

Santa Claus: Baum vs. Everyone Else

Congratulations to Mike Conway!

The Royal Podcast of Oz: Dorothy's Christmas Tree

Aunt Jane's Nieces Collection Update!

The Wonderland of Oz

Nuts!

Mister Tinker in Oz - Sam's Retrospective

Royal Explorers of Oz

The Royal Podcast of Oz: A Chat With Ruth Berman

More Baum Bugle Reading

Fun with Fairies

"The Origins of Oz" coming soon

What I might be collecting next...

Weekly Update: R.I.P. Karl Slover

Invisible Inzi of Oz

The Red Jinn in Oz

And we are live!

Out of Oz

(Almost) Weekly Update

Books of Wonder's Oz reprints

Fairyland Indus Trees, Inc.

Writing Oz: What not to do

More web building in Oz

MECO's The Wizard of Oz

The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Zim Greenleaf of Oz

Web building in Oz

Down and Out with Uncle Henry

The Witches of Oz — What Jared had to say

Which Witch on Halloween

Dorothy and the Magic Belt

Thorns and Private Files in Oz

Oz Film/TV Update

Oziana 2009/2010

The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Penhale Broadcast

The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: Tippetarius in Oz

The Royal Podcast of Oz: His Majesty, The Scarecrow of Oz

"I spent my better years as a goat"

The Seven Blue Mountains of Oz: The Disenchanted Princess of Oz

Always on My Mettle

Death and Dying in Oz

Oziana 2004; Return to Nomes

He's the Wizard

Autumn 2011 Bugle and Oziana 38

Podcast thoughts

Winkies 2012

Review: "Dorothy and the Witches of Oz" (2012)