The Royal Podcast of Oz - The Oz Kids: The Nome Prince and the Magic Belt

Jay and Sam discuss the second story arc from The Oz Kids, where we meet the Nome Prince. Just how many Oz books does this borrow from?

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'Guardianes de Oz' Gets a U.S. Release Date

Guardianes de Oz, an animated film co-produced in India and Mexico, finally has a U.S. release date. The film is designed and executive produced by Jorge Gutierrez, director of Book of Life and creator of Nickelodeon's El Tigre series, and was released theatrically in Mexico (and I believe in some other countries overseas as well) last year. The film previously had the working titles Save Oz! and Wicked Flying Monkeys but will be released on January 24, 2017 on DVD and digital HD in the U.S. as Guardians of Oz under Lionsgate's Grindstone Entertainment banner.

The English-language version of the film features the voices of YouTube "sensation" Jenn McAllister (billed in the trailer and on the DVD cover with her Twitter username), someone named Mikey Bolts, and actress Ambyr Childers. It's not that I dislike any of these people or their performances from what's presented in the trailer, but I do wish that professional voice actors were used instead. Speaking as someone who is bilingual and half-Mexican, I'm disappointed that the home video release will not include the original Spanish-language audio track. (Speaking of disappointments, why isn't this being released on Blu-ray? Ugh.)

Per the press release issued by Lionsgate, the DVD will include a behind-the-scenes featurette, which I am interested in seeing (although I'm not holding my breath for anything too extensive or insightful there), and for some reason, several "episodes" of Minuscle, a series of short, insect-themed animated films produced in France. The press release suggests a $19.98 retail price for the DVD, and that's currently the price listed on Amazon, but I would be shocked if that price didn't come down significantly before the release date.

I've been keeping an eye on this one for awhile, so I'm glad to see that it is being released here, and I'll definitely be reviewing it down the road. I'm thinking about getting a copy of the Mexican home video release of the film as well, which could make for an interesting review comparing the two. In the meantime, you can watch the trailer below and, if you're into it, pre-order the DVD on Amazon here.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: Toto Lost In New York

Jay and Sam talk about the first Oz Kids story arc: Toto Lost in New York. Plus, WHAT WAS THAT YOU SAW ONLINE ABOUT AN OZ KIDS MOVIE? Um... Jay explains.

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"It's Halloween soon."

Around this time of year, I often find myself itching to watch Return to Oz (and listening to its score). I think that's because, even though it isn't a true "Halloween" movie, it does have some themes and visuals that pair up nicely with the holiday.

There's the Jack Pumpkinhead character, whose head is jack-o-lantern (and who bears a pretty strong resemblance to Jack Skellington in The Nightmare Before Christmas, as many fans have pointed out over the years). 

There's the haunting score and occasionally scary visuals. 

And there's even an odd little scene early on in the film in which Dorothy is given a pumpkin by a little girl at the ward who tells her, "It's Halloween soon." 

Anyway, it seems like I'm not alone in my inclination to sort of pair up Return to Oz with Halloween as I've noticed that this is the time of year that I see more people talking about the movie on social media (usually about how "creepy" or "traumatizing" it is to watch), and it's also the time that there seems to be more fan art being done. 

I've come across some pretty great Return to Oz fan art recently, and I thought I would share some of my favorite work here. 

The following pieces are by Brooklyn-based artist Allison Steinfeld, posted on her Instagram account as part of the "Inktober" challenge. I really enjoy her style and think she does an excellent job capturing different moments from the film, especially the film's more bizarre moments.

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 1, 2016 at 7:51am PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 2, 2016 at 2:46pm PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 3, 2016 at 3:08pm PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 8, 2016 at 8:25pm PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 22, 2016 at 9:44pm PDT

A photo posted by Allison (@allisonsteinfeld) on Oct 26, 2016 at 7:34am PDT

Steinfeld's artwork reminds me of our own Sam Milazzo's. Sam has done a lot of Oz-inspired artwork, as you can see by taking a look at his Deviantart profile, including his very own comic book adaptation of Return to Oz (yes, the entire film). Sam's attention to detail is impressive, and it's a very nice adaptation of the film. I particularly appreciate the little nods to the books and the inclusion of some of the film's deleted scenes. If Return to Oz is your jam, you should definitely take the time to check it out (link here).

Sam has also created a number of Return to Oz videos over the years, my favorite being the "fan trailer" he created for the film's 30th 25th anniversary. I think too many of the "fan trailers" I've seen for Return to Oz present the film to be much more dark and disturbing than it really is, so I like that Sam's provides what I think is a more accurate representation of the film.



I've only scratched the surface of what's out there in terms of Return to Oz fan art, so I encourage you to peruse Instagram, Tumblr, or your social media platform of choice, and feel free to share any great Return to Oz fan art you've come across (or that you've done yourself) in the comments.

Happy Halloween, everyone!

A fun drawing by the one and only Eric Shanower.

Conserving the Ruby Slippers

In the filming of MGM's The Wizard of Oz, several pairs of Ruby Slippers were created for the film. They weren't the Silver Shoes Baum described in his book, but they served the same purpose in the film: taken from the remains of the Wicked Witch of the East, Dorothy wears them throughout the story until Glinda tells her how she can use the magic power of the shoes to return home. As such, the Ruby Slippers have become an iconic image for The Wizard of Oz as many people know the film.

A screen used pair of the Ruby Slippers was anonymously donated to the Smithsonian Museum, and they became a very popular item, in fact, the Museum would have to often change the carpet under them because it wore out from people frequenting their display case so much.

However, the Smithsonian now has a problem: those shoes weren't made to last forever, and threads are beginning to break on the shoes, the sequins are losing their luster and falling off. However, the Museum's funding doesn't allow for this type of restoration work. So... Kickstarter!

Yeah, the Smithsonian has opened a Kickstarter for conserving the Ruby Slippers for future generations. They started this a couple days ago, and it's already gotten more than half the goal pledged. But even popular Kickstarter campaigns can slump behind, so if you're able to, go ahead and make a pledge to help a piece of Oz history stick around for future generations to enjoy. And there's some specially designed memorabilia being offered for perks, so if you want something nice to add to your collection, here's your chance.




Anyone interested in our historic look at Oz, I'm researching Chittenango and New York at the time of Baum's birth and childhood, so watch this space...

The Royal Podcast of Oz: How Donald Abbott Came To Oz

Jay talks with Donald Abbott, author/illustrator/cartoonist/screenwriter of How The Wizard Came to Oz and other Oz stories. Donald reveals why his illustrations follow the style of W.W. Denslow, how Books of Wonder came to publish his books, and how How The Wizard Came to Oz has developed over the years.

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The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Oz Kids (Intro)

Jay and Sam prepare for a multi-episode discussion of The Oz Kids video series, starting by giving some general information about the series, including its characters, premise and general availability.

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A couple Ozzy announcements...

So, I've been thinking about what to do at this blog (I've posted a couple entries at my other Blogger blog lately) and I think I've thought of a blogging project. But more on that in a moment.

First off, I got contacted by RAMstar Studios, who says they're producing a live action movie adaptation of Donald Abbott's How The Wizard Came To Oz, set to be released to theaters in 2018, directed by Cole S. McKay. Producers are BJ Plott, Dan Guardino, and Derrick Iloni. The budget is a modest $35 million, but it's not always about how much you have as much as how you use it.

The synopsis provided is as follows...

When a runaway balloon carries Oscar Zoroaster Diggs to the war torn Land of Oz he inadvertently manages to bring peace to its people, and finds himself hailed as a great wizard. Now he has to defeat a vengeful witch to maintain the peace.

That's really all the information I have. You can check out the RAMstar Studios Facebook page (where I stole that graphic from) to check out their other works and see if they have any updates.

Donald Abbott initially wrote How The Wizard Came To Oz as a short story for Oziana before reworking it into a book for Books of Wonder's Emerald City Press in the early 1990s, following it up with a few other Oz books. Recently, he adapted the story into a film script, which is the script RAMstar is using.

They did confirm that Donald Abbott's currently running webcomic adaptation of the story is based on the script, so go ahead and look there if you want to see what you can expect.


 Other news is that another Oz-themed Kickstarter is getting ready to wrap up and has just under $1000 to go before its goal is reached. The Wicked Wizard of Oz is a choose-your-own-adventure style RPG gamebook which is "inspired by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum, but with a dark Dieselpunk twist."

THE WICKED WIZARD OF OZ is set after the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Dorothy finds herself transported back to the marvellous Land of Oz and hunted by the Wicked Witch of the West's flying monkeys. But how can the Witch be back? And why has Dorothy been brought back to Oz? There's only one way to find out.
Joined by her friends - the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Lion - Dorothy sets off for the Emerald City. Surrounded by enemies on all sides, will you uncover the secrets of THE WICKED WIZARD OF OZ?

I was contacted about this just today, so I don't really have any more information than what can be found on the Kickstarter website. But lovers of all things Oz might want to look into supporting this to help it happen and get their hands on some unique Oz collectibles.

So, finally, what to do on the blog after blogging for so long? Aside from blogging about Oz books I've read (which I've even fallen behind on that as I read a new edition of Wonderful Wizard and Marvelous Land on my return from Oz Con I meant to write about), it feels like most of the ideas there would be to write about I have written about!

Well, I had an idea. How about breaking down the history of Oz and our own culture into a timeline and begin going in for indepth looks at the world L. Frank Baum created his stories in, and how his stories later influenced that world? The scope is wide enough to basically include anything related to Oz. A blog about Baum's life might be flanked by examinations of his work at the time or about where he lived and what was going on in the US and the world. I'd certainly welcome guest posts.

I'd like to tie podcasts into this as well, I could certainly see me inviting David Maxine to discuss the 1902 Wizard of Oz musical. "Movies of Oz" would run separately, but blogs about the movies would certainly pop up, perhaps multiple posts.

Basically, whenever we're done, what we'd have would hopefully be a massive body of work about Oz.

The Royal Podcast of Oz: The Magic of Oz and Other Oz Animation

Jay Davis, Sean Carlson, Jimmy Weinstein and Eric Gjovaag kick back and watch "The Magic of Oz" cartoon, billed as "The Worst Cartoon Ever!" on YouTube. But does it deserve that title? What are the origins of this cartoon? What does our new friend Jimmy think of Oz animation in general? Find out in this episode!

This is the fourth and final of four podcasts recorded at Oz Con International 2016.

Watch the Costume Parade video.

Watch the OzPrah Winkie show.

 You can listen, download and subscribe at the Royal Podcast of Oz website or use the player and links below.

Support the Royal Podcast of Oz on Patreon!



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The Royal Podcast of Oz: Two Royal Historians

Paul Dana, author of new Oz books The Law of Oz and Other Stories and The Magic Umbrella of Oz and Jared "Jay" Davis, author of Outsiders from Oz and The Way of a Lion: A Tale of Oz talk about how they came to write Oz stories and read excerpts from their work.

This is the third in four podcasts recorded at Oz Con International 2016.
Watch the Costume Parade video.
Watch the OzPrah Winkie show.
Register for next year's Oz Con International!

You can listen, download and subscribe at the Royal Podcast of Oz website or use the player and links below.

Support the Royal Podcast of Oz on Patreon!



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