Jimmy Olsen of Oz?

Okay, comics have, over the past few years, favored the Oz series. It's not a new trend, but, while looking the letters column of an old issue of Superman's Pal, Jimmy Olsen, a reader compared the story of issue 151 to The Wizard of Oz. The story in that issue featured Jimmy and his new co-workers (and Superman, of course) investigating and fighting giant locust creatures from outer space. (Uh... yeah...) The editor could not resist and responded:

Let's see if we can follow your reasoning: Meg is Dorothy; Superman was in the cornfield as a Scarecrow; Percy, of course, is the Cowardly Lion; and that leaves Jimmy as the Tin Woodman. (You didn't think he was Toto, did you?) The Locust Creatures would have been the Winged Monkeys--though they look more like Prof. H. M. Wogglebug, T.E., the Highly Magnified and Thoroughly Educated insect who was introduced in "The Land of Oz."

Let's see, what's the date on this thing? November, 1972. Comics have the month listed a bit ahead, so... probably really August or September.

Three years later, DC would team up with Marvel to create the first comics adaptation of the MGM film version of The Wizard of Oz. Sadly, though, this meant that a Marvel-only version, based on the book, was dropped. (I found an example of John Buscema's artwork for it on his Wikipedia page.) DC wouldn't get to Oz on their own until the 80's, when Captain Carrot & His Amazing Zoo Crew would wind up in Oz, trying to rescue it from the Nome King, using Wonderland as a refuge. (I've read this mini-series, too. But when is DC doing the reprint?) Marvel had many Oz references in their comics, but bringing them up now would go too off-topic.

Of course, one may wonder, with the comic's campy stories and the traditional Oz in public domain, why didn't DC send Jimmy Olsen to Oz?

Great Oz videos #2

Okay, maybe it's a little too soon after my last blog entry, but I found some more videos you may enjoy...

Livermore School presents a ballet version of "The Wizard of Oz" in which Dorothy & Co. decide to ease on down the road.


What's that song Elphie sings in Wicked about her future? "The Wizard & I?" No, I believe it was the song "Making Good." (Unfortunately the person who posted the video is not allowing anyone to embed it, although I could probably hack some code... but I'll respect their wishes. Anyhoo... all these underlined words serve as a link.) It was an early version of "The Wizard & I" that was cut and changed during the workshops.
And here's "The Wizard & I."


And, for an Oz parody/tribute, here's a take on Oz from That 70's Show.

The Wonders of Oz Episode 2

Yeah, I uploaded it today! I just went and got on the ball with it!



I'd actually picked out the song at the end a long time ago, when I thought about a possible new movie about L. Frank Baum. Although I'd like to one, this is probably the closest I'll get for awhile.

Aaron Pacentine returns as narrator.

You'll also notice that, except for the credits, I used no text effects.

What do you think?

Returning to Oz #27

Hey! Turns out there's another episode of Aaron Pacentine's Returning to Oz up. In this almost half-hour episode, Aaron interviews Joshua Patrick Dudley, who wrote the book Lost in Oz.

In this episode, Aaron gives Joshua a very solid interview, asking him about how he writes his stories, what's coming up, and Joshua as a person.

Joshua reveals some very interesting items about Lost in Oz.

This episode doesn't have much on the many incarnations of Oz as heard in previous episodes, BUT this is not a problem at all. It sticks to a main focus and continues from there, so it's a very strong episode in itself.

Another thing I noted right away is that the sound quality has improved over past episodes. Yes, you may want to turn up your volume a bit, but it's very good nonetheless.

Once again, it's an episode worth the listening, unless you've sworn off all things Lost in Oz.

(And no, I'm not saying nice things just because Aaron is also the current host of The Wonders of Oz. I really enjoyed the episode.)

Did You Know...

(Here's something I may do every now and then...)

• Did you know that L. Frank Baum and Walt Disney are buried in the same cemetary? Along with them are Louis L'Amour (one of my father's favorite authors), Jimmy Stewart,
• Errol Flynn, Mary Pickford, Red Skelton, and Nat King Cole.
  Did you know that The Oz Film Manufacturing Company was one of the first (if not
  the first) attempts at Family Films?

Wonders of a Shiz shirt

While at work, some teenage boy that was with his mum came through our checkstand. I couldn't help but notice his shirt.

"Property of SHIZ UNIVERSITY (WKD) Athletic Dept."

Yeah... Wicked t-shirts!

If you want to see the shirt (and/or buy it), here you go! (They also have green glasses. Might want to get a pair. Never know when you might wind up in the Emerald City... and I don't mean Seattle.)

Did I say "mum" earlier? See, Sam! Something in your e-mails rubbed off!

I also worked QUITE a bit on The Wonders of Oz episode 2 today. In it, you will hear a GREAT voice for Dorothy! And get this, it is done by an adult! (And my computer...)

In this episode, I cut a lot of material from my original script. As I'm not telling EVERYTHING about Baum's life (encouraging research, here!), there were a few bits I left out, including exactly why Dot & Tot of Merryland was the last Baum/Denslow book. It may be addressed in a future episode, such the one about plays, and I have been considering a special episode about the first two illustrators of the Oz books.

I have also almost decided to make my International Wizard of Oz Club 50th Anniversary video as a special episode completely dedicated to the Club. (It is currently covered in episode 4, which is going to be a long one if something isn't cut.)

Anyways, the second episode should be finished and online by the end of the week.

Wonders of Oz Episode 2 Update

So... am I going to have you waiting over a month for a new episode of The Wonders of Oz? No! In fact, serious editing can begin tomorrow. I have the narration, an ending song (it's going to be different in every episode), and many of the pictures I'll need downloaded. I'd say it might be released by August 11, at best. And episode 3 has already been recorded, so it wouldn't be too long before I could get that one up.

Tonight, I heard a rendition of "Over The Rainbow" at work. It starts out with Judy Garland singing the first verse (NOT from the movie soundtrack), then moves into a saxaphone solo. If anyone is familiar with this recording, please let me know.

We had some fun...

That last entry was fun, wasn't it? How about every now and then I put up a few of my Ozian YouTube findings?

Now for something about the blog... I've already proved that I could post almost everyday, BUT... some of my 32 blog entries during the past month are kind of bland and dealt a little too much with personal life and not really much about Oz. I obviously put "quantity over quality" and tried to come up with a topic every day. I did that, and a lot of them seem like I wrote just it to have a blog entry that day. Sadly enough, in some cases, that is true.

Now, I would like to keep my blog updated very often, but I don't think I'll try another stunt like this again. What with this also being the production blog for The Wonders of Oz and other topics, I should be able to come up with some good entries.

Auf Wiederschen, good night!

GREAT Oz Videos!

Well, I have some advice... Don't get stuck on YouTube! You'll start finding funny things to make you LOL!

Like this "alternate ending" for Wicked (the musical) that was actually performed onstage!


Or this Family Guy tribute to The Wiz (the movie)...


And Eric Gjovaag said I could put the Tin Man ad in here, so here we go!


Hopefully you LOLed somewhere in there!

Some news

Okay, I have found a program that will help me take care of updating my Oz site more easily.

Also, Eric Gjovaag is showing a preview for the SciFi Channel's Tin Man in his blog. It looks really good! I'd embed it here, but it was uploaded by Mrs. Gjovaag, so I'm just linking to the entry, out of respect for them.

Now I wish I could see the series when it airs... (No cable for me!)

I talked to Aaron Pacentine earlier today. Episode 2 of The Wonders of Oz will be recorded soon, and he is also finishing TWO new episodes of Returning to Oz for his site. (Yeah, I'll be reviewing them!)

Anyone want to guess what Oz book I've been reading during my breaks at work?