2010

So, the past couple years, I set up resolutions for the coming year. And then the next year, I'd see what was done, and what wasn't, and what I'd try to work on for the next year.

Forget that!

Let's see what I plan to do next year...

There's something that's come up. With some careful saving (because my bills are quite reduced), this could be the year I'll finally attend an Oz convention.

Something I'm considering is to sell the podcasts on CD with bonus audio that I won't release online. While, yes, you could download and burn the podcasts to a CD yourself (I did not copy protect the mp3 files, and in my opinion, you're free to use them as you wish, except claiming them as your own), I'm looking into ways I can generate some revenue for hosting the podcast and other ventures I might have. The podcast currently costs $5 a month to host, and the web domain for the website (read on, dear reader!) will cost $9 a year. All in all, if I wanted this to pay for itself, I'd need to generate $69 a year somehow. While, yes, that is very affordable, it would be nice to be able to pay for this without out-of-pocket expenses.

Believe me, I fully intend to keep costs low on any merchandise I'd produce. (Does $7 for a CD sound reasonable?)

Very recently, I finally got a server for the new website I've been conceiving. Considering how easy the Ozmatron is to use for reading the Oz books, I am considering omitting any books that are on that site. I considered possibly designing some custom editions, putting them on Lulu.com for purchase or downloading as PDF, but then I considered that I already have enough to do.

Something else I considered for funding is possibly producing a DVD of one of the Oz silent films. If you're subscribed to my Ozian YouTube channel, you may know which one I'm talking about. As the footage is public domain, and the music I used was royalty-free (I even checked), I would have no legal issues producing it. To add additional value, I'm considering doing alternate audio tracks, so we could have a simple music score track, one with narration, and an audio commentary. And these DVDs, I could sell for as little as $8. (There is also another silent Oz movie I'd like to give this DVD treatment to, but it would involve some agreements.)

Now that I've said some of my intentions for the future, I'd like to hear your thoughts and opinions. Is there something you think I should be doing that I'm not already? Or anything. I'm open to your comments.

Merry Christmas! (2009 Santa Claus index)

Well, here it is Christmas day. I hope you've enjoyed our blogs about how Santa Claus was handled by the Royal Historians, and if you didn't get to read them, here is an index of all the blogs.

The stories
Little Bun Rabbit
The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus (Jared's blog) (Sam's blog)
A Kidnapped Santa Claus
How the Woggle-Bug and His Friends Visited Santa Claus (Podcast)
The Curious Cruise of Captain Santa
The Magic Sled

The Adaptations of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus
The 1985 Rankin-Bass version (Jared's blog) (Sam's blog)
The 1992 graphic novel by Mike Ploog
The 1994 anime version
The 1996 video The Oz Kids: Who Stole Santa?
The 2000 animated version from Glen Hill (Jared's blog) (Sam's blog)

And here's an index to the blogs I've written in previous years:
A Holiday Tradition
The Tradition Is Shared!
Santa Talks
Ranking of Fairies?
More On Santa And The Immortals

A Universal Santa Claus

It's Christmas Day, and I have just finished watching the 2000 Universal animated musical of L. Frank Baum's "the Life and adventures of Santa Claus" - so Sony's "Lion of Oz" wasn't the only adaptation of a Baum/Oz book to be animusicalised.

This movie has yet to be released onto official DVD, but this film runs for 1 hr 15 mins, and spends its time well with the adaptation.

Since this is a more current adaptation, it is a more cartoonish approach, but also has a few changes from the book (I will try not to sound like I'm comparing it to the 1985 Rankin/Bass stop-motion version):
* It is (again) narrated by the Great Ak (voiced by Hal Holbrook - sounds familiar somehow) and in the beginning intro he mentions "before televison" - I liked the various panning shots of the beautiful Forest of Burzee.
* There is no Queen Zurline of the Fairies. Instead, Necile (Dixie Carter . . . who?) has two other nymph friends.
* the Pixie Wisk is a new character to join in on the adventure (I thought it was Whisk, and I prefer it with 'h') who can change his form (often into an Awgwa)and sometimes reminded me a bit of Yacko the Animaniac.
* the Baby is at first named Necileclaus/NecileClaus - an extension of the book's Neclaus.
* Just like Rankin/Bass version, Claus' life growing up in Burzee is thrown through a musical montage/
* Blinkie the kitten is introduced at the same time Claus wakes up to his new home - and is adorable.
* the Lord's daughter, Bessie Blithesome, is renamed Natalie and voiced by Kathy Sourcie (remember her? She's Lil from the "Rugrats" series, Narissa in W.I.T.C.H., the Weird Sisters from "Gargoyles" and many others!). I like how from her first introduction during Ak's guide her character is shown clearly, developed and is willing to help Claus with his gifts, even if it means giving up her "friend" that Claus gave her so long ago.
* the Knook Peter is renamed Will.
* Santa Claus is voiced by Robby Benson as a young man (Disney's Beast/Prince from "Beauty and the Beast" - didn't recognise him at first!) and by Jim Cummings as the white-bearded version (Darkwing Duck, Shocker from 90s "Spider-man: Animated Series", most of all Disney's bad guy Pete, and Many others!)
* The Awgwas/Awgawas are rock-like creatures with red eyes - and even have the ability to move through rocks. This wasn't too bad, but it did bring to mind the Rock Fairies known as the Nomes more - one scene even has a possible tribute to Disney's "Return to Oz" by having the King and his shorter, fat, dumb, comic relief "sidekick" (they're named Wagif and Mogorb) show their faces through a rocky wall, as did the Nome messenger (Pons Maar) through Claymation. Though I did like that.
* the best part is how some time of the movie shows young man Claus interacting with the people of the village, getting to known them and they him (I especially like how a big village man sees Claus make friends with Ethan the crippled boy - originally named Weekum - and prove how strong he really is, leading me to believe that he would trust Ethan to help with some work eventually).

What I Didn't Like:
* Why is 'Ryls' pronounced as "Reels", how did the people know of Claus' toys being stolen and WHAT was the necessity of adding an extra 'a' in Awgwas? (that I never noticed till Jared said so, I just thought that's how they were said)
* Most of the character designs and animation. Necile and the Wood Nymphs have wings like butterflies and costumes like fairies did not sit well with me. The Knooks are more like dwarves or gnomes, sometimes with accents - much too cartoonish. The Winged approach applies to Ak is well, but has more colour than before - at least he has Eagle-like feathered wings instead of the fluttery kind. Baum wrote "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" CLEARLY not to be connected with the winged fairy tales of Grimm, etc.
* It was a bit hard to tell whether Claus was a teenager or not - must have been the baggy sleeves - before leaving as a young man. His age is not as specific here.
* Quite a few times the animation wasn't to my liking (or approval). Good characters or Bad characters, it happened quite a bit here and there. I know I shouldn't expect perfection, but I don't like to be distracted by bits of sloppiness or parts lacking on solid body of fluid movement, and occasionally useless movements of the body/face.
* the King of the Awgawas was more simple cartoonish evil and not really wicked enough to me, unlike the stop-motion version.
* Shiegra pronounced "Sheegra" and credited as "Sheigra" (unless that's a typo), and doesn't look lionESS enough.
* I was never particularly keen on that scene where Claus' sculpture of Shiegra frightens the little brother and sister.
* Santa Claus having a white beard when the Awgwas attempt to stop him giving toys to the children - his beard could have been coloured, a cross between his youthful dark hair and elderly white strands.
* Santa Claus' song of his first sleigh ride - he is clearly a Voice Actor and Not a Singer. A few shots were repeated during the non-singing part, his face was animated too joyful, and the selection of shots used during those magical sleigh ride scenes could have been a bit more organised.
* Santa Claus delivers toys during the snowy winter, foot or flight of sleigh, and half the time he doesn't wear gloves? And didn't anyone on the team notice how his lower lip was incorrectly white instead of flesh-coloured (even for a cartoon)?

Don't think that despite my "criticism" I dislike this film, I do like it. I'm just, unfortunately, a perfectionist on some things, and wish this had been done better. Maybe if it had been a theatrical feature, the animation would be better.

If there was to be a new (live-action non musical) adaptation of Baum's "Life and Adventures of Santa Claus", I'd like some scenes with the human friends Claus has made to help him with making toys.

Hope you liked my Christmas Blogs, and have a Happy New Year:

And here's my Christmas video for Youtube (just wish I had taken out the 5 frames of Tyron about to turn around):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSxp234j-os

The Woggle-Bug Book is back!

A companion to the recently-released Queer Visitors from the Marvelous Land of Oz, this rare tale of the Woggle-Bug by the original Royal Historian, L. Frank Baum himself is now finally available in full color glory. This large-format (roughly 9"x12") book contains all the original pages in photo-reproduction, including objectionable material that was considered acceptable at the time. This was done in an effort to preserve its historical relevance.

The tale tells of how the Woggle-Bug, continuing his adventures in America, gets his eye caught by a dress of Wagnerian plaid, and follows his many misadventures as he tries to obtain the garment. The text is unedited, and all the images from the original book have been restored to their original glory, removing the yellowing brought by the ravages of time.

To top it off, the book includes an informative introduction and insightful afterword by Oz scholars Jared Davis and Ruth Berman, respectively; as well as rare or never-before-seen additional images, including two work-in-progress pages. Easy-to-read, and a handsome volume, this book belongs in every Oz-scholar's collection! Visit the Pumpernickel Pickle Oz-shop to order your copy now. Available in hardcover and paperback. Please note: each book is manufactured at the time of order, and can take 2 to 3 weeks to arrive.

A Bonus Podcast!

For a special extra Christmas item, I'm sharing the raw audio of Mike Conway reading "How The Woggle-Bug And His Friends Visited Santa Claus."

When the project was originally conceived, I just wanted a simple reading. When multiple people volunteered, the idea of having multiple voices arose. Mike Conway was the first who volunteered, and instead of just narrating, he read the entire story, performing voices for each of the characters. Even though I had decided he could voice Santa Claus, I lowered the pitch in the edited version.

So you all can enjoy the story as Mike originally read it, I've decided to share this. Use the link above to go to the podcast site, or use the below player:

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Santa Claus in Stop-Motion

(This Blog was made while listening to the 2 Royal Christmas Podcasts of Oz on Wednesday December 23, 2009)

I have just finished watching the 1985 stop-motion Rankin/Bass film of "the Life and Adventures of Santa Claus".

It runs for 50 minutes, and in that running time it conveys the story well without feeling too long or even rushed. Although I prefer stories in chronological order, I do like how Ak's recalling of finding "the babe" to the Immortals blends in with that same retelling to the Nymphs. I like how Shiegra the lioness stays alive with Claus as she does live in the Forest of Burzee, automatically (to me) making her immortal, and Tingler the Sound Imp is a lovable character who always gets his languages mixed up but always manages to answer properly in the end.

What I like best about this adaptation is the depiction of the Awgwas. They are monstrous beasts with hairy bodies, sometimes with horns and fangs and claws, some parts in armour - one moster funny enough looks like a "Wild Thing"! Not that it's relevant aside from the time, but the partially-hairy King Awgwa reminds me of Grizzlor from "She-Ra".
I don't mind how the Immortals are depicted, Ak has the best portrayal with moose-like horns, a white robe with cape and a long hard nose. And his voice is so fitting too. Necile and the other nymphs are fairy-like with antennas out of their heads and little wings and short costumes, but since this is a first adaptation of the story (if not, one of the earliest), I'm not fussed.


Since this feature is under an hour, there are many moments from the book that are shortened, combined or abandoned.
* the rich lord's daughter from the book, Bessie Blithesome, is unnamed and an extra. She doesn't appear other than dining at the table as a little girl during the sequence where Ak shows Claus the world. She does not visit Claus, but while making the toys he does say that he will give the toy to her, whether she is rich or poor, for all children need toys.
* the little black kitten Blinkie is described by Claus in passing how it came to live with them - Necile's gift in teaching them to live together.
* the hanging Stockings (for drying) are put together with Claus making his first trip down the Chimney.
* Unlike the book, this film does help show what age Claus is throughout the years. He is a teenager (of sorts) when he leaves Burzee, and from then (through a good-looking bearded 20s/30s man) till like 45 is him helping the children with more reading, making friends and toys, along with the conflict of the Awgwas. After delivering toys for 15 years, he is granted Immortality (and ends the film) at 60.
* Peter the Knook is unpleased at the reindeer being late at dawn (even by a minute), but he does not appear to have woken up Claus, and he is easily persuaded by the others (not Ak) to allow the reindeer to be used "for the children", but it is he who determines the date.

The songs featured here are few, but fun and memorable. They fit the story, are sometimes touching, and do not sound out of place or unnecessary.

I like stop-motion animation. It may be much harder to make one character and background than it is in hand-drawn animation, but I believe it is a perfect connection between the traditional hand-drawn animation and the live-action, and certainly much more physical and real than CGI, of which you cannot do anything other than save on the computer and/or print images. With hand-drawn animation you can still see the sheets of which you've used to make the film.

I was able to watch this film thanks to Jared Davis, who did a home-made DVD rip for me as well as the other animated film. Noting the remastered picture, I would like to get the official DVD soon.

My next blog will be on Universal's hand-drawn / digitally-painted animated musical from 2000.

Till then . . . !

New Podcasts!

Yes, so today saw the premiere of two podcasts. One is very overdue, where Shawn Maldonado and Nathan DeHoff and I discuss illustrations from The Lost Princess of Oz. It was recorded in September, and because a move happened inbetween and I guess I had some other commitments, it didn't get finished until last Friday.

Also finished on Friday is a new podcast that ties in with my recent blogs, it's a reading of "How The Woggle-Bug And His Friends Visted Santa Claus," where I managed to get some other people to record the narration and dialogue, then I spliced it together to sound like a complete reading, also mixing in some Christmas music. (Sadly, my headset has died since the previous podcast, so I had to record my introduction and outro using my old microphone. The difference in audio quality there is noticeable.)

You can click those links to go to the podcast site, or use the player down below:

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Baum's Santa Claus, Sam's Take

This is the second time I have read L. Frank Baum's "the Life and Adventures of Santa Claus" book, thanks to Jared, and I too will devote a blog to each of the adaptations done based on this book, only 3 because that is all I have seen. Upon rereading the book this time, I did not read the Introduction and/or Afterword, just the story itself. Aside from "Queen Zixi of Ix; the Story of the Magic Cloak" and "Animal Fairy-Tales", this is the only Non-Oz book by L. Frank Baum I have read.

I like this book; I had only read this once before, back when Jared first sent it to me last year (2008), and reading it a second time the story is (a bit) better than I remember.

I like how the book is divided into the 3-Act structure: Youth (Beginning; Set-Up), Manhood (Middle; Conflict) and Old Age (End;Resolution). And many of the chapters are short too, like a page or so, which makes for faster reading and a quicker passing through the book. I enjoy reading, but not if it's long, slow and uninteresting. I think it may be the lack of detail in describing characters that makes me think this, reminding me of C. S Lewis and his Chronicles of Narnia.

I like how Baum writes this story of Santa Claus as if it's a true magic story of 'Jolly Old Saint Nicholas' and how he came to be, despite not being in the North Pole with Elves for workers and such. This one seems more real and less cartoony than the other.

Aside from a few small scans on the internet, I have not seen the original hardcover book with all the original illustrations, so I'm curious as to how the characters were drawn when Baum first wrote this. The paperback Jared sent me does have illustrations but they are only the ones that begin and end the chapters (the black-and-white ones) as well as the 3-act full-page plates (also in b&w), so I have to rely heavily on my own imagination. I can have an idea from the brief illustrations by John R Neill in "the Road to Oz" and by Eric Shanower for the Christmas Cards in the "Adventures in Oz" deluxe hardcover collection edition, but still it doesn't always help much.
The characters I am particularly interested in are the wicked Awgwas. Like the original Wicked Witch of the West from 1900, Baum does not go into much detail about how the Awgwas look, though the one illustration I have for reference is like that of a cave man's head. The only other illustration of the Awgwas I have seen are by Michael Hague (he too did "Wizard of Oz" one time, during the 80s?) and there he did the Awgwas as ragged creatures with skinny arms and legs with long fingers, pointy ears and noses and toes . . . like imps or "traditional" goblins. How I find the Awgwas depicted in other adaptations I will go into in later blogs.

Despite the lack of illustrations and occasional detail, I still like this book, and will probably like it more in coming years.

I do wish there was another adaptation of this book, this time in Live-Action, again faithfully following the book like the previous films I have seen, but not a musical, except for the one or few songs played during the End Credits inspired by the similar ones from the book. For this adaptation I don't think I know or love the story well enough to be the director, but maybe I would try a bit of concept art, definitely write the story, some parts of the script with a few ideas, some I would definitely like to be used but others with a bit more discussion:
* Instead of Ak recalling how he protects the baby from Shiegra and leaves him in her care, this would be seen in chronological order instead of flashback - in some film-making terms, this would be known as "B, A, C, D Storytelling". Maybe Necile could have her part slightly magnified in this bit.
* The name 'Neclaus' would be used at first for the babe, until years pass and in the outside World the people would misinterpret his name 'Neclaus' as 'Nicholas'.
* Ak would advise Neclaus to hold onto his hand firmly (like Dorothy played by Fairuza Balk and Princess Mombi/Nurse Wilson in "Return to Oz" 80s style) during the guide across the world, and here the wicked acts and influence of the Awgwas would be witnessed and learned. During this guide . . . . a possible glimpse at the Gale farm pre-Cyclone to Oz?
* When the Awgwas have captured Santa Claus while he was on duty, the Immortals learn of this and then make their War against the vile creatures in an attempt to (successfully) rescue their friend, as well as the stolen toys.
* And it would definitely help the film if this movie had some artistic detail, both in the moments described and barely described, like patterns on clothing, material, etc.


That's as far as I can talk about the book, having just finished reading it after 3 or 4 days, so I will see the two cartoon adaptations - both thanks to Jared Davis in ripping onto DVD and sending to me in the past months - in the coming days before Christmas Day to make my Blogs on them.

Tell then . . . !

Little Bun Rabbit

There was one other L. Frank Baum story that dealt with Santa Claus. Although it is the last I'll be looking at this year, it was surprisingly one of Baum's first children's stories. The last chapter of "Mother Goose in Prose" was based on the verse "Little Bun Rabbit":

"Oh, Little Bun Rabbit, so soft and shy,
Say, what do you see with your big, round eye?"
"On Christmas we rabbits," says Bunny so shy,
"Keep watch to see Santa go galloping by."

The story opens with a little girl named Dorothy who lives on a farm.

Yep, I know what you're thinking.

It's not completely clear if Baum ever intended this Dorothy to be the same Dorothy we love from the Oz books. With a bit of a stretch of the imagination, she could be. She lives with her mother on the farm and all the animals have learned not to be afraid of her because she is so gentle. One could argue that this could be our Dorothy Gale living on the farm with her mother, sometime after Mr. Gale died, and somehow, Dorothy's mother died later on. Dorothy's ability to talk with the animals could be summed up with how she says she is able to talk with Toto: they just understand each other.

Whether or not "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" was the further adventures of this Dorothy we shall never know for certain, but when Baum reprinted the story in "L. Frank Baum's Juvenile Speaker" in 1910, the girl's name was changed to Doris. So, it seems Baum did not want these two Dorothys confused with each other. (Bit of a side note, the Juvenile Speaker was later re-issued as "Baum's Own Book For Children," then material from that book was produced into six small picture books called The Snuggle Tales in 1916 and 1917, and these books were reissued as "Oz-Man Tales" in 1920.)

Dorothy meets a little rabbit, and asks him the question posed in the verse. The rabbit replies with the answer in the verse as well, then, at Dorothy's behest, tells about he met Santa and got to visit his castle. "A Kidnapped Santa Claus" also mentions that Santa lives in a castle, but in "Little Bun Rabbit," the castle is on a hill, not in a valley. We are told that Mother Hubbard keeps house for Santa, and is his only assistant. The Rabbit tells Dorothy how Santa used him as a pattern to make toy rabbits and put a squeak inside, and how Santa loaned him a magic collar so no harm would come to him while he journeyed home.

I'm doubting this story can easily be reconciled with the Santa Claus we met in Baum's 1902 mythos, which Baum created later. Santa has no helpers (which he didn't have until after he became immortal in the later book), and he lives with Mother Hubbard. Odd. Also, the Rabbit is able to run home by itself from Santa's home, which if we assume Santa would have been in Laughing Valley and the farm was in Kansas or anywhere in America, there would have been large bodies of water to cross, and even if the magic collar made the Rabbit able to travel over water, that's still a very lengthy journey.

All the same, it's fascinating to see how Baum tackled Santa Claus before he wrote his biography.

Kids, Meet Santa ClOZ

Often overlooked, the Oz Kids video "Who Stole Santa?" is based on "The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus." In the United States, the series was only released to VHS tapes, while in some other countries, it was aired on television.

The story opens with the Oz Kids looking forward to Christmas, Neddie (Dorothy's son) asking to hear the story of Santa. Dorothy tells her children and her friends an abbreviated version of Santa Claus' life story from Baum's book, omitting the Awgwas, Shiegra, Claus' helpers, and Ak plays a smaller role in Claus' life. Queen Zurline grants Claus immortality.

As the kids head to bed, over in the Laughing Valley, Santa's helpers discover he has been kidnapped by the Awgwas, beings who want people to be miserable because they are. Sneaking into the Awgwa's ice cave, Boris (the Cowardly Lion's son) is the first to find Santa Claus, and the other kids manage to rescue them from the Awgwa's mountain. Outrunning and outwitting the Awgwas, the kids find themselves and Santa being chased on an ice floe, stranding the Awgwas on the ice. Santa Claus and the kids offer the Awgwas rescue, but when they turn against them, the Awgwas are sent over the falls.

Santa Claus later appears in the Oz Kids video "Christmas in Oz," where he arrives in a big bubble, a reference to his departure in "The Road To Oz."

Overall, I'm just going to say the Oz Kids videos are entertaining and should enjoy a second life on DVD or streaming video.