Jay's Wicked pickups

 So, a whole Oz movie came, went, I recorded a podcast about it and forgot to post here.

(I might have gotten promoted to a shift lead manager at work and wow, there goes a ton of my energy and free time...)

However, I did manage to pick up a lot of Wicked merchandise tying in with the films. I did collect the Mattel fashion dolls, the only release I missed being the "For Good" music box Mattel Creations exclusive, and the "Shiz Sleepover Set," which has yet to come stateside. (Apparently it's available in Mexican Sam's Clubs? If anyone can help me out...) I also got the stuffed animals the Noble Collection released.

It did cause me to invest in a cheap shelf to display my Oz dolls on, featuring Mattel dolls based on MGM's The Wizard of Oz and the Disney Store and a few Tollytots dolls based on Oz the Great and Powerful, as well as a Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return doll and my original custom dolls.

I already need a second shelf as I have more Oz keepsakes to display, but that first shelf is full.

I picked up the soundtrack CDs from Target, sadly the score albums didn't get a CD release stateside. Apparently they got released in Japan.

I also snagged one of the Dunkin' Donuts tins tying in with Wicked: For Good and now use it to store most of my swag from going to the Alamo Drafthouse movie parties for both films as well as my Oz pins, including a set of Alamo Drafthouse pins for the first film. 

It's been a little over a week since Wicked: For Good came out on physical media, and largely, my comments about the first film on physical media carry over, except the exact special features. We do get another round of deleted scenes, but two remain exclusive to the digital copy release. There's another nearly hour long documentary, more featurettes, but only John Chu provided a commentary for the second film.

ANYWAY, the big thing I wanted to cover here is the books! In November, Insight Editions, who have released a number of Wicked tie-ins, did a 40% off sale, and I took advantage to finally order some books tying in with the first film and preorder ones for the second film I wanted, and then went ahead and got some other books that had come out I wanted.

The Grimmerie Journal is a rather affordable prop replica a lot of Wicked fans added to their collection or should, and should be a must for anyone who cosplays the film version of Elphaba. It is essentially two journals hinged together that each open into a six-sided shape. There's two spreads that replicate spell book pages from the film, but most pages are just regular lined pages for writing in. One could use it as a journal, or if you wanted a place to stash some paper memorabilia or mount some stickers, you could use this. It comes in a box that you can display or store it in. You could also display it outside of the box or open if you're a little creative.

The Story of Oz & the Wonderful Wizard is another Insight Editions prop replica, featuring the propaganda pop-up book seen in both films with three pop up spreads showing the Wizard arriving in a balloon, him ruling the Emerald City, and in a third one revealed in the second film, Elphaba herself added to a revision, flying over the Emerald City. The story is told in rhyme and even mentions the past king of Oz, Pastorius. It was charming to see books in Oz being so whimsical.

Wicked: The Ultimate Pop-Up Book features only four pop-up spreads, depicting four landscapes around Oz: Munchkinland, Shiz University, the Emerald City and Kiamo Ko, the Winkie Castle Elphaba makes her last stand in. There's also pulls tabs and opening flaps showing elements of the story of the films, though the first film takes most of the book with For Good mainly being on the Kiamo Ko spread. In a very interesting move, the spine is held on with a magnet that can be pulled apart and you can lay out the book with all four spreads out at once. This one definitely fed my inner child, but with just four spreads, was over a little too quickly.

Insight Editions also presented picture books featuring the lyrics of Defying Gravity and For Good with artist Elena Iarussi offering a very interesting stylized take on the scenes from the films as well as creatively depicting elements suggested by the lyrics. I almost skipped these, but I'm glad to have them. They come separately and as a boxed set. (I got them separately.)

The final Insight Editions book I picked up (there is a forthcoming paper doll set I also preordered) was Wicked: The Screenplay, which if you wanted a coffee table book tying in with the films, this is one of the better options. It prints the film's screenplay (which has been released online) illustrated with images from the film. Images are on separate pages from the screenplay, so the screenplay pages still look like a standard screenplay. This is only the first film's screenplay, so presumably we'll be getting a For Good companion volume at a later date. Note that this does include deleted scenes and bits of dialogue that didn't make it to the final film.

All of the above mentioned books are hardcover.

I also grabbed the Wicked Tarot deck, which has some nice artwork by Cinthya Alvarez tying the characters and iconography of the films to Tarot. It's my third Oz Tarot deck so far. Even if you're not exactly into Tarot, the artwork makes it a nice addition to a collection.

I'll mention that Insight Editions also offers Wicked stationery, standard journals and bookmarks, but these didn't interest me.

I picked up the box set of the Wicked Little Golden Books: I Am Elphaba, I Am Glinda, I Am Fiyero and We Are Shiz. The first two books tell the story of the first film for young readers, each from the perspective of the title character. The third book goes into Fiyero's side of the story, getting into the story of Wicked: For Good, though it does end vaguely. The last book highlights Shiz University. All four books are by Mary Man-Kong and illustrated by Hollie Mengert. They are available separately and in boxed sets, both as standard editions and as "Ultimate Fan Editions" with sticker sheets and activity pages added. I went for the standard box set.

Target offered an exclusive coffee table book, Wicked: The Official Visual Companion, which centers on just the first film featuring images from the film with tiny quotes from the film here and there. Largely, if you really love the look of the film, but don't want to pause and stare at the film, here's a book for you. This got released in the lead up to For Good, making me ask when we're going to get this for that film.

Finally is the book The Faces and Places of Oz, which doesn't credit an author. Highlighting the areas of Oz and the characters of the films, this is probably the most behind the scenes book we got, also showing maps and notices so you can examine them without squinting at a screen.

While it's a bit late, the interest in Wicked is still high, so these offerings should be available for a bit longer for decent prices. As the years pass, they will go out of print and potentially become harder to find without shelling out more. As such, I'd encourage anyone interested to go ahead and pick up what they're interested in.

I will say it's disappointing that there wasn't a proper Art of Wicked or Making of Wicked book featuring set and costume designs, showing the design evolution to what we got in the films and other ideas we didn't get.

The Wiz hits 4K

I have a short list of Oz movies I want to see on 4K UHD. As of yet, only three movies based on Oz have been released on the format, MGM's The Wizard of Oz (Technicolor looks GREAT in 4K with HDR) and last year's Wicked: Part One, and, thanks to the Criterion Collection, 1978's The Wiz has been crossed off my list.

Now, look, The Wiz movie has issues. It's possibly too long, wasn't exactly made by a director versed well in musicals, and has some ideas that don't entirely work to their best potential. But for a lot of people, things about The Wiz movie resonate. It's the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz now told for an African-American audience with a star-studded cast of black talent from the 1970s. Seeing Dorothy reimagined as a school teacher who needs to step outside her comfort zone (with a New York flair) means a lot to adult audiences who sometimes feel lost in the world. Diana Ross might not have given the best performance possible, but she is committed to the role and gives it her all.

In May, The Wiz returned to theaters sporting a new 4K restoration, and yours truly made a point to go see it. The movie is visually lush, reimagining New York City landscapes as the Land of Oz, and it's debatable how well this works. I've joked you can see the empty street scenes as it being a post-apocalyptic world. especially as the "gate" to the Emerald City is now a big vault door. But the set design is full of details that disappeared on VHS (if not cropped out in the 4:3 version for old CRT televisions) and DVD and only began to re-emerge as we got Universal's Blu-Ray in 2010.

In 4K, I was able to clearly see the mysterious Subway Peddler has little dolls on his tray that he carries. There's a love tester machine in the background of the Tin Man's carnival ground. Even the individual green lights in the Emerald City's famous distant shot that ends with a giant green apple rising like a sun are clearly visible. To be fair, seeing this on a big screen in the theater helped. On smaller screens at home, it might be harder to see.

This new restoration used the original camera negative as the source, which is the best option as this contains the best possible image. Film prints lose some clarity, and copies of copies usually get worse. In comparing The Wiz to previous home video incarnations, the difference really shows.

And surprise, the Criterion Collection of all boutique labels, released the new physical home video release. A "boutique label" releases movies they've licensed to disc, usually catalog titles the studio isn't interested in releasing themselves. Sometimes these releases have good bonus features, such as audio commentary by people involved with the film or a movie historian, or even archival features. Sometimes, you just get a trailer or just the movie on disc. What you usually don't get is promos opening the disc, though this has largely been abandoned from most home video releases these days. Criterion Collection discs famously go straight to the menu when put into a player.

The audio got an Atmos remix, and in the first pressing, a few bits of dialogue went missing. Criterion has since announced a replacement program for the discs as well as issuing a new edition, and I'll be sharing that information. If you're buying a copy and aren't sure which copy you got, the UPC/barcode for the second pressing is 715515324915, and a user from the Blu-Ray.com forum notes the second pressing "does say 'Second printing 2025' on the right hand side of the back, in the blue section, right above the Criterion C logo."

When it comes to bonus features, we get some new material that hasn't been released to disc before. We get an audio commentary from film historians Michael B. Gillespie and Alfred L. Martin, a newsreel clip of the premiere with a critic questioning Diana Ross (rather unkindly) and a clip from American Masters of director Sidney Lumet talking about working with Quincy Jones, who handled the music arrangement and score for the movie. Brought over from Universal's releases is a theatrical trailer.

Sadly missing from Universal's release is a promotional featurette titled "Wiz On Down The Road," a 12 minute affair that had a good amount of behind the scenes footage. It's odd that this didn't get carried over. Even if there's not a high definition master, a nice upscale could have been done, or at least presenting it in 1080i. Given how nice this piece was, it prevents the Criterion edition from feeling like the ultimate edition of the film.

The cover art is a new piece by an artist to celebrate the film's legacy (the Criterion Collection has been commissioning artists to create new artwork for their releases), but I would've preferred poster artwork or actual film photography. With all respects to the artist, and to paraphrase Miss One, "It put the ugh in ugly!" For a cult classic film with an undeserved negative reputation, it could've used something more attractive.

 The Criterion Collection has two editions: 4K and standalone standard Blu-Ray. The 4K edition has both discs, the video bonuses are only on the Blu-Ray disc, while the audio commentary is on both discs.

Anyway, here is information on the replacement program, noting the second release adds the original theatrical audio track as an option (I gotta get my own replacement going):

Here are the full details regarding THE WIZ replacement program:

We've made a correction to our 4K and Blu-ray editions of THE WIZ to fix issues with the feature ATMOS soundtrack.

We have also added an additional soundtrack to the release, the original theatrical 70mm 6-track soundtrack.

Please note that we are prioritizing replacements for fans who pre-ordered directly from Criterion.com, so those will go out first in the coming weeks, but anyone who has these first pressing discs is eligible for a replacement, regardless of where it was purchased.

If you would like us to add you to our queue now, please send us the following to orders@criterion.com:

• Your name and US or Canadian mailing address that will be valid for at least the next month; please type this information out in the body of the email
• A photo of the defective disc(s) with your name and date written on the front/art side (using a sharpie or paint marker - you can write this info on the lighter portion of the disc, and take a photo against a light source so your name and date are visible). You do not need to break the disc.
• Note that if you purchased the 4K UHD + Blu-ray version, we need a photo of both marked discs; if you have the Blu-ray version only, a photo of the single disc is sufficient
• A snapshot of your original purchase receipt, if available

Replacement discs are estimated to start going out in late September to mid October.

Tracking will be emailed to you automatically from our Pitney shipping account once the discs are being packed.

Finally, please hold on to the issue disc(s) for now but discard them as soon as the replacement versions are received successfully.

If you have not yet purchased THE WIZ or plan to purchase additional copies, it will be back in stock later this month (September) and the updated version will have the text SECOND PRESSING on the cover art and the discs.

(And Disney/Sony, we REALLY need a 4K edition of Return to Oz like, right now, please?)

Wicked on Home Video

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wicked: Part One Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Mysteries of Oz documentary review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dee and Friends in Oz

 

Despite being the streaming service that made streaming by subscription a thing, it's not until now that Netflix has turned their heads to having an Oz-based show. (Amazon has Lost in Oz and Warner Brothers' Boomerang had Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz as a streaming exclusive before it moved to broadcast.)

Dee and Friends in Oz is aimed for a preschool audience, featuring child characters inspired by The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in a brightly-colored magical world.

Dorothy "Dee" Davis from New Jersey is visiting her grandmother when she discovers the music box in her room can be unlocked with a key, transporting her to the wonderful world of Oz, where the kind Miss Emerald shares magic with everyone from her Wonderful School of Oz.

The show has three parts currently on Netflix. It's officially broken into two seasons, with the first season being a single 48 minute episode establishing the lore of the show before the 16 episode proper season begins. The episodes break into two 8 episode arcs. (Wikipedia says these are separate seasons, but Netflix lists it as a single season.)

In the prequel, we meet Miss Ruby, the villainous sister of Miss Emerald, who wants all the magic of Oz for herself. We also meet her minion Stuffley, a teddy bear with mechanical wings that allow him to fly. Miss Ruby locks Miss Emerald in her school and begins draining Oz of its magic, while Dee heads down a multicolored brick road, meeting new friends Tin, Scarecrow and Lion who join and help her out.

The first eight-episode arc has Dee begin finding the four magic gemstones that will create the Gemstone Loop, creating a magical transit system around Oz. Stuffley at first tries to get the gemstones for himself, but eventually decides to help Dee and reforms.

In the second arc, Miss Ruby returns to find four crown pieces that will give her great power and let her take the title of the Wizard of Oz, with Dee and her friends trying to find the pieces first.

As you might have guessed, this isn't a straightforward adaptation of Oz lore. Tin, for example, lives in a town of tin people like himself, and doesn't have the tragic origin of Nick Chopper from the original Baum books. Scarecrow is a young boy from a village of living Scarecrows. Only Lion isn't shown to have a family.

In the first batch of eight episodes, we also meet magic-working girls Eastyn and Westyn who happily join the school. Instead of Munchkins, Winkies, Gillikins or Quadlings, we have the Ozlings, humanoids with acorn-shaped heads. They reminded me a bit of the Munchkins as they appeared in Tales of the Wizard of Oz.

There's a few other nods to other takes on Oz. Dee's grandmother looks very similar to Miss Emerald and they are both voiced by LaChanze. Similarly, all five of the other students in the school have counterparts in children who live around Dee's grandmother's apartment with their clothing and hair suggesting the characters they are similar to and being voiced by the same performers. (They seem to have gotten an age-appropriate cast, so I wouldn't be surprised if there's eventual recasts if the show keeps going.)

At the start of the second arc, Dee is reading her own chronicle of her Oz adventures to the neighboring kids who love it and want to hear more, but Dee says that her new adventures haven't happened yet before her key starts glowing and she hurries back to Oz. This struck me as being similar to how Baum eventually settled on the idea that Dorothy relayed him Oz adventures he'd write into books, but now, our Dorothy character is telling her story herself.

Miss Ruby is basically a classic Oz villain, whose wickedness is based around only caring about herself, stealing all the magic and taking over Oz. Miss Emerald is the opposite, wanting to share magic with everyone, keeping Oz a bright, happy and welcoming place.

Stuffley's reformation feels like a nice Oz-appropriate character development. He's voiced by James Monroe Igleheart, who originated the Genie in Disney's Broadway adaptation of Aladdin, recently going to the Broadway production of Spamalot, working with Oz fan Michael Urie and original Wicked Broadway Boq Christopher Fitzgerald and Wicked movie Boq Ethan Slater. He also voiced Calvin Carney and the Jitterbug in Tom and Jerry: Back to Oz.

There's also songs. You won't find show stoppers like The Wiz's "Home" or Wicked's "Defying Gravity," or perennial classics like "Over the Rainbow," but the songs are charming, and a few are catchy. (I missed Stuffley's villain song, which disappears after his reformation.) Dee sings a variation of a journey song every episode, re-establishing that she's her own hero in her own story. LaChanze and Tarriona "Tank" Ball as Miss Ruby also get a number of songs as well.

To be clear, I'm writing this after watching the first ten episodes and the prequel so I haven't watched it all yet, only watching one episode a day, but I've got a pretty good feel of the show.

While this might not be the Oz adaptation of your dreams, it's a fun take on Oz if you need a bright-colored escape for a moment now and then, or if you have appropriately-aged kids who you want to get into Oz.

An additional thing I noticed is that while I have an ad-supported Netflix plan, ads don't play during these episodes. It might be just for Netflix Kids programming, though I don't watch much of that.

The Little Wizards of Oz - Review

 In November last year, I spotted a Blu-Ray titled Blood on Melies' Moon in my RSS feed reader for Blu-Ray.com's feed. I was about to scroll past when I looked at the image of the cover and noticed it mentioned a movie titled The Little Wizards of Oz. The Blu-Ray set actually contained three films by Italian director Luigi Cozzi, who's nicknamed "Italy's Ed Wood." (The famous director who would make films on a shoestring budget but clearly really had a passion for doing it.) I didn't pick it up, hoping to hear some feedback about the movie first.

Well, yesterday I saw the movie was on the free streamer Tubi and decided to check it out.

This is not a straightforward adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. We open with a quick rundown of the origin of the book, and a reveal of its sequels and many of its adaptations and a note that children in Italy also enjoy the book while at school.

Moving onto children rapping, we see some what appears to be behind the scenes shots of the crew working with the children who play the students in a classroom that a substitute teacher is taking over the Italian lesson. The children did reports on the first chapter of the book, which get presented with some charming cheap animations depicting how the children are reimagining the story.

The substitute is taken with the children interacting with the story and wants to complete the story with them, despite higher ups at the school wanting her to stick to a lesson plan. This includes scenes from the story, often with twists from the original text, played with the children as Dorothy and her friends and people who work at the school filling in for other Oz characters. The CGI shots are clearly CGI, but given that this is how a class is imagining the world of Oz, we can accept it.

There's a few fun touches, like the Wicked Witch of the West using an Etch-A-Sketch to spy on Dorothy, with the screen claiming it's "TV-OZ STATION 666."

While anyone wanting a great Oz adaptation or a new Oz story in film might be disappointed, I thought The Little Wizards of Oz was fairly charming in how it celebrates Oz stimulating the imagination. I was also reminded of the documentary film Yellow Brick Road about a special needs school putting on a performance of The Wizard of Oz, except that followed a real production at a real school, while the story of Little Wizards is fiction. But both are about people connecting with the story of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

If it wasn't clear above, The Little Wizards of Oz is actually in Italian. On Tubi, the version offered includes "hard subs" (they're actually part of the image and can't be turned off) in addition to a subtitle track. I found it easier to turn off Tubi's subtitles and just go with the subtitles in the image.

As I've picked up DVDs and Blu-Rays with less Oz content before, I might very well get a copy of Blood on Melies' Moon to own a copy of The Little Wizards of Oz in my collection.

Ozma of Oz by the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company

 The Civic Light Opera is back with one more Oz story, the third Oz book, Ozma of Oz, which they have decided will be their final entry. They've released (and I've reviewed) The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and The Marvelous Land of Oz, so to avoid being an Oz company for a long time, they're concluding with Ozma and going on to other stories.

The CLO is sticking with MP3CD to distribute their audiobooks. These are CDs that have MP3 files on them as a data track, allowing for a lot more audio than you'd get from a standard audio track on a CD. Modern CD players can play these, and you can also play them back in a computer with a disc drive or use it to copy the files to a portable device. Or you can do what I did and put it in a home theater DVD or Blu-Ray player, pull up the folder of MP3 files and just start playing.

Ozma of Oz goes back to the Outside World (our world), where we find Dorothy and Uncle Henry on a trip to Australia on a stormy night. While looking around for Uncle Henry, Dorothy goes on deck, only to be washed overboard, finding refuge in a chicken coop. She awakens outside of the Land of Ev with Billina, a talking chicken. On their way to find out the best course of action, they meet the mechanical man Tik-Tok, and Princess Langwidere who has thirty interchangeable heads in her boudoir. But soon Dorothy and her companions fall in with the visiting princess Ozma of Oz, who's heading to the nearby Nome Kingdom to rescue the Royal Family of Ev from the Nome King.

If you're familiar with my previous reviews, you'll know what to expect. While the text is unabridged, the introductions and chapter titles are not read. Joe Cascone narrates with a full cast performing the dialogue, the cast returning from their roles in the previous two audiobooks.

To make it further stand out, classical music and sound effects are added. This is where I have to mention one thing. During the story, both Langwidere and the Nome King use bells to call for their subordinates or to be alerted. The same sound effect is used for all times, which is fine, it's just that this sound effect is very familiar if you've ever seen a commercial for Taco Bell.

Audio quality is good. I was playing it back with the audio going through the soundbar and found it sounded best if I used the music setting.

Overall, it's a great presentation of the story.

Again, we get a matching presentation in a jewel case, decorated with artwork by John R. Neill, photos of the cast, an introductory note from Joe, a cast list and a list of music used in the production. If you miss physical media, these are worth looking over.

To get a copy, Joe has it for sale on his website, along with the first two Oz books as well as music CDs and notices of his upcoming audio versions of A Christmas Carol and Animal Farm.

The Marvelous Land of Oz by the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company

 The Civic Light Opera Company has released their second unabridged audiobook, following from their first, reading L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz.

It's currently only on MP3CD, allowing for a much longer runtime than a traditional audio CD. The production runs for nearly four hours. Some more modern CD players can play MP3CDs (if you're not sure, check your manual or packaging, if you still have them), or you can play it on a home entertainment disc player, or play it on a computer with a disc drive or use the computer to copy the files to a device.

For my listen through, I used my home entertainment setup, popping it in my 4K disc player and playing it through my soundbar. (I did have to select the "music" profile on the soundbar's remote to make it sound fine.) Wound up playing it from beginning to end.

If you're not familiar with the second Oz book, it takes place largely inside the realm of Oz, no outside characters visit, Baum breaking away from the formula he established in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Our protagonist is a boy named Tip, who lives in the northern Gillikin Country of Oz with Mombi, an old woman who secretly practices magic. When Mombi brings Tip's creation Jack Pumpkinhead to life, she announces her plan to transform Tip into a statue, forcing him to take Jack and flee to the Emerald City. However, the Emerald City is being invaded by an all-female army, seeking to overthrow the Scarecrow. Tip, Jack, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and more new characters embark on an adventure that leads them to discover startling secrets from Oz's history.

I want to commend Joe Cascone and company for continuity. It's quality narration by Joe Cascone, with a cast of performers hopping in to give their own interpretations of the characters. Cast members from the Wizard audiobook reprise their roles when available, and others pop up in new roles, for example, David Haines, the Cowardly Lion of the company of stage and audio, takes on Jack Pumpkinhead.

In addition, sound effects and classical music are used to enhance the experience. There were times that the sound effects sounded so realistic I had to check on my cat to make sure she wasn't causing some sort of mischief.

I was pleased and entertained by the new production. Some of the casting made the characters sound older than I would personally want them to be, but it was all right. I was particularly pleasantly surprised that Mickey Brown as Mombi didn't go for a cackling witch voice as many depictions often do. A lot of fans simply interpret Mombi as another witch like the Wicked Witches of the East and West, but I feel the character is more complicated than that, and making her sound like someone who could pass for an ordinary Gillikin woman plays into that.

Again, if you wanted a reading of chapter titles, the dedication and introduction, they aren't here, allowing you to immediately get immersed in the story. The way I was playing it, the track names popped up on my TV's screen.

So yes, I'd recommend this production.

Again, the CD is in a jewel case complete with a four-page booklet with some explanatory text about the story and images to illustrate the story. A cast list is in the tray card and photos of the cast are in the booklet.

The really cool announcement is that while you can buy a copy from an eBay listing, you can also buy it direct from Joe at his new website, which also offers the first one, copies of the Songs in the Key of Oz CD, the cast recording for his Wonderful Wizard of Oz musical and CD of him singing show tunes. Also teased is the upcoming audio book of Ozma of Oz and one for A Christmas Carol.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by the Toronto Civic Light Opera Company

 You may have heard of this company before for their original musical adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with music by the late James P. Doyle. The musical proved popular with audiences and has been revived several times over the years. (However, it has yet to make it outside of Canada, save for a two-man concert version that was performed by director Joe Cascone and his partner David Haines at OzCon International one year.)

However, that's not what this review is about.

The company was going to revive their production of Oz yet again when they had to cancel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, they decided to make some Oz happen another way by producing an audio book production of the original book.

The resulting production is now available on an MP3CD. The format is a CD that contains audio as MP3 files burned onto it as a data track. There are some CD players that can handle them, or you can play them on modern home theater disc players, or you can use a computer with a disc drive to play them or copy the files to a device.

I was provided with a review copy, so thanks, Joe!

The runtime is about three hours and twenty minutes. This is shorter than many other unabridged versions. This all depends on the tempo of the reader, but in this case, it's not one reader. They have a cast performing the dialogue with Joe Cascone reading the rest of the book. Listeners of The Royal Podcast of Oz will be familiar with this style as we've done it for several L. Frank Baum stories. It offers a faster pace to the storytelling as the reader doesn't need to change their vocal performance, another performer leaps right in and takes care of the character's voice.

There's some who might bristle at calling this unabridged as the introduction and dedication are not included. It's not the only audio book version that omits these.

In addition to the fine vocal performances from the cast, the production uses classical music and sound effects to further liven up the production.

The result is a very pleasing production. Usually when I listen to audio books and podcasts, I turn up the speed a little. This time, it was an easy listen without doing that.

The CD features a booklet, a simple four-panel (one piece of paper, folded in half) with the front cover an adaptation of a promotional poster by Denslow, some text explaining the production, photos of the cast, and a track list. The back cover features a list of the music used and a cast list.

You can purchase a copy of the CD from eBay.

Finding Dorothy

There just isn't enough historical fiction around the origins of Oz. (That presents itself as fiction, anyway.) There's been a few attempts, but a couple years ago, we got Finding Dorothy, a book by Elizabeth Letts, who makes Maud Gage, later Maud Baum, the protagonist of her novel that switches between two time periods: her early life and meeting L. Frank Baum and the lead up to the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz; and taking an interest in the production of MGM's The Wizard of Oz.

The book is quite enjoyable. Letts' interpretation of Baum and his wife and mother-in-law vividly come to life on the page. She quite eagerly tells her story.

The big conceit of the story is that Maud has an idea of "taking care of Dorothy." The inspiration for Dorothy comes from a doll her niece Magdalena owns, which later becomes the name of an imaginary friend for the girl that she sends off with Frank and Maud as they head to Chicago. The implication is that Dorothy becomes the heroine of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Later, when MGM is making their film, Maud tries to consult on the film, though her help isn't enlisted. She at first believes that Judy Garland isn't right for the role of Dorothy, but after talking with the young actress and singer, she takes an interest in protecting her.

There's quite some creative liberty taken with facts. I was a little concerned when Finding Oz by Evan Schwartz was listed as a reference as it was quite speculative without saying so, and no works by Michael Patrick Hearn were mentioned. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is depicted as Frank Baum's first big hit, but no mention of Father Goose: His Book or W.W. Denslow by name are made. It's odd when The Dreamer of Oz acknowledged the importance of Father Goose to the origins of Oz better. To borrow a phrase, "Father Goose walked so Oz could run," as Baum redirected his royalties from Father Goose to help fund the production of Oz. In Letts' book, the matter is re-framed as the Baums needing to scrape up $200.

The matter of the origin of Dorothy is addressed in the afterword, where Letts rejects the idea that Dorothy Gage was the namesake of Dorothy Gale as "Little Bun Rabbit" from Mother Goose in Prose predates the birth of the little girl. However, this is a case where the concept of the book requires one to accept that Letts' concept for the origin of Dorothy as a character is true. So while I might disagree (mainly "more than one inspiration could be the case"), my being a stickler needed to take a break this time.

A very apparent bending of details, which Letts owns up to in her afterword, is the filming schedule of the MGM film. More or less, Maud's visits to the set are depicted as occurring chronologically, her first being to identify the coat that Frank Morgan wore as Professor Marvel on the set with his wagon. (Maud is actually unsure if it's actually Frank's, and personally, I think the story was cooked up by the publicity department. There's a late story twist, but I won't spoil it.) The Kansas scenes were actually filmed last in the film shoot. Later, she visits the set as Munchkinland scenes are filmed, and even later visiting during the Tin Man's introduction scene, but it's known to anyone who's had to debunk the "hanging man" urban legend that the Tin Man's cottage scenes were filmed before Munchkinland.

However, if one can put aside their nitpicking over historical details that had to be fudged to tell the story, it's a good story. The relationship of Frank and Maud has been overdue for a lovely romantic retelling, and getting more eyes on the origins of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz isn't a bad thing at all. So, Finding Dorothy is recommended, as long as you remember it's a well-done piece of historical fiction.

By the way, while I enjoyed the book, I remembered a clip from the Ripley's Believe it or Not! radio program in which Maud appeared to talk about the success of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, giving a little nod to "the motion picture." Hungry Tiger Press posted it online for all to enjoy, so if you haven't heard it yet, or haven't heard it in awhile, it's still up there.

Podcast catchups!

 So, this year, we have no less than four new adaptations of The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus to enjoy.

First off is one I had a little hand in from The OzConnection, the YouTube channel of OzCon International. The OzConnection presents videos about Oz as well as other fun videos for Oz fans, many in connection with its Zoom hangouts that have served as a temporary substitute for Oz conventions. Some OzCon presentations have even been revived on The OzConnection as videos.

In this adaptation, Raymond Wohl—who previously presented a one man show about L. Frank Baum—prepared and performed a one-man abridgement of Baum's Santa Claus novel, now told through the POV of Claus himself. In the abridgement, however, the story of the Awgwas was dropped. My involvement was helping to promote it when it was streamed live over Zoom, as well as finding scans of the color plates from the Mary Cowles Clark illustrations, which are used to illustrate the story. Raymond Wohl makes for a jolly Santa Claus. The YouTube version is presented in six parts.

Another adaptation is through Lifeline on the Air's podcast, which adapts the story with a full cast, borrowing the adaptation angle taken in the Rankin-Bass adaptation with the Immortals' deliberations to grant Claus the Mantle of Immortality becoming the framing story. It also omits the Awgwas. The

One I haven't listened to yet is from The Empty Space, which offers their adaptation for $10. Listed as an "Audioventure," it seems the Awgwas here become the "Gorpoks."

Finally, Aron Toman released his adaptation of the story as part of The Chronicles of Oz in his Crossover Adventure Productions podcast. It's a largely faithful adaptation, hitting most of the highlights of the book's story, just now tying it closer to Oz. Just as we've come to expect from the first three seasons of The Chronicles of Oz, there's a few twists and turns to keep the purist guessing! There was one point where I expected one twist to happen, and wound up getting another one.

I did get involved with this one as I actually have a cameo in it! The link says who. There's also my dear OzCon friend Erica Olivera. It's a well-produced adaptation with a cinematic-worthy sound design and even features an original song.

In other podcast happenings, Tara and Em Kay of Down the Yellow Brick Pod have concluded their first season, as they read through The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, one chapter a week. The two are not Oz historians, but do turn to some good sources about the work and offer their own commentary on the story and W.W. Denslow's original illustration. Their energetic nature makes the podcast a delightful listen. I'd recommend it even to seasoned Oz fans as it may inspire them to think about Oz in ways they haven't before.

In addition to their commentary about the work, they talk to other Oz fans in special episodes, as well as present the monthly "Yellow Brick Crossroads" episodes in which they talk about their interactions with their listeners. A major way to interact is on their Instagram, in which they post several different illustrations, as well as offer recaps in their stories. They have also launched a Patreon page, which will offer more ways to interact in return for some cash to keep the podcast running. They'll launch their second season soon, which will look at musical adaptations of the story, especially the MGM film.

Audible's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz Audio Drama

 If you look up Oz on Audible, you'll find a lot of options for The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (or just The Wizard of Oz) from abridged to unabridged readings and various audio dramas.

Some years ago, Audible released an unabridged reading by Anne Hathaway as an Audible original. However, they've branched into audio dramas as well. It says Audible Studios is the publisher, so I don't know if it's a company they've put together or one that they fund or what. So now, there's also an audio drama version as an Audible original, which recently became one of the free titles for Audible subscribers to enjoy.

The cover credits Lydia West as Dorothy and Jim Broadbent as the Wizard. West is listed on Audible's page as being part of the UK drama TV show Years and Years, while Jim Broadbent should be familiar to many Oz fans who enjoy other fantasies as he played Professor Slughorn in the Harry Potter films and Professor Digory Kirke in the 2005 feature film The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. (The Audible page lists him as appearing in The Iron Lady and Moulin Rouge.)

Oz has of course been adapted for audio drama several times. The BBC has adapted it twice, while there were quite a number of short adaptations on children's records, there's been multi-reader audio books that try to do a hybrid approach of audio book and drama, there was Classic Wizard of Oz, the Los Angeles Children's Museum adaptation from 2000, the Monterey Soundworks adaptation, the Big Finish adaptation, Colonial Radio Theater adapted it and the next five Oz books (with Patchwork Girl still reportedly on the way) and most recently, Crossover Adventure Productions' The Chronicles of Oz, which has adapted the first three Oz books in a free but welcome manner. So there's quite a few to compare it to as you're not wanting for choice of audio dramatizations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Probably those last two are my preferred audio adaptations that I've listened to the most.

So, there's this new version, which runs over four hours long. It pretty much captures each episode from the book with a lot of the dialogue left intact, sometimes being rewritten, sometimes embellished, but very often expanded.

And I do mean expanded. There's no narrator and the characters talk a lot. Way more than they should. The adaptation is by Paul Magrs, who's penned a number of Doctor Who audio dramas as well as his own original fiction. Characters will talk and talk and talk, dragging out scenes for far longer than they need to be.

One needs to remember with Oz that Baum loved the theater and was an actor himself, and much of the dialogue in the Oz books comes from the fact that he got how to have characters communicate. I'm not saying the dialogue in the books stand on their own, but when they're expanded outside of filling in information the narrator isn't saying, it begins to feel tedious.

The story starts right off with Dorothy telling Uncle Henry about the cyclone. Lydia West sounds like a grown woman trying to emulate Judy Garland a bit. (The actress is very private about her life, but believed to be in her mid to late 20s.) The actress is a woman of color, and Uncle Henry sounds like an African-American man, so perhaps this production attempts to make Dorothy and her family people of color, but when you're working in audio only, it can easily get lost. Dorothy's age is also hard to determine. The first slight mention has a Munchkin exaggerate and call her a woman, but she and other characters say that she is a little girl. She doesn't sound like one.

Many of the people of Oz speak with accents derived from the UK. I'm generally fine with this as Oz is another country. The Scarecrow sounds like he's either from north England or Scottish, while the Tin Woodman sounds like a London guy, while the Lion has a bit of Bert Lahr along with his British accent. Broadbent does well as the Wizard, while the Winged Monkeys sound like they're from Brooklyn.

This brings me back to the writing. Clearly, this is a UK-based production. However, Dorothy, our lead character, is supposed to be American. Generally, this is okay, but eventually, Dorothy refers to her friends as "you lot" and even says "sounds a treat" when she hears about having to take the trip to Glinda's. These are not phrases a Kansas girl would be saying.

In Oz, in a concession to the MGM film, it's described that Dorothy's house lands in a Munchkin City, and Dorothy is given Oz lore 101 not from the Good Witch of the North, but by the Munchkin Mayor, who gets a name: Harold. He mentions Lurline enchanting Oz and also Oz maps, with a joke making a deep cut about how Professor Woggle-Bug put the Munchkin Country on the wrong side of the map of Oz he created, but to make up for it, the Munchkins look at their maps upside down. This moment also leads to Dorothy wondering why Toto can't talk, and it's just assumed that he hasn't been in Oz long enough for the magic to catch up to him. (He winds up talking just before Dorothy returns home.) The Deadly Desert gets a lore change in that it makes you lose your memories before finally claiming your life.

I wondered if Harold was replacing Boq, but no, when Dorothy and Toto head down the Yellow Brick Road, they stop at Boq's house, meaning we have two very similar sounding scenes back to back. And both of these Munchkins just talk way too much. Get on with the story already!

When the Tin Woodman tells his story, moments from it are dramatized. Again, there's no need for this except to make this adaptation take even longer. There's no similar treatment for the Scarecrow or Winged Monkeys' story, so it's an uneven presentation.

An odd addition comes after the farmhouse where the travelers stay before reaching the Emerald City. Dorothy reveals the man's injured leg has actually been transformed into an octopus tentacle after he delivered a letter revealing bad news to the Wicked Witch of the West. This doesn't really add anything to the story, and there's no resolution of the man's transformed leg after she's destroyed.

Dorothy is immediately skeptical of the green glasses, with her almost rejecting them when she re-enters the city after defeating the Wicked Witch. Later, the Scarecrow says he'll outlaw them. Despite adding other characters, the green girl who works in the palace/Jellia Jamb is dropped entirely.

The Winged Monkeys basically tell Dorothy how the Golden Cap works when they capture her, and when they drop her off with the Wicked Witch, they ask the Witch to "leave a review." If this type of humor had been used throughout, it might've made the entire production better.

Later, the giant spider actually speaks. That's really all I have to say about the story adaptation without getting into minutia.

The music is nothing great, with some old style moments of violin music to indicate changing scenes or passage of time. Colonial Radio Theater's Jeffrey Gage and The Chronicles of Oz's Tony Diana wrote some really good music for those productions, so in comparison, this is quite lacking. The sound effects weren't bad, but nothing remarkable, either.

Overall, I wasn't a fan. I've heard worse, but I've heard much better.

If you need a way to kill four and a half hours and have a subscription to Audible, you can listen to it for free. Otherwise, they sell it for under $5 if you want to listen to it.

Hit The Bricks episodes 1 and 2 review

As of now, the first two episodes of Hit the Bricks are available on podcast platforms. We've talked about the podcast before, even talked to the writer/director on the Royal Podcast of Oz, but now we can actually review the first two episodes.

Hit the Bricks is a new audio drama podcast featuring a new story set in modern times. Young Jessi Hugson has recently moved to Kansas from San Francisco. She becomes fast friends with her cousin Wallace Williams. During a storm, the two cousins are blown to Oz.

However, it's an Oz that has changed. Dorothy and Ozma are missing and Jack Pumpkinhead now runs the Emerald City. Something very bad has happened to Oz and it seems that Jessi and Wallace will be drawn into the mystery before they can get back home.

There's not much else to say about the plot without getting into spoiler territory. As it's a free to access story, if this is interesting to you, by all means, check it out.

Jessi and Wallace are a nice pair of characters. Jessi has a bit of an edge but is generally kind and helpful. Wallace is a very sweet guy and quite thoughtful. The Oz characters are so far pretty in line with their characterizations from the book. There's a "busker" in the second episode who's listed as "The Musicker," but jury's out as to if this is Allegro De Capo as the song he sings is actually fairly well performed. Maybe he's improved.

Speaking of songs, there are songs. Some of these are songs the characters listen to, many are songs they sing. They're good, and fairly easy to listen to. If they wanted to maybe release an album of them on Bandcamp, go for it.

This has a good sound design that helps tell the original story. The performances clearly get across the dialogue and help you buy the characters. So, it's a good time.

That said, if listening to it isn't quite your thing, you can find the scripts of each episode on the website.

There is also an episode 0 serving as a pilot that is technically a prequel to the series, and on commenting on that, I gave a quote for them to use: "Hit The Bricks displays a rich knowledge of L. Frank Baum's world along with a readiness to create new stories relevant to modern audiences." After listening to the first two proper episodes, I stand by that.

There's a lot of Easter Eggs for people who know their Oz lore and history. One kicks in right with the first moments of the first episode. Jessi is listening to a song she says is by "Aunt Jane's Nieces," her favorite band. Those knowledgeable about Baum's works outside of the Oz series know that this is the name of a series (and the first book of it) that he wrote under a pseudonym. That's only just the start.

So, I've listened to the episodes multiple times already. Guess I was craving a new, good Oz story.

So, go hit iTunes or whatever service you use to listen to podcasts and Hit the Bricks!

Judy - Movie Review

I don't often talk about Judy Garland here. As much as I respect her talent and legacy and even own a couple of her films outside of The Wizard of Oz, I don't consider myself a fan. Yet, when I heard about this film, I knew I wanted to see it and checked listings to see if any theaters nearby would be screening it. None of them listed it, so I decided I should check back and keep an eye open for the Blu-Ray preorder.

Well, I happened to be walking home after seeing a different film and passed by The Moxie Cinema, a local non-profit theater that specializes in the smaller movies that your multiplex typically doesn't carry. There, in the window, was a poster for Judy, so I checked their website and picked a time to go see it.

Biopics have become a popular type of cinema, often following a rise and fall and rise again story arc. Factual accuracy is often secondary to storytelling, with many biopics playing fast and loose with facts. More often, they try to paint a picture of the person in a favorable light, using drama based on the person to help you connect with their story. So, while a biopic might spark someone's interest in a bit of history, don't look to it as a definitive document.

Most of the movie focuses on late in Judy Garland's life when she took on a five week engagement in London, hoping to earn enough money to stabilize her life with her two children, Lorna and Joey Luft. However, the film also flashes back to Judy's time at MGM with a few scenes of her being sternly talked to by Louis B. Mayer on the set of Oz, dealing with her assistant and her relationship with Mickey Rooney.

The movie breaks away from the typical flow of biopics. Rather than depicting Judy's rise to stardom and trying to document much of her life, it only goes for some scenes from her past and dramatizing an engagement that concluded some six months before her death. We see how Judy became addicted to barbiturates to curb her appetite to keep her weight down. Going forward thirty years sees the Judy at the end of the line: she's tired but wants to give so much but gets so little in return. The film shows a wide range of emotions for Judy, from being determined to putting on her best face to getting angry when she deals with a tough crowd.

I'm sure a good amount of the film is fabricated for the sake of dramatic storytelling, such as Judy meeting a gay couple who try to take her to dinner late at night and instead she goes home with them. And when we see the set of The Wizard of Oz, it looks nothing like any scene from the film, even with a woman riding down the yellow brick road on a bicycle. (She looks nothing like Margaret Hamilton, who would certainly not be in costume as Miss Gulch on set as the Kansas scenes were filmed near the end of the production schedule.) I'm fairly certain this was done to allude to the film without violating any trademarks of Warner Brothers.

Renee Zellweger deserves an Oscar nomination for her portrayal of the older Judy as she skillfully all but disappears into the role. Similarly, Darci Shaw was excellent as the younger Judy and just about looks exactly like her. The film certainly isn't a particularly happy one, but it does well in evoking emotion. Even yours truly teared up during the finale, which—of course—depicted Judy singing "Over the Rainbow."

It was fairly good timing to release this film during the 80th anniversary of MGM's The Wizard of Oz and fifty years since Judy's death. If you've yet to see it and it's playing near you still, I'd recommend checking it out. If that's not the case, check it out after the home media version releases. There's not a lot of Oz, though Judy's role as Dorothy is mentioned several times, but if you enjoy a good drama, here's one with a connection to Oz.

Seawolf Press Reprints L. Frank Baum's Oz Books

Print on demand opened up a wide world of publishing opportunities, although it has its limitations. Yet for public domain texts it means a wide number of editions featuring just the text sometimes with just barely passable layout.

Meet the folks at Seawolf Press, who invited me to peruse some of their new reprints of L. Frank Baum's books. I was given a pick of titles and selected three books that used a lot of graphic elements: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Ozma of Oz and The Patchwork Girl of Oz. Many of the other Oz books simply used line art and color plates. These three used color printing on the pages. Thus, these three would be the most difficult to reproduce.

Rather than simply doing a photo facsimile of the books (you can get nearly that with Dover and Books of Wonder editions) these have new layouts while reworking the illustrations to fit in them. All of these are black and white, so color plates and color inks are re-rendered as grayscale.

The most daunting of these was definitely The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It's mostly a handsome new edition with the original design adapted for a new layout, with now grayscale images under and around the text as well as line art. Sometimes this means a two page spread from the original edition is now two sides of the same page. However, most of the time it works. Some of the art could've looked better, though.

Ozma of Oz fares even better, with just about no complaints with the treatment of the art, which all looks fine.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz, looking at the cover, it became clear why this one would look fine in black and white: the images for it were sourced from a White Edition with Dick Martin's redraw of the cover clearly visible, the Road to Oz endpapers replacing the Scarecrow and Tin Woodman riding the Cowardly Lion and Hungry Tiger images. To be fair, reprinting the White Edition version isn't a bad choice as Dick Martin did a great job reworking the art to look good without color, and his take on the front cover—adapted from the original's dustjacket—is rather more pleasing. That means those endpapers and the original cover design (Scraps hanging out with her title solo) are the main casualty here.

There are a wide variety of editions of the Oz books on the market, from collectible editions to antiques to scores of paperbacks and other editions, but the Seawolf Press editions attempt to put the books in a uniform format. At present, they only offer the fourteen Baum titles in terms of Oz and directly related literature.

Without perusing all of the titles (I'm wondering how the color plates of Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz fared now), I'd say that these editions are a good option for picking up the books as uniform paperbacks. While Dover reprinted the books in a uniform size as well, these also have a uniform cover design and a full set would look nice on a shelf.