Y'all can comment now!

Just wanted to let you know that I finally set the comment settings so non-Blogger users can comment on my blog now.

He's the Wizard!

Okay, so I recently got a copy of the Original Cast Recording of The Wiz on CD. My only previous exposure to these songs were in that gosh-awful 1978 movie.

The Wiz was first produced in 1974, and was an adaptation of Baum's original Oz book. It sticks very faithfully to the story, despite a few break-downs of scenes (Glinda arrives after the Wizard leaves, but she is summoned by Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North, this time, not appearing like someone to answer all of Dorothy's problems.), and a few touches for an African-American setting. The play won seven Tony awards. You can read the script for the play here.

When a film version was produced, the producers and the director decided to do a whole new adaptation of The Wizard of Oz, to avoid comparision to the 1939 movie. In my opinion, the end result looks much more like the Judy Garland musical than the play did. Most of the characters were miscast. In fact, on a documentary found on the DVD, it sounds like the casting went like this:

• Diana Ross calls and says she wants the part of Dorothy, thus Dorothy becomes an adult. (They state "the book never mentioned Dorothy's age," but in several places in the book, she is referred to as a "little girl.")
• They make a wish-list of who they want to play who, despite the actor/actress' adeptness. Somehow, they got them.

One touch was to take Dorothy's home from Kansas and put it in New York City. That would've been okay, but then Oz is a dressed-up version of NYC as well! Allen Eyles in his book The World of Oz says that they overdid it on that, as well as designing the sets without affection. Oz looks dark and uninteresting.

Making Dorothy an adult majorly hurt the story's themes. Especially when Aunt Em tells Dorothy she needs to find her own home, why would she want to go back home after she gets to Oz? I mean, I'm in the process of moving out from my parents' house, but if I got a chance to move to OZ (Baum's Oz), I'd take it! Leonard Maltin goes so far as to call the movie "confusing." You can read the dialogue for the movie here.

Usually, when songs are reproduced for a movie, they sound better. Such is not the case in the film version of The Wiz. Just compare DeeDee Bridgewater's version of If You Believe to Lena Horne's Believe In Yourself. Lena Horne was a good singer, but this song was not written for her talent, nor was it arranged for her to sing it.

All of the original cast songs sound more lively than the movie. Once again, the songs were not written for the film's cast.

Stephanie Mills sings all of her songs infinitely better than Diana Ross, and Hinton Battle's I Was Born On The Day Before Yesterday sure beats Micheal Jackson's You Can't Win. In a post on the IWOC message board, Eric Shanower stated that more "whining" was not what this movie needed.

Be good to yourself and order a copy of the Original Cast Recording.

(EDIT: Got some last names wrong. Sorry. Fixed them up.)

New direction for the blog...

Hey, I'm thinking of widening the scope of this blog. Yeah, I'll still talk about the screenplays and how they could be made into films, (blah, blah, blah, Bob Loblaw) but I don't really talk about my other interests in the Oz field. (For example: I've never mentioned my stories about the early history of Oz on this blog.) Maybe get some reviews up for Oz/Oz-related items I've bought, show some of my Oz artwork, and just really have a lot more fun with this blog than I have had in the past. (Just a little over 10 posts in almost a year? Not good!) Comment and tell me what you think. The blog may have a new name and theme soon!

EDIT: Test-run!

Anyhow, I'm putting this up here: it's a copy/paste and edit of a post I put up on the IWOC message board, so those of you who post there and also look here, this will seem familiar...

Making ROAD work...

Okay, for anyone who has kept up with this blog, I recently finished my screen adaptation of OZMA OF OZ, and have decided to take a break before leaping into DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD IN OZ.

DOROTHY AND THE WIZARD contains some great dramatic moments, what with a city of heartless vegetable people who want to kill our heroes, a valley of invisible bears and people (imagine that dinner scene with all the food flying around...), the wooden gargoyles, baby dragons! The Wizard's story was already told in WONDERFUL WIZARD, basically, and not a lot else needs to be told, and I did some editing to absolve Oscar Zoraster Phadrig Issac Norman Henkle Emmanuel Ambroise Diggs from all blame for the kidnapping of Princess Ozma. (Mombi tricked him.) The trial of Eureka and the race between Jim & the Sawhorse I'm not sure about, they would make great scenes, but on the other hand, they're not very dramatic, though humorous. Still, it shouldn't be too hard to adapt.

Now, comes the harder one: THE ROAD TO OZ. Considered by many to be the weakest of the Oz books, though it is a favorite with many, it has the least really dramatic scenes. Pretty much all that's there that would look AWESOME in a movie is the Scoodlers and the Sandboat. Ideas for adapting... perhaps adapt insert plots from some of Baum's short Oz stories? Maybe change it to guests at Ozma's party telling stories? (Then we could have abbrievated versions of QUEEN ZIXI OF IX, JOHN DOUGH & THE CHERUB, etc.) Any ideas on how this story could work?

New video, Ozma's done, Adventures!

Hey! I got a new vid on YouTube! It doesn't have much to do with my Oz screenplays, but it's cool and Ozzy nonetheless.



Now, let me give some "Behind The Scenes" information: the Rainbow Road to Oz song was recorded directly from a video that a fellow Oz fan sent me. The TV I was using had a headphone jack, and I had a Sound Recorder that could record from a stereo cable, which can plug into a headphone jack and a microphone jack at the same time. The early clips were from clips on the Dorothy & Ozma Productions website, my own Oz website. There were also some I'd found online and simply had to convert to a usable format. However, the clips from Return to Oz and the 1939 Wizard of Oz were DVD rips I made especially for this video. I made all of the 3D-animations here.

Okay, so I finished L. Frank Baum's Ozma of Oz in the wee hours of last Saturday morning. There's a few revisions to do, yet, but I read through it and it looks like it could be a fun, fast paced film! I especially had fun with the character of Roquat, the Nome King. At the beginning, he's a nice, smooth-spoken guy, but as his enchantments are broken, he turns into a hate-filled monarch! In the scene where Dorothy and Evring are hearing the bell tolling that Billina is breaking the enchantments, Roquat raises his hand to hit Dorothy, saying "Shut up!" He is swiftly kicked in the stomach by the Sawhorse!

One character I altered was Kaliko, the Nome King's chief steward, who actually wasn't named until The Emerald City of Oz, but it doesn't hurt to give someone a name early. He's still a little haughty towards Roquat, but Baum's description of him doesn't sound a lot like the nome who will be Roquat's successor. (As revealed in Tik-Tok of Oz.) I altered his description to be a bit more elegant.

I originally decided that after Ozma, I would take a break from writing Oz screenplays, maybe work on getting more petitions for my first one. (Sebastian has already offered a way to get more.) However, I got a nice idea for the opening of L. Frank Baum's Dorothy & the Wizard in Oz, so I'll keep you posted on any developments.

I recently got my copy of Eric Shanower's Adventures in Oz. Perhaps you think this has nothing to do with my screenplays, but actually, Eric's "standardization" of Oz is really the same as what I've been going with on my screenplays! In an interview I did with Eric S., I even asked if he might be interested in doing conceptual art for a new Oz movie. I also sent a review of this book to Eric Gjovaag (click on his name to see his Oz blog, and don't confuse him with Mr. Shanower!) to put on his reviews page at his website. Whether or not Eric G. puts it up is completely up to him.

More from Sebastian!

Wow! This has to be the fastest I've posted a new entry! It seems my last entry made Mr. Sebastian Certik (sorry about the mess-up below) a little more popular in the Oz circle. (I had that power... Wow...)

Anyhow, Sebastian has a few casting suggestions...

• Dorothy: Anna Sophia-Robb, most recently in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Sebastian says, "My first impression of her was that she had the right looks to play Dorothy, and she could always assume a different personality in that role, rather than the showy, arrogant person she was in CATCF." Strangely, I thought Miss Robb looked a lot like Dorothy as well, except probably by the time a new Oz movie (using my screenplay or not) would start production, she'd be a bit too old to continue playing Dorothy for any sequels. My own idea was perhaps CGI characters against actual photographed backgrounds: only the voices needed to be cast. Good suggestion, buddy, but not quite what I was thinking.
• Glinda: Drew Barrymore. Interesting suggestion! "She is very attractive, and she has red hair, which would be nice for the whole setting of the Quadling Country." Not to mention Baum actually mentions her hair color. I'd thought of the casting of Glinda myself, and came up with Megan Follows (Anne of Green Gables), or Julie Andrews (Princess Diaries, Mary Poppins, The Sound of Music). Someone else also suggested Kate Winslet. Setting aside my CGI idea (why state it again?), I personally think any of these could work. Except, maybe Julie Andrews could be cast as the Good Witch of the North, because she's probably getting to retire, and the Good Witch doesn't appear in many other books afterwards. (Present at Ozma's party in Road to Oz, then becomes Queen Orin in Thompson's Giant Horse of Oz.)
• Wizard: Jack Nicholson. Sebastian says Johnny Depp is too young. I don't really think Mr. Depp would have a big role in my idea for an Oz film series, but perhaps could be cast as Fiyero in a film version of Wicked. Or maybe the Guardian of the Gate or the Soldier With The Green Whiskers? (Omby Amby) My own idea for an non-CGI Wizard would be Robin Williams.
• Jellia: Julia Winter. Another Charlie & The Chocolate Factory actress, she played the spoiled Veruca Salt. In my opinion, Jellia should be a bit older, but as earlier stated, time could take care of itself on this one.
• Tip (Yes, he went beyond Wonderful Wizard here!): Jordan Fry. He was Mike Teavee in Charlie &... . Earlier on in my blog, I mentioned perhaps Freddie Highmore, who played the title character in the same movie. But perhaps we should see about getting Wonderful Wizard made first!

Also, I've recently gotten some support from Aaron Pacentine, owner of VideosforFamily.com. Check his site out sometime, it's a very nice site!

See you soon!

Petition Video, Manga, Oroz, and Strasheela!

Hey, I finished my Oz petition video. So far it has gotten me ONE new signature!



Like? Sign the petition at http://petitionspot.com/petitions/newoz

The signer was Certik Sebastian, who said this on the IWOC message board, "In this day in age when we graphitti "Git'r done" on military equipment used on behalf of the war in Iraq, we need a little enlightenment. We can't keep believing these stupid, and morally incorrect notions that Oz is a dream, or that Dorothy had Ruby Slippers. These notions are leading studiousness, and education to go down the tubes, and thus, we need a good, and wholesome movie like "The Wizard Of Oz" to be added to our scope of knowledge to make us healthier, and smarter.

"I signed Jared's petition, which is to make a more educated 1900's style Oz movie, and I urge every one of you to do the same. you can see the address for the website of the petition on the movie that Jared so kindly bestowed upon us."

Certik has said it better than I could myself! (Hey, if you need to start a petition to get a new edition of "Wonderful Wizard" with your illustrations published, I'll sign!)

Last Wednesday I got my copy of "Oz: The Manga." A manga-style retelling of the first Oz book, it was surprisingly faithful, though somewhat darker. There were also some touches I wish I'd put in my screenplay. Too late to do it without copyright agreements...

Recently, I went ahead and watched a backlog of foreign Oz/Oz-inspired films. There were two Russian faithful excellently animated films based on "Wonderful Wizard" and "Marvelous Land," the first using some touches from Alexander Volkov's "The Wizard of the City of Emeralds." (This book was Volkov's translation of "Wonderful Wizard," but he put in a lot of new things himself, and later wrote original sequels.) Another was a televised play of Volkov's "Wizard," which rearranged the plot. None of these had English overdubbing or subtitles.

Also was "Tramps & The Wizard of Oroz," which is an extremely loose adaptation of the original book. I just took it as a comedy with a few Oz touches and characters. This one had subtitles.

It's been awhile, but I'm blogging again!

Hey! I have been blogging for awhile, but I'm back!

Why the abscence?

What was there to say? I'm working on Ozma of Oz still.

I would like to mention some words on the adaptation of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz to the MGM Wizard of Oz as compared to my screenplay.

1. In the MGM movie, Dorothy wants to get out of Oz pretty much to escape the Wicked Witch of the West, and she realizes that her home is a pretty nice place after all. In my screenplay (which is what I believe was in the book) she doesn't want to be seperated from her family for a long time, so she tries to get back.

2. Because the MGM movie set up the Wicked Witch of the West as the major villain, (her early appearance in Munchkinland, her appearances along the Yellow Brick Road, her creating or poisioning of the Poppy Field...) her death was the film's climax. In the book, and my screenplay, she is much more of a secondary character. The climax is Dorothy's return home. (Which is strange, since the story is named after the Wizard, but he leaves the story about 3/4 of the way through! One might be misled into thinking he was the main character...)

3. I'm not quite sure... but is the MGM movie updated slightly? Is Dorothy's home one of 1900, or 1939? In my screenplay, it's exactly how it's described in the book.

4. The MGM movie set the story up as a dream. As a result, who could really believe that Oz was real? In my screenplay, I tried to make Oz as believable as possible, when you set aside the magical incidents and the creatures that could reside only in a fairyland. Baum did not describe a vibrant fantasyland, but instead "a country of marvelous beauty. There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits. Banks of gorgeous flowers were on every hand, and birds with rare and brilliant plumage sang and fluttered in the trees and bushes. A little way off was a small brook, rushing and sparkling along between green banks..." This description was so vivid that I copied it in my screenplay. I'd love to see this version of the Munchkin Country on screen instead of the extremely (and some may say sickeningly) cute Munchkinland of the MGM film.

And just so you know, I don't hate the MGM movie, I own the 3-disc DVD release and the 2-disc soundtrack, I don't believe in the hanging man, and I also think it's a great, classic film. I just think there should also be a version out there that is very close to Baum's Oz!

Ozma of Oz

Hey, I started on L. Frank Baum's Ozma of Oz last week. There's something about Oz that's so addictive...

And I have some character designs for the Nome King, in black and white and color. I'm thinking of making some storyboard art for Wonderful Wizard and making some videos and putting them on YouTube.com. If I do, I'll embed them in the blog!

"Marvelous Land of Oz" finished & Oz movie rumors

Last Sunday Princess Ozma was restored and wrested the throne of the Emerald City from Jinjur and was crowned by Glinda (who else would be resonsible for such an honor?) ... as I finished the first draft of L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz.

The Marvelous Land of Oz is one of my favorite Oz books, which is why I wanted to start on a screenplay for it right away. I have made quite a few changes.

• Mombi admits that she tricked the Wizard into handing Ozma over to her.
• Jinjur is passed off as a good girl at heart, she can just get obsessed and confused over what she wants.
• Jinjur intends to turn Mombi over to Glinda after the Jellia Jamb=Mombi deception, so Mombi hides not only from Glinda, but also from Jinjur, so she turns herself into a rose.
• The ant transformation was left out of Mombi's series of transformations in her attempt to escape from Glinda.
• There is only one Wishing Pill, and it is found in a packet that was in with the Powder of Life.
• The whole bit about flying over the Munchkin Country was excised so we could hurry and get to Glinda.

There are also some additions I made. One of my favorites is Ozma saying to Jinjur after Captain Ruby and General Scarlet capture her, "The Emerald City has been ruled by men long enough."

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There is a new crop of rumors for a new OZ film to come to the cinema.

The most likely one to appear is a film version of the musical Wicked. Having heard quite a bit about it, it sounds like a great story and I'd really like to see it.

Disney is supposedly working on a prequel to The Wizard of Oz that sounds darker than Return to Oz. (Have they learned nothing?)

Steven Spielburg is rumored (note: he has had rumors about him in the past that were not true) to be working on a remake of The Wizard of Oz. As he also has the film rights to Wicked, that choice may be more likely.

There was also a rumor of a new Wizard of Oz movie coming out in 2008, but all I found were rumors on a message board. If any of these films are actually in production, it could be that they were actually seeing something about one of them.

A pitch that has been making rounds is called Above Kansas, a sequel to the MGM movie. (When will they ever learn that you can't really do a sequel to that one?)

So, like I have said, there seems to be great interest in an Oz movie. I just hope I can get some of my screenplays out there so we can finally have a talkie that presents Baum's Oz just the way it should be.

Current Benign Changes in OZ

The L. Frank Baum's The Marvelous Land of Oz screenplay is continuing! But currently I've made a few changes.

1. Jellia Jamb was dismissed from her position by Jinjur, but her keys were not take from her. She uses these to open the doors of the palace for the Scarecrow.

2. Jinjur locks up the palace. As a result, she is surprised to see the Scarecrow & Co. enter, but not worried.

3. Mombi appears and tells Tip that she's going to turn him into marble, instead of Jinjur threatening everyone else.

4. The Scarecrow lets the Field Mice free to stop Mombi. As a result, all females flee the throne room.

In addition, the posititioning of some speeches and events are altered for better drama.

Comment and tell me what you think!