For gosh' sake, it's not a Munchkin!

I'm back to blogging!

In Springfield, we are almost completely recovered from an ice storm that left over 90% of the population of this and surrounding cities without power. My oldest brother and his wife were without power for about a week and a half, and only three of their fish (they had several fish, in addition to their surviving two dogs and two cats) survived.

As for me, my sister and I only lost power for the night. And, yes, our chihuahua Braxton is alive!

Anyhoo, I looked up an Ozzy topic on YouTube, and found this video:


I never noticed the bird until I heard this rumor. And then, I never thought it looked like a hanging man.

Yesterday, my state tax refund arrived. I fill out my tax forms myself and do it early. It's been deposited in my bank account. So, I went ahead and ordered Hungry Tiger Press' second edition of "The Woggle-Bug: The Complete Sheet Music from the Musical Extravaganza!"

When it first came out, I didn't have a job, but my library bought it. I had a bit of fun using a program to make MID files of some of the songs. Only one remains, though: "What Did The Woggle-Bug Say?" which was actually not from this play, but a promotion for "The Queer Visitors From the Marvelous Land of Oz."

2006: A Good Year For Oz

Here's some really Ozzy things that happened during 2006.

1. It was the 150th anniversary of L. Frank Baum's birth.
2. It was the 50th anniversary of the first TV showing of MGM's The Wizard of Oz.
3. Two animated Oz sequels were released to DVD: Return to Oz (from 1964 by Bankin-Rass), and Journey Back to Oz.
4. Hungry Tiger Press released several wonderful books. They began The Pawprint Series, reprinting Baum's young adult books. Although their plans were to have several reprinted by the end of the year, they only reprinted Annabel, The Daring Twins as A Daring Twins Mystery: Secret of the Lost Fortune, and The Boy Fortune Hunters in China as Sam Steele's Adventures: The Scream of the Sacred Ape. Also printed Walt Spouse's comic strip adaptation of The Emerald City of Oz in a collected volume. Also, a brand new edition of Ruth Plumly Thompson's Ozoplaning with the Wizard of Oz, her last "Famous Forty" book. They also planned on reprinting Baum's John Dough and the Cherub and Fate of A Crown, but were not able to. I hope they can next year.
5. I joined the International Wizard of Oz Club (IWOC)!
6. I bought lots of Oz stuff.
7. Oz: The Manga released in a collected volume.
8. I wrote first drafts of screenplays based on Baum's first three Oz novels.
9. Lots of fun threads at the IWOC started!
10. Disneyland Fourth Anniversary Show released on DVD, containing the preliminary show for the abandoned Rainbow Road to Oz.
11. Eric Shanower's five Oz graphic novels reprinted in a collected volume, Adventures in Oz.
12. Warner Brothers revealed to members of IWOC that they own the TV movie The Dreamer of Oz and are considering a DVD release!
13. I saw Chapter 6 on March the 2nd and they performed their Wizard of Oz number. (Not very Ozzy, but still...)
14. Illusive Arts Entertainment published Chapters 5 and 6 of their comic book Dorothy this year. (Added by Anna Warren Boersig of Illusive Arts.)

That's all I can think of now. If you can think of anything else, place a comment. (You can do it without registering with Blogger now, unlike the early days.)

The Rainbow Road to Oz

Okay, so the "Your Host, Walt Disney" DVD is out, and I have my copy, but someone's already posted the whole thing to YouTube!

A Holiday Tradition

Every year I re-read The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus by L. Frank Baum.

It's the story of Santa Claus from a baby to his old age, when he became immortal.

You can read it online here...

I also read A Kidnapped Santa Claus from The Collected Short Stories of L. Frank Baum, published this year by the IWOC.

You can also read it online here...

I've also gone back to work a bit more on the L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz screenplay. There are now some extra scenes in which we actually see Dorothy's parents. At long last, we discover what happened to them and how Dorothy wound up living with Aunt Em and Uncle Henry. I thought of doing a scene where we show how they got Toto, but I thought it wasn't neccessary, and decided not to.

I really need to get back to L. Frank Baum's Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.

Next post, I'll talk about 2006 in retrospective. I hope it'll be a good post! This one and the one before were a little disappointing.

Is it raining, Is it snowing? Is a hurricane a-blowing?

Yes, it rained on Wednesday, then it snowed on Thursday, and today, I had an adventure with frozen-over puddles and snow and ice on my way to get some envelopes. (Now to pay a phone bill and sell some DVDs.) I just hope a freak hurricane doesn't strike... (Of course it won't, Springfield, MO is very inland.)

I think I'll go get some hot cocoa and re-read The Ice King of Oz.

The Baum Bugle is here!

By now, all members of IWOC have probably got their copies of the Spring 2006 Baum Bugle. Mine arrived Friday, but I couldn't blog until now, what with my grandmother's funeral and all.

Every issue of The Baum Bugle sports a great cover. This one is a sepia tone portrait of L. Frank Baum. Inside the front cover is a color photo from the OZ-MANIA event that I wish I could've gone to.

In the Oz and Ends section, they have an entry on Oz blogs. I'm not there, but that's OK.

The most interesting articles are about the Baum's Castorine company, comparing The Magic of Oz manuscript to the finished book, and there's an article about L. Frank Baum and the effect he had on the Baum family by Robert A. Baum. There was also an article about Baum's failed Flying Girl series, but it was written in an uninteresting style.

The Reviews were of newly-published Oz books. (I must read Melody Grandy's Forever in Oz!) There was also a review of the 3-disc edition of last year's re-relase of MGM Wizard of Oz, but I didn't feel like it did it justice. Needed some more specific information on the special features.

Not a member of the Oz Club? Join now!

I'll look forward to the next one, but then I'll need to renew!

"Rainbow Road to Oz" prelimary show coming to DVD

On December 19th, Disney will be releasing a DVD called "Your Host, Walt Disney." Among the features on the DVD will be the "Disneyland Fourth Anniversary" show. This is the famous (among Oz fans) show that had the "Rainbow Road to Oz" preliminary show on it. (For the sake of simplicity, I just call it a "preview.")

Most Oz fans haven't seen this, but the show has been broadcast on the Disney Channel, and some Oz fans have had their VCRs going. (Including one who made a copy of this clip and sent it to me. If you see this, you know who you are, thanks!)

I've researched this thing pretty well. The movie "The Rainbow Road to Oz" was planned to let the Mousketeers move to the big screen. However, eventually, only Annette Funicello became a film star, with a small role in the original "Shaggy Dog," and later movies like "Babes in Toyland," "The Misadventures of Merlin Jones," "The Monkey's Uncle," as well as the non-Disney "Beach Party" movies. Why did Disney shut down production before it began? No one knows for sure. Some think it was the budget, some think it was the Mouseketeers' TV presence would not translate well to the big screen. Others think it was the writing of the script or the songs. No one really knows, I guess.

Now, here's the kicker, do you want to buy a DVD just for a 15 minute segment? I am! Just because I want it for the "Oz" preview, I'm sure I can enjoy the rest of it! (And a lot of Oz fans bought the whole Shirley Temple Storybook set just to get her "Land of Oz" show.)

Buy the DVD from Amazon.com

The Tin Woodman of Oz, Emperor of the Winkies

This is a video showing the 3D model of Nick Chopper I made up yesterday. Note the ball joints. This video shows the model rotating so you can see it at various angles and how the model's design held up in all areas. (If I could have, I would've made it more detailed, but my resources are limited!)

Well, I gotta go. Got a busy day tomorrow, what with being a pallbearer for my grandpa's funeral and all that.

UPS Package on Thursday

Last Thursday I got a UPS package with three things in it.

The first trade paperback of DOROTHY.
The Special Edition DVD of "Journey Back to Oz."
"The OC: The Complete Third Season" for my sister. (Wal-Mart didn't have it!)

DOROTHY appears to be a modern, gothic take on THE WIZARD OF OZ. The trade paperback collects the first four issues of this comic book series. However, simply calling it a "gothic WIZARD OF OZ" does not do this justice. It is really a completely new story with the "Wizard of Oz" story as a framework. The graphics are part photo, part computer generated graphics. The only things that really keep it from being an "All-Ages" comic book is the violence, blood and gore (Dorothy's face is cut by a Winged Monkey and her arm is later bit by a dragon), and the language. And the first TPB doesn't cover all the story. So far, Dorothy's just been joined by the Scarecrow, who has told her his bloody and gory origin story. (Buy it at Amazon.com) The official website is www.dorothyofoz.net

"Journey Back to Oz" is the Oz movie that took over 10 years to make. The vocals for this animated movie were recorded back in the early 1960's, but, due to financial difficulties, the movie was not released until 1974. It features an all-star cast, the two most interesting being Liza Minelli (Judy Garland's daughter) as Dorothy, and Margaret Hamilton (most famous for saying "I'll get you my pretty, and your little dog, too!") as Aunt Em! I feel there are too many songs, and the appearances by Dorothy's old companions get repititous. Both the Tin Woodman and the Lion offer to help Dorothy, but are dissuaded when they hear the Emerald City is beseiged by magical green elephants. The animation is very Hanna-Barbera style.

The story goes like this: Dorothy and Toto are taken back to Oz by a cyclone (but it may have been a dream), meet Pumpkinhead (not Jack Pumpkinhead. This guy's body is made of vines, and his face grew on after being brought to life by Mombi.), discover Mombi's plot to conquer the Emerald City with the magic green elephants she's brewing up, meet Woodenhead the Horse (an ex-carousel horse), meet the Scarecrow, are driven out by Mombi and her army, the Scarecrow and Toto are taken prisoner, they go to ask the Tin Woodman for help, he gets scared, he sends them to the Lion, he gets scared and sends them to Glinda, she arrives and gives Dorothy a magic silver box. I'm going to stop now so I don't spoil it for you. Clearly inspired by The Marvelous Land of Oz.

Special Features? You bet! There are interviews, audio commentary, a sing-along, and Bill Cosby "wrap-around" segments. The "wrap-around" segements were created for TV broadcast and would introduce the movie, lead into commercial breaks, and come back from the breaks. Bill Cosby as the Wizard, his pet parrot (?), and two stowaway Munchkins watch the events of the movie via telescope from the Wizard's balloon. The DVD package and the menu also note DVD-ROM material, but upon putting it in my computer, I couldn't find anything...

But it's good to know it's on DVD. (Buy it at Amazon.com)

Ozzy mp3s

I prefer mp3 CD's and portable CD players with mp3 readers to mp3 players like I-Pod. Why? Because you can easily change your music selection by changing a disc. I have ten discs so far that I've dedicated to mp3's. One of my most recent discs was for Oz!

My first disc I filled with...

1. The Free & Easy Song by Tele-Kele 6. Not an Oz song, but the music video was, and I happened to like the song as well. LINKS: The song's lyrics in English, The Music Video.
2. The 2-disc soundtrack for the MGM movie. 'Nuff said. LINKS: Buy it at Amazon.com!
3. The Supplemental Material from the MGM movie's 2-disc soundtrack. See above.
4. Before the Rainbow: The Original Music of Oz. Selections from Oz/Oz related scores by Paul Tietjens, Fredic Chapin, Louis F. Gottschalk, and L. Frank Baum. LINKS: Buy it at Amazon.com! Buy it straight from Hungry Tiger Press! (Reccommended!)
5. The Soundtrack for RETURN TO OZ (1985). I'll admit it: it's pretty much a bootleg I found on the internet, but it was free... The site it was from is down now.
6. THE WIZ - Original Cast Recording. LINKS: Buy it at Amazon.com!
7. The Wizard of Oz: Vintage Recordings from 1902-1918, disc 1. Vintage Recordings of songs from the Oz 1902 extravaganza, and some related recordings. LINKS: Buy it at Amazon.com! Buy it straight from Hungry Tiger Press! (Reccommended!)
8. The Wizard of Oz: Vintage Recordings from 1902-1918, disc 2. See above.
9. Wicked-Original Cast Recording. Almost all of the songs (with a few bits of dialogue) from the Musical hit, sung by the Original Cast, featuring Idina Menzel and Kristen Chenowith. LINKS: Buy it from Amazon.com!

I already have four selections for CD 2. Mostly audio I ripped from DVDs.

1. The Wonderful Land of Oz. Overture and songs from the extremely low-budget kiddie matinee movie of 1969.
2. "Look to the Star." The only COMPLETELY original song from the 1990 DIC "Wizard of Oz" cartoon series. Sung by Dorothy.
3. Lion of Oz. Songs from the animated movie based on Roger S. Baum's Lion of Oz and the Badge of Courage.
4. The Muppet's Wizard of Oz. All the songs from the "Best of the Muppets" album released with this TV movie. I rearranged the tracks so they're in the order they are heard in the movie.

Any suggestions?

Oh, and my review for Adventures in Oz is up at last!