Wizard of Oz - The Continuing Story

Rating:
Summary: Episodes On This DVD & Review Of The Series Itself
Review: According to this page (http://www.dvdtoons.com/news/458), this DVD contains the following four episodes of the DIC 1990 animated series, not necessarily in this order:

* Fearless (9/22/1990) (ep 3)
* Crystal Clear (9/29/1990) (ep 4)
* We're Not in Kansas Anymore (10/6/1990) (ep 5)
* Time Town (11/3/1990) (ep 6)

The audio is presumably stereo (2.0 channel) and the runtime is 88 minutes.

Since I have never seen this DVD (I own the other one though), I can't give it a rating (Amazon forces me to rate it so I gave it a middle of the road "3"). However, I can give you a good review of the series itself. I have mixed feelings about this series. On one hand I really like The Wizard Of Oz (1939) movie and I fondly remember watching this series Saturday mornings back when ABC actually showed GOOD cartoons (The Real Ghostbusters, Beetlejuice, etc.). On the other hand, this series is a slap in the face to all fans of the original 1939 movie. For starters, it's damn near impossible to make a decent series based on the movie featuring ALL of the memorable characters since the movie ended with the hero (Dorothy) back home in Kansas, the villian (the Wicked Witch of the West) melted to oblivion, the Wizard floating off to parts unknown (presumably back to his homeland), and the three friends (Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion) being left to take care of Oz and the Emerald City.

I suppose you could set it in Kansas and do stories about the life of the teenage Dorothy ala "As Told By Ginger," but that would leave out all of the Oz characters. You could do stories about the travels of the Wizard, but since he's a con man, it's hard to see him as a "good guy" and a good role model for kids. The only thing left would be to do a show about the citizens of Oz with the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion presiding over the whole land like royalty or something. I've never read the Oz books, so I don't know how many more different Oz residents there are, but since Oz is a wacky place all by itself, the writers could let their imaginations go wild, and create new characters. The problem with this idea is that it leaves out three main characters: Dorothy, the Wizard, and the Wicked Witch of the West. The creators of this series would have none of that. They MUST have ALL of the main characters, the ending of the film be damned!

And so we got a series that totally ignores all character development from the film and carefully disregards certain parts of the ending. Dorothy is inexplicably back in Oz. The title sequence suggests that her ruby slippers glowed in her closet back in Kansas, thus sending out a distress call that she was needed back in Oz, and so she used them to return. There goes the whole "it was only a dream" plot device that the film laid out for us at the end. OK, no biggie, I can suspend my disbelief for this to be possible. Next the title sequence shows us that the Wicked Witch wasn't melted at all, but merely turned to wood! The winged monkeys bring her back to life by putting her hat back on her head and putting her broomstick back in her hand. Now I'm starting to get worried.

Remember at the end of the film the Wizard gave the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion some items (diploma, heart clock, badge of courage - respectively) to reflect the attributes that they felt they were missing, but told them in no uncertain terms that they didn't need these items because they had those attributes all along (as they demonstrated numerous times throughout the film)? Well, they must have been missing the attribute of "paying attention" because in this show they lack all of those attributes they "had all along" simply because all of their "special items" are locked up in storage at the Emerald City where the Wicked Witch is keeping guard over them. The three friends are constantly complaining throughout the entire series about not having those attributes because they don't have the items, yet as in the film they display those attributes numerous times. What they DO have is a total lack of self-esteem as they are constantly discrediting themselves when they display those supposedly "lost" attributes (to paraphrase the Scarecrow: "I have an idea, but since I don't have a brain, it musn't be a very good idea.")

The Wizard is back, but he's stuck forever floating around Oz in his hot air balloon because the Wicked Witch put a spell on the wind so that it won't let him stay in one place for very long. Throughout the series Dorothy and friends are trying to catch up with him, but he always leaves just before they go to where he was last seen at. Why he doesn't just decide to ditch the balloon and stay on foot, where he's safer, is beyond me. Glinda, the good witch, is no great help as she is so powerless that all she can do is put a spell on the balloon so the Wicked Witch can't harm him while he's in it (I'd still take my changes on foot rather than floating around airmlessly), and put an Emerald Star in the sky above the Emerald City which glows as long as he's alive. Remind me not to call Glinda for help the next time I'm in trouble.

This series lasted only 13 episodes (no surprise since it sucked) and originally aired on ABC from 9/8/1990 to 12/1/1990. Currently there is another DVD ("Rescue of the Emerald City") with three more episodes from the series. This means that so far half of the series has been released on DVD. With so few episodes to the series, DIC should have just released the whole series in a 2-disc set.

By the way, although credit is given to the music composers of the 1939 film (since this series uses a lot of the movie themes), no credit is given to L. Frank Baum (the writer of the original book series).

Rating:
Summary: A Great Series
Review: This DVD is adorable! I found it by chance one day, and since I'm a huge Oz collector, I paid the bill in a state of glee and ran home to watch it. I've been a huge fan of this series since it first came out, and I've been keeping an eye out for it. I've taped every episode off of the television and also have this DVD.

I would like to clarify some of the points the last reviewer made.

Ok...in the 1939 film (upon which this series is strongly based) Dorothy gets back to find it was all a dream (la-di-da-di-da) yes, yes...but that can be played around with since in the book it was certainly not a dream. The opening credits explain how Dorothy gets back.

The ruby slippers show up in Dorothy's room while she's sleeping to bring her back (at Glinda's request) because the Wicked Witch of the West is back and is taking over everything! The witch was brought back by a spell her monkeys did. They put her clothing on a pile of rocks and performed the spell and TA DA! the witch is back, meaner, greener, and as bitter as ever!

So now Dorothy goes back to find Munchkinland in certain ruin and her friends have been forced out of the Emerald City. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion's characters are carbon copies of Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr's versions of our favorite trio (which was actually delightful)

The witch has stopped the Wizard's balloon from being able to leave Oz, and puts a spell on the wind so that he has a hard time getting down. Of course, the plot strongly relies on the main characters getting irresistably close to getting the Wizard back on solid ground before he gets "lost again."

But with the Wizard away from the Emerald City (where they resolve to bring him once they've got him back on the ground) and with the Scarecrow, Tin Man, Lion, and Dorothy busy chasing the Wizard around, it's easier for the Witch to come up with new schemes to get the ruby slippers from Dorothy. (Her obsession with the enchanted red shoes has not changed.)

The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion's gifts from the Wizard that they received in the movie (diploma, clock heart, metal of courage) have been stolen by the witch. Throughout the series she often uses them as bate to try and get the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Lion to betray Dorothy in order to get them back. ("Your metal of courage in exchange for the ruby slippers.") But of course, they remain loyal to Dorothy and continue their journey without the Wizard's gifts. ("I'll never let Dorothy down, not even for my metal of courage.")

They face many adventures together in a delightfully entertaining follow up to the 1939 musical. The animation is not great, but not bad either, and you'll be captivated. And if you're a huge Oz fan like me, you'll love it!

God bless!