[Dean's World] Dave Schuler: Oz Reimagined

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Posted by Dave Schuler:
Oz Reimagined
http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1196866669.shtml


   Last night I watched the third and final installment of Sci Fi
   Channel's miniseries, [1]Tin Man, which the credits tell us is based
   on L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. To enjoy Tin Man
   there's something you should understand very clearly. The iconic 1939
   MGM classic, [2]The Wizard of Oz is not a re-telling of Baum's book.
   It is a re-imagining of the story as a Ziegfeld show.

   Tin Man is a re-imagining of Baum's book as done by Ridley Scott from
   the same team that created Sci Fi's critically acclaimed re-imagining
   of the 70's space opera, Battlestar Galactica.

   This is not the "merry old land of Oz". There isn't much song or dance
   or vivid Technicolor. It takes place in the dystopic Outer Zone (O.
   Z., get it?). Its heroine is DG (get it?), played by Zooey Deschanel,
   who I found more like Baum's tomboyish, plucky Dorothy Gale than Judy
   Garland's Dorothy was. Its villainess is a sexy sorceress played by
   shapely Kathleen Robertson who'd've been right at home in a Ziegfeld
   show although I'm pretty sure that Flo would have put her in sheerer
   and lower-cut costumes (that's for those you of who have no interest
   at all in pirates). She's costumed throughout in tightly-corsetted
   dominatrix outfits and among the creepiest moments in the miniseries
   are when she sticks out her chest, which would seem hardly necessary
   under the circumstances, and her tattoos fly off, transmogrifying in
   the air into monkey-bat henchmen.

   I found Ms.Robertson's performance rather vapid. I'd rather have seen
   an interpretation somewhat more along the lines of Jacqueline Pearce's
   Servelan (the Supreme Commander) from Blake's 7. MGM originally
   considered femme fatale Gale Sondergard for the part of the Wicked
   Witch, after all. It is possible to be sexy, strong, thoroughly
   feminine, and completely wicked. But that would have taken the
   miniseries in quite a different direction.

   Half of the fun of Tin Man is in looking for the tantalizing
   references to the many different incarnations of the Oz story. Alan
   Cumming's sweet and funny performance as Glitch, half of whose brain
   has been stolen and whose head is now closed with a zipper, owes a lot
   to Ray Bolger's Scarecrow. Alan Cummings may be most familiar to you
   through his many voiceovers. Neil McDonough's Cain, the "Tin Man" of
   the title--a sort of law enforcement officer, owes more to Clint
   Eastwood than to Jack Haley, but is suitably stalwart. Is it my
   imagination or is Neil McDonough everywhere these days?

   There are lots and lots of other references. A cowardly lion-like
   clairvoyant. A shapeshifty Toto. The Wicked Witch's long-coated
   minions. But the references don't stop there. I found references to
   nearly every science fiction movie of any consequence of the last 80
   years, literary references, and references to early 20th century
   illustrators. Half of the fun (at least) of the miniseries is spotting
   the references.

   I've got to give Steven Long Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle credit.
   They know their Oz lore. Right down to Queen Betty and the Grand Duke.

   There were disappointments here, too. Richard Dreyfuss's drug-addled
   "Miracle Man" is almost completely unnecessary. What would have been a
   taut action-adventure in, perhaps, a running time with commercials of
   three hours is stretched into six.

   But all in all I found it highly entertaining and, like Battlestar
   Galactica several notches above Sci Fi's usual offerings. And a nice
   message--hold tight to your family, whether biological or created,
   have courage, stay together no matter what.

   Worth a watch.

   BTW, Baum's book has from its very release been interpreted as
   political satire (of the monetary system, of all things). It has
   recognizeable caricatures of important political figures of the time.

   Dorothy has generally been interpreted as good old bedrock Midwestern
   American values. We could do worse than DG, I suppose. But what are
   Mitchell and Van Sickle saying about us in Tin Man?

References

   1. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910812/
   2. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032138/