The Wizard of Oz (TV series)

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The Wizard of Oz is an animated television series produced in 1990 to capitalize on the 50th anniversary of the 1939 classic film. It ran on ABC from 1990-1991, and was subsequently repeated on the Disney Channel and HBO in the 1990s, and on Toon Disney from 1998-2002.

Contents

[edit] Story

The Wicked Witch of the West has been resurrected by Truckle the Flying Monkey and the Flying Monkeys loyal to her through a revival ceremony. Now that she's alive again, she has taken over the Emerald City. Dorothy returns to Oz to finish off the witch once and for all. Each episode consisted of the Witch attempting to get the ruby slippers from Dorothy. Dorothy and her friends were also always trying to save the Wizard from the evil West Wind, created by the Witch. Dorothy would sometimes begin an episode by clicking her heels and saying to herself "There is no place like Oz" repeatedly, which would transport her from Kansas to Oz, a reverse of a key point in the 1939 film. Some episodes had similarity to the film, such as Dorothy convincing the Lion he still was powerful after he lost confidence when the Witch cast a spell on him removing his powerful roar and giving it to a Hyena, but she and her friends worked to reverse the spell. This was similar to the film where the Wizard convinced Dorothy's friends their talents lay within.

The series was canceled after one season, so the fates of the characters are unknown.

[edit] Episodes

  1. "Rescue of Emerald City, Part I", written by Cliff Ruby & Elana Lesser 9/8/1990
  2. "Rescue of Emerald City, Part II", written by Cliff Ruby & Elana Lesser 9/15/1990
  3. "Fearless", written by Doug Molitor 9/22/1990
  4. "Crystal Clear", written by Pat Allee & Ben Hurst 9/29/1990
  5. "We're Not in Kansas Anymore", written by Lisa Maliani & Michael Maroney 10/6/1990
  6. "The Lion that Squeaked", written by Bob Carrau 10/13/1990
  7. "Dream a Little Dream", written by Michael Maurer 10/20/1990
  8. "A Star Is Gone", written by Michael O'Mahony 10/27/1990
  9. "Time Town", written by Richard Merwin 11/3/1990
  10. "The Marvelous Milkmaid of Mechanica", by Jules Dennis, from a story by Karen Willson & Chris Weber 11/10/1990
  11. "Upside-Down Town", written by Gordon Bressack 11/17/1990
  12. "Day the Music Died", written by Laurie Sutton 11/24/1990
  13. "Hot Air", written by Doug Molitor 12/1/1990

[edit] Cast

[edit] Trivia

  • Dorothy's design is similar to that of Disney's The Little Mermaid's female protagonist Ariel.
  • Many of the songs used in the show were revamped from songs and themes from the film.
  • The show only lasted one season.
  • All the voices of the series were almost indentical to their counterparts of the 1939 masterpiece.
  • Each episode contained short "musical numbers".
  • Almost all the characters and backgrounds where identical to the 1939 film, except Dorothy who no longer wore a blue and white gingham dress, but a simple blue dress instead. Dorothy's famous Ruby Slippers also changed from being heels to slip-ons instead.
  • A running gag in the series was the Wicked Witch of the West's Crystal Ball, which she was only able to use once per episode.

[edit] VHS/DVD release

The Wizard Of Oz was first released on VHS in 1991, shortly after the series ended. 10 episodes of the series were released on video between 1991 - 1995.

DVD releases began in 2002 with The Rescue Of The Emerald City, (featuring "The Rescue of Emerald City parts 1 & 2", and "The Day the Music Died") followed in 2003 by The Continuing Story (featuring "Time Town", "We're not in Kansas Anymore", "Crystal Clear", and "Fearless") and We're Off to Save the Wizard in 2005 (featuring "Hot Air", "A Star is Gone", "Upside Downtown", and "Dream a Little Dream")

As of 2008, the series has yet to be released in its entirety.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links