Wednesday, June 27, 2018

Lost in Oz, Chapter 17: Villa Roquat

Dorothy discovers the journal is missing, then Guph discovers that Roquat is missing. Roquat, meanwhile, is a spoiled brat who wants everything to be about him, so he makes the map into a fortune teller, which promptly gets lost overboard. Fortunately, Roquat has another map, and food, at his private play palace, Villa Roquat. Not trusting his servants, he disguises himself with Scarecrow's hair, and Dorothy draws a beard and mustache on him with marker. But Guph sends out a broadcast calling for the return of the king. He also tells Dorothy, if she's out there, that he'll give her the journal and let her go if she brings Roquat back. The villa's Nome servant, his fork wife (she's from Utensia), and their young son (he looks like a stubby fork made out of rock!) chase after them, but our little crew manages to escape with the map and head off towards Oz again. Meanwhile, back in Emerald City, West, Ojo, Reigh, and Patchwork Boy decide to contact Dorothy through one of Smith's paintings. Smith wants nothing to do with that, as Langwidere used his paintings as prisons, but they must eventually convince him, because the last we see of them is them chatting with Evelyn, and discovering that Dorothy never made it bark to Kansas. So now Dorothy's friends know she's still lost in Oz.

Computer animation has come a very long way in the last few decades, but this episode shows it still has some drawbacks, at least on a budget of this size. The chase scenes are not terribly convincing because it seems to be very difficult to show the characters running. Still, a little suspension of disbelief and that can be overlooked. Villa Roquat is a fun little place, except I'm sure you or I would get sick and tired of all the portraits and statues of him all over the place. I also like how his character is developing, at least in a simple cartoony way. It looks like he's going to end up being one of Dorothy's greatest allies.

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