Tuesday, July 24, 2018

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: One Winged Wally

While playing hide and seek on the yellow brick road, Dorothy and the guys are terrorized by the Wheelers, who act like they own the road and run over anyone who gets in their way. Getting off the road and out of their way, the gang meet Wally, a flying monkey with only one wing. He's run away from home because he can't fly straight and keeps messing things up. Dorothy decides to help him get a new wing and takes him to Ozma. After several interesting attempts, Ozma confesses that she can't do monkey wings, so they go to see the crooked magician, Dr. Pipt. Sure enough, Dr. Pipt is able to create a new wing for Wally, but it's made from some rare ingredients, and he can only make the one. It's also going to take some time for the wing to set before Wally can use it properly. Walking back to the Emerald City, the Wheelers come after them again, and this time Dorothy stands up to them. The Wheelers surround them, the Ruby Slippers won't work because of all the dust that's getting kicked (rolled?) up, and the Wheelers are actually winning. In desperation, Wally grabs them all and flies them out of there, but his new wing pops off and is pulverized under the Wheeler's wheels. Never mind, says Wally, I can at least do this, and uses his circular flying to snare the Wheelers in a vine and carry them off, where his erratic flying causes the Wheelers to crash into everything in his path. Wally receives a medal for his bravery and sacrifice, and is welcomed back into his family, who realizes how much they miss him.

They did a great job with both the Wheelers and Dr. Pipt, I think, staying true enough to their literary roots while at the same time giveng them their own characterizations that fit in perfectly with this show. And unlike Lost in Oz, I will eventually see more of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, if Boomerang (the cable channel, not the streaming service) ever shows more episodes (there are currently thirty-nine shorts and an extra-long finale). Alternatively, I may soon get this DVD, which has the next seven episodes on it. I can tell by the show's streaming site that I still have to see Tik-Tok, Glinda, the Wizard, and even Zog, plus it looks like there may be a visit to Bunbury. The Halloween episodes should be a lot of fun, too. But until then, I have another Oz show watch-a-thon I will probably undertake soon, but I have other stuff to catch up on first. And by it's nature, I don't think this show will quite so easily lend itself to an episode-by-episode recap.

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