Thursday, August 02, 2018

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Tik Tok and Tin Man

Oh, they almost got this right! While the Tin Man is saving her from a nasty swarm of lightning bugs (they shoot lightning at people), Dorothy finds a mechanical man. It turns out Tin Man may not be the only metal man in Oz after all.

They find the key and directions and wind him up, but he can't seem to talk very well. They take him to his creators, Munchkin inventors Smith and Tinker (!), who reveal his name is Tik Tok, and that he indeed needs a few springs. By this point, Tik Tok has developed a true admiration for the Tin Man, but Tin Man is showing signs of jealousy at how everyone is taking to Tik Tok. The only place to get the springs is Springfield Mountain, so the gang takes Tik Tok in tow and head there. Sure enough, there is a field of springs on top of the mountain (good to know the writers of this show are continuing with the Ozzy tradition of puns). Tik Tok spots the particular springs they need, so the gang goes after them, only for them to go bouncing around on all the springs. Tik Tok uses his extendable arms (well this is new!) to save them, and Tin Man manages to get the springs. Once they're all safe again, Tin Man decides he's not needed anymore and makes to leave. Dorothy has none of it, of course, and tells him about how much they all love him, including Tik Tok. They get back to Smith and Tinker, who replace the springs and Tik Tok can talk properly at last. He tells the Tin Man how much he admires him, and the two go off on their own, Tin Man telling Tik Tok how to be a metal man in Oz.

They did a nice job with Tik Tok, keeping him very true to his book roots—and then they ruin it at the end by giving him a terrible, stereotyped Italian accent! This really let this one down for me, and is one of the real missteps I've seen on this show.

And this may be my last entry in this series for a while. I have a lot of other stuff on my plate right now, and I think I need a breather. But I do plan to watch the rest of the episodes soon, and I will rewatch them and blog about them later.

1 comment:

Naughty Nerd of Oz said...

This was one of my favorites, though mainly because it was a Tin Man focused epusode and they made him hot in this show. You don't want to know what I was doing while I was watching this.