Saturday, December 08, 2018

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Everything's Coming up Poppies

In preparing for the first ever Poppin Poppies Parade, the Cowardly Lion goes off to find a few more poppies to finish the float of Ozma that Dorothy and the gang are putting together. He finds them behind a fence, and the float is finished. But the Lion is so tired he lies down for a little nap. Wilhelmina, working on another float nearby, figures out that the poppies come from her aunt's quarantined poppy field, and put people to sleep! Sure enough, Dorothy, Toto, Ozma, and just about everyone else also succumb. Quickly flying back to her castle, Wilhelmina consults her aunt in the crystal ball and figures out that with everyone asleep, she can get the Ruby Slippers. The Scarecrow and Tin Woodman, however, also figure out what's going on, and wake Dorothy up just enough to get the Ruby Slippers to take them all to Glinda's castle. Glinda puts a bubble around Dorothy, reviving her, but then the poppy pollen hits Glinda! Wilhelmina, Frank, and Lyman, with clothespins on their noses to keep from inhaling the pollen, can't find Dorothy or the Slippers, so they take over the castle and try on Ozma's clothes, play around with her PA system, and generally make pests of themselves. But eventually they head back over to the floats, where Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Tin Man have enclosed the float in a bubble, cutting off the pollen. (Toto and the Lion are still asleep!) Wilhelmina and the monkeys, having removed their clothespins, still manage to kidnap Dorothy, but the Tin Man still has some poppies in his chest, and the Scarecrow blows the pollen up towards them. They breathe it in, fall asleep, and everything is tidily wrapped up. The parade goes on, but now they really are floats, all encased in Glinda's bubbles. And on the float shaped like a banana, Wilhelmina, Frank, and Lyman can be seen peacefully sleeping.

All I will say is, this was another fun one. I'm not sure exactly how the poppy pollen works (couldn't it even get out of their quarantine enclosure?), but that's just a story telling device. And this may be the strongest indicator yet that Wilhelmina doesn't really want to be wicked, she just doesn't know what else to do, especially under the influence of her beloved auntie.

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