Sunday, September 22, 2019

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Where-Helmina's My Broom?

The Wicked Witch is giving Wilhelmina a list of chores to do, most of which involve laundry. So Wilhelmina calls her broom to fly off and do them, but no broom appears. None of the other appliances have seen it, so she and the monkeys (Lyman offers to fly her around) go out to look for it. In Munchkinland, Wilhelmina keeps breaking brooms trying to ride on them, and she eventually determines it's not there. So Dorothy must have taken it! She confronts Dorothy and the gang at a picnic, but they offer to help Wilhelmina find the broom instead, because they all know what it's like to lose a friend. She protests at first, but Wilhelmina realizes that her broom is, indeed, her friend, and accepts their help. Lyman discovers that Frogman has it (don't ask me how, he just pops in and says it), so they all head to his toadstool mansion. Frogman confesses to having it, as the broom just turned up. It appears the broom doesn't really like how he has been treated by Wilhelmina, and has run away to some place he'll be treated well. A three-way aerial chase (Frogman on the broom, Wilhelmina with the monkeys, Dorothy and the boys using the ruby slippers) ensues, resulting in a heap of characters outside. Dorothy explains to Wilhelmina that she needs to be nicer to the broom, and apologize. It's not easy, but Wilhelmina finally manages to blurt out an "I'm sorry," the broom accepts, and she flies home on the broom, Frank and Lyman following behind.

The plot has some holes in it, but there are a lot of jokes and other fun character bits that make this one a lot of fun. It's also fun having Wilhelmina at the center of a story, as she's a fun character. And an unexpected new character from the books, Frogman. This is one they got right, as he's elegant and just a little arrogant, much as he is in the book before he heads off on his adventure. Plus, a small reminder that the Wicked Witch is out of the crystal ball and looking to get her powers back. I wonder if that will pay off down the road?

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