Tuesday, January 12, 2021

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Doozy of a Woozy

While heading out to the annual Oz kite flying festival, Dorothy and the boys don't know they are being spied upon by Kaliko. But the Woozy follows them, inadvertantly burying Kaliko. So the Nome King decides to enlist Woozy's aid in his latest scheme to take over Oz. Phase one involves Kaliko whispering to Woozy to get him angry, then leading him on a chase to get Woozy lost. Once a scorched Kaliko gets back, the Nome King has him build a wooden Woozy so that they can sneak into the Emerald City and take over from within. They get to the Emerald City, only to find that Ozma is still there. A little fast thinking and the Nome King's impression of Woozy makes Ozma think it's the real thing, but she insists on giving Woozy a bath! The wooden Woozy gets washed, rinsed, and dried, assaulting the Nome King and Kaliko with water, bubbles, and hot air. Meanwhile, the real live Woozy finds some friendly forest animals to help him find his way ack to the Emerald City, but since they're burrowing animals, they take him underground. And considering how big Woozy is, that takes a really big tunnel! Meanwhile, Ozma feeds Woozy with large quantities of food, which means a new hazard for the Nome King and Kaliko. They decide that as soon as Ozma puts Woozy down for a nap, they'll make a run for it. Rocking "Woozy" to sleep causes the Nomes to roll around in their contraption, but they make the run for it as promised. To avoid Dorothy and the boys coming back from the kite festival, they make a quick turn off the yellow brick road, only to go tumbling down a hill and crashing around some more. (No, this was not the Nome King's smartest plan, and that's saying something!) They finally smash their wooden Woozy when they crash into the real Woozy, who gets so angry at them he starts flashing fire from his eyes and chases them off.

Okay, that was pretty much just silly. And I'm amused that, for once, this story doesn't focus on Dorothy and the main characters from The Movie, as we see them head ou at the beginning, arrive back at the end, and that's about it. And while this version of Woozy isn't much at all like his namesake from the books, he's a fun, loyal, mellow character in his own right. And finally, I suspect Ozma knows exactly what she's doing in this one, tormenting the Nome King by being kind to the beast he's built. Did he really think he was going to fool anyone with a wooden Woozy on wheels?

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