The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz

I watched this new DVD for the first time late last week, and let me tell you, I was actually pretty impressed. Don't let the awful packaging put you off, this is a decent package of an old Japanese science fiction cartoon (and, unlike both the back of the box and the theme song, there is no mutant dog named Talk-Talk; he's still just plain old Toto).

The story starts off in the old familiar way: Dorothy, Toto, and their robot Chopper are whisked off in a rocket through a black hole to the distant galaxy of Oz. There, they meet Plantman, who has no brains, and Lionman, who needs courage; Chopper also confesses that he wants a heart. They set off to the Emerald City (a floating city in the sky) to meet the Wizard and ask for their desires. From there, however, it goes in its own direction, as they discover early on that the Wizard is a humbug, and a few other things as well. From there, this goes completely in a different direction from The Wizard of Oz, and it ends up being even more Japanese than it did before. Needless to say, everyone gets what they want, but the Emerald City is nearly destroyed before it all ends.

Since some places are already charging as little as a dollar for this, you may very well want to seek this out and get it. It won't make you forget the book or the famous movie version, but it will be worth the money and time — which the packaging also got wrong! It says it runs for about fifty minutes, but it's more like seventy-five.

Gnarls Barkley Goes to Oz

Here's the back-up band for the duo Gnarls Barkley warming up as some familiar looking characters get the stage ready for the main event — and then Ci Lo and Dangermouse come out in their finest...well, just take a look.

There are several other clips from the same show up on YouTube, but I thought this one showed off all of the Oz costumes the best.

The FIRST Muppets' Wizard of Oz

So you thought last year's The Muppets' Wizard of Oz was the first time the Muppets went to Oz, did you? Well, think again! Here's a clip from the 1981 TV special The Muppeets Go to the Movies showing otherwise. Enjoy!

Today's (lack of) Oz music video

I had hoped to wrap up this series of Oz music videos by showing you "Runaround" by Blues Traveler, but it doesn't seem to be up anywhere. But at least this was a big enough hit that you can get it on DVD (click here to get it). So instead, here's a link (they don't want theirs imbedded, for some reason) to a short film of highlights of The Wizard of Oz performed by sock monkeys. Enjoy!

Today's Oz comic

Another installment of One Big Happy for your Ozzy amusement.

Today's Oz music video

Okay, we've had pop and country, so now it's time for some urban/funk/hip-hop. So here's De La Soul featuring Redman with "Oooh." Warning, there are some naughty lyrics here.

Hey, at least they got the color of the shoes right.

Maxfield Parrish

FilkerTom reports on the birthday of Maxfield Parrish, complete with links to some cool Parrish artwork.

Maxfield Parrish illustrated L. Frank Baum's first book, Mother Goose in Prose.

Linda Medley in Oz

This article about Linda Medley states that she's been working on an Oz project, which revitalized her desire to work on her wonderful series Castle Waiting. The only thing she lacks is a publisher for the Oz material.

Knowing who she is, if I thought I could swing the initial costs I'd offer to publish the Oz stuff myself. Sadly, lack of experience and money makes me a poor choice. In addition, she's been burned by publishers several times (as noted in the article) and probably is looking for someone with a bit of stability.

More Oz music videos

Here's part two of our series of Oz music videos, "Born to Fly" by country artist Sara Evans.

Darn, we never get to see what happens after...

An Oz music video

Inspired by Stylus Magazine's list of the top 100 music videos of all time (and the links to all of them), I thought I'd see if YouTube had any Oz-themed music videos. Sure enough, here's the video for the Greg Kihn Band's "Reunited." It should look familiar. Pay no attention to those Japanese subtitles...

Today's Oz comic

One Big Happy does it again. Okay, it's not terribly Ozzy, but it does have a good reference. This one should be up for thirty days.

My latest Oz readings and acquisitions

I know, I know, the convention has been over for a week now, and you want to hear all the news. Soon, my pretties, soon! But here's a little taste, in what I've recently read and bought.

First, readings! Before the convention, I finished The Oz Encounter by Marv Wolfman. I'd read this before, when I got a used copy of the original paperback edition years ago, but I liked the new edition better. The chapters that take place in Oz (well, a dream version of Oz) use the original typeface, and redrawn chapter headings from The Road to Oz to add to the atmosphere. This is a well-designed book, and I enjoyed reading it again from a more experienced perspective. But hardcore Oz fans will want to avoid it, as it's not really about Oz anyway.

You may have read my adventures about getting my copy of Son of a Witch by Gregory Maguire on this very blog back in September. Well, it finally bubbled up to the top of my reading pile, and so I tucked in. I was a little worried about taking a signed first edition on the road with me, but it came through just fine. This was a good read, and in some ways I enjoyed it better than Wicked. Maybe this time I had a better idea of what I was in for, and came at it with different expectations. Then again, I came at Wicked not expecting to enjoy it, but I did. This time, I think my expectations were more neutral. Also, without the Wicked Witch or (most of the time) Dorothy, this read less like an Oz book. When the Oz elements did pop up (especially Glinda, the Scarecrow, and the old woman, her "grandson," and their four-horned cow), it surprised me, as I really got caught up in Liir and his adventures as he discovered who he really was, and what that meant in the first place. Some nice twists and good plot and character developments made this a very pleasant and enjoyable read for me, even though it wasn't the "real" Oz, nor was it always a happy book. Like others, I'm wondering if Maguire has set this up to become the second volume of a trilogy, as there are still loose ends, but I'd be happy if this is where it ends.

And now, stuff I've gotten! First, I got to thinking about Queen Zixi of Ix and how hard it would be to get a first edition. Then I learned about how different that edition was from its original publication in St. Nicholas Magazine, with misaligned colors and the illustrations not quite matching up with the one-column format, as St. Nicholas was printed in two columns. So, I thought, why couldn't I get the story's original publication in St. Nicholas? I knew they published bound sets of the magazine for libraries. I did a little poking around on Bookfinder, and sure enough, I found both volumes from 1905 at reasonable prices. To be sure, they are not in terribly good shape — the first volume's covers are completely detached from the rest of the book — but the interiors seem to be all there and in nice shape. I'm looking forward to rereading the story again as it was originally presented.

Everything else I've bought lately has been at the Convention, and I doubt I'll be getting any new Oz books for a while as a result. But that's all right, as my to-read pile is already starting to get a little rickety, it's so tall now. Here's the list:

• The 2005 edition of Oziana, the Club's literary magazine. (The 2006 edition is due from the printers in October, and as I was able to afford a premium membership this year, I won't have to wait for it this time.)
  
• The last copy the Club had of the January/February 2001 issue of The Horn Book magazine, with a feature article about Oz by Michael Patrick Hearn (and, by coincidence, a piece on using children's literature to teach math).
  
• Two new short story anthologies from the Club, The Collected Short Stories of L. Frank Baum, which even includes some stories published in previous books, such as Mother Goose in Prose and American Fairy Tales; and The Wonder Book by Ruth Plumly Thompson, the hard-to-find colleciton of some of her early newspaper work. (Hey, if these do well, can we later get a collected poems of L. Frank Baum?)
  
• New hardcover, dust jacketed editions of the Oz Club's earliest books: Yankee in Oz and The Enchanted Island of Oz by Ruth Plumly Thompson, The Forbidden Fountain of Oz by Eloise Jarvis McGraw and Lauren Lynn McGraw, and The Ozmapolitan of Oz by Dick Martin. These are all print-on-demand editions with ISBNs, and for the first time look and feel like real Oz books. I hope they'll show up on Amazon soon.
  
• The Club pulled a few strings, and got a bunch of remaindered copies of The Emerald Wand of Oz and some early copies of Trouble Under Oz, both by Sherwood Smith, who was there. Needless to say, I got one of each (so now I have two of Emerald Wand, since I left my other copy at home) and they're both autographed now.
  
• My one non-Oz Club buy was The Scream of the Sacred Ape, the new Hungry Tiger edition of the book originally published as The Boy Fortune Hunters in China under one of L. Frank Baum's pen names.
  

Honorable mention goes to my copy of Judy Garland: A Portrait in Art and Anecdote by John Fricke. I've known John for a couple of decades now, and he was happy to sign it for me, with his usual very long inscription which may take as long to read as the book itself. Also, one of the Winkies was kind enough to give me a copy of the new DVD The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz, a sci-fi take on the story.

And that is it! (For now...)

Scan of Article

Here's a scan of the pictures from the article in the Monterey County Herald.

Click for larger image

Full Article

There's no place like home...

Back from convention. Lots of driving over the last two days, but here at last. Too tired to include subjects and simple preticates in my sentences. Will have a lot more over the next few days, I hope.

Monterey County Herald

The Monterey County Herald has a short article about the Oz convention being held here in Asilomar this weekend. Both Eric and I got a chance to chat with the reporter, and we're both briefly quoted at the end of the article.

I'm here!

I'm writing this from the Phoebe Hearst Social Hall at Asilomar! We're a little early this year, but at least I didn't have the adventures I had last year (see "How NOT to get to an Oz Convention" on this page), since I actually drove down with Karyl. We haven't been out of each other's sight for the last forty-eight hours. There don't seem to be any other Oz folks around yet, but in a few hours things will really start hopping around here! I'll try to keep everyone as posted as I can, but I'll be busy, and the wifi connections are a little more spread apart this year as well.

I'm off!

Right, I'm off to hit the road, on my way to my twenty-sixth consecutive (!) Winkie Convention. This year I'm driving and taking Laura with me, so I may be posting here even more infrequently than usual. But it will be a good time, we promise to take some pictures (particularly of the costumes), and I will definitely be back by this time next week.

Dutch treat

You know, if it weren't for YouTube, this blog would be a lot more dull than it is. Many thanks to all of the folks who find these great videos and point me to the right pages, so I can post them here for you in this blog. Here's the latest. It's a medley of music from The Wiz off Dutch television; I believe from their equivalent of the Tony Awards broadcast. It translates well (in more ways than one). That has got to be the most lively version of "Ease on Down the Road" I've ever seen.



So, does anyone else besides me think there needs to be a page somewhere of just Oz and Oz-related videos from YouTube and Google video and other such sources? That could be a lot of fun.

Ozu no Mahotsukai!

Here's the latest item of interest to show up on YouTube: The original opening to the Japanese Wizard of Oz anime series:



Now, if only someone would release the entire show, not just the edited-down movie versions, on DVD in English, preferably with the option for the original Japanese soundtrack as well. You can get it all in French, at least...

Comics2Film on Dorothy

Just as I finish my review of Dorothy, I spotted an article about Dorothy on Comics2Film. Short, but fun.

Dorothy VI

Dorothy VI: "Heartless": Wow. I've seen a few different origins for the Tinman, but this is one of the strangest and coolest, mostly because it's set in a version of Oz that doesn't follow all the rules of the original story. Like the story of the Scarecrow, the story of the new character is introduced through flashbacks. If I say much more, I'll give part of the tale away, so I'll skip the juicy details and just say that the Tinman's tale is very different but almost as tragic as the Scarecrow's tale (and the Scarecrow's tale is the most intense bit of comic book reading I've had in a long time). I particularly like the bits with Dorothy in this one, as she shows off her skills and learns she has some new ones. I want to see more of Toto, though. The little bits we get of him in this issue were tantalizing, particularly Tinman's response to him. Now that I've finished reading the issue, I kind of wish I could erase my memory and read it again, it was that good. This has been an incredible series so far, and this issue doesn't let it down. Recommended.

This book should be out in stores next week, though as always there is the possibility it will be out the week after. You can also get it from the publisher at their website.

NOTE: This comic book is not for children or folks who have a very narrow definition of what Oz ought to be. For everyone else, this is Recommended.

Mad about Oz

Here's a...well, strange is probably the best word for it... Yes, here's a strange little video, from an episode of Mad TV. Yes, this is from a late night comedy show, so it's a little on the naughty side... Oh, all right, it's absolutely wicked! Which makes it a lot of fun, because we find out what Dorothy really thinks of Glinda withholding information from her...



Thanks to J. L. Bell's Oz and Ends — again! — for this, and Atticus Gannaway and Marc Berezin for pointing him in the right direction. (Hey, guys, give me some good Oz films to show, too, huh?)

A "Wicked" movie?

So, who's wondering when there will be a film version of Wicked? Me, too. So, thanks to The Daily Ozmapolitan, I found this article that answers that very question — sort of.

Happy birthday, John Dough!

For the second year in a row, I get to wish a happy birthday to King John Dough I of the twin kingdoms of Loland and Hiland. This year it's especially appropriate, as the book John Dough and the Cherub came out one hundred years ago this year. Now head on over to Oz and Ends and see what J. L. Bell has to say about him. And there will very likely be more about John Dough on this very blog in the coming weeks.

Cleaning up the Oz room

I have decided to take on a long overdue and long neglected job: I'm cleaning out my Oz room and sorting through everything. I've been collecting Oz stuff for over thirty years now, and as you can imagine that's a lot of stuff. And I think it's been at least a decade since I went through some of these boxes. I'm finding all kinds of surprises, and I can now actually see the floor and access my closet. (Fortunately, when I got there, it did not go all Fibber McGee on me, which is a good sign, I think.) I still have a box of miscellane-Oz to sort through, and two boxes full of just papers and the like to organize, but I already feel like I've accomplished something, and it's only going to get better. One large box is full of just magazines, which I hope to inventory, along with all of the comic books and issues of The Baum Bugle and Oziana that are already organized. I also found calendars going back to 1979, which I've decided I will add to my books inventory (some of them have ISBNs, after all). That, along with all of the other books I found and the stuff I haven't read yet, may just push the inventory close to nine hundred!

My goal was to just get a little bit done each day this summer, and it's working out very well. Once I get things tidied up a bit, then I can see about getting some shelves and file boxes to put them all on!

Coming soon to a theater near you...

I'm not sure if I should be offended by this movie "preview" or not, but I at least found it very slightly amusing. (WARNING: Naughty language alert. Not to be viewed by viewers with sensitivities or good taste.)



I might add, that doesn't look like anything resembling a 'hood.

Oz movie fest this holiday season on TCM!

You know, I could tell you all about all of the Oz movies that Turner Classic Movies is showing this weekend, but since I don't even get TCM, and I have all of them on DVD, I don't really care. So instead, go over and read what J. L. Bell over at Oz and Ends has to say. His opinions are a lot more barbed and amusing than mine.

A return for Captain Carrot?

During the big Heroes Convention in Charlotte this weekend, DC Editor-in-Chief Dan Didio revealed that there are no plans for a revival of Captain Carrot and His Amazing Zoo Crew — but that Cap and the Crew might get a Showcase volume. These are thick black-and-white collections reprinting old stories. So if there is a Captain Carrot edition, odds are good that it would include The Oz-Wonderland War trilogy!