This story makes it official: Dorothy (well, this version, at least) is now a Princess of Oz. This means she has royal duties, and so she must take the magical mandolin to Munchkinland for their music festival. How is it magical? Play it during the day, and it makes everyone dance. Play it at night, and it puts them into a trance! As Dorothy sets out, we discover two eavesdroppers: flying monkeys Frank and Lyman! (Yes, they did indeed name the two comic relief flying monkeys after the Royal Historian's first and middle names. It just goes to show how well the creators of this show know the books!) They report back to Wilhelmina, the Wicked Witch of the West's niece. (Quick backstory: It seems the Wicked Witch of the West is trapped in the crystal ball, so she's trying to convince Wilhelmina to steal the Ruby Slippers and use them to free her. Then she can conquer the world, but she has to make Wilhelmina a princess to get her to cooperate.) The report gets garbled, however, and Wilhelmina just thinks the Mandolin will put people in a trance. (Let's just say Frank and, especially, Lyman aren't the brightest colored crayons in the box.) Wilhelmina steals the Mandolin, but has no luck until the Scarecrow let's the secret out of the bag, and the Lion, somehow, cases night to come around almost instantly. (Did I mention this cartoon plays things a lot more for laughs? This sequence pretty much comes out of the old Looney Tunes playbook.) Wilhelmina gets to Munchkinland and puts everyone in a trance, but Dorothy has the foresight to cover her ears, gets the Mandolin, and turn the tables on Wilhelmina. Dorothy sends Wilhelmina flying home, a few quick words from the Lion makes it day again, and the Munchkin Music Festival continues with everybody dancing to the Mandolin's music.
Another fun one, so long as you're not taking things too seriously (and with this cartoon, you really shouldn't). But more than once, Dorothy uses the Ruby Slippers to chase after Wilhelmina, quickly get away from Wilhelmina, or otherwise make a quick change of scenery. So my question is, why didn't Dorothy just use the Slippers to get to Munchkinland in the first place? Or, if she wanted to wander around and play tourist for a but, why didn't she use them to finish her journey the moment Wilhelmina showed up? Ah, but then I doubt there would be much of a story to tell.
1 comment:
I was imagining more of a Munchkinland version of Coachella. Now I would attend that music festival.
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