A Thanksgiving Treat

What is now available on home video as Dorothy in the Land of Oz first aired on television in 1980 as a Thanksgiving special called, appropriately enough, Thanksgiving in the Land of Oz. The most overt references to the holiday were removed or replaced for home video, however. But someone just uploaded the original television edition to YouTube. This includes Dorothy and jack talking about Pilgrims, not pioneers, and every commercial! This is a real time capsule, folks. And here it is! Enjoy.

More Lost in Oz!

Appropriately enough, with today being 11/11, Bureau of Magic dropped a new Lost in Oz short:

Yes, at last word is out that there will be more of the show, with Lost in Oz: The Movie. I am excited to see this!

Dorothy's On Hold

I've hit two technical issues that will prevent me from watching and reviewing Season 3 of Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, namely:

1. For some reason, I never managed to get a recording of the next story on the DVR.
2. The DVR's fan went out, it overheated, and (long story short), we're getting a new DVR today. That means everything on the old one is lost to us. Since that was mostly episodes of Dorothy ond the Wizard of Oz and last year's Oz-themed Hallmark movie If I Only Had Christmas, that's some Oz content I'm now missing.

So Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz is on hold for a while. I have enough other things going on anyway that I'm probably not going to miss it much, but I do hope to get back to it eventually. Maybe more episodes will come out on home media. Maybe Boomerang will be absorbed into HBO Max, which I already have, and which already carries a lot of other cartoons on Boomerang. Or, if worse comes to worse and neither one of these comes to pass, I can get Boomerang for a few months to round off the series.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: The Return of the Silver Slippers

Yes, they're back! I don't know how regular these are going to become, but I really want to try and get Season 3 done as quick as I can. And this one is going to be a little different. Usually, when I do these recaps and reactions, I write them as I'm watching them. That works out great for one that takes up a single segment and takes less than fifteen minutes to watch, with ads. But "The Return of the Silver Slippers" is four parts long, and Boomerang showed them all at once in an hour-long episode. So I watched it last night, and am now going to do the recap. It probably won't be as detailed as usual, and I can't guarantee I got all the details right. Dorothy and the boys are in Munchkinland, helping a Munchkin cursed by Wilhelmina, when Frank and Lyman try their latest attempt to get the Ruby Slippers. No shock, they fail. But in the course of events, it turns out that the slippers are on the fritz, and Dorothy can't transport very far with them. They have to walk back to the Emerald City, where Ozma tells her to see the magic cobbler, the man who first made the Ruby Slippers. Dorothy reluctantly gives the slippers to the cobbler to examine them—and he turns out to be the Wicked Witch of the West using a magic locket to disguise herself! She puts the slippers on, and her magic is restored! Now that she is free to do so, the Wicked Witch creates havoc in the Emerald City. Since she doesn't need the Ruby Slippers any more, she locks them up in Wilhelmina's castle. Dorothy and the boys go to retrieve them, where they also find the real magic cobbler, who tells Dorothy the problem isn't in the slippers, it's in her! They make it back to the Emerald City, where Dorothy calls upon Glinda to help them out. Glinda arrives, and takes Dorothy to her palace (all pink and made of spheres that look like bubbles!) to talk about the slippers, while the boys stay behind to help Ozma and the Wizard defend the Emerald City. In her palace, Glinda reveals some secrets behind the ruby slippers. First, they can do a lot more than transport the wearer. Essentially, the ruby slippers give you all kinds of magic powers. Second, the reason they're not working for Dorothy is because Dorothy is lacking self-confidence. Dorothy only needs to start believing in herself again, and the slippers will work just fine. Third, the ruby slippers once belonged to Glinda! They were designed to help the wearer protect Oz, but the Wicked Witch of the East stole them from Glinda and used them for her own nefarioun purposes. Fortunately, not long afterwards, a certain hous elanded on the Wicked Witch of the East and stopped her from being a threat. Glinda recognized Dorothy as someone who could also protect Oz, and so decided to let her have them. Fourth, there's another pair of magic slippers! When they were made, there were two pairs, ruby for Glinda and silver for Ozma. And finally (!), after the ruby slippers were stolen, the silver slippers were hidden to protect them. They were hidden so well, not even Ozma and Glinad know where they are. Of course, Frank and Lyman overhear this and report back to the Wicked Witch of the West, who now has a new mission: Find the silver slippers! After all the revelations, Dorothy practices using the ruby slippers for more than just transportation, and gets a decent handle on her new powers. She then returns to the Emerald City and helps her friends defeat the Wicked Witch of the West. But now everyone has a new quest: Find the silver slippers! The title is a misnomer, since nobody finds the silver slippers. But at least the knowledge of them is out in the open. Based on some of the story titles later in the season, it looks like this will be a continuing arc. One nice touch in this episode is seeing the Wicked Witch of the East in a flashback. (And you thought the Wicked Witch of the West looked like a bad character!) I also liked the Wicked Witch using the magic locket, from way back when this show started, to impersonate the magic cobbler. The season is off to a good start, and I look forward to where this is going to go.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Cap'n Bill in "Going Nowhere Fast"

Okay, more characters from the books they're probably not going to get quite right. This time we'll see about Cap'n Bill, Trot, and Button-Bright. But first, Ozma's magic helps make spring cleaning a lot easier, if slightly more dangerous. (Didn't any of them see "The Sorcerer's Appretice" in Fantasia?) As everyone heads out for a post-tidy picnic, a flying sailboat crashes into the upper tower. The captain? None other than the legendary Bill Wheedles (yay!), a curly-haired boy with two intact legs (huh?). So how did he get there? Flashback to a scene on Sky Island (yay!) where the captains friends and first mates, Trot and Button-Bright (yay), a couple of tiny tots who sound like Dickensian street urchins (huh?) are runnig from the evil Boolooroo (yay—wait, no, that's not a yay!), a big burly fellow in a blue suit. (Huh? Okay, I'll stop with the editorializing now and just get on with it.) But Cap'n Bill is there to rescue them! The Boolooroo wants the secret to the Triple Rainbow, and stops Cap'n Bill and takes the tykes away on a purple dragon. (Yeah, definitely not the same Sky Island as the books. Whoops, sorry.) The Boolooroo orders a pair of raks to deal with Cap'n Bill, but he escapes to his ship, sails off, and vanquishes them. The damage to his ship, however, causes him to crash into Oz—and now we're caught up. Cap'n Bill needs to go back, defeat the Boolooroo, and rescue Trot and Button-Bright, but with a damaged ship and no crew, he has no chance. Of course Doroty and the boys pitch in to do both. One ship repair montage later, and they're heading to Sky Island! More raks attack, but some deft flying and magic cannons deal with them. The Boolooroo, not getting what he wants from the kids, decides to drop them off the edge of the island, where of course they land on the ship and into the Lion's arms. The Boolooroo didn't get what he wanted, so they sail off. Cap'n Bill offers Dorothy and her friends places in his crew, but they decide they'd rather headback to the Emerald City.

One of my all-time favorite scenes in the Oz books is the Crescent Moon flying over Oz in Pirates in Oz, so this reminded me a lot more of Captan Salt than Cap'n Bill. So while I appreciate the set-up of this story, I thought the ending was anticlimactic. There's a lot of saminess to the air battles, and the Boolooroo never gets his comeuppance. Too bad, with a stronger story this would have been much more satisfying.

And with that, we come to the end of the show's second season. There was a third, shorter season, that I hope to get to soon ("soon" being a relative term, seeing how long I keep taking between episodes), but it also has several two-parters, and it kicks off with an epic four-parter, so it may be a challenge to squeeze it all into the rest of my busy life. But I'm also going to try to be more proactive, and see if I can get this series finished within the next few months.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Toto a Go! Go!

Yay, an episode starring what is probably the most underused character in Oz circles, Toto! (Fun fact: Toto is the character with the most screen time in the famous 1939 movie version of The Wizard of Oz. Yes, you see more of Terry than you even see of Judy Garland!) And the DatWoO version of Toto is a real cutie pie! One night, he's awoken by a mysterious wailing sound, so he goes off to investigate, visiting everyone in their bedrooms. (Yay, these cartoon makers remember that the Scarecrow and Tin Man don't sleep!) A dash through the kitchen is also fruitless. It turns out the sound is coming from outside the Emerald City, but he can't find it in Munchkinland, Wilhelmina's castle, or the Haunted Forest. He is menaced by orks, gets caught in a storm, and befriends a family of beavers, but still no sign of what's making the sound! The orks grab him, but he bites them and is hurled to the ground, only to be saved by a friendly stork. (Shades of the Scarecrow in the river in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz!) Toto keeps following his ears while hiding from the orks. He eludes them, and finally finds the source of the noise: A lost baby ork, clinging to a rock in a river. Eluding some five-eyed river sharks (!), Toto rescues the orkling and, after more shark encounters, gets it to shore. The orks menace him again at first, but their baby explains everything, so they ake him back to the palace instead. Toto jumps into Dorothy's room, licks her face, and then circles three times before laying back down in his own bed.

This was one that I really, really enjoyed. The crew were clearly trying to do something different, in that Toto is the star, almost all of the characters we see are animals, and there's no dialogue. Plus, it takes place at night, which we don't see too often in this show. It was lovely and charming. Toto's final flight over Oz on the ork's back is gorgeous, very well conceived and animated. Oh, I'm still annoyed that the orks are giant carniverous birds with teeth instead of the majestic creatures seen in The Scarecrow of Oz, but this story needed some sort of menace, and having established them, it may as well have been this version of orks.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: The Wizard Gets Witched

I seem to have a little extra time on my hands, for once, so I may as well see if I can knock a few more of these out and play some catch-up. The Wizard is feeling lonely, and has no one to share his successful (?) magic with. The Wicked Witch, spying on him, decides to use his loneliness to marry the Wizard! Wilhelmina points out that the Witch is really not his type, but goes ahead and whips up a love potion for her auntie. Not having any fairy dust, however, Wilhelmina uses ordinary floor dust. (Okay, I already sense trouble coming. But I have now seen a lot of this show.) The Witch covers a green shoe leather pie with the potion and, as she heads to the Emerald City, sings a song! (Oh, good, someone finally remembers that the original movie was a musical.) She offers the Wizard the pie as a peace offering, he takes a big slice, and sure enough, the Wizard falls in love with the Wicked Witch of the West! (Wow, a phrase I never thought I'd ever type.) Dorothy, the boys, and Ozma turn up as they get engaged and try to talk the Wizard out of it, but to no avail. Dorothy, suspicious that the Wizard is under a spell, asks Ozma if she can undo it, but being a good witch, Ozma can't undo a bad witch's spell. At what I like to think is the Wash and Brush Up Co., the Wizard sings a love song about the Witch while being primped. Back at her castle, the Wicked Witch continues the song about making Oz pay while Wilhelmina and the monkeys make her up. At the wedding chapel, everyone is still trying to talk the Wizard out of it, but the blushing bride flies in on her brooms and the Wizard is lost fo good. Wilhelmina starts the ceremony, which gives Dorothy an idea. If only a bad witch can undo the spell, there's only one person who can help. During the vows, the Wizard goes on about how they'll always be together, do everything together, start a family together, and nothing will ever be the same again. It's too much, even getting her powers back isn't enough to entice he Witch to do that, so she calls it off and asks Wilhelmina to break the spell. A little more dust, and it's done. The Witch and the Wizard run away from each other, and Wilhelmina vows never to get married or plan another wedding. She's still not happy that she isn't going to get her castle back to just herself, though. Back in the palace, Dorothy assures the Wizard that there's someone out there for him, as there are lots of bricks in te yellow brick read.

Okay, first, the almost-marry-the-villain-because-of-a-love-potion story has been done to pieces in cartoons. But this one also felt like it was going somewhere, but then didn't. The fairy-vs-floor-dust thing was a non starter, and Dorothy didn't trick Wilhelmina into undoing the spell, she just managed to use a little psychology on the Wicked Witch by having the Tin Woodman ask to hear their vows. Maybe this was a case of the script needing one more pass to tighten it up. The songs, however, were fun, and made this episode a little different.

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?

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Return of Pumpkinhead

Jack's back, and in the Emerald City for Ozma's big dance festival! But he's not having a good day, as he has to chase a squirrel out of his head, and then he discovers that people think carved pumpkins are spooky. He then loses his head, and a headless body and a talking jack-o'-lantern rolling around Emerald City spooks out the citizens a bit. Fortunately, Dorothy and the boys turn up and help him out. Jack's not happy with having a pumpkin for a head, and he decides to talk to the Wizard about getting a new one. Both Dorothy and the Wizard don't see anything wrong with Jack as he is, but the Wizard is willing to help and lets Jack try a few other types of head. So in rapid succession, he becomes Jack Cantaloupehead, Jack Avacadohead, Jack Datehead, Jack Onionhead, but finally settles on being Jack Pineapplehead for the dance. Sure enough, going back to the square, he's a hit. And at the dance, he meets up with Jane Slimeseed, who has a watermelon for a head and with whom he is instantly smitten. The Wizard introduces them, and they have a dance. Jack is waiting to meet her the next day when Dorothy, the Wizard, and the boys stumble by, in time to see Jack's head turn back into a pumpkin! Jack begs the Wizard to change him back again, but without his noten, the Wizard's spell goes wrong, and so in quick succession Jack becomes Jack Pineapplehead, Jack Purplecabbagehead, Jack Carrothead, Jack Potatohead, Jack Tomatohead (although the Tin Woodman thinks it might be Jack Persimmonhead), Jack Honeydewhead, and Jack Squashhead—just as Jane gets near! Dorothy agrees to stall Jane while the Wizard takes Jack Beethead to his workshop to fix things, but the Wizard whispers something to Dorothy before they head off. The Wizard tells poor Jack Yamhead that the best he can do is a permanent reversal spell, meaning he'll have to be a Pumpkinhead for good. Jack Bellpepperhead isn't happy, but he accepts his fate. Dorothy brings Jane by, and Jack confesses his true nature. Jane then does the same, as her head turns into a pumpkin, too. She had first seen Jack with his pumpkin head in the square, but seeing him with a pineapple at the ball made her see the Wizard about changing her head, too. Jack doesn't care, so they go off together. The Wizard takes credit for bringing them together, but Dorothy points out that if he hadn't changed anyone's head, they probably would have still gotten together and avoided the whole mess. "Maybe," says the Wizard, "but I like my version better. More romantic."

Well this was fun, and the whole idea of changing your looks instead of just being who you are is very Baumian. It also reminded me of the Magical Manarch of Mo losing his head in one story, and the various failed attempts to replace it. From the conspiratorial way Dorothy and the Wizard were acting, I think they may have set out to teach Jack a little lesson in self-acceptance, too. My one complaint is Jane. Why do we need another female equivalent as a romantic partner? Is this show perpetuating old ideas of gender attraction and the need to be paired up with someone? Is this the kind of message we should be sending out to children in the twenty-first century? It doesn't help that the Tin Woodman complains about not being able to find anyone himself, no matter what kind of metal she was made out of. (Hey, Tin Man, what about Polchrome just a few episodes back? Did you forget her already?) The fact that there was another pumpkinhead out there for Jack smacks of the ending of the Disneyland Records adaptation of The Tin Woodman of Oz where the Tin Woodman marries Nimmee Amee, Woot marries Polychrome, hde Cowardly Lion meets and marries a Lioness, and Ozma even creates a Scarecrowess for the Scarecrow! Come on, Warner Bros., surely there was a way to tell this stroy without creating a girlfriend for Jack. Jack's morphing head should have been enough for this story.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Ojo's Treasure Hunt

Ojo pays a visit to Dorothy, announcing he's on a treasure hunt. But the Scarecrow points out that it goes through some of the most dangerous parts of Oz. Dorothy offers to come along, but Ojo thinks finding the map has turned his luck around, and doesn't want to share in the fame to follow. (Gee, so why did he go to see Dorothy and tell her about the map in the first place?) Dorothy decides to follow along, out of sight, just to make sure he's safe and doesn't come to any harm. First up is the Fighting Trees, whom Dorothy tries to convince to leave Ojo alone. It doesn't work, and they chase the gang around while Ojo passes through their forest, unmolested, never noticing what's distracted the trees. Next, Ojo is chased by an angry swarm of thunder-and-lightningbugs, but the Tin Woodman uses his vacuum attachment to discretely remove them from the scene (but getting electrified himself for his trouble). Ojo's next obstacle is to cross the impassable Deadly Desert (here clearly not surrounding Oz) to the Marshlands, but he's come prepared with a magic carpet. Ojo is so intent on his journey that he doesn't notice the giant purple tentacle that's set to grab him before Dorothy and the boys whack it. The tentacle turns its attention to them, but finally stops when Toto bites it. They ruby slipper out of there, but fail to notice Frank and Lyman in a banana tree. They head off to tell the witches about the treasure. In the Marshlands, a freak whirlwind snatches the map out of Ojo's hands, and he fails to notice his friends assisting him as he gives chase. Then the Wicked Witch and Wilhelmina turn up, intent on grabbing the map for themselves. The whirlwind finally dies down, and a little subterfuge by the Scarecrow leads Ojo to it. Finally, Ojo reaches the cave with an X-shaped entrance, but as he approaches a boulder rolls into his path. Sure enough, it's a magic gate, but Ojo tries to outrun it. Once again, he fails to notice Dorothy and her friends stopping the boulder, but they all fail to notice the witches slipping into the cave, too! Ojo finds the treasure, but the witches are right behind him, and they tussle over who gets it. By this time, Dorothy and the boys have turned up, revealing themselves at last. The witches win, but all they find upon opening the chest is a cowhorn bugle, so they leave in disgust. Ojo, however, notes how lucky cowhorn bugles are to Munchkins, and gleefully blows it repeatedly. Sure enough, each bleat reveals another treasure chest, each larger than the one before it, filled with gold and jewels. Ojo only wants the bugle, and Dorothy doesn't need any treasure in the Emerald City, so they decide to take it all to Munchkinland to show how lucky Ojo now is. But how to get the treasure out? Ojo piles it all on the magic carpet, of course, and they overtake the witches on the wayback. They are nonplussed.

This one was a fun little romp, but wow, what a lot of plot holes! Why didn't Ojo use the magic carpet for the entire trip? Why didn't he notice Dorothy and her friends were always so near? (Yeah, this is a slapstick staple, but it was not particularly well executed here.) Why were the witches even involved, as they weren't in it much at all? Oh, well, it is what it is. Let's hope Ojo stays lucky from now on, but he's certainly lucky to have Dorothy as a friend.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: The Wicked Wand

I really need to get off my butt and watch these on a more regular basis. Has it really been a month since my last entry? Well, my winter break is coming, maybe I can accelerate the pace a bit then. With Wilhelmina and the monkeys out of the castle (drat, Wilhelmina's marginalized again!), the Wicked Witch can get a little light reading done, including a book of spells to get her powers back. Se finds out about the Wicked Wand, which can steal magic from others—like her own magic back from the Wizard. But she has to go to the Hidden Forest and make her own wand. But the Wondrous Tree won't give her any. A fallen branch, however, does the trick, even if it's so big she has to drag it. But she manages to extract her magic from the Wizard anyway, but it doesn't want to go back into the Wicked Witch! Showing a mind (and a hazy green body) of its own, the magic flies off, being chased by the Wicked Witch. Dorothy, the Wizard, Ozma, and the guys also go after it' not wanting the Witch to become magical again. Nobody can grab the magic, but it can do magic itself. It turns out the magic gets to choose who it inhabits, and its generally fun nature seems to give the Wizard an edge. Both the Witch and the Wizard try to talk it into being with them, the Wizard appealing to its good nature, the Wicked Witch reminding it of all the wicked times they've had together. Naturally, the magic goes back to the Wizard.

Definitely not the show's strongest episode (no Wilhelmina, Frank, or Lyman, for one), but it does establish some interesting rules of magic unlike anything seen in the books. The free magic takes great joy in being free and doing what it wants, but the Wizard certainly makes a good case for being the better host. And Ozma gives us a terrific new word, melborp, which is just problem spelled backwards.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Chasing Rainbows

(Please don't mess Polychrome up, please don't mess Polychrome up!)

A promising start, with Polly falling right off the rainbow and into the Tin Man's arms! That heart must be pretty effective, because he's immediately smitten. But in the course of their meeting, the rainbow fades away, which is a problem for Polly since she's part rainbow, and can only survive a day on the ground. Not wanting that to happen, Tin Man takes her to the Emerald City to get her some help. While Polly is trying to understand the strange habits of creatures on the land (she's a little miffed at how a chair rudely doesn't answer her), Dorothy and the gang try to find a rainstorm so that they can get Polly back on the rainbow once it appears. The wonky weather machine is on the fritz, so they use Ozma's magic painting to search for the rainbow. It's in Munchkinland, so they ruby slipper over there, only for the rainbow to fade away as soon as they get there. They keep chasing it around Oz, but it always fades away. If we can't get to it running around on the ground, Dorothy reasons, maybe we can fly after it. Sure enough, using the Wizard's balloon, they find the rainbow, but the moment Polly steps out of the balloon, the sun goes behind a cloud and it disappears again! All right, says the Tin Man, if we can't take Polly to the rainbow, we'll bring the rainbow to Polly! Back in the Emerald City, the Tin Man turns himself into a watering can and makes rain. Sure enough, they make a rainbow, and Polly makes it home just before she fades away for good. The Tin Man misses Polly, but Mr. Smith and Mr. Tinker fix the weather machine, which is predicting rain tomorrow. Things are looking up for him!

This was one of the most charming, Ozzy episodes of the show so far. And they got Polychrome mostly right! Okay, she looks a little more cartoony than I would like, and her colors are really bright, but she has all the elements that John R. Neill put into her in his illustrations of her, including the blonde hair and skull cap, and unlike some depictions of characters from the books on this show, she's actually pretty close to her book version. I think the Tin Man falling for her as hard as he does is a little out of character, but that's about the only thing that feels off to me. And we get the magic picture painting put to good use, too.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: The Lost Appetite

Yay, a Wilhelmina story! She's lamenting that she always loses the ozberry pie eating contest to the Hungry Tiger. (This is actually a big ambition of yours, Wilhelmina?) But Wilhelmina has a plan to get that trophy into her empty trophy case: She has a spell that can transfer the Hungry Tiger's appetito to Lyman for twenty-four hours. As Lyman is a big fan of ozberry pies, this plan really appeals to him! The Hungry Tiger, meanwhile, feels a little guilty about winning every year, but the Scarecrow compares it to him in a thinking contest, so the Hungry Tiger feels better. At least he has enough self-control to not eat everything—and everyone!—in sight. But when Lyman shakes his paw, all of a sudden he's not terribly hungry any more. The contest starts, and Lyman starts eating pies like nobody's business. This includes the other contestants' pies, which gets his closest neighbor, the Cowardly Lion, all upset. So yes, Lyman wins the contest and the trophy, and Wilhelmina does a little victory dance. Unfortunately, Lyman can't stop eating! No more pies? He goes after the ants' crumbs. While Wilhelmina's bragging and Dorothy is observing how Lyman got an appetite at almost the exact time the Hungry Tiger lost his, Lyman is flying around eating just about everything in a nearby food shop—and he's still hungry! He empties an ice cream cart, eats the Munchkin mayor's hoagie, chases away some ducks to get their bread crumbs, and generally makes an even bigger nuisance of himself than usual. Without the Hungry Tiger's conscience, if Lyman isn't stopped, he'll eat all the food in Oz! Sure enough, after clearing out the Emerald City, Lyman heads north to the forest of the sandwich trees, which he rapidly defoliates, Dorothy and the gang arriving just a little too late to stop him. A baked goods factory? Lyman just lets the conveyor belts drop cakes and pastries into his mouth. The Lollipop Gild are soon holding just sticks. Dorothy finally manages to corner him at a Munchkin family's home where Lyman not only goes through the entire salad, he starts eating through the walls! Lyman then eats an entire catch of fish from a group of Munchkin fishermen, and then he finally makes it to Wilhelmina's castle. Dorothy and the guys arrive just in time for Wilhelmina to desperately ask for their help. She's so desperate, in fact, that she confesses to cheating in the ozberry pie eating contest. A cookie jar full of Ozma's lemon witcheroos is enough to lure Lyman into a cupboard, where they hold him long enough for the spell to wear off, and he has had enough food for a long time. Good thing, says Wilhelmina, he didn't find her secret stash of extra special witch treats. At that, the Hungry Tiger bursts in, extra ravenous not having eaten for twenty-four hours, bursts in and eats Wilhelmina's stash.

Yes, Wilhelmina is back and not, for once, being overshadowed by her auntie. (The Wicked Witch doesn't appear at all, in fact.) I actually like Wilhelmina as a character, but her longing for recognition takes some really odd turns once in a while. I mean, why does she want a pie-eating trophy? And if she wants it so bad, why doesn't she just bestow the Hungry Tiger's appetite onto herself? Still, the situation is actually a lot funnier with Lyman getting it, and in the end that's all it needs to be. It's straightforward, it's funny, the good guys win and the bad guys get their comeuppance—although apparently Wilhelmina still gets to keep the trophy!

Next week, another debut of a classic character from the books: Polychrome!

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Prisoner Under the Rainbow

The Wizard's working on his magic some more, but it's not going quite as well as anyone wants it to. In fact, a whole lot of things are disappearing from the Emerald City and appearing in the land of lost magic items under the rainbow. So much stuff is disrupting the place that the Undertaker comes up to Oz to investigate and punish whoever is causing such a mess. Once he finds the Wizard, he takes him and everyone with him—of course that would mean Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, and the Cowardly Lion—and confines them there. Of course the Undertaker is no fool; to keep them from escaping, he confiscates the Ruby Slippers and locks them in a magical cage. So, Dorothy reasons, it will take magic to get them out. But the only one of them who knows magic is the Wizard, whose magic got them into this mess in the first place. Lots of failed trials convince the Wizard that he isn't worthy of their faith, and he decides he's done with magic. But Dorothy helps the boys see that all he needs is a little confidence, and she hatches a cunning plan. Remembering the Scarecrow's diploma, the Tin Woodman's clock, and the Lion's medal, they give him a symbol of what he already has inside of him: A wizard's hat. (Yes! He finally takes off Professor Marvel's turban!) Sure enough, it gives him the focus and confidence to unlock the cage and, just as the Undertaker has come again, clean up everything that he messed up in the first place. They get back to Oz safe and sound, and the Wizard is a better wizard for it.

Not bad, another harmless little episode. We get a nice little tour of Oz as the Undertaker looks for the troublemaker, seeing Ozma, Glinda, and the Wicked Witch and Wilhelmina doing some magic. The callback to the Wizard giving gifts to Dorothy's friends and them turning the same table on him was a nice little touch. Let's hope the Wizard is a more capable magic-user from now on.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Broomstormers!

There appears to be some sort of town in Oz just for the witches in Oz, and the Wicked Witch of the West and Wilhelmina pop in. The Wicked Witch is all excited about the Broomstormers sweepstakes, as she thinks it's her time to win—but so does her oldest rival, Mean Jeanne the Green! The Wicked Witch doesn't want Jeanne to win, but she has no magic of her own, either, so she pressures Wilhelmina to compete and keep the Golden Broom in the family, where it's been for five hundred years. But Wilhelmina and her broom have no experience stuntriding, so the Wicked Witch pulls out her secret weapon: Hex, a special turbo-charged broom that can do all the stunts. But Wilhelmina's first attempt results in a twisted ankle, and she can't fly. Frank and Lyman try, but they're no more successful. So, who can they recruit to ride the broom? Watching Dorothy successfully ride the Horse of a Different Color gives Wilhelmina the idea to recruit Pigtails! Dorothy, thinking it sounds like fun, agrees, on the condition that the Wicked Witch of the West is nice for one week. The Witch reluctantly agrees. But to successfully ride Hex, Dorothy has to channel her inner wickedness! Despite that, she proves to be pretty good on Hex (after a few practice rounds), and feels confident going in. Dorothy and Hex are leading in the haunted slalom, until Mean Jeanne conjures up a cyclone and throws her off course. In the cackle wackle half pipe, Dorothy has better stunts, but Jeanne's cackle can't be beat. Still, Dorothy moves up quite a bit in the standings. The next event is the full moon willy whoop (where do they get these events from???), and Dorothy nails it while Jeanne falls on her dismount. It comes down to the final event, and whoever wins the freestyle flying contest wins the Golden Broom. Jeanne conjures up a dancing black cat, but Dorothy (with a little help from a hidden button on Hex) conjurs up a cauldron full of bats. Dorothy wins! She hands the trophy over to the Wicked Witch, who also demands the Ruby Slippers. Dorothy reminds her that that wasn't part of the deal, nor is she being nice like she promised. The Wicked Witch smiles, reluctantly, and decides now is not the time to get the Ruby Slippers. But there will be another time.

Hmm. This was actually kind of a fun episode, but something kept bugging me. I finally figured out that the problem was the Wicked Witch and Dorothy teaming up. I don't think that would have happened! Oh, I suspect Dorothy would have done exactly what she did if she was asked, I just don't think the Wicked Witch would ever have asked her in the first place. I came up with an alternate take that better fit the characters: Wilhelmina gets the job, but she's having absolutely no luck at all managing Hex, so she goes to Dorothy for help, and Dorothy ends up secretly coaching Wilhelmina during the competition. It feels a little more credible to me, and it would have given Wilhelmina a bigger, juicier part, which she has been seriously lacking this season.

Also in this episode, Frank asd Lyman have blink-and-you'll-miss-them cameos as flying cheerleaders.

All right, let's see if I can actually get another episode in next week!

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Special Delivery

Good grief, at this rate I will never finish watching this show! However, I am cautiously hopeful that the personal stuff that's been keeping me from regularly updating on this show is mostly taken care of now, and I can get back to blogging about it on at least a semi-regular basis. So let's see what this one is about!

The Cowardly Lion is so excited about a delivery from Munchkin Country, he completely misstuffs the Scarecrow. So where is the Lion's delivery of lollipops? It seems the delivery truck was hijacked by giants, who love lollipops more than just about anything else. The delivery driver gives Scarecrow and Lion a note, sending them off on a search for Dorothy. The Giants of Tartary plan to stop all shipments to the Emerald City—including the Lion's lollipops and the mineral emerodium that powers the City—unless Dorothy hands the Wizard over to the Wicked Witch of the West! What to do? Well, how about if Smith and Tinker make a delivery truck that can smash through the Witch's blockade? One quick Ruby Slipper trip, and Smith and Tinker get to work to create the Ozmobile! Of course Frank and Lyman observe this, and report to the Witch and Wilhelmina. One quick trip to Munchkinland, and Dorothy and the gang pick up more emerodium (and lollipops), but are stopped by the giants on the way back, and they love to fight. Dorothy uses a little psychology and asks which one of them is the best fighter, and the resulting rumble provides the distraction they need to get by them. The Wizard's magic and a few tricks built into the Ozmobile gets them further along, but then the Witch and her entourage show up, demanding the Wizard. Lion is forced to give up some of his lollipops to distract them further as the Wizard enchants them to explode. The Ozmobile is almost to the Emerald City when the giants catch up to it again. Luckily, as the city is running out of power, they make it through the gates just before they close on the giants. The giants then turn on the Wicked Witch, who won't give them any sweet treats because of their failure, chasing them back to where they came. The emerodium is installed, and the Emerald City is working again. The Lion even gets to enjoy one last lollipop.

Okay, that was just plain silly. The Ozmobile in pretty cool, but it really doesn't belong in Oz. This episode was just all on ebig runaround. But as usual, the good guys win in the end again.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: The Mouse That Roared

Yay, another character from the books—this time, the Queen of the Field Mice! Let's see how badly they mess her up!

Oh, good grief, she has a French accent and they named her Marie! Oh, well, the Lion meets her while traipsing through the flowers. When she finds out he lives in the Emerald City, she persuades him to take her there to see it. She tries to stay hidden, but running around on the Lion's hide tickles him. Then she catches a whiff of cheese and floats off on the scent, as happens all too frequently in cartoons. She rolls away in a wheel of Swiss, and the Lion causes chaos as he chases Marie down. An encounter with a dressmaker results in more slapstick chaos and destruction, and Lion and Marie eventually get separated. Dorothy, Scarecrow, and the Tin Man offer to help, but it's the Lion who finds Marue first, just outside the city gates. Then Frank and Lyman come along, teasing about the two lovebirds! They need to nab one of Dorothy's pals, so they use a potion to shrink the Lion and put him in a cage. Marie vows to save him, though. Instead of finding Dorothy or Ozma, however, Marie instead goes to the Witch's castle to free the Lion herself! Frank and Lyman try to catch ter, but she's too fast (and they're to— well, let's just say they're Frank and Lyman)! They finally corner her, but she proves to be tougher than she looks, and manages to get the best of the monkeys and the Wicked Witch of the West. (Wilhelmina is indifferent to the proceedings, as she's more interested in reading her magazine.) The Witch agrees to restore the Lion and releases him. On thoir way back to the Emerald City, Marie confesses that, as much as she values the Lion's friendship, it's probably best for them to stay apart, as she could never live in a city. But Dorothy, hearing about Marie's departure after reuniting with the Lion, promises they can all go into the field and pick flowers tomorrow, if that's what the Lion wants.

This was a harmless little episode, and it does pack a lot more into its running time than many others. Marie is a gutsy character, and actually fun to have around once you get used to her accent. Maybe she'll show up again. But the exact nature of the relationship between her and the Lion is not handled well. They appear to just be friends for the longest time, but towards the end there were some hints at romance. Yes, I know that's how romances begin, but the transition was not well-developed, so it just sort of seemed to be a thing that suddenly happened.

One other development I'm worried about: The marginalization of Wilhelmina. When this show began, she was one of the best parts of it. She was clearly bad, but enough respect and admiration for Dorothy showed through that it was clear she wasn't all bad. Once her auntie, the Wicked Witch of the West, was freed, however, it became clear that the WickedWitch could cook up and execute plans on her own, and Wilhelmina has fallen by the wayside, often with minimal action in the story, as happens here. She doesn't share her aunt's ambitions at all, which might lead to her doing something her aunt wouldn't really approve of. Oh, well, at least the writers are still keeping her interesting.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Welcome to the Bungle

Hooray, another classic character from the books gets the DatWoO treatment! Let's see what a glass cat looks like on this show. The Lion wakes up from a dream, only to find one part was real, and that's the mouse chomping on his toenails. (Eww!) It turns out the mouse is causing mischief all around the castle, chewing up Toto's favorite collar and the Scarecrow's hat, knocking over the Tin Man's oil can, andgetting into Ozma's make-up. Ozma doesn't know what to do, so she puts Dorothy in charge and skedaddles. (Another example of what Mari Ness calls "Ozma fail!") Cats deal with mice, and they have a big cat—but it turnes out that the Cowardly Lion is, no surprise, a scaredy cat, so it's off to Plan B. Unfortunately, the Wizard provides some trapb but his magic can't conjure a cat, so Dorothy skips over Plan C and goes straight to Plan D, for Dr. Pipt. She ruby slippers to his place, and the good doctor produces just the thing: a glass cat who comes to life with a drop of the Potion of Life, and reverts to a glass statue with another drop. He brings Bungle to life and gives her (caged up) and the Potion to Dorothy. Back in the Emerald City, things are getting worse as more and more things are destroyed. About the only thing not affected are the mousetraps laid out to stop the mouse! Then the mouse turns up, as scared as the Lion. It seems all the most recent destruction has been caused by Bungle as she chases the mouse! So now the gang has to stop the cat. In the Patchwork Girl's room, Scarecrow uses some yarn to lasso Bungle, but she escapes as the gang gets tangled up in the yarn. More chaos ensues until Toto gets the idea of enticing the mouse with some cheese, drawing Bungle out where Toto can trap her. Dorothy spills the Potion on Bungle, making her a lifeless statue again. The Lion puts Bungle in a statue garden. The mouse, happy with his cheese, enjoys munching on it in the branches of a nearby tree.

Well, there's another character from the books they didn't get right. Bungle in the books may be arrogant and aloof, but her ruby heart was at least in the right place, and she did respect her friends. But this Bungle is basically a destructive force of nature. And the solution isn't so great, either, as she's now trapped in a frozen state for all eternity. Of course, I dan't expect a showed aimed at the pre-tween set to deal much with issues of morality and conciousness. For that crowd, at least, this episode works fine.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Munchkin School

Dorothy and the boys are making lollipops with the Lollipop Guild and some Munchkin children, and Dorothy finds out that the Munchkins don't go to school. So she sets up a school nearby, in her old house! They fix things up (in spite of all of Lion's help), and are ready to go. Seeing the news in the newspaper, the Wicked Witch and Wilhelmina talk about how badly Frank and Lyman need school, too, not knowing that the monkeys are listening. So, Frank and Lyman decide to sneak in. The Wizard starts teaching a math lesson with magic, when his magic goes wrong and there are dozens of Lions! So there's no room for Frank and Lyman to sneak into. A geography lessen about the Valley of the Clowns turns the Wizard into one. Another attempt to sneak in sees the Lion close the window on the monkeys. In an attempt to bring Tom Thumb out of his book to visit the students, the Wizard instead shrinks Frank and Lyman, and Toto chases them off. But they get better, dress up as Munchkins, and finally get in as the Wizard starts teaching about the alphabet. Frank correctly identifies cake as a word starting with C, so the Wizard produces a magic cake that grows and pushes them out. They just are not having a lot of luck! Finally, still covered in frosting, after school is out for the day, they get in and ask to be students. The Wizard assures them that they can come any time, with no sneaking around. The episode ends with the Lion licking the frosting off of them.

I'll be honest, I don't expect a lot from this show. It's aimed at young kids, and it doesn't always follow the logic of either the books or The Movie, even though it's based on both. It's meant to be fun and silly most of the time. But this wasn't even much of a story. The school was just a McGuffin for some slapstick with Frank and Lyman, and to show the Wizard still hasn't perfected his magic. In that, at least, this story succeeded, but that's really not a terribly high bar to reach. It was nice, however, seeing Dorothy reminiscing over her old house, and the flashbacks to her and Aunt Em (yes, we see Aunt Em in this one). In short, this'll do until the next episode, but I hope that's better.

Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: Lion and the Crown

At last! I've managed to manage my time well enough and free some up so that I can get back into watching Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. And with the third (and final) season now being shown on Boomerang and piling up on my DVR, I'd better do my best to stay on top of this show! In this one, the Lion comes across his subjects (including the Hungry Tiger!) saying not-so-respectful things about him. Even the trees don't respect him! He lands on a talking crown, which lays it on pretty thick and convinces the Lion to put him on. Suddenly, all the animals are showing him a lot more respect, but the crown wants the Lion to issue all kinds of royal commands. And "I command you to have a nice day" somehow just doesn't sit right. So the crown starts issuing decrees that don't go over so well. Meanwhile, Dorothy, Toto, Scarecrow, and the Tin Man decide to pay Lion a surprise visit. It does not go well, as the crown is clearly influencing the Lion as he acts rudely towards his friends. Lion finally gets the idea that the crown does not have his best interests at heart, but it doesn't come off! The crown starts getting mad, declares himself king, and banishes the Lion's friends from the forest. Before long, all the other animals are banished, too, and so Dorothy concocts a plan to get rid of the headstrong crown. Her first plan is to distract it and remove it from Lion's head, but of course that doesn't work. Plan B involves the Ruby Slippers and a visit to the Munchkinland hat stop, and humiliating the crown by covering it with a series of silly hats. He relents and gets off Lion's head, hoping to find a new head to sit on and issue decrees so that he can have all the fun that he usually sees the kings have. So Dorothy puts him on a head-shaped hat stand and they use the Ruby Slippers to leave and let the crown issue decrees to himself. Back in the forest, it turns out his subjects weren't trash talking the Lion, but a cake they were trying to make to look like the Lion! They consider him the best king they've ever had, and so the Hungry Tiger eats the cake to celebrate (no, nobody else gets any cake).

This is not the most memorable episode of this show, nor is it terrible, either. It's just kind of middle-of-the-road. But at least we see a little bit of the Lion in his role as King of the Forest, even if he doesn't actually do much actual ruling. The power-mad talking crown is just silly, and Dorothy is right to put him in his place. Maybe some solitude will change his attitude, but somehow I doubt it. (I also doubt we'll ever see it again!)