Not Your Grandma's EMERALD CITY

Article first published as EMERALD CITY Review on Seat42F.

I’m a big fan of The Wizard of Oz. Not just the MGM movie, though that is great, but the world of Oz in general. As a child, I devoured all fourteen of L. Frank Baum’s books over and over again. And while no faithful adaptation has yet been made (at least not that I’m aware of), a fact that is very disappointing to me, I have enjoyed some of the more interesting modern versions, such as SyFy’s Tin Man and the Broadway musical Wicked, as well as Gregory Maguire’s series of Wicked books. So it was with great anticipation that I sat down to sample NBC’s new drama, EMERALD CITY.

What EMERALD CITY does right is use more of the Oz mythology than most works. The Judy Garland film is actually quite a bit departed from the written work, but even then, only makes use of the first in the series. There are a rich tapestry of characters and corners of the land that are not explored in that initial offering, and while Disney’s horrible movie Return to Oz combined books two and three (since the second is the only one Dorothy isn’t in), most projects that tackle Oz ignore the other thirteen volumes. I feel this is a mistake that EMERALD CITY at least partially corrects.

Dorothy (Adria Arjona, True Detective) is the star, which is likely the right move, given that she is the character most people are familiar with. But the other central player in the books, which the second one centered around, is Tip (Jordan Loughran, Evermoor). Those who have read them will assume where EMERALD CITY is going with the boy, long held prisoner by a lesser witch, and who is extremely important to the land as a whole. I feel like this television series will likely pay that off based on what I’ve seen so far, though I’m not convinced Tip’s importance will be as high as it is on the page.

Other main players include familiar characters like The Wizard (Vincent D’Onofrio, Daredevil, Law & Order: Criminal Intent), Glinda (Joely Richardson, Nip/Tuck, the Patriot), West (Ana Ularu, Inferno), as in The Wicked Witch of the, Tip’s pal, Jack (Gerran Howell, Young Dracula), and Lucas (Oliver Jackson-Cohen, NBC’s Dracula).

Now, while Lucas is lacking straw, he’s clearly some version of The Scarecrow, and Jack has got to be Jack Pumpkinhead, though he appears to be perfectly human. This is something EMERALDN CITY does wrong, in my opinion. Although magic is part of this Oz, there are no magical creatures, which is essential element of any Oz tale. It doesn’t quite feel right if everyone is human, as is the case here, and that certainly takes away from the overall mythology.

Besides the witches, there are supernatural elements, including prophecy and giants, but these start to build a world that isn’t Oz. These are something else. Which makes me wonder if perhaps the show shouldn’t have ditched the Oz tie-ins completely and just done something completely different. It feels like sometimes too much effort is made to use a familiar property when originality would be the better way to go. Renaming the realm, the witches, and the protagonist could depart it enough to give EMERALD CITY more freedom without needing to give up the things they kept in common.

It also seems that EMERALD CITY may ditch the inaccessibility of Oz, including the nearby land of Ev, another element from the books, in the show as well, but presumably making it easier to come and go from Oz, with no sign of the deadly desert completely surrounding it. Like using the name Ojo (Olafur Darri Olafsson, The Missing) but failing to make this Ojo anything like the one Baum wrote, some of the choices seem like they were made purely to name drop something without actually using the source material. This seems odd.

None of this matters as much as the overall feel of the show, though, which is that of a lower quality program (except for the special effects). The action isn’t gripping, and none of the performances engage the viewer as much as one would wish. Despite having a couple of decently-known performers, EMERALD CITY feels more like it belongs on SyFy than network television, not quite at the level of a mainstream program. Parts of it are boring or confusing, and I am not sold on the core plot thread. The witches don’t feel powerful, I don’t buy Oz himself being in charge for this much time, and tying Dorothy’s past into the land is unnecessary and weird.

Also, where are the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion? I mean, come on! And Toto is a German Shepherd? Seriously? OK, now I’m just being breed-ist, but that one does hurt a bit, more than any other casting decision.

I don’t hate EMERALD CITY as much as many critics do; I actually continued right to the third hour after the double-length pilot. But there is nothing in those initial installments that makes me think I’ll rank it up there with the films and novels listed in the opening paragraph. I wonder how much of my continued viewing will be based in my high regard for the central property, rather than the merits of the series itself, which seem a bit lacking, though there are some intriguing bits throughout.

EMERALD CITY premieres this Friday at 9/8c on NBC.

"The Gathering" A High for OUTLANDER

Article first published as OUTLANDER Review Season 1 Episode 4 The Gathering on Seat42F.

This week’s entry of Starz’ OUTLANDER is called “The Gathering.” As all of clan MacKenzie gathers to pledge their allegiance to Colum (Gary Lewis), Claire (Caitriona Balfe) plots her escape. If she can map the castle and its guard patterns, might she be able to find the stone that could possibly send her home again? There’s a lot of uncertainty and plenty of obstacles standing between the out-of-time nurse and her home.

Claire is smart, but she is still out of her depth. This becomes clear as, despite all the precautions and planning she does, she still puts herself in a no-win scenario, as Jamie (Sam Heughan) tells her when he catches her by the horses. She’s lucky it’s Jamie, who kindly escorts her back to the keep, rather than just about anyone else, who wouldn’t look so favorably on the prisoner making her escape.

Jamie isn’t really part of the clan, though, as you may remember. He’s staying with his uncle, Colum, to hide out from the English that are after him, but he doesn’t quite belong to this group. His own outsider status, combined with his obviously-growing feelings for Claire, likely influence the way he handles the situation.

Claire’s bumbling puts Jamie in danger. He is hiding in the stables to avoid making his own pledge to Colum, knowing that if he fails to do so, his countrymen will kill him, but if he does swear allegiance, he’s next in line to be laird, putting his life in danger from the current heir, Dougal (Graham McTavish). It looks like a no-win scenario until a brilliant Jamie deftly sidesteps both scenarios, making everyone reasonably happy and keeping his life, at least for now.

Jamie and Claire seem well fit together. They both aren’t quite where they belong, and they both have enough wits and luck about them to keep them alive, though in a precarious position. This definitely plays into their bond, and should serve them well as they only fall more in love, as they surely must.

After failing to escape, Claire reluctantly goes along on a boar hunt, where she ends up watching Geordie (Bryan Larkin, Running in Traffic) die after being gored. I’m actually surprised more isn’t made for Claire’s outspoken distaste for the hunt itself. I assume this is because the others realize she has seen death caused by violence before, earning her a pass women unaccustomed to such an experience wouldn’t get. Claire’s life has given her the weight to make judgment in such matters. Thankfully, she doesn’t gloat when proven right.

Geordie isn’t the most important focus in his own death scene. Instead, OUTLANDER shows us Dougal and Claire holding him as he dies, united in purpose at last. Douglas gets more complex this week in multiple scenes, including a semi-touching moment during a game between him and Jamie. A failed drunken rape of Claire reinforces the view many viewers hold of him as a selfish leader whom the people would not be well served to have rule over them. But watching him Geordie, and then the regard he gives Claire after seeing her in action, tell a different story. Perhaps he’s just a man of his time, hardened, but not evil. I look forward to seeing where they go with him next.

Which brings us to the conclusion of “The Gathering,” in which Dougal asks Claire to accompany him as he travels around the land. Well, asks may be too mild a word, as she surely has no choice in the matter. This may afford her a better opportunity to get away, not being so closely guarded now that he trusts her at least marginally, but it also may keep her to her current fate more strongly, as she can’t seem to resist helping anyone that needs it, even delaying her flight to give Laoghaire (Nell Hudson) peace of mind, and she will definitely be encountering those who could use her help.

Something interesting I caught in “The Gathering” is a reference to The Wizard of Oz. This is intriguing because the previous episode also alludes to the story. Claire is very Dorothy-like, having been swept away from her home and regarded somewhat suspiciously by the locals because of her ‘magical’ skills. Is OUTLANDER taking a convenient parallel and exploiting it for modern audiences, or will they make long-term use of it, drawing more connections between Dorothy and Claire?

Though, one does wonder a bit how Claire is so familiar with the film, quoting it to Laoghaire, which came out during the war she just escaped, and wasn’t highly popular in its initial release. She doesn’t seem the type to indulge in such fantasies during her gritty reality.

“The Gathering” lacks many flashback scenes with Frank (Tobias Menzies) that have been so prevalent in previous weeks, but that’s a good thing. We know Claire’s history well enough now, and more appearances by her husband tend to just drag things down.

The other cool thing in OUTLANDER this week is the introduction of a rival for Mrs. Fitzgibbons (Annette Badland), Iona MacTavish, who is played by Diana Gabaldon, the author of the OUTLANDER books. She may not be an actress, but she is great in the role, and although only billed as a cameo, I find myself hoping she’ll be recurring. Producer Ron Moore also makes a cameo, but in a much smaller capacity.

“The Gathering” is probably my favorite episode of OUTLANDER thus far. It is fun and exciting, with a healthy dose of suspense and character development. It’s the first week the show really seems to know what it is, and now that the setup is established, begins to play with the players and their relationships. If the rest of the season is as good as this week, consider me firmly in the fan camp.

OUTLANDER airs Saturdays at 9 p.m. ET on Starz.

Book Review: ‘The Wizard of Oz FAQ’ by David J. Hogan

Article originally published as Book Review: ‘The Wizard of Oz FAQ’ by David J. Hogan on Blogcritics.

Applause recently released a book called The Wizard of Oz FAQ by David J. Hogan. Subtitled All That’s Left to Know About Life According to Oz, the book is a collection of facts and stories about the MGM film The Wizard of Oz. It begins with a bit of background on the source material and early adaptations, then moves through various aspects of the movie, such as the cast, the music, the script, costumes, the director, etc., ending up with the public impact on Oz on TV. It’s a widely sweeping book, packed into a little over 400 pages.

There is a lot of new information in The Wizard of Oz FAQ. There are many things to be learned, such as the various pictures the cast participated in together, or how Toto behaved on the set. Some of what is covered will be familiar to many, such as Judy Garland’s rampant drug use at the direction of the studio. But there are so many elements talked about that most readers will probably be enlightened on a regular basis when reading through. One such example of this is learning that Judy’s daughter, Liza Minnelli, ended up being Jack Haley’s (the Tin Woodsman) daughter-in-law, which is casually mentioned at one point. Also, Buddy Ebsen, who filmed for two weeks before being replaced by Haley, still has his voice heard in select songs in the film.

However, I am not a fan of this book. The structure is weird, and the pacing is nonexistent. It’s a random compilation of various pieces that aren’t tied together in a cohesive manner. There also is no real narrative thread. You could pick parts of each chapter and string them together to tell the tale of the popular film, but that would require much effort on your part. Every event is weighed down with side trips and things most people won’t care about. Do we need several pages on what many of the individual Munchkins or the person who wrote the score did with their lives? That type of thing may be interesting to some potential readers, but the sheer number of such occurrences really hurt the overall flow of the tome, frequently slowing it down and making it boring.

I think one major problem is that the scope of the project is too large for this volume. A lot of topics are covered, many more than I mentioned in the first paragraph, but Hogan frequently sweeps over a topic and moves on. There are a list of the official Oz books, but he doesn’t go into detail about them. He mentions many productions, only giving us scant details on how they came together, rather than telling us anything deep. It’s a thin covering of a broad spectrum.

Another issue I have with The Wizard of Oz FAQ is the amount of bias in the text. One example is when the author talks about the famously cut “Jitterbug” sequence in the movie. Hogan is definitely not a fan of the scene and is glad it was cut, which is a legitimate stance to take, and I happen to agree with the points he makes. But this is a non-fiction work, so I expect facts more than opinion, and Hogan frequently lets his own thoughts and conclusions color the text, making it less informative than I’d hoped for. This is far from the only time he does this.

What’s more, the subtitle of the book is completely inaccurate. I don’t see how Oz relates to life at all from reading this. This is about Oz itself, not how it connects to the rest of the world or the way anyone lives.

In the end, I find myself reluctant to recommend The Wizard of Oz FAQ to anyone. There are some strong parts in here that have been well researched, but the format it has been published in seems like a mistake. Instead, this should have made up several smaller volumes, more fleshed out, with some type of better organization to them.

OZ THE GREAT AND POWERFUL Is Good and Visually Powerful

Article first published as Blu-ray Review: "Oz The Great and Powerful" on Blogcritics.org.

It is extremely hard to bring the land of Oz to life, as Disney can attest, given the numerous unsuccessful attempts over the years the company has made to bring the specific, magical world to the screen. Some projects have gotten farther than others, but I think most will agree that the best effort by Disney yet is the film Oz The Great and Powerful, recently released on Blu-ray and DVD.

I’m not sure why Oz proves to be so challenging. It is a place with wickedness, but it’s also a place of wonderment and surprise. Fans of the book series know that even the characters who live their whole life in the realm can find something they’ve never heard of before around every corner. There’s a childlike wonderment inherent, and death is not something oft felt, as even those cut into tiny pieces survive.

Oz The Great and Powerful attempts to capture that tone in a variety of ways. The inhabitants in Oz are forbidden to kill. Kidnapping or chasing others away is more the norm, and even then, we don’t see anyone seriously hurt. The music is whimsical; the effects make the world seem just a little outside of reality, and the characters in this film are colorful, both literally and figuratively.

While Oz The Great and Powerful is not a good adaptation of the books, neither is the beloved MGM classic The Wizard of Oz, so that’s not the sole basis on which the movie should be judged. As much as I want to see a true version done that actually uses L. Frank Baum’s stories, and that has not been accomplished yet (to my knowledge). However, it is possible to create a enjoyable film without sticking to the source material.

This movie is fun, and does provide some nostalgia for fans of the original movie. The black and white beginning and reusing actors in both Kansas and Oz are both reminiscent of the 1939 classic Oz, and there are scarecrows, and flying monkeys, and munchkins that sing. Michelle Williams does a fantastic job as Glinda, not copying her predecessor, but catching just the right feeling for the role, something incredibly hard to do with such a strange, yet familiar, figure. And the China village, while sad not to see more of it or its people, is a nice addition.

There are a couple of issues I have with Oz The Great and Powerful. James Franco at times plays the Wizard too over-the-top, although there are glimpses of greatness in some of the smaller moments. It goes a little too dark, and some of the characters, Knuck (Tony Cox), in particular, are a little too abrasive to be from Oz. Dark characters are a hallmark of modern filmmaking, but they don’t really belong in this realm. Also, the pacing is a little too fast in Theodora’s (Mila Kunis) transformation, and we never return to Kansas, thereby wasting the double-casting device.

Most significantly, I think was a poor choice to make the Wizard as heroic as he is portrayed in the movie. We know that “after the credits roll” he sends a little girl to face the evil witch, but that action doesn’t jibe with how he’s written for this Oz. Oz The Great and Powerful stands OK on its own, but when considering it as a prequel, it really doesn’t work.

Despite this, overall I liked it, especially once the wizard meets Glinda. The story is a bit predictable at times, but then it also goes in unexpected directions in other places. The clash of our world and the fantasy world is very well done, and the score is sweeping in just the right way. Most of the performances are at least serviceable, in particular Williams and Rachel Weisz, who are far better than the rest, and the effects are very well mixed with the physical sets and actors. I would give it a solid B-.

The computer imaging in Oz The Great and Powerful is amazing! I was disappointed not to be able to obtain a 3D copy of the film, but after watching, it strikes me that it may not be necessary. The landscapes and opening credits, especially, already feel like 3D because they are so rich and layered. Somehow, the effect is created to some extent without glasses, though now I wonder how awesome a true 3D version is.

Picture and sound are flawless. I detected no errors or popping or static of any kind, and was extremely impressed with the visual and auditory presentation. Blacks are deep, and the vibrant colors really come through. I’d go so far to say this was probably the best looking non-3D film I’ve watched on Blu-ray. Clearly, more effort was put into the look than the writing or casting itself, and I found myself forgiving some story missteps because it all looked so good. Plus, aided by Danny Elfman’s very appropriate music, which, delivered crispy, enhanced every scene, never taking away from dialogue or action, it soared in this arena.

I also enjoyed the special features. One tells the story of Walt Disney himself trying to get Oz to screens big and small. Others go into Kunis’ transformation, Elfman’s composition, filming techniques with the China Girl (Joey King) and Finley (Zach Braff), and the production design. Each of these were entertaining, informative, and brief, which is probably a good decision for a Disney release. I only wish there had been more featurettes.

There is also a “second screen experience,” but unfortunately this only works for iPads, and since I don’t own one, I can’t report on it. I think this will disappoint some who may own other devices, and wish this additional feature was more universal.

Included in the Blu-ray / DVD / Digital combo pack is a “free” ticket to The Lone Ranger. Unfortunately, this voucher only covers up to $8 for the ticket price, and the theaters in my area (and probably most others) charge more than that, even for a matinee. The ticket expires less than three weeks after release, so you can’t wait until it makes it to the cheaper theaters. So while it’s a nice coupon, the “free” tag is misleading and somewhat inaccurate.

I recommend Oz The Great and Powerful, despite my complaints, because the movie is a visual masterpiece. Keep your expectations in check, and you may be pleasantly surprised by a pleasing movie and some awesome effects. Oz The Great and Powerful is available online and in stores now.