WEBVTT - Weirdhouse Cinema: Return to Oz 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:05.360 Welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind production of My 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:14.960 Heart Radio. Hey you welcome to Weird House Cinema. This 0:00:15.000 --> 0:00:17.960 is Rob Lamb and this is Joe McCormick. And this 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:21.439 week we've got a fun family picture for everybody. It 0:00:21.600 --> 0:00:24.280 is an OZ film, but you don't have to endure 0:00:24.280 --> 0:00:28.320 any songs. Uh. It's also that special variety of nine 0:00:28.520 --> 0:00:31.760 eighties big budget fantasy film that leans more than a 0:00:31.800 --> 0:00:35.400 little into what some of you might describe as dark fantasy. 0:00:36.159 --> 0:00:40.640 We are going to be talking about Return to Oz. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:44.360 People have been telling me for years that I needed 0:00:44.400 --> 0:00:47.159 to watch this movie. Yeah, they'd figure out what like 0:00:47.200 --> 0:00:49.479 my weird taste was, and they were like, have you 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:52.440 ever seen Return to Oz? That movie messed me up 0:00:52.440 --> 0:00:54.560 when I was a kid. You should watch it. And 0:00:54.800 --> 0:00:59.320 I never did until last night, and I am absolutely 0:00:59.360 --> 0:01:02.000 blown away. I am I in fact, I'm a little 0:01:02.000 --> 0:01:07.360 bit sad, truly, and like not just joking around. I 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.800 am a little bit sad that I did not actually 0:01:09.800 --> 0:01:13.080 see this as a child, because I know this is 0:01:13.240 --> 0:01:15.640 this is precisely the kind of movie that if I'd 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.120 seen it when I was seven or whatever, I would 0:01:18.160 --> 0:01:21.280 have been thinking about it for months like it has 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:25.800 just the right mix of of uh, you know, bizarre 0:01:25.959 --> 0:01:29.960 original imagery and character types that are not just like 0:01:30.520 --> 0:01:32.920 you know, the characters you'd find in any other fantasy 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:37.759 thing is you know, it's truly original, but strange combinations 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.520 of ideas that still nevertheless tap into something very deep 0:01:41.560 --> 0:01:46.320 and archetypal. I think this is a wonderful, scary children's movie. 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:49.520 I think it's great. I never watched it growing up either, 0:01:49.720 --> 0:01:52.240 and I think part of it was just because the 0:01:52.520 --> 0:01:57.800 nineteen thirty nine adaptation of the Wizard of Oz is 0:01:57.840 --> 0:02:01.600 just such a monolith, and it's such an you know, 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.520 such an influential film, but also one that so many 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.040 people held close to their hearts that when this film 0:02:07.080 --> 0:02:08.480 came out, there were plenty of people are like, oh, 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:09.960 we don't we don't want that new ODZ. We've we've 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:13.040 got that old ODZ. It comes on television all the time, 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.640 and or we have it on VHS. Why do we 0:02:15.720 --> 0:02:18.720 need to dip into this thing that that that that 0:02:18.880 --> 0:02:21.720 some are even saying is is a little frightening. But 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.400 but here's the thing. Yes, we've been hearing from people say, 0:02:24.440 --> 0:02:26.240 oh this is you know, this is a weird film. 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:28.200 You need to watch this is this is a scary one, 0:02:28.440 --> 0:02:30.920 or this messed me up as a child. I really 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:34.440 don't think this one is any darker or scarier than 0:02:34.840 --> 0:02:37.400 than any of the other big eighties fantasy films like 0:02:37.560 --> 0:02:41.120 Labyrinth or the never ending story stuff of that caliber. 0:02:41.400 --> 0:02:43.240 Oh yeah, I agree. In fact, I don't think it's 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:46.119 actually even scarier than the thirty nine Wizard of Oz, which, 0:02:46.160 --> 0:02:48.519 if you go back and watch the original Wizard of Oz, 0:02:49.120 --> 0:02:52.560 this movie gave me a new appreciation for how weird 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:56.720 and how scary the original is. I'm serious, Like, if you, uh, 0:02:57.440 --> 0:02:59.440 you kind of accept it because it's part of the 0:02:59.440 --> 0:03:02.040 air were the Wizard of Oz is. You know, you 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:04.040 grow up with that. It's just part of American culture, 0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:07.040 so it doesn't seem that strange. But yeah, it also 0:03:07.120 --> 0:03:11.840 has very unusual characters and imagery and uh and there 0:03:11.960 --> 0:03:15.560 is real tense, frightening, magical peril in it. Do you 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:18.040 remember how heart stopping that scene is when you're a 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.839 kid in the witch turns the hourglass over and says 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:23.720 Dorothy's gonna die, and the uh and the you know, 0:03:23.760 --> 0:03:26.320 the monkey soldiers are everywhere, and the tin Man's with 0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:28.760 the axe trying to chop down the door like it 0:03:28.880 --> 0:03:32.000 the original one is scary. Yeah, I always thought that 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:35.200 the forest was pretty terrifying. So there's plenty of plenty 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:37.480 of weird and scary stuff, and that that thirty nine 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:41.640 adaptation as well. And it's funny. We we were conversing 0:03:41.680 --> 0:03:43.760 before we went in here. You you've noted that I 0:03:43.800 --> 0:03:46.360 had a couple of sort of jabs at the thirty 0:03:46.440 --> 0:03:48.520 nine Wizard of Oz. And so you asked me if 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:51.760 I if I hated the the original Wizard of Oz film, 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:54.800 and uh, and I said no, no, And and truly 0:03:54.840 --> 0:03:57.760 I think it's it's kind of impossible to hate the 0:03:57.840 --> 0:03:59.640 thirty nine film. I mean, it's such, like I said, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.360 it's a sin matic monolith. It's it's so influential, Like 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:06.160 even if you're not crazy about it, it probably influenced 0:04:06.480 --> 0:04:11.000 some creators or some works that that that came in 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:13.880 its wake, you know, like and more directly, if you 0:04:13.920 --> 0:04:17.040 didn't have the Wizard of Oz from you wouldn't have 0:04:17.080 --> 0:04:19.760 The Whiz, and of course you wouldn't have this film either. 0:04:20.560 --> 0:04:24.400 But it's it's it's tentacles run far and long through 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:27.479 through fiction and dream weaving that it came to follow 0:04:27.720 --> 0:04:30.159 but more to your point about h I guess how 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:32.480 you might have heard about this movie when you were 0:04:32.480 --> 0:04:34.039 a kid. If people are saying, oh, you know, it 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.039 does it doesn't live up to the original, it's not 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:37.599 worth seeing or something. I mean, in a way, I 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:39.640 think it's kind of silly to try to compare them, 0:04:39.680 --> 0:04:43.040 because it's I think it's called an unofficial sequel. It 0:04:43.120 --> 0:04:45.279 is clearly a sequel to The Wizard of Oz, like 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:48.440 the events followed directly from the first one, but it's 0:04:48.480 --> 0:04:51.320 also not not like an official, sanctioned one. And it 0:04:51.440 --> 0:04:54.599 came decades later. The original was what thirty nine and 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:57.240 this is eight five, so what like forty six years 0:04:57.240 --> 0:04:59.840 in between. It was a long time. And and that 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:03.560 makes a big difference in terms of tone and uh, 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:05.799 you know, the textures that are expected in a movie 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:08.039 like this, Like the the original one has a kind 0:05:08.040 --> 0:05:12.800 of a kind of gilded grandeur of of old Hollywood 0:05:12.839 --> 0:05:15.960 about it, whereas this one feels much more. I mean, 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:20.000 it feels like an eighties movie, but a lovely, scrappy, 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:23.880 imaginative one. Yeah. Yeah, And it's a it is it 0:05:23.960 --> 0:05:27.240 is a world in which the Emerald City is literally 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:29.760 in ruins, so there's probably a lot to say. They're about, 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:33.960 like the state of of of of the the eighties 0:05:34.040 --> 0:05:37.120 mindset compared to the late thirties mindset. I don't know, 0:05:37.160 --> 0:05:42.200 at least in terms of like cinematic portrayals, but um yeah. 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:45.760 It is impossible though, to go into this and not 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:49.040 think of the thirty nine film sometimes unfairly. So's why 0:05:49.120 --> 0:05:51.160 I actually watched this with my my whole family. We 0:05:51.200 --> 0:05:53.680 sat down and watched it, and my son he really 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:56.039 enjoyed this one. He he enjoyed the old one, but 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:57.840 he was bringing up some things. He's like, well, why 0:05:57.920 --> 0:06:01.400 is Dorothy younger now? And all? So, why didn't Toto 0:06:01.520 --> 0:06:04.840 talk in the last film? This film clearly established that 0:06:05.160 --> 0:06:08.679 animals that come to Oz can talk. Ww come Toto 0:06:08.800 --> 0:06:13.120 never talked? Uh. That's some bs brilliant observation by your son. 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:15.560 I did not notice this myself, but yees. So the 0:06:15.600 --> 0:06:18.000 premise of this movie is that all the animals in 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:21.600 Oz talk uh. And this includes animals that are brought 0:06:21.640 --> 0:06:24.000 to Oz, such as one of the main characters in 0:06:24.000 --> 0:06:27.440 this movie, which is a chicken that's like a cool 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:30.360 gnarly grandma, and the chicken talks. It didn't talk when 0:06:30.360 --> 0:06:32.320 it was in Kansas, but it comes to Oz with 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:35.400 Dorothy talks now, so yes, you are your son is 0:06:35.400 --> 0:06:38.480 absolutely correct. Toto should have talked in the original. This 0:06:38.520 --> 0:06:41.880 is a major oversight. Now, speaking of the chicken whose 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:44.599 name is Billina, I have to mention the other. The 0:06:44.600 --> 0:06:46.400 other reason I really love Returned to Oz is I 0:06:46.400 --> 0:06:49.680 think it has better companions because, yes, we encounter in 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:53.520 this film we do see tin Man again, Scarecrow, cowardly Lion, 0:06:54.720 --> 0:06:59.360 but Dorothy has basically all new companions that she goes 0:06:59.360 --> 0:07:01.600 on the advent true with here and it's and I'm 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:03.080 going to list them here for it for us so 0:07:03.120 --> 0:07:05.120 we can get a taste of what's to come. We 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:09.000 have Billina, the talking chicken, and this is wonderfully accomplished 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:13.760 via live action chicken actors and an incredible chicken puppet 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.200 that is just lie years ahead of what we saw 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.880 in Thrilling Bloody Sword last week. Though I do love 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:22.200 both chickens, they are both great robotic chickens, but this 0:07:22.240 --> 0:07:26.200 one is much more convincing as a chicken. Yes, then 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:31.320 we have TikTok, who is a rotund, wind up, mustachioed 0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:35.160 soldier made out of like bronze or brass. I was 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:37.120 thinking copper, but yeah, it's one of those. He's he's 0:07:37.160 --> 0:07:40.440 a metal wind up war machine. Yeah, he's a he's 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.240 a steampunk soldier and he's fighting on behalf of the 0:07:43.240 --> 0:07:46.440 Emerald City and Dorothy. Oh, and then the next one 0:07:46.480 --> 0:07:48.560 we have we have the Gump, and the Gump is 0:07:48.600 --> 0:07:53.040 basically a junk gollum. It's like junk is put together 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:56.160 a moose's head on a couch with some ferns and 0:07:56.600 --> 0:07:59.080 and whatever else they could scare. They are able to 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:02.000 to assemble together, and then it's given life. Uh. And 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:04.640 you gotta love the Gump. They like shake some borax 0:08:04.720 --> 0:08:07.960 powder on it and that makes it come to life. Yeah. Oh, 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:10.480 and then we have Jack Pumpkinhead, who is kind of 0:08:10.480 --> 0:08:14.000 a superior Halloween theme scarecrow sort of guy. Would you 0:08:14.000 --> 0:08:17.440 say that's fair? Yeah. Jack Pumpkinhead is interesting because he 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:21.600 has the scariest form of all of Dorothy's companions, but 0:08:21.720 --> 0:08:25.840 his nature is to be incredibly innocent and sweet. So 0:08:25.920 --> 0:08:29.160 that's the crew. That's the adventuring party for this film. 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.760 But one has to wonder, Okay, wait a minute, what 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:33.800 more adventures are there to have in oz because the 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:36.880 last time Dorothy was an Osuh, didn't they defeat the 0:08:36.880 --> 0:08:39.440 Wicked Witch and then uh and then everything was cool 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:41.680 and Emerald City like they had a big ceremony. Was 0:08:41.720 --> 0:08:45.199 basically to celebrate the fact that now everything's good, nothing bad. 0:08:45.240 --> 0:08:47.360 Every is going to happen again. I was trying to 0:08:47.400 --> 0:08:50.280 think back to exactly how The Wizard of Oz ended. 0:08:51.080 --> 0:08:53.960 Did it end with the Scarecrow becoming king of the 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.360 Emerald City? I don't remember if it did or not. 0:08:56.400 --> 0:08:58.400 So that's the premise of this movie, is that at 0:08:58.400 --> 0:09:00.480 the end of the last one, Scarecrow was king. That's 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.320 a detail that I could see being in the original 0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:05.800 that I forgot about, but I didn't check to make sure. 0:09:06.520 --> 0:09:09.520 But either way, things are good in Oz. When when 0:09:09.559 --> 0:09:12.480 Dorothy leaves, remember she's gonna leave on the balloon. But 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:17.319 then the professor or another professor, I think it's the guy, 0:09:17.480 --> 0:09:21.120 the guy from like the Carnival Barker, Charlatan guy uh, 0:09:21.160 --> 0:09:23.320 and he's like, oh, he floats away on the balloon. 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:24.760 He doesn't know how to bring it back. And then 0:09:24.920 --> 0:09:27.120 she thinks she's stranded in Oz. But then she clicks 0:09:27.120 --> 0:09:29.840 her heels together with the ruby slippers and says there's 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:32.120 no place like home, and then she wakes up back 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.400 in her bed and you were there, and you were 0:09:34.440 --> 0:09:38.080 there and it was great. But basically the pitch here 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:42.280 is that in the previous movie, the Previous Adventure anyway, 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:48.320 Dorothy greatly destabilized Oz. She ends up installing her own ruler, 0:09:48.480 --> 0:09:52.040 the Scarecrow, and I get the impression the Scarecrow's rule 0:09:52.240 --> 0:09:55.679 of Oz last like maybe an afternoon before. He has 0:09:55.800 --> 0:09:59.439 then conquered by an entity known as the Nome King, 0:10:00.040 --> 0:10:01.920 and now it's time for Dorothy to come back to 0:10:02.000 --> 0:10:05.520 Oz and fix everything once more. The villains in this 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:10.680 movie are Sue perb just excellent, some of my new 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:14.840 favorite movie villains of all time, Jean marsh as Mombi 0:10:14.960 --> 0:10:17.800 and Nicole Williamson as the Nome King. That they should 0:10:17.800 --> 0:10:20.640 go in the Hall of Fame of of children's movie 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.720 fantasy movie villains. Yeah, they absolutely should, and it's and 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.960 it makes sense because we often forget again just because 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:30.320 how well known the thirty nine Wizard of Oz film 0:10:30.320 --> 0:10:34.240 it was. But Margaret Hamilton's is a terrific villain in 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:37.880 that film, playing uh miss Gulch and uh and of 0:10:37.920 --> 0:10:41.000 course the Wicked Witch of of the East. I mean, 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.640 it's just a great cackling performance that you don't even 0:10:43.640 --> 0:10:45.480 think of as a performance after a while, like that's 0:10:45.559 --> 0:10:48.240 that is just the wicked witch on the screen there. Wait? 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:49.840 Is she the East or the West? I thought she 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.079 was the West? Is she the West? Who we have 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.240 a good No? Wait, the East is the Eastern? Which 0:10:55.320 --> 0:10:56.679 is the one who had the house dropped on her? 0:10:56.720 --> 0:10:58.840 Is that correct? I think that is right? Yes, I 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.760 was correct, Mark Hamilton's is the West. We never see 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.080 the East. You just see your socks. Both of those 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.800 witches though out of the picture. Though. At one point Momby, 0:11:06.920 --> 0:11:08.800 who will get into here in a bit, is described 0:11:08.840 --> 0:11:11.760 as a witch. So I guess she's keeping the witching 0:11:11.800 --> 0:11:14.719 tradition going. Yeah. I like how she's first described I 0:11:14.760 --> 0:11:16.880 think as a princess and then later as a witch. 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.480 But I guess we'll get into more detail later. Momby 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.240 is just wonderful. Um well, I guess you already sort 0:11:22.240 --> 0:11:24.560 of gave the elevator pitch, right. It's like, so Dorothy 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.640 came in. She did she did a foreign intervention. She 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.360 installed a puppet ruler in the form of the Scarecrow. 0:11:30.760 --> 0:11:34.080 Scarecrow has been deposed. Now Dorothy is back to Oz 0:11:34.520 --> 0:11:37.560 and it's up against the Nome King. That's right, let's 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:41.360 go ahead and hear some trailer audio for Return to 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:54.440 Oz this summer won't Disney Pictures presents a motion picture 0:11:54.600 --> 0:12:02.120 fantasy adventure beyond your parished imagination. You'll be transported miraculously 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:06.280 back to the enchanted land of Ours, that magical kingdom 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:09.679 beloved by young and old for generations. It's just a 0:12:09.800 --> 0:12:15.920 yellow back, no, Willina, you don't understand. This was the 0:12:16.040 --> 0:12:20.480 yellow Wick world you share with Dorothy Gale, the shock 0:12:20.679 --> 0:12:26.120 of finding everything mysteriously changed to everybody, and you'll delight 0:12:26.360 --> 0:12:29.800 with her discovery of four wonderful new friends who bend 0:12:29.840 --> 0:12:33.560 together against a wicked queen and the dreaded Nome King. 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:38.400 This is the Ours you haven't seen before, and this 0:12:38.600 --> 0:12:42.960 is the Ours you want to visit again again. From 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:46.360 Walt Disney Pictures becomes a whole new world of entertainment. 0:12:47.120 --> 0:13:00.920 I don't just fly back to Kansas returned, all right? Now, 0:13:00.920 --> 0:13:04.280 Before we go any any further here, I do want 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:05.960 to mention where you can watch this, Where you can 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:07.600 watch it just about anywhere. It was a this is 0:13:07.600 --> 0:13:11.000 a big release. It may not have performed especially well 0:13:11.040 --> 0:13:14.000 at the box office, I understand, but yeah, you can 0:13:14.040 --> 0:13:16.600 find it in multiple different forms these days. If you 0:13:16.640 --> 0:13:20.000 subscribe to Disney Plus, at least in the United States, 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:22.920 you can watch it there. That's where we watched it. Yeah, 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.480 I watched on Disney Plus two. All right, Well, let's 0:13:25.480 --> 0:13:28.080 get into some of the people behind this. I'm let's 0:13:28.120 --> 0:13:31.560 start at the top, and that is with director who 0:13:31.559 --> 0:13:34.320 also has a screenplay credit on this. It is Walter 0:13:34.600 --> 0:13:40.240 merch born three, highly influential Hollywood sound and film editor 0:13:40.320 --> 0:13:44.480 who worked on such pictures as th h X eight, 0:13:44.800 --> 0:13:49.840 American Graffiti, The Godfather Part two, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient, 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:51.880 and I think, uh, I think those are some of 0:13:51.920 --> 0:13:54.840 the ones where he did sound. But he also was 0:13:54.880 --> 0:13:57.840 a film editor on such films as Apocalypse Now, Ghost, 0:13:58.240 --> 0:14:01.840 Romeo Is Bleeding, The Godfather Part three, and much more. 0:14:02.360 --> 0:14:05.560 The Lucas connection is also interesting because when you look 0:14:05.600 --> 0:14:10.480 at Walter Merchants directorial credits, there are only two titles there. 0:14:10.800 --> 0:14:13.559 There's Returned Oz, which of course is what we're discussing 0:14:13.559 --> 0:14:16.439 here today. This is only film directing credit, and and 0:14:16.520 --> 0:14:19.400 then he doesn't direct anything else, but he does pop 0:14:19.520 --> 0:14:22.120 up as a director on a two thousand and eleven 0:14:22.160 --> 0:14:26.240 episode of Star Wars the Clone Wars uh, the animated series, 0:14:26.720 --> 0:14:29.280 and I was I was immediately curious, okay, which which 0:14:29.280 --> 0:14:31.760 episode was this, because I've seen them all with my son, 0:14:32.400 --> 0:14:34.920 And it is an episode titled The General and it's 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:36.920 a pretty great episode. It's one of the episodes in 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:42.560 a multi episode story arc concerning the Republic's campaign on 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:47.240 a planet called Umbara. So it's this shadowy kind of world. 0:14:47.280 --> 0:14:49.960 They're not fighting the droids of the Separatists, they're fighting 0:14:50.000 --> 0:14:53.760 another separatist faction, and the Clones are under the ruthless 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:59.040 leadership of one General Palm Krell, who is this forearmed 0:14:59.440 --> 0:15:03.040 basil esk Uh creature. But he's like a really just 0:15:03.200 --> 0:15:07.080 ruthless general who is ready to just sacrifice as mini 0:15:07.160 --> 0:15:09.920 Clone lives as necessary to win the day. So it 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:13.560 was it's ultimately, I think one of the one of 0:15:13.560 --> 0:15:16.160 the best story arcs you see in that series. And 0:15:16.160 --> 0:15:18.960 so they brought in Walter Merch to direct this one episode, 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:20.760 so I thought that was pretty cool. Well for a 0:15:20.960 --> 0:15:25.960 mostly one and done director's filmography, this is a strong entry. Uh. 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:29.080 I much respect to Walter Merch. I wish he had 0:15:29.080 --> 0:15:33.680 directed more movies. Yeah. Now the screenplay credit. The main 0:15:33.720 --> 0:15:36.160 screenplay credit on this goes to Gil Dennis, who lived 0:15:37.000 --> 0:15:40.880 through writer and actor, best known for his work on 0:15:40.880 --> 0:15:45.800 the screenplays for This Without Evidence and two thousand Fives 0:15:45.880 --> 0:15:49.480 Walk the Line, the Johnny Cash biopic. As an actor, 0:15:49.800 --> 0:15:52.960 he played Man with Cigar in nineteen seventy seven's a 0:15:53.120 --> 0:15:56.840 Racer Head. Oh yeah, I think I read somewhere that 0:15:56.880 --> 0:16:01.040 he may have been a classmate of uh David Lynch, 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:03.000 which would make sense that if he showed up in 0:16:03.000 --> 0:16:05.880 a razor head. All right, But of course the screenplay 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:10.120 is based on the work of L. Frank Baum, whose 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:14.600 novels I think in particular, this screenplays based on two novels, 0:16:14.840 --> 0:16:18.800 Ozma of Oz and The Land of Oz. Bomb lived 0:16:18.880 --> 0:16:22.640 eighteen fifty six through nineteen nineteen. Bomb was an American 0:16:22.800 --> 0:16:25.880 author best known for his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, 0:16:25.920 --> 0:16:29.360 published in nineteen hundred, as well as its many sequels. 0:16:29.840 --> 0:16:32.000 And this is This was fascinating for me because I 0:16:32.040 --> 0:16:34.560 really didn't know much about the cinematic history of the 0:16:34.600 --> 0:16:39.400 Wizard of Oz pre nineteen thirty nine, but even ahead 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:42.360 of the nineteen thirty nine film adaptation. This was already 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:45.920 a highly successful property. It was a Broadway musical in 0:16:46.000 --> 0:16:50.040 nineteen o two. The thirty nine film, though momentous, wasn't 0:16:50.080 --> 0:16:52.960 even the first adaptation. The first attempt was apparently in 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:56.840 nineteen o eight with the Fairy log and radio plays, 0:16:56.880 --> 0:17:00.320 followed by at least a good half dozen silent film 0:17:00.360 --> 0:17:03.520 adapting the World of Oz. Oh Man, I've got to 0:17:03.560 --> 0:17:05.679 see the silent films and what they do with with 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:09.440 TikTok and stuff. Yeah, they look that. I didn't get 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:11.560 a chance to really watching them, but they look interesting. 0:17:11.840 --> 0:17:13.120 We might have to come back to some of those 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:15.560 in the future now. Of course, following the nineteen thirty 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:18.600 nine classic, there's still plenty of other dips into the 0:17:18.600 --> 0:17:21.680 world of Oz. Uh. There was an ultra low budget 0:17:21.960 --> 0:17:25.600 adaptation titled The Wonderful Land of Oz in nineteen sixty nine. 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.760 There were a few different animated adaptations, including a ninety 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:34.120 two to Hope produced Japanese adaptation. Uh. There's there's really 0:17:34.200 --> 0:17:37.080 quite a lot of Oz related media out there, including 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.360 such works as the nineteen seventy five musical and subsequent 0:17:40.400 --> 0:17:43.320 film that film adaptation, The whiz U the book in 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:46.639 Broadway musical Wicked, and then there are all sorts of 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:51.560 literary treatments, spinoff solusions and more. Like I had to 0:17:51.720 --> 0:17:55.119 think back on it because again, thirty nine Wizard of 0:17:55.119 --> 0:17:58.000 Oz especially such a monolith, you don't even think about 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.359 the references to it. But like even Stephen King includes 0:18:00.400 --> 0:18:03.960 more than a little OZ sprinkled throughout his Dark Tower series, 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.520 and yeah, they're they're. Honestly, just seems no end in 0:18:07.560 --> 0:18:11.119 sight to our fascination with Oz. Bomb wrote seventeen OZ 0:18:11.119 --> 0:18:15.200 books during his lifetime, numerous other children's and adventures books 0:18:15.240 --> 0:18:19.399 as well, But we keep making OZ related media, and 0:18:19.440 --> 0:18:21.640 it seems like it's just gonna keep going. I've never 0:18:21.680 --> 0:18:24.439 actually read any of the OZ books, but I'm kind 0:18:24.480 --> 0:18:27.760 of tempted to check them out, because, at least with 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:31.639 the two movies, there's so much unexpected original texture to 0:18:31.680 --> 0:18:35.359 the fantasy world created here when compared to most fantasy. 0:18:35.400 --> 0:18:38.200 Because you know, after after you've consumed a decent amount 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:40.800 of fantasy, you see a lot of recycled elements. There's 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:43.160 sort of, you know, the standard tropes of high fantasy 0:18:43.200 --> 0:18:45.919 that show up again and again. But but the ODZ 0:18:46.000 --> 0:18:52.240 world is full of bizarre, unfamiliar things and beings. Yeah. 0:18:52.280 --> 0:18:54.359 And one of the things that I've always hit with 0:18:54.400 --> 0:18:56.639 when I when I have looked at you know, often 0:18:56.680 --> 0:18:59.560 just cover art and illustrations from these books, is that 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.520 I feel like there's this there's certainly this familiar sense 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.240 to it, all due to the cultural impact of the 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:08.399 Wizard of Oz, but also this weird sense that you 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.640 get from popular fiction that is very much, uh centered 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.000 in a particular past. You know, like I'm I'm not 0:19:15.080 --> 0:19:18.360 the intended recipient of these tales, and they're not even 0:19:18.400 --> 0:19:21.160 though they're in English and in there, you know, they're 0:19:21.240 --> 0:19:25.240 American stories. I don't feel like I am uh like, 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:28.680 like I have all of the the gear lined up 0:19:29.040 --> 0:19:31.800 in which to receive the message that is being sent 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.720 to me through it. Like your operating system no longer 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:38.720 supports this software. Yeah, Like I've never lived on a 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:41.480 farm in the middle of a prairie. How am I 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:44.000 supposed to to take some of this stuff? You know, 0:19:44.240 --> 0:19:54.720 I's see what you're saying. Yeah, all right, well, let's 0:19:54.720 --> 0:19:58.879 get into the cast here. Let's let's talk about Dorothy. Uh. 0:19:59.040 --> 0:20:02.800 This film's Doro The was played by Usa Bach, who 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:06.840 was born in nineteen seventy four. Still active American actor 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.879 who might might be better known to some of you 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.240 for her roles as an adult, but she started out 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:15.360 very young and this was her first motion picture. Subsequent 0:20:15.400 --> 0:20:19.080 films included Valmont in nine Things to Do in Denver 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:22.240 when You're Dead in that's an allusion to Warren Zevon 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:24.920 song by the way, And of course the big one 0:20:25.000 --> 0:20:29.080 is The Craft in nine oh Man. Several years back, 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:32.160 Rachel and I around Halloween decided to watch The Craft. 0:20:32.240 --> 0:20:34.200 And I don't know if i'd say it's a good movie, 0:20:34.240 --> 0:20:37.600 but that was a fun time. I don't think i've 0:20:37.600 --> 0:20:40.000 ever seen it, but you know, of course I'm familiar 0:20:40.000 --> 0:20:42.040 with I remember the trailers and all. But but this 0:20:42.119 --> 0:20:43.920 is a big film. And after this she was in 0:20:43.960 --> 0:20:47.840 a string of big films, including uh, the Cursed nine 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:51.800 adaptation of the Island of Dr Moreau always that Oh yeah, 0:20:51.840 --> 0:20:53.720 this is the one. If you're asking, is that the 0:20:53.840 --> 0:20:57.200 Island of Dr Moreau in which yes, it is that. Okay, 0:20:57.359 --> 0:21:00.159 it is the Marlon Brando one, yes, yes, the one 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:02.520 where he allegedly had to be fed his lines through 0:21:02.560 --> 0:21:05.760 an earpiece because he wouldn't learn them. Yeah, just a mean. 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:10.720 Their documentaries about about this just a ridiculous production. That 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:13.760 still is it has things going for it. I mean 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:18.080 it's it's it's oddly hypnotizing if you catch it on 0:21:18.200 --> 0:21:20.159 TV and all. I don't think I've ever given it 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:23.320 a dedicated viewing. I just it was on a lot 0:21:23.720 --> 0:21:26.199 for a certain amount of time, I guess back in 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:28.840 the late nineties, and so you would catch bits of 0:21:28.880 --> 0:21:32.200 it and it's it's thoroughly weird and just thoroughly a mess. Okay, 0:21:32.200 --> 0:21:35.880 sorry to interrupt. American history Acts is another big one, 0:21:35.920 --> 0:21:39.280 almost famous in two thousand and She was also in 0:21:39.359 --> 0:21:42.399 Werner Herzog's Bad Lieutenant Port of Call, New Orleans in 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:46.679 two thousand nine, which also featured Nick cage Val Kilmer. Again, 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:51.199 he was in the Dr Maroe movie Jennifer Coolidge, Brad Dorroff, 0:21:51.359 --> 0:21:54.040 and Michael Shannon. I've not seen Port of Call New 0:21:54.119 --> 0:21:57.600 Orleans since it came out, but but I've been meaning 0:21:57.640 --> 0:22:00.119 to revisit it because that one I remember being a 0:22:00.119 --> 0:22:05.280 a jaw dropping experience. Another interesting fact for rusa box 0:22:05.359 --> 0:22:09.040 father Solomon felt Faus was one of the founding members 0:22:09.040 --> 0:22:13.000