Of politics, wizards, witches, and flying houses

[aretoo]

Let's consider Oz politics for a moment, shall we? Glinda shows up on the scene, and the Wicked Witch of the East is crushed under a house, which she has been informed was dropped on WWE by a new witch. Upon questioning her, Glinda discovers that the new witch, Dorothy, doesn't know she's a witch, and then sends her to a political ally/adversary, the Wizard, who, in turn, sends Dorothy to the Witch of the West to bring back her broomstick, which would be the death of either Dorothy or the Witch. Dorothy (accidentally) kills WWW, demands the Wizard hold true to the promises he made (heart, brain, courage, and a way home for Dorothy), and exposes the Wizard for the humbug he is. The Wizard attempts to take Dorothy home in the balloon that brought him to Oz in the first place, sadly NOT taking Dorothy with him. Once again, Glinda shows up with remarkable prescience and sends Dorothy home with the ruby slippers that once belonged to WWE.

So... What, exactly, does the landscape of Oz politics look like once Dorothy is gone? Wicked Witches East and West dead, the Wizard banished, presumptive new witch (Dorothy) sent home with her familiar (Toto). Is Glinda now the sole "Power" in Oz?

Discuss: Oz, witches, wizards, munchkins, politics, adversaries and allies  

[Jafthasleftthebuilding]

So the Wizard is Ralph Nader, right? biggrin  

[124-C]

It is my opinion that Glinda and The Good Fairy are in cahoots to rule the make-believe.  

[Elcia]

Go look up something called Tin Man
You will find that there are many more witches in OZ
and that there is in fact a royal family though I don't know how many years exactly passes between.


 

[wakusei]

The Scarecrow was left in charge after the Wizard left.

In the books, the Scarecrow runs things from the Emerald City, the Lion becomes King of the Forest in Quadling Country and the Tin Man rules over the west and the Winkies that the WWW had formerly had enslaved. There's also tons of other little "mini kingdoms" throughout Oz. Glinda only popped up in the story after the WWW was destroyed and lives in the south. The Witch of the North just shows up in the beginning to welcome Dorothy in Oz.
In the second Oz book (Marvelous Land of Oz) the true Princess Ozma appears (she had been turned into a boy with no memory of who she really is) and rules Oz as queen.

w00t for canon.

...And comics.

In the Wicked Years by Gregory Maguire, of course things are way more complex in his reimagining. The Scarecrow ruling Oz is possibly not the same scarecrow Dorothy knew. Glinda semi-runs things from the side, but she's more just a face the people know. The Wizard was pretty corrupted and evil (Animal persecution!). And then a certain brother of a certain someone ends up running the joint....



I didn't like the Tin Man miniseries very much....
 

[Elcia]

Wakusei is a Wizard of Oz uhm guru? Sorta? ^_^ that's actually cool.

I imagine Tin Man comes from way out in left field, right?
I liked it's oddness at least because the old movie didn't impress me very much. Certainly not enough to try and read some of the books, there are so many!  

[Slim95]

I'm not so much a fan of the original WoO, but I'm forever thankful for it, because it brought about Wicked. I adored that book the first time I read it, and I'm adoring it these days as I read slowly (trying to grasp it in its entirety, which I wasn't exactly going for when I blew through it in 8th grade) for a second time.

I'd very much like to see Tinman, despite being slightly discouraged by Waku's lack of enthusiasm towards it. I'd been meaning to see it when it first came out, but... It passed me by....

I do hold your opinion quite highly, Waku~. 3nodding  

[wakusei]

It's not that I hated Tin Man or anything. I just...I really like Oz, man. I used to watch The Wizard of Oz almost every day. I pranced around with a Fisher Price plastic picnic basket with a stuffed dog inside. My mom got me a really pretty green, illustrated copy of the first book for my birthday one year and read it to me.

So when I first saw the preview for Tin Man...psyched does not even begin to describe how excited I was. I visited the website regularly to journey through the O.Z.

But then when I saw it...it's just...it's not my Oz. It kinda tried at first...but it became so much something completely different. Plus, it being called Tin Man is nothing short of completely random. I guess they just thought it sounded cool.... I really liked Alan Cumming in it, though....
Anyway, as its own story, it's fine. But as a reimagining of my favorite childhood story? It sucked.


But Wicked is awesome. I remember when I first read it, in the beginning I was really "WTF?" But by the end I loved it and have read it a few times since then and have gotten all the Wicked Years books signed by Maguire~~~ And all his other adult books...although they aren't quite as good.
And I've seen the musical three times....


ANYWAY. All of Baum's 14 Oz books are available online here if anyone's ever interested.
Borders also released them all in their pretty leatherbound books in 2 volumes, and a third one with Baum's other stories, which is what I now have. (I lost the pretty book my mom got me when I was little... emo )
ANNNND Eric Shanower has written Oz comics, and just did a Wizard of Oz comic adaption based off the book, and is now doing the Marvelous Land of Oz~ And everyone loves Jack Pumpkinhead!





..I've said too much.  

[Catalog Cats]

Seriously? I can't stand Wicked. At all.

There are plot holes that bother me, errors when it tries to mesh with the orginal timeline, and the character of the Witch (I am NEVER referring to her by the name the author gave her... she's the Wicked Witch) was not given any sort of believable justification for the stuff she did in the original story. In fact, it seemed more like the author was trying to convince me that she DIDN'T do any of the things she did in the original story.

And I didn't like the charicterization of Glinda either. She is a wise and benevolent being, not some jerkish idiot.

...I'll stop ranting now. I'm not DONE ranting, but I feel like if I continue I'll be forever known as 'the kid who hates Wicked', so I'll shut up.  

[wakusei]

The WWW lasts about 70 pages in the Wizard of Oz and is only really in appearance just before being melted.... So I figure there's quite a bit of room for coming up with a background of any kind. And Maguire actually thought to include all the bits about the wolves and bees instead of just the flying monkeys, which I liked. Even if there's no golden cap and such.
And Glinda's only really in Wicked at Shiz, she fades out after that.

I guess I don't mind when people make things their own so long as they still ring true to the original in certain respects. But hey, I don't like Burton's Alice so far...so it's really just a matter of taste and preference.  

[Trish the Stalker]

I'm assuming that it would be different depending on if we are speaking of the book or the movie series. Because the politics are entirely different in each.

Honestly, from the movie, I would love to assume that munchkins zerg-rushed everything and took over like locusts.

-Formerly La Belle Isolde-

 

[wakusei]

Don't underestimate that Lollipop Guild!