Emerald city no place like home11/21/2023 ![]() Today, the MGM visual concept of the Emerald City is perhaps the most popular (and certainly the most familiar) in terms of the perceptions of the general public. What does an even better job of kicking across the color, magic, and aura of the “jolly old town” is the image from the film shown at the top of this month’s blog: an extraordinary crayon drawing, which was meshed with “live” film footage of Judy Garland and Company as they approached (what they thought at the time was) the conclusion of their Ozian journey. ![]() Although even some of the most rabid fans think of that number as “You’re Out of the Woods,” it – under any title (and with music by Harold Arlen and Herbert Stothart) – paints a vivid, melodic picture of the glories of the Emerald City for any who see the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer movie of THE WIZARD OF OZ. “Yip” Harburg for the song, “Optimistic Voices,” and they provide both some excellent interior rhymes AND an accurate description of the capital of the Land of Oz. Considering how imaginative and entertaining Baum's novels were, that's a real crime.Those are the words specifically selected by lyricist E. It's not that this series lacks for plot twists - it's just that it's not a lot of fun. We knew to watch out for the Witch of the West (here a drug-addled sensualist scheming to increase her power), but in this adaptation, even Glinda has no joy for Dorothy. Dorothy is a dull cipher, her Scarecrow-like companion a murderer, and the Wizard of Oz apparently deals in drugs and back-door politics. A few characters in Emerald City are imported from The Marvelous Land of Oz, a surprisingly feminist story in which a young boy is transformed into a girl who's the rightful ruler of Oz.īut nothing happens quickly, and most of the characters are rather unpleasant, leaving the viewer with no one to root for. On the plus side, Emerald City mines other Oz books, not only the original (and oft-adapted, frequently clumsily) Wonderful Wizard of Oz, for plot and characters - a savvy move, since there's plenty of meat in Baum's other books. In fact, despite the stellar source material, Emerald City drags a bit rather than carrying viewers along on clouds of transfixed enchantment. This reimagining of the classic Land of Oz stories clearly wants to be a network-TV Game of Thronesbut doesn't reach the same storytelling heights. Interestingly it also attempts to give the WWW more depth, just as Emerald City, and I think it's ultimately more successful. And Dorothy in particular feels like she fades into the background (in the 1939 movie, the Wicked Witch was a scene stealer, but the focus was always on Judy Garland here, there are times where Dorothy feels like just another member of an ensemble rather than the lead.) The miniseries Tin Man - which basically does the same thing in a more family friendly manner - is a much better version of the story with a more dominant portrayal of Dorothy. Although Emerald City pushes the envelope (watch out for a brief but - for network TV - somewhat graphic moment of sexuality during West's intro scene in episode one, and the death of a key character early on is very bloody), the problem is it doesn't really have that strong of a story or characters to fall back on once the novelty of a modern-day Oz has worn off. Cut all that out and you'd still have a cohesive, appealing and successful story. The only thing is although the level of sex and over the top violence in Thrones is unnecessary and exploitative and worthy of every criticism you want to throw at it, one reason why people like me complain is the show has such strong characters and plot and it doesn't need the nudity, explicit sex and graphic violence. There actually haven't been a whole lot of Game of Thrones clones hit the airwaves, surprisingly, and I suppose fans will object me calling Emerald City one, but it really does feel like they were trying to go for Thrones in the confines of what network TV would allow. But there's not really a whole lot for older teen and adult viewers, either. There's too much sex and violence for younger (under 15) viewers. But - there's just not enough here to maintain interest. And Vincent D'Onofrio, looking more like Orson Welles with every passing show he does, makes an interesting, if underplayed, Wizard. This show's version of the Wicked Witch of the West was intriguing, and there's also another character I won't name because of spoilers who is given an interesting approach. Not that there weren't some interesting characters. But I felt this more adult take basically lost what made the original work. And there is precedent for a modernized version to work (The Wiz). I get that doing a straight out retelling of the original Baum story wouldn't fly today.
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