OMG! Finally someone who knows the real Oz books!

It's excusable that they added Toto who wasn't in the original story

"STOP THAT!" Lmao.

The wheelers sound like Neville in Potter Puppet Pals. Also the Tin Man creeps me out. He looks like a Five Nights at Freddy's.

"That was delicio...AND IT WILL COST YOU YOUR LIFE!!!" XDDDD

dorothy is a princess of oz to

this is the animated version of Return to Oz. COOL!

So much for the adults grabbing onto her in the cabin, and running out on the deck to help keep her safe!

The Wheeler sounds like Stitch... And, yeah, I agree-we're about due for another good Oz movie :)

lunch box trees: the solution to world hunger

"Return to Oz" is a fairly seamless blend of the plots of "The Marvelous Land of Oz" and "Ozma of Oz," respectively the second and third books in the Oz series.

This is EXACTLY like Return To Oz, even the dialogue is almost the same

7:35 Dorothy, who is blind, uses her heightened sense of touch to tell what's in the lunch box without actually looking in it.

Janice Hiromi Kawaye, who played Dorothy here, later became the star of "My Life as a Teenage Robot," in which she played the eponymous cybernetic high-schooler Jenny Wakeman, a.k.a. XJ-9.

@PriestessOfNox "Return to Oz" is actually based on the second and third books in the Oz series, "The Marvelous Land of Oz" and "Ozma of Oz." This special is actually a very good adaptation, and delightfully free of too many MGM refernces.

The play Ozma of Oz is so much fun. I was a Wheeler. ^_^

LOL "Yeah,Stop..."It's like he stopped the video

Wow I didn't know I was watching Candy Candy. Due to dorthys blonde hair in this it reminds me of it.

Her voice actress played Gi in Captain Planet, which is all I can hear when I watch this.

Ha, Michael Gross was totally not expecting anyone to walk in on him, or what? ;0)

@Luckynumber78 It's funny; Baum described Ozma as having golden hair when she first appeared, and that's how John R. Neill depicted her in the drawings. But from "Ozma of Oz" onward, presumably to contrast with Dorothy's blonde hair, Neill gave Ozma dark hair, almost black in some pictures, and, as you say, a sort of ruddy gold in others. Then again, Ozma is a fairy, and can change her hair color at will if she wants. Doesn't explain how Trot went from blonde to brunette, however....

@ricky94533 As for why I care, I've been a fan of Oz all my life, and I applaud and support anything that lets people know there's far more to it than just that first story. By the way, if this is how you feel about this cartoon, how would you have reacted to the 1902 Broadway version of "Wizard" which had a 19 year-old Dorothy who traveled to Oz with a cow, brought the Scarecrow to life with a magic ring, and fell in love with a poet? I suspect you'd have had a conniption. But Baum loved it!

The Wheelers are the best!

Thank you! Wow, it's taken 110 years just to get the first three books adapted for the stage. At this rate, we'll have all 14 by around 3500 AD or so.

Lol. Too true. You're welcome.

@TheAngelofHavoc This an an adaptation of "Ozma of Oz," the third of Baum's 14 Oz books. Elements of that book were blended with "The Marvelous Land of Oz" (the second book) in "Return to Oz."

The animation ain't bad! What year did this come out in? I think it's cool that the Family Ties dude is hosting it. I loved that show!

@GreekMythFan7 This was a year or two after the house was destroyed, and the farm was doing pretty well; Henry was even able to afford some hands. Plus, in the book, Em stayed to look after the place while Henry went to visit his relatives.

@DannyLovesOregon Small wonder, since they're both based on the third Oz book, "Ozma of Oz." "Return to Oz" also used material from the second book, "The Marvelous Land of Oz."

Dorothy

The video was released in 1987. They may have been considering a series.

NICE VIDEO

@scandia Actually, this depiction of Dorothy is the closest to the illustrations of John R. Neill that has ever been presented on the screen (with the exceptions of Romola Remus and Violet MacMillan, two blonde silent movie actresses who played Dorothy), though her hair is much longer than that of the Dorothy Gale of the books. The only reason MGM used Judy's own hair was that the blonde wig they'd intended for her was scotched by a producer who wanted her to be recognizable.

Yeesh! Who makes these kinds of things? And just once can't Toto stay put and NOT mess everything up?!

But she's very beautiful when she sings. :)

@loudrgfan Jack wasn't in the book "Ozma of Oz." He was in "Return to Oz" and the anime TV show.

"Everything's going to be alright." Everything did NOT go alright.

dorothy is a princess of oz too

@MaskedMan66 um, yes he has. he did the "Return to Oz" movie, look it up on here. it's actually quite good in it's own way, as are Maguire's stories. it just takes a different perspective to appreciate them

ahahahahaha he does sound like stitch

Never mind. Oh hey they forgot Jack Pumpkinhead.

ccoooll :P

Hey, it was Toto who revealed the Wizard's ruse and made him come clean in the original story.

She was in the books as well.

@TheEpona92 I don't know who told you that. "Return to Oz" was produced by Paul Maslansky and directed by Walter Murch, who co-wrote the screenplay with Gill Dennis. Tim Burton was involved with a little-known Australian telefilm called "Lost in Oz"; that may be what you mean. "Return" borrows heavily from Baum, which is why it's so good; I personally prefer it to the MGM movie as far as being an Oz adaptation. MGM is more fun, but it's not as Ozzy. Yes, an anti-Baum, anti-Oz perspective.

Slinky Ozma cover!!!!

He was also in The Land of Oz lol.

@NotOrdinaryInGames So? Mind you, the actress who played Dorothy was named Hiromi Kawaye.

@SuperCodywebb She's played quite a number of well-known cartoon characters, including Gi on "Captain Planet," Ami Onuki (okay, not so much as "cartoon character" as a cartoon version of a real person) on "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi," and Jenny on "My Life as a Teenage Robot." Did I name the one you mean?

I just found out today about the other books. A new movie is coming out called "Oz the great and powerful" March 2013.

@maleficentdiva Regardless of what you like, Dorothy Gale was a blonde for 39 years before Judy Garland came along, and still is.

Aren't Dorothy and Ozma the same age?

Well, actually in the original Wizard of Oz book, it never really mentions he hair color if I remember corectly. The blonde hair was just something John R. Neil drew to his design of dorothy lol.

Well, it was pretty accurate which is nice to see (for once!) but the things that are not completely true are the facts that Aunty Em was NOT on the voyage to Australia with Dorothy and Uncle Henry, Scarecrow, Lion, and the Tin Woodsman do not meet Dorothy until much later in the book, and if memory serves me well...Toto is NOT in the book at all! But still pretty accurate... so far...

@TimeWaster001 "Return to Oz" is for anyone who likes Oz, including the wee ones.

Who says they weren't? I got the impression the door became stuck shut. Besides, Uncle Henry and Aunt Em didn't go to Oz until the sixth story. Of course, Toto wasn't with Dorothy on this trip either.

Is that Michael Gross? The man who plays the awesome Burt Gummer in Tremors?

It is a shame that people can't seem to escape the MGM version of "Wizard" even when they're adapting another of the books; the whole sepia-tone Kansas/rainbow/"Auntie" Em thing. It was always "Aunt" Em in the books.

To me she sounds like she is trying to haha. But I could be wrong.

The Nostalgia Critic or Chick should do a review of this film.

this dorothy seem look pretty wonder if there is a gallery to compre different versions of dorothy or alice (fromwonderland) and other fictional charathers

cool. this is a lot like "Return to Oz" which i love, but some parts are slightly different. i wonder if its close to the way the book goes...

@serpico89 That's the Wheelers all over; fearsome at first sight, but ultimately ineffectual bullies.

ikr i mean come on they list them in the newer copies of the books

@ozgeek: do you know if this is available on a DVD anywhere?

cool. (Michael GROSS!)

@TheLegallywicked They changed it because they wanted Judy to look like herself, not because "they felt it made her look like a dumb farm girl."

@KoisuruMarionnette Look in the books; she looks like Dorothy, with a touch of Betsy Bobbin.

@PinkPunkyKat i think that's only in Burton's version

@MaskedMan66 Correct. You deserve a cookie!

All somebody needs to do is to film the book as Baum wrote it, and it will be a hit, no question. I mean, keep the actual killing of the wolves by the Tin Woodman and the crows by the Scarecrow offscreen, but otherwise it's all suitable.

Kinda sad that people are not familiar with the 14 Baum books.

@SuperCodywebb Thank you! :-)

I didn't know there was a play; who publishes it?

@aja342 To quote one version of the Cowardly Lion, "Ain't it the truth?"

@KoraggRules Thats how she is illustrated in the book lol

@NotOrdinaryInGames I wasn't offended, I just wondered why its not being animated in Japan was relevant.

@ricky94533 Dank? O... kay. Gary4Gary4 said this was exactly like "Return to Oz," which it isn't, but that's the only instance I've seen in this thread of the word "exactly." Of course I was skimming; perhaps you could tell me who you meant. The most known story is indeed "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz," available from your local library or book store in multiple editions, and that is what I was talking about. (continued)

lol that tree would be extinct by know

@sonicmixer Because she is. Look in the books.

"STOP THAT!!!" LMAO!!!! They couldn't come up with three different things to say!? Where did these writers come from? LMAO But it's still cool! :P

um how can kansas farmers whos house was destroyed in a tornado afford a trip to Austrailia?

She has an American accent where Alice is English, so I have no idea.

I don't hear it; it may just be a commonality of delivery between Judy and Janice. Fairuza Balk in "Return to Oz" had moments when she sounded a lot like Judy, but it wasn't deliberate.

OMG! Is that B.J. from M.A.S.H?

It kinda bothers me that most people who play Dorothy in animated movies always try to sound like Judy Garland. Some people are pretty good at it but others... not so much.

Burt Gummer!

@ricky94533 You're funny. 'Tain't over. The word is "adaptation" and this is a very good one. Re-read the book and you will see that this show, given the restraints of time and budget it was under, was a very good one indeed. And again I ask, what do you make of L. Frank Baum's own Oz movies? If you're an adult, then talk like one.

@PinkPunkyKat No....... Why would you think that?

@ricky94533 If by "the person" you mean Michael Gross, he only said the special was "based on" the book. If you mean 83redshadow, here's a direct quote: "this follows the story of the book very well." Neither said exact.

Now that I'm all logical old and stuff...can we talk about why she didn't die after she had her butt knocked off that ship....

who else just got bored and just typed this in because Janice Kawaye is in it?

@MaskedMan66 Mild sarcasm with no offensive intentions.

@MondoBeno "Glinda of Oz?" What's creepy about it?

@ricky94533 And one more thing (at least for now): I've asked you twice now to keep the language civil. If you can do that, I'll be happy to discuss Oz with you, being a lifelong fan of the books and a bit of an Oz authority. If you can't keep it clean, then it makes me wonder how you can be into Oz in the first place.

@MaskedMan66 I know who she is. Her english name is Janice, and best know for voicing a well-known cartoon character. Can one of you guess who it is?

why does Dorothy looks alot like Alice from Alice in Wonderland

Anchorage Press. Written by Suzan Zeder

@ricky94533 In any case, forty isn't old.

I think this entire special would have a different feel if Samuel L. Jackson hosted it, instead of Michael Gross.