Review of Return to Oz (1984)

Posted in movies, pop culture, Wizard of Oz with tags , , , , , on April 20, 2012 by Paxton

Oz readthru

In my article about adaptations of The Marvelous Land of Oz, I mentioned that the 1984 movie Return to Oz was an adaptation of two of the Baum Oz books.  Specifically, it’s a combination of Oz books 2 (Marvelous Land of Oz) and 3 (Ozma of Oz).

After finishing Book 3, I decided to re-watch Return to Oz the other night for the first time in maybe 10 years.  Since it’s sort of a cult, underground hit, I thought I would give it a quick review for you guys.

Return to Oz

So, WOW, the first twenty minutes of this movie are DEPRESSING.  This movie starts a few months after Dorothy has returned to Kansas.  The farm is destroyed from the twister.  I mean, everything is in shambles.  Uncle Henry and Auntie Em are trying to rebuild everything.  Uncle Henry broke his leg and now just sits around drinking all day doing nothing.  Em is stuck doing all the work.  Everytime Dorothy brings up her trip to Oz, Em just shuts her down.  No one believes Dorothy’s trips were real.  She’s starting to believe they weren’t real.  Em takes Dorothy to a “mental hospital” to have a psychiatrist take a look at her.  The psychiatrist actually intends to hook Dorothy up to a machine for shock treatments.  SHOCK TREATMENTS.  This movie was actually showing Dorothy in this creepy old asylum about to have her head lobotomized.  I didn’t remember any of this and started to question whether I actually wanted to finish the movie.

Return to Oz DVD

So I continued on, Dorothy is saved by a mysterious girl and runs out of the asylum into a thunderstorm.  Dorothy is knocked out and wakes up back in Oz.  The movie essentially takes the framework for the third book, Ozma of Oz, and adds the characters from the second book, Marvelous Land of Oz.  The main changes to the story in Ozma for the movie were to remove everything having to do with the fairy Land of Ev.  All of the events in the movie happen in Oz.  And not just Oz, but a dilapidated, ghost town of Oz.  Also, while they appear on the poster, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion are relegated to cameos at the end.  The other 15 characters in the poster above were given all the screen time.  Another change is that Mombi is the main villain (and the current ruler of Oz which is why it’s so run down).  We do get to see the awesome Nome King from Book 3, however he looks like Ice Man from the pilot of Misfits of Science.  And although he’s the King of the Nomes, you really don’t see any other Nomes.  He’s a king of one, I guess.  He’s the one telling Mombi what to do.

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Review of Oz Book 3: Ozma of Oz by L Frank Baum (1907)

Posted in books, movies, Wizard of Oz with tags , , , , , on April 18, 2012 by Paxton

Following the Yellow Brick Road

It’s time to take a look at the next book in the original Baum Oz series; Ozma of Oz.  Click the image above to see the previous entries in my Oz book read through.

Oz 3
Via Books of Wonder

Ozma of Oz was released in 1907. It is the third book in the series.  It had been three years since the last Oz sequel, Marvelous Land of Oz.  It also featured the triumphant return of Dorothy Gale.

This book was sort of a departure. Instead of taking place in Oz, it takes place in a neighboring fairy land called Ev. Dorothy is traveling with her uncle on a boat when a storm hits and carries Dorothy to the fairly land of Ev. There Dorothy meets more crazy weird characters that she winds up traveling with. Once Dorothy realizes she’s in a similar fairly land that happens to neighbor with Oz, she doesn’t yearn to travel home to Kansas, like in the first book, she longs to return to Oz.

Also returning in this book are the original three companions; Scarecrow, Tin Man (Nick Chopper) and Cowardly Lion, who makes his first appearance since Book 1.  And, obviously since the book is named for her, Princess Ozma also returns. The new characters we meet are Billina, a talking hen, Tik-Tok the mechanical man and the Hungry Tiger, a companion of the Cowardly Lion that is always hungry (obviously).  We also meet the royal family of Ev (who need rescuin’) and the Nome King. Tik-Tok and the Nome King would prove popular enough that they would feature in several books later in the series.  One of them written by Baum himself.

Gnome King of Oz tik tok of oz

So Dorothy becomes stranded in Ev.  Dorothy is joined by the hen, Billina, and eventually Tik-Tok, the mechanical man.  We also meet these characters called The Wheelers (who show up in the movie Return to Oz) and Dorothy is taken hostage and locked away by the current Princess of Ev.  The current Princess is very vain and can change her head whenever she wants.  She keeps like 30 heads in her closet.  So, the Princess wants Dorothy’s head, is refused and locks up Dorothy and her friends.   Hearing about this, the Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion come with Ozma and her army from Oz across the Deadly Desert to rescue her. Next we get this whole back story about the land of Ev. The original King was a douchebag (my words, not Baum’s).  He sells his entire family to the Nome King, who is a very magical being, in exchange for long life.  Then the idiot king goes and drowns himself in despair for what he’s done.  Like beheadings in the first book, this book is filled with people who drown themselves or nearly get drowned.  Dorothy is almost drowned in the beginning of the book.  This king does it to himself and there are several other mentions of drowning throughout the book.  This Baum guy has serious issues.  He should get them looked at, STAT.

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The Pax & Jeeg Show Episode 33: Kung Fu Fightiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing….Movies

Posted in movies, nostalgia, podcast, pop culture with tags , , , , , on April 17, 2012 by Paxton

Nerd Lunch Podcast

Episode 33 has gone LIVE! This week, CT is nowhere to be found and we inaugurate The Pax & Jeeg Show. Expect complete and total CHAOS.  And AWESOME-ness.  And Jackie Chan-ness.

Dragon Pax

On this, the first episode of The Pax & Jeeg Show, we are again joined by Jeremy from GeekChunks.com to discuss modern martial arts movies.  We discuss stuff like Enter the Dragon, Drunken Master, Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Wire Fu, subtitles and Ong Bak.  It’s an info packed episode so Crane Kick this awesome episode into your iPhone or web browser.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.

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Of Holy Grails and white whales….Call me Ishmael

Posted in comic books, movies, pop culture, soda, Star Wars, The Flash with tags , , , , , , on April 13, 2012 by Paxton

LEB

Brian has released this week’s assignment for The League. This week he wants us to talk about, as collectors, our Holy Grail items. He also mentions our white whales.   I see these two concepts as different.  Our Holy Grails are something we’d love to own, but we realize that, for whatever reason, we will never own it.  ”If I had all the money in the world I’d……”

White whales are something we are always on the lookout for.  Something that, if we found it, we would be able to bring it home.  There is hope with a white whale, but with Holy Grails, there usually is very little.

I’ve been a collector for many years.  I don’t really do it as much as I used to, but I still manage to “collect stuff” without meaning to.  Action figures, books, DVDs, soda cans, etc.

So, let’s start with my Holy Grail.  What do I think would be awesome to own, but I’m 99% confident that I’ll never own?  I’d have to say the Holiest of my Holy Grails would be:

Showcase #4
Showcase #4 – Published by DC in 1955. Features the first appearance of the Barry Allen Flash.  Also considered the beginning of the Silver Age of comics.  I’ve been a huge fan of The Flash since I started collecting comics.  I have several reprints of this issue, I just think it would be cool to own the actual issue.  However, unless I win the lottery, I just can’t fathom ever owning an actual copy of this.  And since we are dreaming that I won the lottery, I would also like the other three Showcase issues that feature The Flash as well as the entire run of the Barry Allen Flash series (#105 – 350).  However, I have a lot of the Barry Allen series, si I’d just need to complete it.

Now, let’s take a look at my white whales.

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A Crystal Pepsi Retrospective on its 20th birthday

Posted in advertising, Pepsi, pop culture, soda with tags , , , , , on April 12, 2012 by Paxton

Today is the 20th birthday of Crystal Pepsi. So in honor of our see through friend, I thought I’d take a look back at one of the more maligned soda drinks of our time.

In the ’90s there was a movement within America that equated clarity with purity. Pepsi decided to jump on this trend and create a colorless decaffeinated soda. Pepsi hoped that people would notice a colorless soda above other darker sodas and think that it’s more pure due to it’s colorless appearance and assume it would have less artificial coloring. Pepsi dubbed their new soda Crystal Pepsi and released it and a diet version to 9 test markets in early 1992.

After the drink faired well in test markets, a huge marketing campaign was developed and Crystal Pepsi was released nationwide in April 1992 to huge fanfare. The commercials were shown during Super Bowl XXVII. The Van Halen single “Right Now” was used on the commercials and the tagline for the soda was, “You’ve never seen a taste like this!”

Many people don’t remember, but Crystal Pepsi did well the first year grabbing almost 1% of the soda market. It did well enough to cause Coca-Cola to develop and release Tab Clear in December 1992. In 1993, however, the interest waned. Crystal Pepsi didn’t taste any different than regular dark Pepsi, which confused people because clear colas usually have a citrus taste. Sales dropped off and Pepsi pulled it off shelves. It was quickly reformulated into Crystal by Pepsi which was still colorless, but had a citrus taste like everyone expected.

By then, though, the damage was done and Pepsi canceled the soda in America in late 1993 – 1994. Crystal Pepsi continued to sell well in Europe for another year or so but was eventually canceled there also. The Crystal Clear concept quickly became a joke and was mocked on late night talk shows and eventually in a classic Saturday Night Live commercial, Crystal Gravy (via Redux).

PepsiCo quickly moved on and Crystal Pepsi eventually became a shameful footnote in the company’s history (a la New Coke).  As a special promotion, however, Pepsi did release a Pepsi Clear in Mexico in 2005. Presumably, it used the same Crystal Pepsi formula.  I’m unsure if it had a citrus flavor or not.

More soda history:
1. Misunderstood: The Saga of New Coke
2. The Story of OK Soda
3. Pepsi Patio: The Secret Origin of Diet Pepsi

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Nerd Lunch Episode 32: Nerd Heritage

Posted in movies, podcast, pop culture with tags , , , , on April 10, 2012 by Paxton

Nerd Lunch Podcast

We had a completely different show all ready to go this week, but the guest had to bow out at the last minute, so our friend Fitz fills in last second to help us out. The topic? Nerd Heritage.

Within the walls of this podcast we all discuss how we became nerds. We also talk about how we want to pass on our nerd legacies to our children (by ignoring wifely protests). It’s a fun topic that was sort of “gently inspired” by a topic the Atomic Geeks did for their episode 148 called Geek Dads.

Download this episode from iTunes or listen to it on Feedburner. And yes, we are still on the Zune Marketplace.

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Creating a fantasy baseball team of movie ball players

Posted in movies, pop culture with tags , , , on April 5, 2012 by Paxton

LEB logo

I took a few weeks off from the League of Extraordinary Bloggers due to several other things going on here with the blog and podcasting. But I like the new assignment Brian gave us this week so I’m jumping back in.

This week, Brian asks us to write about baseball. Anything we want. Now, I’m not a huge baseball fan. I’ve played Fantasy Baseball like once in my life and I never watch the game. However, I do enjoy going to baseball games and I also enjoy baseball movies and video games. I pondered reviewing one of my favorite games Baseball Simulator 1.000 for the Nintendo Entertainment System but I decided to go with an article I almost did for the League’s Expendables Week.  I’m going to field a ball team with baseball players from movies.

I went through all of my favorite baseball movies and I’m picking the best players for each position.  And by the best players, I mean, my favorite players.  So grab your peanuts and Cracker Jacks and let’s play ball!

My fantasy team:

Lou Gehrig
1st Base – Lou Gehrig (Pride of the Yankees) – As played by Gary Cooper in the classic 1944 movie about the baseball great.

Joe Hardy
2nd Base – Joe Hardy (Damn Yankees!) – Pretty boy Tab Hunter portrayed Hardy in the classic 1958 movie based on the popular stage play. The character of Hardy sold his soul to the Devil, literally, to be a bad ass baseball player.  So yes, he’s on the team.

Benny the Jet
Shortstop – Benny “The Jet” Rodriguez (The Sandlot) – Obviously, not the kid version, but the older veteran version from the end of the movie. “The Jet” is fast so he’d be a great shortstop and he would most likely be my lead off batter.

Spike Nolan
3rd Base – Roy Hobbs (The Natural) – Because he’s “The Natural”. Probably one of the single greatest ball players in the history of Hollywood. I would have played him at pitcher (he was able to strike out “The Whammer”), but I have plenty of other talent there. I also thought of putting him in the outfield, but I really needed someone at 3rd Base, and Roy can play any position on the field. So he’s covering 3rd.

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