Thursday, Dec 6, 2007
So the first thought I had when I heard about this miniseries was that I was worried it would be too cheesy and silly with regards to graphics. The other Sci Fi original movies I'd seen were laughly bad at best so I had reservations. Lucky for me they did a n okay job with the basics and didn't take it too far.
Also, I feel like I should say that I waited until I had recorded all three parts of this miniseries before watching it so that I could get it all at once. Boy am I glad I waited. Let's get to the goods.
Stuff I Liked
The obvious good part of this miniseries was the story. It was a magnificent reimagining of a timeless classic with lots of up-to-date references and character changes. Glitch being the scarecrow, Raw being the lion, and Cain being the tin man all fit perfectly along with DG being the new and improved Dorothy. Each character was well developed and perfectly fleshed out within the first hour of the show and I really cared for each of them throughout the storyline. Glitch was my favorite though. he reminded me of the character Morph from the X-Men Animated Series, only clumsier and more forgetful. He was the comic relief, for sure, and i always love some comedy. On top of that he was named after one of my all time favorite characters from childhood (see ReBoot).
I loved how they took a great story and spun it out of control. Azadelia was a great addition to the family and the twist of her being the witch as well as DG's sister was just genius. The start of the story was very engaging and made me want to dive into the story all that much more. The parents being robots! Priceless. Raw being a psychic, Glitch being the queen's counselor, and Cain being a literal tin man in the story just added to their depth. Throw in an obvious throwback reference to the original Dorothy as "the Grey Gale" and you have license to write whatever story you want because it's not the same it's generations down the road. Made sense to me!
And we can't forget about Toto! I wondered where that lovable terrier would come into play and was somewhat shocked to see it come so late in the story. Him being a spy to start with didn't sit well but he redeemed himself nicely. All in all, I really loved the imagination of the writers the entire time. Throwing curve balls at us while still making you say "oh, that's referring to that" so you could follow the story. Well done, team, well done.
Stuff I Didn't Like
Well there are a lot of things I loved, obviously, and while that's the case there were a few things I didn't quite enjoy as much. The fact that the enemies, the longcoats, were so inept in their job got kind of annoying. They reminded me of the "puttys" from Power Rangers fame. You remember, those goons the main boss sent in to do the job that ALWAYS failed. In a kids show that might float but in real life it's just plain dumb. Find guys that get the job done. Technically one could argue that Zero got the job done pretty well, but really even he failed.
I mentioned the graphics before, and while I liked how they didn't go too far there were still points that took me out of the story because they were so ... cheap-ish. I can't say I'm surprised, the graphics had to be SciFi-esque because of the channel but there were moments that just sucked. The shooting of the main bat was poorly done. The Papaes (sp?) were just too cartoony and not that threatening. Another one, every time they showed the army of longcoats forming at the gates it was THE SAME DAMN FOOTAGE. I mean come on, create more than one 5 second loop of that stuff if you're gonna use 30 seconds worth. But the worst, by far, was the shape shifting. I think that says it all, you know how bad it was.
The last thing I didn't like was the ending. now don't get me wrong I like a happy ending, but at least put some thought into it. You don't need to go all Lord of the Rings and put five endings in, but at least show what happens to these characters now that they've saved the O.Z. Show me something an "annual" later where they're all sitting on a lakeside somewhere enjoying the day. Or show me Cain and his son throwing the ball back and forth. You know, closure would be nice.
Oh, and why call it "Tin Man" anyway? He was a major part of the story but couldn't you think of anything better? Hoe about "The O.Z." or something similar. Not a big flaw but something to discuss.
Closing
Speaking of closure I should wrap this up. I doubt anyone's still reading this (mainly because no one reads it as it is) but hey I like to write about random things sometimes. Anyway, I give this movie/miniseries a solid 8 out of 10. If it's on again a couple years from now I'll probably watch it. If it comes out on DVD sometime next year I might buy it, depending on the price, just for the fact that you don't find a lot of good stories like this one. The writers and adapters did a fantastic job of taking a story I'd heard tons of times and made me wonder what was going to happen next. Toss in some magic, some family, and a lot of hugging and this miniseries is sure to last. Thank you Sci Fi, you've made me proud.
(8/10)
Also, I feel like I should say that I waited until I had recorded all three parts of this miniseries before watching it so that I could get it all at once. Boy am I glad I waited. Let's get to the goods.
Stuff I Liked
The obvious good part of this miniseries was the story. It was a magnificent reimagining of a timeless classic with lots of up-to-date references and character changes. Glitch being the scarecrow, Raw being the lion, and Cain being the tin man all fit perfectly along with DG being the new and improved Dorothy. Each character was well developed and perfectly fleshed out within the first hour of the show and I really cared for each of them throughout the storyline. Glitch was my favorite though. he reminded me of the character Morph from the X-Men Animated Series, only clumsier and more forgetful. He was the comic relief, for sure, and i always love some comedy. On top of that he was named after one of my all time favorite characters from childhood (see ReBoot).
I loved how they took a great story and spun it out of control. Azadelia was a great addition to the family and the twist of her being the witch as well as DG's sister was just genius. The start of the story was very engaging and made me want to dive into the story all that much more. The parents being robots! Priceless. Raw being a psychic, Glitch being the queen's counselor, and Cain being a literal tin man in the story just added to their depth. Throw in an obvious throwback reference to the original Dorothy as "the Grey Gale" and you have license to write whatever story you want because it's not the same it's generations down the road. Made sense to me!
And we can't forget about Toto! I wondered where that lovable terrier would come into play and was somewhat shocked to see it come so late in the story. Him being a spy to start with didn't sit well but he redeemed himself nicely. All in all, I really loved the imagination of the writers the entire time. Throwing curve balls at us while still making you say "oh, that's referring to that" so you could follow the story. Well done, team, well done.
Stuff I Didn't Like
Well there are a lot of things I loved, obviously, and while that's the case there were a few things I didn't quite enjoy as much. The fact that the enemies, the longcoats, were so inept in their job got kind of annoying. They reminded me of the "puttys" from Power Rangers fame. You remember, those goons the main boss sent in to do the job that ALWAYS failed. In a kids show that might float but in real life it's just plain dumb. Find guys that get the job done. Technically one could argue that Zero got the job done pretty well, but really even he failed.
I mentioned the graphics before, and while I liked how they didn't go too far there were still points that took me out of the story because they were so ... cheap-ish. I can't say I'm surprised, the graphics had to be SciFi-esque because of the channel but there were moments that just sucked. The shooting of the main bat was poorly done. The Papaes (sp?) were just too cartoony and not that threatening. Another one, every time they showed the army of longcoats forming at the gates it was THE SAME DAMN FOOTAGE. I mean come on, create more than one 5 second loop of that stuff if you're gonna use 30 seconds worth. But the worst, by far, was the shape shifting. I think that says it all, you know how bad it was.
The last thing I didn't like was the ending. now don't get me wrong I like a happy ending, but at least put some thought into it. You don't need to go all Lord of the Rings and put five endings in, but at least show what happens to these characters now that they've saved the O.Z. Show me something an "annual" later where they're all sitting on a lakeside somewhere enjoying the day. Or show me Cain and his son throwing the ball back and forth. You know, closure would be nice.
Oh, and why call it "Tin Man" anyway? He was a major part of the story but couldn't you think of anything better? Hoe about "The O.Z." or something similar. Not a big flaw but something to discuss.
Closing
Speaking of closure I should wrap this up. I doubt anyone's still reading this (mainly because no one reads it as it is) but hey I like to write about random things sometimes. Anyway, I give this movie/miniseries a solid 8 out of 10. If it's on again a couple years from now I'll probably watch it. If it comes out on DVD sometime next year I might buy it, depending on the price, just for the fact that you don't find a lot of good stories like this one. The writers and adapters did a fantastic job of taking a story I'd heard tons of times and made me wonder what was going to happen next. Toss in some magic, some family, and a lot of hugging and this miniseries is sure to last. Thank you Sci Fi, you've made me proud.
(8/10)
