Oz for the 21st Century

I've never really been a fan of the Wizard of Oz. It always seemed a little too cutesy wootsy for me. No, scratch that. It seems downright dopey to me. I know it's supposed to be a classic, but a lot of the movies deemed classic by critics are worthless. I understand it was made in the 50's or whatever, and I'll cut it some slack because entertainment from that era was a bit simpler. Now that it's the new millennium, enter the Sci-Fi Channel. They just aired a mini-series named Tinman, that's loosely based on the Wizard.Normally I wouldn't even give something like this a second glance, but I noticed it had Neal McDonough starring as the Tinman. I've liked the stuff I've seen him in before (Band of Brothers, Minority Report, White Dwarf), so Olivia and I decided we'd give it a shot.

I'd be lying if I said I was completely blown away by this mini-series. However, I didn't hate it. I was actually impressed with the imagination that went into turning a smarmy musical into a sci-fi epic. (I use the term epic to describe the length, not necessarily the movie's historical impact.) As I said, Tinman is loosely based on the Wizard of Oz. The characters have different names, but similar traits. The plot strays from the yellow brick road after the first hour or two and winds up in totally uncharted territory when compared to the original. My favorite changes: The Wizard is a doped up old coot played by Richard Dreyfuss (think "What About Bob" after he goes nuts), the "scarecrow" character is really Nightcrawler from X2, and best of all, NO SINGING! Oh yeah, and Todo is a 60 year old overweight black man.

I'm not going to suggest that everyone make a special effort to see this mini-series. However, if you're a sci-fi geek like I can be at times, you might find it at least somewhat interesting. If the Wizard of Oz had never existed and this was thrown out there today, it would be just another mini-series made by the Sci-Fi Channel. But, it's a huge improvement over the original and I think that's what I like about it. It's very original, yet still draws nostalgia from its predecessor. If you like quirky sci-fi stuff, check it out. If not, take a pass. I think it's still airing on Sci-Fi from time to time, and if not it's on scifi.com. One more thing... Hat's off once again to the Sci-Fi Channel for thinking outside the box and putting something other than cop dramas, lawyer shows, sit-coms, and reality show garbage on tv.