Last December the Sci-Fi network scored its highest Neilson rating ever with its three night mini series event Tin Man. I'm mildly embarrassed to admit that I was one of the 6.3 million viewers on the first night (and even after I realized how bad it was, I came back for the 2nd and 3rd installments). With one of the most beloved stories at its root and a 19 million dollar budget (Variety 11/07) how could it fail?
Tin Man attempts to reinvent the classic story by perverting every aspect and making it "more sci-fi-y." The land of Oz is renamed the Outer Zone and referred to as the O.Z. (you know it's hip, like the O.C.) an alternate universe. This is where D.G. (as in Dorothy Gale, played by Zooey Deschanel) was actually born and raised (and murdered- by her sister- but we won't get into that). While our original Oz lived under the tyranny of the wicked witch there was still the light hearted magical components making it a desirable place to escape to. The new O.Z. is more of a dystopia than Dorothy's land of singing munchkins.
The O.Z. is suffering under the occupation of an evil sorceress who happens to be D.G.'s older sister (possessed of course). The evil Azkadellia rules over the O.Z. with the help of her Nazi-esque Longcoats and tattooed flying monkeys. To add to the horrible state of the O.Z. the emerald city is the seedy home to lowlifes, bounty seeking prostitutes, and a wizard who gains inspiration from taking hits from a pipe.
Executive Producer Robert Halim is quoted saying Tin Man is a "bit darker. To make a classic understood by young people today you have to talk an entirely different language." I don't think I've ever met a person unable to speak the language of L. Frank Baum's Wonderful Wizard of Oz, nor have I spoken to any "young people" who better identified with the warped world of the O.Z.
The greatest problem with Tin Man is that it tries to be too many things at once. The sheer amount of characters, plots and nods to the original found in Tin Man is enough to overwhelm a series, not to mention a three night special. Recreating the world of the Oz is a hefty task, especially considering the amount of recreations already in existence. From the musical Wicked, to the 1985 Return to Oz (based on another Baum novel), to The Wiz, we've seen this story told beautifully so many times that it almost seems necessary to take it to an extreme in order to make it fresh. However, there's extreme and then there's bad and Tin Man is bad. By drawing from so many components of classic Science Fiction in order to appeal to viewers, Tin Man became a giant mess of concepts.
The basic themes behind The Wizard of Oz are completely lost in Tin Man. Tin Man ends with D.G. reuniting with her parents- that she previously had no knowledge of- and her evil possessed sorcerous sister, who is returned to a loving sibling. Even with this family reunited, we never see the "there's no place like home" aspect that made the original so great and endearing. When Dorothy arrives home, safe and sound with those that love her, the audience is reassured, our faith in one aspect of the world is restored. However, when D.G. completes her mission to save the O.Z. there's no hint she has found happiness. She has a new family that she had previously forgotten and is forever separated from those that raised her. After such complete destruction of the O.Z. it's hard to imagine things will all fall into place. The tidy package that is the ending of Tin Man doesn't give any satisfaction or feeling of closure.
Ultimately Tin Man is a noble attempt to make the fantastic story of The Wizard of Oz even more fanciful. But how much more can you cram into a story with dancing munchkins, good and evil witches, a wizard and flying monkeys? Variety writer Brain Lowry ends his review of the mini series saying "To Sci-Fi's credit, projects of this scope require considerable courage, and the desire to breath new life into another beloved classic demonstrates heart. Now if it only had a brain."
No comments:
Post a Comment