The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

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The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, an original made-for-television movie, aired May 20, 2005 as a special Friday night edition of ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney.

Promotional poster

Adapted from L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Adam F. Goldberg and The Simpsons writer Tom Martin, this latest retelling of the classic story follows Dorothy (Ashanti Douglas) as she journeys through an Oz populated by Muppets in order to find the Wizard and become a star.

The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, was directed by Kirk Thatcher, a Henson veteran who helmed the Muppets' last hit television special, It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, which aired on NBC in 2002. The movie was produced by The Jim Henson Company in association with Fox Television Studios, Touchstone Television and Muppets Holding Company.

1 Airdates
2 The Cast
3 History
4 The adaptation
5 External links

[edit] Airdates

World Premiere: April 27, 2005 at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Broadcast Premiere: May 20, 2005 at 8/7c on ABC in the US, and on CTV and CBC TV in Canada.

British premiere: December 18, 2005 on five.

British premiere: December 31, 2006 on five.

[edit] The Cast

Ashanti - Dorothy Gale
Kermit the Frog (Steve Whitmire puppetteer) - The Scarecrow
The Great Gonzo (Dave Goelz puppetteer) - The Tin Thing
Fozzie Bear (Eric Jacobson puppetteer) - The Cowardly Lion
Miss Piggy - The Wicked Witch of the West
Miss Piggy - Tattypoo, The Good Witch of the North
Miss Piggy - Glinda, The Good Witch of the South
Miss Piggy - The Wicked Witch of the East
Pepe the Prawn (Bill Barretta puppetteer) - Toto
Rizzo the Rat (Steve Whitmire puppetteer) - Munchkin
Queen Latifah - Aunt Em
David Alan Grier - Uncle Henry
Jeffrey Tambor - The Wizard
Quentin Tarantino - Himself
C. Ernst Harth - Earl

Supporting Muppet Cast includes: Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Sam the Eagle, Scooter, Statler, Waldorf, the Swedish Chef, Sweetums, Crazy Harry, Clifford, Foo Foo, Camilla, Johnny Fiama, Sal Manilla, and the Muppet Penguins.

[edit] History

The film marks the first major project after the acquisition of the Muppets property by The Walt Disney Company, which The Jim Henson Company is still consulting under. Since April 2004, The Muppets have been re-introduced to the public by way of low-key marketing and guest appearances on such shows as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Good Morning America and Saturday Night Live in hopes for a successful turn in the ratings by the time the new telefilm hits the air. A successful re-launch of the franchise is dependent on a good return in ratings for the evening, airing the same week Star Wars: Episode III premieres.

[edit] The adaptation

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

This film departs from the original Oz novel in a number of noticeable ways: Dorothy's family owns a diner instead of a farm; Toto is a prawn; the Tin Woodman is a robot. Many of the characters' personalities and backgrounds are given a show-biz makeover; for instance, this version's Dorothy dreams of being a famous singer, and at first she plans to ask the Wizard to give her fame rather than a way back to Kansas.

However, in several respects the plot follows the novel more closely than does the classic 1939 movie: For example, the Good Witch of the North (who greets Dorothy when she arrives in Oz) and Glinda (who shows her how to get home) are separate characters; when Dorothy defeats the Wicked Witch of the West she gains control of the Winged Monkeys; and the Wizard meets with each of Dorothy's friends separately in a different guise.

Many fans of the original film were upset that the magic shoes are silver instead of ruby. The studio claims to have done this because it is in keeping with the original book by L. Frank Baum. Something else which also offended fans of the original is that in this film Dorothy (Ashanti) took off the shoes (during the scene where she crossed the log over the canyon), but in the original Dorothy could not remove the shoes until she died (a common misconception; Glinda tells Dorothy to "keep tight inside of them," clearly indicating that she can take them off).

An interesting addition is that the Munchkins tell Dorothy she can call them if she needs help, which she does at both Poppyfields and the Witch of the West's castle. Since the Munchkins are, in this version, actually rats, this may be a reference to the Queen of the Field Mice and her subjects in the novel.

Another interesting note is that the Winged Monkeys are a biker gang, a trait that is reminiscent of The Wiz.

Quentin Tarantino's appearance is a completely arbitrary cameo. The Fight Scene between Dorothy and the Wicked Witch is interrupted to show Tarantino talking to Kermit about how the fight scene should end, parodying the style of his own movies and terrifying Kermit in the process. Kermit is dressed, interestingly enough, in a "Tarantino suit", seen in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

Since the Kansas scenes establish that the Muppets exist as TV personalities in the "real world" of the movie, and that Dorothy's ambition is to perform with them, it might be said that the movie retains the concept from the MGM film (and Return to Oz) of the inhabitants of Oz being based on people Dorothy knows. However, despite this, there is no suggestion of an "and it was all a dream" ending. This is also in keeping with the original novel, where Oz was an actual place that Dorothy visited several more times, rather than a dream.

Unlike A Muppet Christmas Carol and Muppet Treasure Island, this adaptation of an old story does not feature Gonzo and Rizzo as near-inseparable companions.

[edit] External links

v • d • e Films and television specials by The Muppets
Feature films	The Muppet Movie (1979) · The Great Muppet Caper (1981) · The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) · Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D (1991) · The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992) · Muppet Treasure Island (1996) · Muppets from Space (1999)
Television specials	A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) · The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990) · It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) · The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005)