Review: Tin Man (2006), major spoilers
Sep. 30th, 2010 06:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jeriendhalSummary: In this darker and edgier reimagining of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, D.G., a twenty-year waitress living with her parents in Kansas, finds herself flung into a magical world when a tornado disgorges a squad of trenchcoat wearing soldiers to hutn her down. She quickly finds herself on a journey to defeat the evil sorceress Askedelia and free the oppressed "Outer Zone", accompanied by a "zipperhead" (a man lobotomized by the state for criminal activity), a shell-shocked, lion-like seer, and a "Tin Man" gruff ex-Central City cop whom she finds imprisoned in an iron maiden for aiding the resistance.
"Have a heart, Tin Man!"
-Glitch, far too many times
"Okay, (my parents) were robots, but they still loved me!"
-D.G.
Review: Perhaps the most surprising thing about Tin Man is that given the automatically irritating idea of the Land of Oz needing to be darker and edgier (as if the original books weren't nightmare fuel enough) was that actually how faithful this mini-series was to the spirit of the original. For one thing, the writers weren't stuck on just doing dieselpunk analogs to the events in the original movie. Yes we have slightly different takes on the orignal Dorothy and her companions, but D.G. isn't looking for a way back home. The O.Z. is her home, and Askedelia isn't just a generic Big Bad to be defeated. As it turns out she's D.G's sister, possessed by a reconstituted Wicked Witch of the West and has to be saved, which certainly fits in with many of the misguided villains of the later OZ books.
It makes me wonder what the producers could have done with the original concept, that of a film noir style cop working the mean streets of Emerald City (hence the title of the miniseries, which is practically the only thing left over from the original concept). As it is, we do get a more traditional Plot Coupon quest starting around the midpoint of the show, which is perfectly okay, as by this point the world stands on its own, not just as a mirror to OZ's original. Even if, as it turns out, it is the original.
One further note: Longtime Sci-Fi Channel viewers might be off put by the idea of most of the show being filmed in the woods of British Columbia. And while I'll admit I was wondering when the cast would casually walk past a Stargate at some points, the cinematography makes sure we see some damned beautiful parts of British Columbia, not just the bits you saw in SG-1 over and over.
"Have a heart, Tin Man!"
-Glitch, far too many times
"Okay, (my parents) were robots, but they still loved me!"
-D.G.
Review: Perhaps the most surprising thing about Tin Man is that given the automatically irritating idea of the Land of Oz needing to be darker and edgier (as if the original books weren't nightmare fuel enough) was that actually how faithful this mini-series was to the spirit of the original. For one thing, the writers weren't stuck on just doing dieselpunk analogs to the events in the original movie. Yes we have slightly different takes on the orignal Dorothy and her companions, but D.G. isn't looking for a way back home. The O.Z. is her home, and Askedelia isn't just a generic Big Bad to be defeated. As it turns out she's D.G's sister, possessed by a reconstituted Wicked Witch of the West and has to be saved, which certainly fits in with many of the misguided villains of the later OZ books.
It makes me wonder what the producers could have done with the original concept, that of a film noir style cop working the mean streets of Emerald City (hence the title of the miniseries, which is practically the only thing left over from the original concept). As it is, we do get a more traditional Plot Coupon quest starting around the midpoint of the show, which is perfectly okay, as by this point the world stands on its own, not just as a mirror to OZ's original. Even if, as it turns out, it is the original.
One further note: Longtime Sci-Fi Channel viewers might be off put by the idea of most of the show being filmed in the woods of British Columbia. And while I'll admit I was wondering when the cast would casually walk past a Stargate at some points, the cinematography makes sure we see some damned beautiful parts of British Columbia, not just the bits you saw in SG-1 over and over.
