#script vs movie

[mask131]

What Oz could have been: The Great and Powerful

I first heard about the original script for Disney's "Oz The Great and Powerful" through a fan art of Theodora by the brilliant artist hwilki65 over at DeviantArt. The fan-art in question is gone now, but do not hesitate to go check the artist's gallery over at DeviantArt, he is one of the most thorough Oz artists of the Internet with tons of clever and beautiful takes on the Ozian world.

Everybody remembers Disney's "Oz The Great and Powerful", right? This Disney movie that attempted to be a prequel to the MGM movie, and yet couldn't really because Disney didn't have the rights? This VERY divise 2013 movie which was a big flop in terms of Oz adaptation? You remember, this thing which took a very cool concept of prequel, a lot of beautiful visuals and impressive visual effects and just... drowned it in cliche plot points, wasted opportunities and the most insufferable characters you ever met?

Yeah, this movie.

In his description for his fan-art, hwilki65 evoked the original scenario for the movie. His fan-art was of the "original" Theodora, not the one from the movie - and while the final product might seem like a simple cash-grab attempting at reclaiming the MGM heritage, these early drafts proved that the movie ACTUALLY started out as much more faithful to the Oz books and more sincere in its attempt at reconciliating the various Oz heritages into something new.

Of course, the idea of a better original version of the movie, that eventually was butchered into the story we can see today, was very intriguing. So I checked out the original script for the movie (but not after YEARS of searching it around, because it wasn't disponible online at first). And OH MY! The original scenario is indeed very different from the final movie, and quite better in term of overall quality! I did a full breakdown of this script back at my Oz side-blog (@witchesoz ), but to give you a taste of what we lost, and to encourage you to go seek this original scenario, here are some key points different from the final movie:

Oscar, the Wizard of Oz. In the movie? A selfish, greedy, womanizing jerk who starts out as the villain of the story, and his evolution arc is basically just him learning to be a decent human being. In the original script? He was such a positive character - in fact I will dare say he was a saner and cleaner version of Jack Sparrow. He was this kind-hearted, goofy, extravagant stage magician VERY good at his job (he was also a ventriloquist like in the novel, AND an escape artist/contortionist), but unfortunately unappreciated by the folks of 1900s USA, so he was forced to do snake-oil selling just to survive. He wasn't motived by greed or lust, but by his day-dreaming and ambition at being the greatest magician of all time, acclaimed by the masses - and the reason he played into "Yes I'm the Wizard of the prophecy" wasn't because of some girls or riches, but simply because Oz was the first place where his magic tricks actually impressed someone.

Remember this little winged monkey fella that Oscar saves the life of in Oz, and so the monkey swears a "life debt" to the wizard and becomes his funny sidekick? In the original script it was the reverse situation. Oscar was helped by a winged monkey, and thanked the talking animal for saving his life, swearing he had a "life debt" TO THE WINGED MONKEY, not the reverse.

In the final movie, when Oscar is in the tornado, he just whimpers and begs for his life. In the original script? He underwent a King Lear-like monologue, insulting the winds and defying the storm, insulting the tornado and daring it to kill him.

Theodora... Oh, Theodora! The character was originally designed as the very opposite of what she ended up as. She wasn't a shy, naive, nice girl - she was this strong, confident, majestic witch. Oscar didn't manipulate her like a teenage girl: she was the one who manipulated Oscar like a puppet by pretending to be a good witch and forcing him into the role of The Wizard of Oz. Yes I say "by pretending" to be a good a witch. Because originally, Theodora was a wicked witch FROM the start. She knew and was in league with her sister's evil plan. The only difference between the two is that Theodora, as the younger and less experimented sister, still had some humanity left in her - feelings of kindness and human decency that the wizard managed to "wake up" by just... being nice to her and treating her like a regular human being. There was the whole "I give you the music box" scene, but it was the reverse? In the original draft Oscar didn't lie, he just gave her a random music box as a gift for helping him in Oz, just out of kindness without expecting anything in return ; and that DID touch Theodora because indeed, since she is a wicked witch, she never had such a genuine gift out of pure kindness.

Originally we would have the backstory of the Cowardly Lion. Theodora, wishing to "test" if the Wizard truly had powers or not, secretely turned a rabbit into a lion, and had it attack Oscar while he was alone and presumably defenseless... Only for the Wizard to shoot it with a gun, causing in this rabbit-lion the fear of humanity.

Originally the servants of the Wicked Witches were the various terrible tribes of the novel "The Emerald City of Oz", monstrous outsiders the Witch sisters had Oz invaded with. The Growleywogs, the Whimsies, the Nomes (well rather the Gnomes)...

In the movie Theodora "turn to evil" is literaly just "Oh, a guy cheated on me, I'm heartbroken, let me nomnom on some evil". In the original draft? SO MUCH BETTER! Evanora, noticing Oscar had rekindled the last piece of goodness in her sister, first tries to convince Oscar he should kill Theodora because she is "in league with the wicked witch". When Oscar refuses to commit murder, Evanora tries to convince Theodora Oscar was trying to kill her... But Theodora doesn't buy it and, even though the Wizard knows she is a Wicked Witch, she still helps him escape Evanora in return for the kindness he showed her. And afterward, Evanora spends many, many scenes abusing her sister, at first verbally, psychologically, finally physically, to convince her to give up on the last of her humanity and enter a deeper, more monstrous stage of wickedness. Theodora does end up burning her skin due to the tears - but they're the tears her sisters make her shed with her torture. And Theodora resists' Evanora poisonous words, only to give up when Glinda causes a siege on the Emerald City and the Witches must prepare themselves to directly confront and fight Oscar.

And can we speak about Glinda? She was SO MUCH closer to the Glinda of the books! She was this majestic, beautiful and powerful warlord-witch living in a grand palace in the south, all on her own (because, since she is a witch, she literaly needs no servant). As soon as she saw Oscar, she cut through his bullshit and shoot down his dream of grandeur, because she knows what real magic is (all Witches do, but the Wicked Witches played along to better manipulate Oscar). She gathers an ACTUAL army of thousand of people to besiege the Emerald City ; and during the war she uses so much more her powers, bu unleashing blinding mists and huge snowstorms, and literaly stopping or unleashing the winds. Oh yes, and all possible romance between Oscar and her is also clearly made impossible when it is revealed that Witches cannot kiss humans - else humans DIE (which also puts Theodora's loneliness under a new light).

Oh yes, and in the original draft, Oscar's development was actually him going from this ambitious daydreamer who only wished for a fantasy land to escape to, where he would be a great and acclaimed wizard... to him actually being fed up with Oz where everybody wants to kill or manipulate him, and dreaming to return to Kansas to settle down with those he truly love, and live there a mundane, quiet, normal life, as a regular man... Something he ends up being forced to give up, because he is needed to prevent the Wicked Witches from overtaking Oz, and so he literaly is trapped within his own dream and forced to give up what he realized too lat was what he wanted all along...

Seriously, the original draft for the movie was SO INSANELY COOL. It was still a rough draft and it had pacing problems, and some cheesy stuff that definitively needed to be cut, and also some weird phrasing that made it sound somehow racist sometimes? But outside of that, the characters and plot were truly so much better than what we got!

[witchesoz]

Oz the Great and Powerful: Script VS Movie (1)

If you haven’t kept up with my updates: a long time ago, soon after the release of “Oz: The Great and Powerful”, I heard about one of the original script for the project being passed around the Internet. A script that showed how the movie was originally conceived, a script that showed a movie that was originally much closer to the world of Baum’s books than the final movie, a scrip that actually was better and much less flawed than the movie we ended up with.

At the time I had searched for this script, to no avail, but now, after so many years, I finally found it! And… yes, the script I got to read is actually better than the actual movie (mind you, it still has some flaws, because it was still a script-in-progress, but it also lacked a lot of the problems of the movie) and much closer to Baum’s books. In fact, reading this script while looking at the side at the finished movie is a wild experience – not only do they end up feeling like two different movies with the same plot, but also… the actual movie feels almost like a caricature of the original script. As if someone read the script, went “Let’s add as much stereotypes as we could, and twist the characters so that they became annoying instead of interesting, and let’s reinterpret what the script says in the most negative way possible” and we ended up with this movie, that would be someone’s wrong re-interpretation of the script… But anyway, I’ll let you judge by yourself, because I will break down the differences between the script and the movie.

I) In Kansas

Right ahead, the opening scene. In the movie we have this long sequence that starts with Oscar seducing his new assistant, scenes insisting on him being an unfaithful lying womanizer breaking the heart of all girls, and we are shown how his show is just shoddy tricks and fake magic, with an insistence on the “scam” nature of his show with the whole “girl in a wheelchair” thing. In the original script? NONE OF THAT! The script begins actually with Oscar in the middle of his own show – which is actually a pretty decent and impressive magic show. We begin with Oscar choosing someone in the audience to handcuff him solidly, and then asks the man what time it is – the man looks at his wrist, but his watch is gone, and then Oscar hands him his watch, with his magically un-cuffed hands. And then he proceeds to do a series of “transformations” by having an egg appear in his hand, that turns into a rabbit, then into a dove… Standard but impressive magic tricks. And the thing is that the audience, despite the show being good, is left unimpressed by it. Unphased. Oscar even has to use his ventriloquism to invent enthusiastic audience voices in front of the deafening silence (oh yes, because that’s another point the script took from the book – Oscar is a very good ventriloquist). As the script says, the main problem here Is that Oscar is an “unappreciated artist”, whose magic tricks do not impress an imagination-less audience.

And so, in front of magic tricks doing poorly, Oscar turns to his second business… basically snake oil selling. Given his magic show doesn’t do anything, he starts promoting and selling a fake elixir called “HOME” – the Homeopathic Ontological Miracle Elixir – and there he gets a TON of money and a huge success. This is another good point of the script – it shows that Oscar/Oz isn’t a scam by default, unlike the greedy jerk we see in the movie. The script establishes well that Oscar needs to do scams because his natural talent and initial projects do not work.

As a nod to the MGM movie there is a “Mr. Gulch” in the audience of Oscar’s show plus oil snake sale, in charge of the local bank, and there is also a couple known as the “Hamilton”, with the wife being called “Margaret”. A not-so-subtle nod to the actress of the Wicked Witch of the West in the MGM movie… But an homage that actually would have been REALLY offensive and of poor taste if it had ever been done. You’ll get why when I describe the character of “Mrs. Hamilton”. For you see, Mrs. Hamilton is a very attractive woman that was the only one who applauded when Oscar did his magic tricks, while Mr. Hamilton is a stern, no-nonsense, unhappy man who spends more time with his friends than his wife and is just as unimpressed by Oscar’s tricks as the rest of the audience. And as Mr. Hamilton leaves Mrs. Hamilton alone, she quickly joins Oscar for a passionate embrace. For you see, Oscar is Mrs. Hamilton’s extra-marital lover. We have still the “philanderer” aspect of Oscar there, but interestingly it is downplayed a lot. We do not see him interacting with any other women, we know of his seducing nature by secondary hints. More importantly, the character of Mrs. Hamilton is basically a mix-up of all the conquests of Oscar in the final movie, from the circus girls to Annie. I’ll explain… Mrs. Hamilton has affairs with Oscar whenever he comes to Kansas with the carnival/circus/fair he is part of, and she apparently truly loves him unlike her husband – but she also is aware that he has other “girls” he has adventures with during his tours, and is quite fine with it, especially since as Oscar puts it, all the other girls are just “bauble” compared to the true “jewel” that is Margaret, the only reason he even comes in Kansas anymore. So, while not a perfect relationship, we still have something much more “balanced” somehow than we have in the movie. In the movie, Oscar is a man unable to commit the woman he truly loves and that loves him in return, and would rather abandon her to another than straighten himself up and stop his scheming, devious ways – plus, a man that literally pushes love aside for his dream of glory and being the “greatest man of them all” AND a man that keeps his true loved one in the complete ignorance of his other sexual relationships with women. But in the script? We have a man that is honest with his true loved one about having meaningless sexual affairs when far away from her, and she understands it because she herself is married and cannot be in a full relationship with him, all the while they keep reassuring each other that they do love each other, but that their life conditions prevent them from being together full time and dooms them to occasional times of secret love. Of course, the fact that the whole “lies and scams girls to sleep with them” part is not in the original script also helps – since in the script, Oscar keeps winning the heart of women due to his natural charm, eccentric charisma and random acts of kindness.

The other main change brought to the character, and a very important one, would be the motivations of Oscar. In the movie, Oscar’s whole goal is, in his own words, to become a great, rich and famous man, the greatest wizard ever known – he pursues ambition. He puts career before anything, he is selfishly acting always and only for himself, and he has hatred for honest work and poorness due to seeing his father dying “his face in the dirt” as he worked to the bone to survive. If used well, this motivation could have created a “lovable rogue” character, but unfortunately in the movie Oscar just comes off as a selfish greedy jerk and there is nothing lovable about him. In the script? Oh boy, that’s night and day! The reason Oscar refuses to stay in Kansas despite Mrs. Hamilton’s insistence, is because he actually searches for a “great land”. He doesn’t care about being a great man, in fact during his explaining sections he rarely uses “me” or “I” (unlike the movie character who is all “me me me me”) – he explains that his hatred of Kansas is due to how dull, grey and empty the land and its people are, and upon seeing his father die “face in the dirt”, he didn’t develop a hatred of an humble life and hard work like in the movie, but he rather developed a hatred of Kansas as the land that “grinded to dust” his good father of a man. Oscar’s only goal, and the reason he keeps travelling and he doesn’t settle anywhere, is because he is looking for a land of “color and light and life”, a land of beauty and marvels. He does dream of fortune and glory yes, but only as a side-effect of finding the “perfect land”. Basically, Oscar’s original character was that of a dreamer trying to escape desperately the dreary and grim world he comes from – he was basically a parallel to Dorothy in the original MGM movie, or even better, he was a depiction of what an escapist dreamer like Dorothy could end up in the “wrong” side, if pushed to a more extreme. A man forced into selling snake oil to fuel his dreams, and who lives so much in his dreams that he cannot settle even for the woman he loves. It isn’t that he thinks of him before anyone else, like in the movie, but rather that he is such an extreme optimist that he literally believes there is some paradise on earth waiting somewhere, and that he can reach it one way or another.

Now, Mr. Hamilton and his friends end up discovering Oscar in an embrace with Mrs. Hamilton, and this leads to the chase scene present in the finished movie, but with a few differences. Mrs. Hamilton herself helps Oscar escape ; the other members of the circus (the “freaks and roundabouts”) also help Oscar in his chase, because apparently they are used to him being hunted down by angry husbands, but still like him enough to come to his help ; and finally, instead of having obstacles everywhere he runs, the original script called for a whole set of cartoony acrobatics, as Oscar would have escaped through the big tent, using trapezes and trampolines, before finding the balloon. You see, there is a real “comedy” aspect to the script. In fact, when reading the original characterization of Oz/Oscar, I couldn’t help but have a “Pirate of the Caribbean” vibe – as in, he seems to have made into a sober and less unhinged version of Captain Jack Sparrow. Another part of the script that shows its flows: as he gets into the balloon, Frank, Oscar’s assistant, throws him his hat – just like in the finished movie. But in this script… this is the first and only apparition of Frank, who isn’t even named by the dialogue, and the only indication of who he is and what his relationship to Oscar is, is found in the notes of the scripts. If shot as indicated, it would just be a random man throwing Oscar his hat. This is something that was definitively corrected in the movie, by having Frank’s character be presented and explored in the previous scenes – but this shows one of the bad habits of this original script, it tends to introduce characters or things very abruptly, without any actual explanation or presentation of who they are supposed to be.

II) Arrival in Oz

The whole “tornado” sequence is also very different in the original script. Already it isn’t a true tornado that sweeps up Oscar’s balloon, but rather a heavy and violent storm. And unlike in the movie, where Oscar is terrified and whimpers for his life, begging whatever God there is to spare him while promising to “change”… the script Oscar’s actually enters into a King Lear-like defiance (the scripts’ words) and starts shouting “Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! Blow!” while confronting the “deathswirl” of thunder, lightning, violent winds and heavy rains.

No “floating” scene like in the movie, and Oscar doesn’t actually arrive immediately into the beautiful scenery of Oz: in the original script, Oscar first arrives above the Deadly Desert, an endless spread of sun-scorched sand, and in front of this place, Oscar starts panicking when he realizes he has no food or drinks. He actually briefly considers killing himself with his pistol (yeah, it had quite some dark parts), but then ditches the idea way by saying he was in “worst predicaments” before – though he later admits to himself he can’t think of any worst predicament on the top of his head. Overall it is a sort of dark-humor which, as you can see, helped in the feeling of a more “Jack Sparrow-like” Oscar. As his engine starts dying out, Oscar insults it and there he has regrets – but due to the shift of goals from the character, instead of regretting “not having accomplished great things”, this Oscar regrets all the things he will never see “Paris and India” and all the great landmarks of the world.

However Oscar is suddenly save by gusts of hot winds from the desert, which sent him above cold, snowy mountains, and then over a rainbow (heavy MGM nod – I also forgot to say Oscar tells the line “I’ve a feeling I’m not in Kansas anymore” while above the desert) and finally he arrives in a fantastical, marvelous Oz… But here’s the twist. It is a yellowish landscape. And as he falls in a river, like in the movie, he is greeted not by Theodora, but by a bunch of odd people all wearing different shades and hues of yellow, while “looking and sounding a lot like the Winkie Guards from the original movie”. Yep, Oscar is actually greeted by the Winkies themselves, who start shouting and cheering, heralding him as the Great Wizard and their Savior, and telling him he is here to defeat the “Wicked Witch”. Before the shocked Oscar can have more explanations from the bowing Winkies, Theodora actually arrives – and she arrives carried by two winged monkeys. Yep, that’s another change from the original script: instead of the “winged baboons” being depicted as the vicious servants of the Wicked Witch, here the winged monkeys are very clearly associated with the “good witches” Evanora and Theodora. Theodora’s only description is: beautiful, dressed in an open-collared white shirt, black pants, and black high-knee boots. She promptly explains to him the basic situation (she is a witch, the wicked witch has to be defeated, yada yada), but with several key differences. For example, the Wicked Witch is here clearly referenced to as “The Wicked Witch of the South” (clearly it is both playing on the MGM canon where there is no southern witch, and also a nod to book-fans about the real identity of the “wicked witch”), and Evanora is already talked about as the “Queen of Oz”. She isn’t some “royal advisor” or keeper of the throne like in the finished movie – she is introduced as the rightful queen of Oz, that the wicked witch tries to overthrow.

Unlike in the movie, where Theodora is a soft, gentle, almost shy character, the script’s Theodora is depicted as fast (quick eyes, quick movements and a lively mind, which is part of why Oscar likes her) and as very insistent – while the Winkies immediately assume he is a Wizard, she keeps asking “Are you a Wizard?”. And unlike in the movie, where Oscar, as the greedy jerk that he is, only plays in the whole Wizard thing because he hears there’s gold and a crown as a price, in the original script, Oscar goes into the whole Wizard thing without hearing about any riches or powers. He simply adores the appreciation these people have of him and his “magic”, and as the script says, the “showman” in him takes over and he decides to play the role of a great Wizard, going on a boastful rant about being a wizard of pyrotechnics and prestidigitation, and the master of illusions – and to show his magic, he does some traditional magic tricks, which impress the Winkies heavily. Oscar is too happy to have finally found people appreciating his magic for him to let go, and he even calls the Winkies an “audience” at the end. But Theodora… and this is another one of the positive “change” compared to the movie (can you call it “change” when it is retrospective, since the script came before the movie?). Theodora doesn’t care so much about the magic tricks themselves – she is not particularly amazed by them – but she pays a close attention to the way they impress the Winkies, and to how they react to the Wizard’s antics. And as she keeps insisting “Are you a Wizard?”, Oscar, not wanting to lie but not wanting to dispel his newfound glory, answers ambiguously, such as “Seeing is believing” in reference to the tricks he just performs and “I wouldn’t want to contradict a lovely lady such as yourself”.

Somehow satisfied, Theodora then, with a smile… get ready for that… sparks lightning out of her fingers to have Oscar’s balloon explode. In front of his shock, she explains that if he is indeed a great Wizard, she cannot let him go, because her sister the Queen needs too much a Great Wizard to help her defeat the Wicked Witch once and for all. She also adds that her sister, Queen of the Emerald City, is a powerful witch that can offer him anything he dreamed of or desired – to encourage him to go with her see Evanora (again, the script heavily parallels Dorothy’s arrival in Oz, with Evanora replacing the promises of the “wonderful wizard of Oz” in the original narrative. Another bit that show the original character of Oscar in the movie: even when it becomes clear he has no choice but follow Theodora, since she literally had his only mean of escape explode, he still keeps up a bravado and declares “Given your kind offer, I will cancel all planned and prior arrangements, to go speak with your sister and see if we can arrange something”.

Theodora insists on travelling by foot, much to Oscar’s indignation – cut to the broom dialogue of the movie. Theodora came carried by two winged monkeys, one is Nikko (from the MGM movie), that she sends back to Theodora with a letter she quickly wrote, and the other is Kala, who carries Oscar’s luggage – he is the equivalent of the little helpful bellhop winged-monkey from the movie I forgot the name of. Except that in this script, the winged monkeys do not speak.

III) Travel down the Yellow Brick Road

Theodora, Oscar and Kala first go through farmlands with “curious-looking houses almost shaped like faces” (a nod to the original illustrations of the Oz houses, from the Baum books), and as they do Theodora explains the whole story of the wicked witch, and due to the shift of power relationships it is quite different from the one we get in the movie. In the original script, Theodora’s story is that the Wicked Witch of the South was an evil sorceress, daughter of the previous king of Oz, himself a powerful wizard and evil king. Despite Evanora being Queen of Oz, she needs all the help she can to fight the Wicked Witch of the South (and this help is resumed to Theodora herself, and the “good people of Oz”) – and finally we get the little fact that Evanora and the Wicked Witch used to be very good friends, but they had no idea “how wicked wickedness could be, and how friendship could be betrayed”.

They arrive in front of a large, wild river, and Theodora uses leaves from a strange bush growing nearby – by rubbing them on people’s feet or shoes, it allows one to walk over water. And while Theodora walks “like a queen”, majestic, Oscar is noted to laugh like a child as he tries to walk on water, slipping like a baby giraffe taking its first steps. This is one of the main differences with the movie-Oscar: script-Oscar actually keeps being amazed and having fun in Oz, truly loving all the wonders and magic of the land, like… well like a child, as I said before. It is only after they crossed the large river that they finally arrive at the Yellow Brick Road – and there Oscar is amazed to discover that the road is paved with pure gold. Theodora just replies “Don’t they have roads, where you come from?” (gold apparently being of no real value in Oz), and Oscar promptly takes off one of the bricks from the road, keeping it from his pocket and justifying his actions by “scientific purposes” – he claims he wants to check if it isn’t the “fool’s gold”, this fake gold produced by alchemists to scam people (that’s a real thing, you can check it out). Down the Yellow Brick Road, they arrive at the “Enchanted Apple Orchard”, a nod to the apple tree segment of the MGM movie – Theodora says that if Oscar wants to take an apple, he has to ask politely the trees first, and while he does so dubitatively, the tree then shakes its branch to let apples fall at his feet so he can eat them. We also get a brief line where Theodora reveals that witches do not need to eat to survive.

We then get to the night scene by the campfire, like in the movie, and here the fire was started by lightning shot out of Theodora’s fingers – in the script Theodora’s element clearly isn’t fire but lightning, and there is also no mention of any glowing ring she might have (unlike the movie where witches power come from gems they wear). Now, Oscar does the whole “give her a music box and offers her to dance” thing from the movie, but there are MAJOR differences. Difference on Oscar’s side, as there is no “this was my grandmother” lie, or any lie at all – he just gives her the music box, and when Theodora asks him why, he explains that he just wanted to make her a gift. It is a random act of kindness, nothing more, with no ulterior motif. And there is also a major difference when it comes to Theodora’s character. As I said previously, the original Theodora was far from the shy, quiet, naïve character is in the movie. She is quiet in the script – but because she is calm, majestic and constantly analyzing the situation. It is notably made clear that she keeps observing Oscar through their travels and trying to figure out what his “deal” is. And when he shows her then offers her the music box, it is the first time she actually shows genuine emotion – a childlike wonder and delight that cracks the cold and statuesque mask she put on. This makes the line “No one ever gave me something because they wanted to” line from the movie much more impactful, as we actually see a cold Theodora warming up to a true act of kindness – and during the dance scene, it is made clear that not only has she never danced with a man before, but the script insists she probably has never touched or been in the presence of a man for this much. Which leads her to get so nervous, when the music box stops she goes into the woods to “collect fire fuel”, just to calm herself all alone.

And here we get a whole new scene, that isn’t present in the final movie, and truly puts things in another perspective. As she is alone in the woods, Theodora is caught up by Nikko, returning with a letter from Evanora, asking her sister to make sure the Wizard is a real wizard. And so to test it, Theodora takes a rabbit in the woods… and transforms it into a ferocious lion she then orders to attack the Wizard. Oscar, in front of a wild lion, while all alone, first pushes it back by making a torch out of the fire, then by using his pistol (the one we saw earlier during his consideration of suicide). He merely wounds the animal, which retreats, and Theodora later returns as if she had been away and knew nothing of the situation. Upon hearing the tale of Oscar, she marvels at such a strangely-shaped “wand” (the pistol), and Oscar, in his bravado, explains he is used to fight off lion where he comes from, and that if he could he would have wrestled him with his bare hands… all while hiding his actual hands, trembling with fear, away from Theodora’s eyes. We also learn that the pistol only had one bullet, so now is completely useless, and… oh yeah, and the lion Oscar wounded is actually the Cowardly Lion. This info is dropped in the notes of the script, and this is another flaw of the writing here – in effect, in neither the dialogues nor the visuals, we do not know it is supposed to be the Cowardly Lion, and if the scene was shot it would not be known except for reading the script. Whoever wrote this scenario forgot that sometimes you need to include info in ways that the audience will know, not just the director.

IV) Meeting Evanora

Finally, our team arrives in the central land of Oz – which is said to be “brown-hued” and they see the Emerald City, described as “Sleeping Beauty’s Castle on steroids”. Interestingly, there is a heavy insistence on dreams in this script – from the Wizard claiming roads paved with gold only existed in dreams, to here reacting in front of the City by saying “I saw this before… In one of my dreams.”. As they go down the Yellow Brick Road, they are surprised by boulders in the field nearby suddenly moving and revealing themselves to be the turtle-shell-shaped shields of an army of gnomes, “short, squat, fierce-looking warriors with skin the color and texture of stone and beards so long they tie them around their waist” and armed with all sorts of broadswords, cutlasses and battle-axes… And as they appear, on the surrounding hillside, other creatures appear – Growleywogs, “silent, half-clad, eight-foot-tall Aboriginals armed with knives, bows, arrows and spears” (*cough cough* maybe it’s a good thing this part got lost) and Whimsies “distinguished by their extraordinarily broad shoulders and enormous crazy-colored papier-mache Mardi Gras masks, wearing over their undersized heads. As you can see, this is a true feast for any book fan.

But much to Oz’s surprise, Theodora explains that these savage warriors are actually here merely to escort them to her sister, Evanora – and they form a march around them, chanting “Oh-we-oh, yo ho!”. The interesting thing with this script is that, unlike with the movie, they didn’t try to make us entirely believe that Evanora and Theodora were purely good before their turn to wickedness, and they didn’t try to play the “Oh, the wicked witch of the west is somewhere, but where?”. Instead, the original script approach was to present these two characters, Theodora and Evanora, that appear good to Oz, but clearly are much more morally ambiguous to the viewer, and who are promptly guessed as the Wicked Witches – from Theodora making the balloon burst into flames, to her testing the Wizard magic with a lion that could have killed him… And another early scene that shows the discrepancy between what Oscar as a character knows and what the audience knows: arriving in the magnificent and beautiful city, Oscar and Theodora are cheered on by all the citizens of the City, who play music and throw rose petals and applaud. The script insists that the citizens of Oz are actually formed of inhabitants taken from the four corners of Oz: Winkies and Munchkins, Gillikins and Quadlings, all dressed “in different regional colors, and all enthusiastically waving green and white flags and pennants”. Oscar is said to “eat up” and wave back at the crowd like a “returning war hero or a campaign politician”… but the audience actually get to see what Oscar doesn’t see – the fact that the palace guards of Evanora, “uniformed bully-boys”, keep passing behind the crowd, making sure the citizens are cheering the wizard’s entrance with “enough gusto”, and overall giving the audience a strong sense that all is not what it quite seems in the Merry Old Land of Oz… (Funnily we also get here the line “What, no fireworks?” from Oscar, delivered to a confused Theodora who asks “What are fireworks?”

Escorted by Theodora, still “grand and glorious”, Oscar finally meets Evanora, Queen of Oz, sitting on the Emerald Throne – older than Theodora, but no less attractive, with a “powerful presence” and “penetrating gaze”. Evanora, curious and amused at the sight of the Wizard, notes that he does not kneel in front of her, and Oz answers that he is American “and Americans kneel to no one”. Evanora, delighted by the Wizard’s character, has him escorted by Munchkin maids to his chambers, and once she is alone with Theodora, she reveals that she saw everything that happened since the Wizard’s arrival in his crystal ball (just like in the movie – and Theodora is also clearly aware of her sister’s surveillance, since earlier she seemed to spoke to her sister despite her not being there, and now it is revealed that it was because she knew she was watching their every move). Evanora also has a “big sister” moment with Theodora, as she points out she noticed how Theodora grew to like the Wizard, and how he “likes” her in return. Theodora is almost blushing and can’t look at her sister in the eyes… And then we are dropped the frightening lines of Evanora: “And who can blame you? You’re still so young… and you still have feelings, don’t you?”. After this ominous line implying that Evanora doesn’t have any feelings anymore herself, she reassures Theodora that she did the right thing by bringing the Wizard here.

After Oscar enjoyed his private chambers and a large meal, he has a private chat with Evanora who, just like in the movie, goes to show her the “Room of Resplendence”, the Crown Jewels of Oz, enormous piles of gemstones and jewels. And just like in the movie, Evanora is trying to play on Oscar’s greed, as she heard from her sister that he liked “shiny things” (a nod to the Yellow Brick incident). But there are some differences here and there in the scene… Such as how Evanora actually slips word about how “pretty” her sister is and how she is fond of the Wizard (clearly trying to put them together), and also how the treasury is actually guarded by both guards AND a curtain of fire that Evanora needs to make disappear by magic (plus a stout wooden door with iron bands and multiple locks that Evanora also opens by magic, with just a wave of her hand).

But then… Things take a dark turn and we go away from the movie’s chronology. Evanora presents to Oz an artefact known as the “Diamond Dagger” – a six inches blade of razor-sharp steel, with a cross guard of filigreed gold, and a hilt encrusted in glittering diamonds. And Evanora says that he will inherit the treasury of Oz if he kills the “Wicked Witches”. Oscar is confused, as he only knew of one Wicked Witch. And Evanora reveals to him that her own sister, Theodora, is actually a Wicked Witch herself, secretly conspiring with the Wicked Witch of the South. Evanora insists that Oscar must use the Diamond Dagger to kill Theodora, and that Theodora only brought him to the city in hope of tricking him into killing her and become the new Queen. She seems convinced that Theodora offered the Wizard to share the crown in exchange for this murder, but Evanora warns him that after obtaining what she wanted, the seducing Theodora will “eat you like a spider”. And as Evanora dematerialize, fading into nothing, she declares “Prove to me you’re the Wizard you say you are, the Wizard we’ve all been waiting for. Kill my sister, then together you and I will defeat the Witch of the South once and for all. Kill my sister, Wizard – and you’ll be King.”

Now, Oz is deeply confused, and he tried to explain to Evanora she was wrong, to no avail. So, hiding the Dagger in his belt and understanding the danger Theodora is in, he promptly goes to her home and tries to convince her to leave the City… But before he can anything else, Evanora promptly appears in Theodora’s room – forming herself out of a moving shadow that was sliding along the wall. Using her magic, Evanora pushes Oscar against the wall and uses some telekinesis to choke him so he can’t speak, and she plays a Reverse Uno card on him. She pretends she is saving Theodora’s life, that Oscar was sent by the Witch of the South to murder her, and she uses the Diamond Dagger he has on him as a proof. Theodora, shocked but unable to truly believe her sister’s accusations, is flabbergasted – and it doesn’t help that Oscar has been knocked out cold by Evanora’s magic. However, playing the card of the subtlety, Evanora agrees that maybe she is wrong – maybe he wasn’t sent by the Witch of the South, but by another, or maybe he wanted to act on his own… and to make sure she isn’t acting “unfairly” here, she promises she will interrogate the Wizard tomorrow and get the truth out of him. But upon seeing Theodora’s horrified face, we understand that for Evanora “interrogating” means something truly awful.

[emilylsart]

Uh oh, what's this?...The G-Man has risen...INTO SOMETHING MONSTROUS!!

It's been a long time coming, but here's my concept for Credzilla, aka Gideon Graves' "giant monster form" as seen in the early movie script for Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, written in 2007! Believe me, I've been going a bit crazy for this guy for a month now ever since @that-weirdmango2 introduced me to the script and has recently been wanting to see this version of Gideon more...and I agree with him! For days and days I've been sketching this monster man and I've finally found a use for him (may change but this is fine for now)!

Well, here's some info about my version of Credzilla:

Credzilla dons his tall stature as well as the flowy, super saiyan-like hair from his subspace form as seen in final volume of the comic series.

Credzilla's strong body type came from his Super Gideon Graves form (as seen in the video game). The doodle on the top right is kind of a redraw of Super Gideon's intro screen.

Credzilla's powers include shooting flames (with words) out of his mouth and an optical blast straight out of his glasses!

His glasses appear pure white while in this form, but his eyes appear when mad or just plain crazy.

Yes, Credzilla has "the glow" all over him. He does that when receiving his "coolness" from his followers, allowing him to grow continuously...until he reaches his full potential as the GOD OF COOL!! Whatever he'll do next after reaching this form is not good by our standards!

One of Credzilla's "mini-weaknesses" is a remark/comment that he claims "uncool". The one true weakness is to find out what REALLY makes him tick...if Scotty P. can find a way to LITERALLY get inside his head (just like in the early script)!

That's it about my ideas about Credzilla so far...I may be making a little comic/alt. scene to the movie about him, but I'll have to see when I get there.

[tagging: @that-weirdmango2]

[octobre-ackedia]

I'm gonna rewrite Megamind VS The Doom Syndicate but make it actually good and I have an entire doc with ideas already and idk, does anyone even want to read that?

[annieisyourfavourite]

anyone saying the barbie movie is a 10/10 must be tripping balls, holy shit. like i get liking the movie. but for real read some judith butler and elevate your feminism past 2010-Buzzfeed-Disney-Princess-girlboss "men and women are different species" "there must be the oppressor and the oppressed in gender dynamics, so women might as well be on the top this time" feminism like oh my god

[ladyknight33]

Opinons on the New Style of Live Action Storytelling

Tl:dr: The 8 episode format for the new Live Action stories is too limited for the complex stories of the original source material. Action scenes and Magical displays are not substitutes for building tension and climatic battles. The characters and storytellers deserve better. 

*

As much as I am enjoying this new era of small screen scripted fiction through the streaming services, I am a bit disappointed in how rushed every show feels. The six to eight episodes force the story to hit key points without allowing the story to actually breathe and endear itself to the viewers. 

First of all, I do not believe all stories must be done in the Live Action format because locks the world into the physics we understand within our own physical world. This limits much of the imaginative qualities a work of fiction inspires. 

Example: when watching an animated Star Wars Jedi do amazing feats accredited to the Force, it is spectacular and defies the known laws of physic. When a live action Jedi attempts the same feats, the action is dulled down to fit the current CGI limitations. This holds true for any magic or anything non-real. 

This leads into a second issue live action formats fall victim to: intense focus on special effects.  Storytelling is forced to take a backseat to the long sequences of beautiful CGI images or fight scenes. T.V. and Film are visual media and they thrive on fantastic imagery. These scenes are necessary when trying to tell a visual story, but not when it takes away from character development and slows the pace of the story. 

Example: The epic fantasy series I grew up reading, The Wheel of TimeI, was long due for a visual adaptation. I have accepted that the show is not the book, but there are pacing issues that could have been avoided if the limited time had not been spent on the intense focus of weaving magic or on action sequences that took the majority of the episode.

The pacing issues are found when significant plot points must be achieved within a limited time, to the detriment of character development, dialogue, and space for the viewer to absorb what is happening. Plot points are the anchors of the story. They are what pulls characters across continents to fulfill destinies. But the story is what happens along the way. 

The plot points of Lord of the Rings are how Frodo gets the ring, is told to destroy it, and finally destroying it. The story is the emotional and physical toll it takes on Frodo and his companions on the way to destroy the ring. The pacing must allow for this internal conflict to which is so central to Frodo’s development. Action scenes are the point where all the built up tension must break. Jumping from action to action, fight to fight, gives no time for the conflict to build. 

Example: Avatar: The Last Airbender is an epic tale of young teens trying to save the world. But they encounter so much during their journey that it takes 20 episodes to tell the first part of the story. The live action is only allowed 8 episodes to introduce the four main characters and the many important secondary characters, and then take them across the four nations, improve their talents, create love interests (Sokka really has two women fall in love with him on two separate occasions in under a day? Really?), and every episode must have an epic fight scene which does little but show the impressive powers of Bending. 

It doesn’t seem fair. 

Why does a book that requires nearly a thousand page to tell a complex story get reduced to 8 episodes. Why does an animated series that required 20 episodes to tell a complex story get reduced to 8 episodes. Why does a manga which required a hundred  chapters or 50 episodes to tell a complex story get reduced to 8 episodes.

Who decided 8 episodes was the new standard? Even at almost an hour long, 8 episodes constrain the story and leave the audience annoyed and how much potential was wasted. 

The anime One Piece is another epic story I grew up with and am still thoroughly enjoying. It doesn’t seem fair that it was reduced to 8 episodes. The series still had the same trouble as all live action remakes, but they embraced the new format and retold the story with the limited time. It cut many scenes I personally enjoyed and believed to be integral to character development (I’m looking at Zoro’s fight with Arlong and Sanji rescuing Luffy from drowning) but it allowed time for the characters to interact and find a balance. The special effects are blended into the story telling and not showcased in their own long, though pretty, sequences. 

Even the shows created with the 8 episode limited series in mind have trouble getting the right blend of character development and epic fight scenes. 

Obi-wan Kenobi had great potential but left viewers unsatisfied. Ahsoka fell into the same pattern of long silent solo scenes or abrupt violent clashes. For me Ahsoka at least felt like a very long movie if watched in one sitting. Kenobi left me wanting to know more about the new character, Reva, but she was stuck as a one dimensional villain in favor of a Darth Vader Kenobi duel. Ahsoka spent much of its time trying to introduce the characters and plot of Star Wars: Rebels and revisiting Ahsoka’s past that they almost forgot that they were trying to tell a new story. 

Each of these shows have great scenes and showcase wonderful characters. The creators of these shows have wonderful shows that came before. 

The 8 episode choice is a poor one. It must be longer than a movie but shorter than a stander T.V. series. The stories chosen are far more complicated than what a movie can handle but need more time to truly develop into an epic story that is revered by audiences long after its conclusion. Yes, I’m referring to Avatar: The Last Airbender Animated Series. 

A story as complex as The Wheel of Time or One Piece deserves a T.V. soap opera treatment. The Live Action Avatar: The Last Airbender needs at least twice as many episodes to follow the characters and show their development without everything feeling cramped and rushed. Ahsoka could have been a two night event. A two hour movie on each night, one before Peridia and one after. Kenobi would have benefited from at least two more episodes to allow Reva to really shine as a new villain or to have removed the character all together.

After a long drought of scripted sci/fi and fantasy, I am thrilled to see the development of all of these stories. I can’t wait for more. But I am terrified that this 8 episode format is going to kill the movement because none of these stories have the staying power or time to draw in new audiences. 

Remakes are lovely, but if they are only done as fan-service or fulfillment of a single person’s desire to have their name on it, then don’t. Live action has some how become synonymous with legitimacy. As if animation is not simply a method of storytelling, but as a child only form. Live action should bring in new audiences to beloved stories, not infuriate the old. The pace of storytelling should be of prime importance, not constrained to an arbitrary number of episodes. 

So I am saying farewell to the many scenes I wished could be recreated in this world of live actions remakes. We each have them. And I retain hope that new seasons and series will do better. 

[inkmaze]

shaking lawrence gordon round like a bug in a jar

[elementalalien27]

Happy Birthday Mr Pilgrim!

(Lets ignore how I’m sneaking pics of my comic in class-)

[velvet4510]

Film Frodo at Weathertop: “Aaaaah Black Riders! Help me! Help me!”

Book Frodo at Weathertop: “You better watch your foot dude because I’ve got Elbereth on my side HYAAAAAH!!!”

[witchesoz]

Oz the Great and Powerful: Script vs Movie (3)

VIII)  The Great Battle

Right as they leave the Quadling Country and pass the shimmering wall, Glinda summons an enormous snowstorm to cover the entirety of Central Oz – covering and hiding the location of Glinda’s army, while Glinda’s forces themselves are located in a zone right in the middle of the storm where the perfect is perfectly calm, the very “eye” of the storm that moves with them as they walk towards the City.

As the Wicked Sister see Oz, Glinda and the forces approaching, Evanora lashes out one more time at Theodora, pulling on her hair while giving her the orders to embrace the hate inside of her, reminding her that she has nothing more to hold onto and that he beloved Wizard is here to kill her… and finally Theodora gives in, and accepts to sacrifice her heart to join Evanora in full wickedness. We then have the “apple” scene from the movie, but again slightly different. Evanora does use an apple on her sister, but the apple is shining red and Theodora watches as Evanora places drops of poison onto it. Evanora also tells her sister that it will “fleetingly” hurt, but after that she will be delivered of things such as pain or love, in exchange for even more power. Of course, since the script Theodora already knows what is going on and made this decision (partially) on her own, there is none of the “it’s you the wicked witch!” and shocked surprise from the movie. Like in the movie, as her heart withers away, the appearance of Theodora changes – her chin lengthens, her nose grows into a hooked one, her skin becomes green, and she turns into the Wicked Witch of the West from the MGM movie. Like in the movie, Evanora offers an enchantment to have her look exactly the way she did before – but unlike in the movie, Evanora doesn’t say anything about Theodora looking “hideous”, and insists that she will only give her the enchantment if she wants to. And Theodora replies that no, she will keep this form, because it her now – there is nothing of this “I want him to see what he turned me into” nonsense. And as Theodora jumps at the window to order the Sisters’ generals to exterminate Oz army, wicked-Theodora has a … really corny and cheesy set of lines, that I’ll leave here:

THEODORA Hurry, Wizard -- I want to dance with you again -- a different dance this time -- a wedding dance... I got married, you see -- to Wickedness -- and from now on: The bride will wear only black!

Yeah… a good thing it was cut. So the “savage army” runs on the South… only for them to be completely blocked and defeated by the shrieking winds and slashing ice of Glinda’s snowstorm. Evanora doesn’t mind this huge problem, because she explains that a storm of such a magnitude needs a lot of magic, and the longer the storm is up, the weaker Glinda will get – they just need to wait until the storm dies out, and then all they’ll have to worry about is the Wizard – and while Evanora is not sure he is actually a true Wizard, she still says she doesn’t remove the possibility that maybe he does have some magic in him…

Now, Glinda is indeed weakened by the storm, and when it is dispelled we are revealed that Glinda’s forces weren’t marching towards the Emerald City, but to a pyramid of boulders near it – the entry to caves leading to inside the City. Glinda uses the last of her magic to create a miniature tornado that lifts the big, heavy boulders blocking the entrance, and then she passes out. As the “savage army” camps outside the city in the now snow-filled fields, Glinda’s forces enter what is described as a “subterranean wonderland” of vast caverns and underground rivers. Oh, and remember how I said the fact the “savages not being from Oz” was just dropped like that with no explanation? Well, the script corrected me! The writer clearly knew what he was doing – as Kala explains to the wizard that this set of tunnels actually passes under the Impassable Desert surrounding Oz, and into the Savage Lands, and it is through them that the Wicked Sisters could summon their army. While I still don’t like the use of “savage” to describe these creatures, I have to say I was too quick to jump to the conclusion before, this script seems to know what it is doing. We also get more backstory: it was Evanora who summed the Savages from their far-away land, to help her in her fight against Glinda’s father – and in fact these huge boulders were placed here by Glinda’s father to block the tunnels, right before he died, killed by Evanora as he was protecting Glinda from her. We also get the whole “friendship” story Theodora told earlier, but reversed: Evanora and Glinda were indeed friends, and Evanora used that friendship and Glinda’s goodness to trap her. Why? Because she knew that Glinda’s father, the actual King of Oz, would do everything in his power to save his daughter, and this allowed Evanora to “strike like a snake”. We also get an interesting line from Kala: as Oscar wonders what to do with the passed-out Glinda, and Kala says he shouldn’t try to wake her up in a kiss, adding “we need you Wizard”. This line seems weird, but I read a bit further away and it is explained later.

As they wait under the cavern, they are helped by the “inside men” of Glinda, who turn out to be the Munchkin citizens of Emerald City – they arrive to help load all the Elves’ machines inside the city, and one of the Munchkins point out he was expecting the Wizard to be bigger (which was something the Dainty China girl also said to him before and acts as a sort of running gag, since both were small characters). Now, once Glinda is awake they get to the next part of their plan. Glinda, Oscar and Kala climb in one of Glinda’s magic bubbles, with all the living Utensils climbing onto their bodies (to travel in the bubble without piercing it) – and arrive in the camp of the asleep “Savage Armies”. Silently, the Utensils then proceed to destroyed the Gnomes’ beard and Whimsies masks. And once this is done, they return into the caves. The Cuttenclips, being paper soldiers, just fold themselves into hay carts – being 2D you can pile lots of them into one cart – which are then drawn by the Munchkins into the city. The Elves got their own secret way into the City (and Glinda knows they are in because of some telepathic connection to them apparently – similar to how she knew Oscar and Kala were arriving at Quadling Country) – basically everybody slowly prepares their place for the plan.

In the morning, the Savage army explodes in a mass panic and flees into every direction, while an ungodly shriek can be heard everywhere through the city – the shriek of Evanora in front of her crystal ball. (I don’t know if I said it before, but Evanora keeps watching everything that happens in Oz with her crystal ball). Evanora, terribly angry at her army being destroyed, keeps searching with the crystal for the hidden armies of Glinda, while Theodora, remembering the “broom” line of Oscar, takes a broom from a Munchkin maid of the palace and flies on it through the sky to also partake in the research. Meanwhile, Evanora finds the location of a part of the army: the Fuddles and Hammerheads arrive at the Enchanted Orchard, and Evanora transmits the info telepathically to her sister. Theodora takes charge of the two “savage species” left, the Growleywogs (asked to form a defense of the City) and the Winged Monkeys, sent on the orchard to kill everyone. At first the winged monkeys only see the Fuddles, the Hammerheads being hidden, and as they arrive, the Fuddles fall into a pile of puzzle pieces. This confuses greatly the winged monkeys, who stop to assess the situation – only for the Hammerheads to jump out, beating up the monkeys with their heads, and sending them crashing into the enchanted apple trees which, angry at seeing their branches broken, quickly also start knocking off the winged monkeys. Once the beasts are defeated, Glinda knows and informs the Wizard (again, thanks to her telepathic witch senses).

The second part of the plan has the Munchkins carry on the Cuttenclips with their hay carts near the Poppy Fields outside of the city, and then have the paper-army place themselves in front of the City, marching towards them. When you look at them upfront, you can’t know they are paper people, due to how impressive and human they look – and when Theodora notices this army marching near them, she sends all the Growleywogs against them.

Meanwhile, Glinda uses her magic to stop all wind, to prevent the paper army being flown away or revealed as… well, paper. The Growleywogs use their arrow on the army of soldiers, only to see that they pass right through them – which surprises greatly both the Growleywogs and Theodora. Then, the paper army starts retreating, and the Growleywogs encouraged to fight are sent after them to kill them – and suddenly Glinda releases all the winds, making them blow over the area… Theodora finally understand what is going on, but too late: the paper army retreats into the Poppy Fields, and the Growleywogs hunting them down follow them there, and the winds of Glinda help this whole “pushing them into the soporific” flowers thing – and just like in the movie, they are put to sleep forever. (To be fair, while this scene does make some more sense than the poppy fields scene in the movie, it also has some problems that the movie scene did try to cover up – such as for example hiding the poppies with mist in the movie to help the villains forget where they were heading).

Now that all of the armies outside of the city have been defeated, the Wicked Sisters await with their own personal guards inside the city. At nightfall, the Wizard, Kala and Glinda enter in the city secretly, and before they part, Oscar half-confesses that he kind of fells something for Glinda (he notes that he didn’t do all of this for destiny so much as he did it for her). Glinda, on her own, goes through the dark streets of the city, and then goes into the royal palace by literally walking through the walls (what’s the use of having a witch if you can’t show her magic?), and she arrives in the throne room, where Evanora awaits her. They have a chat, with Evanora mocking Glinda for believing in what she is sure is a false Wizard, and being foolish enough to have been tricked by Evanora, while Glinda replies that Oz is a Great and Powerful Wizard, and she warns her that he will sit into the throne that was her father’s as the king of Oz. Theodora arrives and tries to kill Glinda with some more of her lightning, but the Witch of the South just vanishes into the air. Theodora has some doubts about whether or not the Wizard is real, but now Evanora is sure of it, he is a fraud.

Meanwhile Oscar gets arrested by WInkie Guards, who identify him as the Wizard. Oscar confuses them by saying he is not the Wizard, because the wizard is a ten-feet tall giant spitting fire (and they have heard of such rumors), but ultimately it is Glinda who saves Oscar by turning all the Winkie Guards into rats. Kala manages to ring one of the alarm bells of the city, so all the citizens would gather on the main place of the city – and then we have the whole “giant fiery hologram” trick scene from the movie. Interestingly, while in the movie Glinda is unable to do anything, a prisoner to the Wicked Witches, in the script she helps participate in Oscar’s grand illusion: for example, when the guards send their spears and arrows through the hologram, Glinda works her magic so that the weapons turn into snake as they go through the light and smoke. Interestingly, in the scene Theodora shows the use of both lightning and fireballs with her magic attempts at destroying the hologram (so in the original script she had the lightning powers of Evanora, who in the script actually seems helpless when it comes to offensive magic, and even begs Theodora to “do something” in front of the Wizard making the “stars explode”).

Interestingly, the whole “weakening Witch” thing with Glinda is reused here, as the holograph-Wizard points out the “weakness” of the Wicked Witches – since Theodora keeps throwing lightning and fireballs at the holograph to no avail, weakening more and more as she does it. Evanora is the one who suggests fleeing, like in the movie, while Theodora wants to stay and fight – but here Evanora doesn’t just flee out of cowardice. She points out “The night is his… But if we flee, there will be other nights.” Clearly she just sees they are in a bad position and wants to survive to prepare another attack. The two sisters eventually fly away together out of the city – Theodora on her broomstick, while Evanora’s long sleeves actually starts flapping around her like wings.

As everybody is happy with the victory and the Wicked Sisters fleeing, Oscar jumps into Glinda’s arms and tries to kiss her… only for her to stop and reveal what Kala meant earlier: Oscar cannot kiss Glinda… because she is a Witch. And a kiss from a Witch would kill him.

We cut to a great parade the next day as everyone is happy – and we see all the spells of the Wicked Witches dispelled, such as the Hammerheads having their arms back, but also the Dainty China people being restored to flesh-and-blood people (now I didn’t see this one coming). Oscar gets ready with his treasure to leave Oz, as per his deal with Glinda… but hearing the cheers and seeing the happy people, he decides he can’t go – because if he goes away, the Wicked Sisters will attack the City again, and the Good People of Oz need a Wizard… It was what Glinda was always expecting and she points out “You are a good man, Wizard”, to which Oscar replies “Yeah: who knew?”. And, as per in the movie, Oscar decides he can’t go among the people and let them see him now, because they’ll see he is a common and ordinary man – he needs to keep the myth and the illusion, and asks Glinda for help, to help him maintain the whole trick, to keep faith in the “wizard” figure.  Glinda warns him it will be lonely, he says he knows, and they actually bond over the fact that both of them are very lonely in their respective existences.

The Wicked Witches make one last appearance, flying on broomsticks, writing with black smoke in the sky “Just you wait”, but then the Wizard sends an official decree to declare the Land of Oz free… and we finish with Oscar asking if it isn’t all just a dream, and upon being told by Glinda it isn’t, concluding “There’s no place like Oz”.

- - - - - - - -

And there we go, a full breakdown of the original script! As you can see, it is not refined and there are some stuff left out here and there - like the Diamond Dagger. It was presented as this specific artefact and seemed to be important, and yet... it seems to be just a random dagger? Similarly, Theodora and Evanora are, as I said, called the "wicked witches of the east and the west", despite it making not much sense since they are sisters who visibly came together, and leave together, and they are only seen in the center of Oz? But overall, as you can see, this script actually avoids many of the troubles the movie falls into, and solve almost all of the problem brought forth by the final product

[filmcourage]

Being An Artist Isn't What You Think it Is - P.M. Lipscomb

Watch the video interview on Youtube here.

[misterbaritone]

Ok so Young Neil is making a movie based on the events of the book/film as they should’ve went. That feels me with uncertain feelings

[aceeddiekaspbrak]

thinking about rereading it instead of reading any of the other untouched books on my to read shelf ://

[mbilmey]

I disagree with everyone's writing advice.

[malliya]

if you didnt know, godzilla minus one was released worldwide today so i rewatched it with my mom on netflix~ ^q^

[allenkleinofficial]

Still like… mentally stuck on the logic of the Barbie takes I’m seeing… makes me feel dumb because it’s the dumbest thing to be annoyed about but feeling the erosion of people’s abilities to understand what a story is