NietShell

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Ozma is Azka

I am going to talk about the TV series Tin Man. I will spoil some surprises. To tell you which would spoil even more. :-B

Seven years ago, SyFy released a reimagined Wizard of Oz miniseries called Tin Man. Unfortunately, I missed the first episode and tuned in to see DG (Dorothy) waking and wondering if the previous episode had been real. Had I watched another five minutes, the scene would have collapsed as a trick to pump her for information. I didn't, though, and assumed that the story would resemble the 2008 tv series Life on Mars: flashing back and forth between fantasy and contemporary reality with each influencing/affecting the other. It doesn't.

On a scale of Minecraft clone (exact copy) to Soylent Green (wildly divergent), Tin Man rates close to HP & the Methods of Rationality. Specifically, if you squint, you can see where the authors threw a bone to the original story, but the theme and characters are out in left field. I admire that impulse with the same spirit that I admire Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. There is fun to be had in playing against my expectations, while making something that rings closer to my contemporary sensibilities. Thankfully, its resonance with then culture don't seem at all appearant. (Unlike the 2005 V for Vendetta movie, which is also about casting off a corrupt government.)

You know the story: young woman enters magical realm, upsetting the homeostasis, and sets off with her ensemble to defeat the despot. (I don't know how this ends, because I've only watched two of three episodes so far.) Go any less abstract, though, and Baum's story dissolves. The eponymous "Tin Man" is actually a colliquial name for police men of the former administration. We have one of those and he is a brusque (heartless, sigh) individual. Our wicked witch has a sister, and it is our protagonist, so no house falls on her. But, rather than a green skinned crone, she is a (sometimes disassociative) vamp with tattoos on her clavicle that spawn the flying monkeys. Kathleen Robertson (who looks like Molly Shannon) plays a melodramatic character, written poorly. She instantly phase-changed into a kitten whenever she tried to coax agreement from someone, which is laughable given her prior behavior.

As I said, the reimagining is fun. We don't meet Toto until the second episode, and the reveal is pretty cool. The first episode's cliffhanger is pretty ballsy. (Of course, then I feel like Annie Wilkes of Misery: the production paints itself into a corner and then just retcons the problem away in the next episode.) The series presents O.Z. as a mishmash of tech & fantasy at a largely contemporary level. Chainsaws, androids, and soul stealing exist side by side. It works because the fantasy exists intrumentally, ie only insofar as it accomplishes something relevant. With a bit of thought, though, it opens the problem of why more tech isn't more prevalent. (Yes, production utility > setting consistency.)

-$-

I watched the final episode some days ago. Let it be known that the miniseries wraps up nicely, even though there are some 'come on' moments that drive the plot forward (or check boxes, though I had forgotten to look for those). The witch's disassociation also made more sense in this episode. In all an okay rental, I've definitely done worse and the cliffhanger between 1 & 2 did spur me to keep watching.

© Nicholas Prado <earlier> ^| upward |^ <later> category: review