ben0119 Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 It's called Emerald City. I can appreciate a reimagining, a different take on a classic. The Syfy mini-series versions of Peter Pan and Wizard of Oz were quite good in this way. But this... hoo boy. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WKeRnyFIHWs Spoilers are below, not that you're missing anything. In this version, Dorothy lives in a trailer and Todo is a German Shepherd. A cop tries to shoot her when the tornado is happening for some reason but then he gets swept up in the tornado. She takes off in the cop car and ends up in The Land of Oz. "The Mistress of the East", not Wicked Witch, for some reason, lies dead, and she just thinks it's some person she hit with her car. The witch's body disappeared and her clothes flattened out, so I gotta' give credit for that little touch. Instead of munchkins, she then meets some creepy ass tribal people who start water boarding her because she killed a witch and only a witch can kill a witch! Somehow she gets out of this, I don't remember how, and the leader of the creepy tribesfolk takes her to get her out of town and beg for forgiveness from the Wizard of Oz. They go through a dangerous cavern behind a waterfall and a deep mudpit full of writhing, moaning people, who the tribesman said were thrown in this "jail" for using magic. That's right, the Wizard of Oz in this is evil, and in league with the witches, but he outlawed magic, so they have to become "mistresses", like the "Mistress of the West" who is a soothsayer or oracle or something. Not sure how that's not magic, but okay. Anyway, she works for him, because why the fuck not, while we're screwing everything else up about this story. He has her look in on things and try to watch, tell him what will come, etc. There's even a conversation about how he outlawed magic, but she says it's okay because he gave her this other line of work. WHY WOULD WITCHES SIDE WITH SOMEONE WHO OUTLAWED MAGIC?! Oh, and the big "illusion" of Oz is that he's actually bald and wears a wig, and has some major paranoia and other issues, I guess, putting up a front as the confident and powerful dictator of The Land of Oz. This show is fucking stupid. A flying monkey is featured, but it's mechanical. This is fine. In fact, the actual Emerald City looks really cool, and there's these big "Ancient Guardians" everyhwere which are supposed to protect Oz from cataclysms and I guess monsters and such. But aside from some of the visuals and world designs, character designs, aside from Dorothy herself, Todo, and the Scarecrow (we'll get to him later), this thing is all crap. Anyway, the tribal chief finally gets her to "brick road," as he calls it, because yellow-brick road is too fun and cheerful, I guess. And get this, the road is yellow because of poppy pollen! In fact, the chief says exactly this when Dorothy picks some of them up and asks him about them - "POPPIES! OPIUM!" At some point, Dorothy runs into a witch, who looks exactly like the "Mistress of the East", so I'm guessing it's her. So I guess getting hit by the cop car wasn't enough to kill her, even though her body disappeared. Dorothy manages to trick the witch into shooting herself with the gun Dorothy was apparently carrying, which is shown in full graphic detail. Lovely! Also extremely stupid that the witch just trusts whatever she says. Not sure if the gun was Dorothy's or taken from the cop car. We cut back to the Emerald City at some point Oz says this of Dorothy, after they had found out she killed the witch, which means she used super-powerful magic and this is the sign of some dangerous prophecy coming true or some shit - If it's alive, kill it. If it's dead, bury it. Now, Dorothy finally meets the Scarecrow. Get this, he's some guy that was crucified, tarred and covered with straw. I can't make this shit up if I tried. It's so cartoonishly DARK!!!1 it's ridiculous. Scarecrow has amnesia because of course he does, and there was a sword by his side, because reasons. Not long after this, I checked out. Gotta' say it didn't look bad from the previews, and I was thinking of something along the lines of that SyFy mini-series from some years back. But this... this was just garbage. It's one thing to do a different take on something, but it's another to go in the complete total opposite direction and spirit of the original work, and just be downright shitty in its own right, like this was. Not really sure what NBC was thinking with this. Anyway, if you see any promos or get the curiosity up to watch this - don't. It's not even so-bad-it's-good entertaining. It's genuinely appalling and unpleasant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mochi Posted January 9, 2017 Share Posted January 9, 2017 every network needs a dark gritty hot and sexy fairy tale drama now it seems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben0119 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 every network needs a dark gritty hot and sexy fairy tale drama now it seems Apparently they were trying to have their own Game of Thrones. Egh. But why at the expense of Wizard of Oz? *sigh* Such a shit show. It won't last the whole season, I bet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben0119 Posted January 18, 2017 Author Share Posted January 18, 2017 BAAHAHAHAAHAHA NBC MADE THEIR TRAILER VIDEO PRIVATE! COULDN'T HANDLE THE ASSRAPE, EH, NBC? :'( :D :D :D :D :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.