In 2007 the US cable Sci-Fi Channel produced a mini-series called Tin Man, a re-imagined continuation of Frank L. Baum's Wizard of Oz. As awful as that sounds, it actually worked. There's a young woman escorted by a bitter sheriff, a brain-damaged inventor and an emotionally scarred psychic beast. It's weird, and it's full of surprises.
Why:
Truly imaginative re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz in a steam-punk vein that never falls into witless aping of the classic story elements, but rather dances around them with clever winks and nods back. Also, some decent satirical moments.
While the characters had alot of potential to be irritating, they turned out to be interesting, engaging, and full of surprises (which is surprising, for American TV). The writers never take the easy or obvious route, and that earns major points with me.
The actors played with certain restraint and even the baddies were sympathetic.
The design and costumes are wonderful. This was one of my favorite parts. It’s hard to do fantasy design without looking like every other fantasy production. They clearly put a healthy chunk of budget into it. Artistically it gives us alot to look at and left me with a real feel for the “O.Z.”
Why not:
The production is a bit cheesy. While I can appreciate their limited SFX budget, almost every CG scene just screamed After Effects...like something any teenager might put together for a YouTube video; the modern equivalent of wires and rubber masks. That makes the precious suspension of disbelief very difficult as we are continually reminded that this is a media production, and not real.
While the production vaguely skews juvenile, it may play a bit too complex for elementary schoolers to enjoy. And though there isn’t any blood or significant killing, it does get rather violent especially with numerous scenes of torture and suffering that you might not want kids under 13 watching.
It has a few scenes that could be overly-scary for younger children, including some unsettling monsters.
In all an above-average mini-series. I’m glad got to see it.
Time: 1:26 / episode (3 episode miniseries)
Perceived time: 1:00 / episode
Replay-ability: twice, maybe a third watching
Estimated Durability: 0 (it feels slightly dated already)
Audience: Anyone loves fantasy from about fourth grade and up
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