October 26th 2007 09:08 pm
American McGee’s Oz
Ok, not really, but almost. This December, SciFi Channel plans to premier a miniseries “Tin Man”. In this distopian version of E. Frank Baum’s “Wizard of Oz”, evil yet alluring sorceress (Is there any other kind?) Azkadellia governs her magical kingdom with the help of Gestapo-like stormtroopers. Meanwhile, industrial cities of the kingdom are degenerating into chaos while nature itself becomes evil and corrupted.
Main character is a Kansas girl named DG (Sic!) who gets sucked into tornado and thrown to O.Z. She is played by actress Zooey Dechanell who appeared in a bunch of things I never saw, but who is totally cute and reminds me on Alexis Bledel. DG will try to overthrow the rule of evil sorceress with the help of Roland Deschain-esque gunslinger named Tin Man and absent-minded scientist with only half of brain. This last one is played by Alan Cumming, actor I greatly appreciated in “Bernard and the Genie” and even more in “Reefer Madness”. Oh, and there’s also a psionic lion. Psionic lion? Psionic lion!
So, in the one corner we have quite an intriguing concept similar to Michael Swanwick’s novel “The Iron Dragon’s Daughter” and the aforementioned “American McGee’s Alice”. On the other hand we have SciFi Channel, whose catastrophic “Flash Gordon” I already lamented.
Anyway, the official site of the series is quite interesting. Sure, you’ll also need the latest Flash Player, but the “Enter the O.Z. Experience” link is worth clicking.It is a quasi-interactive tour through the series’ concept artwork. There are some nice images there, especially the Art Deco cityscapes and frozen cave filled with floating caskets of long-dead heroes of the kingdom. Even if “Tin Man” will suck – which is quite possible – I always appreciate new sights in fantasy.
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