The book actually addresses how ineffectual the Wheelers are; it is revealed that their taunting and screaming is all a bluff. They are the ones who wrote all the “Beware the Wheelers!” graffiti, and they go around scaring everyone because they are actually defenseless due to their wheels. I read the books before seeing the movie and was surprised that this was never brought up, as it teaches Dorothy the valuable lesson that those who try their hardest to frighten you do so because they are themselves frightened.
@@Viking_Luchador I knew a woman that would put a pen in her mouth to write, I imagine a Wheeler could do the same thing but with a paint brush, or they could gingerly place one of their wheels in paint and use it like a paint roller.
@@Viking_Luchador probably from a paint can tree and a brush bush, it is Oz after all. Or I imagine they could've just sent out for it and it delivered by mail and put it up as a gig on Oz List for someone to paint for them. Of all the things that happen in Oz I think a man with wheel hands and feet painting graffiti sounds pretty plausible.
fairuza was one of those unique kid actors who delivered an eerie feeling while looking absolutely like a normal kid, she was the perfect choice for the tone of this dorothy
I've seen this movie more times than the original Oz movie and I'll always go back to Return to Oz. It's dark and beautiful at the same time and the soundtrack is timeless.
"But there were no happy joyful singing munchkins in Return To Oz, there was no Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and no happy fairy tale landscape." Instead, it was more like the books.
And that's the point so many people seem to miss -- the 1939 film was a pleasant fantasy based on Oz, whereas Return to Oz *was* Oz. In Oz, for example, no one ever dies. Now think about what that means to the parts of the Tin Man he lost due to the curse that bit by bit turned him into a metal man ...
@@JJMarkin No need to think about it, just read "The Tin Woodman of Oz" in which, among other things, Nick Chopper has a conversation with his former head, which sits quite contentedly in a cupboard in the home of the tinsmith.
I LOVED this movie. I still do. It's one of my all-time favorites along with The Labyrinth and Edward Scissorhands. Return to Oz never scared me but captivated me even more so that I ended up making a replica of the Return to oz ruby slippers. Lol.
Exactly. I see so many people, most in fact, say they were scared into excitement. All it made me feel was like I wasn't being pandered to for being a child, and never reminding me of that fact by providing some incredibly beautiful music, sets, props, costumes, etc etc. I mean, even considering movies with clearly adult target audiences, what movie gives you that kind of a phenomenal soundtrack?
+Christopher Emerson And he succeeded; there are acts of violence in the first book, but no blood. Besides, you leave out an important thing: what Baum objected to were the lessons that those elements of the tales of Andersen and the Brothers Grimm were supposed to teach. He felt that since morality was a part of school curriculum in his day (would that it were now!), all the kids wanted from their fantasy stories was entertainment.
Return to Oz is still one my favorite movies of all time. I bow to the artists that made it possible for us to enjoy such a great, time-enduring version of Baum's work.
I was forever enthralled with the concept of flight after watching the flying sofa with the Gump Head scene. Ever since then I've been fascinated with aviation!
The Wheelers never scared me that I can remember. It’s the Head Switching witch that scared me. Especially Dorothy sneaking around at night trying not to wake up the original head (which she does) and that headless body running again in the dark.
@@JoakimOtamaa I don't know what you mean by "80's overacting." Overacting is overacting no matter what decade it is, and in this case it was because the character wasn't human and therefore didn't have to talk like one.
I had the pleasure of speaking with the film composer, David Shire, on a few occasions. He was so nice and is an amazing talent. He even gave me a piano reduction of the score for various scenes. Love that guy.
@@willfomes406 It's not a "terrifying movie." It's a fantasy film that has some scary bits to it, but there are also fun, exciting, sweet, and funny bits.
I saw Return to Oz two days ago, with my dad, on Amazon Prime. This is my dad’s favorite movie, and I can clearly see why. It’s a great and fantastic film. And it is also a wonderful marvel of practical effects.
@@MaskedMan66 Watch the new Dark Crystal series on Netflix. It represents a *choice* not to just CGI the crap out of everything and use practical effects whenever possible. It's much, much easier on the eyes.
@@Aliandrin I've cringed my way through several episodes of that show, and they have used CGI for scenes that would have been much trickier to do in the old days (one scene of Rian swinging himself up onto one of those giant pillbug-driven vehicles, for instance). I have no problem with CGI; to me it's just another means of doing FX. What bugs me about that show is how it contradicts the movie, mainly by having the urSkeks already split into the Mystics and the Skeksis BEFORE the Crystal cracked, and also with the ludicrous situations it presents, like Gelflings in silly hats having to wash retarded Podlings. I could happily do without the one Skeksis having her nose running all over the place. And I especially deplore how they're trying to make it the Thra edition of "Game of Thrones"; seven kingdoms? Really?
As a young child in the early 90s, I adored this movie and watched it regularly at my grandmas house. I finally found a copy of it on dvd a couple of years ago and its still fabulous. Terrific film all around. I always wanted to grow up to be Ozma or the wicked queen (she's stunning, even if evil)
my mom read the books to me when I was a kid, so it's weird for me to hear this movie described as dark, creepy and disturbing. to me it was just like the books.
People fail to realize how spot on this movie was. It goes so nicely with the book, and while the original movie was a classic, the book just wasn't like that.
I also enjoyed this movie as I thought of it as the 'REAL" story of OZ. Baum wrote many books centering on the magical land,and to me ,this movie succeeded in capturing the mood of the original books.Remember that in the time period in which these stories were written children did not have the distractions of electronics and computers. The child who actually read was more serious minded than the children of this day and time. It is not suprising that the mood of the stories would be different than what is appretiated by today's audiances.
I see you're a 'Baum' follower as am I.Those 'original' movies made in the silent movie days had so little impact on anyone living today,that they are hardly worth the mention ,because no one knows what your talking about,unless your a hardcore follower.People today haven't any concept of the one time popularity of the OZ series.It is a sad example of how Hollywood alters classic tales in order to further it's own agenda.
+Dennis Gilpatrick It's my subtle way of informing people (in this case Mr. Matthews) that there was indeed Oz before MGM. My hope is that they say, "Wait, what?" and go on to do some research and thereby discover the real history of Oz. Indeed, both of the silent versions of "Wizard" can be found right here on RUclips. And nowadays it's certainly true that H'wood is all about agendas and doing what they want with literature (witness the hash they made of Narnia and "The Hobbit"), but as regards the MGM "Wizard," they were just aiming at adapting a much-loved classic of literature (and paying homage to the stage extravaganza of the early 1900's). They had no idea that their product would so overwhelm the world.
I watched this when I was a kid and always liked it and now as an adult I can really appreciate the creativity and ingenuity of the people who made it. I think it’s a really fun movie.
Agree completely, I was probably 7 or 8 when I saw rto (and taped it on VHS lol) and I always loved it too, the scary parts were disturbing enough to captivate but not traumatize me 😂.
They changed them to Ruby Slippers in "The Wizard of OZ" because it is an early technicolor film and they wanted shoes that would stand out. Silver shoes wouldn't look that incredible. I think it was a wise choice.
+Lost Age Comics If you mean the stage extravaganza from 1902, which ran for most of the first decade of the 20th century, there were no magic shoes at all; Dorothy received a magic ring from the Good Witch of the North.
I remember me and my sister finding this on PBS, no idea what it was. The wheelers scared the crap out of us. Nightmare fuel! But we loved it, and would watch it every chance we had. Everyone always thought we were crazy when we would tell them there was a second Oz movie, and that it was more like a horror movie. No one else ever heard of it when we were kids. Telling them about it must have been what it was like for Dorothy trying to explain to her family and the farm hands what Oz was like. Thank you for making this one Minty, as Return to Oz is a childhood classic for me.
Funny thing about the Wheelers not being effective at causing harm: That was directly brought up in the original book. Like, Tik-Tok basically grabs the head Wheeler and says all that, and it sends said Wheeler sobbing because all they really had was their intimdation factor...
Am I the only one to realize a Wheeler at full speed, clotheslining you with haymaker Wheel - would fucking KILL you?! All this “not dangerous” nonsense is exactly that... Wheelers would be incredibly dangerous
@Rauce Powers Except that they aren't; if you read the book or even watch this movie, you'll know that they are cowards at heart and wouldn't harm a fly.
@@raucepowers8127 The only time we see them really at full speed was when they're drawing Mombi's cart (and maybe when they chase Dorothy to the desert and one's going so fast he can't stop and sands himself)
In my opinion this was on of the best Disney movies of the 80's. Everything out it is what I wanted out of a movie when I was a child. Would give anything to see this film in theaters with remastered sound and sharpness.
You should check out the Blu-ray that Disney released in 2015 for the 30th anniversary of the film. It doesn't have any special features but does include very good picture and sound quality! Even though it was a Disney Movie Club exclusive for members only, you can still find it on eBay for around 30$ new.
Honestly, I loved any scary kids' movies growing up. They were challenging and gave credit to kids to be able to handle the emotional content, not simply pandering to what they felt was at their "level." A lot of the creative work on the films could inspire kids in the future as well, artists and such, whether it was scary or not.
Oh damn! I'm so glad people remember this film other than me! Despite the gnome king being scary, the scene with Dorothy waking up princess Mombi's heads and screaming waking up her headless body terrified me the most when I was a kid.
Maybe the most esoteric Easter egg I’ve discovered on my own: Netflix’s Season 3 of “Stranger Things” In episode 7, alongside “Cocoon,” and “Fletch” we see “Return to Oz” on the movie theater marquee. I thought “Return to Oz” seemed like a random and odd choice as it’s not really a well known 80’s classic. Until, at a later point, when something reminded me of Mike, Karen, and Nancy’s family name....the Wheelers.
I watch originally this movie probably when I was 9. I'm 35 today, and the scene of the heads of Mombi's room (specially when her original head screams "Dorothy Gale!") still fright me.
For me the doctor scared me the most...because of all the 'villains' he wasn't being evil, he genuinely thought he was helping people.....Sometimes misguided villains are far worse than truly evil ones because you actually understand why they would do something, even if you don't understand how they came to their conclusions. (In this case electricity was, at the time, seen as a wonder cure by many, many medical theorists and progressives)
@@MaskedMan66 I didn't know they made a novelization. I was responding to Rip P's comment about being scared as a kid. I don't know if the doctor would have scared me more (as a kid) if I knew that or not.
Return to Oz is a sequel, just a sequel of Baum's Wizard of Oz book. It is based on the 2nd and 3rd books. It is a clever combination of both books, which were about that dark. The look is pure Baum/Neil with exception to the dark locks on Dorothy. The original book was illustrated by W.W. Denslow and had her dark with pigtails. All the rest of the books were illustrated by John R. Neil and she was blonde. Although I love the 1939 film more than any other film, this IS Baum's OZ and it is great.
I concur. It IS a sequel just not considered an immediate one. People get hung up on the Garland film being the only iteration, but it wasn't a truly faithful adaptation. If this isn't a sequel because tone, look, and studio are different, then The Avengers is not a sequel to all the Phase 1 Marvel films.
+ Elizabeth Athineu There are other things to be considered, such as the two different surnames that the two different versions of Uncle Henry have (Gale in the MGM film, Blue in RtO). The movie that is officially considered the sequel to the MGM film in the animated feature "Journey Back to Oz."
I loved how the characters in the real world translated to characters in OZ, even Tick-Tock! This movie is and will always be brilliant! Who didn't love the heads in the glass cases???
It's incredible this film exists at all. I heard the sound track was done by a highly sought after dude who didn't commit to many films, you can tell, the soundtrack is great. Just a remarkable film and for me I feel it's a glimps into the real world of the books, this is definitely my OZ anyway
This movie is scary, even as a teenager i find myself spooked at times- but thats a good thing. The scares never go too far, and the scary parts add to the movie, seeing the wheelers so scared and fragile when they fail to take Dorothy to Mombi is fantastic, it makes it feel so much more awesome that the thing that freaked you out the most is crying. The special effects are also top notch and still hold up today, the heads, the stop motion, it all looks beautiful. The stop motion is also very very smooth its fantastic.
I'm not disparaging you at all, but having grown up reading the Oz books, there was nothing I was unprepared for, so I just sat there enjoying seeing these things that had never been on a screen before, ever since the MGM _Wizard_ became the only Oz that anybody knew.
Actually in the book Ozma of Oz, Tik Tok actually states how Wheelers cannot harm anyone -- causing the Wheelers to start crying and confess that they wrote the signs "Beware the Wheelers" to try and build up their scary reputation, like a lot of bullies.
This film is one of the most beautiful, terrifying, edifying and profound works of art ever made. Every frame, every line of dialogue is a multifaceted jewel-like life lesson - and most amazing of all… it’s an unsolicited collaboration with Frank L. Baum that spans pretty much the whole the 20th Century. It actually adds richness to the already timeless literary work it was based upon. Fairuza Balk is pitch perfect, the art direction and special effects are still stunning. I can’t get over this one. Not much of a feel-good kid flick, to say the least. Ha. So much the better. Gotta grow up sooner or later.
I read that, after playing Princess Mombi and getting the part of Bavmorda, Jean Marsh lamented, "The children are going to hate me!" or something to that effect
I stumbled across this movie on TV once by pure chance, right at the scene where Dorothy and Billina find the ruined Yellow Brick Road. I was so fascinated by it, and then never heard or saw anything about it again until over ten years later, when I stumbled across the DVD in a clearance bin at a truck stop in West Virginia at 4:00 in the morning. Talk about surreal.
She played it so well that it didn't even matter that her character's name was Nancy. Badass crazy evil witch... named Nancy. Takes a lot to pull that off.
Jimmy Melendez today is not a number of days old. Without knowing their birth date its a completely worthless statement. They should just say “i found out today” or say their age. They are fucking retards
@@MaskedMan66 I think all goth chicks actually are. Tough on the outside, fragile on the inside. The pale skin makes them even more fragile. Sigh.... I actually have such a goth-chick fetish >_
Exactly, the entirety of that movie brings me into that lucid dreaming mindset. Two other movies that accomplish that for me are Little Nemo and Annihilation.
It was a sequel. The Nome King says "are you sure you didnt come back for these", Dorothy: "My ruby slippers". Which fell out of the sky when DOrothy returned back to Kansas which is why he was able to take over Oz
If by the "original" you mean the MGM musical (which was actually the third movie version of the story) it didn't disregard the original novel at all; it was just a loose adaptation. Did you ever hear of the stage musical which L. Frank Baum himself had a hand in creating? Here are just a few factoids about it: Dorothy Gale, a 19 year-old, is blown by a cyclone to Oz, along with her pet cow, Imogene, and a young couple who get engaged during the storm. She is a waitress named Trixie Tryfle, and he is Pastoria, exiled King of Oz. Locasta, the Good Witch of the North, gives Dorothy a magic ring with which she brings the Scarecrow to life. They soon meet the Tin Woodman and Cynthia Cynch, the Lady Lunatic, searching for her lost love Niccolo-- who turns out to be the Tin Woodman! Dorothy gets into a platonic romance with Sir Dashemoff Daily, the Poet Laureate of Oz. The Cowardly Lion turns up now and again, but has no lines. The Wizard turns out to be a villain who, with his henchman Sir Wiley Gyle, tries to stop Pastoria from taking back his throne. They fail, of course, and the whole thing ends up in a musical revue hosted by Glinda the Good. Now, then, what was that about MGM? 😉
When I was little I loved this film, I thought the wheelers looked cool and the nome king being allergic to eggs was funny, still one of my childhood favourites
If you look up images of Fairuza Balk (Dorothy), she could TOTALLY play a Harley Quinn type villain in a Batman movie. But best be it Tim Burton style. She just has that look. Love it! It's a crime she hasn't been utilized in such way.
She also played two different versions of Morgan Le Fay, one on "Doctor Who" and the other in a telefilm of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court."
I LOVED this movie when I first saw it as a kid. The stuff we had back then was dark a lot of the time. Secret of Nimh, Dark Crystal, The Last Unicorn, etc.
I watched this movie multiple times as a kid, and I was never scared of it. My dad had read some of the old Baum novels to me, so I was well prepared for the weirdness. I was intrigued by all the wonderfully imaginative stuff they put in, and besides, I'd had nightmares from that time that were way scarier.
I like the use of symbolism in the Kansas scenes. Aside from the obvious (the doctor is the Nome King, the nurse is Mombi, the orderlies are the Wheelers, etc), the mysterious girl (Ozma) is always shown in reflection first, she is barefoot and she gives Dorothy the jack-o-lantern.
@@roadyinzer2461 agreed. It wasn't for very young children, obviously, but it was probably aimed for roughly 10 and up. Expecually kids who liked creepy. That knuckle scene I'll never forget.
This was the first film I ever saw in a cinema, aged about 5 or 6 and it's my fav nostalgia movie to date (Lying. It's my fav movie ever). The wheelers, gnome king and deadly desert terrified me as a kid but I can't describe how important this movie was to me. As an 80's child Dorothy was really the first female protagonist I had (before that it'd all been He-Man, sesame street, Noddy, Trapdoor, or girls being second to male characters), and I think the fact that she was the hero of her own story really hit 5 year old me in an important way.
In the book Ozma of Oz Tic-Tok tells Dorothy that the wheelers were cowards and they were just full of bluff. He points out that their wheels made them helpless in doing any real harm to Dororthy. In fact when they caught one of the wheelers he begged them not to reveal their weakness if he took them to the princess.
I have just found out that Michael Sundin, who played Tik Tok (the movement) was from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, close to where I live. Sadly, he was only 28 when he passed away in 1989....
I always laughed at the part where the gnome king lifts his robe and he's wearing the ruby slippers! It would've been great if he'd kept pulling that robe and showed he was also wearing some nylon stockings!
I would legit steam at the top of my lungs…. YAAAAASSSSS QUEEEEN!!! You better WORK!!!! Lmao I WOULD BE LIVING FOR THAT!!! Thank you so much for this comment. Cause It’s officially going to be one of my new fav that I’m not going to be able to watch without snapping and yelling yaaaassss at the screen.!!!!! Lmao. Soooo flippin’ funny!!!! Bitch is not about tryin to get his pumps snatched!!!! 😂🤣🤣👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼👑👑👑🌈👠👠. I’m honestly still laughing as I’m writing this!! So CLASSIC!
I loved this movie because it was bizarre and different from the musical. I was really happy when they incorporated it into the Mains Street Electrical Parade. Great vid! Gonna watch more
You’re wrong about Return to Oz not being a sequel. 1. The reason they’re different is because Disney owned the rights to all the L. Frank Baum Oz books, and Disney wanted to keep it as dark as the books. However, after Return to Oz, Disney lost the rights to the Oz books and MGM claimed it when Disney lost it. Now, MGM still owns it. 2. The only reason MGM didn’t make Return to Oz was because they didn’t own the rights to the books. 3. The only reason the actors are not only different person but aged differently is because Dorothy was supposed to be 11 in the Wizard Of Oz, but Judy Garland was 17 so it make her look older. Judy Garland died nearly 20 years before Return to Oz, so they had to find a replacement. They wanted someone to look like her, but the only people who could really do that was Judy’s daughters and they were like 40. They chose the girl in Return to Oz to match her actual age. 4. The Ruby Slippers were silver in the books, yes, but they changed it to Ruby because the Wizard Of Oz was technicolor and they wanted to show how technicolor could change movies. 5. How did you think Return to Oz wasn’t a sequel? Dorothy in Return to Oz finds the house from the Wizard Of Oz and says she remembers the tornado and her living there. 6. It’s not a follow up to the book. After L. Frank Baum made the first Oz Book, he made two more. That’s what Return to Oz comes from. It’s also following the movie, which is why they keep bringing up the connections to the first movie. Even Dorothy only appears in one of the two books, it’s based on those two books. Dorothy replaced a boy named Tip who , in the book, was the one who went on the adventure.
I’ve just re discovered this movie. My 3 year old son loves pumpkins. He’s not scared of Jack at all. I don’t remember being scared of this movie at all. Actually inspired me to be more weird. ☺️
Jeff El Heffe B I had exactly the same reaction!!!, I spoke of this flick many time and the blank expressions I got back truly mad me think I'd created the whole thing in my head lol
Jeff El Heffe B I actually forgot my mum had taken me to see this movie as a kid. It wasn't until years later that she reminded of it as it was on TV. Then I was like "OMG yes! I remember it now!"
I still plan to make a wheeler costume someday. I've always found them unsettling, but kind of amazing though not much a threat. I wanna update the costume a bit giving it a more Joker ego flair, adding am industrial goth edge to it to creepy it up more! I've ALWAYS loved this film. And I'm so happy to hear someone else point out the hypocrisy of the doc trying to make her see a face in something while simultaneously trying to rid her of imagination!! I also thinks that might be one of the last things she saw that triggered Tick Tock in her imagination. I also think it's strange but adorable when she combs the pumpkin who has no hair and you hear the teeth just scrape against pumpkin skin. I think of the blonde little girl as a casualty of the doctors machine , which really converts peoples mind to scrambled eggs. I think she might be a ghost trapped trying to warn Dorothy to run away while she still can. Her lunch box Aunt Em packed getting taken away by the terrifying nurse (who ends up Momby) is why she dreams up a lunch pail tree (another fun prop I'd die to have! I Wanna make the pails and set them up and host a picnic event that way!) It's her way of getting her lunch box back, something familiar and totally mundane, in an unfamiliar terrifying place. I think the ghost girl gets set free by Dorothy's rebellious act and making what was truly happening (experimental torture pseudo "science") aware to the public. I also think all the other wailing and crying patients and other ghostly casualties are repressed in the headless and missing persons of Oz. They in turn get set free when the lightening storm burns down the building and the doc within. Dorothy sees them all happy and citizens of Oz. Ozma the ghost girl gets to ascend to a sort of heaven in a rising , rightfully restored, magical ,wonderous land of Oz.
The Wheelers are all noise and bluster; at heart, they're more cowardly than the Lion. Pinstripes! It's not hypocrisy as such, just the typical physician thing about putting a child at ease. The hypocrisy is that he wants to frighten her to death once Aunt Em is gone. It's Tik-Tok, and she didn't dream in this movie; Oz is real, as Walter Murch made clear back in the day. That was cute. Obviously the girl had all her marbles, and was, in fact, Ozma. As was stated in the movie, and made even more clear in the novelization, Ozma had been enchanted into the mirror, to be watched over by the Nome King's agent Dr. Worley. It's Mombi, and I like your idea! Again, Ozma was no ghost, and when Dorothy wished to be in both places at once, Ozma finally was able to step through the mirror back into her palace. Murch damaged his own assertion that Oz was real by creating all those MGM-esque parallels.
They harassed Return to Oz for not being enough like the Wizard of Oz but Return to Oz is a better adaptation of Baum's stories then Wizard of Oz ever was
Wow, I didn't know that Jean Marsh and Jon Pertwee had been married - you learn something new every day. And Michael Sundin, the actor in the robot costume, will be familiar to UK people of a certain age as a Blue Peter presenter in the 80s.
One of my fave movies of ALL times!!!! I used to have a recurring dream that i found a door at the back of a piano store and i had to wiggle and go thru this tunnel and I'd slide a panel and come out in Oz. It was always the crumbled,ruined Oz from this movie.
I actually really like Return to Oz. No, it’s not Wizard of Oz, but I watched it objectively and ended up really liking it. It’s one of the most underrated films of the 80s.
There have been a multiplicity of Oz productions on stage, screen, radio, and T.V. for 123 years. 🙂 Most have something going for them. Some are rubbish. But all prove the staying power of L. Frank Baum's fairyland.
L. Frank Baum’s original OZ book is a timeless classic. I’ve read it, and it is actually quite different from the movie. The basic plot is the same but there are lots of omissions.
They could bludgeon you with their wheel hands, and if the wheels actually move on their own they may be able to produce enough force to drag you around with their teeth, and there are enough of them to overpower a little girl and drag her to the deadly desert regardless.
Yes! This is right. It's a gang of grown ass men holding wheels. How can you not immediately imagine them bashing you in the head, their insane arm muscles all strong from balancing all day.
@@MaskedMan66 say that when you've never met one before, they come flying out of the shadows calling for your blood, and your a little girl wandering the ruins of a once bustling city.
@@MaskedMan66 Obviously someone who is masked, as you are, will side with these masked villains. At the very least, they may drive you insane with their cackle.
@@MaskedMan66 Lower grocery bill :D Edit: After thinking about the implications of what I commented, I do not endorse cannibalism even if you're a PB&J sandwich tree.
@@dizzybee4176 It's not cannibalism if you eat the sandwiches that fall off him (which... would be... fruit... technically...) and not the tree itself (vegetable).
Man I love this movie. I don't understand why everyone thought it was so scary. It was beautiful, suspenseful and had such amazing special effects! I mean, read the BOOKS and you'll see a lot of different themes explored that were kind of dark and bold for their time. :)
It's like rainbows somewhere over Oz It's a free ride by just clicking your heels It's the good advice on how to kill a witch And who would've thought, it's in colour!
This movie truly changed my life the trailer still makes the hairs on my arm stand up but in a good way. i truly couldn't explain with out tellin u i am crazy but this movie is amazing
The wizard of oz didn’t come out in 1939 , the musical of the book did , there were movie versions of the oz stories before the 1939 version , including a silent movie
There were actually five Oz-based silent movies (and possibly more that have not survived), plus some filmed sequences which L. Frank Baum used for a multimedia presentation he once took on tour.
The book actually addresses how ineffectual the Wheelers are; it is revealed that their taunting and screaming is all a bluff. They are the ones who wrote all the “Beware the Wheelers!” graffiti, and they go around scaring everyone because they are actually defenseless due to their wheels. I read the books before seeing the movie and was surprised that this was never brought up, as it teaches Dorothy the valuable lesson that those who try their hardest to frighten you do so because they are themselves frightened.
Yea good idea and you great but original dorthy the acter who playing
How did they write it?
@@Viking_Luchador I knew a woman that would put a pen in her mouth to write, I imagine a Wheeler could do the same thing but with a paint brush, or they could gingerly place one of their wheels in paint and use it like a paint roller.
@R Whitfield I suppose that's plausible, but then how did they get the paint and brushes in the first place?
@@Viking_Luchador probably from a paint can tree and a brush bush, it is Oz after all. Or I imagine they could've just sent out for it and it delivered by mail and put it up as a gig on Oz List for someone to paint for them. Of all the things that happen in Oz I think a man with wheel hands and feet painting graffiti sounds pretty plausible.
I honestly liked the movie when I was a kid. Sure it was scary and probably left me a few mental scars, but I enjoyed it.
Bits of it were scary. Bits of it were funny. Bits of it were exciting. Bits of it were sad. Bits of it were delightful.
ALL of it was fun.
Same I'd still watch it now if I could
@@YaeGalvus Check your local library or bookstore; I know we carry it at Barnes & Noble. I don't know what services or stations may carry it.
@@YaeGalvus disney plus
@@notmyrealname8448 Some adults, too. ;-)
fairuza was one of those unique kid actors who delivered an eerie feeling while looking absolutely like a normal kid, she was the perfect choice for the tone of this dorothy
There wasn't anything the least bit eerie about her in this movie.
Agree. I know what you’re trying to say about the eerie feeling as well.
She would've been perfect for harley quinn
She was also Mercedes Cortez in GTA Vice City
@@Black0bsidian You do?
I've seen this movie more times than the original Oz movie and I'll always go back to Return to Oz. It's dark and beautiful at the same time and the soundtrack is timeless.
Roxana Pinto
I LOVE this film too! I always loved the f'd up 80s movies! I was a weird child lol
By "the original Oz movie," you of course mean the 1910 version by the Selig company.
Agreed. People who compare return to oz with that comercial version with Judy make me sick.
+Zoe Costello What do you mean "f'd up?" Those were straight-up, good vs. evil, classical type fantasy films. Nothing screwy about them.
The expanded score is a fantastic listen if you haven't heard it
This is one of my all time favorite movies. Gorgeous film.
Totally agree and watch it every year at Halloween 🎃
@@jen6879 me too. Nice Halloween flick!
Me too
Yeah it’s a good movie 🎥 🍿
Same . I have it and watch it a lot . 💕
One of my greatest childhood memories with my Mother was renting and watching this and the original "Parent Trap" over and over and over. 💙R.I.P. MOM💙
Amen/Ameen
"But there were no happy joyful singing munchkins in Return To Oz, there was no Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and no happy fairy tale landscape." Instead, it was more like the books.
And that's the point so many people seem to miss -- the 1939 film was a pleasant fantasy based on Oz, whereas Return to Oz *was* Oz. In Oz, for example, no one ever dies. Now think about what that means to the parts of the Tin Man he lost due to the curse that bit by bit turned him into a metal man ...
@@JJMarkin No need to think about it, just read "The Tin Woodman of Oz" in which, among other things, Nick Chopper has a conversation with his former head, which sits quite contentedly in a cupboard in the home of the tinsmith.
Yep. Not exactly what one expects in a children's book, is it?
: D
@@JJMarkin Maybe not people with low expectations.
The books are more graphic.
this is absolutely the most underrated movie of all time.
I actually liked it
I loved it!
it's for the adults too
Even the audio book scared the shit out of me
Agreed
I LOVED this movie. I still do. It's one of my all-time favorites along with The Labyrinth and Edward Scissorhands. Return to Oz never scared me but captivated me even more so that I ended up making a replica of the Return to oz ruby slippers. Lol.
Exactly. I see so many people, most in fact, say they were scared into excitement. All it made me feel was like I wasn't being pandered to for being a child, and never reminding me of that fact by providing some incredibly beautiful music, sets, props, costumes, etc etc. I mean, even considering movies with clearly adult target audiences, what movie gives you that kind of a phenomenal soundtrack?
L. Frank Baum would've been so proud of this movie, for staying true to his works.
That he would!
He originally intended them to be new fairy tales without the gore of Grimm's fairy tales. I find that hilarious.
+Christopher Emerson And he succeeded; there are acts of violence in the first book, but no blood. Besides, you leave out an important thing: what Baum objected to were the lessons that those elements of the tales of Andersen and the Brothers Grimm were supposed to teach. He felt that since morality was a part of school curriculum in his day (would that it were now!), all the kids wanted from their fantasy stories was entertainment.
He did
Return to Oz is still one my favorite movies of all time. I bow to the artists that made it possible for us to enjoy such a great, time-enduring version of Baum's work.
I was forever enthralled with the concept of flight after watching the flying sofa with the Gump Head scene. Ever since then I've been fascinated with aviation!
That’s all I remember from this - I was fascinated by the idea of strapping pieces together and having them work together.
The Gump first appeared in the book "The Marvelous Land of Oz" in 1904.
I love this film so much. The music! The slightly gothic, unique aesthetic. So dreamlike. Never tire of it.
The Wheelers never scared me that I can remember. It’s the Head Switching witch that scared me. Especially Dorothy sneaking around at night trying not to wake up the original head (which she does) and that headless body running again in the dark.
DOOOROOOTHEEEEEEEHHH
The Wheelers were a bit much for my liking. Golden, ´80's overacting at its finest.
YES!!!! 😮😳
I agree. I mean, the 1939 was enough to scare me as a kid with the Wicked Witch of the West.
@@JoakimOtamaa I don't know what you mean by "80's overacting." Overacting is overacting no matter what decade it is, and in this case it was because the character wasn't human and therefore didn't have to talk like one.
I had the pleasure of speaking with the film composer, David Shire, on a few occasions. He was so nice and is an amazing talent. He even gave me a piano reduction of the score for various scenes. Love that guy.
Dude, thanks for sharing, that's super cool
Reduction?
That’s awesome! His score has always remained in my musical memory and it’s still one of my favourite movie scores.
Return to Oz has to be one of the best movies EVER 😁 I loved it growing up
How can you like such a terrifying movie. Surely there must be one scene that scarred you for life.
@@willfomes406 I was never scared. I always rented it as a child born in the 90s. I Loved it my entire life.
Will Fomes princess mombi
@@willfomes406 It's not a "terrifying movie." It's a fantasy film that has some scary bits to it, but there are also fun, exciting, sweet, and funny bits.
I saw Return to Oz two days ago, with my dad, on Amazon Prime. This is my dad’s favorite movie, and I can clearly see why. It’s a great and fantastic film. And it is also a wonderful marvel of practical effects.
Not that they wouldn't have used CGI if it had been at its present level then.
@@MaskedMan66 Watch the new Dark Crystal series on Netflix. It represents a *choice* not to just CGI the crap out of everything and use practical effects whenever possible. It's much, much easier on the eyes.
@@Aliandrin I've cringed my way through several episodes of that show, and they have used CGI for scenes that would have been much trickier to do in the old days (one scene of Rian swinging himself up onto one of those giant pillbug-driven vehicles, for instance). I have no problem with CGI; to me it's just another means of doing FX.
What bugs me about that show is how it contradicts the movie, mainly by having the urSkeks already split into the Mystics and the Skeksis BEFORE the Crystal cracked, and also with the ludicrous situations it presents, like Gelflings in silly hats having to wash retarded Podlings. I could happily do without the one Skeksis having her nose running all over the place. And I especially deplore how they're trying to make it the Thra edition of "Game of Thrones"; seven kingdoms? Really?
As a young child in the early 90s, I adored this movie and watched it regularly at my grandmas house. I finally found a copy of it on dvd a couple of years ago and its still fabulous. Terrific film all around. I always wanted to grow up to be Ozma or the wicked queen (she's stunning, even if evil)
Mombi used the title Princess, not Queen, and it really didn't apply to her.
my mom read the books to me when I was a kid, so it's weird for me to hear this movie described as dark, creepy and disturbing. to me it was just like the books.
Exactly!!!
I read the books when I was 4 years old! And grew up watching the 1939 film
People fail to realize how spot on this movie was. It goes so nicely with the book, and while the original movie was a classic, the book just wasn't like that.
aaron matthews. exactly
I also enjoyed this movie as I thought of it as the 'REAL" story of OZ. Baum wrote many books centering on the magical land,and to me ,this movie succeeded in capturing the mood of the original books.Remember that in the time period in which these stories were written children did not have the distractions of electronics and computers. The child who actually read was more serious minded than the children of this day and time. It is not suprising that the mood of the stories would be different than what is appretiated by today's audiances.
By "the original movie" you of course mean the one from 1910.
I see you're a 'Baum' follower as am I.Those 'original' movies made in the silent movie days had so little impact on anyone living today,that they are hardly worth the mention ,because no one knows what your talking about,unless your a hardcore follower.People today haven't any concept of the one time popularity of the OZ series.It is a sad example of how Hollywood alters classic tales in order to further it's own agenda.
+Dennis Gilpatrick
It's my subtle way of informing people (in this case Mr. Matthews) that there was indeed Oz before MGM. My hope is that they say, "Wait, what?" and go on to do some research and thereby discover the real history of Oz. Indeed, both of the silent versions of "Wizard" can be found right here on RUclips.
And nowadays it's certainly true that H'wood is all about agendas and doing what they want with literature (witness the hash they made of Narnia and "The Hobbit"), but as regards the MGM "Wizard," they were just aiming at adapting a much-loved classic of literature (and paying homage to the stage extravaganza of the early 1900's). They had no idea that their product would so overwhelm the world.
I watched this when I was a kid and always liked it and now as an adult I can really appreciate the creativity and ingenuity of the people who made it. I think it’s a really fun movie.
Agree completely, I was probably 7 or 8 when I saw rto (and taped it on VHS lol) and I always loved it too, the scary parts were disturbing enough to captivate but not traumatize me 😂.
Yup it is as this and Phantom tollbooth make a good double feature
They changed them to Ruby Slippers in "The Wizard of OZ" because it is an early technicolor film and they wanted shoes that would stand out. Silver shoes wouldn't look that incredible. I think it was a wise choice.
MontcomHorror from the stage play before that. Red showed up better for a stage audience.
+Lost Age Comics If you mean the stage extravaganza from 1902, which ran for most of the first decade of the 20th century, there were no magic shoes at all; Dorothy received a magic ring from the Good Witch of the North.
MaskedMan66 interesting. I have books that reference an early play doing that.
+Lost Age Comics What are the titles and ISBN numbers of those books? Can you quote me a passage?
Also another fun fact, MGM originally was going to use Shirley Temple (who was blonde) for the role of dorothy
The best dark is 80's dark.
80s future dark
At least they didn't harshly de-saturate the visuals like in modern "Grimdark" toned movies, even Superhero ones.
Moonbeam labyrinth
GRIM DARK!
Basically, what Laberynth would have looked look with the amplitude turned up 50 %
I remember me and my sister finding this on PBS, no idea what it was. The wheelers scared the crap out of us. Nightmare fuel! But we loved it, and would watch it every chance we had. Everyone always thought we were crazy when we would tell them there was a second Oz movie, and that it was more like a horror movie. No one else ever heard of it when we were kids. Telling them about it must have been what it was like for Dorothy trying to explain to her family and the farm hands what Oz was like.
Thank you for making this one Minty, as Return to Oz is a childhood classic for me.
This is about the tenth or fifteenth Oz movie; the MGM film was the eighth.
Funny thing about the Wheelers not being effective at causing harm: That was directly brought up in the original book. Like, Tik-Tok basically grabs the head Wheeler and says all that, and it sends said Wheeler sobbing because all they really had was their intimdation factor...
Thomas Johnson I am sure they could bludgeon someone with their wheels.
@@gojewla They wouldn't have the guts to do that. They are basically bullies.
Am I the only one to realize a Wheeler at full speed, clotheslining you with haymaker Wheel - would fucking KILL you?!
All this “not dangerous” nonsense is exactly that... Wheelers would be incredibly dangerous
@Rauce Powers Except that they aren't; if you read the book or even watch this movie, you'll know that they are cowards at heart and wouldn't harm a fly.
@@raucepowers8127 The only time we see them really at full speed was when they're drawing Mombi's cart (and maybe when they chase Dorothy to the desert and one's going so fast he can't stop and sands himself)
In my opinion this was on of the best Disney movies of the 80's. Everything out it is what I wanted out of a movie when I was a child. Would give anything to see this film in theaters with remastered sound and sharpness.
BLACK CAULDRON Was Good Too!
You should check out the Blu-ray that Disney released in 2015 for the 30th anniversary of the film. It doesn't have any special features but does include very good picture and sound quality! Even though it was a Disney Movie Club exclusive for members only, you can still find it on eBay for around 30$ new.
Honestly, I loved any scary kids' movies growing up. They were challenging and gave credit to kids to be able to handle the emotional content, not simply pandering to what they felt was at their "level." A lot of the creative work on the films could inspire kids in the future as well, artists and such, whether it was scary or not.
Oh damn! I'm so glad people remember this film other than me! Despite the gnome king being scary, the scene with Dorothy waking up princess Mombi's heads and screaming waking up her headless body terrified me the most when I was a kid.
Me, too. I never can't see this scene complete again, and I'm 35 now.
Nome, not "gnome."
Right
Maybe the most esoteric Easter egg I’ve discovered on my own: Netflix’s Season 3 of “Stranger Things”
In episode 7, alongside “Cocoon,” and “Fletch” we see “Return to Oz” on the movie theater marquee. I thought “Return to Oz” seemed like a random and odd choice as it’s not really a well known 80’s classic.
Until, at a later point, when something reminded me of Mike, Karen, and Nancy’s family name....the Wheelers.
Wow i see it
I think it may be more well known than most people on this thread seem to think.
Beware the Wheelers
mind blown
Nathan K awesome! Well spotted!
Return to OZ is a masterpiece, it was released on the day I was born
I watch originally this movie probably when I was 9. I'm 35 today, and the scene of the heads of Mombi's room (specially when her original head screams "Dorothy Gale!") still fright me.
For me the doctor scared me the most...because of all the 'villains' he wasn't being evil, he genuinely thought he was helping people.....Sometimes misguided villains are far worse than truly evil ones because you actually understand why they would do something, even if you don't understand how they came to their conclusions. (In this case electricity was, at the time, seen as a wonder cure by many, many medical theorists and progressives)
+Cap Tin Actually, as revealed in the novelization of the movie, Dr. Worley was working for the Nome King.
@@MaskedMan66 I didn't know they made a novelization. I was responding to Rip P's comment about being scared as a kid. I don't know if the doctor would have scared me more (as a kid) if I knew that or not.
+Cap Tin Yes, I caught that. But I like to share trivia with people.
I thought that Dr. Worley was the Nome King in Oz. Just as Nurse Wilson is Princess Mombi and the staff who wheeled Dorothy were in fact the wheelers.
Return to Oz is a sequel, just a sequel of Baum's Wizard of Oz book. It is based on the 2nd and 3rd books. It is a clever combination of both books, which were about that dark. The look is pure Baum/Neil with exception to the dark locks on Dorothy. The original book was illustrated by W.W. Denslow and had her dark with pigtails. All the rest of the books were illustrated by John R. Neil and she was blonde. Although I love the 1939 film more than any other film, this IS Baum's OZ and it is great.
Denslow's Dorothy was not dark-haired, and RtO is its own animal, containing elements of the books and of the MGM movie.
I need to ❤️ this knowledge
I concur. It IS a sequel just not considered an immediate one. People get hung up on the Garland film being the only iteration, but it wasn't a truly faithful adaptation. If this isn't a sequel because tone, look, and studio are different, then The Avengers is not a sequel to all the Phase 1 Marvel films.
+ Elizabeth Athineu There are other things to be considered, such as the two different surnames that the two different versions of Uncle Henry have (Gale in the MGM film, Blue in RtO). The movie that is officially considered the sequel to the MGM film in the animated feature "Journey Back to Oz."
Well said.
I loved how the characters in the real world translated to characters in OZ, even Tick-Tock! This movie is and will always be brilliant! Who didn't love the heads in the glass cases???
Tik-Tok. I've always wondered why they went the MGM route with this movie, especially since Oz was not a dream in it.
It's incredible this film exists at all. I heard the sound track was done by a highly sought after dude who didn't commit to many films, you can tell, the soundtrack is great.
Just a remarkable film and for me I feel it's a glimps into the real world of the books, this is definitely my OZ anyway
It's very much in the spirit of the books.
THE WHEELERS SCARED THE CRAP OUT OF ME.
they scared the post digestive matter out of a LOT of people
The Wheelers... and GOOD GOD the heads in the cases.... JHC this movie was psychotic.
Did you ever read the original Oz books written by L. Frank Baum? If you do, this movie won’t bother you at all.
My sister and I loved those characters
@UncleDeluxe Kids who had read the Oz books were not surprised or scared. The Wheelers were very quickly revealed as cowardly comic relief.
This movie is scary, even as a teenager i find myself spooked at times- but thats a good thing.
The scares never go too far, and the scary parts add to the movie, seeing the wheelers so scared and fragile when they fail to take Dorothy to Mombi is fantastic, it makes it feel so much more awesome that the thing that freaked you out the most is crying.
The special effects are also top notch and still hold up today, the heads, the stop motion, it all looks beautiful. The stop motion is also very very smooth its fantastic.
I'm not disparaging you at all, but having grown up reading the Oz books, there was nothing I was unprepared for, so I just sat there enjoying seeing these things that had never been on a screen before, ever since the MGM _Wizard_ became the only Oz that anybody knew.
Actually in the book Ozma of Oz, Tik Tok actually states how Wheelers cannot harm anyone -- causing the Wheelers to start crying and confess that they wrote the signs "Beware the Wheelers" to try and build up their scary reputation, like a lot of bullies.
I was thinking that as well, Ozma was my favorite Oz book
One of the greatest movies of the 80's and a personal favorite of my childhood!! I adore it!!
This film is one of the most beautiful, terrifying, edifying and profound works of art ever made. Every frame, every line of dialogue is a multifaceted jewel-like life lesson - and most amazing of all… it’s an unsolicited collaboration with Frank L. Baum that spans pretty much the whole the 20th Century. It actually adds richness to the already timeless literary work it was based upon. Fairuza Balk is pitch perfect, the art direction and special effects are still stunning. I can’t get over this one.
Not much of a feel-good kid flick, to say the least. Ha.
So much the better. Gotta grow up sooner or later.
agree 100% with this assessment! every scene, every line of dialog is vivid and well-crafted. the score is a masterpiece too.
Seeing the Nome King's magic undone, Oz restored to its former glory, and Dorothy happy at home didn't leave you with a good feeling?
Jean Marsh was also Queen Bavmorda in the cult fantasy classic Willow 😉
And two different versions of Morgan LeFay in two different T.V. shows in 1989.
And also one of the co-creators of 1970s period drama 'Upstairs Downstairs'.
@GusMcGuire Correct! A very accomplished woman
I read that, after playing Princess Mombi and getting the part of Bavmorda, Jean Marsh lamented, "The children are going to hate me!" or something to that effect
@@TuxKamen I think she was joking. :-)
Return To Oz was certainly ahead of it's time, awesome movie
I stumbled across this movie on TV once by pure chance, right at the scene where Dorothy and Billina find the ruined Yellow Brick Road. I was so fascinated by it, and then never heard or saw anything about it again until over ten years later, when I stumbled across the DVD in a clearance bin at a truck stop in West Virginia at 4:00 in the morning. Talk about surreal.
I was like today years old when I realized Dorthy in Return to Oz was that psycho chic from The Craft..🤔
She played it so well that it didn't even matter that her character's name was Nancy. Badass crazy evil witch... named Nancy. Takes a lot to pull that off.
Today years old? Huh?
Which one they were all a little physco
Jimmy Melendez today is not a number of days old. Without knowing their birth date its a completely worthless statement. They should just say “i found out today” or say their age. They are fucking retards
She was also in American History X, The Waterboy, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Almost Famous, and others
Do take a chicken with you!
It's the chicken that saved them in the end, remember?
Billina.
My chickens have saved me also
@@helkays By poisoning Nomes?
@@MaskedMan66 I would unleash all my 10 girls to lay their eggs and kill the Nome King!
@@MaskedMan66 by being the best depression therapy you could ever wish for
I liked this movie when I was a kid in the 80s, along with the "Dark Crystal".
OMG! Return to OZ and Dark Crystal : So VERY GÜÜD!!!
I have the poster from this signed by Fairuza Balk.
Nice!
I gather she's a real sweetheart, under all the gothiness.
Envy you! Great actress
Nice.
Did you hit it?
@@MaskedMan66 I think all goth chicks actually are. Tough on the outside, fragile on the inside. The pale skin makes them even more fragile. Sigh.... I actually have such a goth-chick fetish >_
I loved this movie as a kid and still do as an adult. It's wonderful x
Really loved this film as a kid and adult too. I think it impacted me a lot
I'm so glad to have found over people that love this movie, I always said it felt like a cool "fever dream" type of movie and I love that aesthetic
I look at it more of a standalone movie but its an awesome one. It draws you into the movie like your really there
Exactly, the entirety of that movie brings me into that lucid dreaming mindset. Two other movies that accomplish that for me are Little Nemo and Annihilation.
@@nescafe7781 It is a standalone movie.
An ironic impression, since unlike the MGM movie, RtO shows Oz as being real.
Masterpiece and brilliant movie ahead of its time, it's accurate to the books...it's a dark kids story......
its not accurate to details tho
The wheelers are really close to me at least
@henkdachief It's an adaptation, not a retelling. Baum did the same thing with his Oz movies.
@@MaskedMan66 still not accurate tho
@henkdachief *ahem* It's an adaptation, not a retelling.
when even i see a green ornament i still touch it and say "oz"
Of course in the book, they said, "Ev."
@@MaskedMan66 I didn't know that I haven't read the book... thanks!
@@geekgroupie42 This comes a year later, but the book in question is called "Ozma of Oz." :-)
Oh my god so do I hahaha!
What if a charity shop was full of them?
It was a sequel. The Nome King says "are you sure you didnt come back for these", Dorothy: "My ruby slippers". Which fell out of the sky when DOrothy returned back to Kansas which is why he was able to take over Oz
The wheelers had their faults mentioned in the books.
They acknowledged their only true power was intimidation.
And the movie did such a good job portraying that, that it comes across as a flaw in the movie itself.
@@Aliandrin It's no "flaw," what are you talking about?
No doubt part of the symbolism?
One of my favorite movies when I was a kid!
It doesn’t follow the film “The Wizard of Oz”, it follows the novels that the original film completely disregarded.
If by the "original" you mean the MGM musical (which was actually the third movie version of the story) it didn't disregard the original novel at all; it was just a loose adaptation. Did you ever hear of the stage musical which L. Frank Baum himself had a hand in creating? Here are just a few factoids about it:
Dorothy Gale, a 19 year-old, is blown by a cyclone to Oz, along with her pet cow, Imogene, and a young couple who get engaged during the storm. She is a waitress named Trixie Tryfle, and he is Pastoria, exiled King of Oz. Locasta, the Good Witch of the North, gives Dorothy a magic ring with which she brings the Scarecrow to life. They soon meet the Tin Woodman and Cynthia Cynch, the Lady Lunatic, searching for her lost love Niccolo-- who turns out to be the Tin Woodman! Dorothy gets into a platonic romance with Sir Dashemoff Daily, the Poet Laureate of Oz. The Cowardly Lion turns up now and again, but has no lines. The Wizard turns out to be a villain who, with his henchman Sir Wiley Gyle, tries to stop Pastoria from taking back his throne. They fail, of course, and the whole thing ends up in a musical revue hosted by Glinda the Good.
Now, then, what was that about MGM? 😉
Return to Oz. My 80's childhood.
When I was little I loved this film, I thought the wheelers looked cool and the nome king being allergic to eggs was funny, still one of my childhood favourites
Not allergic; eggs are poison to Nomes.
Well people that are allergic to something sometimes if they accidentally ate it it would be fatal.
If you look up images of Fairuza Balk (Dorothy), she could TOTALLY play a Harley Quinn type villain in a Batman movie. But best be it Tim Burton style.
She just has that look. Love it!
It's a crime she hasn't been utilized in such way.
I don't see her in that role. She has a great smile, but I'd see her more as Magpie or-- how's this for a twist?-- Alice.
Best we got is Vicky Vallencourt
The Witch heads waking up and Wheelers were scary stuff to a kid like me back in the 80s!
Even when the Wheelers were shown to be cowards and comic relief?
@@MaskedMan66 , yes, the Wheelers were scary at first.
@Jamie Braswell I didn't ask about "at first."
Yeah the heads were too much when I was little!
@Melanie Rose I had already read "Ozma of Oz" years before, so I wasn't surprised.
Jean Marsh was super scary as Bavmorda in Willow(great film).
Marli Andersen I love Willow!
Marli Andersen thanks, I was trying to think what other big film I recognised her from. I'm surprised it wasn't mentioned in the video
She also played two different versions of Morgan Le Fay, one on "Doctor Who" and the other in a telefilm of "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court."
Did you know that Jean Marsh played the part of Alicia the robot in the Twilight Zone episode The Lonely.
+Melissa Cooper I did! I remember seeing that on T.V. and thinking, "That's never... is it? Yes! It's Jean Marsh!"
I LOVED this movie when I first saw it as a kid. The stuff we had back then was dark a lot of the time. Secret of Nimh, Dark Crystal, The Last Unicorn, etc.
People misinterpret movies and stories like those. They aren't "dark," their lead characters fight against-- and eventually overcome-- the darkness.
I watched this movie multiple times as a kid, and I was never scared of it. My dad had read some of the old Baum novels to me, so I was well prepared for the weirdness. I was intrigued by all the wonderfully imaginative stuff they put in, and besides, I'd had nightmares from that time that were way scarier.
Thank you!
I like the use of symbolism in the Kansas scenes. Aside from the obvious (the doctor is the Nome King, the nurse is Mombi, the orderlies are the Wheelers, etc), the mysterious girl (Ozma) is always shown in reflection first, she is barefoot and she gives Dorothy the jack-o-lantern.
I've never quite understood why the MGM-type setup, considering that Oz was real in this movie.
I love this movie! Watched it a bunch as a kid. I never thought it was scary.
I loved the tree that had the sandwiches growing on it.
You mean dinner pails.
That was one of my favourite bits of the film, but it was still kind of creepy and scary.
Oh yeah the idea of basically plucking lunchboxes from a tree was such a cool concept. Something you can really only find in OZ.
Lunch pail tree
@@Scripture-Man HOW?????
I love this movie, the gnome king used to terrify the fuck out of me though, especially when he turns into a stop motion creature... freaky!
NowhereNomad same I thought I was the only one who liked it
It got panned when it came out but it seems to have become a cult classic now, I remember watching it on VHS! lol :D
I love this movie!! I was obsessed with return to oz, willow, legend, and labyrinth as a kid, I was very much into fantasy movies.
Same I love all those cheesy 80's fantasy movies, even the bad ones like Krull, Excalibur and Hawk the Slayer!!! :D
Tik-Tok was a awesome character. He's across between Tin Man and Man-At-Arms.
“Something wicked this way comes” was a Disney movie that scared me as a child growing up.
Omg yes! That scene where the old man is getting his hand crushed has stayed with me for decades. Plus overall so dark and creeepy.
I don’t think that was a kids movie. It was Disney but it was for adults
@@jameslangley2196 yeah. But I still saw it as a kid.
@@roadyinzer2461 agreed. It wasn't for very young children, obviously, but it was probably aimed for roughly 10 and up. Expecually kids who liked creepy. That knuckle scene I'll never forget.
@@rachelmckitterick watching movies like this at such a young age is the reason I love horror movies today!
This was the first film I ever saw in a cinema, aged about 5 or 6 and it's my fav nostalgia movie to date (Lying. It's my fav movie ever). The wheelers, gnome king and deadly desert terrified me as a kid but I can't describe how important this movie was to me. As an 80's child Dorothy was really the first female protagonist I had (before that it'd all been He-Man, sesame street, Noddy, Trapdoor, or girls being second to male characters), and I think the fact that she was the hero of her own story really hit 5 year old me in an important way.
Nome, not gnome.
A third way a Wheeler could hurt you is to just club you with those wheels.
But they wouldn't; they're cowards.
In the book Ozma of Oz Tic-Tok tells Dorothy that the wheelers were cowards and they were just full of bluff. He points out that their wheels made them helpless in doing any real harm to Dororthy. In fact when they caught one of the wheelers he begged them not to reveal their weakness if he took them to the princess.
God I love Faruzia Balk. I had the biggest crush on her ever since "the worst witch".
@Carl Liddle Amateur herbologist, really, let's be honest. ;-)
Fun Fact:
Tip is actually Princess Ozma.
She was under a spell that turned her into a boy.
In the books, yes, but not in this movie.
I may have to read the books seems like there's a lot in em
+Daniel Symes There are forty canon Oz books; L. Frank Baum wrote the first fourteen.
MaskedMan66 loads we don't see I bet, daymn this was a good film hahah
I always thought her name was pronounced Ozmith
I have just found out that Michael Sundin, who played Tik Tok (the movement) was from Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, close to where I live. Sadly, he was only 28 when he passed away in 1989....
I always laughed at the part where the gnome king lifts his robe and he's wearing the ruby slippers!
It would've been great if he'd kept pulling that robe and showed he was also wearing some nylon stockings!
I would legit steam at the top of my lungs…. YAAAAASSSSS QUEEEEN!!! You better WORK!!!! Lmao I WOULD BE LIVING FOR THAT!!! Thank you so much for this comment. Cause It’s officially going to be one of my new fav that I’m not going to be able to watch without snapping and yelling yaaaassss at the screen.!!!!! Lmao. Soooo flippin’ funny!!!! Bitch is not about tryin to get his pumps snatched!!!! 😂🤣🤣👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼✌🏼✌🏼✌🏼👑👑👑🌈👠👠. I’m honestly still laughing as I’m writing this!! So CLASSIC!
Ha!
Then he breaks into song:
"I'm just a sweet stalagmite . . . "
Why would he?
Nome.
I loved this movie because it was bizarre and different from the musical. I was really happy when they incorporated it into the Mains Street Electrical Parade. Great vid! Gonna watch more
You’re wrong about Return to Oz not being a sequel.
1. The reason they’re different is because Disney owned the rights to all the L. Frank Baum Oz books, and Disney wanted to keep it as dark as the books. However, after Return to Oz, Disney lost the rights to the Oz books and MGM claimed it when Disney lost it. Now, MGM still owns it.
2. The only reason MGM didn’t make Return to Oz was because they didn’t own the rights to the books.
3. The only reason the actors are not only different person but aged differently is because Dorothy was supposed to be 11 in the Wizard Of Oz, but Judy Garland was 17 so it make her look older. Judy Garland died nearly 20 years before Return to Oz, so they had to find a replacement. They wanted someone to look like her, but the only people who could really do that was Judy’s daughters and they were like 40. They chose the girl in Return to Oz to match her actual age.
4. The Ruby Slippers were silver in the books, yes, but they changed it to Ruby because the Wizard Of Oz was technicolor and they wanted to show how technicolor could change movies.
5. How did you think Return to Oz wasn’t a sequel? Dorothy in Return to Oz finds the house from the Wizard Of Oz and says she remembers the tornado and her living there.
6. It’s not a follow up to the book. After L. Frank Baum made the first Oz Book, he made two more. That’s what Return to Oz comes from. It’s also following the movie, which is why they keep bringing up the connections to the first movie. Even Dorothy only appears in one of the two books, it’s based on those two books. Dorothy replaced a boy named Tip who , in the book, was the one who went on the adventure.
I’ve just re discovered this movie. My 3 year old son loves pumpkins. He’s not scared of Jack at all. I don’t remember being scared of this movie at all. Actually inspired me to be more weird. ☺️
I'm frankly alarmed that so many people claim to have been frightened, traumatized, emotionally scarred, etc. by this movie. It was fun!
OH SNAP! Someone Other Than Me Remembers This Exists!
Jeff El Heffe B I had exactly the same reaction!!!, I spoke of this flick many time and the blank expressions I got back truly mad me think I'd created the whole thing in my head lol
I own the DVDs and the VHS Cassettes.... this movie is excellent....
Jeff El Heffe B I actually forgot my mum had taken me to see this movie as a kid. It wasn't until years later that she reminded of it as it was on TV. Then I was like "OMG yes! I remember it now!"
Jeff El Heffe B loved this movie too
lmao ikr!
my favorite kids movie of the 80's. love all the dark themes
I still plan to make a wheeler costume someday. I've always found them unsettling, but kind of amazing though not much a threat.
I wanna update the costume a bit giving it a more Joker ego flair, adding am industrial goth edge to it to creepy it up more!
I've ALWAYS loved this film. And I'm so happy to hear someone else point out the hypocrisy of the doc trying to make her see a face in something while simultaneously trying to rid her of imagination!!
I also thinks that might be one of the last things she saw that triggered Tick Tock in her imagination.
I also think it's strange but adorable when she combs the pumpkin who has no hair and you hear the teeth just scrape against pumpkin skin.
I think of the blonde little girl as a casualty of the doctors machine , which really converts peoples mind to scrambled eggs.
I think she might be a ghost trapped trying to warn Dorothy to run away while she still can.
Her lunch box Aunt Em packed getting taken away by the terrifying nurse (who ends up Momby) is why she dreams up a lunch pail tree (another fun prop I'd die to have! I Wanna make the pails and set them up and host a picnic event that way!)
It's her way of getting her lunch box back, something familiar and totally mundane, in an unfamiliar terrifying place.
I think the ghost girl gets set free by Dorothy's rebellious act and making what was truly happening (experimental torture pseudo "science") aware to the public.
I also think all the other wailing and crying patients and other ghostly casualties are repressed in the headless and missing persons of Oz. They in turn get set free when the lightening storm burns down the building and the doc within. Dorothy sees them all happy and citizens of Oz.
Ozma the ghost girl gets to ascend to a sort of heaven in a rising , rightfully restored, magical ,wonderous land of Oz.
The Wheelers are all noise and bluster; at heart, they're more cowardly than the Lion.
Pinstripes!
It's not hypocrisy as such, just the typical physician thing about putting a child at ease. The hypocrisy is that he wants to frighten her to death once Aunt Em is gone.
It's Tik-Tok, and she didn't dream in this movie; Oz is real, as Walter Murch made clear back in the day.
That was cute.
Obviously the girl had all her marbles, and was, in fact, Ozma.
As was stated in the movie, and made even more clear in the novelization, Ozma had been enchanted into the mirror, to be watched over by the Nome King's agent Dr. Worley.
It's Mombi, and I like your idea!
Again, Ozma was no ghost, and when Dorothy wished to be in both places at once, Ozma finally was able to step through the mirror back into her palace.
Murch damaged his own assertion that Oz was real by creating all those MGM-esque parallels.
Flight of the navigator is a great movie ... you should do one of these 10 things you didn't know about Flight of the Navigator
He did.
Flight of the Navigator was way ahead of it's time. Beautiful masterpiece of a movie.
They harassed Return to Oz for not being enough like the Wizard of Oz but Return to Oz is a better adaptation of Baum's stories then Wizard of Oz ever was
If you mean the MGM movie, Maud Baum loved it. Besides, have you ever heard of the stage musical her husband co-created?
Return to Oz is a fantastic film with some of the coolest visual effects. As creative as "The Labyrinth" and the original "Dark Crystal".
The 1980's was the best decade for fantasy films, hands down!
The movie's score is absolutely beautiful. Going to go listen to that today while working. Thanks!
It's a stunning score. Great beard BTW. lol
I absolutely love this movie! I grew up watching it. Loved Tik-Tok and Gump.
My favorite movie, ever since I first saw it when I was 5. I'm happy there are others out there who feel the same
Wow, I didn't know that Jean Marsh and Jon Pertwee had been married - you learn something new every day. And Michael Sundin, the actor in the robot costume, will be familiar to UK people of a certain age as a Blue Peter presenter in the 80s.
If Christopher Lloyd can play a Klingon, he could play the Gnome King.
He eventually played the Wizard in another Oz film, "The Witches of Oz" (with wrestler Al Snow as the Gnome King)
Isn't it an insult to compare a Gnome king to a mere Klingon?
1.21 GIGAWATTS?!?
@Mark Carpenter NOME, not "gnome." And that was a bit of a disappointment, seeing the Nome King portrayed as a monosyllabic thug.
@hydrolito Nome, not "gnome." And it's the highest honor in the galaxy to be compared to a Klingon.
Still one of my top 10 favorite movies. My love of skeleton keys stems from this movie, too.
Oh, thank you for saying that. Yes, and I believe it also features in the book? Yep, me too!
One of my fave movies of ALL times!!!! I used to have a recurring dream that i found a door at the back of a piano store and i had to wiggle and go thru this tunnel and I'd slide a panel and come out in Oz. It was always the crumbled,ruined Oz from this movie.
It wasn't a dream. That's a lie you've learned to tell yourself. Come back. We are waiting. Slide the panel.
How dull! I much prefer the restored, shining Oz from this movie.
That’s a really cool dream!
Tic Toc was my favorite character.
Tik-Tok.
cole thompson ive had a facination with clockwork things since this movie and tictoc.
+brandon bentley Tik-Tok.
MaskedMan66 nice catch.
+brandon bentley No credit to me; that's how they spell it in the books. :-)
I actually really like Return to Oz. No, it’s not Wizard of Oz, but I watched it objectively and ended up really liking it. It’s one of the most underrated films of the 80s.
There have been a multiplicity of Oz productions on stage, screen, radio, and T.V. for 123 years. 🙂 Most have something going for them. Some are rubbish. But all prove the staying power of L. Frank Baum's fairyland.
L. Frank Baum’s original OZ book is a timeless classic. I’ve read it, and it is actually quite different from the movie. The basic plot is the same but there are lots of omissions.
They could bludgeon you with their wheel hands, and if the wheels actually move on their own they may be able to produce enough force to drag you around with their teeth, and there are enough of them to overpower a little girl and drag her to the deadly desert regardless.
Yes! This is right. It's a gang of grown ass men holding wheels. How can you not immediately imagine them bashing you in the head, their insane arm muscles all strong from balancing all day.
One flaw in that idea: The Wheelers were whingeing cowards who wouldn't harm a fly.
@@racheljwallace They're not "holding wheels," those are their limbs. And they are too cowardly to harm anyone.
@@MaskedMan66 say that when you've never met one before, they come flying out of the shadows calling for your blood, and your a little girl wandering the ruins of a once bustling city.
@@MaskedMan66 Obviously someone who is masked, as you are, will side with these masked villains. At the very least, they may drive you insane with their cackle.
Hahaha I still love this movie, call me crazy.
Still hoping to run into a ham and cheese sandwhich tree someday lol
Why would you want to be a ham and cheese sandwich tree?
@@MaskedMan66 Lower grocery bill :D Edit: After thinking about the implications of what I commented, I do not endorse cannibalism even if you're a PB&J sandwich tree.
@@dizzybee4176 It's not cannibalism if you eat the sandwiches that fall off him (which... would be... fruit... technically...) and not the tree itself (vegetable).
I remember I was in second grade when this movie came out and still have yet to see it even though I would like to. 😳
Check out Etsy, you can purchase your very own customized lunch-tree pale, powder of life, or even the brass OZ key or Mombis key!
I remember staying up late watching Disney Channel in 1991 seeing the film as a kid...it was trippy as hell but I still love it to this day!
One of the Wheelers is played by Pons Marr whom later played Saurod in Masters of the Universe.
Great video bro. I was surprised that you didn't mention that Jean Marsh was Queen Bavmorda in Willow.
She was amazing in both films
Jean has played a multitude of great characters, including three on "Doctor Who."
Man I love this movie. I don't understand why everyone thought it was so scary. It was beautiful, suspenseful and had such amazing special effects! I mean, read the BOOKS and you'll see a lot of different themes explored that were kind of dark and bold for their time. :)
I'm not sure what you mean by anything being "dark and bold" in the books. But it's always nice to meet a fellow brave person. 🙂
Alanis Morissette as Dorothy? That would have been...ironic. Dontcha think?
Killer Queen hahahahahah!!
Boooo 🤣
Ehhh...a little TOOOOO ironic. And yeah, I really do think.
@@Erroanona Beat me to it, lol!
It's like rainbows somewhere over Oz
It's a free ride by just clicking your heels
It's the good advice on how to kill a witch
And who would've thought, it's in colour!
Awesome movie, sadly forgotten...and btw this movie was actually more accurate to the books than the original.
Not altogether forgotten.
This movie truly changed my life the trailer still makes the hairs on my arm stand up but in a good way. i truly couldn't explain with out tellin u i am crazy but this movie is amazing
The wizard of oz didn’t come out in 1939 , the musical of the book did , there were movie versions of the oz stories before the 1939 version , including a silent movie
There were actually five Oz-based silent movies (and possibly more that have not survived), plus some filmed sequences which L. Frank Baum used for a multimedia presentation he once took on tour.