Holy shit, I'm actually the person that edited the Comedy Sportz wikipedia page to include Matt when I found out he worked there, it was several years ago and I thought it was criminal that you weren't listed as a notable member. Love you Matt!
Love Return to Oz. It was mostly based on the third book, with elements of the second added. Brian Henson performed the role of Jack Pumpkinhead, both as a performer and doing the voice (it wasn’t a Henson company production, but it would be fairer to say that it had Henson DNA, both literally and figuratively.) Mombi is a composite of two characters from the books, the old witch Mombi who had the powder, and Princess Langwidere, who had thirty heads. The film is often criticized for being too scary, however most of that scary stuff - the desert, the wheelers, the heads, etc - all come from the books. The only scary thing that was added in was the shock therapy, which was likely inspired by the book Wisconsin Death Trip, which Murch used as a historical source for the time period.
When I first saw it as a teenager, the only thing I really found scary was the shock therapy part. It seemed really unnecessary to try to put her through that. It seemed awfully cruel to include it in a kid's movie. The rest of it was fine. All those fantasy movies from the 80s are bizarre.
Mike you did a great job. You are my favorite Beer and Board Games guest by a landslide. Matt, you know that Mr. Yonda is an inevitable guest on this show.
Giving a warm welcome to Mike! He did a pretty good job in this episode! He and Rob, I think, are the best contenders for permanent host, but we'll see how it all pans out. As for this film, it's a shame that many people hate on it, because it's filled to the brim with so much creativity and imagination. I'm in full agreement with Mike---one of the many streaming services should make a TV series out of the Oz books, because there's so much untapped potential in them that can't be fully covered in just a movie or two.
I liked this movie a lot. Surprisingly dark, but I loved the grim atmosphere. Very reminiscent of The NeverEnding Story. And the steampunk aesthetic was cool too. The idea of everything having changed so much since Dorothy was last there reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia. Also, I read that same editing book in film school.
I love this movie so much, I even sewed myself a little plushy of Jack because I never could find any I liked. And this was not as a kid or teenager, I was a nearly 30 year old woman at that point! I get that a lot of people may find parts of this film creepy but I feel like that's kind of what Oz is. It's supposed to be a physical manifestation of your own fears so that you have the opportunity to overcome then and learn you had the strength to do so all along.
Finally... an episode I can actually watch! Watched both the original 'Wizard of Oz' last month and followed it up with 'Return to Oz' - excited to see and hear about Mike and Matt's experience! God knows how many times I returned to Craig's and Matt's run-through of 'Mac & Me'... a film I actually haven't watched :')
The slippers were silver in the books (not diamond), but I'm impressed that Mike knows more about Oz than the average person on the street who, at best, is only familiar with the MGM musical. I agree with him that it's a shame that there haven't been more serious attempts to mine material from the other thirteen Oz books that Baum wrote (instead, most people just seem to want to remake the Judy Garland version in some form or another), though since those books were written for a younger demographic than your typical YA fantasy reader, doing strictly faithful adaptations might not be the best route to draw in modern audiences.
Watched Return to Oz for the first time earlier this year. Fun to see both your takes on it! I died when the Gnome King showed off the ruby slippers. Like "look how much better they are on me."
Hi fellas! Speaking of ComedySportz, like 10 years ago I went to the national theatre thing for high schoolers, and Mike Rock taught an improv class, we had a crazy little moment where he knew you guys well and I had been watching for years. It was a very nice way to connect more to the channel 😊
Yes! So glad to see Mike make an appearance here. This movie is creatively creepy. I feel lucky to not have seen it as a kid. It would have been waaaaay too much for me, but, as an adult, I adore its visuals.
"The Mouse That Roared" was a much better book than movie I thought. I believe there were even one or two sequels, but it's been a very long time. About the same era when I was reading Thorne Smith fantasies and "No Time for Sergeants" (both of which also inspired various movies and TV shows, by the way).
I have dim recollections of this movie; I do agree with Mike that the characters are a pastiche of various books, I remember the Gump from the Oz books - it was from The Marvelous Land of Oz (book 2). I always thought the Wheelers were always nightmarish, books included. I quite liked their presentation here in the movie. Most of the Oz books I feel read like a DM's summary of a grand campaign. I read all 14 of the L. Frank Baum books, and most of the other 29 books - they do all have the same sort of feel, as if you're in a weird and kind of disturbing dream...
Not to be that nerd, but as a fellow wizard of oz kid, there are actually a lot of elements from the books in this film. They just…made it less whimsical and more scary, and mashed different books together into one sequel. Anyway this was a great episode! I actually haven’t seen this since I was very young (it probably gave me nightmares) so I had forgotten about a lot of the plot elements. Including all the sanitarium stuff! That was definitely not in any of the books 😂
I’ve been a fan of this movie since I was a little girl and it still is my favourite 80s fantasy film and as an addendum, this film was a tragic foreshadowing of what to expect when I went through a dark period in my teens when my parents had me wrongfully committed to psych wards and I can attest that they’re fundamentally more corrupt and involve malpractice, gaslighting, poisoning, sexual assault including rape (yes even that and I unfortunately know that first hand), etc than one would think. As a result, remembering this movie was a cathartic comfort until I was finally acknowledged as not being mentally ill and was released. I definitely don’t recommend for anyone to go to those malpractice industries. Either way, the movie is an awesome and darkly relevant film. :)
While Murch didn't direct a film again, he did direct an episode of the animated show Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The episode was The General which was inspired by films like Apocalypse Now. Neat.
Oddly enough, the audio book has a... I hesitate to say better, but more famous cast. It's narrated by Neil Gaiman, Dream is played by James MacAvoy, Mathew the Raven is played by Andy Serkis, Lucifer is played by Michael Sheen, and the love of my life, Kat Dennings, plays Death. Also, they have one cast member in common, Arthur Darvill plays Richard Madoc in the show and William Shakespeare in the audio drama.
Was *very* fortunate to have missed out on that movie. There's a small group of movies that can be labeled kids movie that are memorialized as torturously LONG. Adventures of Baron Munchousen, chitty chitty bang bang, and THIS. were they memorable, Sure. Were they more fun than LONG, No!!! ' When it gets to the point where the evil rock monster shows up i started bellowing Craig's line "i did NOT think this could become more, but it Has become MORE !" 😳
Actually, I believe the slippers in the books were silver. I had a teacher who said that L. Frank Baum slipped in a lot of political commentary into the books. Having silver slipper OVER the (golden) Yellow brick road was his way of telling people to invest in silver instead of gold.
Sorry, but your teacher was dead wrong. The idea that the Baum intended The Wizard of Oz to be a political allegory is something some scholar pulled out of his ass almost six and a half decades after the book was first published and people have been repeating that bogus claim ever since.
Dude! You must reread the Oz books. It’s silver shoes, not ruby or diamond slippers. Also Return to Oz is based on two books, yes. They are The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. My dad used to read them to me as a kid.
Mombi is what kills this movie for me. Not because she's scary but because A) the movie doesn't need two villains and B) after the head cabinet scene there's nowhere to go but down. And I'm very glad you didn't call attention to the fact that Pumpkinhead and Scarecrow's mouths don't move because I always find it disheartening when people say that that ruins the movie for them.
I had to hit pause after only the first 2 and a half minutes to comment: KISMET! That's so funny, I grew up in a Kismet house - we never had Yahtzee, only this ripoff. As such, we have continued the tradition and our kids only know Kismet as well. Paying forward bad parenting, you might say. Okay, back to the basement!
This has been my favorite post-Craig episode so far. Maybe Mike had better material to work with, or maybe Mike's is a gifted comedian, but he was straight up hilarious. One question - what happened to the little girl who helped Dorothy escape?
It’s funny but this episodes SEEN IT is one of the first times I’ve heard someone else say they hated the twist in The Usual Suspects! I’ve never liked it and have felt like a crazy person because the world marveled at it! It sucks because it implies everything we’ve watched and invested in is made up bullshit, even the circumstances of the characters and plot!? That just rubbed me the wrong way. Only other person back in the day that seemed to think similarly was Roger Ebert? It’s been one of a handful of my most controversial opinions. Speaking of what are some of YOUR most controversial film opinions?
I'm not a fan of Usual Suspects either. It's a movie that is otherwise completely forgettable if not for its twist. No interesting characters and a bland script. But maybe it's just not for me.
Watch The Meg here! welcometothebasementshow.com/the-meg/
Holy shit, I'm actually the person that edited the Comedy Sportz wikipedia page to include Matt when I found out he worked there, it was several years ago and I thought it was criminal that you weren't listed as a notable member. Love you Matt!
I love how Mike is comedically blunt when he states something like a joke or when someone interrupts him. 😂
Seeing all the B&BG alumn on the ol' leather couch has been a delight!
Fairuza Balk is wonderful as Dorothy in Return to OZ. I've loved this strange dark fantasy since I was a kid. The 80's nailed magical fantasy films.
also great in the craft and the worst witch
Love Mikes energy hoping it sticks for later episodes
Definitely need more audiobook of graphic novel energy in the Basement.
Since Mike has seen this movie, it's a return to Return to Oz for him
Mike is one of my favorite guests on every Blame Society show.
Mike did a great job on the show! You should have him back as frequently as possible.
Love Return to Oz. It was mostly based on the third book, with elements of the second added. Brian Henson performed the role of Jack Pumpkinhead, both as a performer and doing the voice (it wasn’t a Henson company production, but it would be fairer to say that it had Henson DNA, both literally and figuratively.) Mombi is a composite of two characters from the books, the old witch Mombi who had the powder, and Princess Langwidere, who had thirty heads. The film is often criticized for being too scary, however most of that scary stuff - the desert, the wheelers, the heads, etc - all come from the books. The only scary thing that was added in was the shock therapy, which was likely inspired by the book Wisconsin Death Trip, which Murch used as a historical source for the time period.
When I first saw it as a teenager, the only thing I really found scary was the shock therapy part. It seemed really unnecessary to try to put her through that. It seemed awfully cruel to include it in a kid's movie. The rest of it was fine. All those fantasy movies from the 80s are bizarre.
I adore this movie. Even though it traumatized me. This vibe, whatever it is, was my vibe as a kid. ❤
Mike you did a great job. You are my favorite Beer and Board Games guest by a landslide.
Matt, you know that Mr. Yonda is an inevitable guest on this show.
I love this movie so much! I saw it as a young kid and it scared me but I still couldn’t stop watching. It holds up imo
My friend had recorded this off TV back in the day and it freaked us out, so naturally we watched it a zillion more times lol
Giving a warm welcome to Mike! He did a pretty good job in this episode! He and Rob, I think, are the best contenders for permanent host, but we'll see how it all pans out. As for this film, it's a shame that many people hate on it, because it's filled to the brim with so much creativity and imagination. I'm in full agreement with Mike---one of the many streaming services should make a TV series out of the Oz books, because there's so much untapped potential in them that can't be fully covered in just a movie or two.
100% - Rob and Mike are my favorites so far
Agreed. Mike and Rob for the win so far.
8:30 I had to laugh when Matt said that his is Nightmare jet fuel. It only gets weirder from there...
I liked this movie a lot. Surprisingly dark, but I loved the grim atmosphere. Very reminiscent of The NeverEnding Story. And the steampunk aesthetic was cool too. The idea of everything having changed so much since Dorothy was last there reminded me of The Chronicles of Narnia.
Also, I read that same editing book in film school.
Always liked Mike and I hope you keep him as a co-host for this.
Mike bringing the Orson Welles vibes! 🔥
Aaaah the couch..
I love Mike. Like a lot. I'm learning stuff about myself today..
this movie looks great
YEP Mikes the keeper. Love this video, hilarious.
I used to rent this movie as a kid all the time. It's so much darker than the first movie and I always loved it.
I personally love this movie I even think it is better than it's most famous predecessor in the world of oz!
I love this movie so much, I even sewed myself a little plushy of Jack because I never could find any I liked. And this was not as a kid or teenager, I was a nearly 30 year old woman at that point! I get that a lot of people may find parts of this film creepy but I feel like that's kind of what Oz is. It's supposed to be a physical manifestation of your own fears so that you have the opportunity to overcome then and learn you had the strength to do so all along.
One of my favorite episodes in a long while!
Finally... an episode I can actually watch! Watched both the original 'Wizard of Oz' last month and followed it up with 'Return to Oz' - excited to see and hear about Mike and Matt's experience! God knows how many times I returned to Craig's and Matt's run-through of 'Mac & Me'... a film I actually haven't watched :')
The falling from the sky scene reminds me is WC Fields in Never Give a Sucker an Even Break.
The slippers were silver in the books (not diamond), but I'm impressed that Mike knows more about Oz than the average person on the street who, at best, is only familiar with the MGM musical. I agree with him that it's a shame that there haven't been more serious attempts to mine material from the other thirteen Oz books that Baum wrote (instead, most people just seem to want to remake the Judy Garland version in some form or another), though since those books were written for a younger demographic than your typical YA fantasy reader, doing strictly faithful adaptations might not be the best route to draw in modern audiences.
Watched Return to Oz for the first time earlier this year. Fun to see both your takes on it! I died when the Gnome King showed off the ruby slippers. Like "look how much better they are on me."
Hi fellas! Speaking of ComedySportz, like 10 years ago I went to the national theatre thing for high schoolers, and Mike Rock taught an improv class, we had a crazy little moment where he knew you guys well and I had been watching for years. It was a very nice way to connect more to the channel 😊
Return to Oz is excellent! One of several dark "children's movies" that really made an impression on me as a child
Tick Tock is my favorite Wilford Brimley role.
The Hall of Heads!!!!! 🤩😵💫😱
You make me want to revisit this movie. Scared the bejesus out of me as a child.
I actually saw this in the theater (even won a movie poster of it that I still have). The head switching scene haunted me for months!
What a head trip!
The Wheelers and Lady Elaine Fairchild from Mister Rogers scared the shit out of me as a kid.
Yes! So glad to see Mike make an appearance here. This movie is creatively creepy. I feel lucky to not have seen it as a kid. It would have been waaaaay too much for me, but, as an adult, I adore its visuals.
Great review here. I love this show.
I've seen this movie at least a dozen times when I was younger. Such fond memories of it lol.
"The Mouse That Roared" was a much better book than movie I thought. I believe there were even one or two sequels, but it's been a very long time. About the same era when I was reading Thorne Smith fantasies and "No Time for Sergeants" (both of which also inspired various movies and TV shows, by the way).
7:09 😂🤣😂🤣
Edit: 8:16 That’s the first thing i thought of too, Matt 😆
YAY!! Mike- I be like of Mike!
For reasons I can't properly articulate, Mike reminds me of Santa Claus as played by Michael Ironside.
He probably couldn't articulate it either 😅
Way to go, not-Craig! You did great!
I have dim recollections of this movie; I do agree with Mike that the characters are a pastiche of various books, I remember the Gump from the Oz books - it was from The Marvelous Land of Oz (book 2). I always thought the Wheelers were always nightmarish, books included. I quite liked their presentation here in the movie. Most of the Oz books I feel read like a DM's summary of a grand campaign. I read all 14 of the L. Frank Baum books, and most of the other 29 books - they do all have the same sort of feel, as if you're in a weird and kind of disturbing dream...
Not to be that nerd, but as a fellow wizard of oz kid, there are actually a lot of elements from the books in this film. They just…made it less whimsical and more scary, and mashed different books together into one sequel.
Anyway this was a great episode! I actually haven’t seen this since I was very young (it probably gave me nightmares) so I had forgotten about a lot of the plot elements. Including all the sanitarium stuff! That was definitely not in any of the books 😂
welll should have waited before posting this comment. now it’s redundant!
I’ve been a fan of this movie since I was a little girl and it still is my favourite 80s fantasy film and as an addendum, this film was a tragic foreshadowing of what to expect when I went through a dark period in my teens when my parents had me wrongfully committed to psych wards and I can attest that they’re fundamentally more corrupt and involve malpractice, gaslighting, poisoning, sexual assault including rape (yes even that and I unfortunately know that first hand), etc than one would think. As a result, remembering this movie was a cathartic comfort until I was finally acknowledged as not being mentally ill and was released. I definitely don’t recommend for anyone to go to those malpractice industries. Either way, the movie is an awesome and darkly relevant film. :)
Oh this was a really great episode.
Seen it: God of Gamblers. Chow Yun Fat is both funny and cool as hell.
I will now stop bothering you about RRR. Thank you, I am a longtime fan, and always look forward to new episodes.
I still have nightmares about The Wheelers
Great video.
While Murch didn't direct a film again, he did direct an episode of the animated show Star Wars: The Clone Wars. The episode was The General which was inspired by films like Apocalypse Now. Neat.
This movie is considerably darker than I was expecting it to be.
Did they ever say what happened to the girl that helped her escape?
Oddly enough, the audio book has a... I hesitate to say better, but more famous cast. It's narrated by Neil Gaiman, Dream is played by James MacAvoy, Mathew the Raven is played by Andy Serkis, Lucifer is played by Michael Sheen, and the love of my life, Kat Dennings, plays Death. Also, they have one cast member in common, Arthur Darvill plays Richard Madoc in the show and William Shakespeare in the audio drama.
England is so good for radio dramas they make so many killer original and narrated pieces.
I was waiting for a Matt to quote a certain song while discussing Mombi’s “Hall of Heads!”
SEEN IT: The acid horror camp masterpiece, Blue Sunshine. My favorite film by Jeff Lieberman, though Squirm and Just Before Dawn are close runner ups.
Awww damn, I thought this was going to about the HBO show. Good thing that wind-up man wasn't named Grindr.
Love this movie. It was one of my favorites when I was a kid and jesus christ did it scare the piss out of me as a little kid. XD
Was *very* fortunate to have missed out on that movie. There's a small group of movies that can be labeled kids movie that are memorialized as torturously LONG. Adventures of Baron Munchousen, chitty chitty bang bang, and THIS. were they memorable, Sure. Were they more fun than LONG, No!!! '
When it gets to the point where the evil rock monster shows up i started bellowing Craig's line "i did NOT think this could become more, but it Has become MORE !" 😳
Actually, I believe the slippers in the books were silver. I had a teacher who said that L. Frank Baum slipped in a lot of political commentary into the books. Having silver slipper OVER the (golden) Yellow brick road was his way of telling people to invest in silver instead of gold.
Silver does however not work very well when you are trying to make a spectacle out of LOOK the movie is is in COLOUR!
Sorry, but your teacher was dead wrong. The idea that the Baum intended The Wizard of Oz to be a political allegory is something some scholar pulled out of his ass almost six and a half decades after the book was first published and people have been repeating that bogus claim ever since.
What are we doing here, Mike? 🤣
I miss and love Craig, but honestly I love this rotating wheel of who's gonna be hilarious. Tona when???
She’s no longer involved in the show.
I just wanted Nicole Williamson to shout "A dream, to some. A Nightmare to others!" Was that too much to hope for?
SEEN IT: The Rebel, starring Tony Hancock ;)
I love my cat butthole art.
I'd be interested to hear more about why you don't consider yourself a film critic. Seen It is my favourite part of the show, haha.
Aaaaahh Mike on WTTB?!
Dude! You must reread the Oz books. It’s silver shoes, not ruby or diamond slippers. Also Return to Oz is based on two books, yes. They are The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. My dad used to read them to me as a kid.
13:45 "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again."
You should do some kind of Simpsons inspired comical killing/removal of Craig's image on the title screen picture
Can I get a Papa Johns coupon for watching?
Did you hear that the cowardly lion got arrested? He was charged with petty Lahr-ceny.
Mombi is what kills this movie for me. Not because she's scary but because A) the movie doesn't need two villains and B) after the head cabinet scene there's nowhere to go but down. And I'm very glad you didn't call attention to the fact that Pumpkinhead and Scarecrow's mouths don't move because I always find it disheartening when people say that that ruins the movie for them.
i think i made it about as far as the wheelers showed up and never bothered to ever watch it again.
If there is a singular moment of the Rotating Guest Host Experience, 10:38 is it.
So did the other girl just drown in the river?!! 😮
I'm guessing she was a figment if her imagination
Go home! Of which there is no place similar to !
The Duck Dynasty crossover is very surprising.
I had to hit pause after only the first 2 and a half minutes to comment: KISMET! That's so funny, I grew up in a Kismet house - we never had Yahtzee, only this ripoff. As such, we have continued the tradition and our kids only know Kismet as well. Paying forward bad parenting, you might say.
Okay, back to the basement!
This has been my favorite post-Craig episode so far. Maybe Mike had better material to work with, or maybe Mike's is a gifted comedian, but he was straight up hilarious.
One question - what happened to the little girl who helped Dorothy escape?
This movie messed me up when I was a kid
It’s funny but this episodes SEEN IT is one of the first times I’ve heard someone else say they hated the twist in The Usual Suspects! I’ve never liked it and have felt like a crazy person because the world marveled at it! It sucks because it implies everything we’ve watched and invested in is made up bullshit, even the circumstances of the characters and plot!? That just rubbed me the wrong way. Only other person back in the day that seemed to think similarly was Roger Ebert? It’s been one of a handful of my most controversial opinions. Speaking of what are some of YOUR most controversial film opinions?
I thought that was Wizard from the thumbnail
People who watched early RedLetter media Best-of-the-worst will understand what I’m talking about
Did they really miss the obvious Forrest Gump joke?!?
A real Head-22
I'm not a fan of Usual Suspects either. It's a movie that is otherwise completely forgettable if not for its twist. No interesting characters and a bland script. But maybe it's just not for me.