Reviews by Matt

We all have seen “The Wizard of Oz.”

If you have not, I feel sorry for you because you missed out on one of the fundamental childhood experiences. It is a movie that has transcended time. “Over the Rainbow” was named the best song from a movie by the American Film Institute a few years ago. It is one of the few movies I can remember watching as a kid.

This past week, the SciFi channel, aired what can only be described as a science fiction version of “The Wizard of Oz” called “Tin Man.”

DG (Zooey Deschanel) no longer feels at home on the farm in, what I can only guess to be is, Kansas. She longs to get out.

In the O.Z. an evil sorceress, Azkadellia (Kathleen Robertson) rules through fear. She learns that someone is coming from the outside that will pose a threat to her. She sends her henchmen to retrieve whoever it is.

It happens to be DG. When the man come out of a tornado to get her, her parents know what is happening and save her by sending her into the tornado and into the O.Z. There she is captured by the Munchkins because she is seen as a spy for the evil sorceress. In her captivity she meets Glitch (Alan Cumming) and man who has had his brain removed. When DG and Glitch escape they try to find DG’s parents. Along the way they rescue Cain (Neal McDonough) from an iron box where he was forced to watch the murder of his wife and son over and over. He used to be a cop, or tin Man, in Central City, but when he was discovered to be part of the resistance against Azkadellia, he was imprisoned and his family was killed. The trio saves Raw (Raoul Trujillo) a lion like creature that possesses physic powers.

This group seems to be destined to over throw the evil Azkadellia and bring peace back to the O.Z.

The Internet Movie Database is my homepage so every time I start up my web browser I see the main page. For a few weeks a prominent advertisement was for “Tin Man” on SciFi. I investigated it further and saw that it was a version of “The Wizard of Oz.” I am not a huge science fiction fan. There are a couple things I like, but most I ignore. This looked like it had potential to be interesting.

I really cannot consider this a remake of “The Wizard of Oz.” There are elements that relate to the original. Glith is literally brainless, Cain is a “tin man” and heartless because he had to watch the death of his family over and over. There are little things that relate to the original, but for the most part, this has nothing to do with the 1939 movie.

Of everyone in the cast, Neal McDonough does the best job. He is one of the best actors you have never heard of. He has been in numerous movies, television series and miniseries. He is an amazing actor who has had steady work for many years.

In “Tin Man,” he plays a tin man in many ways. Not only is it another name for a cop, but it is also his manner. He has become emotionless and cold since he was imprisoned. Early on he is content to leave DG and find the men who killed his family, but something inside him does not allow him.
As of writing this I have only watched the first episode, but the other two are, or will be on the DVR and I will be finishing the miniseries as soon as I can.

It may be a little out there. Maybe it was so unlike the original that I hesitate to call it a remake or even a re-imagining. It is not even an alternate look. It is a miniseries that uses imagery from “The Wizard of Oz” to tell a new story. It is interesting nonetheless and I intend to see where this story ends up.