The Muppets' Wizard of Oz

Synopsis
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz, an original made-for-television movie, aired as a special Friday night edition of ABC's The Wonderful World of Disney.

Adapted from L. Frank Baum's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by Adam F. Goldberg and The Simpsons writer Tom Martin, this latest retelling of the classic story follows Dorothy (Ashanti) as she journeys through an Oz populated by Muppets to find the Wizard and become a star.

Airdates
World Premiere: April 27, 2005 at the Tribeca Film Festival.

Broadcast Premiere: May 20, 2005 at 8/7c on ABC in the US, and on CTV and CBC in Canada.

The Cast

 * Ashanti - Dorothy Gale
 * Kermit the Frog - The Scarecrow
 * The Great Gonzo - Tin Thing
 * Fozzie Bear - The Cowardly Lion
 * Miss Piggy - Glinda, the Good Witch of the South
 * Miss Piggy - The Wicked Witch of the West
 * Miss Piggy - Tattypoo, the Good Witch of the North
 * Miss Piggy - The Wicked Witch of the East
 * Pepe the Prawn - Toto
 * Rizzo the Rat - Munchkin
 * Queen Latifah - Aunt Em
 * David Alan Grier - Uncle Henry
 * Jeffrey Tambor - The Wizard
 * Quentin Tarantino - Himself


 * Supporting Muppet Cast includes: Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, Sam the Eagle, Scooter, Statler, Waldorf, the Swedish Chef, Sweetums, Crazy Harry, Clifford, Foo-Foo, Camilla, Johnny Fiama, Sal Manilla, Bean Bunny and the Muppet Penguins. Lew Zealand appears in the extended DVD cut of the film.

History
The film marked the first major project after the acquisition of the Muppets property by The Walt Disney Company, which The Jim Henson Company is still consulting under. Since April 2004, The Muppets had been re-introduced to the public by way of low-key marketing and guest appearances on such shows as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, Good Morning America and Saturday Night Live in hopes for a successful turn in the ratings by the time the new telefilm hit the air.

The Adaptation
This film departs from the original Oz novel in a number of noticeable ways: Dorothy's family owns a diner instead of a farm; Toto is a prawn; the Tin Woodsman is a robot. Many of the characters' personalities and backgrounds are given a show-biz makeover; for instance, this version's Dorothy dreams of being a famous singer, and at first she plans to ask the Wizard to give her fame rather than a way back to Kansas.

However, in several respects the plot follows the novel more closely than does the classic 1939 movie: For example, the Good Witch of the North (who greets Dorothy when she arrives in Oz) and Glinda (who shows her how to get home) are separate characters; the magic shoes are silver instead of ruby; when Dorothy defeats the Wicked Witch of the West she gains control of the Winged Monkeys; and the Wizard meets with each of Dorothy's friends separately in a different guise.

Another interesting note is that the Winged Monkeys are a biker gang, a trait that is reminiscent of The Wiz. Quentin Tarantino's appearance is a completely arbitrary cameo. The fight scene between Dorothy and the Wicked Witch is interrupted to show Tarantino talking to Kermit about how the fight scene should end, parodying the style of his own movies and terrifying Kermit in the process. Kermit is dressed, interestingly enough, in a "Tarantino suit", seen in Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction.

The Extended Cut
Disney released the made-for-television movie, The Muppets Wizard Of Oz on DVD and VHS with a special extended cut of the film. The DVD release features "over 20 minutes" of new footage not seen in the original broadcast (nor at the New York premiere of the film). Due to network time restraints the film was forced to be a specific length, this caused the first cut of the film to have a lot of great material dropped to make the film fit the time slot. When it came time for the DVD release, the producers felt that it would be beneficial to the film and to the viewers if they added the scenes that were lost to the film (rather than just tack them on in a “Deleted Scenes” bonus feature or leave them in the vault).


 * Original Feature Run-Time: 87 minutes


 * DVD Feature Run-Time: 100 minutes

The following scenes were added, altered, or changed in the extended DVD presentation:


 * The opening music sequence, “Kansas” is extended and much longer. It includes a longer “music video”.
 * The opening credits and titles are reworked and slightly different in when and where they appear on screen.
 * After Dorothy leaves the diner to go to her audition, the conversation between Aunt Em and Uncle Henry is extended with more dialog (and some smoke from the kitchen).
 * Shots of Dorothy walking to the audition at the Easy Delta Hall are inserted after she leaves the diner. When she arrives at the hall the extended scene shows her finding out that the auditions ended at four (and it is 4:05). An overly dramatic man explains that the Muppets are gone, and no one knows where they are by now. Just then their tour bus pulls up, and Dorothy rushes to the bus to go talk with the Muppets. In the original broadcast version, Dorothy abruptly arrives at the bus to meet the Muppets.
 * Miss Piggy makes a comment about Dorothy being “another groupie”, which was removed from the original version.
 * After the tour bus pulls away, Dorothy is left watching as it drives down the road. The wind is blowing dramatically in her face and she sadly watches the Muppets leave. In the original version the film cuts away, however in the extended cut on the DVD the camera pulls out to see the overly dramatic man from before standing next to Dorothy fanning her with a big wooden paddle. When Dorothy turns to ask “Why are you doing that?” he replies, “I thought it would make the moment more dramatic.” Dorothy rolls her eyes and walks back home.
 * After Dorothy and Toto exit the trailer in Munchkinland, there are extra shots of them looking around before the Munchkins great them. Toto also turns to the camera and says “It you have ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ press play now”. A shot of Dorothy reacting to the Munchkins/Rats is inserted when the do emerge. When Dorothy says that she knows a rat when she sees one, the Munchkins take out a copy of “Oz for Dummies” and read the section on Munchkins. In the original version the Munchkins immediately introduce themselves and praise Dorothy for killing the witch – the introduction to Munckinland is shorter (and with no Pink Floyd joke, and no “Oz for Dummies” bit).
 * When Dorothy and Toto reach the cornfield the Scarecrow’s argument with the crow is extended (to include a “Passion of Christ” joke and other bickering). In the original edit, this first glimpse of the scarecrow is cut down and is slightly shorter.
 * When Toto is acting like Dorothy’s agent on his cell phone, Dorothy tells him to cut it out. In the extended cut, she takes the phone from him and reveals it is just a candy dispenser.
 * The extended cut on the DVD also expands the scene where Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and Toto meet the Tin-Thing. When the Tin-Thing reveals he can answer any question, Toto jumps in and asks why women are so confusing. After processing the question he answers with an enlightening response.
 * The Scene with Bunsen and Beaker in Emerald City with the Magic Make-Over Machine is extended. Dorothy gets out of the machine and has been given a punk look (featuring a cameo by Kelly Osborne). The others don’t approve so she goes back into the machine and comes out with the “Ashanti look”. In the original broadcast versions Dorothy enters the machine and it cuts seamlessly to her second exit from the machine, skipping the whole Osborne experience.
 * As the Wicked Witch of the West watches the group approach the Mountains of Death, a quick scene of Johnny and Sal filling up her tub with bottled water was inserted before she turns from the balcony and tells them about the “change in plans”.
 * After the Wicked Witch explains the plan to the Flying Monkeys, the extended cut on the DVD holds the final shot on the scene longer as they all exit to mount their bikes and fly off to catch Dorothy and the others – in the shot, the characters run off, and a fed-up Johnny Fiama kicks Foo Foo out of his way.
 * The arrival of the Witch and her gang is extended, with more shots of the Flying Monkeys landing and coming out of the fog.
 * When the Witch is ready to do her musical number, she exclaims, “Hit it!” the lights go on, but no music plays. Just then, the Electric Mayhem shows up late for the gig. Each member of the band has a quick line as they try to explain (or just complain) about being late for the gig and unload and set-up their instruments.
 * The musical sequence for “The Witch is in the House” is extended with a much longer cut of the song and musical number. Before the henchman attack the group of travelers, the witch has another three verses that were cut from the original version of the film.
 * Toto and Dorothy have a touching moment before being (nearly) killed by the Wicked Witch. In that scene, Toto wishes a woman would say she loves him before he died, so Dorothy says she loves him. In typical Toto (aka Pepe) fashion, he brushes the comment off with a humorous comment. This conversation was cut from the original version of the film.
 * The cameo cut-away appearance by Quentin Tarantino is extended. After Kermit denies his first proposal, a second idea is inserted where he suggest a anime morphing scene. It is after this that he makes his third simpler suggestion that Kermit agrees too. In the original cut of the film, his second fight scene pitch is not included.
 * When the enchanted biker hat is given to Dorothy, Angel Marie makes a startling suggestion on how she could use the power of the cap. This one line, and the reaction shots of the group to it, was not included in the original presentation of the movie.
 * Before Dorothy and the Flying Monkeys show up to pick up the Scarecrow and the Tin-Thing, there is an extended shot inserted of the two disembodied heroes talking about how they can get out of this mess; just then the flying motorcycles show up. In the original version, it cuts right from the Witch’s castle to Dorothy getting of the bike and going to help them.
 * There is a newly inserted scene featuring Dorothy and friends arriving in a limo and walking the red carpet to the Wizard’s televised presentations of their wishes. The original cut of the film cuts right from the Wizard asking for two hours to prepare to the penguins watching on TV and Scooter introducing the Wizard; however, the extended cut has a new humorous scene featuring Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin-Thing, the Lion, Lew Zealand, Scooter, and others outside of the studio arriving at the big event.
 * When Tattypoo first meets Dorothy and the gang in Munchkinland there is an inserted flirtation between her and the Scarecrow (and Toto).
 * After Tattypoo tells Dorothy the power to go home is in her shoes, the extended cut features an extended cut of the scene in which Dorothy complains to Glinda about not telling her about his before, to which Glinda explains that “this is how things work in enchanted worlds.”

Related Pages

 * The Best of The Muppets featuring The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (CD)