"Into the Storm"
"This isn't a nightmare. This is the O.Z. - Outer Zone." - Glitch
I don't think we are in Kansas anymoreor at least not the Kansas we all know and love. The Sci-Fi Channel has definitely taken us on a journey far beyond the yellow brick road we are used to with the dark mini-series
Tin Man.
The series opens up on a young woman having bad dreams (that could mirror the boat-ride scene in
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory mind you), which feature a lady with lavender eyes warning her of a storm that is coming. She is then speeding to work on her motorcycle when a cop starts to pursue her. She quickly hides, and then rushes inside to the HillTop Cafe where she works, and changes into her uniform - a blue and white gingham dress (a la Judy Garland's Dorothy), pigtails and all. A customer is waiting for pie, she is told. That customer is police officer Elmer Gulch (another shout out to the classic MGM picture), with a speeding ticket in hand.
Meet DG (
Zooey Deschanel) an intelligent and yet rebellious farm girl, living with her parents Hank and Emily out in Kansas farmland, who is looking for more in life then just this. Her parents are worried of her longing for another world, which she lives in through her dreams and the pictures she sketches. Hank repeatedly tells his daughter of the town he used to live called Milltown, and that
"home is where the heart is, and
all of life's answers can be found along the old road."
We now see the O.Z. (the Outer Zone), a fantasy realm now desolate and not the great wonder it used to be. O.Z. is ruled under dictatorship by the sorceress Azkadellia (
Kathleen Robertson) -
Tin Man's version of the Wicked Witch, I suppose - she is looking for the emerald, which she needs to retrieve or else in seven days the double eclipse will darken their skies and everything she has worked for will be lost. Azkadellia has no crystal ball but uses "viewers" - creatures hooked up to machines - to act as her oracles. For some reason she is threatened by a mysterious "light" on "the other side," and she dispatches her henchmen (known as the Longcoats) to find the source. The Longcoats arrive on the farm via a tornado, and the parents seem oddly not shocked by their arrival - which tells me they know more then we think of this O.Z. They push DG into the tornado telling her it's time and to trust her. DG awakens in the woods - which she quickly finds herself in no place like home.
She is captured by the Resistance Fighters of the Eastern Guild (munchkins, if you will) who take her to their village (which is a
Peter Pan-ish tree town) to torture her to find out if she is a spy.
"Squeal as you peel, until the truth brings a deal," the blue-faced munchkin cries. While DG is in a hanging cage awaiting her fate, she meets Glitch, a head case the fighters keep around for laughs. He has a zipper on his head, from when the sorceress took half his brain - why, he cannot recall - but he does remember that in his hay-day (
hay get it?) he used to be a government advisor's right-hand man. This reincarnate of the scarecrow got his name from sometimes getting stuck repeating phrases over and over - hence a glitch.
DG and Glitch runaway from the Resistance Fights and head out on their journey to find the old brick route (aka the broken and tattered yellow brick road) to Central City, the last known location of her parents. Here they stumble upon the Longcoats beating up a man and his family, the fearless DG runs ahead, avoiding the warning from Glitch to stay back, to help save the man - the image fades away and she is left standing in front of a rundown house. It was all just a hologram-projected image. Glitch reveals it as TDESPTL (Time Dimension Energy Stored Projection Time Loop). Ah, so we learn he was once a genius inventor as well. DG sees a tin suit and looks inside to catch a glimpse of a man. Once freed, the man we learn is an ex-cop (aka "tin man") named Wyatt Cain (Neil McDonough) who was forced to relive the tragic scene of the Longcoats and his family for years as he was trapped in the metal box - he is now out for revenge on the commanding officer Zero.
After some reluctance Cain finally lets the twosome accompany him on his journey to the old (yellow) brick road. Traveling through the dangerous Fields of Pa-pay, they rescue the cowardly human/wolverine mix named Raw (
Raoul Trujillo), who used to be a "viewer" for Azkadellia. After escaping being chased by the deadly Runners of Pa-pay, the foursome comes into a mysterious hidden, town that is exactly like the one from DG dreams, and they discover her parents there. The town DG learns is Milltown, the one her father was always talking about, and the community is all robots. More shocking is that fact that Hank and Em are not her parents, but "nurture units" programmed to take care of her, and tell her stories of their world to prepare her for her return. Her real mother - the one with the lavender eyes - is from the O.Z., and sought the help of Father Vue to smuggle DG out of the O.Z., yet upon her return Father Vue was tasked with marking DG's hand with a symbol to help guide her on her journey. Father Vue sends DG to the mystic man (aka the wizard) for answers on her mother's whereabouts.
While DG and company are heading towards Central City, Azkadellia is brought the locket DG lost and seems unnerved by the picture of DG inside. She is then seen digging up a grave only to find it empty and storms off to go and question a mystery woman, who is in her captivity, about DG. Later, she has Hank and Em brought in for questioning and upon the news of DG going to see the wizard she sends her henchmen to get her.
Once DG and company see Wanted posters for DG, they realize they need a plan to get into Central City to find the mystic man. Cain gets them a ride into the city - which looks more like Gotham City in the 1940s - through disreputable Antoine Demilo and his "sin wagon." Cain parts ways, as he is off to find Zero, and Demilo tells them to go to the Twister Cabaret, which is the home of "The Blunderful Mystic of O.Z." floor show. The Twister Cabaret is like entering a scene straight out of
Moulin Rouge. The Mystic Man, (
Richard Dreyfuss) DG, Raw, and Glitch learn is loopy from the vapors, aka Azkadellia's "magic mystic," and is not at all himself. He proves to be somewhat helpful and tells DG that her journey for her mother starts at the Northern Island. The wizard urges Cain, who has come back to help save them from Zero and the Longcoats, to not leave guard of DG.
"Do you know who she is? She is the key," he tells Cain, who in returns gives his word as a Tin Man not to leave her side. The mystic man stays behind and gets capture by Zero and brought to Azkadellia.
DG and company now start the journey to Northern Island (aka Ice Mountain).
"Frozen in time in a sea of ice," they find it. Once again the riddles from DG past play a part in the journey, and she breaks them in the castle. It is here where the plot gets interesting. We learn this was once DG's home and her mother was the queen, whose advisor was none other than Glitch.
"The queen sat gazing upon her frozen realm - waiting for her daughter to return," DG remembers but finds her mother not at home. Raw feels that bad things happened there and through visions reveal that her evilness - Azkadellia was/is DG's sister. Azkadellia killed her sister when they were younger so she could be the one - and only one - to take the throne. Their mother finds DG and saves her by what appears to be transferring some of her years to give young DG life again. Mother tells DG there is only one thing that can stop Azkadellia - the emerald of the eclipse, to which she then whispers something to young DG. Which I assume is where to find the emerald. Just at that moment, Azkadellia and the henchmen walk in on DG and company.
Azkadellia is after the emerald, but DG has not yet recalled where it is. This however does not satisfy Azkadellia, and a battle ensues. The mobats (flying monkeys/bats) are released to chase after DG, Glitch, and Raw, while Cain has it out with Zero.
Tonight's chapter ends with Cain falling through the castles window into the icy waters, and DG, Raw, and Glitch all being captured by Azkadellia.
"Welcome back little sister. There's no place like the O.Z."
Now I am sure we are all filled with questions. Here are some of mine:
" Who is the mystery lady Azkadellia is talking too? Their mother, perhaps?
" What role will that mark on DG's hand play?
" What exactly are Azkadellia's powers and what is with how she releases the mobats? Also who was she talking to when she was in conference?
" Why does Cain act like he is part Wyatt Earp/Indiana Jones, and is he alive?
" Where is Toto?
Some memorable quotes:
Glitch to Cain: "I have a proper name you know... and when I remember it I will tell you."
DG to Cain: "Nothing personal but when we found you, you where in a tin box! You don't know me."
Cain: "Believe me, heart's got nothing to do with it."
Azkadellia on DG being in O.Z.: "[she's here] tripping over her pigtails as she wonders in circles."
Glitch to Cain: "Oh come on, Tin Man, have a heart. I'm a thinker not a hiker."
Azkadellia: "My god, the little b---h has gone to see the Wizard."
Being a huge classic
Wizard of Oz fan, as well as a
Wicked: The Musical fan, I was very eager and intrigued to see Sci Fi's reimagination of Baum's timeless story, I must say I have yet to be impressed by the story or visuals. Granted I know this is the Sci-Fi Channel so I knew it would be a little out there, but I think we traveled too far over the rainbow. There are no ruby (or silver) slippers, no one is green or gets killed by a falling house in this story. I did however enjoy the spunky nature of DG, and the witty lines from Glitch. Also I am curious about Azkadellia and DG being sisters.
Will tomorrow night's chapter win me over or will I be clicking my ruby slippers wishing I was back in Baum's Land of Oz? I'll see you back here tomorrow night, until then I am curious to hear what you thought.
The journey continues in our
Online Video Guide.
