Viridian Dreams – A Wizard of Oz Story

Dorothy Gale had been caught in the tornado and she could have sworn she had flown through the air. Something had hit her head and when she had looked out of the window of their small farmhouse, she could have sworn she had seen terrible visions. She had then felt weightless as the house had started to fall. Dorothy grabbed her dog, Toto, and hugged him tight. Then there was a horrific crashing noise and everything went black. When she woke up, the house seemed to still be intact. Toto wiggled out of her arms and circled her as she stood up. She brushed herself off and headed toward the front door. 

When she opened the door, the light was blinding. The world out there was like nothing on Earth and, as she stumbled into the light, she saw a little village. Little was the operative word as all of the buildings were smaller than anything she had ever seen. As soon as she had that thought, a crowd of three-foot-tall people came streaming out of the buildings, surrounding her. She was startled but she stood her ground.

“You killed the witch!” One of the small people yelled out.

“Ding Dong the Wicked Witch is Dead!” Several people yelled out in response.

“Wait,” Dorothy asked. “What’s going on here? Who are you?”

One of the most authoritative-looking of the group stepped forward. “We’re the Munchkins,” he said. “This is Munchkinland.”

“Munchkinland,” Dorothy said with wonder. “Wait, you said that somebody died. Who’s dead?”

The Munchkins all pointed at two feet sticking out from under Dorothy’s house. Dorothy gasped and started shaking.

“I didn’t mean to!” Dorothy yelled out. “Oh God, I can’t believe I killed somebody. Wait, this was the tornado’s fault.”

“I don’t think the Wicked Witch will see it that way,” one of the Munchkins said. 

Dorothy looked back at the Munchkins. “Who?” she asked. 

Instead of answering, the Munchkins looked expectantly at the sky.

“What are you all looking at?” Dorothy asked.

“We’re waiting for Glinda, the Good Witch,” one of the Munchkins said. “We summoned her, she should be here soon.”

Dorothy looked up as well which is why she was so surprised by the explosion of fire and smoke a few feet away. She was briefly knocked off of her feet and the Munchkins scattered while screaming. Dorothy looked up at a green woman glaring down at her. She scrambled to her feet.

“Are you the one who killed my sister?” the woman asked. “I should pull you apart right now, girl.”

Dorothy struggled to speak but then she gathered her courage and stood up. “I didn’t kill anybody,” she said. “It was a freak accident.”

“You’re wearing my sister’s magic slippers,” the woman said. “That means you defeated her.”

Dorothy looked down and she was indeed wearing the slippers that she had seen on the feet sticking out from under her house. They shimmered and sparkled with something more than the strange material they were made from. They also fit perfectly which surprised and disturbed Dorothy greatly.

“Look, just give me the slippers and I’ll consider letting you live,” the woman said. She reached to pull the shoes off of Dorothy but some force stopped her hands inches away. She cried out in pain. “Curses! I must defeat you to win the slippers.”

Dorothy shook her head. “I don’t want to fight you,” she said. “More importantly, I don’t want to die. I never wanted these slippers and I don’t remember even putting them on.”

Dorothy bent down and unbuckled the slippers and took them off. She stood back up and held the shoes out to the green woman. 

“What?” the woman asked in surprise.

“Take them,” Dorothy said. “Please just take them.” She shook the slippers at the woman.

The woman reached out slowly and grabbed the slippers. When the woman first touched the slippers, Dorothy felt a surge of heat that hurt but also felt good. The green woman clutched the slippers and there was something in her eyes that told Dorothy that she had felt something similar. The woman disappeared again in a sudden burst of flames. Dorothy looked down at her hand and watched as it shimmered and turned green for a moment and then returned to normal.

“What’s going on?” Dorothy asked nervously.

“It looks like freely giving the slippers had some unforeseen side effects,” a voice said. “What happens next is uncharted.”

Dorothy turned around and saw a woman in a resplendent pink gown with vibrant red hair. She also had a horrific bruise on the right side of her face.

“Um, I’m Dorothy,” Dorothy said. “Who are you?”

“I’m Glinda,” the woman said. “The wicked witch you just met jumped me before I could arrive to help you out. We have a lot to figure out.

Follow the Yellow Brick Road – A Wizard of Oz Story

Dorothy stumbled out of the house. The inside looked like a bomb had gone off but somehow Dorothy had survived the fall. She leaned against the door frame, her hand clutching it tightly. She reached up instinctively toward a sharp pain on her forehead and she saw that her fingers were now covered in blood. Maybe she had not been as lucky as she thought. She heard Toto scramble out of the house behind her and felt thankful that the dog had survived. Then a sudden thought hit her. Where was Elma? She turned carefully and shouted into the wreck of a house.

“Elma!?” she screamed. “Are you alright? Where are you?” She and her sister had been unable to make it to the storm cellar and had instead ducked into the house. They had hoped for the best but the tornado had somehow lifted the house up. She had no idea how long she had been passed out on the floor. There was no answer. She did not have the strength to walk back in to check. She barely had the strength to remain standing. She started to cry.

“You killed the Wicked Witch of the East!” A voice said from behind her.

Dorothy jerked around and nearly fell down. “What?” she asked. “I didn’t kill anybody.”

Standing there was a young girl who was very short. Actually, she was incredibly short like a child but she had adult features. Was it some form of dwarfism? Dorothy remembered hearing about that in school. She had never seen anybody like that in person, though.

“No you definitely did,” the woman said. “Her body’s right over there.” She pointed over at the side of the house. There were two feet sticking out from under the house. Thankfully there was no blood visible but there surely was a lot of it under the house.

Dorothy leaned against the house and threw up all over the siding. She wiped her mouth and turned back toward the woman. “It was the storm,” she said. “I didn’t mean to.”

“No, it’s alright,” the woman said. “She was oppressing us. We had been engaging in warfare against the Witch’s forces for years now. You did us a favor.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Dorothy said. “Have you seen my sister?”

“You and this little fella are the only ones here,” the woman said, leaning down to pet Toto who seemed miraculously unharmed. “I’m sorry. Are you ok?”

“No,” Dorothy said in a whimper. “I’m really not.”

The woman gestured toward the nearby bushes and several people her size came out of hiding. “It’s safe!” she called out. “Come help me carry her. We need to get to the village. She needs a bed and medicine. My name’s Pippa.”

“Dorothy,” Dorothy said and her voice sounded weird.

It was at this point that Dorothy’s vision started to swim and her knees buckled. She could hear Toto barking as she fell towards the ground and then everything went back. She had the vague sensation of being carried somewhere. The little people were stronger than Dorothy would have guessed. Everything went dark and silent again.

She had no idea how long she had passed out when she awoke later. She was aware that she was now in a bed but she was also aware that her feet were hanging over the end. Still, it felt warm and soft and her head did not hurt as much anymore. She could feel Toto nestling against her side and that was a comfort. She tried to sit up and it went alright although she still felt kind of sore. A woman with pink hair suddenly appeared in the doorway, she was tall and thin and very pretty.

“Are you a good witch or a bad witch?” the woman asked dramatically.

“I’m not a witch at all,” Dorothy said. “I’m Dorothy Gale from Kansas.”

The woman glanced at the door and gestured and it closed on its own. “My name is Glinda,” the woman said. “I’m from Pennsylvania.”

“What?” Dorothy asked.

“Look, you’re like me so you must have come through one of the gates,” Glinda said. “People who come here from Earth absorb the energies between worlds and it allows us to perform great feats of magic.”

“What?” Dorothy asked again.

“One minute I’m a hairdresser in the Poconos and the next moment I’m a sorcerer here,” Glinda said.

“Where is here?” Dorothy asked.

“Welcome to Oz,” Glinda said. “It’s a really weird place.”

Media Update 2/9/17

The Librarians

I have seen the first Librarian movie and I liked it well enough that I have seen bits and pieces of the sequels. I love the idea of a secret organization that must protect the world from the myths and legends that are usually dismissed as fiction or urban legend. It is a very similar idea to Warehouse 13 but with a slightly different flavor. The show was created by the very awesome Dean Devlin who also created Leverage. It has a lot of the feel that Leverage had with a mix of action, intelligence and comedy with a few moments of emotion thrown in. I have to step in here and admit that I only started watching this show halfway through season two because I am late to the show and I have not obtained season 1 and 2 to watch it in order yet. Still, the show was really easy to pick up right in the middle of a major story arc and they did a good job with the characterizations that made them easy to understand.

Like Leverage and Warehouse 13, every episode is epic but manageable. Noah Wyle returns from the movies but is more of a special guest and not guaranteed to be in every episode. Instead, we get a team headed up by Rebecca Romijn who is an excellent ex-military character. Previously, I had only seen her in blue makeup in the X-Men movies. She is joined by Christian Kane, who is always awesome. John Laroquette is great as their mentor. I absolutely fell in love with newcomers John Harlan Kim and Lindy Booth. More than anything, I love how the show is a celebration of learning things through a love of research. I definitely recommend it.

Emerald City

There are two stories that I will always go back to that have a goldmine full of great imagery. One of them is Alice in Wonderland and the other is the Oz books and movie. The Wizard of Oz has been adapted over and over and I have checked out the majority of those adaptations. I really enjoyed The Wiz Live and Wicked particularly. So when I saw a trailer for the new show coming out that would be adapting the Wizard of Oz, I knew I would have to check it out. The show is set in modern times which is not exactly a new idea (Tin Man) but it is definitely interesting right off the bat. Dorothy is not a young girl but is instead a highly competent nurse. Wicked was given a good name because it was clearly a look at the story through the eyes of The “wicked” witch of the west.

I think that it is fitting that this show is called Emerald City because it deals more with the politics between the Wizard, the witches, the land of Oz and the newcomer Dorothy. It includes a lot more characters from the books and has very little to do with the 1939 movie. I am fine with that because I love adaptations that bring some new energy to the table. So far, the writing has been on point and I really have no idea where the story is going next when I watch each episode but when things do happen, they feel right. Much respect so far to Adria Arjona as Dorothy and Ana Ularu as West. Both of them add new facets to familiar characters. Vincent D’Onofrio is great as The Wizard, showing that simmering crazy energy that he has made his trademark lately. I definitely recommend this one as it is just beginning.

The Last Witchunter

It is interesting to me that I finally watched this movie just before starting my first ever Dungeons and Dragons game with my friends. Vin Diesel is an avid D&D player (he apparently even taught Judi Dench how to play) and has been playing the game for years. This movie was kind of his dream project. The main character is based on a character he rolled up years ago who was a custom ranger build that included some other spellcraft. The opening of the movie even looks like a D&D party going after the big villain of their long campaign.

We fast forward to modern times and Vin Diesel is so good in this movie. It is clear that he really liked the character and plays it with subtle humor and depth. I quickly fell in love with Rose Leslie’s character who had an interesting take on witchcraft and was anything but just a side piece for Vin Diesel. Michael Caine and Elija Wood were also great but both of them have never turned in a bad performance. At least, not that I have seen. I thought the visuals were really good. Where possible, they did practical effects but the digital effects were really smooth and felt like they had weight. It felt like a more expensive version of the great effects that I have seen in The Magicians. I really liked the feel of the story. It concerned itself with how to deal with the past and how that past affects the future and if somebody even belongs in the future. I definitely recommend this movie. It was trippy but a fun ride.

Music of the Week:

Adelitas Way – Ready for War (Pray for Peace)

Sick Puppies – Gunfight

LazyTown – Dansa, Áfram Dansa!

The Dresden Dolls – Backstabber

Chris Dane – Shine on Me

Weekly Update:
– I’m on Season 4 of Haven
– I finished Season 6 of Parks and Recreation
– I’ve watched more Law and Order SVU that I had not seen
– I have been watching Conan again
– I am starting to plan for April’s A to Z Blogging Challenge
– I am also starting to plan for my annual Halloween event as well
– I have been watching a new show that I may reveal soon
– I did not watch the Super Bowl. The Ravens were not in it.
– This week’s theme is “Policing Magic”