Return to Oz

Return to Oz is a 1985 fantasy adventure film directed and written by Walter Murch, an editor and sound designer, cowritten by Gill Dennis and produced by Paul Maslansky. It stars Nicol Williamson as the Nome King, Jean Marsh as Princess Mombi, Piper Laurie as Aunt Em, Matt Clark as Uncle Henry and introduces Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale. It is loosley based on L. Frank Baum's Oz novels, mainly The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) and Ozma of Oz (1907), yet is set six months after the events of the first novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). It is also considered a semi-sequel to the 1939 MGM film, The Wizard of Oz.

The plot focuses on an insomniac Dorothy, who returns to the Land of Oz only to discover that the entire country and its inhabitants are facing near extinction at the hands of a villainous king who dwells in a neighboring mountain. Upon her second arrival, Dorothy, alongside her pet chicken Billina, is befriended by a group of new companions, including Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead and the flying Gump. Together they set out on a quest to save Oz and restore it to its former glory.

Ozma

Ozma may refer to:

Characters

People

See also

Princess Ozma

Princess Ozma is a fictional character from the Land of Oz, created by L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the Oz series except the first, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).

She is the rightful ruler of Oz, and Baum indicated that she would reign in the fairyland forever, being immortal.

Baum described her physical appearance in detail, in The Marvelous Land of Oz: "Her eyes sparkled as two diamonds, and her lips were tinted like a tourmaline. All adown her back floated tresses of ruddy gold, with a slender jeweled circlet confining them at the brow." As originally illustrated by John R. Neill, she fit this description; however, in most subsequent Oz books, Ozma's hair became darker.

The classic books

While still an infant, Ozma, the baby daughter of the former King Pastoria of Oz, was given to the witch Mombi of the North by the Wizard of Oz. Mombi transformed Ozma into a boy and called him "Tip" (short for Tippetarius) in order to prevent the rightful ruler of Oz from ascending to the throne. Thus, Ozma spent her entire childhood with Mombi in the form of the boy Tip, and had no memory of ever having been a girl. During this time, Tip had managed to create Jack Pumpkinhead who was brought to life by Mombi's Powder of Life. In The Marvelous Land of Oz, Glinda the Good Sorceress discovered what had happened and forced Mombi to turn Tip back into Ozma; ever since then, the Princess has possessed the Throne of Oz (although many realms within Oz remained unaware of her authority).

Ozma of Oz

Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, Billina the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, Tik-Tok, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good People too Numerous to Mention Faithfully Recorded Herein published on July 30, 1907, was the third book of L. Frank Baum's Oz series. It was the first in which Baum was clearly intending a series of Oz books.

It is the first Oz book where the majority of the action takes place outside of the Land of Oz. Only the final two chapters take place in Oz itself. This reflects a subtle change in theme: in the first book, Oz is the dangerous land through which Dorothy must win her way back to Kansas; in the third, Oz is the end and aim of the book. Dorothy's desire to return home is not as desperate as in the first book, and it is her uncle's need for her rather than hers for him that makes her return.

It was illustrated throughout in color by artist John R. Neill.

The book bore the following dedication: "To all the boys and girls who read my stories – and especially to the Dorothys – this book is lovingly dedicated."

Emerald City

The Emerald City (sometimes called the City of Emeralds) is the capital city of the fictional Land of Oz in L. Frank Baum's Oz books, first described in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).

Fictional description

Located in the center of the Land of Oz, the Emerald City is the end of the famous yellow brick road, which starts in Munchkin Country. In the center of the Emerald City is the Royal Palace of Oz.

In the first book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), the walls are green, but the city itself is not. However, when they enter, everyone in the Emerald City is made to wear green-tinted eyeglasses; this is explained as an effort to protect their eyes from the "brightness and glory" of the city, but in effect makes everything appear green when it is, in fact, "no more green than any other city". This is yet another "humbug" created by the Wizard. In this book, the Wizard also describes the city as having been built for him within a few years after he arrived. It was he who decreed that everyone in the Emerald City must wear green eyeglasses, since the first thing he noticed about Oz after he landed in his hot air balloon was how green and pleasant the country was.