Journey Back to Oz is a 1972 American animated fantasy film produced by Filmation. Although L. Frank Baum received no screen credit, the film is loosely based on his second novel The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904). While a commercial flop in theaters, the film received a better reception on television, premiering December 5, 1976 on ABC.
For television broadcast, Filmation produced live-action interstitial segments with a celebrity playing the Wizard, flying in his balloon with two Munchkins. Filmation contracted with Bill Cosby for two airings of the live-action segments, while Milton Berle was cast for the live-action interstitials used in subsequent syndication.
Plot
After a cyclone in Kansas causes a loose gate to knock Dorothy unconscious, she awakes in the Land of Oz with Toto, and encounters a talking Signpost (voiced by Jack E. Leonard), whose three signs point in different directions, all marked "Emerald City". They later meet Pumpkinhead (voiced by Paul Lynde), the unwilling servant of antagonist Mombi – cousin of the deceased Wicked Witches of the East and West. Toto chases a cat to a small cottage where Dorothy is captured by Mombi's pet crow (voiced by Mel Blanc) and Mombi (voiced by Ethel Merman) herself. Pumpkinhead sneaks into the house in Mombi's absence, and discovers her creation of green elephants, to use as her army to conquer the Emerald City. Pumpkinhead frees Dorothy, and they flee. After finding Dorothy gone, Mombi threatens that their warning the Scarecrow will not help when her green elephants "come crashing through the gate".
Dorothy and Pumpkinhead acquire Woodenhead Stallion III (voiced by Herschel Bernardi), a former merry-go-round horse (a combination of the Sawhorse from The Marvelous Land of Oz and the title character of the last Oz book of all, Merry Go Round in Oz), who takes them to the Emerald City, where Dorothy warns the Scarecrow (voiced by Mickey Rooney) about Mombi's green elephants. Mombi arrives moments later, and Toto and the Scarecrow are captured. Dorothy, Pumpkinhead, and Woodenhead flee to Tinland to convince the Tin Man (voiced by Danny Thomas, who sang, and Larry Storch, who spoke in the final film as Thomas' speaking parts went missing when production resumed in 1970) to help them. He declines upon learning of the green elephants and suggests that they ask the Cowardly Lion (voiced by Milton Berle), who promises to slay the elephants, but he also declines when informed of the elephants being made with magic and suggests consulting Glinda the Good Witch (voiced by Rise Stevens), who appears to them with a "Glinda Bird" that uses its Tattle Tail to show what is occurring at the palace. She also admits she cannot help Dorothy fight Mombi, telling Dorothy that self-faith is the only thing she needs. As Dorothy understands this, Glinda then gives her a little silver box of "countermagic", to open only in the Emerald City, and only in a dire emergency.
Mombi, having seen their progress in her crystal ball, brings the nearby trees to life; whereupon Glinda sends a golden hatchet to Pumpkinhead. One of the trees snatches it from him, but changes its fellows and itself into gold and turns them from bad to good. Woodenhead carries Dorothy and Pumpkinhead back to the Emerald City, where Mombi's elephants surprise them. When Dorothy opens Glinda's box, mice emerge, scaring the elephants. Mombi brews a potion to shrink Toto to mouse-size so she can feed him to her cat; but when startled, miniaturizes her crow and cat instead. Thereafter Mombi disguises herself as a rose with poisonous thorns, but Toto goads the elephants into fatally trampling over her, causing them to disappear, to which the Scarecrow explains that Mombi's death has caused all her magic to die with her. Unfortunately, Pumpkinhead, another product of Mombi, also dies; however, he is revived by one of Dorothy's tears.
The Scarecrow makes Woodenhead the head of the Oz cavalry and knights Pumpkinhead; and Dorothy and Toto leave Oz by another cyclone (created by Pumpkinhead and Glinda), promising to return.
Cast
Credits
- Animators: Bob Bransford, Bob Carlson, Jim Davis, Otto Feuer, Ed Friedman, Fred Grable, Laverne Harding, Lou Kachivas, Les Kaluza, Anatole Kirsanoff, George Kreisl, Paul Krukowski, Michael Lah, Bill Nunes, Jack Ozark, Manny Perez, Virgil Raddatz, Bill Reed, George Rowley, Ed Solomon, Ralph Somerville, Reuben Timmins, Jack Zander, Lou Zukor
Production
Development began in 1962; however, Filmation ran out of money and the unfinished film was shelved for nearly eight years. It was only after the Filmation studio profited on their numerous television series that it was finally able to complete the project, copyrighted 1971, released in 1972 in the United Kingdom and 1974 in the United States. Outside the United States and Canada, Warner Bros. distributed the film.
Home media
A special edition DVD was released on October 24, 2006. This DVD features a audio commentary, interviews with creators Lou Scheimer, Hal Sutherland and Fred Ladd, behind the scenes photo gallery, image galleries featuring poster art and animation cels, a sing-a-long feature, most of the Bill Cosby interstitials used in the TV version (presented separately from the original theatrical version contained on the disc and sourced from an incomplete PAL transfer of the TV version, as a complete version of the latter cut was unavailable), the first draft script and storyboards, and a photo gallery (mostly containing behind-the-scenes photos of the Cosby and Berle live-action interstitials used in syndicated broadcasts).
See also
- List of American films of 1972