My Midnite Channel

I'm planning to re read the first 14 Oz Books and log a summary with my impressions for future reference. You are free to comment and share your experiences too. Before I start, please remember these 3 things: First, the land of Oz was created by L. Frank Baum as a response to all the classic fairy tales were a gruesome result is how the moral of the story is given. This was back in 1900 when the first book was published. Second, the land is like a big rectangle, divided in 4 countries each with its own color code that adaptations seem to forget, but I was obsessed with this fact as a child. Then is surrounded by a desert and after that you can find neighbor countries, but everything in due time. Map for reference

East and West are mirrored since is a Fairy Country but I'll try to keep the other books lore and references to a minimum since I want one post for each of the books and what's inside it (I Also forgot most of it, and that's why this is my personal project). And the third... well, it's a surprise that I'll tell you later. With that out of the way, let's start. You surely know how it all starts, the first book story it's surely the most popular. A girl from Kansas named Dorothy lives with her aunt Em, her uncle Henry, and her dog Toto. One day a cyclone comes, and unlike her aunt she doesn't enter the cellar on time and the whole house is lifted in the air with her inside. She decides to nap and then wakes up when the floor shakes, she notices that can come out and is greeted by some men wearing blue and a woman wearing white.

Remember the map? Well turns out that every country has a popular color in Oz and residents of that country wear that color except... Witches! Those wear white and there are 4 powerful witches in Oz, 2 good ones in south and north and 2 wicked in east and west. The group is here to check the girl who they believe is a sorcerer, and are grateful for setting them free from the Wicked Witch of the East (tWWoE from now on) that she accidentally killed with the house falling over her. Most adaptations skip the fact that the Good Witch of the North (tGWoN from now on) was the one that greeted Dorothy and instead they give the role to the witch of the south, Glinda, creating some inconsistencies but you know how difficult it is to be 100% faithful. Besides, some little changes can create great additions in a story or give it an unique taste.

The shoes, as many know, aren't red since it was a choice in the 1939 film to make use of the technicolor and that is the image that stuck in popular media. Same goes for the Wicked Witch of the West's skin color. Dorothy is just a kid in a strange place so she wants to go back home but everyone tells her that there's only desert around Oz so she must stay and that makes her sob, tGWoN takes pity in the poor Girl's fate and transforms her cap into a slate that reads to let her to to the city of Emeralds and that maybe Oz, the great wizard, could help her. So she kisses Dorothy in the forehead giving her a protection spell and says goodbye after telling her to follow the yellow brick road. So Dorothy changes clothes and has to put the silver shoes left behind by tWWoE because hers were old, and her only other dress was a blue and white Gingham. Remember the colors that I'm obsessed with? This dress makes the impression in Muchkin culture that she is not only a witch but also one nice with that country. During the next couple of days walking alone with her dog and getting free food from the grateful people, she finds a scarecrow that talks to her, and yes he wears blue too.

His story here is that he was just made the day before yesterday by the hand of 2 good friends, he was conscious since the moment when his first ear was drawn but not knowing how to speak, he was set in a field all alone. Some crows noticed he was filled with straw and ate the corn making him feel worthless as a scarecrow, they also said that if he had brains if would be different since is the only thing that matters in the world. So with that in mind and after talking to Dorothy he decides to follow her with the hope of getting a brain from Oz.

They next meet a Tin Woodman in the forest who they helped oil his joints to move again, he has been rusted and stuck in the forest groaning for help for over a year now. His story is that he was once a Munchkin that was in love with a girl, but she lived with a lazy old woman that forced her to cook and do the housework. He promised her to marry and live together as soon as he got the money for a better house for both of them, but the old woman didn't like the idea and talked to tWWoE asking to prevent the marriage in exchange of 2 sheeps and a cow. tWWoE cursed his axe and one day while chopping wood the axe flew away and cut his leg. Thanks to the help of a tin-smith he was able to get a new one made of tin, but the curse kept happening, with his other leg, his arms and his head which luckily the tin-smith helped creating new ones. But then it happened, the axe cut him in half and even after getting a new torso, there was no heart, missing this part he felt no love and stopped caring about the girl. And that's why he decides to join the party.

Personally I think this is one of the most tragic ideas for love stories, to lose your love... And wow, Frank thanks for not making this a gruesome story, right? If you like the musical "Wicked", you'll probably know another origin story for the Tin Woodman and the scarecrow, that is another continuity made by another author and a very interesting plot twist in the second part of the musical.

Oh and there's also an important thing mentioned from here on. The Scarecrow and the tin man do not eat nor sleep, so when Dorothy has to nap they just stare silent into the void until morning, nothing creepy or sad at all.

Some time later they were attacked by a lion but our Dorothy confront him yelling he was a coward. He felt ashamed and said he has always been this way, that animals expect him to be brave but since he learned that everyone is scared of his roar, he just makes noise and lets them run. Danger really scares him so he goes against the ones he sees weaker, and after talking with the others he is convinced that maybe Oz could give him courage. I think that his story could make a great analogy into masculinity, about how men are expected to act with the Society's pressure of being thought and to have no feelings but that guides into a path of becoming a bully.

They travel a couple of days through the forest where the tin woodman steps by accident on a beetle killing it, this makes him cry and the tears rust the joints of his mouth which he needs to get oiled. Is not the only moment the Tin Woodman is empathic, when they need to rest the lion asks if he kills something and brings it to share and the Tin Woodman asks to not let him know if he does it of he will cry and get rusty again. Honestly I think it could make a great vegan/vegetarian coded character... expect for the fact that he needs to kill animals with no remorse in other chapter, but more on that later. In the forest they are chased by the Kalidahs which are beasts with the body of a bear and the head of a tiger but thanks to the great teamwork and the scarecrow's leadership they were able to get rid of them making them fall down a cliff. I think is important to mention that the road was cut in a part in that cliff, like if there was supposed to be a bridge or something idk.

The golden brick road that is supposed to bring them to the Emerald city (how the book started calling it instead of the city of emeralds) is damaged in various parts and they arrive to one that was covered by a river. So they make make a raft to cross, Dorothy at this point has been only feeding from fruits that they were able to get her. By the next day they got in the raft and everything was going smoothly but a swift current takes them down stream to the west. The scarecrow tries his best to stop the raft with the pole but it gets stuck in the mud and he is left hanging while the rest continue floating.

The lion decides to jump and swim tho the shore while they grab his tail and thanks to that they were saved but now are not only far from the scarecrow but also from the yellow brick road so they have to walk along the river bank after resting a while.

When finally seeing the scarecrow at the distance, a stork came by and it actually was a nice character who gave them a hand...wing, and saved their friend, who was grateful and happy.

This book has words that have changed meaning over the years, I mean 100 years does a lot to a language. When I was a kid and read it, I had a basic understanding of english and in this part the Stork thinks the party is "Queer" and the Scarecrow feels "gay". When I was able to find a computer with the all new Internet, I searched the words for learning purposes and... for a long time in my life I believed the Scarecrow was a homosexual character 😆

They later arrive to a field full with red poppy flowers and crossing it Dorothy, Toto and the Lion start to get sleepy. They run but near the edge fall asleep. The tin woodman and the scarecrow carry Dorothy and Toto out of danger but aren't strong enough to do the same with the lion. While they wait for the girl to wake up, the Tin Woodman notices a wildcat chasing a mouse and decides to help by chopping off the feline's head, and as a surprise turns out that the mouse is in fact the Queen of the field Mice.

She's very nice and with her subjects helps to carry the Lion out of the field using a wooden truck made by the Tin Woodman. When they leave she tells Dorothy that if they are needed again just call them. After the Lion wakes up they can continue their journey after finding the road, and as they continue moving forward it gets really well paved.

Just like real life, as I mentioned earlier the road in the forest doesn't have the best maintenance, but near munchkinland and the emerald city, the road is in a much better condition. For a such important road, Oz is not taking the best care of it or the people in general, it doesn't have to be Oz complete responsibility.

On the way they finally see some houses and stop by a farm house were a kind couple gives them food. They talk a bit and the man tells them that he has never seen Oz but have heard that has many forms since is a wizard and reassures them that is so powerful that could make their wishes come true.

The next day they finally arrive to the Emerald City were the gatekeeper is surprised since is not common to ask to see Oz, but he lets them in but before they have to use some spectacles with green glasses that are fastened to your head because "If you don't wear them, the brightness and glory of the City would blind you", and from that part, everything they see in the city is green... of course it will be since the glasses are of that color. Dorothy was changed into a "Green" dress they give her.

This idea and object is often omitted in the adaptations, I think is much of a hassle to explain that everyone lives a lie in the city and is better to put it directly green as the audience expects by the name.

They stay a couple of days in the city since only one can see Oz at a time and once per day, so there are given individual rooms for each one and I must admire the will power of the Tin Woodman and scarecrow of being silent and not lose their minds in their rooms each day looking at a spider web or moving their joints because let's remember that they can't sleep.

The first one to see Oz is Dorothy, and as you could imagine she saw a big head floating over a throne that was interested in why the little girl had a magic mark in her forehead and those special shoes, she tells her desire and Oz says he couldn't do it without something in return so to get what she wants she must first kill the Wicked Witch of the West (From now on tWWoW). She cries and tries to explain she can't do it but Oz doesn't listen. She explains what happened to her friend and now they were worried about their wishes.

The next one was the scarecrow, Oz had the shape of a beautiful woman and asks for the same task after listening to his wish. For the Tin Woodman Oz has the shape of a huge beast with the head as a Rhino and with 5 eyes, arms and legs but the result is the same. The Lion was confident that he could try scaring Oz in any form he could take and force him to fulfill everyone's wishes, but for him Oz took the form of a ball of fire, so he only could listen to the same request. I think the anime Oz no mahoutsukai from 1986 does a great adaptation of this audience even if they changed the beast for a blob.

At the end they decide to try their best and leave emerald city after sharpening the axe, filling with new straw and getting some food in the basket, when taking off the spectacles at the entrance Dorothy notices the dress they gave her wasn't green anymore but white instead.

To get to tWWoW there's no road since no one is interesting in going to the west. The only plan is to walk in that direction, a guard told them that probably she'll notice when they arrive at the Winkie country and try to make them slaves. And yes, that was her plan.

Adaptations of the witch have been many, but surely the one that stuck in the collective imaginary is the one with the green skin. But the book doesn't say anything about this matter. What it says is that she has only one eye, there have been some interpretations of her being a cyclops but I go more with the idea of her wearing a patch. It also says that her eye is as powerful as a telescope.

So, tWWoW notices that the group arrives to the limit of her country. She blows a silver whistle and summons a wolf pack that she sends to kill them while they sleep. Lucky that 2 of them don't sleep at all, so the Tin Woodman took his axe and chopped every wolf head. By the next days Dorothy was shocked after waking up and see the pile of dead bodies. Not traumatic at all.

After this tWWoW got angrier and blows her whistle two times now summoning a flock of crows, I think is called a Murder... quite fitting because she gives them the same task. This time is the scarecrow who fights, everyone drops to the ground and the Scarecrow grabs each crow one by one and snaps their head.

Poor Dorothy, I mean, being witness to all this animal violence so close sure will leave a mark.

Next tWWoW blows the whistle three times and a swarm of bees appears and sends them to sting them. One would think that logically this would be the lion's battle but no, is the Tin Woodman's again. The Scarecrow takes out his filling allowing them to hide while the bees attack the hard surface of the tin and drop dead.

Very Angry tWWoW calls a dozen of her slaves and orders them to attack, but when they arrive they got scared by seeing the lion and go back and are beat by the witch. They wear yellow since is the popular color of this country, in fact the witch's castle is also yellow.

But the witch has another secret weapon she is reluctant to use, a golden cap with a circle of rubies and diamonds. After chanting a spell with some movements she summons from the sky the famous winged monkeys. Turns out that they must obey the bearer of the cap 3 times and she already used them to take over the Winkie country and to drive Oz away from that place. With her last order she asks for the winged monkey to destroy the intruders and to bring back the lion since she thinks it could be harness like a horse with some work.

The attack of the Winged Monkeys is something that I remember clearly for the shock it left me, they grab the Tin Woodman and take him really high and throw him against the sharp rocks of a cliff where he dents and stops moving. Then they grab the Scarecrow, open him, and pull all of his filling, and leave the empty body in some tree branches. They trap the Lion in ropes and fly away with him, and for Dorothy they surround her but when they see the mark in her forehead they stop and say they can't harm her and decide to take her with them to tWWoW and let it to be her problem. And they did.

The witch is interested in Dorothy's shoes but since she couldn't touch her thanks to tGWoN's mark she just threatens to beat and kill her and forces her to work like a slave. The Lion is imprisoned in a yard and tries to scare tWWoW but she says that if he doesn't let her harness him, he will starve. Thankfully every night Dorothy sneaks and gives him food.

Again you can notice that the concept of coward here is not the meek interpretation that is usually given to this character, as far as I can notice and as I said before, the idea of being a bully that takes advantage of the weak is what he sees as being a coward.

The witch is actually a very bratty character that is afraid of the dark and that's why she can't steal the shoes at night, she's also very afraid of the water and that's the reason why she can't steal the shoes when Dorothy is taking a bath either that are the only two moments were she takes the shoes off, it is also stated that the witch doesn't bleed because her blood dried many years ago for being so wicked. She takes an iron bar and turns it invisible then makes Dorothy trip over it making one of her shoes to fall off, and steals it making fun of the girl since she does know how to use the shoes and now has half of the power.

Dorothy angry and frustrated takes a nearby bucket of water and splashes the witch with it, and with a couple of screams making both of them surprised, she melts.

One of the most iconic scenes honestly, but did you know that some adaptations skip all this part of the story? That's right, not even tWWoW is a main character always. And she doesn't have a name either, I've have heard that the version of the Wicked musical is called Elphaba for the pronunciation of the initials of the original writer Lyman Frank Baum, L.F.B. => Elphaba. I found that amazing, also if you like that musical search that name in google and will get a pleasant surprise 😉it also works when you search for Glinda.

Talking about changing this part in adaptations, I personally love the designs of the Nintendo DS game The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road where you have to fight against the witches of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter.

Back tho the story, the Winkies are really happy to be freed from tWWoW celebrating Dorothy's victory making that day a holiday, and helping her to retrieve the bodies of her fallen comrades.

First they find the Tin Woodman's body in a really bad shape and the Winkie tin smiths have to work on him for 3 days and 4 nights. When he recovers and sees his friends again, he cries, so Dorothy has to wipe the tears before they rust him. The Winkies also give him a new axe made of solid gold.

Later they find the Scarecrow's body in the threes so using the axe they are able to retrieve him. They have to stuff him again and he was back to life.

After spending some days there they decide to head back, the Winkies ask the Tin Woodman to be their leader but get no response. They give everyone a gift and before leaving Dorothy takes the golden cap that summons the winged monkeys and leave.

Girl, stop taking dead people's stuff.

Remember that this country has no golden road, so they get lost and after a couple of days lose hope so Dorothy calls the field mice and when they arrive she asks for directions. The queen tells them that they have been going the wrong way and that are far away but why not use the wolden cap that she notices. She explains that inside the cap there's written the chanting and instruction she must follow to summon the winged monkeys but she will leave before they arrive because they like to pick on them.

She's successfully able to call on the Winged Monkeys and ask them to carry the party to the Emerald City. While traveling she asks the reason of they obedience to the hat and the leader tells them that a lot time ago they were filled with mischief and his grandfather decided to attack and throw in the river a man named Quelala who was going to marry a Sorceress Princess in the North called Gayalette. Even if she was a kind person she got really angry with this and was going so sentence them to have their wings tied up and thrown into the river. But Quelala convinced her that it was a harsh punishment so instead they were spared on the condition that they should obey 3 times the bidding of the wearer of a golden cap she had as a present for Quelala in their wedding. He being the first owner just asked for them to be out of the sight of the princess since she was still mad at them. And that's all ever they had to do until tWWoW stole the hat.

A bunch of lore just dropped, usually adaptations just make them servants of tWWoW. Kinda sad because they have a whole thing going on.

They enter the city explaining what happened and were anxious to see Oz, but they didn't receive a response in many days. So finally out of patience the Scarecrow says that if Oz doesn't see them they'll call the Winged Monkeys and make him keep his promises, the next day they all had the audience at the same time and this time Oz had no form, he was just a voice.

They tell him what happened and ask for their reward, he tries to buy more time but they are so tired of waiting that the lion loudly roars and makes Toto run who trips with a screen that falls and they finally meet the real wizard of Oz.

He explains he is a ventriloquist that uses his voice and puppets to trick people. He was actually born in Omaha and used to be a balloonist for a circus but one day he wasn't able to come down and after flying above the clouds for one day and night he finally came down in the country, people mistook him for a wizard and served him so he asked them to build the Emerald City and seeing it green he thought that it could be fitting for the people to use the spectacles but isn't much greener that any other city.

People love him but since he has no real magical power he wasn't able to do anything about the wicked witches and have been afraid and hiding in the palace for a log time. He is grateful to Dorothy but ashamed of not being able to fulfill his promise. He tries to tell them that each one has already what they were searching for but they still want some kind of reward so he tells them to come the next day and he will give each one what they need, except Dorothy for he must think in the matter for a couple of days.

The next day arrives and at least 3 of them get their reward. For the Scarecrow he gets the top of his head filled with a mixture of bran and needles and now was given "Bran-new brains" (I honestly laughed at this when small and re reading it too) but that's not all, the needles sticking out his head are proof that he is SHARP (I laughed again). For the Tin Woodman there was a heart made of silk and filled with sawdust that was placed inside him after cutting a bit. And for the Lion there was a bottle of liquid "Courage" so he has to drink it to have it inside him.

For three days there's no response of the wizard and everyone was just talking how special they feel with their presents. That was really mean, but just look at the Lion's face 😂 "Oh I'm just the bravest there is"

Finally Oz appears and tells Dorothy his idea to cross over the desert. A balloon! And the best part is that he'll be going back with her to Kansas because he is tired of continue the farce of being a powerful wizard and be shut from everyone's sight. Together they grab silk and sew a balloon that takes them other three days to finish.

When everything was ready, Oz told the citizens that he'll be going to visit a brother wizard that lives in the clouds, so a crowd formed to see him leave and he says that while he is gone, the one in charge will be the Scarecrow. When the balloon was ready, Dorothy couldn't find Toto who was chasing a kitten in the crowd. She was able to get her dog but when going her way back to the balloon the ropes couldn't hold it and it rose into the air unable to come back, Oz just was able to say goodbye.

The next day in the throne room they talked how to help Dorothy and finally the Scarecrow proposed to use the golden cap and call the Winged Monkeys. She calls them and asks to be taken to Kansas but they say that is not possible since they belong there alone, and are not able to cross the desert. Thus wasting the second time she could call them.

They ask a guard for advice and he says that no one except Oz has crossed the desert. But Glinda might. Oh Glinda, Glinda, the Good Witch of the South. Can you believe she is one of the most known characters but only appears until this far in the story? Look at the map, she is located in the Quadling country, see the color? Red. I'll be talking about it in a while. I've heard and read that she (and well, basically all of Oz) is inspired in the writings and ideas of Frank's mother in law, Matilda Joslyn Gage who was one of the foremost theorists of the women's rights movement in the mid-1800s [1]. This is the third thing I want you to keep in mind, remember I told you it was a surprise? If you pause a moment and take a look in how women are depicted in the Wizard of Oz and sequels, it makes a lot of sense. The main character and the most powerful ones are all women and we are talking about a book from 1900, 20 years before the Women's suffrage in the country of origin of this book. At the same time that there were women fighting for their rights, there was this little book giving hope and creating dreams to a new generation that could be inspired in seeing women in main and important roles, and I think that is totally amazing.

Back to the story, the group decides to go with her, and the next day they start their new adventure. They arrive to a forest with moving trees that tried to attack them but thanks to the Tin Woodman they were able to move forward. Next they arrive to a wall made of fine china that they cross over with a ladder made of wood, and when they did they found themselves in a country fully made of china, houses, floor, people, animals, everything. But they were alive. In the 2013 movie Oz: the great and powerful they make and excellent work adapting how this people would look.

And yes, they are quite fragile. In fact just by trying to leave the place they break a cow's leg and nick a milk maid's elbow. They soon learn that these people can mend themselves but, as with real life china, there would be marks left. Actually the extreme of it is shown with the clown Mr. Joker who always is trying to stand upon his head and always breaks so is mended in a hundred places.

Dorothy talks to a beautiful china princess and tries to convince her to come together to kansas but she explains they can only move freely in their country and if taken her joints will get stiff and that would make her very unhappy. When they leave, the lion accidentally destroys a church with his tail, gladly no one else got hurt.

Next they enter a forest that is gloomy for Dorothy but delightful for the Lion and spend the night there. In the morning they find a big group of troubled wild animals who ask the Lion for help, they are troubled by the presence of a spider as big as an elephant. Seeing that there are no other lions he asks if they will bow to him as the king of the forest if he destroys the enemy and they agree. He goes alone to end the beast's life and returns, he says that he'll come back to rule but first he must help Dorothy. Here I find interesting the Lion's development. He was a coward because he was a bully taking advantage of the weak but now that he is brave he is ready to guide and protect.

They arrive later to a hill guarded by some short characters with a big head flat at the top, with a big neck and no arms. The scarecrow did not fear them and tries to move ahead but they are capable of shooting their head forward and retrieve it back like if they have the neck being made of a spring or something like that. So the party is pushed down the hill each time they try to approach.

Horrible characters made of nightmares... thanks Frank.

Gladly they have the idea of calling the Winged Monkeys for the last time and ask to be carried to the country of the Quadlings, a beautiful place where everything is red. And much like when arriving near the emerald city, they were feed in a farm house by a kind farmer's wife who also gives them directions on how to get to Glinda's castle.

They continue south and find a beautiful castle, then a group of young girls approaches and aks what they were doing there. Dorothy explains, one of them goes inside the castle and then comes out saying they must be admitted at once.

First they are guided to a room to get presentable and after that follow a soldier girl to Glinda's room. She sits in a throne of rubies, her hair is red, her eyes blue, and as every witch, she wears white.

Look, I love Glinda in every adaptation. And I'm a big fan of Wicked, the idea of she wearing pink I think is fabulous because white (Witches) + red (Quadlings) = PINK, even if is just inspiration of the 1939 movie its just divine... BUT there's a little dumb thing that annoys me and is that I remember that it is stated that she is from Winkie Country in the musical, or was the movie?... That doesn't make sense then, she should be wearing Yellow instead. I now is something dumb and insignificant, but is just stuck there inside me. Anyways almost every other adaptation of the character wears white so I have to give a great shout out to the muppets version because, I mean, Miss Piggy.

Anyways, Dorothy tells Glinda everything that happened until now and that she wishes to go back to her aunt and uncle who must be worried. Glinda kisses her forehead and says that she can help but must asks for the golden cap in return, Dorothy accepts since she can't call the Winged Monkeys anymore and explains Glinda she can use it three times.

Glinda asks everyone what would they do when Dorothy leaves. The Scarecrow says he will return to the emerald city and rule over there since Oz left him that role. Glinda says her first command to the Winged Monkeys is to carry him to the emerald city.

The Tin Woodman says he'll go back to the Winkies since they were so kind and wanted him to be there after tWWoW died, so he could be a good ruler for them. Glinda says her second command will be for the Winged Monkeys to carry him to Winkie Country.

The Lion says that he will go back to the forest were he promised to be the king of the animals he helped. Glinda says that her last command will be for the Winged Monkeys to carry him to the forest and she will also give the golden cap to them so they could be free forever.

Then Glinda explains that the shoes that Dorothy took from tWWoE have the power of carry her over the desert, because their power is to transport to anyplace in just three steps, it is only needed to knock the heels together three times and command the shoes the place where they need to go.

I just wish to have this shoes, imagine don't have to deal with schedules, flights, and migration to visit your loved ones.

They are all very grateful to have meet Dorothy, and cry saying goodbye. She kisses the Lion, the Tin Woodman, Glinda and hugs the Scarecrow (I just love how the male main characters aren't afraid of crying during the whole story). Then grabs Toto, claps the heels and asks to be taken home to Aunt Em.

She only can feel and see the wind, and after three steps she stops suddenly and rolls over upon the grass. She arrives to the Kansas prairie and before her is a new farm house made by uncle Henry. She notices that her shoes disappeared maybe lost in the desert forever.

Aunt Em comes out of the house and sees the child running, she cries, hugs Dorothy and fills her face with kisses asking where she comes from to which she responds "From the land of Oz".

I really love this book, this universe, re reading it as an adult has been amazing since now I'm conscious about other things and can appreciate it even more. I plan to do this for each book, a little reminder for my future self that I hope turns out to be helpful.

If you read it this far, hey, thanks. And have fun in Oz.