Dark Versions of the Wizard of Oz

Stories of Oz L. Frank Baum Never Told: Wicked, Return to Oz, Was

Aug 29, 2008

L. Frank Baum's Oz is one of the happiest, most magical fantasy kingdoms, but later writers have told stories of a darker, more sinister Oz.

One of the first authors to create a darker Oz was science fiction writer Ted White. In 1977’s The Oz Encounter, Doc Phoenix, a psychiatrist who enters his patients’ minds to cure them, discovers a young girl has been trapped in a nightmare where the Shaggy Man, a lovable Oz hobo, has turned evil and enslaved the kingdom with magic.

Disney Return to Oz, in 1985, starts by having Uncle Henry and Aunt Em sending Dorothy to an asylum because of her delusions about the twister carrying her to an imaginary land called Oz. The head doctor decides to use electroshock on Dorothy, but she escapes into Oz first. Unfortunately, the evil Nome King has conquered Oz and transformed Dorothy’s friends into stone.

The movie drew more on the original Baum novels than on the MGM movie, but the dark tone alienated many viewers.

This 1992 novel tells the story of Dorothy Gael, an orphan living with her relatives Henry and Emma Gulch. Henry sexually abuses Dorothy and Emma eventually kills her dog. When Baum meets Dorothy and realizes the tragedy of her life, he turns it into a fantasy to give her the happy ending she deserves.

In 1994, Caliber Press released a comic book in which three visitors from Earth arrive in Oz to discover the Nome King has conquered Oz, a witch has enslaved Dorothy and the yellow brick road is in ruins. Some of Baum’s characters still fight for freedom and the visitors join the war.

With 22 issues and several spinoffs, this was the longest-running of any Oz comic book.

This bizarre 1994 musical has a burned-out adult Dorothy return to Oz to find famine and plague stalk the land, striking down her friends with everyone else. Kesey said he wanted to address how people cope with the trauma of disaster, but the show is a pretentious mess.

This 1999 short film parodies Blair Witch Project as Dorothy and her friends go into the woods around the Emerald city to investigate the legend of the Wicked Witch. Everyone dies.

In this Gregory Maguire novel, Elphaba, a green-skinned girl, is rejected as a freak by everyone around her. When the Wizard makes her his apprentice, she’s thrilled—until she realizes he’s a cruel tyrant oppressing the realm. Elphaba rebels against the Wizard, whose propaganda machine paints her as the Wicked Witch, enemy of all goodness.

This is the most successful “dark” version of Oz, a best-selling book that inspired two sequels and a hit Broadway musical.

The copyright of the article Dark Versions of the Wizard of Oz in Fantasy Films is owned by Fraser Sherman. Permission to republish Dark Versions of the Wizard of Oz in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.