ORBzine - Emerald City TV Review

Emerald City


Season 1

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 1] The Beast Forever
Shown 06 Jan 17

A modern-day Dorothy gets stuck in a darker, edgier version of Oz. Surely this was done a decade ago by Tin Man ? Well, the works of L. Frank Baum have been Public Domain in the USA since before 2000AD so it has been used as source material for many shows.

Dorothy is a hard-edged, leather jacket-wearing, pistol-packing Latina woman. Her dog is an enormous alsatian.

The Wizard (Vincent D'Onofrio - Men In Black ) is a dictator who oppresses the few remaining witches. He has built a statue that looms over Emerald City like the statue at the arena in Caprica . He sends his guards out to find Dorothy, with orders to kill her before she gets to Emerald City.

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 2] Prison of the Abject
Shown 06 Jan 17

Dorothy and her companion continue on their way to the Emerald City. Somehow the dead witch, whose body their left behind, has been transported to the City. Yes, there is a shortcut for dead witches. The Wizard (Vincent D'Onofrio - Men In Black ) allows Glinda ( Joely Richardson ) and West ( Ana Ularu ) to perform the funeral rites for their fallen sister, although to rub their noses in it he invites the entire population to watch.

Dorothy's companion, still unnamed because of traumatic amnesia, requires urgent medical attention. Dorothy takes him to the apothecary ( Fiona Shaw ), and uses her own nursing skills to heal him.

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 3] Mistress - New - Mistress
Shown 13 Jan 17

Dorothy is mistaken for a witch, and taken to the Weather Witch's fortress. She is expected to replace the woman she killed. If she does not, the weather will go out of control.

Dorothy's quest is to find the mother who abandoned her as a child. This storyline seems to have been borrowed from The Tenth Kingdom .

The Wizard (Vincent D'Onofrio - Men In Black ) takes a young nun as his new assistant. However, she seems too clever for her own good.

The cinematography of this show is incredible. Small wonder, because the Producer (and this episode's director) is Tarsem Singh .

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 4] Science and Magic
Shown 20 Jan 17

The girl-boy tries to join the army. Instead, she ends up being given the opportunity to apprentice as a witch. Elsewhere, her friend is not as dead as he looked. A lady surgeon saves his life by turning him into a tin boy.

The Wizard (Vincent D'Onofrio - Men In Black ) goes to visit a local chieftain whose loyalties are dubious. Can he convince the man to trust science instead of magic? He takes the young nun along to help. Also, he is willing to make an offer the chieftain cannot refuse.

Dorothy and her companion avoid the yellow brick road, because that is the one place that everyone will be looking for them. Unfortunately this also means they lose the advantage of speed. The wizard's chief guard, Eamonn (Mido Hamada), recognises Dorothy's companion.

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 5] Everybody Lies
Shown 27 Jan 17

The Princess takes the tin boy along when she visits the Wizard (Vincent D'Onofrio - Men In Black ) in the Emerald City. The little cyborg could be a useful bodyguard for her, if only he learned to use his metal bits instead of being self-conscious about them.

Dorothy is a prisoner in the wicked witch's basement. The girl-boy is one of the servants there.

The wizard's chief guard, Eamonn (Mido Hamada), has decided to shelter Dorothy's companion in his own home. However, the companion cannot resist the impulse to go out and look for Dorothy.

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 6] Beautiful Wickedness
Shown 03 Feb 17

We get to see the backstory of the Wizard (Vincent D'Onofrio - Men In Black ). He worked in an experimental power plant with Dorothy's Mother ( Gina Bellman ). They got sucked into an artificial tornado when their experiment went wrong.

The wizard gets the wicked witch to examine the scarecrow, whose memories have been clouded by magic. It turns out that he was a people-smuggler working for a terrorist. In a world recently liberated from an oligarchy of magic-users, the ultimate weapon is a gaggle of witches.

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 7] They Came First
Shown 10 Feb 17

Dorothy and the scarecrow go to visit Glinda. Even though Dorothy does not know anything about her companion - after all, he has traumatic amnesia - but she entrusts him with details of her mission. Perhaps she should have waited until she knew why he originally took Glinda's side against his own men.

The Princess is heartbroken over her father's fate. The tin boy tries to comfort her as best he can.

The Wizard tries to save the city by purging the witches.

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 8] Lions in Winter
Shown 17 Feb 17

Dorothy is Glinda's prisoner. Her cellmate is a pregnant witch. Since the witches are meant to be nun-like celibates, they have no idea of how to manage child-birth.

West takes the girl-boy to the witches' reliquary, where their magic is stored after their death. If she can prove the girl-boy is Princess Ozma, they might have a chance at creating their own political power-base.

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 9] The Villain Thatīs Become
Shown 24 Feb 17

The Wizard visits the city of Ev, where his guns were being built. He seems to have not planned very well. After all, he gave the monopoly of weaponry to a woman who swore to destroy Oz. However, he seems to have a plan.

The Wicked Witch takes the girl-boy to raise an army. Their best bet is the elderly witches who were driven out by the Wizard. However, vengeful hedge-witches are not to be trifled with.

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1, Episode 10] No Place Like Home
Shown 03 Mar 17

The Wicked Witch and the Prince-Ess arrive at the City of Oz. Their first desire is vengeance. However, they cannot kill everyone who sided with the Wizard because that would be everyone in the city. Instead they target his chief guard, the man who wears the lion helmet.

The wizard has his army back, and his guns. Somehow the metal-smiths created functioning rifles despite only having one bullet and the vaguest idea of how to fire it. Now they must test them in battle against Glinda's witches.

Dorothy has some choices to make. The Wizard represents order and logic, while Glinda just wants power for herself. What side will the Kansas girl take?

The tin boy goes after the Wizard, even though the blame for the Princess's shooting lies elsewhere. Can a cyborg child with a wood-axe defeat a handful of trained soldiers with armour and guns? Well, he does quite well, considering.

The ending is a bit of a setup for the rest of the storyline. Scarecrow, tin man and cowardly lion have all been created. Toto has not been seen lately, but will pop up eventually. The Beast Forever has been unleashed, and will soon endanger Oz. Especially without the Wizard around to stop it.

This is reminiscent of the original Baum story, where the males were beasts of burden (farmer, woodsman, guard) who served in a matriarchal society under witches and a Princess.

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Emerald City

Emerald City Emerald City [Season 1 , Episode 1 ]
Shown th October 2016 [Wednesday]

Reviewed in our special supplement Emerald City

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