I can still fondly recall the first time I sat down to watch The Wizard of Oz. I was always a restless dreamer as a child and something about that film really captured my imagination. It was more than just a movie to me and countless others worldwide since its initial release. It was like being transported into another world, one full of more color, vivacity and adventure than this world had to offer. I’ve watched most of the animated and non-animated Oz movies made over the years, and I must say, I think the newest one from Summertime Entertainment/Prana Animation Studios, Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return, can compete with the best of them. It holds tight to the established nostalgia of Oz, while attempting to give it a more contemporary feel.

First, let me say the movie begins with some of the best animated opening credits I’ve ever seen. They cleverly use everyday items that represent or capture the essence of each character, with everything swirling around in a twister. I know opening credits are often overlooked and might be an odd thing to focus upon, but I really felt like they set the overall tone and set things in motion in the right direction. They immediately captured my attention and encapsulated the fun, nostalgic spirit of the film. Even the songwriters are given nods with old sheets of music with their song titles and lyrics printed on them blowing in the wind. Brilliant.

The next thing about this movie that makes it so enjoyable is the powerhouse of phenomenal casting. It features many “big name” talents, including Dan Aykroyd as The Scarecrow, James Belushi as The Lion, Kelsey Grammar as The Tin Man, Martin Short as The Jester, Bernadette Peters as Glinda, Oliver Platt as Wiser, Hugh Dancy as Marshal Mallow, Patrick Stewart as Tugg, Megan Hilty as the China Princess and Lea Michele as Dorothy. While I’ve never been a huge fan of Glee, Lea is an amazing vocal talent, and while Dorothy has some incredibly huge ruby red slippers to fill, I thought she comfortably made it happen. Martin Short is superb as always. He makes the ultimate animated villain, and it was really good to see him in action as the maniacal Jester.

The Jester was the Wicked Witch of the West’s brother who always envied her power and magicality. After stealing her broom from the Emerald City, he sets out capturing the leaders of Oz and turning them into marionettes so he can rule Oz all by himself. Naturally, it’s up to Dorothy (she is the Vanquisher of Wicked Witches after all) to thwart his evil ascent to power. She is summoned back to Oz by The Scarecrow in the form of his new invention, the Rainbow Mover. Rainbows seem to be the best method of travel in all worlds. I know I was always envious of Rainbow Brite traveling via rainbows, and I love the Rainbow Bridge in the Thor series.

Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return is based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and Dorothy of Oz, which was written by his great-grandson, Roger Stanton Baum. What I enjoyed most was the familiarity of seeing Dorothy reunited with her good friends The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and The Lion, but also the introduction of all-new Oz characters that I didn’t know anything about prior to seeing the film. Eventually, I want to read all of the Oz books. That’s long-been on my bucket list, but there just never seem to be enough hours in the day to accomplish everything. The new characters, which your children or inner child are sure to immediately fall in love with, include a China Princess who is a bit spoiled and obsessed with perfection and beauty, a delightfully plump know-it-all owl named Wiser, the noble, elderly tree-turned-tugboat Tugg, the honorable Marshal Mallow (a brave soldier made of marshmallow) and of course the evil, but perhaps slightly misunderstood, Jester. Even the flying monkeys have been given a make-over with outlandish, brightly colored mohawks.

The Kansas sequences at the beginning and ending of the film bring about the humanistic element to the story that tugs at your heartstrings. You get to experience the aftermath of the tornado destruction and observe how Dorothy, Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and the rest of their town are dealing with it. As a Midwesterner who has seen the ravages of a tornado firsthand, it gives the film a nice touch of realism and further helps to bring the Oz story full-circle.

The music is first-rate, especially the song “Even Then” sung by Marshal Mallow. I legitimately almost cried in the theater because the lyrics moved me that much. Maybe I’m a bigger softie than a man made entirely of marshmallow. Or maybe it’s because I’m in a new relationship and the tenderness of it all just really hit home for me. Don’t judge me! The final thing I wish to touch upon is the 3D animation itself. From start to finish, Oz comes alive with all the vivid colors and magical qualities of an artist’s paintbrush not limited by anything but one’s imagination – come now, would you expect anything less of Oz? Candy County is especially wonderful to see with all of its candy-coated citizens, including a Jawbreaker Judge, Peeps and chocolate soldiers. I haven’t seen anything look so tantalizing tasty since Wreck-It Ralph.

All in all, I think Legends of Oz: Dorothy’s Return represents a return to fantastic filmmaking for children that both kids and their parents can enjoy watching together. The story, animation, acting and music all come together to weave a film that is rich in spirit. Kudos to all who were involved — there’s no place like Oz!

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Once upon a time, there was this show called The Big Bang Theory with very obscure nerd references and over-the-top nerd stereotypes as primary protagonists. Sure, the show also had Penny, a female character that primarily served as three roles: 1) the straight, “normal” character who didn’t get the references, 2) the object of lust by everyone except the not-interested-in-sex Sheldon Cooper and 3) an idiot who struggled to keep up. At first, Leonard was the main character, utterly boring and milquetoast, basically an average version of the stereotypes inhabited by the other characters.

Sheldon was the “Asperger’s without explicitly calling it that” amoral, overly rational one, only concerned with science and obsessions. An exaggeration in some ways, but in others the most consistently realistic and consistently funny character.

Howard was the offensive self-hating Jewish nerd stereotype, smart but not as smart as the others, lustful and perverted to nonsensical degrees. But the only endlessly unfunny aspect was the inclusion of his off camera mother, never seen but with a horribly, ludicrously offensive portrayal of an overbearing Jewish mother. I will never forgive the show for that.

Raj was the token nerd of color, eschewing the more predictable East Asian (meaning Japan, China, and Korean primarily) for an Indian nerd, albeit one literally unable to speak to women without being intoxicated. At first this character quirk was amusing, albeit cartoonishly unrealistic, although the idea of a shy nerd is certainly a real thing. But it became literally a psychosomatic disorder, as Raj could speak to women when he merely thought he was drunk (but had only consumed non-alcoholic drinks).

And then there was dear Leonard, the point-of-view character who was the most “normal,” in that he was relatively decent, realistically awkward, and smart but not inaccessibly so. And his pursuit of Penny as a romantic interest — while problematic in a manner of ways, which I’ll get into in a minute — was the driving character and plot arc for the beginning of the show’s run.

As the show continued, two things happened. Female characters who were also intelligent (unlike Penny) were introduced, and two (Bernadette and Amy) were actually fleshed out more as characters (in a manner of speaking). And all nerd related humor and jokes became flattened and normalized, changing from something like an obscure Star Wars reference (like a joke about Mon Mothma, who is a minor character never named onscreen) to a generic one (like mentioning Chewbacca or C3P0). The former change was a good one, because it helped move away from the dated, sexist nonsense with the “dumb blonde” archetype. The latter change certainly helped the show appeal to a broader audience, but it lost its unique nerdy charm. It became just another sitcom. The ultimate goal was now the common societal one of “guy and girl physically getting together.”

Have there been problematic elements continuously? Sure! The homophobic humor centered around Raj and Howard. The “this would be considered anti-Semitic if the show’s creator wasn’t Jewish” relationship between Howard and his mother. Howard with everything other than his relationship with Bernadette. Slut-shaming Penny and “nerd-shaming” the guys. The weird religious jokes about Sheldon’s background. But at least Sheldon was never wavering from his pride in what he cared about and lack of concern over what other people thought. Leonard was always ashamed, at least a little bit.

But then things got … worse.

Even from the beginning, the guys were portrayed as the “other,” negatively compared to the “normal” people, but at least we were meant to empathize with their struggles and the show didn’t demean their love of games, comic books, and sci-fi movies. It didn’t before but now it totally does. This has culminated in last week’s episode “The Bakersfield Expedition” which was worse because it was actually trying not to do what it did. The guys are off to some random convention, and plan to dress in pretty accurate Star Trek: the Next Generation costumes. This was the best part of the episode, those couple of moments where the guys engaged in a non-ironic love of a meaningful television program about future spacemen flying around with robots and aliens. Love of something, regardless of how popular or mainstream it is, shouldn’t be considered negative. Unfortunately, the episode then proceeded to make me madder and madder.

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With Gravity Falls, Legend of Korra, Young Justice and Green Lantern: the Animated Series all on hiatus during the fall and winter (luckily all coming back in early to mid 2013), I’ve been jonsing for more cartoons on my TV. Luckily, The Hub is giving kids of the ’90s some much needed nostalgia this Christmas season — they’ve picked up Animaniacs for syndication starting on Christmas Eve. Not a bad Christmas present!

I guess it shouldn’t be a huge surprise that the show has been picked up by The Hub — other Kids WB shows like Batman: The  Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series have been shown in syndication on the Hub, and Wakko’s Wish (the Animaniacs straight-to-video movie that was essentially the finale of the show) has been a part of the network’s Family Movies segment recently. Considering the Hub has had success with these other shows, it makes sense that they’d bring in arguably Kids WB’s most successful and beloved show.

Animaniacs helped shape my sense of humor more than almost any other show growing up. As a thematic descendant of Looney Toons and Merry Melodies, the show had tons of slapstick, puns galore, pop culture references and just enough adult humor that somehow always went over our heads. And with the insanely talented likes of Rob Paulson, Tress MacNeille, Jess Harnell, Maurice LaMarche, Frank Welker among others, the timing is just perfect. It also featured a plethora of original songs, including Broadway star Bernadette Peter’s work as Rita the cat and Paulson’s legendary Countries of the World song … which he’s been known to still sing by heart during conventions. It does my heart good to know that a new generation will be able to watch the show on TV again.

Of course, this makes me wonder what other cartoons from my childhood could show up on The Hub. My first guess is Pinky and the Brain, since it was a direct spinoff of Animaniacs, or maybe Tiny Toons as its predecessor, but I would love for the network to pick up Kids WB dark horse Freakazoid to give it more exposure to a generation that might not know about it. It would be fantastic to see the show Histeria! come back to television and while I have no doubt it aged poorly, a small part of me would want to see Road Rovers again.

A regular schedule for Animaniacs hasn’t been released, but The Hub will introduce the show with a four hour marathon on Christmas Eve starting at 4 PM EST and an airing of Wakko’s Wish at 8 pm EST.

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