Emerald City (2016–2017)
8/10
Here be lions.
7 January 2017
Warning: Spoilers
I loved the premiere of Emerald City. Fantastic in every sense of the word, since Tamren Singh created an amazing fantasy world filled with fascinating characters. While every scene, every setting and every inhabitant of Oz pays tribute to the wonderful imagination of L. Frank Baum, Singh has managed to stamp his own vision and his own interpretation on it and transformed it into something even more bewitching.

Dorothy is a strong, capable and modern woman, her dog, a German Shepherd, is a K-9, the Scarecrow is a man with no memory, a mysterious past and a sword issued to the Wizard's Guard, the flying monkeys are drones patrolling the world and looking for danger...

I loved the original Wizard of Oz and I understand why people don't want to like this remake. But this isn't a remake or a reboot. Instead, it is a reinterpretation and it is wonderful and magical and spellbinding. It has action and drama and colour and magic and touches of humour that are so deft that I find myself chuckling long after the joke is over.

Take Eamonn, the man I assume is playing the Tin Man. Stalked by one of his own troops intent on murdering him and returning to Oz to claim the glory, blaming his death on lions, the scene cuts away just as he is about to be stabbed in the back. Later, when we return, the camera shows him strolling casually back to camp.

Stumbling about in the dark two of the would-be murderer's accomplices find his body, hacked apart, and take it back to camp to dump it accusingly at the feet of Eamonn. Unconcerned, Eamonn takes a bite of an apple while looking at the body, then just says one word: "Lions."
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