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The Claim
moped_of_oz.doc
Keywords male 1307742, female 1190200, human 112758, lion 47762, scarecrow 238, oz 49, moped 33, tinman 12, free write 10, flying monkey 6, yellow brick road 2
Gonna write.  Sometime I'll get something done.  Here I go.  Something, something, something.  I'm here for you, my friend.  I'm here in the world of nothing.  I guess I can't get myself moving.  I was riding my moped through the land of Oz.  Down the yellow brick road.  It's not a bad road, all things considered.  I pass a scarecrow.  Bro waves, but I keep going.  I go on for a while through a grove of apple trees.  There's a rusty statue of a tin man.  I keep going.  Into the dark forest.  I spook a lion.  It runs away but I keep going.  The moped is motoring nicely.  Gets good gas mileage.  Bet I could make it all the way to Kansas.  On and on through poppy fields before I get to a green city.  The yellow brick road forks here, one way leading to the city and the other to somewhere beyond.  So I take the fork and leave the city behind.  Looks rather drab without the glasses anyway.  Through the mountains and under the mountains the road winds.  Past a castle with flying monkeys circling overhead.  Some blue guys marching around and chanting.  Looks like a quaint castle.  Probably has a nice person in charge of it, judging by how well kept it is.  But I still have gas in the tank, so I keep going.  On and on.  The road leads into a desert.  Uncharted territory.  Although someone must have charted it enough to make a road.  Oz infrastructure budget must be insane.  I go into the desert.  The sand stings my face, so I tie a bandanna to cover my face and goggles to protect my eyes.  The sun is hot, the wind is harsh, but the moped is still running fine.  Perhaps it's a magic moped?  It is ruby colored, after all.  I go by a sign with a warning.  "Beware the Wheelers!"  Huh, sounds like a moped group.  Might be cool guys.  On I go.  Nothing to see in the desert.  Just sand.  I happen across a woman hitchhiking.  Seems like a nice lady.  Doesn't have a head.  Must have misplaced it.  Unfortunately I don't have any room for another on my moped, so I wave to her as I pass.  I don't think she noticed.  I roll on, enjoying the ride and nothing more.  I come to an ocean, and the yellow brick road turns to hug the coast.  In the ocean I can see long loops of the serpents cresting the waves.  Pretty looking animals.  They appear to be eating the whales... also the sailing ships.  Not sure why anyone would want to sail out there.  Still, the view is nice if you ignore the blood.  It starts to rain, but the moped keeps going.  Unbothered by the weather.  I start to wonder if I'm riding the moped, or if it's carrying me?  Who is in charge here?  Can I stop if I want to?  But I suppose I don't want to.  Still lots of gas in the tank.  I pass a lighthouse.  On top of the lighthouse is a large crystal, shining into the sea.  Pretty.  Probably valuable.  That might explain the knights guarding it.  I wave as I pass and they wave back.  Only one of them threw a spear at me.  It missed, so it's all good.  Nice guys.  I carry on down the yellow brick road.  I'll get to the end eventually.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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by Timer
More 20 min free write.

Keywords
male 1,307,742, female 1,190,200, human 112,758, lion 47,762, scarecrow 238, oz 49, moped 33, tinman 12, free write 10, flying monkey 6, yellow brick road 2
Details
Type: Writing - Document
Published: 8 months ago
Rating: General

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18 comments

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MviluUatusun
8 months ago
Nice story.  BTW, have you ever read "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz"?  It's an interesting story if you haven't, and has a few interesting tidbits of information that were left out of all the movies.
Timer
8 months ago
I read it a long, long, LONG time ago, so I don't remember much.  I remember Scarecrow killing crows (or some type of bird that attacked them) and Tin Man defeating bees.  I also remember the Wicked Witch of the West wasn't as big a player in the book, Dorothy takes care of her about midway.  I was rather disappointed at how different it was from the movie, although I suspect I'd appreciate it more now.  I keep meaning to revisit it, but for some reason just never have.  
MviluUatusun
8 months ago
You're right about the Scarecrow, but it's more than that about him.  Remember he wanted a brain, in one part of the story, he thought of something to help them in a time of trouble that no one else thought of.  I'm not sure about the Tin Man and the bees, but, when a cat was about to attack and eat a mouse, the Tin Man felt sorry for the mouse and chopped the cat's head off.  The cowardly lion protected Dorothy from the flying monkeys.  In other words, all three of the Oz characters showed that they already had everything they wanted but didn't realize it.  Here's an interesting thing about the flying monkeys, the wicked witch could only summon them three times.  After that, they were free from her control.  It's darker (and better) than the movies.
Timer
8 months ago
I do recall the Lion exhibiting almost no cowardly traits.  Certainly nowhere near the level that the movie Lion does.  Even as a kid it was plain that he was brave, and I assume his issue had to do with his idea that brave meant free from fear.  Because he had fear, he was a coward in his own mind.  I also remember Tin Man and Scarecrow coming to the realization that neither of them had a brain nor heart, and argued about which was more important to have.  And I remember Dorothy cutting Scarecrow's mouth open so he could at least pretend to eat, even though he didn't need to.  

As I recall the book had a LOT happen in it.  Way more than what's presented in the movie.  But I don't remember much.  I have no recollection of TM beheading a cat.  And looking at a synopsis apparently there's a part where Lion defeats a giant spider?  That doesn't ring a bell at all.  
Timer
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Heh.  I read the first couple chapters of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and I can't help notice that Baum wrote in a way that is discouraged nowadays.  Also he didn't waste any time at all getting Dorothy to Oz.  Bare-bones setup, here's the cyclone, and now we've killed a witch.  
MviluUatusun
7 months, 2 weeks ago
What I liked about the beginning of the book was how he described Kansas.  A lot of people think the movie started off in black and white because color film was expensive back in 1939, but it was how the book began.  I can't quote it exactly but it went something like this.  "Kansas is grey, everything is varying shades of grey.  It saps the color out of everything."

Yeah, the lion defeating a giant spider doesn't ring a bell for me either, but I ain't gonna say it definitely isn't there.
Timer
7 months, 2 weeks ago
I've only gotten to the part where she gets back to Oz after killing the Wicked Witch of the West, who was barely a problem, only took one chapter to take care of.  The movie making the witch a major player throughout was actually a solid change.  And I think the first part of the movie also sets up why Dorothy would want to go back better than the book does, since the aunt and uncle are portrayed as rather miserable people in the book.  Not bad people, but deeply unhappy.  
MviluUatusun
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Yeah, I know what you mean.  Auntie Em and Uncle Henry did seem to be a bit on the sad side because of how hard it was to be farmers in Kansas, especially since they were trying during the Great Depression.  I never read the other books of the series (I believe there are a total of 10) so I don't know much after the first book.

BTW, did you know the woman who played the Wicked Witch of the West was in an Abbott & Costello movie?  She was also a "witch" in that movie, too.
Timer
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Margaret Hamilton also reprised the role in Sesame Street and the episode was banned because it scared the hell out of kids.  

It's hard to get a number on how many Oz books there are.  Especially if you count things like Wicked.  Baum wrote a bunch and there are a lot of official and unofficial sequels.  
MviluUatusun
7 months, 2 weeks ago
I believe I read or saw that somewhere.  Margaret Hamilton was fantastic as the Wicked Witch of the West and she obviously got into her role quite well.

You may be right about the number of books.  But, I do know that L. Frank Baum wrote at least 10 different stories set specifically in Oz.  BTW, here's a wee bit of trivia that I learned many years ago.  Frank Morgan, the guy who played the Wizard of Oz, needed a costume that befitted his first character in the movie (the man with the wagon).  The studio sent someone out to a used clothing store.  That person bought an old ratty looking coat.  When Mr. Morgan put to coat on, he looked at the inside of it and saw a name written on it.  The name?  L. Frank Baum.
Timer
7 months, 2 weeks ago
That story seems too fantastic to believe.  Although Baum did live in LA, so I suppose it's possible.  Still, he died like 20 years before the movie came out.  That's a long time for his jacket to be floating around.  

Hamilton's portrayal is likely never going to be topped.  Not only did she own that role, her depiction became the quintessential image of any evil witch, not just the Wicked Witch of the West.  You still see that in movies today.  If a movie has an evil witch, 90% chance there's going to be recognizable elements that can be traced back to Hamilton.  

And Morgan was no slouch either as the famous humbug.  Not to mention all the other roles he played in the film.  
MviluUatusun
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Well, like I said, I saw an interview with him and that's the story he related in the interview.

You're right, about Margaret Hamilton's Wicked Witch of the West portrayal.  As the song from one of the James Bond movies said, "Nobody does it better."  LOL

Frank Morgan played more than the Wizard and the man with the wagon?  There's something I didn't know.
Timer
7 months, 2 weeks ago
I think he had 5 roles in the film: Professor Marvel, the Wizard, the gatekeeper, the driver for the horse of a different color, and the Wizard's guard.  
MviluUatusun
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Okay.  He did better than Peter Sellers in "Dr. Strangelove".  Peter only had 3 roles in that.  LOL
Timer
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Sellers was supposed to play Major Kong too, but an injury made it too difficult for him to be in the cockpit set, so the role went to Slim Pickens.  Considering how much heavy lifting Sellers was already doing in that film, I'm sure he wasn't too broken up about it.  
MviluUatusun
7 months, 2 weeks ago
That's true.  I also heard that Peter Sellers couldn't get the Texas accent quite right and Slim Pickens didn't have a problem with it since his father was from Texas.
Timer
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Got around to finishing TWWoO.  

There is a giant spider, but Lion killing it was only a paragraph.  He killed it in its sleep.  Sorta didn't sit right for me since that's a bit off and didn't strike me as especially courageous.  Smart, sure, but not brave.  

And the tin man has a crazy high kill-count for the one with a heart.  Far and away has more blood on his hands than the rest of them.  Sure, most of that happens before he has the silk heart installed, but the point was supposed to be he (as well as everyone else) already had what he went to the Wizard for.  

The end feels crazy rushed.  The whole book moves at a brisk pace and doesn't take many opportunities to breathe, but the end wraps up in a few lines.  
MviluUatusun
7 months, 2 weeks ago
Yeah, it's been a while since I read the book (about 15+ years), but the one thing I remember is that all three of Dorothy's companions already had what they wanted, the Wizard just gave them physical proof of it.
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