tinman

Remember when Brett mentioned Tin Man a few months ago? The miniseries, debuting on Sci Fi in December, is a re-imagining of The Wizard of Oz, this time set in the Outer Zone (note the acronym) and starring Zooey Deschanel (a total celeb-crush of mine) Alan Cumming and Richard Dreyfuss (who I don't have crushes on).

The miniseries is filming in Vancouver, and so is the new Flash Gordon series. Since both series use some of the same retro-futuristic sets, the folks involved with Flash Gordon will be making a few tweaks to certain Tin Man sets and incorporating them into the design for the planet Mongo, home of Ming the Merciless.

That's not a bad way to save production money, and it's not like it hasn't been done before. Once, while Leonard Nimoy was sick for a month with pneumonia, a horse from Bonanza was given fake Vulcan ears and played Spock for four episodes. That's why Kirk rode around on Spock's back for all subsequent episodes, so the series didn't lose its continuity.

The Sci Fi channel has brought in two writers from 24, Steven Long Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle, to reimagine The Wizard Of Oz as a mini-series called Tin Man. I suppose saying you hired writers from 24 sounds better than saying you hired writers/producers from She Spies...

I kid. I saw every episode of She Spies. Anyway, the post at Warp Section has some of the details for what they have in mind. Dorothy has become a "goth hottie named DG" while Oz is now the Outer Zone, an ethnically diverse alternate universe setting for DG's adventure.

The post also mentions that it will be a six-hour story, but Sci Fi Wire says it will be four. I guess we'll have to wait and see on that. This could really go either way. It's tough to mess with a classic, but I think Sci Fi has earned the benefit of the doubt with what they have done with Battlestar Galactica. Plans call for a 2007 release.

[ via Netscape.com ]