Tin Man, continued
SciFi Channel's Tin Man: A Story in Pictures. Massive spoilers & not dial-up friendly. I've also rearranged some of the scenes so for the story flow to make more sense.
Previous post is here.
So where were we... Oh, right.
The gang are heading South as per the instructions of the Mystic Man. Along the way, more of DG's powers are revealed, thanks to Toto continuously badgering her to "feel the light flow through her". Jedi DG to the rescue!
Then it's night time. Azkadellia wakes up, feeling restless and looking scorchingly hot now that she's lost the metal corset and waffly hairdo.
But what woke up Azkadellia? She goes to a mirror and looks at her reflection...
OHMYGOD I'M SORRY FOR MAKING FUN OF YOUR ACTING SKILLS HOLY CRAP!
Cheap shot, but damn it made me jump.
DG decides that she needs to know her past, so she asks Raw to help induce more flashbacks because they weren't happening fast enough.
INDUCED FLASHBACK TIME. The sisters pick apples in the forest. Turns out Wee!DG is the sorta bratty younger sibling and Wee!Azkadellia is the awesome (and responsible) older sibling, which you totally wouldn't be able to tell when you see how they've both turned out. Also, there's this exchange:
Wee!Az: I like how you tricked that tree to throw apples at us.
Wee!DG: I heard a tale of it once, in a story from the past.
To those who know your Oz-verse, this is FORESHADOWING!
Wee!Az: She says there's wild animals in the forest.
Wee!DG: Did she say what kind of wild animals?
Wee!Az: Lions... tigers...
Bear: ROAAAAAAAR!
Wee!DG: Oh my!
I liked that one better than the pinafore cameo. ♥
So the wee sisters face-off against a bear, but their combined magic keeps them safe. (WILL THIS BE IMPORTANT?)
I just like this group shot.
The gang find refuge among other people who are against Azkadellia's rule. Here they learn that Azkadellia is mining ore for a super special Machine of Doom that she's building (and needs the Emerald to fuel). It also turns out the machine is based on an original design by Glitch.
So they get Raw to poke around Glitch's head for any relevant memories. "Oo er", goes Glitch. "What about my privacy?"
FLASHBACK to Glitch as Ambrose, the Queen's closest advisor.
Ambrose was captured by Azkadellia, and when he refused to give up the plans, she tortured him and took out his brain.
OMG! EMO PAIN!
Everyone else wibbles at poor Glitch. DG gives him a hug, because she's the only one left who doesn't have an emo backstory. (YET)
But Cain's emo story isn't over yet, because as they continue travelling South, he sees the white Tree of Gondor elm where his family made their new home...
...but all he finds is his wife's grave. (Where is his son? WILL THIS BE IMPORTANT?)
Cain cries manly tears as he mourns his wife all over again.
The gang finally arrive at their destination, and there's an awesome hedge maze and a frantic chase scene where DG runs headlong into the maze without waiting and the others trail after her screeching, but all the drama turns out for naught because that's just DG running off without thinking, which she unfortunately tends to do.
DG finds the swing where the royal home used to be, but it's all overgrown. It's time for another...
LENGTHY FLASHBACK! The sisters as kids again, and playing happily in the sun. It's all fine and dandy, but then Wee!DG hears a cry from the forest and runs off to check it out, despite Wee!Az's insistence they not stray far. Wee!Az, being the elder one, has to go along to take care of li'l un.
Wee!DG really can't take a hint and continues searching for the cry, which leads the pair deep into a creepy old cave.
WHERE AN EVIL WITCH IS WAITING FOR THEM.
Wee!Az has balls and stands up to the witch. WE CAN HAZ POWERFOOL SISTA MAJIK!
But Wee!DG chickens out and flees, leaving her sister to the mercy of the Evil Witch, who takes possession of Azkadellia's body.
So now grown-up DG has her emo backstory.
I for one think this twist is actually pretty damn awesome, even if I did see it coming long before the actual reveal. This means that DG, as a heroine, is single-handedly responsible for the downfall of the OZ and has grown up in ignorant bliss thanks to her mother's protection. As for Azkadellia, when I started watching the show I fully expected her to be an out-and-out ebil sister from the very beginning, and though she has turned out to be good and the Evil Witch's spirit is influencing everything she does/think, she's still a conscious if weakened presence inside that body, and who's to say that she's completely blameless? Both sisters will have to live with the knowledge of the countless innocent people that they've hurt. SHADES OF GREY, WE LOVES IT, PRECIOUS.
Back to the story. Through more (less emo) flashbacks, DG uncovers the holographic recording left behind her mom. It's more directional instructions, this time to head further south to the Realm of the Unwanted to where Ahamo lives.
Who's Ahamo? Why, he's DG and Azkadellia's father!
After the gang have left, Azkadellia follows their trail and find the same recording. Nothing much comes of this, she's pretty much only following DG to the finishing line.
What's awesome is this little sequence where Azkadellia talks to the Evil Witch, personified in her reflection. So Azkadellia is there somewhat, just so you know.
Toto is revealed as a spy. Cain threatens to shoot him, but Toto comes up with his emo story where he was kept prisoner by Azkadellia for 15 years and she promised him his freedom if he did a little spy work, but really he's been delaying Azkadellia and buying them time (how? It's not really explained). Bla bla bla, DG wants to believe him, so they agree that in order to prove his alliances are no longer with Azkadellia, he has to travel in his dog shape from now on... Thus forcing actor Blu Mankuma to look for other work.
Also, everyone's emo now, yay!
They find the Realm of the Unwanted. It's underground. (A reference to the Nomes, maybe?)
They find a fortuneteller who says she can arrange a meeting with a man named Seeker, who knows where Ahamo is.
That's Seeker. Turns out the fortuneteller wants to betray the gang to Azkadellia's Longcoats, boo.
So they're all captured (except for DG, who's snatched off by Seeker during the confusion). During the march back to Azkadellia's fortress, the Longcoats are attacked by The Resistance in a pretty bad-ass sequence that seems to come out of nowhere (I forgot there was an active Resistance... there's always an active Resistance), and as it turns out...
...the leader of The Resistance is Cain's son, Jeb. OH MY GOD I TOTALLY DID NOT SEE THAT COMING.
Cain is thrown aback by Jeb, because his son has turned out to be Tin Man's winner of the Trophy of Ultimate Emoness. He's ruthless, and wants to kill the Longcoat that killed his mom (the Longcoat has been in the movie all this while but I totally ignored him because I don't care) but Cain stops him. Cain does, however, eventually seal the dude in a metal suit as punishment.
But then Cain and Jeb hug, and it's all okay. There's also a speech about "heart".
Then there's also the part where they learn that the Machine of Doom is an Anti-SunSeeder, which Azkadellia wants to use to lock the OZ's two suns behind the moon at the time of the double eclipse, so the OZ becomes a land of perpetual darkness. (Though what this would achieve, besides racking up their electricity bills, is beyond me). As a bonus, the Anti-SunSeeder is being controlled the Glitch's brain.
Glitch spends a moment being emo about this. "It's all my fault." Raw looks at him. "Yeah." Hee, awesome.
Elsewhere, DG is screeching at the Seeker to let her go free.
Seeker grins and banters with her (calling her "fiery") as they do a little cat-and-mouse in Seeker's hut. Well hello, chemistry. Rawr.
But it turns out that Seeker is Ahamo, DG's father. EWW EWW EWW! UNCLEAN! Blech.
Anyway, Ahamo gives DG a compass for the final leg of The Amazing Emerald Race.
And he offers transportation by hot air balloon. Which totally makes sense. Because brightly-coloured hot air balloons flying through the empty sky are totally inconspicous. It's not like they have to worry about being followed or anything.
The compass finally leads them to the Royal Mausoleum of DG's entire royal family. It's all very ornate and pretty, and Ahamo leads DG to the tomb of the first of the royal line, her "greatest great-grandmother"...
DOROTHY GALE.
WTF.
Apparently DG's named after Dorothy Gale, who was the first slipper, i.e. the first person to slip into the OZ from the other place. (Poor Azkadellia, who's she named after, then?)
So DG enters Dorothy's mausoleum, and a grey vision of DOROTHY FRICKIN' GALE appears. Okay, the dialogue is all over the place, a lot of the acting is mediocre and the plotlines are all awkwardly contrived, but this movie just won about a gazillion cool points for featuring a cameo by DOROTHY FRICKIN' GALE.
SHE EVEN HAS THE SILVER FRICKIN' SLIPPERS.
Dorothy gives DG the Emerald, FINALLY.
Of course, now you've got to think back and rework your entire perception of the OZ. It's no longer just a reimagining of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it's at the same time a sequel of sorts, and that... kinda makes no sense, when you look at what the OZ is and who all the new characters are, but does that mean that history repeats itself, or some rubbish like that?
Who cares. It's Dorothy Gale. WE LOVE YOU, DOROTHY! NEXT TIME YOU CAN BE IN TECHNICOLOUR, TOO!
DG and Ahamo exit the Royal Mausoleum, and are confronted by Azkadellia and her minions, of course. Ahamo is captured, and when Azkadellia hungrily asks for the Emerald, DG just stands around blinking, so even Azkadellia gets annoyed with her sister and...
...magically/telekinetically pulls the Emerald into her own hand. Ooo, shiny!
Azkadellia seals DG inside a green marble tomb, but DG eventually gets a grip and magics her own way out.
Toto leads the trio to DG, and there's more reunion hugs. Yay, reunion hugs!
Glitch doesn't get any, because he has to hold the horses.
Elsewhere, there's another reunion going on. Azkadellia put on a chain-mail dress for the occasion, too.
Lavender Eyes and Ahamo share the most chaste kiss I've ever seen between lovers who haven't seen each other for years and years.
Then, Azkadellia declares, it's SHOWTIME!
Double eclipse, Anti-SunSeeder fuelled by Emerald, etc etc.
Glitch is reunited with his marbles. Raw's expression is awesome. They to wrack up the tension as the gang try to stop the machine and are foiled, bla bla.
Outside, DG has another mission, confronting her sister and appealing to the good in her, bla bla, we've seen this before.
It seems to be working.
Wee!DG is back to fix her mistake from years ago.
Wee!Az confesses that she's scared. I've got to take a moment to give mad props to Alexia Fast, who plays Wee!Az with so many layers, making her instantly likeable when she's good and then terrifying when she's bad. Grown-up!Az could take some tips from her, seriously.
After a few false starts, they end up holding hands.
And Azkadellia is finally free from...
...the Evil Witch.
At the battle in the Anti-SunSeeder's control room, each of the heroes have their moment overcoming their shortcomings. Here, Raw stands up to protect his (nephew?) and kicks ass.
In the fracas, Glitch is knocked out. Cain revives him with a slap. Actual dialogue:
Glitch: Do I know you?
Cain: Good morning, sweetheart.
Glitch: Cain!
Glitch also remembers how to stop the machine.
The sisters' combined magic ward off the Evil Witch, who eventually melts (of course) when the Anti-SunSeeder is shut down.
That climax was actually kinda boring. All the more exciting bits happened earlier.
Sister hugs!
Freed!Azkadellia has her moment of inappropriate chemistry with Ahamo.
FAMILY HUGS! Though to be true, their dinner table conversations are gonna be awkward. "Remember that time that I trapped you in that prison and made it rain and you totally said I was not your daughter anymore?"
But for now, the suns come out from behind the moon, and everyone's happy.
The trio are happy, too.
Toto wonders if he's allowed to turn back into human form yet.
THE END!
Previous post is here.
So where were we... Oh, right.
The gang are heading South as per the instructions of the Mystic Man. Along the way, more of DG's powers are revealed, thanks to Toto continuously badgering her to "feel the light flow through her". Jedi DG to the rescue!
Then it's night time. Azkadellia wakes up, feeling restless and looking scorchingly hot now that she's lost the metal corset and waffly hairdo.
But what woke up Azkadellia? She goes to a mirror and looks at her reflection...
OHMYGOD I'M SORRY FOR MAKING FUN OF YOUR ACTING SKILLS HOLY CRAP!
Cheap shot, but damn it made me jump.
DG decides that she needs to know her past, so she asks Raw to help induce more flashbacks because they weren't happening fast enough.
INDUCED FLASHBACK TIME. The sisters pick apples in the forest. Turns out Wee!DG is the sorta bratty younger sibling and Wee!Azkadellia is the awesome (and responsible) older sibling, which you totally wouldn't be able to tell when you see how they've both turned out. Also, there's this exchange:
Wee!Az: I like how you tricked that tree to throw apples at us.
Wee!DG: I heard a tale of it once, in a story from the past.
To those who know your Oz-verse, this is FORESHADOWING!
Wee!Az: She says there's wild animals in the forest.
Wee!DG: Did she say what kind of wild animals?
Wee!Az: Lions... tigers...
Bear: ROAAAAAAAR!
Wee!DG: Oh my!
I liked that one better than the pinafore cameo. ♥
So the wee sisters face-off against a bear, but their combined magic keeps them safe. (WILL THIS BE IMPORTANT?)
I just like this group shot.
The gang find refuge among other people who are against Azkadellia's rule. Here they learn that Azkadellia is mining ore for a super special Machine of Doom that she's building (and needs the Emerald to fuel). It also turns out the machine is based on an original design by Glitch.
So they get Raw to poke around Glitch's head for any relevant memories. "Oo er", goes Glitch. "What about my privacy?"
FLASHBACK to Glitch as Ambrose, the Queen's closest advisor.
Ambrose was captured by Azkadellia, and when he refused to give up the plans, she tortured him and took out his brain.
OMG! EMO PAIN!
Everyone else wibbles at poor Glitch. DG gives him a hug, because she's the only one left who doesn't have an emo backstory. (YET)
But Cain's emo story isn't over yet, because as they continue travelling South, he sees the white Tree of Gondor elm where his family made their new home...
...but all he finds is his wife's grave. (Where is his son? WILL THIS BE IMPORTANT?)
Cain cries manly tears as he mourns his wife all over again.
The gang finally arrive at their destination, and there's an awesome hedge maze and a frantic chase scene where DG runs headlong into the maze without waiting and the others trail after her screeching, but all the drama turns out for naught because that's just DG running off without thinking, which she unfortunately tends to do.
DG finds the swing where the royal home used to be, but it's all overgrown. It's time for another...
LENGTHY FLASHBACK! The sisters as kids again, and playing happily in the sun. It's all fine and dandy, but then Wee!DG hears a cry from the forest and runs off to check it out, despite Wee!Az's insistence they not stray far. Wee!Az, being the elder one, has to go along to take care of li'l un.
Wee!DG really can't take a hint and continues searching for the cry, which leads the pair deep into a creepy old cave.
WHERE AN EVIL WITCH IS WAITING FOR THEM.
Wee!Az has balls and stands up to the witch. WE CAN HAZ POWERFOOL SISTA MAJIK!
But Wee!DG chickens out and flees, leaving her sister to the mercy of the Evil Witch, who takes possession of Azkadellia's body.
So now grown-up DG has her emo backstory.
I for one think this twist is actually pretty damn awesome, even if I did see it coming long before the actual reveal. This means that DG, as a heroine, is single-handedly responsible for the downfall of the OZ and has grown up in ignorant bliss thanks to her mother's protection. As for Azkadellia, when I started watching the show I fully expected her to be an out-and-out ebil sister from the very beginning, and though she has turned out to be good and the Evil Witch's spirit is influencing everything she does/think, she's still a conscious if weakened presence inside that body, and who's to say that she's completely blameless? Both sisters will have to live with the knowledge of the countless innocent people that they've hurt. SHADES OF GREY, WE LOVES IT, PRECIOUS.
Back to the story. Through more (less emo) flashbacks, DG uncovers the holographic recording left behind her mom. It's more directional instructions, this time to head further south to the Realm of the Unwanted to where Ahamo lives.
Who's Ahamo? Why, he's DG and Azkadellia's father!
After the gang have left, Azkadellia follows their trail and find the same recording. Nothing much comes of this, she's pretty much only following DG to the finishing line.
What's awesome is this little sequence where Azkadellia talks to the Evil Witch, personified in her reflection. So Azkadellia is there somewhat, just so you know.
Toto is revealed as a spy. Cain threatens to shoot him, but Toto comes up with his emo story where he was kept prisoner by Azkadellia for 15 years and she promised him his freedom if he did a little spy work, but really he's been delaying Azkadellia and buying them time (how? It's not really explained). Bla bla bla, DG wants to believe him, so they agree that in order to prove his alliances are no longer with Azkadellia, he has to travel in his dog shape from now on... Thus forcing actor Blu Mankuma to look for other work.
Also, everyone's emo now, yay!
They find the Realm of the Unwanted. It's underground. (A reference to the Nomes, maybe?)
They find a fortuneteller who says she can arrange a meeting with a man named Seeker, who knows where Ahamo is.
That's Seeker. Turns out the fortuneteller wants to betray the gang to Azkadellia's Longcoats, boo.
So they're all captured (except for DG, who's snatched off by Seeker during the confusion). During the march back to Azkadellia's fortress, the Longcoats are attacked by The Resistance in a pretty bad-ass sequence that seems to come out of nowhere (I forgot there was an active Resistance... there's always an active Resistance), and as it turns out...
...the leader of The Resistance is Cain's son, Jeb. OH MY GOD I TOTALLY DID NOT SEE THAT COMING.
Cain is thrown aback by Jeb, because his son has turned out to be Tin Man's winner of the Trophy of Ultimate Emoness. He's ruthless, and wants to kill the Longcoat that killed his mom (the Longcoat has been in the movie all this while but I totally ignored him because I don't care) but Cain stops him. Cain does, however, eventually seal the dude in a metal suit as punishment.
But then Cain and Jeb hug, and it's all okay. There's also a speech about "heart".
Then there's also the part where they learn that the Machine of Doom is an Anti-SunSeeder, which Azkadellia wants to use to lock the OZ's two suns behind the moon at the time of the double eclipse, so the OZ becomes a land of perpetual darkness. (Though what this would achieve, besides racking up their electricity bills, is beyond me). As a bonus, the Anti-SunSeeder is being controlled the Glitch's brain.
Glitch spends a moment being emo about this. "It's all my fault." Raw looks at him. "Yeah." Hee, awesome.
Elsewhere, DG is screeching at the Seeker to let her go free.
Seeker grins and banters with her (calling her "fiery") as they do a little cat-and-mouse in Seeker's hut. Well hello, chemistry. Rawr.
But it turns out that Seeker is Ahamo, DG's father. EWW EWW EWW! UNCLEAN! Blech.
Anyway, Ahamo gives DG a compass for the final leg of The Amazing Emerald Race.
And he offers transportation by hot air balloon. Which totally makes sense. Because brightly-coloured hot air balloons flying through the empty sky are totally inconspicous. It's not like they have to worry about being followed or anything.
The compass finally leads them to the Royal Mausoleum of DG's entire royal family. It's all very ornate and pretty, and Ahamo leads DG to the tomb of the first of the royal line, her "greatest great-grandmother"...
DOROTHY GALE.
WTF.
Apparently DG's named after Dorothy Gale, who was the first slipper, i.e. the first person to slip into the OZ from the other place. (Poor Azkadellia, who's she named after, then?)
So DG enters Dorothy's mausoleum, and a grey vision of DOROTHY FRICKIN' GALE appears. Okay, the dialogue is all over the place, a lot of the acting is mediocre and the plotlines are all awkwardly contrived, but this movie just won about a gazillion cool points for featuring a cameo by DOROTHY FRICKIN' GALE.
SHE EVEN HAS THE SILVER FRICKIN' SLIPPERS.
Dorothy gives DG the Emerald, FINALLY.
Of course, now you've got to think back and rework your entire perception of the OZ. It's no longer just a reimagining of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz, it's at the same time a sequel of sorts, and that... kinda makes no sense, when you look at what the OZ is and who all the new characters are, but does that mean that history repeats itself, or some rubbish like that?
Who cares. It's Dorothy Gale. WE LOVE YOU, DOROTHY! NEXT TIME YOU CAN BE IN TECHNICOLOUR, TOO!
DG and Ahamo exit the Royal Mausoleum, and are confronted by Azkadellia and her minions, of course. Ahamo is captured, and when Azkadellia hungrily asks for the Emerald, DG just stands around blinking, so even Azkadellia gets annoyed with her sister and...
...magically/telekinetically pulls the Emerald into her own hand. Ooo, shiny!
Azkadellia seals DG inside a green marble tomb, but DG eventually gets a grip and magics her own way out.
Toto leads the trio to DG, and there's more reunion hugs. Yay, reunion hugs!
Glitch doesn't get any, because he has to hold the horses.
Elsewhere, there's another reunion going on. Azkadellia put on a chain-mail dress for the occasion, too.
Lavender Eyes and Ahamo share the most chaste kiss I've ever seen between lovers who haven't seen each other for years and years.
Then, Azkadellia declares, it's SHOWTIME!
Double eclipse, Anti-SunSeeder fuelled by Emerald, etc etc.
Glitch is reunited with his marbles. Raw's expression is awesome. They to wrack up the tension as the gang try to stop the machine and are foiled, bla bla.
Outside, DG has another mission, confronting her sister and appealing to the good in her, bla bla, we've seen this before.
It seems to be working.
Wee!DG is back to fix her mistake from years ago.
Wee!Az confesses that she's scared. I've got to take a moment to give mad props to Alexia Fast, who plays Wee!Az with so many layers, making her instantly likeable when she's good and then terrifying when she's bad. Grown-up!Az could take some tips from her, seriously.
After a few false starts, they end up holding hands.
And Azkadellia is finally free from...
...the Evil Witch.
At the battle in the Anti-SunSeeder's control room, each of the heroes have their moment overcoming their shortcomings. Here, Raw stands up to protect his (nephew?) and kicks ass.
In the fracas, Glitch is knocked out. Cain revives him with a slap. Actual dialogue:
Glitch: Do I know you?
Cain: Good morning, sweetheart.
Glitch: Cain!
Glitch also remembers how to stop the machine.
The sisters' combined magic ward off the Evil Witch, who eventually melts (of course) when the Anti-SunSeeder is shut down.
That climax was actually kinda boring. All the more exciting bits happened earlier.
Sister hugs!
Freed!Azkadellia has her moment of inappropriate chemistry with Ahamo.
FAMILY HUGS! Though to be true, their dinner table conversations are gonna be awkward. "Remember that time that I trapped you in that prison and made it rain and you totally said I was not your daughter anymore?"
But for now, the suns come out from behind the moon, and everyone's happy.
The trio are happy, too.
Toto wonders if he's allowed to turn back into human form yet.
THE END!