Random Tin Man thoughts
I was just watching a Tin Man fanvid on youtube and it got me thinking about the miniseries and its pairings.
In Syfy's Alice, the writer's seemed to know which character would be best paired up with the heroine (aka: the Hatter). They obviously took the time to think this out because I doubt they'd want to pair Alice up with a character that the viewers would react negatively to. For example, if they had Alice end up with a humanized version of the Chesire Cat, there would be a weirdness about it despite him being human. With the Hatter, everything just looked as if it fit. The Mad Hatter is already a human character. Plus, there is that factor (which is the point of mentioning Alice), of how big the Hatter/Alice fandom there already is. In just about every version of Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland, -other than Burton's version- there's really no romantic or sexual chemistry. This is obvious because Alice is only a child, and to hint at there being more would be awkward; not to mention that the original story didn't consist of such relationships. Syfy's Alice of course was a reimagining, so there gives another reason why it could be done. But still, if they had to pair Alic eup with somebody, so many could pair her up with the Hatter. Why the hatter is particular? Well, that's another discussion onto itself.
My point there is: if Hatter/Alice was so big, why wasn't Scarecrow/Dorothy done in Tin Man?
Technically, I'm referring to Glitch/DG in Tin Man. I find it strange. Within the whole Wizard of OZ fandom -movies, or whatever- people tend to lean toward Scarecrow/Dorothy. Escpecially in the 1939 classic. When Dorothy is saying goodbye to her friends, not only does she kiss the Scarecrow on the cheek, but she also tells him that she'll "miss him most of all." Yes, I know this is all interpreted as a friendship thing, but let's put that factor aside and look at it pairing-wise.
In Tin Man, they could have done so much more between Glitch and DG. It's like the writers started thinking that way in episode one, but the chemistry between their characters started to die off by the end of that episode. I think we'd like to blame Cain for that, because once he shows up, that's when you see the potential Glitch/DG chemistry dying. And the thing is about Cain and the writing, the writers could have tried putting a romance between Cain and DG instead. They seemed to try to even set something up between them, but it never evolved into anything. But there's so much tension within Cain that it's just never released in a pairing. I think they should have kept his wife alive so that at least he'd be able to relieve that tension.
I digress, I'm supposed to be ranting on the Glitch/DG here... anyway!
But yeah, they had so much potential chemistry that was killed off early in the miniseries. Even their plain friendship seemed a little blah throughout most of the show. There are a couple of ideas I have on why that might have been:
Cain. Continuing on from what I was talking about earlier, once cain enters the picture the chemistry between DG and Glitch is all scrambled up. The audience suddenly is drawn to th idea of Cain/DG (although it's never satisfied). The there's the pairing that had the most chemistry and the most followers: Cain/Glitch. Gawd, they could have wrote DG completely out of the script and the liveliness would still be there thanks to the chemistry between these two. Alan Cumming and Neal McDonough worked so well off each other, I wouldn't have been surprised if these two got together by the end of the series -which of course they don't. From how they look at each other and the lines they exchange, Gltich and Cain had more chemistry in this series than any other pairing in it.
Now, despite how enjoyable Cain/Glitch was, and how much of a slash fan I am, I still wish there was more between Glitch and DG.
Another reason this pairing's chemistry failed? Zooey Deschanel's acting. Her acting was so blah in this story, I don't even know what to say about it. And it's weird because Zooey is a great actor; I've seen her in a couple of other stuff and she was great in them. Just for Tin Man, I dunno... I found her acting a little dry, which sucked up a lot of chemistry she could have had with the other actors. Unfortunately, this caused her character to be uninteresting. Throughout the series I really didn't care what the heck was happening to DG, I wanted to know what was happening with the other characters. She just seemed to stare at people a lot O_O This really damaged the chemistry between DG and Glitch. DG lack of enthusiasm was up against Glitch's uber adorakable energy, and it just seemd to clash.
Now probably the most probable reason why Glitch/DG didn't work was simply the writing itself. DG and Glitch did have that potential to end up together, but once the two were no longer journeying on their own, the writing took a turn and said "Nope, no actual pairing between them in this miniseries." Not to mention as soon as they let us, the audience down, they give us moments like when DG hugs Glitch's head after learning how much he's sacrificed; and there's that hug they exchange later on. In that hug Alan puts so much into it that I got the feeling that maybe he's telling us that their relationship might change before the series is out. Of course, I was wrong.
But still, the writers could have done so much more between DG and Glitch. They focused more on the plot revolving around DG instead of the relationships she has with her friends, which is something I've always thought the whole Wizard of OZ story was about. That it's not about trying to get home, but realizing that home is with friends and loved ones.
Now don't get me wrong about the Tin Man miniseries in general, I loved it! I loved the characters and I loved the reimagining of it all. And yes, it does go into the "home is where the heart is" sort of theme that I loved about the whole of the Wizard of OZ base. But going back to Glitch/DG, I'm just surpirsed they didn't try to get them together. Perhaps if they were to ever do a sequel miniseries, they would, but I highly doubt it. I think the people at Syfy realized the power of romance when they did Alice. it was as if they looked back on Tin Man and said 'Gee, maybe we should have stuck a romance in there somewhere to at least spice it up. Hey, why don't we do a romance in Alice? Maybe that'll work!' *let the Hatter/Alice research commence*
I think I should wrap up by saying Glitch/DG should have happened, but thank you for realizing the strength a romance can put into a storyline, Syfy and doing so for Alice. Maybe if they ever do a sequelseries to TIn Man, they add Glitch/DG to it... or at least some canon Cain/Glitch. ;)