Return to Oz



"Mysterious Girl: Why did they bring you here, Dorothy? Dorothy: Because I can't sleep, and I talk about a place that I've been to, but nobody believes that it exists."

Return to Oz is a Walt Disney film (yes, that Disney) made in 1985, which was supposed to be both a semi-sequel to the MGM The Wizard of Oz and a more accurate adaptation of the more obscure original printed-page L. Frank Baum books. For the most part, those who never watched any trailers or commercials for the movie expected a cheerful musical with bright sets and visuals and dancing, friendly Munchkins.

Boy, were they wrong.

The story starts six months after the tornado, with Dorothy unable to sleep because of her adventures in Oz. Her Aunt Em takes her to Dr. Worley, the head of a psychiatric clinic who specializes in electro-shock therapy. Before she can receive the "treatment", Dorothy escapes with one of the patients, who is lost when she and Dorothy fall into the river. When Dorothy wakes up, she is in the land of Oz, somehow joined by her chicken Billina.

However, Oz has changed: The Emerald City is in ruins, now ruled by the head-switching witch Princess Mombi. Dorothy's friend Scarecrow, the rightful ruler of the City, has been kidnapped, the citizens have been turned into stone, and the streets are patrolled by shit-your-pants-scary Wheelers. Now Dorothy, along with Billina and their new friends Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Gump, must go to the Nome King's Mountain to confront the Nome King and his minions, rescue the Scarecrow, and restore Oz.

Though the film was decried by critics for being too scary for children and did poorly at the box office, Return to Oz has gained a cult following.. It also tends to be popular with fans of the original Oz books by L. Frank Baum; much of the plot is loosely adapted from his first two sequels to The Wizard of Oz, and the visual look and tone of the film is modeled closely on the original in-book illustrations. It is important to note that the original OZ series really could get this strange, and the famous MGM film is much Lighter and Softer.

Not to be confused with the 1964 Rankin/Bass Productions animated TV movie of the same name, nor with Filmation's rather dreary 1974 Animated Films, Journey Back to Oz.

Return to Oz has examples of the following:
""I forgive Mombi. Dorothy has punished her by removing her magical powers, and a witch without magic is a miserable creature indeed.""
 * Adaptation Distillation
 * Affably Evil: The Nome King is quite courteous, even giving Dorothy and co. limestone pie and melted silver to eat.
 * And Starring: Fairuza Balk (!) as Dorothy
 * And You Were There
 * Batman Gambit: The Nome King challenges Dorothy and her friends to find the Scarecrow.
 * While attempting the challenge.
 * Battle Butler: Tik-Tok.
 * He even calls himself Oz's "army". This looks patently ridiculous at first glance, with him appearing to be a clumsy copper boiler with a head, two spindly arms and thick legs that make him slower than a glacier... and then you see him single-handedly wipe the floor with a LARGE pack of wheelers who are pure terror until this point in the story. Then as the rest of the wheelers flee, he grabs one in a chokehold and mercilessly interrogates him.
 * Bedlam House: At first, it looks like the mental hospital where Dorothy goes will subvert this, as it looks nice, clean, and respectable, and the Dr. Worley seems awfully friendly and helpful.
 * Beneath the Earth
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * Claymation
 * Clock Punk: Tik-Tok.
 * Composite Character: Specifically, Princess Mombi combines Old Mombi from the second Oz book with the multiple head wearing Princess Langwidere of Ev in book three.
 * Continuity Nod: At least four occur for the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz:
 * Jack asks Dorothy how Tik-Tok can talk when his brain stopped functioning, to which she answers "It happens to people all the time, Jack." In the 1939 film, the Scarecrow points out that "some people without brains do an awful lot of talking".
 * The magic shoes are originally called Silver Shoes in the novels. In Return To Oz, they remained Ruby Slippers.
 * In the 1939 film, minus her aunt and uncle, most characters Dorothy meets in Oz are counterparts of people she knows in Kansas. Here, Mombi and the Nome King are Ozian counterparts of Nurse Wilson and Dr. Worley. Further, the mysterious girl resembles Ozma, the tiny jack-o'-lantern the girl gives Dorothy (obviously) resembles Jack Pumpkinhead, and the shock-machine could stand for Tik-Tok.
 * Also the orderlies are all Wheelers.
 * The Nome King quotes "There's no place like home", tempting Dorothy into letting him send her home, abandoning her friends, instead of playing his guessing game.
 * Covers Always Lie: The poster seen above shows Dorothy's old companions (the Scarecrow, the Cowardly Lion and the Tin Man) along with her and her and the other main characters. The Lion and the Tin Man spend most of the film as statues and the Scarecrow is the only one of the three to have any lines.
 * Some of the earlier drafts of the story had more involvement from the other two. The Lion was even going to turn up as an ornament in the climax. But it was not to be.
 * The 2004 DVD case shows Dorothy, Billina, Tik-Tok, Jack, the Gump, and the Tin Man traveling down a neatly paved yellow brick road surrounded by lush, green trees and grass.
 * Cuckoo Nest
 * Darker and Edgier: Much, much more than the 1939 movie. To be fair, this is a bad case of Adaptation Displacement: more people are familiar with the musical film, and are unaware that it is actually Lighter and Softer than the original book series; Return is actually much closer to the books in tone.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Billina and the Gump.
 * Disney Death:
 * Distressed Damsel:
 * Down the Rabbit Hole
 * The Dragon: Princess Mombi.
 * Also, Nurse Wilson in the real world.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Played straight with Ozma, averted with Mombi.
 * Evil Sounds Deep: When the Nome King goes Juggernaut on us, his voice gets considerably deeper.
 * Exploring the Evil Lair
 * Expy: Some people believe Dorothy's companions are stand-ins for her original group of friends - Billina is like Toto, Tik-Tok is similar to the Tin Man, Jack is like the Scarecrow, and the Gump is like the Cowardly Lion.
 * Extreme Omnivore: The Nome King eats the Gump's couch body and also tries to eat Jack PumpkinHead.
 * Family-Unfriendly Violence
 * Fate Worse Than Death: What Mombi did to this beautiful princesses; they are still alive and conscious and are kept by her. Mombi's final fate is also arguably this. As Ozma stated:
 * Fate Worse Than Death: What Mombi did to this beautiful princesses; they are still alive and conscious and are kept by her. Mombi's final fate is also arguably this. As Ozma stated:

"Dorothy: My ruby slippers-- The Nome King: No, no, no... My ruby slippers. They just fell out of the sky one day -- you were so anxious to get home! They're very powerful: they made it possible for me to conquer the Emerald City... thank you."
 * Consider, too, that her jailers are the two women whose heads she'd worn in previous scenes. Karma's a bitch, innit?
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Hero/The Chick: Dorothy
 * The Lancer: Billina
 * The Smart Guy: Tik-Tok
 * The Big Guy: Gump
 * Tagalong Kid: Jack Pumpkinhead.
 * The Film of the Book: Combines elements from The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz, the first two sequels to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
 * The Fool: Jack Pumpkinhead.
 * Giant Flyer: The Gump.
 * Gotta Catch Them All: All the ornaments
 * Grotesque Gallery: The Wheelers, definitely. To a lesser extent, Jack PumpkinHead, though Your Mileage May Vary.
 * Possibly the hall of disembodied heads.
 * I Would Say If I Could Say: The Gump's reaction to free falling after he breaks apart? "If I had a stomach, I know I'd be sick!"
 * The Juggernaut
 * Kick the Dog: See Nice Job Breaking It, Hero. Strangely enough, it's by the same guy who petted the dog . ..
 * Load-Bearing Boss
 * Losing Your Head: This happens to Jack Pumpkinhead.
 * Princess Mombi and her hall of . When she retires for the night, she retires.
 * Magical Land: Obviously.
 * Meaningful Echo: Nurse Wilson says things that Princess Mombi later echoes.
 * So is the Nome King with Dr. Worley, in both ways. Both are portrayed by the same actor, just like Nurse Wilson and Princess Mombi. This reflects how in the original, the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion were all representative of three of the (film only) farmhands from Dorothy's home in Kansas.
 * Likewise for the Wheelers. The same actors play the orderlies at the hospital, and the carts and gurneys they push make the same squeaking noise the Wheelers' wheels mae.
 * Also, the Nome King invokes one of the MGM film's most famous lines...and twists it in an attempt to emotionally manipulate Dorothy.
 * Mid-Battle Tea Break: The Nome King has this during the trial of ornaments during Gump's turn.
 * Mix-and-Match Critters: The Gump again.
 * Mooks
 * My God, What Have I Done?: "They just fell out of sky one day. You were so anxious to get home. They're very powerful. They made it possible for me to conquer The Emerald City. Thank you."
 * This is actually an inversion. Earlier, Dorothy mentions that the ruby slippers fell off on the way back. It was likely beyond her control.
 * Mythology Gag
 * Names to Run Away From Really Fast: "Beware of the Wheelers."
 * Needle in a Stack of Needles: The scene where Dorothy has to rescue her friends (who've been turned into ornaments) by finding the ornament versions of themselves-- in a large room filled with various ornaments.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Ruby Slippers fell off Dorothy's feet when she went home . . . into the hands of the Nome King, making it possible for him to take over the Emerald City.


 * Again, this is an inversion. She didn't know any of this until she came back and met the Nome King.
 * No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: "Shall we have some... refreshment while we wait?"
 * Non-Human Sidekick: Four of them, actually.
 * The Nth Doctor: Princess Mombi, whenever she switches heads.
 * Oh Crap
 * One-Man Army: Tik-Tok, literally
 * Or Was It a Dream?:
 * Pardon My Klingon: The Nome King fumes "Hippikaloric!" when he realizes that the ornament puzzle has been solved.
 * It must be a dreadful word because we don't know what it means.
 * Parental Substitute: Inverted Trope, as Jack calls Dorothy "Mom" though she is a child herself.
 * Pet the Dog: The Nome King actually comforts a crying Dorothy, and offers her a way to rescue the Scarecrow.
 * Further, he even offers to  but still, offering her an escape when she's on the cusp of walking into his death trap is surprisingly decent.
 * Pimped-Out Dress:, And Mombi.
 * Rightful Princess Returns
 * Pragmatic Adaptation
 * Ragtag Bunch of Misfits
 * Robot Buddy: General Tik-Tok.
 * Shout-Out: Princess Mombi gets one as a Castlevania boss.
 * Probably an unintentional one, but the scarecrow outfit Jack Skellington wears at the beginning of his film looks like an evil version of Jack Pumpkinhead. Come to think of it, Jack Skellington looks pretty similar to Jack Pumpkinhead . ..
 * Not a coincidence. Henry Selick was a storyboard artist on Return to Oz before he directed The Nightmare Before Christmas.
 * The band Scissor Sisters made a song called "Return To Oz" based on this film.
 * Sore Loser:
 * Swiss Army Appendage: Princess Mombi and her heads.
 * Taken for Granite: The citizens of the Emerald City.
 * Talking Animal: Billina and the Gump, sort of.
 * Tears From a Stone
 * Vain Sorceress: Princess Mombi.
 * Villainous Breakdown:
 * Weaksauce Weakness:
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: What happened to the mysterious girl who rescues Dorothy? They never say if they found her after the rainstorm.
 * Auntie Em did say everyone but  was rescued...
 * The novelization by Joan D. Vinge has Aunt Em sadly telling Dorothy the mysterious girl remains missing. Interpret that how you will.
 * Also the Munchkins from the destroyed Munchkin village could count as well. Seriously, what happened to them?
 * The climactic parade features people dressed as characters from all 14 of Baum's Oz books, including some Munchkin characters. One can assume the others are somewhere there in the crowd.
 * Alongside this - why was the Head Nurse being carted off to jail at the end? Although the implication earlier was that the Electroshock Therapy wasn't always successful, it's never actually stated why she was arrested.
 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Mombi asks the Nome King why he doesn't turn our heroes into ornaments. The Nome King's response? "It's more fun this way!"
 * Which later reveals him as a Bad Boss once
 * The climactic parade features people dressed as characters from all 14 of Baum's Oz books, including some Munchkin characters. One can assume the others are somewhere there in the crowd.
 * Alongside this - why was the Head Nurse being carted off to jail at the end? Although the implication earlier was that the Electroshock Therapy wasn't always successful, it's never actually stated why she was arrested.
 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: Mombi asks the Nome King why he doesn't turn our heroes into ornaments. The Nome King's response? "It's more fun this way!"
 * Which later reveals him as a Bad Boss once
 * Which later reveals him as a Bad Boss once