Walt Disney's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

    "Travel down the yellow brick road, avoid the deadly poppy field to arrive at the gates of the Emerald City."         

As I promised, I revisited an old piece and FINALLY got around to finishing it. 

As many of you know, after the success of Snow White, Walt had intended to make an animated film based off of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." But when calls were made to acquire the rights, the only thing that was acquired was the knowledge that someone had already gotten them. This eventually lead to the creation of the classic 1939 Musical Film starring Judy Garland that we all know and love was made. 

Long story short, Disney tried many times to find the perfect way to bring Oz to life, though sadly, the cancelled "Rainbow Road to Oz" and a few vinyl records didn't help with too much. It wasn't till 1985 that Disney FINALLY was able to tell a story about that somewhere over the rainbow in "Return to Oz." Personally, Return to Oz captures what I imagine Oz's dark nature to be somewhat better than the musical does (even though I love that version with all my heart.) Sadly, it wasn't much of a success reception wise and has become a forgotten favorite and gained a cult status. God bless the French for still remembering...

In 2013, Disney released Oz the Great and Powerful, which was when I originally posted this piece with JUST the characters.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                               
*I figured I'd take a shot at what it might've looked like had Disney made The Wizard of Oz after all. The designs are taken from the Storybook Land Canal Boats in Disneyland Paris, which are loosely taken from Return to Oz (which in turn of course, are the closest to the original illustrations from the books.)
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 
For the past while, I've been experimenting with the Disney Oz that could have been and merging it with the Disney Oz of now. This is hopefully the first in a series of work I hope to post focusing on that very concept. (That is if MGM doesn't shoot me down first.) I love the designs that I've seen in old concepts for Rock Candy Mountain. I adore the vinyl records and I can't get enough of the diorama in DLP. Of course, being the stubborn Disney bias that I am, I really would've have liked to see what the possibility had become. Would it been AS iconic? Perhaps...perhaps not. Besides, even I'll admit it IS quite difficult to imagine the iconic elements of Oz lore without MGM's glorious rendition. Even the Disney films of Oz incorporated some of MGM's elements! But I still would have liked to see how it would have turned out. It certainly would've been much more accurately dark toned. Walt's love for Oz rivals my own and I'm so very sorry that he never got to explore it the way he could have wanted. But as of now, Return to Oz will always be my favorite Oz movie and the fact that it's Disney satisfies me to a point beyond belief. If only it were remembered more fondly. Oh well.

Please enjoy this "Disney What If" piece that I have to offer. While it's not my place to say and I don't claim to have the same vision as Walt and his animators back in the day, I hope I can give you some idea as to what this Oz may have looked like if Disney had done it after all.

Character designs © Disney