Highlights
- Tin Man is a refreshing and underrated mini-series that puts a grown-up twist on the classic story of The Wizard of Oz.
- The show combines elements of sci-fi, fantasy, and steampunk to create a unique and surprising take on the familiar tale.
- Despite some criticism and the length of the series, Tin Man was well-received by both audiences and critics, earning high viewership and even winning a Primetime Emmy award.
Despite being one of the oldest stories in Hollywood, many people still love The Wizard Of Oz, something that is evident from the 2007 mini-series Tin Man. Since The Wizard Of Oz has been done to death in the minds of many consumers, taking the familiar story, giving it a grown-up makeover, and changing up the genre a bit was a stroke of genius. All of those little changes allowed for Tin Man to be one of the best surprise hits and often overlooked series from the 2000s.
Helmed by Zooey Deschanel and rounded out with a cast full of other actors widely seen as underrated, Tin Man is packed with a lot to love. Managing to mix elements of sci-fi, fantasy, and steampunk together to put a surprising twist on a classic story. With only three episodes to watch, there’s no excuse to not check out Tin Man.
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What Is Tin Man About?
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Tin Man |
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Director |
Nick Willing |
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Writers |
Jill E. Blotevogel, Steven Long Mitchell, Craig W. Van Sickle |
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Cast |
Zooey Deschanel, Alan Cumming, Neal McDonough, Raoul Trujillo, Kathleen Robertson, Richard Dreyfuss |
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Episodes |
3 |
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Total Runtime |
270 minutes |
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Release Date |
December 2 – December 4, 2007 |
DG is A young waitress from Kansas who has begun to have cryptic visions. One day, her cryptic visions turn into a nightmare as evil forces from the land of O.Z. are sent to kill her, though DG manages to escape through a storm into that very land. As one might expect from a mini-series that strives to tell a new version of The Wizard Of Oz, DG soon meets a group of eclectic characters who will help her on her adventure. DG is Tin Man’s stand-in for Dorothy, while Glitch, Wyatt Cain, and Raw are the new stand-ins for the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion respectively.
The land of O.Z. has been ruled over by the brutal Azkadellia, a powerful woman who’s willing to go as far as to remove the brains of her enemies and subjugate entire groups that she views as a problem. Searching for answers as to what’s going on, DG learns that the visions she’d been having were from her true mother and that the life she knew in Kansas was a lie. Things get even deeper as DG and the wretched Azkadellia are actually sisters, though Azkadellia killed DG in their youth. DG would eventually be revived and told the secret of the Emerald of the Eclipse, something that Azkadellia is after.
After DG and Raw are taken captive by Azkadellia’s forces, Cain is shot and left for dead, though Glitch assists his ally. DG eventually manages to escape from Azkadellia’s interrogation with some help from a shapeshifter named Tutor, though he seems to have ulterior motives as he actually reveals DG’s group’s location to the powerful ruler. As the group heads to the south of O.Z., they each grow in different ways with DG relearning some magic, recovering more of her memories, and eventually learning that her sister Azkadellia is possessed by a witch. Eventually, the group learns that Tutor has betrayed the group, later ending up taken captive, seemingly left to the mercy of Azkadellia once and for all.
How Was Tin Man Received?
Whether the mini-series sounds interesting or not, Tin Man was received incredibly well by both audiences and critics. Each of the three episodes had millions of viewers, with viewership never dropping below four million and peaking at a bit over six million. The debut of the mini-series, with more than six million people watching, topped the Sci Fi Channel network’s most-watched series. Even beyond this, Tin Man was one of the highest-rated and best-received series of 2007 thanks to what a breath of fresh air it was.
The series was nominated for a number of awards across a variety of shows and even managed to win a Primetime Emmy award for the make-up work in the show. It’s clear that a lot of care was put into the series and a lot of respect for the original The Wizard Of Oz film was held by the creators, especially when put in the context of an interview with creators Steven Long Mitchell and Craig Van Sickle from sliceofscifi.com:
Well, to start with our goal was always to pay homage to the original story and the original movie, it being such an icon in our lives and quite frankly our parents and our children. So we kind of walked into this territory with great respect but we still wanted to reinvent it for a more modern audience.
It is important to note that the series wasn’t universally loved, as a darker take on a classic story is bound to cause immediate eye-rolling in some people. Many critics just couldn’t jive with the bleak take on The Wizard Of Oz that Tin Man offers, and the fact that the three episodes of the series total over four hours in length had some feeling as if the series was too long for its own good. The subjectivity of the medium is on full display with these critiques as many people enjoy the series for the same reasons.
How Does Tin Man End?
Heading into the final moments of the series, Azkadellia’s evil plan for the Emerald of the Eclipse is explained. Essentially, she seeks to force O.Z.’s two suns behind the moon in the middle of an eclipse, effectively trapping the entire land in a sea of never-ending darkness. DG ends up learning more of her back story, learning that the mysterious Gray Gale that is mentioned throughout the series refers to her great-grandmother, the original Dorothy who first traveled to the land of Oz. After some magic results in DG holding the powerful emerald, Azkadellia shows up to steal it and leaves DG for dead. Thanks to her rediscovered magic abilities, DG is able to rejoin her friends to take the fight to her sister.
Tin Man is available to stream on Peacock
Managing to arrive at Azkadellia’s fortress just as she begins to implement her grand scheme, DG marches up to her sister, and the two hold hands, forcing the witch’s possession of Azkadellia to falter. At the same time, the rest of the group dealt with the device that was being used to enact the whole plan, the Sun Seeder, reversing the machine’s effect. With the evil witch defeated, crisis averted, and Azkadellia returned to normal, the two sisters are finally able to reunite as a family as light once again floods the land.
