Sunday, May 24, 2026

Flopcast 733: Angry Green Elephants

Our ongoing series of Wizard of Oz adaptation reviews reaches Journey Back to Oz, an animated movie that Filmation started producing in 1962. However, they ran out of money, and the movie sat around unfinished for a full decade, until Filmation had some cash rolling in from their cheapo Saturday morning cartoons. Was Journey Back to Oz worth the wait? Yeah, sort of. It boasts an all-star cast led by Liza Minnelli as Dorothy, the role her mom played in the classic 1939 movie. Also in the cast: Margaret Hamilton (the Wicked Witch back in 1939, now playing Aunt Em), Ethel Merman, Danny Thomas, Mickey Rooney, Larry Storch, Mel Blanc, Milton Berle... and Paul Lynde. (Yikes, with Paul on board, they could have skipped the movie and just played a round of Hollywood Squares.) And yes, Journey Back to Oz also features a talking signpost, a wooden horse, Jack Pumpkinhead, evil trees, gay trees, and plenty of chickens. Watch it just once, and inside your brain, the angry green elephants will never stop screaming. Plus: Kevin is on another American Sci-Fi Classics online panel all about Supergirl, just in time for the new movie! (But we still love the old movie.)

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Show Notes

Kevin (or possibly a squirrel) discussed Supergirl with the usual suspcts on the American Sci-Fi Classics YouTube channel!

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The Mayor is quite fond of Journey Back to Oz and would love to get her hands on the long out-of-print DVD. In the meantime, the full movie is available on YouTube.

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Dorothy and Toto meet new friends...

...and are reunited with old friends.

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Ethel Merman gives a standout performance as Mombi, with two memorable musical numbers.

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Let me get this straight. Glinda's magic can turn angry trees gay, but can't do anything about the elephants?