The Wizard of Oz Resources

Any discussion of this movie starts with the fact that L. Frank Baum wrote the original book in 1900, along with a ton of others that remain classics in the literary field. The good people at Biography.com have the hook-up.

The oldest and largest Oz fan club in the world!

If you need the rundown on cast and crew, IMDB has the 411.

There are so many pop-culture references for this film, we can't keep up with them all! Luckily, IMDB is there for the save.

And these guys, who actually named their band after the dog! (Sort of.)

L. Frank Baum wrote 15 Oz books to kick off this whole love-fest. Amazon has a massive collection of all of them, for those in need.

After Baum himself, the most famous book about Oz is probably Gregory Maguire's subversive prequel, which paints a surprisingly different picture of the Wicked Witch. Shmoop U has all the info!

Maguire's book begat a smash hit musical, which in turn begat another movie. It's the great circle of life, Simba!

Hollywood got into the Oz game very quickly, starting with this silent short from 1910. It's common domain, so you can look at the whole thing right here!

Remember those creepy cartoons from the 1930s? One of them is a version of Oz. Fairly warned thee be, says we.

Rankin/Bass, the company behind all those stop-motion Rudolph holiday specials, produced an animated Oz series in the early 60s. It only lasted one year, but it produced over 200 episodes. They Just. Don't. Stop.

In 1975, Charlie Smalls and William F. Brown had the brilliant idea of updating The Wizard of Oz to fit African-American culture. The Wiz became a huge hit on Broadway… as well as an overly long and rather turgid movie adaption in 1978. We love the play, though, so if you can find it live, take a look. (And we confess that Michael Jackson's version of the Scarecrow is kind of awesome.)

A comedy starring Chevy Chase and Carrie Fisher, about the behind-the-scenes mayhem caused by the munchkins. Haven't heard of it? We're not surprised: it stinks.

A sort-of sequel to The Wizard of Oz, featuring Fairuza Balk as Dorothy. It got crucified when first released, but has aged exceptionally well and really captures the spirit of Baum's books. Still freaky as heck though, and perhaps a bit too much for the wee ones.

Another short-lived animated TV series. You know, this whole Oz thing is actually a lot harder than it looks…

We try not to think about this dreadful 2005 TV adaptation, featuring passing teen singing sensation Ashanti as Dorothy and a chatty king prawn as Toto. Oh Kermit, how could you?

Syfy (or The Sci-Fi Channel, as they used to be known) produced a darker version of the iconic story, featuring Zooey Deschanel, Neil McDonough, Alan Cumming and Richard Dreyfuss.

With the sort-of sequels covered, Sam Raimi directed a sort-of prequel covering how the Wizard (James Franco) got to Oz. It's loud and clunky, but not bad if you give it a chance.

Wait, this was actually a thing? We had no idea. Good lord, it looks awful!

This New York Times critic thought that anyone who didn't like the film should be spanked

A famous interview with Garland late in her life. She dishes on Munchkin shenanigans among other things.

Barbara Walters interviews Garland.

The late legendary film critic gives us his take on the movie. (Spoiler Alert: the thumb goes up.)

AMC lends their thoughts, as well as providing a handy list of other Oz movies.

Turner Classic Movies loves them some Wizard, and wrote a brief piece on the movie discussing it.

The Guardian collected some interesting tidbits about the product.

A famous deleted scene from the movie, comprising a snazzy musical number called "The Jitterbug." You can hear dialogue referencing it in the actual film: just before sending out the winged monkeys, the Wicked Witch refers to a "little insect" she's sent ahead to take the fight out of them.

You want references? How about this one from the biggest superhero movie of all time.

Judy Garland only performed the famous song twice on television. Here's one performance in a 1955 TV special. If you can watch this without getting teary, Shmoop wants to know why.

Children's shows loved riffing on The Wizard of Oz, including the old Superfriends TV show, which once showed Superman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman getting turned into familiar characters. Yeah, it's weird.

Not weird enough for you? How about the 1974 acid-trip-disguised-as-a-movie Zardoz, featuring Sean Connery in a red diaper?

Musicians got into the act too… like Elton John, who penned a song called "Good-bye Yellow Brick Road."

And ultra-tough guy Eminem, who wrote his own version of "Yellow Brick Road."

And 90s one-hit wonders Blues Traveler, who based this music video on the movie.

In fact, there have been so many uses of "we're not in Kansas anymore" that somebody saw fit to collect them all in one place.

Here's a charming Margaret Hamilton in her appearance on "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood."

Judy Garland and Margaret Hamilton reunite in 1968 on the Merv Griffin show.

An enterprising fan collects a whole bunch of MP3s from the film.

The Wickedest Witch of them all dishes on her iconic role.

One of the original lobby cards from the movie's 1939 release.

A slightly more modern movie poster for the movie's 2013 re-release.

Garland and an unnamed gal pal study the script during the shooting.

Director Victor Fleming instructs the residents of Munchkinland on how to properly dance on a grave.

Actor Buddy Ebsen was originally cast as the Tin Man, though he had to leave the role. (Something about the make-up coating his lungs…) Here's an image of him in costume.

An early costume design for Judy Garland. Could that belt be any higher?

Actress Gale Sondergaard was originally cast as the Wicked Witch of the West. The producers wanted a sexy witch to match the slinky queen from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. They eventually thought better of it and went with Hamilton. We concur with the decision.