Follow the Yellow Brick Road...

This weekend, while some of us are being entertained by Jerry Lewis doing his bit for "the cause", I'd thought I'd change the subject for a bit and talk about the Wonderdul World of Oz. Next year will be the 70th Anniversary of the MGM classic "The Wizard of Oz", but did you know there was a sequel made to the film that put Judy Garland on the map?

"Journey Back To Oz", a production of the legendary Filmation animated studio (a company best known for Archie and Fat Albert), is an animated masterpiece that sadly has been underrated and underappreciated over the years since it first was released in 1971. Given the project's difficult history, that is.

"Journey" was one of the first projects for the groundbreaking Filmation company who would be best known for making its mark in Saturday morning television. The sequel finds our heroine Dorothy (voiced here by Garland's daughter, Liza Minnelli) whisked back to Oz only to find it being ruled by Mombi (Ethel Merman), cousin to the late Wicked Witch of the West, and her wild herd of elephants. Dorothy must enlist the help of her old friends Scarecrow, Lion, and Tin Man, along with some new ones, to conquer Mombi and save Emerald City.

The film was, as I said, a difficult project that took almost a decade to make, and even longer to find an audience. Production began in 1963. Most of the animation and voice tracks were completed before Filmation ran out of cash to finish the project. It was only after its successes with their subsequent television series that they finally came up with the money to complete "Journey" for theatrical release in 1971. But virtually no one came to see the movie.

It took network television for "Journey" to find its audience. To re-market the film as a potential Christmas TV event, Filmation filmed live-action segments with Bill Cosby as the Wizard, a character otherwise not seen in the original theatrical cut. These segments added to the film's 88-minute running time. "Journey" premiered on television in 1976 on ABC, and in subsequent years aired in syndication on the old SFM Holiday Network, and it is there that "Journey" finally achieved its cult status. Incidentally, when the Cosby segments were filmed, the legendary comedian was at a career-transition point, between his original "Bill Cosby Show" in the early '70s, and the "Cosby Show" that would resurrect a ratings-slumping NBC.

"Journey Back To Oz" has now been released on DVD (I rented it out for the weekend), and while it's great to see this animated film again after so many years, it does have its flaws. For one, the feature presentation is time-compressed (it has been said that the former owners of Filmation digitalized the backlong only for PAL, primarily for UK audiences, not giving any thought to their value for North America, and discarded the film elements). And also, not all of the Cosby segments are represented in the supplemental sections (this leads me to believe that some of the original network master to the extended cut has been lost). Yes, it would have been great to see the network TV version represented on DVD, but...

The rest of the supplemental features are OK, with the commentary track and brief interviews with the filmmakers.

I tried to E-mail Andy Mangels, the producer of the "Journey" DVD, but so far has not returned my query.

I wish there would be someone around who could track down a high-quality copy of the TV version for me to see again. It would shed new light on an animated classic that certainly deserves to be re-evaluated, and one that has its place in the history of the world Frank Baum created so long ago. If anyone out there has it, please let me know.

There's no place like Oz. Click those heels three times...

Lost Beatles song leaked on the Internet???

Hey, have any of you heard that new lost, unreleased song from The Beatles in the past few months? Hmmm...well, I've heard it...at least I think I have.

Putting into context...back in 1995 the then-three remaining Beatles (Paul, George, and Ringo) got together with ELO lead singer/producer Jeff Lynne to resurrect three lost demo tapes recorded by the late John Lennon in the late 1970s--"Free As A Bird", "Real Love", and "Now and Then", with embellishment and new vocals and instrumentation by the then-Three-tles, with Lynne co-producing. While we've all heard the Beatles' version of "Bird" and "Love", we never did hear that third song, "Now and Then", which was to have been scheduled for release on "Anthology 3". The Beatles did start work on it, but apparently were never satisfied with the result. For one, John's original demo had a humming noise that somehow even today's technology couldn't fix (remember, he recorded this on cassette, using crude technology of the times).

Of late, there has been talk of the now-two surviving Beatles (Paul and Ringo) and Yoko Ono showing interest in finally releasing that third "lost" Beatles song. In the meantime, there's an MP3 out on the internet purporting to be the Beatles unreleased version of "Now and Then". I have listened to it, and to me it sounds authentic like the Beatles actually did it. However, it has been said that this MP3 mix is actually the work of someone else, maybe some Beatles fan who was able to somehow copy the sound of the previous two Beatles Anthology songs, while ripping the vocals of several Beatles songs, such as the bridge to the "Abbey Road" track "Because" (if you do happen to find this MP3, it is easily detectable in "Now and Then"'s bridge).

Yes, I have heard this MP3, as well as several fan-made videos of the purported Beatles version of "Now and Then" on the Internet, and personally I cannot tell the difference between the Beatles sound and that of a clever fan. One can detect a touch of a Carrie Underwood sound in this MP3.

If infact this is the actual lost Beatles song from 1995, then this serves as a fitting coda to a legacy that has endured for almost five decades, and I not need explain it in a short blog. On the other hand, I personally would like to see this officially released by the band in some form, especially when we're on the edge of the Beatles catalog finally being issued on iTunes.

And Beatlemania goes on...

What's the delay on the Olympics?

Play that Olympic Fanfare once again. Yes, we are at the halfway point of the sport events of all sport events, the Olympics in Beijing. Ah, the thrill of all victory and making your country proud. So what's the delay, hmmm?

Well, this gripe is designed for our fans on the West Coast. First, a little math for you. Beijing is 15 hours ahead of California, so if this was 9 PM California time, it would now be noon tomorrow in Beijing. So go figure that NBC had the Olympic committee schedule the best events for prime time, so thus Saturday's gold medal victory by Michael Phelps took place at about 11:05 AM Bejing time, 11:05 PM Eastern time. While it aired live on the East and Central time zones, the Pacific and most Mountain time zones had to wait to see a delayed version of the critical match. You see, that's what the peacock network is doing with all its Olympics coverage...airing the games at times that are convenient for the audience, instead of showing it live to the entire U.S. So watching the Opening Ceremonies on the first day seemed like eating day-old stale bread. The actual ceremonies would have aired live in the early morning U.S. time had NBC played its cards right. I'm sure that when the Closing Ceremonies take place next week, we'll get the same delayed treatment as well.

So that brings us to another typo...the word "LIVE" superimposed on the screen for certain events. While it probably won't matter for East Coast viewers, it darn well matters for the West Coast. You probably have figured out that there's supposed to be a disclaimer that reads "pre-recorded for this time zone". That way, we won't have to be tricked into seeing an important event live when in fact it has already taken place. I do admit, I did know in advance about Phelps' victory before NBC aired it in California.

While NBC gets the gold medal for airing crucial parts of this year's Olympics live for the East Coast, it gets the bronze for cheating the rest of the U.S. out of our full enjoyment of a great sports spectacle.

Of course, we can't give NBC Universal all the blame since they took the liberty of using the Internet and its sister networks to broadcast a great deal of the games live. That is an achievement in itself.

If by chance NBC does decide to air the Closing Ceremony live to all the U.S., this won't be the first time I've been wrong. By the way, for those who care, the ceremony would have to air at 4:30 AM Pacific time (that translates to 7:30 PM Beijing time). All the better to use your DVRs. Unless, of course, one finds a way to break the boundaries of the Internet and finds a site where they do air live.

The competition and controversy continues. Dum-dum-da-dum-dum-DUMB!!!

A gripe with that dreadful subject

On a day where the world comes together in the greatest of all sports competitions, the Olympics, we have to touch a bit on the one subject I know you hate to hear...cancer.

This past week it was announced that "Married With Children" co-star Christina Applegate is the latest celebrity to be diagnosed with cancer (in this case, breast cancer). You know, it is the most devastating disease anyone can suffer from. One must feel sorry for Applegate and all the other luminaries who has and have suffered from this dreadful disease. Not to mention those who have died from it. I should know, because, and I'm saying this frankly, both my parents passed away from some type of cancer.

I feel even more sorry that there has not been a cure for it. But thank God current technology and science can now give victims at least a chance to survive cancer. I am amazed at the story of sportscaster Robin Roberts (ESPN and ABC) who is surviving her illness. Amazing indeed. But the battle hasn't stopped here. Technology and logic must continue to prevail if cancer is to be beat easily. It will take the know how of certain people with courage and determination if any cure is to be found.

I was watching a PBS documentary not too long ago about this doctor who had cancer but took new experimental therapy using new technology, and so far, at least at last I heard, it is working.

Medical science certainly has changed in the last decade. I wish it could have saved my parents.

Which brings me back to Miss Applegate...Christina, I feel for you. I can only wish that whatever it takes to bring you back to good health will prevail.

Let's not give up the fight against cancer. After all, it is all of our lives that are at stake.

A Sunday Gripe (on Tuesday)

This may sound kind of strange, but a "gold medal" should be given to that wonderful Hawaiian/Australian actress Nicole Kidman for accomplishing a courageous feat. As most of you fans know, Kidman has two adopted children from her former marriage to Tom Cruise, but never carried a biological child to full term (she suffered a miscarriage during the latter part of her marriage to Cruise).

On Monday, her dream of having a baby came true with her new husband, country singer Keith Urban. Kidman should be on cloud one-hundred-and-nine with her new baby girl.

Oh, in case you haven't heard by now, the baby's name is Sunday Rose Kidman Urban. Hmmm...Sunday. Never heard of a name like that before, but let's examine for a moment how a lovely word could be a name for a baby girl.

Well, Sunday is the first day of the week, and so naturally a baby being born is worthy of that name. Rose...all girls are sweet as roses, right? I think Sunday Rose is very, very befitting of a baby girl.

As for Kidman herself...well, she's a singer, right? (occasional, that is). I can just betcha that Keith Urban will call up his country music colleague, Carrie Underwood, or even Garth Brooks, for that matter, and ask them to write a great lullaby for Sunday that Kidman can sing. I won't be surprised if Stevie Wonder came up with something for Sunday for his next album.

OK, enough play-on-words for today. My personal congratulations to Kidman and Urban on their new addition to the family. Happy Tuesday to you all!

Triple Frown...again!!!

Well, I guess a good week has passed since the hype over Big Brown's loss in the Belmont Stakes that cost him the Triple Crown. This was a horse with promise. I guess it all has been said before, hasn't it? An undefeated horse with a lot of potential. Oh, to bring this into context...he held the top post position, #1, started out third throughout the race, then in the homestretch he pulled up and finished last. No horse with a shot at the Triple Crown had ever finished last in the Belmont before this.

Remember, this is the 30th Anniversary of Affirmed's big win in Belmont and the last Triple Crown winner. But, as with other recent horses winning the first two jewels (Kentucky Derby and Preakness), it has always been the "same old song".

Earlier last week Big Brown had that cracked foot. I think that's what did him in this time.

I'm sorry to say though I feel no sympathy for Big Brown, none what so ever. You see, the Triple Crown is one of the toughest challenges of any athlete, human or animal, in any sport. Each distance gets longer and the quest becomes tougher. The trophy (which would have been presented in the Winner's Circle at Belmont) is a tough prize to get. And so it goes for yet another year...what is it now? 30 years? The longest drought in history since the last Triple Crown winner Affirmed in 1978?

Certainly it has already brought bad luck to the "sport of kings" and a reputation ruined. Not to mention all the terrible tragedies that have followed each losing year (anyone remember a thing called 9/11?) I guess we're cursed again. Brace yourself...

In the meantime, let the bells toll 30 times for each year the Triple Crown has not been won. 30 years and counting. Horses, trainers, and jockeys, it's up to you to stop the streak...and perhaps help bring solace to a rapidly deteriorating sport called thoroughbred racing.

The Summer Movie Blockbuster Race

So it begins again...Hollywood is out to get your top dollar at the box office this summer. And already it is heating up. After last week's spectacular results of the long-awaited sequel "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (earning over $300 million in its first week alone worldwide), here comes "Sex And The City", taking first place. Hmmmm...that just tells you something. It sounds like the possibility of a bona-fide runaway box office smash is not very good. Here today, gone tomorrow, it seems. With the state of the economy and the outbreak of cable channels everywhere, is it any wonder the chemistry of a Hollywood box office hit isn't there? Well, it's not over yet, folks. The race has only begun. Personally, I can't wait to see "The Dark Knight" since I'm a Batman fan myself.