Tuesday, July 26, 2011

A QUICK UPDATE

About to head on into an 11am recording session. What's going on in CRT? Lets see; I am writing POWDER RIVER scripts; just about finished with Season 5 and I have 12 stories mapped about for Season 6 (need three more); plus casting continues on shows into Sept. and doing production notes on new edits. Seth is working on POWDER RIVER episodes as well as an overhaul on TICONDEROGA, MJ Cogburn is in post with RETURN TO TREASURE ISLAND and about to start on a new FATHER BROWN and then EMERALD CITY OF OZ. Bryan has turned in a great JEEVES AND WOOSTER from a script by MJ Elliott, and is now working on TRAPPED - for Vincent Price Presents. Tony Raymond has completed THE FAMILY OF THE NIGHT (another VPP episode) and is starting on THE BEST IN THE UNIVERSE. In July we have recorded ALLAN QUATERMAIN AND THE LORD OF THE LOCUST, THE GREEN ESTATE, several eps of POWDER RIVER, and began music recording on THE STAR ANGEL.

1 comment:

Eric said...

Hi, Jerry. I just listened to your interview on the Royal Podcast of Oz this morning, and thought I'd chime in. You may not remember me, but you contacted me about advice and stuff for the very earliest adaptations of the Oz books. Somewhere around here I STILL have the cassettes of the original, scrapped version of "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" you sent me for review. I am extremely happy that you are going to continue with the series, and I'm looking forward to "The Emerald City of Oz" and "The Patchwork Girl of Oz". Anyway, here are a couple of comments based on the Royal Podcast:

* I've never heard of "The Woggle-Bug Book" ever being banned, so I'd be interested in how you heard that (if you even remember, which I doubt you would after a dozen years). It was so ephemeral and not really part of the series, however, so it was just out of print for a very, very long time. (And, not that my opinion matters, but I say, go ahead and keep it Wooglebug for the rest of your shows, now that the precedent has been set.) The issues people have with "The Woggle-Bug Book" have nothing to do with the lead character's name, I might add!

* I can, however, suggest three items that CRT should consider dramatizing, as they are (a) by Baum, and (b) closely tied into the Oz books. The first is "The Little Wizard Stories of Oz". These were six short stories Baum wrote in 1913, in part to help relaunch the series after its hiatus. They are written with a slightly younger audience in mind than the Oz books, but they're fun and very Ozzy. The other two books are his major fantasies published during the hiatus, "The Sea Fairies" and "Sky Island". They are very closely tied into the Oz books, as they first introduce Trot and Cap'n Bill, who later go to Oz in "The Scarecrow of Oz", and "Sky Island" also features appearances by Button-Bright and Polychrome. Trot and Button-Bright meet again in "Scarecrow", and that books talks of events from "Sky Island", so you may seriously wish to consider them. Plus, they're both pretty good stories, particularly "Sky Island".

* Finally, I've had a thought for a project that I would love to see someone do, and perhaps you'd be the one, so I think I'll share. I recently discovered the BBC's recreation of the old Marx Brothers radio show, "Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel". They were able to do it because the scripts were filed at the Library of Congress, but the copyright was never renewed, so they were public domain. I got to wondering if the same could have happened to the old 1933-34 "Wizard of Oz" radio show. I know the scripts exist at NBC, but if they're also at the LOC, that would make it easier. I haven't had a chance to find out yet, of course, but it would be extremely cool if someone could somehow recreate this lost piece of Ozian and radio history.

Feel free to reply to me at eric@gjovaag.com, and check out my website at thewizardofoz.info. (And since I wrote this for you, rather than the geneeral public, please feel free to not pass this on for the general public to see, if you have that kind of comment moderation on.)