Tin Man Lacks Heart

Over the last three nights, after stumbling home from various social obligations, I have turned on the Sci-Fi channel to catch their overly hyped mini-series "Tin Man" in the 11-1am slot. What a concept, the World of the Wizard of Oz without the incessant singing. Indeed, I watched the original many times in college, set to Pink Floyd's alternate soundtrack. And the visual world was extraordinary in all its pubescent technicolor splendor.

Needless to say, I bought into the hype when I saw the ads for this show, and once I began the inane 6 hour marathon, I had to see it through. What a disappointment. The story was overly simple yet full of contradictions, and the characters, while interesting in their own right, didn't interact believably.

The first issue of the story is one that resonated with me. Having written my first screenplay last year, fumbling through 130 pages only to begin to find my voice and style in the last 60, I learned many valuable lessons. Rick Blackwood, my screenwriting mentor at LSU made a comment in the first class I took with him that it took a beginning scribe over 300 some pages of writing, before they began to get a handle on the craft.

Now where is this tangent leading? To my point of course. The main issue that I found in my own writing, namely a problem of many beginning screenwriters, is overly prevalent in this production: the characters in the story don't react to the story unfolding before them.

Throughout Tin Man, the characters come upon fantastical situations, dark magic and a world seemingly on the verge of ruin. Yet, our protagonist, played by Zooey Deschanel never wavers in her deadpan; wide-eyed emotion. She continues throughout the show, to fail to react to anything, issuing the final line of the show: "Now this is the O.Z. I remember" with the same lack of expression as in the moments when she is begging for her own life. It's as if she was hit with an "apathy spell" even before the movie began.

This is disappointing especially in light of the other wonderful acting performances by the supporting cast. Yet, the overly emotional reactions of Alan Cummings (in his best costume since Nightcrawler), Richard Dreyfus, Neal McDonough, and Kathleen Robertson, can't make up for the shortcomings of our lead. A large part of this is undoubtedly the acting (or lack thereof), but I levy equal responsibility upon the writers, making amateurish mistakes. Take it from an amateur who spent months rooting through his own screenplay, introducing believable reactions among characters who lie flat in the midst of a tumultuous adventure.

This simple nuance might save a screenplay that is overly simple, with each episode finding the characters trapped or captured, then freed, then trapped or captured, then freed. Yet despite this simple formula, there might still be a compelling story set in a fantastical world if not for the contradictions in the story. Here are some examples: 1) D.G. and Azkadellia remember a childhood song about two princesses, one light, one dark, where only one can lead. But at the end of the mini-series, nothing has changed and though D.G. has been successful in stopping the evil she doesn't become Queen. 2) When they try and reverse the machine that Glitch built and which Azkadellia is using to plunge the O.Z. into darkness they first don't take into account that the machine was already being used in reverse. Additionally, though the Tin Man entered all the codes save one to shut it down, the codes are then reversed by Azkadellia's minions. This means that when the heroes regain control, there isn't one sequence left, but 4 sequences. This is simple math, but ridiculous to overlook. 3) The Tin Man is lead to believe that his wife and son are still alive, and when he searches finds his wife's grave. Yet when he meets with his son toward the end, somehow remembers his wife's death, something he never witnessed. 4) Though not an exact contradiction, D.G. evokes childhood memories of her sister free her from her possession, yet Evil Azkadellia already had access to those memories and referenced them to D.G. the first time they met. How then does this overcome her?

Maybe all they needed was a good copy-editor to look over the 360 page screenplay before they filmed the series. Regardless, I was disappointed with the finished product, which grossly failed to live up to its hype. It is my hope that if they ever expand this concept into a T.V. show, ala Flash Gordon, they will work out the inconsistencies and hire writers with talent to bring the O.Z. back to life.