The Terry Pratchett book “Guards! Guards!”. If you haven’t read it, spoilers below…
I realized after about six million reads and listens to the audiobook that the story is a huge circle from the beginning where Sam Vimes lies in the gutter musing on the city:
He loves the city, as much as it hurts him to. At the end, when he begins to realize he has some feelings beginning for Lady Sybil, the story comes full circle:
He’s fallen in love with someone he has been in love with for years: the fact that Sybil owns a large portion of the city is important to this. She is the city. She is everything he loves about it: proud, strong, noble, and welcoming. It is because of her that he pulls himself out of the gutters and tries to make himself better than what he was – the worst of the city, drunk and decaying and stinking. Through the city that brought him down, he is uplifted and given the opportunity to reach his potential.
For being something of a silly story about dragons, it’s also an amazing book about the redemption of human nature.
I got the Have Gun part when I saw them originally (right before Gunsmoke on Saturday nights) but I too thought Wire was his first name.
I’m watching them on DVD now, and they are awesome. One of the shows from the first season has the origin of the dance in the Star Trek pilot - in a show written by Roddenberry. In the very first show, he is introduced saying farewell to a woman, with a look that shows that Paladin doesn’t love only his horse. But I think Paladin is his name, and he got it from the writers assigning a name to match the character.
For my screwup, it took me years of listening to Dylan’s Motorpsycho Nighmare to realize it was a takeoff on Psycho - despite very obvious hints such as the title :smack: a mention of Tony Perkins :smack: and the girl’s wish for him to take a shower. :smack:
Oh yeah. Wizard of Oz is just a series of embarrassments for me.
I was probably 13 before I realized the farmhands were the same actors as the traveling companions in Oz.
I was in college I think when I realized Scarecrow was smartest, Tin Man the most loving, and the lion was the bravest.
I was a couple years out of college when I realized the wizard sent them on a quest because he wanted them to die, or at least be taken prisoner by the witch, so they wouldn’t be his problem.
He didn’t want them dead, or captured - he was a humbug, not an asshole - he just wanted them to fail (or better yet, give up) and get out of his hair.
When I watched *WoO *as a child, my mother told me that the farmhands were the same guys as the Scarecrow, the Tinman and the Lion, but I didn’t believe her till I was about 13 or so. I just didn’t see it. Of course, this was back in the Dark Ages, when it was only on once a year, so it’s not like I could have stopped the VCR or DVD to make sure.
I hesitate to mention this, because last time we did one of these it came close to derailing the thread. But Kris in Miracle on 34th Street? Just a nice old man with whiskers. He’s the beneficiary of a dozen people making more or less self-interested decisions (Macy and Gimbel wanting to look good for their customers; Fred hating his old job and wanting something outrageous to build his resume; Doris needing to prove to Fred that she wasn’t a wrinkled up prune; the judge and political boss counting votes, and the post office getting rid of all those dead letters).
It’s easier to see in the full-length version, as the broadcast one cuts a few important bits to fit in an extra commercial – most importantly, the scene where Macy and Gimbel are fighting over who gets to buy Kris the X-Ray machine so they can look good in front of the press.
Preposterous! They can’t be the same people. Anybody with eyes can see that the Scarecrow, Tin Man & Cowardly Lion are in full technicolor, while the mere farmhands are in black & white!
Anyway, one little detail that I’d never noticed before about ‘Oz’ (until about the umpteen-millionth time I saw it) was the scene in which Dorothy & crew are entering the black woods on their way to kill the Wicked Witch. The Scarecrow is carrying a large mallet, and the Tin Man has a revolver(!) b ut missing his axe. Both weapons mysteriously vanish before the flying monkeys attack. (I couldn’t find an appropriate clip on youtube - but if you have the DVD, you can check it out for yourself.)
Also, there is the legendary (and false) UL about the munchkin who hanged himself. (Long story short: It was actually a large bird.) I had seen the ‘incriminating’ shadow before, and knew the story. But it wasn’t until I read Snopes’ article debunking the myth that I ever noticed the birds wandering around in the background. And they’re all over that set!
You’re correct, but the final scene makes it clear that he’s more than just a nice old man with whiskers. And, for whatever reason, he made all the self-interested decisions happen. You could argue for open-endedness, but the film makes clear that his he’s more than just a nice old man.
He sent them to get the broomstick of the wicked witch! He at least knew he was giving them a mission that was be suicidal if they undertook it, and for no reason.
Hell, the entire movie from the arrival in Munchkin Land on is just Glinda’s convoluted plan to become the only power left in Oz. She could have sent Dorothy home immediately - her excuse of “You had to learn how much you missed home before you could return” is BS. Dorothy was trying to go back to Auntie Em when she got caught by the tornado. Glinda just saw Dorothy as a stooge she could use to expose the Wizard as a fraud, and kill the WWotW, then send her home. You can’t tell me Glinda didn’t know that the Wizard was just a humbug, or that the WWotW couldn’t actually kill Dorothy. By the end of the movie, Glinda was ready to rule Oz with an iron fist. Sure, “only bad witches are ugly”, but they can be beautiful too.
But I think Paladin is his name, and he got it from the writers assigning a name to match the character.
