I think you got whooshed. DocCathode means “in regards to the aforementioned winged monkeys”.
As for the OP even the full text as written in the script quoted above “S-u-r-r-e-n-d-e-r- Dorothy or die” is still ambiguous. Who will die? Dorothy? Or the citizens of the Emerald city?
Hey what if it was a warning to the wizard, telling him to give up the girl? Presumably he has a window to look out of or roof-top to stand on and see the sky. And clearly he was intimidated by the witch or he’d have taken care of her ages ago, and not sent the 4 friends and little dog too off to get her broomstick.
Laughing Lagomorph if you take a look at the sets, number of extras and special efects of this movie I think it is pretty clear that they weren’t skimping on the budget. So I presume you are supposed to notice that actor popping up again and again as a deliberate device. To me it just reinforces the fact that it is all happening in Dorothy’s mind (in the movie version, not in the books), and that she clearly fixated on Professor Marvel as someone who could help her solve her problems. Each character he plays moves her along in her journey, if only in some small way, or is a gatekeeper to her figuring out some deeper truth.
DocCathode: you’re right about the Winged Monkeys. Whomever possesses and wears the Golden Cap can command the floatin’ simians three times only. The Wicked Witch (this is all in the books, mind you) used her first command to enslave the Winkies, the second to drive the Wizard out of the Land of the Winkies (the Tin Woodman eventually returns as ruler of the Winkies) and the third to capture Dorothy and her humdinger hitchhikers. However, since the movie left so much out of the books, I think it stands as its own and we probably shouldn’t look to the books for too much interpretation. (But for those of you who haven’t yet… read the books! Read the books! ;))
Because of that reasoning, I’ve just always assumed the script writers meant for the monkeys to be seen as evil minions only, not reticent slaves.
Twiddle: And you’re right, too; the lack of a comma in the extended line still clouds the issue somewhat. Still, I think that the lack of a comma doesn’t necessarily mean that the use of “Dorothy” was in the accusative; the extended line reads to me as if they meant for “Dorothy” to be used in the vocative.
Although, truth be told, and as you suggested, I could almost be convinced that the Witch was really spelling out T-R-O-U-B-L-E for the Humbug behind the curtain. (Whose real name in the books, by the way, is “Oscar Zoraster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs.” Amen.)
Wicked is the title of the book; the author has also done another, I believe from Cinderella’s POV.
I thought the Frank Morgan multi-characters was a device by which to show that the populace didn’t know the Wizard’s identity; there was no danger of being found out since everyone believed in the floating head.
And it was NOT a multi-colored horse but rather a horse of another color.
Also check out The Emerald Burrito of Oz which takes place a few years after Oz and the United States have opened diplomatic recognition and people have begun moving between the two lands. Oz, while magical, is not as benign as it appeared to little Dorothy. (“The Emerald Burrito” incidentally is Oz’s first Mexican restaurant.)
Skipmagic, is this true: Whose real name in the books, by the way, is “Oscar Zoraster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs.”
OZ PINHEAD??? hahahahahaha
So all these posts and not one of you realized the obvious: the witch MEANT to write exactly what she wrote! The message was two-fold… DIRECTLY to Dorothy “Surrender, Dorothy!” AND ALSO directly to everybody else “Surrender Dorothy!” Just because she’s wicked doesn’t mean she’s unsubtle.
Oh, and I think I read your question wrong. Yes, it is true, and his name is revealed in the book Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz. That book was Baum’s fourth Oz book and takes place during Dorothy’s third trip to Oz and after an earlier book’s (The Marvelous Land of Oz) incredible transgender success story: Ozma takes power and proves to be a beautiful and benevolent fairy princess ruler.
