| For other works with the same title, see Lost in Oz. |
Tim Burton's Lost in Oz was an unproduced alternate Oz television series that was being made by filmmaker Tim Burton who was a writer alongside Trey Callaway, Michael Kateleman, and Joel T. Smith who were members of the Writers’ Guild.
It would have been based on a group of high schoolers and their teacher who are swept to the Land of Oz--only to find that Ozma and the Wizard are mysteriously missing. It is believed that key scenes were filmed, but they have yet to be made public. Only six of the Kansas characters are sent to Oz as they tried escaping the tornado in a Winnebago trailer.
- Wiki Notice: Copies of a draft script that is roughly 70 pages dated August 18th, 1999 are being sold by ScriptCity in PDF form. Information about it will be added soon with the dialogue uploaded to the Wiki. Besides a claim of fair usage, it can be assumed the copyright notice no longer applies given that the production company Columbia TriStar Television went out of business in 2002 before becoming part of Sony Pictures Television.
Cast[]
(as confirmed by the IMDB page)
- Christine Lakin as Jade Welling: a 17 year old cheerleader
- Scott Schwartz as Town Crier (likely of the Munchkins)
- Samantha Nagel as the Wicked Witch
- Phillip Hough as Theo Alred, a 16 year old student
- Erika Flores as Kimber Denslow
- Terrence Carson as Vance McCarver, a 29 year old insurance salesman
- Michael Horse as Ponca, the 43 year old owner of the Oz themed Emerald City Gas and Oil station. Described as being a Native American with the word Indian used also.
- Anna Galvin as Miss Nancy Puritan, a 32 year old English teacher who is very familiar with L. Frank Baum’s books
Other characters who were slated to appear but might have not been cast or just not credited during the period of filming include the Patchwork Girl, the Mangaboo Princess, Vince McCarver who is Vance’s 27 year old brother, a “Cheesy TV Host”, Rose, Matty, a “Snoring Jock”, Suz, Craig, Mr. Blankenship the bus driver, a Scoodler Sergeant, a Corporal Cucumber, Dick Tater the potato ruler of the Mangaboos, a trucker who picks up Kimber after she hitchhikes, and Vance’s old girlfriend named Emma who appears in the Truth Pond who as a sentient magical body of water can also speak.
Cast photo
Description[]
An article published on "Aintitcool.com" that was from 1999 gave much information about the intended plot:
"To begin with, the story is set in current time, our time at a quaint little gas station, called the EMERALD CITY GAS & OIL, in the cornfields of Kansas. Here we meet a rather tired old native-American station attendant named PONCA, 43, who doesn't see much action around these parts - YET, and lives just round back in an old Winnebago. The station isn't so much a fully functioning station as it is a little tourist spot for passerby's to get gas, and such collectable trinkets as "flying monkey fridge magnets", "toto pencil sharpeners" "tin man toothpick dispensers" & "Auntie Em's muffins".
On another part of the spectrum, at Cawker High, we are introduced to a Comparative Literature class, full of kids, being taught by MISS NANCY PURINTON, 32,whose in the midst of reading aloud from a textbook to a bunch of bored students.
Inside this class, are JADE WELLING, 17, beautiful, cheerleader-type, and THEO ALRED, 16, whose madly, secretly, infatuated with Jade and her good looks. The two are somewhat opposites each a bit antagonistic with one another.
Today's a special day, as after school, the class has agreed to take field trip to a local book museum in lieu of taking a final exam.
That then takes us to a Corvette being driven down a two-lane highway, by the cool, free-wheeling VANCE MCCARVER, 29, whose currently in the middle of lecturing his younger brother, Vince on the greater evils of marrying his girlfriend, and throwing his life away. Vance suggests going to Vegas as a test and if within 48 hours he still feels the same way about her, he'll be his best man and give them both his blessings.
Alongside the highway, they speed past KIMBER DENSLOW, 17, who's described as an "anti-Dorothy of sorts" because of her piercings, dyed hair and such. She's hitchhiking alone to "wherever" and gets a quick lift from a trucker passing by.
So this sets-up and introduces us to the series regular characters from the script listing. All strangers taking different path but ultimately converging down the same road together as they all meet by way of The Emerald Gas & Oil, where as luck would have they run smack dab into a wicked black tornado that's headed their way, and quick.
Because of their situations, they all find and make quick shelter with Ponca in his winnebago, but soon enough does the tornado take it and within a surreal moment, it vanishes from the sky, leaving everything else behind but the 'Bago and it's reluctant passengers.
When our travelers awake, they find themselves in the magical, mystical, bizarre world of "OZ", where through their differences, they must find a way to work together to find their way back home.
The imagery described within the pages, and the strange inhabitants of the world of OZ, just have to be seen to believe. It sounds VERY neat with a lot of strange, somewhat psychedelic eye-candy, and various areas into the land of OZ to be explored in each episode (the scripts even has two full maps included to help visualize the scope of OZ).
In the pilot episode the characters are told to find the yellow brick road which will then lead them to Emerald City. They figure once there, they can find the Wizard, explain their situation, and have him help send them back home. But alas, it's not so easy, as their arrival into Oz has coincided with the sudden disappearance of the Wizard, and without him, the entire kingdom is slowly creeping into chaos. Adding to that, no one in or outside of Oz has EVER seen the Wizard, which makes the task at hand all the more difficult.
The pilot is outstanding in it's setup of what I hope is to be a well-made, produced and long-running series to come. "
Trivia[]
- The draft script included two extensive maps of Oz plus the surrounding countries suggesting they were to be visited. It is unclear who the artist was but the placements are rather consistent with those of the International Wizard of Oz Club’s version of Nonestica. A destination sign featured in the script displays Bunbury, Foxville, Quok, and the Pool of Nares. Despite the title the pilot intended them to land many miles away from Oz in the Mangaboo Kingdom.
- It is unclear if the 2nd draft was the intended shooting script and how much of it if anything was filmed plus if pre-production was underway for more episodes. It is believed budget issues caused it to be canceled but exact details were not specified.
- An opening scene would have featured Ponca watching a commercial for Ruby Bath Slippers that makes a reference to the Yellow Brick Road. As two ladies come into his store, Over the Rainbow would play with bathrooms labeled Wizards and Witches seen.
- The name of Kimber Denslow is likely a reference to The Wonderful Wizard of Oz illustrator W. W. Denslow.
- Ozma and the Wicked Witch were not mentioned in the script, probably intended to appear later in the series.
- Anna Galvin would later play Lavender Eyes, a version of Glinda in the Tin Man miniseries and as Cruella DeVil's mother on Once Upon a Time which has had its own Oz storylines.
- The second attempt to create a television series called "Lost in Oz" came only two years later, a book series with a similar premise of teenagers in Oz came in 2007, and Amazon.com released a pilot in 2015 for an animated series with more episodes following in 2017. The IMDb page does have ratings which are probably mistakenly meant for similarly named productions out of confusion since the footage if still existing was never released publicly.