That's So Raven

The cast as Dorothy Gale and her friends.

That's So Raven is a Disney Channel show, starring Raven-Symoné as a teenage psychic named Raven Baxter, whose abilities to predict the future through random visions usually causes trouble. Two episodes from its four-season run referenced The Wizard of Oz.

1.18 If I Only had a Job

The title references the song "If I Only Had a Brain"

As Raven auditions for a high school production of The Wizard of Oz, she expects to get the role of Dorothy Gale, even creating a special blue checkered mini-skirt. When she and her friends walk into the Drama Club room, she learns she didn't get the part. She instead gets the part of the Wicked Witch of the East, which will simply be her laying underneath Dorothy's house, while her friends get bigger roles as Eddie (Orlando Brown) will be the Scarecrow and Chelsea (Anneleise Van Der Pol) will be the Wicked Witch of the West. While the three of them rehearse at Raven's house, she explains that her part could have more to it. She performs a ballad called "Death of a Witch", which goes "Something's coming, it's a house! I'll be under it in this blouse... that I bought today!", as well a dance sequence. However, Eddie explains she is only a "squished witch", which has Raven thinking of quitting the play.

As a sub-plot and in relation to the title, her father Victor (Rondell Sheridan) loses his job at a restaurant. After Raven sees a group of funky musical celebrities go there, she gets an idea to have herself, along with Eddie and Chelsea, dress up similarly to express outrage that Victor doesn't work there anymore. In order to prove themselves as musical artists to the owner (Patrick Richwood), they decide to sing something. Eddie plays "When the Saints Come Marching In" on the piano, while Raven makes it more funky to express that "Since Victor left, the food is no good". Ironically, their teacher who runs the Drama club (Rose Abdoo) walks in. When Raven and her friends are exposed, she says that Raven has a lovely voice, and should have gotten the part of Dorothy. When Raven asks, "So am I getting the part?", the teacher still tells her no.

At the end of the episode, Victor's advice to take rejection as an opportunity for another job inspires Raven to tell the teacher she is okay with her part, and ask if she can create the costumes for the show. She shows off costumes for the Scarecrow, the Wicked Witch of the West, and also one of the Munchkins (Kyle Massey as Raven's brother Cory) as she gets the job.

4.15 Soup to Nuts

When Raven runs into her principal (Steve Hytner), she fears that the next day she will get into trouble in his office. She decides to stay home from school, claiming to have chills, so her father Victor gives her a special hot soup. However in not being really sick, the soup causes Raven to dream different scenarios onto the TV. The first two include a music video based on the show called "Some Call It Magic", and an I Love Lucy parody called "Oh That Raven", with her principal as a villain.

In the final scenario, a parody of The Wizard of Oz is shown with Raven as Dorothy, her friend Chelsea as the Scarecrow, brother Cory as the Tin Woodman, and friend Eddie as the Cowardly Lion, and Victor as the Wizard of Oz. It appears to be the aftermath of the Wicked Witch of the West's defeat, and the friends present the Wizard the Witch's crystal ball, cloak, and underwear. This makes the Wizard boom, "I did not tell you to bring back the Witch's underwear!" The Cowardly Lion says the underwear is his, as he grabs it back. They find out the Wizard is only a man behind the curtain who is running on a treadmill, as he explains he cannot take Dorothy back to Kansas. The Scarecrow, Tin Man, and Cowardly Lion realize they have what they wanted, then the Wizard tells Dorothy to use the Silver Shoes to go home. Suddenly, the Witch, who is once again the principal, appears. Dorothy says, "I know how to take care of you..." as she throws another pail of water. He surprisingly doesn't melt, and sprinkles water onto her, as she exclaims, "I'm melting!"

Raven wakes up, and realizes she was only figuratively 'melting', from the added heat of the soup. In an ending similar to The Wizard of Oz, her friends and principal show up to see how she is doing. The principal explains that the accident re-aligned his spine. He felt so glad, he took all the students to a special field trip at an amusement park, which Raven missed out on.

External Links

• That's So RavenWiki