Tin Man

Pretty entertaining, although the wooden style of the lead actress who plays DG is annoying. She doesn't seem to sync with the rest of the ensemble at all, and can't seem to manage any emotion other than wide-eyed amazement. Also, the plot line seems redundant and contrived at times - I was expecting something a little bit more original, while still incorporating stuff from the Wizard of Oz movie we're all familiar with. I was surprised to see a bit of Time Bandits and Star Wars at the beginning (the swinging cage and the Ewok-like situation). It's as if the writers couldn't make up their minds which fantasy stories to "sample." Overall, worth watching once, maybe twice.

First the negatives. TV suffers from a style of script writing and directing that is optimized for the "series". Real movies are initially drafted for size, depth and complexity to complete a story. Real movies have to be cut and edited to fit the 90 to 180 minute length tolerable for a feature film. This is why many great movies end up having a "directors cut".

TV movies are based on the contract with the network and the longer the series, the more advertising can be sold. Tin Man only had about 180 minutes of story material but they needed to fill 360. Some of this additional length is "padding" and not cutting useless scenes.

The other major negative is that Zooey Deschanel's acting was very weak. I'm reminded that the initial films of John Wayne and Jack Nicholson was some of the absolute worst acting caught on film. Jack improved much more than John and perhaps Zooey will improve with age.

As for the positives. I give this a fairly high rating because of the admirable approach of giving all the principle characters a deep multi-dimensional role in the story. As much as I love the 1939 classic, it was a children's story, and a musical at that. The tin man, scarecrow and lion were symbolic vehicles of the lack of heart, intelligence and courage respectively in both films, but here they have a history. And that history is an important part of a deeper story. It is that deeper story that kept me coming back to watch parts 2 and 3.

Some of the better aforementioned "padding" are the scenes that presented more character development of all the principles.

If you watch this simply because you love the old OZ, whether the book or the movie, you wont find what you expect when watching this one.

Sci-fi Channel's Tin Man is a work of art on its own, though it uses some of the original characters and locations, it is its very own unique tale, completely rewritten and turned into a fantasy adventure for the MODERN age.

It's not the old adventure, instead of just trying to get home, they have to try and save the O.Z.

Keeps you on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what happens next. Each new episode adds a new twist making you rethink your original ideas of OZ.

It's definitely worth watching if you like to see old stories retold in completely different ways. Not what you'd expect.

if the old Oz was Kansas, this version would definitely be WAY over the rainbow.

Tin Man is an interesting update of the old Wizard of Oz story, with special effects and acting well above the Sci-Fi Channel's usual low standards. It is more akin to Battlestar Galactica (although not quite as good) than to their creature features. Zooey Deschanel, Kathleen Robertson, and Alan Cumming all turn in good performances, although Richard Dreyfuss fans should be warned that his role is smaller than advertised.

The plot overall is well written, although at times rather predictable, especially in the third episode. There are some issues with the dialogue though, with some genuinely flat lines scattered throughout the series.

In terms of younger fans of Baum, the plot might be a bit dark for the under ten set, but should be enjoyable for older kids, particularly teenagers with a taste for the bizarre.

1st off this is not a remake of the wizard of oz...so please do not compare it that way. Secondly it is not a "film" so don't refer to it as that either, it is a miniseries. My Fiancé is an immensely huge Wizard Of Oz fan, and i enjoy it as well. We were both interested in this series, and went into it with an open mind and zero expectations. Especially after reading "wicked", we had no expectations at all. Surprisingly my fiancé really enjoys this series, we are happy it isn't a "remake" or a "film". It is what it is a miniseries on the scifi channel, and honestly its pretty damn interesting.It's really wild to see someones idea's come to life, ideas they created from watching such an amazing movie like the wizard of oz (one of the most timeless classics ever!). It's not trying to remake or be the wizard of oz..it's trying to be "Tin Man" it's own entity aside from the Wizard OF Oz. It's obvious that the movie is drawn from the original classic, that someone loved the original and thought the question we always all think what if....? Honestly so far (1 of 3 episodes have been aired) i'am really into the plot, and the characters and i love how it touches so much of The Wizard OF Oz but yet doesn't defile the movie, it's more like an homage...the person(s) who wrote this miniseries respect and adore The Wizard OF Oz and you can tell so by the way they handle the characters and the script.So please at least watch all 3 episodes before you say its awful.