It all started eighty-five years ago when L. Frank Baum first captured the hearts and imaginations of children with The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The book's literary success spawned dozens of stage and screen excursions to the Land of Oz, marked most notably by MGM's immortal classic. Repudiating the popular conception of singing and dancing munchkins and vaudevillian backdrops, Walt Disney Productions and director Walter Murch have reexplored Baum's familiar and beloved fantasy world in a dedicated new adaptation — Return to Oz. Producers Gary Kurtz and Paul Maslansky, opticals expert Zoran Perisic, creature designer Lyle Conway and Claymation innovator Will Vinton - together with other members of the Oz team — discuss in detail the special brand of wizardry involved in bringing Dorothy Gale's time-honored adventures once again to life.
