Adaptations of The Wizard of Oz
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a 1900 children's novel written by American author L. Frank Baum. Since its first publication in 1900, it has been adapted many times: for film, television, theatre, books, comics, games, and other media.Many of the television programs cited in this list are not strict adaptions of "The Wizard of Oz"; rather, they have reinterpreted aspects of the book, such as characters and plot, to create sequels, prequels or side-plots, which are inspired by Baum's original text.
There are over 40 canonical Oz books, including 14 by Baum, all of which are considered "official" sequels or prequels to "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz". In addition, the following books use the Oz milieu as settings for their tales:Kevin Scott Collier. "The Wonderful Animated World of the Wizard of Oz: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly!" CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018.
Name of Australia
The "Oxford English Dictionary" records a first occurrence in 1908, in the form "Oss". "Oz" is often taken as an oblique reference to the fictional Land of Oz in the film "The Wizard of Oz" (1939), based on L. Frank Baum's novel "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" (1900). In 1988, an American opinion was that Australians' "image of Australia as a 'Land of Oz' is not new, and dedication to it runs deep" but evidence for this view within Australia itself is lacking. The spelling "Oz" is likely to have been influenced by the 1939 film, though the pronunciation was probably always with a /z/, as it is also for "Aussie", sometimes spelt "Ozzie". The Baz Luhrmann film "Australia" (2008) makes repeated reference to "The Wizard of Oz", which appeared just before the wartime action of "Australia". Some critics have even speculated that Baum was inspired by Australia, in naming the "Land of Oz": "In "Ozma of Oz" (1907), Dorothy gets back to Oz as the result of a storm at sea while she and Uncle Henry are travelling by ship to Australia. So, like Australia, Oz is somewhere to the west of California. Like Australia, Oz is an island continent. Like Australia, Oz has inhabited regions bordering on a great desert. One might almost imagine that Baum intended Oz to be Australia, or perhaps a magical land in the center of the great Australian desert."