(Read from The Complete Stories of Oz)
Started: January 17, 2022
Finished: January 30, 2022
(This review is written using my new format for book reviews.)
Background Information
Originally published in 1914, this is the 8th canonical book in the Land of Oz series. (It's actually the 9th book in my collection, but Little Wizard Stories of Oz does not count as a canonical book.)
The book was based on L. Frank Baum's stage play The Tik-Tok Man of Oz. The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, in turn, was based mainly upon Ozma of Oz with elements borrowed from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz and The Road to Oz. Which accounts for a lot of repeated plot elements from those previous books. But more on that below.
Plot Summary
Plotwise, this book is a bit of a mess. Mari Ness identifies 5 different plots:
* Plot 1: Queen Ann's quest to conquer the land of Oz
* Plot 2: Shaggy Man's quest to rescue his brother
* Plot 3: The scheming machinations of the Nome King
* Plot 4: Betsy Bobbins (the Dorothy substitute) and her quest to find her way home
* Plot 5: The exile of the Rose Princess Ozga
To which I might even further add
* The romance of Files and Ozga
* The vengeance of Tititi-Hoochoo (the great Jinjin)
* Quox the dragon and his quest to redeem himself.
Also, as indicated above, a lot of plot is being recycled from previous books:
* Queen Ann's quest to conquer the land of Oz is reminiscent of Jinjur's quest to conquer Oz from The Marvelous Land of Oz.
* Having an army which consists all of officers, with only one private, is repeated from Ozma of Oz.
* Leading that army to try to conquer the Nome King's Kingdom is also repeated from Ozma of Oz.
* A little girl and an animal getting shipwrecked together in fairyland is repeated from Ozma of Oz.
* Trees that grow lunchboxes on their branches (complete with 3 course meals inside) is from Ozma of Oz
* A land of plants in which the new princess is plucked from the vine is repeated from Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz
* The Shaggy Man using his love magnet to make everyone love him is repeated from The Road to Oz. Polychrome becoming lost after she fell off the rainbow is also repeated from The Road to Oz.
* Tik-Tok confronting the Nome King is reminiscent of Little Wizard Stories of Oz.
The Reading Experience/ Evaluation
Before beginning this book, I vaguely knew already that it would be based on a stage play and consist of recycled plots.
I try not to read ahead too much in my Wikipedia research, but in this case, information about Tik-Tok of Oz was leaking into entries about previous books. For example, the Wikipedia entry for book 3, Ozma of Oz, reads:
L. Frank Baum revisited this story for the plot of his 1913 musical The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, starring James C. Morton and Fred Woodward. Aside from Tik-Tok, a princess named Ozma, and a visit to the Nome King's domain, the similarities between the book and the finished play were minimal, allowing Baum to re-adapt the latter as the eighth Oz book, Tik-Tok of Oz, in 1914.
So I had known this was coming.
Therefore, whenever I encountered repeated plot elements, or continuity problems, I just thought to myself, "I bet this is because this story is being recycled from the stage play." (And then, after I finished reading, I did - my - research and discovered I had been right.)
The fact that this story is recycling so many plot elements from the previous books takes the edge off of it a little bit. (For example, I probably would have been more amused at the gag about an army which consists of all officers and one private if not for the fact that it's the exact same gag from Ozma of Oz.) However the sheer amount of plot stuffed into this little book helps to keep it interesting. On one hand, it's sloppy writing--L. Frank Baum is juggling more plots than he can handle, and he doesn't drops several off his balls. But on the other hand, you can't really claim a book like this is boring. It's got enough moving parts to keep you interested. "Okay, where are we going with this part?" I was constantly asking myself. "How is this going to tie back in to the other plots?" Ordinarily Oz stories are largely plotless--they're just stories about journeying along the road and encountering strange things along the way. So at least this book is different.
What infuriates me, however, is the disregard for continuity, and the disrespect L. Frank Baum seems to hold his readers in. I mean, I get it--I understand that this book doesn't entirely fit in with Oz continuity because it's based on a stage play. But, come on L. Frank Baum, the least you could do is rewrite some parts so that it makes sense.
For example, in this book, the Nome King's name is changed from Roquat (as it had been in the previous books) to Ruggedo. The reason is that Ruggedo is the name from the stage play. Now, to L. Frank Baum's credit, he does try to give an in-universe explanation for this. From Chapter 6:
“That’s very kind of you, ma’am,” said Shaggy. "But unless I can find the underground cavern of Ruggedo, the Metal Monarch, I shall never find poor brother."(This King was formerly named “Roquat,” but after he drank of the “Waters of Oblivion” he forgot his own name and had to take another.)
Okay, so fair enough. Roquat did drink the Waters of Oblivion in book 6 The Emerald City of Oz, and completely lost his memory of who he was and everything that had happened to him. So I guess this works as an explanation for the name change.
But... then, just a few chapters later, in chapter 14, it's obvious that the Nome King has not forgotten everything.
“Why, they’ve been conquered before, if I remember aright,” answered Kaliko with a grin. “Once I saw you running from a little girl named Dorothy, and her friends, as if you were really afraid.”“Well, I was afraid, that time,” admitted the Nome King, with a deep sigh, “for Dorothy had a Yellow Hen that laid eggs!”The King shuddered as he said “eggs,” and Kaliko also shuddered, and so did the Long-Eared Hearer; for eggs are the only things that the nomes greatly dread. The reason for this is that eggs belong on the earth’s surface, where birds and fowl of all sorts live, and there is something about a hen’s egg, especially, that fills a nome with horror. If by chance the inside of an egg touches one of these underground people, he withers up and blows away and that is the end of him—unless he manages quickly to speak a magical word which only a few of the nomes know. Therefore Ruggedo and his followers had very good cause to shudder at the mere mention of eggs.
Now, I've put up with a lot of continuity errors and retcons over the course of this series, and I've largely forgiven it because L. Frank Baum is making it all up as he goes along and the series is more about imagery than continuity anyway. But, at what point do I start to feel like my goodwill is being taken advantage of? I mean, here is a huge continuity problem not just between books (that I could kind of forgive) but within a single book. Does L. Frank Baum care so little for the reader that he can't bother to smooth out these glaring problems?
I'm going to be continuing through this series (I've committed myself to finishing The Complete Stories of Oz), but my goodwill is rapidly diminishing.
Despite this, however, there are some moments of humor and imagination which can make this book fun to read.
Links
The Wikipedia article for this book contains some interesting information. They point out some of the more glaring continuity errors, for one thing:
The book has several continuity errors with earlier books in the series, particularly The Road to Oz. Whereas Polychrome met the Shaggy Man in that book, this point is neglected by Baum in Tik-Tok. Also, whereas the Shaggy Man merely needs to carry the Love Magnet on his person for it to work in The Road to Oz, in this book it is necessary for him to remove it from his pocket and physically show it to those he wishes to love him.
(There are more errors to be found, but this is a good start). Wikipedia also states that Tik-Tok of Oz was the first book in which the map of Oz and the surrounding countries was first published.
Moving on to my next link, I've already mentioned Mari Ness's review, but it's worth reading in full: Falling Though Plots: Tik-Tok of Oz. From Mari Ness, I picked up more background information, including the fact that the reason this book has Betsy Bobbin and her friend Hank the mule as the protagonists is because the stage rights to Dorothy and Toto were tied up in the other musical. (As Mari Ness says, "like any characters copied from another source, they lose something in the copying.")
[Sidenote: according to the Oz Fandom wiki, the character of Ozga the Rose Princess was Ozma in the stage play, so this is presumably why the Rose Princess is a said to be a distant cousin of Ozma in the novel.]
Mari Ness also explains why Tik-Tok of Oz has kind of a romance going on between Ozga and Private Files: "for the first time ever in an Oz book, actual hints of a—gasp—romance. (Based on his own interactions with children, Baum believed that most would be utterly bored by romantic stories, and thus deliberately kept his Oz books romance free. Stage musicals, however, were a completely different thing. Early 20th century musicals demanded a romantic couple..."
And finally, after dutifully listing out all the many faults of Tik-Tok of Oz, Mari Ness explains why the book still has some charm: "But despite these flaws, Tik-Tok still contains magical moments: the lands of the great Jinjin, where great fairy kings and queens bow down to a Private Citizen; the grumpy yet resigned dragon, defending the delicious smell of brimstone; the laughing Polychrome, the marvelous Metal Forest..." I'm in agreement here. These are all great parts of the book. It's not completely without its charm, despite its frustrations.
Last but not least, I'm doing this series as Buddy Reads with Dane Cobain. His written review is HERE.
By this point in the series, Baum has set a formula that he sticks to, but the good news is that he’s still able to come up with a few different tweaks that can keep things fresh. It was also good to see some new characters again, but we also got to see a lot of friends, including the titular character.I also felt as though there were fewer inconsistencies here, something that’s plagued the Oz books since the second one. It’s as though Baum immediately forgot what he wrote in his books as soon as he sent them off to the publisher. There was even quite a clever piece of retconning in which a character’s name changed but it was explained by a previous plot point.
And his video review is here: L. Frank Baum - TikTok of Oz [REVIEW/DISCUSSION]
Extended Quotation
From Chapter 3:
“The Rak!” shouted Private Files, and with a howl of despair the sixteen officers fell to the ground, writhing and moaning in anguish. Queen Ann sat down upon a rock and faced the cloud more bravely, although her heart was beating fast. As for Files, he calmly loaded his gun and stood ready to fight the foe, as a soldier should.
They were now in absolute darkness, for the cloud which covered the sky and the setting sun was black as ink. Then through the gloom appeared two round, glowing balls of red, and Files at once decided these must be the monster’s eyes.
He raised his gun, took aim and fired.
There were several bullets in the gun, all gathered from an excellent bullet-tree in Oogaboo, and they were big and hard. They flew toward the monster and struck it, and with a wild, weird cry the Rak came fluttering down and its huge body fell plump upon the forms of the sixteen officers, who thereupon screamed louder than before.
“Badness me!” moaned the Rak. “See what you’ve done with that dangerous gun of yours!”
“I can’t see,” replied Files, “for the cloud formed by your breath darkens my sight!”
“Don’t tell me it was an accident,” continued the Rak, reproachfully, as it still flapped its wings in a helpless manner. “Don’t claim you didn’t know the gun was loaded, I beg of you!”
“I don’t intend to,” replied Files. “Did the bullets hurt you very badly?”
“One has broken my jaw, so that I can’t open my mouth. You will notice that my voice sounds rather harsh and husky, because I have to talk with my teeth set close together. Another bullet broke my left wing, so that I can’t fly; and still another broke my right leg, so that I can’t walk. It was the most careless shot I ever heard of!”
“Can’t you manage to lift your body off from my commanding officers?” inquired Files. “From their cries I’m afraid your great weight is crushing them.”
“I hope it is,” growled the Rak. “I want to crush them, if possible, for I have a bad disposition. If only I could open my mouth, I’d eat all of you, although my appetite is poorly this warm weather.”
With this the Rak began to roll its immense body sidewise, so as to crush the officers more easily; but in doing this it rolled completely off from them and the entire sixteen scrambled to their feet and made off as fast as they could run.
Private Files could not see them go but he knew from the sound of their voices that they had escaped, so he ceased to worry about them.
“Pardon me if I now bid you good-bye,” he said to the Rak. “The parting is caused by our desire to continue our journey. If you die, do not blame me, for I was obliged to shoot you as a matter of self-protection.”
“I shall not die,” answered the monster, “for I bear a charmed life. But I beg you not to leave me!”
“Why not?” asked Files.
“Because my broken jaw will heal in about an hour, and then I shall be able to eat you. My wing will heal in a day and my leg will heal in a week, when I shall be as well as ever. Having shot me, and so caused me all this annoyance, it is only fair and just that you remain here and allow me to eat you as soon as I can open my jaws.”
“I beg to differ with you,” returned the soldier firmly. "I have made an engagement with Queen Ann of Oogaboo to help her conquer the world, and I cannot break my word for the sake of being eaten by a Rak."
“Oh; that’s different,” said the monster. “If you’ve an engagement, don’t let me detain you.”
(***ENDQUOTE***)
Dane also mentions this quote in his review. (start listening from 3:24 for him recounting the section with the Rak), and when I heard him read it out-loud, I thought to myself, "Yeah, I'd almost forgotten about that, but that is one of the funnier parts of the book."
Although, if I wanted to complain about everything, I could say that like much of this book it is somewhat derivative of an earlier scene from an earlier Oz book--I'm thinking of the scene with the dragonettes in Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz when the dragonettes complain that it is unfair for Dorothy and her friends to leave before they have a chance to eat them.
So, as I noted above, parts of this book seriously annoyed me. Other parts of this book I found interesting to read. So, I think I'm going to split the difference, and give it 4 out of 10 stars. (That's probably being a little bit too generous, but oh well.)
January 23, 2022 p.776-788
January 30, 2022 p.788-880
Video Review (Playlist HERE)
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