History YMMV / TheWonderfulWizardOfOz

** The narration repeatedly describes the Tin Man, Lion, and Scarecrow to be Dorothy's "comrades". It's hard to take seriously now that "comrade" has become almost exclusively associated with communism and the Soviet Union, even comically so.

* {{Sequelitis}}: Baum wrote thirteen more books about Oz. While some were quite good, a lot just got very formulaic. Baum did want to write other, non-Oz books but none of them were very successful, so he was stuck writing Oz books to please the public.

%% {{Applicability}}: See the entry for the details.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: 'The Dainty China Country' chapter in the original book features Dorothy and her companions finding a town where the houses, animals, and citizens are all made out of china. Some, such as the accident-prone clown, Mr. Joker, have been broken and mended several times. Nothing of any relevance to the story happens here -- the china citizens neither help nor hinder the protagonists -- and after Dorothy and her friends leave, it's never mentioned again. It's more or less accepted that it only exists to lengthen the journey from point A to point B. It would make you wonder why they bothered to go over the wall instead of around it, if not for the fact they have no way of telling how far the wall stretches in each direction. This chapter became something of a FranchiseOriginalSin for future Oz books, some of which are completely loaded with pointless {{Wacky Wayside Tribe}}s.

* EpilepticTrees: Allegedly, the whole "Wizard of Oz is a Populist tract about the gold standard" thing was made up by a history teacher trying to get his kids to pay attention. [[http://thewizardofoz.info/wiki/About_the_Oz_Books#Is_it_true_that_The_Wizard_of_Oz_was_written_as_a_political_tract.3F It just fit so well it stuck]].

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Jack Pumpkinhead is completely absent in the "Emerald City of Oz" storyline.

* ItWasHisSled: The Wizard is really a con artist who used clever sleight of hand to appear differently when meeting with different people.
** Also, the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion already have the brains, heart, and courage they seek.

** The book itself was also overshadowed by the 1900 stage production, which was the longest running show on Broadway for decades til ''Theatre/AChorusLine'' overtook it.

* DracoInLeatherPants: The Wicked Witch of the West, to some of the fandom. Margaret Hamilton's unforgettable {{Large Ham}}/{{Love to Hate}} performance in the movie really helped this; fans who think of ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' as canonical take it {{Up to Eleven}}.

* UncannyValley: The illustration of Tin Man on the [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz main page]] just looks a little... off.

* HilariousInHindsight: The fact that there's a character named "[[LeetLingo Woot]]" might be funny to some modern readers.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: 'The Dainty China Country' chapter in the original book features Dorothy and her companions finding a town where the houses, animals, and citizens are all made out of china. Some, such as the accident-prone clown, Mr. Joker, have been broken and mended several times. Nothing of any relevance to the story happens here -- the china citizens neither help nor hinder the protagonists -- and after Dorothy and her friends leave, it's never mentioned again. It's more or less accepted that it only exists to lengthen the journey from point A to point B. It would make you wonder why they bothered to go over the wall instead of around it, if not for the fact they have no way of telling how far the wall stretches in each direction. This chapter became something of a FranchiseOriginalSin for future Oz books, some of which are completely loaded with pointless WackyWaysideTribes.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: 'The Dainty China Country' chapter in the original book features Dorothy and her companions finding a town where the houses, animals, and citizens are all made out of china. Some, such as the accident-prone clown, Mr. Joker, have been broken and mended several times. Nothing of any relevance to the story happens here -- the china citizens neither help nor hinder the protagonists -- and after Dorothy and her friends leave, it's never mentioned again. It's more or less accepted that it only exists to lengthen the journey from point A to point B. It would make you wonder why they bothered to go over the wall instead of around it, if not for the fact they have no way of telling how far the wall stretches in each direction.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: 'The Dainty China Country' chapter in the original book features Dorothy and her companions finding a town where the houses, animals, and citizens are all made out of china. Some, such as the accident-prone clown, Mr. Joker, have been broken and mended several times. Nothing of any relevance to the story happens here -- the china citizens neither help nor hinder the protagonists -- and after Dorothy and her friends leave, it's never mentioned again. It's more or less accepted that it only exists to lengthen the journey from point A to point B. It would make you wonder why they bothered to go over the wall instead of around it, if not for the fact they have no way of telling how far the wall stretches in each direction

* {{Sequelitis}}: Baum wrote thirteen more books about Oz. While some were quite good, a lot just got very formulaic. Baum did want to writer other, non-Oz books but none of them were very successful, so he was stuck writing Oz books to please the public.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: 'The Dainty China Country' chapter in the original book features Dorothy and her companions finding a town where the houses, animals, and citizens are all made out of china. Some, such as the accident-prone clown, Mr. [[NamesTheSame Joker]], have been broken and mended several times. Nothing of any relevance to the story happens here -- the china citizens neither help nor hinder the protagonists -- and after Dorothy and her friends leave, it's never mentioned again. It's more or less accepted that it only exists to lengthen the journey from point A to point B. It would make you wonder why they bothered to go over the wall instead of around it, if not for the fact they have no way of telling how far the wall stretches in each direction

* HilariousInHindsight: The fact that there's a character named ""[[LeetLingo Woot]]" might be funny to some modern readers.

* HoYay: If you got your goggles strapped down tight, Scarecrow and Tin Man definitely apply. At one point, Tin Man ''princess carries'' him. They are prone to touching and generally standing close together.
* {{Moe}}: Dorothy

* {{Sequelitis}}: Baum wrote thirteen more books about Oz. While some were quite good, a lot just got very formulaic; Baum did want to writer other books but none of them where very successful, so he was stuck writing Oz books to please the public.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The MGM movie adaptation is ''much'' better known than the Oz books. Some of the more recent ''sequels'' to ''The Wizard of Oz'' -- such as ''Literature/{{Wicked}}''[[note]]though it contains a lot of book references and features some book characters[[/note]] and ''Film/OzTheGreatAndPowerful'' -- are based on the movie and not the book version.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: 'The Dainty China Country' chapter in the original book features Dorothy and her companions finding a town where the houses, animals, and citizens are all made out of china. Some, such as the accident-prone clown, Mr. [[NamesTheSame Joker]], have been broken and mended several times. Nothing of any relevance to the story happens here -- the china citizens neither help nor hinder the protagonists -- and after Dorothy and her friends leave, it's never mentioned again. It's more or less accepted that it only exists to lengthen the journey from point A to point B. It would make you wonder why they bothered to go over the wall instead of around it, if not for the fact they have no way of telling how far the wall stretches in each direction.
* BrokenBase: The fandom is largely split between fans of the books and fans of the MGM movie. And that's not counting residents of the former Soviet Union, whose experience comes mostly from Volkov's adaptation, ''Literature/TalesOfTheMagicLand''.

* {{Fanon}}: Other authors have given the names "Elphaba", "Evillene" and "Bastinda" for the Wicked Witch of the West in their versions of Oz.

* NightmareFuel:
** How the Tin Man got his parts, or rather, how he lost them. Also, when he meets up with his ''disembodied head.'' His ''former'' and ''sentient'' disembodied head; as he has a tin replacement now.
** When the Wicked Witch commands her airborne simian lackeys to destroy the Tin Woodsman and the Scarecrow and Dorothy and make the Cowardly Lion into her prisoner.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: 'The Dainty China Country' chapter in the original book features Dorothy and her companions finding a town where the houses, animals, and citizens are all made out of china. Some, such as the accident-prone clown, Mr. [[NamesTheSame Joker]], have been broken and mended several times. Nothing of any relevance to the story happens here -- the china citizens neither help nor hinder the protagonists -- and after Dorothy and her friends leave, it's never mentioned again. It's more or less accepted that it only exists to lengthen the journey from point A to point B. It does make you wonder why they bothered to go over the wall instead of around it, as would be sensible.
** To be fair, they have no way of telling how far the wall stretches in each direction, and they're trying to get to Glinda in the southern portion of Oz as quickly as possible. Add in that they've just had to fight through the Fighting Trees to get there, and you can't really blame them for wanting to take a straight-line path.

* {{Sequelitis}}: Baum wrote thirteen more books about Oz. While some were quite good, a lot just got very formulaic.

* AwesomeMusic: Both the Japanese and English openings.

* AdaptationDisplacement: The MGM movie adaptation is ''much'' better known than the Oz books. Some of the more recent ''sequels'' to ''The Wizard of Oz'' -- such as ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'' (though it contains a lot of book references and features some book characters) -- are based on the movie and not the book version.