I am – Hercules!!

A sci-fi version of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” -- from the producers of SciFi’s “Flash Gordon” and the veteran TV writing team of Craig W. Van Sickle and Steve Long Mitchell (“The Pretender,” “She Spies”) – “Tin Man” is a six-hour miniseries about a hot Kansas waitress who finds herself transported to an alternate dimension called “The O.Z.” It stars Zooey Deschanel as “DG,” Kathleen Robertson (who looks a lot like a brunette Kristen Bell) as the witchy “Azkadelia,” Richard Dreyfuss as the wizardly “Mystic Man,” Raoul Trujillo as the furry and cowardly “Raw,” Alan Cumming as the brains-challenged “Glitch,” and Neal McDonough as the hard-hearted title character.

The reviews are not the greatest. Why SciFi continues to greenlight stuff like “Tin Man” and “Flash Gordon” instead of Ron Moore’s “Galactica” prequel “Caprica” or a sequel to the superb “Lost Room” quite vexes the imagination. (For the record, if anybody decides to stick the arresting Deschanel in “Caprica” or “The Other Lost Room,” you’ll hear no complaints from these quarters.)

Entertainment Weekly gives “Tin Man” a “C-plus” and says:

… Robertson's heaving bodice is her most expressive aspect; this miniseries needed a villain with a wicked sense of humor, but she and the rest of Tin Man are dour and punitive. There's violence and torture courtesy of Azkadellia's Nazi-like ''Longcoat'' brigade. And there's the overworked theme of abandonment …

TV Guide says:

… more of a lavishly quirky curiosity than a keeper. …

USA Today gives it two and a half stars (out of four) and says:

… Ambitious and intriguing though it may be, Tin Man is simply too long, too grim and too determined to impose a Lord of the Rings universe-saving quest on top of a simpler, gentler story. No offense to Kansas, but any Oz film that makes you long for Dorothy to get back to that farm is a film in serious need of lightening up.

The New York Times says:

… A big, sonorous dungeons-and-dragons affair that seems at every moment to call attention to its epicness, “Tin Man” would have benefited above all from more minimizing. It runs over three nights and is too long by a few hours. …

The Los Angeles Times says:

… To say that "Tin Man" is not as good as its near-perfect models is not to damn it, even faintly. Like Sci Fi's "Flash Gordon" update -- which the Halmis also produce and which it resembles far more than it does "The Wizard of Oz" -- it's a good-looking, entertaining fantasy adventure, with a cast that is easy to spend time with. I can see where Deschanel's sleepy delivery (quite like her sister Emily's, over on Fox's "Bones") might not work on everyone, but I find her excellent company, and Alan Cumming is sweet in the Ray Bolger mode as the Scarecrow-substitute, Glitch. …

The Washington Post says:

… If the filmmakers had themselves a heap of fun putting this mishmosh together, that doesn't come through in the finished work. The pacing is largely funereal, with characters such as that meanie-Queenie not having much to do but stand around posing. In the crucial role of DG, however, Zooey Deschanel (daughter of gifted director and cinematographer Caleb Deschanel) is saucy and captivating and has seductively expressive eyes. …

The Chicago Tribune says:

… "Tin Man's" heart is in the right place, even if the execution of the story evokes, from time to time, creakiness of the metal man's limbs. Among the more winning aspects about this fanciful mini-series are its propulsive plot and the way it rearranges key elements of Baum's tale. If it's not as complex or slickly executed as the most ambitious cable fare, "Tin Man," which arrives as the TV season heads into its rerun-filled doldrums, provides a colorful, imaginative, popcorn-friendly serial -- with all the flying monkeys you could ever want. …

The Chicago Sun-Times says:

… The dialogue is utilitarian, except when it's "Dungeons and Dragons" cliche, like: "We're travelers of the realms seeking a warm meal and a cold cup of grog. ... May your hearth be warm." Puke. The actors look rushed to stay on production schedule. The direction and camera shots are workaday. The pace of "Tin Man" reminds me of tortured, role-playing video games … at six hours, it feels four hours too long. So if you're interested, record it and watch it on fast-forward. You can hit pause for the evil flying monkey boobs.

The San Diego Union-Tribune says:

… the only magical thing about “Tin Man” is its amazing ability to make six hours pass like six days. … Neither the scripts nor the colorless directing do the actresses any favors, but without an empathetic heroine to love and a fire-breathing villainess to loathe, “Tin Man” is just a rattletrap special-effects vehicle on its way to nowhere. Feel free to let it wheeze on down the road without you.

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says:

… As long as we get a good time out of it, darkness is a welcome guest and the first night of this miniseries keeps that end of the bargain, starting with our introduction to DG (Zooey Deschanel). … Night two, the tale loses its spirited humor and tumbles into the minutiae of DG's obscure past. "Tin Man" is an example of what happens when a story that should be told in two nights, and four hours, is stretched out to three and six. …

The San Jose Mercury News says:

… there is a distinct lack of emotional oomph emanating from this dark, disjointed and humorless miniseries, which too often seems preoccupied with special-effects magic and oh-aren't-we-clever twists on Baum's characters. As a result, you might want to take a pass on this particular Oz fest. …

The Knoxville News Sentinel says:

… can never truly stand on its own. In attempting to do something different with a classic, "Tin Man" has virtually lost its soul. The miniseries has no fun with its situation and no spark of playfulness. Instead, it's merely stark, moody and cold. And when that can be said of "Oz," then why bother?…

The Boston Globe says:

… a dour retelling of the L. Frank Baum story, and it just keeps sinking further and further into pointless thematic complexity and visual density. A test of viewer endurance, this effects-bound miniseries is a hollow tin man in need of a beating heart.

The Hollywood Reporter says:

… while the preening and the chewed scenery from the cast are at times glorious to behold, there is no substance to wrap our heads around, no one to really root for. It's just a peculiar, occasionally arresting and wholly funky attempt to bring a measure of contemporary fantasy/sci-fi hip to a tale we want to be neither hip nor self-aware. But trust me that the thing is every ounce a thinly veiled "Wizard of Oz" update. If it only had a brain, a heart and the nerve. …

Variety says:

… a bit of a mess. Sci Fi has done well with minis in December, but despite the intriguing concept three consecutive nights of this adventure falls several Yellow Bricks shy of a load. … does weave in an endless assortment of puns and knowing asides, including a few that appear directly aimed at Friends of Dorothy. Ultimately, though, that's small compensation for embarking on this extended journey. … if it only had a brain.

9 p.m. Sunday, Monday & Tuesday. SciFi.

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