Emerald City: An Oz Fanedit

In an ideal world, I would have enough time to run a smuggling empire from my prison cell, watch every TV show that interests me, and still get seven hours of sleep every night, but the crushing truth is that I don't have an evil henchman/vice president to assist in these endeavors. Oz is one of those shows that sounds damned good, but watching all of it is daunting as fuck. That's why Gatos's TV-to-movie edit feels as liberating as an early release from hard time. It condenses the story of Tobias Beecher into a tight arc, and evaluating the edit on its own terms, without comparing it to the first season from which it was assembled, I find the narrative coherent and gripping, hellish and darkly comic. The supporting characters—Schillinger, Augustus Hill, Ryan, Sister Reimondo—serve in this edit to flesh out Beecher's story as he grows survival balls.

Nowhere in this edit does Gatos stray from Beecher's tale. Solid construction, as if it were a stand-alone piece released by HBO itself. As a bonus, you also get the unique HBOish intro with the Gatos moniker, a stamp of quality and an indicator of the shady-good entertainment to come. Now excuse me as I return to scraping away the concrete behind my bed.

Enjoyjoy: 10 out of 10 ankle grabs.

Great job! Thanks Gatos!

higgins jul 22 2011

As an Oz fan, I really enjoyed this edit. Gives the full arc of the Beacher storyline in the first season. Spotted just one awkward shot… Beacher having flashbacks in the hole. I’m sure it was a necessary recap in the show, being a series with multiple viewpoints, several storylines and all, but it felt unnecessary and repetitive in the movie as all the events were still fresh in the viewer’s mind. The end credits looked a bit raw, too, but the movie itself was 9/10 for me.

Review by Brumous — July 13, 2011 @ 6:01 PM

Grim, brutal, and unrelenting like the original, this is a story of one man’s descent into prison hell. The hardest job with a TV series fanedit is taking the “raw material”, which is a serial format, and giving it the shape and structure of a movie. Gatos has accomplished this admirably and Emerald City has a well crafted introduction, character development arc, and climax. Sometimes this means that plot threads and characters are introduced and then ignored, but on balance it is a good editing decision to tolerate some of that in order to make the scene selection and sequencing feel right.

Beecher’s story is more disturbing and repellant when consolidated this way, so the narration that gives variety and perspective to the story is welcome, and the timing and amount of narration is good. The cuts throughout the edit flow exceedingly well, and the edit creates a real sense of forward development, even though the episodic feel is not entirely removed. A thought provoking and fairly horrifying experience. 9/10.