‘Tin Man’ reinterprets Baum’s Oz for new era

It takes nerve to update a children’s classic loved by millions.

Writers Stephen Long Mitchell and Craig W. Van Sickle have that daring in spades, creating “Tin Man,” the miniseries that updates “The Wizard of Oz” for a new millennium. The six-hour event debuts at 9 p.m. Sunday on SciFi, continuing on Monday and Tuesday at the same time.

If anybody is going to carry (perhaps with monkey bats) Dorothy and company into the 21st century, it’s partners Mitchell and Van Sickle, best known for the imaginative NBC drama “The Pretender.” Their willing accomplice in this caper is British director Nick Willing, who has previously helmed live-action versions of “Alice in Wonderland” and “Jason and the Argonauts.”

They had the wisdom to go in a totally new direction in this re-imagining of L. Frank Baum’s “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.”

“Tin Man” isn’t a musical (no going over the rainbow or easin’ on down the road). It’s not a technicolored thrill ride.

Still, the miniseries holds the proper reverence for what came before, with familiar characters and places popping up in whole guise.

As “Tin Man” opens, viewers meet DG (Zooey Deschanel), a waitress and artist living in the rural Midwest who has been haunted by dreams of a faraway land. A freak tornado throws her into the Outer Zone (or the O.Z.).

Looking for her parents, DG makes friends along the way. The zipper-headed Glitch (Alan Cumming) had his brain removed by the evil sorceress Azkadelia (Kathleen Robertson) and wants it back. The titular “tin man,” ex-cop Wyatt Cain (Neal McDonough), is seeking his “heart,” his wife and son who were taken by the sorceress’ storm troopers. Empathic half-wolverine Raw (Raoul Trujillo) needs courage. Toto (Blu Mankema) turns out to be someone from DG’s past, a shape-shifter who spends much of his time in the form of a little dog. They also receive help from the drug-addled Mystic Man (Richard Dreyfuss).

All end up going on a quest for the Emerald of the Eclipse, sought by Azkadelia to power a secret weapon she has built. The gem’s location is buried deep in DG’s subconscious.

The Oz (or O.Z.) of this miniseries is a darker, more frightening place than the setting of the classic film. But doesn’t that truly reflect today’s world at large?

Yet, “Tin Man” works because the essence of Baum’s novel comes through, with family and friendship triumphing over evil. It’s a timeless message that lives on.