AI Reveals What Wizard Of Oz Characters 'Should' Look Like

To visualize the Wizard of Oz is to imagine a giant floating head yelling at Judy Garland and her pals in the beloved 1939 classic. In fact, just about every character in that movie is the go-to template whenever we revisit that world somewhere over the rainbow, but they don't all necessarily line up with the versions introduced in L. Frank Baum's books. To help clear things up, AI enthusiast Screen AI on YouTube has given the closest depiction of characters from Oz as Baum described, and many of them are a far cry from the classical molds we're familiar with.

While Judy Garland's Dorothy wears the blue and white dress that we always associate with the girl from Kansas, it's still a little off from Baum's ruby-slipper wearing hero. That gingham get-up comes with a pink bonnet, and Dorothy is described as having huge "blue sapphire eyes," unlike Garland. Additionally, the Scarecrow is overstuffed with straw and has blue buttons for eyes, sharing characteristics more akin to something from Jim Henson's world than the one played by Ray Bolger. As for Oz himself, he looks more like Geri from "Toy Story 2" (and star of one of the best Pixar shorts ever, "Geri's Game") than the silver-haired trickster. However, in the case of the villain of our story and Dorothy's ax-wielding protector, they're very different to what we're familiar with, but more in line with Baum's original vision than you'd expect.

We know that Cynthia Erivo plays the starring role of the Wicked Witch in "Wicked," however, Margaret Hamilton's iconic turn opposite Judy Garland will always be the image audiences conjure. The most notable feature that has repeatedly appeared is the witch's bright green skin, but this was never the case in the books. Baum describes the witch as having one eye that was as powerful as a telescope and having three pigtails. She also was in possession of a Golden Cap, a magical bit of headgear that allows her to call upon the winged monkeys, which did make their way into live-action and become children's nightmare fuel for decades. 

While this version from Screen AI might look more like Daryl Hannah in the Kill Bill movies, the witch from Baum's Oz was sometimes even depicted as being a cyclops. While pretty minimal in breaking down Dorothy's first foe during her time in Oz, it's the addition of her pea green skin that was never a factor in the original story. The detail may have been added in for the technicolor movie magic applied in the film, as prior to Hamilton's performance, witches were often portrayed as orange or red. Decades later, the witch's skin color is so ingrained into the character that it actually becomes a plot point in "Wicked." Hers isn't the only origin lost over time, either. The Tin Man was another Oz local whose unsettling appearance has been forgotten.

Flying monkeys might have scarred childhoods thanks to director Victor Fleming's color-switching classic, but the truth behind one of Dorothy's travelling pals might have kept youngsters up at night as well. Looking like something from a Clive Barker short story, this AI Tin Man might be more in line with Baum's original idea of a metal man than we're used to, mainly because he was a real man before he fell under the Witch's spell. Tin Woodsman (as named in the books) was originally a human man by the name of Nick Chopper, who caught the attention of the wrong woman. After falling in love with a servant of the Wicked Witch, she cursed his ax as punishment. The result was him chopping off his own arm, forcing him to have it replaced with a tin one.

The horror didn't stop there either. His entire body is transformed to metal, and he doesn't have a heart, so he never rekindled his romance with his former flame. With all that in mind, the mechanical-looking man in the AI video might actually line up better than what we've seen before in all the wrong ways. Should the upcoming "Wicked" do more than just enchant "Wizard of Oz" fans, maybe it could reignite an interest in the world of Oz, in which case we might need to prepare ourselves for seeing these monsters making an appearance.