Originally this was Filmation's tribute to celebrate the Wizard of Oz's 40th Anniversary in 1979, but it came out a bit later for the Holidays. The original broadcast had live segments with Bill Cosby playing as the Wizard to help connect scenes in the film.

As the name suggests, Dorothy and Toto get caught once more by a cyclone in Kansas (okay, tornado for you purists) and winds up in OZ once again.

Attempting to make her way to the Emerald City, she takes a wrong turn and comes across a menacing looking cottage, where a crow (voiced by Mel Blanc) entices Dorothy to look into a cauldron (because THAT'S always an exceptional idea), and discovers (believe it or not) green elephants cooking.

Before she can leave, she is confronted by Mombi, who apparently was kin to the former Wicked Witch of the West. Apparently Mombi wants her revenge by unleashing her green elephant horde upon the Emerald City and overthrow the Scarecrow.

Fortunately Dorothy escapes with the help of Pumpkinhead (and NO, not the monster), who was brought to life by Mombi herself as a slave. Though they attempt to warn the Scarecrow in Emerald City, Mombi takes over and imprisons him and Toto, with Dorothy and Pumpkinhead nearly escaping with the help of the Wooden Horse from a carousel.

Naturally, Dorothy seeks help from Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, but their fears of what these elephants could do to them make them bow out, but they suggest to see Glinda, the Good Witch of the North.

Naturally, Glinda has learned about the situation from her 'Lookie' Bird and does provide Dorothy some help in the form of a small white box. They store the box in the Wooden Horse's compartment and set out, but as typical fashion.. thanks to her crystal ball, Mombi attempts to stop them with a wicked forest. Unable to open the horse's compartment, Dorothy and Pumpkinhead are at the mercy of the trees.. until Glinda sends a golden axe to help them out.

Now before you think Dorothy's going to go all Jason Voorhees on those trees, the golden axe doesn't kill them (remember this was still the age of HEAVILY CENSORED entertainment). Instead when it strikes a tree, it transforms them into giggly-golden trees. No seriously..

Anyway, to sum up, Dorothy and the crew head back to the Emerald City, open the box, which releases White Mice .. because Elephants fear them.. and Mombi's plan folds faster than a house of cards.

In a desperate attempt to escape, she transforms herself into a rose for some reason.. not exactly the sharpest knife in the drawer.. only to meet her demise by the rampaging elephants.. yes, Mombi gets destroyed by her own creation, like Victor Franken-what's-his-name...

So as a result, the elephant's fade and Emerald City is restored, but the celebration is short-lived as Pumpkinhead gets reverted back into a lifeless pumpkin. Sad, Dorothy is visited by Glinda, who claims she cannot save Pumpkinhead because he was an enchantment of Mombi's (sort of a Bewitched rule, huh? She can make a mind-blowing golden axe, mice from a box, but not reanimate a pumpkin.. strange). So they revert to the tear thing, as Dorothy's tear magically revives Pumpkinhead.

The story ends when Glinda creates a tornado to send Dorothy and Toto back to Kansas.. and afterwards, you'll be whispering like Bill, 'seriously, what the hell what that?'

So why should RiffTrax dare animate this odd sequel of sorts?

1) The odd cast of thousands: Because this was supposed to be sort of an anniversary special, Filmation had actually obtained many famous actors to play the characters. Most notable was Liza Minnelli, who was Judy Garland's daughter, to play Dorothy. As well as Paul Lynde as Pumpkinhead, and Ethel Merman as Mombi.. speaking of 'witch..'

2) Ethel Merman's hilarious, 'Be a Witch' song. Though the movie is fraught with many songs at the drop of a hat. The most memorable tune is Merman belting out this odd tune on how she became a witch, and how her ancestor had poisoned a town by slipping them a mickey in their punch.

3) The odd mashup of OZ character, and non-canon. If you thought the Dr. Who films were completely non-cannon, Journey Back to OZ has nothing on this, since Mombi and Jack Pumpkinhead were originally character from the second OZ book, but here it's like Filmation just threw away the book itself and went with there own thing. Though the original characters make an appearance, only the Scarecrow has more screen time than them since he's the leader of the Emerald City for some reason.

BONUS REASON: If you can find an original masters, the Bill Cosby segments were hilarious for the fact they sort of tie and interact with the film, though a bit odd at times. Otherwise, you'll probably get the one where Milton Berle is viewing it from a monitor and does his own rendition of MST3K and RiffTrax before their time.

Overall, this one is a classic for the fact it was a strange attempt by Filmation to produce a direct-to-tv film honoring the Wizard of OZ, but it really ends up making about as much sense as Fun in Balloonland. Though I couldn't find the whole film on YouTube, I've submitted the playlist for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FwQCfCSjOns&list=PLrYnZQqREIHH_RhkhVx-uYuWrZE2ycpaO

Hope you enjoy it.