Dorothy and her profound journey of self-discovery with the Scarecrow, the Tin Man, the Cowardly Lion, and her little dog Toto have long ascended to the level of cultural myth. Now, the editors at LIFE celebrate yet another decade of its vivid life and influence with this special, commemorative issue, ‘The Wizard of Oz: A Timeless Film Turns 80.’ Begin with “The Eternal Oz,” an extensive and insightful essay by Richard Corliss that goes

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When a cyclone hits Kansas, Dorothy and her little dog Toto, are whisked away to the magical land of Oz. All alone in this strange world, they wonder how they'll ever get home. With their new friends, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman and the Cowardly Lion, they brave many dangers and journey to the Emerald City in search of the Wonderful Wizard to ask him for his help.

Dorothy's aunt and uncle get acquainted with Oz after they lose their farm and Ozma invites them to live with her.

After a terrible storm capsizes their boat, Cap'n Bill and Trot find themselves in the magical land of Oz where they meet an Ork, the Bumpy Man, and Button-Bright, and eventually arrive in Jinxland, part of the Quadling Country of Oz. But things are not as they seem in Jinxland, where the terrible King Krewl has frozen the Princess Gloria's heart. Glinda sends the Scarecrow to help Trot, Bill, Button-Bright, and the Ork set everything aright. The...

While trying to prevent a war between the Skeezers and the Flatheads, Ozma and Dorothy find themselves prisoners on the former's underwater island in a remote corner of the Land of Oz. Only their guard, the war-queen Coo-ee-oh, knows how to raise the island back to the surface, but when she's transformed into a swan and loses her magic, Glinda the Good Witch must figure out how to raise the island and rescue her friends. Glinda of Oz is the fourteenth,...

Tip and his creation, Jack Pumpkinhead, travel in Oz, where they save Oz from the evil witch Mombi.

Ojo the Unlucky, a Munchkin boy raised in isolation in the Blue Forest by his taciturn Unc Nunkie, finds himself setting out on a quest through the wider world of Oz in this seventh entry in L. Frank Baum's series about that magical country. The reader accompanies Ojo, the Glass Cat and the Patchwork Girl on a journey to find five magic items in the wonderful Land of Oz to restore to life Ojo's Uncle Nunkie and the Crooked Magician's wife, Margolotte,...

The Shaggy Man goes searching for his brother Tik-Tok as warlike royals stir up trouble in this imaginative adventure in the Oz series. When Queen Ann of Oogaboo raises an army to take over Oz, Gilda the Good magically rearranges their path to send them into a fog. Meanwhile, the Shaggy Man has gone in search of his brother Tik-Tok, who's been tossed into a well by the wicked Nome King. On his journey, the Shaggy Man encounters Betsy Bobbin of Oklahoma,...