WIZARDS (1977)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *marvelous*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *metaphysical, sociological*

Ralph Bakshi asserted that he read Tolkien's THE LORD OF THE RINGS in the late fifties, roughly ten years before American paperbacks turned the Oxford don into a counterculture phenomenon. The future animation-king also read voluminously in other fantasy and SF books of the time, and claimed that he made many sketches of fantasy concepts over the years. But due to his interest in animation, it would be some time before Bakshi could indulge his science-fantasy bug, as there was no room for it in low-budget TV cartoons. The closest Bakshi could come to fantasy were his knockabout spoofs of familiar genres like superspies (JAMES HOUND) and superheroes (THE MIGHTY HEROES). 

Bakshi did however bring many comics and fantasy pros in to work under him at the Paramount animation unit, such as Wally Wood, Jim Steranko, and Lin Carter (who in 1969 would attempt to build on the popularity of Tolkien by launching Ballantine's Adult Fantasy line). RINGS had also sparked more interest in original paperback fantasy-novels and in the use of fantasy-imagery by rock musicians, which may have encouraged Bakshi to attempt selling CBS a series with a fantasy-concept in 1967. Ten years later, this idea was reworked into 1977's WIZARDS, which displays elements of the previous two phases of Bakshi's career-- knockabout comedy and gritty urban satire-- and of a third phase, culminating in his next-year adaptation of THE LORD OF THE RINGS.

Whereas the Tolkien epic took place in a medieval world dominated by a hierarchy of magical beings, Bakshi sets his adventure on a distant future-Earth that's been decimated by nuclear war. There had been many post-apocalyptic books and movies prior to WIZARDS, but I am not aware of any pre-1977 works in which nuclear annihilation brings about a rebirth of magical entities. But after two million years of nuclear pollution, Earth is inhabited by the remnants of humanity, who are largely mutants, and three magical races that have mysteriously resurfaced: fairies, elves, and dwarfs.

Then, as if to signal the end of three thousand years of peace between the various survivors, the queen of the fairies gives birth to two boys, born at the same time but in no way resembling one another. Avatar is a cherubic lad with a kind heart; Blackwolf is a cruel, twisted being who seeks to dominate others. A magical duel between the two brothers results in Blackwolf fleeing the fairy lands to mutant domains.

For several more centuries, Blackwolf can't stir the mutants into attacking the faery-folk-- until he comes across a cache of ancient Nazi propaganda films. Somehow the evil wizard finds a way to play the films for the mutants, and the rants of Adolf Hitler turn malingering mutants into determined storm troopers. 

Thus Bakshi sets up a basic "magic vs. technology" paradigm, with "technology" largely in a negative role, in contrast to a lot of prose science fiction. Avatar, now a very old wizard with very big feet (that some say he borrowed from the Cheech Wizard), tries to figure out some way to cope with the blitzkreig-like attacks of Blackwolf's mutant forces. In this he is aided by two younger faery-folk: elf warrior Weehawk and magically-potent fairy-princess Elinore. A third ally is made from an enemy, for when a robot sent by Blackwolf slays Elinore's father, Avatar reprograms the robot to help their cause, renaming the creature "Peace." (The four heroes are seen in the screenshot above.)

WIZARDS is very episodically plotted-- not surprising given that Bakshi wrote the script in two weeks-- so there's no point in dilating on specific plot movements. Whereas the Fellowship of the Ring has possession of a prize desired by their enemy, which they must destroy, Avatar and his friends must figure out how to undermine Blackwolf's progress while also seeking to forge alliances with various faery kingdoms-- not very successfully, at that. 

Given that Bakshi had made much more comedy than adventure, the most memorable moments of WIZARDS are not the standard tropes of epic fantasy, like Weehawk's duel with a huge monster. Rather, the comic scenes show Bakshi working to his strengths. In one scene, a trio of faerie priests (who look like Hasidic Jews) seek to stall enemy troops with various religious rigamaroles. In another, an irate Blackwolf trooper screams at the heavens over the killing of his fellow soldier, and when he yells about "those stinking lousy fairies," clearly a 1977 audience would hear his rants a little differently. In one scene Bakshi does try to make Avatar slightly two-dimensional by having him go a little crazy when he thinks Elinore dead, but it's the only such moment in the film. Voice-actor Bob Holt gives Avatar a sardonic "Peter Falk" tonality, and the character's jokey nature is on display when Avatar casts a spell that sounds like "Krenkel Morrow Frazetta," naming three of the foremost fantasy-illustrators of the seventies.

Still, the adventure-mood dominates the plot even though Bakshi's comic stylings are his strongest asset. Though the "magic vs. technology" opposition is overly simplistic, many post-apocalyptic works suggest that some new Eden will be born from the devastation of materialistic society, and so Bakshi's basic concept of having a magical fantasy subsume the old corrupt world of technology has an aesthetic appeal. Two coincidences: the same year WIZARDS appeared in limited theaters, Terry Brooks published SWORD OF SHANNARA. This fantasy-novel also dealt with a magical world arising after a nuclear conflagration, and that book became the first fantasy-novel to make the New York Times bestseller list, arguably cementing the presence of prose fantasy in pop culture. And there was also a 1977 movie of some significance. It didn't involve nuclear war, but it did have super-psychic priests in contention with a technological civilization. That obscure movie starred Mark Hamill, who by a third coincidence also has a small voice-role in Ralph Bakshi's WIZARDS.