I'm glad that I didn't listen to this one back when it originally came out, as I was in political overload listening to all my co-workers talk about politics non-stop, and refusing to listen to anyone's political opinions that conflict with their own. (None of that is Podcastle's fault, of course)
I like when a story carries a message, but for me to like it the story has to come first. The story has to exist as an entertaining story without considering the message, which in this case it did not. Subtle political messages, sure, but this one carried a bludgeon (like the Moon over 1600, or whatever, at Pseudopod did).
And I disliked the Lord of the Rings usage for reasons others have already stated. I think it was eytanz who said that it seemed more like it was written by someone who had heard of LotR than anyone who was really inspired by LotR. So, instead of a tribute or a parody, it just struck me as swiping the famous character name simply to draw in the readers.
Rachel asked those who objected to the use of Tolkien here if they also objected to Maguire's Wicked. I hated Wicked (the novel), but not at all for the same reasons as I disliked the LotR usage here. I thought the idea for Wicked was pure genius. It didn't try to make me love the Wicked Witch unconditionally, only to help me understand her, and it tried to do so while (mostly) not mucking around with the events of Baum's original story. The trouble for me is that Baum's Witch didn't seem particularly evil, but Maguire convinces me that his version is truly a bad person especially with her actions towards the boy. The play is an entirely different story from the novel (loved it!). And since one of my two published stories is a retelling of the Wizard of Oz with some of the characters drastically altered, it's obvious that I can't knock anybody simply for using a pre-existing world (insert expression about throwing stones and glass houses). Anyway, enough Oz ramble, though for those of you who might be interested, I wrote some editorials about Oz a while back.
Wizard vs. Witch: Who's the Real Villain?
Examines the roles in Baum's original story--I'd say the Wizard is clearly the villain, despite popular.
http://www.diabolicalplots.com/?p=184Wicked--Novel vs. Musical
http://www.diabolicalplots.com/?p=187A joint review of both the musical and the novel, what I loved and what I hated.