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Billina | |
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Oz character | |
First appearance | Ozma of Oz (1907) |
Created by | L. Frank Baum |
Portrayed by | Mak Wilson ( Return to Oz ) |
Voiced by | Denise Bryer (Return to Oz) |
In-universe information | |
Alias | Bill |
Species | Chicken |
Gender | Female |
Children | multiple Dorothys and Daniels |
Billina is a fictional character in the classic children's series of Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. She is introduced in Ozma of Oz (1907). [1]
In Ozma of Oz, Billina becomes Dorothy Gale's animal companion after she and the girl are on a small ship and are thrown overboard. Dorothy was traveling on an ocean voyage to Australia with her Uncle Henry when a violent storm hit, thus tossing the ship over the waves. The two wash up on the uncharted shores of the enchanted country of Ev in a chicken coop they had taken refuge in. Billina serves in this adventure the role that Dorothy's pet dog Toto served in the first Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).
A spunky, sassy and talkative chicken, Billina was originally named Bill because, she tells Dorothy, "no one could tell whether I was going to be a hen or a rooster". Dorothy insists on changing the hen's name to a feminine form. Billina endures several scares with the Kansas farm girl before they defeat the Nome King as only a hen can since eggs are poisonous to Nomes. At the end of the novel, Billina settles in the Emerald City in the magical Land of Oz.
In The Road to Oz (1909), Billina accompanies Tik-Tok in welcoming Dorothy, Shaggy Man, Button-Bright, and Polychrome to Oz. Billina is later present at Princess Ozma's royal birthday party.
Later books reveal that Billina has hatched many chicks (their father unknown). She names all of them Dorothy after her young friend. Gender confusion reappears, however, and the proud mother discovers that some of those chicks will be "horrid roosters"; she changes the males' names to Daniel.
One of Baum's earliest books described raising Hamburg chickens, and he drew on that expertise in depicting Billina.
Billina appears in The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays (1908) with the credit "The Yellow Hen as Herself". Presumably a real hen was used in this lost film, as a real dog was used for Toto, also credited with playing himself.
In Disney's Return to Oz (1985), Billina is a main character. She is an animatronic puppet performed by Mak Wilson and voiced by Denise Bryer. Like the books, Billina arrived in the Land of Oz with Dorothy Gale. Later on, she hides in Jack Pumpkinhead's head. During the final battle against the Nome King in his monstrous form, Billina unintentionally lays an egg which falls into the Nome King's mouth enough to kill him. When Princess Ozma is crowned, upon being freed from the mirror by Dorothy, Billina elects to remain in the Land of Oz.
Billina appears in Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz . She is depicted as a red hen whose clucking can be understood by Scarecrow and is often seen inside Tin Man's chest compartment.
The Emerald City of Oz is the sixth of L. Frank Baum's fourteen Land of Oz books. It was also adapted into a Canadian animated film in 1987. Originally published on July 20, 1910, it is the story of Dorothy Gale and her Uncle Henry and Aunt Em coming to live in Oz permanently. While they are toured through the Quadling Country, the Nome King is assembling allies for an invasion of Oz. This is the first time in the Oz series that Baum made use of double plots for one of the books.
The Road to Oz is the fifth of L. Frank Baum's Land of Oz books. It was originally published on July 10, 1909 and documents the adventures of Dorothy Gale's fourth visit to the Land of Oz.
Ozma of Oz: A Record of Her Adventures with Dorothy Gale of Kansas, Billina the Yellow Hen, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion and the Hungry Tiger; Besides Other Good People Too Numerous to Mention Faithfully Recorded Herein, published on July 30, 1907, was the official third book of L. Frank Baum's Oz series. It was the first in which Baum was clearly intending a series of Oz books.
Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his Oz novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels. In addition, she is the main character in various adaptations, notably the classic 1939 film adaptation of the novel, The Wizard of Oz.
Tik-Tok of Oz is the eighth Land of Oz book written by L. Frank Baum, published on June 19, 1914. The book has little to do with Tik-Tok and is primarily the quest of the Shaggy Man to rescue his brother, and his resulting conflict with the Nome King.
Princess Ozma is a fictional character from the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum. She appears in every book of the Oz series except the first, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).
The Land of Oz is a magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.
Return to Oz is a 1985 dark fantasy film released by Walt Disney Pictures, co-written and directed by Walter Murch. It stars Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, and Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale in her first screen role. The film is an unofficial sequel to the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film The Wizard of Oz, and it is based on L. Frank Baum's early 20th century Oz novels, mainly Ozma of Oz (1907). In the plot, an insomniac Dorothy returns to the Land of Oz to find it has been conquered by the wicked Nome King and his accomplice Princess Mombi. Dorothy must restore Oz with her new friends Billina, Tik-Tok, Jack Pumpkinhead, and the Gump.
The Deadly Desert is the magical desert in Nonestica that completely surrounds the fictional Land of Oz, which cuts it off from the rest of the world.
The Nome King is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is introduced in Baum's third Oz book Ozma of Oz (1907). He also appears in many of the continuing sequel Oz novels also written by Baum. Although the character of the Wicked Witch of the West is the most notable and famous Oz villain, it is actually the Nome King who is the most frequent antagonist throughout the entire book series.
Polychrome is a cloud fairy and the youngest daughter of the Rainbow, thus she is a "sky princess". She first appears in The Road to Oz (1909), which is the fifth book of the original fourteen Oz books by American author by L. Frank Baum. She also appears several times in later Oz stories of the classic series, and has a title role in the modern sequel Polychrome: A Romantic Fantasy by Ryk E. Spoor.
Mombi is a fictional character in L. Frank Baum's classic children's series of Oz Books. She is the most significant antagonist in the second Oz book The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), and is alluded to in other works. Mombi plays a very important role in the fictional history of Oz.
Aunt Em is a fictional character from the Oz books. She is the aunt of Dorothy Gale and wife of Uncle Henry, and lives together with them on a farm in Kansas. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, she is described as having been a "young, pretty wife" when she arrived at Uncle Henry's farm, but having been "grayed" by her life there, implying that she appears older than her years. Baum tells us that when Dorothy first came to live with her, Em would "scream and press her hand upon her heart" when startled by Dorothy's laughter, and she appears emotionally distant to her at the beginning of the story. However, after Dorothy is restored to her at the end of the book, we see her true nature: she cries out, "My darling child!" and covers her with kisses.
Uncle Henry is a fictional character from The Oz Books by L. Frank Baum. He is the uncle of Dorothy Gale and husband of Aunt Em, and lived with them on a farm in Kansas.
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, known in Japan as Ozu no Mahōtsukai, is a Japanese anime television series adaptation based on four of the original early 20th century Oz books by L. Frank Baum. In Japan, the series aired on TV Tokyo from 1986 to 1987. It consists of 52 episodes, which explain other parts of the Oz stories, including the events that happened after Dorothy returned home.
Dorothy Meets Ozma of Oz is a 1987 direct-to-video animated short film introduced by Michael Gross of Family Ties. It is based on the 1907 novel Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum.
Dorothy of Oz is a 1989 children's novel written by L. Frank Baum's great-grandson Roger S. Baum. The book details Dorothy Gale returning to the Land of Oz when a Jester has been using the wand of the Wicked Witch of the West to take over the Land of Oz. The book was adapted into a film called Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return in 2014 by Clarius Entertainment.
Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz is an American animated children's television series loosely based on L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its subsequent books, as well as its 1939 film adaptation. The series debuted on Boomerang SVOD on June 29, 2017. The series was picked up for the second and third seasons. The series ended on July 31, 2020, lasting for three years.