I was probably five years old the first time I watched The Wizard of Oz, under the assurances from my grandmother that I was sure to love the movie. Unfortunately, I was so completely terrified by the Wicked Witch of the West that I didn’t make it to the end of the yellow brick road until I was closer to the age of ten. But in the end, she was right. Besides achieving acclaim and immortality as one of the greatest American film classics of all time, The Wizard of Oz has also been heralded as the only true fairy tale to come from the U.S. From the moment Judy Garland-as-Dorothy Gale opens that black-and-white door to reveal a world filled with color, there is no question that viewers are about to be treated to a fantastical delight. That element of fantasy is exactly what the SciFi Channel hopes to capture with Tin Man.

Zooey Deschanel (whose little sister is the star of FOX’s Bones) will play a more rebellious, modern-day Dorothy, this time with a motorcycle and a new moniker (DG). Like the famed movie itself, the mini-series is based on the L. Frank Baum novel. Basically, it’s a tale about growing up…and staying young at heart. The SciFi version, in keeping with the network, will be darker, more intense, and contain an element of the extraordinary.

Deschanel (an actress I’ve adored since first seeing her in Almost Famous) has just the right look to play the iconic role formerly portrayed by Garland, but says she will not repeat Garland’s Gale. Instead, Deschanel will make DG her own character, a modern-day Dorothy that even big-city girls might identify with.

But, there has to be some criticism. Re-making The Wizard of Oz is tantamount to re-making Gone With the Wind – book or no book, it just isn’t done. For some, it’s considered a blasphemy even to consider re-making a story so very well known, especially when the neo-fantasy, modern-day twist is applied to the century-old formula.

SciFi’s Tin Man is no lighthearted, musical fairy tale with somewhat scary witches – but a dark and twisted dive into an epic world of shadows, secrets, and the frightening mind of an intense villain. It’s going to be different, and therefore it’s going to be suspect to many movie and mini-series fans. But if you dare, the Tin Man mini-series event begins Dec. 2 at 9 pm.