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

...

Swept away from her home in Kansas by a tornado, Dorothy and her dog Toto find themselves stranded in the fantastical Land of Oz.

Introduces Ann Soforth, Queen of Oogaboo, whom Tik-Tok, the clockwork man, assists in conquering the Nome King.

Tip and his creation, Jack Pumpkinhead, run away to Oz, where they save the city after it is captured by girls.

Search is underway for Princess Ozma and all the magic of the Land of Oz which have been stolen by a thief of very great power.

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

When all the inhabitants of Pingaree are kidnapped by the mongrel hordes of twin island kingdoms, Prince Inga and his friend King Rinkitink decide to go to the rescue.

When a storm blows Dorothy to the land of Ev where lunches grow on trees, she meets the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, and Princess Ozma, and together they set out to free the Queen of Ev and her ten children.

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,...

Uncle Henry, Aunt Em and Dorothy must leave their Kansas home - but where can they go? To Oz, of course! Dorothy and the Wizard take Em and Henry on a grand tour - but will anyone in Oz be left alive after the Nomes attack, allied with the disagreeable Growleywogs and the evil shape-shifting Phanfasms? Ozma discovers the Nome Army's impending invasion, but too late - and she, Dorothy, the Tin Woodman and their friends can only watch helplessly as...