Lucas Delgado
In the 1985 film Return to Oz, Dorothy Gale travels back to Oz with her pet chicken, Billina, and discovers that the land has been taken over by the Nome King and Princess Mombi. Billina is a former ordinary hen who decides to stop laying eggs, prompting Aunt Em to threaten to cook her for dinner. In Oz, Billina gains the ability to speak and becomes Dorothy's companion, taking on the role that Toto the dog played in the first Oz book. Billina is portrayed by a combination of live chickens, an animatronic chicken, and a mechanical chicken in the film, with around 40 real chickens used during filming.
| Characteristics | Values |
|---|---|
| Name | Billina |
| Book | Ozma of Oz |
| Author | L. Frank Baum |
| Year introduced | 1907 |
| Film | Return to Oz |
| Film release year | 1985 |
| Film director | Walter Murch |
| Film star cast | Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Piper Laurie, and Fairuza Balk as Dorothy Gale |
| Film genre | Dark fantasy |
| Film production house | Walt Disney Pictures |
| Type of chicken | New Hampshire Red or Hamburg Chicken |
| Number of chickens used in filming | 30 |
| Use of animatronic chicken | Yes |
| Use of live chicken | Yes |
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What You'll Learn
Billina is a fictional character in the Oz books
In Ozma of Oz, Billina and Dorothy first meet when they are both thrown overboard from a ship during a violent storm. They wash up on the shores of the magical country of Ev in a chicken coop and work together to escape danger. Billina serves a similar role to Dorothy's dog Toto in the first Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
Billina was originally named "Bill" because no one could tell if she was going to be a hen or a rooster. Dorothy changes her name to a feminine form by adding "ina" to the end. Billina is brave and practical, and she is a loyal friend to Dorothy and the other characters in Oz. She is also the Queen and Governor of all the chickens in Oz and takes pride in laying a fresh egg every morning.
Billina appears in several of the Oz books, including The Road to Oz, where she welcomes Dorothy and her companions to Oz, and The Emerald City of Oz, where she accompanies Dorothy on a tour of Oz. She also appears in The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays, a lost film in which she was presumably played by a real hen. In Disney's Return to Oz, she is a main character and is portrayed by an electronically-controlled puppet created by the Jim Henson puppet company.
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Billina is Dorothy Gale's pet chicken
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) as Dorothy Gale's pet chicken. In the book, Billina becomes Dorothy's animal companion after the two are thrown overboard while travelling on an ocean voyage to Australia. They wash up on the shores of the enchanted country of Ev in a chicken coop. Billina is described as spunky, sassy, and talkative. She was originally named Bill because no one could tell if she was going to be a hen or a rooster, but Dorothy changes her name to a feminine form.
In the 1985 film Return to Oz, based on the Oz books by L. Frank Baum, Billina is again featured as Dorothy Gale's pet chicken. In the film, Billina is an ordinary chicken who decides to stop laying eggs. Dorothy's aunt, Em, says that if Billina won't lay any more eggs, she will have to be cooked for dinner, so Billina flees the farm and ends up in a chicken coop with Dorothy. They sail to Oz, where they have adventures and Billina eventually lays an egg, killing the Nome King, who is afraid of eggs.
Billina is portrayed as a sassy and talkative chicken in both the books and the film. In the film, she is played by a combination of real and mechanical chickens, with around 40 real chickens used during filming, each good for different things. One source speculates that she may have been based on a Hamburg Chicken, while another suggests she resembles a New Hampshire Red.
Billina serves a similar role in the Oz books and films as Dorothy's dog Toto did in the first book and film, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. In Return to Oz, Toto is played by a brown-eyed border terrier named Tansy. Billina becomes Dorothy's favourite chicken, as she is the only orange one in the bunch.
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Billina was an ordinary chicken who stopped laying eggs
Billina was faced with the threat of being cooked for dinner by Dorothy's Aunt Em, who believed that a chicken that didn't lay eggs was useless. In fear for her life, Billina fled the farm, ending up with Dorothy, with whom she sailed to Oz in a chicken coop. In Oz, Billina and Dorothy had many adventures, including defeating the Nome King, who was killed when Billina laid an egg that fell into his mouth, confirming his fear of chickens.
Billina was portrayed by a combination of real and animatronic chickens in the film. Around 40 real chickens were used during filming, each with their own strengths, and an animatronic chicken was also used for certain scenes. Some viewers have speculated that Billina may have been a New Hampshire Red or a Hamburg Chicken, but this has not been officially confirmed.
Billina's character served a similar role to that of Dorothy's dog Toto in the first Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. She was Dorothy's companion and provided a source of courage and friendship throughout their adventures in Oz.
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Billina was played by a mix of real and mechanical chickens
In Return to Oz, Billina is Dorothy Gale's pet chicken. She is a spunky, sassy, and talkative chicken who accompanies Dorothy on her adventures. In the film, around 40 real chickens were used during filming, with each chicken serving a different purpose. For example, some chickens were trained to perch, sit, carry, and run, while others were trained to attack or run towards cast members. A smaller chicken was used when Balk's small arms could not handle carrying a full-size chicken.
In addition to the real chickens, a mechanical chicken was also used for certain scenes. This mechanical chicken behaved so similarly to a real chicken that crew members were unable to tell the difference while watching the footage. The mechanical chicken was a state-of-the-art electronically-controlled puppet created by the Jim Henson Puppet Company. It was performed by Mak Wilson and voiced by Denise Bryer.
Billina's character was based on the classic children's series of Oz books by American author L. Frank Baum. In the books, Billina becomes Dorothy's animal companion after they both wash up on the shores of the enchanted country of Ev. Billina serves a similar role to Dorothy's dog Toto in the first Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Baum drew on his expertise in raising Hamburg chickens to create Billina's character.
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Billina is based on a Hamburg Chicken
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) as Dorothy Gale's pet chicken. In the 1985 film adaptation of Return to Oz, Billina is portrayed by around 30 to 40 real and mechanical chickens.
Billina was likely based on a Hamburg chicken, according to a Reddit user. In the story, Billina is initially an ordinary chicken who decides to stop laying eggs. Dorothy's aunt, Em, tells Dorothy that if Billina won't lay any more eggs, she will have to be cooked for dinner. Fearing for her life, she flees the farm and ends up with Dorothy in a chicken coop. They sail all night until they reach the enchanted country of Ev.
In Oz, Billina becomes Dorothy's animal companion and takes on the role that Dorothy's pet dog Toto served in the first Oz book, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). Billina is described as spunky, sassy, and talkative. She was originally named Bill because no one could tell if she was going to be a hen or a rooster. Dorothy insists on changing the name to a feminine form.
Billina plays a crucial role in defeating the Nome King, as only a hen's eggs are poisonous to Nomes. She ends up falling in love with the excitement of Oz and chooses to stay there, preferring the adventurous life over the monotonous life she had in Kansas.
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Frequently asked questions
The name of Dorothy's chicken in Return to Oz is Billina.
It is speculated that the breed of chicken used to portray Henrietta in Return to Oz is a New Hampshire Red. However, the character in the book Ozma of Oz, on which the film is based, may have been inspired by a Hamburg Chicken.
Yes, around 30 to 40 real chickens were used during filming, with each chicken serving a different purpose. For example, a smaller chicken was used for scenes where the character needed to be carried, and an animatronic chicken was also used for certain scenes.
Henrietta, or Billina, is Dorothy's pet hen and animal companion in Return to Oz. She was originally an ordinary chicken on Dorothy's farm, but when she stopped laying eggs, Dorothy's aunt said she would have to be cooked for dinner. To save her life, Billina fled the farm and ended up with Dorothy in a chicken coop that sailed to Oz. In Oz, Billina gains the ability to speak and becomes Dorothy's partner in adventure, helping to defeat the Nome King.
The chicken, or Billina, serves as Dorothy's animal companion and plays a crucial role in the defeat of the Nome King, as only a hen's egg is poisonous to him. She provides comic relief with her spunky and talkative personality and becomes a beloved character in the story.
