[2] For television broadcast, Filmation produced live-action interstitial segments with a celebrity playing the Wizard, flying in his balloon with two Munchkins.

[3] After a tornado in Kansas causes a loose gate to knock Dorothy unconscious, she awakes in the Land of Oz with Toto, and encounters a talking Signpost (voiced by Jack E. Leonard), whose three signs point in different directions, all marked "Emerald City".

They later meet Pumpkinhead (voiced by Paul Lynde), the unwilling servant of antagonist Mombi – cousin of the deceased Wicked Witches of the East and West.

Dorothy, Pumpkinhead, and Woodenhead flee to Tinland to convince the Tin Man (voiced by Danny Thomas, who spoke, and Larry Storch, who sang) to help them.

It was only after the Filmation studio had made profits on their numerous television series that it was finally able to complete the project, copyrighted 1971, released in 1972 in the UK and 1974 in the U.S.

Other voices were by Mickey Rooney (a former co-star and lifelong friend of Garland's), Milton Berle, Ethel Merman, Paul Lynde, Herschel Bernardi, Paul Ford, Danny Thomas, Margaret Hamilton (also from the 1939 film, but now playing Aunt Em instead of the Wicked Witch of the West), and Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Risë Stevens as Glinda the Good Witch.

One particular piece of music, heard in the opening titles, is The Awakening, a Johnny Pearson composition that was recorded in 1967 (three years after production on this film began).

While Journey Back to Oz was a financial failure in its original theatrical release, the film eventually found an audience through repeated television broadcast.

The live-action subplot involved two lost Munchkins, Sprig and Twig, trying to get home to spend Christmas with Dorothy, while helping to move the plot along.

New live-action sequences for this version were filmed featuring cast member Milton Berle, replacing the Bill Cosby segments.