WE'RE OFF TO SEE THE WIZARDS!

Byline: Tim Haddock Staff Writer

Harry Potter is the latest wizard to show off his magical powers on screen.

But witches and wizards have been enchanting film audiences for ages. There's the great and powerful Oz and the Wicked Witch of the West from ``Wizard of Oz,'' the Arthurian legend's Merlin and Morgan le Fay in ``Excalibur'' and on television in ``Merlin,'' and Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader from ``Star Wars,'' among others. There are two more very powerful wizards on the horizon in the upcoming ``Lord of the Rings'' - Gandalf the Grey and Saruman the White.

Some of these wizards have been good, like Harry. Some have been bad, like his archenemy, Lord Voldemort. Time will tell how Harry Potter's powers will fare in the hearts of moviegoers.

But who is the the most powerful among them? Without having seen Gandalf and Saruman, we'll look at the strengths and weaknesses of the others:

The Wizard of Oz.

Strength: Power of persuasion. He sold the people of Oz on his ability to grant favors, such as doling out brains and hearts and courage. By always holding the promise of delivery without actually delivering, he maintained power.

Liability: The truth. Once that little rat-of-a-dog Toto exposed Oz as a fraud, he lost his powers and his confidence. At least he didn't lose his ability to make Dorothy believe she could return home, which was actually a trick pulled off with the help of Glinda the Good Witch. Some wizard.

Wicked Witch of the West.

Strength: Revenge. When Dorothy's house lands on her sister, the Wicked Witch of the West seems to gain strength by seeking vengeance against Dorothy. Plus the Flying Monkeys are pretty cool henchmen.

Liability: Water. The Wicked Witch of the West gets reduced to a lump of green glop when Dorothy throws water on her.

Merlin.

Strength: Dragon's breath. Of all Merlin's abilities as a wizard, his most potent and most troublesome is his ability to call upon the Dragon's breath. The two times that he did pull off this trick, though, bad things followed. Sure, the first time resulted in the birth of King Arthur, but the poor little runt of a king had to endure being an orphan and have his best friend (Lancelot) sleep with his wife (Guinevere). Whoever said it was good to be the king? The second time resulted in the death of King Arthur's incestuous son and the loss of Excalibur (the fabled sword). Really, what a stupid trick.

Liability: Overconfidence. Morgan le Fay, King Arthur's evil little half- sister hussie, preys upon Merlin's ego and tricks him into showing her how to release the Dragon's breath. And in the process, the old crackpot wizard gets himself trapped by one of Morgan le Fay's spells. Without Merlin in Camelot, King Arthur starts losing his sanity. He sends all his knights on the quest for the Holy Grail and ultimately destroys his kingdom.

Morgan le Fay

Strength: Charisma. With Merlin in Camelot, Morgan le Fay had about as much chance of making a name for herself as Queen Guinevere had of knowing the meaning of fidelity. But Morgan le Fay used her anonymity to quietly learn Merlin's powers. Then when she was ready to overtake Merlin, she used her good looks and charm to trick Merlin into giving away his best secrets. She didn't stop there. She had world conquest on her mind and mothered a son resulting from incest with King Arthur.

Liability: Vanity. After years of being held under Morgan le Fay's spell, Merlin escapes and preys upon Morgan le Fay's insecurities as a beautiful woman to gain entry into her chambers. Then he tricks her into letting loose the Dragon's breath to help King Arthur kill and defeat her and her son's army. But the best part is that in letting loose the Dragon's breath, Merlin also saps the beauty out of Morgan le Fay, leaving her a feeble old woman who gets cut to shreds by her son.

Obi-Wan Kenobi

Strength: Wisdom. Obi-Wan Kenobi, the mentor to Luke Skywalker and ultimately the savior of the universe, albeit old and decrepit, transfers his knowledge and powers so well that not even death can stop his messages from reaching his protege. Plus, even as a tired, old fossil, he can throw one-line jabs, like, ``If you kill me now, I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine,'' while dueling with Darth Vader - and mean it.

Liability: Overconfidence. First, against the advice of the Jedi elders he takes on the training of the young Anakin Skywalker, whom we all know becomes Darth Vader. And for all the good that Obi-Wan Kenobi transfers to Luke Skywalker, he can't control how Luke will use it. Even after numerous warnings about succumbing to the dark side, Luke nearly falls for the ``I'm the dad you never knew'' gag and joins up with the evil Empire.

Darth Vader.

Strength: Merciless and crafty. He rules with an iron fist. Really. He has a metal, wired iron claw where his hand used to be. And he can do that cool strangle trick just by pointing his finger and breathing really hard. He scares his own officers and kills them without remorse, or even much reason, for that matter. About the only person he doesn't scare is Princess Leia, but she has some power of her own.

Liability: A buried bit of goodness and conscience. Talk about grasping defeat from the jaws of victory. Darth Vader and the Emperor have Luke defeated, one lightning jolt away from death. The small band of Rebel forces attacking the Death Star have fallen into a trap and are all but destroyed. Han Solo and Princess Leia are relying on the help of Pomeranian-size Care Bears, otherwise known as Ewoks, to fight stormtroopers. And Darth Vader decides it would be a good idea to toss the Emperor to his death - all because he doesn't want to see his son killed.

And finally, Harry Potter

Strength: Still growing. Harry Potter is so famous that for the first 10 years of his life, he doesn't even know it. He lived through one of the most harrowing wizard moments ever as a baby, being so powerful that the evil Lord Voldemort couldn't kill him - but he doesn't find out about it until he goes off to wizard school. He is revered and respected by almost all he meets in the wizard world. And he flies a pretty mean broom, too.

Liability: Naivete. Harry is too young to know how powerful he can really be and too young to know what he is supposed to be scared of. Of all the trouble he finds, it's hard to believe that his good luck will keep up. What's that line, the only difference between bravery and stupidity is timing. It seems to apply to Harry Potter, mostly in the bravery sense.

CAPTION(S):

5 photos

Photo:

(1) MARGARET HAMILTON, ``THE WIZARD OF OZ''

(2) SAM NEILL, ``MERLIN''

(3) DARTH VADER, ``STAR WARS

(4) SIR ALEC GUINESS, ``STAR WARS''

(5) DANIEL RADCLIFFE, ``HARRY POTTER