Zooey Deschanel stars as DG and Canada's Kathleen Robertson is the wicked Azkadellia in the six-hour mini-series, Tin Man.

PASADENA, Calif. -- Canadians can open their oil cans.

Tin Man, a three-part mini-series starring Zooey Deschanel and Canadian Kathleen Robertson that darkly "re-imagines" The Wizard of Oz, makes its Canadian television debut with part one tonight on Space. Part two airs tomorrow and part three airs Monday.

The six-hour project initially was broadcast in the United States on the Sci Fi Channel (now known as Syfy) in December 2007, and it was nominated for multiple Emmy Awards in 2008, winning one.

"It's baffling to me, because it aired here in the United States, and it was a huge deal," Robertson said in an interview with Sun Media last year, when asked if she was bothered by the broadcast delay for Tin Man in Canada.

"You couldn't turn the corner without seeing billboards and TV ads (in the U.S.). I would say to my family (back in Canada), 'Have you seen anything for it yet?' And they kept saying, 'We've never even heard about it.'

"People kept telling me, 'Oh yeah, it will air in Canada eventually.' It's just bizarre that it wasn't available immediately. My whole family was pretty disappointed. But it was a really cool project."

Robertson plays the dangerous sorceress Azkadellia, while Deschanel is D.G., the updated Dorothy character.

"Punk rock never crossed my mind," said Deschanel, speaking about her role in Tin Man at a previous Television Critics Association tour, before the project aired originally in the States. "But definitely, I think (D.G.) is more, you know, 'Indiana Jones' girlish (than Judy Garland's Dorothy in the 1939 movie)."

Speaking of that classic film version of The Wizard of Oz, don't expect Tin Man -- which also stars Alan Cumming, Callum Keith Rennie, Neal McDonough, Raoul Trujillo and Richard Dreyfuss -- to be an imitation. While some base elements are similar, the story and style are very different.

"I saw The Wizard of Oz when I was very young, but I wouldn't even compare it," Deschanel said. "(Tin Man) takes its cues from a very different genre of film. And although I love the original film, I tried to approach it like it was an entirely new story."

As for Robertson, she said the costuming required for Azkadellia helped her get into the right frame of mind for such an evil role.

"I would show up in the morning (in Vancouver, where Tin Man was shot) and I was wearing flip-flops and a little summer dress, and everyone was like, 'You're playing the wicked witch?' " Robertson recalled. "And I would say, 'Just wait.'

"Then I would go through my process of my wig and my six-inch boots and my leather and my corset and my 30-pound chain-mail get-up, and I would come back and the other actors would say, 'Wow, I don't even see you in there.' It was such a transformation. And that really helped.

"It was one of those roles for me that the get-up, the three hours in hair and makeup, really helped me get into it. The boots were so uncomfortable, and people would say, 'You don't have to wear them off-camera, you don't have to wear the whole suit.' But for me it was weird -- without it all, I couldn't do it. I needed it all."