The Nightmare Before Christmas/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

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*** He would blend into the scenery of Christmas Town as well, given he's as white as the snow, and is skinny enough to easily hide behind a Christmas tree if needed.
** The entire dance number was based on him hiding from everyone. He hid. Obviously.
*** It's part of the brilliance of the choreography, and difficult to understand how someone wouldn't get that while watching it. He's always off to the side, just behind someone, or they're not quite quick enough to catch a glimpse of him when they turn to look... exactly like a spooky creature should do.
* The line in "What's This?," "They kiss? Why, that looks so unique!" How would Jack know what a kiss is if it's so unique to their culture?
** In addition, how did he know what snowballs and mistletoe are?
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*** Though if that was the case, then the citizens of Halloweentown shouldn't have reacted the way they did when Santa made it snow. They said stuff like, What's this, why it's completely new! Must be a Christmas thing!" and such. So unless Jack's the only one who ever leaves Halloweentown, then that still doesn't make sense (and before someone says that Jack is the only one to leave Halloweentown, then who did the vampires drink the blood of in order to get the award? I know it's just a small part of the movie, but it's a part of it).
**** Well, it's possible that Halloweentown citizens only go to the real world on Halloween (and the vampires could be living on animal and/or other citizens' blood or something like that) and it never snowed when they went. Jack could have heard the elves talk about the snow, and since he didn't, presumably, bring any snow back with him, it's possible that either Jack didn't tell the citizens about snow, or he did and they forgot about it.
** Kissing and snow are likely known to Jack and the Halloweentown residents, but the ''context'' is different. On a perfect Halloween, if there's snow it would be driving and blinding, or laying around thick and slushy making things dangerous and look like something was lurking in them, not peacefully and gently drifting from the sky. Also when Jack says his line about kissing being so unique, he's watching a mistletoe kiss... thus something that's obviously part of a holiday tradition and would have no place in his own holiday's traditions.
* In the ending track of the official soundtrack, Santa narrates about a visit he paid to Halloween Town several years after the events of the movie. This, in itself, is fine and dandy. But the thing that bugs me is that it is explicitly stated that Jack and Sally have kids. "Five skeleton children", if I recall correctly. If Jack is supposed to merely be a (poorly-proportioned) human skeleton, then he should not be in possession of a baculum (penis bone), and I would ''sincerely'' hope, for the sake of my childhood, that Sally isn't ''that'' kind of doll. So, I ask you, how, exactly, do a skeleton and a rag doll, neither in possession of genitalia, procreate? Did the zombie stork deliver them? Were they found under pumpkin leaves? Were they assembled from the corpses of normal dead children?
** Jack popped a [[Incredibly Lame Pun|boner]].
*** And Sally wanted to [[Incredibly Lame Pun|jump his bones]]-* [[Killed Mid -Sentence|shot]]*
*** Didn't anybody even think that perhaps a [[Delivery Stork|sto—er, vulture]] could've delivered them?
**** I'm a paleontologist, and I vote [[Delivery Stork|delivery]] [http://pterosaurs.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/hatzegopteryx-m-witton-12-5-20081.jpg Hatzegopteryx].
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** They adopted, Halloweentown is actually hell, and as kids died, Jack & Sally gathered them up into their family. Of course, that particular song is non-canon, as it wasn't used... so... maybe Danny Elfman just went a bit too far, and Tim Burton had it cut because he started to think about it too?
** Well, to be fair [[Comically Missing the Point|he did say four]] ''[[Comically Missing the Point|or]]'' [[Comically Missing the Point|five children.]]
** [[Wild Mass Guessing|Maybe Jack is a child of]] [[The Grim Reaper|Death]] and a [[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?|Toon]]? At the fansite [[Schmuck Bait|someone suggested that Jack has]] {{spoiler|[[Squick|strap-on balls]]}}. [[Crazy Prepared|I've already bought the]] [[Brain Bleach]].
** [[Word of God|According to the]] [[DVD Commentary]], [[Tim Burton]] said that Jack not eating is worrying so in Jack's case (and Sally's case too - she also apparently eats) if they need to eat like living people, reproduction isn't all that out there. Of course, their form of reproduction might be different then ours, like they could [[Futurama|hold hands while feeling love to reproduce]]. Though that puts a [[G -Rated Sex|different]] [[Getting Crap Past the Radar|spin]] on the ending . . .
** Does it matter? This has been conveniently ignored in all the other NBC media anyways.
*** That's mainly because we never seen the kids. But it's important enough to be released on the first and the latest soundtrack.
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**** Hmmm, good point. However, if they ''weren't'' suppose to be his kids, the writers were just asking for confusion putting "skeleton children" in there ("monster children" would fit the meter and be less confusing).
** It's official. ''Somebody'' needs to ask Tim Burton or Henry Selick about this.
** In ''[[Xanth (Literature)|Xanth]]'', skeletons reproduce by taking one of each of their own bones together with a pile of other bones...or something to that extent, it's been awhile since I read #17. Perhaps something along these lines?
*** Still, why children? While Jack and Sally would probably love being parents, I don't think they'd like to be parents to little kids (presumably, the kids in the poem are little) forever. I remember seeing a webcomic where the author had Dr. Finklestein create kids for Jack and Sally, and they were in their teens (because apparently [[Critical Research Failure|teenagers are a lot easier to take care of than little kids]]).
** It could be that they aren't a skeleton and a corpse, just very vague fantasy beings made to fit the theme of the assigned holiday. I always just thought of them as walking, talking Halloween decorations rather than being literal versions of what they represent.
*** That sounds like an awesome theory, not to mention good material for [[Fanfic]] in the right hands . . . except Jack refers to himself as being dead in "Jack's Lament". If he was a vague fantasy being, why would he do that?
**** Because when he mentions that he's dead, he's talking about scaring people and being in character. He represents a skeleton, so, by assumption of his victim, a dead person.
** Concerning Jack, this troper is always amused by the fact that everyone says, "oh, Jack's a skeleton, therefore he doesn't have the downstairs equipment." Seriously, where's the evidence that Jack's 100 percent skeleton? Has ''anyone'' ever seen Jack naked?[[hottip:*:<ref> Fangirls, [[Perverse Sexual Lust|please restrain yourselves from volunteering]]</ref> <ref> And no, the ''[[James and Thethe Giant Peach]]'' cameo doesn't count, as it's arguable if that's canon to ''Nightmare''</ref>
*** In agreement with the above, it always seems odd that people don't question the fact that Jack has eyelids, a (forked) tongue, and fingers which can be pricked by Sally's sewing needle, but they insist on realism when it comes to the "how can Jack have kids?" question.
**** Nor do they question why Jack and Sally can walk, talk, sing, eat, can die, etc. Actually, it's pretty bizarre that out of the things to cry foul on, it's something from a cut-off poem.
** Plus, I don't care how "hung" you are, there's no competing with a guy who can remove his femur bone any time he wants. Sally's going to be one happy ragdoll thing, tell you what.
*** And since Sally can remove ''her'' body parts whenever she wants, Jack is gonna be one happy skeleton. Seriously, there's some incredible [[Power Perversion Potential]] in their relationship, [[Fetish Fuel|which explains a lot . . .]]
**** Everyone, everyone, we're talking about Jack Skellington, not [[The Late Late Show|Geoff Peterson]]! I think we can safely assume that Jack and Sally got their kids from an undead Halloween stork.
* Why did Lock, Shock, and Barrel tell the townsfolk that Jack is still alive and lead them to Oogie's lair? Even [[The Other Wiki]] notes how strange this is.
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** Jack is a poor study; he is shown only giving cursory glances to his books.
* This it just bugs me is in relation to the whole "how-can-Jack-and-Sally-have-kids-when-they're-dead" thing. How come most of the fans, as far as I can tell, will accept the prequel and sequel games as canon when neither Henry Selick nor [[Tim Burton]] nor [[Danny Elfman]] had involvment with them, yet something on the soundtrack, which at least the words must come from the writers and/or [[Danny Elfman]], is contested? I know, [[You Fail Biology Forever|it's not possible for dead people to reproduce]], but neither is dead people walking, talking, singing, or having the need to eat, which Jack and Sally obviously does. Can't we say "[[MST3K Mantra|it's a fantasy]]" and move on?
** This troper remembers reading that Pumpkin King (The GBA game) happens a year BEFORE the movie, while Oogie's Revenge (The [[PSPlayStation 2]] and [[X BoxXbox]] game) happens only a year AFTER, where as they had "four or five children" years after, if I remember the poem correctly, also, I remember reading Danny Elfman's name in the latter's credits.
*** The timeline isn't the problem. The problem is that fans are more likely to take games that aren't created by the original creators as canon over a cut-off poem that was.
* Sally gives Jack an, uh, "meal" or something to that amount to show her affection for him and Jack seems rather pleased with it. Presumably, this means that the concept of giving gifts them isn't completely alien to the residents of Halloween Town. So why is it so hard for them to understand what Christmas presents are?
** Perhaps the giving of gifts they get, but it's the "wrapping-them-up-in-pretty-paper-with-a-bow" bit that confuses them.
** While not entirely canon to the movie/games, in [[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]], Jack was noted to have picked up a box, with the paper torn off and bow discarded, stepping on the doll that was inside, and say "What a shame, it looked like such a nice present". My only response to this is that Jack and the residents of Halloween Town believe that giving a present is determined by how nice it looks. Then again, he seems to know that a gift is really inside the box, in the game and movie.
* [[This Troper]] ''really'' wants to see what's in "St.Patrick's Day Town".
** One would assume it involves getting completely and utterly shitfaced drunk on a regular basis.
*** So it's just Dublin, then?
*** [[College Humor]] has [https://web.archive.org/web/20100528001527/http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1930647 answered your question].
** I wanna see Thanksgiving Day Town.
* A minor thing, but this troper has always wondered why Jack has an electric chair in his home. Is it the Halloween Town equivalent of a massage chair or something?
** Remember what [[G -Rated Drug|electricity]] is to [[Futurama|robots like Bender...]]
*** And if you take Pumpkin King into consideration, you actually heal by sitting in electric chairs. There's some more [[Fridge Logic]] for you.
**** This actually make sense if you consider the fact that Dr. Finklestein got Jack some skeletal reindeer by zapping the bones with electricity.
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*** I always thought that they could use openings decorated to represent their holidays as portals. That's why someone made the holiday trees, and how Jack can use a random tomb he just happened to land near to get to get to Halloweentown. Their towns exist in the "real" world, the doors are just shortcuts.
** I liked that they didn't explain it. It's eerie and interesting, and I think that's the point. He just… wandered into Limbo, like it was meant to be. Like fate cleared a path for him.
* Oogie Boogie [[Incredibly Lame Pun|bugs me]]. I mean, considering he's a Disney villain, and that Disney has given us the likes of [[Fantasia|Chernabog]], [[The Little Mermaid|Ursula]], and [[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|Frollo]], he's just pathetic. He's got no real motivation, and we're never told ''why'' he and Jack hate each other so much. The original poem didn't have a villain, either, so I've just been forced to conclude that Selick or Burton had to come up with a [[Card -Carrying Villain|bad guy]] to satisfy something in the contract.
** While this troper would have ''love'' to hear why Oogie and Jack hate each other (and I'm not satisfied with the Pumpkin King game explanation, either), I think you're giving Oogie little credit. While he doesn't want to [[Take Over the World]] or anything like that, he ''does'' have a motivation - sadism and, apparently, hunger. He seems to love torturing people, which is pretty dark for a Disney Villain. Also, there's at least seven skeletons in his lair, so he's killed before (according to [[The Other Wiki]], he's the first Disney Villain to have killed previous to the movie).
** Are we so sure that Jack and Oogie really hated each other before the latter tried to eat <s> Sandy</s> Santa and Sally? We never hear Oogie talk about Jack, but the way Jack spoke of Oogie seems more "he's-a-waste-of-space" rather then straight-out hate. It's only ''after'' Oogie tries to kill Sally and Santa when the dislike upgraded itself to "[[This Means War|I'm-going-to-fucking-kill-you]]".
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**** More like Halloweentown's version of [[Carrie|Chris Hargenson.]]He's a prankster like the rest. He's just a much bigger asshole about it.
**** You ''do'' realize that Chris is listed as a [[Complete Monster]], right?
***** Sure, but she doesn't believe that what she's doing is truly dangerous or wrong like the Joker.
***** By the way, Oogie Boogie IS a [[Complete Monster]] and one of the worst ones among the Disney Villains - Great part of 'em had a specific goals (power, money, girls etc.), Oogie toys with people's lives, kill'em and keep their remaning bones as trophy FOR PURE SICK FUN.
* Am I the only one who sees how much of an egotistical, selfish twat Jack really is!? He's convinced himself he could do Christmas better than the people who do it for a living and when he fails the goes into self pity for a ''very'' short while. Because he's basically the boss no one ever tells him No. Considering how quickly he's willing to jump in to take over Christmas, AND how quickly he gets over his pity party, you can expect that this happens fairly often to him. Kinda make you wonder exactly how idealistic Jack and Sally's relationship is going to be....
** [[Fridge Logic|Wait,]] ''[[Fridge Logic|not]]'' [[Fridge Logic|quickly getting over his self-pity party isn't selfish?]] Also, while Jack ''can'' be egotistical and selfish, I think calling him a twat is overdoing it. Note that after he gets over his pity party, ''he goes to set things right''. I think Jack is more [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold|an egotistical guy who has a good heart]], as well as being an [[Idiot Hero]] and a [[Well -Intentioned Extremist]]. And I think Jack really ''hates'' the fact that people practically worship him and no one tells him no (again, note how distressed Jack gets when the citizens wouldn't let him go). That probably one of the reasons Jack loves Sally -- ''because'' she told him he was wrong. Plus, are we so sure it was "quickly"? The movie is about an hour and fifteen minutes, so we can't be sure just how long it took Jack to decide to take over Christmas. Also, that's Jack's [[Character Development]] -- learning that he ''can't'' do something better than the people who makes Christmas for a living (Hey, [[Not So Different|how many of us tropers thought we could make a movie better than the directors?]]). Actually, that's the reason why I like Jack -- he's not perfect, he has some serious flaws that not only gets him into trouble, but it causes the plot in the first place! Admittedly, Jack has done some questionable things (hiring three evil little trick-or-treaters to kidnap Santa) but then again, he both meant well (he obviously thought he was giving Santa a vacation) and has [[Blue and Orange Morality]] -- he probably didn't think kidnapping was wrong (Weekly in [[Halloweentown]]: Kidnapping parties! Next this week: the Mayor!....for the eighth week in a row.) As to how idealistic Jack and Sally's relationship will be.....it'll probably have some problems, but all couples have problems, it's the question of how well they deal with those problems. Jack and Sally most likely can teach each other the things they need to learn -- Sally can teach Jack how to think before leaping and be someone Jack cares about other then himself, and Jack can teach Sally not to take <s> life</s> afterlife so sadly and seriously. (Hey, like [[The Princess and Thethe Frog|Tiana and Naveen]]!)
** To add on to the previous entry, this troper personally thinks Jack is more sympathetic in the movie than in the original poem. In the poem, Jack basically got bored of Halloween, while in the movie, Jack was also the Pumpkin King, having the stress of preparing for Halloween on top of being tired of the holiday (the Mayor evens comes to Jack's house VERY early in the morning right after the night of Halloween, and it's indicated that happens often). Now put that on top of the fact that, unlike other people who gets tired of their jobs, Jack didn't have the option of taking a vacation -- as far as we can tell, he thought the only places there were are either the Real World (who probably wouldn't be too kind to him, [[What Measure Is a Non -Human?|considering he's a skeleton]]) or Halloweenland, which is freaking obsessed with Halloween ''and'' the inhabitants would probably know Jack, therefore assuring that he wouldn't get any rest. In the poem, Jack seems to have friends while in the movie, with the exception of Sally and ''maybe'' the Mayor, he's more like a celebrity with fans that says they know him so well but really don't. [[Lonely Atat the Top]], ya know. Also, if you listen to the lyrics, "Poor Jack" isn't really a self-pity party, it's more expressing guilt over what he's done ("But I never intended all this madness, never...").
{{quote| What have I done? What have I done?<br />
How could I be so blind?<br />
All is lost, where was I?<br />
Spoiled all, spoiled all<br />
Everything's gone all wrong }}
* Soooooooooo........[[What Happened to Thethe Mouse?|What Happened To The Elves?]] Seriously, you would think that Mrs. Claus or the elves would worry about the fact that, respectively, ''their husband and leader was kidnapped and taken to a ghoulish world''.
** And unless Jack somehow sneaked a snowmobile and a large bag of presents out of storage without any of them noticing, they would have a pretty good idea who to blame when three trick-or-treaters kidnapped Santa.
** Who says they knew about Halloween Town? Santa didn't seem to.
** That is actually explained in an early draft of the movie script, right in the starting narration. SANTA "For each one, way back when, was alas unaware Of the others' existence, now I've said it -- so there!" There he states that the residents of one holiday town don't know anything at all about the other worlds.
* Why the [[Precision F -Strike|fuck]] does everyone say that Jack hardly notices Sally? He's obviously friends with her, and the way he says her name with the first time we see them together is ''awfully'' fond for someone who "doesn't notice her" (or someone who's [[Just Friends]], [[Your Mileage May Vary|though that's just me]]). The only times he ignores her (which . . . is two of their three interactions in the movie. [[Not Helping Your Case|Dammit]].) could be explained by him being too excited for Christmas, [[Laser -Guided Karma|which came to bite him in the bony ass]].
* How come there's no candy in Halloweentown? It seems like a pretty big part of the holiday to leave out. You'd think that they'd at least get giving candy out at Christmastime, even if it'd be unseasonal things like candy corn.
** Because monsters don't give out candy on Halloween. Probably why Lock, Shock, and Barrel are so irate.
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* [[Fan Girl|As much as I love Jack]], the part where he gets angry at Lock, Shock, and Barrel for going through the wrong door seems pretty douchey to me. I mean, he didn't even ''tell'' them that there's more than one door, it's his fault that they kidnapped the Easter Bunny!
** Actually, he said "Which door? There's more than one!". They just got the wrong shape.
** When Jack gives Lock, Shock, and Barrel their orders, he's basically giving a lecture on Christmas and is surrounded with Christmas iconography. If LS&B weren't idiots, they'd have either 1) figured out the door that looked like the thing Jack is standing next to is probably the one they want, or 2) upon seeing there were multiple doors, go back and ask which one to use rather than just going through one at random and kidnapping the first large living thing they came across. Yes, Jack probably should have been more specific, but he's probably used to giving orders to people that pay attention to him and apply some basic critical thinking to what he asks for.
* This troper's been thinking . . . is Sally really a [[Stalker Withwith a Crush]]? The only times Sally is stalking without due cause (trying to get Jack to not go through with Christmas) that I can think of is when she listens to Jack in "Jack's Lament" and when she goes to give him the little gift basket. The former actually doesn't really count, as she was there first when Jack came into the cemetery. So is she?
** Yes.
*** Could you be a bit more specific as why she is, that josses the above arguments?
**** During Jack's Lament, she follows him around, but is very particular about not wanting him to see her. Stalking is stalking, even if the intent is completely innocent.
**** This troper decided to look up the actual definition of stalking, and [http://law.yourdictionary.com yourdictionary.com] gave the law definition:
{{quote| A form of harassment generally comprised of repeated persistent following with no legitimate reason and with the intention of harming, or so as to arouse anxiety or fear of harm in the person being followed. Stalking may also take the form of harassing telephone calls, computer communications, letter-writing, etc.//}}
** So, at least by that definition and, if the website is to be believed, legally, Sally isn't a stalker, as in "Jack's Lament" and when she delivers the food basket, she didn't have the intention of harm<ref> and, like this troper said before, '''Sally was in the graveyard first''', not to mention she did have a somewhat valid reason for not wanting to be seen: 1. she's obviously very shy, and 2. when Jack starts to singing how he doesn't want to be the Pumpkin King anymore, it's pretty understandable why Sally didn't want to interrupt him. The Pumpkin King doesn't ''want'' the crown anymore? What is this!?! (His singing probably didn't hurt either)</ref>, and as for all the other times, trying to get your best friend (as they obviously are friends) to not get himself into trouble (remember that Sally's premeditation had a Christmas tree going up into flames, so the trouble is pretty big) is a pretty legitimate reason to follow him.
*** The legal definition is what determines whether someone can be charged with stalking under the law. The broader definition of stalking is just used to describe a behavior someone engages in. For example, the stuff that Sally does is referred to as stalking in anime ''all the time'' by characters within the series (and occasionally by the character doing the stalking themselves). She follows him around while trying to avoid being seen, takes a keen interest in his activities but doesn't do much (if any) communicating with him directly, and lurks around on the periphery of places where he is... she's pretty much stalking him. Now, whether she's stalking him for legal purposes, I'm pretty sure she doesn't have to worry about that, since she's an articulated doll with removable parts and a switchable head for different expressions.
* ... in "Oogie's Revenge" and the first Kingdom Hearts game they animated Jack's mouth wrong. They stretched and squashed it into shape instead of replacing the position of the mouth frame-by-frame like in the original movie, and it bugs me. His face loses its vivacious quality without it. They fixed it in Kingdom Hearts 2, but still...
** And on that note, why didn't someone tell Chris Sarandon that it was "Finkle-STINE" in the movie, not "Finkle-STEEN" like he pronounced it in the games? I'm splitting hairs, but that's what this page is for...
*** Did anyone ever call the Dr. by his name in the movie? I've watched it an awful lot (especially when The Insomnia Donkey kicks me), and I can't remember ever hearing anyone call him by name in the movie. Then again, most of the times I watching it, I'm running on two or three days without sleep, so I could very easily be sleeping through or missing things like that. (I usually say "Finkle-STEEN" anyway; even if it's not what the creators intended, I think it would be an awesomely hilarious [[Shout -Out]] to ''[[Young Frankenstein]]'' if it's pronounced "-Steen".)
*** Yeah, when Dr. Finklestein goes to get his Christmas job from Jack, you can hear the Mayor in the background saying, "Dr. Finkle-STINE, to the front of the line!"
* [[Left Fielder|This is coming out of left field]], but am I the only one who thinks the characters should have [[Everything Sounds Sexier in French|French accents]]? I'm not quite sure why (maybe it's the music . . .), but something about Nightmare screams "French" to me. [[Cloudcuckoolander|Maybe I'm just being weird]].
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* Maybe it's just me [[Draco in Leather Pants|being a major fangirl of Jack]], but I don't think that the military was quite justified with shooting Jack down with missiles. Yes, the toys Jack gave out was scaring the crap out of the kids, but, as far as we can tell, they didn't ''hurt'' anyone. In fact, one of the toys (the jack-o-lantern jack-in-the-box given to the fat kid) was ''better'' for the kid than what Santa gave him (a candy cane) because it gave the kid needed exercise -- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYJSYy8leNc and I'm not the only one who noticed that]. Wanting to stop Jack from scaring the kids on Christmas? Quite reasonable. Blowing him up with missiles? [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|Overkill, mate, overkill]].
** Shooting him down right off the bat may be a little harsh, but the military didn't have many options to get his attention. He was ''flying,'' after all. However, it would have made more sense to send some jets to fly alongside him and try to escort him to a landing or have police waiting to arrest him at his next location.
*** Especially with the fact that, like it was noted on the main page, the military shot Jack down ''over a suburban area''. Seriously, they're lucky Jack fell into a graveyard instead of a random house. Though there's always the possibility that they shot him down right of the bat because [[What Measure Is a Non -Human?|he's a skeleton]]. After all, we ''know'' Jack's a good guy, but that's not what the military sees. They see a skeletal horror going around terrorizing the world's children who'll probably not listen to reason.
** Is it really just scaring though? I know we don't see any casualties, but think about it; Jack left a big snake in one house that started eating the tree (not hard to think it'd go after everyone else), a man-eating plant in the shape of a wreath (I'm going by the original poem's description of it, but I'm thinking it's the same), a vampire teddy bear and undead duck that actively tried to attack little children. I know this is the normal scaring procedure for Halloween, but no one expects their Christmas gifts to try and attack/possibly kill them, and to the normal humans this seems like a mean-spirited act at best, and a possible attempt at mass murder at worst. Since Jack was flying through the air and getting around with hardly a problem, I think the military felt they had less of a choice than to shoot him down wherever they could.
*** True, but there's still a few problems. One, it's still very irresponsible of the military to shoot Jack down over a suburban area when there is plenty of country side. Also, considering Jack's and the town's general attitude to [[Complete Monster|Oogie]], it's obvious that while they love scaring, they don't enjoy hurting people (in ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]: Chain Of Memories'', Jack even tells Sora that the citizens of Halloween Town enjoy scaring people, not hurting them, though whether or not this is canon is debatable), so how likely is the presents going to actually ''hurt'' people? Also, [[Rule of Perception]]. We never see the military consider any other sort of option, nor do we see anything done to save the kids from the attacking toys in the first place. As far as we can tell, it's only when <s> Sandy Claws</s> [[Santa Claus]] comes to set things right is when the kids get any sort of help from the toys. Granted, they were going for the cause of the problem, but still, seriously, [[What the Hell, Hero?|what the hell, police/military]]?!
**** Okay, I just read info added on the main page but a more knowledgeable person. The police/military weren't being as stupid as I thought.
***** [[Tropers/Timber Wolf|You're welcome, civilian]].
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* When Jack is shot down by the police and the people realize that Santa isn't coming, instead of going for a "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" moral and teaching Jack that Christmas was never just about the presents and decoration like he thought, they actually announce that Christmas will be cancelled this year because Santa can't come. Apparently, Christianity doesn't even exist in this universe.
** In the "real world" of this movie, Christmas exists as it is seen by children. That is why you never see the adults' faces, Santa really delivers presents, and the military will shoot down a Santa impersonator. From a kid's point of view, a lack of presents would mean Christmas really was cancelled. The movie just portrays this as the reaction of the entire world.
** [[Did Not Do the Research|Christians didn't always celebrate Christmas, you know.]] Christmas was originally a pagan celebration of the winter solstice that was absorbed into Christianity to combat the pagan celebrations. It's possible that in this universe that with the holidays having their own worlds, that the holiday Christmas, and by extension Easter, are celebrated in their secular forms, and the religious forms are celebrated separately. There's two possible reasons why they didn't go with a ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Literaturenovel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'' moral: 1. if the human children didn't care about getting presents (or, more likely, worrying about Santa's well-being), Jack won't have a reason to rush back and save Santa (and with Oogie about to eat Santa, that would have been disastrous) and 2. The writers didn't want to rip off ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (Literaturenovel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]''.
* Why is it Jack is the only one who got bored of Halloween? Has he been doing this longer than anyone else?
** Since he's basically become synonymous with Halloween in the first place, his ''whole life'' is forced to revolve around that one single day. It's understandable that sooner or later he'd get sick of it.
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** Shock is clearly in a witch costume. Maybe it could be a really bad wizard costume? Or if she was, as one fan theory states, a human child in a Halloween costume, maybe "he" had really gender-identity-liberal parents?
** I'm pretty sure "boys" wasn't actually referring to gender. Kind like saying "Hey, you guys!" when one of them is a she.
** Yeah, "Oogie's boys" is just a general way to refer to them. Using a gender neutral term wouldn't work, because "Oogie's gang" makes them sound worse than the sense of slight whimsy they're supposed to have, and something like "Oogie's minions" makes Oogie Boogie sound more like a supervillain than what he seems to be the equivalent of, a mob boss. I suppose he could have called them "Oogie's mooks", but the film's primary demographic might not know what a "mook" is, plus you're back to making them sound like hardened criminals instead of impish pranksters.
* A bit surprised it's not been mentioned yet—why had nobody else stumbled upon those holiday trees? Jack had only been walking for one night and he found it.
** I like to think that Jack has some unconscious powers that come directly from being synonymous with the holiday of Halloween, or at least it responds to him more than to other residents. He apparently had the ability to unfurl that [[Buffy -Speak|twisted hill thing]], so he was probably led directly to the holiday trees subconsciously while he was asleep through the same force that did the aforementioned unfurling of the thinggy.
 
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