The Nightmare Before Christmas/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

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* 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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** 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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** 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)|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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***** 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 With 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 The 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 At 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 />
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Spoiled all, spoiled all<br />
Everything's gone all wrong }}
* Soooooooooo........[[What Happened to The 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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* 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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** I'm pretty sure "boys" wasn't actually referring to gender. Kind like saying "Hey, you guys!" when one of them is a she.
* 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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