The Polar Express/Headscratchers: Difference between revisions

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** Because it's [[Voodoo Shark|already five minutes 'til midnight]]! Did you miss [[Rule of Drama|the half-dozen times he said that]] [[Rule of Funny|over the course of several hours]]?

** He's a [[Clock King]], albeit a rare example of a benevolent one.

* I've seen this thing way too many times, as it's the default Christmas Eve Movie at my brother's house. One thing I still can't figure out is, what's the deal with the Evil? Ghost Hobo Dude? Why is he there, either [[In Universe]] or dramatically? I [[Padding|think I know the answer]], but even with that, I don't get the rationale behind this character.

* I've seen this thing way too many times, as it's the default Christmas Eve Movie at my brother's house. One thing I still can't figure out is, what's the deal with the Evil? Ghost Hobo Dude? Why is he there, either [[In-Universe]] or dramatically? I [[Padding|think I know the answer]], but even with that, I don't get the rationale behind this character.

** I think he might be the Spirit of Doubt, in a sort of (in-universe) [[Scare'Em Straight|strawman]] way.

** He's [[The Spook]]. And whether he really is "an angel" or not, for all intents and purposes that's the role he fulfills. He sort of indirectly helps out when necessary--usually by getting Hero Kid to face what's going on inside his head, but sometimes by revealing something covertly or even by saving someone's life. Perhaps he is indeed, as implied, a ghost, and is bound, by either his own remorse or some curse, to the train, to aid the people who ride on it. [[Beetlejuice ~~(Film)~~|Hey, perhaps he committed suicide! You know what they say about those people, don't you? In the afterlife, they become civil servants.]]

** He's [[The Spook]]. And whether he really is "an angel" or not, for all intents and purposes that's the role he fulfills. He sort of indirectly helps out when necessary--usually by getting Hero Kid to face what's going on inside his head, but sometimes by revealing something covertly or even by saving someone's life. Perhaps he is indeed, as implied, a ghost, and is bound, by either his own remorse or some curse, to the train, to aid the people who ride on it. [[Beetlejuice|Hey, perhaps he committed suicide! You know what they say about those people, don't you? In the afterlife, they become civil servants.]]

** As for his background story, in a deleted scene on the DVD, the engineers reveal that the hobo was riding the roof of the train one night and was killed when the train reached Flattop Tunnel. He's been on the train ever since.

*** When the protagonist drops the girl's ticket the Hobo Ghost is seen napping in a hammock on the underside on the train. If he's dead, I wanna know what he was doing there. Also, if the above is true, then it adds a bit of [[Irony]] to his comment about there only being an inch of clearance between the roof of the train and the roof of the tunnel.