Halloween Town

Early in his career as a Disney animator, Tim Burton wrote a short story poem three pages long and also drew up the original characters. Burton's poem only featured Jack, his ghostly dog Zero, and Santa Claus. The project was never produced until Tim Burton struck a deal with Disney after his success as a director.

It took seven years to make The Nightmare Before Christmas.
With Tim busy directing other movies like Batman Returns, the directing chores were given to animator Henry Selick, who would next do the stop-motion animated version of Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach. Nightmare Before Christmas was the first stop-motion animated film that went beyond fixed camera work and utilized more cinematic approaches.

Starring
Chris Sarandon - Jack Skellington's speaking voice
Danny Elfman - Jack Skellington's singing voice, and Barrel
Catherine O'Hara - Sally Ragdoll and Shock
Glen Shadix - The Mayor of Halloween Town
Paul Reubens - Lock
Ed Ivory - Santa
Ken Page - oogie Boogie

Tim Burton first admired Danny Elfman and his LA band Oingo Boingo before he and Paul Reubens decided to ask the singer and songwriter to write his first film score for Pee Wee's Big Adventure. It was the first major motion picture for the trio, and Tim and Danny continue to work together 20 years later. Prior to Nightmare Before Christmas Danny also scored Beetlejuice, Batman, and Edward Scissorhands for Burton.

The songs Danny would write would have Dr. Seuss-like lyrics, with catchy rhymes and Danny's great sense of rhythm and melody. He became so enamoured with Jack Skellington that he insisted on performing the character's singing voice, and many fans agree Danny Elfman is the soul of the Pumpkin King.

Behind the scenes there had been some disagreement that led to Tim deciding not to work with Elfman on his next film Ed Wood, resulting in Danny being even more upset with Tim. But Burton soon regretted it and invited the composer to meet privately. They immediately made-up, began discussing their next film Mars Attacks, and have remained the best of friends and creative partners ever since. Recently Danny wrote music and songs for Tim's films The Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I've been collecting them ever since the movie was originally released. The original figures sold-out fast. Thinking the film may be too dark for children, a limited amount were produced and soon became pricey collector's items. These were recently reissued. My favorites are the larger doll-sized figures. There was a time when you could only get these as expensive Japanese imports.

You can be the Pumpkin King on PS2, Xbox, or Gameboy!
In 2005 video games inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas were released.

If you're expecting trick-or-treaters this would be a great way to great them!