A TNBC Fan

I normally don't make these types of headcanons, but I guess I can give it a try..!

Jack:

Sally:

More Headcanons:

Bonus: This doodle from the official crew

Oh! You might’ve seen me mention Jack’s tombstone in a previous ask! I've seen the Workprint, and I have MANY, MANY thoughts about it!

For one - I loved seeing Santa Claus and Sally working together, they’re a great duo! It was nice to see them coming up with a plan to help Jack and putting it into execution. Dressing up one of the skeletons was a cute touch, and Jack ‘acting’ like he was in pain while hiding with Sally & Zero was funny! I just...loved the whole thing. <3

This Workprint shows something SUPER interesting, though -- and that’s Oogie Boogie and his bugs. He actually sends a *huge* swarm to Jack, who has to run because the bugs eat/destroy everything in its path, including a fellow skeleton in a cage. It might’ve been a *nightmare* for the animators to do that in stop motion, as Oogie’s unraveling scene took a long time to make, so I understand why the concept didn’t make the cut. But, still! It’s a GREAT example of what Oogie is capable of, and how he’d make an equal match against Jack!

Also, Sally’s big smile when Jack’s realizing that she understood all along 🥺 ...also also.....his hand around her waist... 👀

ANON! YOU GET IT!!

In the case of The Nightmare Before Christmas - Tim Burton approached Henry Selick to direct the movie because he had a whole ""thing"" about it, and "didn't want to deal with the painful process of stop motion". But that meant the rest of the team had to. One story that sticks out to me is from animator Joel Fletcher, called 'The Shot from Hell', where Burton got to see firsthand, in Joel's words, 'the crew suffering to create his vision'.

Something people may not realize is that there's a department of artists who have to translate Tim's drawn 'aesthetic' into physical stop motion puppets and alike(which can be a challenge with the proportions and anatomy). The crew struggled with things like Sally's long hair and Jack's thin limbs, but they *made* it work, to keep Burton's vision. They deserve more credit for that.

Creatively, Tim's influence goes so far - when the cast was stumped on what to do with Tim's sketch of Oogie Boogie, it was Danny Elfman who stepped in and gave him his jazzy personality based on Cab Calloway. Caroline Thompson was the one who essentially developed Sally's story & personality as well. (Don't get me started on Danny improving Jack from the Poem, into a much more fleshed out character than Tim's initial vision). Visually, Henry Selick pushed many times to ensure the movie looked as wonderful as it is.

If anyone is interested in hearing from the *actual* cast of Skellington Productions, they've been working on a podcast called the We Know Jack Show, sharing their experiences with working on the movie. You can listen to the episodes here!

NO BECAUSE THIS ALWAYS FRUSTRATED ME...

When I started on my TNBC fixation years ago, I searched long and hard trying to find any behind-the-scenes commentary about the Closing/Epilogue. And much like you, I’ve *never* been able to find anything, even to this day. I have no idea why it’s never been talked about - it’s always in those “fun fact” articles and videos about Nightmare, so you’d think the crew would talk about it after these 25+ years.

I have little knowledge on the Closing’s background. What I know is that Danny Elfman wrote it, it existed in Caroline Thompson’s First Draft dated back in 1991, and that Patrick Stewart narrated it in the Soundtrack(I believe?). I don’t have an exact answer as to why it was removed/unused, what Jack and Sally’s 4 or 5 skeleton children looked like(or why they say ‘4 or 5′ to begin with), and why it was ever written in the first place.

If I were to ask the crew any one question about TNBC, I’ve always wanted it to be about the Epilogue. I particularly want to know Danny Elfman’s reasons for writing it and what happened with it, or if Caroline Thompson was involved or inspired the material at all. If there’s any concept art or storyboards out there of this scene -- if Danny, Caroline, or even Henry Selick/Tim Burton can imagine what Jack and Sally’s children look like.

I’m shocked it’s never occurred to anyone to ask them about these things. It pretty much just feels like a hidden trivia about TNBC at this point, that you can find in the Soundtrack. I hope someday we’ll be able to find further information about it out there, somewhere.

On some positive news, Nightmare storyboards are becoming more accessible due to Jorgen Klubien posting their portfolio online, and various auction sites listing them for sale!

Here are some I found a few nights ago that caught my attention. The first seems to be from the basket scene where I assume Jack would've winked and gestured at Sally(it is apparently signed by Henry Selick on the back!) The other is from Oogie's Lair where the kids are literally pulling on Jack to get them to go already.

The last one appears to be Jack entertaining the Corpse Kid, which reminded me of one of the scenes from Caroline Thompson's Draft.

I’ve been thinking about it for a long time, and had a lengthy discussion in the TNBC Club Server about just how horrifying Oogie Boogie is, and how terrifying his capabilities really are. That he’s a truly strong villain on his own with advantages - ones that might’ve even beaten Jack, if that circumstances had been right...or different.

(TW; gore imagery with bugs)

My thoughts on Oogie’s Bug Day holiday aside, I think a lot about how the Nightmare cast actually USED this idea in scrapped scenes and workprints. How Oogie can have bugs inside of him that can cause actual harm. In one workprint, during the Jack vs Oogie fight scene, he sends a swarm of bugs after Jack Skellington, who starts running, and we see that the bugs can actually eat flesh AND bone, after they attack other beings in Oogie’s Lair.

In this situation - if Oogie’s “control bug” had sent the others in a deadly swarm, it’s very likely they could’ve caught Jack and eaten his bones, effectively making him ‘double dead’. How powerful Oogie is in this scene is incredible - although I know animating all those bugs in stop motion would’ve been a nightmare for the animators. They definitely took into account the type of bugs Boogie can have, and how much of a threat they pose, if sent in the right circumstance.

I wish more adaptions would acknowledge the possibilities of Oogie’s powers, and what he’s truly capable of. I know the Nightmare cast did, and it’s a shame that didn’t really get shown in the movie, in the end. He’s still a powerful and terrifying villain - and seeing the reasons why, I don’t think he should be underestimated.

I know the subject is on my blog again, but my feelings about Tim Burton and The Nightmare Before Christmas have been held down for so long now because I get insistent anons/people that miss the point on appreciating Henry Selick + the cast’s work on the movie.

One story that I think is EXTREMELY telling comes from one of the animators/crew who worked on the movie, who posted about his experiences online. He shared an interesting story called ‘The Shot from Hell’, that I had to write about on the Wiki:

This line from the website catches my interest:

“Tim Burton actually got to witness, proof positive, how the crew suffered to create his vision!”

To elaborate - Tim Burton rarely made visits to the production studio during the time this movie was being made. Among the times he was there, he would witness the crew working hard and fighting through difficult situations just to make his “image come alive”. This especially feels telling after Henry Selick, the director, stated Tim came to him because he didn’t want to deal with “the painful process of stop motion” with making this movie. Of course he didn’t WANT to - but he still had to see it from the crew, no matter how little he visited.

This story reminds me on why we need to appreciate the animators and people who worked on this movie more, especially from stories like these. 

Concept drawing by Joe Ranft. I know some of the Nightmare cast had pretty macabre ideas, but the scythe through his neck...

““listen here you little shits””

Oogie-Boogie-is-really-Dr-Finklestein Alternate Ending moodboard

Reblog for Fink to give any of those haters the finger of shame