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This article lists characters seen in the 1993 film The Nightmare Before Christmas and the video games The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King and The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge.
 | This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. (March 2018) |
The filmmakers constructed 230 puppets to represent the characters in the film, with Jack Skellington having "around eight hundred heads", allowing the expression of every possible emotion.[1] Sally's mouth movements "were animated through the replacement method. During the animation process, only 's face 'mask' was removed to preserve the order of her long red hair. Sally had ten types of faces, each made with a series of eleven expressions and synchronised mouth movements."[2]
The film's protagonist, Jack Skellington is a skeleton who holds the title of The Pumpkin King. He is popular among the residents of Halloween Town for his charming personality and aim to please, as he is well-meaning despite a lack of inhibition. He is in charge of Halloween, but repeating the same routine for years has caused him to feel his inspiration for his own holiday waning. However, after stumbling into Christmas Town, he gains new ideas and inspiration. He also appears in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge.[3]
He is voiced in all canon appearances by Chris Sarandon, and his singing voice in the film was provided by Danny Elfman.[4][5] Since the film was originally released for adults, as it was thought to be "too dark and scary for kids",[6] in non-English speaking countries, Disney Character Voices International only dubbed the film in a few languages in which adult and kids films are usually dubbed, while in other countries it was released with subtitles. Some versions dubbed only the spoken lines, leaving the songs in English.
Jack Skellington made a cameo in the film James and the Giant Peach as the "pirate captain".[7] He also appears in the Robot Chicken episode "Anne Marie's Pride", where he is voiced by Victor Yerrid.
| Sally | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) |
| Created by | Tim Burton |
| Voiced by | Catherine O'Hara (The Nightmare Before Christmas, Attractions, Disney Speedstorm) Kath Soucie (Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II and The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge) |
| Species | Living rag doll |
Sally is Jack Skellington's love interest, a kind, shy, and determined rag doll who tells him that Christmas and Halloween should not mix and is the only one to have doubts about his Christmas plan. Fiona Apple provides the vocals for "Sally's Song" on the 2006 special edition of The Nightmare Before Christmas: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, while Amy Lee provides the vocals for "Sally's Song" on Nightmare Revisited. She also appears in Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge.[8]
She has detachable limbs stuffed with fall leaves and often falls apart, requiring her to sew herself back together, which she carries a set of sewing needles and thread for. She was stolen by Doctor Finkelstein, Halloween Town's resident mad scientist, at a young age to be his companion. Their relationship is rather tense, as Finkelstein insists on keeping her imprisoned under the pretext of protecting her from the outside world and not wanting her to discover her original parents who reside in Dream Town in another realm. However, Sally is restless and curious, and despite his attempts to keep her imprisoned, she often manages to escape by sedating him with deadly nightshade.
It is this restlessness and a desire for something better in her life that draws her to Jack Skellington. In the beginning of the film, she idolizes and admires him like many residents of Halloween Town. However, she discovers they are connected by the desire for something more in their lives, and her feelings for him intensify. The two refer to each other as "friends", though Jack seems unaware of Sally's true feelings for him. This is because she is too shy to admit them to him, but shows them through her kindness until the end of the film, where she finally confesses to him.
On the album to the film, it is mentioned that years later, Sandy Claws returned to Halloween Town and saw Jack had four or five skeleton children. While not confirmed in the original film, the official sequel novel, Long Live the Pumpkin Queen, reveals that she married Jack.
Bryan Theiss declares that "Sally is one of those rare fantasy characters we can relate to on a certain level as much as we can to real-world characters on a more literal level."[9]
She is voiced by Catherine O'Hara in the film,[5][7] and Kath Soucie in the video game spin-offs.
| Mr. Oogie Boogie Man | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) |
| Created by | Tim Burton |
| Voiced by | Ken Page |
| Species | Oogie Boogie Man |
The Oogie Boogie Man[10] is the main antagonist, who is a large burlap sack full of bugs. Oogie Boogie did not appear in Tim Burton's original poem, but Burton later sketched a portrait of what appeared to be a potato sack man with horrible things inside.[11] The Oogie puppet was two feet high, twice the height of the other puppets.[11] Ken Page claims that he based his performance as Oogie as "somewhere between Bert Lahr in The Wizard of Oz and the voice of the demon in The Exorcist".[12] In his autobiography Burton on Burton, Burton says that Oogie Boogie was loosely inspired by Cab Calloway's appearances in several Betty Boop cartoons, and that he asked Danny Elfman to make Oogie's song in Nightmare resemble Calloway's 1931 recording of the song "Minnie the Moocher". Elfman ended up referencing the Betty Boop cartoon The Old Man of the Mountain (1933), which also featured Calloway; Santa's line "Well, what are you going to do?" and Oogie Boogie's response of "I'm gonna do the best I can!" are directly taken from it. As seen on the Special Edition DVD, another idea for Oogie's identity was for him to be Dr. Finkelstein in disguise to take revenge on Jack and Sally, but Tim Burton scrapped the idea and it was not pursued past storyboards.
Despite the fact that Oogie is mostly separated from the inhabitants of Halloween Town, it appears they allow him to take part in their celebration, as his shadow appears on the moon in the opening song "This Is Halloween". He lives in an underground lair full of torture devices, each of which features a casino-like appearance, which along with his use of dice suggest an addiction to gambling. During "Oogie Boogie's Song", his lair is lit with black lights, which he glows bright green under. After the lights dim, the bright color is sapped from his lair, transforming its appearance into that of a dank, cellar-like dungeon. Above his lair is the clubhouse of Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who feed him bugs through a metal chute. It is initially believed that Oogie cannot be killed or die, but it is later revealed he can if his brain, the lead bug, is destroyed. In the film, Lock, Shock and Barrel kidnap Santa Claus and send him down to Oogie Boogie's lair, where Sally attempts to rescue him after learning of his fate, but is captured. Oogie then tortures and tries to kill Sally and Santa Claus, but is foiled by Jack, who pulls a thread loose from him, ripping off the sack covering him and causing most of his bugs to fall into the lava. The lead bug is then squashed by Santa, and the rest of the bugs scurry off.
In The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King, his origins and the birth of his rivalry with Jack were revealed. It reveals that he once had his own holiday called Bug Day, which was forgotten by the people of the real world. Oogie escaped, found Halloween Town, and decided that it would be the new Bug Day. He and his army of insects invaded the town and nearly took it over, but Jack was able to stop them and Oogie. Oogie survived and was imprisoned within his underground lair, and Jack warns that if he ever left his lair, it would be "game over!" for him. Oogie complied, but secretly vowed revenge.
In the 2004 video game The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Oogie is resurrected by his henchmen Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who sew him back together. He quickly deceives the residents of Halloween Town and tricks the townspeople into making traps for Jack, stating that Jack would not return if they do not make an even scarier Halloween for next year. He then attempts to become the Seven Holidays King by kidnapping the leaders of the holidays and tries to murder Santa Claus again. His plans are foiled by Jack, but he puts up a fight in the Holiday Trash Hill by turning into a gigantic junk-filled version of himself named "Mega-Oogie." He is again destroyed when his bugs come out of him.
Oogie also appears with other Disney Villains at Halloween events such as the Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, the HalloWishes and Halloween Screams fireworks shows at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, respectively, World of Color: Villainous at Disney California Adventure, and during the "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party", "Mickey's Halloween Party", and "Oogie Boogie Bash" separate-admission ("hard ticket") events.
Oogie Boogie also appears in the video game Kingdom Hearts as a member of Maleficent's team of Disney villains. He reappears in the sequel Kingdom Hearts II, where he attempts to turn Santa Claus into a Heartless, and in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as an enemy based on Sora's memories of him.
| Evil Scientist | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) |
| Created by | Tim Burton |
| Voiced by | William Hickey (film) Jess Harnell (video games) |
| Species | Humanoid |
Doctor Finkelstein or Doctor Finklestein is a resident of Halloween Town, also known as "Evil Scientist" in the credits. He is a mad scientist and the "father" of Sally, who has a duckbill-like mouth and a hinged skullcap that he can open up to reveal his brain. For unknown reasons, he uses a motorized wheelchair.
Doctor Finkelstein lives in a large observatory with his stolen living rag doll Sally and his hunchbacked assistant Igor. James Whale's Frankenstein is quoted in his line "I made you with my own hands" which he says to Sally to prevent her from remembering her past life. Unlike Dr. Frankenstein, Finkelstein takes full responsibility over Sally and acts as an over-protective father by keeping her imprisoned under the pretext of sheltering her from the world's hidden dangers and not wanting her to discover her original birthplace and family. Although he is strict towards Sally, he is also shown to be kind and helpful towards Jack, as he allows him to borrow some of his equipment to conduct experiments with Christmas objects. He also helps Jack in his plan to take over Christmas by bringing skeletal reindeer to life to pull Jack's sleigh. At the end of the film, Finkelstein, deciding that Sally might be ready to take on the world's dangers after all, lets her go free and creates a wife for himself using a portion of his own brain.
Dr. Finkelstein is featured in The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge. When Jack is still tired of doing the same thing at Halloween, Dr. Finkelstein helps him by giving him the Soul Robber, a weapon that allows Jack to change its shape. Jack also tells Dr. Finkelstein to watch over the town while he is away. After Oogie Boogie's revival, he falls under his control by switching his brain to a different one and creates monsters that obey Oogie Boogie. When Jack confronts Dr. Finkelstein and learns his brain has been switched, he starts a plan to get rid of it by using the "sleeping soup" Sally gave him, and is able to put his original brain back in place and free him from Oogie's control. In the game spin-offs, Finkelstein's name is pronounced "steen" instead of "stein". Additionally, his wife creation "Jewel" is not present, and Sally appears to still be living with him even though he let her free at the end of the film. Sally even says "He insists on keeping me locked up" while next to the Hanging Tree in the Graveyard.
Finkelstein also appears in Kingdom Hearts and other games in the series. When the Heartless appear in Halloween Town, Jack thinks of adding them to the Halloween celebrations and asks Dr. Finkelstein for advice. After realizing the Heartless need a heart, the two find the ingredients for one: pulse, emotion, terror, fear, hope and despair. Their initial experiment fails, and Dr. Finkelstein sends Jack off with Sora and the group to retrieve two more ingredients, memory and surprise and complete the heart. However, the heart is stolen by Oogie Boogie. In Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, created from Sora's memories, Dr. Finkelstein creates a potion that allows people to see their true memory. However, once he sniffs the potion, Heartless appear. In Kingdom Hearts II, with Lock, Shock, and Barrel's help, Finkelstein creates an experiment. But since the Experiment has no heart, it goes on a rampage to steal gifts in an attempt to understand the emotions behind giving and gain a heart of its own. Sadly, Sora and the gang are forced to destroy the Experiment.
Dr. Finkelstein was voiced by William Hickey in the film[10] and by Jess Harnell in the video game spin-offs. His Japanese voice is provided by Yūji Mitsuya.
| The Mayor of Halloween Town | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) |
| Created by | Tim Burton |
| Voiced by | Glenn Shadix (film, Kingdom Hearts II, Oogie's Revenge) Jeff Bennett (Kingdom Hearts) |
| Species | Two-faced humanoid |
The Mayor of Halloween Town is depicted as a short, fat man who has the appearance of a giant candy corn with a cone-shaped double-sided head, wearing a tall hat, a spider tie, and a ribbon of office that says "Mayor" on it. His head has two faces: one is peach-skinned, rosy-cheeked, and smiling while the other is white-skinned, pale and frowning with pointed teeth. Depending on the Mayor's mood, his head swivels around to display the right face. When not in use, the other face has closed eyes and is considered dormant.
Despite having office, the Mayor seemingly has little authority in the day-to-day running of the town, nor much confidence in his leadership skills, especially in planning for Halloween; trying to bother Jack on November 1, the day after Halloween, for his input. Despite this, the Mayor seems to enjoy his position. He owns a hearse-like car called the "Mayor-mobile", which is equipped with a loudspeaker for making announcements. The Mayor supports Jack in his quest to bring his own version of Christmas to the world, despite his secret misgivings about it.
The Mayor of Halloween Town appears in Kingdom Hearts and Kingdom Hearts II, but his role is fairly minor. In the first game, he helps Jack and Sora find an ingredient they need for the heart Dr. Finkelstein is making. In the second game, he unsuccessfully tries to stop two Heartless outbreaks by yelling at them through his megaphone.
In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, the Mayor is seen in the opening cut scene congratulating Jack on another "horrible" Halloween. He is later seen in the level "Mayor's Madhouse", where Jack rescues him from a cage hanging from the roof of his house. While Jack goes to Christmas Town, the Mayor frees the other holiday leaders.
He is voiced by Glenn Shadix in the film, Oogie's Revenge and Kingdom Hearts II,[10] and by Jeff Bennett in Kingdom Hearts.
| Lock, Shock, and Barrel | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) |
| Created by | Tim Burton |
| Voiced by | Lock: Paul Reubens (film, Oogie's Revenge) Jess Harnell (Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II) Shock: Catherine O'Hara (film) Kath Soucie (Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II, Oogie's Revenge) Barrel: Danny Elfman (film) Jeff Bennett (Kingdom Hearts, Kingdom Hearts II) Dee Bradley Baker (Oogie's Revenge) |
Lock, Shock, and Barrel are introduced as Oogie Boogie's "little henchmen", being 6, 7 and 5 years old, respectively.[13] Although they pride in their work for Oogie Boogie and speak of their desire to please him whilst causing mischief, they appear to not harbor any particular loyalties towards him. After his death, the trio help the Mayor bring Jack and Sally out of Oogie Boogie's lair and have fun when it begins to snow in Halloweentown. Presumably due to their lust for trouble, or to provide conflict for Jack, they have shown no protest and even happiness when their master was revived in the spinoffs, and reanimated him themselves in "Oogie's Revenge". They are all trick-or-treaters, with masks similar to their faces. Their names are a play on the phrase, "lock, stock, and barrel." They often serve as comedic relief, but are not directly antagonistic: as they will work for most who summon them regardless of moral alignment. Because of their young age, they seem to be motivated by boredom rather than malicious intent. Shock is said to have died from being electrocuted, Lock being locked outside during winter and froze. Barrel is said to be put in a barrel and drowned
Jack sends Lock, Shock, and Barrel to kidnap Santa Claus, but they accidentally capture the Easter Bunny. Despite this, they are able to capture Santa, and Jack takes his hat. The trio then take Santa Claus to Oogie's lair, where Oogie taunts and threatens Santa. After Jack defeats Oogie and rescues Santa Claus, Lock, Shock, and Barrel appear, having led the Mayor to Oogie's lair to find them. They are last seen throwing a snowball at Jack's face.
In The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King, Oogie Boogie sends Lock, Shock, and Barrel out to nab the new "Pumpkin King." They come back with Sally instead, saying she resembled Jack in the dark. Throughout the game, they cause most of the ruckus in town and aid Oogie in the final battle.
In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Lock, Shock, and Barrel decide to revive Oogie Boogie out of boredom after learning Jack is temporarily leaving Halloween Town. In the game, Jack encounters the three one by one. In chapter 15, they try to stop Jack a final time in their mobile bathtub atop the Mayor of Halloween Town's house. He defeats them, yet they spring a trap and drop him into a maze in Oogie's lair. They do not appear again in the game afterwards.
In Kingdom Hearts, after hearing Jack speak of a heart that can control the Heartless, Oogie sends the three to steal the heart as part of his plan to take over Halloween Town. After the three are defeated by Sora, Donald, and Goofy, they confess that Oogie made them do it. Later in the game, they comment how quiet Halloween Town has become without Oogie and consider making a ruckus to liven things up. In Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, the three find a Heartless and keep it as their pet before it becomes too big for them to control.
In Kingdom Hearts II, Lock, Shock, and Barrel start off working as Doctor Finkelstein's assistants until they encounter Maleficent, who revives Oogie Boogie and gives them the "Prison Keeper" Heartless to hold off Sora and company. The monster keeps them in a cage underneath its body, but swallows one of them to act as its "pilot", each one giving the monster a different ability and appearance. It ultimately swallows all three of them before attacking Sora and party with its full repertoire. After its defeat, the trio run off saying it was 'fun' and unintentionally reveal Oogie's return. In the second visit, the three are accused of stealing presents after they enter Santa's workshop and are caught looking through gifts. Sora and the party have to fight them by knocking them unconscious and putting them in boxes. After the battle, the three claim they did not steal the presents, as they regard Christmas toys to be boring, and reveal they were looking for parts for Doctor Finkelstein's Experiment, forcing Sora to let them free. They also cause mischief as obstacles in the "Making Presents" mini game, before and after the fight with the Experiment. After the battle, they run off and are not seen again.
In the film, Lock was voiced by Paul Reubens, Shock was voiced by Catherine O'Hara, and Barrel was voiced by Danny Elfman.[10] In the Kingdom Hearts series, Lock was voiced by Jess Harnell, Shock was voiced by Kath Soucie, and Barrel was voiced by Jeff Bennett. In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Paul Reubens reprised the role of Lock, Kath Soucie reprised the role of Shock from the "Kingdom Hearts" series, and Dee Bradley Baker voiced Barrel.
| Santa Claus | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) |
| Created by | Tim Burton |
| Voiced by | Ed Ivory (The Nightmare Before Christmas) Corey Burton (video games) |
| Species | Joulupukki |
Santa Claus, who Jack calls Sandy Claws, is the leader of Christmas Town. After Jack stumbles upon the town, he becomes mesmerized with the holiday and tries to bring Christmas to Halloween Town. To do so, he orders Lock, Shock, and Barrel to kidnap Santa so Jack can take his place for the Christmas season. The three then take Santa to Oogie Boogie, where his life is threatened until Jack and Sally manage to save him and the holiday of Christmas. He manages to round up the living gifts and replace them with the right ones (it is unknown what he did with Jack's presents, but it can be presumed that he returned them to Halloween Town), and is last seen flying over Halloween Town as snow starts to fall.
In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Oogie Boogie targets Santa Claus and leaves him hanging over the tracks for his scissor-tipped Oogie Train to drop him, but he is saved by Jack Skellington. When Oogie Boogie hijacks Santa's sleigh, Jack lets him use the same sleigh he used when Jack tried to improvise Christmas.
Santa Claus appears in Kingdom Hearts II. Sora, Donald Duck, and Goofy meet Santa Claus when they follow Jack Skellington to Christmas Town. He also references how Jack Skellington tried to improvise Christmas. Maleficent revives Oogie Boogie and sends him to capture Santa Claus, and after Sora defeats Oogie Boogie, Santa Claus tells Jack he should concentrate on Halloween and Santa should concentrate on Christmas. He also tells Sora to believe he will meet Riku again. Later on, Santa's presents are stolen by Dr. Finkelstein's Experiment, and he helps Jack make decoy presents to attract the Experiment. Jack and company reclaim the presents by hiding in a decoy present, and after they defeat the Experiment, Santa Claus decides to give Jack a taste of what it is like to deliver Christmas presents. After Jack finishes delivering presents, Santa takes back his sleigh and brings forth snow as a present for those in Halloween Town.
Santa Claus is voiced by Edward Ivory in the film and by Corey Burton in the video game spin-offs.
| Zero | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993) |
| Created by | Tim Burton |
| Species | Ghost Dog |
Zero is Jack's ghost dog, who floats about and follows him. His nose, which is in the shape of a glowing orange jack-o-lantern, also doubles as a bright light.
In the Kingdom Hearts series, Zero is often called upon to search for someone. In The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, he will disappear and reappear depending on whether the player has completed the Halloween Town story.
The following toys were created by the citizens of Halloween Town:
The owners of the franchise have undertaken an extensive marketing campaign of these characters across many media. In addition to the "Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland" featuring "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas characters,"[22] Jack Skellington, Sally, Pajama Jack, and the mayor have been made into Bendies figures,[23] while Jack and Sally even appear in fine art.[24] Moreover, Sally has been made into an action figure and a Halloween costume.[25] The Mayor has been made into a Bendies figure.[23] Jack is also the titular character in the short story "Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas: Jack's story."[26]
Jim Edwards actually contends that "Tim Burton's animated movie The Nightmare Before Christmas is really a movie about the marketing business. The movie's lead character, Jack Skellington, the chief marketing officer (CMO) for a successful company decides that his success is boring and he wants the company to have a different business plan. Some have wondered which real-life company failure the movie is based on: Sergio Zyman's New Coke or Merck's launch and subsequent withdrawal of Vioxx."[27]
While Yvonne Tasker notes "the complex characterization seen in The Nightmare Before Christmas,"[28] Michael A. Morrison discusses the influence of Dr. Seuss's How the Grinch Stole Christmas on the film, writing that Jack parallels the Grinch and Zero parallels Max, the Grinch's dog.[29] Philip Nel writes that the film "challenges the wisdom of adults through its trickster characters" contrasting Jack as a "good trickster" with Oogie Boogie, whom he also compares with Dr. Seuss's Dr. Terwilliker, as a bad trickster.[30] Richard Delgado and Jean Stefancic see the characters as presented in a more negative light and criticise the film's characters as having racial constructs, with the protagonists using "whitespeak" and the antagonist, Oogie Boogie, using "blackspeak."[31]
This perception was not entirely unanticipated by the filmmakers. Danny Elfman was worried the characterization of Oogie Boogie would be considered racist by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP).[32] As Delgado and Stefancic's book reveals, Elfman's predictions became true. Nevertheless, director Henry Selick stated the character was inspired from the Betty Boop cartoon The Old Man of the Mountain. "Cab Calloway would dance his inimitable jazz dance and sing "Minnie the Moocher" or "Old Man of the Mountain", and they would rotoscope him, trace him, turn him into a cartoon character, often transforming him into an animal, like a walrus," Selick continued. "I think those are some of the most inventive moments in cartoon history, in no way racist, even though he was sometimes a villain. We went with Ken Page, who is a black singer and he had no problem with it".[33]
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