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The Nightmare Before Christmasis one of the most mysterious and inviting animated films by far. This is due in part to the lack of exploration and expansion of the original film. The most intriguing aspect of the world is the holiday doors and whatever is on the other side of them.
The film featured Jack Skellington in Halloween Town and his journey to Christmas Town. But the other towns are still a mystery. Fans can get a glimpse of what’s beyond the other doors by reading the novel,Long Live The Pumpkin Queen. It’s a fitting novelized sequel toThe Nightmare Before Christmas, but may be rendered moot if its revelations are not considered canonical to the film.
The Original Holiday Doors In The Nightmare Before Christmas
The holiday doors inThe Nightmare Before Christmasare passageways to festive realms based on various holidays. The original doors seen in the film are located in the Hinterlands, a forest on the outskirts of Halloween Town. Each realm has its own area with these doors. There are seven doors with symbolic carvings on trees inThe Nightmare Before Christmas:
Jack Skellington ventures into the wintry world of Christmas Town when he opens the door in the shape of a Christmas tree. But Jack isn’t the only one to visit these other holiday worlds. He sends Shock, Lock, and Barrel to retrieve Santa Claus from Christmas Town. However, they end up returning first with the Easter Bunny, presumably from having traveled through the door shaped like an egg.
InLong Live The Pumpkin Queen, it is revealed that Jack has visited all the holiday worlds except Valentine’s Town. He saved that journey to go together with Sally, his new wife. Valentine’s Town is filled with troublesome cupids and is ruled by Queen Ruby Valentino. In each holiday world, the inhabitants work all year to put together one special day that their ruler brings to the Human Realm. Through various portals, Jack the Pumpkin King brings the tricks and treats to the people of the Human Realm on Halloween. What’s more interesting in the novel is the introduction of Dream Town, an ancient realm that is not linked to anyfeel-good holiday or season.
The Other Doors In The Nightmare Before Christmas
The tree-door was hidden and covered in foliage. Sally found the door deep in the Hinterlands. Inhabited by teddy bears and rag dolls like Sally, Dream Town’s purpose is to help people fall asleep. It was once ruled by the Sandman until he went mad and started relentlessly forcing people to sleep just to steal their dreams.
The new, villainous Sandmanwas banished outside the town that was walled high enough to keep him from flying over. Apparently, the Dream sand he carried weighed him down too much to successfully scale the wall. He was able to enter Halloween Town when Sally opened the door of Dream Town. This doesn’t explain why the Sandman couldn’t simply leave Dream Town by venturing through any of the other holiday doors, however. There’s also the Human Realm that is accessible through various portals that the rulers of the holiday worlds know about. For instance, Jack could enter the Human Realm through graveyards.
The end of the novel,Long Live The Pumpkin Queen, reveals that there are even more ancient doors and realms to journey to in the world ofThe Nightmare Before Christmas. This opens the story up to many other cultural holidays and folktales that could be explored. Though the novel may be considered non-canon, it does not retcon anything presented in the film and can thus be easily adapted.
The holiday doors ofThe Nightmare Before Christmasare still full of mystery after thirty years, but thankfully, that’s starting to change. Even if Tim Burton does not want to permit Disney to continue expanding on the film’s lore onscreen, other formats will suffice. The other original holiday realms have yet to be featured in a way that reveals as much about them as the film has for Jack Skellington and the inhabitants of Halloween Town. The success of the spin-off novel, however, could change that.
