Jack Skellington

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Jack Skellington in Christmas Town

Jack Skellington is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the motion picture Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas. Voiced by Chris Sarandon (speech) and Danny Elfman (singing), the character has become increasingly popular after the release of the film and has appeared in several video games.

The Nightmare Before Christmas

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Jack's ghost dog, Zero.

Jack Skellington is a skeleton known as the "Pumpkin King" of Halloween Town, a fictional world oriented solely on the holiday of Halloween. In the beginning of the movie, he wears a costume based on a scarecrow with a pumpkin for a head. Normally, he is dressed in a black suit with thin white stripes and a bowtie designed to look like a bat. He was based on the legend of "Jack the pumpkin king."

He has a pet cat named barbie doll. I Am SERIOUS. A zombie-like santa claus named Sally is his love interest. In the film, he inadvertently finds his way into Christmas Town and becomes infatuated with the holiday, bringing it back to Halloween Town for its denizens to partake in. However, not really understanding the "point" of Christmas, they twist it into a celebration of the macabre rather than a season to be jolly, effectively ruining Christmas. In the process, Santa Claus is even captured by the evil Oogie Boogie. Determined to save Christmas, Jack journeys to Oogie Boogie's lair and destroys the villain, saving Sally, Santa Claus and also Christmas.

Video games

The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King

Jack Skellington had a rivalry with Oogie Boogie. When Oogie plans to turn Halloween Town into a new Bug Day, Jack must stop him and his army of insects from taking over his town.

The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge

Tired of doing the same thing at Halloween, Jack goes to Doctor Finklestein, who gives him the Soul Robber, an invention that changes shape. Jack decided to leave Halloween Town to get new Halloween frights. When Jack came back to town, he finds that Oogie Boogie has been resurrected. Now Jack has to set things right again. Jack dances, fights, and sings in this game to attack Oogie Boogie's minions.

It should be noted that Chris Sarandon did both the speaking and singing voice of Jack in the game.

Kingdom Hearts series

Jack Skellington appears in all three installments of the Kingdom Hearts video game series. He inhabits the world of Halloween Town, where the evil Heartless threatens its denizens. The games' main protagonists, Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy, befriend Jack and together they battle with the Heartless and also Oogie Boogie.

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Jack after telling the citizens of Halloween Town about what he saw at Christmas Town.

The strangest thing about Jack Skellington in the Kingdom Hearts series is not his place in the story or his actions, but the way he fights. Jack Skellington is a very definite "mage" style character in both games; whereas most secondary characters in Kingdom Hearts have a "signature" move (often a physical, non-element attack) and then one elemental attack based on their character (Mulan's fire attacks, via Mushu, for example) or what is most useful for their world (Ariel, of The Little Mermaid, possesses a lightning based attack, useful against the monsters in Atlantica, but making little sense for her character), Jack Skellington defies this order by possessing all three attack elements; in fact, all of his moves are rough analogues of the basic magic Sora learns: Fire, Blizzard, and Thunder (He also has a Gravity skill in the first Kingdom Hearts). This makes him an interesting character; he is exceptionally quick in battle and often the very first person to reach the enemy. This, combined with his magical attack style, makes Jack a kind of "aggressive mage"; his style is basically to rush up to the opponent and use his magic against them. In Kingdom Hearts II, where Fire magic has changed into a shield around a character, he will often enter combat by lighting himself on fire and rushing foes.

Sarandon reprises his role for the English version, and Masachika Ichimura does his Japanese voice.

Kingdom Hearts

Jack Skellington introduces himself to Sora, Goofy, and Donald Duck as the ruler of Halloween Town. Jack plans to use the heart that Finklestein created to control the Heartless to make a festival called "Heartless Halloween" so that Halloween can be frightening, but the idea fails when Oogie Boogie steals it, and plans to use it to take over Halloween Town. At Oogie's manor, Jack, Sora, and the gang confront him. After Oogie is defeated, Jack finds out that Oogie uses the dark orbs as his source of life, which Oogie combines himself and his manor with to become a giant boss. Oogie is defeated, once again, and his manor crumbles, revealing Halloween Town's keyhole.

Chain of Memories

"Created" from Sora's memories of Halloween Town, when Jack Skellington wanted to ask Finklestein what happened when he sniffs the potion that can bring "true memories", Heartless appeared. When Jack Skellington had found out that Oogie Boogie had stolen Finklestein's potion, he must stop him before Oogie drinks the whole potion. They fail to reach him before he does, but they defeat him. Sora becomes worried about what will happen when he discovers his true memories, but Jack reassures him that fear is a sign of a strong heart.

Kingdom Hearts II

Following the film loosely to some degree, out of reference, Jack tries to take Santa Claus' place again. To that end, Jack asks Sora and gang to help him be Santa's bodyguards. But after fighting the Heartless and Oogie Boogie, who has been resurrected by Maleficent, Santa, in a more calm manner, explains to Jack that they each have a job to do with their respective holidays. In the 2nd trip, Jack still wears the santa suit and still wants to deliver presents despite his claim not to. But once he and Sora defeat the Experiment, Santa lets Jack ride his sleigh. After that, Jack learns the meaning behind Christmas by understanding the act of giving. Also his dance with Sally at the very end makes Sora (the game's main character) question and contemplate his relationship with Kairi (Sora's friend, and his not-so-subtly hinted love-interest).

Cameos

• Jack Skellington once had a cameo as a pirate in the stop-motion animated movie James and the Giant Peach (although his neck looks different compared to how it did in The Nightmare Before Christmas). He is the captain of the sunken ship that Centipede boards in search of a compass. Perhaps in testament to his Shakespearean tribute, his head comes off during the movie.

• He also makes a cameo appearance in Beetlejuice (which was actually released before Nightmare) on the top of Beetlejuice's head when he turned into the 'carnival' near the end of the movie.

• A parody of Jack also has appeared in Tiny Toons called, "The Pumpkin Guy".

• In Tim Burton's Sleepy Hollow, there`s a scarecrow that looks very much like Jack in his scarecrow disguise, as shown at the beginning of Nightmare Before Christmas.

• In the Simpsons comic 'Homer's Christmas Adventure', where Homer dreamed about meeting Santa, Jack is seen at the end waving him goodbye.

• The appearance of 2D, the vocalist of the virtual band Gorillaz, may have been partially inspired by Jack Skellington.

• In the television series, The Critic, Jack appears in a parody called "The Nightmare Before Hanukkah"