Jack Skellington's appearance in James and the Giant Peach as Captain Jack suggests that he was a pirate before he died, explaining his chaotic actions in The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Before The Nightmare Before Christmas even made it to the big screen, Tim Burton managed to sneak Jack into the 1988 movie, Beetlejuice. His head can be seen on top of Beetlejuice's carnival hat.
How Chris Sarandon Was Cast As Jack Skellington. Since Burton and Selick decided to keep Danny Elfman as Jack Skellington's singing voice, the search for the Pumpkin King's speaking voice was based around finding an actor with vocal inflections similar to Elfman.
Who Was Jack Skellington BEFORE He Died?: Disney Theory
Is Jack the Skellington evil?
He comes off more as an anti-hero, if anything.. Despite this, he's clearly a creature that lurks in the night. Jack Skellington is well intentioned as he wants to spread the joy of Christmas to Halloweentown. He is bored with the repetitive nature of Halloween and longs for something different.
The Nightmare Before Christmas is about Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon), Halloween Town's Pumpkin King who schemes to take over Christmas, while Corpse Bride focuses on Victor (Johnny Depp), a Victorian-era man who accidentally weds a dead woman named Emily (Helena Bonham Carter).
Oogie Boogie would like to be in control, but Jack as the ego works to control the id, Oogie Boogie, and keep him from running amok. Oogie Boogie fears Jack because he knows that Jack ultimately has the power between them.
Years before the events of the original 1993 Tim Burton stop-motion film The Nightmare Before Christmas, where Jack Skellington wears the crown as the "Pumpkin King," he and Oogie Boogie were best friends.
What is the real story behind Nightmare Before Christmas?
Though most people think of Tim Burton as a Hollywood writer and director, his titular holiday flick was actually inspired by the 1981 parody poem he wrote, putting a satirical spin on “The Night Before Christmas.” The title of Burton's poem and his subsequent movie came from a pun within his popular Christmas poem.
Jack Skellington was once human. Some theories state his origin is tied to the Irish legend of Stingy Jack. In the story, Stingy Jack deceives the devil. Upon his death, God didn't let him into heaven, and the devil locked him out of hell.
The Pumpkin King. Jack Skellington is first chronologically seen in The Pumpkin King, many years before the events of the film. He is a king noted as the king of Halloween Town, and its most frightening inhabitant.
Jack Skellington is the patron spirit of Halloween, portrayed as being on par with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny within his own holiday. As a living skeleton, he is immortal and can remove parts of his body without harm, as is often demonstrated for comic relief.
Without Edgar's interference, Oogie Boogie could have remained a good character and maintained his friendship with Jack, but Edgar's control and unfairness ultimately unlock Oogie's evil potential.
Jack is enemies with Oogie Boogie, the Boogeyman of Halloween Town. Jack hates Oogie for his evil, sadistic nature while Oogie despises Jack for being the Pumpkin King and bringing a sense of playful fun to Halloween.
Oogie Boogie, on the other hand, is a cruel, terrifying creature who's a cannibalistic serial killer, and one of the darkest villains in Disney history. He is very boisterous and vile, having a level of expressive flamboyance to his energetic mien.
The second issue: the names. While the main characters of The Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie share the same first name, they don't share their last ones. Victor Frankenstein isn't the same person as Victor van Dort. And Jack Skellington is a completely different name.
What monster is Sally in Nightmare Before Christmas?
She is a rag doll monster from Halloween Town, created by Dr. Finkelstein. An intelligent, yet inconspicuous woman, Sally yearns for independence, but is repeatedly restrained by her overprotective creator. She is also romantically infatuated with Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King.
Another theory suggests that Victor Frankenstein, Victor Van Dort, and Jack Skellington are all the same person, with Victor's journey spanning from Frankenweenie to Corpse Bride to Nightmare Before Christmas, experiencing memory loss and transformations along the way.
A common theory about Nightmare Before Christmas is how Jack Skellington died, since he's a human skeleton and is assumed not to be born into Halloween Town. The most supported theory is that he was burned alive because of the opening sequence where he is introduced on fire and jumps into a water fountain.
Johnny Depp - Victor Van Dort. Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's collaborations date back years before he lent his voice to Victor Van Dort, the somber groom-to-be whose arranged marriage is intercepted by the misunderstood Corpse Bride.
