- “Twas a long time ago, longer now than it seems in a place that you've perhaps seen in your dreams. For the story that you are about to be told took place in the holiday worlds of old. Now you've probably wondered where holidays come from. If you haven't, I'd say it's time you begun.”
- ―Narration
The Hinterlands are a wooded area featured in Tim Burton's 1993 animated film The Nightmare Before Christmas.
Background[]
The Hinterlands are comprised of various trees each featuring its unique door representing a specific holiday. Anyone who enters any of the doors is taken to a different world based on each holiday.
Holiday Doors[]
Each tree seen in the Hinterlands is comprised of various holiday doors - specifically the common holidays of the year.
- Heart: Represents Valentine's Day. Not much of it is known where does one leads to when entering.
- Shamrock: Represents St. Patrick's Day. Not much of it is known where does one leads to when entering.
- Easter Egg: Represents Easter. It is the door which Lock, Shock, and Barrel use to find the Easter Bunny in his home, mistaking him from Santa, much to Jack Skellington's disappointment that they went through the wrong door.
- Firecracker: Represents American Independence Day. Not much of it is known where does one leads to when entering.
- Jack-O-Lantern: Represents Halloween. Entering through the door leads to Halloween Town where all the inhabitants living there celebrate Halloween.
- Turkey: Represents Thanksgiving. Not much of it is known where does one leads to when entering.
- Christmas Tree: Represents Christmas. Entering through the door leads to Christmas Town where all the inhabitants celebrate Christmas. It is the place where Santa Claus lives.
In front of each tree is a decoration located below each door which can possibly be used as steps when one enters each holiday-themed world:
- Valentine's Day: A pink and white present with a ribbon tied on it.
- St. Patrick's Day: Three mushrooms.
- Easter: Three smaller Easter eggs.
- Independence Day: Three small fireworks.
- Halloween: A skull.
- Thanksgiving: A pilgrim hat.
- Christmas: A stack of three Christmas presents.
Appearances[]
The Nightmare Before Christmas[]
The Hinterlands scene is the first scene ever visible during the opening of the film. As a narration occurs throughout the sequence, the camera stops when it shows the door representing a jack-o-lantern where it opens itself to lead to Halloween Town where the musical number "This is Halloween" begins.
Later after Jack Skellington grew tired of celebrating Halloween over and over again, he visits the Hinterlands with Zero following along. As he arrives there, he curiously sees various other doors leading to holiday worlds. As he sees a Christmas tree-shaped door, the curiously opens it, leading him to another dimension leading to Christmas Town where he curiously explores of what it is like in this Christmas-themed town, much to the Mayor of Halloween Town worried that Jack is not present in his home about giving him plans for celebrating next year's Halloween. Somehow, Jack exits Christmas Town and later manages to arrive back at Halloween Town in time where the other citizens feel happy that Jack has returned where he shows the citizens of what Christmas is like.
During Jack's plan to take over Christmas, he sends Lock, Shock, and Barrel to visit the Hinterlands to find and bring Santa Claus to Halloween Town only to find out that they brought the Easter Bunny instead. Jack feels disappointed about what the trio has caught, telling them to take the Easter Bunny back home and then enter through the Christmas tree-shaped door where Santa Claus is at. Lock, Shock, and Barrel manage to enter the correct door which Jack has spoken of where they capture Santa and take him to Halloween Town.
The Hinterlands are not seen again after that. However, after Santa thanks Jack for helping him save Christmas after defeating Oogie Boogie, he presumably returns back to Christmas Town once again.
Video game appearances[]
The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge[]
This area appears in the video game adaptation of The Nightmare Before Christmas where the name "Hinterlands" was used for the first time. The player must get the doors of the holiday worlds to their proper places by defeating a number of enemies and then restoring the doors to their proper locations by removing the curse from them.
Kingdom Hearts II[]
The Hinterlands appear in this game where the area is accessed after passing through a large patch of trees at the graveyard area in the Halloween Town world.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The term "hinterland" is a German word which can refer to a backland (specifically a city, or port, or similar).
- During the scene where Jack leaves Halloween Town, a sun with the face of a smiling jack-o-lantern is seen above the sky, which could imply that it is still Halloween in the real world calendar or the citizens of Halloween Town have recently celebrated Halloween together.
- It is currently unknown where the exact location of the Hinterlands is at, supposedly in the real world.
- During the scene when Jack Skellington sees the holiday doors for the first times, visual errors can be noted from the one that appears in the start of the film. The errors that can be noted include:
- Two mushrooms instead of three in front of the door leading to the world representing St. Patrick.
- The three Easter eggs in front of the door leading to the Easter world in a different position.
- The turkey door that leads to the Thanksgiving world in left-facing position whereas it is commonly seen in a right-facing position.
- During an interview with Henry Selick, plans to produce an animated sequel to The Nightmare Before Christmas were announced in 2001, where computer animation would be used instead of stop-motion for the sequel, which was supposed to involve on Jack Skellington visiting other holiday worlds via Hinterlands other than visiting the world representing Christmas [1]. However, Tim Burton convinced Disney to drop the idea of producing a sequel as he was very protective of Jack Skellington and The Nightmare Before Christmas universe.
References[]
- ↑ Fred Topel (August 25, 2008). "Director Henry Selick Interview – The Nightmare Before Christmas". About.com.
External links[]
