Pumpkin King

The painfully thin, forlorn looking fellow above is one Jack Skellington, a.k.a. the Pumpkin King from Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas." I am pretty sure his birthday is somewhere around Halloween, but since the real world decided not to produce a hero for us today, Jack will have to step into the breach. As long as it is a tall, thin breach, he should be able to fill it nicely. The Pumpkin King is he, and the Pumpkin King he remains for all of us who have ever watched the film (some of us about 6 times). Stop motion is a lovely thing, and say what you will about Mr. Burton, but he has been very protective of Jack. Disney tried to do a sequel using computer animation, but Mr. Burton said no. Pretty sure it would have made him quite a bit of money, but keeping the image of Jack in Stop Motion was more important. Our boy Jack has remained a popular character, and was listed as the number 25 hero of all time in the Disney universe. Not bad for a skeleton that can be, at time, quite scary. His misguided attempt to "give Santa the night off" and run Christmas are the basis of the film, and you can see that there is no real malice in Jack, just a misguided idea that headless dolls are not exactly what little Jane wants for Christmas. All is well in the end, and Jack even helps save Santa from the Oogie Boogie man. So, for his attempt to liven up Christmas with a little Halloween spirit, and saving Santa Claus from the evil clutches that he was sort of responsible for, Jack Skellington, the Pumpkin King, (1993-present), you are my (201nd) hero of the day. Happy Birthday you bag of bones!