The Phantom Tollbooth ~ Lost in Adaptation

Norton Juster hated the 1970 film they based on his book, but was his dislike justified?
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[@RabblesTheBinx]

The best part of that intro: Getting slapped repeatedly in the face by the word "pun", is entirely something that would fit within the universe of the book.

[@rainydaze3589]

a fitting “pun”ishment if you will

[@theothertonydutch]

I got beaten to the punchline@@rainydaze3589

[@Phantom86d]

He was 'pun'ched.

[@TheFirstLaughingFool]

@@Phantom86d you've been hit with a slap stick

[@_decaysea]

Oh, thank God. I've owned this book since I was very young, but every time I mention it, everyone thinks I suffered some kind of fever dream. Thank you for validating its existence.

[@kashiialcuin1688]

Bruh I read this at 9yo and decided as a full adult to read it. I loved it as a kid. I own it as an adult... no regrets

[@SM-BSW]

Same! Ditto with the adaptation!

[@theoneguyoverthere]

Same. I’d only heard that there was a film adaptation before, but never actually seen it.

[@9ansean]

I know that feeling when there's some weird story you remember from childhood which sound like a hallucination when trying to describe it. Always gratifying to be proving it was somebody else's dream and others know it too. 😃

[@TheJillers]

It is definitely still a fever dream of a book

[@alexanderforbes1452]

"... she felt that people had abused the privilege of making noise." Yeah, I feel that way sometimes too.

[@TheEileen]

I got this at the library and was laughing so hard, my mum asked me about it. I read bits to her and then I ended up reading the whole thing to her. Then ... she read the whole thing to me. Then I read it to her. We cackled and laughed all the way each time. Then I had to return it but we went and found the book in a bookstore (took a bit) and we took turns reading it to each other for years. One of the loveliest memories I have with my mum.

[@maddiedoesntkno]

My father read this to me when I was very small. It’s still one of my favourite books

[@Sentientmatter8]

My mum had to read this book as a party of her studies to become a teacher, and she enjoyed it so much. I was really glad i was able to share it with her.

[@heidifedor]

That explains the duldrums.

[@charischannah]

My younger sister and my mom were part of a production of the play version of The Phantom Tollbooth back in the early 2000s, and the producer actually managed to get Norton Juster to come out for the opening weekend and, as the awkward teenager hanging out, helping with props and set stuff before opening and ushering during the show, I got to meet him, get my copy of the book signed, and have my mom tell him all about a short story I'd written about two atoms that fall in love (I was very embarrassed at the time but he was very kind and said it sounded interesting). Juster was delightful in person, and I'm really glad I got to meet him.

[@user-dd5eh5lu3o]

sweet and wholesome story

[@kayleighbrown459]

Procrastination from writing a book by writing another book is such a mood.

[@vedranlucev1837]

I was always under the impression that in the movie, the princesses weren't imprisoned in the sky castle, but living there because they were banished from the kingdom and couldn't, or didn't want to, return.

[@lachlanmcgowan5712]

In the book, both the Which and the Princesses were always perfectly capable of escaping from their prisons (well, the princesses would have had to get past the demons, but there's no way any of the demons would be clever enough to actually catch them). The Which stays in prison for a reason that isn't fully explained -- it seems like she doesn't want to face Azaz without having Rhyme and Reason there to mediate -- and Rhyme and Reason seem to stay in the castle because that's their purpose, and they wouldn't be welcomed back into Wisdom unless someone actually went to save them.

[@lordspaz88]

I am *still* scared of The Terrible Trivium. "So many doodles to doodle! So many USELESS things to do!"

[@kyoyameganebereznoff]

The illustration in the book is quite unsettling.

[@alanpennie8013]

I found him rather charming.

[@Below.average.version]

The scream after the gift wrapped killer pops out is hilarious! I watched that bit at least a dozen times and was reduced to tears every single time. The run! the scream! the facial expression! Brilliant

[@NintendoHighSchool]

The switch between the live action and animation blew my mind as a child. It was the first time I'd ever seen something like that.

[@dreamguardian8320]

I like that scene too.

[@KyleRayner12]

I remember that book. It was a unique reading experience when I was 7, and I still remember it fondly. Hearing it was written for procrastination and involved a writer vs illustrator duel is amazing, though.

[@l0rf]

Looking at the state of the world, focussing on education but also on WHY that education is important and how it becomes important is a lesson we should pick up again.

[@Popcultureguy3000]

No doubt Ron DeSantis never read this book, or saw the film adaptation, as a kid. Or the people behind “Mom’s For Liberty”, those lousy book banner’s.

[@BarryHart-xo1oy]

Very true.

[@Arxane]

Norton Juster also wrote “The Dot and the Line,” another work that was turned into an animation by Chuck Jones (though the true director for that short was Maurice Noble).

[@Toramai-pi8wx]

Holy cow, I thought I was the only one who remembered that!😮

[@professorbutters]

I have a copy. It’s brilliant.

[@BretRBoulter]

The sudden intersection of Chuck Jones memories has just created a singularity in my brain.

[@EbonRaven]

I adore "The Dot and the Line"! I bought a copy for my nephew when he was just starting to be interested in books so his mother could read it to him.

[@RothAnim]

That was a book I reread multiple times as a kid. To be expected from a child of architects. :P

[@mikeymullins5305]

In the fifth grade, we had to find a real life use for our vocab words, and this book was banned from being an example bc it contained all of the words! We had about fifty copies as well. I never read it, but now i understand why

[@kaitlyn__L]

That’s hilarious, but surely a great demonstration of the value of the book 😅

[@mikeymullins5305]

@@kaitlyn__L absolutely! To clarify, kids weren't banned from reading the book, just from using it as an example. The teachers just wanted them to read other books as well.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@mikeymullins5305 I gotchu 👍 I often heavily leaned on various Terry Pratchett books for similar examples. I do remember certain other books being on the “too easy” list in situations like this but I seemed to be the only one in my school who knew about Phantom Tollbooth!

[@quintonhoffert6526]

As a kid, my interpretation of the ending was always that the princesses could have set everything straight at any point, but they didn't because doing so would prevent other children from having to come to the Kingdom of Reason and learn important lessons. I think the book's ending makes more sense when you consider the Kingdom of Reason as its own separate world, but the movie's ending makes more sense if you consider the Kingdom of Reason as a world that exists to teach people in the "real" world. At the end of the movie the tollbooth flies over to Milo's friend Ralph, with the understanding that he's going to have to go on an adventure learning about the world and himself in order to free the princesses. The book's ending feels more natural, but because it feels more natural it also wouldn't really work for the movie's stinger of having Ralph get the tollbooth. Even if King Azaz and the Mathemagician couldn't stop arguing for more than an evening, it doesn't feel reasonable that they would immediately jump to banishing the princesses again. Likewise, if the Kingdom of Reason's army defeated the Demons of Ignorance, it wouldn't make sense from a true alternate world scenario for all the demons to suddenly come back the next day. As a result, the ending where Ralph gets the tollbooth wouldn't give him the same lessons that Milo learned because he'd be going to a Kingdom of Reason that Milo had already fixed. He might still find things to appreciate but he wouldn't be forced into the same kind of whirlwind adventure that Milo went on. The movie's ending, meanwhile, always felt like the score card being wiped clean, like getting to the end of a video game and then starting a new run. It's less cohesive than the book but it works better for the idea of multiple people going on the same adventure. Kind of like how Wonderland in Alice in Wonderland is Alice's dreamscape made manifest, I always saw the Kingdom of Reason as being a representation of Milo's worldview. The Doldrums are powerful and malicious because his own apathy is slowly killing him, and the Demons of Ignorance are a huge threat because he's happy to remain ignorant. Milo's adventure rekindles in him the love of learning and helps him care about the people around him, so it makes sense that he uses those powers to defeat his own Demons of Ignorance. The return of the princesses heralds the return of rhyme and reason to his own worldview. However, when the tollbooth moves to another person, the world state resets because their own worldview is out of order. As I said, it's less cohesive as a true isekai fantasy world than the book's ending suggested, but the movie's ending worked better for what they were going for IMO.

[@9ansean]

A wonderful assessment of how the two versions handle the same themes. Thank you.

[@kaistephens2694]

So it's like Nights into Dreams, almost?

[@mothiestman4995]

My dad tried to read this to me when I was a kid. Unfortunately, this was how we figured out that it only really works when read (unless you have the visual aids provided in the film). I should read it now. I unironically ADORE puns.

[@scribbly2983]

I just read this to my preschooler son and he enjoyed it, but there was definitely a lot of context he missed.

[@elainecanby412]

Typo: He had two men listed as Candy Candido, but the second man to the right was Mel Blanc, man of a thousand voices, who voiced Bugs Bunny and many other Looney Tunes characters. He voiced the Dodecahedron in the film.

[@michaelmurphy6400]

I’m 34 years old, and this is still one of my favorite books ever written.

[@xZigzagx123]

It's strange how regarded in my head this book is. I remember reading and loving it as a child. I remember taking it from the library several times because of how much I loved the puns. Yet, after I left school I could never recall the actual plot and I've always found that sad how human memories work sometimes. So it was an absolute delight to watch this Lost in Adaptation and be reminded of things I thought I had forgotten ❤

[@Justice237]

I just realised that "magical Lexapro" is another pun, like "Lexapro" the anti-depressant sounds like "lexicon", and it's a story all about words .... I'll show myself out

[@wrenbeck3370]

On my final day at primary school, the year 6 teacher gave me a copy of this book! I can't remember why, but it was a nice gift!

[@lachlanmcgowan5712]

The teacher probably thought that you were a big nerd who loved puns

[@wrenbeck3370]

@@lachlanmcgowan5712 ... Ok that's fair.

[@bookshelfhoney]

I got this book from a teacher too!

[@Oakleaf012]

I love this book, and even named my cat Milo after it. I don’t think I knew there was an adaption but I clicked so fast (and immediately cackled at the accuracy of getting smacked in the face with endless puns)

[@kyoyameganebereznoff]

Our cat Milo was also named after this book’s main character! People would always ask us if we were inspired by Milo and Otis.

[@Oakleaf012]

@@kyoyameganebereznoff lol same, I didn’t even know about Milo and Otis until I named my cat and people started asking me XD

[@TommyZei]

The Doldrums was my first introduction to what depression is as a kid. Great video on a great book and movie!

[@alanpennie8013]

A line that made me smile was that The Humbug was always very quick with a wrong answer. We've all known people like that.

[@joshsalwen]

My child’s school did a play of this story last year. I felt vaguely aware of the story, but it seemed like a dream that came back in bits as I watched the play.

[@pridelander06]

This is one of my favorite books and films! So glad you did this one! Just a minor thing, at 3:24 bottom right is Mel Blanc

[@paulferancik7766]

Ah, I remember a time when a middle age man could prance around happily before shoving a small child in the back of his truck and it was all taken as delightful wimsy……. We were very stupid back then.

[@BretRBoulter]

Back then not enough was acknowledged, but now too much is assumed. I wonder if we'll ever find the middle ground between blind naivete and paranoid delusion. Life is, I hope to believe, better than either.

[@NYinside]

​@@BretRBoulter what a poetic rendering of the state of the world today

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@BretRBoulterwe will, eventually. For instance, the over-use of stereo effects in 60s music doesn’t happen anymore. We’re also finally allowing gay characters to be villains again, after they had to be perfect little angels in the 2010s. Balance will always come eventually.

[@paulferancik7766]

@@kaitlyn__L not only villains but well developed villains, unlike the 60s and 70s where being gay meant you were cartoonishly psychotic.

[@kaitlyn__L]

@@paulferancik7766 yes! 🙌 👏

[@palamane1]

Thank you, Dominic! I didn't know the Chuck Jones adaptation, and always associated the book with Jules Feiffer's illustrations. (Part of me is disconcerted to see them Jones-ified.) Thanks for the background on the book! (Nerd alert: the 6th photo of voice talent at 3:25 mark appears to be Mel Blanc, unless "Candy Candido" is another pseudonym for him.)

[@professorbutters]

I actually like Jones adaptations, and think “Mowgli’s Brothers” is WAY better than The Jungle Book, but I think I would miss the Feiffer illustrations too much.

[@Rolld20]

I think the change in character design is a potential barrier to enjoying the film; Feiffer taps into the disconcerting uncertainties of the Id, while Jones sits more comfortably in the sunny Ego. But give it a shot, it was made with respect to the source material.

[@alanpennie8013]

​@@Rolld20. I think Feiffer's weirdness was needed because this book is in danger of lapsing into moralising on occasion

[@alisaurus4224]

“Blanc” and “candide” both mean “white” so i think it’s a joke name

[@SkatKat]

I'd forgotten about the movie entirely but I was enamoured with it when I was a kid. The visuals were mesmerising! Kind of shocking how things just fall out of our memory. Can't wait to read the book now.

[@robertmckinnon7003]

Other adaptations by Chuck Jones: Rikki Tikki Tavi, A Cricket in Times Square, The White Seal, Horton hears A Who!, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas.

[@Rolld20]

I still like Tock's song about time; sometimes I remind myself to focus by humming the refrain: Take a second to look around, see a sight, hear a sound. Take a second to concentrate: Analyze! Contemplate. Take an hour and change the fate of the world!

[@Wandergirl108]

I thought I'd never heard of this story from the title, but the synopsis is word-for-word the same as a really entertaining stage play I saw once. I don't remember it being called this, but it's the same story, so it must have been. That play has never truly left my head, it was really good; I'm glad I can put a name to it now. Thank you!

[@theplaguedoctor3381]

man, this sent me on a nostalgia trip, this was the first book I ever read (not counting picture books) and it's what made me fall in love with reading.

[@annnichols3091]

Read a sibling's print copy decades ago. Recently got a used audio CD copy and listened to it.

[@meganhoward921]

My dad read this to me for the first time as a bedtime story when I was a kid in the 80s, and my copy is actually currently on my passenger seat. Thank you!

[@caitlinoconnor2774]

This book was a childhood favorite and I can never find anyone who's actually read it. Thank you so so so very much One for doing this video and two for showing me everybody else who loved it.

[@michaeliv284]

I remember that scene in the swamp, I could NOT for the life of me find where it was from. Thank you, Dom!

[@iridradiant]

Never heard of this one before, but I recognized Chuck Jones' art style immediately. Great episode as always!

[@mathieuleader8601]

I remember bawling my eyes out with happiness when the princesses got freed when I watched this movie on Cartoon Network back in the day.

[@Serai3]

I keep hoping someone will do a live-action adaptation of this story. When LOTR came out, I felt sure the rights to this would be jumped on. It's such a fun ride. Two of the roles I envisioned were Robin Williams for the Whether Man, and Christopher Lloyd for Dr. Discord. (Can't you just hear him scream "AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE!!!"?) But no. Maybe someday a movie about a kid discovering what an adventure it is to learn will be welcomed.

[@kaitlyn__L]

Oh no, that would’ve been amazing. So long as it didn’t get that early-00s Dr Zeuss adaptation treatment…

[@Serai3]

@@kaitlyn__L Oh gods, no. I was thinking along the lines of LOTR or "What Dreams May Come". Taking fantastical visuals and treating them seriously, as if they really exist. With the right touch, it could be really spectacular. But alas, the moment passed, and any attempt now would be all CGI and horribly soulless and depressing. All the danger would be flattened and all the characters would get backstories and all the humor would be committeed to death, and it wouldn't be the story in the book in any way. Under those circumstances, I'd rather be content with the Chuck Jones.

[@thenightstar8312]

I'll be honest... I don't think it needs it at all. In fact, I think making this live action would do nothing but make it worse. I find the adaptation to be perfectly fine the way it is.

[@Serai3]

@@thenightstar8312 If you'd bothered to read further, you'd have found I said the same thing. But why bother when yelling NO is so much fun?

[@fredgwynn8933]

It wouldn’t work. The Chuck Jones animation was perfect cause plot wise it’s pretty loose. It’s a meandering exploration of ideas. And I think it would just come off corny.

[@helenn6551]

My dad gave me the book when I was a kid, and the moments still have a place in my brain all these years later. I didn't know they made a movie, but it is nice to see others enjoying the story I did

[@AirQuotes]

I love this movie, and no one ever talks about it. Thank you

[@JDM-is-my-name]

Never heard of this book, nor the movie. I think it's kind of cute that vie watching for years now and Shelby is still one of the main supporters. I don't usually listen to the patreon shout out, but I've gotten so used to that name. Cute as hell

[@WhisperingNostrils]

One of my favorite books as a kid. It taught me how our perception of words can change their meaning, and is probably the reason for my love of puns.

[@JorWat25]

I genuinely think this book shaped my interest in mathematics and linguistics. Loved it as a child. I still have it on my bookshelf all these years later. I've also got The Annotated Phantom Tollbooth, though haven't manged to read it yet.

[@hopekeeley2122]

I remember this being a rug-time book my 3rd grade teacher read to us. I think I was scared of how little it makes sense in the beginning but loving it by the end

[@shugoibaka]

I completely forgot this story existed until I saw this, but I remember watching this movie as a child and mostly being very confused. Maybe I should give it a shot again now that I'm older and might get the wordplay more lol

[@tarynbarker2107]

My high school drama class put on the play version of the Phantom Tollbooth. I played the Spalling Bee

[@tarynbarker2107]

*Spelling (which apparently I can’t do)

[@ericcarabetta1161]

Never knew this movie started as a book, I really enjoyed it as a kid. It was one of those movies that only unexpectedly appeared on TV every couple of years, so I was never really sure what it was called or how to find it again (this was all way before Google). This, and Tommy Tricker And The Stamp Traveler.

[@carol8342]

🎶Rhyme & Reason reign once more! Sense & Sanity prevail!🎶...my lil sis & i used to pretend to be the princesses, loving both the book & the movie 😄

[@MrInitialMan]

I was introduced to an excerpt of this book through Childcraft Vol. 13 _Mathemagic_ (This was the 1982-1995 edition). Later I found that my local library had a copy and of course I borrowed it. It was a punderful read. :)

[@dominiccasts]

I think that was the exact same path I took to finding it. Checked it out of the school library every year in elementary school after that.

[@MissBuyNLarge]

this is to date still one of my favorite books of all time not number one, but definitely top 5 I LOVE puns, so this book's style of humor really hit the spot for the record, my favorite character is the Dodecahedron - I loved him so much I memorized his little introductory rhyme that he does close second is Dinn

[@johnscarsandstuff]

My faces are many, My sides are not few, I'm the dodecahedron, Who are you? Yes, I typed that from memory, I hope I got it right.

[@searchingfororion]

The dodcahedron got me through Geometry (and helped me teach many others). And also caused me to annoy many a tabletop enthusiast.

[@j.munday7913]

Dodecahedron is my favorite too

[@otakukaku]

As someone that grew up with the Xanth novels, this sounds like it might be up my alley.

[@nicole-ls4jb]

This is absolutely one of my favorite books (and yes I do love puns)! My favorite part is the Sound keeper's, and I love that his small sound that knocked down the wall to to release all the sounds was "But." Such a great metaphor!

[@kurathchibicrystalkitty5146]

*Dom mentions Diana Wynne Jones* Me: 🤩🤩🤩

[@alanpennie8013]

Perhaps Dom should cover Howl's Moving Castle.

[@kurathchibicrystalkitty5146]

@@alanpennie8013 He has on Patreon, but couldn't keep in on KZbin because of copyright.

[@Caernath]

I can recall some fond memories of this film, but until now I didn't remember the title. Thank you Dominic, for bringing back a piece of my scatterbrained youth. 👍

[@animeluchia5405]

I remember watching this in school as a child!!!

[@dreamguardian8320]

Me too.

[@thenightstar8312]

I had no idea that this was even a book at all. I always just assumed since the first time I saw this as a small child, was that it was just a Chuck Jones cartoon he made after the Looney Tunes and always just assumed that he both animated AND wrote the entire thing. (I never did see the opening credits before, I only remember watching it from the point that the tollbooth was delivered.)

[@BlueTressym]

I can relate so well to the comment about educators needing to explain WHY learning is important because I never got that as a kid and hated it that no ever explained things to me. I was considered a 'bright' child but I never got taught to write an essay or why I had to write down what I was supposed to be learning when it was all in the book and I could just read the book. This 'bright kid' spent a lot of time not understanding anything, not least why grown-ups would never explain anything. (I accidentally typed 'groan-ups' and was sorely tempted to leave it in.)

[@SakkaraKirax]

Oh wow! I forgot this film existed! I only remembered it at all when I saw the Doldrums and suddenly it clicked. Thanks for the reminder. 😊

[@92wildemoon]

I stumbled on the movie in the small video rental section of my local grocery store. I was constantly renting it. I didn’t find out about the book until I was in college. Both are dear to my heart.

[@MidnightSonnet]

You've just unlocked a long lost memory. I think I both read the book and saw the movie when I was a kid, either in the 80s or 90s. I can't remember my experience with the material, but I think I liked it. As a child, I loved stories that made me think a little deeper and see the world differently. The Phantom Tolllbooth is trippy as hell to watch. It reminds me a bit of The Point, which was another childhood favorite that helped shape the way I viewed the world. Thank you for covering this forgotten title. I might've gone the rest of my life not remembering it had your vid not shown up in my feed.

[@bradwolf07]

I was vaguely aware of this story...but it wasn't until I saw the Live Action Tollbooth that I realized I'd actually SEEN the film long ago. I vividly remembered the Tollbooth at the end flying away at the end. I had thought I'd imagined it in some Mandela Effect remembering two or more movies

[@dersterber]

I first read this book 27 years ago. I quickly feel in love with it and read again at least every other year.

[@lealkenseal1424]

Never heard of this before, but both the book and film sound very charming! I'll have to check them out. Great analysis :)

[@iregretthis8351]

I remember this book! I found it in my elementary school library It was yellowed and well tumbled through and I remember loving it so much I was sad to return it. I had tried to get my parents to buy me a copy but they never knew what I was talking about. God this video brings back memories, also I now understand why they had no clue what I was saying when I described it to them

[@ruthspanos2532]

This was one of my favorite books when I was younger. I don’t remember that there was a film version. Thanks for reminding me about the book and the suggestion that the film might be worth seeing!

[@UberMan5000]

Juster was probably so cool about this film because, five years earlier, him and Chuck Jones collaborated on a short film, "The Dot and the Line: A Romance in Lower Mathematics" which won an Academy Award. Going from that to a feature-length film that didn't have two nickels to rub together, and he's not involved in its production, would make anyone cranky. All that having been said, any feature-length Chuck Jones project is gonna be a good time, if you're not literally the guy whose book is being adapted.

[@Juuchan17]

I was wondering when you'd do this lesser-known adaptation! I grew up (and LOVED) on this movie as a kid, then read the book later on in school... and understood it a lot more as an adult.

[@holydiver73]

I’ve been a fan of the movie for over 40 years. It was one of my favourites as a kid and my own kids used to watch it too when they were little. I came to realise why Milo was so depressed. It was because he lived about 500 miles from his school. Seriously, this kid has to walk through the city, the stockyards, factories, then has to get a streetcar, then through a funfair and through a meadow JUST TO GET HOME. And he does that twice a day. No wonder he’s snarked.

[@r.connor9280]

Had the audio tape version of this as a kid, then read the book My eyes were opened in ways only a magician could explain and my love of puns cannot be quenched

[@Charles_Snow]

Thank you so much! This was my favourite book when I read it as a young lad. I loved the Terrible Trivium so much that I based my OC on it (my profile pic). This was an amazing review and a huge nostalgia trip as well.

[@MattMcIrvin]

I figure Juster had read C. P. Snow's famous essay "The Two Cultures" and the conflict between Digitopolis and Dictionopolis is to some degree an allegory on it.

[@CuteCuteJames]

This was my sixth grade (about 12 years old) teacher's favorite book. She read us this and Ella Enchanted, another adaptation you have covered on this channel!

[@lewisbarclay9113]

I saw the movie once on very early Cartoon Network, back when it was all Scooby-Doo and Flintstones. I remember liking it.

[@dreamguardian8320]

You mean CN's Cartoon Theater? Yeah, that was a good way to watch good movies.

[@fancyfans8609]

Wow, I saw this as a kid and forgot all about it. I was so young I didn't get any of it, it was like a bizarre dream that I forgot. I only remember (after seeing this) the kid going through a portal and becoming animated, meeting the whether man, and an incling of the doldrums. I'll definatly have to read it now.

[@KheldarLars]

I'm so glad you got to this. I grew up with the movie (and regularly moan "don't get caught in the dooooooldrums"), found the book as soon as I was old enough to read, and loved it too, but for very different reasons. This is the standard I hold adaptations to, and while I'm sad Juster didn't care for it, I will never say boo to a rewatch.

[@Tareltonlives]

I remember in junior high being subjected to incredibly dull books for the class to read. This finally changed when fantasy books were added to the picture: Harry Potter, the Hobbit...and this. I had been a Narnia fan since second grade so these books (and two cartoon adaptations) felt like an nice breath of fresh air. The usual domestic dramas always bored me (still do) so the world of fantasy made little dissociative me love to read fiction again.

[@alanarose4577]

I watched this movie when I was a kid, and I remember thinking that the princesses seemed like they were more spirits or the embodiment of ideals than actual people. So it didn’t come off as misogynistic to me, and more came up as metaphysical.

[@DemonsForge]

Wow, I have vague memories watching this movie on TV, once. I never saw it again, and seeing the full story laid out, I seem to have had skipped a massive chunk of it. Definitely needs to get onto my acquisitions list, both book and film.

[@box5evey]

this is still one of my fav books, and my go-to present for every time one of my friends announces they're expecting a child

[@thedatabase677]

I have loved this book for so many years, it has such a high place in my heart. I had no clue that this book had any adaptation at all!

[@TheeGoatPig]

I know I read this back in the 80s when I was around 12, but I'll be damned if I could remember a single thing that happened in it.

[@sarahkridenoff3293]

This is my favorite book ever! I have read it/ listened to it dozens of times. I checked the VHS out of the library so many times when I was a kid. I own 13 copies of the book, three different audiobook versions, the movie on VHS and DVD, and the documentary made about it. Thank you for covering it!

[@NeroCM]

I remember this film. Some parts of it always stuck with me for how weird they were, but I seem to remember having fun overall.

[@loganmarcum4495]

This was a book I randomly found on a bookshelf in our house and read through it. It’s still one of my favorite books to this day and I would love a modern adaptation

[@danielsantiagourtado3430]

Welcome back! 😊😊😊❤❤❤

[@kata9553]

This was one of absolute favorite books when I was in elementary school and the movie was one of my favorite movies at the time. They both made single-digit-aged me so happy.

[@Badenhawk]

I remember this book being required reading in gradeschool and loving it.

[@asmith8692]

My sister was trying to remember names of certain books to read to her grandchildren and was "there was a dog with a clock in his body and and and" and I said "Phantom Tollbooth!" "Yes! That's it!"

[@moonkiitty]

I was absolutely terrified of the movie as a kid BECAUSE of that music. So glad I wasn't the only one who felt like it didn't fit at all when introducing the tollbooth! The thing I remember the most about that movie is that sunrise is at 5:23 am. Every now and again I also remember "you agreed to disagree" lol

[@ItMeGee]

I remember my sister getting this book from Waterstones when we were about 12 I think and I absolutely love it! The word play, the puns, the charming characters, it's an absolute delight! My favourite bit would definitely be with Chroma, it's so clever! Also Tock was called Tock not because he's part alarm clock but his parents had his brother and called him Tick assuming that's what the sound he would make was, however when he was wound up Tick went "tock tock tock" so when they had Tock they didn't want to make the same mistake and called him Tock because his older brother goes tock, only to find Tock goes "tick tick tick". So Tock is called Tock because he goes tick and Tick is Tick because he goes tock

[@precious_muse]

One thing I felt the movie left out was the overall message. I remember in the book that there were several characters who told the boy there was something important about his task, but they’d tell him later. It wasn’t until after he rescued the princesses that he learned what that fact was-his task was impossible. He marveled because he was able to do it, and they told him it was because he didn’t know. Without that message, the movie just felt like a big fever dream to me.

[@vampireinsomniac2251]

I read this book in middle school and really enjoyed it. To me, it had such a cozy atmosphere to it. I'd love to read it again and watch the film for myself.

[@kashiialcuin1688]

Loved this book as a kid. It is definitely on my bookshelf in a prized position

[@starchan2036]

This unlocked a core memory in me. There were snippets of this novel in an english learning book i read maybe over two decades ago, but it was so surreal i half thought i dreamt it all up. Now i know the name of the book (and it fucking exists!!!)

[@peterbernhardt5169]

Yes, the Which is creepier in the book as her name, Faintly Macabre, suggests. We also miss the half-baked ideas for dessert at the banquet (night air is bad for you). As for the demons, the movie missed my favorite, The Threadbare Excuse, so shabby and pitiful but once he gets a hold of you he never lets go.

[@jewthulhu]

One of my absolute faves, only book I've read more than twice I think

[@AnnaBelle05343]

My daughter has recently fallen in love with this book. She is a huge fan of puns thanks to her dad. I had no idea there was a movie adaptation. And by Chuck Jones! Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I sense a family movie night in the near future.

[@shadowheartart3898]

Both movie and book sounds pretty fantastic. I've never heard of it before. I'll have to see if I can find it