Mythlands: THE HEIST

Character Profiles: The Heist Part One (46-50)

Jack Pumpkinhead - Another Ozian stalwart, Jack first appeared in L. Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Land of Oz.' - the second Oz book, published in 1904, where he was a main character. He has been a pop culture and children's favourite ever since, appearing in movies and other media.

While Baum, the original creator died in 1919, the Oz series continued after the 'official' last one by Baum (Number 14 - though unpublished and semi finished works of his were later completed and published), other writers took over. Ruth Plumly Thompson took up the mantle from 1920 to 1939 writing Books 15 through 33.

Book 23 was entitled 'Jack Pumpkinhead of Oz.' and gave Jack his first starring role in 1929, 25 years after his creation.

In the present day of the Mythlands, Jack is the highly successful owner and host of one of Emerald City's hottest nightspots - 'Jack Pumpkinhead's Place,' which like most clubs and venues in Oz has a vibe reminiscent of the speakeasy's and cocktail joints of the 1920's and 1930's. This is partly because Queen Ozma hates 'modern music,' and although citizens are allowed to listen to what they want, an unspoken law is enforced that prohibits any public place of entertainment playing any style of music beyond that corresponding to the 1940's.

Jack's mainly caters to the jazz and swing music crowd, and the venue has frequently invited Jessica Bunny to sing there, with Jack accompanying on piano and acting as her compere.

He is tall and skinny with a pumpkin for a head.

Tik-Tok - Considered to be one of the first 'robots' before that term was widely in use, Tik-Tok is a mechanical man first introduced in Baum's Oz canon in the book 'Ozma of Oz.' (1907). In appearance his body looks like a huge round sphere with arms and legs with a perfectly rounded head - his mechanical facial features include a mustache and he wears a hat that looks a bit like a first world war British soldier's helmet - this appears to be part of his head but in various media it has been detachable.

Tik-Tok is powered by a large key in his back and can become immobile if not kept wound up.

By the present day of the Mythlands it is not known what Tik-Tok does in Ozian society but he presumably has a place at Ozma's court - when Jessica Bunny was singing as part of a guest tour at Jack Pumpkinhead's Place, Tik-Tok was a patron and from their conversation, a regular as well as an admirer of Jessica.

He speaks in a r r r robotic st st st stutter accompanied by clanking and bursts of steam.

From their conversation it appears Tik-Tok is now married, but his wife doesn't understand him. He is also very fond of oiltinnis served at Jack's bar.

Tik-Tok declares his love for Jessica and asks her to turn his key - she politely rebuffs him and tells him to go home to his wife.

The Talking Cricket - The Cricket is the original - he'll say so himself and loudly complain in his somewhat stereotypical Italian accent how he, 'Il Grillo Palante.' has been ripped off and supplanted by the imposter Jiminy Cricket. He will talk at length of how nothing is sacred and his plans to sue the imposter and '... thata damn Walt! He steala ma image and makea the money. Is no right. I sue them for the million ofa the dolla!'

Actually the Cricket has a point. Created by Carlo Callodi for his 1883 book 'The Adventures of Pinocchio (Le avventure di Pinocchio) he was the cricket in the story and the conscience and adviser to Pinocchio, though his relationship with Pinocchio took on a much more adversarial role, with the Cricket's advice taking the form of insulting and commanding the puppet - he finally went too far when he said "You are a puppet and what's worse is that you have a head of wood" 

The result was that Pinocchio threw a mallet at him and killed him (in the original story) - however whenever the Cricket retells the story, he glosses over that bit and talks fondly of his puppet friend who was stolen from him by Walt and Jiminy.

In 1940 Disney updated the public domain story of the Talking Cricket and Jiminy Cricket became the character everyone remembers - Il Grillo Palante has been bitter about that ever since, likening himself to the 5th Beatle and others denied their 'rightful place and fame.'

His occupation in the present of the Mythlands was as an artist and he was hired  by MCI to do a series of sketches for the Tortoise along with Lady Jane Greystoke, who got increasingly annoyed at the Cricket's whining and moaning. In this scene 'The Mouse' is first mentioned in passing.

Lady Jane - In the present day of the Mythlands, her ladyship is a society hostess who keeps herself busy by taking on art/painting commissions, but her origins and life were originally a lot different.

Before coming to the Mythlands and realizing she was a character, Jane Porter or Clayton, believed she was an American from Baltimore who met a wild man in the jungle when she accompanied her Professor father on an expedition. In reality she was written that way - created by Edgar Rice Burroughs and appearing first in Tarzan of the Apes (published 1912) where she was the love interest of the hero.

Jane appeared in 11 Tarzan novels and numerous films and other media. She was already Lady Greystoke, wife to her jungle lord (also an actual British lord) and mother of their son, Korak, when the Greystokes and their supporting cast found themselves transposed to the Mythlands.

As an unexpected but welcome side effect of her new life, Jane discovered she was in the class of characters who, while growing older as part of their narrative, were seen as younger in the collective psyche of the mortal world - therefore Jane looked and remains no older than 30 in her new life.

The Two Princes - Created by Mark Twain for his 1881 novel 'The Prince and the Pauper.' the two princes grew up differently. The Mythlands versions are from a variant story where the Pauper was the actual long lost stolen twin brother of Prince Edward, later King Edward VI (who died at age 15).

In their variant story, the twin to Prince Edward was removed by courtiers to prevent a possible power struggle between two heirs - the story than proceeds as Twain wrote it.

In the Mythlands the Two Princes encountered several doppler versions of themselves and even the reborn 'real' Prince Edward. It isn't known where the dopplers are now, but the Princes sought out friends and used the regal clothing and jewellery they arrived wearing, selling these off to raise capital. Capitalizing on offers of help and grants from The Tortoise and the fledgling MCI in the years that the Domain was bringing order to the Mythlands, the Princes wisely invested in the company and became rich.

In the present day they still look about 15 but are billionaires with seats on the board.

However, 'the Pauper' still deals with abandonment issues and his brother Prince Edward finds occasional amusement in teasing him about it. Together they have sought out over a dozen versions of King Henry VIII but have yet to form father-son relationships with any of them.

The Pauper, formerly Tom Canty now calls himself Prince Thomas.