According to this wild, long-standing theory, Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas is actually secretly connected to Corpse Bride. The Nightmare Before Christmas follows the disillusioned King of Halloween Town, Jack Skellington, as he discovers Christmas and decides to take over the holiday. Released in 1993, the film received critical and commercial success, and has become a cult classic film due to its innovation in the art of stop-motion. Although the film is actually directed by Henry Selick (in his directorial debut), The Nightmare Before Christmas is widely considered a Tim Burton movie as he originally conceived the idea.

Tim Burton often produces gothic animated movies and his strange visual flair has created some of the most iconic films of all time – including The Nightmare Before Christmas. Corpse Bride is another example. 2005’s Corpse Bride is another stop-motion musical Tim Burton movie which follows the story of a Victorian man called Victor, who accidentally marries an unᴅᴇᴀᴅ bride while rehearsing his wedding vows. Corpse Bride’s characters seemingly give light to an interesting Tim Burton movie theory, as there may be a connection to The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Could Jack Skellington Be Corpse Bride’s Victor?

Tim Burton’s Characters Have Similarities

There are a few ways in which Tim Burton’s movies are allegedly connected, and one of which is that The Nightmare Before Christmas’ Jack Skellington and Corpse Bride’s Victor are the same character. Firstly, Jack and Victor’s character designs are very similar; they both have slim, elongated figures with wide eyes and a small nose, as well as a penchant for suits. While this character design could be attributed to Tim Burton’s style, as there are many other characters that look this way, there’s further evidence seen in Jack and Victor’s personalities, especially as they are both musically inclined.

While Victor is quite a shy character, he seems to have certain morals that allow him to be brave at times. He also appears to have some musical talent, as seen when he plays the piano for Emily. By contrast, Jack is the extroverted leader of Halloween Town and is very steadfast in his courage. However, Jack is also musically inclined, just like Victor. Considering Victor would need to become more confident to be like Jack, and due to the time periods of each movie, it could therefore be theorized that Jack Skellington is Victor reincarnated after death.

While The Nightmare Before Christmas doesn’t tell us the time period it is set in, there are clues, and the Christmas decorations seem to indicate the movie is set after the 1960s. Meanwhile, Corpse Bride is set in the Victorian era, between 1837 and 1901. Therefore, as Jack’s history is unknown, his connection to Tim Burton’s other stop-motion movie Corpse Bride is entirely possible, with Victor becoming Jack. In fact, their appearances, drive to do the right thing, and timelines seem to match up even more so than a suggested Frankenweenie connection. However, there’s still the issue of the dog.

Are Sparky, Zero & Scraps All The Same Dog?

Frankenweenie, Nightmare Before Christmas & Corpse Bride Are Connected

It has been suggested that, as Tim Burton’s animated movies repeat its ᴅᴇᴀᴅ dog trope, Sparky, Zero, and Scraps are all the same dog. Sparky is the bull terrier from Frankenweenie. In the movie, Victor (who shares a name and appearance with Corpse Bride’s character) reanimates his dog after its death, making him into an unsightly unᴅᴇᴀᴅ creature. Zero refers to Jack’s ghost dog in The Nightmare Before Christmas, indicated to be a possible dachshund or bᴀsset hound, and Scraps is the possible hound skeleton dog who Victor is reunited with when he ventures with Emily to Corpse Bride’s afterlife.

I had this strong connection with a mutt we had named Pepe, and it was a good connection. Like your first love. It was very powerful. The dog was not meant to live very long because of a disease he had, but he ended up living quite a long time. So you have this strong connection, and then you think: ‘Well, how long is this going to last?’ You don’t really understand those concepts of death at the time.

There is a theory that, as all three dogs have similar-looking owners, they are the same dog at different stages of life, spawning a possible connection between Tim Burton’s Frankenweenie, Corpse Bride, and The Nightmare Before Christmas. Tim Burton addressed this ᴅᴇᴀᴅ dog trend in an interview with Reuters, saying that “I had this strong connection with a mutt we had named Pepe,” who unfortunately pᴀssed away, which inspired his exploration of the topic. However, while all the dogs are somewhat similar in appearance and their owners, this Tim Burton movie connection theory does have some major problems.

The Tim Burton Theory Is Fun, But Has Clear Problems

The Theory Doesn’t Work Due To Timelines

The Tim Burton theory is fun, but it does have clear problems. While it’s not hard to imagine that Victor could gain a more extroverted personality and ease around the unᴅᴇᴀᴅ following the movie’s events, he would never deliver the same dramatic flair as Jack in The Nightmare Before Christmas. Furthermore, there is no hint of other holiday worlds in Corpse Bride, only the Land of the ᴅᴇᴀᴅ, so although Victor will likely become a part of this afterlife when he dies, it still doesn’t explain how or why he would become a skeleton figure like Jack.

In terms of the dogs, their physical similarities are obvious, but Frankenweenie’s Sparky is actually a different dog breed to Zero and Scraps, whose supernatural figures make ascertaining a definitive breed difficult. Additionally, the timeline doesn’t work because, although the narrative about Zero and Scraps being the body and soul of Sparky makes sense, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride are set before Frankenweenie, which has aesthetics pointing to the late 1950s and more modern eras. Therefore, while this long-standing Tim Burton theory is fun to entertain, it is plain to see that it’s simply not meant to be.

Sources: Reuters