Secrets of Cartoons [Transferred from Facebook]

Willy Wonka

· · Willy Wonka Beta Tape

I had heard of many stories and rumors that there was a secret hidden story behind the Willy Wonka story but I had never really believed them. I thought of them as nothing more than mere jokes and/or fanfiction. You know, how people like to take things that are normally thought to be happy and whimsical like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and label Wonka as a pedophile or some shit like that. I never took anything like that seriously and just thought them to be things people with active, albeit creative, minds have come up with.

To me, the Wonka story was nothing more than a happy and innocent story made for children to enjoy. At least, that was what I thought until the day I decided I would actually find a way to find out for myself. I decided to mail someone who was once acquainted with Dahl (I was told not to give anything about this person away) just to see if any of this was true.

Considering nearly everyone had said something about this story obviously having some sort of subtext about it, I thought I would check to be sure. I was told in the mail, and I quote, "You seem interested in this subject. Many people prefer to speculate, but you are the first one who seemed genuinely curious. Seeing as you want to know as much as you do, I will send you a tape in the mail. Check it within a week." It was a couple days or so later when the tape finally arrived.

It had the words "The True Story of Willy Wonka" written on it in black marker. The only other words on it were it a copyright dated 1963 (a year before the book had come out). At first, I thought this was strange, considering VHS tapes were not around back then. Then it occurred to me that it was possible it had been on film and put on tape later. So I stuck the tape in and played it (after rewinding to make sure).

It started out a bit odd. For one thing, it immediately went in to the title (taken directly from the first edition book cover) with no fade; it just sort of popped in, causing me to jump. What also made me jump was what came after that; the delayed yet abrupt appearance of the music, which was loud and sounded like some fast, angry jazz music. Anyway, it went on to the credits and showed names I had never seen before. The only names I was able to recognize were Dahl's, Patricia Neal's, and some guy named John Black. It kept looping back to the name of the Animation Checker about 15 times.

I genuinely thought there was something wrong with the tape. Right as I went to take it out, it popped immediately in to the outside of the house of the Buckets with the camera zooming in. The art style was really weird; it was black and white and had an odd misty/cloudy look about it; cross-hatched. There was a deep male voice that seemed most likely to be the narrator, but his voice was in horrible quality; it was muffled and at such low volume that I could barely make out a word he was saying.

It cut inside the Buckets' house and the misty/cloudy look was even weirder here; the people moved all wavery-like and wouldn't stop moving, much like those old Zelda CD-i games, but the shading was cross-hatched, which meant there was a lot of extra movement. Sometimes it was hard to make out what was going on. The characters behaved oddly. It seemed Charlie was either gay or highly effeminate as he spoke with a girly voice and spoke of his love for dolls and princesses. And it seemed everyone feared Grandpa Joe; we find out later that he was involved in World War I and it is never explained how, but it seems clear he was responsible for ending it. Charlie's parents also displayed odd behavior; the dad seemed depressed and the mom seemed paranoid and suffered from some major form of obsessive-compulsive disorder. The other grandparents never spoke at all.

From here on it is not too different from the book except for the characters and the fact that Charlie sings songs about his dress he wishes to wear. The story about Wonka is also slightly different: Apparently, he is a Grinch and happened to appear out of nowhere suddenly owning an impressive factory that no one saw built. Seems here no one worked in his factory nor did it ever have any problems causing it to shut down. But when Charlie finds the ticket it happens halfway through the finding.