History WesternAnimation / PinocchioAndTheEmperorOfTheNight

The movie is ostensibly a sequel to [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio the classic tale]], but it draws a lot from the [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Disney version]]: it has a duo of FunnyAnimal con artists (albeit a raccoon and monkey, instead of a fox and cat), a cordial, wisecracking anthropomorphic insect conscience figure in the style of Jiminy Cricket (complete with a name cribbed from historical American exclamatory slang), a sadistic Italian puppetmaster, a place that tempts children and then punishes them, a titanic battle on the high seas and a few musical numbers. [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope Disney noticed and sued Filmation for copyright infringement]]; they lost, as the original is public domain.

The movie is ostensibly a sequel to [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio the classic tale]], but it draws a lot from the [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Disney version]]: it has FunnyAnimal con artists, a conscience figure in the style of Jiminy Cricket, a sadistic puppetmaster, a place that tempts children and then punishes them, a titanic battle on the high seas, and a few musical numbers. [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope Disney noticed and sued Filmation for copyright infringement]]; they lost, as the original is public domain.

See also two sister Filmation productions: ''WesternAnimation/JourneyBackToOz'', a sequel to ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'', and ''WesternAnimation/HappilyEverAfter'', a sequel to ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'' produced at the same time as this film (and which Disney had more success in driving into obscurity).

* ComicBookAdaptation: Had a one-shot comic book released by Marvel around the same time the film came out.

* GoodHurtsEvil: Or at least, the purity of Pinocchio's HeroicSacrifice and ThePowerOfLove does. Both [[IncrediblyLamePun lampshaded and foreshadowed]] by the Blue Fairy's pep-talk {{A|nAesop}}esop song.

* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: The set-up for "Love Is a Light (Inside Your Heart)" probably qualifies as this, particularly since it existed solely to show off the talents of Rickie Lee Jones. [[SubvertedTrope However]], the song in question is crucial to the {{Aesop}} as well as the climax of the film, and while never mentioned explicitly again an instrumental version of it does play as part of the soundtrack during said climax. Lacking in subtlety, but still effective.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: When Pinocchio stands up to the Emperor outside the boat, the Emperor is genuinely surprised the former would sacrifice himself.

* HiddenDepths: From Scalawag and Igor no less, who give a BalanceBetweenGoodAndEvil explanation to Pinocchio, about the Emperor's and Blue Fairy's diametrically opposed motives and goals concerning free will.

One year after becoming a real boy, Pinocchio is entrusted by Geppetto with a delivery job: take a [[MacGuffin hand-crafted jewel box]] to the Mayor. Unfortunately, he instead trades the box away to a pair of con artists he meets on the road, in exchange for a [[DistractedByTheShiny big, shiny]] -- [[GenreBlind and fake]] -- [[DistractedByTheShiny ruby.]] Geppetto, upon finding out, [[BigWhat is somewhat less than pleased.]]

* TheDragon: Puppetino, it turns out. While very effective at first, particularly in using temptation to get Pinocchio to make his DealWithTheDevil, by the end he proves to be next to useless, cowering like a random {{Mook}}, and when the shit hits the fan is a DirtyCoward. Even his powers seem to be a gift from the Emperor, if his ultimate fate also implies a stripping of those powers, thus rendering even his earlier crowning moments rather lackluster in retrospect. His fear of his boss, however, was likely due to fear of YouHaveFailedMe ([[ProperlyParanoid and he was right to worry]]).

* GoodHurtsEvil: Or at least, the purity of Pinocchio's HeroicSacrifice and ThePowerOfLove does. Both [[IncrediblyLamePun lampshaded and foreshadowed]] by the Blue Fairy's pep-talk {{Aesop}} song.

* ILied: The Emperor pulls this trope after Pinocchio agrees to give away his freedom in exchange for Geppetto, Twinkle, Scalawag, and Igor being released. [[BewareTheNiceOnes Big mistake]].

%%* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5O1z7wfSAQ "Love Is a Light (Inside Your Heart)".]]

%%* BigGood: The Blue Fairy, naturally.

%%* CircusOfFear: With shades of ''Literature/SomethingWickedThisWayComes''.

%%* ExpositionFairy: Gee Willikers, taking the Jiminy Cricket role for this movie.

%%* HeelFaceTurn: Scalawag and Igor, though they were fairly {{Lovable Rogue}}s in the first place.

%%* HonestJohnsDealership: Scalawag and Igor's carnival ShellGame.
%%* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Pinocchio, ''again.''

%%* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Scalawag, in the end. (Natch, [[Creator/EdAsner considering his VA]].)

%%* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy
%%* LotusEaterMachine: "The Land Where Dreams Come True."

%%* WackyWaysideTribe: Bugzburg.

* KarmaHoudini: Technically, everything that happens in the movie is the fault of Scalawag and Igor for taking the music box from Pinocchio, yet because in the end they [[HeelFaceTurn change sides]] and stand by him, they're given free passes, everyone walks off as friends, and this is never really brought up again. Justified, perhaps, in that unlike Foulfellow and Gideon, they were thieves and con men for fun and profit, not out of malice, they clearly [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone regretted their mistakes]], and they genuinely do redeem themselves.

A 1987 animated feature released by New World Pictures and made by {{Creator/Filmation}}.

One year after becoming a real boy, Pinocchio's is entrusted by Gepetto with a delivery job: take a [[MacGuffin hand-crafted jewel box]] to the Mayor. Unfortunately, he instead trades the box away to a pair of con artists he meets on the road, in exchange for a [[DistractedByTheShiny big, shiny]] -- [[GenreBlind and fake]] -- [[DistractedByTheShiny ruby.]] Geppetto, upon finding out, [[BigWhat is somewhat less than pleased.]]

That night, a guilt-ridden Pinocchio [[TheRunaway runs away from home]]. What follows is a series of hijinks including a [[CircusOfFear mysterious carnival]] run by a creepy puppetmaster who transforms Pinocchio back into a lifeless puppet, "The Land Where Dreams Come True" that offers freedom and toys but at a terrible price, and a WackyWaysideTribe for Pinocchio's sidekick Gee Whillikers.

The film opened on Christmas Day 1987 and was a commercial failure -- it cost $8 to $10 million to make, but only earned $3.3 million domestically. However, it retains a small but loyal cult following who like its Aesop about the power of choice, its theme of temptation, and some dark, unsettling scenes such as Pinocchio's transformation and the Emperor of the Night.

!!This film contains examples of:

* AndIMustScream: While Pinocchio is being turned back into a puppet, the camera cuts several times to closeups of Twinkle watching, implying that her original human self is still conscious, but trapped inside her now-puppet body -- and she's aware of what's happening.
* AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5O1z7wfSAQ "Love Is a Light (Inside Your Heart)".]]

* BigGood: The Blue Fairy, naturally.

* CaptainErsatz: Most of the film's characters for characters from the original book, especially as they were presented in the Disney adaptation. Gee Willikers is Jiminy Cricket given Pinocchio's origin story, Scalawag and Igor are Honest John and Gideon with redeeming characteristics, Puppetino is Stromboli with magical powers, and the Emperor of the Night is an ''even'' '''scarier''' version of the Coachman. The giant ship turning out to have a magical underworld within it combines the Pleasure Island locale and Monstro the whale.
* CircusOfFear: With shades of ''Literature/SomethingWickedThisWayComes''.

* DisneyOwnsThisTrope: Disney certainly thought so, and sued Filmation for copyright infringement. A judge disagreed, on the grounds that Carlo Collodi's original Pinocchio story was out of copyright, and Disney lost the suit.

* EvilSoundsDeep: Evil sounds like Creator/JamesEarlJones!
* ExpositionFairy: Gee Whillikers, taking the Jiminy Cricket role for this movie.

** It's ''painfully'' obvious that Scalawag and Igor are meant to be stand-ins for [[CunningLikeAFox Foulfellow]] and [[CatsAreMean Gideon]]. However, because [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute raccoons are cute, chubby, and cuddly]], and these two end up proving their inner heroism by swallowing their cowardice, doing a HeelFaceTurn, and helping Pinocchio out in the end--if only by getting him to the empire and then [[YouAreNotAlone standing by him when it counted]].
** Besides those two, we have [[strike:Jiminy Cricket]] Gee Willikers, a small insect named after an interjection who tries to keep Pinocchio on the straight and narrow; an evil puppet master Puppetino (Stromboli) who imprisons Pinocchio; and a painfully obvious expy of Lampwick in the [[strike:Pleasure Island]] Neon Cabaret scene. And like Monstro, the Emperor's ship [[MegaMawManeuver swallows their boat whole]] and provides the backdrop for Pinocchio's final battle.
* FourFingeredHands: It's painfully obvious that most of the characters have this. The only exception is the Emperor of the Night himself.

* HeelFaceTurn: Scalawag and Igor, though they were fairly {{Lovable Rogue}}s in the first place.

* HonestJohnsDealership: Scalawag and Igor's carnival ShellGame.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Pinocchio, ''again.''

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Scalawag, in the end. (Natch, [[Creator/EdAsner considering his VA]].)

* LionsAndTigersAndHumansOhMy
* LotusEaterMachine: "The Land Where Dreams Come True."

* ThatRemindsMeOfASong: The set-up for the AwardBaitSong listed above probably qualifies as this, particularly since it existed solely to show off the talents of Rickie Lee Jones. [[SubvertedTrope However]], the song in question is crucial to the {{Aesop}} as well as the climax of the film, and while never mentioned explicitly again an instrumental version of it does play as part of the soundtrack during said climax. Lacking in subtlety, but still effective.

* VaudevilleHook: Scalawag and Igor attempt to dance on stage to snap Pinocchio out of his fame-and-fortune illusion, but they end up getting yanked offstage by one of these.
* WackyWaysideTribe: Bugzburg.

One year after becoming a real boy, Geppetto feels Pinocchio's ready to take on some responsibility, and so entrusts him with a delivery job: take a [[MacGuffin hand-crafted jewel box]] to the Mayor. Unfortunately, he instead trades the box away to a pair of con artists he meets on the road, in exchange for a [[DistractedByTheShiny big, shiny]] -- [[GenreBlind and fake]] -- [[DistractedByTheShiny ruby.]] Geppetto, upon finding out, [[BigWhat is somewhat less than pleased.]]

That night, a guilt-ridden Pinocchio [[TheRunaway runs away from home]] to join the [[CircusOfFear mysterious carnival]] that sprung up overnight. It's run by a [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain totally upright, trustworthy, not-creepy-in-the-least]] puppetmaster (named Puppetino) who tempts Pinocchio into a dance with Twinkle, [[OverlyNarrowSuperlative "The Most Beautiful Puppet In The World"]]... if he shows him what he can do first. What follows can only be described as an exercise in creepy, as Puppetino then transforms a helpless Pinocchio back into a lifeless puppet.

If the viewer hasn't been scared into shutting the movie off yet, the Blue Fairy comes in and makes everything better, after a brief but stern reminder about "The Power Of Choice" and an amusing callback to the original tale as he tries to explain just how he got into that predicament in the first place. Pinocchio, now flesh-and-blood again, immediately decides to prove his newfound sense of responsibility... by going out to get the jewel box back.

A series of hijinks (and a WackyWaysideTribe for his sidekick Gee Whillikers, a wooden bug brought to life) later, Pinocchio finds himself in the ominous Empire of the Night, being tempted onto a gondola by a mysterious figure. Again, Pinocchio's [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter excellent judgment]] shines through as he decides to make a pit stop in "The Land Where Dreams Come True" -- a particularly acidic DisneyAcidSequence. Despite the strangeness of the place, Pinocchio finds all his wishes are granted... the opportunity to have fun with no rules, an unlimited supply of toys, and fame and fortune. But of course, there's a price...

The movie is ostensibly a sequel to [[Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio the classic tale]], but it's more of a {{Mockbuster}} of the [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Disney version]] than that: It has FunnyAnimal con artists, a Jiminy Cricket-esque conscience figure, a sadistic puppetmaster, a place where kids are free to do whatever they like ''for a price'', a titanic battle on the high seas, and a few musical numbers. [[DisneyOwnsThisTrope Disney noticed and sued Filmation for copyright infringement]]; they lost, as the original ''Pinocchio'' story was written by Carlo Collodi and out of copyright.

The film opened on Christmas Day 1987 and was a commercial failure -- it cost $8 to $10 million to make, but only earned $3.3 million domestically. However, it retains a small but loyal cult following; fans of the movie will point out many differences between the two films, one of which is this film's Aesop about the power of choice, and the theme of temptation as a form of captivity. They'll also cite the DarkerAndEdgier nature of the opposition; in particular, Puppetino's transformation of Pinocchio and the appearance of the eponymous Emperor of the Night are unique, impressive, and terrifying to this day.