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

3 ай бұрын

a fitting “pun”ishment if you will

@theothertonydutch

3 ай бұрын

I got beaten to the punchline@@rainydaze3589

@Phantom86d

3 ай бұрын

He was 'pun'ched.

@TheFirstLaughingFool

2 ай бұрын

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

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

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

Same! Ditto with the adaptation!

@theoneguyoverthere

3 ай бұрын

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

@9ansean

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

It is definitely still a fever dream of a book

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

3 ай бұрын

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

@Sentientmatter8

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

That explains the duldrums.

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

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

2 ай бұрын

sweet and wholesome story

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

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

@kyoyameganebereznoff

3 ай бұрын

The illustration in the book is quite unsettling.

@alanpennie8013

3 ай бұрын

I found him rather charming.

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

3 ай бұрын

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

2 ай бұрын

Very true.

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

3 ай бұрын

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.

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

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

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

@kaitlyn__L

3 ай бұрын

@@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

3 ай бұрын

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

@kaitlyn__L

3 ай бұрын

@@paulferancik7766 yes! 🙌 👏

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

3 ай бұрын

I like that scene too.

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

3 ай бұрын

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

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.

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.

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

3 ай бұрын

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

@professorbutters

3 ай бұрын

I have a copy. It’s brilliant.

@BretRBoulter

3 ай бұрын

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

@EbonRaven

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

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

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

3 ай бұрын

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

@mikeymullins5305

3 ай бұрын

@@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

3 ай бұрын

@@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!

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

3 ай бұрын

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

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

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

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.

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

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

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

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

3 ай бұрын

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

@wrenbeck3370

3 ай бұрын

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

@bookshelfhoney

3 ай бұрын

I got this book from a teacher too!

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.

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 ❤

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

@alanpennie8013

3 ай бұрын

Perhaps Dom should cover Howl's Moving Castle.

@kurathchibicrystalkitty5146

3 ай бұрын

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

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

@alisaurus4224

Ай бұрын

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

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

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!

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

3 ай бұрын

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

@Serai3

3 ай бұрын

@@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

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

@@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

2 ай бұрын

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

3 ай бұрын

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

3 ай бұрын

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

@jennymunday7913

3 ай бұрын

Dodecahedron is my favorite too

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.

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

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

@dreamguardian8320

3 ай бұрын

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

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!

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

3 ай бұрын

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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

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

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

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.)

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.

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. 👍

Oh man, I grew up loving this book!

@mcv2178

3 ай бұрын

Trivium scared me, and 'I'm as tall as can be and as short as can be' blew my little grade-school mind : )

@SkywalkerAni

3 ай бұрын

@@mcv2178 for my friends and I, we adored the Triple Demons of Chaos.

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

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

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!

Yay! It’s always a good day with Lost In Adaptation 😊

You listed Candy Candido twice in place of Mel Blanc

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

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

Welcome back! 😊😊😊❤❤❤

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.

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

One of the books I got around to reading last year! I used to have this on a VHS with Page Master, Roger Rabbit, Little Nemo, and Cool World haha

@kramermariav

3 ай бұрын

Page Master is so great

I watched this movie for the first time last year because it was free to watch on youtube. I really enjoyed it, it's a great movie.

@dreamguardian8320

3 ай бұрын

Agreed.

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

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

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

Opening skit is why I love this book and the Xanth series. XD

ive been a fan of the movie since i was a kid. one of my housemate's kids just got the book for christmas. the legacy continues

I don't want to jump to conclusions, but I think I can safely say this'll be a great video without even having finished it!

Friendly advice: Instead of "copyright reasons" you may want to say "because of KZread's broken copyright system." You don't want anyone claiming you believe your work to be in copyright violation. You believe it to be fair use. KZread doesn't have a good system to protect fair use. That's the problem.

This just unlocked a memory of watching this movie in class. I still don't know why I was shown it in highschool. Strangely enough, it took hearing the names of Rhyme and Reason to unlock it.

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.

Thank you for making me feel less awkward for being largely shaped by this book/movie

That opening is not only accurate but shows what a masochist I am for puns

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

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.

I vaguely remember reading this book in elementary school and wasn’t aware it’d been made into a movie, animated or otherwise; I *do* however remember seeing a musical stage play adaptation of it at that age; and even now about three decades later the lyrics “I’ll think about dogs with clocks in their chest” still somehow lives rent free in my head lol

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.

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

@tarynbarker2107

2 ай бұрын

*Spelling (which apparently I can’t do)

Yoo I loved this book as a kid

This book left a significant impact on me and that's making me obsessed with puns for the rest of my life. Cheers I'll drink to that

I watched this movie in a class once when I was in elementary school. I spent the next 20yrs trying to convince people that it existed. When I read Percy Jackson and how he spent the semester trying to convince everyone that Mrs Dodds really existed and was a teacher, I felt his frustration!

I did this play in high school! Very interesting to see it adapted to the stage, we teenage theater geeks didn't quite do it justice, but we had so much fun doing it!

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.

The Phantom Tollbooth was, in many ways, my formative childhood text. Wile my other three "Canon" authors (Tolkein, Caroll and Coville) had genuine impacts on my perspectives, Juster's work has always stuck with me throughout the years. The way he was able to capture the joy of understanding rather than simply didactic rhetoric left a deep impression on my young mind. While the book has always kept a special place in my heart I can't deny that the film really solidified why I love the Phantom Tollbooth and why it will always hold a nostalgic power over my psyche. Even to this day I will find myself humming "Time is a gift" or "What's to be done with Milo". I've always appreciated the foreboding tone of the film's introduction of the Tollbooth. For many folks, whether young or old, the concept of education and illumination is scary and dangerous; it demands a change in perspective and a shift in understanding, something that is hard if not outright traumatic for many folks and while I've always appreciated Juster's approach that it was something new and fun to experience I think the filmmakers understood that acknowledging how scary it can be allowed the audience to acknowledge their own resistance to the concept of new ideas while equally structuring the experience to be challenging but fun.

I thought I'd never heard of this before in my life, but seeing that animation I realized I have definitely seen a chunk of this on tv long long ago. It was only a small part I saw, but the clock dog scolding the boy for "killing time" (bad enough when you waste it, or something along those lines) really stuck with me. I am quite grateful to know what that fever dream of a cartoon snippet actually was.

I vaguely remember reading and watching this in like 6th grade. Glad to know i wasn't just spacing out all the time

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.

Absolutely adored that book as a kid. I also remember watching the movie on VHS at my grandpa's house. He wasn't really a TV guy and he lived an ocean away from me so I didn't know the channels, so I distinctly remember hunting for something I could watch and being astonished there was a movie of this book I loved. I then watched it pretty much every time we went. Thought about asking for the VHS from his house when my aunt cleared it out but decided not to because there wasn't a lot I could reasonably do with the actual object. But thanks for reminding me about Phantom Tollbooth, I have extreme nostalgia for both iterations (though couldn't really tell you much about the actual movie itself, just that I watched it at my grandpa's house)

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.)

Our assistant headteacher read this for us once when I was in junior school. I remember very little of it, but I think the sound of Mr Abbot portentiously rumbling "THE DOLDRUMSzzz" may be with me until I die 😅

I had to take part in a class-wide script reading of this story in middle school (no performing a play, literally just read the script out loud as a class) and I just remember thinking "what is even happening" the whole time. I read it again a year or so ago and had the same reaction. I also now have a head canon that the Kingdom of Wisdom borders Wonderland, because the stories are equally WTF.

Thank you, Dom. I thought this movie was a dream I had because no one I've ever mentioned it to had any idea what I was talking about

I was actually in a musical production of this book when I was a child!! I played the arm of the tollbooth (and a general ensemble member). I remember being so excited that my favorite book had been adapted to the stage, and a bit upset that they changed what the spelling bee had to spell (pneumonia instead of vegetable). But hey, I havent misspelled either of those words since!!

I remember reading portions of the book for a class in elementary school long ago (I'm an American). I remember the illustrations that were included and I asked the teacher if there was a movie and she must have been a fan because she lit up and said that there was a movie, that it was great, and that I would love it. So I went straight out and got my mom to acquire it for me on VHS (that tells my age). And I did enjoy it. I also read the whole book and enjoyed it too.

One change that wasn’t mentioned here that I still remember despite not touching either the book or movie for the last 12 years was how the conductor that created all the world’s color went from conducting an orchestra that you could see but couldn’t hear, to conducting an orchestra that you couldn’t see but could hear.