Chapter Six: Realm Zone
– 1937 (Before Temporal Displacement)
Once upon a time, there lived a lovely little princess
named Snow White. Her vain and wicked stepmother, Queen Grimhilde, feared that
some day Snow White’s beauty would surpass her own. So she dressed the little
princess in rags and forced her to work as a scullery maid. Each day, the vain
Queen consulted her “Magic Mirror” and asked, “Magic Mirror on the wall, who is
the fairest one of all?” And as long as the Mirror answered, “You’re the
fairest one of all,” Snow White was safe from the Queen’s cruel jealousy.
(Character Note: The Evil Queen's full name "Grimhilde" is somewhat exclusive to this story. This name was given in old publicity material and comics for Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, but the Walt Disney Company no longer acknowledges it as canon.)
One fateful day, Queen Grimhilde went to her private
chamber in her castle and consulted with the Magic Mirror, which hung within a
space on a section of the wall that was reserved only for it. Hanging long and
wide, much of the Queen’s image reflected in the mirror, granting her desire to
always see how beautiful she was. Lifting her arms into the air while facing
the mirror, the Queen boldly summoned, “Slave in the magic mirror, come from
the farthest space. Through wind and darkness, I summon thee!”
A strong wind blew all throughout the chamber, slightly
ruffling Queen Grimhilde’s dark purple robes. It was soon followed with a
thunderclap from within the Magic Mirror. Her reflection vanished, replaced by
a wall of fire that completely obscured it. In seconds, the fire settled and a
dark facemask emerged, suspended in total blackness and shrouded in dark gray
clouds of smoke. It was the face of the Magic Mirror, and its empty mouth and
eyes began to move as it addressed the Queen.
“What wouldst thou know, My Queen?”
Queen Grimhilde did not hesitate on asking as she had
done so daily, “Magic Mirror on the wall, who is the fairest one of all?”
And the Magic Mirror’s response – on this fateful day –
was not as it had always been. “Famed is thy beauty, Majesty. But hold, another
I see. A maiden who is even fairer than Snow White…Alas, she is even fairer
than thee.”
(Authorial Note: The Magic Mirror's rhyming style was tricky for Livingston to write. To match with that from the source material, he watched clips on the Magic Mirror's dialogue and studied it carefully.)
Needless to say, the Queen was not pleased to hear this.
“Alas for her! Reveal her name.”
“This maiden comes from a land unknown. Her name I cannot
disclose. She now comes to this land of ours and not alone.”
Queen Grimhilde’s eyes shifted left and right
suspiciously. “This…maiden…one who is fairer than even Snow White…she must be
found…so I can end her!”
----------------------------
“This is incredible…really
incredible!”
“No, this is weird…really
weird!”
Mother and daughter trekked through the forest for an hour
since their arrival in the Disney World. Diana seemed to have known exactly
where she was headed, while Joanie was simply following her lead. Her
complaints seemed to have fallen on deaf ears, as her mother was so focused on
all the amazing things that were going on around her. Since they had arrived,
she could not stop staring at her hands, seeing how animated they looked in front of her. She could still feel as
regularly as she did in the real world, only she appeared more colorful than before.
(Authorial Note: Cool World, The Pagemaster, and Enchanted were two films that inspired the idea of real-world characters crossing over to animation and becoming animated themselves - and vice versa.)
For Joanie, it was the opposite reaction; she already had
enough excitement in the other Disney
World. As happy as she was to see how much of a good time her mother was
having, all she really wanted was for them to leave whenever possible – which
seemed to be a long ways from that very moment. During the entire journey, she
thanked her lucky stars that she was still human in this particular dimension
and not a child’s plaything or any other inanimate object. She didn’t know much
about Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
– she had only seen the movie once when her mother took her to see it at the
local matinee when she was only five years old. All she knew was that it had
been her mother’s favorite Disney movie since she was a little girl.
(Narrative Note: The hint of backstory we get here on Joanie and Diana's respective childhoods reveal that both women were raised on Disney cartoons, albeit Diana was more so than Joanie, explaining her heavy interest in the Disneyverse.)
“I wonder if we should’ve told Bunsen how long we wanted
to be here.” Joanie thought aloud, regardless of whether her mother was
listening or not. “Hate for our ‘fun’ to come to an abrupt end as soon as he
presses that little button to haul our butts back to reality.”
(Narrative Note: Travel between the real world and the Disneyverse transitioned through this story as being "blindly controlled" in the beginning to more "technologically safeguarded" later, signifying the primitiveness in the technology of Bunsen and Beaker's machine.)
Diana just waved off her cautious attitude with a grin.
“Don’t worry about it. They’ll know when the right time comes to take us back.
In the meantime, I want to find…” She stopped in her tracks, forcing Joanie to
do the same, and pointed straight ahead – her face beaming with giddiness.
“There it is!!”
Joanie followed her gaze to see a tall castle standing a
mild distance ahead of them. “That’s where Snow White lives?”
“Both her and
her evil stepmother.”
“Why do all of these Disney flicks always have a princess
and an evil stepmother? That’s like a stereotype, isn’t it? Did Walt grow up
with parental issues or something?” Joanie’s comment got her a sarcastic glance
from her mother. “I’m just sayin’.”
(Biographical Note: The 2013 Disney biopic Saving Mr. Banks gives some indication on the upbringing of Walt Disney with the personal account of his time as a newspaper delivery boy at the age of eight and the harsh discipline and weather conditions he had to endure from it.)
Ignoring her comments, Diana focused on the castle and
excitedly said, “C’mon! Let’s go see Snow White!”
Seeing the way she was running the rest of the way
through the forest, Joanie couldn’t help but to shake her head and think to
herself, She’s becoming a lot worse than
Animal.
The two women trekked further through the forest, moving
much faster than before. They leaped over fallen logs, stepped on a few twigs,
and darted in and out between the enormous trees until they were finally within
reach of the castle. Near the front entrance, there was a gorgeous well – the
same one from which, as Diana remembered, Snow White sung her “wishing song.”
Much to the surprise of Diana, Snow White was nowhere to be seen. Only her dove
friends were there, sitting around the well and pecking at the ground.
“I don’t get it.” Diana voiced her confusion. “Are we
early? She should’ve been here by now.”
“What’re you talking about?” Joanie asked her clearly
disappointed mother.
“Snow White! At this part of the movie, she stands by the
‘wishing well’ and wishes for the one she loves to find her. And then Prince
Charming comes and sings to her, while she bashfully retreats back inside the
castle.”
(Narrative Note: This is the first instance that we see how much the presence of the real world characters has a major influence on the original story, with the Evil Queen herself affected by the news of a fairer girl than Snow White.)
The heavily descriptive way she depicted the scene amused
Joanie. But this empty space that both she and her mother were standing in did
not impress her one bit. In fact, she even felt a little bored, which might as
well have been a good thing, considering how much she hoped nothing too exciting would happen as they were
there. She went to the well that Snow White was apparently to have been singing
near at that moment and glanced down into it, seeing her own reflection ripple
through the water.
“Wishing well, eh?” Joanie said with a snicker. “Trust
me, Mom…I’ve stopped by plenty of ‘wishing wells’ and they’re only good for one
thing – stealing a couple of quarters for a phone booth.” As she continued
gazing down into the well, something gave her the urge to make a wish. Feeling
slightly silly as she had done so, she reached into her right pocket of her
jeans and pulled out a shiny 1975 quarter. “Still…it wouldn’t hurt to see if
one can come true.” She then tossed the quarter into the well, creating a
splash that resonated throughout the well’s structure and made a harmonious
echo.
(Authorial Note: Joanie's wish was to become something greater. This was left unmentioned to open up the readers for different interpretations inspired by Joanie's character.)
(Authorial Note: Joanie's wish was to become something greater. This was left unmentioned to open up the readers for different interpretations inspired by Joanie's character.)
The sound made Joanie smile a little, being so beautiful
and soothing to her soul. It was one that she had never heard before and could
only exist in a world based on a classic Disney movie. Without even realizing
it, she suddenly began singing soprano into the well, not so much as in lyrics but
rather from a random melody that came from her mind and soul. Her voice carried
itself magnificently through the well, echoing to the point that she was
practically in unison with her own vocals. The doves perched around the well
stopped and listened to her singing, even joining in by chirping their own
notes to follow with Joanie’s.
Joanie went with this for five minutes straight, before
she finally stopped and laughed from the incredible fun she was having from
such a silly activity. It was the first time she felt completely relaxed since
she and her mother arrived in the Disney World. “Hey, Mom, you’ve really got to
try…”
Her smile quickly faded once she turned and noticed that
her mother had vanished. All of that relaxation she gained from singing into
the well dispersed. She instantly went into panic mode, running away from the
well and forcing all of the doves to fly off by unintentionally frightening
them. Heading back into the forest, she called out for her mother several
times, getting no response with each attempt. However, one response did come;
only it wasn’t the one she wanted to hear.
AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
It was the shriek of a woman, coming directly from within
the forest. Her heart racing from her increasing panic, Joanie ran to where she
heard the scream, which continued on and on. It definitely belonged to her
mother, hearing her unmistakable voice demandingly say, “Let me go! Why are you
doing this?! I haven’t done a thing!!!”
Joanie could hear herself getting closer and closer to
it, bracing herself to do whatever was necessary in saving her mother’s life.
Someone was attacking her, and judging from the way she ordered the attacker to leave her alone, she doubted if it was an
out-of-control beast of the woods. It was someone human…someone from this
world. But who would want to attack either of them? They did not even belong
there in that Disney World.
Just as Joanie neared her mother’s location, she heard a
familiar buzzing sound that overwhelmed her so much that she was forced to stop
in her tracks and cover her ears. Then, out of nowhere, a bright golden light
shined over her, growing in intensity with each second. This was all while she
felt a weird tingling sensation through her body. If this all appeared very
familiar to her, it was only because it was the same reaction she got from
within the Magic Gateway chamber before entering a Disney World. And it seemed
that she got the same reaction once she was being summoned back into her home
world.
(Authorial Note: The randomness in departure from a Disney realm started as a good obstacle for the characters in situations like this, when they had no control over how and when they would exit. Eventually, it was realized that order and surveillance was necessary once matters became disorganized and complicated for both the characters and writer.)
(Authorial Note: The randomness in departure from a Disney realm started as a good obstacle for the characters in situations like this, when they had no control over how and when they would exit. Eventually, it was realized that order and surveillance was necessary once matters became disorganized and complicated for both the characters and writer.)
As she began to vanish from the Disney World, molecule-by-molecule,
she hoped deeply that her mother was returning with her.
Time Zone – 1977
(Before Temporal Displacement)
Joanie molecularly reemerged back within the confines of
the Magic Gateway chamber with its door sliding open before her, allowing her
to escape from the claustrophobia-inducing space. She stumbled out, her legs
still reacting to her urgency to go to her mother’s rescue before it was too
late. But she stopped herself quickly before bumping into Bunsen’s desk, where
he sat behind the very computer he used to bring her back.
“Welcome back, Miss Joanie.” Bunsen delightfully said.
“Is your mother still having fun in
the ‘Snow White’ realm?”
(UP NEXT: It's time for temporal displacement!)
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