Chapter Two: Realm Zone
– 1995 (Before Temporal Displacement)
Darkness – that was all Joanie could make out after the
flash from the chamber. She felt as if she were placed in a completely
different one at the moment, only she could not move a muscle in her body or
even feel anything. It was a very frightening sensation; she couldn’t tell if
she was alive or dead. And as much as she wanted to scream out, she couldn’t
feel herself doing that either. What was going on?
Then her question seemed to have been answered
(somewhat), when she heard muffled voices – one was from a young boy (she
guessed he was about six years old) and his mother.
“Andy! I’ve got a surprise for you!”
“Okay, Mom. Be right down.”
“Alright! But don’t take too long!”
A light suddenly emerged before Joanie’s eyes,
overshadowing the darkness that had shrouded her. She would’ve shielded her
eyes from it, with her hands or eyelids. But she surprisingly found herself
unable to. It was also a surprise that her retinas weren’t even affected by it
in any way, especially with the absence of her eyeglasses (where were they?).
However, the greatest shocker of them all was the gigantic human hand that
reached down and grabbed her, pulling her “tiny” body out from what appeared to
have been a chest.
Joanie was suddenly face-to-face with the six-year-old
boy named Andy, who she heard from inside the chest. He was quite adorable to
her, regardless of the fact that he was ten times bigger than she was. Smiling
at her for a second, he set her down upright by the foot of his bed, while he
returned his focus to the inside of his toy chest, which had a bit of a cowboy
theme on it. As his attention was there, Joanie could see the room she was
suddenly in; it was the bedroom of a child, complete with cloud wallpaper that
gave the impression of a sky and drawings done in crayon of a cowboy figure
hung throughout.
(Pop Culture Note: This scene takes place at the very beginning of Toy Story when we're first introduced to Andy and his toys. Toy Story was released November 22, 1995, the first-ever computer-animated feature film by Pixar before its acquisition from Disney in 2006. It was a mega hit, earning $361 million worldwide, three Academy Award nominations, and two successful sequels.)
That’s when Joanie heard a baby cooing and realized that
this wasn’t just Andy’s bedroom, but one that he shared with his baby brother
or sister as well. She wished that she could turn her head to clarify the
gender of the child, but had great difficult trying to do it. Her head was only
pointing in one direction, and that was straight ahead to where Andy was
pulling out toys from his chest. Watching him perform this activity, it dawned
upon Joanie why she had appeared to have lost all motion function in her body –
she…was…A TOY!
(Authorial Note: The pause between the last four words in the paragraph are an inside joke to Woody's line to Buzz at the gas station scene from the movie.)
How the heck could
this have happened to me? Is this some sort of joke? What were Bunsen and Beaker
doing in that basement?
One-by-one, Joanie could see each of Andy’s other toys: a
Mr. Potato Head doll, a ceramic piggy bank, a porcelain figurine of Bo Peep, a
slinky toy modeled after a dog, a plastic tyrannosaurus rex, and – last but not
least – a pull-string cowboy doll. Andy greeted the pull-string cowboy in a way
that could only be described as if he was acknowledging a real person. “Rise
and shine, Woody! There’s a town that needs saving today!”
He set Woody down beside the toy chest and commenced in
pulling out a few more toys, before he closed the chest shut and gathered all
of the other ones (including Joanie) together. Andy carried them over to a row
of moving boxes lying on the floor, drawn up in crayon to look like a miniature
western town. One of them had an illustration done by Andy himself of Mr.
Potato Head on a “wanted” poster taped to it. Joanie could only guess what kind
of scene this was going to be, as he placed her and a few other toys together
in front of a “bank” box.
(Narrative Note: The scene is depicted from the point of view of Joanie to convey a sense of feeling from the reader as if he or she were in Joanie's place, prompting them to feel whatever she feels. It also keeps us from discovering what type of toy Joanie has become until it is revealed a little later.)
Taking Mr. Potato Head, he held him over in front of the
bank with plastic toy guns held in his hands and pointed at Joanie and the
other toys. “Alright, everyone! This is a stick-up! Don’t anybody move! Now
empty that safe!” He was imitating Mr. Potato Head’s voice in a devilish way,
which Joanie admitted had the makings of a talented actor. Andy picked up the
piggy bank with his other free hand and emptied out a pile of coins over the
floor in front of Mr. Potato Head. “Ooh! Money! Money! Money!”
Andy brought Bo Peep into the scene and imitated her
voice in a high-pitched, feminine tone. “Stop it! Stop it, you mean old
potato!”
“Quiet, Bo Peep…or your sheep get run over!” He had Mr.
Potato Head threaten her in such a “violent” way, clearly making him the
villain of this performance.
The porcelain sheep that accompanied the Bo Peep figurine
were placed upon the center of a Hot
Wheels track loop. “Heeelp! BAAAA! Heeelp us!”
“Oh, no! Not my sheep! Somebody do something!”
Andy suddenly brought Woody into the picture, positioning
him opposite of Mr. Potato Head and pulling the ring in the center of Woody’s
back. An electronic voice then emerged from within the toy that said, “Reach
for the sky!”
“Oh, no! Sheriff Woody!”
“I’m here to stop you, One-Eyed Bart.”
Andy pulled out one of Mr. Potato Head’s eyes, giving him
the appearance of a one-eyed bandit (like his character). “Doh! How’d you know
it was me?!”
“Are you gonna come quietly?”
“You can’t touch me, Sheriff! I brought my attack dog
with a built-in force field!” He placed the “Slinky Dog” in front of Mr. Potato
Head and stretched his slinky mid-section out.
“Well, I brought my dinosaur, who eats force field dogs!”
Following that line from Woody, he brought out the plastic T-Rex toy and had
him stomp over the Slinky Dog, “defeating” him. “You’re goin’ to jail, Bart!”
Picking up Mr. Potato Head, he placed him in the crib of his one-year-old sister, working as a “jail” (even with a
crayon-written cardboard sign taped to bars showing that it was). And, as if on
cue, Andy’s sister came in and picked him up, sucking on him and pounding the
toy repeatedly against the rail of her crib, which resulted in him loosing some
parts.
(Authorial Note: The choice for this scene to be a play-by-play reenactment of the one from Toy Story was based on the idea of someone like Joanie - new to the story of the film that, from her perspective, hasn't been released yet - is witnessing all of this for the first time ever. It also establishes transition from what the reader is already familiar with to new material.)
Caring less how his sister was ruining his toy, Andy put
on a cowboy hat of his own and picked up Woody, smiling at his plastic face.
“You saved the day again, Woody!”
Once again, he pulled on his string and Woody responded
in his electronic voice, “You’re my favorite deputy!”
Joanie watched with interest as Andy played with Woody in
such a zealous manner that it could only be described as a boy playing with his
best friend. It didn’t matter whether that friend was an inanimate object or
not; Andy treated him as such, and it really touched Joanie’s heart (that was,
if she still had one). She never owned a toy that she loved as much as Andy
loved Woody. The playtime was taken outside of the room, leaving Joanie and the
other toys to witness the “destruction” of one Mr. Potato Head at the hands of
the baby girl.
While standing in a room that was filled only with the
excitable cheers of a baby, Joanie began to wonder just exactly how she got into
this mess, becoming a twelve-inch tall toy in a sort-of “cartoonish” type of
environment. The only explanation for it could’ve come from that new invention
she and everyone else at the Muppet Theater heard Bunsen and Beaker were
working on. Not too many details were revealed from the two Muppet scientists
about it other than it could only be
invented in the basement area. It would appear at that very second that Joanie
was getting a firsthand experience of what the invention was capable of doing.
The only question that remained was: how on earth were Bunsen and Beaker going
to get her out of this?
After what felt like a long time, Andy and Woody returned
to the room, approaching the crib of his baby sister. He tipped Woody’s hat to
her and said, “Howdy, Little Lady!” From there, he went to his bed, which had
western-themed bed sheets donned over it, and placed Woody onto it. Pulling his
string one last time, he made Woody say, “Somebody’s poisoned the waterhole!”
Walking up to his sister’s crib once again, Andy picked
her up and walked out of the room. Before leaving, he gave one parting comment
to his favorite toy, “See ya later, Woody.”
With Andy and his sister’s departure from the room,
everything fell completely silent. Joanie always wondered what the life of a
toy was like, and she was finding out from just standing there – motionless –
in the middle of the play set that Andy made. Needless to say, it was quite
boring for her. She already desired to escape from this nightmare and return to
reality.
That was until she heard Woody talking (outside of his
voice box) and saw him actually moving (without the aid of Andy) to the side of
the bed. He said to Joanie and all of the toys, “Okay, everybody. Coast is
clear.”
And with that, the bedroom suddenly came alive, with toys
emerging from the toy box, the closet, the shelves, and in other places and
engaging in a flurry of activity. Even Joanie suddenly felt herself coming to
life again, moving all of her limbs and her face; but she still couldn’t feel herself doing all of it. She felt
so synthetic, like a real toy; and as
freaky as it was to her, it was also enlightening in a way. Of course,
regaining her movement again, she wondered if she could possibly get some
answers as to where she was and how she could get out.
(Narrative Note: From this chapter, we not only get a perspective from Joanie in how it feels to be a living toy but also how the "freeze" action they perform when humans are near works. Readers are led to believe that it comes naturally for "unexperienced toys" like Joanie, while more accustomed toys like Woody learn to control it.)
Before she started walking forward, she was suddenly
confronted by the T-Rex toy as he asked her, “Do you think Andy made me scary
enough? Be honest, please. Was I scary?”
Joanie wasn’t entirely sure of how to respond. So she
just smiled and told him, “Yeah…you were like Godzilla to us.” She gestured a
thumb up and added, “Way to go, Rex.”
“Oh! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!” He took her
plastic hand and shook it so feverishly that Joanie almost felt it come off her
body…literally. “You don’t know how
much that means coming from you, Princess!”
As he walked off excitedly, Joanie gazed at him in
confusion. Did he just call me
‘princess’? She became very intrigued of exactly what kind of toy she
became, looking down at herself and seeing how she was wearing some type of
white dress that looked very familiar to her. When she started to get an idea,
she reached up at her hair and felt the “buns” at the opposite sides of her
head. She closed her eyes real tight and thought in despair, Oh, man! I’ve become a Princess Leia doll!
(Biographical Note: This idea was based on Joanie Mars's real-life cosplay of Princess Leia.)
“Is there something wrong, Princess?” She heard someone
address her, and she opened her eyes to see Woody next to her, looking a little
concerned.
“Uh…n-no…everything’s fine.”
You liar!
Everything is NOT fine! You’re a toy for cryin’ out loud!
Woody seemed a bit relieved. “Well, that’s good. The last
thing we need is more bad news.”
“Bad news?!” A voice with a country accent exclaimed, and
Woody realized all too late that it came from Slinky Dog, who was passing right
by while he was conversing with Joanie.
(Narrative Note: This exchange is an example of new meeting old with Joanie's interference in the order of which the original scene from Toy Story played out. Notice that Slinky does not emerge with the chessboard that he invites Woody to play.)
All of the toys in the area suddenly fell silent, hearing
Slinky’s alarmed voice. Woody then whispered to the toy, “Slink, just gather
everyone up for staff meeting and be happy.”
“Got it,” acknowledged Slinky, who began shuffling off,
much to Woody’s chagrin.
“Be happy!”
Woody demanded, and Slinky faked happiness as hard as he could, even going as
far as laughing hysterically.
Panic began to come over Joanie, and she was heavily
anxious to get out from wherever she was, worried about her mother and friends.
She must’ve been pretty worried as she even heard Robin’s voice addressing her.
“Joanie! Joanie!”
However, it was not
her imagination. Robin was actually
there, standing somewhere very close. She turned her head and noticed him
caught under the lid of the toy box. “Robin?” Excited and surprised to see him
all at once, she quickly went to his aid and lifted the lid off his body,
allowing him to clear from the box and join everyone in the “outside world.”
Joanie noticed that he was wearing his “Frog Scout” uniform and had a very
action figure-like appearance. “You poor thing. Are you okay?”
(Pop Culture Note: The Frog Scouts are a group of young frogs who've performed on The Muppet Show. Robin first wore his uniform on the tenth episode of the third season during the wedding sketch with Miss Piggy and Kermit. An actual action figure was produced by Palisades Toys in 2004.)
“I am now that you’d rescued me,” he said, before gazing
around at the bizarre scene in front of him. “Joanie, where are we? Is this some
sort of dream?”
Joanie shrugged and said, “I don’t know. But it’s got to
be some result of Bunsen’s newest invention. One minute, I was trapped in some
sort of chamber, and then the next…I’m in some weird remake of Babes in Toyland.”
Robin looked up and down at her in confusion. “Nice
costume. Who’re you supposed to be?”
“A character from that space movie you and I were going
to see before all of this happened,”
she answered with a sigh, before noticing the way he was dressed. “What about you? How come you’re in your Frog Scout
uniform?”
The tiny frog shook his head and remarked, “I’m not sure.
The last thing I thought about when I was trapped inside the chamber myself was
the day Uncle Kermit and I went on that Frog Scout excursion a year ago. It was
the only thing that kept me calm before I ended up here.”
Listening to him, Joanie realized the same thing happened
with her, only she thought about seeing that sci-fi space flick for the first
time recently. She enlightened her friend with a scientific theory, “The
invention must’ve recognized our thoughts and decided on what type of beings we
would become in this…place.”
(Authorial Note: The idea of real world visitors taking form to integrate themselves in the Disney realm was based on one used for Sean Livingston's Disney's Access series written in 2001, which is the basis for World of Disney. A similar idea was used for the Kingdom Hearts games in 2002 and 2006. This is the only story so far in the series to feature this plot device, but it does heavily play later into the development of Joanie's character.)
Joanie and Robin gazed around at the area in awe and
confusion, still wondering where they possibly were. Was it really some sort of
dream? Or was it some type of simulation? If it was indeed the latter, then it
certainly felt beyond realistic to them. Nothing in science could ever create
whatever this place was – unless it came from Bunsen Honeydew and his
assistant, Beaker.
(Narrative Note: Whether or not the Disneyverse is in fact a creation of Bunsen and Beaker's machine or something born entirely on its own and merely discovered by them is an issue that has yet to be resolved in the series. However, it can be discerned that it is in fact a parallel universe of some type with the established existence of others in the form of Marvel Comics and Star Wars in the two World of Disney sequels.)
“Come on, you two.” They heard Slinky address them and
looked down to see him gesturing for them to follow him. “We’ve got a staff
meeting to attend.”
Robin and Joanie exchanged a puzzled glance and then
followed Slinky to where all the other toys were gathered. Woody was standing
by some sort of makeshift podium, while a toy tape recorder waddled its way up
and allowed him to take its microphone. “Hello? Check? Better? Great! Okay,
first item today…Has everyone picked a moving buddy?”
The toys all moaned from his inquiry, whereas the
confused little Robin turned to Joanie and asked, “We’re moving? To where?”
Joanie wanted to provide an answer for him to calm his
nerves; but all she could do was politely shush him, expecting their answer to
come in the conversation happening before them. “Moving buddy?!” The ceramic
piggy bank (appropriately known as “Hamm
“Well, I didn’t know we were supposed to have one already.”
Rex said, sounding just as concerned as Robin.
Mr. Potato Head, who put himself back together after his
“attack” from Andy’s sister, waved his arm out of its socket. “Do we have to
hold hands?” This, of course, got quite a humorous reaction from the other toys
(with the obvious exception of Joanie, Robin, and Woody).
“Oh, yeah, you guys think this is a big joke,” said the disgusted Woody. “We’ve only got one week left
before the move. I don’t want any toys left behind.”
Robin couldn’t take much more of the confusion and spoke
out to the pull-string cowboy doll. “Where are we moving to?” All glances
suddenly focused directly on Robin, much of them displayed odd reactions.
Woody shook his head in aggravation at his question. “Oh,
come on. Please don’t do this to me, guys. Ya gotta keep up with me on this
stuff. You think it’s any easier for me, especially with Andy’s birthday moved
to today?”
(Narrative Note: Another example of a change in scene - Woody's announcement was given on the spot, instead of casually like in the film.)
The toys suddenly panicked at this news, moving their
stares away from Robin and back on Woody. “What’s going on down there? Is Mom
losing her marbles?” Hamm
“Well, obviously she wanted to have the party before the
move.” Woody indicated.
Robin’s confusion seemed to have grown each second of the
discussion. “I don’t get it. Why’s everyone so afraid of a birthday party?
Aren’t they supposed to be fun?”
The toys glanced oddly at the tiny frog again, and it was
even Mr. Potato Head who voiced his irritation over all of his ridiculous
questions. “Geez Louise! Where the heck has this kid been for the past
century?”
“I’d say he’s been cooped up at the bottom of the toy box
for too long.” Hamm
Joanie, taking offense to how they were all laughing at
the poor confused Robin, stepped forward and addressed them. “Okay, that’s
enough! Yeah, he’s a little behind on what’s going on – but it’s for good
reason.”
“You mean he has
been cooped up at the bottom of the box all this time?” Rex inquired,
inadvertently creating yet another upheaval of laughter amongst everyone.
Woody became aggravated over how the subject seemed to
have veered off-course, as well as how his friends were picking on the smaller
toy. Immediately, he took command of the situation and told everyone, “Alright!
Like Princess said, enough’s enough! The little guy is just worried about his
future, okay? I mean, yeah, there are some of us who aren’t thinking straight
on this. But that doesn’t mean we’re just going to insult each other for it. We
just have to relax and know that everything is going to be just fine. How
different can this be from every other birthday we’ve been through?”
“Uh, pardon me. I hate to break up the staff meeting,
but…THEY’RE HERE!!” Hamm three
o’clock !!”
At this update, the toys panicked and stampeded over
Woody, heading toward the bedroom window, leaving him alone on the floor with
Joanie and Robin. While they were crowded around the window and trying to get a
peek outside, Joanie pulled Robin aside and hid under Andy’s bed as Woody
wasn’t looking. She whispered to her little friend, “Look, Robin, we’ve got to
get out of here. I’m certain we’ve just been transported away from the Muppet
Theater, hopefully a few blocks or so. If we leave now, maybe we can get back
before sunset and have Bunsen and Beaker switch us back to our normal selves.”
“But, Joanie, I don’t think…”
(Character Note: This is the first instance where we see Joanie take on more of a leadership personality that develops over the course of the story, cultivating into a total change in character that is a reverse of how we see her at the beginning.)
She didn’t give him much time to say what he wanted to,
as she took his hand and pulled him out from under the bed along with herself,
exiting out the other side. Woody and the other toys were distracted with whatever
was happening outside, giving them the perfect opportunity for escape. They
dashed through the open doorway leading out of the bedroom, moving into the
upstairs hallway. Before going any further, Joanie looked around to check and
see if the coast was clear. She wasn’t certain of why she did it, because she
couldn’t care less if they were spotted by anyone; but it seemed important to
her nonetheless.
Once she realized that it was, she led Robin down the
staircase (which looked like a series of cliffs to Joanie and Robin) and moved
to the downstairs hallway. Seeing the front door straight ahead, Joanie was
thrilled to discover that she and Robin were only a hop and a skip away from
freedom. But before either of them could move towards it, they both suddenly
froze in place, just as Andy’s mother passed through, rounding up Andy and all
of his birthday guests.
“Okay, c’mon, kids! Everyone in the living room. It’s
almost time for presents.” And as she passed through, she spotted Joanie and
Robin at the foot of the stairs and glanced at them in confusion. “What on
earth…?” She sighed, picking the two of them up and setting them down atop a
shelf in the living room. “I’m gonna have to remind him to pick these things
up, or else I’ll have to…”
While she walked off and continued murmuring to herself
in frustration, Joanie and Robin unfroze, surprised to have discovered what
just happened to them. “How did that
happen?!” Robin exclaimed.
“You’ve got me…I was just about ready to bolt through the
front door, before my whole body just shut down.” Joanie glanced down over the
edge and saw how far down it was from the top of the shelf. She groaned at the
height, which would’ve taken several minutes for two small figures like them to
get down. “Alright. So attempt number one has been foiled, but I’m sure attempt
number two will turn out better. C’mon, Rob…” She stopped and noticed the
amazed look on her friend’s face. “What? What is it?”
Robin pointed straight ahead to the pile of brightly
wrapped gifts sitting atop the living room coffee table. “Look at all those
wonderful presents! This Andy kid must be the luckiest one on the planet!”
Joanie shook her head and grinned. “Don’t get distracted,
little buddy. We’ve got to boogie, before…” The sound of kids laughing and
running into the living room stopped her cold, and both she and Robin remained
where they were, as Andy, his mother, and the guests showed up in the room.
Again, Joanie groaned – another attempt foiled. “Perfect!”
(UP NEXT: To infinity and...beyond?)
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