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Well that's a way to start off my Pride Month 😅

Bonus doodle under the cut

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Willy Wonka’s Factory: A Tour Designed to Overwhelm the Senses

As Mr. Wonka wrote on the Golden Ticket, “The day I have chosen for the visit is the first day in the month of February. On this day, and on no other, you must come to the factory gates at ten o’clock sharp in the morning. Don’t be late!”

The children and their parents waited at the gates in the cold before stepping into the warmth of the factory. The sudden change in temperature would have altered their physical sensations.

Inside, the air was filled with an overwhelming blend of scents—the smell of roasting coffee, burnt sugar, melting chocolate, mint, violets, crushed hazelnuts, apple blossom, caramel, lemon peel, and more—stimulating their sense of smell. Far away in the distance, from the heart of the great factory, came a muffled roar of energy, as though some monstrous, gigantic machine were spinning its wheels at breakneck speed, overwhelming their ears with sound.

Mr. Wonka then rushed through a long, twisting corridor, reminiscent of a gigantic rabbit warren, causing everyone to become fatigued. Finally, they arrived at the heart of the factory—the Chocolate Room—where their eyes were dazzled by the sight.

Looking at the structure of the tour, it’s clear how carefully it was designed to stimulate the senses step by step. The cold morning air and sudden warmth of the factory altered their perception of temperature. The constant movement through the factory induced physical fatigue. The roar of machinery overwhelmed their hearing, while the rich mixture of aromas intensified their sense of smell. The dazzling scenery of the Chocolate Room captivated their vision, and when Wonka encouraged them to taste the edible meadow, their sense of touch was engaged as they physically interacted with the candy plants. Finally, just when their senses had been fully primed, Wonka delivered the ultimate sensory climax—taste.

Revisiting the book, I was reminded of how meticulous this tour was. Before closing the iron gates that separated the factory from the outside world, Wonka said, "I shouldn't like to lose any of you at this stage of the proceedings! Oh, dear me, no!"

Reading it again, I also noticed how constant the presence of sound is in the factory. Even in the Chocolate Room, the pipes sucking up chocolate could be heard over the roar of the waterfall, meaning the factory was always filled with noise. Wonka had to raise his voice to be heard over it, which may explain why his speech is so often punctuated with exclamation marks in the book.

When he told Mike, "I am a little deaf in my left ear," one might think he was simply pretending not to hear something inconvenient. However, considering how loud the factory is, I wonder if he genuinely suffered some hearing loss over time.

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Apparently, the two Charlie Buckets of the film adaptations ended up going into medicine -in a way-. The first, was a veterinarian; the second, a surgeon.

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A few days ago I started listening more songs from ABBA. I couldn't get stucked into "Mamma Mia" for the rest of my life. So now, since most of my ideas come from music, I wanted to try this:

Imagine Veruca Salt living Charlie's life. She's poor, cabbagevore, still wearing the same coat that was knitted for her when she was 5 years old, and yet she has the same personality. Now look at a multi-millionaire Charlie who lives in a castle, is heir to an empire (not Wonka's, let's say it's the toothpaste factory) and is still the same in personality.

I don't know if it's been explored before but I've really been drooling over that idea. I might put it out as a one-shot just to try it out; I'm too untrained to do a two-chapter thing. I'm not a man of promises, mind you; in AO3 I've had a work waiting for me since last April…

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"The day I have chosen for the visit is the first day in the month of February." What if Studio Ghibli animated Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? I drew this with that idea in mind. The colors and character expressions were quite challenging, and the piece is still a work in progress, including other characters. Please keep in mind that this is purely a product of my imagination.🍫

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Being NAUGHTY this year so Santa gives me coal and I can keep the house warmed up. Uncle Charlie’s quite unwell you see. Him and three other people in a group bed whose names I don’t remember.

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Uhmmm possible tvbucket fic snippet???? We’ll see ig

“Charlie, I’m right here. I’m right in front of you. Time and time again, I keep trying to reach out and help but you just run away and act like nothing is happening.” Mike holds the notebook in his hand, the writing on the pages is clearly not his, too neat.

Charlie stays silent, he won’t respond, he won’t even try. He just looks away, trying so desperately not to look at the other for fear it might hurt him.

“I don’t want you to just live in radio silence. I want you to be okay, okay? I need you to talk to me- to Violet or Veruca, even! Just talk to us. Please.” He’s practically pleading, almost tearing up in such a non-typical-Mike way that Charlie almost wants to laugh.

Any other day this would be reversed, Charlie would be chiding the other about opening up and communicating clearly. instead of letting his anger bottle up and overflow. Any other day, Charlie would be sitting there ignoring his own hypocrisy.

“I’m sorry.” Is all he can mutter out. Because his emotions do not boil over, he doesn’t seeth or get angry. he lets the bottle fill up to the point where there’s cracks with water spilling out the sides. Charlie can’t respond with frustration because he’s not a frustrated person, he’s just sad. And he doesn’t really even know why.

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A text where the only important thing is in the last paragraph (this fantastic title has saved you 2 minutes of your life, if you decide to listen to it).

I've seen a few WWatCF fanfics where the setting of the tour is October 1, 1971 (YvaJ's or Softkitty55, for example, and I'm sure there are a few more I haven't read). Truth be told, I think the intention of this film was to be timeless, failing in the attempt thanks to a certain character that is impossible to make timeless.

Well, I've just come to the conclusion that the factory tour in WWatCF could not have happened in 1971.

Ah, why did I write this in the first place? I see it's the norm to set the stories in the year the adaptations are released, or to make a time jump from that year.

It's very simple to explain: according to the Golden Ticket, the date of the tour is October 1st. However, it couldn't have been in ‘71, because October 1st of that year was a Friday, and thanks to the percentages scene we know that the tour was on a Wednesday (thanks, Turkentine). I mean, I don't think there was a considerable time jump from that class to the coin scene just because and without warning, and Charlie hasn't changed clothes between scenes. I know this may all be far-fetched – Charlie must not have too many clothes and it may well have been 1970 (the year of filming), when the first of October fell on a Thursday. Regarding the next year, there is not too much distance between Tuesday and Friday.

I guess it depends on the individual, but personally, I think the percentages class and the finding of the fifth ticket happen on the same day. The finding of the fifth fake Paraguayan ticket must have happened the night before the percentages class, and I say that because, when Charlie goes to buy candy, Bill is just pulling out the bars he had hidden. If it had been more than two days, he would have got them all out by now, wouldn't he? ('Now that all the tickets have been found, I don't have to hide them anymore.')

So, even though I've gone back to the beginning and written all this in vain, assuming this is accurate, I think any year between 1960 and 1975 whose first of October falls on a Wednesday is fine.

P.S. If I am honest, I have lost the thread of what I have been writing for a long time. I may have been wrong about something anyway. I haven't seen the movie in about 2 months, but I seem to remember there were some Wonka Fudge Mallows (I hope I remember it right) in the background after the coin scene. But how do you get a rectangular ticket into that packaging?

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when willy wonka & the chocolate factory was released, it was criticized for being different from the original source and people hated it

when charlie & the chocolate factory was released, people called it "unnecessary" and hated it and suddenly started liking willy wonka

when wonka was released, people said it "didn't work" and hated it and suddenly started liking charlie

the circle of life.

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It makes me laugh to think how the two CatCF books take place practically in a single day (from the tour onwards). That's two nights that Charlie goes past his bedtime!

Of course (on that last point), unless the tour had lasted a mere hour or so. What a rip-off, Wonka.

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Been awhile since I’ve done a comic

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Is the Grand High Witch still up to her old tricks?

Imagining Willy Wonka happening in a parallel mouse world. And the implications of the squirrel scene

[ID in alt text]

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I'd say this was the product of a fever dream or New Year's Eve binge, but I'll leave it for what it is. I'll just say picture it in the Fizzy Lifting Drinks Room. Or better yet, in the Glass Elevator!

(Willy) ‘Charlie… come with me. Think of what we could do, together! Unlimited… Together we're unlimited. Together we'll be the greatest team there's ever been, Charlie! Dreams the way we planned ‘em.’

(Charlie) ‘If we work in tandem…’

(Both) ‘There's no fight we cannot win. Just you and I defyi–’ And you know the rest.

...

You still here?

Okay...

P.S: I still haven't seen Wicked, nor movie, nor musical, nor book (it didn't make it to the cinema in my city). And, by the way, this fantasy doesn't mean I don't love 'The View From Here'. Honestly, I love it much more than ‘Defying Gravity’.

And, to be honest, I think that's the only part of the lyrics that do fit 100%.

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I'm beginning to think that the two CatCF books take place in different timelines.

I explain: in 'The Great Glass Elevator', they explicitly say the year is 1972, in chapter 18, to be precise. It doesn't say what year we're in in the first book, I know. I didn't end up understanding the pre-decimal monetary system after all, and perhaps there is a fact in the price of the chocolate bars that I missed when I read the book in English. I could try get an idea based on the day. The first day of February, in 1964, fell on a Saturday, and in 1972 it fell on a Tuesday. It makes more sense to me that the tour would have been on a weekend, but that contest was so absurdly important that they obviously would have declared a school holiday for that day. Or a few extra if the winners had to travel.

In which case, if the year doesn't bear out, the age of Charlie's grandparents does. In the first book, we are told at the beginning of the second chapter "Every one of these old people was over ninety." But in the second, only Grandpa Joe seems to retain his 96 and a half years. Josephine is 80 years and three months old (and I expect they were already somewhat older when they married); George was exactly 81; and Georgina has 78.

Which makes me seriously wonder, did Dahl just have to change it in pursuit of arithmetic operations, or did he really forget that hole? Why wasn't that fact edited out of the first book? Dahl lived almost 20 more years after publishing CatGGE, after all.

As far as my opinion of the book is concerned…. I still haven't read the second half (everything that happens after they return to the Factory). I just gave it a too-quick read looking for some wild candy that happened to sneak in. Honestly, I got the feeling that all those BORING scenes with the president's cabinet are only a nuisance and, despite the fact that I'm not the most empathetic person in the world (unfortunately), I did find the stereotype jokes pretty gross. But I do at least want to give a point to Gilligrass's flytrap. I'd like one myself. I think Dahl was trying to stretch the book at all costs, and since the filler with the president wasn't going to be enough to get very far beyond 100 printed pages, that's why the Wonka-Vite thing comes up. I read a few bits of the Minusland chapter and would have thought I was reading another Charlie book if not for the narrative style.

However, it's a pretty entertaining read otherwise and I genuinely felt excited getting to the Knids chain part - it's the glory picking an epic movie soundtrack and reading this part for the first time! It's just that the atmosphere is weird. It's not bad; I love horror and the Knids in the elevators are very creepy (in a good way). Rather, I mean all the characters (with the exception of Charlie, his parents, Grandpa Joe and Willy Wonka) feel apathetic and unpleasant. I can understand the grandparents, I don't deny it: I too would find it too hard not to panic if I were being chased by an army of genocidal aliens, but there were certain moments (not to say all of their scenes in space) where they only intervened in the scene to complain and didn't help. Only Grandma Josephine, when she suggests they come back. In the second half, it seems to me that they are going to serve more as simple comic relief.

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okay have these

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It is the small goals sometimes.. but I managed to read a book for the first time in years, Yeah a childrens book it may have been but it was fun.

And who does not like a good Roald Dahl book? I managed to get my hands on Charlie and the great glass elevator at a secondhand earlier this week. I have not read it and decided it was time to learn something new. :)

Bonus art!

Original art by Quentin Blake