Stuff of Nightmares

Well, more specifically, stuff of my nightmares. When I was ... oh, I don't know, some age before I had the capacity to remember tiny details like the entire plot of a movie ... I watched this movie. I proceeded to forget everything about it. Except that there was an evil prince (somebody's brother -- I think the little girl in the movie) who lived in a bubble and turned people into walking boards, and a small unicorn into a toy.

Since a high school friend with a similarly disturbing memory had told me (nearly ten years ago now!!) that my memories were from a show called Unico, I've been trying to figure out what on earth this story was. I had good reason to be trying -- I've been having vague nightmares of a figure that looks not unlike this weirdo for as long as I can remember (though I can't remember when the last one was, to be fair). And now, finally, I have the name: Unico and the Island of Magic. I had my wires a bit crossed, which I suppose was to be expected. First of all, the evil prince in a bubble turns out to be Lord Kuruku, a former puppet who was disposed by his former owners, thrown into the sea, washed up at the "End of the World", and was then turned into a living puppet by the sun. He was, apparently, a bit bitter about being thrown away by humans.

So he turns them into "Living Puppets", who look like this:



There was a brother, who turned evil and did magic. His name was Toby, and he did look bizarre (though I'd conflated him with Lord Kuruku to get the "evil prince in a bubble" thing):



In the picture above you can also see that the board people did, in fact, go and make a wall. I thought they did. I just didn't know how.

Anyway, so finally, I've found the movie that built my nightmares. If you want to get a tad bit freaked out, follow this link to youtube, where the movie's posted -- this is the part near the end, where the little girl and Unico get magicked into toys, too.

And Unico? Well -- turns out he's not as scary as his movie, though the sheer adorability might be a little disturbing, not to mention the weird proto-Pokemon vibe (is Pokemon still big with kids?). It is, in fact, the funniest things that grab the imagination of little children. And it's even stranger to think of the things that still -- twenty four years later -- just won't let you go.