Anonymous asked: Sorry to ask at this hour but I'm watch Turner Classic Movies with my baby bro and this just came on and I have to make sure, was TPOH inspired by any form of the Phantom toll-booth? The word market in the movie reminds me of the market, and much of the geography and tone match, although that might also be a given of the story type, and altogether Milo and Tock remind me very much of Hero and RGB
see normally when your work gets a comparison to a thing you’ve never heard of before you feel jaded and start to resent it, but the Phantom Tollbooth is one of these magical things where someone made that link very early, I went and saw it and I LOVE IT SO MUCH. I’d never heard of it before writing TPoH, and even after that I only saw the movie and then someone pointed out there was a book and I read it and IT WAS EVEN BETTER. So yeah! It wasn’t an influence when I came up with the story, but I guess it is now because it’s in my brain?