Fate? Only you can choose your fate!
Last member of the nightmare wizards... for now...
What's the Work[]
Today's proposal comes from a very weird and bizarre 1987 animated film called Pinocchio and the Emperor of the Night. Never heard of it? Basically, Filmation made a sequel to the Pinocchio story, and tricked the general audience into believing it was a sequel to the 1940 Disney classic. Because of an almost complete lack of advertisement, it only made $3 million from a thousand theaters worldwide and has since fallen into obscurity. Ouch.
Anyways, the story itself, like I said, is a continuity of the Pinocchio story; here, Pinocchio's become a real boy and lives with Geppetto going on real boy adventures and learns proper life lessons. A circus comes to wherever town run by Puppetino, an obviously "not" evil puppet master who uses magic to turn people into puppets, including Pinocchio (yet again). But he's only a pawn of the real mastermind, meet the Emperor of the Night, voiced by none other than James Earl Jones.
Who is the Emperor of the Night and what he has done[]
The Emperor of the Night is a demon that controls a realm known as the Empire of the Night, a world comprised of nightmares and bad influences. To gather the souls he feasts on, the Emperor tricks/manipulates vessels into climbing onto his ship that can traverse from the human world to his Empire, where the Emperor can feed on their souls and empower himself. Every soul he consumes, the weaker the Fairy Godmother's magic becomes, and the stronger his magic becomes. His goal is to weaken the Blue Fairy enough to destroy her and take over the world for his own malicious deeds. He's willing to do this to anyone, including animals and innocent children.
At the carnival, Pinocchio gives in to his greed and (of course) is turned into a puppet by Puppetino, alongside a marionette girl named Twinkle, but not first toying with him by playing with his strings. After Pinocchio is turned back into a boy by the Good Fairy, he and his friends climb aboard the carnival ship to find Pinocchio's jewel box. A boatman offers Pinocchio a ride to find the jewel box, which he accepts, leaving Scalawag and Igor behind. The boatman tells Pinocchio that he will find the box in the darker end of the cavern they are in, but uses promises of fame and games to tempt Pinocchio into going to the "Neon Cabaret", in the brighter end.
Pinocchio then encounters a doorman, who tells him that he can go and play inside if he signs a contract. Pinocchio impulsively agrees, running inside and drinking from a fountain of green liquid that causes him to hallucinate and blackout. Pinocchio awakens on a stage, where a ringmaster says that his fans are waiting and Pinocchio begins dancing. Scalawag and Igor, who followed Pinocchio, try to get his attention but are drawn offstage while he is distracted by Twinkle. Puppetino appears and Pinocchio turns to find the boatman, who transforms into the doorman and then the ringmaster. The shape-shifting man tells Pinocchio that he has reached the "Land Where Dreams Come True" and reveals his true identity: the Emperor of the Night.
Showing that the audience are actually the people that the Emperor turned into puppets, the Emperor demands Pinocchio to sign a contract that will make him a puppet again, a choice that would weaken the Good Fairy enough for the Emperor to kill her. Pinocchio refuses and is locked up with Scalwag and Igor, where the Emperor taunts Pinocchio that he imprisoned Geppetto within the jewel box and threatens to dispose of him should Pinocchio refuse again. Pinocchio accepts this time and signs away his freedom, transforming him back into a puppet.
With him now the Emperor's slave forever, Pinocchio asks him to let his friends and father go. The Emperor laughs, saying that all he needed was Pinocchio's freedom of choice to give him power and orders Puppetino to take them to the dungeon. Pinocchio rants on about the Emperor's lies and crimes, shining in a blue aura - that of the Good Fairy. The Emperor shoots flames at Pinocchio, only for them to reflect off and cause a chain reaction that sets the ship on fire. Seeing Puppetino attempting to run for his life instead of chasing after Pinocchio, the Emperor turns Puppetino into a puppet just so he could burn with the ship.
The Emperor emerges from the burning wreck, grabbing Gepetto saying that his life will pay for Pinocchio destroying his ship. Gee and Grumblebee grab Gepetto and Pinocchio, with the same aura magic of the Blue Fairy from before, plunges into the Emperor's flaming figure to destroy him once and for all.
Mitigating Factors[]
Nope, you're not gonna find any excuses for the Emperor here. Sure most of his actions are offscreen and he's not introduced well until the last fourth of the film, and most of it is done by his henchman. However, the aftermath is shown when he reveals his massive collection of puppets who were once human. When Pinocchio tries to resist, the Emperor shows his sadistic side in taking Geppetto hostage, twice, just to torment Pinocchio into making a deal with him. Even after promising said deal, the Emperor still shows no affection to the puppet boy's sacrifices. All of this is so he can become strong enough to overwhelm the Blue Fairy and take over the world, showing that the Emperor has a clear moral agency over his actions and takes sadistic amusement in completing them.
As for the relationship between the Emperor and Puppetino, it becomes clear that the Emperor only uses him for his own schemes, especially when he turns him into a puppet to burn with the ship just for running away like a coward.
Heinous Standards[]
Remember in my proposal for Sarris when I said he was the epitome of a game-changer? I said that he didn't belong in a family-friendly movie, and the truth is that Galaxy Quest was meant to be a PG-13 or R rated film before it was toned down to PG.
Emperor of the Night, however? Someone who sadistically turns living people into his puppets forever and tortures someone's loved ones so they can give in to their demands? He found his way into a G RATED MOVIE! Seriously, this guy does not belong in a film for all ages. Now, I know that there have been other PE villains from G-rated films. Look at Frollo for Pete's sake. But what makes the Emperor stick out to me is just how sinister he is compared to the rest of the film.
This film has a very soft tone about wacky characters getting in slapstick situations even when the carnival is involved, but there is practically nothing about the Emperor that is taken light-hearted in any way. He tells Pinocchio that his circus spreads dreams and nightmares to everyone; but at the end of the day, it's nothing but endless nightmares.
There's also Puppetino, but I don't think he can count since all of his wrongdoings are nowhere close to that of the Emperor's, and he shows himself to just be a coward.
Final Verdict[]
He may not reach the Coachman from the Disney film's levels of vileness, but the Emperor of the Night remains one of Pinocchio's most fearsome opponents through all of the little puppet's adventures. The film may have been forgotten by many, but the Emperor still stands out for his heinousness in a family-friendly movie. And just being voiced by James Earl Jones is only one of them.
The Emperor has already been labeled under Pure Evil, and this proposal is to ensure he remains that way.
Yes: 5
No: 0
Undecided: 0
Final Score: +5
Verdict: Pure Evil