On July 4th, 2008 one of my favorite authors Thomas M. Disch committed suicide. Widely known for his science fiction and poetry, Disch also wrote one of my personal favorite horror novels of all time, THE M.D. Although the subject of death came up a lot in his work, in my opinion, he was capable of being one of the most hilarious authors I have ever read. His much-anthologized short story "The Roaches" is a great example of that fact. The truth is Disch's creativity was so grand that there really was no lone genre that could contain it. When he took on children's literature with THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER series, he not only created characters that many adults still keep in their hearts today, but he also put himself in the position to be recognized as a unintentional traumatizer as well. One scene from the animated film based on the book seemed especially created to set the jujubes flying. In it, our little toaster has an awful dream where he not only causes a fire but also is psychologically harassed by a hideous clown in firefighter gear that would give "Pennywise" pause. The dream continues with the lovable appliance hanging on for dear life above a bathtub before he awakens to understand none of it was real. THE BRAVE LITTLE TOASTER both as a movie and a book will remain a children's classic that truly gets the wheels of the imagination spinning in a way that only Disch could achieve. It's sad that the author could not hang on as tight as that little toaster did, but who's to say he's not waking up from a bad dream himself right now. Come to think of it, that would be so very, very Disch.
Experience THE B.L.T.'s bad dream HERE
That is one of my all time favorite animated movies. I actually never dug deeper to see if it was based on any books, I think I just always assumed it was written as a screenplay. I will have to check into the author – he sounds like a wonderful read.
Absinthe,
If you love the movie I'm sure you'll enjoy the book!
If you want to try a sample of Disch's horror writing, the story I mentioned "the Roaches" can be found in the excellent horror anthology THE DARK DESCENT.
http://www.amazon.com/Dark-Descent-Clive-Barker/dp/0312862172/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1217383732&sr=8-2
Great Scott! That demented clown looks like Rotten Ronnie on 'Roids! Good thing I was watchin' Demon Witch Child as a wee kitten, and not The Brave Little Toaster…
Oh how I love The Brave Little Toaster! It is something that I watched numerous times with my nephew and niece when they were little. I remember thinking before watching the movie, “How can someone have emotions about appliances?†but boy was I wrong! There are certain points in the movie that make me get misty-eyed. When Toy Story first came out, I thought the people making the movie must have seen this film and Jim Henson’s the Christmas Toy (T.V. special from 1986). The storylines had many similarities. The clown in that dream sequence was terrifying. Clowns creep me out big time!  Â
Yeah, I made the mistake of showing the original Brave Little Toaster movie to my sons, ages 5 and 2. Quite a dark and frightful film at times. Made in 1987, before political correctness and sensitivities made their way to children's films somewhere in the early '90s.
I saw this film when I was 10.