Note: for guesses specific to the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, click here.
General Guesses
Unfortunately for Wonka, he seriously underestimated most of the childrens' selfish thoughtlessness, and all but Charlie injure themselves, making for terrible PR. In the end, Wonka is forced to take Charlie as his sole successor, in the hope that he can train him to run the company without the help he intended for him to have.
Much more apparent in the 2005 film. Veruca recognizes quality when she sees it, despite wanting everything of quality that she sees and having no restraint. Augustus loves candy, which is huge if you're going to run a company based on it. Violet has the confidence and girl power necessary to deal with setbacks, and Mike is a technological genius. In short, you could've had five genius junior CEOs running the place as a board, if four of them hadn't had the weaknesses that couple with their strengths overindulged.
- Going on with this theory, it also explains why Wonka had the idea of handing over his factory to children in the first place. When they become young adults, Wonka could send them to study law, chemistry, economics, etc. at top universities. He'll have a quintet of lawyers, scientists and businesspeople to keep his factory running.
- Discussing the roles that the quintet could have played if they all stayed on the tour:
- Augustus is a tough one, seeing that throughout all the adaptations his personality has been relegated to "the fat kid". Being the only one of the five who's not British or American, he would be put in charge of international outreach.
- Violet's determined personality would make her a good lawyer. If not, she could put her martial arts skills to use and work as head of security.
- Veruca would make a good financial advisor or even CEO, coming from a business background.
- Mike is a tech savvy guy, would probably be in charge of installing and managing tech around the factory.
- Charlie's the nicest of the five, best fitted for a lawyer or spokesman role.
- Basically: Augustus for CMO, Violet for Head of Legal, Veruca for CFO, Mike for CTO/COO, Charlie for Head of PR/spokesman.
Now the question becomes, what of Charlie? Did his not come up? No. His happened, but he was smart enough or pure enough not to take it. Everlasting gobstoppers, designed for children exactly like Charlie, are one of the few things we get shown directly but that the children do not get karma'd by. The temptation for a boy like Charlie, who gets one freaking thing a year, to take one of those? Huge. And if he had tried it? Dunno. Maybe lockjaw?
- This makes the Invention Room a double threat, since Everlasting Gobstoppers and chewing-gum meals both come from there.
- In the 1971 film, Charlie does get karma'd by Fizzy Lifting Drinks. But his deciding to leave without the Everlasting Gobstopper is a last-minute save.
- Although if he'd left with it and never given it to Mr. Wilkinson, he might still have won.
- "Never" is a long time. Wonka had already told Charlie that he would get "NOTHING!" And if Charlie had kept the Gobstopper and left, Grandpa Joe might've given it to Mr. Wilkinson unilaterally — Grandpa Joe was furious at Wonka right then...
- Although if he'd left with it and never given it to Mr. Wilkinson, he might still have won.
- This theory is strongly implied in the Burton-Depp film. We never learn the temptation there, unless we go with Charlie and decide that Wonka's initial offer when he's "won" is a temptation.
- In the 2005 stage musical Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, Wonka actually admits to this. In this version, Charlie's temptation is apparently the Fizzy Lifting Drinks, as Everlasting Gobstoppers are only mentioned in passing. He and Grandpa Joe taste them in a scene similar to the 1971 movie, and Wonka praises them both for apologizing and being smart enough not to get caught in the first place.
- In the 2013 stage musical, this is much the case — the rooms are apparently chosen to play into each kid's weakness — but with a twist in Charlie's case. He is left alone with Mr. Wonka's idea notebook, having been warned not to look at it. Charlie is a born daydreamer, though, and just can't resist. He even adds to it. Thing is...unlike most people, Willy Wonka doesn't consider dreaminess a vice, but a virtue...so this is a test in which disobedience means you pass!
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the kids most likely to find a golden ticket either have wealthy/indulgent parents that let them go through lots of candy in one day, are willing to cheat to win, or both - In other words, no matter who ends up winning, they're probably going to be mostly jerks. Wonka realized this and devised the factory's various Secret Tests of Character around vague archetypes based on the kind of kids he guessed would be likely to find a ticket, like "glutton who eats way too much chocolate" and "Spoiled Brat with rich parents who rigged the contest for them", then adapted the tour to the ones who ended up showing up. There's no room or Crowd Song tailored to Charlie because he's a genuine outlier who just got lucky, so Wonka's plans didn't account for him.
- Support: Wonka is clearly
Lawful Evil (assuming you believe in Lawful Evil). - Burton!Mike may be Pride, but that title could also belong to Burton!Violet. Hmm...
- In the book, Charlie stayed in place and didn't play in order to conserve what little food energy he got for growing and not starving. Environmentally enforced Sloth, anyone?
- If it's forced upon somebody then it's not a sin. Charlie is just being sensible.
- Therefore, he wins.
- If it's forced upon somebody then it's not a sin. Charlie is just being sensible.
- Willy Wonka is the original Jewish interpretation of Satan from The Book of Job. That concept of the Devil worked for God, tempting people to determine who was just in His eyes. Instead of inflicting horrible plagues on Charlie, Satan decided to tempt the kids by appealing to their sin.
- Sounds plausible. But Peter Ostrum's Charlie either had bad luck distributing his Golden Tickets or else chose to test for something other than moral character in the hopes that he could train that with the chocolatiering. (Wilder's Wonka tested for moral character; Depp's Wonka has a very shaky grasp on it.)
- And they all keep handing down the name? Makes sense; no one would surrender to the Dread Candyman Charlie.
- And it was Grandpa Joe, not Charlie, who suggested stealing Fizzy Lifting Drinks.
In the Tim Burton film, Georgina knew exactly what everyone was talking about. She just acted like she didn't to mask her true intelligence.
They are severely malnourished. All the Buckets are, in fact. In Dahl's very words: "The only meals they could afford were bread and margarine for breakfast, boiled potatoes and cabbage for lunch, and cabbage soup for supper." And this is before Charlie's father is laid off and they were subsisting solely off of just cabbage soup.
Assuming, on a weekday: 2 slices of bread, 1 tbsp. of margarine, 2 boiled potatoes in their skins, 3/4 cup of cabbage and 2 cups of cabbage soup (1.5 c liquid and 3 tbsp cabbage * .), the only vitamins that the adults meet or surpass the daily recommended amount are vitamins C, E and K. They just barely miss getting enough B6. They certainly do not get enough vitamins A (RAE or IU), B1, B2, B3, B5, B9 or choline nor do they get any B7 or B12.
The amount of vitamin D they receive would be directly proportionate to the amount of sunlight they receive. 20 minutes in the sun is adequate to receive enough vitamin D, so Charlie and possibly his parents would get enough. His grandparents in that dark shack probably would not.
For minerals, as some nutrient requirements differ between men and woman, only the men are almost getting enough iron and only the women are getting enough manganese. They are only getting trace amounts of calcium, copper, fluoride, lysine, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, selenium and zinc. They are not getting any chloride, chromium, iodine, or molybdenum at all.
As for basic nutrition, they are getting less than half of the recommended daily energy, 30% of protein, 17% of fat, 36% of carbs, 19% of sugars and half of dietary fiber. The only others that their bodies are getting enough of are cholesterol (only because the body naturally produces enough to survive) and sodium (only need 115 mg and they are receiving 402 mg which is well below the suggested maximum).
Even if Mrs. Bucket is making the cabbage soup with bone broth (which can be made at home with cheap bones from the butcher), the only improvement is slightly more energy, protein, fat, cholesterol, sodium and potassium but not enough to reach requirements.
Sunday, when they canonically have double portions, is the only day they almost reach most of their daily recommended amounts. They finally get enough B1, B6, copper, protein and dietary fiber. The women are getting enough B3 and almost enough iron. The men are getting enough manganese and almost enough B3. Both are getting almost enough energy, carbs, calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, B5, and B9. There are still deficiencies regarding fat, sugars, fluoride, lysine, selenium, zinc, vitamin A, B2 and choline. They completely still lack completely chloride, chromium, iodine, molybdenum, B7 and B12.
Evidence: there seems to be a president in office that we've never heard of, a group of pygmies we have never encountered, and a whole functioning space hotel.
- Augustus: Gluttony (all three mediums)
- Veruca: Greed (all three mediums)
- Violet: Pride (all three mediums)
- Mike: Sloth (book/1971 film)/Wrath (2005 film)
- Charlie: Envy (according to a WMG and the 1971 film)
- OR
- Augustus: Gluttony
- Veruca: Greed
- Violet: Pride
- Mike: Sloth
- Wonka: Envy
- Charlie: Wrath (Averted. Wonka expected him to hand over the Gobstopper to Slugworth out of anger, and he didn't).
But what of Lust? It's there in a blink-and-you-miss-it moment in the 2005 film. The portrayer? Violet's mother. The scene? About 6:30 of this clip
Admit it, after reading this you are now imaging how the Oompa Loompas would diss characters like Dracula, Harry Potter and James Bond and you are loving every minute of it.
- Wonka is Virgil
- Charlie is Dante
- Look at the above arguements
- Each chamber is a different circle
- The boat ride is crossing Styx
- This actually would explain a lot, especially all the crazy inner workings of the place, the types of candies with werid effects (there are fairly common charms that could be placed on them and they bear some resemblence to Fred and George's products at least in style), and why there is a huge mystery surrounding the factory (Magical secrecy rules, temporarily lifted in this one case). A Wizard really did it. Bonus points for it being set in Britain as well.
Fred, waking back in the 1950s, did not know what to do. The Doctor had told him he could not return or attempt to contact his family in any way, so he did the only thing he could - adopting a false name, he continued his and George's work in the past, creating a magical sweet factory (Willy Wonka is never stated not to also have made jokes and tricks as well; it was just that the sweets caught on in the past). Secretly, Fred always hoped that some of his merchendise (which also became popular in the wizarding community) would be enjoyed by his parents, who were children then, and so in some way he could still reach out to them.
Oh, and the Oompa-Loompas? Clearly, they are House-elves; they are small, odd in appearance and are extremely loyal to their 'master'. The singing is a by-product of their obeying a master who was so carefree and cheerful himself - it rubbed off on them. The whole South America story was just what Wonka/Fred told people to explain the odd little creatures living in his factory.
Now, you may go weep into your pillows.
- You win.
- Both films, while not showing it, imply it. The long hallway to the chocolate room heads down.
- Wonka directly states in the first book that most of the factory, including all the most important rooms, is underground. He even gives the reason:"These rooms we are going to see are enormous! They're larger than football fields! No building in the world would be big enough to house them! But down here, underneath the ground, I've got all the space I want. There's no limit — so long as I hollow it out."
- Certainly, this is true. Willy Wonka = The Mad Hatter = Johnny Depp. Where does Jack Sparrow fit into the equation?
- ''Captain'' Jack Sparrow.
- That was his previous incarnation, of course.
- Which Mad Hatter? Lewis Carroll's or Jervis Tetch? It would add a new wrinkle to the Golden Tickets, that's for sure.
- He's got to make Wonka-style TV common first.
- He clearly isn't operating in Girl Genius' universe, as there are no United States, and most of Britain is underwater in that universe. Which leaves us with two possibilities to consider: Either Wonka is a Spark who broke through in a world otherwise devoid of such people, or, he emigrated to Charlie's world for his own reasons; it's possible he felt his creations were unappreciated, or feared that they would be, as mentioned above, weaponized, or perhaps he decided he didn't feel like being part of Albia's "garden", or felt the general atmosphere in Europa wasn't conducive to what he hoped to accomplish with his life, so he decided to leave.
Loompaland is a Bardo of all of the deepest darkest Africa stuff that got disproved once we had explored it properly.
The tests were intended to find another Genius, not someone of upstanding character, by allowing them to fiddle with the Wonders before they were placed in Pill Form and seeing who didn't incur Havoc; this raises the distinct possibility that Wonka is Illuminated or at least very close. Charlie is an unaffiliated Hoffnung with psi-based Wonders. Mike Teevee is a Lemurian Neid.
- This, if true, means that Charlie might come off worse than the others in the long run, since he's still at the factory. Wonka had less than a day to mess with the others, and so he had to get drastic. He can take as long as he likes with Charlie.
- Tell me the Oompa-Loompas aren't Familiars.
- (S)he's a very powerful Witch who has been able to either kill off, drive off, or evade all the Puella Magi who have come after her. Being alive so long, (s)he's either come to her senses (somewhat) and had a Heel–Face Turn, or is planning something highly sinister.
- The whole chocolate factory tour thing might have been a battle between her Witch instincts to lure, kill, and Mind Rape humans, and her Heel–Face Turn. Eventually, her goodness won out and she let them go.
Theories for the Tim Burton version
- ...so basically, Wonka planned everything that happened to the kids in the factory before they even arrived?
- Didn't we already know that?
- It follows that either they had songs prepared for several other rooms in the factory, or Wonka arranged the specific tour route beforehand and let the Oompa Loompas know far enough in advance to prepare the songs.
- When is the one time she 'knew exactly what she was talking about'? When she happily proclaims that 'things are going to get much better.' They do.
If we believe the theory that the Depp film is a 'sequel' to the Wilder version, then Grandpa Joe is one of the few people who believes the tales of the previous naughty children. He might even know.
He knows that Charlie could become a victim of Wonka's twisted plan. He manages to regain his mobility so that Charlie can experience his dream but still be protected.
- Though the way Wonka backed away and hide during her transformation would suggest otherwise.
Now try watching the movie again and tell me you don't see it.
- On the other hand, Mr. Salt deals in nuts, which would be used in candy, and it's not impossible there were some bad business deals somewhere, either with nut suppliers in general or having worked with Mr. Salt in particular. Wonka may have decided he could kill two birds with one stone.
- Orrrr it could be because Salt acts as a foil to Wonka - an owner of a snack supplying company, but instead of fun and whimsical like Wonka, Salt is cold and clinical.
In the 2005 film, he doesn't look quite human. He's not just pale; he's greyish and translucent.
Since he is magical in nature, he can make such things as everlasting gobstoppers, ice cream that doesn't melt, sheep that have candyfloss for wool, square sweets that look round, etc. even if they are impossible.
The squirrels are under his control because he is an elemental being. The television chocolate thing works because, although he has no idea how ordinary physics works, he expects it to work the way he thinks it does, and therefore it does. The Oompa Loompas are subordinate beings, or beings that he created or summoned up from elsewhere.
This is similar to, but not the same as, the "Wonka is the Devil" WMG. In this theory, he's not malevolent or trying to punish anyone; he's just mischievous and out to cause minor chaos and have fun. Normally, he would channel those sorts of impulses by making crazy candy and messing with the Oompa Loompas (for examples, by turning them into blueberries or making them float or sprout hair all over their bodies). He became bored and decided to bring some humans into his factory to "play" with. He is like Trelane — just out to enjoy himself by messing with less powerful beings, and unconcerned about hurting them.
He has a father in the 2005 film because he entered the mortal world as a Changeling.)
End essay.
If someone is allowed to keep consuming that formula for much longer than Violet did, then all the effects will become permanent. The "juice" will be metabolized and turned to solid flesh; once that happens, it can no longer be squeezed out. But there will still be juice building up for as long as that formula is consumed. The end result is a nigh-featureless being who will produce juice if compressed but will grow increasingly incompressible at their core as the flesh builds up.
When all of this happens to someone who was originally as small as an Oompa-Loompa, the result can pass for a large jawbreaker which can be sucked on indefinitely without getting any smaller.
If that kind of everlasting gobstopper ever enters distribution, then it will eventually do to its users what the gum did to Violet's body before she was squeezed. But, since they release the formula more slowly than the gum did, it should take longer before the point of no natural return gets crossed.
- Charlie would also be the target for the lawsuits and/or protests and boycotts that employing secret invisible mythical creatures over local union workers would probably attract, not to mention a fall guy if hiring little men without citizenship or legal identity turns out to be just as illegal as hiring unlawful aliens.
- The "Outlook Gloomy For Wonka" might be because of the fact that he couldn't think of any cool new candies to make after Charlie declined his offer. Considering how many kinds of candy he has, he is probably expected to release new candies every few months. It was never explicitly stated how much time passed between him leaving the Bucket house and Charlie giving him a shoeshine. If Wonka failed to release a new candy on time, his sales would likely decrease and the media would think he was losing his touch. The massive quantities of money he had accumulated from the Golden Ticket hunts probably was used to settle suits the other families had filed against him, causing him to lose that little nest egg.
- But wasn't the about to go under article after Wonka had the talk with his psychiatrist? He probably just made a sub-par candy. Something that Wonka would not stand for.
- No. I think that Wonka's business Was gonna go under. But when he finally reconciled with his dad he stopped feeling bad, doubting himself, and forbidding Charlie's family to move into the factory.
- So what this troper is trying to say: If he doesn't feel good, the candy doesn't taste good.
Remember, when Dr. Wonka abandons his son the young Willie is still a boy; it's not impossible for Willy-Gene to take in his nephew, or at least make sure he is cared for. In doing so, this allows Willy-John access to his uncle's amazing factory, giving the younger Wonka increasing responsibility as he grew. He would have noted the potentially useful but chaotic nature of things like the Inventing Room and the Riverboat, and refined them into the larger factory seen by the children.During this time the younger Willy might also have returned to Loompah-land to recruit more Oompah-Loompahs, for the factory's growth, and possibly to bring back lady-loompahs (the ones seen in the earlier film were all male). (This might explain the difference between the initial green-haired loompahs and their dark-haired brethren, they came from more remote areas.) During this time Willy-Gene may have died, and Willy-John starts thinking of his own future. Either there never had been earlier Golden Tickets, or Willy-Gene called it off when he took in his nephew.
This would allow for the twenty-year gap between the layoff of human workers and the re-emergence of a still-youthful Willy, it was his uncle who'd carried out the initial firings. Also by then, Willy-John had given up on the idea of a family at all, both his father's rejection and his uncle's eccentricity may have been too much for him and he wasn't about to risk getting entangled with people again, at least anyone that he didn't personally choose.
- Going with that, when the original Wonka factory went under and the Peter Ostrum Charlie took the fall, Gene Wilder Wonka devoted the rest of his life to his nephew. When he died, the Johnny Depp Wonka used the inheritance to build a new factory and, afraid he'd not find a fall guy like his uncle did, tried to use unioned workers until he had the same problems the previous factory did.
- Christopher Lee not only played dentist Wilbur Wonka, but years earlier had played Count Dracula, a man who knew the importance of keeping his teeth sharp and clean. Who's to say that there's maybe two bits of craving in the Wonka blood, one for the sweet reward, and one for the need to keep ready?
Since he made some poor choices back in his era, he's approaching things differently. He has none of Zordon's magic items, but knows how to make some crazy ass candy, so he decides to create his Rangers a different way. For example, the Factory is the new Command Centre, with the business giving him a way to set things up. He's having trouble building the Zords so he's instead trying to create alternative means for the Rangers to combat giant monsters, such as the Shrink Ray. The Oompa-Loompa's are actually a massive group of Alpha's ranging from 7 to over a hundred, each with a faulty version of Alpha's friendly personality, resulting in the musical numbers. The kids are obviously intended to be his Rangers, and he's trying out giving them new abilities. His fondness for his Rangers makes his anger at their disobedience into what appears to be Wonka's submissive attitude to the children's fates. He just keeps thinking they're going to do the right thing. Then they don't.
Veruca: Wonka tries to give his new Pink Ranger control over animals, starting with Squirrels, but she's too impulsive and ends up with his failed Repellent Pheramone experiment.Augustus: The Yellow Ranger (because even though he wears Red, he isn't really leader material) is given shapeshifting abilities after being turned to chocolate. Or at least becomes covered in it, which impedes the progress somewhat.Mike: The Black Ranger was going to get size changing powers after helping Wonka reverse the Shrink Ray, after which he'd help work on the Zords.Violet: The gum was a failed attempt to make a giant Ranger, but it worked excellently in giving his new Blue Ranger super human reflexes. Her chipper attitude once she's drained suggests that if approached again, she may accept the role of Ranger.Charlie: The Red Ranger. Charlie was supposed to be granted flight by the Fizzy Lifting Drinks, but the other potential Rangers accidents derail the tour and he never gets to that room.
However, there is hope with Charlie not getting incapacitated and Violet's attitude.
- Or, more simply, each room is just a room aboard his TARDIS. The Eighth Doctor's own Ship once boasted a Butterfly Garden, after all. Also, on Deviant-Art, many pieces of concept art demonstrate that a TARDIS can have unlimited space inside of it. Mr. Wonka has nothing to worry about unless he has to pilot the factory. Also, the Great Glass Elevator is an emergency capsule with parts of Wonka's console added to it.
- One other thing: He needed to find a successor because, at the time of the Golden Ticket contest, he was on his final incarnation and living more or less on borrowed time.
- If he's a Gallifreyan renegade, he would have to low-profile as far as the galaxy at large because Time Lords are a stuffy and self-important lot. The good news - those other renegades (Doctor and Master) have been so utterly terrible at "low profile" that it's pretty easy to fly under the radar. So, TARDIS takes the form of a candy factory, that alien race he did a favor as his employees (South America doesn't have those kind of critters, but lots of planets probably have a south), and he manages to have himself a relatively quiet and fun-filled life a planet (and sector of said planet) that seems to be stupidly fond of Time Lord antics.
