Land of Toys - Trivia

Trivia

• The Pleasure Island theme was taken up again by science fiction author Cory Doctorow in his short story "Return to Pleasure Island", where it is told from the perspective of cotton-candy-vending Golems.
• The 1990 film Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles appears to pay tribute to Pleasure Island by showing an underground lair with drinking, smoking, gambling, blasting offensive music, and playing video games. The only skills that are taught are martial arts and how to move stolen goods.

• Pleasure Island is featured in The Adventures of Pinocchio, called "Terra Magica" (which means "Magic Land" in Italian) in this version. After Pinocchio's initial adventures, he ends up wandering in the woods where he encounters Volpe and Felinet who trick him out of his money. After this betrayal, he is then lured onto a carriage driven by a sinister-looking coachman, who takes him to Terra Magica with a load of other boys (including Lampwick, Pinocchio's friend). Terra Magica is actually owned by the evil Lorenzini, who is luring the boys to the place with promises of fun and then turning them into donkeys through the park's cursed water while riding on a rollercoaster. Lorenzini's evil schemes are thwarted when Pinocchio reveals his plans and encourages Lampwick (turned into a donkey) to knock Lorenzini into the Park's cursed water, transforming him into a monstrous whale. In the end of the movie, Volpo and Felinet are tricked to drink the water by the human Pinocchio (though this scene happens offscreen), who tells them that if they drink the water while holding a rock, it will transform it in pure gold. As result, the two thieves are turned into a real fox and a real cat.

• Pleasure Island is shown once more in in the 2000 TV musical Geppetto. After Pinocchio escapes from Stromboli's cruelty he hitches a ride on a stagecoach full of boys to Pleasure Island. In Pleasure Island boys are seen breaking windows, eating cakes, pies, and candy for their suppers, playing in the mud, and running wildly. Some can even be seen gambling. In this version Pleasure Island is not cursed and doesn't cause the boys to turn into donkeys like the Disney film's version. Instead a roller coaster, the island's main attraction, is what causes the boys to transform into donkeys, much like in the 1996 film version.