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Fear the Oogie Boogie Man (voiced by Ken Page in all of his appearances) is the main antagonist of the franchise, dead king of oogie boogie men and twin brother of Jack. The character resembles a large burlap sack; when Oogie Boogie is defeated, it is revealed that he is filled with many bugs.
Oogie Boogie did not appear in Tim Burton's original poem, but Burton later sketched a portrait of what appeared to be a potato sack man with horrible things inside. The Oogie puppet was two feet high, twice the height of the other puppets. In his autobiography Burton on Burton, Burton says that Oogie Boogie was loosely inspired by Cab Calloway's appearances in several Betty Boop cartoons and that he asked Danny Elfman to make Oogie's song in Nightmare slightly resemble Calloway's 1931 recording of the song "Minnie the Moocher". Elfman ended up referencing the Betty Boop cartoon The Old Man of the Mountain (1933), also featuring Calloway; Santa's line "Well, what are you going to do?" and Oogie Boogie's response of "I'm gonna do the best I can!" are direct quotes from this cartoon. Another idea for Oogie's identity was for him to be Dr. Finklestein in disguise, gaining revenge on Jack Skellington and Sally, but it was not pursued past storyboards since Tim Burton scrapped the idea. This is visible on the Special Edition DVD.
Despite the fact that Oogie is separated for the most part from the other inhabitants of Halloween Town, it appears they still allow him to take part in their celebration, as his shadow makes an appearance on the moon in the opening musical "This Is Halloween". He lives in an underground lair full of torture devices, each of which features a casino-like appearance, suggesting an addiction to gambling (this is enforced by his use of dice). Red skeletons are in several of the devices, and overhanging chains are used as perches by skeletal bats. Oogie Boogie's lair, during his theme song, is lit with black lights in the style of a cheap funhouse. Under these, Oogie himself glows bright green, similar to a glow stick. After the lights dim, however, the bright color is sapped from his lair, transforming its appearance into that of a dank, cellar-like dungeon. Above his lair is the clubhouse of Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who feed him bugs regularly via a metal chute. It is at first believed that Oogie cannot be killed or die but it is later revealed he can if his brain, the lead bug, is destroyed. In the movie, Lock, Shock and Barrel kidnap Santa Claus and send him down to Oogie Boogie's lair, where he is bound to a giant roulette wheel. Sally, after finding out Santa's fate, attempts to rescue him but is captured herself. Oogie then tortures and tries to kill Sally and Santa Claus, but is foiled by Jack, who eventually pulls a thread loose from him, which rips off the sack covering him and causes the majority of his bugs to fall into the lava pit. The lead bug is then squashed by Santa after it falls next to the pit. The rest of the bugs scurry off after this.
In The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Pumpkin King, Oogie's origins and the birth of his rivalry with Jack were revealed. As it turns out, he once had his own holiday named Bug Day that was forgotten by the people of the real world and thus vanished. Oogie escaped, found Halloween Town, and decided that it would be the new Bug Day. He and his army of insects invaded the town and nearly took it over. Jack found out and he defeated the bugs and Oogie. Oogie survived the battle, learned to fear the Pumpkin King, and was imprisoned within his underground lair of which Jack warns that if Oogie ever leave his lair, it would be "game over!" for him (Oogie). Oogie complied, but secretly vowed revenge.
In the 2004 video game The Nightmare Before Christmas: Oogie's Revenge, Oogie is resurrected by his henchmen Lock, Shock, and Barrel, who sew him back together. He quickly deceives the residents of Halloween Town and tricks the townspeople into making traps for Jack, stating that Jack wouldn't return if they don't make an even scarier Halloween for next year. Oogie then attempts to become the Seven Holidays King, successfully kidnaps the real leaders, and tries to murder Santa Claus again. His plans are foiled by Jack. Desperate, Oogie puts up a fight in the Holiday Trash Hill by turning into a gigantic junk-filled version of himself named "Mega-Oogie." He is again destroyed when his bugs come out of him.
Oogie also appears with other Disney Villains at Halloween events such as the Haunted Mansion Holiday at Disneyland and Tokyo Disneyland, the HalloWishes and Halloween Screams fireworks shows at the Magic Kingdom and Disneyland, respectively, World of Color: Villainous at Disney California Adventure, and during the "Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party", "Mickey's Halloween Party", and "Oogie Boogie Bash" separate-admission ("hard ticket") events.
Oogie Boogie also appears in the video game Kingdom Hearts as a member of Maleficent's team of Disney villains. He appears again in the sequel Kingdom Hearts II where he attempts to turn Santa Claus into a Heartless, and in Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories as an enemy based on Sora's memories of him.