# Piece together my sister's childhood. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 16, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piece-together-my-sisters-childhood/207753 "2003-10-16T07:54:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MadPoet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8c91f0/32.png) [@MadPoet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadPoet)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piece-together-my-sisters-childhood/207753/1 "2003-10-16T07:54:53Z")
My sister emailed me with a desperate attempt to unlock some suppressed memories of her childhood. What she’s referring to would have been seen sometime in the 80’s, though may have originated earlier. I did find a reference to a 6 min cartoon from the 40’s, but that did not seem to fit the description (admittedly I found little info on it). If this jogs anyone’s memory, please let me know… I’m supposed to be the big all-knowing brother, so it’s kind of a let down when I don’t remember stuff like this. — Question Follows — I’m trying to remember a cartoon that we would have seen as kids. What I remember is kind of an Alice in Wonderland-type adventure about a boy. He is in a strange land, and there is a character called the Watch Dog. All I remember is a scene in which the boy has fallen in with the wrong crowd and is a lazy do-nothin. The watch dog shows up and asks what he’s doing and the boy says “killing time” and then the watch dog freaks out and saves the boy from a life of ruin. Ring a bell? ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piece-together-my-sisters-childhood/207753/2 "2003-10-16T07:57:10Z")
The Phantom Tollbooth ---
**Author:** ![Juniper200](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@Juniper200](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Juniper200)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piece-together-my-sisters-childhood/207753/3 "2003-10-16T07:57:13Z")
That sounds like [The Phantom Tollbooth](http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0064806/). ---
**Author:** ![Hedda\_Rosa](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hedda_rosa/32/1204_2.png) [@Hedda\_Rosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hedda_Rosa)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piece-together-my-sisters-childhood/207753/4 "2003-10-16T09:58:37Z")
It’s a better book than movie. She should read the book. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piece-together-my-sisters-childhood/207753/5 "2003-10-16T14:11:22Z")
That didn’t take long. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [October 16, 2003, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piece-together-my-sisters-childhood/207753/6 "2003-10-16T14:20:05Z")
PS - The Watch Dog is called Tock (but he goes “tick”) The boy is called Milo. _The Phantom Tollbooth_ is one of the best books ever. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piece-together-my-sisters-childhood/207753/7 "2003-10-17T17:02:27Z")
There’s a book??? YES!!! Thanks, guys 🙂 Best. Board. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![sturmhauke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@sturmhauke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sturmhauke)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2003, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/piece-together-my-sisters-childhood/207753/8 "2003-10-17T17:08:26Z")
The movie completely blows. Where the book has lots of wordplay and intricate puns and such, the movie has cheap, goofy sight gags.