Jack Skellington, Oogie Boogie and Doctor Finklestein all came into being in the leaves of a three-page poem Burton penned while still at Disney, but came to life under the meticulous supervision of fellow CalArts alumnus and Disney in-betweener Henry Selick. At 35, Burton lacked the patience for stop-motion direction and, with Batman 2 to occupy him, only visited the San Francisco set a handful of times, living Selick to weave his stop-motion magic. Selick admits that the 'Tim Burton Presents' prefix rankled, but speaks warmly of their creative partnership. "Tim was the father of the film but I'm the mother. He came up with this brilliant idea - the collision of the holidays - and these great characters and the look of the film, but he gave me enormous freedom." Burton would make his stop-motion feature debut 12 years later with Corpse Bride, winning his first and only Oscar nomination.