Jake Chambers: Dark Tower References (& What They Mean)
In the Dark Tower VII, Chapter V: In the Jungle, the Mighty Jungle, Jake Chambers runs away from the Taheen. He’s also running toward Susannah Dean. While he’s running, he encounters a mind trap. With the help of Oy, Jake makes it through to the door.
Stephen King makes several references during this chapter. Here are just a few of them and what they mean.
The mind trap (which belonged to the old people, say thankya) projects terrifying images from the subject’s imagination. To understand what Jake is afraid of, we revisit his past.
Jake’s fears come from The Lost Continent, a 1951 movie starring Cesar Romero. This film supposedly featured cartoon dinosaurs – at least according to Ms. Shaw – and when little ‘Bama realized that, he stopped being so scared of those big old Tyrannosorbits Rex (that’s plural, for those keeping score at home. The singular is Tyrannosorbit Rex).
However, a closer look reveals the brontosauruses (brontosauri? O Discordia) were filmed using stop-motion claymation, as was done in the old days, do it please ya:
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Mystery Science Theater 3000 did a great episode with The Lost Continent. Clip is included at the end of this post.
I am grateful to Sai King that he included Cesar Romero’s name as the starring actor. That’s because there’s also a 1968 version. “Only the big screen can do it justice,” according to the trailer. No wonder Jake didn’t catch it on TV.
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A Certain Kind of Girl
“That little Daisy Mae is stupid, stupid, stupid!” -Elmer Chambers
Jake’s father, Elmer, calls them Daisy Maes. Jake’s mother, Laurie, calls them “a certain kind of girl.” (I had to look up Jake’s mom’s name. Apparently Sai King changed her name between books 1 and 4. O Discordia! Here’s my source. It says true, I say thankya: https://darktower.fandom.com/wiki/Laurie_Chambers )
So what’s a Daisy Mae?
Daisy Mae is a character from an old comic called Li’l Abner that ran from 1934 to 1977. The premise was that they were all stupid hillbillies, and Daisy Mae was in love with the protagonist, Li’l Abner himself. The fan service: she wore low cut shirts. Oh, 1950s. You were a different animal.
In The Jungle
There’s one final piece to this ka puzzle: The Tokens.
Almost everyone’s heard In The Jungle. But in case you haven’t, here it is:
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weeeeeee-weeeeeee-aweeom-mom-baway.
Here is the Mystery Science Theater clip I mentioned earlier. Beyond that, you’ll find some Dark Tower content written by yours truly.
Happy reading!