The Kidnappers: Lock, Shock and Barrel, at the behest of Jack Skellington (Chris Sarandon/Danny Elfman).

The Kidnappee: One Mr S. Claus (Ed Ivory).

Does It End Well? Not only is Santa saved from the cloth clutches of resident bogeyman Oogie Boogie, he also gets a night off from his infernal annual chimey-diving rounds, and Jack ends up denouncing Christmas as a flash in the pan compared to (what we all surely agree is) the vastly superior Hallowe'en.

All-round win, say we.