Tik-Tok
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- For the novel by John Sladek, see (Tik-Tok (novel)).
Tik-Tok is a fictional character from the Land of Oz books by L. Frank Baum. He is one of the earlier robots to appear in literature, though that term was coined after Baum's death.
Tik-Tok (initially spelled Tik-tok) is a mechanical man that runs on clockwork springs which periodically need to be wound, like a wind-up toy or mechanical clock. He has separate windings for thought, action, and speech. Tik-Tok is unable to wind any of them up himself. He becomes frozen or mute or, for one memorable moment in The Road to Oz, continues to speak but utters gibberish. As Baum repeatedly mentions, Tik-Tok is not alive and feels no emotions. He therefore can no more love or be loved than a sewing machine, but as a servant he is utterly truthful and loyal.
Tik-Tok was invented by Smith and Tinker at their workshop in Evna. He was later purchased by the king of Ev, Evoldo, who gave him the name Tik-Tok because of the sound he made when wound. The cruel king also whipped his mechanical servant, but that simply kept Tik-Tok's round copper body polished.
Tik-Tok first appears in Ozma of Oz (1907) where Dorothy Gale discovers him locked up in a cave, immobilized. He becomes Dorothy's servant and protector, and, despite his tendency to run down at crucial moments, helps to subdue the Nome King. That novel also introduces Tik-Tok's monotonic, halting mode of speech: "Good morn-ing, lit-tle girl."
Later Baum published "Tik-Tok and the Nome King," a short tale in his Little Wizard Stories of Oz series (1913); The Tik-Tok Man of Oz, a stage musical loosely adapted from Ozma of Oz; and an adaptation of that play back into a novel called Tik-Tok of Oz (1914). While Tik-Tok is a major character in that latter book, he in no way drives the plot. Tik-Tok also appears in most other Oz novels as a notable inhabitant of the Emerald City, most prominently in The Scalawagons of Oz.
Tik-Tok was a main character in the movie Return to Oz, adapted from Ozma of Oz. In the movie, he is the entire royal army of Oz, ironic considering his generally helpless nature. In an interview which is included in the DVD's special features, Fairuza Balk described the Tik-Tok costume: An acrobat, Michael Sundin, was upside down inside in Tik-Tok with his hands operating Tik-Tok's legs and his feet tucked behind Tik-Tok's head. He used a monitor inside this costume to navigate.
A somewhat sinister version of Tik-Tok is a minor character in Gregory Maguire's revisionist Oz novel Wicked. In the novel, tiktok is used as an adjective for any mechanical or robotic being. The character Madame Morrible has a tiktok servant, called Grommetik, whose description matches Baum's Tik-Tok; however, this character's speech key is never wound. It is strongly implied that this tiktok servant kills Doctor Dillamond, on Madame Morrible's orders. Though no great detail is spent on the topic, Grommetik eventually becomes independent, and, possibly due to disgust of the things he was forced to do, tries to foment rebellion among the tik-toks.
