to answer Linkwonka88's question: it's the 2005 version all the way. Johnny Depp made a more convincing WW than Gene Wilder to me. sorry!
Charley closed down the library and walked to the bus stop to wait for her father. As she waited, she noticed that the candy stores were filled to the brim with people waving money around as if they were in an auction house rather than just buying a piece of candy or a rose. The way that the people reacted to the news of Mr. Adamsburg's announcement was strange even though the offer was quite strange as well. Charley had to wonder what would drive a man to announce to the world that he would pick a bride based on them finding an invitation in some chocolate? He must be frightfully desperate… she thought as she looked at the time on the clock outside of the library. She frowned at it, confused since it was way past the time for the bus to come. She waited a little more when she finally saw the bus pulling around the corner. It stopped at the bus stop and the people piled off, her father included. Charley could immediately tell that something was wrong and walked to Maurice as he stepped onto the ground from the stairs.
"Papa? What's wrong?"
He looked up at her and smiled sadly.
"Oh… well…"
He solemnly handed her a pink note and she gasped, reading it. Maurice felt ashamed and turned to head home.
"Papa, what happened? Why would they let you go? You're the hardest worker they have."
"With the rise in candy sales, the toothpaste factory predicted that there will also be a rise in toothpaste sales. They expect the rise to be so large by next week that they will be able to buy a machine that can pretty much do my job. So, they let me go…"
Charley wanted to kill Mr. Adamsburg but it wasn't his fault. Whatever his motive was for doing this contest, he had no idea what it would do to the little people of the world that this could effect, like her papa or others in other types of businesses. Charley pat her father on the back and put her arm through his.
"Don't worry, Papa. Now this gives you more time to work on your inventions. Maybe one of them will take off and we won't have to worry about the toothpaste factory, right?"
Maurice smiled at his optimistic daughter. "That may be true. Let us hope for the best… I'm sorry to have to make you work by yourself."
"No worries, Papa. I can handle it."
They made their way back home.
When they got in, the TV was on and everyone was watching it with great intensity.
"What's going on?" Maurice asked.
"The winner of the first silver invitation has just been announced and they are about to go and see her."
"What's her name?"
"Shhh!" Grandpa Philippe hissed. "They'll tell you in a minute, child."
Maurice gave him a look but the reporters knocked on the door of a house and the words scrolled across the bottom said, HOME OF AUGUSTA GLOOP IN GERMANY; THE WINNER OF THE FIRST SILVER INVITATION.
"Wow, he really meant all over the world, didn't he?" Charley said.
The door opened and a large woman appeared and seemed surprised to see the reporters.
"Mrs. Gloop, Mrs. Gloop, how do you feel about your daughter being the first woman in the world to find one of Adamsburg's silver invitations?"
Realizing what was going on Mrs. Gloop opened the door and yelled something into it and then turned back to the cameras, smile on her face.
"We knew that Augusta would find the silver invitation because she eats so many candy bars a day that it would be impossible for her not to find one!"
The door opened again and showed a plump young woman about Charley's age, maybe a little older, in a blue dress and chocolate all over her mouth. She had stark blue eyes and brown hair that was in curls about her plump face. Mrs. Gloop put her arm around her as the girl looked at the cameras with a chubby smile.
"Augusta, how did you find the silver invitation?" the reporter asked as Augusta was looking at a paparazzi taking her picture.
She turned back and put her finger on her chin. "I was eating a chocolate bar when I tasted something that was not chocolate. I tried to figure it out but it was just so strange to me. It wasn't coconut or nougat or walnut… peanut butter… cocoa butter… caramel or sprinkles. I took the strange object out of my mouth and I found the silver invitation!"
"And how did you celebrate this momentous occasion?"
"I eat more candy!" she said, pulling out a rose from her pocket and chomping on the petals, the purple dye staining her face.
The reporter went back to the local newscaster who looked at the camera.
"With the first silver invitation found, only four more to go. Who will be the winner of the next silver invitation?"
Maurice turned the TV off and Charley tried to keep from laughing.
"What's so funny, Charley?" her mother asked.
"Gaston had mentioned that the first winner would be fat and he was right. I thought it was funny."
"Well she's completely repulsive." Grandma Josephine said, returning to her knitting. "The manners…"
Charley saw her father motion for her mother to walk with him and she knew that he was about to tell her the bad news about the factory.
"I hope that idiotic prince is watching these news reports." Grandpa Philippe said, crossing his arms. "He needs to see what he's got coming."
"I would think that with a worldwide announcement like that, he would be watching very closely." Charley said, smiling to herself.
She got up and went to the loft of the house, sitting on her little bed and taking out a book she had checked out of the library. As she immersed herself into another world, she had to wonder how Mr. Adamsburg felt about his first potential suitor.
Ian turned off the TV in the darkened room and looked at his employer with a raised eyebrow.
"So… there is Bride #1."
"So she is."
"Are you sure you want to do this, sir?"
There was a low chuckle and Ian could see a small smile coming from William.
"My lord?"
"That little piggy won't make it past the Candy Room."
"You think so? The Candy Room is meant to be eaten though. I hardly see any disasters happening there."
"What runs through the Candy Room, Ian?"
"The Chocolate River."
"And what did that horrid little girl love most?"
"Chocolate…"
"I'm sure the river will entice her greatly… I need you to get me all the background information you can on her. I want to know every weakness she has."
Ian made a face. "Are you going to do that to all of the girls? It seems highly unfair."
"Unfair?" William turned to him. "How unfair is it? I will present them with opportunities, not set them up for failure. I want to know their weaknesses so that I can create a tour that will allow them all the free reign they want but tests of endurance will be there. If they are competent enough to withstand them then they have a better chance of coming out of the castle-factory unaffected."
Ian frowned deeper. "Unaffected?"
"Actions have consequences, Ian, as I am very well aware of now in my own plight. It will be nothing but their own doing."
"I don't like this…"
"There's nothing to be worried about. If they are good then they will reap rewards, if they are bad they will reap punishment. I won't cause anything. They will be their own undoing."
"But setting them up-"
"Ian, again, I have to know if they can keep themselves under control and are able to run this castle-factory. The enchantress didn't just enchant me but the castle and the factory. You know this. Whatever happens will be because of them, not me. If they are to run his place with me, then they will need to know all aspects of it, including things that could cause their curiosity and desires to be tested. Presenting them with those tests will only tell me about their willpower."
"But you can't base their actions on one test."
"I'm not. Ian, please listen, I'm not just heating up the air with my breath here."
Ian rolled his eyes. "Will, just think about it for a second-"
"I am. All I'm doing is picking rooms to feature. That's all. Nothing more and nothing less. Get that information for me and keep on the lookout for the next winner."
Ian sighed but nodded, bowing out of the room. As he turned he met Genevieve standing outside of the room.
"Genevieve… Did you hear what was going on?"
"Yes, I did."
"What do you think?"
"I think he's right. He's allowing perfect strangers that he can't control into his home. Since he can't just find a wife the normal way, this is the only way he can do it. It gives everyone a chance but these are people that could take advantage of him or worse if he lets them. Testing them doesn't seem like a bad idea."
"It just seems like he's doing it on purpose, setting them up for failure."
Genevieve shook her head. "No, it's just a test. Like he said, they have the ability to keep their curiosities and desires at bay. If they are to run this factory then they must learn to control themselves, see the castle-factory as a home and a business, not something they can play around in. This is a place of creation and imagination to develop a product that keeps the money coming in. If they get caught up in their wants and desires, they will ruin Adamsburg Delicacies and ultimately, the rulership of his lord."
Ian didn't think about that and nodded.
"Well, I guess I'll get to work on the background checks."
They parted ways.
A couple days later, Gaston walked into the library and leaned on to the counter where Charley was reading. She looked over at him and made a face.
"Do you mind? You stink."
"Just got done lifting weights." He said, flexing his muscles. "I have to keep my figure up, you know."
"If you're trying to impress me, you'll need to do better than that." She mumbled.
"Turn on the television," he said, grabbing the remote before she could. "I heard a rumor that a second silver invitation was found today."
He turned the TV on and to the news and sure enough, the news crew was at a lavish house and the screen read, HOME OF VERUCA SALT IN ENGLAND, THE WINNER OF THE SECOND SILVER INVITATION.
"What kind of name is Veruca?" Charley asked.
"It sounds like a type of wart you have on the bottom of your foot."
"How do you spell that, please?" the man asked on the TV.
"V-E-R-U-C-A. Veruca Salt." Said the petite English girl, blue eyes showing off a fake innocence that made Charley want to cringe.
The couple behind her had to be her parents but they looked like they didn't care what happened to their daughter, living a completely separate life from her. The older man smiled at the camera after being asked a question.
"As soon as Veruca told me that she wanted to be a suitor for the hand of Prince William, I started buying up all the Adamsburg Delicacies I could get my money on. Thousands of chocolates and roses, hundreds of thousands. I'm in the nut business and so I told my workers that they could stop shelling peanuts and start shelling the rappers off of chocolates and roses. Three days went by and the wait was terrible. My little Veruca was getting more and more upset each day. She kept begging me about the silver invitation over and over. I had to double the work of the girls at the factory and the employees kept dropping like flies! There were paper cuts everywhere. Can you believe that some of them accused us of getting gangrene because of untreated cuts? The audacity… I say if you can't handle a little hard work then don't work at all! But finally, we found her a silver invitation in the petals of a rose and although the worker who found it tried to steal it, the little carp, we retrieved it and gave it to my dear Veruca."
"And how did you celebrate?"
"I asked Father for another pony since I am in dire need of one."
Charley made a face at her and Gaston laughed a little.
"What a spoiled brat." He said, surprising Charley. "She's almost as worse as the fat girl." He turned back to her. "Wasn't I right? You can't deny it…"
"I'll admit that you were right about her. It was ironic…"
"Now that there's only three left, things will really start getting heated up."
"I wonder how he distributed them. I mean, it wouldn't be fair if he sent them to only certain places because making everyone search for the invitations would just be stupid."
"Who cares? Why, you want to know if you have a chance at getting one?"
Charley blushed a little. "Well, not really, but it's my birthday soon and it would be interesting if I got one here in the hometown of the castle-factory."
"True… If it's your birthday soon, then why don't you come and have dinner with me? I'll treat you; a night out on the town with old Gaston. I'm sure you'd like to have something better to eat than cabbage soup, right?"
Charley frowned at him, slamming her book closed.
"I work hard for that cabbage and even though I get tired of it now and again, I wouldn't take money from you if God himself told me I should. The books on relationships are back there next to the psychology books." She growled, pointing to the back of the library. "Go read one and come back when you've learned to speak to me halfway decent."
Gaston frowned, standing up and glaring at her.
"I'll get you, Charlotte Bucket; make no mistake about that."
He tromped out of the library and Charley laid her head on the desk.
William stared at the TV as he drummed his 'fingers' on the side of his chair. Ian was looking at him in speculation, waiting for what he would say.
"Well?" he finally asked.
"Well, what? It's random."
"Are you really going to let that come in here? My god the girl would never be satisfied and drain us dry without any type of work involved."
"We can't change anything and I can't just say she's disqualified because she's a heartless little bitch. This was your idea, Ian."
"I know and I'm sorry I thought about it! We'll have nothing but gold diggers and nuisances in here if things get any worse."
"There's nothing to be done. We can't judge a book by its cover… I did that and got into this mess. Maybe they are not as they seem just like me."
"I'm sorry but I highly doubt they will be able to see past your face."
"It's a chance I'll have to take. If this fails, remember that it was your fault."
Ian felt the stab of guilt in his chest as William got up and headed out of the room.
"Where are you going?"
"To get some fresh air." He snarled, his growl rumbling the room.
Ian pinched the bridge of his nose and went to go find information on this girl.
When Charley got home she found her family looking at her expectantly and she blinked at them.
"What's this?" she asked with a smile.
Her mother held something out to her and she blinked in confusion.
"We thought that you might want to open your present today."
Charley looked at her family and then at the chocolate bar.
"But, this is so out of the way…"
"Your father got his last paycheck in from the factory and we thought that we would splurge just once since all the hype is going on."
"Just think! You may win an invitation!" Grandma Josephine said with a whimsical look in her eyes.
"And even if you don't win," Maurice said, looking at his aunt. "It will be nice all the same."
Charley smiled at them, setting her bag down, and took the chocolate. She opened it up and then pulled back the foil. Although the foil was silver, there was no other silver piece there. Her family's hearts sank and she smiled.
"Oh well… I didn't think there would be anything there anyway. We'll share it though."
"Oh no, Charley, not your present." Grandpa Joe said.
"It's present to do with what I want and I would like to share." She said, breaking off sections of the bar.
Her mother doled out the soup portions and they turned on the TV to find that the third invitation had been found by a girl in the United States by the name of Violet Beauregard.
"I'm a gum chewer mostly but when I heard about these invitation things, I knew I had to have one and so I switched over to candy bars for a little bit." The blonde woman said, smacking her gum obnoxiously while she talked.
"Mrs. Beauregard, how do you feel about your daughter finding the silver invitation?"
"Well she's a driven young woman," said the very plastic surgeried woman that must have been Violet's mother. "As you can see by the many trophies behind us, she's very competitive and succeeds in almost everything she does."
"I'm the senior world champion gum chewer. This piece of gum I have in my mouth now, I've been chewing on for three months straight. That's a record."
"Do you have anything you'd like to say to the other contestants? Do you think you could win the hand of the prince?"
"Listen, Prince William says that he's going to choose between the five of us, right? Well, he runs a business and a business needs someone who will make sure it will always be on top. I'm that girl because I'm a winner. I don't take 'no' for an answer and I don't play around. The one who's going to be walking down the aisle with him, is going to be me."
"Over confidence much?" Charley grumbled, eating her soup.
"Just in! We found out that the fourth invitation has been found by a Michelle Teevee, also a resident of the United States."
The news went to the other news crew and a girl with a headset on and her dark hair in a ponytail was shown, not paying attention to the cameras.
"All you had to do was check the manufacturing date, offset by weather, and the derivative of the serial number. A retard could figure it out." She said in a bored tone. "In the end, I only had to buy one rose."
"What kind did you buy?" the reporter asked.
Michelle looked at him with a bored expression.
"I don't know. I hate candy. This was just something fun for me to do-"
"Well it's a good thing you could be inheriting a candy factory you ungrateful little bitch-"
Ian closed the door on his employer as he screamed and yelled and toppled over a couple of things. Genevieve walked by and Ian shook his head in a 'don't ask' sort of way and finally heard when he calmed down. He opened the door back up and found William on the ground, sobbing.
"Will?"
"I'll never find a bride! I'll never get back to normal… Ian, these girls are just after my money or will destroy me! Plus, that stupid girl figured out my algorithm and knew exactly what piece of merchandise to buy. Now that the steps are out there, any bozo genius could find the next invitation…"
"Actually…" William looked up. "I didn't send out all of them."
William blinked at him and then his eyes narrowed.
"What?"
"After I realized what could happen, I kept the fifth one instead of sending it out with the others. I'm sorry I lied to you but…"
"Then where is the other one?"
"Right here." Ian held up the silver invitation and smiled sadly. "What would you like for me to do with it? I can sneak it into a local candy store-"
"No…" William said softly, taking Ian off guard. "Let me have it."
"My lord-"
"Please…" He looked at his advisor with pleading eyes. "Please."
Ian handed it to him and William held it to him as if he were given a precious gift.
"What are you going to do?"
"None of your business." He hissed. "Just go."
Ian nodded, feeling bad about what he had done.
sorry this was so long but i've always wondered if willy wonka was watching those kids as they came up and stuff. he's always been so crafty and even though he says that none of the things in the tour were thought of in advance, i know he chose those rooms and such as tests for the kids. he's sly... plus, roald dahl was known for being quite cynical in his writings so i don't think willy wonka would have been as lenient as in the first wwatcf