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The Dark Crystal
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The Dark Crystal is a cult 1982 fantasy film directed by puppeteers Jim Henson and Frank Oz, creators of The Muppet Show. Although still marketed as a family film, it was notably darker than previous material created by them. Characters for which they are famous do not appear, but some of the same performers are used. The animatronics used in the film were considered groundbreaking at the time. The primary concept artist was the fantasy illustrator Brian Froud, famous for his distinctive faerie and dwarf designs.
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Encyclopedia
The Dark Crystal is a cult 1982 fantasy film directed by puppeteers Jim Henson and Frank Oz, creators of The Muppet Show. Although still marketed as a family film, it was notably darker than previous material created by them. Characters for which they are famous do not appear, but some of the same performers are used. The animatronics used in the film were considered groundbreaking at the time. The primary concept artist was the fantasy illustrator Brian Froud, famous for his distinctive faerie and dwarf designs. Froud also cooberated with Jim Henson and Frank Oz for their next project, the 1986 film Labyrinth which was notably more light-hearted than The Dark Crystal.
The Dark Crystal was produced by Gary Kurtz, whose list of credits include American Graffiti, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, Return to Oz, and Slipstream. The screenplay was written by David Odell, who had worked with Henson as a staff writer on The Muppet Show. Trevor Jones provided the film's atmospheric music. The movie makes an attempt to study the nature of good and evil in terms of conscience, destiny, and the triune nature of harmony. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment, the British production company responsible for producing The Muppet Show.
Setting
The narrator explains in a voice over at the beginning of the prologue that the film takes place on "another world, another time, in an age of wonder." The setting is Thra, a rich and diverse planet with creatures, environments and magic inspired by common folklore. There are also numerous science fiction elements to the story. Thra has three suns; the Great Sun, the Rose Sun, and the Dying Sun. Many creatures and races inhabit the planet, but the dominant race is the urSkeks, who came from another world and are the guardians of the Crystal of Truth. The Crystal harnesses the forces of nature, especially the light of the three suns, for the benefit of all on Thra.
One thousand years before the beginning of the movie, during the Great Conjunction of the three suns, the urSkeks cracked the Crystal of Truth, and split into two races; the hunchbacked, gentle beings known as urRu or "Mystics" and the vulture-like tyrants known as Skeksis. In that moment the Crystal became the Dark Crystal. The Skeksis drove the urRu from the castle where the cracked crystal resided, then instituted a reign of terror over their world. Their wrath was particularly directed toward the elf-like Gelflings, due to a prophecy that promised the restoration of the crystal and the end of the Skeksis' power. The prophecy, rediscovered in an ancient Gelfling city, read:
Plot
Jen believes he is the last of the Gelflings. After his parents were killed by the crustacean-like "Garthim" (soldiers conjured by the Skeksis), he was raised in a lush valley in which the urRu reside. When Jen's master urSu is on his deathbed, he calls Jen to his side and reveals that his destiny is to "heal" the crystal by finding the shard, which may be found at Aughra's observatory. As this occurred, urSu's Skeksis counterpart, the emperor SkekSo, dies as well, resulting in a confrontation between the Chamberlain SkekSil and the General SkekUng. Deciding to settle this with the "trial by stone" (Haaksheekaah in an earlier conceptualization), SkekUng becomes emperor and SkekSil is exhiled from the palace in rags. Moments later, the Skeksis are summoned by the crystal and are quickly made aware of Jen's existence.
Jen reaches Aughra, a wisewoman character of unknown species, and discovers the needed crystal shard, which is hidden among others like it, by playing music on his flute, to which it resonates. In the process, Jen learns of the upcoming Great Conjunction by means of Aughra's orrery-assisted predictions, but learns little of its connection to the shard before the Garthim arrive and destroy Aughra's observatory, capturing Aughra but failing to capture Jen. Jen spends the night in a swamp, while Aughra is taken to the castle of the crystal, where she indignantly rebukes and mocks the Skeksis, scoffing at their blustery claims of power and promising Jen's arrival to destroy them. Meahwhile, the urRu urIm, hearing the calls of the Crystal, gathers his kind so that they can begin their trek back to the castle.
The next day, Jen awakens in marshes, where he is frightened by a doglike pet known as Fizzgig and meets another Gelfling, Kira, whose existence he never suspected. They stay for a night amongst the Podlings who raised Kira after the death of her parents, only to be ambushed by the Garthim. Kira, Jen, and Fizzgig escape the attack, but many Podlings are captured by the Garthim and taken as slaves. In frustration and despair, feeling responsible for the Garthim raid, Jen discards the crystal shard. Kira reassures him that he had nothing to do with the attack; ' It wasn't your fault... the Garthim have always come '.
In the morning, as they awaken, they discover one of the houses of the old Gelfling City, where Jen reads the prophecy of the Crystal and Kira recovers the shard, learning that it is part of the Dark Crystal and must be reinserted to restore integrity. Jen and Kira are then confronted by the disgraced SkekSil, who attempts to trick them in believing he would help them, but they refuse and escape him. Riding on furry, long-legged Landstriders, the Gelflings quickly arrive at the castle of the crystal, just in time to see the Garthim that attacked Kira's village. Kira, followed by Jen, ride to attack the Garthim and try to free the captured Podlings while the Landstriders fight the Garthim to distract them from the rescue effort.
The Gelflings fail to rescue the Podlings and find the Garthim, who have slain the Landstriders, closing in on them at the edge of the deep, rocky moat that encircles the castle. Sweeping Jen and Fizzgig into her arms, Kira jumps off the cliff, revealing that female Gelflings have wings. At the bottom of the gully, Jen and Kira enter the castle via the Teeth of the Skreesh, an undefended sewer entrance to the lower parts of the castle. SkekSil meets them again and attempts to convince them to offer peace to the Skeksis. As Jen and Kira attempt to escape, SkekSil seizes Kira. Fearing for Kira's safety, Jen strikes SkekSil, using the crystal shard as a dagger and wounding SkekSil's arm. Concurrently, the urRu chanter urSol suffers a spontaneous wound on his arm in the corresponding location. Enraged, SkekSil forces Jen into a wall, inciting a cave-in. SkekSil then takes Kira prisoner, believing Jen to be dead.
For capturing Kira, SkekSil is restored to his position as Chamberlain. On the suggestion of the scientist, SkekTek, SkekUng decides to regain his youth by draining Kira's life essence, recalling that the potency thereof allows a Skeksis emperor to maintain his youth for longer periods than did that of the Podlings on whom SkekTek was forced to rely since the Gelfing genocide. Kira maintains a telepathic connection with Jen, who is still concious although now struggling due to their connection, yet the connection is deep enough to also keep Kira concious through SkekTek's initial ritual. Only a few drops of the "everlasting essence" are drawn from Kira before she, urged by the telepathic voice of Jen and also the captured Aughra in SkekTek's lab, uses her animal-talking abilities and calls out to the animals imprisoned in the laboratory, who break free and attack SkekTek. SkekTek falls into a volcanic pit to its death, resulting in the urRu Alchemist urTil's disintegration into flames. Kira escapes as her bond with Jen gives him the strength to escape the cave-in, but he is separated from Fizzgig during a confrontation with the Garthim. Aughra manages to escape her prison while urRu enter the castle.
While the two Gelfings meet back up at the central interior chamber where the crystal is housed just as the three suns begin to align, the Skeksis arrive to prepare for the immortality that they will gain from the Conjunction if the Crystal is not restored. Jen leaps onto the Crystal, but the shard falls from his hands; Kira grabs it, but is surrounded by the Skeksis. Leaving herself open, she throws the shard to Jen as the Ritual Master SkekZok kills her. Once the Conjunction begins, an enraged Jen places the shard in its appropriate place, unifying the crystal as the urRu arrive. When the Garthim shatter and the Skeksis' influence on the castle crumbles, the urRu and Skeksis reunite into their original urSkek incarnations. The urSkek leader, UngIm, speaks to Jen of their history, communicating directly with the consciousness via mystical sign language. UngIm restores Kira to life, then with his brethren departs the current plane of existence, leaving the Crystal and an injunction to "make [the] world in its light" to the Gelflings. Outside, the devastated world has been instantly restored to its former beauty and harmony.
Characters and Races of the Dark Crystal
Voice Cast
English Language Version
Production notes
The film was shot at Elstree Studios, and exterior scenes were shot in the Scottish Highlands and Twycross, Leicestershire, England, United Kingdom.
All characters in the movie are Muppets, and none are based on humans or any other specific Earth creature. At the time of the movie's release, it was billed as the first live-action film without any human beings on screen.
Originally, Jim Henson wanted the Skeksis to speak in their own constructed language, their dialogue subtitled in English. This was dropped after screen test audiences found the subtitling too distracting, but the original effect can be observed for selected scenes on the various DVD releases.
The hands and facial features of the groundbreaking animatronic puppets in the film were controlled with relatively primitive rods and cables, although radio control later took over many of the subtler movements. Human performers inside the puppets supplied basic movement for the larger creatures, which in some cases was dangerous or exhausting: for example, the Garthim costumes were so heavy that the performers had to be hung up on a rack every few minutes to rest (while still inside the costumes).
In 2000, the framework of the Skeksis was reused by the Jim Henson Company to make the Halosians in the Farscape episode "Out of Their Minds."
Reception
The Dark Crystal made slightly over $40 million in theaters, with an estimated budget of $15 million. Its limited appeal at the time was partly due to parental concerns about its dark nature, and partly because it was overshadowed by E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, which was released the same year. It was more of a critical success, winning a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film and earning the grand prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival. (The film was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and a BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects.) Other critics, however, panned the film as "watered down J.R.R. Tolkien. . . without charm as well as interest". In both France and Japan, The Dark Crystal was the highest-grossing box office release for the year (1983).Nevertheless, the film has gained a cult following over the years since its release.
Literature
- The tie-in novelization of the film was written by A.C.H. Smith, and is now out of print and very rare.
- A popular book entitled titled The World of The Dark Crystal, written by concept artist, fantasy illustrator and chief creature designer for the film, Brian Froud, also released at the same time as the film. This book expanded greatly on the world of Thra, its conditions and history, and gives some of the story background presented in this article.
- An illustrated storybook version The Tale of the Dark Crystal, written by Donna Bass and illustrated by Bruce McNally.
Video game
Marvel Comic
Manga
- An OEL manga comic book prequel, Legends of the Dark Crystal, was published by TokyoPop on November 13, 2007. The comic is written by Barbara Kesel, with art by Heidi Arnhold and Max Kim. The story is set hundreds of years before the story in The Dark Crystal, after the Great Conjuction which saw the splitting of the UrSkeks into the urRu and the Skeksis, yet before the Great Extermination of the Gelflings.
Possible sequel
A sequel entitled "Power of the Dark Crystal", has been in pre-production for several years, and is estimated to be released sometime in 2011. Genndy Tartakovsky agreed to direct on two conditions: that the film would utilize live-action puppets as well as computer animation, and that Brian Froud would return to design the characters.
Nicole Goldman, vice president of marketing and publicity for The Jim Henson Company, spoke of the film's status on the January 14, 2008 installment of the Henson.com podcast, stating:
External links
- Dark Crystal fansite*
- A Gelfling & Dark Crystal fansite
- Images of set pieces for this film
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