There was a trend towards high-concept fantasy films in the 1980s. If you ask me, they’re all great. The Dark Crystal, though, might just be the greatest of all. Every single project Jim Henson touched, from The Muppet Movie to The Storyteller, was overflowing with love and passion and craft. I can think of few artists today who infuse everything they work on with that kind of joy and magic. The man was a genius, and when I was a kid, just seeing his name in the credits of a movie let me know I was in the best possible hands.
But no matter how much I loved Jim Henson, it was a long time before I could bring myself to watch The Dark Crystal. Let’s face it: It looked scary. This was back in the early days of VHS, when the only information I could get on a movie was the cover art at the local video store. The Dark Crystal VHS was in one of those large, plastic snap cases, the kind Disney movies came in. It must have been the theory that these giant cases were somehow more kid friendly because of their size, despite the fact that they didn’t fit with your other VHS tapes on the shelf. What’s more the plastic was often poorly sanded off, and you could literally (and quite easily) cut yourself on the case. But kids were tough back then.
The effect of the oversized packaging was that The Dark Crystal stood out at the video store. The shelves were still taller than I was in those days, so the tapes on the higher shelves literally towered above me. The Dark Crystal was one of these, and it made the already terrifying image of the looming Skesie practically unbearable. I would have nightmares just thinking about the cover, so it was a long, long time before I finally gathered up the courage to watch the thing.
Actually, I’d be lying to say I got up the courage. I finally watched it at a friend’s house during a sleepover, and in the world of grade school boys, admitting that you are scared of something is simply not an option. Despite my fears, the film held a kind of fascination for me that I couldn’t avoid. Terrified as I was, I wanted to see it. It had worked its way up to near legendary status in my mind, and I had to see what was behind the cover.
First of all, I was relieved that the movie wasn’t that scary. Sure, crazy giant bird creatures yelled and swung giant swords around, but thanks to the Muppet performers even these creatures, particularly the Chamberlain, had a kind of cloying sympathy—they were still frightening, but I could watch them without going into shock. Every scene brought with it some kind of new creature or set to gawk at, and the fact that I had almost no idea what was going on didn’t hurt a bit. I was in another world.
I’ve watched the movie dozens of times since then, and I’ll admit to still not being totally sure what’s going on much of the time. And that’s just fine. The story follows Jen, a Gelfling (like an elf but with a G and an –ing) on his quest to restore a broken shard of the Dark Crystal. Jen has been raised by a group of peace loving troll like creatures called the Mystics, but when his master dies in a very Yoda-like fashion, he is forced out on his own to undertake his quest. Along the way he is helped by Aughra, likely the ugliest Muppet ever constructed, and Kira, a female Gelfling. In their way stand the fiendish Skeksis, aristocratic bird-type creatures who currently own the crystal, and use its power to turn peaceful, human-like creatures called podlings into mindless slaves. That’s the long and short of it—it goes deeper than that, but it’s all very run of the mill, uber-geek D&D fantasy type stuff, which is great in its own right. But it’s not what makes the movie memorable.
This is considered to be the only movie made entirely with puppets (though conceptual designer and super nerd Brian Froud points out on the DVD commentary that plenty of people in costumes and other tricks were also used to create the effects.) Whatever the extent of the movie being “all puppets” there’s no question that from beginning to end The Dark Crystal is a movie that was lovingly and painstakingly crafted from scratch. There was no CGI to help the production out, and very few effects that weren’t done in camera. Everything you see when you watch the movie was really there, and the attention to detail is just staggering.
One of my favorite scenes is a moment when the Skeksis sit down together to an elaborate meal. It’s an impressive scene, but when you stop to think that every piece of food, every single Skeksie, and their dour castle itself, was painstakingly handcrafted by a talented artist, the sheer scope of the movie comes into full focus. To bring a single Skeksie to life took a team of unbelievably talented artists and puppeteers, and there’s never a moment when it seems like you’re watching a puppet show. The creatures eat, talk, burp, and show all the signs of life. They’re real in a way that CGI still hasn’t touched (though I’m confident that someday it will), and it’s all thanks to the tireless efforts of Jim Henson and his crew.
Movies like this were expensive and difficult to make, but I have to think that we would have seen more of them had Jim Henson lived. Like his equally impressive Storyteller series, The Dark Crystal proved that the man was a serious artist with almost unlimited talent and potential. He wasn’t afraid to respect the fantasy genre, with all its glorious geekiness and fairy tale nonsense. Unlike Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy, which approached the high fantasy elements of Tolkien with something like scorn and favored as realistic a world as possible, Jim Henson embraced the magic and whimsy (and darkness) inherent in so many fairy tales and fables. He rightly believed that these stories spoke to the deepest parts of us, and were and would continue to be relevant for as long as people told stories.
Just like The Wicker Man, there has been endless talk of a potential sequel to The Dark Crystal. Supposedly such a thing has long been in development, but there doesn’t seem to be signs of anything really happening in the immediate future. It’s kind of a shame—for the time being this kind of genuine fantasy seems to have died with Jim Henson. Filmmakers are a crazy breed though, and it won’t be forever before someone comes along with enough courage to attempt this kind of movie again. Guillermo del Toro has already shown tons of promise in this area, and I'm eagerly awaiting his take on The Hobbit. In the meantime, there are plenty of DVD releases of Labyrinth, The Storyteller, and above all The Dark Crystal to keep fantasy nerds entertained for years to come.
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