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Dark Crystal is one of the most under-rated 80’s films.

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Dark Crystal is one of the most under-rated 80’s films.

The Dark Crystal slinked away from the box office and into cult obscurity. I would spend the next twenty years trying to explain this hidden gem amongst my VHS collection, and eventually both my DVD and Blu-Ray collections. It is one of the most under-rated films out of that time frame.

In the 70s and 80s, the creatures from the Jim Henson Creature Shop ruled screens large and small. The Muppets were making movies and TV specials while Sesame Street was teaching counting and colors on public broadcasting. Celebrities vied for the opportunity to guest star alongside these puppets. Henson and his puppetry knew no wrong. The world loved these make-believe creatures and their wire controlled arms and sets built to hide operators. But Henson and his longtime creative partner, Frank Oz, had more complex stories to tell.  

During the Christmas movie season in 1982, a fantastical masterpiece hit the theaters, The Dark Crystal. This production blended Henson’s puppetry with technological advances to create a new world, Thra, where the puppets have no strings and the story isn’t all bright and cheery. This bothered moviegoers and critics alike. Vincent Canby, the movie critic at the time for The New York Times said ” ‘The Dark Crystal,’ which aims, I think, to be a sort of Muppet ‘Paradise Lost’ but winds up as watered down J.R.R. Tolkien.” The Dark Crystal slinked away from the box office and into cult obscurity. I would spend the next twenty years trying to explain this hidden gem amongst my VHS collection, and eventually both my DVD and Blu-Ray collections. It is one of the most under-rated films out of that time frame. 

This production blended Henson’s puppetry with technological advances to create a new world, Thra, where the puppets have no strings and the story isn’t all bright and cheery. This bothered moviegoers and critics alike. Vincent Canby, the movie critic at the time for The New York Times said ” ‘The Dark Crystal,’ which aims, I think, to be a sort of Muppet ‘Paradise Lost’ but winds up as watered down J.R.R. Tolkien.” The Dark Crystal slinked away from the box office and into cult obscurity. I would spend the next twenty years trying to explain this hidden gem amongst my VHS collection, and eventually both my DVD and Blu-Ray collections. It is one of the most under-rated films out of that time frame. 

The story is not a complicated story. It opens to an ominous narrator introducing us to two main races, the Mystics, and the Skeksis.

The leaders of both are about to pass away. The gentle Mystics, along with the star of the movie, an adopted Gelfling named Jen, say a solomon goodbye as urSu tells Jen that he has a much broader purpose in life. This knowledge will send Jen on an adventure to find a shard of the great dark crystal. At the same moment, The Skeksis Emperor skekSo lays in his bed holding onto his scepter unwilling to pass his power onto a successor. A challenge for supremacy ensues after the Emperor passes leading to one new Emperor, skekUng,  and one ousted Skeksis, skekSil. 

As set up by the dying Mystic, Jen is sent on a quest to find the shard and return it to the crystal before the triple sun convergence. If he fails the Skeksis will live forever and the Mystics will disappear. We can deduce early on that the two races are connected. When a Skeksis is cut, his Mystic counterpart also bleeds. When one dies, the other does as well. But the Skeksis have spent their lives trying to prevent the prophecy that a Gelfling will rejoin the two races back into one powerful being. The Skeksis have used oversized killer beetles, Garthim, to terrorize the land to kill all Gelflings. The Mystics hid Jen after his parents and village fell victim to their savagery. We also meet Kira, a female Gelfling, who has been hidden from the Garthim by the race of Podlings. Together, with a cast of imaginative creatures from the minds of Henson and Oz, they will fulfill the prophecy and usher in a new era of peace for Thra. 

However, the journey is an arduous one. There are no real moments of levity. The creatures are not instantly cute like Muppet characters. The sets are lit with cool dim colors, have lots of plants and wildlife, and danger around every corner. Jen and Kira are hunted by the beatles and stalked by skekSil on their way to the Skeksis castle. The Podlings who protected Kira are captured and turned into mindless slaves. The Skeksis Emperor drinks their essence to stay young. Landstriders, a four-legged creature with rabbit ears and long tough legs give their lives to protect the two Gelflings from a group of the Garthim. Jen finds assistance from Aughra, the keeper of shard and other universal knowledge, but who is also captured bound for servitude of the Skeksis. 

Staying true to fairy tale form, all things seem to work out in the end.

The Dark Crystal is healed, the Mystics and Skeksis return to their true form, and Jen saves Kira’s life after she sacrificed herself to return the shard. The story, while abstract and void of humans, was a reflection of the times in 1982. The peaceful hippies of the sixties and seventies were fading and their high energy materialistic counterparts. The Mystics live in simplicity, modest dwellings and spend their time in spiritual pursuits. The Skeksis are adorned with opulent fashions, eat extravagant meals, and have slaves do their bidding. This dynamic is emphasized when skekSil loses his battle to be Emperor and his punishment is to have all of his clothing and jewels torn from him by the others before his banishment. 

I really believe that those of us who held The Dark Crystal close to our hearts enjoyed the story, but found the mechanics of the puppetry experience to be endearing. Characters alive and touchable. These were not green-screened CGI versions of something Henson and Oz thought up. These characters were every bit as real as any human actor. Yes, humans were a major part of the movie. There were stuntmen on all fours inside Landstriders. There were actors inside the Garthim. People controlled Jen and Kira and all of the other characters, but nary a wire can be seen. Green screen usage is only apparent in a few scenes. The work done on The Dark Crystal would set the stage for other classics such as Labyrinth and Fraggle Rock. 

Friday, August 30, 2019 Netflix releases a prequel, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.

This 10-episode prolog follows three Gelflings as they discover that the Shard of the Dark Crystal is the source of the Skeksis immortality. Staying true to the original, the voice actors are among some of Hollywood’s elite, including Mark Hamill, Andy Sandberg, and Toby Jones. Working with the Jim Henson Creature Shop to blend new technologies with live-action puppetry, the overall sense of the world of Thra appears to be the same. Early critics seem to have more positive things to say about The Dark Crystal: Age of Resurgence. It has gained 88% Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes. The production was massive. Series director Louis Leterrier told Erik Kane that they would often wrangle Netflix executives to help shake trees to bring Thra alive. 

Soon the fan reviews will be in as Netflix binge-watchers gear up for a ten-hour marathon over the Labor Day weekend as a Cat 4 hurricane threatens the east coast. Just as with the original, time will tell if this series will live on in the hearts of fans or disappear into obscurity. My hope its love at first sight. 

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About The Author
Mandie Rainwater
Mandie Rainwater is married with two grown children, two dogs, and two cats. She loves all that is nerdy, tattoos, and driving fast cars. She currently lives in SWFL.
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