The Dark Crystal

krudler · 01-04-2014 12:07am #1

Anyone else a fan? Always liked it ever since it scared the bejesus out of me as a kid , or certain aspects of it at least.
It's a good companion piece of sorts to Labyrinth which is an easier watch I guess and more kiddie friendly, there's some downright disturbing stuff in both movies though. I always prefered The Dark Crystal, the artistry involved is fantastic and the whole concept is something that would never be greenlit these days, at least not with the practical puppet approach used in it.

There's a workprint/assembly cut of it floating around on youtube that's easy enough to find and it restored a load of cut scenes and removes the English dialogue for the Skeksis, who were originally meant to talk in their own language with no subtitles. Obviously the studio balked at the idea of this and the theatrical version had it all overdubbed in English dialogue, it's an interesting watch though but would have been baffling for an audience back then to see it for the first time like that.

Duggy747 · 01-04-2014 12:25am

I found it to be a decent movie, never found it to be too special myself, but the puppetry, art production and designs really were top notch. This was pretty much the type of film Jim Henson wanted to make for years, it has an interesting history to it right up to it's release.

There was talk of doing a sequel from 2005 with mixing the puppetry and CGI like Where The Wild Things Are but production was going bog slow and they canned it back in 2012.

This was concept art for the sequel:

I should watch this film again, actually, haven't seen an 80's fantasy film in a while now.

pixelburp · 01-04-2014 8:16am

I love this movie and it sits quite happily in my bucket of treasured films of yesteryear and growing up. It's very much a case of 'they don't make them like this anymore'; you just couldn't see a studio making something this singular these days, not to mention a kid's film as unrelentingly dark and scary as Jim Henson did. Though with the resurgence of The Muppets, it's entirely possible the use of puppetry could be sold as a more viable solution than CGI

And while modern kids' films such as Toy Story can have themes and tones more adult in nature, Dark Crystal wore its dark heart on its sleeve, fully committing to the grim, apocalyptic world of the skeksis. No doubt it was a traditional fairytale, and when people complain that children are being mollycoddled these days, I'd look to stuff like the Dark Crystal and find myself agreeing.

That said, having watched it with adult eyes when I picked up the blu-ray, my older mind spotted the deficiencies in the script my young self didn't spot, and there's much of the plot that seems to make little sense; I guess you could say the same of most fairytales, given their narratives tend to be a jumble of events, there simply to propel the hero to his destiny.

Dozen Wicked Words · 01-04-2014 8:29am

Sat down and watched with my kids on Netflix a few weeks back. They didn't think much of it unfortunately, and as has been said, there are a few big holes in the film I never remembered as a child. I was a bit disappointed actually because I had built up how great the film is, in my mind, it was probably never going to be able to match it, plus I was disappointed the Kids didn't enjoy it as much as I thought they should!

I think Jim Henson could have gone on to do a lot of interesting films if he had got the money, and more time on the planet.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 01-04-2014 8:36am

have it on blu ray although I haven't watched it in ages, must remedy that.

i dont know how I feel about subtitled skeksis, granted i'm biased towards the version i know but I think their creepy english is better, their own language sounds so obviously made up that it just removes me from the movie

also

Adamantium · 01-04-2014 8:53am

Weren't Gary Kurtz and Frank Oz involved in this after the Star Wars OT? Good stuff.

Duggy747 · 01-04-2014 9:37am

I did always feel bad for the podlings, harmless little guys :pac:

krudler · 01-04-2014 10:08am

^ That scene scared the everloving crap out of me as a kid, and when the old Emperor dies, shudder.

witchity2 · 01-04-2014 10:12am

I always loved that movie. My 6 year old loves watching it too - think partly because it scares the bejeezuz out of his little brother:eek:

conorhal · 01-04-2014 1:57pm

pixelburp wrote: »

I love this movie and it sits quite happily in my bucket of treasured films of yesteryear and growing up. It's very much a case of 'they don't make them like this anymore'; you just couldn't see a studio making something this singular these days, not to mention a kid's film as unrelentingly dark and scary as Jim Henson did. Though with the resurgence of The Muppets, it's entirely possible the use of puppetry could be sold as a more viable solution than CGI

And while modern kids' films such as Toy Story can have themes and tones more adult in nature, Dark Crystal wore its dark heart on its sleeve, fully committing to the grim, apocalyptic world of the skeksis. No doubt it was a traditional fairytale, and when people complain that children are being mollycoddled these days, I'd look to stuff like the Dark Crystal and find myself agreeing.

The movie was a master class in world building but occasionally lacked dramatic punch.
If it's dark fairy tales with a Henson puppet twist that you're after, 'The Storyteller' series (despite the occasional ropey effect) still stands as the high watermark of the genre.
John Hurt play's the storyteller, which was a stroke of genius, after all he has a voice that you'd be happy to listen to read the phone book.

annascott · 03-04-2014 5:06pm

I loved this when I saw it in 80's. I finally got a copy of it about five years ago.

Sleepy · 03-04-2014 5:17pm

My wife would be a fan. Kids stuff was definitely darker in our day. We found an old book of the Grimm brothers fairytales that had been hers as a child recently and I can't get over the difference between them and the story books our kids are more used to: cannibalistic witches and parents abandoning their children to starve are more like stuff we'd expect in The Walking Dead these days than fare for Disney movies!

The Dark Crystal

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