The Dark Crystal

what the film does

on the planet thra, two races emerged from the same crystal: the gentle mystics (urskeks split into their urru and skekis halves) and the cruel skeksis. the skeksis control the dark crystal, which cracked a thousand years ago, splitting the world. jen, a gelfling raised by the mystics, is sent to find the crystal shard and heal the crystal before the great conjunction, when the three suns align. if he fails, the skeksis will rule forever.

the plot is mythology 101. the execution is without precedent.

why this one

three reasons. first, the puppets. henson spent five years developing the creature designs with brian froud. the gelflings (jen and kira) are the most expressive hand puppets ever built, with radio-controlled eyes that could blink and look in any direction. the skeksis are vulture-like grotesques operated by three puppeteers each: one inside the body, one operating the arms, and one doing the face. the chamber of records scene, where the skeksis emperor dies, is performed entirely by puppets and it is more affecting than most human death scenes.

second, the visual world. oswald morris shot the entire film through a thin layer of smoke and a wide-angle lens, creating a depth of field that makes every set look like it stretches beyond the camera. the forest of the podlings, the castle of the skeksis, the valley of the mystics: each location has its own color temperature and texture. the film looks like a frank frazetta painting come to life, which is what henson wanted.

third, the commitment. henson could have made this film with humans in makeup, or with animation, or with a mix. he chose to make it with puppets alone, knowing it would be harder, slower, and commercially riskier. the film underperformed at the box office (it opened against E.T.), but henson never expressed regret. he said the dark crystal was the film he most wanted to make in his lifetime.

what stays with me

the scene where kira calls the landstriders and they ride them across the plain at full gallop. the landstriders are puppets on stilts, operated from below, running at speed. the shot is real. no animation, no CGI. it is one of the most exhilarating practical effects sequences ever filmed.

on hand

the dvd is the columbia tristar home entertainment release in the canon.