Why The Dark Crystal is So Great
Channel: Daniel Goldhorn
Date: 04/12/2020

Fun fact: The Dark Crystal movie and Dark Crystal series are both awesome. Let me tell you why, exactly.

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The Dark Crystal (sometimes referred to as Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal) is a 1982 puppet-animated high fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. It stars the voices of Stephen Garlick, Lisa Maxwell, Billie Whitelaw, Percy Edwards, and Barry Dennen. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment and Henson Associates and distributed by Universal Pictures. The plot revolves around Jen, a Gelfling on a quest to restore balance to the world of Thra and overthrow the ruling Skeksis by restoring a powerful broken Crystal.

It was marketed as a family film, but was notably darker than the creators' previous material. The animatronics used in the film were considered groundbreaking for its time, with most creatures, like the Gelflings, requiring around four puppeteers to achieve full manipulation. The primary concept artist was fantasy illustrator Brian Froud, famous for his distinctive fairy and dwarf designs. Froud also collaborated with Henson for his next project, the 1986 film Labyrinth.

The Dark Crystal was produced by Gary Kurtz, while the screenplay was written by David Odell, with whom Henson previously worked as a staff writer for The Muppet Show. The film score was composed by Trevor Jones. The film received mixed to positive reviews from mainstream critics; while being criticized for its darker, more dramatic tone in contrast to Henson's previous works, it was praised for its narrative, aesthetic, and characters, and has since garnered a large cult following.[5]

A prequel television series, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, premiered on Netflix in 2019.