Labyrinth Labyrinth is a 1986 fantasy film written and directed by Jim Henson . Plot Summary . A teenage girl named Sarah ( Jennifer Connelly ) , tired of babysitting for her little brother , idly wishes that the goblins would come and take him away - - then must make amends when Jareth , the Goblin King ( David Bowie ) , takes her up on the offer . Sarah must find her way to the Castle at the center of the large labyrinth within 13 hours , or she will lose her brother forever . Along the way , she enlists the assistance of Hoggle , a grumpy dwarf ; Ludo , a large horned monster with a heart of gold ; and Sir Didymus , a knightly dog whose courage far exceeds his capacity to actually do anything useful . Behind the Scenes . Burned by the negative reception that met " The Dark Crystal " , Jim Henson set out to make a film that was every bit as technically innovative as his last film , while incorporating the humor and music that audiences loved from " Sesame Street " and " The Muppet Show " . For the humor , Jim enlisted Terry Jones , formerly of Monty Python , to write the script . For music , Jim turned to David Bowie , who wrote all of the songs and also played the lead villain . For production design , Jim once again employed Brian Froud , and Trevor Jones ( who had scored " Dark Crystal " ) returned to provide a still fanciful but more lighthearted soundtrack . To help secure funding for the film , Jim called upon George Lucas to executive produce . Jim and George had a long collaborative history together , as Lucas had worked closely with Jim on the creation of Yoda for the " Star Wars " movies . Despite its dynamic creative team , audiences still stayed away . Though not a box - office hit in its initial release , the film has performed steadily for Columbia TriStar over the years in various VHS and DVD editions . It was while in discussions for a sequel to " Labyrinth " that the idea for the movie " MirrorMask " was created . The Cast . Many Muppet veterans worked on some part of this film . Brian Henson provided the voice and performed the remote - control mouth movements for Hoggle . Dave Goelz performed Sir Didymus , and Steve Whitmire performed Didymus ' " trusty steed " Ambrosius . Frank Oz performed a wise old man , and Goelz performed a strange creature that came out of the Wiseman ' s hat . Many other Muppet alumni contributed to the film , including Karen Prell ( as the Worm ) , Kevin Clash ( the lead Firey ) , and Cheryl Henson . ( With the exception of Brian and Kevin , none of these performers contributed voices to the film . ) Meanwhile , another Muppet veteran , Louise Gold , appeared as a dancer in the ballroom scene , but did not puppeteer on the film . Many other LucasFilm alumni contributed to the film including Kenny Baker ( played R2 - D2 in the various " Star Wars " movies ) , Warwick Davis ( played Wicket the Ewok and others in the various " Star Wars " movies ) , and Jack Purvis ( played a Jawa , Ugnaught , and Ewok in the various " Star Wars " movies ) . Danny John - Jules , who later played Cat in the cult sci - fi comedy " Red Dwarf " , provided the voice for two of the Fireys . Brian Froud ' s real son , Toby , plays Sarah ' s baby brother Toby . Merchandise . A range of has been created in recent years , the items available including T - shirts sold at Hot Topic as well as door knockers based on the talking ones featured in the movie . Additionally , Palisades Toys , which garnered great acclaim for its , produced a 12 " Jareth doll for release in April 2006 . More figures were initially promised . However , with Palisades ' bankruptcy and acquisition by Limited by CAS Inc . , the figure was canceled and removed from most online pre - order lists . A four - part manga comic sequel to " Labyrinth " called " Return to Labyrinth " was published by TOKYOPOP between 2006 and 2010 . The series was written by Jake T . Forbes , featured cover art by Kouyu Shurei and interior art by Chris Lie .