The Dark Crystal The Dark Crystal is the first cinematic feature directed by Jim Henson to not feature The Muppets . The Plot . 1 , 000 years ago the crystal cracked , and the spirits of the UrSkek were divided into the peaceful Mystics and the evil Skeksis . A prophecy was written that stated if a Gelfling healed the crystal , the world would be renewed and the UrSkek would be reunited . Due to the prophecy , the Skeksis hunted down and killed all the Gelflings . The last Gelfling left on Thra , a male named Jen , was saved and raised by the Mystics . Jen is sent by his dying master on a journey to heal the Dark Crystal . If Jen succeeds , the world will be saved ; but if Jen fails , the Skeksis will rule the land forever . On his quest to The Castle of the Crystal , Jen meets Kira , another Gelfling . The two must battle the evil Skeksis and save Thra . Production Notes . When Jim Henson began work on The Dark Crystal in 1977 , he had no story , just a sense of the kind of fantasy world he wanted to create . Henson was beginning to visualize the creatures that would inhabit this world of good and evil when he discovered " The Land of Froud " , a collection of drawings by Brian Froud . Henson immediately contacted Froud , who agreed to act as the project ' s conceptual designer . Once Henson and Froud had developed their ideas into a storyline , David Odell was commissioned to write the screenplay . In July 1979 , Henson moved the project ' s pre - production planning from New York to London , where he could simultaneously supervise production of the fourth season of " The Muppet Show " . It was here that creative supervisor Sherry Amott assembled the 60 - member animatronic fabrication group who sculpted , molded , sewed and cared for the project ' s elaborate puppet cast . The Dark Crystal was filmed at the EMI Elstree Studios near London . While the puppeteers who operated the main characters were drawn from the ranks of the Muppeteers , the Mystics and many of the other creatures were brought to life by a specially recruited group of mimes , actors , dancers , acrobats and clowns . All of these artists performed their craft on sets that , although scaled to the puppet ' s size , were built up off the floor to allow them enough clearance to operate their characters unhindered . ( The puppets were controlled through a variety of radio , mechanical , electrical and hydraulic systems . ) In addition to the state - of - the - art puppets , special visual effects also played a crucial role in bringing the world of " The Dark Crystal " to life . The test screenings of The Dark Crystal had the Skeksis speaking a language based on ancient Greek and Egypt ian , specially created for them by linguist Alan Garner . Jim Henson stated , " My whole approach to this film is visual . I wanted as little dialogue as possible because I believe the story is stronger that way . Dialogue becomes a crutch . If you have all these alien - looking creatures , why should they be talking in English ? An early concept was to have the Skeksis just making noises , but in a way you knew what they were saying . " Gary Kurtz responded to the non - English version stating , " The audience thought that they were missing something . Actually , they didn ' t need to understand the Skeksis ' dialogue at those points . The translation of what was being said is really quite banal . The strength of those scenes was instinctively knowing what ' s going on . . . But the Skeksis scenes were quite long . You had to concentrate . The audience wasn ' t prepared to do that . " The response of the test audiences led to the replacement of the Skeksis language with English dialogue . Reception . The Dark Crystal made over $ 40 . 5 - million during its initial 63 - day theatrical run , with an estimated production cost of $ 15 - million , making it a modest financial success . Its limited appeal at the time was partly due to parental concerns about its dark nature , and partly because it was soon overshadowed by E . T . the Extra - Terrestrial , which was released the same year . It was more of a critical success , winning a Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film and earning the grand prize at the Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival . The film was also nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Dramatic Presentation and a BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects . In both France and Japan , " The Dark Crystal " was the highest - grossing box office release for the year ( 1983 ) and won the 1983 Seiun Award media prize . " The Dark Crystal " is the third - highest grossing puppet film of all time ( behind " The Muppets " and " The Muppet Movie " ) , and the third - highest grossing Henson / Muppet - related film to date . The film remains a fan favorite that has remained consistently strong with worldwide home video and DVD sales . Cast . " Character Performers " : " Additional Performers " : " Voices "