THE DARK CRYSTAL

'''The Dark Crystal''' is a 1982 fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Like most of Henson's other work, its characters are Muppets. ''The Muppet Show'' characters for which he is famous do not appear, but some of the same performers are used. Character and creature designs in the movie are by Brian Froud. The screenplay was written by David Odell, who had worked with Henson as a staff writer on ''The Muppet Show''. Trevor Jones provided the film's atmospheric music. The movie makes an attempt to study the nature of good and evil in terms of conscience, vital drive, and the triune nature of harmony. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment - the British production company responsible for producing ''The Muppet Show''.
The book titled ''The World of The Dark Crystal'', written by Brian Froud, was released at the same time as the film. The book gives much of the story background presented in this article.

Contents

Plot

Synopsis

Characters

Voice Cast

English Language Version

Japanese version

Reception

Sequel and other media

Technical notes

Mystical resonances

Subsequent cultural references

References

External links

Plot

Synopsis

The film takes place on Thra, a planet with three suns; the Great Sun, the Rose Sun and the Dying Sun.
One thousand years before the beginning of the movie, the urSkeks cracked the Crystal of Truth, and split into two races during the Great Conjunction of the three suns - the hunchbacked, gentle beings known as Mystics (or urRu in the original drafts and novelization), and the vulture-like, cruel bipedal beings known as Skeksis. In that moment the Crystal became the Dark Crystal. The Skeksis drove the Mystics from the castle where the shattered crystal resided and then instituted a reign of terror over their world. Their wrath was particularly directed toward the elf-like Gelflings due to a prophecy that promised the restoration of the crystal and the end of the Skeksis' power. The prophecy, rediscovered in an ancient Gelfling city, read:
Jen believes he is the last of the Gelflings. After his parents were killed by the crustacean-like Garthim created by the Skeksis, he is raised in a lush valley in which the Mystics reside. The Mystic who has raised him is dying, and he calls Jen to his side and reveals that he is meant to "heal" the crystal by replacing the shard found at Aughra's observatory. The emperor of the Skeksis dies at the same time that the Mystic does, because they are both part of the same being. In a duel over the succession called Haakskeekah (trial by stone), the Chamberlain SkekSil is driven from the palace in rags.
Jen reaches Aughra, a wise woman character of unknown species, and discovers the actual crystal shard by playing music on his flute, to which it resonates. He must unify the shard with the crystal from which it sprang in time for the Great Conjunction, when his world's three suns will be aligned with one another. Garthim arrive to capture or kill Jen, who flees as Aughra is taken prisoner.
Meanwhile, the Mystics hear the signal of the Crystal, and begin their trek back to the castle.
By a river, Jen is frightened by a ball-shaped, dog-like pet known as Fizzgig and meets another Gelfling, Kira, whose existence he never suspected. They stay for a night amongst the bulbous Podlings who raised Kira and are then attacked by Garthim there. Kira, Jen, and Fizzgig escape the attack, but many Podlings are captured by the Garthim. In frustration and despair, feeling responsible for the Garthim raid, Jen discards the crystal shard. Kira reassures him that he had nothing to do with the attack,' ''It wasn't your fault... the Garthim have always come.'' '
In the morning, as they awaken, they discover one of the houses of the old Gelfling City, where Jen cites the prophecy of the Crystal and recovers the shard, although Kira faces apprehension about entering the ruins ("Bad things happened in here once" is her sentiment). Jen and Kira are confronted by the disgraced SkekSil, who offers to help them, but they refuse. Riding on furry, long-legged Landstriders, the Gelflings quickly the castle of the crystal, just in time to see the Garthim that attacked Kira's village. Kira, followed by Jen, ride to attack the Garthim and try to free the captured Podlings while the Landstriders fight the Garthim to distract them from the rescue effort.
The Gelflings fail to rescue the Podlings and find the Garthim, after subduing the Landstriders, closing in on them at the edge of the deep, rocky moat that encircles the castle. Sweeping Jen and Fizzgig into her arms, Kira jumps off the cliff... revealing that female Gelflings have wings. At the bottom of the gully, Jen and Kira end up at the Teeth of the Skreesh, an undefended sewer entrance to the lower parts of the castle. SkekSil meets them again and attempts to convince them to offer peace to the Skeksis. As Jen and Kira attempt to escape, SkekSil grabs Kira's arm in protest. Worried for Kira's safety, Jen strikes SkekSil, using the crystal shard as a dagger, wounding SkekSil's arm. Concurrently, a Mystic suffers a spontaneous wounding on his arm in the selfsame location. During this time Fizzgig also attacked SkekSil by biting him and renting chunks of cloth from his ragged robes. Enraged, SkekSil forces Jen into a wall, inciting a cave-in. SkekSil then takes Kira prisoner, believing Jen to be dead.
For capturing Kira, SkekSil is restored to his position as Chamberlain. The Skeksis require Gelfling to make their "everlasting essence", a potion with which their leader SkekUng the Garthim-Master will regain his youth by draining Kira's life essence. The potency of the "everlasting essence" and the Crystal prophecy feared by the Skeksis, fuelled their genecide of the Gelfling. Only a few drops of the "everlasting essence" are drawn from Kira before her invocation of one of the imprisoned animals in the labratory, who break free, releasing themselves from bondage and attack the Skeksis overseer, SkekTek, causing his fall back into a volcanic pit, killing him. Again, due to the link between the Skeksis and the Mystics, his Mystic counterpart disintegrates into flames at the same time. Kira escapes, and the link between her and Jen gives him the strength to escape the cave-in.
In the central interior chamber where the crystal is housed, Jen alights upon the Crystal but the shard falls from his hands. Kira throws the shard, returning it to Jen. In so doing she leaves herself open to attack. As a consequence she is run through, killed, by the Ritual Master. At the conjunction of the three suns, Jen penetrates the shard unifying the Crystal, shattering the Garthim (who were originally created by the Skeksis, and so are not truly living beings) and reuniting the Mystics and Skeksis into their urSkek incarnations. The urSkek communicate directly to the consciousness via mystical sign language. One of them, UngIm, restores Kira to life, and they leave this plane of existence as the crystal has been healed, made whole. The Crystal is dark no longer and has been returned to the Crystal of Truth and the world too has been similarly healed.

Characters

★ Jen - A male Gelfling

★ Kira - A female Gelfling

★ Aughra - An astrologer of an unknown species

★ Fizzgig - Kira's pet

★ The urRu/Mystics

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★ urSu, Jen's Master

★ The Skeksis

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★ SkekSo, the Emperor

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★ SkekSil, the Chamberlain

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★ SkekUng, the Garthim-Master and later the new Emperor

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★ SkekTek, the Scientist - A Skeksis

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★ SkekZok, the Ritual-Master - A Skeksis

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★ SkekNa, the Slave-Master - A Skeksis

★ Ydra, Kira's adoptive mother, a podling

★ Podlings - a race of gentle 'earth-people '

★ Garthim - Large, crab-like soldiers/thugs of the Skeksis

★ Crystal Bats - Winged creatures used by the Skeksis to find the shard of the crystal and which act as spies for the Skeksis

★ Landstriders - Forest animals and friends of Kira

★ Nebri's- Forest animals that Kira is able to talk to, although one is seen on the dining table of the Skeksis

Voice Cast

English Language Version

★ Stephen Garlick: Jen

★ Lisa Maxwell: Kira

★ Billie Whitelaw: Aughra

★ Percy Edwards: Fizzgig

★ Barry Dennen: SkekSil, Podling 1

★ Michael Kilgarriff: SkekUng

★ Jerry Nelson: SkekZok, SkeSo

★ Thick Wilson: SkekAyuk

★ Brian Muehl: SkekEkt

★ John Baddeley: SkekOk

★ David Buck: SkekNa

★ Charles Collingwood: SkekShod

★ Sean Barrett: UrSu

★ Mike Iveria: Podling 2

★ Patrick Monckton Podling 3

★ Sue Wetherby: Podling 4

★ Joseph O'Conor: Narrator, UngIm

Japanese version

★ Tohru Furuya: Jen

★ Naoko Matsui: Kira

★ Naoko Kouda: Aughra, SkekEkt

★ Ryūzaburō Ōtomo: SkekUng

★ Norio Wakamoto: SkekZok, UrZah

★ Shozo Iizuka: SkekAyuk, SkekShod

★ Goro Naya: SkekSo, SkekOk

★ Nachi Nozawa: SkekTek

★ Fumihiko Tachiki: SkekNa

★ Fujio Tokita: UrSu

★ Tetsuro Tanba: Narrator, UrSkek

Reception

''The Dark Crystal'' made slightly over $40 million in theaters, with an estimated budget of $15 million. 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.^[1] 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.) Other critics, however, panned the film as "watered down J.R.R. Tolkien. . . without charm as well as interest"^[2] In both France and Japan, ''The Dark Crystal'' was the highest-grossing box office release for the year (1983).

Sequel and other media

The novelization of the film was written by A.C.H. Smith.
A sequel, entitled ''Power of the Dark Crystal'', is currently in (or about to begin) production for 2008.^[3][4] Genndy Tartakovsky is attached to direct.^[5][6] A detailed synopsis can be read at http://www.darkhorizons.com/news05/050515d.php.
A manga prequel, ''Legends of the Dark Crystal'', is scheduled for publication by TokyoPop on November 13, 2007. The manga is written by Barbara Kesel, with art by Heidi Arnhold. The story will be set hundreds of years before the story in ''The Dark Crystal'', and before the Great Extermination.
An online text based RPG was made but fans were disappointed as the game did not represent the film fairly. A new game was created in 2006 with the intention of being released on the Nintendo DS but was soon stopped as interest in the game faded. The creator Alex Chandler has the only copy of the game which has still not been released.

Technical notes

All characters in the movie are Muppets, and none are based on humans or any other specific Earth creature. At the time of the movie's release, it was billed as the first live-action film without any human beings on screen.
Originally, Jim Henson wanted members of one of the factions, the Skeksis, to speak in their own constructed language. The Skeksis dialogue was subtitled in English. This was dropped after screen test audiences found the subtitling too distracting, but the original effect can be observed for selected scenes on the various DVD releases.

Mystical resonances

The narrative dramatises Advaita Vedanta and non-dual philosophies. Crystals have been engaged as tools throughout the Human Condition as evidenced by the academic discourses of Ethnography, Anthropology and Sociology. Geoglyphs and earth-based iconography and magical consciousness is evident throughout the movie. The mystical sign language that the urSkeks (the resolved urRu and Skeksis) employ is visually cognate with vinyasa mudra.

Subsequent cultural references

★ The Crystal Method covers the opening narration of the movie in their song "Trip Like I Do", the opening track of their debut album ''Vegas''.

★ The Skeksis make an appearance in the lyrics of the Scissor Sisters track "Return to Oz".

★ ''Alien'', an album by Canadian industrial-metal band Strapping Young Lad features a song called "Skeksis." Though the lyrics do not reference the film, some of the vocal melodies are the same as those found in the main (opening) theme of the film.

★ The German Industrial band ''Weena Morloch'' features samples from the movie in their song "Girl" from the EP "Trauma 7".

★ Stephen Lynch's song "D&D" includes the lyrics "Now ''The Lord of The Rings'', ''The Dark Crystal'' and things, we use these as a reference tool."

★ A Skeksis makes an appearance as a nanny in Episode 1007 of ''South Park'' entitled "Tsst".

★ The Skeksis are referred to in the ''Farscape'' episode "Thanks For Sharing", and the alien race known as the Halosians in the episode "Out Of Their Minds" are designed in homage to the Skeksis.

★ John Hodgman's 700 hobo names, found in his book "The Areas of My Expertise", contains a section of names from the film, including the Ornamentalist, the Scroll Keeper, the Garthim-Master, and several others.

★ In Episode 309 of ''South Park'' entitled "Jewbilee," the boys gather around the camp fire to summon Moses and sing to the same type of frequencies as the Mystics and the Skeksis did to the Crystal.

References

1. A review by Richard Scheib
2. New York Times review
3. Power of the Dark Crystal (2008)
4. Power of the Dark Crystal (2008)
5. Tartakovsky Directing Dark Crystal Sequel
6. GENNDY TARTAKOVSKY TO DIRECT POWER OF THE DARK CRYSTAL

External links

★ The Book of Habidabad The largest, most complete, and most informative website about Jim Henson's cult classic film!

★

★ DVD Talk on ''Dark Crystal – 25th Anniversary Edition DVD''

★ O.T.I.S.: Odd Things I've Seen

★ Kira's Swamp A Gelfling & Dark Crystal fansite

★ Keith Short - Film Sculptor Images of set pieces for this film

★ Soundtrack Review (25th Anniversary Edition) at Tracksounds