‘End, begin, all the same. Big change. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad...’
‘This place is weird’ exclaims Gelfing and protagonist Jen early on in Jim Henson’s fever dream The Dark Crystal. And Jen is right. This place is weird. Notable for being entirely made with puppets with no human intervention (unlike the otherwise natural bedfellow Labyrinth, say), The Dark Crystal makes no attempt to pander to its presumably intended audience of young children. The plot (heavy influenced by Lord of the Rings it may be) is suitably complex, the opening narration verbose and the creatures that inhabit this land… Jesus… they really are frightening. Even the doglike comic relief sidekick is prone to terrifying howls into the abyss. In short, this is my kind of movie…
As with our old hungry friend Frodo Baggins, Jen (voiced by Stephen Garlick) is sent on a mythical quest, this time to find the missing shard of a powerful dark crystal. The problem are the cruel Skeksis, a hideous Orc-like species obsessed with power and cruelty.
About halfway through, skekUng (Michael Kilgarriff), the emperor of the Skeksis, uses the dark crystal to drain the ‘living essence’ from another grotesque creature who then loses its memories, thoughts and feelings. A reminder that this is a movie for children. No wonder it was rejected by both critics and audiences alike upon release. The passing of time has seen a reappraisal for The Dark Crystal however, in a similar manner to the comparably terrifying Return to Oz. Mainly because both of those films have a singular vision that refuses to be compromised simply because the respective filmmakers might be responsible for a few pre-adolescent nightmares.
The Dark Crystal is compelling, unique and truly memorable. Courageous filmmaking from a man in Jim Henson who is responsible for some of the finest popular culture aimed at children ever made. A triumph.