Hard to believe it turns 30 this year. I'll admit it was a rather frightful experience when I first saw it in elementary school (with Chamberlain's penalty for failing at trial by stone and the examples of essence extracting being the most nightmare-inducing), but give Henson credit for trying to go outside the grain. The puppetry as usual is stellar, with all the characters well-designed and realized, and the story (with producer Gary Kurtz perhaps adding a few ideas from several earlier Star Wars drafts he was familiar with, as in early concepts of Lucas's vision, the Jedi and Sith fed off crystals) works well as fantasy. It's no surprise it's become a cult classic over the years.
It's worth asking, do you think the Skeksis should have spoken in their own, Egyptian-derived language as Henson originally intended, or does it work better with them speaking regular English? I can understand the intent, and it was a good one, but to be sure, I found it better to completely understand what they mean.
Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
I have to say that i donīt remember ever seeing this movie. Just bought the SE dvd so that will be soon fixed Posted by aTomiK (Member # 6575) on :
Finally watched The Dark Crystal.
Itīs a good movie but only after watching the one hour documentary "The World of The Dark Crystal, i understood how much work there was behind this film. Huge, huge project!
And Chris, i believe that it would have been a commercial suicide if the Skesis would have spoken their own, foreign language. Not necessary overseas but in the US anyway.
Posted by Logan 5 (Member # 1467) on :
Taken to see E.T. back in '82, the movie had just finished - ended up seeing Dark Crystal instead. I liked it at the time, but watching it again a year or two ago I could only admire the set designs and the overall ambition, the actual movie left me a little cold. I put that down to the somewhat formulaic plot, and the emotionless Gelfling faces. Skeksis however, still rock.
Posted by Helen_S (Member # 5804) on :
So, I just watched this for the first time. Truly one of the most disturbing experiences of my life!
Posted by goresnet (Member # 6592) on :
How so, Helen? Seems like the movies of this era have desensitized the viewing audience quite a bit. There is some disturbing imagery, but I feel like a lot of that is from how it got to me when I was a child watching it for the first time.
Posted by Helen_S (Member # 5804) on :
If I had of watched this when I was a kid I would have been put off all things weird for life lol. It was all the imagery, all the way. Horrifying. I spent the first half an hour going WTF am I watching. I loved its freakiness though Posted by goresnet (Member # 6592) on :
I found Labyrinth more freaky. Maybe that says something about me?! David Bowie...
Posted by Pyro (Member # 7658) on :
Yeah it did leave some scars in my poor little fragile brain. But then again, my poor little fragile brain was already broken before this by movies like Poltergeist, Alien, and all the random Cult/Monster movies my old man had a pretty huge collection of that I was able to sneak glimpses of now and then. But those Skeksis did give me some chills regardless back then.
Posted by Nostalgic for the '80's (Member # 37454) on :
I saw "The Dark Crystal" in the theater back in '82; my parents took me & some friends to see this. Great fantasy film, with good puppet effects & a great story.
I recently watched this again (on DVD) for the first time since '82; the film was solid, but I found myself being more critical re: the puppet effects, etc. That being said, this is still a great film.
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