INSANE Puppets in THE DARK CRYSTAL (1982)!! - Movie Reaction - FIRST TIME WATCHING
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- Опубликовано: 12 июл 2024
- Hello Everybody!
Some of the best puppets I have seen they were incredible
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0:00 - Intro
1:27- Reaction
29:15 - Review
Starring:
Jim Henson, Kathryn Mullen, Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Lousie Gold, and Brian Meehl
Written by:
David Odell and Jim Henson
Directed by:
Jim Henson and Frank Oz 
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![XO (Only If You Say Yes) - ENHYPEN エンハイプン 엔하이픈 [Music Bank] | KBS WORLD TV 240712](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wBT1bKKwPTo/mqdefault.jpg)
Hey everyone!! Welcome to Jim Henson's Dark Crystal! I had fun with this movie and really appreciated the mastery at work with the puppets even if the story wasn't for me. I would love to hear your thoughts on this film and why you may like/dislike it!! Also, I know in the video I said that I would be done Henson flicks for a while, but keep an eye out for The Muppet Movie on the horizon...
Thanks for watching! Have a great day! :)
Great reaction man. This movie is amazing. I remember my parents taking me to see this in the theater. You should check out the Netflix show Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. Much of the same magic from this movie is in that show. It takes place 50 years before The Dark Crystal.
Looking forward to the Muppet Movie
Glad you saw it. You may have preferred to watch them the other way round, as The Dark Crystal was the very first full length puppet-only movie and was very experimental and ground-breaking in what it set out to do. The lessons they learned from it then guided the choices they made on Labyrinth. Essentially the concerns when making Dark Crystal were that young audiences wouldn't be able to follow/connect to the story without human actors to emote/identify with (hence the narration to explain), that children would find it too dark considering they associated Henson/puppets with fun and light-hearted Muppets (Henson wanted it to be like Brothers Grimm fairy tales), and also the effects were so expensive they simply couldn't afford to show everything (so had to describe/explain things rather than show them, as each 'showing' meant more expensive and time consuming effects shots/sequences). The producers/backers were unsure if this was even possible or viable as a major movie. Henson ended up putting his own money into getting it out and into cinemas. I watched it as a little kid on VHS when it was released and was amazed by it. Kids were fascinated by it, although it is true it was slow moving and dark, so not exactly a laugh a minute fun movie that all kids enjoyed. Labyrinth was much lighter, had humans, had songs, and they knew how to incorporate things better into the story. I love both movies for what they achieved. I recommend you return to watch Netflix Dark Crystal series. It is quite impressive.
I used to like this movie until I found out what it's really about and what it represents.
someone is hacking your channel and telling people that they won a prize. I got one of these phony e mails.
It is an absolute crime how underrated this movie is. It is so deep and imaginative. This world is completely alien, and yet somehow relatable to humanity.
deep dive into the Dark Crystal Conjunction Channel lore playlist after watching the series folks!
The 1980s were a magical time for movies, particularly fantasy and sci-fi. 100% practical effects and passion, labor of love. Everything hand made and hand painted. The worlds were fresh and new. The studios took risks. Not every movie was intended to spawn a franchise or sequel.
What you call 'scenes that drag on too long' I call world building, something that's missing from modern productions where every scene has to be a setup for an action piece to keep the audience's attention, because we've been conditioned to have short attention spans.
Agreed 1000%
Dark Crystal has wonderful pacing!
*A)* See: *The Last Starfighter,* especially if your name is Alex.
Came out in the same era, had groundbreaking (for the period) CG mixed with practical FX and puppets and creature makeup.
Pure passion and a labor of love.
*B) The Dark Crystal* was intended to have a sequel from the earliest stages of development.
The existing notes were compiled into a spec script in 2006 and rewritten as a full-on screenplay by 2010, the project was put on indefinite hold in 2014, and finally released as a 12-issue limited comic book series in 2017.
Also Netflix did an award-winning prequel series that was released in 2019.
*C)* It's nice that you call things worldbuilding, personally I call worldbuilding something a writer does before writing a story and especially before publishing it, not something a reader reads or gets involved in.
The reader/viewer should see the world, not the worldbuilding.
Remember Luke gazing at the suns of Tattooine, longing to leave the planet?
Now imagine if Luke glanced at the suns and then went inside, and the viewer was left with five minutes of the suns setting.
"See? We built a world with a plurality of suns. See?"
Fun.
Anything that doesn't involve characters engaging the plot is just very pretty garbage.
Anything that isn't explained within the plot is a plot hole.
*D)* A movie that does nothing to keep the audience's attention is not intended to be viewed by an audience.
Video artists have long mocked the will of an audience to just stare at a non-narrative event while daring the audience to leave because there is no narrative.
See: *Six Men Getting Sick (Six Times)* and see if you can sit through all six times.
It is intended to be projected onto a relief that shows the physical details of each figure but you can get the idea on a flat screen.
*The Dark Crystal* proved that large scale epic animatronic movies were plausible.
That is the only thing it did.
The bicycle scene in *The Great Muppet Caper* is better than every second of *The Dark Crystal.*
*2001: A Space Odyssey, Fantastic Planet, Wizards,* and *Dragonslayer,* as well as *Star Wars,* and *Star Trek: the Motion Picture* had already shown us that audiences could sit still for a fantasy epic with convincing worlds and characters that go so far as to defy imagination, with stably grounded and even very simple stories.
Go watch the 1927 silent epic: *Metropolis* and see if you have a short attention span.
Almost the entire 2h 33m original feature has been restored to about 2h 27m with about six missing minutes still unaccounted for, filled-in with onscreen text.
You may have read *Lord of the Rings* and *The Hobbit* but I bet a billion dollars that you do not have the attention span to sit through the shortest book in the series: *The Silmarillion* because it is just beautiful garbage.
I can even double-down and say that you haven't sat through the Amazon series *The Rings of Power* based upon *The Silmarillion* because almost nobody has, because it's not about a narrative but about introducing characters and disposing of them.
*The Dark Crystal* drags so much that it truly requires full investment to want to sit through it, and you really have to be fully invested and you really have to want to sit through it.
Well .. this movie requires the audience to have patience .. I’m amazed if any young person has the attention span to watch this film these days. You did better than I expected. Personally I love every inch of this film and is still one of my top 10, and easily my second best favourite movie score (Star Trek TMP is the best). So rare to find a film these days that does what this one did .. allow you to soak it all in.
This movie is boring.
Being alive takes patience.
Watching silent movies takes patience.
Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" takes patience.
"Star Trek: the Motion Picture" is about characters reacting to their environment.
This movie is about the audience reacting to the environment while the story puts the viewer on hold.
A story goes situation leads to conflict leads to resolution.
If a scene does not drive toward resolution of the primary conflict, getting the shard to the crystal, it serves no purpose and must be cut.
Yes, verisimilitude and a believable world are important to a story but focusing on the world distracts from the story.
Any scene that just exemplifies a characteristic of the world without exposing a deeper fact about the story is as useful as Scrappy-Doo in solving a mystery.
Oh? You're rough and tough and you want to be let at 'em?
Puppy power?
Really?
I don't care.
Remember Luke gazing at the setting suns of Tattooine? He wanted to leave home, not stare at the suns. We felt it with him.
Now imagine if it was just a five minute sequence of the suns setting after Luke had glanced and turned away and gone inside.
We call that: beautiful garbage.
@@ZeroOskul I'd have to disagree somewhat. Longer scenes that allow you to take in the environment, was of living, etc aren't bad at all. The problem comes when it's done so much that it affects proper story progression. Also, if done too much or with the wrong scenes, an audience disconnect will start to happen because it's allowing for too much time for any emotional investment gained to started dying down. It's definitely ok to have scenes like this but it has to be done right. I love this movie and can say it's not boring, but it does drag at times. The reason it didn't work as well for this movie because there wasn't any real in depth story. Very basic and not much to go on with character stories or history to get incredibly invested to where the audience wouldn't mind the drawn out scenes. Another issue is that the movie spent good story time on the Skeksis and Mystics but Jen and Kira were just "there". Which, unfortunately, leads to 50% of the movie being lackluster. You could skip all scenes with them and be missing out on nothing. So, the movie isn't boring. Just half of it is. Once in a while I watch it and seriously I fast forward through them. lol The Skeksis and score saved this movie from being obsolete. Great story but poorly executed.
@@toxikelement1372 From a storytelling standpoint, any frames that only let you take in scenery that has nothing to do with the story are bad.
This always negatively effects proper story progression.
That we don't have character histories to get invested in and we only get glimpses of people living as people who engage in activities that are never explained and what is explained is not conducive to the plot, just makes it plod.
Half-boring isn't great.
I can sit through a bad movie that flows with flaws.
I can sit through *Prometheus.*
Apparently the script is based on a 25-page story that Jim Henson wrote while snowed-in at an airport and everything the screenwriter did emphasized those original ideas without exploring them more thoroughly.
Imagine if Jen knew about the Crystal and that Kira had wings because he learned stuff when they did the spirit joining handshake through which they learned stuff.
@@ZeroOskul are you ok?
@@ZeroOskulread the books. They’ll blow you away.
The netflix prequel series Dark Crystal Age of Resistance is also fantastic. Henson company worked on that too
I'd really recommend reacting to this show. Its a legit work of art. It only came out a few years ago, so its pacing is much more in line with what modern audiences would expect. Even though I grew up with the movie, personally, I think the show is far superior.
Also, I haven't seen that many people react to it, so it would be a nice addition.
It's such a shame they didn't get another series. They could've even just done an hour and a half movie to finish off the story.
@@DarkAngel459then the story arch’s got canceled alone with the future seasons to make room for cuties. Lmao
@@DarkAngel459yeah. The age of resistance is great but it’d also need to FOMO to the age of resistance and the age of harmony to really show the scope. But yes. There is Silmarillion level fetal to Tim Henson’s books. Heck. Even the book-ificartion of the movie really is amazing too.
@@DarkAngel459deep dive into the Dark Crystal Conjunction Channel lore playlist after watching the series folks!
This was Jim Henson taking his Muppets to the next level, realism. He had wanted to move to film and wanted to create more realistic puppets and The Dark Crystal is the outcome. This is still one of my favorite movies, so glad to have had this growing up during my teen years.
This wasn't exactly Jim Henson taking the Muppets to the next level; this was Jim Henson wanting to experiment with the medium of puppetry in the hopes of avoiding being forever known as "the Muppet man". To completely differentiate his felt-and-fabric megastars with the new, realistic, sophisticated animatronic puppets he was creating for The Dark Crystal, he laid the foundation for what is known today as Jim Henson's Creature Shop, assembling a team of around 60 people to build, fabricate, and wrangle the characters, all based on concept designs by famous fantasy illustrator Brian Froud.
But it wasn't just the design of the creatures that was different from the popular Muppet style; it was also the movements of their puppets. Jim Henson not only co-produced, wrote, and co-directed The Dark Crystal, but he was also its lead puppeteer, operating main protagonist Jen (and the Skeksis Ritual Master). To get the Gelflings to move more realistically than a regular Muppet, Henson and fellow Muppet performer Kathryn Mullen (the puppeteer behind Kira, the other lead character) actually moved on their knees. For the villainous Skeksis, they were simply the Muppet performers in bulky costumes with electronic hand puppet heads (think a more advanced Big Bird). The infamous Chamberlain, primarily puppeteered by Frank Oz (the film's other director, who also operated Aughra), was built with over 20 mechanical components and required up to six people to control all of his features, even incorporating a smile mechanism into his face (a suggestion from Oz when building the Chamberlain puppet).
But the hardest characters in the film to operate were undoubtedly the Mystics. For those creatures, Henson would hire a team of dancers, mimes, clowns and acrobats, all of whom had to walk on their haunches with their arms raised above their heads to make them move. Three of the Mystic puppeteers also played the Landstriders.
Most of the characters were puppeteered by Henson's team and voiced by other actors (two of the Skeksis, the Ritual Master and the dying Emperor, were voiced by another veteran Muppeteer, Jerry Nelson), while the dying Mystic Master and two of the Skeksis were voiced by their puppeteers (Brian Muehl as the dying Master and the Skeksis Ornamentalist, and Steve Whitmire as the Skeksis Scientist).
This is one of my favorite films of the 80s. Everything...the visuals, the production design, the "we are all one" spiritual theme, and especially that score! I am a huge Lord of the Rings fan, and up to this point the only film version was Ralph Bakshi's very flawed animated version...Jackson's films were still 20 years in the future. I remember sitting in the theater in 1982 and thinking THIS is what a filmed LOTR needs to look and feel like. Brian Froud's conceptual design, even down the the title font, was breathtaking. There were books dedicated just to that. Labyrinth feels to me very much like a product of its time, while this feels timeless to me. BTW, the narration was not originally there, and yes it is a bit clunky at times. Originally Jim Henson wanted the whole thing to be done in the language of each creature...but it was decided this would be too confusing to the audience. Glad you got to watch this, even if it wasn't your favorite.
Bakshi's "Wizards" (1977) is not to be missed.
I think this movie is why I love worldbuilding in fantasy novels. All those shots of the forests and the creatures within it just going about their business, a tree randomly getting up and moving, things you think are rocks are mouths... I just loved how weird and different it was.
"End, begin, all the same. Big change. Sometimes good. Sometimes bad."
Fun Fact: Jim Henson's plan with this movie was to get back to the darkness of original Brothers Grimm fairy tales. He felt that children liked the idea of being scared and that this was a healthy emotion for them with which to deal.
Left Hanging Fact: The Garthim costumes were so heavy that the performers had to be hung up on a rack every five minutes to rest while still in costume.
Doozer Revolt Fact: Early drafts of the script featured Jen and Kira travelling through the underworld, where they encountered a race of underground mining creatures. The concept was later integrated into Fraggle Rock (1983).
Full Circle Fact: Conceptual artist Brian Froud and puppet designer Wendy Midener met on the set of this movie and were later married. Their son Toby Froud would work on the prequel series The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance (2019) as a designer 37 years later.
Froud Land Fact: Brian Froud based the Mystics on a previously designed troll from his book The Land Of Froud (1977). In order to keep the two creatures separate for licensing purposes, he designed the Mystics to have four arms. This way Froud would keep copyright of his trolls while Jim Henson got the right to the Mystics. The Skeksis also have four arms, but their second set, a pair of tiny chicken legs beneath their shoulder blades, are mostly hidden from view. The only time you can catch a glimpse of them in this movie is after the Chamberlain has been stripped of his robes.
Loved this film in my teen years. They released a bunch of tie-in books at the time with beautiful artwork by Brian Froud that really fleshed out the worldbuilding. (Much of this was in the original script but they dumbed it down a lot, presumably to make it more accessible.)
37 years later, Netflix commissioned the series "The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance", which is a prequel to the movie and shows the Gelfling uprising against the Skeksis as they became more and more tyrannical. It was produced by the Jim Henson Company and ran for ten episodes, receiving lots of critical acclaim, but then Netflix canceled it becasue they SUCK. 😡
Yes, cancelling that show was a big mistake, it was really faithful to the style and setting of the original movie.
Showing your age🤣👍
@@lazarus5609 Thanks, feeling it too. 😝
I think one of the reasons they cancelled the series, and this is just my opinion, possible spoiler alert....
As the series would have gone on it would have gotten extremely depressing and violent. We all know what happened to the Gelflings and only two survived their race being wiped out. The show ended on such a positive note with the Gelfling victory, but it won't last long now that the Skeksis have their superweapon the Garthim. The last two Gelflings being smuggled into safety would be the series highlight but getting to that point would be a complete downer because all of the other Gelflings would have been killed. The enslavement of the Podlings would also make for pretty depressing TV and I think those reasons are a contributing factor as to why the show didn't continue.
I remember going to see this in the cinema in '82, (I think), and it was very much a kind of continuation of what we'd come to expect as far as sci-fi fantasy type movies were concerned. 'The Empire Strikes Back', was still, very much in our minds, so when a puppet based story that featured characters not too dissimilar to Yoda made an appearance, everyone had to go see it. And, we weren't disappointed. It was a good story and the puppetry was very innovative for the time. Nothing like it had been seen before, (other than the aforementioned TESB.) So, it was a big deal. Imitating skekSil's whine became a bit of a fad, as I recall. Well, at least, for a couple of weeks.
This is one of my all time favorite movies. I remember watching it as a very young kid and it was scary, but it made me a stronger kid for having watched it, and then I just loved it.
OMG! This one is one of my all-time favorites to!
The filmmaking shorthand has changed a lot since 1983. We've all seen a lot of movies and we know the shorthand, but back then, they still showed the guy driving up in his car, knocking on the door, and so on. We know we don't need to see that anymore, but back then, it was a different time.
so much craftsmanship in this, the netflix series also looked fantastic, wow!! thanks for reacting mate!
I think I agree with you that the movie isn't paced and presented the best, I think JH knew he had one shot at this, he wasn't going to be able to make this a movie series so he had to do all the world building, character development, awe inspiring visuals and story telling in one movie.
Labyrinth was Alice In wonderland or the wizard of oz and had the benefit of an audience surrogate to be amazed with us at all the new things. Dark crystal didn't have that luxury so there's a little more disconnect with the audience. Still it's experimental and unique, one of the most ambitious and brilliant movies ever made.
For another visually stunning movie, watch Tarsim Singh's 'The Fall' (2006)
This is one of my all time favorite movies. Epic in its scope and design. The Skeksis are looking into those beams of light coming from the crystal to replenish their health to live forever. A new king must be crowned because the old one is dying. There's a prophesy that says a Gelfling will destroy the Skeksis, so that's why the Mystics didn't tell him about the shard yet because they wanted to protect and hide him for as long as possible so the Skeksis wouldn't know he existed. This movie does have some slow scenes but it's to showcase what they could do with an entirely created world of puppets...something that had never been done before and remember it is all practical. There's no CGI at this time. The really amazing thing about this movie and what sets it apart from almost all other movies including Labrinth is that there are no human characters. All of the characters are puppets. The story is actually a very classic story but with the twist that the heroes and the villains are actually one half, good and bad, of the same beings whose physical selves were split along with the crystal when it split.
Keep in mind back then that CG didn't exists. Animation was in the middle of a black age. Computers didn't exist. Cable didn't exist. DVD didn't exist. Television had 3 channels and 2 of them didn't come in. The Dark Cystal came at just the right time. The Jim Henson Company and crew were commedians doing musical comedy and standup - with puppets. The extended scenes were them doing what they did. For your generation, story is king, but for my generation, experience was everything. We went to the movies for a thrill ride, or a great big laugh, or to see the lion roar, or the two bears boxing each other, or for that moment when the T-Rex falls in love for the first time. Story was just something we suffered through to see our favorite scenes.
You should watch Jim Henson's The Storyteller an amazing 80's tv series about telling folk tales with puppets
The storyteller is a masterpiece or a series. The Greek myths is good too.
I was born in the early 80s and Dark Crystal was so scary when I first watched it that I haven't seen it since. I have a good tolerance for horror now but I've never gone back. Thanks for doing this! Similar: Killer Clowns from Outer Space, Ghoulies.
Why haven't you gone back to THIS movie? and have you seen the Netflix prequel?
Very well-thought-out review. I saw this movie in the theatre with my brother when it came out.
Comparing the Skeksis dinner to ASMR made me laugh harder than it should have 😅 Always great to see a Dark Crystal reaction!
You just cant beat some of the old classic films! This what we 90s kids grew up on, thats why appreciate well made films. I kinda miss the use of puppetry in films these days.
Your journey is far from over. Believe me. It’s intensely deep and beautiful stuff usually most people who love the film and the books have quite an old soul. Those same souls have quite a list of vast interests. Empathic and so forth; from what I have found over the years.
The Mystics & Skeksis are incredible puppets! The puppeteer is inside the body: one arm controlling the arms (mechanical armature); & the other in the neck controlling the head.
I don't know if this is available, but several years ago the Syfy Channel aired Jim Henson's Creature Challenge. Puppet designers competed to earn a job in the Henson Studio. I only bring it up because one of the challenges was to design an original Skeksis! Really demonstrated how these puppets worked.
The "beetle things" literally look like ticks.
The limitations of the Gelfling puppets is why Henson's 2nd fantasy, The Labyrinth, stayed away from "human" puppets. Everyone was dissatisfied with the Gelflings.
This movie will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first movie I remember seeing in the the theater when it first came out. I was 4 and I loved the whole experience. In the end it is one of my favorite movies. But it is a weird one. I think Labyrinth is a better movie though. Tighter. I’ve read that they had a lot of trouble with the Gelflings, because they are so human like. Other Muppets “hop” as they walk. Jem had to move more like a real person, which is difficult to portray. So, they had to bring in actors to show movement from a distance.
I was 7 when this movie came out and my parents surprised me that Friday night instead of going grocery shopping like we always did we went and saw The Dark Crystal. My eyes were glued to the screen the whole time. It does move slow but that never bothered me. Still love this movie to this day.
You should watch the prequel series on Netflix. It moves a lot faster and for me it’s like a puppet version of Game of Thrones. ❤
Love this movie. It was a big part of my childhood 😊
I loved the way u loved this film. One one my Dad's favorites. Brilliance
Ever since i saw this movie (im 18 now) I’ve always love everything about. Jim Henson wasn’t just the muppet man
I love this film. I've watched it God only knows how many times since I was 4 or 5.
Just an idea, but if you like comedies and franchises, which you certainly seem to... How about the Pink Panther films?
The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, The Return of the Pink Panther, The Pink Panther Strikes again and Revenge of the Pink Panther. The first one's perfectly funny but the sequels are hilarious. My favourite being Stries Back. That opening scene! :D
I live not far from the waterfall Jen crosses. It’s called Gordale Scar. It’s located outside the village of Malham in North Yorkshire. It contains two waterfalls and has overhanging limestone cliffs over 330 feet (100 m) high. The gorge could have been formed by water from melting glaciers or a cavern collapse. The stream flowing through the scar is Gordale Beck, which on leaving the gorge flows over Janet's Foss (another waterfall & believed to be named after the fairy queen who lives in the cave behind the waterfall) before joining Malham Beck 2 miles (3 km) downstream to form the River Aire.
Malham is also home to Malham Cove. The cove was formed by a large Ice-age river that fell at this point as a cataract. The water drop was 80 m (260 ft) high and more than 300 m (980 ft) wide. The water flowing over the waterfall created the curved shape of the cove because the lip was more heavily eroded than the sides. During the floods of December 2015, the waterfall flowed again for the first time in centuries. The cove & the limestone pavement appeared in Harry Potter The Deathly Hallows Pt1 (Harry & Hermione camp at the top of the cove).
The film was shot at Elstree Studios from April-September 1981, and exterior scenes were shot in the Scottish Highlands; Gordale Scar, North Yorkshire, and Twycross, Leicestershire, England.
I liked that this movie tried for some fantasy gravitas (even if the result could be a little bleak), where Labyrinth was stylistically all over the map for tone:
Case in point, in a disastrous earlier cut of this film, Aughra the seer was supposed to be a pure comic relief character, voiced by Frank Oz’s “Crazy Yoda” voice…Before being dubbed over by the evil nanny from The Omen.
Beautiful film. Nothing else like it, it’s one of a kind.
I was like 5 or 6 when I got to watch this film. Listening to your critique of the film it made me think maybe that's why I liked it as a kid. A lot of stuff was just outright told to me rather than me having to try to infer meaning and possibly missing things. I definitely understand the critique of the film, though. I do remember rewatching the film when I was in my late teens and finding it a lot slower and more boring than I had remembered as a kid. So I agree that the high rating is possibly due to nostalgia from folks who watched it when they were very young, like I did. There were books and stuff made that helped kids delve deeper into Thra (that's the planet's name the film occurs in) and I read some of them as a kid so that definitely plays a role in my love for this film, too, since the books add depth. In fact whenever Netflix announced they were making a series The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance there was a part of me that was very excited because it meant seeing part of the history of Thra outside of books and in a tv/film version. I actually thought it was going to be animated until it was confirmed that it would be live action puppets like the film. However, there was a part of me that was cautious about wanting to watch it. Having remembered that as I got older I didn't really enjoy watching the film as much as I did as a kid, it made me think that I might not enjoy the series if it were done the same way. Thankfully the story does move a lot quicker and is done in more modern storytelling styles and you get to connect with characters. I think they also updated some of the looks of different species because having gone back and watched the film after watching the series, the series definitely seems to have added depth to so many species' puppets that allow them to convey more emotions, etc, than they do in the films. I still like The Dark Crystal over The Labyrinth, but I have plenty of friends who disagree and say The Labyrinth is better. I'm pretty sure my reading of some of the books, comics, etc plays a role in my enjoyment of The Dark Crystal over Th Labyrinth, though. I definitely recommend the books, comics, etc if you enjoy reading. I haven't read them all, but there were lots published and even new ones published now (I own a couple of the new ones which were gifted to me by my mom, though I haven't read them yet). If you're wanting a more faster paced story done in more modern style storytelling then the Netflix series, which is a prequel to the film, is something I'd recommend watching. Mark Hamil (who plays Luke Skywalker in Star Wars) voices a character in the Netflix series. Unfortunately Netflix chose to only do one season of the series, probably due to costs, and I kinda hope they consider maybe doing an animated version or maybe Disney will pick it up. Mostly because I have friends who don't really enjoy reading so won't read the books, comics, etc, but they did enjoy the Netflix series and it was fun getting to talk to them about Thra and The Dark Crystal in ways we hadn't really gotten to before. Sorry you didn't fully enjoy the film, but I appreciate you giving it a try and watching it. I understand the reasons why you didn't like it and I understand the reasons you liked the things you liked. I think you provided a great critique of the film. I'd say that based on your critique that maybe the film just hasn't aged well in that the storytelling style just isn't for today's audiences. I mean, I have a friend who when her kids where 5, 6, and 7 wouldn''t let them watch the film. She said it wasn't age appropriate for them to watch. So they didn't watch it until they were in their early teens. They also didn't care much for the film. Meanwhile a friend who let her daughter watch it at 4 enjoyed the movie and watched it repeatedly until she was 7 or 8. I don't know if that was the intentions of Henson when making the film with this storytelling style, but if so then I think he succeeded. If not, then it didn't work out like he thought it would and that's okay, too.
Great video reaction! Thanks for making and sharing this!
I'm watching the movie Dark Crystal right now on RUclips Blessings and HUGS! 👑💜
When I was a kid, I used to ALWAYS get Dark Crystal & Labyrinth confused with each other. Well guess what? Over 35 years later and I STILL do because I saw the upload and wondered, didn’t he already do this movie?? Is this a re-upload? Nope, I was thinking of Labyrinth 🤣
I loved this movie, when I was a kid back in the 80s and I still do but I also completely get your points of criticism from an adult's perspective.
Thank you, Ollie! 😊
I saw this as a child and was SO fascinated with the creatures in it. I am not sure if I'd ever seen such unique creatures in a movie, even now as an adult. Once I typed that, I immediately thought of the ones in "Avatar", but you know what... I think having these creatures as actual physical puppets made them seem more "real" (and WEIRD for sure!). And like you said... there were many disgusting aspects to some of them. I think parts of this movie had disturbed me more than some horror movies (and yes I started watching horror movies as a child too!)
I've always tried to figure out if those prominences on the Landstriders were their scapulas... still can't find that info (IF it's out there), lol.
Fizzgig's little tantrum were you could see all its teeth was HILARIOUS and CUTE I've always thought! :D
This movie scared me as a kid because of the creepy muppets
Oh yeah, good video ! This movie is magnificent !!❤
It’s been ages since I’ve seen this movie. Your commentary had me laughing the whole time. 🤣
The Muppets have televisions in them, so the artist can see what's going on.
For best results watch this as a pre-teen. The fantasy is a bit lost if you first watch it and your not a child anymore. :)
The studio overdubbed a lot of this movie. The skeksis originally had their own unique language.
Yes. It’s quite a fascinating language ! Same with podling(which is very fascinating)
Languages of Thra headcanons :
* Aughra’s language is the original language all beings of Thra spoke. Then as they drifted apart they divided into dialects and with time dialects turnt into their own languages (Gelfling, Podling, Gruenak)
* The Song of the Dead the main cast sing in episode 6 is not Gelfling but that language, many ritualistic or traditional ancient songs across the peoples of Tjra are in that original language even if they don’t necessarily know what it means ; hence why Hup knew the song he too
* Gruenak and Podling are actually very close, like Portuguese and Spanish, some can understand each other when speaking together with not too complicated words. Same for Gelfling and Spoken Arathim that are even closer, like Corsican and Italian, all Gelflings and Arathils understand each other hence why they all speak in English to our ears. Nobody really knows how these 2 categories grew so different from each other. But after all the 4 languages are very different from the Original language
* Arathims were basically the first people of Thra to have their own language basically before the others did since we could say the contrary happened : when they were created and appeared on the planet, they already communicated instinctively through these clicks and growls and body gestures as well as pheromones and ultrasounds. They had to learn the common language afterward to be understood, but in a way they are proud to have been the first civilized people of Thra to have a language and be able to communicate even begore Aughra came
* Arathims have the particularity to have 2 languages : one is that animalistic one we know only them can speak because only them have the necessary organs and sensoritary abilities, and another derivated from Aughra’s language inspired from Gelfling’s (since they used to live side by side with the Grottans and Vaprans before what they saw as a betrayal) in order to communicate more easily with everyone else
* For some unknown reason, Firelings actually speak the same language as Gelflings. It probably has to do with how they used to be one same species but they had to leave and adapt to their environment. There is still a debate on who actuallt inspired who and thus if it should truely be called Gelfling or Fireling
* Even if they are not from Thra, Skeksis and UrRu have their own language we call Skeksish but that should actually be called UrSkeksish since it was the language of the UrSkeks. It is a mix of spoken words and growls, that the Skeksis use together or when they don’t want to be understood by others (such as when SkekVar and SkekZok comment on how the princesses all look the same ; they don’t whisper low enough for Seladon not to hear, she hears but doesn’t understand). Jen understands both UrSkeksish and Gelfling, but can not speak it, unable to repeat the growls with a lack of necessary vocal chords. Neither the UrRu nor the Skeksis have accents because they basically have been practicing Aughra’s language and Gelfling for like 2000 years from the moment they were UrSkeks ; as UrSkeks they originally used a universal translator they were provided with on their banishment but their curiosity and friendship with Mother Aughra had them truely learn
Yay! One of my favorite movis ever! I feel like I grew up in that castle... Can't wait to watch!
I also still think you need to watch "Short Circuit 1 and 2"....Awesome 80's movies!!!!
i love this film, seen it in the theater, i have it on dvd. GREAT
My dude, the farther back in history you go the slower the pacing of movies and shows gets. Compare and contrast 1982's Dark Crystal with 2001's Moulin Rouge, which, at the time, was criticized openly and loudly that it happened too fast so the older generations literally couldn't follow it and had to watch the film several times to understand what was going on. (And nowadays, Moulin Rouge is meh, kinda slow).
The Dark Crystal was a product of its times. Back then, world building was not common. We didn't have words for the concept. (I was a kid and saw this in the theaters on opening weekend. No one had ever seen anything like this before.) So we needed the slow pace, the wide sweeping panoramic shots, and the time to absorb and adjust to the film's reality.
Labyrinth came out in 1986. The Dark Crystal in 1981. You know what else launched in 1981? MTV. 5 years of music videos, quicker scene cuts, and a whole heapload of fantasy movies like Legend and Neverending Story, Excalibur, Dragonslayer, Ladyhawke, Clash of the Titans, Time Bandits, Krull, Red Sonja, ET, Conan the Barbarian, Gremlins, The Last Unicorn, the Rats of NIMH, the Indiana Jones franchise... they taught us how to approach and appreciate world building. And MTV every year kept feeding us a steady diet of music videos that got more and more artistic with faster cuts and flashing transitions that taught us how to pay attention to a faster pace of information presentation. Something which continues to increase in speed.
Don't knock the Crystal, man. That's how you get Skeksis.
Hehe, just wondering... Does anyone else who has been watching this channel for a while now hear Ollie commenting in the background whenever they watch a movie now? :)
One of the greatest fantasy movies from the 80's! Jim Jenson's Masterpiece! If you can find it, you should watch the "Making of the Dark Crystal". How they did alot of the movie Is even as magical as the movie itself, speciually wiith the Skexis and the Gartham!
This movie was an experimental piece by Jim Henson. It's a beautiful movie; will crafted in it's art and style, puppeteering, and musical score. That being said; it truly lacked in storytelling and pacing. The back story of the main two characters was convoluted, and lacked the deeper insight needed. The victory felt hollow; as well just didn't spend enough time in this world, to truly make you care. This is not one of my favorite Jim Henson films, but it's one I do like.
Jim Henson is a genius.
@_RolyPolyOllieReactions thanks
Aughra is my favorite Halloween costume now that I’m an old woman and have come to terms with the fact I’m just not a Kira, haha. I think the high score is because it’s a cult classic with great nostalgia.
The ending, explained:
The glowing beings, the UrSkeks, long ago, during the last Conjunction, attempted to use the Crystal to purge all the evil from within themselves, for they were kindly, goodnatured beings that abhorred their dark impulses and aspects.
But it went wrong. Instead, it sundered them and split them each into two separate but linked beings: For each UrSkek, a kindly, gentle uRu, and a cruel, powerhungry Skeksis. All of their positive traits and all their negative traits, each given a form of their own, separate but one. The Skeksis had all the ambition, the pride, the cleverness, the anger, all the will. They quickly dominated the land. The uRu went into peaceful exile, greater in power, but of little will, bereft of ambition. They got the understanding, the empathy, the wisdom, the restraint, the tranquility. And both were forever out of balance, doing no good for the world... the Skeksis being unwilling, and the uRu being unable.
The Crystal had the power to reverse this, but the Skeksis, now unfettered from their better natures, did not want this reversed. The Emperor hefted his scepter, and struck the Crystal, breaking off the Shard and causing the Crystal to Darken... for the Crystal, not whole itself, would lack the power to unite the UrSkeks again. For a thousand years thus, the Skeksis ruled while the uRu could do nothing to resist, and the Gelfling and Podling races fell into thrall beneath them.
Once reunited, the UrSkeks decided they had done enough damage to the world of Thra, and went themselves into exile using the Crystal. They had never meant any harm... entirely the opposite, but their pride and folly had caused so much death and destruction they felt they had to answer for it. They left the Crystal with Jen and Kira, after using it to restore every bit of life the Skeksis had consumed to sustain themselves... including, according to Henson, every Gelfling they ever drained to death for essence to consume... though restoring the otherwise slain Gelflings was beyond their power. They were only able to raise Kira because she was dyING, not quite dead yet. In this manner they made amends as best they could, and then departed.
deep dive into the Dark Crystal Conjunction Channel lore playlist after watching the series folks!
I was 18 when this came out. I dragged my 2 friends to see it because I was a Jim Hensen fan. My one friend got us really baked and we tripped balls watching this!! My one buddy was really freaking out! Lol Man the 80s were good!
The emperor that crumbled was puppet made of wax, they placed heat element to make that effect. Th Gartham where so heavy & hot that the people that wore them hat to wear cooling armors
Frank Oz was the voice/puppeteer for Yoda in the original Star Wars trilogy.
deep dive into the Dark Crystal Conjunction Channel lore playlist after watching the series folks!
Please react to the series.
I admit wasn't an instant love at first site. The first time I saw it, I thought it was fun and interesting, but it was on multiple second generation vhs viewings that it became what it is for me.
Are we sure that he's the only Chosen One here? It's more like Chosen Ones.
The term "Go big or go home" was invented for film like The Dark Crystal and Walt Disney's Fantasia. Like Fantasia, The Dark Crystal was a passion project of Jim Henson's and also like Fantasia, its failure at the box office struck deep and robbed us all of boundary pushing, cinema. Glorious films that point to a well of artistry that still remains untapped.
It was not a box office failure. It spent about 25 million and made about 45 million. Now Labyrinth was the failure you want to attribute to The Dark Crystal.
The Dark Crystal was in 3rd place during it's first two weeks I think, then moved up to 2nd place.
Labyrinth opened at 8th place and went down from there.
Granular, desaturated, soft anamorphic filmic. Cinematic.
While obviously not the case, I have to admit it WOULD be rather funny if the Skek'sis did pick their Emperor through a staring contest with the crystal.
My mom took me to see this when it was released and it’s still one of my favorite movies. I used to own the children’s storybook and I still own the comic adaptation and CD soundtrack. There’s a LOT the movie doesn’t explain that is covered in other material, such as how the urSkeks came to the world of Thra and attempted to use the Crystal to remove negative emotions, resulting in the Great Division.
IMO the most fascinating thing is how the Skeksis were originally not going to speak English among themselves, and their emotions and intentions would be conveyed only through physical movements and tone of voice. Test audiences had a hard time following everything so the decision was made very late in production to re-dub their dialogue in English and simplify some terms. This change happened so late that other material (such as the comic) still used the old dialogue, like “Haakskeekah” instead of “Trial by Stone” and “urRu” instead of “Mystics”.
So sad the show got cancelled right after the original voice actor for the general was announced to be involved.
They sure do have a lot of planets.
I Love This Film. Love It. ❤️
Wonder if he's heard the song 'beetlebum'
70 is a borderline C- and may or may not be considered passing based on university major requirements. It may be technically passing if not required for a major.
So if the movie has a C- , that sounds about right. Giving it a D might be a bit harsh considering all the effort and breakthrough in puppetry this film was.
Re-posted because an impersonator replied to my comment.
I think you should watch it again in a bit. Then perhaps get a feeling that I get! I grew up with this stuff! Love your content. The long shots are to explore the masters that get things done. They get little credit! Keep on. I work for Broadway SF and behind the show is a lot of talent.
I'd be interested to see what you think of The Secret of NYMH
@BennyFord he'd love Adventures In Babysitting lol
The only 3 TRULY GREAT characters in the movie are Auhgra, cause she's badass; The Chamberlain, because he keeps you guessing as to his motivations almost up until the end; & Fizzzgigg because he's the ONLY CHARACTER IN THE WHOLE MOVIE WHO YOU CAN SEE HIS EMOTIONS, & also because the cute & gentle yet vicious-looking little Yeti Hamster Puppy steals each & every scene he appears in.
MOVIE Reaction: 'The Golden Child' (1986).
STARRING: Eddie Murphy
Based on the parts you liked about this movie, if you were ever to sit an watch a show, I would recommend Farscape for you.
This movie is so epic! But it certainly demands attention which few have these days. All I can say is......"mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm", "mmmmmmmmmm".
lol if you know you know.
The perfect Halloween movie and a great film that traumatized me😅
if you hadn't done it, please consider the movie Legend from the 80s...it's good vs evil fantasy style...it has both Tim Curry and Tom Cruise
Excellent review, reaction, and critique. I agree with almost all of what you said. For all the effort to give the puppets personality/character, the writing failed to do the same. The characters were very tropey and two-dimensional. The story could've been stronger, too. It had a lot of great strengths, though, and I always applaud creativity and breaking the mold. Henson deserves nothing but respect.
I see you watched the version with the vulture things speaking English.
There is another version where they speak in some weird vulture language and it's not subtitled either so you have to figure out for yourself at what they might be saying.
It makes it better I think because your imagination fills in the gaps.
Plus did you notice during the movie that when the baddies die, one random good guy dies too.
So many people miss that detail.
They are two halves of the same creature and one can't survive without the other.
"An emperor lies dying, today a new emperor must seize the throne"
"Wait a new one, why?"
Sigh! No-one listens anymore
TBH I didn't see this movie for the first time until 2018, HOWEVER I was given a hand-me-down copy of the novelization based upon the book by my older cousin as a Christmas present in 1987 when I was 6 years-old. I LOVED the novelization. It was well paced, far superior to the movie that it was based upon. The movie is GOOD, but it just doesn't give dividends until about halfway through the movie due to the poor pacing. If I hadn't read the novelization so many times & loved it, I probably wouldn't have made it through the movie my first time without shutting it off & abandoning it. Generally speaking I prefer to experience a movie & book in production order, the movie first if it's a novelization of the movie or the book first if it's a movie based upon the book; but "The Dark Crystal" is one of the few that breaks that mold for me because even though the movie came first & was novelized, the novelization is just better than the movie & the movie just cannot be enjoyed well without reading the novelization first IMO.
If you like to see see animated puppets / stop motion of a morbid kind, I recommend the *masterpiece* "Mad God". Its R+ rated though.
You should watch the Netflix series it greatly expands on the lore and is just as visually amazing.
Netflix made a Dark crystal series about 2 years ago I think it has only 1 season but is really good
It was meant to have many. Guess what it was replaced with! 😮
The other seasons were to go more towards the books and connect eventually to the movie in an LOTR three part segment of one story within a story with multiple eras
Essentially the story of the series got chopped off at fellowship of the ring without the other two movies sort of level. That’s from my book knowledge and other stuff kicking in
I did not feel this film had any "fluff" scenes, but I am perhaps more patient than you. Or maybe you have no patience.
I gather he doesn’t. Not many of my generation have that in the DNA anymore it seems lol
Skeksis actually have 4 arms like the Mystics... its a pitty we never got to see the early post split Skeksis, the TV series was earlier in history but they still looked more like they did in the movie... which is a pitty given the Skeksis originally were actually brightly colored and 'beautiful' more like tall lizard birds.
The art book that was released with the movie explains alot that SHOULD have been explained in the movie, which is something the recent TV series did alot better in doing. Just a pitty they never got another season of it...
Even as someone that saw it in the thearter and many times on TV as a kid in the 80's (and a Henson fan for decades) I too found it a little 'slow' in places and a little confusing in places with the lack of explanations. Granted I had the art book to help fill in gaps lol... I definitely preferred Labyrinth over it, but still respect the scope and effort required for it to be made.
20:45 beetlebum is a good song
Please watch Enemy Mine, another 80s classic.
I don’t know y but I always loved the sesksi very interesting race and look
They’re only one half of a whole. The story is intense. Silmarillion level of depth. Watch Dark Crystal Conjunction channel lore videos playlist he made. Also he did a playthrough of the dark crystal computer game too and his live streams are always fun. Even his old ones that are still up to watch on playback. ❤
Good ups.
So if you were a dark lord, would you want an army of Garthim, stormtroopers, Klingons, or orcs?
This movie is deeper than you know. watch it again and think about about our world and specifically politics and the human condition
I need that shirt
Dog, not puppy.
someone is hacking your channel and telling people they won a prize from you
Some best movies with Puppets
Any thing under the Muppets title
Emit Otter's Jugband Christmas
Never-ending Story
the 1st 2 TMNT movies
MIB franchise
Return to Oz
Little Shop of Horrors
warriors of virtue
King kong 1976
An American Werewolf in London
ET
Flight of the Navigator
Jurassic Park
Follow That Bird
Howard the Duck
Ghostbusters
Return of the Jedi
Gremlins 1 and 2
Garbage Pail Kids
Mars Attacks
Child's Play
baby: secret of the lost legend
The Great Panda Adventure
Congo
And since you have a Dog with you here are some fun dog movies
Lassie Come Home
Snoopy Come Home
Son of Lassie
Courage of Lassie
Benji 1974
For the Love of Benji
Benji the Hunted
benji zax and the alien prince
Benji 2018
The Return of Rin Tin Tin (looks like a lot of silent era films for this dog so I gave you a late era)
The Incredible Journey
Homeward Bound
the shaggy dog 1959
The Shaggy D.A.
the Ugly Dochshound
One Hundred and One Dalmatians animated or live action
Lady and the Tramp animated or live action
Beethoven
Beethoven 2
Balto
Isle of Dogs
Scoob
Scooby Doo franchise
Bolt
zeus and Roxanne
All Dogs go to Heaven
'Oliver & Company
The Adventures of Milo and Otis
Mr. Peabody and Sherman
K-9 Cop
The Mask
Underdog
Clifford the Big Red Dog
Marmaduke
Cats and Dogs
Pets
Look Who's Talking Now
Air Bud
Dr. Dolittle (this has multiple versions 3 different eras 3 different actors each very different )
Oddball
belle and sebastian
The Little Rascals
The Dogway Melody
UP
Documentaries with fake animals
Walking With Dinosaurs
The Last Dragon
Alien Autopsy
Mermaids: The Body Found
Awesome movie!....There is a NETFLIX series as well I think its a Prequel series of The Dark Crystal....Check it out!!!
Did you say OK ?
I think The Dark Crystal is better than Labyrinth.
Ogra is totally related to Yoda...lol
Aughra
She’s actually a primordial benign similar to that of a Maia or a Vala from The Silmarillion.