The Dark Crystal

The Dark Crystal is a 1982 fantasy film by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Like most of Henson's other work, its characters are muppets (a merging of a marionette and a puppet), but The Muppet Show characters for which he is famous do not appear (though some of the same voice actors 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. Mention should also be made of the film's atmospheric music score by Trevor Jones. The movie makes an attempt to study the nature of good and evil in terms of conscience, vital drive, and harmony. The film was produced by ITC Entertainment - the British production company responsible for producing The Muppet Show.

Technical Notes

The Dark Crystal was made in the era between traditionally animated feature films and later movies produced by computer-generated techniques. All characters in the movie are muppets, and none are based on humans or any other specific Earth creature.

Related Topics:
Traditionally animated - Computer-generated - Earth

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Originally, members of one of the factions, the Skeksis, were meant 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 recent DVD release.

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