If you've been around for a while then you probably remember a particular fantasy adventure movie titled The Dark Crystal.
As a child The Dark Crystal was completely captivating. It was made using Muppet type creatures by Jim Henson himself, and it even starred Jim Henson as the main character voiced in the movie.
However, these Muppets weren't the type of Muppets that you were used to seeing on Sesame Street.
The Dark Crystal was high fantasy of the JRR Tolkien type. It had nothing to do with those light and fluffy Muppet characters from your Monday morning kid's shows. It was a whole new beast. Something that we hadn't seen before.
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Quite often we remember the past with rose colored glasses. Something that we saw or heard in an earlier lifetime is painted in such a way to appear much better than it actually was.
Is this the case with The Dark Crystal?
Fortunately.... no it isn't. This movie is still completely awe inspiring.
Tagline
On another planet in the distant past, a Gelfling embarks on a quest to find the missing shard of a magical crystal, and so restore order to his world.
Well, I'm not sure why they use the word Gelfling because our main character Jen is quite clearly an elf. I guess they could have called him an Elfling if they wanted to, but maybe they were trying to just come up with their own term.
Jen is the last surviving Gelfling in a world that is ruled by creatures called Skeksis. They are essentially giant bird creatures that look like ugly twisted ravens.
They're hateful, spiteful, self-absorbed creatures that have no concern for anyone but themselves and they would just as soon see you die as raise a single hand for you.
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Truly dark and evil creatures.
On this planet there's another type of creature that also exists and has been around for exactly as long as the Skeksis.
They are called the Mystics. The Mystics are the exact opposite of the Skeksis. They are gentle creatures that would help anyone given the opportunity.
They look for the shape of kindness. They go out of their way to help everyone that they can.
Everything about the Mystics is pure and good.
Just as the Skeksis are everything that is bad about the world the Mystics are everything that is good about it.
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The Skeksis worship something called The Dark Crystal. It is a giant purple crystal that is capable of stealing the life force from different creatures, and putting it into little goblet that they are then able to drink in order to become younger.
You can see that this is not your typical Muppet Movie.
At the beginning of the movie one of the Skeksis is dying. The Emperor. One of the Mystics is also dying, and telling Jen about his role in a prophecy.
Supposedly a prophecy exists that says that the Gelfling is going to save the world by restoring the crystal and getting rid of the Skeksis.
In order to fix the crystal he has to go out and find the missing Shard that has been removed. Once The Shard is placed back in the crystal, something is supposed to happen but we aren't exactly sure what.
We just know that the crystal needs to restored before the three suns come into sync otherwise the Skeksis will live forever and never be able to be destroyed.
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Fortunately for Jen, the Mystics know exactly where the missing Shard is. It's with this creature you see above. It's only too willing to give Jen the crystal as well, assuming that he can figure out exactly which Shard it is from among several.
It doesn't take long for another Gelfling to appear. It turns out that there were actually two Gelflings in the world, and one of them is a beautiful young woman.
What a find for our main character Jen, who by the way is a young man.
It is up to Jen and his new beautiful young companion Gelfling named Kira to save the world by getting that Shard into the Crystal and thereby destroying the Skeksis.
Quite a difficult thing to do.
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Along the way Jen and Kira will explore a fantastical world full of all kinds of creatures and different plant life. It's really an incredible landscape that needs to be seen to be believed.
Jim Henson and his team did an incredible job making a world that still looks great all these years later. Now if they were to redo this movie they would certainly make some changes to both the Skeksis and the Mystics.
For instance, neither of them appear to be capable of much movement because they're so large.
If one of these creatures were to attack someone, they would certainly be able to get away just by the fact that they can barely move.
Nevertheless, it's quite admirable that they look so realistic. Even though you can tell everyone in this movie is a Muppet, they are all done in such a way as to make you really say wow that looks great.
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You read that right, by the way. Everyone and everything in this movie is a Muppet. There are no human characters in this movie. The main character is a Muppet, the main enemy is a Muppet.
Every single creature that is encountered in this movie is played by a Muppet.
That's quite a feat in and of itself. The fact that they had to move each of these creatures in such a way as to create lifelike movement is simply incredible. It really does come across as if these Muppets are moving around.
The Dark Crystal is simply an incredible movie. It has great visuals even to this day. The story is simple but well told.
If you're looking for a movie to pass the time, and you happen to come across The Dark Crystal then I say watch it.
You definitely will not be disappointed.
It's simply an amazing movie.