The Dark Crystal premiered on December 17, 1982, wedged somewhat oddly between The Great Muppet Caper and the premiere of Fraggle Rock in the Great Muppet Time Line. In terms of Jim Henson’s career, placing the film chronologically is easy; figuring out how it fits into his development as an artist is a bit more complicated. The project that eventually became The Dark Crystal actually began several years earlier when Henson fell madly in love with the work of fantasy illustrator Brian Froud; they became friends, and Froud began collaborating with Henson and Frank Oz. With the help of David Odell, a former staff writer for The Muppet Show, they eventually produced the first live-action film to feature no human actors, only puppets and animatronic creatures.
The film was groundbreaking in many ways, and yet it was not considered a financial success upon release, and is often described as something of a “near classic” even by its fans. I’ve always harbored slightly mixed feelings toward The Dark Crystal; even as a kid, I remember having the sense that there were so many incredible aspects of the movie that worked well…but somehow all those amazing parts never seemed to fully come together, in the end. And so, to celebrate the movie’s fortieth anniversary this week, I decided to take another look at a film that both puzzled and fascinated me, but continues to stand as an epic work of fantasy quite unlike any other…
