The Dark Crystal was filmed at the EMI Elstree Studios near London. It was here that creative supervisor Sherry Amott assembled the 60-member animatronic fabrication group who sculpted, molded, sewed and cared for the project's elaborate puppet cast. In July 1979, Henson moved the project's pre-production planning from New York to London, where he could simultaneously supervise production of the fourth season of The Muppet Show. Once Henson and Froud had developed their ideas into a storyline, David Odell was commissioned to write the screenplay. Not only the general look of the world - from skies to the landscapes - but down to the smallest details which included things like knives and forks, pots and pans, the everyday minutiae details of the creatures of that lived in this world. I was responsible for the conception of an entire world, a world that had never been seen before. Whereas the Muppets are very simple bold shapes, what I designed was very complex and complicated. “(Henson) was, I think, looking for something different to the style he had been working in and it's interesting to discover how different it was. Henson immediately contacted Froud, who agreed to act as the project's conceptual designer. Henson was beginning to visualize the creatures that would inhabit this world of good and evil when he discovered The Land of Froud, a collection of drawings by Brian Froud. When Jim Henson began work on The Dark Crystal in 1977, he had no story, just a sense of the kind of fantasy world he wanted to create.
Jim Henson, Gary Kurtz and Frank Oz during the filming for The Dark Crystal. The two must battle the evil Skeksis and save Thra. On his quest to The Castle of the Crystal, Jen meets Kira, another Gelfling. If Jen succeeds, the world will be saved but if Jen fails, the Skeksis will rule the land forever. Jen is sent by his dying master on a journey to heal the Dark Crystal. The last Gelfling left on Thra, a male named Jen, was saved and raised by the Mystics. Due to the prophecy, the Skeksis hunted down and killed all the Gelflings. A prophecy was written that stated if a Gelfling healed the crystal, the world would be renewed and the UrSkek would be reunited. ”ġ,000 years ago the crystal cracked, and the spirits of the UrSkek were divided into the peaceful Mystics and the evil Skeksis. Then strife began, and two new races appeared: the cruel Skeksis. For a single piece was lost a shard of the Crystal. A thousand years ago, this land was green and good, until the Crystal cracked. The considerable talent behind each character, no matter how small, gives the series gravitas from its first moments.“Another World, Another Time. The list of A-listers who jumped onboard the project is lengthy: Mark Hamill, Sigourney Weaver, Alicia Vikander, Helena Bonham Carter, Awkwafina, Taron Egerton and Andy Samberg, just to name a few. Trying to find actors to step into the shoes of Henson and the legendary Frank Oz (who both voiced multiple characters in the original) was seemingly an easy task for Netflix. With additional time, all of the characters have more depth than the archetypal figures that populated the movie, allowing the story to go in more complex directions. The vast new ensemble has Gelflings of different clans, Podlings who do more than serve, and brings back Aughra (now voiced by Donna Kimble), the absent mother-type figure guarding over the planet. Nothing in the world of Thra is radically different, it is just expanded. He is up to his old (or maybe new, since it's a prequel?) tricks here, but still making his annoying whiney noise and scheming behind the backs of the other Skeksis.
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The series mixes new characters with old favorites, like the Chamberlain, the impish villain from the film, now voiced by Simon Pegg. The Skeksis are still scary, the Gelflings are still innocent and the Mystics still look a bit like platypuses. It does right by the characters, old and new