Trailer
Plot summary
On the planet Thra, a crystal was cracked a thousand years earlier, and two races came into being: the Skeksis, who draw on the crystal to prolong their lives, and the Mystics, gentle urRu who live apart in a valley. Jen, a Gelfling whose clan the Skeksis slaughtered, was adopted and raised among the Mystics. As the world's three suns near their Great Conjunction, the dying Mystic Master tells Jen to heal the crystal, beginning with a missing shard held by Aughra. If the three suns complete their meeting without him, the Skeksis keep their rule. Once they learn Jen is alive, the Skeksis send their Garthim army to capture him.
Cast
- Percy Edwardsas Fizzgig (voice)
Show all 20 cast
- Jean-Pierre Amielas Weaver (performer) (as Jean Pierre Amiel)
- Robbie Barnettas Numerologist (performer) / Landstrider (performer)
- Swee Limas Hunter (performer) / Landstrider (performer)
- Simon J. Williamsonas Chanter (performer) (as Simon Williamson)
Did you know?!Facts and trivia about The Dark Crystal (1982)
Can contain spoilers, watch the movie first.
- The Skeksis were meant to speak an invented language with subtitles. Gary Kurtz said author Alan Garner conceived it from Ancient Egyptian, while Odell said he created it himself from Indo-European roots; the idea was dropped after test audiences found the captions too distracting.
- In designing the Garthim, Froud took inspiration from the discarded carapaces of his and Henson's lobster dinners. Each fibreglass costume weighed around 70 lb, so performers still in costume had to be suspended on racks to recuperate.
- The film's release was delayed after Lew Grade sold ITC Entertainment to Robert Holmes à Court, who was skeptical of it. It was given minimal advertisement until Henson bought the rights from Holmes à Court and funded its release with his own money.
- Henson and Oz abstained from voicing their characters, believing their voices were too recognisable to audiences from their work on the Muppets.
- Fizzgig was invented by Oz, who felt Kira needed an outlet for her caring side. The design was meant to convey a "boyfriend-repellant", contrasting the popular idea that a cute dog makes it easier to bond with the opposite sex.
- Early in development Vangelis composed music for the film. A workprint later discovered held two versions, one scored by Jones and one by Vangelis, though the tape had storage for only fifteen minutes of the Vangelis version.
- The Dark Crystal was the last film cinematographer Oswald Morris worked on before retiring. He shot it with a "light flex", a unit placed in front of the camera that gave each scene a faint color tint, for a fairy-tale atmosphere like Froud's paintings.
Stills
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