If you don't think they're cute already, just wait until you learn they were based on potatoes. The Podlings are the adorable creatures who raised Kira after her village was slaughtered by the Garthim and the Skeksis. He was cast and grew up to become an artist and puppetmaker in his own right. But as his baby approached toddlerhood, apparently the kid started to resemble his father's initial vision. Toby Froud wound up making his big-screen debut at a very young age as Sarah's inconsolable baby brother of the same name in "The Labyrinth." According to the senior Froud, concept art for the fictional Toby was completed before his son was ever born. The two would go on to collaborate on several projects, and after Henson's death, Froud illustrated the popular "Good Faeries/Bad Faeries" book with American author Ari Berk.īut one of Froud's most well-known and yet anonymous contributions to the world of fantasy was his cherubic young son. In an effort to accommodate their needs without wasting too much time, the crew hung the contraptions (with the puppeteers inside them) on walls to give the actors a break from being horizontal.īrian Froud, Jim Henson's longtime friend and collaborator, is responsible for the conceptual and costume design for both "The Dark Crystal" and "The Labyrinth." After seeing a few of his illustrations in books like "The Land of Froud" that showcased the designer's unique and fantastical aesthetic. As for the Garthim, the suits were so heavy and laborious, the puppeteer required frequent breaks. The Mystic bodies necessitated a kind of mutant army crawl in order to operate, and Henson himself could only manage a few seconds at a time in one. While smaller creatures like the Podlings and Fizzgig obviously didn't require human inhabitants, the Skeksis, the Mystics and the Garthim Master did. If something doesn't look humanoid, it's not going to be comfortable for a human to inhabit and control. Part of the reason for that is that they don't look like they're being operated or inhabited by humans in the slightest. Nearly everything Henson did at that point was pioneering, but the creatures created for this film were in a class of their own and no one had ever seen anything like it before. The animatronics and special effects featured in "The Dark Crystal" were groundbreaking to be sure. So, saddle up, purists! There's more "Dark Crystal" goodness to be had yet. It's considered an official sequel and even features new characters based on some of Brian Froud's original character designs. But after six more years of budgetary disagreements and artistic differences, the project was shelved indefinitely according to Henson's daughter, Cheryl.īut fear not! The completed script for "The Power of the Dark Crystal" lives on and has just been adapted into a comic book of the same name! Just in time for the 35th anniversary, Archaia Comics and BOOM! Studios released the 12-issue series. In 2006, Odell attempted to resurrect the project, even hiring a director. However, due to "The Dark Crystal's" poor box office performance, the sequel never materialized. Jim Henson and original screenwriter, David Odell, originally mapped out another story before production even began on the original. No wonder she's outta f**ks.Įver since its release in 1982, there seems to have always been a sequel to "The Dark Crystal" in the works. Her job is to poke about and monitor all the different kinds of life and activity that happen, and when she's finished, she'll be "re-absorbed" back into the planet, making her essentially immortal. Aughra is actually an extension of the planet, Thra. Granted, neither are the Mystics and the Skeksis, but they appear to have come from a more traditional, mate-and-reproduce race. The reason is that she isn't a traditional humanoid. Aughra in existence, if that wasn't clear in the film. It's only in the companion book, "The World of the Dark Crystal," that we actually get a more information regarding her background.Īughra is the only. Then, when she gets captured by the Garthim and held prisoner by the Skeksis, she spends most of her time hurling insults their way and admonishing them for destroying her home. She was too busy schooling Jen on astronomy and the Great Conjunction. Everyone's favorite one-eyed sass machine, Aughra, never got the time to get into her origin story.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |