About

The Dark Crystal is a puppet fantasy film by Jim Henson and Frank Oz. Released in 1982, the film garnered a reputation for being a darker but visually impressive effort between the pair, who also created The Muppets and later Labyrinth. While it received mixed reviews upon release, the film generated a cult following in the decades since its release, eventually growing in popularity to the point where Netflix produced a prequel series to be released in the summer of 2019.

History

The Dark Crystal released December 13th, 1982.^[1] The plot follows Jen, a Gelfling attempting to fix the cracked titular Dark Crystal lest the malevolent Skesis race rules for eternity. On his journey, he meets Kira, a fellow Gelfling, and the two work to restore the crystal before their planet's three suns align, which would grant the Skesis immortality.

Reception

The film initially saw limited success at the box office due to its heavier tone than The Muppets and competition from Tootsie and E.T.: The Extra Terrestrial.^[2] It also received mixed reception from critics upon release. The New York Times^[3] reviewed the film negatively, saying it was visually muddy and largely dull. In 2007, the AV Club reviewed the film's DVD release^[4] and wrote the film was "a classic Henson story, all heart and rapturous wonder at the world's incredible possibilities." As of May 31st, 2019, the film has a score of 78% on Rotten Tomatoes.^[5]

Online Presence

On Facebook, the film's fan page has over 457,000 likes.^[8] There is also a subreddit for the film with over 1,100 members.^[9] A thread on the prequel's trailer gained over 1,800 points on Reddit in /r/videos the day it was released.^[10]

Netflix Series

On May 18th, 2017, Deadline Hollywood^[6] reported that Netflix was producing a ten-episode prequel series for the film called Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. On May 21st, 2019, it was announced the series would debut on August 30th, 2019.^[7] On May 30th, Netflix released the first trailer for the series (shown below).

Search Interest

External References