What Have the Skeksis Done?

May 30, 2019 9:37 AM

The first teaser for Netflix's "Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance" has arrived.
posted by Ipsifendus (54 comments total)

I'm struck by how this looks both old and new at the same time. Some combination of the camera/cinematography and the hand crafted puppeteering. I was a bit wary when I first heard about this but this trailer kind of seals the deal for me and I'm completely on board. There is this warmth and love that you can feel went into the making of this.
posted by Fizz at 9:54 AM on May 30, 2019 [8 favorites]

They had me at mmmMMMMMMmmmmmm?
posted by Fleebnork at 9:55 AM on May 30, 2019 [29 favorites]

Also this book is excellent and I recommend it.
posted by Fleebnork at 9:56 AM on May 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

Fizzgig!
posted by mephisjo at 9:59 AM on May 30, 2019

YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS I CAN'T WAIT!
posted by k8bot at 10:01 AM on May 30, 2019

This new Star Wars movie looks interesting.
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:05 AM on May 30, 2019 [8 favorites]

This reminds me I've been meaning to show my kids the original Dark Crystal movie. Maybe this weekend.
posted by nubs at 10:07 AM on May 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

It's just CG though, right? Not puppets? The trailer looks like it's all CG—very good, but I'm not quite getting the retro Jim Henson vibe from it.
posted by Kadin2048 at 10:09 AM on May 30, 2019

The Dark Crystal is literally the only touchstone of my childhood that I've been completely avoiding showing my son because the Skeksis freaked me out so much as a kid. Now it looks like I'm going to have to. Mixed feelings here. Very, very mixed.
posted by Mchelly at 10:12 AM on May 30, 2019 [6 favorites]

They're claiming the only use of CGI was to erase the image of the puppeteers from the screen.
posted by Ipsifendus at 10:14 AM on May 30, 2019 [15 favorites]

We showed our kid (nearly 7 but a big ole softy) the original a couple weeks ago. At one point he turned to us, terrified, and asked, "Is there a version of this movie for kids?"
posted by soren_lorensen at 10:24 AM on May 30, 2019 [49 favorites]

I'm not really a man given to squeeing, but I gotta tell you folks, this is making me squee SO. FUCKING. HARD. Especially seeing the Angle of Eternity in motion once more. It looks so incredibly glorious.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 10:26 AM on May 30, 2019 [7 favorites]

Y'all, I had a giant grin on my face for this entire trailer, and I broke out into joyful laughter at seeing Aughra. Soooooo excited for this.
posted by Gaz Errant at 10:36 AM on May 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

This comes out at such a perfect point in time for me--my son is now the exact age I was when I saw the original Dark Crystal in the theatre. I can only hope it's as baffling and disturbing for him as it was for me.
posted by skewed at 10:37 AM on May 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

I didn’t know I needed this until the trailer brought me to tears.
posted by _paegan_ at 10:38 AM on May 30, 2019 [5 favorites]

We only just watched the original, maybe 3 months ago. This was right in my demo when it first came out, but whoah we could not make it through. No shade on anyone who loves it, it just didn't work for either of us. Sadly.
posted by stevil at 11:02 AM on May 30, 2019

This looks good, but the foley on the chaining and lowering of the crystal -- and later with the energy crackling through the lines -- sounded so wrong, like a bit of the Marvel Studios sound design leaked into Henson Studios.
posted by me3dia at 11:35 AM on May 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

I know which DVD I'm watching this weekend media queues be damned. And I swear this one time at summer camp the only memories I have of my girlfriend's roommate was that she a) gave me the first edition box of D&D and b) she totally looked like a Gelfling. Weird huh?

Hope it's good.
posted by zengargoyle at 11:41 AM on May 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

I've been seeing rumblings about Dark Crystal and Netflix in the periphery of my internet vision, but I thought folks were just celebrating that it was going to be on Netflix. I had NO idea there's a NEW SERIES?! I didn't see Dark Crystal until my early 20s, when it was required viewing in my first serious relationship. It was an important touchstone in my gf's childhood, but even in adulthood, it was difficult for her to watch the Skeksis. Those dudes are FREAKY SCARY.
posted by missmary6 at 11:44 AM on May 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

missmary6 it's not a new movie; it's a new 10 episode tv series - so much more runtime than a movie.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Crystal:_Age_of_Resistance

Hmmm, a prequel? So we know at the end of the series, the Skeksis are winning...
posted by nobeagle at 11:51 AM on May 30, 2019 [3 favorites]

I just hope it's good. I loved the Dark Crystal in part because it came out just as I was in my first fantasy reading phase.
posted by sfred at 12:05 PM on May 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

This new Star Wars movie looks interesting

Spoiler Alert: After the Gelflings and the Skeksis, it's Ewoks all the way down.
posted by CynicalKnight at 12:05 PM on May 30, 2019 [4 favorites]

OMG, this does my puppeteer heart so much good! I LOVE IT.
posted by xingcat at 12:17 PM on May 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

One of the things I love about Black Crystal is that so much SFF sticks with something like "Earth, but..." where the conclusion to that is "... orcs live next door" or "... one of the English civil wars happened before an apocalyptic winter and the threat of ghouls from the north" or "... in my idealized feudal system the true king really is anointed by the gods." The closest analog to Black Crystal is some of the European fantasy comics like Moebius where you can't take anything about the world for granted.

Yes, in terms of traditional SFF cinema there's stuff to find fault with. But in terms of the sheer guts of trying to design an entire world, I consider it a masterpiece.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 12:24 PM on May 30, 2019 [8 favorites]

that looks AMAZING!!!!!!!
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:08 PM on May 30, 2019

I watched the original so. many. times that I'm, like, an expert on TDC, y'all. And I say this looks so damn impressive. The puppets look exactly the same, and the Skekses look exactly the same, and Augra and her orrery look exactly the same. That's a good thing, and it is damn impressive art production. Jim Henson's genius was to know that a rather non-realistic puppet with quite limited movements (especially facial features) would be a perfectly believable character, even in a serious fantasy epic. There is CGI, but it looks like it's sparingly used.

It's like a different production crew went back in time to the old sets and shot it again. I'd love to see it but may wait a few years before showing it to my 10-year-old.
posted by zardoz at 1:20 PM on May 30, 2019 [9 favorites]

I showed the original Dark Crystal to my roommate recently. It was in town on a big screen, and we reflected on how nothing similar to the Dark Crystal really prepares you for it. You can know Henson and The Labyrinth and La Planète sauvage and, you know, Victorian fairy paintings - all the influences - and you still kind of come away feeling like you've just experienced an entirely unique creative achievement. The craftsmanship is astounding. Hasn't aged a day. I remember saying something over-dramatic like, "You'll never see anything like it."

I love the Dark Crystal as that kind of singular, weird 80s Fantasy art film thing, so makes me a little sad that it looks like they've proven me wrong. This looks like it. They may really have something here. We're already discussing a Labor Day marathon Dark Crystal party in my office.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 1:25 PM on May 30, 2019 [10 favorites]

The Dark Crystal is literally the only touchstone of my childhood that I've been completely avoiding showing my son because the Skeksis freaked me out so much as a kid. Now it looks like I'm going to have to. Mixed feelings here. Very, very mixed

The only two parts that bothered me (bothered me EXISTENTIALLY) as a child were:

1. When the king of the Skeksis dies and crumbles. "Just like an old cookie" - my mom, comforting me

2. When those adorable little potato-headed guys get the life sucked out of them using the crystal's light refraction

I don't envy parents having to make these kinds of decisions for their kids, lol.
posted by Dressed to Kill at 1:42 PM on May 30, 2019 [4 favorites]

This was what got me. I almost couldn't watch it the whole way through just now, checking to see if it was the scene I remembered. I really think this is one of the most disturbing scenes I can remember (that plus Augustus Gloop getting sucked up into the tube... shudders)

It bothered me so much that I also still have an aversion to Time Bandits, a film I loved, because I saw it around the same time that I saw The Dark Crystal and I still mentally associate Evil with the Skeksis guy because they had the same red robes and pointy heads.

Yeah, I'll be having some nightmares again I think.
posted by Mchelly at 1:59 PM on May 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

TDC is definitely one of those quintessential 80's films that combine a certain level of darkness and uneasiness in their storytelling that just don't really exist as much at any other time in family cinema. It makes me think of The Black Cauldron, for example, a Disney movie that still had dark moments to it. Oof. For me, incidentally, it was the moment in the observatory when the giant beetle things suddenly attack. I don't know why, but it's always stuck with me as one of those moments that made me feel uncomfortable.

But what I loved about the film was its originality and immersiveness. Everything was different, but felt authentic, like we were peering into another world that existed alongside our own with a radically different history, flora and fauna, and so on.

I'm pretty excited for this show and I do wonder if it'll end with our two protagonists from the film being delivered to their respective caretakers.
posted by Atreides at 2:13 PM on May 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

the closest analog to Black Crystal

Are you sure you are in the right universe? (Mine is definitely remembering Shaq in Shazaam)
posted by jkaczor at 3:43 PM on May 30, 2019

Wife on board. Kids terrified of the first one and went with a How about not?

My children's lack of excitement for this may mark where I have failed them.
posted by Nanukthedog at 4:58 PM on May 30, 2019

Looks great but god I wish it wasn't a prequel.
posted by xiw at 5:08 PM on May 30, 2019

The Dark Crystal was originally filmed with made-up languages and the studio refused to release it so they dubbed it into English. Or that's how the story goes.
posted by hippybear at 7:29 PM on May 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

My personal trauma-point is the scene where the Skeksis use the Dark Crystal to drain the living essence from the Podlings. The bit at the end where the poor miserable creature withers to a husk of its former self and its eyes glaze over... *shiver*
posted by Secret Sparrow at 8:41 PM on May 30, 2019 [4 favorites]

What's amazing to me is that The Dark Crystal made money while Labyrinth didn't.

The 80s were a weird decade.
posted by hippybear at 9:56 PM on May 30, 2019 [5 favorites]

I'm bringing Skeksis back.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 9:56 PM on May 30, 2019 [7 favorites]

mmmmMMMMMMmmmmm
posted by hippybear at 9:57 PM on May 30, 2019 [2 favorites]

The Trial by Stone scene is pretty much exactly how it went down at MetaFilter when cortex replaced mathowie.
posted by um at 10:21 PM on May 30, 2019 [8 favorites]

Interest in lasers as a cutting tool?

Working on shaping glass to his will? (Who knows what else he's trying to shape...)

Envisioning interdimensional objects and painting them compulsively?

How much more evidence do we need???
posted by hippybear at 10:52 PM on May 30, 2019 [1 favorite]

The Resistance huh? I wonder if anyone has done Trump as a skeksis? Ah yes. Hand sketched too.

I'd like a poorly done phtoshop of Trump hair on an old Skeksis if anyone has time. Will need new memes for the next great meme war.
posted by Telf at 1:47 AM on May 31, 2019

The Dark Crystal made money while Labyrinth didn't

I'm amazed to find that out. The Labyrinth video was more or less played on rotation at our house for years. I would say The Dark Crystal made a greater impression on the kids but was played less often, being so scary.
posted by glasseyes at 4:18 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

I also have a long-running soft spot for the Hensons, who have repeatedly managed to save their family studio and continue to produce the kind of work they want in spite of some sketchy and predatory ugliness by bigger and uglier business concerns. I think they still have the rights to Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, Fraggle Rock, and The Storyteller.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 5:39 AM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]

Single point of anecdata, but I loved Dark Crystal as a kid and still have never watched Labyrinth (nor do I want to, given how pedophilic it sounds). Showed Dark Crystal to my kids a few years ago, when they were (I think) 12 and 7. I believe they enjoyed it, but their reaction when it was over was basically "what in the hell did I just watch?" I haven't mentioned this one to them yet. :)
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 9:34 AM on May 31, 2019

I'm really hoping that the connection between the Skekses and the Eraserhead babies is finally made clear, because that's bothered me for decades.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 10:14 AM on May 31, 2019

1) Labyrinth is about as pedophilic as Twilight, i.e. it depends on your priors. I was 11 at the time so it never read that way to me at ALL until I read something on the internet about it. Good job with the ruining, internet.

B) I received the picture book of The Dark Crystal and didn't actually get to see the movie until a few years later and it was probably the most bizarre and uniquely WTF artifact I remember from my childhood. At 7 I remember thinking, "where even would things like this come from?"
posted by Horkus at 10:34 AM on May 31, 2019

Labyrinth is about as pedophilic as Twilight

Yeah that doesn't exactly make me want to rush out and watch it. ;)

I do agree that it depends on when you saw it the first time. The rabid Labyrinth fans I know all saw it before or during puberty.
posted by Ben Trismegistus at 10:43 AM on May 31, 2019

Labyrinth is about as pedophilic as Twilight

Yeah that doesn't exactly make me want to rush out and watch it. ;)

No it's not. Don't let that stop you from seeing it.
posted by Liquidwolf at 10:50 AM on May 31, 2019 [1 favorite]

I loved Labyrinth as a kid (and still like it a lot) and I'd read the message as "when a sexy older guy showers you with attention but is also kinda negging and controlling, feel free to tell him to fuck right off" and that's a message I'm pretty ok with.
posted by restless_nomad at 10:57 AM on May 31, 2019 [18 favorites]

Yeah, in Labyrinth, Jareth is a complete pedo creepster. Sara proceeds to learn that your teen girl fantasies about older men actually suck when enacted in real life and you should def proceed to rescue your baby brother and then give that weird motherfucker the business.

Mainly what's problematic about the whole thing is that that weird motherfucker is also David Bowie. Meaning, he's real sexy, and for a while the movie seems unsure about whether this is all very romantic or very creepy. In the end it kind of lands on, "Well, that's David Bowie and in light of that, you probably would, but you definitely shouldn't."
posted by soren_lorensen at 12:01 PM on May 31, 2019 [11 favorites]

I think that interpretation is valid, but also a very literal reading of the movie. One alternative is to view Labyrinth as being told from a teenager's perspective with the Goblin King being a representative of adulthood - something both attractive and frightening.
posted by um at 12:02 PM on May 31, 2019 [4 favorites]

I read Labyrinth as a sororal Tam Lin. (Although I might have a bias where Tam Lin is concerned.) Jim and Brian's next big project was The Storyteller, which continued with dramatizing folk stories in ways that included at least some of the uncomfortable bits.
posted by GenderNullPointerException at 12:12 PM on May 31, 2019 [2 favorites]

I think that interpretation is valid, but also a very literal reading of the movie.

I don't disagree, but in a movie aimed at twelve-year-olds, the literal reading is really important for how the intended audience will likely see it.
posted by restless_nomad at 12:35 PM on May 31, 2019 [3 favorites]

Mainly what's problematic about the whole thing is that that weird motherfucker is also David Bowie.

That's like literally the lesson of the whole thing, if that's the interpretation you're going with.

"Yeah, all the creepsters in your life will look like creepsters and you can weed them out easily."

*PRESENTED WITH DAVID BOWIE*

"What, him? You don't think him, surely!"

If the point you're taking from Labyrinth is the one you're taking from it, then that's not problematic. It's an ideal teaching situation.
posted by hippybear at 9:31 PM on June 3, 2019 [4 favorites]