Is anyone else a fan of the 80's film, "The Dark Crystal"?
Archaia Press just got the rights to make graphic novels based on the film and I'm all over it. I grew up watching the dark crystal. It has always held a special place in my heart. It was the first real non-jokey, puppet movie I had ever seen. I would even go so far as to call it a fantasy epic with puppets.
I am with you, though I have not had the desire to watch it for over a decade. I do often find myself thinking of the Skeksis. I love those bastards.
I absolutely love that movie! I just watched it about a month ago and was amazed. I remember watching it as a kid and being really frightened but intrigued by it at the same time. Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal kick so much ass.
Skesis good....yes? lol
I love Fizzgig and Augrah. "GELFLING?!"
I always laugh at that one Skeksis that goes, "HmmmmmmmmmmmMMMMMMMMmmmmmm".
Comics alliance has a preview of the prequel here. It looks amazing.
Oh man. That looks so awesome. I think I might get that.
The Dark Crystal was my favorite movie when I was four or five. My other favorite movie was Child's Play. I wonder if there is some kind of correlation there.
I agree with the 'fantasy epic' comment. It really is. I need to rewatch that movie sometime soon, it's something special.
Just on a side note, Jim Henson's puppeteering skills (along with all of the other puppeteers) were awesome. Long live Sir Didymus!
Dark Crystal and Nightmare Before Christmas are my happy place movies. Don't feel bad Arkadia, I thought it was normal for parents to let their kids watch Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th when I was a kid. I had some really bad nightmares. I also did grow up with Ghostbusters and Gremlins though so it wasn't all bad..
The remastered version of Dark Crystal is absolutely beautiful. No wonder it took them 5 years to make. Everyone who contributed to making that film put their all into it. You can see it in the final results. The pan of the swamp, where every plant has a personality, as well as the critters who eat one another. Simply incredible.
The remastered version? You mean on blu-ray?
no - I mean for old geezers like me (well, not all that old, but some days it feels like it), we had to watch the VCR (see, when I was a kid...) version, which was pretty crappy. At some stage, they remastered the film - and then I could see how beautiful it truly was. same with the Holy Grail, but that's an entirely different thread.
what is this blu-ray of which you speak? I'm still waiting for the shadow-puppet version.
Dude, I'm probably as old as you. I watched it on TV as a kid and I grew up with VCRs. I'm 34.
you're a decade behind this geezer - I remember days before colour tvs & microwaves
Whatever happened to the sequel that they were going to make? I think it was supposed to be CGI and puppets. Can't remember it's been so long since I've heard anything about it.
CGI isn't the Henson way!
I don't think it ever went through. It kept getting delayed. I am opposed to CGI though. I am all for puppets and Rick Baker makeup. Ever since CGI got so big, most movies suck now. The special effects are lame.
I completely agree with Alien. What's bothering me is all of this 3d gimmick shit. It's tiring and good things rarely come from it. We need less flicks with over the top action. We need believable characters and believable situation! Here here!
I always refer to Jaws on the importance of story over effects. There's no doubt that what you're looking at is a big rubber shark spliced with shark footage. The story is so well done that it doesn't matter. I still love watching that movie. Compare that to something like Speed Racer (which I haven't seen btw). All effects, and very forgettable.
HIT the mark - what is wrong with 90% of movies today is the storyline.
The Dark Crystal - awesome suff.
Jaws is such a great movie. It has suspense and is really well done. The characters are worth remembering and the story just kicks ass.
I know not everyone agrees with me but I hated the Transformers movies.
I HATE THEM TOO!!!
I hate them so much! There is no plot and when the robots are fighting, I can't tell which one is which. The only way I know who is winning is by the background music.
I 3rd the hatred of transformers! the 2nd one was an hour and a half too long with way too many silly shit going on in it. I was so pissed after watching it. It's like somebody looked at my childhood memories and shit and puked all over them after a night of heavy drinking and taco bell.
@Red - now you know how I feel about the Phantom Menace, and probably episodes 2 & 3 which I refused to watch, because once your childhood memories have been kicked in the junk and repeatedly, um, soiled, well, there's no going back.
Transformers: The Movie is the only Transformers that matters.
George Lucas is an ass for altering the original films. The amazing thing with the early Star Wars was how much they did with no CGI. I mean I will never forget seeing Jabba for the first time in his underground palace of creatures. They turned the Darth Vadar story into cheese. "Noooooo!"
I know I'll probably be pelted with rocks but I hated Star Wars. All of them.
That original Transformer cartoon movie...uh...I have it on DVD.
The only thing good about Transformers was Megan Fox.
Jaws is amazing, both book and movie. I watched it on New Years. Robert Shaw was absolutely amazing in it.
Speaking of Henson, I am a huge Muppets fan. Huge Kermit fan. I can do a dead on impression of Kermit, the Henson version. I hear Kermit now, and it's just not the same.
Was anyone a fan of Fraggle Rock as a kid? Loved that show...
@Bryan - there is only one version of You've Got the Touch - also, any movie with Orson Welles can't be bad.
@R Moon - Robert Shaw can also write (I've only read excerpts of his fiction, but I remember wanting to give some of it a go). Quint's telling the story of the USS Indianapolis is one of the best scenes in film.
Quint's telling the story of the USS Indianapolis is one of the best scenes in film
- That whole story is true, as well. I didn't know he wrote fiction.
The Hiding Place (1960)
The Sun Doctor (1961)
The Flag (1965)
Situation Hopeless... But Not Serious (1965) (screenplay adaptation of The Hiding Place)
The Man in the Glass Booth (1967)
The Man in the Glass Booth (1968) (play adaptation)
A Card from Morocco (1969)
Cato Street (1971) (play)
And the truth of the USS Indianapolis story only adds to the power of that scene IMO.
Wow... Thanks for the list. I may have to check him out.
Hell, it adds to the whole movie, IMO.
The preview of the Dark Crystal books looks amazing. I'm not a huge comic reader, just the odd Sandman book here and there, and rereading my old Archie comics (I know, I know... don't judge me!) The Dark Crystal was a fantastic movie, as was Labyrinth, and pretty much everything else that stars a bunch of gross looking puppet things.
As far as the turn this thread has taken, I think CGI has its place. It's a masturbation tool for filmmakers who want their movies to look half cartoon, only not in the fun Roger Rabbit sense. I don't mind seeing CGI when it's used sparingly, or when there's just no other way to blow something up with real atomic bombs, I guess, but when I see someone's arm chopped off, I much prefer to know there's a lot of red corn syrup, plastic tubing and a rubber appendage involved. Guess I'm just old fashioned.
Fraggle Rock kicks ass. I still watch that show on netflix sometimes.
I was very "in" to Fraggle Rock when I was young. Boober was my favorite, you know, the one that seemed to be struggling with crippling depression?
I had the hots for Mokey.
I forget the name of the one with the shaggy orange hair and the hat, but if I was a Fraggle, I'd have Fraggled his Fraggle.
Wait, it was the smurfs that talked like that, wasn't it? Stupid failing memory.
@Limbless K9--pelts with rocks. You deserve to be stoned Shirley Jackson style for not liking Star Wars. lol jk
I much preferred Lord of the Rings.
the Ralph Bakshi version?
That comics alliance preview looks great. This was one of my favorite films when I was a kid. Great thread
P.S. I am green
@avery--WTF? That was creepy and weird. Yet I want Snufalufagus at my funeral.
It was NOT creepy OR weird. Big Bird got all choked up. :( Jim Henson's memorial was pretty different. Didn't you see the special tribute the Muppets did? It was on TV. I remember watching it and bawling. When Fozzie is saying "Jim Henson is dead?" I think thats when my inner child commited suicide.
Did your inner child commit suicide by taking cyanide lego pills or by making a noose of shaved barbie hair braded together? That would be some sick shit right there.
It stuck it's head in the easy bake oven.
Death By Lightbulb.
Sounds like a good story right there.
