macmcentire

I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! The movie gets all dark and creepy again, 1:07:55-1:12:27 on the Blu-ray.

We’ve got a brief scene of Jen, still buried in rubble, and Fizzgig at his side, mewling and making some small attempt to dig him out. You can actually see Jen’s hand and the crystal shard in this shot, but they’re hard to spot because they’re covered in dust and blend in with the rocks. What do we think, was that intentional or not? There’s a nice bit of acting on Fizzgig here, as he fails to move the rocks, and then leans back, looking up at the ceiling in sadness. Fizzgig doesn’t have a lot of quiet moments, usually barking and growling at whatever, but here is a rare quiet scene for him, showing his sadness in his inability to help his new friend.

From there, we cut to the Chamber of Life, better known as the Skeksis’ Scientist’s lab, where we saw him steal the essence from a Podling a few scenes earlier. Here we get a wide shot of the entire room, giving us a good look at its layout. Off to one side, there’s a big opening in the floor, with a green light coming out of it. It’s left up to our imaginations as to what might be under there. The animals’ cages are all around the room, and a Crystal Bat is one of them, showing that the Scientist is experimenting on them as well as on this world’s natural creatures. Either that, or this room is also where the Crystal Bats are bred and raised. Moss is growing up through cracks in the floor, and a white light – not candlelight but looking more electric – comes out of a bunch of oddly-shaped lamps all around the room. From this, we can surmise that yes, the castle too is a living thing, further reinforcing Brian Froud’s refrain of “all things are alive” on this world.

The next shot is a table with various ghoulish medical instruments on it, and Aughra’s disembodied eyeball is on there, too. It’s all slimy and shiny, and, somehow, able to move about on its own, looking around the room. How did it get there? Did the Skeksis take it from her, or did she leave it there as a bit of spycraft on her part? The camera pans up to show Aughra still in the same cage as when we last saw, pretty much right next to the table. From this, I’d say it’s likely the Scientist took her eye from her. For what reason, we can only speculate.

The Scientist has Kira with him, and her forces her into the chair, the same one we saw earlier when he drained a Podling of its essence. It’s here we see why that earlier scene was so important. It was nightmarish and horrific, all to set up this moment. Kira is in the same position as that poor doomed Podling, so we in the audience know what she’s in for. It cranks up the suspense big time.

The Scientist throws the switch himself, instead of having one of the Podling slaves do it. During the previous Scientist scene, he did a lot of posturing and dramatic speechmaking during this process, but this time he says very little. Part of this was for exposition purposes, but part shows that in this second scene, he’s operating with a sense of urgency. He knows a Gelfling is prophesized to end the Skeksis, so it’s on him to take her essence as quick as possible before that can happen. The door to the crystal shaft (shut yo’ mouth) opens, and we get a really good look at the reflector crystal, as it moves into place, an almost 3-D effect.

Stuff of nightmares: The reflector glows bright purple, and shines a purple beam right into Kira’s face. The pained expression on her face is just terrifying. A few drips of liquid start to drop into a container at her side, as the Scientist says, “Yes, essence of Gelfling.”

Back to the tunnel, the rocks next to Fizzgig move, as Jen regains consciousness and emerges from the rubble. Sure, we all knew he wasn’t dead, but why show this now? With a quick, abrupt edit from Kira’s struggle back to the tunnel? Some part of him is responding to the agony she’s feeling, and that’s what wakes him and gives him the strength to dig himself free. This is made evident with him crying out, “Kira, fight them!” Back in the chamber, Kira can hear him, responding, “Jen?” OK, maybe they’re within earshot of each other, but I find that unlikely. Remember the second half of Froud’s refrain, that it’s not just “all things are alive,” but also “all things are connected.” So there’s some sort of mental telepathy thing happening here.

Aughra can feel it too, saying, “You, Kira, call the animals.” How does Aughra know Kira’s name. Given Aughra’s status as a recluse, I doubt they met prior to the events of the film. No, Aughra, who has the whole “Earth mother” thing going on, could hear/sense Jen’s crying out to Kira as well. Aughra then tells Kira to call to the animals, calling them to freedom. “You have the gift,” Aughra says. How does Aughra know this? Do all Gelflings have this gift, or can Aughra sense it in Kira?

Kira sings/speaks to all the caged animals in the room, and this gives us some closeup shots of some real quirky-looking animals. Remember that this ability to communicate with wildlife is called “soul-speaking,” and the manga Legends of the Dark Crystal showed that the Skeksis’ Chamberlain can do it too. Probably not the Scientist, who tells Kira to be quiet. She doesn’t, and continues singing to the animals. DarkCrystal.com has translations of what she’s singing if you’re interested (it’s nothing exciting). The animals all start going nuts in their cages, including one jumping up and down, for an impressive piece of puppetry.

The Scientist tells Kira to stop, and we get another closeup of him, this time seeing that he has two tubes going from the side of his head into his mouth, and that the monocle on his left eye appears to be bolted on. This dude was steampunk before there was steampunk. Aughra cries out, “Gelfling, free me!” She shakes on her cage, and the whole thing wavers, so it looks like she could probably break free by herself with a little more gusto. Similarly, the animals all break free of their cages and start running amok. There are way too many types of animal to list here, but I like the furry mole-like one, the little dinosaur-like one, and there’s even a bright turquoise one that flies across the screen for a frame or two. There’s even a break-the-fourth-wall moment with one animal running right at the camera.

The Scientist tries to order the animals back into their cages, but they won’t have it. More nightmare imagery as they climb all over him, biting him and hanging off of him. He reacts with great pain with this, once again suggesting he doesn’t have the physical prowess of some of the other Skeksis. He clumsily backs up against the switch, which shuts off the reflector, saving Kira. He further stumbles back, falling right into the shaft. Conveniently, part of the floor lowers, allowing this to happen. Did the animals somehow know to work the machinery to do this?

The Scientist falls into the shaft, and we see him plunge into a huge fire raging at the bottom. DarkCrystal.com tells us this is the “Lake of Fire,” which not actually a lake, but Thra’s inner sun, a huge ball of radiation at the planet’s center, which warms and provides life to its “inner world.” This contrasts the conclusion of the Creation Myths graphic novel, in which Aughra and her son Raunip visit the bottom of the shaft, to find a rocky surface covered with crystals. Perhaps they’re not at the bottom in that scene, but merely at some sort of unseen outcropping, leading to more underground tunnels.

As the Scientist falls into the pit, we get a brief shot of the Mystics, still on their long journey. One of them burns up into nothingness, again showing how closely they are connected to the Mystics. The other Mystics take just a second to notice this, and then they continue on. They’re now in a rocky, ashy terrain, with big clusters of rocks around them. Could these be graves? We don’t know.

Back in the chamber of life, Kira has a particularly ugly animal help her out of the chair’s restraints. She approaches Aughra, who, strangely, has become fatalistic, saying Kira is too late. “The Great Conjunction is at hand,” she says. “Now the Skeksis will have power over the stars!” Kira asks when the conjunction is, and Aughra says, “Very soon, when three suns touch.” So Kira is not too late, then why would Aughra say she is? I guess we have to chock this up to Aughra being out-of-sorts after seeing the Gelfling genocide and becoming a recluse in her observatory. Kira runs off to meet with Jen, and Aughra goes back to being a downer, saying, “Go, Gelfling, I fear, to death.”

The passage of time: There’s a shot of the three suns, further reminding the audience that the conjunction is on its way, followed by another shot of the Mystics on their long walk. They’re now in a completely different setting than where we just saw them. Either hours (days?) passed during that shot of the sun, or the Mystics are magic of some sort to cross these great distances. Giving the rapid pace of action inside the castle now that we’re in the third act, I’m leaning toward magic. The important thing about this shot is that the Skeksis’ castle is in the distance, establishing that the Mystics are getting close to their destination.

Next: Fun with monsters!

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Today, it’s the Skeksis’ moment of triumph, 1:05:53-1:07:54 on the Blu-ray.

We begin in a hallway in the castle, where two of the Skeksis are walking along. Joining them in mid-conversation, one says, “I like those grey ones that go mushy when you put them on your fork.” Whatever those “ones” are is left up to the viewers’ imaginations. Which two Skeksis are these? The short, fat one is the Gourmand, as we established during the dinner scene, and I think the other one is the Ornamentalist, but it’s hard to tell. He has those weird red hands like the Scientist, and that big curved tuft of hair like the Ritual-Master, but doesn’t have either of their voices. The original screenplay calls this character “the Designer,” which is not one of the named Skeksis in the canon. That’s close enough to “Ornamentalist,” though, that I think we can call this one as the Ornamentalist. (Remember, playing the which-Skeksis-is-which game can drive you crazy.)

They round a corner and find the Chamberlain, with his back to them. In the background, we can see more natural-looking tunnels, buttressed with wooden supports. From this, we can surmise that spot is where the underground labyrinth joins the main part of the castle. The Gourmand says, “Chamberlain! Get out! Get out!” The Chamberlain turns around, revealing Kira still in his clutches. The other two Skeksis freak the hell out, screaming “Gelfing! Gelfling!”

Thanks to a quick edit, the pair runs right into the throne room, still screaming, “Gelfling!” This could mean that the throne room is right around the corner from where they were, but I like the idea of them running through the whole castle in a panic before getting here. The setup of the throne room is interesting in this scene. The General is sitting on the throne as the new emperor, while the Ritual-Master is standing next to him inside this little alcove built onto the throne itself. This shows the Ritual-Master’s place as right hand man. The throne looks completely different from the one in the Legends of the Dark Crystal manga, which has me thinking that the manga’s throne room must be a different room in a different part of the castle. (The manga also has a bookshelf in its throne room, the only time books are seen in the canon.)

The Ornamentalist hollers “Help!” a bunch of times, which are not included in the Blu-ray’s subtitles. The Gourmand again does the gag in which a Skeksis refers to a Gelfling as “ugly.” The Chamberlain enters with Kira, who’s still struggling to get away from him. Most (all?) of the other Skeksis are in the room, and a Garthim stands motionless off to one side. “Royal sire,” the Chamberlain says, “I bring you Gelfling.” The General does a great double-take in response to this. I don’t know if it’s intentional or just the camera angle, but he looks cross-eyed in his reaction.

The Chamberlain makes his big speech, addressing not just the general, but the whole room. “I! I have done this! I have caught her! I bring you the Gelfling!” He puts the emphasis on “I” the whole time, squawking it bird-like. The Chamberlain adds, “I was wounded. I suffered horrible, searing pain.” This must be referring to Jen stabbing him with the shard. The canon has fleeting mentions of the Chamberlain’s way with words and his skills at flattery, and both the movie and the manga have shown him to have some limited mesmering ability, and we can see all that on display here. This is his big moment, and he wants everyone to know it.

The Skeksis’ Scroll-Keeper, the one who wears several rows of glasses at once, leans in close for a good look at Kira. “A live Gelfling,” he says, reaching out to touch Kira’s cheek with his finger. Interesting that he doesn’t seem as afraid of her as the other Skeksis. We know very little about the Scroll-Keeper. The canon says that he’s the smallest and “finest-featured” among the Skeksis, and that he often rewrote the Skeksis’ historical texts, changing the facts so history is written in his favor. Do we conclude that he studies Kira so closely because he’s planning to record this historic event as well?

The Ritual-Master is all business, saying, “Kill her! We are sworn to kill all Gelflings!” The Chamberlain draws Kira back, and insists, “No! She’s mine!” This seems odd for him to say, since he’s brought her there to give to them. I suppose it’s because he knows she’s his “bargaining chip,” and he’s still bargaining. The Scientist is now on the other side of the general, saying, “But, sire, you could drink her essence.” The Ritual-Master reminds everyone of the prophecy and continues to argue that Kira should be killed. The Scientist and the Ritual-Master are kind of like the angel and devil on the General’s shoulders in this scene. The General does his best King Solomon and says, “First we take her essence, then kill.”

The other Skeksis seem happy about this, crying “Drain her! Drain her!” If only the emperor gets to drink essence, then what are the rest of them so excited about? Is there some unseen benefit for all of them when the emperor drinks essence, or are they just that bloodthirsty? The scientist steps forward, takes Kira, and leads her away. The Chamberlain lets her go this time, perhaps because this was part of this plan all along? The next line of dialogue would seem to confirm that. The General says, “As for the whimpering Chamberlain, return his robes to him.” I love that he adds “whimpering” in there, a little insult just to remind the Chamberlain that he’s still boss. The Chamberlain bows, and does his famous whimper once more.

So this is the Chamberlain’s big moment of triumph, his returning from his journey and reclaiming what he had lost. This effectively ends the Chamberlain’s story. I suppose it’s good in that there’s a resolution here, but it’s not as good in that from this point forward, the Skeksis no longer have individual personalities. Throughout the rest of the film, the Skeksis act as a singular group, with everything they do, they do as one. This will streamline that plot as we head to the finale, simplifying matters so it’s Gelflings versus Skeksis at the end, but I can’t help but wonder how much richer of a film this could have been had the rivalry between the Chamberlain and the General tied into the finale.

Next: Down in the pit.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.

I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! Today we head deep underground, 1:03:42-1:05:52 on the Blu-ray.

Jen and Kira have entered the castle from below, and are now in a cave-like tunnel, complete with ominous stalactites and stalagmites. The rock has a wet, glistening look down here, so it’s kind of like they’re walking around inside a living thing. Well, if we remember Brian Froud’s manta of “all things are alive” then I suppose this too is a living creature of some kind. As our heroes move forward, they pass by some flowing water, possibly part of an underground river. This is lit from below (don’t ask me how), giving an eerie lighting to the whole area. More mouselike critters are running around down here, presumably the same ones we saw during the Skeksis’ dinner scene earlier. Kira almost trips, and Jen tells her to be careful. This little character beat reinforces how they are walking into uncertain, unexplored territory.

Speaking of critters, the camera then focuses on Fizzgig for a while, who runs/rolls ahead. There’s more shots of the mouselike things (Hey, DarkCrystal.com, how about giving these things a name? They’re practically supporting characters.) and I thought we’d see Fizzgig chasing them, but no, it’s just more establishing shots. The cave pathways would appear to meet at right angles to each other, leading me to believe that are not natural but “shaped” into hallways, like the rest of the castle’s architecture. In one of the Fizzgig shots, we can see some glowing green moss on the rock off the one side. I suppose this and the water lit from below are supposed to answer the question of where light is coming from and why it isn’t totally dark down here.

According to the canon, this place under the castle is “the labyrinth.” Careful, that’s a not a word to throw around lightly in a Henson/Froud production, lest we want people thinking a tightly-panted David Bowie is about to appear and start performing “Magic Dance.” (Who am I kidding? It would be awesome if that happened!) This place is also alternatively known as the “lower tunnels.” There’s reference to “sewer tunnels” as well, but I suspect that’s a different area, not seen in the film. Some editions of World of the Dark Crystal come with a book-within-the-book just called The Crystal, which is a recreation of Froud and Henson’s original pitch. It includes mention of creatures called burrowers, who live down in tunnels under the castle and dig tirelessly for gems. We can’t consider this canon (Gelflings are called Gelfens, for example) but it’s too bad the burrowers couldn’t make it into the movie because they seem like cool monsters.

Kira says she wants to go back. Go back where? It’s already been well established that they’re past the point of no return. It makes sense to assume that she means go back down a different corridor in this maze, rather than back home. She adds “I smell death here.” I’m not sure what she’s smelling, exactly, because it’s not like there are corpses around, and I can’t find anything in the canon about Gelflings having heightened senses of smell. Perhaps it’s just an expression. Jen says they have no choice, and they press forward.

An ominous shadow appears before them, and Kira says, “Skeksis!” It’s the Chamberlain, who arrives without doing his famous whimper for once. It’s unknown how he got down there with them, but I think it’s a given that he can get around pretty easily considered how we’ve seen him traverse the landscape throughout the film. Plus, after living in the castle for hundreds of years, he must know every secret passage. He tells the Gelflings not to be afraid and says he’s there to help them. Note that he’s not using the broken English he used before, and he’s now speaking in complete sentences. He’s changed up his tactics in dealing with them, appealing not just to their inherently good natures, but to their intelligence as well. Instead of “Make peace,” now he says, “I’m here to help you.” Big difference. He says the three of them can show the rest of the Skeksis that Gelflings and Skeksis can live together in peace. He then reaches out and grabs Jen and Kira, each with one hand. He does this slowly, so perhaps he’s using soul-speaking to mesmerize them as well? They resist, though, and Fizzgig gets a hero moment as he tugs on the Chamberlain’s rags, trying to separate him from the Gelflings.

As Jen struggles, he does what we’ve been waiting for throughout the entire movie. He uses the crystal shard as a weapon, stabbing the Chamberlain in the hand. Seriously, Jen always holds the shard in the Michael-Myers-raises-his-knife pose, so it’s about time he uses it as such. It strikes the Skeksis with a bright white light, revealing some of the energy it contains. The Champerlain rears his head back in pain and cries, “My hand!” We see that his hand is bleeding, and then there’s a very quick cut to the Mystics, where one of them (OK, it’s urSol the Chanter) has his hand bleeding in the same spot, showing for the first time just how closely related the Skeksis and Mystics are. “So, my hand,” the Mystic says, almost whispering it. The Skeksis has pink/purple blood, while the Mystic has blue/black blood. I wouldn’t read too much into this, as the colors were no doubt chosen by the filmmakers to contrast the puppets’ skin color, to make it clear to viewers that it is, in fact, blood.

 Look closely: The Mystics are now in a green grassy area, and in the background you can see some big wooden structure, looking like a Stonehenge type of thing. What is that?

Back to the labyrinth, the Chamberlain looks incredulously at his hand, and then he drops the peaceful act, saying, “Gelfling, you die!” He then reaches up and – get this – brings the ceiling down on Jen. Remember that the Skeksis pride themselves on feats of strength, and the Chamberlain has shown himself to be quite the man of action during the film, so it’s not out-of-nowhere for him to Hulk out like this. Jen is buries in rubble, which includes long pieces of wood. This shows that the Skeksis (and the burrowers, maybe?) have done some sort of construction down in this place. There’s a cloud of dust, and when it settles all we can see is the debris. Jen is completely buried.

The Chamberlain still has a hold of Kira. She calls out to Jen a few times and tries to get away from the Chamberlain, but he drags her off down the next cave path. She tells Fizzgig to stay with Jen. It’s quite a lengthy shot of the Chamberlain dragging Kira away, really hitting home the hopelessness of this situation. The Chamberlain appears to be pointing at the rubble pile as he walks off, but maybe it’s just that he’s holding out his free hand because it’s injured. Cut to a shot of Fizzgig looking sad, to properly tug at viewers’ heartstrings.

Next: The Skeksis’ moment of triumph.

****

Want more? Check out my book, CINE HIGH, now available for the Kindle and the free Kindle app.