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I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! Today we’re looking at every girl’s favorite scene (I’m guessing), at 1:02:10-1:03:41 on the Blu-ray.

When last left our heroes, they were in quite the spot. Outside the Skeksis’ castle, the Garthim have Jen and Kira surrounded and backed up against a cliff. Fizzgig jumps up into Kira’s hands as she and Jen back up to the cliff. With her other hand, she grabs Jen and says “Hang on!” Before he can properly react, she grabs him and jumps over the side, taking him with her. I love how “take charge” Kira is here, and how baffled he looks as she does this.

They don’t fall very far until… it happens. Insect-like wings sprout from Kira’s back, allowing her and Jen to glide/hover down slowly. How does this work with the cape she’s been wearing throughout the whole movie? Watching carefully, it appears that the wings emerge from either side of the cape, bunching the cape to the center of her back. Their slowed fall is accompanied by a whistling “falling missile” sound effect. Maybe the filmmakers added this sound so we’d get the point, or maybe the sound means there’s some kind of magic or energy manipulation in effect, allowing Kira to control their fall. There’s a quick shot of the Garthim at the clifftop, and then Jen and Kira land far below them.

Then we get a near-perfect dialogue exchange. Jen says, “Wings? I don’t have wings.” Kira matter-of-factly responds, “Of course not. You’re a boy.” She’s so dismissive as she says this, with her back to him, walking away from him. The camera closes in on Jen as he does a double-take on this. Whenever I see The Dark Crystal with an audience, Kira’s line always gets a huge response, especially from females in the crowd.

Gelfling girls and wings. How/why is this a thing? In the Creation Myths graphic novels, there’s a text piece called “How the Gelfling Maid Got Her Wings.” This is a fanciful fairy tale-type of thing, told as a story-within-a-story, so I don’t think we can consider it full-on canon. Another question is whether this really does apply to all Gelfling females. The DarkCrystal.com website specifies Gelflings of the Vapra clan as having “gossamer wings,” with no mention of wings in the other clans. I believe this is just their way of telling us that Kira is a Vapran, though, as the descriptions of the Vaprans are dead-on descriptions of Kira. In the Legends of the Dark Crystal manga, we meet a bunch of other females with wings, notably Kelsee, who does not appear to be a Vapran. This was long after the Gelfling tribes had merged, though, so who can say? In the manga, the artist designed the Gelfling clothes with this in mind, as most of the women are shown with openings on their clothes for their wings to rest flat against their backs. In Creation Myths, the Gelfling Kel doesn’t have any openings on the back of her shirt, but does make with the wings at one point, so I guess we’ll have to surmise that her wings came out of the sides of her shirt, like Kira’s came from the sides of her cape.

The Garthim just sit there and watch as Kira and Jen walk off. They explore a little down there, in the cavernous space that surrounds the castle (its “moat,” maybe?). Fizzgig barks and growls a little, and Kira quiets him, to remind us that Fizzgig is still with them, and still in the movie. (When you have a main character who doesn’t speak, it’s important to throw in these little reminders.) They then come across a very impressive carving in the rock, a monstrous face with water dribbling from its mouth.

Jen says, “Yes, a way into the castle.” He further surmises that it leads into “the lower part.” Maybe that second part was unneeded, but remember that this is a far-out fantasy world, so repetition like that is sometimes a necessary evil to maintain the geography of the scene and not confuse audiences as to where these characters are at any time. Speaking of far-out fantasy, this big scary stone face is named “The Teeth of Skreesh” in the canon. (I’m a little tired today, so you kids go ahead and make up your own Saved by the Bell jokes.) Why is it called that or who Skreesh was, we don’t know, except that this is fantasy so everything has to have an inflated, important-sounding name.

Kira says, “I don’t want to go in there.” But Jen insists, “We have to go on.” This is an interesting little role reversal for them. Just a minute ago, she was the take-charge action hero, with him tagging along in a befuddled state, but now he’s the man of action, charging headlong into danger with her being hesitant. Is this an inconsistency, is there more at work here? Let’s consider what we’ve seen in the film so far. Kira’s hero moments have been on instinct – she slew the crystal bat, she called the landstriders to escape the Garthim, and just now with the wings. Basically, she lives in the moment, and can think or fight her way out of any immediate danger. With the exception of his escape from Aughra’s place, Jen’s hero moments have more been about the bigger picture, and the overall quest. He chooses to leave the Mystics’ valley, he finds the right shard, he interprets the Wall of Destiny, and now he’s walking straight into danger, because that’s where his goal is. What we’re looking at is two differing sides of heroism, made whole by Jen and Kira adventuring together. Will these patterns continue through the rest of the film? It’ll be something to for.

Look closely: There are long, huge tattered, strips of white/grey cloth dangling down the cliff and collected at the bottom. What are these? Former decorative banners from the castle’s glory days, long ago? Remains of a lightweight bridge across the gap? No idea.

As Jen and Kira climb up into the big stone mouth, we cut back up to the clifftop, and there’s the Chamberlain, watching them. He does his whimper again, so we know it’s him. This little bit explains how he’ll get back inside the castle, when we’ll see him next. From this shot, we can surmise that he followed Jen and Kira through the Teeth of Skreesh.

The passage of time: Finally, there’s another shot of the Mystics, still on their journey. This is where our examination of the passage of time in the movie gets really wonky. Events are about to move very fast for Jen and Kira, yet here we see the Mystics are nowhere near the Castle (it’s not in sight, at least) and they don’t appear to be picking up the pace. This again has me wondering if magic is at work here, allowing them to traverse these great distances in a short-ish amount of time.

Next: Labyrinth! (No, not that Labyrinth.)

****

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I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! Time for some serious monster-versus-monster carnage in today’s scene, 1:00:31-1:02:09 on the Blu-ray.

We begin with Jen and Kira riding the Landstriders, but now they’re in a more harsh, sandy and rocky terrain, as opposed to the lush green forest from the previous scene. Part of the reason for this is that this scene is actually filmed outdoors instead of the more controlled soundstage, but the other reason is that they’ve now arrived at the Skeksis’ castle. We see this in the next shot, as a bunch of Garthim march toward the castle. This is our first real look at the castle up close, and in the day. It’s unknown how much of the castle’s rocky spikes actually have rooms in them and how much are merely decorative.

Again, I wonder about how the passage of time works in this world, and how much time has passed on Jen and Kira’s trip. It’s established that the Landstriders are fast, so our heroes got here in record time, but how much time, exactly? Yes, I know it’s a movie, and editing is employed to give us the illusion of time passing, and every movie will raise these questions if you examine it this closely, but still. Confusing the issue further is that Jen and Kira recognize the Garthim as the same ones who raided Kira’s village earlier in the film.

Kira says “Let’s go!” and with that, her Landstrider takes off, riding right into the center of the Garthim and attacks. The fans have this image in their minds of Gelflings being all gentle and living quietly off the land, but here we see one going full-on “action hero,” leading the charge into battle. One line of thought is that Gelflings had to learn to adapt and defend themselves thanks to the creation of the Garthim. The manga Legends of the Dark Crystal would have us believe that story was the first time the Gelflings ever went to battle. Against the Garthim, yes, but not the first time ever. The Creation Myths graphic novels and the DarkCrystal.com website speak fleetingly of Jarra-Jen, a sort of Gelfling folk hero. The graphic novel says “lightning was the only force that could match his intensity,” and has a text piece about him overthrowing Creghel, a cruel overlord. (It’s never actually said whether Creghel was an evil Gefling or a heretofore unseen type of creature. He remains another question mark in the mythology.) The point is, fighting and battling are not necessarily a new thing for the otherwise peaceful-seeming Gelfling.

Kira’s Landstrider attacks the Garthim, and sparks and smoke fly from the Garthim’s shell as the Landstrider’s hoof hits it. Remember that the Garthim are articial creatures fueled by the Dark Crystal’s energy, and we’re seeing some of that energy here. One of the Garthim carries the Podlings from Kira’s village in a big net on its back. The net falls from it and rolls to a spot near the cliff edge surrounding the castle. That’s when Jen joins the action, riding toward the fight. Kira falls from her Landstrider, taking Fizzgig with her, while the Landstrider keeps fighting. It’s surrounded by Garthim, but manages to knock one on its back, giving us a look at the Garthim’s underside. (Oh, like you weren’t curious.) Jen jumps off his Landstrider and helps Kira get the Podlings loose. In an impressive bit of puppetry, one of the Garthim lifts a Landstrider off the ground, and then they both go tumbling over the cliff, with the Landstrider making this awful scream as it falls. The rest of the Garthim surround the remaining Landstrider and pull it to the ground. We don’t see what happens next, but it’s safe to say they killed it. Jen and Kira get the Podlings out of their net, but now the Garthim are marching toward the two of them, backing them up against the cliff.

Before we get to what happens next, let’s pause for a minute and talk about why this scene is in the movie. We know that our heroes are on a quest to save the whole world, but that’s something hard to visualize, so in this scene we get them actually saving someone in a more hands-on way. This reinforces to the audience that this is what the characters want — to save everyone. Also, this scene ups the stakes. With their transportation gone, this is Jen and Kira’s point of no return, they’ve no choice but to go forward, deeper into danger. Escaping the Skeksis isn’t going to be an option from here on out. (Note that we don’t see the Podlings escape from the Garthim, but I’m pretty sure the movie would have us believe they get away.)

If you want more, the behind-the-scenes featurette on the Blu-ray has a lot of footage of this scene being filmed, including interview segments recorded at this location.

Next: Taking flight.

****

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I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! Want to have some nightmares? This is the scene for it, 56:11-1:00:30 on the Blu-ray.

We cut from the previous scene, which had our heroes journeying across the idyllic forest, to indoors, with sad shots of animals in wooden cages. There’s no establishing shot of the exterior of the Skeksis’ castle, as the audience is already familiar enough with its look to know where we are. There’s also a Podling or two in the cages. This room is ironically called the “chamber of life.” One part of the canon states that it was in this room that the UrSkeks split into the Skeksis and the Mystics, but the Creation Myths graphic novel has that event taking place in the Crystal chamber, not in here.

The Skeksis’ Scientist, whose name is SkekTet in the canon, tells the animals to be quiet, and he takes one of the Podlings from a cage. He affixes the little Podling into a Medieval torture-looking chair, and says, “This won’t hurt. We just want to drain your living essence.” He clamps down the Podling’s hands with metal manacles so it can’t leave the chair. The Scientist has a strange left hand, looking all red and plastic. Is he merely wearing a glove, or does he have an artificial hand of some kind? He explains that once the Podlings have been drained of essence, they will be “Like the other Podlings here.” We’re of course to take this meaning the shriveled up Podling slaves we’ve seen throughout the film.

The Scientist orders one of those slaves to throw a switch, and a big door opens in front of the chair. Note that there are actually three Podlings strapped to chairs during this scene, but the focus is on the one in the center. The Scientist says that out there is “the great shaft of the Cystal.” So, we’re beneath the Crystal chamber, and the great shaft (shut yo’ mouth) is the whole it floats over. I don’t believe anyone’s ever attempted a map of the castle’s interior, but this room would have be in the underground parts of the castle.

The Scientist says, “Position the reflector,” but then he’s the one who throws the switch for this. I suppose that his behavior during this scene, where he does the whole “villain speech” thing, shows that he has a real flair for the dramatic. We see a secondary crystal move in place inside the door. The Scientist further exposits that this is the reflector, which captures the beams of the Dark Crystal above it. “Feel the power of the Dark Crystal,” he says.

Then, it happens. A purple beam of light shoots out of the reflector and into the Podling’s eyes as a look of terror hits its face. Of all the scary stuff in the movie, this is the biggest “stuff of nightmares” moment. The Scientist says the beam will rid the Podling of vital essence, which he describes as “Your fears, your thoughts.” Sure enough, we see a small vial next to the Podling, with green goop pouring into it from a tube. We don’t see where/how this tube is physically connected to the Podling, which is probably for the best. Then the nightmarish stuff becomes even more nightmarish as the Podling’s eyes turn white and its face shrivels up. It’s almost hard to watch.

The Scientist says only the emperor can drink essence. This is one of the Skeksis’ most important laws, and in the Legend of the Dark Crystal manga, we see a lot of paranoia about essence being stolen and consumed by someone other than the emperor. The canon futher elaborates, saying that after the Crystal cracked, the Scientist performed experiments on it, discovering this method of drawing essence from other creatures. Gelfling essence was prized among all others, which is why the Skeksis created the Garthim, to hunt down all the Gelflings for their essence. If the scientist can do all this, one wonders why he isn’t the Skeksis’ leader. In the manga, we can see how other Skeksis intimidate him, so we can theorize that he’s got the brains but not the strength.

The General, who you’ll remember was made the new emperor earlier in the film, enters asks “Is it ready?” The Scientist orders the door closed and offers the essence to the General, saying it’s very fresh and very strong. The General grabs the vial of essence and guzzles it down, without any sort of ceremony or pretense. The Scientist says the essence will make the general young again. Then he says a line not in the Blu-ray’s subtitles, “As emperor, you deserve it.”

There’s a fascinating bit of puppetry next, as the General’s skin starts to smooth out, for his so-called younger appearance. He watches with awe in a mirror as this happens, and is overjoyed at this, almost dancing around the room, saying “Young! Young!” It doesn’t last, though. We get another shriveling up effect on both the General’s face and his hand. He accused the Scientist of being a fraud. (So “fraud” is a concept on this world.) The General hulks out and smashes a table, then he walks off, calling the Scientist a “slave squeezer.” Are we to assume this is some sort of insult? Properly intimidated, the Scientist says it always worked better back when they used Gelflings.

As he says this, he walks past another cage, where Aughra is trapped inside. Remember the last time we saw Aughra, when she confronted the Skeksis during their dinner, the scene ended with her still as their captive, which is where we find her now. What are the Skeksis’ plans for her, I wonder? Is her essence on the menu? Would the reflector even work on her? We don’t know. But she does watch the Scientist with keen interest. Also note that Aughra’s cage is metal, while most of the other cages are wood, so we can speculate that the Skeksis still consider her a danger.

Why, at this point so late in the film, is all this stuff about essence-drinking being introduced? For one, it’s foreshadowing, in that one of our heroes will later end up in this room. Second, it ups the stakes, revealing that the Skeksis are not after the Gelfings just to stop the prophecy. No, they’re a lot nastier then that. They want the Gelflings’ very essence, which is more or less the same as killing them. Now that we’ve seen how rotten the Skeksis really are, we’re really rooting for Jen and Kira to make it.

Hey, we’re officially two-thirds of the way through the movie! It’s the home stretch!

Next: Animal versus animal carnage.

****

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! Time to meet some more new creatures, 55:01-56:10 on the Blu-ray.

We pick things up with Jen, Kira and Fizzgig having just escaped an encounter with the Skeksis Chamberlain. They’re running through a dark, forested area. Jen says that now he understands, and that he knows what he has to do. He asks “How do I get to the castle?” and Kira responds, “I’ll show you.” First, remember that the word “castle” always means the Skeksis’ castle and no other location in this world. Shorthand like this helps the audience not be confused. Second, how does Kira know where the castle is? We’re never told. There’s no evidence to support her ever having been there before, so maybe she learned its location from the Podlings, or from someone else? We don’t know.

What’s really important in these three lines of dialogue, though, is the change in Jen’s attitude. Just a few scenes back, he threw away the shard and rejected his quest. Then, he discovered the Wall of Destiny and encountered his first Skeksis. With that one-two punch, he’s learned the relationship between the shard and the Dark Crystal, and he’s seen the face of the enemy. Now he’s an all-new Jen, with a renewed sense of purpose. Remember the beginning of the film, when Jen says to the Master, “I’ll go where you send me, though I barely understand.” He’s now reached the point where he has that understanding. Therefore, instead of following someone else’s commands, he’s acting on his own, and making his own decisions to move forward. The movie doesn’t dwell on this, though. We’re transitioning from the second act to the third right now, so the filmmakers keep up the momentum.

Kira makes a few animals calls, and out walks a Landstrider. This is a big, hulking animal, walking on long, giraffe-like legs. There is a second one behind it, conveniently. Kira introduces them to Jen, revealing that they are Landstriders, and says the Podlings taught her how to call them. OK, from this was assume a lot of her education came from Podlings, but how much we still do not know.

Look closely: There’s actually a third Landstrider, a little baby one, walking between the two big ones. Aww, cuteness.

What do we know about Landstriders? The canon makes a big deal about how they are “natural enemies” of the Garthim, and are known to battle and sometimes defeat Garthim. Does this mean the Landstriders didn’t come into existence until after the Skeksis created the Garthim? No, because they can be seen in the Creation Myths graphic novels, which take place before the Crystal cracked. They are described as “intelligent” a few times, and they do seem to understand what Kira is saying when she speaks to them in the Podlings’ language. One wonders why the Podlings and/or Gelflings didn’t keep Landstriders around more often as protection against Garthim. We can speculate that because the Landstriders are intelligent creatures, and are therefore off living their own lives, and are not mere animals to be tamed. We can then further speculate that they are choosing to help Kira and Jen here, rather than doing so because they’ve been trained to.

Kira easily climbs onto the back of a Landstrider, and encourages Jen to do the same. They then have a nice little Han-and-Leia moment when Jen says “Kira, you don’t have to go,” and she merely answers, “I know.” Agreed to go the castle together, Jen climbs onto the second Landstrider with a little more awkwardness. We next get a little bit of comedy shtick as Kira tells Fizzgig to stay behind. Fizzgig freaks out, howling and roaring like crazy – and giving us another glimpse of the second row of teeth at the back of his throat – before Kira relents and says he can join them.

The music swells as the Landstiders take off running. Kira tells Jen to hang on, as they go fast. Believe me, I have scoured every inch of the tie-in books trying to find anything that says definitively just what kinds of speeds these things can reach, but no luck. The never-erroneous internet tells me that giraffes can reach speeds of 35 miles per hour, so there’s that, but could it be possible for Landstriders to tap into the same passage-of-time magic the Mystics are using (if that’s what they’re doing) to cover even larger distances? Possible, but, again, I’m only speculating.

We get a wide shot of Kira and Jen riding on the Landstriders’ backs as the Landstriders pick up speed. This was some of the most complicated puppetry in the whole movie. The Landstriders were performers on stilts, so the costumes had to be kept super-lightweight for them to move around. This was especially difficult with the Jen and Kira puppets on their backs, but this shot shows they managed it, somehow.

Jen says “The prophecy never said anything about this.” Kira answers, “Prophets don’t know everything.” Her casual use of the word “prophets” would seem to suggest that this is a relatively common thing in this world. This dialogue also reinforces the fact that even though we’re dealing with a prophecy, it’s about what might happen, not what will, so the ending of all this is not, ahem, set in stone.

There are several more shots of the two Gelflings riding the Landstriders, out of the shadowy woods and into a more sunny, brighter setting. This is a “hero moment,” for our protagonists, with swelling music, and continuing that forward progression as we ride alongside them, straight into act three.

Next: The essence… of nightmares!

****

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