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I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! Today we’re wrapping things up at Aughra’s place, 28:02-30:41 on the Blu-ray.

There’s a fade and accompanying music cue to show the passage of time, but the action doesn’t leave Aughra’s orrery. It’s just later now. How much later is left ambiguous. Aughra hangs out in the back of the room, peering around the giant machine. It almost looks as if she’s staring right at the camera. No, she’s watching Jen from a distance. Jen, with his back to her, looks at three of the crystal shards he picked out from the ones Aughra gave him. In voiceover, he says he knows it’s one of these three, but he’s not sure which one. Aughra tells him to hurry, and he frets over how to choose. He has a flashback to the Mystics doing their deep-voiced chant, and he pulls out his flute. He plays a note that sort-of matches the chant, and the middle of the three shards glows with a purple light in response. Jen stops playing, but the shard continues the note, in something of a high-pitched chime. That’s how we know this is the shard Jen’s been searching for.

Lots of questions about this shard. We know Jen needs it to heal the Dark Crystal, and it’s pretty much a given that this is a piece of the Dark Crystal, but how did it get to Aughra’s place? And how did she not know which one it is? The first thing we must remember is that although the Dark Crystal – with a capital “C” – is the main Crystal that this world, and the story, revolves around, this world is full of all kinds of crystals. The tie-in books tell us that after the second conjunction, when the Crystal cracked, all kinds of crystal shards fell from the Skeksis’ castle. Aughra gathered up as many of them as she could, hoping that one was the missing piece of the Dark Crystal. The specifics of this are detailed in the second Creation Myths graphic novel, but that version of the story varies just slightly from the World of the Dark Crystal book and the official website. The next question is why would the shard respond to Jen’s flute. Some have called it mere plot convenience, yet real-life crystals are known to have interesting properties in relation to sound and harmonics. Furthermore, Creation Myths tells us that life on Thra began not with a word or a light, but with song, and the Crystal was birthed from this song. So responding to music is a big part of the Crystal’s identity.

Back at the orrery, Aughra screeches out a long “Yessss!” and marches over to Jen. She exposits that no one told Jen what to do with the shard. But she knows. She’s about to tell him, but they’re interrupted by noise and commotion outside. Before we get to the action, let’s talk a little bit more about Aughra. Why is she so contradictory? She insists that all Gelflings are dead, but then quickly takes to the idea that Jen is a Gelfling. She goads him into asking her questions, but when he does, she says there’s no time to answer. Once you’ve read the tie-in books, you see a huge contradiction in her, where in the books she’s the wise, kind earth-mother type, and in the movie she’s this batty old lady. If I may speculate, I believe the answer is in what happens after the books but before the movie – the Gelfling genocide. Prior to the movie, the Skeksis and the Garthim had hunted and killed almost all the Gelflings. At this point in the movie, first-time viewers believe Jen is the only one left. Aughra knows about the upcoming third conjunction and the prophecy, which states that the Dark Crystal must be healed by Gelfling hand. I suspect that Aughra went kooky believing that all the Gelflings are dead and disaster at the third conjunction is imminent. Even with Jen’s arrival, Aughra supports him on his journey, but still sees it a long shot. There’s also Aughra’s son. Yes, she has a son, Raunip. His story is told in Creation Myths, but there’s still no official reason as to why he’s not around in the movie. If Raunip came to an end in some horrible tragedy, then it’s possible that’s why she acts kind of out-of-it now. Finally, we’re told over and over how Aughra is connected to this world as sees everything. But if the world is “cracked” just as the Crystal is, that likely has an effect on her state of mind as well, especially after a thousand years of this.

OK, enough philosophizing. Time for scary monster stuff! The Garthim attack the orrery, smashing through the windows (they have glass on this world) and knocking over tables. There’s a funny bit where Jen looks down at the shard instead of up at the Garthim as they attack. Perhaps he suspects the Garthim are after the shard and not him. A Garthim knocks over another table, and this starts a fire (there was already a lit flame on it from one of Aughra’s chemistry set-ups) Aughra says “Out! Get out!” to them, but they keep tearing up the place. A Garthim makes a move for Jen. For all the critics who say Jen does nothing, here we get to see him spring into action. He ducks out of the way of the Garthim’s claws, and then climbs up onto Aughra’s giant machine. It’s parkour before parkour was cool. The Garthim show how strong they are by grabbing onto the machine’s globes and stopping from spinning. The audio really stands out here, with sound effects of more machinery breaking down under the floor. Too bad for the Garthim that Jen is now on the upper level of the orrery. He hops off the machine and then leaps through a window. He does this by turning around and jumping back-first through it. Is that a stuntman thing? There’s a shot of Aughra watching him do this, and then a wide shot of the Garthim trashing the machine. She picks up what looks like a crude microscope and throws it at a Garthim. I guess this is more out of frustration than an actual attack. She cries out, “My home! My home!” Oddly, this line is not on the Blu-ray’s subtitles, even though you can hear it clearly. This also establishes that she lives there.

We cut to outside, with Jen sliding down a hill. He tumbles and falls until landing in some tall grass. He looks up at the orrery to see it burning in flames. It also looks really far away. It’s another passage of time question, in that how long was he sliding down the hill? Jen says just “Aughra,” to let us know he’s thinking of her, and then he runs off into the woods. The camera pans over, and there’s the Skeksis Chamberlain, watching him. We know it’s the Chamberlain because he does that whimper again. Why didn’t the Chamberlain just abduct Jen right there? We’re not told, except that we know the Skeksis have a penchant for scheming and plotting, so perhaps he wanted to study Jen more before making his move. How did the Chamberlain get there? Remember where he was the last time we saw him – secretly following the Garthim. They led him here.

We get one last shot of the orrery, with an extra big burst of flame coming from it, to punctuate the scene. Hey, we’re now officially one-third of the way through the movie!

Next week: It’s the Muppet Show!

****

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! We’ve reached one of the movie’s big set pieces, 24:36-28:01 on the Blu-ray.

Now that they’ve met, Aughra leads Jen into a cave. He follows, losing track of her in the darkness. Then, a door opens and… Wait, first let’s address the fact that a door opens. How many working doors do we see in this world? Later, we’ll meet the Skeksis’ Scientist, who has a big mechanical door to the lower parts of the Crystal Chamber, similar to Aughra’s big mechanical door. Animals and prisoners are seen kept in cages, which by necessity must have doors (they’d be pretty useless otherwise). Throughout the rest of the canon, though, we get doorways, arches, and the like, but no real doors that open and close like we’re all used to. In a few cases, Gelflings and the Mystics are seen using a curtain or, er, a tent flap for privacy or protection against the elements, but that’s still not like a door. Mostly, though, it’s all open doorways. One reason for this is for filmmaking’s sake. An open doorway in the background helps add a little depth to a scene. (Remember that little open space in the back of Jerry’s apartment in Seinfeld with the bicycle hanging on the wall? Stuff like that.) Within the world of The Dark Crystal, though, an absence of closed doors speaks to Brian Froud’s constant refrain of the story, that everything is connected. This general sense of openness, even among the no-good Skeksis, shows that every room has an open door.

Anyway, what does Jen see when he goes through Augrha’s door. Oh, only one of the greatest sets ever created for a motion picture. This is some serious Wizard of Oz/Ten Commandments/Titanic production value. This is often called Aughra’s “observatory,” with others insisting it be referred to as the “orrery.” The screenplay specifies “orrery,” while Froud’s book The World of the Dark Crystal uses both. Some others over the years just called it her “dome.” What we’re looking at is a gigantic model of rotating suns and planets, constantly in motion, whirling around each other in geometric harmony. No CGI here – this thing was built, working, full-size, on a soundstage, and it’s a visual wonder.

Once the audience’s breath is well and truly taken away, Augrha emerges from the left of the screen to ask Jen, “What’s it for?” So… she ran ahead, opened the door, closed it, and then hid off to the side, just to jump out at Jen like this? Augrha then drops the jokey shtick and gets all poetic, saying, “Everything in the heavens is here, moving as the heavens do,” and “Sun, moons, stars… yes, the angle of eternity.” (Are suns and stars two different things in this universe, or is that merely the characters’ limited understanding?) Aughra says the machine is for making a prediction A thousand years ago, she says, there was a great conjunction, and she was there.

Oohh, boy, it’s time to talk about the conjunctions. I’ve put this off long enough. The tie-in books have a ton of material on this topic, with both volumes of Creation Myths devoted to explaining the conjunctions, so I’ll keep this short. First, life was Thra was created through the power of the Great Crystal and Aughra was born. A thousand years later, the three suns met in the sky over the Crystal for the first great conjunction, like an eclipse but with just suns. This is when the creatures called urSkeks came to the world. They brought enlightenment and whatnot, and Gelfling culture thrived. Then, another thousand years went by, and we had a second great conjunction, in which the Crystal cracked, the urSkeks were divided into the Skeksis and the Mystics, and the world fell into a chaos (of a sort). Aughra doesn’t explain all this to Jen, instead giving an even shorter version of the second conjunction.

Aughra then says that another conjunction is coming up and anything could happen, speculating that the whole world might burn up, and that it would be the “end of Aughra.” Aughra prompts Jen to ask her more about the great conjunction, and she says it will either be the end of the world, or the beginning. The Dark Crystal plays around nicely with the fantasy trope of the prophecy. This prophecy doesn’t say the world will be saved, only that it might be saved. This keeps the outcome uncertain throughout the story. As Aughra speaks to Jen, she looks at him through a piece of metal (gold?) carved into the circle-in-triangle-in-circle-in-triangle symbol, similar to the one Jen’s master had on his robes. Most of the symbols are in the background, but this one they put front and center for this scene, as it references the conjunctions, which is what they’re discussing.

Jen brings the conversation back the shard, which his master told him to get from Aughra. Aughra chides him for asking too many questions, even though just a second ago, she was prompting him to ask questions. As she speaks, Aughra ducks and moves around the machinery deftly, really selling the illusion that she’s lived for years up there with that thing, and knows its every movement. She comes upon a box, looks at it with surprise, as if she hasn’t seen it in years even though it’s right there on the table, and says, “You want a shard? Here.” She overturns the box, and not one but a whole bunch of crystal shards fall all over the floor, right by Jen’s feet. We get a close-up of Jen’s four-toed foot and his Gelfling sandal (you know, if you’re into that). Also, notice that the tables inside Aughra’s place contain what appears to be chemistry equipment – lots of it. What was Aughra studying or experimenting on? We can only speculate. Jen asks Aughra which shard is the one he’s looking for. Aughra does a slapstick comedy bit where she sits down with a loud grunt, and says she doesn’t know. She insists than Jen figure it out, and that they’re running out of time.

With that mention of time, we get a fade to later, so that’s where we’ll leave things for now.

Next: Ruminations on crystals, harmonics, and monster attacks.

****

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I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! Today we rejoin Jen on his quest, 21:44-24:35 on the Blu-ray.

In the previous scene, the Dark Crystal showed the Skeksis an image of Jen, and some in the audience might be wondering how it did that. The next shot is a closeup of a Crystal Bat, watching Jen through its camera-like eye. Of course, we’re not meant to know yet that it’s a Crystal Bat. To the first-time viewer, this is just some weird-lookin’ robot thing. I’ve noticed that a lot during this rewatch, that the movie shows us various creatures and characters before properly introducing them. I guess that speaks to the fully-immersed-in-this-world effect the filmmakers are striving for.

Jen is climbing up the side of a huge rocky cliff face, and based on the background, he’s way up high. (This is a matte painting, of course. I miss matte paintings in fantasy movies.) It fades to another shot, showing the passage of time and Jen’s progress. He is now walking through a bunch of rocks with big pink vines all around. He trips, making a nice, and all the vines spring to life, retreating into caves and holes in the walls. I love watching this scene with people who’ve never seen the movie before. It blows their minds!

Jen’s voiceover says “What in the world?” and, humorously, “This place is weird.” OK, why is Jen speaking in voiceover? He’ll do this several times in the movie, so get used to it. As the story goes, the original version of the movie had very little dialogue and no narration or voiceover. Depending in which version of the story you read, all those scenes with the Skeksis in their castle were in an alien language with subtitles, or in an alien language with no subtitles, for the truly immersive experience. Early test audiences were understandably baffled by what they were seeing, so the narrator was added, the Skeksis were redubbed into their awesome voice they now have, and we’re privy to Jen’s thoughts via voiceover. The Dark Crystal is often criticized for characters explaining things more than once. That’s because of all the head-scratching done by those confused early test audiences.

As such, Jen reminds us that he’s looking for Aughra, by following the path of the Greater Sun for a day. He seems to have travelled a long way for one day, which raises questions as to how the passage of time works on this world. Jen shows a little bit of humor, wondering if the one little crab-like creatures scuttling around could be Aughra, and then he gives us a hint of his darker side by asking “What if she murders Gelflings?”

Jen wanders into a bunch of vines (a different kind from the ones before) only to get caught up in them. Then, the vines lift him up off the ground, Ewok trap-style. He looks around for a few seconds, and then looks down and reacts with surprise. We see what he’s reacting to and… are you ready for this? It a grubby hand holding an eyeball, and the eyeball is able to move independently, looking around. It’s a real “how did they come up with this stuff?” moment. This stranger speaks in another language for a few seconds, and then we see who it is. This is, for lack of a better description, and old lady, with a wrinkled, frumpy face, long grey hair, and, uh, ram’s horns. She places the eye into its socket, with the other socket remains grossly empty. On her forehead is a circle, which many have speculated is the mystical “third eye.” Indeed, the info at DarkCrystal.com states she is three-eyed, with two blind eyes.

Yes, this is Aughra. You know it’s Augrha, I know it’s Aughra, everybody but poor Jen has figured out this Aughra. Instead of speaking in the other language, she speaks so we can understand and asks “Are you a Gelfling.” Jen says yes and introduces himself. Aughra responds with shock, and then exposits that all the Gelflings are dead, and that the Garthim killed them all, and that Jen can’t possibly be a Gelfling. She then states that Jen looks and smells like a Gelfling, and she starts convincing herself that yes, he is a Gelfling.

Jen says he’s looking for Aughra, and that his master, wisest of the Mystics, has sent him. Aughra asks “Where is he? Around here?” Can we take this to mean the Mystics at some point left the valley and visited Aughra in person? Then, we get an important exchange. Jen says his Master is dead, and Aughra responds, “Could be anywhere, then.” First, this is the most definitive statement we’ve got in the movie of these characters’ belief in an afterlife. Second, this line is allegedly taken straight from the spiritual sci-fi novel Seth Speaks by Jane Roberts, which Jim Henson, Brian Froud, and screenwriter David O’Dell had all read during preproduction. In his afterward for the second Creation Myths graphic novel O’Dell cites Seth Speaks as being a big influence on The Dark Crystal.

Jen finally puts two and two together and asks “Are you Aughra?” Aughra shows her darkly comic side by saying “Are you afraid of me? Think I’m going to eat you?” Jen doesn’t seem too freaked out by this, and says he’s seeking a crystal shard. Aughra says “Drop him,” and the vines do so at her command. She gives some more commands, this time in another language, and more vines rise up to reveal a cave entrance. She enters, without beckoning Jen to follow. It’s unspoken, I guess, because he follows anyway.

So, who is this Aughra, anyway? That’s actually a huge question to try to answer. Both of the Creation Myths graphic novels and Brian Froud’s book The World of the Dark Crystal have tons of background info on Aughra. She’s more or less the main character of both books. Basically, she’s “Mother Earth” of this world. She was created first, and she’s seen the entire planet’s history come to pass. The books show growing tree-like when she meditates, and describe how she lost her eye during the first Great Conjunction, and how she was present at the chaotic second Great Conjunction.

Just what is all this talk about conjunctions? What’s their function? We’ll get to that in detail… next time.

Next: The angle of eternity.

****

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I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! Today, the titular crystal comes into play, 19:31-21:43 on the Blu-ray.

We’re still in the Skeksis’ throne room, just after the Chamberlain has been banished and had his clothes ripped from him. A strange, almost electronic sound rings through the air, and all the Skeksis react to it. The General declares, “The Crystal calls!” and he adds, “To the Crystal Chamber!” (Even though he’s the new Skeksis emperor, I’m going to keep calling him the General, to avoid confusion between him and the emperor who just died.) Instead of freaking out this time, the other Skeksis dutifully turn and start walking toward the Crystal Chamber in an orderly fashion. As they march down a hallway, we can hear them quietly muttering to each other. The subtitles have one of them saying, “Hurry,” and I swear I can hear another one say “The Crystal,” but beyond that, I can’t make sense of their mutterings. They enter the Crystal chamber, the one we saw at the beginning of the film, again on a ramp and not stairs. They gather beneath the Dark Crystal.

So just what is the deal with this Dark Crystal? Why’s it so important? The canon describes it as the “heart” of this world, and goes on to describe how it once provided balance and harmony throughout the world. Now, though, it is cracked, and the world is all messed up with monsters and darkness and whatnot. Its shape is described as “rhombohedral.” A lot of folks over the years have asked how the Crystal is just floating there in the middle of the room, and what’s holding it up. The official, canonical answer is that it is “supported by its own gravity.” Sure, why not?

There’s a funny bit where the General snarls menacingly at the Skeksis to his sides, reminding them who’s in charge now, before turning his attention to the crystal. An image of Jen climbing a rock wall appears on or perhaps inside the Crystal’s surface. Now is when we see the easily-excited nature of the Skeksis, where just seeing a Gelfling makes them freak out. “The prophecy!” one Skeksis cries. There’s just enough time for the audience to ask, “What prophecy?” when another Skeksis responds, “The prophecy says Gelfling will destroy us.”

This is the only time in the canon that we see the Crystal call to the Skeksis like this. How often does it do this? What else has it shown them? We don’t know. The big unanswered question is why the Crystal shows them Jen. Is the Skeksis’ command of the Crystal so great that it has truly bent to their will and serves them completely? Or, is there a higher intelligence at work, so that the Crystal, by showing this, is somehow setting events in motion to where it’ll eventually be healed. That’d be an interesting interpretation of the film – that the Crystal is manipulating everything that happens in its favor. But would it hold up? Either way, this scene at least demonstrates that there is an intelligence of sorts behind the Crystal, as it acts on its own and communicates in its own way. (Yeah, yeah, it’s also a matter of plot convenience, because the Skeksis have to learn about Jen to up the stakes, etc.)

The General calls out, “Garthim! Attack!” and we get our first real good look at the Garthim – the henchmen or stormtroopers of the film. They’re basically giant bugs, a big black shell with all kinds of twitchy arms, legs and claws. The canon informs that the Garthim are not natural to this world. They are artificial constructs created by the Skeksis from “memories of sea creatures” from the Skeksis’ original world. (Yes, another world. There’ll be more detail about this in another post.) The Garthim were created for the sole purpose of hunting Gelfling, which is why they’re all gone now. I love that the Garthim’s eyes are the same purple light of the Dark Crystal, so that the audience immediately identifies them as being connected to it and to the Skeksis. This also reinforces how they were built by the Skeksis, with the Skeksis using the Crystal for their own, ahem, dark purposes.

The Garthim emerge from all around the Crystal chamber to show off how cool they are. The Skeksis’ commands to the Garthim are oddly contradictory. One says to find the Gelfling and bring him to the castle, and another says to kill the Gelfling. So, which is it? Then there’s a shot of a bunch of Garthim rumbling down a hallway, joined by a few more entering from alcoves alongside the wall. It’s basically a little trick to convince the audience that there are a whole lot of Garthim, instead of just the ten or so puppets made for the movie. The Garthim continue down the hall, and we see the Chamberlain lurking there, watching them keenly. He does the whimper again, so there’s no question it’s him, and he follows. Throughout the middle part of the movie, some might wonder how the Chamberlain gets around, and how he knows where to be. This scene is your answer: He follows the Garthim the whole time.

We cut back to the Crystal Chamber for a close-up of the Dark Crystal, still showing the image of Jen. The Skeksis comment, “Ugly!” and “Hideous Gelfling!” for a quick laugh.

Next: “This place is weird.”

****

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I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! I took a break over the holidays, but now I’m back and ready for the famous “trial by stone” scene, 14:22-19:32 on the Blu-ray.

The scene takes place in the Skeksis’ throne room. There’s no establishing shot of the castle beforehand, as the audience is now familiar enough with the Skeksis to know that’s where they are. Even in this first shot there are some interesting details to notice. Both the Garthim and some Podling slaves are milling about in the background, before being properly introduced. Also, there are stairs off to one side. I could be wrong, but I believe this is the only time we see stairs in the movie, as most of the architecture prefers big ramps to stairways. This is of course easier to accommodate puppeteers and cameramen moving around the sets, but it also gives the structures an organic feel, especially after reading passages in the tie-in books that describe the characters’ homes as “grown” or “shaped” rather than built.

The Skeksis gather in this room, expositing that the Emperor is dead, and a new one must be chosen. The Chamberlain confidently declares, “It should be me,” while the General growls, “Not him. I must rule.” It’s hard to tell, but it looks like Skeksis are divided, without about half gathering in support of the General, and half in support of the Chamberlain. Given what we’re about to see, it’s hard to imagine the Chamberlain having supporters, but in these few moments, he does. One Skeksis even calls him “My Lord Chamberlain,” showing that he has some status and high regard over others of his kind. I bring this up because as we go through this rewatch we’ll see that, despite his mewling whimper, the Chamberlain is really… a man of action.

Chamberlain says it’s time for him to make his move, that move being merely walking up to the throne and reaching for the emperor’s scepter. The General goes to stop him, and the two face off, hissing at each other. Notice the General’s back, how the robes on his back rise up as he gets angry. We’ll get back to this. The General says, “I challenge!” Then there’s a nifty bit of puppet acting on the Chamberlain as he blinks a few times – a very realistic-looking blink pattern – and he responds, “Trial by stone.” It’s interesting that one Skeksis makes the challenge, and the one being challenged gets to choose what the challenge is. This suggests that the Skeksis have these customs or rituals in place so they’re not just always clawing at each other. But wait, in the manga Legends of the Dark Crystal, when the Chamberlain challenges SkekLach, it’s the Chamberlain’s idea to make it trial by fire, and SkekLach goes along with it. In the manga, SkekLach was betraying the emperor, so perhaps the Skeksis’ customs were changed after his betrayal was (I’m assuming) eventually discovered.

Everyone in the tie-in books always talks about how the Skeksis are cunning and scheming, but after Chamberlain says “Trial by stone,” we see another aspect of the Skeksis’ personalities, which is how easily excitable they are. They freak the hell out, running around crying “Trial by stone! Trial by stone!” The Skeksis’ Slave-master gets his big scene, in which he commands the castle’s slaves to “raise the stone.” Then the Podling slaves enter, their faces shriveled and their eyes blank and white. Interesting that this is how the audience is introduced to the Podlings, before even knowing what a Podling is.

The slaves pull a bunch of ropes, triggering an unseen mechanism that brings a giant black stone up out of the ground. The stone has two huge swords affixed to it. We get our “action movie” shot in which the Chamberlain and the General raise their swords, yell with anger, and clash them together. That final part is captured in a close-up of the swords clanging into each other. Chamberlain and the General circle the stone while still hissing and growling at each other, but this is no high-flying swordfight. The General swings his sword and strikes the stone with a mighty blow, to which all the other Skeksis cheer for him. So this trial is a test of strength, whoever can ding the stone the hardest wins. During this, the Blu-ray’s subtitles have one of the Skeksis in the background saying “I’m taking it.” Does this mean they’re gambling on the outcome?

Then the Chamberlain takes his swing. Remember that shot in The Shining where Jack Nicholson is trying to break through the door with the axe, and Kubrick’s camera manages to follow the path of the axe back and forth as he swings it? They do that same shot here, as the camera follows the sword as Chamberlain first rears it back, and then swings forward, cutting a large gash into the stone’s surface. The Skeksis show how ever-changing their loyalty is by immediately switching sides and cheering for the Chamberlain. The fact that he does well in the contest again shows that the Chamberlain is a man of action. But it’s not over. The General wipes some drool from his chin (nice little bit of grossness there), and he swings. He strikes the stone so hard it breaks in a burst of sparks and smoke, glowing red-hot pieces of it falling onto the floor. There’s a moment of silence as the Skeksis look on, shocked.

The tie-in fiction has a lot to say about this stone they’re using. It’s called the Haakskeekah, and it was the Skeksis’ attempt to create a second Dark Crystal. It’s not a second Dark Crystal, but it apparently has mystical properties, or at least the Skeksis believe it does. Knowing this adds a lot of dramatic weight to the General cleaving it in half. It means that in their hundreds of years inhabiting this castle, the Skeksis have never seen this happen before. It also speaks to how this world is broken and out of balance with the third great conjunction about to happen. Plotwise, this act means that the General is victorious, and there’s no way the Chamberlain can talk his way out of this one. The General immediately declares himself the emperor, and the Ritual-master speaks up, saying that, by law, the Chamberlain must pay. (Pay for what, though? The challenge was the General’s idea. I guess he must pay for making a move for the scepter to begin with.)

The stuff of nightmares: Then it’s one of the movie’s famous watch-from-between-your-fingers moments, in which the other Skeksis, now devoted to their new emperor, surround the Chamberlain. What makes this freaky is that we don’t really see or are told exactly what the other Skeksis are doing to him. They’re removing his clothes, that much is clear, but the way he’s screaming suggests he’s in horrid pain, so maybe, just maybe, this hurts him somehow? The General declares that the Chamberlain is banished. The rest of the Skeksis part ways, and we see the Chamberlain NUDE!!! He’s leaning against the wall, whimpering in humiliation. The effect is as mind-blowing as it is horrifying, because this is the filmmakers’ way of saying that there are not puppeteers under the Skeksis’ robes, but actual Skeksis.

Look closely: During all this, we can see that one of the Skeksis has a metal hook for a hand. Unless I’m mistaken, I believe that one is the Slave-master.

Scepter in hand, the General declares himself emperor and has all the other Skeksis bow down to him. All except for the Chamberlain, still shuddering in the corner. He bundles up some of the torn up rags that were once his clothes and walks off. One question fans ask is, “If the Skeksis and the urRu are connected, why don’t the Skeksis have four arms like the urRu?” In this shot of the Chamberlain, you can see a pair of tiny secondary arms growing on his back, with itty-bitty claws and everything. Some fans think the secondary arms are at the Skeksis’ bellies, but no. Earlier, when the General’s robes rose up, those were his secondary arms doing that. Also, Brian Froud’s sketchbook drawings in the back of the second Creation Myths graphic novel shows these small arms quite clearly on the Skeksis’ backs, holding up little flags and whatnot.

The Chamberlain does his famous whimper again as he heads for the exit. The scene isn’t over yet, but there’s a lot to say about what happens next, so we’ll end this one here.

Next: The Crystal calls!

****

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I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! Just a short couple of scenes this time, 13:01-14:21 on the Blu-ray.

We see one of the Mystics playing a harp-like instrument, using two of his four hands — the two on his right side — to play. The rest of the Mystics are standing in a circle inside their Standing Stones. This shows that the stones must do more than offer protection, as described in the canon. Instead, they must be a source of magic and/or energy for a variety of purposes for the Mystics. Without the movie having to tell us, we in the audience can just deduce this is the funeral for the Mystics’ Master. The Mystics all raise their arms in unison, and one of them says, “Dear friend, be well.” According to the screenplay, the one speaking is urZah, the Ritual-Guardian. Unless I’m mistaken, he’s the one we saw creating the painting in the sand earlier.

At the center of the circle are the Master’s belongings. We know this because the Ritual-Guardian says, “Receive your belongings,” and they disappear in a flash of blue light. I assume this is magic at work, as the how and why this is possible is never really explained. These belongings, by the way, are a cane and two nondescript bundles. Not exactly a pharaoh being buried with his treasure, but who am I to question these alien creatures? The Ritual-Guardian concludes the funeral by asking the Master to watch over Jen on his dangerous quest. This funeral is the most overt reference to the characters in this world believing in an afterlife.

Jen is watching this from atop the walls of the valley, looking down on the other Masters with sadness. In voiceover, Jen promises his Master that he’ll find the shard. It’s important to remember just how much Jen doesn’t know at this point in the story. He has to find the shard, but he doesn’t know why. He knows who the Skeksis are, and he’s heard talk of the three suns converging in the sky, but he I don’t believe he knows how these things are related. Many critics argue that Jen is “dumb” or even “useless” because he can’t grasp the situation, but I’m not sure I agree.

Look closely: As Jen leaves the valley, we can see the Mystics have already separated and are walking away from the stone circle. For as slow and meditative as they are, they obviously have a “keep it short and sweet” policy when it comes to funerals.

Then we get the image that was in all the movie’s original commercials, the over-the-shoulder shot of Jen looking out over the vast, green wilderness. This is our “sense of wonder” moment as Jen begins his quest. In voice over, he says he’s not ready to go alone, but then immediately changes his mind with, “All right, alone then,” and he marches forward. See, he’s not useless. This is him being the courageous hero.

Travelogue! The next shot has Jen standing atop a massive rock with two waterfalls on either side. A lot of people on the internet swear they can see the image of a Skeksis face in the rocks here. I can sort of see it, but was this really intentional on the part of the filmmakers? That’s highly debatable. The music continues to swell as we transition to the next shot, of Jen making his way down a grassy mountainside.

There’s a lot to say about the next scene, so we’ll end here for now.

Next: Trial by stone!

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I freakin’ love The Dark Crystal! Let’s watch it! After all that exposition, it’s time to have some fun, and by “fun” I mean “unimaginable Skeksis horror.” 9:46-13:00 on the Blu-ray.

Time for another establishing shot of the castle, much like the beginning the film. This time, I noticed a pattern. When lightning flashes in the sky, it’s followed by a similar electrical flash from the cracks in the ground around the castle. Is the castle drawing power from the lightning, like something out of Frankenstein? It’s possible, as one of the Skeksis is a mad scientist.

Inside, we get a long shot of a hallway, where a Skeksis emerges from a doorway and walks toward us. What the heck is that huge stick-figure sculpture on the wall? I thought for sure this thing would be featured in The World of the Dark Crystal book, because it has descriptions of all the symbols in the backgrounds, but no luck. The Skeksis we see seems to be breathing heavily as he walks. A second Skeksis darts out in front of him and for the first time we hear… the whimper.

“hmmmMMMMMmmmm.”

The two Skeksis circle one another, eyeing each other like two wild animals. The bigger one, the one we saw first, is the General. The second, the one making the funny noise, is of course the Chamberlain. These two are the main villains throughout the film, with the Chamberlain getting the most screen time. The canon tells us that the Chamberlain’s name is SkekSil, and the General is SkekUng, but these names aren’t used on screen. After staring each other down, the two Skeksis then merely turn and march side by side down the hallway. Interestingly, this bit with them circling each other isn’t in the screenplay, which has the scene beginning with the two of them just walking down the hall. I think this exchange says a lot about the Skeksis. They hate each other, but they have their formalities, so although circling like animals, they keep their rage in check and do not openly attack each other.

The General breaks the tension by saying, “I hate your whimper.” The Chamberlain does the whimper again, perhaps intentionally to mess with his opponent. We fade to not much later, as the two reach their destination at the end of the hall, with the Chamberlain still whimpering. OK, what’s the deal with this whimper? Like I’ve said before, sorting out which Skeksis is which can be maddening. They each have their individual looks and personalities, which is great, but if I were to ask you to point out which one is, say, the Ornamentalist, you’d have to go to the internet and then go through the Skeksis scenes freeze-frame-by-freeze-frame to spot him. The Chamberlain is the most important Skeksis to the story, so the filmmakers have made it perfectly clear which one he is – he’s the one always making that whimper. Every time we hear the whimper, we know exactly which Skeksis we’re dealing with. A first-time viewer won’t know he’s SkekSil, and might not even get that he’s the Chamberlain, but the whimper nonetheless identifies him as “that one guy.” Also, the whimper is funny! Let’s never forget that The Dark Crystal has a sense of humor.

The General tells the Chamberlain to be quiet as they enter a room full of Skeksis. I could go on and on about all the details of the Skeksis’ clothes, but, interestingly, it appears that the general is wearing a piece of crystal around his neck. Or maybe it’s a bird’s beak. Hard to tell. The Skeksis are gathered around a bed, where a frail, withered Skeksis is under the covers. Another Skeksis tells the Chamberlain, “He is not dead yet.” (The first person to make a Monty Python reference gets slapped.) Based on the opening narration from the first scene, we can safely conclude the one in bed is the dying emperor. The General commands the others to bow, which they do. All except the Chamberlain, who reaches for the emperor’s scepter. The emperor springs to life and hisses “Mine!” at the Chamberlain.

 Stuff of nightmares: People often describe The Dark Crystal as “scary,” and I can totally see that. Images like the dying emperor snarling at the Chamberlain and then coughing and hacking on his deathbed are like something pulled straight from a very unpleasant dream.

In case we weren’t disturbed enough, the camera pushes in for a tight close-up on the emperor, as he orders the others back and, with his dying breath, espouses, “I am still emperor.” Only to wheeze, choke and finally die. The Chamberlain whimpers again, and the nightmare isn’t over yet, because now we get a close-up of the emperor’s dead face crumbling into flaky dust. His whole body collapses in this fashion, and all the Skeksis lean in close. They all exchange looks with each other, as if to say, “Now what do we do?”

About the emperor: The tie-in fiction informs us his name is SkekSo. The World of the Dark Crystal says that he was once great, but that his greatness faded over time. He’s a main character in the Legends of the Dark Crystal manga, where we see all the other Skeksis vying for his loyalty, and him being suspicious of them all. He’s especially fond of SkekLach, an armored warrior Skeksis who appears in the manga but not in the movie. The emperor’s scepter has a claw shape at the top, which World of the Dark Crystal says is a symbol of Skeksis aggression.

We cut right back to where we left Jen and the Mystics’ Master at the end of the previous scene, showing that no time has passed between then and now. Jen says in voiceover, “I’ll go where you send me, though I barely understand.” The music gets really sad here, as the Master dies, fading away into nothingness with the help of some twinkling purple lights. His cloak falls around him not unlike the Skeksis emperor’s bedsheets. Here we see how the Mystics and the Skeksis have the ol’ “the same, but different” thing going on. When one dies, so does the other, at the same time. And yet, the Skeksis crumbles into dirt when he dies, while the Mystic ascends into light and air upon death.

How did the Master and the Emperor die? You’d think old age, but it’s here that the tie-in fiction takes off in directions not evident in the film. The canon states that the Master chose to die, to set events in motion for Jen’s quest and the ultimate healing of the whole world. Given that the Mystics are numb and set in their ways, this is an enormous sacrifice and risk on his part. The number ten, we’re told, is the number of balance, but the number nine is discord. With nine Mystics/Skeksis instead of ten, the door is now open for change – and, perhaps, the threat of chaos. So, now that there are nine and that means… stop. STOP! At this point, we’ve got to put on the brakes and ask ourselves just how much of the symbology and numerology in the tie-in fiction can enhance our enjoyment of the film, and how much is explaining stuff that never needed to be explained. I can’t answer that question. There is no answer, really. It’s something for every Dark Crystal fan to answer for his or her own self.

Next: A funeral, and a quest begins.

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