The Dark Crystal: Difference between revisions
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One thousand years ago, the titular crystal was whole. When it cracked on the day of the Great Conjunction of the planet's three suns, it split its [[Precursors|UrSkek]] keepers into the [[Exclusively Evil]] and aggressive Skeksis and the [[Always Lawful Good]] but all too passive Mystics (aka urRu). A few centuries later, the Skeksis discover a prophecy that the elf-like Gelflings will heal the crystal, thus undoing their reign, they sent their [[Elite Mooks|Garthim]] to hunt them down and kill them all. All except for the protagonists Jen and Kira, the [[Last of His Kind|last of their kind]].
Though it didn't do as well on its initial theatrical run, it spawned a cult following large enough to warrant a string of spin-
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{{tropelist}}
* [[Action Survivor]]: The Chamberlain is a villain example. The Skeksis as a whole are depicted as lazy [[Upper Class Twit]]s, and the Chamberlain is more so than the others, being frail and gaunt, losing the test of strength against the General. Despite this, after being humiliated, stripped of his robes, and banished from the castle, he copes surprisingly well, not only surviving but managing to reclaim his position by capturing Kira.
* [[Adam and Eve Plot]]: Never directly addressed, but since Jen and Kira are the [[Last of His Kind|Last Of Their Kind]], it's pretty obvious.
* [[Age Without Youth]]: Applies to both the Mystics and Skeksis (though they're not technically immortal), but the Skeksis suffer a bit more from it, especially when you [[All There in the Manual|learn]] that they weren't originally evil, but rather represented the passionate, hedonistic side of the Urskek, and were rather pleasant to party with. Then they aged, for a thousand years.
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{{quote|'''Jen''': Wings? I don't have wings.
'''Kira''': Of course not. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|You're a boy.]] }}
* [[A Boy and His X]]: Though, Fizgig, an alien something like a cross between a terrier and a Pirahna, belongs to the girl, the trope is played straight in the prequel manga.
* [[Cast of Snowflakes]]: The Skeksis all have complex personalities, hobbies, and goals, mostly given in novelizations, and each has his own elaborate and unique style of clothing. However, as far as the movie is concerned, only the General, Chamberlain, and Scientist have roles that are important to the plot.
* [[Darker and Edgier]]: This is a [[Jim Henson]] film, the guy who did ''[[The Muppets]]'' and ''[[Sesame Street]]'', although the main concept designer was actually more in the mystical and deep material that makes up the strange creatures. Storywise, it involves mass genocide, gruesome deaths, [[Fate Worse Than Death]] and [[Everything Is Trying to Kill You]] thrown into the mix.
* [[Deadly Decadent Court]]: The Skeksis
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* [[Empty Shell]]: The Podling slaves and the Garthim.
* [[The End of the World as We Know It]]: Or the beginning. Same thing.
* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: Hilariously addressed when the Garthim bring Aughra to the banquet hall; for all their faults, the Skeksis aren't too fond of cussing, the Ritual Master telling her to "watch your tongue!"
* [[Everything Fades]]: The Mystics fade when they die.
* [[Eye Scream]]: Aughra can remove her own eyeball at will and use it like a remote camera. While it doesn't hurt her, it certainly is weird...
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* [[Heel Face Turn]]: {{spoiler|Completely subverted with the Chamberlain. Defrocked and kicked out of the Skeksis' castle, he makes obvious peace overtures to Jen and Kira. When Jen stabs him for his pains, he promptly kidnaps Kira and scuttles back to the castle to redeem himself in the eyes of the other Skeksis. Whether he did it because of the [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|hostile reception he got]], or because he was [[Evil All Along]], is left for the viewer.}}
* [[The Hero]]: Jen
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|1=Many of the cute little fuzzballs that force SkekTek into the bottomless shaft go down with him. Fizzgig too, though he ends up catching hold of something and gets rescued by Aughra. And the Landstriders, who throw themselves at the much-stronger Garthim to protect Jen and Kira. And of course, Kira herself.}}
* [[Hobbits]]: This is more or less what gelflings and/or Podlings are supposed to be. They're much smaller than all the other people in the setting, and the podlings are definitely merry.
* [[Immortality Seeker]]: The Skeksis' goal; given how the Emperor dies of old age at the beginning and the rest of them seem pretty old themselves, they aren't making much progress towards it.
* [[Ironic Name]]: The Skesis scientist's laboratory, where he keeps all those jailed critters and drains Podlings and Gelflings from their vital essence? Its official name is "the Chamber of Life".
** Conversely, it's a [[Meaningful Name]] for the Skesis themselves, as {{spoiler|they extract a life-prolonging potion from the Pod People and Gelflings in there}}.
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* [[Mineral MacGuffin]]: The crystal shard.
* [[Mordor]]: The castle of the Skeksis and the land surrounding it are dark, barren, and forbidding. That is until the Skeksis are no more.
* [[Mythopoeia]]: The book The World of the Dark Crystal covers a ''lot'' of back story.
* [[Needle in a Stack of Needles]]: Jen has to dig through a box of nearly identical crystal shards to find the one that actually is the missing chunk of the Dark Crystal. {{spoiler|He identifies it after using a trick with his flute which he learned from the urRu.}}
* [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]]: Apparently, female gelflings have wings; who knew.
** Earlier in the ruins if you pay attention to the wall art, you can see some of the figures have wings.
* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Herod]]: Variation. The Skeksis try to foil the prophecy by mass-murdering every gelfling they can find, the Garthim orignally designed for this purpose. As always, they miss a couple...
* [[No Body Left Behind]]: Jen's Master disappears when he dies.
* [[Noisy Nature]]: Most of the scenes of the flora and fauna of Thra are rife with animal/insect sound and there's a plant with seed pods that take off like little copters with an audible 'pop'
* [[No Ontological Inertia]]: If a Skeksis dies, a corresponding mystic dies, and vice versa.
** Also, {{spoiler|in the final scene, the Garthim collapse into empty shells, due to whatever magic used to create them now gone.}}
* [[Not Quite Flight]]: Kira's wings let her glide and slows her fall - even when holding Jen - but she can't use them to gain lift. The novelization claims female gelfling could ''actually'' fly many ages ago, presumably evolution has caused their wings to atrophy.
* [[Novelization]]:
* [[Obviously Evil]]: Uhm, the Skeksis. Big, ugly, buzzard-like creatures. Clearly evil.
* [[Overly Long Gag]]: The banquet scene was two minutes showcasing the Skeksis' atrocious table manners. Whether this was done for humor or to unnerve the viewers (or both) is hard to say.
* [[Positive Discrimination]]: The female protagonist gets big pretty butterfly wings and superpowers. The male protagonist gets... um... to hook up with the female protagonist?
* [[Power Crystal]]: The Dark Crystal.
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* [[Prophecies Rhyme All the Time]]: Yep, this one too.
* [[Psychic Link]]: The Gelflings exchange their backstories through a touch-enabled mindlink that Kira calls Dreamfasting.
* [[Puppy Love]]: Jen and Kira; seriously, it cannot be more obvious.
* [[Ridiculously Cute Critter]]: Fizzgig
* [[Rule of Three]]: The Great Conjunction of the three suns, the recurring visual motif of triangles.
* [[Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!]]: Describes Aughra's personality pretty well.
* [[Sissy Villain]]: SkekEkt is the most flamboyant of the Skeksis, but they as whole are rather fragile due to their old age.
* [[Smug Snake]]: The Chamberlain, who is constantly grinning and often humming as he plots.
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* [[Staff of Authority]] - The Skesis emperor carries a scepter which designates his office. In the death scene of the first emperor, Chamberlain indicates his eagerness to take over by reaching for the scepter.
* [[Starring Special Effects]]
* [[Stupid Good]]: Jen's adoptive father even admits he shouldn't have waited until he was on his deathbed to explain what to Jen what his quest is, and this lack of foresight requires Jen to [[Figure It Out Yourself|figure the whole thing out himself]], something he clearly ''could not'' have done without Kira's help. He also apparently never saw reason to teach Jen how to read, a skill which would have been ''very'' useful in said quest, something which, again, was helped by Kira having more sensible guardians.
* [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]]s: The novelization claims the UrSkeks are this.
* [[Synchronization]]: Between the urRu and the Skeksis
* [[There Is Another]]: Jen believed he was the last surviving Gelfling until he ran into Kira (and vice versa).
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* [[What Could Have Been]]: as seen in some of the DVD extras, the Skeksis were originally going to speak an "alien" language. A lot of Skeksis words were kept in the novelization.
** The Podlings were also supposed to have many eyes coming out of their heads (since they were based off potatoes), but that looked too unnerving, so it was scrapped.
* [[When the Planets Align]]: Jen has to heal the Crystal when the three suns are in alignment.
* [[When Things Spin, Science Happens]]: Aughra's
* [[Winged Humanoid]]: Kira and other female Gelflings
* [[Wing Pull]]
* [[Women Are Wiser]]: Or men are dumber. Or both. Kira is far more on the ball than Jen, and Aughra, while pretty rude, knows far more than most of the adults.
* [[World Building]]: What Brian Froud and Jim Henson did before making the movie.
* [[Xenofiction]]: ''[[Fantastic Planet]]'' [[X Meets Y|meets]] ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', rated PG.
** [[X Meets Y]]: Final Fantasy (Pre-VIII) meets The Muppets.
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[[Category:Puppet Shows of the 1980s]]
[[Category:Cult Classic]]
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