JHC planning Dark Crystal sequel

I think that if the right people are on this project, they could incorporate all sorts of techniques and still have it feel authentic. In the words of Scotty, "The right tool for the right job."

Im excited. I wanna see it! BUT I just hope they dont have a lot of pointless CGI, you know just to show off how good they are? kinda like some of the stuff in the new star wars *star wars fans throw tomatos at krazed* It didnt add to the movie, it was just there to impress. Like it didnt fit the original, the movie looked like it should have been AFTER the old ones, the planes looked cooler, faster, mor tech. I just dont want that happining to The Dark Crystal, where it looks like the movies dont even go together. I usualy have a 5 year rule of how many years can pass for a 2 movie to be made (like Disney making a 2nd Cinderella was just lame) but I think the Dark Crystal might be the exception.

I agree that some of the Star Wars I-III effects and machines looked more modern and advanced than stuff in the original movie (and that lots of what they did was just showing off--the ridiculous, useless Podrace scene being the worst offense). The same was true of Enterprise, the prequel to the original Star Trek show: the equipment and technology looked more advanced even though it was supposed to be a hundred years or so earlier.

On the other hand, I still think a prequel would be absolutely a better idea than a real sequel. In the Dark Crystal world, it would make perfect sense for everything to look better and more advanced. What we see in the original movie is a time after one wonderful civilization has collapsed (the Urseks') and another civilization has been wiped out intentionally (the Gelflings'). I don't think it's a stretch to say that the environment (around the castle, anyway) has gone through years of devastation and overexploitation. So if we went back in time naturally everything would look better. Instead of the ruined Gelfling temple covered with vines, we would see a bright, clean temple in the middle of a bustling city.

I'm still holding out hope that it will be a prequel. There hasn't been much news about this movie, so I think there's still time for that shift to be made.

Slightly off topic, but I think things were supposed to look nicer in the Star Wars prequels. It was "before the dark times, before the Empire." After that, everything went downhill and turned to junk.

You can use a mix of puppetry with computer graphics to get the performance characteristics of puppetry with the versatility of CG. It's the type of stuff I've been doing for a while through motion capture. I thought animation didn't fit certain characters and that motion capture of humans is definitely not right for anything that isn't distinctly human. I've been doing mocap for over a decade and realized I thought it was a better match to puppets than people...I have to thank OSU for giving me the flexibility to play around with this approach...oh yeah, it's also unbelievably quick if set up properly.

http://accad.osu.edu/~bwindsor/digipuppets/index.html
The talking puppet section is probably the most relevant.

One of the things you can see is that a lot of my stuff isn't what I'd call "production quality" because of the time it takes to make the CG version look really good unless you're going for a CG look. Also, that's not my strong point, so I stick with the mocap and rigging and ideas part of things.

I do think that only having a one and a half year production cycle is extremely small for something to match to the level of the original Dark Crystal. There would have to be a lot of cut corners.

-Brian

"Cast List"

This is intresting, Imdb now has the "cast" list up. Here's the rundown. If anybodys intrested...

Directed by
Brian Henson

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Annette Duffy screenplay
David Odell screenplay

Cast (in credits order)
Stephen Garlick .... Jen (voice)
Lisa Maxwell .... Kira (voice)
Billie Whitelaw .... Aughra (voice)
Barry Dennen .... Chamberlain (voice)
Michael Kilgarriff .... General (voice)
Jerry Nelson .... High Priest (voice)

If correct this list is near complete. Hmm...aren't the Skesis now the Urskeks? Never could spell that word. Has anybody brought this up? The Dark Crystal being my favorite movie, I'm really confused. Well all they need now is Trevor Jones on board.

All I gotta say, is between the news of Dark Crystal 2..along with Dark Crystal the anime series, Dark Crystal and Labyrinth manga comics, Fraggle Rock th emovie and a new Muppet film...it's a glorious new era coming soon. Having just seen MirrorMask, its good to see Jim Henson back with a creative vision.

Incidentally, I saved my email correspondance with someone who was a veteran at Jim Henson Creature Shop London, where even as far back as 2002 or 2003 they really wanted to do a sequel. Back in 1998 Brian Henson said they were thinking of a Dark crystal prequel.

As long as puppets and animatronics are prominent, this will be absolutely glorious. So yeah, I guess the Disney aquisitionis freeing up JHC for all these awesome dream projects.

I am in full support of this project. I've wanted a sequel ever since I saw the original.

don't hate! O.O

I'm confused

"Hmm...aren't the Skesis now the Urskeks"..you're right they would be because in the last one they left the planet...so how would they be two again..because it really had nothing to do with the crystal but it was because of their greed and pride that a shard broke off causing them to split..I know this may not make sense..But if someone broke off the same piece that was restored it would be the Urskeks because they were united together..I would think they would come back in the same way they left. In fact that's how they met Aughra. Hmm seems like to me the company needs to do some more research such as reading "The world of the Dark Crystal".

Don't know if this has been posted yet or not, but here's more confirmation of "The Power of the Dark Crystal" project- they have Trevor Jones on board to do the soundtrack!

http://www.cinescape.com/0/editoria...tion=page&type_id=&cat_id=270466&obj_id=50165

Woo freakin hoo!

Hey guys, for some reason, I had a dream about The Dark Crystal sequel? Maybe it means something, a sign if you will. Oh Well.

So, any latest on the film? Will Brian Henson or George Lucus or maybe even Frank Oz and Brian Henson together direct it ?

Did they make a plot let ?

Oh, never mind. You have a link there.

Sorry About that.

But I think I'll be cool if Brian & Frank worked together as directors.

http://muppetnewsflash.10.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=17

alright Trevor!

good, im glad they got Trevor Jones. That movie would not be the same without him, there is no way anyone else could capture the ambiance of the world like him, it would be like directing the sequel without Jim Hens. .. . oh, wait they are. . .

I must be the only skeptic of this so called prequel/sequel. I LOVE dark crystal, but I'm not really sure where in the world they could go with this. I just read an old article, one interviewing Jim and Gary Kurtz about the movie, and they were adament even then, they had no plans to do a sequel, that there was really no where for the film to go. They talked about how sequels are really just the same story, told differently and not worth it, they were made just to put more money in the bank. Their tone seemed to indicate, they were pretty much against anything like this. I forgot where I saw this, because I did a Google search, and found someones website dedicated to the film, and scanned in a magazine article from the 80's, that interviewed them both.

but I think it was spot on. How else can you do this film again? There's only one way. . . crack the crystal again. A prequel may have been interesting, but I"m not sure. I think this film is one of the rare gems that just needs to be left alone. i dont' know, i guess time will tell, but sorry, I'm skeptical. I think they are messing with a classic, because since Jim passed away, there hasn't been alot of ideas/creativity left in the company. You can really see how Jim was the visionary, he definately left his mark.

I find it intresting that Disney will be the ones to release The Dark Crystal 2

I'd have never though in a million years i'd ever see a seaquel to The Dark Crystal released by Disney

yep

It seems a little odd to me too. A Disney logo, right before something like The Dark Crystal doesn't make sense to me. It's like the Disney logo coming on before Saw 2 or something. Just doesn't feel right.

I don't know. there also hasn't been much reporting on this supposed sequel/prequel anyways, so I don't know if I even believe its going to go to production. but then, I have little faith in it right now anyways.

we'll see.

wow! Disney is releasing this!?! cool... in an odd way!

Disney is not making it, I don't know where that rumor, assumption or misunderstanding came from... but Disney is not involved in this project. Maybe it came from a misunderstanding of the Henson/Muppet/Disney deal, or the fact that Disney had released the first film on VHS a while back, or maybe it came from something else...but Disney is not involved in producing or releasing this film (or at least they aren't at this point in time).

Here's the latest:
http://www.variety.com/index.asp?layout=upsell_article&articleID=VR1117937178&categoryID=13&cs=1

Henson taps 'Dark' lord
Helmer becomes 'Crystal' clear

By MICHAEL FLEMING
The Jim Henson Co. has set Genndy Tartakovsky to direct "Power of the Dark Crystal," sequel to 1982 fantasy film "The Dark Crystal."
Tartakovsky, who created the animated series hits "Samurai Jack," "Dexter's Laboratory" and "Star Wars: The Clone Wars," will involve his Orphanage Animation Studios to take the lead on the CG animation elements for the puppet-driven film.

Film becomes a co-production of Henson and the Orphanage. Lisa HensonLisa Henson, co-CEO of the Jim Henson Co., will produce with Orphanage chairman Scott Stewart. Brian Froud has returned to design the new characters.

Pic's development has so far been funded by Henson. Overseas distribution will be sold during the Berlin Film Festival by Odyssey Entertainment; Henson will secure a domestic distributor by the time the film begins production in late summer.

Annette Duffy and David Odell penned the script.

Set hundreds of years after the first pic, sequel follows a mysterious girl made of fire who steals a shard of the crystal in hopes of reigniting the dying sun.

"The original 'Dark Crystal' was the pinnacle of puppetry; they created characters that were as believable as the ones you see in animated films," Tartakovsky said. Tartakovsky said that unlike in the pricey original film, for which otherworldly sets were built, the puppets this time around will operate amid a CGI backdrop.

"There is a limited budget here, and this will be more artsy, in a 'Sin City' fashion, with characters performing over greenscreen and great backgrounds behind it," he said.

Brian Henson, Ralph Kamp and Louise Goodsill will exec produce.