In the late 1970s, with his creative instincts and Hollywood power swelling to their greatest levels up to that point, "Muppets" creator Jim Henson found himself obsessed with the dark, deranged work of English illustrator Brian Froud.
He befriended the children's-book author and recruited longtime collaborator Frank Oz, and together the three spent the next half-decade developing an ambitious, human-free movie that would mix the world of Froud with equal parts "Lord of the Rings" and Kermit the Frog.
The result was 1982's "The Dark Crystal," a fantasy flick that debuted as a commercial and critical failure and has since lived on as a fondly remembered near-classic along the lines of '80s movies such as "Tron" and "The Last Starfighter." Frustrated by the limitations of technology, Henson, who died in 1990, took to discussing two different "Dark" visions in interviews: the film his imagination had longed for and the version hindered by fishing line and awkward action sequences.
Now, like a woodland creature called to action by Gelfling heroine Kira, "The Dark Crystal" is preparing to rise up again. And this time it has technology on its side, along with one of the hottest action directors in all of geekdom.
Click to expand...