A Tribute to Jim Henson

In order to honor the memory of Jim Henson, who will have passed away 23 years ago in a couple of days, here are some highlights chronicling the development of his career. Jim was a major part of my childhood and his work has met great appeal to people of all ages. It is truly a shame that he died so young, at only 53, at such a preventable death. If he were with us still today, who knows what the man would have done. So without further ado, here are ten video clips showcasing the diversity of the world's greatest puppeteer.

Sam and Friends (1955-1961) - Visual Thinking 

Jim Henson's early work was could be quite surreal and have unconventional humor. Initially, Henson was interested in perusing a career in television, not puppetry. He made many short live-action films, most notably Time Piece (1965), which was nominated for an Academy Award. However, Jim turned to using his muppets after his early show, Sam and Friends, attained cult status and a following in Washington D.C. Sam and Friends aired late at night, and was the first program of its kind to be aimed at a more adult audience. The show followed a sketch comedy routine centering around the bald puppet Sam and his various acquaintances, such as Harry the Hipster, Chicken Liver, and an early version of Kermit the Frog (who actually started out as a lizard). The show's spoofing of various aspects of pop culture and song homages later would turn up again in the The Muppet Show. 

Red Diamond Coffee Commercials (1966)

Early on in his career, Henson garnered much attention and came to wider public awareness through several commercials he produced for advertising agencies. Some of his best remembered commercials, were made for Wilkins Coffee and Red Diamond Coffee. These commercials were notable for their over the top slapstick violence, where one muppet would threaten the other to drink the coffee... or else. Jim did this intentionally to poke fun at the way in which products were sold, as he explains below.

   

"Till then, [advertising] agencies believed that the hard sell was the only way to get their message over on television. We took a very different approach. We tried to sell things by making people laugh."

The La Choy Dragon (1966)

Outside of his coffee commercials, Jim Henson best known ad creation was probably the La Choy Dragon. These noodle advertisements were some of the earliest instances in which Henson was joined by Frank Oz, who would prove to be invaluable to the rest of his career. The dragon himself, was notable for his dim witted, loud, brass, and egocentric personality. He would proclaim the virtues of La Choy noodles, cooked in 'dragon fire', which usually resulted in him burning down his surroundings. In one commercial, he even gets in a spat with Rowlf the Dog. Above is the first La Choy advert, notable for starring Beverly Owen (of The Munsters).  

As a Guest on The Ed Sullivan Show (1967) - Prototype Cookie Monster

Jim Henson and his creations made many appearances on different variety shows. Once, for the Ed Sullivan Show, Henson presented a sketch featuring a greenish monster devouring an 'indestructible machine.' This muppet's huge appetite reflected in the Cookie Monster's personality several years later. The sketch also took influence from Henson's earlier short, Robot (1963), which mocked the supposed superiority and efficiency of technology. With his success on variety shows, Henson would move on to create Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, but not before creating a certain little known pilot...     

Wizard of Id Test Pilot (1968)

The Wizard of Id, by Brant Parker and John Hart, is still widely circulated in American newspapers and remains a frequently read comic strip. However, many are unaware that there were plans to bring the strip to the TV format in the late '60s. Jim Henson and his co-worker Don Shalin (who created Rowlf the Dog originally for Purina commercials) thus met with Hart to create a pilot for his strip. Although the pilot was well received, the show never came into being. This was because, by the time it garnered public attention, Henson was already too engrossed with other projects. Never the less, the pilot does offer a unique glimpse at what could have been. 

The Muppet Show (1976- 1981)- Jabberwocky

The Muppet Show is indisputably Jim Henson's and Frank Oz's most famous creation. It was created after Henson became worried that he would become typecast as a childern's entertainer and his dissatisfaction working with Saturday Night Live. Thus, he pulled several characters from earlier in his career (like Kermit and Rowlf), and added several other memorable characters (such as Miss Piggy, Gonzo, and Fozzie Bear), in order to create a colorful cast running a rather disorganized theater. The theater acted as a great vehicle, allowing for numerous variety skits and guest star appearances. To say The Muppet Show was a success is an understatement. It spawned numerous films, spinoffs, and its stars still make appearances to this very day (now under ownership of Disney). 

Frank Oz on The Dark Crystal (1982)

Henson and his crew were always up to a challenge. Once they had success with various muppet films, Henson and Frank Oz decided to try something completely different, something with more realistic puppets and a fantastical setting. The Dark Crystal, although not a hit, has attained cult status and is recognized for its groundbreaking special effects. The film was successful enough to also spawn another fantasy by Henson that was designed by Brian Froud, The Labyrinth (1986), which is far more lighthearted than The Dark Crystal. In the video above, Frank Oz explains how the characters in The Dark Crystal came to life, and gives his insights on the creation of the eccentric old astrologist Aughra.  

Fraggle Rock (1983-1988)- Traveling Matt Sunbathing

 Fraggle Rock centers around a race of small human-like creatures, the Fraggles, and their relationship and parallels with human society. Henson used humor to construct an allegory about cultural misunderstanding and the interconnection between people with each other and the environment. Like his other TV series, Fraggle Rock also featured several unique segments. The prominent segment focused on the Fraggles themselves and the inhabitants of their world, another focused on the relationship between an older man and his pet muppet dog, and the last, and perhaps funniest, segment followed the misadventures of Traveling Matt (as shown in the clip above). Matt is a Fraggle who explores 'outer space' (the human world) and reports back his findings about the 'silly creatures' that live there. From an anthropological prospective, Matt's behavior can be seen as a farce of ethnocentrism and cultural misinterpretation. For instance, in one episode, Matt is horrified to see a group of girls eating food that appears to make their tongues well up and explode. (In actuality, they are just blowing gum bubbles.)   

Dog City TV Movie (1988)- The Docks

Although filmed a year earlier, Dog City did not premiere until 1989 as part of the short lived, but Emmy award winning program, The Jim Henson Hour (which showcased a variety of Henson's work, in a similar way to Walt Disney Presents). Dog City, appropriately narrated by Rowlf the Dog, was a spoof and homage to the film noir crime dramas of the 1930s-40s. It was about Ace Yu, a German Shepard raised by a Pekinese family, who inherits a restaurant after the mysterious death of his uncle. Yu then clashes with the gang leader Bugsy Them, an egoistical bulldog, and must save his girlfriend Colleen Barker. The special was successful enough to inspire a similarly themed spinoff series of the same name, which ran from 1992-1995 on Fox. 

The Storyteller (1987-1990)- Behind the Scenes

One of the last projects Henson was involved in before his death, The Storyteller returned to the realistic, fantastical style found in The Dark Crystal and The Labyrinth. The Storyteller was a TV series inspired by Lisa Henson's (Jim Henson's daughter) classes about folklore at Harvard University. The series always started with an older man, portrayed by John Hurt, retelling a legend or fairytale to his curious dog. The first nine episodes focused on European stories, whereas the last four switched over to Greek mythology. Jim Henson certainly went out with a bang. The Storyteller not only won numerous awards, but featured great acting and boasted some of the most complex animatronic puppets to ever grace the screen. 

The Dark Crystal Trailers

As I always do to promote more overlooked / obscure films, here are some trailers to tie into my review. The first trailer, which has unfortunately been uploaded in poor quality, was made for theatrical distribution and contains the most details most about The Dark Crystal's plot and characters. (You have got to love how most of the comments on Youtube are about how the film frightened people when they were younger.) The next trailer is just a short promo made for TV. It gives off a rather erie air.

The Dark Crystal (Review)

Directors: Jim Henson, Frank Oz

Company: The Jim Henson Company, Universal Pictures

Year: 1982

Country: United States, Britain

Dated but visually impressive, it's certainly a darker fairytale film than most audiences today are accustomed to. 

The Dark Crystal has become a cult classic over the years, being well known among fantasy and special effects enthusiasts. However, public opinion has always been somewhat divided about the film. Some regard it as an ambitious but flawed film, others love it, and certain people are absolutely frightened by it. (The Dark Crystal contains more instances of scarier imagery than most PG movies these days. Keep in mind that several 'adult' films coming from the same era - Indiana Jones, Jaws, and The Gremlins - were rate at PG when they first released.) Although The Dark Crystal was a huge undertaking for Jim Henson and his crew, spending over five years in production, it did relatively modestly at the box-office, perhaps due to competition from Spielberg's E.T. and the fact that the audience may have been expecting something more like The Muppets. (Both works were made by Jim Henson and utilized puppets, but the similarities end there.) 

The film takes place "in another world, in another time, in the age of wonder." In this world, called Thra, two prominent races emerged when the crystal cracked, causing a large chunk of it to fall off, resulting in chaos. These two races represent the opposing sides of human nature. The gentle and wise Mystics are very knowledgeable about the natural world, but lack the will to fight. The quarrelsome, violent skeksis have thus taken over much of the land. (Apparently, the vulture-like skeksis were based of off the seven deadly sins and Ms. Havisham from Charles Dickens's Great Expectations.)  Both they and the mystics are dying races, and their fates will be determined by the next Great Conjunction. If the crystal is not healed by the time the three suns meet, then the skesis will reign tyrannically forever. However, if the crystal is healed before the conjunction is over, then the mystics and skeksis will reunite as a whole, and peace will be restored.

At the center of this conflict is a young elf-like boy named Jen. Jen is a gelfling, the last of his kind. All of the other gelflings were victims of genocide, killed off by the skeksis due to a prophesy stating that the crystal would be healed "by gelfling hand or by none." Raised by the Mystics, Jen is told to meet Aughra, an eccentric astrologist who lives in an observatory. Aughra gives him the shard, before her home is wrecked by the Skeksis's garthim warriors. Jen manages to escape into the swamp, were he discovers that he is not actually the last gelfling. He meets Kira, a girl raised by the swamp's Podlings, who can communicate with animals. Kira proves to be a very useful guide and offers Jen moral support. Both must keep on constant guard of danger. In addition to the garthim, both Jen and Kira must also beware of the Chamberlin, an exiled Skeksis with an annoying habit of whimpering, who plans to bait both of them back to the castle were his clan resides.  

The kind and caring Mystics contrast with...

... the cruel and nasty Skeksis. (Both representing the divided sides of human nature.)

From a production standpoint there is much to be admired, given how much labor was required to bring The Dark Crystal to life. Although the gelfling puppets have a harder time getting emotion across their faces except for mild shock or surprise, none of the other characters suffer from this problem. (Jim Henson and his staff would continue to make improvements on the range of expressions their puppets could display in the future, utilizing robotic technology.) Indeed, the height of the technology used in The Dark Crystal was bicycle chains. Today, it is so easy to overlook how intensive filmmaking can be, especially with the saturation of CGI in the market. Each puppet was performed by trained professionals or gymnasts. The skeksis were acted by men crawling on their knees, holding up an arm over their heads, to control the creatures' necks. The garthim costumes were so heavy, that the people inside them had to take breaks every five minutes, and the costumes had to be lifted off of them with cranes. The Dark Crystal's unique and intricate design was created by Brian Froud, a famous fantasy illustrator who also provided concept art for Labyrinth (1986), The Storyteller (1989), the infamous Little Nemo (1989), and Peter Pan (2003). (Froud's son, Toby, appeared as the baby in Labyrinth and would later help with the production design on Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Froud's wife, Wendy, met Brian on the set of The Dark Crystal and was responsible for the puppet work on Yoda for Star Wars.)

To appreciate all the details in this movie, it has to be seen on a large screen. 

The Dark Crystal's soundtrack is another plus. It's complexity and variation really adds to the unearthly atmosphere of the movie. The Golden Globe nominee Trevor Jones provides a memorable score that combined dramatic symphonic orchestral style with period instruments and synthesizers. Perhaps the best pieces in the film are its overture, ''Love Theme", and "Gelfling Song."

The degree characterization in the movie is bit varied, but fairly interesting. Because they are so absolutely despicable, the skeksis can be a lot of fun to watch interacting with one another, once you are able to get over the creepiness factor. (One of the movie's more humorous scenes involves them eating dinner that rivals my family's Thanksgiving celebrations in its bad manners.) The fact that the skesis can come across as goofy at times, and terrifying at others makes excellent use of contrast. Speaking of contrast, the Mystics really do an excellent job of embodying this to the skeksis. Yes, the Mystics are relatively passive and only appear at the beginning and end of the film, but they are supposed to be less flamboyant and egotistic than the skeksis. Aughra is so bossy, grotesque, and uppity that she just demands attention whenever she is on screen. Frank Oz considered her to be, "So ugly, that she is beautiful." (Frank Oz also was going to be the original voice of Aughra, but this was dropped, likely because it made her sound too much like Fozzie Bear.) Fizzgig, Kira's dog-like pet, provides the most comic relief. His fearful nature causes him to constantly bear his large number of teeth, that take up most of his body when his mouth is open!

 As for the film's leads, Kira is probably the stronger of the two. She has is knowledge about the outside world than Jen, who has lived a relatively sheltered life with the Mystics prior to his quest. Her role was not that of a princess or 'distressed damsel' common in childern's media at the time. One scene even pokes fun at gender conventions. (Jen: "Wings? You have wings? I don't have wings." Kira: "Of course not, you're a boy.") Jen, however, is ironically the least interesting of The Dark Crystal's cast. He tends to simply react to what's going on around him and talk about the difficulty of his quest...that's about it. Perhaps this is because he is ignorant about many things in the outside world. (Jen can prove to be quite knowledgeable at times, however, like when he revealed that he possesses the ability to read.)   

This ball of fluff serves as comic relief. 

Of course this film is not perfect, its age shows and some of the dialogue is a bit cheesy, but not to the point that it makes The Dark Crystal bad. Personally, the 'darkness' of the film does not overly concern or alarm me. It is somewhat refreshing to see storylines in family films that tackle more mature themes or have slightly scary scenes. Kids will grow up after all, so they should learn that the world is not all jellybeans and rainbows! Just because the film was produced by Jim Henson, it certainly does not have to be 'cute' or avoid serious topics. (Henson's career was far more elastic than most people realize.) Many people compare this film to Labyrinth (1986), but The Dark Crystal was ultimately better received by the critics and did better at the box-office. (Labyrinth did gain a substantial fanbase later on with TV reruns, but Henson sadly never lived to see this.) I would have to agree with them, as Labyrinth, while still quite enjoyable in places, is a far 'safer' film and its David Bowie songs just don't suit its aesthetics (and this is coming from somebody who likes most David Bowie songs).

Skeksis: giving young childern nightmares since 1982. 

So is this film perfect? No. Is it worth seeking out if you are curious? Yes. If you are able to accept something slightly more unconventional than most Hollywood fair, forgive some of its quirks and age, and can appreciate handmade art, I strongly suggest seeking out The Dark Crystal. Never before has there been a film that stands out so distinctively in its visual style. Due to this factor, its reliance solely on puppets (no human actors), and its importance to the history of special effects, Jim Henson is said to have been most proud of The Dark Crystal out of all of his work. Appreciation for The Dark Crystal continues to grow, and it is now considered to be one of the greatest fantasy films ever made. 

Rating: 3.5