before?”hesays,incredulous,whenwesuggest
sucha thing.“IttiestoeverythingI’vedone.It’s
justanothertechnique.Thisis notPunchAnd
Judy.I’vedonemovieswithcreaturesor
superheroes.I’vedonemagicmovies.Thisis
everything.It’salmostliketheapexofwhat
I wantedtodo.It’sbecauseI’vedoneallthese
moviesbeforethatI candoa puppetshow.”
Leterrierhasbeena fanofTheDarkCrystal
sincehewasa childandit washewho
approachedLisaHensontoshowaninterestin
workingonthefilm.“It’sa masterpiece,”hesays.
“Acrazy,original,emotional,artistic,
entertainingmasterpiece.”Forthelong-delayed
follow-up,ratherthanbendhisfilmmakingstyle
tofitpuppetry,hedecidedtobendpuppetryto
fithisstyle.“Netflixaskedme,‘Howdowe
marrypuppetrywithyourcinematicstyle,
swingingSteadicamandallthatcrazystuff ?’
Myanswerwas,‘Let’stryit.’”
Leterriershota testsequencewitha Skeksis
puppetanda CGGelflingchasingeachother
arounda castle.“Itshowedustwothings,”says
Leterrier.“One,thatthecinematicstylewould
work,andtwo,thatCGbreakspuppetry.You
canuseit toenhancepuppetrybutif youhavea
fullCGcharacterit’snottheDarkCrystalyou
remember.”TheshowusesCGIforbackgrounds
andtoaugmentsomecharacters,butall of the
major characters are full puppets.
“Honestly,thebiggestuseofCGis removing
puppeteers,”saysHenson.“Thatreallychanged
whatwecoulddo.”Notalwayshavingtohide
puppeteersunderthesetmeansthatmore
complexsequencescanbeshot—therewillbe
massivebattles,chasescenes(traditionally
basicallyimpossiblewithpuppetsgivenhow
they’recontrolled),flyingsequences—and
bigger,moreelaboratepuppetsthanhaveever
beenpossiblebefore.Thereis a hugemonster
madeentirelyofrocksandbigpsychicworm
thingsthatstretchhighabovetheset.“We’re
doingthingsthathaveneverbeendone,”says
Leterrier,addingproudly,“Thereis nothing
we’ve tried that we didn’t succeed in doing.”CONJURINGGHOSTSOFTHEPAST
Thereareveryfewpeoplestillaroundwhoworked
ontheoriginalDarkCrystal.AgeOfResistance
hastwopowerfulconnectionstotheoriginal:
BrianandWendyFroud.Hiredfortheoriginalby
JimHenson,BrianFrouddesignedallthefilm’s
characters.Wendywasa leadsculptorandpuppet
maker,craftingtheleadcharacters,JenandKira.
Bothhavereturnedforthenewshow,Wendyasan
advisortothecreatureshopandBrianonceagain
designingallthecharacters.TheirsonToby—
whowasn’tbornuntiltwoyearsaftertheoriginal
came out; he played the baby Toby in the 1986 JimHensonmovieLabyrinth—runsthecreatureshop
onAgeOfResistance. Everycornerandsurfaceis
filledwithpuppets.Enormousbeetle-yGarthim
oversixfeettall.A spinytortoiseina cage,robotic
eyesassessingthescene.CountlessGelfling
wedgedonuprightpoleswithlittlerespectfortheir
dignity.TotheFrouds,thisis home.
“Itwasexhilaratingtofinallybebackonthis,”
saysBrianFroud,whohasbeenconsultedon
variousattemptstoresurrecttheseries.He’soneof
a tinyhandfulofpeoplethatremembersworking
withthemanwhocreatedthisall.“Wedomiss
Jim[Henson],”hesays.“WhenJimdieda great
lightwentoutintheworld,buteveryonehe
workedwithwasgivena littlebitofhisspark.”
TheFroudstriedtobringthespiritofHenson
totheproduction.“Initiallyeverythingwasa bit
serious,becauseit wassucha bigproduction”says
Brian,sotheytriedtolightenthemoodby
example.“Therewouldbetimeswhenwe’drealise
wehadn’tmadeenoughcreatures[fora scene],”
saysWendy.“We’draidwastepaperbasketsand
takeoutbitsoffoam.We’dsneakbitsofplastic
plantsoffthesetandcadgesomethingtogetherto
makeallthesestrangecreatures.”
“ThatwasthespiritofJim:havingfun,”says
Brian.“Peoplerespondedtothatandoncepeople
relaxedandstartedtoplay,Jim’senergywasthere.”
BriansaysthatLeterrier,whowassointent
on respecting Henson’s vision that he watched ALAMY