History Film / TheDarkCrystal

* LargeHam: The Skeksis General.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[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, his friendly facade completely drops and he tries to kill Jen and promptly drags Kira back to the castle to redeem himself in the eyes of the other Skeksis. It's pretty clear that his promises of peace were BlatantLies and his whole motivation was to capture a gelfling or two in order to ingratiate himself with the Skekses and get his position back. He was TheStarscream after all.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[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 [[NiceJobBreakingItHero hostile reception he got]], or because he was EvilAllAlong, is left for the viewer.]]

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Played with. The protagonists, the Gelflings, are obviously intended to be attractive, despite any UncannyValley that may be invoked by looking at them. The pure urRu are made to look noble and sagacious, and when they die, they fade into sparkles. The Skeksis on the other hand, are clearly intended to look twisted, deformed and vulture-like, which is made even worse by their advanced age. Aughra, however, is quite hideous and warty, yet proves to be a helpful character. A bit of background checking shows that in the grand scheme of things, she's actually supposed to be TrueNeutral, and not one to take sides. It gets really confusing with the Podlings, who are supposed to be a good, CloserToEarth race, yet somehow they wound up looking cute yet ugly at the same time. Brian Froud did admit that he toned down their appearance from the earliest incarnations, because those were far too grotesque and potato-like.

* GrotesqueGallery / UglyCute: A fascinating case, since the entire world is composed of muppets and environment that are either deliberately alien or designed off of nature's [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute less cute]] critters, making the whole thing one dark fairy tale based on look alone.-

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 AlwaysChaoticEvil and aggressive Skeksis and the AlwaysLawfulGood 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 [[{{EliteMooks}} Garthim]] to hunt them down and kill them all. All except for the protagonists Jen and Kira, the [[LastOfHisKind last of their kind]].

* FusionDance: [[{{Foreshadowing}} Foreshadowed]] by the {{Synchronization}} of the [[spoiler: Mystics and Skeksis]].

* {{Novelization}}:

* {{Precursors}}: The urSkeks

* StarringSpecialEffects

* WingPull

* FusionDance: [[{{Foreshadowing}} Foreshadowed]] by the {{Synchronization}} of the [[Uru/Mystics and Skeksis]].

* FusionDance: [[{{Foreshadowing}} Foreshadowed]] by the {{Synchronization}} of the urRu and Skeksis.

** Conversely, it's MeaningfulName for the Skesis themselves, as [[spoiler: they extract a life-prolonging potion from the Pod People and Gelflings in there]].

* HeroicSacrifice:[[spoiler: 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 of course, Kira.

* DarkerAndEdgier: This is a JimHenson film, the guy who did TheMuppets and SesameStreet, 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, FateWorseThanDeath and EveryThingIsTryingToKillYou thrown into the mix.

* HeroicSacrifice:[[spoiler: 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 of course, Kira. Though [[IGotBetter she gets better]].]]

* IGotBetter

* AlienSky: The Planet's three suns.

* AgeWithoutYouth: 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 [[AllThereInTheManual 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 year.

* DarkerAndEdgier: This is a JimHenson film, the guy who did TheMuppets and SeasameStreet, 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, FateWorseThanDeath and EveryThingIsTryingToKillYou thrown into the mix.

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 evil and aggressive Skeksis and the 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 [[{{EliteMooks}} Garthim]] to hunt them down and kill them all. All except for the protagonists Jen and Kira, the [[LastOfHisKind last of their kind]].

* FridgeHorror: Those Landstriders they summon for transport, who later die fighting off the Garthim? Their cubs are left behind, presumably to fend for themselves.

* TheDoctorDolittle: Kira.

* AgeWithoutYouth: 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 [[AllThereInTheManual 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 year.

Though it didn't do as well on its initial theatrical run, it spawned a cult following large enough to warrant a spin-off Manga prequel, ''Legends of the Dark Crystal'' by {{Tokyopop}}, a graphic novel prequel, ''The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths'' by ArchaiaEntertainment, and a sequel to be directed by the guys behind ''{{Daybreakers}}'' titled ''Power of the Dark Crystal''.