Artist The Dark Crystal

For co-directors Jim Henson and Frank Oz, 1982’s wondrous live-action fantasy The Dark Crystal was a large, risky step away from their stable of familiar characters from Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and the theatrical Muppet movies. The five-year filmmaking process was spent constantly creating and testing new materials, devices, and performance techniques to fully realize Henson’s storyline, which involves a world where an evil race of sybaritic bird-monsters called Skeksis rule over a magical purple crystal in a decaying castle. When a little elfin creature named Jen learns that he’s meant to fulfill a prophecy and end the Skeksis’ rule, he begins a long, incident-filled hero’s journey toward their castle.