The Dark Crystal

Related Content

• Some Strings Attached: Puppets In Music Videos
  November 24, 2011
• The 10 Greatest Rock Bassists of All Time
  November 15, 2011
• Mahnahmahmeh
  November 24, 2011
• John Paul Jones' Six Coolest Led Zeppelin Bass Lines on His 66th Birthday
  January 3, 2012
• Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Snubs Rush...Again
  December 7, 2011

More About

• Jim Henson
• Geddy Lee
• The Lord of the Rings
• Puppets and Puppetry
• Arts, Entertainment, and Media

Watching Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal, one question comes to mind: Did he model the race of the gelflings off RUSH’s Geddy Lee? (Seriously, the resemblance is uncanny.) The fantasy film uses puppetry to chronicle the journey of Jen, a Geddy look-alike on a quest to save the planet Thra from total annihilation. In a very Lord of the Rings-meets-RUSH-lyrics plot, Jen is fulfilling a prophecy by which he must travel to the ends of the world with a magic crystal before three suns align, causing Thra to crumble into nonexistence. Henson left his Muppets out of this picture and instead created an entirely new cast of freakishly dark characters such as the Mystics, the Skeksis and the Podlings. Jen never encounters a race of kick-ass drummers or synth-players, so the idea of an all-RUSH puppet cover band never comes to fruition, but the movie is still pretty good.