Labyrinth is my favorite movie. Every scene is just filled with supreme creativity, making something out of nothing but imagination. And I have come to appreciate that The Dark Crystal was the testing ground for a lot of those techniques. While the story of Gelflings an Skeksis are a little more distant than David Bowie dancing with a baby, there’d probably be no Labyrinth without The Dark Crystal.
Both of these movies have been on 4K UHD before and Labyrinth is the first movie I watched when I got the setup. But, Shout! Studios has put together elaborate new collections now that they are the distributors of the films.
If you spring for the Collector’s Sets you get a prop with each. The shard of crystal included with The Dark Crystal is substantial. It is made out of glass so it at least has the weight of crystal. The steelbooks are nice too if shelf space is a priority.
The Labyrinth transfer looks the same to me as the previous 4K UHD release, which was a restoration leaps and bounds above previous DVDs. You can see all the detail in the sets, differnt environments from stone walls to hedges, corridors to bog. More importantly you see all the detail in the craftsmanship of the puppets, the hairs on Hoggle’s chin. The Bowie music rocks in surround sound.
The Dark Crystal has no people so it’s all built for puppets and as densely packed with creative design. But, there is a surprising amount of exterior work so seeing the creatures in daylight is a difference vs. the studio work. The purple crystal tints the Skeksis scenes. This 4K looks so good I’m going to give the movie another shot with all this detail to absorb.
Both movies include new Q&As with Brian Henson and Toby Froud on Labyrinth and Lisa henson on Dark Crystal. They of course cover some of the same bases that any “making of” these films would include. For Labyrinth that also includes Bowie stories.
They do reflect on the modern era looking back, addressing the retroness and nostalgic revival of the Henson classics. For Dark Crystal Lisa can compare techniques from the movie to the recent Netflix series.
Labyrinth has a great demonstration of contact juggling. I’m not sure I could use the tutorial to replicate it but I love to watch it. He gets some volunteers to do it so maybe there’s no barrier to entry. The box set comes with a ball you can practice with and it, too, is substantial so the weight matches.
The included Blu-rays also include all the archival content that has been produced for these movies in each subsequent edition.