Just How Dark Can We Make this Crystal? Horror, Puppetry, and Tonal Revision in The Dark Crystal

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Jim Henson’s The Dark Crystal is famous for its breathtaking feats of puppetry and hand-crafted world-building — lavish intricacies which have long rendered it nightmare fuel for small children. And yet, early versions of the film pushed some of its most horrific qualities even further than the version released to theaters. In this talk, we’ll examine script drafts and other materials from the film held in Maryland’s Special Collections for the Performing Arts, and we’ll follow the film’s development as Henson and his team tested just how far they could push audiences who were expecting a whimsical family puppet fantasy.

Following the talk, stick around to check out Dark Crystal materials from the Special Collections in Performing Arts (SCPA). Interested in learning more about Jim Henson? Check out the SCPA Collection on Jim Henson and the Polly Smith Collection on Jim Henson.

Dr. Paul Cote is a Senior Lecturer in the English and CINE departments at the University of Maryland. His research and teaching focuses on fantasy cinema, children’s media, animation, film music, and the works of the Henson family. 

This event is a part of the "Library of the Macabre: Researching Horror in Popular Culture" programming for Fall 2025's Scholarship as Conversation series.