History Film / TheDarkCrystal

* SplitAndReunion: The Skeksis and urRa are depicted as complete opposites. From the first moments of the film, however, we can see some symmetries between them. [[spoiler: Later they reunite and explain they were split beings. The official book about Dark Crystal world says, their split was an effect of purity pursuit.]]

* VileVulture: The skeksis resemble vultures and are an AlwaysChaoticEvil race who committed genocide on the gelflings in an attempt to prevent The Chosen One from undoing their reign.

* FantasticLivestock: Nerbies are large, tame animals farmed for their meat, skin and milk in a manner similar to cows.

In 2013, an "original cut" of the film was leaked on Website/YouTube, featuring extended/deleted scenes, less expository dialogue and the alien language that the Skeksis were originally going to speak until test audiences responded unfavorably to it. Though it was taken down, it still can be found on Dailymotion and Vimeo.

* AlwaysLawfulGood: Literally everyone in the film except the Skeksis is good, but the Mystics are explicitly this, being the good halves of the Skeksis.

* AlwaysLawfulGood: The Mystics are all calm, kind and slow, in contrast to their animated and selfish halves, the Skeksis.

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: Played with. The protagonists, the Gelflings, are obviously intended to be attractive. 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 and the fact that the Emperor's body crumbles to pieces within seconds after his death. 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 UglyCute 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.

A [[TheEighties 1982]] dark fantasy film produced by Creator/JimHenson (of ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' fame) and co-directed by Henson and Creator/FrankOz with creature design by fantasy artist Creator/BrianFroud. It's inarguably Henson's most ambitious project, created entirely with [[{{Muppet}} animatronic puppets]] and miniature sets, and with a heavy emphasis on WorldBuilding.

* WingedHumanoid: Kira and other female Gelflings.
* WingPull: Kira.

* CurbStompBattle: In his bid to become the new Emperor, the Chamberlain accepts the challenge declared by the General. He picks the Trial by Stone, a clear trial of strength, despite having the strongest, most aggressive and least withered of his fellow Skeksis as his opponent. [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority It goes exactly as you would expect]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: The idea of only female Gelflings having wings isn't as bizarre as it sounds, as there are some real life insects (such as the fig wasp) where only the females have wings. Although that's usually because the male either isn't as important to the species' propagation as the female (as in the case of fig wasps), or the male gets something else to compensate, such as a stinger.

* CoolPet: Fizzgig, an alien something like a cross between a terrier and a piranha, is a loyal pet to Kira and follows her around wherever she goes.

* 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 and the fact that the Emperor's body crumbles to pieces within seconds after his death. 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 UglyCute 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.

* VolumetricMouth: Fizzgig has a mouth ''[[UpToEleven as big as his body]]'' when fully yelling.

* DarkerAndEdgier: This is a Creator/JimHenson film, the guy who did ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' and ''Series/SesameStreet'', although the main concept designer was actually more into 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.

** Aughra too is meant to be a combination of male and female genders, being a large, burly, mustachioed humanoid with the voice of a [[NeverMesswithGranny bossy old lady]] and a feminine-sounding name.

* FantasyAliens: The Skeksis, and their counterparts the Mystics hail from another planet. This series actually uses this concept with Gaia-style philosophy where in the regular inhabitants of the planet get to become one with the planet upon their death while the Skeksis as aliens simply cease to exist upon death. Where they originally came from or why they came to Thra (or even how) is left largely unanswered.

* FantasyAliens The Skeksis, and their counterparts the Mystics hail from another planet. This series actually uses this concept with Gaia-style philosophy where in the regular inhabitants of the planet get to become one with the planet upon their death while the Skeksis as aliens simply cease to exist upon death. Where they originally came from or why they came to Thra (or even how) is left largely unanswered.

* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: ...or the Beginning of it.

* TheResenter: [=SkekZok=] the Ritual-Master is visibly resentful of [=skekUng=] the Garthim-Master's rise to power. He even questions the new emperor's competency when it seems the Garthim have failed to capture Jen. In the [[AllThereInTheManual written material]], [=skekZok=] was described as the old emperor's favorite and he had his own ambitions to take the throne when the emperor died. Unlike [=skekSil=] the Chamberlain, [=skekZok=] just didn't have the balls to make his play for the throne against [=skekUng=].
* TheStarscream: [=SkekSil=] the Chamberlain tries to grab the emperor's scepter even before he's dead.

* CentralTheme: As spoken by the [=urSkeks=] at the end, everything is interconnected: "We are ''all'' a part of each other."