Back in August of last year, Jim Henson‘s son, Brian, revealed that Fraggle Rock and a sequel to The Dark Crystal were very much alive and in developmental stages.
A sequel to 1982’s Dark Crystal had been talked about for as long as can be remembered, but with little successful movement to show for it. When we last heard about it in the link above, all that was shared was that the sequel would be called The Power of the Dark Crystal, and it would take place centuries after the first film. Story-wise, it would be about a girl named Thurma — who is made of fire and lives at the center of the planet — who is on a mission to obtain a shard of the crystal in hopes of re-igniting the dying sun.
Now comes word via a press release sent out today that not only is the movie still alive, but it has a new director(s) and a new writer on board to make it happen. Brothers Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig have been signed to direct the movie, and Craig Pearce has been tapped to rework the script based on an earlier draft.
Not too long ago, we got our first peek at the new Fraggle Rock comic book from the Jim Henson Company and Archaia Entertainment. According to the folks at Henson, this is just the beginning; they have plans to bring us new comic books based on puppet-fueled titles like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth as well!
Both Labyrinth and Crystal are also majorly beloved titles to those who grew up in the ’80s, and both have had comics based on them before by places like Marvel.
These two planned comics are still in the earliest of stages, but it looks as though first issues of one or both could be seen by sometime at the end of 2010 or maybe the beginning of 2011. At the moment, Fraggle Rock is the main focus of 2010.
MTV Movies Blog recently chatted with Brian Henson — son of the late, great master of puppets, Jim Henson — who currently runs the Jim Henson Company with his sister Lisa. Among the topics discussed, Henson was asked about the reported Fraggle Rock movie that was in the works. And unlike most, he was happy to fill us in on not only where the Fraggle project stood, but also the sequel to The Dark Crystal that has been talked about in the past.
What we know about Fraggle Rock is not much, but it is known that it will involve a little adventure to what they called “outer space,” which was just out of their little cave in the real world where humans live. Henson added to that as well, saying music will be involved and that it will be developed for all audiences (considering most fans are now in their 20s and 30s) and not just children.
Click on over to see what Henson had to say about the two exciting projects.
Students of the Unusual™ comic cover used with permission of 3BoysProductions
The Mercuri Bros.™ comic cover used with permission of Prodigal Son Press
