Jim Henson: The Biography (82 page)

Filming the Muppets was both a high- and low-tech creative endeavor. Above, Jim, always the gadget freak, performs Kermit remotely with the help of a waldo, while below, he performs on his back while being pushed on a rolling cart
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The Dark Crystal
(1982) was Jim’s most ambitious project to date, a richly designed universe requiring complicated and physically demanding puppetry. Here Jim and performer Kathy Mullen bend and squeeze themselves out of camerashot as they perform Jen and Kira, the film’s heroes
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Jim and the cast of
Fraggle Rock.
Airing on HBO from 1983 to 1987, the show was the network’s first original series—the colorful ancestor to shows like
The Sopranos
and
Game of Thrones.

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Creative director Michael Frith was one of Jim’s most versatile and brilliant collaborators, influencing everything from puppet design and publishing to
Muppet Babies
and Disney rides. He would play a key role in shaping the world of
Fraggle Rock.

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Jim with the intentionally monstrous cast of 1985’s
Dreamchild,
an outside project that helped launch the successful and highly respected Creature Shop in London
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Jim loved performing the sage Cantus on the set of
Fraggle Rock.
“[Cantus] was great,” said one
Fraggle
writer, “because he was goofy and wise at the same time, kind of like Jim.”

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Jim on the set of
Labyrinth
with executive producer George Lucas in 1985. “We were very much alike,” said Lucas. “Independent, out of the spotlight, obsessed with our own films.”

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Brian Froud (left) with
Labyrinth
writer (and Monty Python member) Terry Jones. Jim loved Froud’s bold artistic sense, which forged the look of both
The Dark Crystal
and
Labyrinth.

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Jim with David Bowie and Jennifer Connelly on the set of
Labyrinth
in 1985. The movie was, according to Jane, “absolutely the closest project to him,” and he was devastated by its failure at the box office
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Agent Bernie Brillstein, Jim, and actor John Hurt, in full makeup, on the set of
The Storyteller.
Though low-rated, the sumptuously produced TV series was a critical hit and won Jim another Emmy
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