Did you know that The Dark Crystal was originally meant to be darker and more serious, without narration or English-speaking Skesis and Mystics? I had never heard this, but the other day on Reddit I saw someone post their own fan-edit using original dialog and bits of the work-print that had never been seen. Christopher Orgeron worked on the edit for 2 years and you can now watch it on YouTube (or download it in 720p with a browser extension). From Christopher’s description:

Early versions of The Dark Crystal were a bit different than the version we see today. Jim Henson and Frank Oz originally sought to create a much darker story that relied more on the audience and less on voice-overs and inner monologues explaining the plot. In this version there’s no narrator, Jen’s inner monologues are gone, and the Skeksis hardly ever say anything in English (Aughra speaks some Skesis too!). This version is much more modern and a little darker with this original audio and the slightly different score. Some of the scenes are moved around too, which adds to the surreal feel of the original film. Some test audiences were more casual moviegoers and responded negatively to this version so the Henson team redubbed the ENTIRE film to help explain the plot to the audience up front and make things more obvious.

The Dark Crystal is one of my favorite movies and I’m excited to watch this alternate version over the weekend. Besides my love of anything by Jim Henson, I’m a huge fan of world-building in movies and I think Crystal is one of the best examples of this, right up there with Star Wars.

Watch it on YouTube

Edit: Mental Floss just posted a Q&A with Christopher about his edit, check it out!

PS – Dark Crystal Trading Cards are available from Boxsome!

I thoroughly enjoyed the new Captain America movie. In fact, I think it’s safe to say that I loved it. Since seeing it I’ve been absorbing the character in as many ways as I can, through cartoons, the movie from the 90s, and now the 1944 serial. The story hardly has anything to do with the Captain America you know and love, but it’s an interesting piece of geek history.

Make sure to stick around until the 4:40 mark or so to hear a scientist say “How did you find out about my vibrator?”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captain_America_(serial)

In light of yesterday’s review of The 100 Greatest Looney Tunes book, I’ve decided to bring the Watch This! series back from the dead with the classic Looney Tunes short, Hair-Raising Hare. I grew up watching this short over and over at my Grandparent’s house and any time it was on TV. Luckily, it’s in the one Looney Tunes Golden Collection DVD I own, so I still watch it every once in a while. And of course, it’s on YouTube, so why don’t you slack off at work for a few minutes and enjoy?

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Check out the trailer for a rare, never-released-on-home-video animated Looney Tunes short called Marvin the Martian in the Third Dimension. According to Cartoon Brew, the short was made to be shown in the WB Studio Stores (which I was loved) and at a theme park in Australia. It was an early attempt at emulating 2D animation with CGI. I’d love to see the whole thing.

Via Cartoon Brew

Further Reading

Wikipedia

New Muppet viral video. Bunnies get eaten.

I haven’t posted any of the Muppet viral videos mainly because I didn’t think I needed to add another post to your RSS reader with the same video, but this one is weird and cool enough that I don’t care. Watch it three times.