The Dark Crystal (1982) (with Tanya Kirk)

Fantasy/Animation

2024 kicks off with this episode on The Dark Crystal (Jim Henson & Frank Oz, 1982), recorded at the British Library with Tanya Kirk, Lead Curator of Printed Heritage Collections 1601–1900, and one of the organisers and curators of the Fantasy: Realms of Imagination exhibition that runs at the library until February of this year. The exhibition explores the history of the fantasy genre from its origins in fairy and folk tales to more recent incarnations in literature and film, and features original artwork, props, and costumes from well-known fantasy media including The Dark Crystal, as well as fantasy inspired tabletop and video games. Topics in this new year’s instalment include histories of craft and puppetry’s links to industry, skill, labour, and the pantomimic; acts of curation when it comes to preserving fantasy and animation’s archaeologies of materiality; the cultures and traditions central to The Dark Crystal’s fictional world; 1980s VFX technologies and the pleasure of characters moved ‘by hand’; and where Jim Henson and puppet performances fit into the British Library’s exhibition of fantasy storytelling.

**Fantasy/Animation theme tune composed by Francisca Araujo**

**As featured on Feedspot’s 25 Best London Education Podcasts**