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So like, just for my internal history of this story. By the time we get to the movie, the Skesis have killed off all the Gelfings until like 2 are left? Basically it was a slow and methodical genocide that was aided by Gelfing Idiots.
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Sep 3, 2019 07:51
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Gaj posted:So like, just for my internal history of this story. By the time we get to the movie, the Skesis have killed off all the Gelfings until like 2 are left? I think the development of the Garthim is the real turning point. We see that in a straight up fight many of the Skeksis aren't particularly amazing - the Ornamentalist and Gourmand for example seemed to regard combat as a novelty. The Hunter seemed to be their real Champion, but the Archer knows this. The Emperor's Trump card didn't work either and had the Chamberlain not shook some sense into him they'd all be dust already. But with legions of Garthim the Skeksis have a true advantage. I think it really did boil down to attrition. After stone in the wood Skeksis are never going to risk their beaks going outside the castle. Knowing the prophecy Gelflings might have also tried to suicidally unite the shard,costing them numbers. We don't exactly know the fecundity of the Gelflings either, but given the ENTIRE Grottan clan only numbered a few dozen I'm guessing they reproduce extremely slowly - in fact its only the All Maudra that had three children and for all we know Deet and her brother were just separate adoptions to their gay dads.
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Sep 3, 2019 08:13
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They've said there are 18 Skeksis and also said none had ever died before. They have a few to still introduce.
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Sep 3, 2019 09:52
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It's weird how poo poo the cast list is on IMDB, I dunno who has to tell them which actors are in it but none of the Mordra in the meeting get credited for example and they are quite famous - ones Nina from teachers! And the Hunter is Ralph Inneson who is definitely not roose Bolton in game of thrones. Doesn't even look or sound like him!
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Sep 3, 2019 11:05
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Kung Food posted:Is there any explanation as to why the skeksis who are off doing their own thing haven't died of age? The hunter seems the most vigorous of all of them and he is never around for any of the age lengthening rituals the castle bound members perform. Same goes for the Heritic I mean do we know they’re not straight up immortal/incredibly long-lived by nature? Would make sense that the ones not hanging around the castle wouldn’t be subject to Darkening. So the ones living elsewhere would be aging at their “normal” rate and the others are just rotting away because they’re living on top of it.
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Sep 3, 2019 11:22
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I have to say, they did a really amazing job at managing to make The Hunter look convincingly agile and mobile. All the other Skeksis always convey this sense of immense physical strength and solidity, but they're slow as heck, which is, you know, 1/2 the puppetry limitations, but 1/2 intentional, I think, in the design of the species. Then The Hunter shows up, and he's this genuinely terrifyingly predatory animalistic force of nature bounding about the scenery like some sort of Skeksis jaguar or something. It was amazing. I really like him, too, and The Archer, and the only reason I can't say they're the two best mystics/skeksis rather than the original cast is because The Heretic and His Pal swooped in and stole that position during their operatic interlude, then locked it away during the puppet show. Also, I was already a fan of Simon Pegg, but his performance was...amazing, not just for its fidelity with the original, but standing alone by itself, too.
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Sep 3, 2019 12:13
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Kung Food posted:Is there any explanation as to why the skeksis who are off doing their own thing haven't died of age? The hunter seems the most vigorous of all of them and he is never around for any of the age lengthening rituals the castle bound members perform. Same goes for the Heritic I'd say its mostly to do with the fact the other Skeksis are lazy and dont really do a whole lot outside of eating and scheming. The hunter meanwhile is always out and about. Its noticeable in the fact that he is able to use all 4 of his arms, while the other Skeksis second set of arms have atrophied. DurosKlav fucked around with this message at 12:48 on Sep 3, 2019 |
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Sep 3, 2019 12:46
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I love the barf bag body horror when the Skeksis start slowly decaying like when the Emperor fingernails start falling off and realize he needs another dose.
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Sep 3, 2019 14:00
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DurosKlav posted:I'd say its mostly to do with the fact the other Skeksis are lazy and dont really do a whole lot outside of eating and scheming. The hunter meanwhile is always out and about. Its noticeable in the fact that he is able to use all 4 of his arms, while the other Skeksis second set of arms have atrophied. I didn't even know Skeksis had four arms, I thought only the Mystics did. We see one of the Emperor's extra arms when he pulls out his staff at the end. I guess by the time of the movie the extra arms completely atrophied away? Because the Chamberlain got stripped naked but he didn't have extra arms from what I remember. The Hunter was done well, I agree.
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Sep 3, 2019 17:01
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Panfilo posted:Because the Chamberlain got stripped naked but he didn't have extra arms from what I remember.
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Sep 3, 2019 17:14
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In the making of they show puppeteers in blue suits manipulating the puppets, something not available in 1982, so that gives them massive amounts of freedom. Plus Id not be surprised if some of the wide shots are CGI. And the Hunter is a good juxtaposition to the rest of the Skesis. They're monstrously evil in their cruelty and avarice and gluttony, but also lazy and for the most part incurious. The Hunter on the other hand does lives on his own, by his own hand carving a bloody swath through the world. SunshineDanceParty posted:They've said there are 18 Skeksis and also said none had ever died before. They have a few to still introduce. According the YA books that they seem to be taking a lot from, there were 18 at the start, but 2 of each side died right away because the Skesis attacked the Mystics right away, but after that they avoided attacking each other and just banished the Mystics. Aparently Augra is Intersex, but her male half was burned away along with her eye during her witnessing the great conjunction and the sundering.
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Sep 3, 2019 19:10
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Panfilo posted:I didn't even know Skeksis had four arms, I thought only the Mystics did. We see one of the Emperor's extra arms when he pulls out his staff at the end. I guess by the time of the movie the extra arms completely atrophied away? Because the Chamberlain got stripped naked but he didn't have extra arms from what I remember. The skeksis have four arms and always have, but they go to pains to hide their second set, presumably to distance themselves from their urRa counterparts. twistedmentat posted:And the Hunter is a good juxtaposition to the rest of the Skesis. They're monstrously evil in their cruelty and avarice and gluttony, but also lazy and for the most part incurious. The Hunter on the other hand does lives on his own, by his own hand carving a bloody swath through the world. The hunter is also great because that juxtaposition also shows how monstrous the skeksis are; he respects the Chamberlain's petty hunt for political power, seeing their goals as the same, if their methods are different.
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Sep 3, 2019 19:40
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I think the main difference in how the fortress skeksis move and how Hunter moves is that the former are puppeteers wearing large puppets, while Hunter is a guy in a costume. It's an excellent decision to show how much more energetic and vital he is than his counterparts, and presumably he doesn't even take part in the crystal treatments, which suggests that the skeksis are ultimately the architects of their own demise.
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Sep 3, 2019 22:40
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Ironslave posted:The hunter is also great because that juxtaposition also shows how monstrous the skeksis are; he respects the Chamberlain's petty hunt for political power, seeing their goals as the same, if their methods are different. Yeah, that was one of my favorite lines: "Bah! You hunt a chair!" "No. I hunt power."
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Sep 3, 2019 23:10
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A.o.D. posted:I think the main difference in how the fortress skeksis move and how Hunter moves is that the former are puppeteers wearing large puppets, while Hunter is a guy in a costume. It's an excellent decision to show how much more energetic and vital he is than his counterparts, and presumably he doesn't even take part in the crystal treatments, which suggests that the skeksis are ultimately the architects of their own demise. Pretty sure it is the Darkening causing them to decay.
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Sep 4, 2019 00:12
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Panfilo posted:Pretty sure it is the Darkening causing them to decay. Which they are directly responsible for.
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Sep 4, 2019 00:25
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Re: the best characters who aren’t Hup: https://io9.gizmodo.com/a-spoiler-filled-chat-with-dark-crystal-age-of-resista-1837707946 I can’t stop laughing at the fact that they canonically they did so many drugs they can see the future.
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Sep 4, 2019 00:25
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lol holy poo poo that rules one of the things I really, really like about this show is that it’s quite dark but it also never loses its sense of whimsy
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Sep 4, 2019 00:52
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holy loving lol now i like them even more, and they were already loving incredible One thing does bother me a bit, that scene of the Gourmand just pissing on the wall seemed a bit unnecessary. Even the Chamberlain basically going "What, we're just pissing in public now?" felt kind of on the nose about how I felt about it.
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Sep 4, 2019 01:25
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I Said No posted:holy loving lol now i like them even more, and they were already loving incredible It seemed like they were kind of making a reference to the rumors that people were just casually pissing and making GBS threads under stairwells in Versailles. The Gourmand in particular comes off as this pompous out of touch royal so I wouldn't be surprised. Also it keeps the numerical theme of threes present.
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Sep 4, 2019 01:31
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I am confused as to why they chose to include that detail in the series, yes.
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Sep 4, 2019 01:48
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Deet is my waifu.
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Sep 4, 2019 07:05
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Feels like at least half the budget of this show has gone on the Skeksis. At least. The voice talent, the puppets, the writing, they're just leagues ahead of every other aspect of the show. I'm completely in favour of this. Without them Dark Crystal would have been forgotten about decades ago.
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Sep 4, 2019 09:45
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The new rear end in a top hat gelflings finally made me give half a poo poo about them, but the skeksis were, as usual, the stars of the show, to be sure. Hup was pretty great though, too, so cool podlings, well. Everybody wins!
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Sep 4, 2019 09:55
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Yeah I have to agree. No one would remember the movie as anything but generic fantasy if it wasn’t for the Skeksis. They deserve to steal the show.
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Sep 4, 2019 11:47
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EimiYoshikawa posted:The new rear end in a top hat gelflings finally made me give half a poo poo about them, but the skeksis were, as usual, the stars of the show, to be sure. Hup is absolutely my favourite character but I like the Gelflings more than the Skeksis. Like they're good villains but I'm not glad when they're on screen or anything.
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Sep 4, 2019 12:17
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The Skeksis rule so hard the Henson Co reused them as aliens in Farscape.
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Sep 4, 2019 13:52
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I mean, the skeksis may be some of the worst people in the history of fiction, but they're incredible characters.
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Sep 4, 2019 13:57
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Labes for days posted:I am confused as to why they chose to include that detail in the series, yes. The Dark Crystal is ultimately a show for children, and kids love gross-out stuff. It’s the same reason we see that one Skeksis’ weeping pustules on her face or them getting naked in the bath.
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Sep 4, 2019 17:49
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Is the Ornamentalist a female skeksis in this version? It sounds like a woman doing the voice. They were all male in the original movie, right? As people have already said, I've really enjoyed the skeksis in the series. The film definitely gave them character and tried to make distinctions, but they didn't really have time to expand too much on it. I like seeing them just interacting with each other, and the Chamberlain is great.
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Sep 4, 2019 19:06
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The Collector is female too I believe.
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Sep 4, 2019 19:17
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They’re both “he,” they just have female VAs.
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Sep 4, 2019 19:18
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I just assumed that they used the pronoun He but there wasn't any real gender with them. Though the Gourmand taking a wiz standing up sorta wrecks that theory.
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Sep 4, 2019 19:25
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I sort of assumed the same thing, that being descended from light-beings they would be sexless, but both the movie and show seem to throw sexual characteristics in there and I am just not sure what they want us to do with this knowledge.
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Sep 4, 2019 19:31
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Well, considering all their vices, we haven't seen them get horny, so thats a thing. A good thing.
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Sep 4, 2019 19:33
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Normy posted:The Collector is female too I believe. I looked up the Collector and he's described as 'he' along with the others. I suppose having the female voices just gives an extra bit of differentiation between them. I remember watching the film as a kid and definitely thinking the Ornamentalist was the 'girl' one (since a lot of shows/films at the times would do that in a group) and I actually thought it was pretty funny that he was just super flamboyant.
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Sep 4, 2019 19:43
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Each skeksis represents a sin and I think the collector is supposed to be pride/vanity.
thelaughingman fucked around with this message at 20:29 on Sep 4, 2019 |
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Sep 4, 2019 20:27
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thelaughingman posted:Each skeksis represents a sin and I think the collector is supposed to be pride/vanity. There are only seven sins. 
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Sep 4, 2019 20:40
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Rhyno posted:There are only seven sins. They used the cardinal sins as a basis when they began designing the skeksis, but realized they would have to reuse or reinterpret some of them. So we ended up with some who are really obviously a particular sin (Gharthim Master as Wrath, Chamberlain as Envy, Gourmand as Gluttony) and some who are just sort of sinful in a general sense.
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Sep 4, 2019 20:49
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Each station in Skeksis society is occupied by an agent of excess, cunning, and hatred. Some are fairly obvious -The Emperor is an authoritarian, the General is a warmonger, the Hunter hunts, the Gourmand is a fat pig. But some are subtle. The Chamberlain is technically "Secretary of state" but in this case the job is about manipulating all the internal factions and gunning for the Emperor position. The scientist is 'progress at all costs' kind of guy but would likely justify it as 'I was ordered to do it'. The Ornamentalist is really a propigandist if you think about it. The Scroll Keeper writes and spreads revisionist history similar to the Chamberlains manipulations : "I tell stories, plant them in the ground, it grows into the truth". I think the Collector is not so much a 'funkopop' collector, but a tax collector (hence why they were at the tithing ceremony. And like many colonized groups of humans, the Gelflings own culture and hierarchy gets Co opted by the Skeksis. The All Maudra has absolute Power, the Vaprans are seen as being above all other clans, and the blessings and decrees of the Lords of the Crystal are absolute.
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Sep 4, 2019 21:04
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