"Is it all a dream like 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland' or Dorothy's in 'The Wizard of Oz,'"
smiles Jim Henson. "In my own mind it is..."

Bog of Stench � � � On the surface, Jim Henson's LABYRINTH appears to be a simple tale rooted in myth and legend, but there exists a deeper, more universal level to the film "about a person at the point of changing from a child to a woman," says the director. "Times of transition are always magic. Twilight is a magic time. Dawn is magic...the times when it's neither day nor night, but something in between." Sarah's journey through the LABYRINTH is essentially a parable of childhood's journey into adulthood, a bewildering place where a young girl experiences her first contacts with love, responsibility, and danger - in a world created by her own mind.
� � � After the completion of his groundbreaking fantasy-adventure The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson opted to join forces with George Lucas (serving as executive producer) in order to bring to the screen his most extravagant concept to date. The vision of LABYRINTH that Henson held was one that had been fermenting in his head for over two years, a project so lavish that the audience would be able to shed the last vesige of it's natural disbelief and succumb completely to the experience. By pooling his own unique talents with those of Lucas (and his special effects juggernaut Industrial Light and Magic), Henson felt that he could add a dimension of believability to the story that otherwise might not be possible, especially in a film where live actors needed to interact with his puppet creations in nearly every frame.
� � � As Jim Henson excitedly noted: "The creatures in LABYRINTH are the most sophisticated creatures we've ever built. We used a lot of remote-control radio techniques and teams of puppeteers, who each operated various parts of the characters. I think, frankly, that some effects we've achieved look so real that people won't even realize that we've done anything special."
Jareth & Toby � � � Translating the grand vision of LABYRINTH to the printed page was a task handed over to the versatile screenwriter Terry Jones, a member of the legendary Monty Python comic troupe. Working from drawings created by conceptual designer Brian Froud, Jones would come across a sketch that sparked his interest and would then proceed to flesh out how the character would think and react to different situations. "For example," Henson explains, "Brian sketched a few door knockers. They were faces, one of which had a large ring in his mouth. Terry wrote him into the script as a character who tries to talk but can only mumble." The inventions of Terry Jones contribute an intricate atmosphere to LABYRINTH that is essential to creating a fantasy world that might exist on a plane other than that of a young girl's imagination.
� � � Once LABYRINTH found its rough shape on paper, the task of bringing this incredible world to life could finally be undertaken. Work began at Henson's Creature Workshop in London, where no effort was spared to make the characters appear as real as any element on the screen. Supervised by Brian Froud, the sculpting and fabrication of LABYRINTH's populace required dozens of specialists working in rigid conjunction to bring the "life-like" quality to the puppets that Henson demanded. The textured and tinted "skin" was produced with hundreds of minuscule wrinkles, hair, and even fingerprints to render them as real as possible, while teams of Animatronics experts designed special remote control units and mechanisms to control each creature's wide range of expressions. Henson even went so far as to import Cheryl McFadden, a choreographer and acting coach, to assist the puppeteers in achieving an "actors" realism to their portrayals.
� � � Regardless of how much life the characters would eventually exhibit, Henson knew that the set of LABYRINTH needed to be just as detailed and spectacular or the entire illusion would be shattered. Jim Henson and Brian Froud (the creators of The Dark Crystal, now in their second collaboration) had envisioned a land of complete wonder from the outset, and with the addition of production designer Elliot Scott and special effects supervisor George Gibbs, a superbly talented creative team fell into place. Flower pot
Sir Didymus � � � One of the mammoth tasks that Henson's team of artisans took on was the creation of the Goblin City itself, the setting for the climactic battle between Sarah's entourage and the Goblin army. The city was constructed on Stage 6 at London's Thorn-EMI Elstree Studios (which offered the most cavernous shooting stage in Europe) and employed the largest panoramic back-cloth ever made. "The whole effect is that of a fairyland village, " explains the designer Elliot Scott, "'conquered' some time ago by invading goblins and left to go to seed." Through the use of a series of narrow cobblestone lanes and small squares lined by tiny tottering cottages on the brink of disrepair, there is the distinct impression that the city was actually designed by a goblin architect as he cackled over a cask of ale.
� � � The design team forged ahead to confront even bigger challenges. The spectacular ballroom set was fitted with 35 revolving chandeliers, which were decorated with more than 400 tall white candles and 5000 individual strands of glass tear-drops, all eerily reflected by strategically placed mirror panels and 77 pounds of pearl glitter. What challenged Scott the most though, was the foreboding forest that Sarah's group travels through - 40,000 sprays of artificial leaves were painstakingly fastened to each tree, and that was only the beginning. Over 120 separate truckloads of tree branches were required, in addition to 1200 turfs of grass, nearly 900 pounds of dried leaves, and over 150 bags of lichen and bundles of moss.
� � � All of this technical wizadry is used to effectively convey a basic theme that runs through the majority of Jim Henson's films. LABYRINTH stresses the importance of friendship and loyalty for survival in a world that is often deceptive and bewildering, to adults as well as children. And though the adage may be dusty with age, Henson brings a new sparkle to our mother's continual reminder..."Be careful what you wish for-it might just come true." A firey and battle

--Scot Campbell

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This page was last updated or modified on December 10, 1997 by [email protected].