Well, I guess I'll introduce myself...

[Sareth]

First off, my user name has nothing to do with Sarah X Jareth or anything like that.

I did not grow up with the film as many users probably did. I learned of it from a friend during the summer who told me what it was about and showed me clips some clips from YouTube. I was very eager to see it and we finally watched at a sleep over. I know some aren't going to like this, but... I was pretty disappointed. I really liked the ideas behind it and sometimes have obsessive periods about it, I just don't like how it was done.

Anyway, I joined the site because I'm curious as to what to fans love about it.

[Bezzo]

Hi,

Welcome to the forum. I'm quite interested to know what you mean about not liking how it was done. Are you talking about how it was filmed or plot?

Helen

[Sareth]

Mostly, the pacing was awkward, the songs were irrelevant (though I do like the songs, I've be humming "As the World Falls Down" all day), and there wasn't enough character developement. I could kinda see what Henson was trying to do, but I don't think he did it very well. Yet for some reason I think about Labyrinth quite often, and I've read the first script. I looked into the Return to Labyrinth manga and it was like a fanfiction or something. I'm considering going into film and would love to do a remake but I would be afraid of fans not liking it.

[moulinofmoraine]

I watched Nostalgia Chick's review, and while I love the movie, I can see the pacing issue. Most of the songs are more like internal monologues for Jareth. "Underground", "As the World Falls Down", and "Within You" are Jareth's thoughts regarding his relationship with Sarah. The three songs show a consistent decline, a frustration. On the other hand, "Dance Magic" is just a silly song to shut the baby up and "Chilly Down" is a kind of weird temptation song, offering Sarah a kind of demonic sense of "fun".

I agree with the lack of character development. On the other hand, it's arguable that Sarah is highly self-absorbed and the reason WE don't find out anything about anyone is because SARAH doesn't care. In this way, I find Return to Labyrinth by Jake Forbes to be superior.

I think Jim should've made this into a series or miniseries. I think stretching out the story would've benefitted him, letting him explore and express himself better. I think the reason Dark Crystal didn't need a series is that the story is the classic "young hero saves the world" thing and didn't really need more. Labyrinth, on the other hand, brings up so many fantasy and psychological and literary elements that he basically fast-forwards it to make it movie length. Labyrinth could have had the potential to be the 80's Farscape, if you think about it. Farscape just would not have worked as a single movie. Neither, really, does Labyrinth.

I'm probably a rare fan who would love to see a remake. Henson is a wonderful inspiration, but for God's sake, he's not Jesus. While Jim thought of the concept, I find Dinosaurs an extremely clever series, but the meat of it is developed by others on the team. We shouldn't act like his works are Gospel and should never be touched. While I'm skeptical of Dark Crystal 2, I welcome another look at it.

If you ever do make a remake, just don't have Sarah learn The Lesson that she should care for others and then make the entire point of winning against Jareth as something she has to do herself. It just gets on my nerves that Sarah NEVER tries to learn anything about her new "friends" and then dumps them unceremoniously to whine to Jareth alone. Sheesh.

[Bezzo]

I wouldn't want to see it remade, I love it the way it is. OK, it's not the greatest movie ever made but it's one that I've enjoyed ever since I was a kid and I'd hate to see it without David as Jareth. Leave it be, that's what I say

Helen

[moulinofmoraine]

I'd hate to see it without David as Jareth as well. For me, he made the movie. It still needed to be a series or miniseries, though.

[BabeWithThePower]

Or how about a novel? That would give us the chance to get more character development and detail while still keeping our images of David and Jennifer in tact. It'd have to be better than that thing they gave us as a sequel, though. *not fond of Return to Labyrinth. At all.*

My name's Cali, by the way ^_^

[moulinofmoraine]

Yeah, a novel would work. I tried reading that thing on the internet that's supposedly an out of print novelization of the movie ... and I thought it was crap, to be honest. It was super dry. I mean, I realize it's hard to put songs in print, but it was like there wasn't a single fun thing in that whole mess.

Actually, I'd like it to be a book series.

Actually, I'd love to write it, LOL.