Powers of Creation

The Jim Henson Fantasy Film Collection, a trio of Labyrinth, Dark Crystal and MirrorMask, appears on September 5th. This is not actually news, just a bit of creative marketing, since the DVDs and all extras are just the same as previous releases. The only things that distinguish this collection from anything else are clips from the Return to Labyrinth manga and from the MirrorMask manga. Boring. You can go back to waiting for the Labyrinth sequel manga now.

More info here: http://www.dvdtown.com/announcement/jimhensonfantasyfilmcollection/3629

Apparently the MM manga isn't coming out till early next year. >_<

Over here in the LJ MM community, sleepall_day took a screencap that shows a Valentine doll in Helena's room [when she's playing with the sock puppets].

I didn't even notice that doll! In fact, I left him out of my essay about sex and dolls in L and MM, where I mainly focused on the sexualizing music box dolls that attack Helena in the Dark Queen's castle.

Currently tossing around the notion that Valentine's appearance as a doll relates to the movie's exploration of Helena's sexuality. Dolls are vehicles for sexual expression, as I demo in the aforementioned essay. So perhaps the Valentine doll represents Helena's wish for a boyfriend who's a magical hero and a charmer [as opposed to the punky smoker guy who's Anti-Helena's make-out partner]. Somehow this ties in to Valentine's status as imaginary figure inside Helena's dream and real guy [in the Future Fruit vision of him as a waiter, also at the end of the movie]. Could he be one of the most balanced and desireable characters of the movie [mischievous yet responsible, fantastical yet real]? Definitely need to chew on this some more...

I worked on Helena's Room a bit last night, adding a biography of Stephanie Leonidas, who plays Helena. Since the bio is rather lacking in info, I also send fan mail today to Stephanie and to her agent. Hopefully I will get a response with more details on this talented and sexy actor! [Hopefully she's not overwhelmed with fan mail, so I might even get a reply soon.]

Speaking of the pathetic bio, you won't believe how hard I scoured the Net, seeking information about Stephanie. Despite consistent stage and screen credits since 2001, the girl remains elusive. What I did find, though, really impressed me. Look below the cut for fan blather. ( Read more... )

New essays up at Helena's Room: Is Mirror Mask a rip-off of Labyrinth? What are dolls and sex doing in MM and L? [Lots of pretty pictures in this essay.] Also in Helena's Room, I kicked off the Merchandise section with a review of the MM novella. I linked to the Labyrinth/MM section from the Realm's analysis page too. ( Read more... )

The Web boosted Labyrinth to true cult status during the early part of its second decade, but it wasn't until the new millennium that the establishment registered just how much we loved the movie. And I was there [still...]. ( Read more... )

The 2005 fantasy film MirrorMask is billed as being “in the tradition of Dark Crystal and Labyrinth.” Well, it’s more than that. MirrorMask is less of a tribute and more of a rewrite of Labyrinth [which is itself a rip-off of many classics]. I wrote an essay about Labyrinth's influence on Mirror Mask, but I have yet to get it uploaded. See tantalizing sample below... ( Read more... )

Basically he says that Labyrinth did very well in the after market, so the Henson Co. decided to rip it off and cash in...which just goes to show that Hollywood was recycling long before you were separating your paper from your plastic.