GenndyTartakovsky Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The last thing we saw from the filmmakers behind the sequel to Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal was a glimpse of storyboards, back in October. Since then there's been no word on when the film would finish production, or even a glimpse at a solid release date. All of which served to fuel a rumor that began on film ick, and then started to work it's way through the mill. G4 The Feed has now reported that The Power Of The Dark Crystal has been put on hold. Genndy Tartakovsky has also gone on hiatus, with no plans to re-start. It's all still speculation at this point, since The Jim Henson Company has yet to release an official statement to confirm or deny.

As the story goes, the film has gone on permanent hiatus while The Jim Henson Company concentrates on other projects such as Edward Gorey's The Doubtful Guest and a film based on the Monster Blood Tattoo. If the rumors are true that The Dark Crystal 2 has been put back on the shelf, it doesn't exactly inspire me with confidence that The Henson Company is going to follow through with these other projects either.

Announced last May to a combination of glee and trepidation, the Dark Crystal sequel - The Power of the Dark Crystal - now has a director, and things are officially looking up. Way, way up: the damn thing is going to be directed by Genndy Tartakovsky. What's that? You've never heard of Genndy Tartakovsky? Friend, you need to watch more cartoons - Tartakovsky not only created both Dexter's Laboratory and the astonishing Samurai Jack, but also produced and directed the much loved Star Wars: Clone Wars series. Put simply, the guy's pretty much a genius - nothing involving animation or CGI could be in better hands.

Set thousands of years after the original, the sequel will still be puppet-based, but this time will take place in front of CG backgrounds (think Sin City) rather than on (expensive) actual sets. The story, cowritten by David Odell (who penned the original) and newcomer Annette Duffy, revolves around "a mysterious girl made of fire who steals a shard of the crystal in hopes of reigniting the dying sun."

So, yeah - it's officially safe to get excited. That said, production won't start until the summer, so there's going to be a lot of waiting before we see what brilliance Tartakovsky has in store for us.