{"id":152961,"date":"2020-12-25T21:30:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-25T21:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gamerant.com\/jim-henson-labyrinth-facts-bowie\/"},"modified":"2020-12-25T21:30:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T21:30:30","slug":"10-things-you-didnt-know-about-jim-hensons-labyrinth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/2020\/12\/25\/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-jim-hensons-labyrinth\/","title":{"rendered":"10 Things You Didn’t Know About Jim Henson’s Labyrinth"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n

Labyrinth<\/em> released in 1986\u00a0and was the last feature film that Jim Henson directed before his death in 1990. While the movie didn’t meet expectations on release in theatres, it eventually went on to become a cult classic<\/a> after it was released on home video. Despite many rumors of a potential sequel, as of yet, nothing has surfaced, however, a spin-off is reportedly in the works.<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a010 Best Fantasy Games From The ’90s That Were Way Ahead Of Their Time<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

This musical fantasy film is a favorite in many households, but there are many behind the scenes facts, hidden points of interest, and trivia that a lot of fans are likely unaware of. Check out these ten facts that many don’t know about the film.<\/p>\n

10 <\/span>Title Sequence<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

Throughout the film, Jareth the Goblin King (played by David Bowie) displays his ability to shapeshift into the form of an owl. Despite Jim\u00a0Henson<\/a> being known for using physical props and puppets, during the\u00a0opening title sequence\u00a0in Labyrinth<\/em>, there is a CGI owl that is flying about the screen.<\/p>\n

Interestingly,\u00a0Labyrinth<\/em>\u00a0is widely considered to be the first feature film to attempt a photo-realistic computer-generated animal for the big screen. Considering the age of the film, the graphics have not aged that badly.<\/p>\n

9 <\/span>Sarah’s Room<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

Many of the fantastical creatures and areas<\/a> that appear in Labyrinth\u00a0<\/em>are hinted at beforehand in the form of the furnishings in Sarah’s room at the beginning of the film. To name just a few, there is a figure of Jareth on Sarah’s dressing table, soft toys that resemble Ludo and Sir Didymus, and a musical box that has the appearance of Sarah during the masquerade sequence.<\/p>\n

There’s also a poster of M.C. Escher’s Relativity on the wall, which alludes to the end scene with Jareth in a room with many stairs. There are numerous others, such as a board game resembling the hedge area of the labyrinth itself, and a figure that resembles Hoggle too.<\/p>\n

8 <\/span>Merlin Ambrosius<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

The old English sheepdog used to play Sarah’s pet Merlin is the same dog used to portray\u00a0Ambrosius, Sir Didymus’s mount. Both names are an allusion to\u00a0The History of the Kings of Britain<\/em> by\u00a0Geoffrey of Monmouth, as within this book Merlin is referred to as\u00a0“Merlin Ambrosius.”<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a010 Retro ’80s Games That Are Utterly Impossible to Beat<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

This is also another direct parallel between Sarah’s real life and the fantasy life within the labyrinth, alongside many of the objects found in her room\u00a0that were mentioned previously.<\/p>\n

7 <\/span>Magic Dance<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

Dance Magic is one of the most memorable songs from the film, and despite releasing by this name as a single, the\u00a0end credits refer to it as “Dance Magic.” Some of the lyrics reference the movie The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer<\/em> from 1947, however, the words in the lines were changed from “man” to “babe” and “hoodoo” to “voodoo.”<\/p>\n

Additionally, it is explained in the Inside the Labyrinth<\/em> documentary\u00a0<\/a>that the baby\u00a0who\u00a0was supposed to supply the gurgles for the song would not perform, so the gurgles that can be heard on the track were made by David Bowie<\/a> himself.<\/p>\n

6 <\/span>Inspiration<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

The film was inspired by the children’s book\u00a0Outside Over There<\/em> by Maurice Sendak, in which a young girl has to travel to a fantastical land to find her baby sister who has been spirited away by goblins.<\/p>\n

Maurice Sendak is most known for his book Where the Wild Things Are.<\/em>\u00a0Labyrinth<\/em> paid tribute to him by having a copy of this book in shot during a scene in Sarah’s room, close to a soft toy\u00a0that resembles Ludo.<\/p>\n

5 <\/span>Hoggle<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

Many viewers don’t notice that the back of Hoggle’s waistcoat is designed to be in the shape of a face with a tongue sticking out of its mouth. The tongue acts as the strap that\u00a0goes across Hoggle’s chest. This extra face on the character is supposed to represent that Hoggle can be “two-faced.”<\/p>\n

The voice of Hoggle was Brian\u00a0Henson, Jim Henson’s son. The novelization of Labyrinth<\/em> states that Hoggle is a gnome, however, the conceptual designer Brian Froud has stated that Hoggle is a part goblin and part dwarf in the DVD commentary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

4 <\/span>Hidden in Plain Sight<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

The film features many little hidden secrets that viewers often don’t notice at first. Some of these were added many years after the film’s initial release, for example, in the DVD release, several hidden faces of Jareth were hidden in the scenery throughout the film (there are seven in total).<\/p>\n

RELATED:\u00a010 Classic \u201880s Video Games That Need A Modern Remake (Or Remaster)<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

There are also small details\u00a0that add some humor to the film. For example, when Sarah and her companions reach the castle door, there are two pints of milk waiting outside to indicate that even in the goblin world there are milkmen delivering.<\/p>\n

3 <\/span>Newspaper Clippings<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

Eagle-eyed viewers may have spotted a photo of David Bowie<\/a>\u00a0with another woman on Sarah’s mirror and in her scrapbook,\u00a0in the form of newspaper clippings. While not explained in the film, the Labyrinth<\/em> novelization explains that Sarah’s mother, who is an actress, left Sarah’s father for her fellow actor that is shown in the photos and is also portrayed by Bowie.<\/p>\n

The story of the two actor’s whirlwind romance is covered by the newspaper, and it’s these clippings that Sarah has kept in her room. Her mother being an actor is likely why Sarah is playacting at the beginning of the film, as she is attempting to follow in her mother’s footsteps.<\/p>\n

2 <\/span>Toby<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

Sarah’s baby brother in the film was played by Toby Froud, the son of Brian Froud who was the film’s conceptual designer. Originally, in early drafts the character of the baby was going to be called “Freddie,” however, Toby would only answer to his own name so this was eventually changed.<\/p>\n

Froud explains in his DVD commentary<\/a> that Toby kept crying during the scene where he is sat on Jareth’s lap, so the film crew had to distract the baby with a hand puppet off-camera so that David Bowie could finish his\u00a0lines uninterrupted.<\/p>\n

1 <\/span>Crystal Ball Skills<\/h2>\n
<\/figure>\n

Jareth portrays some rather awesome skills with his crystal balls, but this wasn’t actually David Bowie performing these tricks, nor are they done by special effects. A\u00a0choreographer by the name of Michael Moschen, who is also a trained juggler, was responsible. This is shown in the Inside the Labyrinth<\/em> documentary<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Moschen would crouch behind Bowie and position his arms to look as though they are those of Jareth. This was a common trick used by Henson’s company for puppetry, however, unlike those occurrences, Moschen did not have a small screen to see how he was performing and so he had to perform the tricks blind.<\/p>\n

NEXT:\u00a010 Fantasy Games That Are Better Than Their Metascore<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n\n

\\\"IT\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2
\u7acb\u523b\u8a3b\u518a\u53ca\u5831\u540d\u96fb\u8166\u88dc\u7fd2\u8ab2\u7a0b\u5427!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n<\/br>Find A Teacher Form:\r\n<\/br>https:\/\/docs.google.com\/forms\/d\/1vREBnX5n262umf4wU5U2pyTwvk9O-JrAgblA-wH9GFQ\/viewform?edit_requested=true#responses\r\n<\/br><\/br>Email:\r\n<\/br>public1989two@gmail.com






\r\nwww.itsec.hk<\/a>
\r\nwww.itsec.vip<\/a>
\r\nwww.itseceu.uk<\/a>
<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A classic fantasy film starring David Bowie, Jim Henson’s Labyrinth is one of a kind. What are some lesser-known details about the 1986 film?<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":376,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"slim_seo":{"title":"10 Things You Didn't Know About Jim Henson's Labyrinth - ITTeacherITFreelance.hk","description":"A classic fantasy film starring David Bowie, Jim Henson's Labyrinth is one of a kind. What are some lesser-known details about the 1986 film?"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[607],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152961"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":152962,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152961\/revisions\/152962"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/itteacheritfreelance.hk\/wordpress\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}