Dark Crystal, The: SkekTek (Steve Whitmire (performer))

Comments for death : Dark Crystal, The: SkekTek (Steve Whitmire (performer)).



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/28/2010 10:01PM by Mr Mouseburger.

I submitted one too but I guess yours got picked first. Also need to dispense with the "(performer)" part since we didn't have that for skekSo.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/02/2010 06:14PM by Kooshmeister.

sorry Koosh, nothing personal, just i saw this in the inbox and having just watched the Dark Crystal i thought it would be nice to add it.

I quite like noting the "performer" next to the character, as i really feel they are the ones that give the puppets life and character. After all is Gollum Andy Serkis, or is he a load of pixels in some Apple G4s

I will make the necessary changes to Skekso so we are consistent though

Bonus writeup, courtesy of Kooshmeister:

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While the Skeksis in general are a nasty lot, SkekTek the Scientist in particular is one of the main ones focused upon. It is his job to make slaves out of the cute, innocent Podlings captured by the Garthim (the Skeksis' crablike soldiers), by subjecting them to a process better described in a previous review.

Jen and Kira's quest to "heal" the Crystal isn't exactly off to a good start. The minute they arrived at the Skeksis' castle, Kira was captured by SkekSil the Chamberlain, who also buried Jen alive under a pile of rocks.

The Skeksis fear the Gelflings, because it is written in a vague prophecy or other that it will be a Gelfling who will unseat the Skeksis' power. Thus, SkekZok the Priest demands that Kira immediately be slain.

However, SkekTek, who earlier commented that the essence drained from a Gelfling was more potent than that of a Podling, convinces the new emperor to let him drain Kira before they kill her (much to SkekZok's dismay).

So SkekTek drags Kira down to the essence-draining room, where he straps her into one of those terrifying-looking chairs as Aughra, captured earlier herself, looks on from a cage. SkekTek begins the process, opening the wall to let in the light from the Crystal.

Aughra realizes that Kira has what she calls "the gift," and tells her, "Call the animals! Call them to freedom!" By this, she means the hundreds of cute, cuddly-looking furry creatures SkekTek keeps in cages for whatever reason (likely vivisection, given that he is a scientist).

Before the slave-drainer realizes what is happening, the animals, under Kira's guidance, bust free from their cages and Kira's tormentor is soon being mobbed by the things.

The immediate result of this is that the flailing SkekTek backs up against the control panel, switching off the Crystal-reflector, saving Kira. Trying to get the animals off of himself, SkekTek backs right through the hole in the wall.

There's a sort of grate or lid, which gives way under SkekTek's weight, dumping the evil scientist, with a few of the cute fluffy animals still clinging to him, down a fiery shaft.

We then cut to the ridiculously slow-moving Mystics, making their ponderous way towards the castle as a sort of half-arsed cavalry - whereupon one of them spontaneously combusts, further evidence of the connection between the Skeksis and the Mystics, as if the simultaneous deaths of the old emperor and Jen's master weren't proof enough...

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2010 11:00AM by old bluffer.

Mr Mouseburger Wrote:
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> I quite like noting the "performer" next to the
> character, as i really feel they are the ones that
> give the puppets life and character. After all is
> Gollum Andy Serkis, or is he a load of pixels in
> some Apple G4s


These aren't quite puppets, though, more like actors in suits with puppet heads. If we list the actors as "(performer)" won't we also have to do this for every creature/character portrayed by someone in a monster suit (although at the moment only Dagoth comes to mind)?

Also, in this instance, Steve Whitmire was the voice and performer for skekTek. So listing him as one or the other is a little redundant.

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Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2010 04:02PM by Kooshmeister.

Also, shouldn't Kira be listed as the killer? The animals were more or less acting under her guidance, and if that's good enough to make Sheena, another character who can communicate with animals, the killer when she used flamingos to kill Zanda and the helicopter pilot, it's good enough for Kira.

Also also, skekTek is a Baddy (Minor) at best in my opinion.

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2010 04:13PM by Kooshmeister.

Yep, I think he's minor too. You make a compelling argument for Kira to be listed as the killer.
This is one of my all-time favourite films so I might have to rewatch it soon.

As a sidenote, I love his glowing bionic eye.

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/03/2010 04:31PM by Kooshmeister.

I would not class Kira as the Killer at all. Aughra reveals this when she tells Kira to "call them to freedom". Once they are free, their own instincts take over and they assault and torment their tormentor of their own volition, not because Kira is some "pied piper". They may be cute and furry, but it does not mean they shirk the responsibility of killing SkekTek.

Sheena was slightly different as, if i remember correctly, she used the flamingos as a device to kill by ordering them to fly into the helicopters rotor blades.

Out of interest, I thought i put SkekTek as baddy minor??

Mr Mouseburger Wrote:
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> I would not class Kira as the Killer at all.
> Aughra reveals this when she tells Kira to "call
> them to freedom". Once they are free, their own
> instincts take over and they assault and torment
> their tormentor of their own volition, not because
> Kira is some "pied piper".
>

Throughout the sequence of skekTek being mobbed Kira is talking to them. Like, nonstop. I don't speak whatever language she was using (Podling?) but she was instructing them to do something, and since they spent the entire time swarming skekTek I assume it was, "Attack the bad guy."

I'm not entirely sure she intended to kill skekTek, but she clearly was using the animals and wanted them to keep up their attack.

Mr Mouseburger Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sheena was slightly different as, if i remember
> correctly, she used the flamingos as a device to
> kill by ordering them to fly into the helicopters
> rotor blades.
>

Actually they got in through the open doors and pecked at the villains. The pilot crashed the helicopter due to having his eyes pecked out. But you are right that the flamingos were more instruments than the lab animals here. I consider them instruments nonetheless, regardless of whether they had preexisting reasons for attacking skekTek.

Saying which, I also want to point out that it's interesting that the movie doesn't actually bother explaining what the animals are caged up for. The information about them being used for experiments comes from the script where they're mentioned as "the victims of cruel experiments" when the Chamber of Life is first described, and in the novelization, which gives more gruesome details. But in the movie no reason for their presence is given. I had to guess at their purpose based on the fact skekTek is called "Scientist" in the credits; that guess turned out to be correct.

As a side note, most people I encounter, oddly, assume skekTek is the one called "Slave Master" in the credits (which is actually skekNa, the guy with the hook and eyepatch). And so the presence of the animals is a total mystery to them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Movie Deaths Gallery: [smg.photobucket.com]
DVD Collection: [kooshmeister.dvdaf.com]



Edited 8 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2010 03:18AM by Kooshmeister.