The Dark Crystal: Universal’s Jim Henson Experiment (Ep. 40)

The Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Jim Hill Media Podcast Network

Tv & Film, Society & Culture, Places & Travel

4.8 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 28 February 2025

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of The Epic Universal Podcast, Jim Hill and Eric Hersey explore how Jim Henson’s Muppets found their way to Universal Pictures with The Great Muppet Caper and The Dark Crystal. Plus, they cover the latest Universal Studios news, from Super Bowl ads to Epic Universe food reveals. Highlights include: The Great Muppet Caper at Universal: How Universal Pictures got involved with Jim Henson’s second Muppet film and what went wrong at the box office. The Dark Crystal’s Production Nightmare: Why Jim Henson’s boldest film was nearly unreleasable—and how Universal forced last-minute changes. Scarlett Johansson Joins Jurassic World: How the longtime Jurassic Park superfan finally landed a role in Jurassic World: Rebirth. Epic Universe Food Preview: A breakdown of the newly revealed menus and the must-try dishes coming to Universal’s newest theme park. Butterbeer Season Arrives: Universal launches new Butterbeer Crepes and nationwide pop-up Butterbeer carts. Universal’s Search for Food Vloggers: How you can apply to be part of Universal Orlando’s new YouTube food series. This episode blends Muppet nostalgia, Universal history, and the latest theme park news. Whether you love classic films or are counting down to Epic Universe, this one’s for you! Support Our Sponsor: Be Our Guest Vacations Planning your next Universal vacation? Be Our Guest Vacations is a Platinum-level Earmarked travel agency with concierge-level service to make every trip magical. Their team of expert agents plans vacations across the globe, from Disney and Universal to cruises and adventures, ensuring you have the best possible experience without the stress. Book Now Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to the epic universal podcast.
0:17.9	I'm entertainment writer Jim Hill, and this is the podcast where we cover the latest
0:22.6	universal news, rumors and history. And as always, I'm joined by Eric Hersey, and I know this is a
0:30.5	couple of weeks after the fact, but we talked previously on the Epic Universal podcast about which ads we thought might show up on the Super Bowl.
0:40.5	And so I have to ask, did you see the ad for, what is it, Jurassic World Rebirth?
0:49.2	Jim, that's the thing about the ads on the Super Bowl.
0:51.6	This Super Bowl was kind of lame, in my opinion.
0:53.8	It was pretty much done after the first half, so I kind of dipped out a bit. So I did see a lot of
0:59.9	the ads on YouTube after the fact, but I haven't caught this one per se, but you were telling me
1:05.2	this wasn't too shabby. Oh, no, no, no, no. The full ad dropped. In fact, I apologize, folks. It dropped the day after we recorded the most recent pair of Epic Universal Podcasts. But the full ad with Scarlett Johansson and Herschela Ali, I think they did a great job of sort of reboot.
1:28.9	I mean, I also, I have to stress here that given that this installment of the Jurassic Park, Jurassic World series,
1:38.9	is directed by Gareth Edwards, who, for my money, did the very best new Star Wars film today at Rogue One.
1:49.8	So the fact that he's stepping into this franchise is like, oh, okay, this one's going to be worth checking out.
1:56.9	But I don't know if you've seen any of the coverage in regard to Scarlett Johansson
2:02.6	being a Jurassic Park superfan.
2:05.7	I did not know that.
2:07.4	She is, huh?
2:08.1	Well, she evidently, as a child, she slept in a Jurassic Park pup tent in her bedroom.
2:16.0	And so, and this is the thing.
2:17.8	Evidently, as they were making these movies,
2:20.3	she would literally turn to her agent when a new one came up and said,
2:24.3	call them, tell them.
	...

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