1 00:00:05,720 --> 00:00:08,000 Speaker 1: Hey, welcome to stuff to blow your mind. My name 2 00:00:08,039 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick. And it's Saturday. 3 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:13,280 Speaker 1: Time to go into the Old Vault, and this time 4 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: the Vault is glowing with an eerie purple light. That's right, 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:19,239 Speaker 1: we're gonna go back to Uh let's see. This was 6 00:00:19,360 --> 00:00:23,160 Speaker 1: March four, nineteen. We did an episode on Jim Henson's 7 00:00:23,200 --> 00:00:25,239 Speaker 1: The Dark Crystal and this one, this one was a 8 00:00:25,280 --> 00:00:26,799 Speaker 1: lot of fun. I was really excited to do this. 9 00:00:26,800 --> 00:00:30,280 Speaker 1: One of my favorite films. Uh. This, however, was before 10 00:00:30,920 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 1: the Netflix series The Dark Crystal The Age of Resistance 11 00:00:34,440 --> 00:00:39,360 Speaker 1: came out, so all the additions to the world are 12 00:00:39,400 --> 00:00:42,559 Speaker 1: not reflected in this particular episode. But I will go 13 00:00:42,600 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: on record as saying that I loved The Age of Resistance. 14 00:00:45,320 --> 00:00:47,960 Speaker 1: I thought it was a fabulous of your experience. Me too, 15 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:51,200 Speaker 1: I thought it was absolutely wonderful. Terrible name, but great show. 16 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:53,240 Speaker 1: What well, I mean, you have to call it something? 17 00:00:54,000 --> 00:00:56,279 Speaker 1: He didn't. You didn't have to do a colon name. 18 00:00:56,480 --> 00:00:59,720 Speaker 1: I can't get with the colon titles. Why does everything 19 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:02,720 Speaker 1: have to be a colon something of something that the 20 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: title of this episode is from the Vault Colon The 21 00:01:06,560 --> 00:01:09,080 Speaker 1: Dark Crystal. You know, I could, I could sometimes do 22 00:01:09,160 --> 00:01:14,040 Speaker 1: with fewer colon's in our titles. I am, I'll go 23 00:01:14,120 --> 00:01:17,160 Speaker 1: on record is sort of anti colon really Okay, well, 24 00:01:17,200 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 1: I mean, you know, every every creature has one, some 25 00:01:19,720 --> 00:01:21,000 Speaker 1: of the creatures in the Dark Crystal. I think I 26 00:01:21,000 --> 00:01:24,200 Speaker 1: have multiple colon's. But anyway, Yeah, this is a This 27 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 1: is a fun, a fun podcast episode. We hope you 28 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: enjoy it. Travel to another world, another time in the 29 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:50,640 Speaker 1: Age of Wonder the Crystal. Welcome to Stuff to Blow 30 00:01:50,680 --> 00:01:59,760 Speaker 1: your Mind from how Stuff Works dot Com. Hey, welcome 31 00:01:59,800 --> 00:02:01,400 Speaker 1: to to have to Blow your Mind. My name is 32 00:02:01,480 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormick, and we're back with 33 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 1: another movie episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind. I'm 34 00:02:06,720 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 1: so excited about this. When Robert, what are we talking 35 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: about today? We're gonna be talking about The Dark Crystal. 36 00:02:11,639 --> 00:02:14,800 Speaker 1: Last month it was Highlander two. Uh. You know, I 37 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:19,280 Speaker 1: think a pretty objectively terrible film. But this time we're 38 00:02:19,280 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 1: talking about a film that that, in my personal opinion, 39 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:24,320 Speaker 1: is is a indeed a great film, if not a 40 00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:26,240 Speaker 1: perfect film. In the words of a good friend of 41 00:02:26,280 --> 00:02:28,960 Speaker 1: mine who's it is his favorite movie of all time, 42 00:02:29,320 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 1: he posits it is the most magical movie ever made, 43 00:02:32,400 --> 00:02:35,639 Speaker 1: and I think I agree. There is no more magical film. 44 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:38,320 Speaker 1: There's also no film I can think of that is 45 00:02:38,320 --> 00:02:41,720 Speaker 1: a more pure fantasy than The Dark Crystal. There are 46 00:02:41,760 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: a lot of fantasy movies, but The Dark Crystal is 47 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,359 Speaker 1: is the most fully committed to a fantasy vision. It's 48 00:02:48,360 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: a movie with no human beings in it. Yeah, it 49 00:02:52,360 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 1: is a it's just a wonderful alien experience. But yet 50 00:02:56,240 --> 00:02:59,359 Speaker 1: one that you know is it shadows the natural world 51 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:05,160 Speaker 1: that we we know. It's shadows human mythologies and storytelling traditions. Uh. 52 00:03:05,200 --> 00:03:09,320 Speaker 1: And it really leads to just an overall eloquent work. 53 00:03:09,639 --> 00:03:12,120 Speaker 1: Um to remind anyone who hasn't seen it or does 54 00:03:12,200 --> 00:03:15,079 Speaker 1: just sort of introduce you to it, because I've spoken 55 00:03:15,080 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: to people who have not seen The Dark Crystal, uh, 56 00:03:17,480 --> 00:03:18,920 Speaker 1: and I have to tell them about it. I have 57 00:03:18,960 --> 00:03:21,519 Speaker 1: to serve as an ambassador for this film. Uh. It 58 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:25,040 Speaker 1: came out in two directed by Jim Hinson and Frank 59 00:03:25,080 --> 00:03:29,760 Speaker 1: Oz written Kerman yea Kerman Hed written by David O'Dell 60 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 1: and Jim Henson, and the world and creature designs were 61 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 1: created by the artist Brian Froud and then and then 62 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,560 Speaker 1: brought to life through Hinson's creature shop and just the 63 00:03:40,640 --> 00:03:45,840 Speaker 1: vast effort of just an entire industry of people. Uh. 64 00:03:46,000 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: There's a wonderful making of documentary that is generally included 65 00:03:49,880 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: on most TVs and blue rays uh that you'll find 66 00:03:52,840 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: of of the Dark Crystal. Highly recommend everyone watch that. 67 00:03:57,040 --> 00:03:59,400 Speaker 1: In short, though, The Dark Crystal is a story of 68 00:03:59,480 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: prophet and reunification in a divided fantasy world, in a 69 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,120 Speaker 1: world that, like you said, it is almost entirely rendered 70 00:04:07,240 --> 00:04:11,600 Speaker 1: via puppets. I mean, you'll see rocks and maybe a 71 00:04:11,600 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 1: few you know, you know, see some grass, etcetera, that 72 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:16,200 Speaker 1: sort of thing. But sometimes the grass is a puppet, 73 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,719 Speaker 1: that's right. Sometimes the you know, the faun of the flora. Uh, 74 00:04:19,760 --> 00:04:23,800 Speaker 1: all of it is is realized with puppetry, at least 75 00:04:23,800 --> 00:04:26,760 Speaker 1: at some point in the film. The various creatures were 76 00:04:26,760 --> 00:04:30,680 Speaker 1: designed through a superb fusion of that imaginative design from 77 00:04:30,680 --> 00:04:34,360 Speaker 1: Brian Fraud, inventive puppeteering and puppet design from Jim Hinson's 78 00:04:34,360 --> 00:04:38,200 Speaker 1: creature shop, and also the various professional physical performers such 79 00:04:38,200 --> 00:04:43,239 Speaker 1: as dancers and still walkers. And you really can't over 80 00:04:43,279 --> 00:04:47,560 Speaker 1: emphasize the importance of these three things coming together, because 81 00:04:47,560 --> 00:04:51,000 Speaker 1: it's it's not enough. That's like, the creature looks real, 82 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:53,360 Speaker 1: but does it move in a way that feels real? 83 00:04:53,440 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: And then does it move in a way that doesn't 84 00:04:55,360 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 1: feel like a human in a suit? Yeah? So it is. 85 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,159 Speaker 1: It is a beautifully designed film, and it's the kind 86 00:05:02,200 --> 00:05:04,440 Speaker 1: of design that I love. You know, it's back before 87 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 1: everything with c g I. It's puppets, it's models, it 88 00:05:08,279 --> 00:05:11,960 Speaker 1: sets its painted backgrounds. God, I love painted backgrounds, and 89 00:05:12,480 --> 00:05:15,720 Speaker 1: I would love to go back to that more often. Yeah, 90 00:05:15,760 --> 00:05:18,719 Speaker 1: it's it's a film that that that really could have 91 00:05:18,800 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 1: only occurred in two It came into at a perfect 92 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:24,640 Speaker 1: time because on one hand, like you said, if it'd 93 00:05:24,680 --> 00:05:26,760 Speaker 1: come out a little later, you would have had the 94 00:05:27,200 --> 00:05:31,239 Speaker 1: early c g I coming coming into play. You imagine 95 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 1: that like Mortal Kombat Level c g I the Dark Crystal, 96 00:05:36,080 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 1: or or likewise, if it had been earlier, you might 97 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: not have had the degree of a technical know how. 98 00:05:43,320 --> 00:05:46,440 Speaker 1: Certainly the puppetry technology might not have been quite where 99 00:05:46,480 --> 00:05:48,280 Speaker 1: it needed to be. I would also say a thing 100 00:05:48,320 --> 00:05:51,120 Speaker 1: that's remarkable about The Dark Crystal is the way that 101 00:05:51,160 --> 00:05:55,120 Speaker 1: it seems to be a product of true collaborative evolution, 102 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:57,680 Speaker 1: because it seems like it's something that was originally kind 103 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:02,600 Speaker 1: of a rough concept and mythology dreamt up by Jim Henson, 104 00:06:03,040 --> 00:06:06,720 Speaker 1: who joined forces with Brian Froud and Brian Froud's type 105 00:06:06,720 --> 00:06:10,720 Speaker 1: of creature designs. Brian Froud illustrated like giants and fairies 106 00:06:10,800 --> 00:06:14,159 Speaker 1: and things like that, and so his designs for creatures 107 00:06:14,200 --> 00:06:18,440 Speaker 1: sort of fed back into Henson's ideas about the story 108 00:06:18,480 --> 00:06:20,760 Speaker 1: and the mythology, and then all this came together and 109 00:06:21,320 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 1: got more definition when the performers came on board. It 110 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:28,480 Speaker 1: seems like a real ensemble creative project that was formed 111 00:06:28,560 --> 00:06:33,119 Speaker 1: by a gradual accretion of mutations over many generations. Yeah, 112 00:06:33,200 --> 00:06:35,120 Speaker 1: And a big part of that was that, like there 113 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:38,160 Speaker 1: was money for this to happen, and I you know, 114 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:40,080 Speaker 1: it's not a given that that would have been the case. 115 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,800 Speaker 1: That's Muppet money, and Muppet it is Muppet money, Like 116 00:06:42,839 --> 00:06:45,520 Speaker 1: I believe part of the deal was, like, you know, 117 00:06:45,520 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: when it was financed, it was like, all right, you 118 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:48,320 Speaker 1: can make the Dark Crystal, but you gotta make some 119 00:06:48,360 --> 00:06:51,599 Speaker 1: Muppet movies as well. We need them, you know that 120 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:53,680 Speaker 1: we need to have the definite cash cows as well 121 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:56,919 Speaker 1: as this This sort of long gamble at trying to 122 00:06:57,920 --> 00:07:01,400 Speaker 1: cash in on the sort of you know, franchise um 123 00:07:01,720 --> 00:07:04,520 Speaker 1: uh dominance that you saw just a few years earlier 124 00:07:04,560 --> 00:07:06,919 Speaker 1: with Star Wars. Yes, and also I think it was 125 00:07:07,000 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: pretty clear through the Empire Strikes Back that people were 126 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: looking at The Dark Crystal and saying, Hey, you know 127 00:07:13,520 --> 00:07:16,960 Speaker 1: Yoda the puppet, he's very popular in the Empire strikes Back. 128 00:07:17,040 --> 00:07:19,320 Speaker 1: We can we can make some puppet money with this 129 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: Dark Crystal thing. Now, arguably it may not have reached 130 00:07:24,120 --> 00:07:27,280 Speaker 1: the degree of financial achievement that they were that everyone 131 00:07:27,360 --> 00:07:30,320 Speaker 1: was hoping for at the time, but it has certainly 132 00:07:30,360 --> 00:07:34,920 Speaker 1: become a beloved film, and certainly one with a very 133 00:07:34,960 --> 00:07:39,040 Speaker 1: strong occult following um and uh and and today generally, 134 00:07:39,080 --> 00:07:41,360 Speaker 1: if you find if you ask somebody about The Dark Crystal, 135 00:07:41,800 --> 00:07:43,560 Speaker 1: sometimes you may get some people are like, oh, I 136 00:07:43,600 --> 00:07:46,200 Speaker 1: remember seeing that as a kid. It was a little dark, etcetera. 137 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,880 Speaker 1: And it does have some darker serious themes. Yeah. Um, 138 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:53,440 Speaker 1: But I don't think I've ever met anybody who who 139 00:07:53,520 --> 00:07:56,040 Speaker 1: disliked to the Dark Crystal, Nor do I want to 140 00:07:56,320 --> 00:07:59,160 Speaker 1: meet something to dislike The Dark Crystal, because that's its 141 00:07:59,160 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: probably gonna be pretty big red flag for me that 142 00:08:01,480 --> 00:08:03,640 Speaker 1: maybe we don't have a lot in common. Yeah, if 143 00:08:03,640 --> 00:08:05,360 Speaker 1: you don't like it, don't even bother right and end 144 00:08:05,360 --> 00:08:07,920 Speaker 1: to tell us no, no, you can you can tell 145 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,680 Speaker 1: us I'd be interested here your reasons, okay, But why 146 00:08:11,680 --> 00:08:14,280 Speaker 1: are we talking about the Dark Crystal today? For starters, 147 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,520 Speaker 1: we do like to chat about films on the show 148 00:08:16,600 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: here and there, and they often give us a means 149 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:22,920 Speaker 1: to discuss various scientific, philosophical, or psychological concepts that in 150 00:08:22,960 --> 00:08:25,640 Speaker 1: some cases we might not otherwise cover. And with the 151 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: Dark Crystal, I think I think there's there's a lot 152 00:08:27,920 --> 00:08:31,520 Speaker 1: to be said about how it reflects aspects of our 153 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: world and what we can see of planet Earth and 154 00:08:34,360 --> 00:08:38,800 Speaker 1: human culture in the world of Thraw Thraw. So that's 155 00:08:38,800 --> 00:08:40,960 Speaker 1: the planet they're on in the Dark Crystal or I 156 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:42,400 Speaker 1: don't know if they say play yeah, I guess it's 157 00:08:42,400 --> 00:08:44,760 Speaker 1: the planet. It's their world. Yeah. It gets kind of 158 00:08:44,760 --> 00:08:47,360 Speaker 1: tricky when you start trying to apply that like the 159 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:51,520 Speaker 1: scientific lens to a world that is uh to a 160 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: to a pretty large degree realize through mythology, you know, 161 00:08:57,000 --> 00:09:02,640 Speaker 1: like it's we will get into some astronomical concepts, but 162 00:09:02,720 --> 00:09:04,199 Speaker 1: for the most part of the world of the Dark 163 00:09:04,200 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: Crystal is a world of of myth and magic. Yeah. 164 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:08,960 Speaker 1: And also I will say, though I love The Dark 165 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:11,680 Speaker 1: Crystal and I'm a partisan of science, I will say 166 00:09:11,960 --> 00:09:13,840 Speaker 1: it is not I don't know if it is a 167 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:16,520 Speaker 1: strongly pro science and narrative because you notice in the 168 00:09:16,559 --> 00:09:20,880 Speaker 1: film basically science and technology seems to only exist among 169 00:09:20,920 --> 00:09:24,560 Speaker 1: the bad guys and the Well, no, that's not quite true. 170 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,240 Speaker 1: There's Augura. Yeah, I'm overstepping. And then the say, the 171 00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:32,520 Speaker 1: Skexies have a scientist, but the good mystics are more 172 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: mystical in nature. Yes, but then we have to consider 173 00:09:35,960 --> 00:09:37,840 Speaker 1: where they came from and well we'll get back to 174 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:40,319 Speaker 1: that in a bit. Okay, but but those are those 175 00:09:40,360 --> 00:09:43,440 Speaker 1: are aliens, those are that come to the world of Thraw. 176 00:09:43,960 --> 00:09:47,680 Speaker 1: We should talk for a little bit about the the 177 00:09:47,800 --> 00:09:51,720 Speaker 1: native inhabitants of this world. So, for first and foremost, 178 00:09:51,800 --> 00:09:54,840 Speaker 1: The Dark Crystal is the story of gelf Links. Yeah, 179 00:09:54,840 --> 00:09:57,840 Speaker 1: it's it's a sort of hero's journey type narrative, basic 180 00:09:57,920 --> 00:10:02,000 Speaker 1: classic adventure narrative, with a with a young Gelfling at 181 00:10:02,040 --> 00:10:04,480 Speaker 1: the core of it. Yeah, two of them, actually, we 182 00:10:04,520 --> 00:10:07,839 Speaker 1: have We start off with the male gelfling Jin and 183 00:10:07,880 --> 00:10:10,600 Speaker 1: then we meet a female Gelfling later on named Kira, 184 00:10:11,280 --> 00:10:14,600 Speaker 1: and they are the last two, or seemingly the last 185 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:18,319 Speaker 1: two members of their species. And we we come to 186 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:21,800 Speaker 1: learn that that they were their people were hunted to 187 00:10:21,880 --> 00:10:26,240 Speaker 1: extinction by the Ske Ske season in ages past. And 188 00:10:26,559 --> 00:10:29,240 Speaker 1: I guess we'll have to explain explain the sas. But 189 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:33,200 Speaker 1: basically their species is all but extinct. If we're to 190 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,400 Speaker 1: apply you know, scientific understanding, I think we can safely 191 00:10:36,440 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 1: say that they're extinct in the wild, like the gene 192 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:42,160 Speaker 1: pool would be too shallow for them to repopulate the world, 193 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,000 Speaker 1: though in a mythological sense, like the sort of Adam 194 00:10:45,040 --> 00:10:48,440 Speaker 1: and Eve logic applies, and they could conceivably bring everything back. 195 00:10:49,160 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 1: But but then also more to the point, their culture 196 00:10:52,040 --> 00:10:54,920 Speaker 1: is uh is extinct, like the only thing we see 197 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:59,880 Speaker 1: of original Gelfling culture we see in ruins, because Jin 198 00:11:00,040 --> 00:11:02,920 Speaker 1: and Kira have each been raised by a different people. 199 00:11:03,559 --> 00:11:07,000 Speaker 1: Gin has been raised by the mystics, the Uru, and 200 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,720 Speaker 1: then Kira is raised by the podlings. These sort of 201 00:11:10,840 --> 00:11:16,160 Speaker 1: utat people. Yeah, they live in huts and uh and 202 00:11:16,200 --> 00:11:18,280 Speaker 1: the dance about and have a good time. They do 203 00:11:18,360 --> 00:11:21,079 Speaker 1: quite literally appear to have potatoes for heads. Yes, they 204 00:11:21,080 --> 00:11:24,520 Speaker 1: and we're modeled on potatoes. Yeah, so they live sort 205 00:11:24,520 --> 00:11:27,600 Speaker 1: of underground. It makes sense. They're they're potato potato humans, 206 00:11:27,640 --> 00:11:30,880 Speaker 1: basically little potato people. Now. Biologically, one thing that is 207 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:35,079 Speaker 1: interesting about the gelf wings, uh, is that the males 208 00:11:35,120 --> 00:11:38,640 Speaker 1: are wingless and the females have wings. Otherwise they're sort 209 00:11:38,640 --> 00:11:41,560 Speaker 1: of basic. They're they're the most human characters in the film. 210 00:11:41,600 --> 00:11:45,560 Speaker 1: They're kind of elf like, thus the word gelfling uh 211 00:11:45,840 --> 00:11:49,520 Speaker 1: sort of you know, elf like humanoids. But the wings 212 00:11:49,559 --> 00:11:52,640 Speaker 1: are interesting because ultimately this would be an example of 213 00:11:52,679 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 1: sexual dimorphism, and we see this kind of sexual dimorphism 214 00:11:57,320 --> 00:12:00,199 Speaker 1: a lot, say in the insect world. You'll find examples 215 00:12:00,200 --> 00:12:05,160 Speaker 1: of winged females and wingless males. Uh. You know, bees, wasps, ants, 216 00:12:05,200 --> 00:12:10,680 Speaker 1: soft flies, different types of beetles, all boasting morphological gender differences. 217 00:12:11,240 --> 00:12:15,120 Speaker 1: And the reasoning generally comes down to pure sexual economics. 218 00:12:15,840 --> 00:12:18,920 Speaker 1: You know, for all intents and purposes, females are these 219 00:12:18,960 --> 00:12:22,400 Speaker 1: species itself in most cases, in all cases, and males 220 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: exist as a biological variant necessary for sexual reproduction. Yeah. 221 00:12:26,240 --> 00:12:28,400 Speaker 1: They basically in a lot of these insects species, the 222 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,960 Speaker 1: males are just kind of there to mate and then 223 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:33,560 Speaker 1: do much else. I mean, for an extreme example, just 224 00:12:33,600 --> 00:12:37,319 Speaker 1: consider there's a particular type of fairy fly um called 225 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:42,280 Speaker 1: uh dico Pomorpha egmc cargis, And not only are they 226 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:45,320 Speaker 1: wingless compared to the winged females, but they're also blind 227 00:12:45,440 --> 00:12:49,400 Speaker 1: and non feeding, so they don't even remember working digestive system. Yeah, 228 00:12:49,760 --> 00:12:52,240 Speaker 1: now we don't see that in the gulf links. But 229 00:12:52,240 --> 00:12:54,680 Speaker 1: but at any rate, it's an interesting case where you 230 00:12:54,679 --> 00:12:56,559 Speaker 1: can you can look at this fantasy example and see 231 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,240 Speaker 1: how it matches up with the real world biology. But 232 00:12:59,440 --> 00:13:02,400 Speaker 1: in in the insect examples, the males exist only to breed, 233 00:13:02,920 --> 00:13:05,920 Speaker 1: and that breeding takes place close to where they hatched, 234 00:13:06,160 --> 00:13:08,840 Speaker 1: often with nestmates, so there's no need for them to 235 00:13:08,920 --> 00:13:12,680 Speaker 1: disperse um. However, if we were to, you know, apply 236 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 1: this to the guelf wings, we might assume that male 237 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,079 Speaker 1: gelf links exist primarily to breed close to home, when 238 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:21,080 Speaker 1: the females would have migrated to find new mates, produced 239 00:13:21,080 --> 00:13:23,640 Speaker 1: new young, find new communities of guelf links, that sort 240 00:13:23,640 --> 00:13:25,800 Speaker 1: of thing. I don't know if we get much sense 241 00:13:25,840 --> 00:13:28,640 Speaker 1: of that in the movie, because it seems like they're 242 00:13:28,640 --> 00:13:32,760 Speaker 1: both long lived. At least that the jin Jin, the 243 00:13:32,800 --> 00:13:35,560 Speaker 1: boy guelf link ventures out. Yeah, that's right. We do 244 00:13:35,600 --> 00:13:37,360 Speaker 1: see that it's a reversal that Jin is the one 245 00:13:37,360 --> 00:13:40,079 Speaker 1: who ventures and and Kira is the one that is 246 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 1: still remaining close to home. So so you know, maybe 247 00:13:43,160 --> 00:13:45,120 Speaker 1: that doesn't match up all that. Well, Oh, I didn't 248 00:13:45,120 --> 00:13:46,679 Speaker 1: mean to say it doesn't match it all. I mean, 249 00:13:46,760 --> 00:13:49,360 Speaker 1: I just that I would say that the gelf links 250 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:53,920 Speaker 1: perhaps are not insects showing insects. Well, another possibility would 251 00:13:53,960 --> 00:13:57,480 Speaker 1: be that perhaps Kira still has wings but there, and 252 00:13:57,520 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 1: we see her sort of glide with them, that not 253 00:13:59,600 --> 00:14:02,440 Speaker 1: really eye with them. Perhaps they have more of a 254 00:14:02,559 --> 00:14:05,440 Speaker 1: pure like mating display purpose, you know, like they're a 255 00:14:05,440 --> 00:14:08,760 Speaker 1: show of fitness, reproductive fitness. Well, in that case, I 256 00:14:08,760 --> 00:14:10,520 Speaker 1: would think you'd be more likely to see them on 257 00:14:10,559 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 1: the males. That's true. This would be an inversion of 258 00:14:12,920 --> 00:14:16,080 Speaker 1: the sexual dimorphism we typically see where the male is 259 00:14:16,080 --> 00:14:19,320 Speaker 1: the one with the with the fancy peacock feathers as 260 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:21,800 Speaker 1: opposed to the pe hen. Another bit of a sexual 261 00:14:21,800 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: dimorphism with the Gelfings is that the gin is a 262 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:27,400 Speaker 1: little bit taller, So I mean that could be maybe 263 00:14:27,440 --> 00:14:29,720 Speaker 1: Gen's a little older than Kira, but also it could 264 00:14:29,720 --> 00:14:32,440 Speaker 1: just be like the sexual dimorphism of more of a 265 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:37,120 Speaker 1: sort of a warrior cast within the species, so we 266 00:14:37,160 --> 00:14:39,720 Speaker 1: can consider that as well. But basically the big difference 267 00:14:39,800 --> 00:14:42,880 Speaker 1: is the wings uh and and uh. And that kind 268 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: of spoils a key moment in the film for people 269 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:48,800 Speaker 1: who haven't seen it. Uh oh yeah, because it comes 270 00:14:48,800 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: as a surprise to to Gin as well. I mean, 271 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:53,720 Speaker 1: I would say the experience of the Dark Crystal is 272 00:14:53,840 --> 00:14:57,640 Speaker 1: not really about learning what's going to happen. You can 273 00:14:57,680 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: probably kind of predict to the plot. It's more about 274 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:02,760 Speaker 1: the experience of the world, the texture of it. But 275 00:15:03,040 --> 00:15:04,960 Speaker 1: we are going to continue to talk about the plot 276 00:15:04,960 --> 00:15:06,760 Speaker 1: of the film today. So if you can't stand to 277 00:15:06,840 --> 00:15:11,080 Speaker 1: have this, uh, this rather straightforward hero's journey kind of 278 00:15:11,120 --> 00:15:14,280 Speaker 1: story spoiled, I guess you should stop here and then 279 00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:18,160 Speaker 1: come back after you've seen it, alright. Well, another native 280 00:15:18,200 --> 00:15:21,080 Speaker 1: species that plays a pretty important role in the film 281 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,120 Speaker 1: are the land striders. And this is this is my 282 00:15:24,480 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 1: this is my son's favorite creature from the movie, and 283 00:15:27,320 --> 00:15:30,640 Speaker 1: he's always drawing these things that These are long legged 284 00:15:31,160 --> 00:15:35,560 Speaker 1: striding herbivores that are sometimes used by gelf links as mounts, 285 00:15:35,600 --> 00:15:37,640 Speaker 1: and they are ferocious fighters when they have to be. 286 00:15:37,680 --> 00:15:39,760 Speaker 1: They're kind of sweet looking, but they can really put 287 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:43,880 Speaker 1: up a fight. They've got like pussycat whiskers of funny 288 00:15:43,880 --> 00:15:47,080 Speaker 1: looking eyes. They're great. Like most of the creatures in 289 00:15:47,120 --> 00:15:51,120 Speaker 1: the Dark Crystal designed by Fraud here, it is kind 290 00:15:51,120 --> 00:15:54,360 Speaker 1: of difficult to put a real firm line on the 291 00:15:54,400 --> 00:15:56,720 Speaker 1: on the hybridity that's going that's taking place. You know, 292 00:15:56,760 --> 00:15:58,560 Speaker 1: it's not just a case where oh, it's a tiger 293 00:15:58,600 --> 00:16:01,600 Speaker 1: with a rabbit's head. Know, it's more like there's a 294 00:16:01,640 --> 00:16:03,720 Speaker 1: sense of a rabbit to it, but also the sense 295 00:16:03,760 --> 00:16:06,960 Speaker 1: of an insect or a moth, and also a giraffe. 296 00:16:07,360 --> 00:16:10,560 Speaker 1: And it's all swirled around in a way that feels 297 00:16:10,800 --> 00:16:14,840 Speaker 1: familiar but also just distinctly alien. But we do see 298 00:16:14,880 --> 00:16:20,080 Speaker 1: some some some key real world animals reflected in it, 299 00:16:20,480 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: most notably probably the giraffe. So the giraffe that are 300 00:16:24,520 --> 00:16:28,320 Speaker 1: real world land striders. They can actually reach top speeds 301 00:16:28,360 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 1: of thirty seven miles per hour, but they can't really 302 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:33,520 Speaker 1: maintain it for long. But their kicks are are no joke, 303 00:16:33,800 --> 00:16:36,200 Speaker 1: just as the kicks of the land Strider are seen 304 00:16:36,520 --> 00:16:41,080 Speaker 1: to be pretty devastating against their their enemies. Um An 305 00:16:41,120 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: adult giraffe can kill a human or a lion if threatened, 306 00:16:45,200 --> 00:16:49,400 Speaker 1: and they've also been pretty effectives slinging their necks, certainly 307 00:16:49,400 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 1: in fights against other giraffes. Well, yeah, long limb gives 308 00:16:52,240 --> 00:16:54,120 Speaker 1: you a lot of leverage. You can you can really 309 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:57,240 Speaker 1: whack with that thing. There's also again a hint of 310 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 1: the rabbit and the land strider anatomy, and I've also 311 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:02,720 Speaker 1: read that out consider jumping spiders and designing them, so 312 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:04,800 Speaker 1: that kind of makes sense. They've got a kind of 313 00:17:05,240 --> 00:17:07,560 Speaker 1: so they've got very long legs below, but then they've 314 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:09,879 Speaker 1: got this hunched upper body that looks almost kind of 315 00:17:09,960 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 1: like the the bunched up tiny body of a salta 316 00:17:12,800 --> 00:17:16,080 Speaker 1: said spider. Yeah, now I was thinking about like animals 317 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,600 Speaker 1: like this. When you consider really long legged animal body forms, 318 00:17:19,720 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: you can think of quite a few reasons for animals 319 00:17:21,640 --> 00:17:23,920 Speaker 1: to have long legs compared to the rest of their body. 320 00:17:24,240 --> 00:17:26,200 Speaker 1: Might be a defensive thing, you know, maybe they want 321 00:17:26,280 --> 00:17:29,080 Speaker 1: like big legs for you know, a lot of leverage 322 00:17:29,080 --> 00:17:30,840 Speaker 1: and kicking. Maybe they want to be able to move 323 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:35,800 Speaker 1: faster across short distances, longer stride longer legs. Of course, 324 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:38,560 Speaker 1: the long legs also come with downsides to fast movement. 325 00:17:39,280 --> 00:17:41,760 Speaker 1: But another thing would be to reach farther or taller. 326 00:17:41,880 --> 00:17:45,679 Speaker 1: Is fairly simple one. But one really interesting example I 327 00:17:45,720 --> 00:17:49,639 Speaker 1: came across of animals with long legged body ratios is 328 00:17:49,680 --> 00:17:52,760 Speaker 1: for a totally different reason. Uh. I want to look 329 00:17:52,760 --> 00:17:56,360 Speaker 1: at the black winged stilt or human optus human optus. 330 00:17:56,800 --> 00:17:58,680 Speaker 1: This is a type of bird that's a very land 331 00:17:58,720 --> 00:18:02,119 Speaker 1: strider to my eye. Uh. It's got these long, narrow 332 00:18:02,400 --> 00:18:05,639 Speaker 1: legs with these kind of knobby joints. Uh. And it 333 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,680 Speaker 1: walks around in the water. Human Optus has found all 334 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:11,240 Speaker 1: over the world, and they walk around in the water 335 00:18:11,359 --> 00:18:16,520 Speaker 1: pecking around for food. According to the British zoologist Mark Carwardine, 336 00:18:16,800 --> 00:18:19,520 Speaker 1: the black wing stilt has the longest leg to body 337 00:18:19,600 --> 00:18:22,560 Speaker 1: ratio of any bird on Earth, with an average body 338 00:18:22,640 --> 00:18:25,680 Speaker 1: length of thirty five to forty cimeters and an average 339 00:18:25,800 --> 00:18:29,520 Speaker 1: leg length of seventeen to twenty four centimeters. Uh. The 340 00:18:29,600 --> 00:18:33,080 Speaker 1: legs are usually about sixty or more of total body length. 341 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:36,200 Speaker 1: I'm looking at a picture of one right now, and 342 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:39,200 Speaker 1: these are some long legs. Yeah, it's it's a bit 343 00:18:39,320 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: ridiculous looking. But the question would be why, I like, 344 00:18:42,920 --> 00:18:45,000 Speaker 1: do they need to reach up into trees? And the 345 00:18:45,040 --> 00:18:48,280 Speaker 1: answer here is interesting. Instead, they're reaching down. The human 346 00:18:48,320 --> 00:18:51,760 Speaker 1: optus bird is a waiting forager like wades around in 347 00:18:51,840 --> 00:18:55,960 Speaker 1: water or mud, pecking down below to catch its prey. 348 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:59,040 Speaker 1: And the long legs allowed the bird to walk around 349 00:18:59,040 --> 00:19:02,080 Speaker 1: in water pecking at prey, keeping their body up above 350 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:04,280 Speaker 1: the water and dry. And I guess if you want 351 00:19:04,280 --> 00:19:07,879 Speaker 1: to do that, longer legs allow you do way deeper. Interesting. 352 00:19:08,200 --> 00:19:10,560 Speaker 1: And you know, in the Dark Crystal, the landstrider does 353 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:14,240 Speaker 1: seem to be more of a like a purely terrestrial animal. 354 00:19:14,320 --> 00:19:16,159 Speaker 1: And and it kind of there are some swamps in 355 00:19:16,200 --> 00:19:18,200 Speaker 1: there are a lot of swamps, So you know, I 356 00:19:18,400 --> 00:19:21,000 Speaker 1: don't know if anybody's ever really drawn a fine line 357 00:19:21,160 --> 00:19:24,240 Speaker 1: on why they have long legs. I always kind of 358 00:19:24,280 --> 00:19:26,200 Speaker 1: imagine that it was more like a draft they needed 359 00:19:26,480 --> 00:19:30,879 Speaker 1: to reach like high pining fruit or flowers or something 360 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: to chew on. But you can easily imagine one trooping 361 00:19:33,520 --> 00:19:35,399 Speaker 1: through the swamp as well. All right, let's take a 362 00:19:35,480 --> 00:19:37,160 Speaker 1: quick break and when we come back, we'll talk about 363 00:19:37,160 --> 00:19:43,920 Speaker 1: the Wise Woman of thraw Agra. Than alright, we're back. Uh, 364 00:19:43,960 --> 00:19:46,720 Speaker 1: So everybody's gotta have a favorite character in the Dark Crystal. 365 00:19:46,920 --> 00:19:49,000 Speaker 1: It's kind of hard for your favorite character not to 366 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:52,400 Speaker 1: be agraa. Auger is pretty great. Like she's she's commanding, 367 00:19:52,440 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 1: she's powerful, she's wise, she grunts a lot. She like 368 00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 1: every there are great scenes where she like sits down 369 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,680 Speaker 1: and releases this powerful grown of discomfort as she does. So. Yeah, 370 00:20:02,880 --> 00:20:05,399 Speaker 1: I have seen the interviews, old interviews where Frank Oz 371 00:20:05,440 --> 00:20:08,280 Speaker 1: describes her as being you know, she's she's so ugly, 372 00:20:08,320 --> 00:20:13,080 Speaker 1: she's beautiful, that she's there's this there's this grotesque, gorgeous 373 00:20:13,160 --> 00:20:17,320 Speaker 1: quality to her. She she can detach her eye and 374 00:20:17,440 --> 00:20:20,400 Speaker 1: hold it in her hand to see around with it. Yeah, 375 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:22,480 Speaker 1: she has uh I belie. She has like sort of 376 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:27,440 Speaker 1: goat curl curl goat horns um coming out of her head. 377 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:30,520 Speaker 1: And she has what looks like a parietal eye where 378 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:33,000 Speaker 1: a third eye would be um, you know, kind of 379 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: like you see in the say lizards and various species. 380 00:20:36,440 --> 00:20:38,359 Speaker 1: So she too, is this kind of thing that seems 381 00:20:38,400 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 1: like a hybrid of all these different forms, though she's 382 00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:44,639 Speaker 1: largely humanoid. Uh We we only learned so much about 383 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,920 Speaker 1: her in the actual film. But there's a wonderful book 384 00:20:48,000 --> 00:20:52,200 Speaker 1: that came out um Bye Brian Froud titled The World 385 00:20:52,280 --> 00:20:55,960 Speaker 1: of the Dark Crystal. It's magical. This is one of 386 00:20:56,040 --> 00:20:59,280 Speaker 1: the best illustrated books ever, and it's so it's um 387 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,840 Speaker 1: It is presented as if it is a like an 388 00:21:03,840 --> 00:21:10,520 Speaker 1: academic translation and gloss on an ancient text that's been discovered, 389 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 1: and that ancient text is the Book of Augura. So 390 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:16,520 Speaker 1: it takes as like a fact as if you know, 391 00:21:16,600 --> 00:21:19,159 Speaker 1: the stuff that happened in the Dark Crystal is like 392 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:24,040 Speaker 1: a mythology from a long ago existing culture, and Augura 393 00:21:24,160 --> 00:21:26,719 Speaker 1: is the author of this mythology. And then it's been 394 00:21:26,760 --> 00:21:29,280 Speaker 1: translated by a by a fictional scholar and I think 395 00:21:29,359 --> 00:21:34,200 Speaker 1: named lue Ellen, right with the various academic asides of uh, 396 00:21:34,320 --> 00:21:37,720 Speaker 1: dismantling what's happening there, But but we learned it's it's 397 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:40,119 Speaker 1: really a wonderful book, not only because it's filled with 398 00:21:40,200 --> 00:21:43,919 Speaker 1: Froud's production art and designs, but it is it's just 399 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:46,679 Speaker 1: so weird too, because it could have just been that, right, 400 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:49,320 Speaker 1: it could have just been Hey, my name is Brian Froud, 401 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:51,159 Speaker 1: and I worked on this movie called The Dark Crystal. 402 00:21:51,200 --> 00:21:54,920 Speaker 1: Here here's some of the pictures. No, it's this, this 403 00:21:54,920 --> 00:21:58,680 Speaker 1: this utterly weird and magical and one of a kind book. 404 00:21:59,800 --> 00:22:01,399 Speaker 1: But but in it Yeah, we hear a lot more 405 00:22:01,400 --> 00:22:03,919 Speaker 1: about Auga where she came from. We get more of 406 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:07,160 Speaker 1: a sense of the backstory on the world of Thraw. 407 00:22:08,040 --> 00:22:11,680 Speaker 1: But we learned that she's something like an earth elemental, 408 00:22:11,720 --> 00:22:14,080 Speaker 1: that she's like a being that rises up out of 409 00:22:14,119 --> 00:22:17,120 Speaker 1: the stones and the roots of the world so that 410 00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 1: the world can have voice in that the world can 411 00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 1: witness what's happening. And uh. And then she loses one 412 00:22:24,320 --> 00:22:27,680 Speaker 1: of her eyes when the Great Conjunction occurs, but we'll 413 00:22:27,680 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: get more into that later on. Yeah. Now, one of 414 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: the cool things about Augres is that she's sort of 415 00:22:32,320 --> 00:22:37,360 Speaker 1: an astronomer astrologer type, right. She she has in her laboratory. 416 00:22:37,440 --> 00:22:39,639 Speaker 1: She has like a big observatory on the top of 417 00:22:39,680 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 1: a mountain, and within it there is an oor y 418 00:22:43,400 --> 00:22:47,119 Speaker 1: and I love a good oorory. So an oory is 419 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,720 Speaker 1: basically a mechanical model of the movement of celestial objects, 420 00:22:50,800 --> 00:22:54,120 Speaker 1: usually of the planets in the Solar System, and these 421 00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:58,040 Speaker 1: have been constructed based on various astronomical models throughout history. 422 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:00,600 Speaker 1: They became very popular in the early modern period to 423 00:23:00,640 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 1: represent the heliocentric model of the Solar System. A standard 424 00:23:04,600 --> 00:23:08,879 Speaker 1: oor y would operate by orbiting physical objects around based 425 00:23:08,960 --> 00:23:13,720 Speaker 1: on a clockwork mechanism timed to simulate a ratio of 426 00:23:13,720 --> 00:23:17,400 Speaker 1: the actual orbital periods. And of course, because the mechanisms 427 00:23:17,440 --> 00:23:21,240 Speaker 1: that generate the movements were approximate, the known oorries are 428 00:23:21,280 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 1: basically all to some degree inaccurate. You might have heard though, 429 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,439 Speaker 1: of like classic examples of these things that are very 430 00:23:28,480 --> 00:23:32,040 Speaker 1: ahead of their time, like the ancient Greek astronomical computer 431 00:23:32,600 --> 00:23:35,680 Speaker 1: from the second century b CE known as the Antikithera 432 00:23:35,760 --> 00:23:39,159 Speaker 1: mechanism h This was discovered in a shipwreck around the 433 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,600 Speaker 1: turn of the twentieth century, but it was a couple 434 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:45,600 Speaker 1: of thousand years old, and it's essentially an analog computer 435 00:23:45,800 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 1: that computed the future positions of celestial objects by way 436 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:54,680 Speaker 1: of differently sized gears that would spend at different rates 437 00:23:54,680 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: and show you where the objects would be at different 438 00:23:57,359 --> 00:23:59,600 Speaker 1: points in the future. And this kind of thing showed 439 00:23:59,640 --> 00:24:01,600 Speaker 1: up again in the early modern period, where you'd have 440 00:24:01,680 --> 00:24:04,679 Speaker 1: these oories that were generally clockwork. You'd you know, have 441 00:24:04,840 --> 00:24:07,720 Speaker 1: like a somebody would work out all the details of 442 00:24:07,760 --> 00:24:10,359 Speaker 1: how to put it together, and you'd have a clockwork 443 00:24:10,440 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: solar system spinning around. Now we have highly accurate digital 444 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:17,200 Speaker 1: or oories based on software so I guess that's actually 445 00:24:17,240 --> 00:24:19,760 Speaker 1: a little bit less fun even if it's more accurate. 446 00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: But one interesting thing when constructing an accurate or ory 447 00:24:23,800 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: is that Augrea faces a problem. We don't. We have 448 00:24:27,359 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: a solar system that is, by comparison, very easy to 449 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: predict the future positions of Augra's solar system has three 450 00:24:35,119 --> 00:24:38,479 Speaker 1: sons and will return to this later. That's right. It's 451 00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:42,160 Speaker 1: key to the plot because when these three sons aligne 452 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 1: it creates the great conjunction, which has tremendous, uh mystical 453 00:24:48,359 --> 00:24:51,479 Speaker 1: properties in this film. You know, I've never wondered this before, 454 00:24:51,640 --> 00:24:55,680 Speaker 1: but is Pitch Black sort of a takeoff on the 455 00:24:55,760 --> 00:24:59,959 Speaker 1: Dark Crystal? Is there a great conjunction? So long as 456 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:02,080 Speaker 1: as I've seen it, it's on this hot planet where 457 00:25:02,080 --> 00:25:04,520 Speaker 1: the suns are always shining, but there's there's like a 458 00:25:04,640 --> 00:25:09,679 Speaker 1: predicted a prophet side conjunction when like all the suns 459 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:12,439 Speaker 1: will suddenly be hidden. This almost never happens because there 460 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,280 Speaker 1: are multiple suns and then the planet will go dark 461 00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,080 Speaker 1: and then all the monsters can come out because they 462 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:19,640 Speaker 1: can't they can't tolerate the sunlight. That's right, that's right. 463 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,880 Speaker 1: I thought you were up on your Riddick movies. I'm 464 00:25:22,880 --> 00:25:25,480 Speaker 1: more of a Chronicles of Riddic guy. I've seen that 465 00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 1: one like a couple of times. I've only seen the 466 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,600 Speaker 1: original one. I only watched Pitch Black because you've told 467 00:25:30,640 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: me to. Did you move on to Chronicles a Riddic 468 00:25:32,920 --> 00:25:34,760 Speaker 1: to I haven't yet. Oh, that's the only reason to 469 00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,600 Speaker 1: watch Chronicle, the only reason to watch a Pitch Black. 470 00:25:37,720 --> 00:25:40,080 Speaker 1: So you can watch Chronicles of Reddit. Pitch Black was 471 00:25:40,160 --> 00:25:42,439 Speaker 1: kind of trash, but I sort of liked it. No, 472 00:25:42,600 --> 00:25:44,960 Speaker 1: it's it has cool monsters in it, and uh, it 473 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:48,119 Speaker 1: has some some I don't want to trash it because 474 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: it does have again, really cool monsters, and I think 475 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:55,280 Speaker 1: it it did some stuff really well. But then Chronicles 476 00:25:55,320 --> 00:25:57,880 Speaker 1: of Riddic came along and it's just even more over 477 00:25:57,920 --> 00:26:01,120 Speaker 1: the top. It's like more of like a flash Gordon. Okay, 478 00:26:01,160 --> 00:26:04,160 Speaker 1: well i'll see it. I'll see it this time. Okay, 479 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: all right, But back to the dark crystals. So one 480 00:26:07,040 --> 00:26:08,840 Speaker 1: of the things that we're just talking about the mystical 481 00:26:08,920 --> 00:26:11,840 Speaker 1: nature of the of the great conjunction in this world. 482 00:26:12,160 --> 00:26:16,399 Speaker 1: So this is how we end up getting the Earth X. Okay, 483 00:26:16,520 --> 00:26:19,879 Speaker 1: now the Earth X are being that we don't encounter 484 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:22,240 Speaker 1: in the film to the very end, but then there's 485 00:26:22,240 --> 00:26:24,680 Speaker 1: a lot more information about what they were and where 486 00:26:24,720 --> 00:26:26,719 Speaker 1: they came from. In the World of the Dark Crystal 487 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:28,680 Speaker 1: the book, they look kind of a bit like a 488 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:33,959 Speaker 1: creepy pagan ghosts with like like wicker crowns, or they 489 00:26:34,000 --> 00:26:37,200 Speaker 1: look kind of like when you see the images of 490 00:26:37,240 --> 00:26:40,399 Speaker 1: the Nine Kings in the Lord of the Rings movies, 491 00:26:40,440 --> 00:26:43,000 Speaker 1: like as ghosts in the Shadow Realm that you can 492 00:26:43,000 --> 00:26:45,080 Speaker 1: only see when you put the ring on there there 493 00:26:45,160 --> 00:26:47,320 Speaker 1: like that. Yeah, like all the things and all the 494 00:26:47,320 --> 00:26:50,520 Speaker 1: other things in the film, there's this wonderful synthesis right 495 00:26:50,600 --> 00:26:53,480 Speaker 1: of all these these things coming together so that it 496 00:26:53,600 --> 00:26:56,600 Speaker 1: feels familiar and yet alien at the same time. So 497 00:26:56,640 --> 00:26:58,640 Speaker 1: it does feel like an extra restaurant, are like an 498 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 1: angel or or some sort of pagan spirit being, but 499 00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,440 Speaker 1: it is also unique. And so we learned that these 500 00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:09,280 Speaker 1: are the Earth Skex, or more specifically the fallen Earth Skex, 501 00:27:09,720 --> 00:27:12,480 Speaker 1: who came to the planet to Thraw to exploit the 502 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,639 Speaker 1: properties of the Great Crystal there and um In the 503 00:27:16,640 --> 00:27:18,560 Speaker 1: World of the Dark Crystal was written that they arrived 504 00:27:18,600 --> 00:27:21,520 Speaker 1: during a past great conjunction, and the Great Conjunctions occur 505 00:27:21,960 --> 00:27:25,399 Speaker 1: every one thousand trine, which we assume is something like 506 00:27:25,440 --> 00:27:28,720 Speaker 1: a year, so about thousand trines a thousand years roughly. 507 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,040 Speaker 1: But when the Great Conjunction occurred, it allowed for them 508 00:27:32,080 --> 00:27:34,240 Speaker 1: to open a door through the crystal, some sort of 509 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:36,520 Speaker 1: a star gate, kind of like in two thousand one 510 00:27:36,840 --> 00:27:40,399 Speaker 1: Space Odyssey. I assume their home world had a crystal 511 00:27:40,440 --> 00:27:42,800 Speaker 1: as well, but it was unsuitable for the work that 512 00:27:42,840 --> 00:27:45,399 Speaker 1: they wished to pursue, and so, against the advice of 513 00:27:45,440 --> 00:27:47,920 Speaker 1: their fellow earth Skets, they traveled to the world of 514 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:50,919 Speaker 1: Thraw and they set up their operations there where the 515 00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:54,479 Speaker 1: crystal serves as kind of a meta crystal. And so 516 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:57,080 Speaker 1: you had eighteen earth Skets and they constructed this great 517 00:27:57,160 --> 00:28:00,920 Speaker 1: castle around the crystal and Thraw and it began manipulating 518 00:28:00,920 --> 00:28:05,280 Speaker 1: its power. So there are users of high technology and uh, 519 00:28:05,280 --> 00:28:08,640 Speaker 1: and they're you know, seemingly um at least benign, if 520 00:28:08,680 --> 00:28:12,280 Speaker 1: not benevolent species. They seem to get along well with 521 00:28:12,760 --> 00:28:16,000 Speaker 1: the existing species. They form a relationship with the gelf Lins, 522 00:28:16,000 --> 00:28:19,000 Speaker 1: They form a relationship with Agah. In fact, they teach 523 00:28:19,040 --> 00:28:23,320 Speaker 1: agraa a bit about technology and the and their use 524 00:28:23,359 --> 00:28:28,320 Speaker 1: of crystals. But despite being these splendid, angelic beings, full 525 00:28:28,359 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 1: of brilliance and possibility. They also recognized that that inside 526 00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:35,639 Speaker 1: themselves there was this duality, there was this disharmony in 527 00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:38,520 Speaker 1: their souls of darkness and light. And so what they 528 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:41,000 Speaker 1: decided to do, what they set out to do with 529 00:28:41,040 --> 00:28:45,720 Speaker 1: the crystal, was to purify themselves, to expunge their darker natures. 530 00:28:46,280 --> 00:28:49,400 Speaker 1: And as they tried this, during a great conjunction uh, 531 00:28:49,440 --> 00:28:53,760 Speaker 1: they managed to sever themselves. They divided themselves into two beings, 532 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:58,320 Speaker 1: and then subsequently the crystal was cracked. So that's where 533 00:28:58,360 --> 00:29:01,240 Speaker 1: you are in the movie. Were actually the movie is 534 00:29:01,280 --> 00:29:03,600 Speaker 1: like a thousand trying or a thousand years after this, 535 00:29:03,920 --> 00:29:07,560 Speaker 1: right when you have these two beings are now completely separate, right, 536 00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:10,080 Speaker 1: and you have the the Uru also known as the 537 00:29:10,120 --> 00:29:13,360 Speaker 1: Mystics in the movie. Who are these very very sweet, 538 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 1: gentle you know, gentle dinosaur, gentle friendly Brontosaurus UH type creatures. 539 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:20,560 Speaker 1: I don't want to knock him. I mean, the mystics 540 00:29:20,560 --> 00:29:23,160 Speaker 1: are great, but oh yeah, they're wonderful. They're there's certainly 541 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:25,959 Speaker 1: a dinosaur sense to them. There's kind of a Galapagos 542 00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:29,920 Speaker 1: turtle sense to them, a slow calmness. They also have 543 00:29:29,960 --> 00:29:32,640 Speaker 1: a sense I think of there's like an equine quality 544 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:36,719 Speaker 1: to their heads, so you get this this herbivore vibe 545 00:29:36,720 --> 00:29:39,120 Speaker 1: to them as well. But they are, yeah, they're very 546 00:29:39,200 --> 00:29:43,200 Speaker 1: zen like. They're they're they're they're they're drawn to prophecies 547 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 1: and spirals and uh and they're connected with the natural world. 548 00:29:47,480 --> 00:29:49,560 Speaker 1: And these are the ones that raise the hero of 549 00:29:49,640 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 1: the film, the young Gelfling gen right now, but then 550 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:55,280 Speaker 1: you've also got the villains of the movie, the bad 551 00:29:55,360 --> 00:29:57,959 Speaker 1: halves of of what the r skeex and these are 552 00:29:58,000 --> 00:30:03,120 Speaker 1: the skex Eas or the Skexis. So these are vile, ruthless, greedy, 553 00:30:03,600 --> 00:30:07,000 Speaker 1: also six limbed creatures. We often uh, it's easy to 554 00:30:07,240 --> 00:30:09,800 Speaker 1: not pick up on this, but we see later that 555 00:30:09,840 --> 00:30:12,480 Speaker 1: they do have an extra pair of arms that have atrophied. 556 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:18,560 Speaker 1: But anyway, they are they're completely awful. They squander and 557 00:30:18,600 --> 00:30:20,840 Speaker 1: pervert the science of the Earth's CAx for their own 558 00:30:20,840 --> 00:30:24,880 Speaker 1: personal gain their technologists, but they're also exploiters, so uh, 559 00:30:24,920 --> 00:30:27,400 Speaker 1: you know, they end up working with the Gelflings for 560 00:30:27,480 --> 00:30:30,640 Speaker 1: a while, but then eventually they're uh, they're they're they're 561 00:30:30,720 --> 00:30:33,720 Speaker 1: capturing the Gelflings, they're enslaving the gelf Wings they enslaved 562 00:30:33,720 --> 00:30:36,880 Speaker 1: the pod people. Uh so they're just nasty to the core. 563 00:30:37,160 --> 00:30:39,600 Speaker 1: They all they hate everything, they hate each other, they 564 00:30:39,640 --> 00:30:44,400 Speaker 1: hate themselves and uh, I guess in appearance they mostly 565 00:30:44,480 --> 00:30:50,080 Speaker 1: resemble humanoid birds, especially raptors, and also crocodilians. One of 566 00:30:50,120 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: the things we read preparing for this was in a 567 00:30:51,920 --> 00:30:54,560 Speaker 1: book You Let Me Robert called uh well, not the 568 00:30:54,560 --> 00:30:57,320 Speaker 1: book was called, but the essay and it was by 569 00:30:57,520 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 1: Katriona Makara called a Natural Ural History of the Dark 570 00:31:01,000 --> 00:31:04,120 Speaker 1: Crystal the conceptual design of Brian Froud. And in this 571 00:31:04,240 --> 00:31:06,920 Speaker 1: essay it's mentioned that the Skexies, in addition to being 572 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:11,920 Speaker 1: inspired by reptilian features and predatory bird features and classic 573 00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: attributes of the dragon, they may also be based in 574 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:19,560 Speaker 1: part on angler fish. Interesting, but clearly the predatory bird 575 00:31:19,640 --> 00:31:24,000 Speaker 1: like the vulture aspect and the crocodile aspect are there. 576 00:31:24,120 --> 00:31:28,480 Speaker 1: And Hinson was reportedly inspired in dreaming up the world 577 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:30,400 Speaker 1: of the Dark Crystal. When he was first thinking about 578 00:31:30,400 --> 00:31:32,920 Speaker 1: the idea of the Skexies, he was inspired by an 579 00:31:33,000 --> 00:31:35,400 Speaker 1: illustration he saw in the nineteen seventies thing it was 580 00:31:35,440 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy five of crocodiles like being posh in 581 00:31:39,640 --> 00:31:44,280 Speaker 1: a fancy Victorian washroom. And this illustration was by a 582 00:31:44,720 --> 00:31:48,360 Speaker 1: an artist named Leonard Lubin, and it was accompanying a 583 00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,640 Speaker 1: some printings of Lewis Carroll poem. But in this illustration 584 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:54,520 Speaker 1: I found a copy of it. And it's like one 585 00:31:54,560 --> 00:31:57,920 Speaker 1: crocodile is in a fancy bathtub with its tail sticking 586 00:31:57,920 --> 00:32:00,840 Speaker 1: out with a rubber ducky, and another one is like 587 00:32:01,160 --> 00:32:06,760 Speaker 1: being toweled off in a graceful way. Yeah, it's uh, 588 00:32:07,400 --> 00:32:10,360 Speaker 1: you know again, it probably doesn't. It's not, you know, 589 00:32:10,480 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: super helpful exercise to apply too much of the natural 590 00:32:13,160 --> 00:32:16,400 Speaker 1: world to the skexies, especially since they're not even presented 591 00:32:16,440 --> 00:32:19,840 Speaker 1: as a naturally evolved species. They're born out of a 592 00:32:19,920 --> 00:32:24,000 Speaker 1: mystical division. And yet if you try to if when 593 00:32:24,040 --> 00:32:26,320 Speaker 1: you try to imagine, like, what would a culture be 594 00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:30,920 Speaker 1: like if it was if it consisted of more solitary 595 00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:35,080 Speaker 1: creatures there are more, you know, and they're they're more 596 00:32:35,080 --> 00:32:38,840 Speaker 1: competitive and less cooperative. What might that be like? Uh, 597 00:32:38,880 --> 00:32:41,000 Speaker 1: you know, it's interesting to wonder to what extent the 598 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:44,400 Speaker 1: skexies are a realization of that. Yeah, I mean, you 599 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:48,440 Speaker 1: can see some kind of social ish looking behaviors in 600 00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:51,840 Speaker 1: in some birds and reptiles. But if I was thinking 601 00:32:51,840 --> 00:32:55,280 Speaker 1: about a more selfish kind of creature, a less social 602 00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:58,280 Speaker 1: kind of creature, yeah, I wouldn't think like mammalian features. 603 00:32:59,600 --> 00:33:02,080 Speaker 1: But again with it with the mystics and the Skexies, 604 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,600 Speaker 1: they both represent a one side of the same being, 605 00:33:06,040 --> 00:33:09,240 Speaker 1: and ultimately they're supposed to represent, uh, you know, two 606 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: sides of human nature, the idea of being that the 607 00:33:11,960 --> 00:33:15,960 Speaker 1: skex represent balance, uh, the uru are you know, it's 608 00:33:16,200 --> 00:33:19,000 Speaker 1: the the noble human, the human that is a you know, 609 00:33:19,040 --> 00:33:22,760 Speaker 1: at one with his natural environment and peaceful, whereas the 610 00:33:22,800 --> 00:33:27,600 Speaker 1: Skexies are awful and exploitative and petty. The disgustingness of 611 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:31,320 Speaker 1: the Skexies absolutely comes through in the design of the puppets, 612 00:33:31,480 --> 00:33:34,120 Speaker 1: and it actually even came through for the people working 613 00:33:34,120 --> 00:33:37,680 Speaker 1: with them, because Makara points out in in her essay 614 00:33:37,720 --> 00:33:41,440 Speaker 1: that the costumes and the puppets of the Skexies became 615 00:33:41,520 --> 00:33:44,920 Speaker 1: more and more genuinely disgusting as work for the film 616 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:48,240 Speaker 1: went on, like as production went went over time. She 617 00:33:48,400 --> 00:33:51,800 Speaker 1: quotes one person who worked on the production who said 618 00:33:51,840 --> 00:33:55,280 Speaker 1: that the uh, the Skexies puppets came more and more 619 00:33:55,320 --> 00:33:59,480 Speaker 1: to consist of quote, rotten rubber permeated with cold k 620 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:04,920 Speaker 1: y jelly and putrefying noodles. Yeah, it's it's something that's 621 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,359 Speaker 1: easy to to to, uh to to overlook in when 622 00:34:08,360 --> 00:34:11,359 Speaker 1: you consider the costumes like this and puppets like this, 623 00:34:11,440 --> 00:34:13,760 Speaker 1: is that they were never they weren't built to last. 624 00:34:14,280 --> 00:34:17,040 Speaker 1: And that's why when you go somewhere like Atlanta's own 625 00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:21,560 Speaker 1: Center for Puppetry Arts and you see the the examples 626 00:34:21,760 --> 00:34:27,240 Speaker 1: of Skexias and uh and Uru and various other creatures 627 00:34:27,280 --> 00:34:30,040 Speaker 1: from the film that that are presented there and on display, 628 00:34:30,400 --> 00:34:35,000 Speaker 1: like everything had to be restored before it was suitable 629 00:34:35,080 --> 00:34:38,880 Speaker 1: for a public display. Again. And by the way, uh, 630 00:34:39,120 --> 00:34:41,359 Speaker 1: if you haven't been to the Center for Puppetry Arts 631 00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,320 Speaker 1: in Atlanta, I highly recommend it to anyone visiting our city. 632 00:34:44,360 --> 00:34:46,600 Speaker 1: Here you can find out more about it at puppet 633 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:51,560 Speaker 1: dot org. And through September one, two thousand and nineteen, Uh, 634 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:55,000 Speaker 1: Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal World of Myth and Magic 635 00:34:55,400 --> 00:34:59,160 Speaker 1: is going on. It is a fabulous presentation of the 636 00:34:59,239 --> 00:35:02,640 Speaker 1: various prop some designs that you see in the film. Yeah, 637 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:04,680 Speaker 1: they have like some full puppets from the movie. They've 638 00:35:04,680 --> 00:35:06,759 Speaker 1: got an Augura when I was there, at least they 639 00:35:06,800 --> 00:35:09,560 Speaker 1: had Augura. They had one of the Skexies, they had 640 00:35:09,600 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 1: one of the Mystics. They have a bunch of other 641 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:15,040 Speaker 1: stuff land Strider puppets, and it was wonderful. Yeah, and 642 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:17,839 Speaker 1: even if you don't make it by September one, they 643 00:35:17,840 --> 00:35:19,680 Speaker 1: have a lot of dark crystal stuff in the permanent 644 00:35:19,760 --> 00:35:22,920 Speaker 1: Hintson exhibit as well. Oh. In fact, one of the 645 00:35:23,000 --> 00:35:26,320 Speaker 1: things they have I believe in the permanent exhibit is Robert, 646 00:35:26,840 --> 00:35:30,960 Speaker 1: do you hear a scuttling That scuttling sound, it's the 647 00:35:31,040 --> 00:35:38,600 Speaker 1: garth Yes, So the Gartham are podcasters killed by Gartham. 648 00:35:38,640 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 1: I hadn't thought about that. We're kind of we're kind 649 00:35:40,160 --> 00:35:43,839 Speaker 1: of pod people, aren't we um in some sense? So, yes, 650 00:35:43,840 --> 00:35:49,360 Speaker 1: the Gartham are those fabulous scuttling, giant crab like monstrosities 651 00:35:49,920 --> 00:35:54,239 Speaker 1: and uh and they're essentially an engineered weapons species of 652 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:58,800 Speaker 1: the Skexias. The Skexies are you know, decrepit, cowardly, nasty creatures. 653 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:00,640 Speaker 1: They don't fight their own battle. They're not going to 654 00:36:00,719 --> 00:36:02,760 Speaker 1: fight their own battles there. They need to make something 655 00:36:02,800 --> 00:36:05,120 Speaker 1: to go out there and wage their wars against the 656 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:08,600 Speaker 1: gelflings and the pod people and too and and so forth, 657 00:36:08,840 --> 00:36:12,359 Speaker 1: and so they make these things. Um, yeah, they're they're 658 00:36:12,400 --> 00:36:16,360 Speaker 1: massive guardians and soldiers and there they look like a 659 00:36:16,480 --> 00:36:20,520 Speaker 1: mixture of beetle and crab anatomies, though closer inspection reveals 660 00:36:20,840 --> 00:36:23,720 Speaker 1: than to be kind of like bipeds with supporting tentacle 661 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,279 Speaker 1: like appendages. Uh. And part of that is kind of 662 00:36:26,280 --> 00:36:28,399 Speaker 1: like the illusion of the puppetry. But the thing about 663 00:36:28,400 --> 00:36:30,920 Speaker 1: the puppetry in the Dark Crystal is like, even when 664 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:33,640 Speaker 1: you see how something works with the facade, is still 665 00:36:33,680 --> 00:36:38,400 Speaker 1: so perfect. Um. One arm at the garthen terminates in 666 00:36:38,440 --> 00:36:41,080 Speaker 1: a vicious crab pincher, and the other has like a 667 00:36:41,160 --> 00:36:44,680 Speaker 1: fingered claw for snatching up prisoners. Yeah. So in his 668 00:36:44,840 --> 00:36:47,319 Speaker 1: introduction to the world of the Dark Crystal, I thought 669 00:36:47,320 --> 00:36:50,640 Speaker 1: this was so funny and so interesting. Brian Froud was 670 00:36:50,680 --> 00:36:53,560 Speaker 1: talking about the process of coming up with the concepts 671 00:36:53,560 --> 00:36:56,440 Speaker 1: and the designs for the movie, and Froud mentions that 672 00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:00,960 Speaker 1: he often drew inspiration before the movie from walking in 673 00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:03,160 Speaker 1: nature when he designed creatures. You know, he would do 674 00:37:03,239 --> 00:37:05,279 Speaker 1: illustrations and he'd go out and walk in nature and 675 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,480 Speaker 1: look at trees and rocks and animals. But he was 676 00:37:08,560 --> 00:37:11,560 Speaker 1: working on the Dark Crystal in New York City and 677 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:15,000 Speaker 1: didn't have much access to unspoiled countryside to go look 678 00:37:15,040 --> 00:37:17,560 Speaker 1: at trees and rocks and animals. So he said, you know, 679 00:37:17,640 --> 00:37:19,279 Speaker 1: maybe you could sort of go to Central Park, but 680 00:37:19,320 --> 00:37:22,279 Speaker 1: it wasn't quite the same, so instead, he said he 681 00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:25,040 Speaker 1: would end up taking inspiration from wherever he could find it, 682 00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:28,360 Speaker 1: including by the natural forms he found in his food. 683 00:37:28,800 --> 00:37:31,400 Speaker 1: So he said he he and others went out to 684 00:37:31,840 --> 00:37:35,120 Speaker 1: a dinner where they ate lobster, and then Froud was 685 00:37:35,160 --> 00:37:38,160 Speaker 1: inspired to take all the lobster shells home with them 686 00:37:38,680 --> 00:37:41,960 Speaker 1: and this became partial inspiration for the shells and the 687 00:37:41,960 --> 00:37:45,759 Speaker 1: exoskeleton of the Gartham and also for the carapace of 688 00:37:45,760 --> 00:37:48,840 Speaker 1: the Skexies. Oh yeah, they have these elaborate costumes that 689 00:37:48,920 --> 00:37:52,200 Speaker 1: make them look grander than they actually are. Yeah, but 690 00:37:52,239 --> 00:37:53,880 Speaker 1: you can kind of see it there, like in the 691 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:55,759 Speaker 1: in the carapace of the Skexias, you can kind of 692 00:37:55,760 --> 00:37:59,759 Speaker 1: see like a a plated, overlapping, plated lobster tail kind 693 00:37:59,760 --> 00:38:02,719 Speaker 1: of thing, except it's really craggy and nasty, and you 694 00:38:02,719 --> 00:38:06,080 Speaker 1: can definitely see the lobster shells as they came through 695 00:38:06,120 --> 00:38:09,919 Speaker 1: in the Gartham. Yeah. Um, so, you know, a couple 696 00:38:09,960 --> 00:38:13,080 Speaker 1: of things to sort of take apart with the Gartham here. 697 00:38:13,760 --> 00:38:15,560 Speaker 1: I believe it's mentioned in the World of the Dark 698 00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,279 Speaker 1: Crystal that they're they're sort of a symbol out of 699 00:38:18,320 --> 00:38:21,680 Speaker 1: the memory of ancient sea creatures, which is something we'll 700 00:38:21,680 --> 00:38:26,080 Speaker 1: get back to in a minute. Uh. And then um mccara, 701 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:29,520 Speaker 1: who again wrote a natural history of the Dark Crystal 702 00:38:29,560 --> 00:38:33,680 Speaker 1: conceptual design of Brian Froud. Uh. She speculates the Gartham 703 00:38:33,719 --> 00:38:36,440 Speaker 1: may actually exist as the thought projection of the Skexies 704 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:40,600 Speaker 1: because like, yeah, because when they're when when the Skexies 705 00:38:40,640 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: power is broken, the Gartham kind of vanish, or at 706 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:49,040 Speaker 1: least they their internal um biology vanishes and the shell 707 00:38:49,120 --> 00:38:54,120 Speaker 1: plating just falls like empty armor. But you know, I 708 00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:56,880 Speaker 1: was looking looking reading a little bit about just like 709 00:38:56,960 --> 00:39:01,840 Speaker 1: shells and claws and weaponry, and I came back to 710 00:39:02,040 --> 00:39:05,840 Speaker 1: an excellent book by Douglas j Eland titled Animal Weapons 711 00:39:05,880 --> 00:39:09,919 Speaker 1: The Evolution of the Battle. And one of the key 712 00:39:09,960 --> 00:39:12,799 Speaker 1: things in this is that he's, you know, he's comparing uh, 713 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:17,520 Speaker 1: the evolution of various biological weapons to actual you know, 714 00:39:17,600 --> 00:39:21,520 Speaker 1: man made weapons and and and tools of war. And 715 00:39:21,680 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: humans create, and he points out that, you know, muscles 716 00:39:24,680 --> 00:39:27,600 Speaker 1: are expensive to maintain even when they're resting, and males 717 00:39:27,600 --> 00:39:31,359 Speaker 1: with big claws require the most muscle. And of course 718 00:39:31,400 --> 00:39:33,640 Speaker 1: he's just talking about natural world fiddler crabs here. But 719 00:39:33,680 --> 00:39:35,440 Speaker 1: when we look at something like the Garthen, like that's 720 00:39:35,440 --> 00:39:39,400 Speaker 1: an enormous creature, you know, it would have to if 721 00:39:39,480 --> 00:39:42,239 Speaker 1: we're depending on an actual diet and it wasn't just 722 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:45,600 Speaker 1: sustained through like vile Skexies thoughts or some sort of 723 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:48,759 Speaker 1: mystical crystal powers, it would have to eat a lot. 724 00:39:48,800 --> 00:39:51,080 Speaker 1: It would be expensive to maintain. Now, you do see 725 00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:54,759 Speaker 1: the Skexies feasting in the movie quite disgustingly. There's a 726 00:39:54,760 --> 00:39:57,040 Speaker 1: great feasting scene where they've got stuff hanging out of 727 00:39:57,040 --> 00:40:00,799 Speaker 1: their mouths. Yeah, I don't recall ever seeing the Garthen eat. Yeah, 728 00:40:00,840 --> 00:40:03,520 Speaker 1: but and the and and maybe they don't. You know, 729 00:40:03,600 --> 00:40:06,359 Speaker 1: it's hard to be hard to be sure. But one 730 00:40:06,360 --> 00:40:07,920 Speaker 1: thing you can think of, it's like, okay, if they 731 00:40:07,920 --> 00:40:11,560 Speaker 1: are expensive to maintain, uh, just you know, through crystal 732 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:14,239 Speaker 1: power or feeding them a bunch of meat, garbage or 733 00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:17,560 Speaker 1: whatever the Skexies are doing, you could easily compare that 734 00:40:17,960 --> 00:40:21,600 Speaker 1: to the sort of weapons programs that humans have, so 735 00:40:21,800 --> 00:40:23,399 Speaker 1: uh and this is you know, one of the key 736 00:40:23,440 --> 00:40:26,480 Speaker 1: things that UH that he gets the author gets into 737 00:40:26,560 --> 00:40:29,440 Speaker 1: and animal weapons that England discusses. For instance, you could 738 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:32,640 Speaker 1: compare the garthen to UH the U. S Air Force 739 00:40:32,680 --> 00:40:35,759 Speaker 1: B two stealth bomber built at a reported cost of 740 00:40:35,760 --> 00:40:38,920 Speaker 1: two point one billion per plane and requiring fifty to 741 00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:42,000 Speaker 1: sixty hours of ground maintenance for every one hour in 742 00:40:42,040 --> 00:40:45,000 Speaker 1: the air and uh, and that's not even taking into 743 00:40:45,000 --> 00:40:50,439 Speaker 1: account of grade efforts. So contractors Northrop Grumman current UH 744 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:53,799 Speaker 1: at least previously held a nine point nine billion dollar 745 00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,960 Speaker 1: contract to complete maintenance and modernization of the twenty plane 746 00:40:58,000 --> 00:41:00,399 Speaker 1: feet fleet. That was from a few year is back. 747 00:41:00,560 --> 00:41:01,840 Speaker 1: But it just gives you an idea of just like 748 00:41:01,840 --> 00:41:05,279 Speaker 1: the colossal cost of not only creating some sort of 749 00:41:05,320 --> 00:41:08,200 Speaker 1: a weapon but also maintaining it. And that would be 750 00:41:08,239 --> 00:41:11,040 Speaker 1: part of having an army of Gartham as well. But 751 00:41:11,160 --> 00:41:14,719 Speaker 1: clearly it's a price that the Skexies were willing to pay, 752 00:41:14,800 --> 00:41:16,919 Speaker 1: and UH, you know, it almost works for them. They're 753 00:41:16,960 --> 00:41:19,400 Speaker 1: able to use the Gartham to uh, you know, wage 754 00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,959 Speaker 1: this war of extinction against the guelf links and rid 755 00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:26,080 Speaker 1: the world of all, but at least two of them. 756 00:41:26,200 --> 00:41:29,200 Speaker 1: Now is the reason they do that, because there is 757 00:41:29,200 --> 00:41:32,600 Speaker 1: a prophecy that the Skexies will be undone by guelfling 758 00:41:32,719 --> 00:41:35,680 Speaker 1: hand or else by none. Exactly. That's their whole reason. 759 00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:39,279 Speaker 1: And this is a great you know, mythic storytelling trope. Right, 760 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:41,960 Speaker 1: there's this prophecy, and therefore they're going to act on 761 00:41:41,960 --> 00:41:45,360 Speaker 1: this prophecy and try and rid the world of those 762 00:41:45,400 --> 00:41:48,760 Speaker 1: that will undo them. But then perhaps it's a self 763 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,600 Speaker 1: fulfilling prophecy, like they have, they have set things in 764 00:41:51,719 --> 00:41:54,520 Speaker 1: motion for their own downfall. Well, it's also a great 765 00:41:54,520 --> 00:41:59,560 Speaker 1: example of the destructive power of an unquestioned religious dogma. Exactly. 766 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:02,239 Speaker 1: All right, let's take one more break, and when we 767 00:42:02,320 --> 00:42:04,760 Speaker 1: come back, we're gonna talk a little bit more about 768 00:42:04,800 --> 00:42:08,920 Speaker 1: Gartham and crystal organisms. Before we were, we return to 769 00:42:09,040 --> 00:42:14,880 Speaker 1: the problem of a world with three sons. Thank alright, 770 00:42:14,920 --> 00:42:17,840 Speaker 1: we're back. So the dark crystal, as we mentioned a 771 00:42:17,840 --> 00:42:20,440 Speaker 1: minute ago, has a couple of organisms that seem to 772 00:42:20,480 --> 00:42:24,920 Speaker 1: have at least partially crystalloid biology. At least they have 773 00:42:25,040 --> 00:42:28,760 Speaker 1: crystals for eyes, or use crystals to see. It's mentioned 774 00:42:28,800 --> 00:42:31,359 Speaker 1: in a couple of sources that the Gartham have crystals 775 00:42:31,360 --> 00:42:33,239 Speaker 1: for eyes, and you can see this in some up 776 00:42:33,239 --> 00:42:35,840 Speaker 1: close representations of them. It seems that their eyes have 777 00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:39,840 Speaker 1: sort of uh uh you know, polygon type surfaces on 778 00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:42,440 Speaker 1: them that they might be be actual, I don't know, 779 00:42:42,520 --> 00:42:45,120 Speaker 1: pieces of dark crystal or something like that in there. 780 00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:47,799 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, like we're it's explained, especially in the world 781 00:42:47,800 --> 00:42:49,799 Speaker 1: of the Dark Crystal, that the Skexies, you know, they're 782 00:42:49,800 --> 00:42:53,799 Speaker 1: not only continuing to experiment with the dark Crystal itself, uh, 783 00:42:53,840 --> 00:42:57,520 Speaker 1: the the the imperfect Great Crystal, but they're also creating 784 00:42:57,520 --> 00:43:00,520 Speaker 1: like their own knockoff crystals and doing the things with 785 00:43:00,600 --> 00:43:05,719 Speaker 1: crystals and those so seemingly also incorporating them into their weapons. Species. 786 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,640 Speaker 1: They're doing all kinds of nasty crystal technology, and some 787 00:43:08,719 --> 00:43:12,000 Speaker 1: of this is nasty crystal biotechnology, so the Garthen of 788 00:43:12,239 --> 00:43:15,200 Speaker 1: crystals fries. And they're also these spy beasts in the 789 00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:19,160 Speaker 1: movie called the crystal Bats who fly around doing aerial 790 00:43:19,280 --> 00:43:23,200 Speaker 1: surveillance and looking with their crystals that appears to be 791 00:43:23,280 --> 00:43:26,880 Speaker 1: their video recorder lens or their eyes. Now, obviously this 792 00:43:26,920 --> 00:43:29,319 Speaker 1: seems far fetched. She wouldn't expect, well, maybe there are 793 00:43:29,360 --> 00:43:33,160 Speaker 1: actually organisms that have crystals for eyes. But as we 794 00:43:33,280 --> 00:43:37,040 Speaker 1: discover pretty much every time, reality is weirder than fiction. 795 00:43:37,760 --> 00:43:41,839 Speaker 1: There are creatures on this very world with minerals and 796 00:43:41,920 --> 00:43:44,480 Speaker 1: crystals for eyes. And I had to talk about this 797 00:43:44,520 --> 00:43:46,520 Speaker 1: for a few minutes. Yeah, this floored me that you 798 00:43:46,560 --> 00:43:48,800 Speaker 1: were able to get so much out of the crystal bats. 799 00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:51,719 Speaker 1: I figured, the crystal bats are like the least biological 800 00:43:51,800 --> 00:43:54,680 Speaker 1: creatures in the whole movie. And yet here we go. 801 00:43:55,000 --> 00:43:57,799 Speaker 1: Let's have a look at a creature called a kitan. Now, 802 00:43:58,040 --> 00:44:02,240 Speaker 1: keitan is a form of a marine mollusk. They're generally small. 803 00:44:02,360 --> 00:44:05,840 Speaker 1: They're flat. They're oval shaped, kind of like a flat 804 00:44:06,000 --> 00:44:09,560 Speaker 1: slug or snail, with a protruding foot on the underside 805 00:44:09,600 --> 00:44:12,760 Speaker 1: for attaching to surfaces on the sea floor and moving 806 00:44:12,800 --> 00:44:16,000 Speaker 1: along those surfaces while they scrape up food in the 807 00:44:16,040 --> 00:44:20,399 Speaker 1: form of algae or other clinging biomatter. But on its back, 808 00:44:20,520 --> 00:44:22,840 Speaker 1: the kiton wears a suit of armor. It has a 809 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:26,800 Speaker 1: shell made out of tough plates which face up towards 810 00:44:26,880 --> 00:44:29,400 Speaker 1: the sea as it crawls along a rock, lapping up 811 00:44:29,480 --> 00:44:33,440 Speaker 1: delicious slime with its ragula. Now you might suspect that 812 00:44:33,520 --> 00:44:37,920 Speaker 1: a small algae scraping rock crawling sea dweller like The 813 00:44:38,000 --> 00:44:41,120 Speaker 1: kitan is maybe simply blind, right, what does it need 814 00:44:41,280 --> 00:44:43,759 Speaker 1: eyes for to look down at the rocks below it 815 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:46,239 Speaker 1: as it scrapes up stuff to eat. But they do 816 00:44:46,320 --> 00:44:50,680 Speaker 1: appear to have eyes on their backs on those protective shells, 817 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:54,680 Speaker 1: the armor part, they've got hundreds of little beady light 818 00:44:54,760 --> 00:44:59,359 Speaker 1: sensitive organs spaced about on their dorsal armor, called ocelli. 819 00:45:00,200 --> 00:45:03,239 Speaker 1: Scientists have known about these ocellly for years. They have 820 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:06,120 Speaker 1: known about these organs for sensing light, but they didn't 821 00:45:06,120 --> 00:45:08,319 Speaker 1: know much about them, what they were made of, how 822 00:45:08,320 --> 00:45:11,160 Speaker 1: they worked. Essentially, what we knew for a long time 823 00:45:11,239 --> 00:45:14,000 Speaker 1: was that the kitans had these organs with underlying light 824 00:45:14,080 --> 00:45:19,360 Speaker 1: sensitive cells like a retina in some form of lens material. Now, 825 00:45:19,360 --> 00:45:22,719 Speaker 1: a few years back, a marine biologist named Dan Spicer 826 00:45:22,840 --> 00:45:26,240 Speaker 1: conducted research on a kitan known as the West Indian 827 00:45:26,400 --> 00:45:30,000 Speaker 1: Fuzzy Kitan, which is the cudtliest of all kitan. It 828 00:45:30,080 --> 00:45:31,799 Speaker 1: sounds kind of like an off brand muppet. I have 829 00:45:31,840 --> 00:45:33,319 Speaker 1: to say, it sounds kind of like a fizz gig. 830 00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:38,440 Speaker 1: So Spicer was studying the lenses on the ocelli of 831 00:45:38,480 --> 00:45:41,239 Speaker 1: these animals that the little light sensing organs on their 832 00:45:41,280 --> 00:45:45,799 Speaker 1: backs and in an attempt to clean these ocelli, these 833 00:45:45,880 --> 00:45:50,200 Speaker 1: lenses off for observation. In an acidic solution, the lenses 834 00:45:50,320 --> 00:45:53,840 Speaker 1: suddenly dissolved, and this was a tip tip off that 835 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:57,200 Speaker 1: the lenses were not protein based like you would find 836 00:45:57,200 --> 00:46:01,359 Speaker 1: in pretty much all other organisms. Instead, these lenses were 837 00:46:01,520 --> 00:46:06,240 Speaker 1: made of a mineral called aragonite. The Keitans had mineral 838 00:46:06,520 --> 00:46:11,120 Speaker 1: crystals for eyes. Aragonite is a form of calcium carbonate. 839 00:46:11,200 --> 00:46:14,120 Speaker 1: It's the material that forms the shells of most molluscs, 840 00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:18,640 Speaker 1: so it had lenses for its eyes that were made 841 00:46:18,640 --> 00:46:21,120 Speaker 1: out of the same stuff that its armor is made 842 00:46:21,160 --> 00:46:23,880 Speaker 1: out of. The shell is made out of and spice 843 00:46:23,880 --> 00:46:29,200 Speaker 1: are along with Earness and Johnson published a paper about 844 00:46:29,239 --> 00:46:33,120 Speaker 1: kiton and aragonite lenses in Current Biology in two thousand eleven. 845 00:46:33,560 --> 00:46:37,560 Speaker 1: So the Keiton uses these eyes to detect when shadows 846 00:46:37,640 --> 00:46:39,960 Speaker 1: pass overhead. That would be a signal that there's like 847 00:46:40,000 --> 00:46:44,000 Speaker 1: a predator near and when this happens, the Keitans flatten 848 00:46:44,040 --> 00:46:46,960 Speaker 1: out their bodies and clamped their armored shells down over 849 00:46:47,000 --> 00:46:50,440 Speaker 1: their soft parts. The crystallized don't appear to see in 850 00:46:50,560 --> 00:46:54,800 Speaker 1: great detail, but they can apparently distinguish dark, moving shapes 851 00:46:54,920 --> 00:46:58,359 Speaker 1: from a mirror dimming of raw light levels. Now, when 852 00:46:58,400 --> 00:47:00,480 Speaker 1: you've got rocks for eyes, of course they can be 853 00:47:00,600 --> 00:47:03,640 Speaker 1: eroded by water over the time. But I was over time, 854 00:47:03,680 --> 00:47:07,799 Speaker 1: but I was reading about how apparently one benefit of 855 00:47:07,840 --> 00:47:11,640 Speaker 1: having rocks for eyes is that they are less vulnerable 856 00:47:11,800 --> 00:47:14,359 Speaker 1: to the you know, the the violent washing of the 857 00:47:14,400 --> 00:47:19,320 Speaker 1: tide or intertidal areas. It's like they their eyes have armor. Yeah, 858 00:47:19,360 --> 00:47:21,520 Speaker 1: but what do you do in your eyes e rode? Yeah, 859 00:47:21,560 --> 00:47:24,439 Speaker 1: well you so as if you have rocks for ees, 860 00:47:24,480 --> 00:47:27,520 Speaker 1: what you do is you gradually replace them with more crystals. 861 00:47:27,520 --> 00:47:30,440 Speaker 1: So the kidans would grow new crystal lenses to replace 862 00:47:30,480 --> 00:47:33,200 Speaker 1: the old ones that would get eroded over time. And 863 00:47:33,360 --> 00:47:37,440 Speaker 1: it seems that organisms with crystals for eyes are pretty 864 00:47:37,520 --> 00:47:40,239 Speaker 1: rare in today's biosphere, but there are other examples. There 865 00:47:40,239 --> 00:47:45,080 Speaker 1: are other examples. So crystals appear in various forms suspended 866 00:47:45,239 --> 00:47:48,960 Speaker 1: within otherwise protein based eyes of other creatures. Right, so 867 00:47:49,040 --> 00:47:52,359 Speaker 1: there are other creatures that might not quite have crystals 868 00:47:52,480 --> 00:47:55,399 Speaker 1: four eyes like rocks as the lenses of their eyes, 869 00:47:55,440 --> 00:47:57,959 Speaker 1: but might have some kind of crystal somewhere in there. 870 00:47:58,320 --> 00:48:01,319 Speaker 1: One example I was reading about in a book called 871 00:48:01,400 --> 00:48:05,359 Speaker 1: Animal Eyes from Oxford University Press by Michael Fland and 872 00:48:05,440 --> 00:48:09,640 Speaker 1: Dan Eric Nielsen is about spiders. Specifically, these would be 873 00:48:09,719 --> 00:48:14,200 Speaker 1: like acids or wolf spiders. Wolf spiders have some crystal 874 00:48:14,400 --> 00:48:18,759 Speaker 1: structures inside their eyes. These are specialized eyes, usually the 875 00:48:19,080 --> 00:48:23,480 Speaker 1: lateral eyes, used for locating prey and low light and too, 876 00:48:23,560 --> 00:48:26,080 Speaker 1: since in low light they have a wide aperture so 877 00:48:26,120 --> 00:48:28,360 Speaker 1: they let a lot of light in. But they also 878 00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:31,600 Speaker 1: have a reflecting tap at them, kind of like you 879 00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:34,080 Speaker 1: see in a cat when its eyes shine back at 880 00:48:34,080 --> 00:48:37,560 Speaker 1: you in the dark. The wolf spider has something similar. Now, 881 00:48:37,560 --> 00:48:40,400 Speaker 1: what does the tap at um actually do. Apparently it 882 00:48:40,480 --> 00:48:44,520 Speaker 1: serves to increase the sensitivity of the retina in low 883 00:48:44,600 --> 00:48:49,479 Speaker 1: light conditions by sitting behind the retina and reflecting light 884 00:48:49,680 --> 00:48:52,640 Speaker 1: back in the direction of the source through the retina, 885 00:48:52,719 --> 00:48:57,440 Speaker 1: again maintaining the visual features of the image while increasing 886 00:48:57,480 --> 00:49:00,480 Speaker 1: the amount of light available to the light sensitive cells. 887 00:49:00,520 --> 00:49:02,759 Speaker 1: Some makes sense, like, so there's low light, so you 888 00:49:02,760 --> 00:49:06,000 Speaker 1: put a mirror behind the area that's sensing the light, 889 00:49:06,360 --> 00:49:09,120 Speaker 1: and by reflecting it back through that area, you sort 890 00:49:09,120 --> 00:49:11,000 Speaker 1: of get you get a couple of tries, you get 891 00:49:11,040 --> 00:49:14,120 Speaker 1: extra ways of sensing the low amounts of light. But 892 00:49:14,200 --> 00:49:17,400 Speaker 1: in like I said's these tapitha behind the eyes consist 893 00:49:17,440 --> 00:49:23,280 Speaker 1: of quote, many layers of very thin crystals, probably guanine crystals, 894 00:49:23,280 --> 00:49:27,279 Speaker 1: which form a long ribbon beneath the receptors. So that's 895 00:49:27,320 --> 00:49:29,359 Speaker 1: pretty interesting on its own, But it's not even the 896 00:49:29,360 --> 00:49:33,959 Speaker 1: only organism that uses guanine crystals in order to see 897 00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:38,319 Speaker 1: with to look at another mollusk. Reflective guantine crystals are 898 00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:42,560 Speaker 1: also important in the light sensitive organs of scallops. Scalops 899 00:49:42,560 --> 00:49:45,759 Speaker 1: like the kind you eat. Research shows that scallops use 900 00:49:45,800 --> 00:49:49,480 Speaker 1: a reflective mirror made of guanine crystals instead of a 901 00:49:49,520 --> 00:49:53,279 Speaker 1: transparent lens to focus light onto their retinas. And I've 902 00:49:53,280 --> 00:49:55,719 Speaker 1: attached a little picture of what these crystals look like. 903 00:49:55,719 --> 00:49:59,480 Speaker 1: They've formed these layers of plates. Almost yeah, it looks 904 00:49:59,520 --> 00:50:03,000 Speaker 1: like like plate mail, kind of like dinosaur scales. Yeah yeah, yeah, 905 00:50:03,000 --> 00:50:04,880 Speaker 1: I guess more acutive scale mail if I was going 906 00:50:04,920 --> 00:50:08,480 Speaker 1: to use the more fitting um the term there. But 907 00:50:08,719 --> 00:50:11,279 Speaker 1: to get even weirder and to connect to the dark 908 00:50:11,320 --> 00:50:13,600 Speaker 1: crystal in a weirder way, I want to go into 909 00:50:13,600 --> 00:50:16,640 Speaker 1: the deep past, because if you go into the deep past, 910 00:50:17,239 --> 00:50:21,040 Speaker 1: you can find even more crazy examples of crystallize. The 911 00:50:21,120 --> 00:50:25,279 Speaker 1: trio bytes, the trialo bytes of the Cambrian period, which 912 00:50:25,440 --> 00:50:28,719 Speaker 1: you know, began roughly five million years ago. The trialobytes 913 00:50:28,760 --> 00:50:31,279 Speaker 1: of this period had lenses on their eyes that were 914 00:50:31,320 --> 00:50:35,080 Speaker 1: literally made of calcite crystals. The trialo bytes had rocks 915 00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:39,360 Speaker 1: for eyes and this, uh, of course, the calcite crystals 916 00:50:39,400 --> 00:50:42,000 Speaker 1: that form these lenses were this is another form of 917 00:50:42,040 --> 00:50:46,000 Speaker 1: calcium carbonate stone eyes. And the lenses that were amazingly 918 00:50:46,080 --> 00:50:49,760 Speaker 1: powerful by the protein based standards were familiar with today. 919 00:50:50,000 --> 00:50:53,040 Speaker 1: They were they were seeing the world through crystal prisms, 920 00:50:53,520 --> 00:50:56,080 Speaker 1: as described in a feature by the American Museum of 921 00:50:56,160 --> 00:51:00,360 Speaker 1: Natural History. Quote, this provided these ancient creatures with truly 922 00:51:00,520 --> 00:51:04,480 Speaker 1: unparalleled vision that we can assume thanks to recent experiments 923 00:51:04,520 --> 00:51:08,439 Speaker 1: conducted with calcite crystals was filled with streams of light 924 00:51:08,520 --> 00:51:12,279 Speaker 1: and bursts of color. Oh wow, So that the Cambrian 925 00:51:12,400 --> 00:51:16,480 Speaker 1: seas were just a uh, you know, a psychedelic fire 926 00:51:16,520 --> 00:51:19,239 Speaker 1: show for these these creatures on some level. Yeah, if 927 00:51:19,280 --> 00:51:22,640 Speaker 1: only we could see the world like these ancient bugs 928 00:51:22,680 --> 00:51:26,400 Speaker 1: that had crystals for eyes. Yeah, and again this is 929 00:51:26,440 --> 00:51:28,959 Speaker 1: this is fitting because it is mentioned in the World 930 00:51:28,960 --> 00:51:31,560 Speaker 1: of the Dark Crystal that the ske the skexies kind 931 00:51:31,560 --> 00:51:34,640 Speaker 1: of summon the form of the Gartham out of the 932 00:51:34,719 --> 00:51:37,640 Speaker 1: memories of long dead sea life. Yes, I love that. 933 00:51:37,640 --> 00:51:40,160 Speaker 1: That's exactly what I was thinking about. So the trial bites, 934 00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:44,040 Speaker 1: the inhabitants of this ancient unseen world, are are known 935 00:51:44,040 --> 00:51:46,600 Speaker 1: to us only through fossils from about five hundred million 936 00:51:46,640 --> 00:51:49,640 Speaker 1: to about two fifty million years ago. And like the 937 00:51:49,719 --> 00:51:54,480 Speaker 1: lost prehistoric world quality of the dark crystal mythology. Yeah, 938 00:51:54,600 --> 00:51:56,799 Speaker 1: in fact, I wanted to take this connection even further. 939 00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:59,040 Speaker 1: Tell you tell me if I'm getting too wild here, 940 00:51:59,040 --> 00:52:03,080 Speaker 1: But now you can't get too So one idea is 941 00:52:03,120 --> 00:52:05,560 Speaker 1: thing I was thinking about is that the trio bites 942 00:52:05,719 --> 00:52:09,960 Speaker 1: mineral eyes are the first complex eyes we really find 943 00:52:10,000 --> 00:52:13,160 Speaker 1: in the fossil record. They were part of the Cambrian explosion, 944 00:52:13,200 --> 00:52:18,120 Speaker 1: which is when animal bodies suddenly showed this massive diversity 945 00:52:18,200 --> 00:52:22,600 Speaker 1: and uh at least fascinating and complex and fast moving forms. 946 00:52:23,000 --> 00:52:25,440 Speaker 1: These eyes are a wonder of evolution, but they might 947 00:52:25,480 --> 00:52:28,480 Speaker 1: also be a signal of something important changing in the 948 00:52:28,520 --> 00:52:33,840 Speaker 1: animal world. Why did animals suddenly need powerful calcite eyes 949 00:52:33,920 --> 00:52:37,839 Speaker 1: crystal eyes. Well, one theory about this is that it's 950 00:52:37,880 --> 00:52:41,480 Speaker 1: because of the explosion of predation. We live in a 951 00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:44,680 Speaker 1: world in which predation evolved, in which animals kill and 952 00:52:44,760 --> 00:52:47,759 Speaker 1: eat each other, which plenty of mythological traditions see as 953 00:52:47,800 --> 00:52:51,160 Speaker 1: a key indicator of some kind of fallen or corrupted 954 00:52:51,320 --> 00:52:54,239 Speaker 1: state of the world, kind of like the shattering of 955 00:52:54,239 --> 00:52:56,560 Speaker 1: the crystal in the Dark Crystal and the sundering of 956 00:52:56,600 --> 00:52:59,920 Speaker 1: the Earth Skex, which which in the mythology gives row 957 00:53:00,120 --> 00:53:03,040 Speaker 1: is to the garthm and the crystal bats. Interesting. Yeah, 958 00:53:03,200 --> 00:53:06,000 Speaker 1: so crystal vision on both counts emerging out of an 959 00:53:06,040 --> 00:53:09,919 Speaker 1: age of conflict. How about it? Look up those those 960 00:53:09,920 --> 00:53:12,680 Speaker 1: trial by dies. It's amazing. All right, Well, let's let's 961 00:53:12,680 --> 00:53:16,120 Speaker 1: return to the bigger picture here. Let's let's talk about 962 00:53:16,440 --> 00:53:19,480 Speaker 1: the Three Sons system, the three star system that we 963 00:53:19,560 --> 00:53:22,960 Speaker 1: see with the world of Thraw. Okay, so Thraw, the 964 00:53:23,000 --> 00:53:25,720 Speaker 1: planet depicted in the Crystal in the Dark Crystal uh 965 00:53:25,920 --> 00:53:28,360 Speaker 1: is a three star system. It's it's it's key to 966 00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:32,680 Speaker 1: the whole narrative about the great conjunction occurring. And the 967 00:53:32,760 --> 00:53:35,160 Speaker 1: three Sons are described as the Great Son of the 968 00:53:35,239 --> 00:53:37,480 Speaker 1: Dying Son and the Rose Sun. And we see these 969 00:53:37,520 --> 00:53:41,920 Speaker 1: images of these suns moving through the sky. Um, it's difficult, 970 00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:43,880 Speaker 1: you know, and perhaps kind of a fool's air and 971 00:53:43,920 --> 00:53:47,920 Speaker 1: to try and work out exactly what stage each of 972 00:53:47,920 --> 00:53:51,600 Speaker 1: these sons happens to be in. I've seen it speculated 973 00:53:51,600 --> 00:53:54,120 Speaker 1: that the Great Sun is a giant son, and the 974 00:53:54,360 --> 00:53:57,360 Speaker 1: Dying Sun is a gas giant or a protostar, and 975 00:53:57,400 --> 00:54:00,640 Speaker 1: then the Rose Sun is a red dwarf. But really 976 00:54:00,800 --> 00:54:02,600 Speaker 1: you could you could kind of go a number of 977 00:54:02,640 --> 00:54:06,400 Speaker 1: different directions and interpreting like what stage each star is 978 00:54:06,960 --> 00:54:09,200 Speaker 1: in that might make sense in the light of something 979 00:54:09,320 --> 00:54:11,640 Speaker 1: I'll get back to in just a minute here. Now. Likewise, 980 00:54:11,680 --> 00:54:15,520 Speaker 1: it might ultimately be a bit silly to to really 981 00:54:15,560 --> 00:54:19,400 Speaker 1: get two worked over up over the exact celestial mechanics 982 00:54:19,520 --> 00:54:21,400 Speaker 1: of all of this. I mean, for instance, given the 983 00:54:21,440 --> 00:54:23,960 Speaker 1: mythological nature of many themes in the movie, we might 984 00:54:24,000 --> 00:54:27,560 Speaker 1: be dealing with more of a uh ptotlemaic universe here 985 00:54:27,600 --> 00:54:30,799 Speaker 1: with the three sons orbiting thraw. You know, there's no 986 00:54:30,840 --> 00:54:35,600 Speaker 1: reason that wouldn't be the case. It's a mythological world. Um. However, 987 00:54:35,640 --> 00:54:37,360 Speaker 1: when we look to the world of the Dark Crystal 988 00:54:37,440 --> 00:54:41,399 Speaker 1: that the book of Brian frouds, uh there is this, uh, 989 00:54:41,480 --> 00:54:44,600 Speaker 1: this fabulous a little bit of commentary that is supposedly 990 00:54:44,719 --> 00:54:49,280 Speaker 1: from the anthropologists or the academic that is commenting on everything. 991 00:54:49,800 --> 00:54:52,480 Speaker 1: And this is what they say of the three stars 992 00:54:52,520 --> 00:54:56,320 Speaker 1: of thraw quote. In a system with three sons, astronomical 993 00:54:56,360 --> 00:55:00,719 Speaker 1: calculations would be intolerably complex. Newtonian or Ryne Steiny and 994 00:55:00,800 --> 00:55:04,080 Speaker 1: physics can deal exactly with two bodies Earth and Sun 995 00:55:04,280 --> 00:55:07,359 Speaker 1: or Earth and Moon, but more complex cases can be 996 00:55:07,400 --> 00:55:12,000 Speaker 1: solved only by successive approximations. With three sons, even the 997 00:55:12,080 --> 00:55:15,480 Speaker 1: elementary calculations needed to begin our studies of the skies 998 00:55:15,640 --> 00:55:20,000 Speaker 1: are beyond our scope. Augura's astronomy, therefore, is devised chiefly 999 00:55:20,200 --> 00:55:25,040 Speaker 1: through intuition and empirical models. So this is a reference 1000 00:55:25,080 --> 00:55:27,240 Speaker 1: to a very real problem in the study of celestial 1001 00:55:27,280 --> 00:55:29,200 Speaker 1: mechanics that I think we've discussed on stuff to blow 1002 00:55:29,200 --> 00:55:32,480 Speaker 1: your mind before, at least in passing the three body 1003 00:55:32,600 --> 00:55:36,839 Speaker 1: problem right. If so, if you're dealing with say velocity, 1004 00:55:37,000 --> 00:55:41,480 Speaker 1: your momentum, and gravity, you can easily predict the future 1005 00:55:41,640 --> 00:55:45,080 Speaker 1: states of two objects orbiting each other. Once you throw 1006 00:55:45,120 --> 00:55:47,680 Speaker 1: another object into the mix there, especially if it's you know, 1007 00:55:47,760 --> 00:55:53,560 Speaker 1: of a similar mass, the interactions become increasingly chaotic and 1008 00:55:53,680 --> 00:55:58,280 Speaker 1: sensitive to tiny to like tiny variations, and it becomes 1009 00:55:58,280 --> 00:56:01,520 Speaker 1: harder and harder to predict a future state from the 1010 00:56:01,560 --> 00:56:04,040 Speaker 1: current state. Now I was looking into this because I 1011 00:56:04,080 --> 00:56:07,640 Speaker 1: was like, well, are there really triple star systems? Like 1012 00:56:07,800 --> 00:56:10,319 Speaker 1: does that exist in reality? What would that look like? 1013 00:56:10,640 --> 00:56:13,920 Speaker 1: And triple star systems do exist, though they can in 1014 00:56:13,960 --> 00:56:18,239 Speaker 1: some cases become dynamically unstable, meaning that they might eject 1015 00:56:18,320 --> 00:56:21,600 Speaker 1: one of the stars from the system through their interactions. 1016 00:56:22,160 --> 00:56:25,200 Speaker 1: But a common form of a more stable triple star 1017 00:56:25,320 --> 00:56:29,960 Speaker 1: system is that there is essentially a core binary star system, 1018 00:56:30,000 --> 00:56:33,200 Speaker 1: which means two stars more closely orbiting a shared center 1019 00:56:33,239 --> 00:56:36,239 Speaker 1: of gravity, and then you'd have a third star much 1020 00:56:36,320 --> 00:56:40,320 Speaker 1: farther away orbiting that center of gravity. And this even 1021 00:56:40,400 --> 00:56:42,839 Speaker 1: almost sort of goes with the Great Sun Dying Sun 1022 00:56:42,960 --> 00:56:45,959 Speaker 1: Rose Sun thing, like I wonder if maybe your great 1023 00:56:46,000 --> 00:56:49,120 Speaker 1: son and your dying stunt son, the bigger, closer ones 1024 00:56:49,480 --> 00:56:52,160 Speaker 1: are orbiting each other, that's a binary star system, and 1025 00:56:52,200 --> 00:56:54,680 Speaker 1: then you've got a little little red dwarf for Rose 1026 00:56:54,760 --> 00:56:58,480 Speaker 1: Sun that's way farther out, that's orbiting the whole system. Yeah, 1027 00:56:58,520 --> 00:57:00,800 Speaker 1: I think that would make sense. Now be another question 1028 00:57:01,000 --> 00:57:05,120 Speaker 1: entirely whether in reality a planet like Thraw could exist, 1029 00:57:05,200 --> 00:57:07,480 Speaker 1: I mean, not necessarily like Thraw, but a planet of 1030 00:57:07,480 --> 00:57:11,000 Speaker 1: any kind could exist in a triple star system, or 1031 00:57:11,040 --> 00:57:14,560 Speaker 1: would it just be automatically, you know, pretty quickly ejected 1032 00:57:14,640 --> 00:57:17,680 Speaker 1: or destroyed due to the chaotic influences of gravity from 1033 00:57:17,680 --> 00:57:20,000 Speaker 1: a three star sits right, Would there be enough stability 1034 00:57:20,080 --> 00:57:22,880 Speaker 1: there at all, certainly for life to emerge. I just 1035 00:57:22,960 --> 00:57:25,200 Speaker 1: assumed the answer was no. That I was like, that's 1036 00:57:25,200 --> 00:57:28,320 Speaker 1: probably not going to happen. But I was actually surprised 1037 00:57:28,560 --> 00:57:30,720 Speaker 1: what I found here. I was reading an article about 1038 00:57:30,760 --> 00:57:33,520 Speaker 1: this on astronomy dot com by Amber Jorgensen, which was 1039 00:57:33,520 --> 00:57:37,200 Speaker 1: about the work of a few scholars of Franco Bissetti 1040 00:57:37,240 --> 00:57:39,680 Speaker 1: of the School of Computer Science and Applied Mathematics at 1041 00:57:39,680 --> 00:57:44,600 Speaker 1: the University of Wits in South Africa, also Cherice Harley 1042 00:57:44,640 --> 00:57:48,440 Speaker 1: of Wits and uh Are they Boost at University of 1043 00:57:48,480 --> 00:57:51,840 Speaker 1: Grenoble Alps in France. So Bussetti and colleagues here conducted 1044 00:57:51,880 --> 00:57:56,600 Speaker 1: simulations which found that planets could survive in appreciable numbers 1045 00:57:56,640 --> 00:58:00,080 Speaker 1: in systems like this. So Bussetti says, quote because of 1046 00:58:00,120 --> 00:58:03,040 Speaker 1: the complex dynamics between these stars and planets, it was 1047 00:58:03,080 --> 00:58:06,960 Speaker 1: previously thought improbable that many planets would have stable orbits 1048 00:58:06,960 --> 00:58:11,640 Speaker 1: in these regions, but they found evidence to the contrary. Quote. 1049 00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:15,000 Speaker 1: We ran the simulations for periods ranging from one million 1050 00:58:15,040 --> 00:58:17,760 Speaker 1: to ten million years in order to see if the 1051 00:58:17,800 --> 00:58:21,280 Speaker 1: systems are stable over very long periods. If a planet 1052 00:58:21,320 --> 00:58:23,840 Speaker 1: is ejected from that system during that time, it is 1053 00:58:23,880 --> 00:58:28,200 Speaker 1: not stable. The analysis showed that most configurations had large 1054 00:58:28,280 --> 00:58:31,680 Speaker 1: enough stable regions for planets to exist. Many of these 1055 00:58:31,720 --> 00:58:35,160 Speaker 1: areas are actually very habitable for planets, and they even 1056 00:58:35,240 --> 00:58:37,760 Speaker 1: mapped out areas of the galaxy where double and triple 1057 00:58:37,840 --> 00:58:41,440 Speaker 1: star exoplanets are likely to be found in stable orbits. 1058 00:58:41,600 --> 00:58:44,840 Speaker 1: So it is actually possible. There might be really bad 1059 00:58:44,920 --> 00:58:48,040 Speaker 1: places to be within the orbit of a of a 1060 00:58:48,080 --> 00:58:51,600 Speaker 1: three star system, but there could be types of triple 1061 00:58:51,680 --> 00:58:55,800 Speaker 1: star systems that could have stable planetary orbits within them 1062 00:58:55,840 --> 00:58:59,960 Speaker 1: where at least presumably life could thrive. So there might 1063 00:59:00,040 --> 00:59:01,640 Speaker 1: be a thraw out there. That's what you're saying. There 1064 00:59:01,680 --> 00:59:06,040 Speaker 1: could be a world. Scientists have discovered thraw. It really exists, 1065 00:59:06,200 --> 00:59:10,520 Speaker 1: and we're sending a mission there right now. Um, in 1066 00:59:10,600 --> 00:59:12,680 Speaker 1: terms of things that really exists, it is worth noting 1067 00:59:12,720 --> 00:59:17,400 Speaker 1: that there is a real great conjunction, so the the 1068 00:59:17,400 --> 00:59:20,680 Speaker 1: the the the conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn is sometimes 1069 00:59:20,680 --> 00:59:23,560 Speaker 1: referred to as the Great Conjunction, and it takes place 1070 00:59:23,600 --> 00:59:26,680 Speaker 1: every eighteen to twenty years, and there's a there's a 1071 00:59:26,800 --> 00:59:31,720 Speaker 1: fair amount of astrological uh speculation about them, shall we say, 1072 00:59:31,920 --> 00:59:36,280 Speaker 1: especially concerning political assassinations and how they seem to line 1073 00:59:36,360 --> 00:59:40,880 Speaker 1: up selectively, of course with great conjunctions throughout history. The 1074 00:59:40,960 --> 00:59:43,760 Speaker 1: last one took place in May thirty one, two thousand, 1075 00:59:43,760 --> 00:59:47,600 Speaker 1: when the next one will take place in late December. Now, 1076 00:59:47,640 --> 00:59:49,480 Speaker 1: as usual, we don't put a lot of stock. We 1077 00:59:49,520 --> 00:59:54,560 Speaker 1: don't put any stock in astrological predictions like this. Ultimately, 1078 00:59:55,280 --> 00:59:59,800 Speaker 1: whatever the astrological pattern is, if you, if you cherry 1079 00:59:59,800 --> 01:00:02,640 Speaker 1: pick enough, you can find some sequence of events on 1080 01:00:02,720 --> 01:00:05,640 Speaker 1: Earth that match up with it. The planets don't influence 1081 01:00:05,680 --> 01:00:08,800 Speaker 1: your dating life, folks. I'm sorry, all right, So there 1082 01:00:08,800 --> 01:00:10,800 Speaker 1: you have it. This has been fun, Robert. Yeah, the 1083 01:00:10,880 --> 01:00:13,240 Speaker 1: Dark Crystal. There's a lot to discuss there, and I 1084 01:00:13,280 --> 01:00:15,800 Speaker 1: was legitimately surprised by some of the places that it 1085 01:00:15,880 --> 01:00:20,320 Speaker 1: took us. Um But but hopefully we have, you know, 1086 01:00:20,440 --> 01:00:23,640 Speaker 1: maybe even enhanced everyone's enjoyment of the Dark Crystal a 1087 01:00:23,680 --> 01:00:26,200 Speaker 1: little bit, or if nothing else, giving you a good 1088 01:00:26,240 --> 01:00:28,439 Speaker 1: reason to go out and watch a great film one 1089 01:00:28,440 --> 01:00:32,040 Speaker 1: more time and wish you had crystal eyes. That's right. 1090 01:00:32,480 --> 01:00:35,160 Speaker 1: Anytime when you hear one of those rock songs or 1091 01:00:35,160 --> 01:00:39,160 Speaker 1: pop songs about touching eyes. Think think like spiky crystals 1092 01:00:39,160 --> 01:00:43,680 Speaker 1: for eyes clinking against each other. Um, well cool. Obviously, 1093 01:00:44,080 --> 01:00:46,160 Speaker 1: I know we have a lot of listeners out there 1094 01:00:46,240 --> 01:00:48,880 Speaker 1: who have thoughts about the Dark Crystal and our Dark 1095 01:00:48,880 --> 01:00:52,200 Speaker 1: Crystal fans. Some of you may be very steeped in 1096 01:00:52,240 --> 01:00:54,560 Speaker 1: the Dark Crystal and have read like the novelizations and 1097 01:00:54,560 --> 01:00:57,480 Speaker 1: the comic books and this sort of the extended universe 1098 01:00:57,560 --> 01:00:59,880 Speaker 1: of the thing, and perhaps you have additional insight you'd 1099 01:00:59,880 --> 01:01:03,120 Speaker 1: like share. Perhaps some of the questions we have presented 1100 01:01:03,160 --> 01:01:05,640 Speaker 1: have been answered in other bits of literature or other 1101 01:01:06,080 --> 01:01:09,640 Speaker 1: Brian Fraud interviews, etcetera. We would love to hear from 1102 01:01:09,640 --> 01:01:13,400 Speaker 1: you about that. Oh no, Well, as we're closing out here, 1103 01:01:13,400 --> 01:01:14,960 Speaker 1: I do want to give a quick shout out as 1104 01:01:14,960 --> 01:01:18,880 Speaker 1: well to The Bizarre Cast. That's b A Z A 1105 01:01:18,880 --> 01:01:23,000 Speaker 1: a R. The Bizarre Cast with Richard and Robert. Uh 1106 01:01:23,040 --> 01:01:26,760 Speaker 1: they're like a horror pop culture podcast. They recently had 1107 01:01:26,800 --> 01:01:29,480 Speaker 1: me on the show to talk about podcasting, about stuff 1108 01:01:29,480 --> 01:01:33,360 Speaker 1: to blow your mind, invention and the upcoming Transgenesis. Uh So, 1109 01:01:33,480 --> 01:01:35,040 Speaker 1: just to shout out to those guys. If you want 1110 01:01:35,040 --> 01:01:38,040 Speaker 1: to check out their show. It's The bizarre Cast dot 1111 01:01:38,080 --> 01:01:40,680 Speaker 1: pod bean dot com, or you can find them on Twitter, 1112 01:01:41,040 --> 01:01:44,320 Speaker 1: the bizarre Cast at the bizarre Cast, Huge Things, As 1113 01:01:44,320 --> 01:01:48,200 Speaker 1: always to our wonderful audio producers Alex Williams and Torry Harrison. 1114 01:01:48,360 --> 01:01:50,560 Speaker 1: If you would like to get in touch with us directly, 1115 01:01:50,600 --> 01:01:52,920 Speaker 1: if you give us feedback on this episode or any other, 1116 01:01:53,160 --> 01:01:55,640 Speaker 1: to suggest a topic for the future, just to say hello, 1117 01:01:55,720 --> 01:01:59,120 Speaker 1: you can email us at contact at stuff to Blow 1118 01:01:59,160 --> 01:02:12,000 Speaker 1: your Mind dot for more on this and thousands of 1119 01:02:12,000 --> 01:02:25,240 Speaker 1: other topics. Is it how stuff works dot com. I 1120 01:02:25,320 --> 01:02:28,520 Speaker 1: think