Jim Henson Creature Shop in London, R.I.P
The Jim Henson Creature Shop in London is closing its doors.
I had the privilege of visiting it back in the summer of 2002, on the day of a Tube strike, so not many people were there. It was a bittersweet visit. One could feel echoes of a time when Skeksis and goblins from Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and The Storyteller were being constructed all around. A few creatures stood wearily around the offices, their fabric and foam forms decaying rapidly. In the place where fully-robotic pigs and dogs were made for Babe, were the all-too-familiar CGI workstations I use now at Imageworks. The employees were very gratious folks though. Those few that were there were friendly. They gave me a shirt, a gift bag, a hard-cover book, and a very nice portfolio.
They'll still be building the occasional animatronic here in Los Angeles, but it's really sad that the iconic Creature Shop is no more.
I had the privilege of visiting it back in the summer of 2002, on the day of a Tube strike, so not many people were there. It was a bittersweet visit. One could feel echoes of a time when Skeksis and goblins from Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, and The Storyteller were being constructed all around. A few creatures stood wearily around the offices, their fabric and foam forms decaying rapidly. In the place where fully-robotic pigs and dogs were made for Babe, were the all-too-familiar CGI workstations I use now at Imageworks. The employees were very gratious folks though. Those few that were there were friendly. They gave me a shirt, a gift bag, a hard-cover book, and a very nice portfolio.
They'll still be building the occasional animatronic here in Los Angeles, but it's really sad that the iconic Creature Shop is no more.
Labels: obituaries
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