urSu the Master Mystic Puppet Head from The Dark Crystal: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

This is the head of the urSu puppet from the 1982 film The Dark Crystal. urSu the Master is part of the urRu, or Mystic, race which are slow-moving, peaceful creatures. The mystics are the counterparts to the Skeksis. They are philosophers who hold the mystical wisdom of their world. urSu the Master dies in the beginning of the film after choosing death so that the balance of the Mystics and the Skeksis could be broken. He was incredibly wise.

The elongated wrinkled head is made of foam and latex. It is painted in soft brown tones with sleepy shrouded eyes with soft wisps of brown and gray hair on either side of the head. There are wires coming from the head which are connected to controls that were used to move the head and facial features. The Mystic puppets were built as several different components that could be connected with Velcro. This meant that the puppet could be disassembled into various parts, allowing the puppeteer to only use the head section of the puppet when filming a close-up scene without being burdened by the weight of the entire body section of the puppet.

The Dark Crystal was a fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz and released in 1982. The film was made entirely with the use of puppets and features no human actors. In the film, two members of the Gelfling race, Jen and Kira, go on a journey to return a lost shard of the dark crystal in order to defeat the evil Skeksis and restore balance to the planet Thra before it is too late.

Materials, dates and provenance

• date made: ca 1980
• maker: Henson, Jim
• Object Name: Mystic
• Object Name: puppet
• Object Name: Skeksis
• Physical Description: glass (eyes material)
• Physical Description: latex (overall material)
• Physical Description: plastic (overall material)
• Physical Description: wire (overall material)
• Physical Description: metal (overall material)
• Measurements: overall: 9 in; 22.86 cm
• Subject: Dark Crystal
• Subject: Motion Pictures
• Subject: Movie
• Subject: Puppetry
• Subject: Entertainment, Film
• ID Number: 2013.0101.22
• accession number: 2013.0101
• catalog number: 2013.0101.22
• Credit Line: Gift of the Family of Jim Henson: Lisa Henson, Cheryl Henson, Brian Henson, John Henson and Heather Henson
• Data Source: National Museum of American History

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of American History through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed.