Lessons in Weird from the Goblin King

The year was 1986.

Jim Henson was all the rage–especially to me, age 8. Labyrinth came out in June that year and was a “box office disappointment.” So much so that Jim Henson’s son, Brian, called it “one of the most difficult periods in his father’s career.” My eight-year-old self didn’t care. This was a movie from the Muppet man!

It was a movie for me, a movie full of magic and questions. By this age, I’d already discovered the land of fantasy through Red Sonja, Ladyhawke, and The Dark Crystal...