A simply marvelous recreation of a beloved classic.
After the Avengers Endgame review I did I realized I really need to do more reviews in general. So I figured my second review, and FIRST review of a streaming show, might as well be the prequel to one of my all time favorite films, The Dark Crystal, Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance.
Netflix‘s Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance is truly a marvel.
First, it’s only fair I should preface this with the fact that I absolutely adore and cherish the original film, it is my favorite film from my childhood. I’ve watched it countless times since, and I love it dearly. So this prequel series had a lot to live up to. Let’s dig in.
The Story
The lore of the original has been expanded on greatly, and spread across 10 episodes that delve deeper into the Gefling lineage. They reveal in the opening prologue, voiced by sci-fi legend Sigourney Weaver, that the Gelflings were once organized as seven clans who made their homes in areas of Thra consisting of the Stonewood Clan, the Spriton Clan, the Vapra Clan, the Grottan Clan, the Drenchen Clan, the Sifa Clan, and the Dousan Clan. Each area reflects the slight differences in each Gefling clan, for example, the Grottan Clan live underground in the Caves of Grot, and have large ears and big eyes to compensate for living in darkness all of their lives. They’re considered lower-class by the other clans. Then there’s the Vapra clan who live in the cliffs along the northern coast and are considered beautiful. Their essence is coveted the most by the Skeksis.
The story is that the Skeksis have corrupted the Crystal of Truth, entrusted to them by Aughra long ago, by drawing from it’s power to prolong their life. This created an imbalance through all of Thra, which birthed The Darkening, an evil power that corrupts all living things. The Gelflings believe the Skeksis are their powerful leaders, unaware of how evil they truly are. That is until one of the story’s heroes, Rian (voiced by Taron Egerton), witnesses the Skeksis drain the essence from his girlfriend, Mira (voiced by Alicia Vikander) which kills her. He tries to tell other Gelflings, his father Ordon (voiced by Mark Strong) included, but no one believes him at first. Until he dreamfasts with his friend Gurjin (voiced by Harris Dickinson), who helps him spread the real truth of the Skeksis. The two other main heroes, Brea (Anya Taylor-Joy) and Deet (Nathalie Emmanuel), while on their own journeys of discovery, learn this truth, and eventually join forces with Rian to fight the Skeksis.
This expansion on the lore is solid, if not a little derivative of familiar fantasy/sci- fi stories like Lord of the Rings and Star Wars, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. This show is trying to appeal to viewers like me, who grew up loving the original, and a whole new generation of viewers, so I don’t blame them for not breaking any molds when it came to the storytelling. Series writers Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, and Javier Grillo-Marxuach had enough material in Jim Henson and Frank Oz‘s notes to expand on story elements mentioned in the original. Where they went with it made sense, and there’s still enough material for the next, potential, season(s). And considering we only saw two Mystics the entire season when there’s an even number of them and Skeksis (as before The Great Conjunction they were one), so the rest of them could be introduced, perhaps even being the main focus in season two.
The World
Louis Leterrier and his design team have done a magnificent job in capturing the same look of the original perfectly. Some the of Skeksis look EXACTLY like they did in the first film, as I’m sure they used the same design documents, perhaps even the same molds used to create the puppets. It does have that familiar feel of the original, though, with new technology and different shooting techniques developed since 1982, it lacks the visual warmth of the original. Again, that could just be the nostalgia speaking, but I couldn’t help but feel something was lacking from it being shot on digital as opposed to film.
That aside, the world of Thra is teeming with life where, thankfully, they didn’t rely on digital effects too much. I assumed there would be some, but I’m glad they didn’t go overboard with it and only used when absolutely necessary. The original was a pioneer in new puppeteer techniques, and haven’t changed that much since, though when I watched the preceding behind-the-scenes documentary that played as soon as the last episode finished, The Crystal Calls Making the Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, it was funny to see them use a modified Wii remote to control the puppets faces. The documentary even showed clips of a test they did of a digital Gelfling fleeing a Skeksis as early on they were considering using computer graphics. While it looked fine, nothing comes close to using real puppets so the (smart) decision was made to go practical. There would definitely be huge fan outrage, with all sorts of angry Twitters posts and petitions, if they tried to go digital anyways.
The Characters
This is where Age of Resistance shines the most I feel. The stellar voice acting cast really helped elevate the series as a whole. It was no surprise to see that voice acting/Star Wars legend Mark Hamill was cast, as SkekTek (The Scientist), though he was easily recognizable as most of his voice work always kind of sounds a little like The Joker from Batman: The Animated Series, but maybe that’s just me. The biggest surprise was Simon Pegg as Skeksil (The Chamberlain), who absolutely NAILS the voice from the original, with the classic “whimper” sounding so exact I’m convinced they just used the audio from the original. Chamberlain was also the most interesting of the Skeksis by far, with his constant back-stabbing and ability to talk his way out of any situation making you almost feel for a character you know you shouldn’t like. Also, Donna Kimball, gets a special mention as well as her Aughra was also bang on.
One character addition I was not a fan of at all was SkekLach (The Collector, voiced by Awkwafina), as it was an obvious attempt by Netlfix to show how “woke” they are by adding a female to the group. Relax, I’m not saying this is a bad thing, I just always considered the Skeksis to be gender neutral, neither male or female, but I guess since the voices all sounded male they wanted to add a clearly female one. The problem is the character itself is a clear attempt at comedy relief, but was actually just really obnoxious, with snotty, leaky boils on their nose and an over-the-top New York-type accent that made them sound silly all the time, which always took me out of the expertly crafted world. I was constantly annoyed every time the character spoke or was on screen, as it/he/she was not needed at all. Thankfully (SPOILER) The Collector dies in the end.
But that’s just one character and the rest were great with the voice acting being top notch across the board otherwise. A new addition to the cast I did enjoy was Deet’s friend and loyal sidekick, the Podling Hup (voiced by Victor Yerrid). He was much better comedy relief than the annoying Collector, plus his loyalty to Deet and lack of fear in the face of danger made him very endearing. The main journey of the three hero Gelflings, Rian, Brea, and Deet, was complete and satisfying, with each getting an even amount of screen time making it feel like a true multiple-protagonist story, which isn’t always easy to pull off.
The Verdict
So what is my final verdict? Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance is truly fan service at it’s finest. It has faithfully recreated the world of the dearly beloved original, with enough new additions of characters, creatures and storylines to craft an exciting, awe-inspiring series. I already can’t wait for the yet-to-be-announced-by-likely-inevitable second season. Now, back to re-watching the show all over again 🙂
Rating 4/5
Keep writing,
-Tim
