My earliest memory of any kind of media may have not been the works of Disney or any other animation studio, but rather the puppetry of Jim Henson. Besides Sesame Street (which I loved so much that “Big Bird was the first two words I strung together) I ate up pretty much anything with Jim Henson’s name on it. Even media that may have been a bit too mature for my three year old mind, such as The Dark Crystal. My parents, (like many at the time) assumed that anything with Henson’s name on it was just fine for kids. While at the time The Dark Crystal was a bit too scary and complicated for me to fully understand, I often repeatedly asked them to play it for me.
Featuring a unique fantasy setting and being completely devoid of any human characters, perhaps The Dark Crystal was a bit too ahead of its time as it underperformed in theaters. Yet many around my age remember film fondly growing up as a great inspiration for our imaginations. It seems enough of us remember it in fact, that Netflix picked up a ten episode series, once again designed and performed by Jim Henson Studios. Honestly, if you told me this would happen a couple of years ago, I never would have believed you. Yet here we are, gifted with The Dark Crystal:Age of Resistance, finally a chance to revisit the world of Thra.
Taking place some time before the events of the film, (yes, it is a prequel), the evil Skeksis (a vile, birdlike race) rule the Crystal of Truth, the source of Thra’s (the world of the setting) power. While already secretly corrupted by the draining Crystal’s Power, the Skeksis maintain a harmonious relationship with the Gelflings, a peaceful elf-like race. That is until the Skeksis discover that they could use the Crystal to drain the Gelfling of their essence to grant themselves immortality. It becomes up to Rian (Taron Egerton), Brea (Natalie Emmanuel) and Brea (Anya Taylor-Joy), three Gelflings who come from completely different walks of life to unite together and save Thra from the rule of the Skeksis.
I am not only delighted that I am a huge fan of the three leads, but the entire cast is one of the most impressive I’ve seen on television, including Mark Hamill, Simon Pegg, Helena Bonham-Carter, and Jason Isaacs. While I’m used to Mark Hamill’s amazing voice work, I am surprised of the talent the rest of this cast possessed in their performances. In most animation that features an all star cast for the voice acting, most of the time they seem to be instructed to sound as close to their natural voices as possible. It does not seem to be the case in the Dark Crystal, as I would have never guessed it was them based on how different they sound. For example, I really thought they brought back the late Barry Dennen who voiced The Chamberlain in the original film, only to learn that he was performed by Simon Pegg who sounds dead-on just like him.
Even more a star of this series than the voice acting is the amazing puppetry and gorgeously detailed sets crafted by Jim Henson studios. Every detail of the original film has been lovingly recreated, yet through more advanced technology, enhanced just to the point to where it looks even more real than before. I cannot express how absolutely gorgeous everything is to the last detail everything in this show is. When bringing back a beloved franchise after many years, its difficult to capture it’s true essence (I need to stop using that word given how tragic it is for Gelflings), especially if more advanced technology presents itself as an easy solution. We need look no further than the Star Wars prequels as an example of this. However, Age of Resistance avoids this pitfall by sticking to what made the movie a unique work of art: puppetry. While CGI is present in the show, it is only used to enhance the world, rather than create one.
If I had any complaint about the original film, its that their was so much world building and such little time to enjoy it. Henson and crew created such a rich universe that an hour and a half is hardly run time almost feels like we were cheated. Not only that, but so much time had to be spent setting up the lore, that we didn’t get enough character development from Jen and Kira, our original Gelfling heroes. With the series, however, we get nearly ten hours to not only expand on the lore of the world, but really develop the individual characters in it. Don’t get me wrong, I still think of the original as a work of art, but Age of Resistance fixes what few problems I had with the film.
I’m afraid now that Netflix has given me something I never thought I would get, I have become greedy and crave much more than ten episodes. Let’s just hope the first season is successful, as we definitely need at least one more season to finish this story. Just do me a favor and stream this show…on repeat. I can already tell you that’s what I’ll be doing. Ahh, I feel like I’m three again.
