The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

conorhal

As a kid I was fascinated by Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal, his puppet fantasy epic took place in such a lush, alien and extraordinary world that it has become a cult classic.
Netflix is to film a 10 part prequel this autumn that will also involve Henson's creature workshop and lean heavily on animatronics and puppets embellished with CGI.

I could not be more excited!
http://nerdist.com/dark-crystal-henson-netflix-tv-series/

It is being produced and directed by Louis Leterrier (Now You See Me, The Incredible Hulk and The Clash of the Titans films) and written by writes from 'The 100' so I have my reservations about the creative team who seem a bad fit to me. Still, there has been talk for years about a return to the world of the dark crystal and I'll take what I can get.

For those interested in practical effects, they don't get much better and the documentary 'The World of the Dark Crystal' is a fascinating watch:

Ms Doubtfire1

oh that's actually one of the movies that sparked my interest in fantasy..moved to lord of the rings from there and the rest is history....:D

CastorTroy

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-new-york-comic-con-1202971033/

Limited CGI. All puppets with CGI being used to remove puppeteers and rods, etc.

In the original movie, Jen and Kira stop at the Wall of Destiny and they see the ruins of what was once a beautiful Gefling culture, and we took that as a jumping of point for the whole series,” said Henson, hinting that the prequel may give a glimpse of the planet Thra before the Dark Crystal was cracked.

“What was that culture, what was lost, what was that beautiful Gefling civilization? It’s very developed, with a big canvas with many different group of Gelflings…it’s rich.”

No release date yet, but filming as completed

budhabob

CastorTroy wrote: »

https://variety.com/2018/tv/news/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-new-york-comic-con-1202971033/

Limited CGI. All puppets with CGI being used to remove puppeteers and rods, etc.



No release date yet, but filming as completed

Very excited by this, one of my favourite childhood films!

CastorTroy

Rewatching the movie now. Haven't seen it in years.

Hmmmm!

Makes me want to do a rewatch of Legend as well

sioda

CastorTroy wrote: »

Rewatching the movie now. Haven't seen it in years.

Hmmmm!

Makes me want to do a rewatch of Legend as well

Movie scared the crap out of me as a kid. Looking forward to this

Skerries

CastorTroy wrote: »

Makes me want to do a rewatch of Legend as well

and round it off with Time Bandits

CastorTroy

Skerries wrote: »

and round it off with Time Bandits

That is something I need to rewatch. Saw it as a kid but don't think I was able to follow it or maybe I only saw parts.
Princess Bride, Labyrinth and Willow are also on the cards for the fantasy rewatch

CastorTroy

https://ie.ign.com/articles/2018/12/17/netflixs-dark-crystal-prequel-cast-age-of-resistance-taron-egerton-nathalie-emmanuel-mark-hamill

Article includes cast and photos of the 3 main characters.
Cast includes the likes of Taron Egerton, Nathalie Emmanuel, Mark Hamill, Helena Bonham Carter, Natalie Dormer

pixelburp

Some first photos have surfaced, courtesy of Empire:

https://twitter.com/DarkCrystalPod/status/1128850148144975872

corkie

‘The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ Netflix Series Premiere Date and New Images Revealed

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance premiere date has been set for August 30, 2019, with all 10 episodes dropping at once. In conjuction with the premiere date announcement, Netflix has also released some new images that you can check out below, teasing some intense action to come.

pixelburp

First trailer has finally popped up; it looks absolutely spectacular.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSV42j8lccg

CastorTroy

Is it wrong that I saw a recent picture of the Olsen Twins and thought they were auditioning for this series?

Anyway, I'm assuming episodes are ~30 mins each?

corkie

^^^ That is what IMDb has them listed as! 30mins each!

CastorTroy

Was just thinking, I'm surprised this was finished, with how Disney have treated the Marvel shows. Maybe contracts were all finalised.

corkie

See the full voice cast for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance — and the puppets they're playing

sioda

corkie wrote: »

See the full voice cast for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance — and the puppets they're playing

That's some cast list. Can't wait for this the film frightened the shiite out of me as a kid but grew to love it over the years

Agent Coulson

The original film is due to drop on Netflix tomorrow Monday 1/7/19

Mr Crispy

The first episode was shown in full at Comic Con in San Diego, and seems to have gone down very well.

Slydice

Watched the film. Decent! Will give the show a shot.

pixelburp

Another new trailer, with the series dropping on Aug 30th:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3_owZfYVR8

pinksoir

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Stop moaning ffs

So excited for this. Ive never been as terrified by anything as the skekses when I saw this as a kid. This looks like it’s going to be a visual feast. Cannot wait!

Slydice

How is it not gonna end up in genocide?

ixoy

Reviews are out and they are very very positive. Looks like it's a great sequel for fans of the film.

Slydice

https://twitter.com/darkcrystal/status/1164990892345909249

Agent Coulson

Reviews starting to come out and they seem to be good.


Fingers crossed.

pixelburp

This has dropped.

Never would have thought one of my most anticipated shows of 2019 would be a TV series of Dark Crystal FFS lol

kerplun k

Full disclosure. I had no prior knowledge of this. It just popped up on my Netflix this morning.

So, I’ve watched the first one and first impression is that it’s utterly bizarre, in a good way I mean. It’s a very surreal watch. It looks amazing, and the story is right down my ally. Some of the imagery is mind blowing, distracting almost. Fair play to Netflix for putting something like this out there. I’m hoping after a few episodes that the novelty of the look and puppets will fade and I’ll get sucked into the story.

I’m just reading this is based on a film, can’t believe I’ve never seen it. This is something I would have lapped up as a kid.

I can only imagine what this would look like in 4K. I only have regular HD and it pops off the screen.

CastorTroy

The film is on there as well. Looking forward to watching this

Stop moaning ffs

CastorTroy wrote: »

The film is on there as well. Looking forward to watching this

Going to ask the age old cliche question

I have seen and loved the film as a kid. Haven’t seen it since.

Do I need to watch it before I dive in to the series?

Mr Crispy

The series takes place before events of the movie IIRC, so you should be alright diving straight into the show.

Stop moaning ffs

Darch Nemesis wrote: »

The series takes place before events of the movie IIRC, so you should be alright diving straight into the show.

Brilliant thank you

conorhal

I'm two episodes in and I'm so happy right now. I have such a big sh1teating grin.

They could have f'd this up in so many ways, just like all the rest of your favorite childhood IP's that are currently being bled dry by Disney, ....but they didn't. This is pure Jim Henson.

God knows what Gen Z will make of this though. They didn't grow up on Eugene Lambert and Labyrinth.
The artifice of the lost art of puppetry might just prove a bit much in the same way a western audience really doesn't get the artifice of Bollywood movies.
The Dark Crystal might just be an artifact of a particular generation but so far it seems to have been well received and I hope it gets a big audience, because it's rare that 'art' actually gets made for such a niche audience as fans of the Dark Crystal.

Mr E

conorhal wrote: »

.God knows what Gen Z will make of this though.

Started watching it with my niece and nephew (11 and 12). They were bored after 15 minutes, so we're now watching season 3 of She-Ra.

Slydice

Stop moaning ffs wrote: »

Brilliant thank you

Let us know what you make of the show without having seen the film!

CastorTroy

Mr E wrote: »

Started watching it with my niece and nephew (11 and 12). They were bored after 15 minutes, so we're now watching season 3 of She-Ra.

Sure that's only 6 episodes, if I remember correctly. I enjoy that. It's an easy watch.

Guess I'll stay out of here now since I'm sure people are getting further into it and spoilers will start coming

Stop moaning ffs

Slydice wrote: »

Let us know what you make of the show without having seen the film!

Will do. Only thing I remember about the film is being terrified of skeksis

Mad_maxx

Seems a nostalgia trip and little else, lasted a half hour

pixelburp

Checked out the first episode, and I'd forgotten how imaginative and exotic pure fantasy storytelling can be; I'm so used to that High Fantasy setting of cod-medieval feudalism, obviously made mainstream by Game of Thrones, watching something so brazenly colourful and plain weird as Dark Crystal was a breath of fresh air - insofar as a prequel to an 80s "kids"* film can be.

It wasn't perfect - those gelfing puppets are just a tad too stiff and expressionless, I was surprised they hadn't tried to loosen them up - but as family friendly tales of genocide go, this was a solid first episode. Hats off to Netflix for letting the Henson workshop go to town; can't have been cheap mind, so I doubt we'll see a second season, barring runaway success.

* I say kids as an ostensible indicator: that first episode had plenty of darkness, and the Skesis remain bloody terrifying lol.

CastorTroy

On episode 2. The problem with famous voices is being unable to unhear the likes of Joker or Eggsy

Simi

Just finished all ten episodes. Loved it, an excellent tribute to the original, but well able to stand on its own two feet.

I really hope it gains a following and is picked up for another season, but I don't know how well it will resonate with kids today.

I've tried watching films from that era with my cousins, but they get bored very easily. If it's not bright, fast-paced, 3D CGI they're just not interested.

ERG89

Watched this over the last few days. I think it's ok but you can see they stretched it out a bit at times. When the puppets? muppets? show emotion, kiss or run it's more funny than anything else. It must be incredibly difficult to make this show when any moving part needs to be perfect.

The final battle is a bit underwhelming as it's less a battle & more a corner cutting exercise as you could see they struggled when more than one thing was happening at once. Rhian not killing the General made no sense considering how evil the Skeksis were proven to be & he needed the dual glaive to defeat them, nor did the Gelflings celebrating at the end make sense when nothing has really changed. Seladon literally attempted to sell Gelflings down the river continuously yet was welcomed into the group without dispute.

It's not a series that will be a tragedy if it doesn't finish as I dont think there is much more to tell in the story. Maybe a movie would be a better format for any follow up.

Slydice

1: The beginning of the Dark! This show is just gonna be one slide to darkness after another I'm guessing.

Feels right for the Universe of the Film. Also looks about right as a beginning to where it all ends up.

pixelburp

Episode 2, and of all the properties I thought might riff upon the infamous Room 101 sequence of 1984, I didn't think it'd be a Dark Crystal TV show, ha.

I wasn't sure a prequel series was the best fit at first blush, but you can sorta see what's coming down the tracks (for those who remember the movie), casting all actions in a darker, tragic light. Again the Gelfling puppets are a hair too expressionless in the faces, but all credit to the puppeteers for still managing that spark of life.

Still does make me wish for a Farscape revival. Keep being reminded of Rigel

Slydice

pixelburp wrote: »

Episode 2

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:


WTF WTF WTF WTF


I'm just gonna take a minute ..

pixelburp

Slydice wrote: »

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:


WTF WTF WTF WTF


I'm just gonna take a minute ..

The bit at the end?

CastorTroy

Thought it was excellent overall.

For episode 7

Great laugh the majority of the way through then gets to the end and just think "Well I was never planning on sleeping again anyway"

Slydice

pixelburp wrote: »

The bit at the end?

I'm gonna be watching the next few episodes with my hands over my face!

forumuser

Sorry to jump in but would this be suitable for an 11yo that's interested in fantasy? He usually shares the TV with his 8yo sister and is looking for something a bit 'older' that he can talk to his friends at school about. Saw the trailer for this and thought it might suit? Thanks.

Slydice

forumuser wrote: »

Sorry to jump in but would this be suitable for an 11yo that's interested in fantasy? He usually shares the TV with his 8yo sister and is looking for something a bit 'older' that he can talk to his friends at school about. Saw the trailer for this and thought it might suit? Thanks.

Jeez at episode 2 it's a bit dark! It ends with

a cage being put on the baddies head, and then some sort of insect unleashed inside it AND THEN! it pulls open his eye AND THEN SCREEN BLACK AND SOUND EFFECTS

.. so like.. I dunno..

commonsensemedia says:
https://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance

Parents say age 13+ Based on 5 reviews
Kids say age 11+ Based on 3 reviews

I'm with the Parents on this one!