The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance - General Discussion

[DoctorAtomic]

I can barely take it let alone kids.

So they have the shard and they showed Rian putting it in the crystal in a vision. Is it not going to work then?

Incredible work at all levels on this show. 5 stars to everyone.

Documentary - They're right; the CGI characters wouldn't have worked.

I don't think I've been this emotionally drained from a show this year at least. Game of Thrones paled in comparison.

Edited September 9, 2019 by DoctorAtomic

[ursula]

1 hour ago, DoctorAtomic said:

So they have the shard and they showed Rian putting it in the crystal in a vision. Is it not going to work then?

I thought that was a flash forward from the movie?

[DoctorAtomic]

It looked like it was Rian doing it to me. Because after that, they cut to Deet all darked up in the palace. The only thing I can think of is that it doesn't work because the Darkening has to be cleansed first. So maybe that takes a wicked long time and Mother has to hang on to the shard in the meantime.

https://www.cbr.com/dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-what-darkening/

Quote

Firstly, we see a shot of Rian trying to put the crystal back in, which is eerily similar to Jen from the '82 movie reuniting the crystal with the shard.

I guess the key word being 'trying'. Maybe he dies in the attempt, the shard is taken by the Skeks and they have to steal it back.

Though I guess that brings up the psychology of the Skeks in that do they remember what it was like being urSkeks, if so, do they not want to be, if not, they must have some opinion on how the crystal cracked and what might happen if it gets put back in.

At the end of the current season, the Skeks want an army to beat the Gelfings, after the Emperor basically was humiliated, but the Skeks need them alive to drain because we know they live to the movie.

Aside - anyone watch Farscape?

Edited September 9, 2019 by DoctorAtomic

[DoctorAtomic]

I know everyone is going to be excited about talking about making the show in the documentary, but these people have taken this to another level.

[The Kings Foot]

On 9/8/2019 at 8:15 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

Aside - anyone watch Farscape?

Does the Crystal Castle interior remind you of anything ?

[DoctorAtomic]

It's Moya! 

[rwlevin]

The other day I learned that one of the puppet designers was the baby in The Labyrinth. His parents met on The Dark Crystal, married, had him, introduced him to David Bowie and now they're all working together as one happy family. 

[The Kings Foot]

yep that last episode is certainly not for kids.  This needs to be in the genre category..

[revbfc]

Skeksis biology question:  do they have three penises, or three urethras?  Also, why would they even have genitalia if they can’t reproduce?

Final question:  why did the showrunners insist on placing those questions in my head?

Edited September 12, 2019 by revbfc
Spelling.

[ursula]

1 hour ago, revbfc said:

Also, why would they even have genitalia if they can’t reproduce?

They have excretory organ(s). Doesn't mean they have reproductive genitals. Plus all the Skeksis seemed asexual and genderless (to me).

1 hour ago, revbfc said:

Final question:  why did the showrunners insist on placing those question in my head?

I feel you. 🤮

[DoctorAtomic]

I guess it's a question of what the mystics have and what the urSkeks have. I assume that the split was 'unnatural', so either aren't technically supposed to actually be. I would bet neither can reproduce, but it also depends on how urSkeks do too. There's the added perk of knowing your other half too. There's no biological explanation to that.

So anyone else talk to their pets like the Chamberlain?

[dubstepford wife]

On 9/10/2019 at 8:46 AM, rwlevin said:

The other day I learned that one of the puppet designers was the baby in The Labyrinth. His parents met on The Dark Crystal, married, had him, introduced him to David Bowie and now they're all working together as one happy family. 

Yeah as I was watching this I'm like, "This reminds me a lot of Labyrinth..." Not the story of course but just the general super-creepy-and-dark-but-also-sort-of-cute vibe.  And sure enough, the same concept designer worked on Labyrinth as has worked on this (Brian Froud).  

[DoctorAtomic]

I'm almost as emotionally drained watching the documentary as the actual show. And then they end it with footage of Henson himself.

I could have gone another half hour with the voice actors talking about how/why they did the voices, etc. I wish they had more of them on.

Interesting and salient point from Isaacs - Grimms fairy tales were also very dark and this is really in that same tradition.

So maybe the Dark Crystal will also endure across the generations.

[iMonrey]

I never saw the movie - or if I did, I don't remember it. This was hard to get used to at first. We live in an age of high tech CGI and special effects. It feels odd watching what is essentially a puppet show. I think it probably seemed more palatable in the 1980s when it was a step up from a cartoon because animation wasn't even that sophisticated back then. Now it feels like a throw-back. There's something vaguely off-putting about the dead, glassy eyes of these muppets and their lack of facial expression.

The voice actors also do this weird thing where there is a lot of grunting and vocalizing and "hmm" -ing going on in between dialogue. 

That said, the story itself is very interesting and got me sucked in. And aside from the weird vocalizing described above, the voice actors do a good job imbuing the characters with personality and life. 

[DoctorAtomic]

The movie is on Netflix too iirc.

[iMonrey]

It is! I'll have to watch it now.

Just finished the last episode yesterday. So, what happened to Deet at the end? I couldn't quite tell what was going on there, but I'm not feeling good about it.

[DoctorAtomic]

I think she's consumed with the Darkening and might not be able to control it. 

[marieYOTZ]

On 9/8/2019 at 8:15 PM, DoctorAtomic said:

Aside - anyone watch Farscape?

YOTZ didn’t end up in my handle by accident! Nor did Pilot in my avatar 

[marieYOTZ]

On 9/15/2019 at 1:43 PM, iMonrey said:

The voice actors also do this weird thing where there is a lot of grunting and vocalizing and "hmm" -ing going on in between dialogue. 

That said, the story itself is very interesting and got me sucked in. And aside from the weird vocalizing described above, the voice actors do a good job imbuing the characters with personality and life. 

Don’t know if you watched the documentary, but the voice actors talked about how this was different from animation work because instead of having animators fit the mouth movements to their delivery, they had to fit their delivery to how the puppets’ mouths were moving. I got the impression that they might have done it differently in some instances, but they were obliged to match it as it had been filmed

[DoctorAtomic]

I think it works, especially for the Chamberlain because when he 'mmmm?' and 'yes?' I get the impression he's gauging the reaction of the other Skeks and plotting. 

I'm very concerned for Deet because the Emperor is being consumed by the Darkening too, using the crystal, and he's literally falling apart. 

[iMonrey]

Yes I saw the documentary. It still doesn't really explain why you hear the voice actors constantly vocalizing in between lines. It's weird. I've written it off as a Gelfling tic.

For the life of me I don't remember "Onica," the character voiced by Natalie Dormer. Must have been one of those "blink and you'll miss her" characters. Would have loved to hear from Lena Heady and Caitriona Balfe. 

They showed in the documentary how they experimented with using puppets for the Skeksis and CGI for the Gelflings. I kind of wish they'd done it that way, I thought the test footage looked pretty good. I guess there's a real sentimentality for the movie that made them want to stick to strictly puppets, and fans of that movie would feel the same way. 

I plan to watch the movie this weekend, and I will most assuredly watch the first season again some time before season two drops.

Edited September 19, 2019 by iMonrey

[DoctorAtomic]

I thought Onica was one is the Maudras. 

[Bill1978]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

For the life of me I don't remember "Onica," the character voiced by Natalie Dormer.

Onica is the Sifa Gelfling who was originally the assistant to Cadia, the Gelfling that lost his memory due to Brea outsmarting him with the 'poisoned' drink. Onica is ultimately responsible for helping Brea find the hidden chamber beneath her mother's throne.

[iMonrey]

So I watched the movie last night, for the first time. I don't think I would have even understood it if I hadn't watched the TV series first. The TV series does a better job of establishing this world. In fact I don't think the word "Thra" was used at all in the movie. And I don't think I would have watched the TV series if I'd seen the movie first. It relied much more on visuals than story, I think. Although it would have been a great movie to watch stoned. 😌

[benteen]

I just finished The Dark Crystal AOR over the weekend and I absolutely loved it.  Despite only seeing the film once, I found myself really looking forward to it and I was not disappointed.

I was disappointed with the first episode as it was too long and didn't grab me.  But from episode 2 on, I was hooked.  What an epic story and an a really impressive production.  It's worth it alone for the look of the world itself but the characters and world-building are great.  It reminded me at times of a "live action" Final Fantasy TV show. 

They did impressive work on the characters and despite how awful and cruel they are, the Skeskis are compelling.  They shine whenever they are on-screen.  Fantastic work all around.  I can't stand Simon Pegg but The Chamberlain is a memorable villain.  Mark Hamill's The Scientist sounds a LOT like Cobra Commander from the old GI cartoon. 

The heroes are great too with returning Aughra being the highlight.  Like in the movie, she remains a Yoda-like character but really, really funny too.  I liked when the Gelfling guards talked about all the rumors they'd heard about her being terrible and she just decided to go along with it.  Hup is a very endearing character too.  The Heretic getting upset with how slow the Mystics are was great too.

I enjoyed as well that the Ascendancy didn't turn out to be villains and contributed to the rich world-building.

I definitely wouldn't recommend this show to young kids, as the cruelty of the movie is really ramped up here.

Sorry, Seladon (AKA Gelfling Suzanne Somers) but I do NOT forgive you.

Complaints...like I said, some of the episodes could have been edited a little.  I think my main complaints were two...

-As impressive as the puppetry is, I thought the character work on the Gelflings in particular was held back by the limited facial expressions they could make.  The part of the puppetry process still seems not to have progressed much.

-Also, too many of the female blonde-hair Gelflings looked too much alike, making it difficult to tell them part.

Definitely excited for Season 2.  With how things are in the movies, I'm very curious to see how the story is going to get there.  Also, I wonder if they would be willing to go beyond the movie in later season.

Edited September 23, 2019 by benteen

[DoctorAtomic]

If they do that, they'll probably have to make it R. With only 2 gelflings left after the urSkeks depart, they have a lot of work to do to repopulate Thra. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

-As impressive as the puppetry is, I thought the character work on the Gelflings in particularl was held back but the limited facial expressions they could make.  The part of the puppetry process still seems not to have progressed much.

Agreed. In the "making of" documentary they showed the test footage with puppet Skeksis and CGI Gelflings and I kind of liked it better that way. I think. In the movie there are only 2 Gelflings, so that works to its advantage. All the other puppets look fine, especially the Skeksis. But the Gelflings are kind of dead-eyed. 

I don't know how far they can carry this series because if they run it all the way up to the movie it's going to get really grim really fast. I'm also not clear on how much earlier the series takes place than the movie. 

[DoctorAtomic]

I could be making this up, but I thought this was 1000 years before the movie. 

[iMonrey]

Well they don't measure time in years, they use something called "trine." I do recall something about the number 1000 but that might have been how long Aughra had been gone since she left the Skeksis in charge of the crystal. 

[ursula]

18 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

Well they don't measure time in years, they use something called "trine."

I'm guessing that's a year equivalent, representing the revolution around tri(3) suns.

[DoctorAtomic]

It could have been 1000 whatever since the Skeks first appeared. 

I might have read the time before the movie in an article because it wouldn't have been said on show. 

[Bill1978]

I started to type something up but got confused so started to search the web. Found these two pages.

Official timeline with extra stuff from other forms of media:

http://www.darkcrystal.com/mythology.php

And a page that summarises key moments to prepare people for watching the series:

https://nerdist.com/article/dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-timeline/

There aren't any times, but I do recall the narration from the Netflix series mentioning that the conjuction occurs every 1000 years.

[ajsnaves]

Spoiler

With Jen and Kira being that last of the Gelfling, I figured the show has to be within a couple of generations of them, depending on how long Gelfling live, that could be anywhere from 10trine to hundreds.  I decided that this takes place about 100 years (trine) before the movie. That allows for certain things that still need to happen before the movie.

Spoilered in case people haven't seen the movie, and don’t know where we are heading in the show.

[DoctorAtomic]

4 hours ago, Bill1978 said:

I started to type something up but got confused so started to search the web. Found these two pages.

Official timeline with extra stuff from other forms of media:

http://www.darkcrystal.com/mythology.php

And a page that summarises key moments to prepare people for watching the series:

https://nerdist.com/article/dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-timeline/

There aren't any times, but I do recall the narration from the Netflix series mentioning that the conjuction occurs every 1000 years.

Is that's Canon, they certainly have a lot to work with. 

[smartyshorts]

In the last "vision" Deet had, we see her or someone who looks like her carrying and concealing what looks like a wrapped up baby.  So either a small pocket of Gelfling survive in hiding, or Jen is a direct descendant of Deet and Rian (maybe).  I hope so because the idea of Thra without Gelfling for hundreds of trine is too sad to bear

[larapu2000]

"I'M A FUN SKESKI" is now one of my favorite quotes of all time.

What a beautiful series, as in photography, world building, color, all of it.  

My boyfriend and I would get a real gut laugh every once in a while when one of the puppets would "Muppet," as in, look more like a crazy, jangly movement.  One of the Gelflings ringing a bell rope had us going for at least 5 minutes.

[Affogato]

On 9/23/2019 at 10:06 AM, benteen said:

-As impressive as the puppetry is, I thought the character work on the Gelflings in particular was held back by the limited facial expressions they could make.  The part of the puppetry process still seems not to have progressed much.

-Also, too many of the female blonde-hair Gelflings looked too much alike, making it difficult to tell them part.

I watched three episodes and then realized I needed to rewatch the movie. The Gelfling faces were much less mobile in the movie, so they made an effort and the tech has improved. 
 

ithink the Gelfling are too humanoid of face. Vulture/reptiles have fewer fine expressions. Also the puppy things certainly get their points across.
 

In the show I think a big issue is their are so many Gelfling. i agree that it was hard to tell them apart sometimes. 

I purely love the carrion beetle. How adorable. That little head cock before it leaps into the chamberlain’s eye, everything goes dark and you hear enthusiastic slurping. Cutest little carrion beetle ever!

[Affogato]

On 10/19/2019 at 10:50 AM, Affogato said:

Whoops

Edited October 21, 2019 by Affogato

[Black Knight]

I finished binging this a month ago - and loved it - but am only just now getting around to posting it about. I second the praise showered on the series, and I'm very excited for season 2.

I especially loved the group Skeksis scenes, although I'll acknowledge that as the series went on, the showrunners clearly fell a bit too in love with the group scenes and extended them more than necessary. The earlier episodes had the perfect balance where the scenes went on long enough to showcase the Skeksis but not to a pointless length.

The Chamberlain is just such a terrific villain. His argument with the General over their conflicting ways of operating was really good, and I liked the contrast between their two types of evil. When the Chamberlain fell from his position of power, that was the point at which the Skeksis started their own slide. He got back into power, but he did it by cynically agreeing that the Gelfling should all be drained for essence. He's too smart not to see the obvious logistical problem with that, so maybe in S2 we'll find that he thought once back in power he could pump the brakes on it and explain to the other Skeksis the necessity of leaving enough Gelfling alive to breed and thus ensure a never-ending supply of essence and Skeksis immortality.

I'm not sure why Seladon still gets to be All-Maudra. She really shouldn't even be Maudra of the Vapra clan, but presumably there's a rule in place that the title has to go to the eldest daughter. But we learned that while All-Maudra is typically the Maudra of the Vapra clan, she doesn't have to be. Seladon offered up all of the Gelfling except her two sisters to the Skeksis! The show didn't do anything to establish that Seladon is such an effective leader that the Gelfling need her to be All-Maudra. She was wrong about practically everything. I know one of the Maudras who opposed her was killed, but the other Maudra is still alive so far as I remember. She seems a more appropriate candidate for All-Maudra. (I was actually expecting Seladon to die so that Tavra would become All-Maudra, but the show threw a twist in by having Tavra die and Seladon live. I would guess at some point Seladon will still die, though, making Brea All-Maudra.)

I like Rian and Deet, but his girlfriend just died...it seemed a bit soon for him to already be falling for someone else.

[ursula]

2 hours ago, Black Knight said:

The show didn't do anything to establish that Seladon is such an effective leader that the Gelfling need her to be All-Maudra.

Yes, it was so frustrating that the Maudra who actually wanted to fight for the Gelfling ended up sacrificing her life for Seladon.

[Black Knight]

1 hour ago, ursula said:

Yes, it was so frustrating that the Maudra who actually wanted to fight for the Gelfling ended up sacrificing her life for Seladon.

And called her All-Maudra as she died!

Nice try, show. I guess we're supposed to think that Tavra's death was sufficient punishment for Seladon. But if Seladon is supposed to be redeemable, or a great All-Maudra, the show should never have given her that line about how the Skeksis could have all of the Gelfling except her and her sisters. Maybe they thought we'd focus on the fact that she wouldn't sell her sisters out, but a true leader of a people can't only care about their immediate family. No true leader would ever offer up a genocide of their people.

Maybe that's why the Skeksis end up eliminating the Gelfling except for Jen and Kira, because they're being led by the worst All-Maudra ever.

Oh! Speaking of Jen and Kira - so Jen seems like he will be the direct descendant of Rian and Deet. And Kira will be Brea's descendant, I'm thinking.

[benteen]

On 11/2/2019 at 3:20 PM, Black Knight said:

I especially loved the group Skeksis scenes, although I'll acknowledge that as the series went on, the showrunners clearly fell a bit too in love with the group scenes and extended them more than necessary. The earlier episodes had the perfect balance where the scenes went on long enough to showcase the Skeksis but not to a pointless length.

I agree with this.  As good as the scenes with them were (and one of the real highlights on the show), they did let some of the Skeksis antics go on a little too long.  

[Trini]

Finally got to watch this, and I thought it was a really great production; and the story compelling, though I have some quibbles. Loved the exploration of the various clans and culture of the Gelfings.

I knew just from the first few scenes that they had put a lot of work into this, but after watching the documentary, clearly I had no idea how insane it was! But I appreciated it and everything looked gorgeous (or repulsive, in the case of the Skeksis.).

I was a bit disappointed with the limited facial expressions of the Gelfings, although I understand why; they were essentially 'Kermit'-type puppets mainly controlled with one hand. They were improved from the original movie, though. It was just distracting at times since there were so many Gelfings and they were key players.

They did great with the Skeksis, however! But they are much less humanoid. Lore was great too; and it was really interesting how it was going to be CGI, but they ended up making it a puppet anyway.

As for the story, one major nitpick I had was that I think the Skeksis dropped the pretense of being benevolent overlords way too fast; I think they would have tried to hold on to that image longer to keep any rebellion in check. But I get that they didn't know if they'd have another season.

And Seladon was problematic - can't believe Tavra and the Stonewood Maudra died instead of her! She was still blaming people even while she was in a cage - come on!

And it was odd that they were hinting at romance between Rian and Deet when he literally just lost his girlfriend a week ago.

Speaking of Deet, what a bittersweet ending! 😭  I hope she can overcome the Darkening.

[Trini]

I definitely want to see more, but this whole thing seemed really expensive, so I don't know if I should hold my breath. I haven't found any confirmation that there will be another season.

BTW the series just won an award from the 2020 Visual Effects Society Awards:

Quote

 

Outstanding Special (Practical) Effects in a Photoreal or Animated Project

...

WINNER: THE DARK CRYSTAL: THE AGE OF RESISTANCE;
“She Knows All the Secrets”

Sean Mathiesen
Jon Savage
Toby Froud
Phil Harvey

 

 

[Trini]

Also, blooper reel with all the puppeteers' voices:

 

[Trini]

VFX reel: https://io9.gizmodo.com/watch-dark-crystal-become-even-more-magical-in-this-gor-1842866471

 

[Trini]

Book based on the creatures of Thra:

[Trini]

Emmy nomination:

Quote

OUTSTANDING CHILDREN'S PROGRAM - 2020

Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance - Netflix
Star Wars Resistance - Disney Channel
We Are The Dream: The Kids Of The Oakland MLK Oratorical Fest - HBO

 

[Darlin]

Canceled by Netflix

https://deadline.com/2020/09/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-canceled-after-one-season-by-netflix-1234581520/

 

[Trini]

18 minutes ago, Darlin said:

Canceled by Netflix

https://deadline.com/2020/09/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-canceled-after-one-season-by-netflix-1234581520/

 

This always seemed like a limited series to me; so using 'cancelled' seems weird. A second season seemed unlikely since it was so expensive, and wasn't popular enough.

Here's another article about the cancellation with more details: https://io9.gizmodo.com/dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-has-been-canceled-by-ne-1845132612

However,

It did win an Emmy!