by Mike Hilty, Contributing Writer
Welcome to Cross-Platform Partners! In honor of a new movie release, I have selected a TV show to watch to pair with the movie. Think of it as a way to get hyped for the new movie, a preview of things to come, a means to tide you over if the movie won’t be released where you live for a little while, or a change of pace if you’ve run out of related movies or sequels.
For May, I picked The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance to pair with Fast X.
Louis Leterrier, who directed Fast X, has had an interesting career as a director. His filmography is filled with well-known movies, but no actual showstopping hits. He directed both Transporter movies, the Ed Norton Incredible Hulk, the remake of Clash of the Titans, and Now You See Me, among others. For television, his résumé is a little more sparse. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is his most ambitious project, while also being drastically different than anything else in his directing portfolio.
This Netflix series is a hallmark of every millennial fantasy movie-watching journey. Along with Labyrinth, the old-school Lord of the Rings cartoon, and The Last Unicorn, the 1980s run of darker kids’ movies scared a generation of children. They terrified me as a kid, but I also loved them. I made the mistake of not rewatching the movie before Age of Resistance, and there were several times I was a little lost, because I haven’t watched the film in easily over 20 years.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance takes place before the events of the original movie, and serves as a prequel. For those unfamiliar with the cult classic, the series takes place on the planet Thra. A race of creatures called the Skeksis rule Thra with an iron fist. They control the seven clans of the Gelflings, an elf-like creature scattered around Thra. The series follows three Gelflings: Rian (voiced by Taron Egerton), Brea (Anya Taylor-Joy), and Deet (Nathalie Emmanuel) discover the shocking truth about the Skeksis and unite to spark a rebellion against the tyranny.
The production values are perhaps the strongest asset that The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance has. The puppet work, in addition to the puppets themselves, look outstanding. When the movie was made, it would take four people to operate some of the bigger puppets. Now, it takes two people to comfortably operate them, and they’ve become safer and more lifelike. Jim Henson’s vision for making realistic puppets, and for using practical effects and sets, carries on in the series. I’d like to think Henson would be proud of it.
This show’s story is rich with great mythology and world building. It’s a story of rebellion, but also one of redemption and unity. I thoroughly enjoyed watching it unfold, even if at times it was a little slower to follow. It reminded me a little of how many times it took me to watch The Fellowship of the Ring before I finally got the characters down. Since there are so many different clans of Gelflings, along with all kinds of different Skeksis, it can be hard to keep track of who’s who.
Thankfully, the big aspect that helps keep track of things is the main characters’ motivation for sparking the rebellion. All of them have three specific reasons for going against the Skeksis, and all represent different things about Thra which they value. Rian is a fighter who is a part of the Stonewood clan. He’s trained for battle and has a family history with combat. Stationed at the Castle of the Crystal, Rian also has more interaction with the Skeksis than most of the others. He also loses a lot, and is on a quest for vengeance. It’s something that connects him with Brea. She is a princess of the Vapra clan, and she appreciates knowledge and reading. Brea’s also on a quest for vengeance, but she wants to spread the truth about what’s going on in Thra. Deet is the outside. Her clan, the Grottan clan, lives underground and cares about Thra the planet. Deet is spurned into action after she has a vision of the terrible events coming, should no one stop them.
I have to give props to all the performances for the voice work. I can’t imagine it’s easy, similar to animation, because they couldn’t see in real-time how the puppets would react to their performance. I felt the emotion, particularly the sadness and anger, in Taylor-Joy, Emmanuel, and Edgerton’s performances. All of them go through the typical hero’s journey, and they deal with a large amount of loss and doubt in their quest. The realization, though, that they are stronger together instead of alone is a powerful reminder of the strength that a group can have over an oppressive regime, especially if they vastly outnumber the oppression like the Gelflings do.
Also, I did appreciate how the main characters are all front and center, and the legacy characters from The Dark Crystal don’t have as prominent of a role. The main one for the Gelflings is Aughra (Donna Kimball), who has an important role in the original movie. She serves a similar role as a guide and mentor to the Gelflings, only in Age of Resistance, she helps spark the rebellion. The Skeksis are the ones who remain largely static. Their ambition and question of immortality still drive the events of the series. It’s sad to know where this ultimately leads from the show to the movie, with the Gelflings in dire straights during the movie, and so full of hope in the series.
The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a dream for any lover of fantasy who is looking for something different. The puppetry is second to none, and the cinematography makes it feel like a movie masquerading as a television show. It expands the world of The Dark Crystal, while also telling a moving and personal story. It kills me that Netflix killed it after only one season, I assume because it was expensive to make. It shows on screen, though, that production values were paramount. Age of Resistance is one of the best originals on Netflix, and one that can be enjoyed by the whole family.
With Leterrier in the director’s chair, I’m looking forward to Fast X hopefully having some epic cinematography and breathtaking action sequences. The Fast & Furious franchise is not really my jam, but I wouldn’t mind if they added puppets to make it even more fantastical than it already is now. Fast X will be fortunate to get their entire (hopefully) end story told, unlike Age of Resistance.
You can read more from Mike Hilty, and follow him on Twitter, Letterboxd, and Serializd