I don’t often do this, but I’m reviewing a TV show. Yay! A few months ago I reviewed the final season of that awful fantasy series that was dominating the internet at the time, so I thought it made sense to check out the kids equivalent.
This show is on Netflix and it’s a prequel to the movie The Dark Crystal, which I should note I did see a very long time ago. I can’t remember a thing about it except that it had puppets and I was at the age where I probably shouldn’t have been watching it to begin with. Though I think going in blind into this 10 episode long season made for quite an interesting experience.
I’m serious about this being kiddie Game of Thrones because there is heaps of stuff to keep on top of. The gist is we follow these Muppet creatures in the land of Thra. It’s a land full of small long eared creatures called Gelfling. Some have giant pupils and others are too hard to tell apart. Then there is these ugly vulture goblin people called the Skeksis, evil creatures who just moved into Thra and have corrupted the whole land with their evilness. As the sub title suggests, some of the Gelfling, aka the main characters, realise that their leaders are in fact pure evil and the whole show is about convincing everyone else in Thra of this.
Like I said earlier, there is a lot going on so it may be quite daunting at first, trying to remember who’s who, where’s this and what does this thing do. Persevere though, because it didn’t really take me too long to catch on to almost everything. If you’re familiar with the fantasy genre this show sticks pretty closely to the formula. There’s prophecies and for some reason only specific people can stop it, but not the all-powerful prophets themselves. They have to defeat the darkness to save the universe and all of that stuff.
Not that this is really a bad thing as the show had me engaged with the fun characters, interesting lore and just how messed up it is. I think the darker parts of the show were the thing that got me hooked, especially how despicably evil the villains are. The Skeksis use The Dark Crystal to drain the life force from the naïve Gelfling so they can drink their essence to remain immortal. It’s such a messed up thing to think about and it’s the underdog situation for our heroes.
As for the characters, we mainly focus on just three characters, but it does eventually branch off to focus on some side characters. Of the three main characters Rian was the most boring to me, Brea was not too bad, although Anya Taylor-Joy did give the best performance out of the three, and Deet I absolutely adored! It was mainly the side characters that kept the float upright as they had way more personality, such as the wise kooky Mother Aughra, there are some fun characters that show up further down the line and mainly the Skeksis. They’re disgusting creatures, but they were also pretty damn entertaining. Like the cunningly deceitful Chamberlain who has the creepiest voice I have ever heard, or this lady with snot coming out of her nose and the cowardly professor who is unsurprisingly played by The Joker of all people.
The highlight of the show is the presentation as it is jaw droppingly impressive. Hats off to everyone who made this show. The production and character design are fantastic. The puppetry and camera work are also amazing. The CG work blends very well into this gorgeous world and I’m half tempted to check out the documentary on the making of this show. There isn’t anything with this level of production value anymore and it’s so refreshing to see.
This show does have its flaws, I just had more nice things to say this time around. The pacing is a bit off as one episode might be really exciting and then the next is pretty boring and uneventful. It’s a bit predictable at some points, mainly when it comes to character deaths. Like Game of Thrones there are some storylines that are less interesting than others. It also takes a while to get the ball rolling, but after episode five I think it really picks up as the show is less goofy, storylines begin to clash and it becomes quite hopeless for our heroes as we slowly build towards the inevitable war.
The first season of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was pretty great. I was enthralled with the story and most of the characters. I was there for all of the breathtaking sights this show has to offer. A solid first season and I can’t wait to see what happens in Season 2 and I’m it giving a 8/10. I know kids can watch it, but I think this show is more for people already familiar with the property or else you’re someone like me who needs to be reminded of what the Dark Crystal is.
More reviews on their way in the coming days. I have been The Blog Complainer, signing out.
