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I recently finished watching The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. It's a TV series available to view on Netflix.

Jump into the comments below and share with your thoughts and opinions.

I'll share some of my strongest impressions in this article, so feel free to use that as a starting point.

Please be forewarned spoilers may appear in this article or in the comments below. I encourage everyone not to read further if you do not want to have any surprises revealed.

Good or Bad?

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Did you enjoy The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance?

Yes! Undoubtedly. I might even go back and watch it again to pick up on any subtleties I missed the first time around.

Like the original film from 1982, this new 2019 series of TV episodes does a justified job in delivering a new story that seems to match well with the setting of the original film.

Despite the new cast of actors, voices, puppeteers, writers, and creative forces, Age of Resistance is shockingly close in style to the film.

What's Old is New

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Using modern technology, some of the most appreciated things they matched closely was the Crystal Castle, the Crystal of Truth, and the detailed puppet designs of the Skeksis. Augra, the oldest living being in Thra hasn't age a bit! She looks exactly like the original puppet, with greater details that come across well for HD close-ups. All of the original puppets have long deteriorated, and had to be painstakingly rebuild from scratch relying on little more than drawing sketches and old video footage. Without Brian Froud's return, the original concept design creator, none of this would have been possible. Fans seem to be happily gobbling up every bit of the original style that has been preserved for Age of Resistance.

Some of the notable voice actors that recreated, or improved on the voices of characters known from the film include the voice of The Emperor, The Scientist, The Scrollkeeper, Rian (very similar to Jen). Augra, I could be fooled, but I think this is the same voice actress, because she is spot on, and better than ever!

Favorite Additions and Changes

Some of the new design changes I also appreciated greatly.

More gelfling races. More skeksis. More Mystics.

The Arathim, the spider race were greatly expanded to include more monstrous designs. My nostalgia was overloaded by the puppetry magic of the Arathim when they combined together to perform hive-mind speech that fans of Jim Henson's Labryrinth will recognize immediately.

The new story was obviously religiously pieced together to not deteriorate from the original plotline, and only enhance it. For years, I know The Jim Henson company was running contests to find the best storyline possible. It was no easy task. If you look on youtube, you can watch some of the contest winners stories, as they were fashioned into puppet sketches to test out how they might feel if used for the TV series. Some of them actually made their way into the series, like the Spoon wielding Podling, the Archer urRu, the Rock beast, and the dreamfasting and songs of various gelflings. I'm amazed by how well all of these random screenplays tied in together to match a linking backstory that makes sense.

Least Favorite Changes

I have to say it. I think I am the only person on the internet who is not really a fan of the new Gelfling designs. The urRu also seem a bit too different to me. Something about their eyes and mouths looks so much unlike the originals, they resemble sock muppets more than the alien creatures they are supposed to be. The Gelflings also seem to have a problem with their mouths, because many of them have poor movements when they speak. Some characters can barely close their mouths, and their forehead stretch more than the mouths when they move. I am surprised they could not recreate the realistic mouth movements. Some scenes, the puppetry was not performed in a very lifelike manner, and the director would have benefited by experimenting with different takes, blocking, pacing, camera angles, and lighting.

Another weakness that left things greatly lacking for me was the ambiance of sound effects. Most of Age of Resistance is filmed inside of the Crystal Castle, which is a labryrinth of caves, halls, and large stone chambers. Yet, I challenge you to find a single scene with voices that sound like they should exist in these rooms. Where are the echoes? Where are the clicks of creepy footsteps? Why can't I hear the whispers or a gossiping skeksis creeping around every corner? Instead every character sounds like they were recorded with perfect studio clarity, too perfect to match the settings the puppets are portrayed in. Every character is so clearly dubbed, it takes away from the believability. Try not to look at the Gelfling mouths, they don't even seem to have a throat.

Another problem that bugs me with the new series is the sets. It feels too much like the same overused studio sets. The swamps especially did not feel like an outdoor setting to me. Instead of the mucky, wet, slimy creatures from the film, everything is dry, fuzzy, and made out of felt. Isn't that the same arch we walked under a mile ago? Yes, but this time we are walking under from another angle. Not very exciting. The overall world feels much smaller in size, and completely unaffected by weather and natural sunlight.

Favorite Characters

My favorite character is undoubtedly The Heratic. A new character to the cast, he comes as a surprise. With The Wanderer as his perfect clashing counterpart, they make a comedic duo that never gets old. I enjoy all of his sarcasism, and jokes about the evil stereotypes the Gelflings expect from him because he is a Skeksis. He never really denies his Skeksis tendencies, and he clearly lacks in patience, making him all the more mysterious and entertaining.

All of the Skeksis were amazing, but my favorites are probably The Scrollkeeper, The Chamberlain, and The Hunter. Something about the way The Hunter walks and talks reminds of a cross between an evil Crocodile Dundee, a Bounty Hunter, and Predator. There is a lot of General Grievous in his style too. Truly original, and terrifying villain fans will love! He is the most visually interesting Skeksi in the bunch. I love those eyes!

My favorite Gelfling is probably Rian, because I think his voice is so closely similar to Jen. Many of the other Gelflings are too cute, and their voices are too eccentric. He is the only straight character in the whole series, and there a lack of vanilla to build the many other colorful characters on. It is better to have a few vanilla character to portray the emotional moments, and Rian does this best as he tackles fear, betrayal, love, and displays a growth in his character arc more than anyone else.

Fun Ideas for Future Skeksis

Since Age of Resistance keeps adding new unexpected Skeksis to the cast, there must be more waiting to be discovered, right? How many more are there?

All Skeksis seem have similar "Skek-this" and "Skek-that" type names. I found myself coming up with new joke names. I wouldn't be surprised if some of these suddenly popped up on the screen some day.