The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a new Netflix series and a prequel to the 1982 film titled Dark Crystal.
So let’s dive into some trivia and facts about the new tv show!
- The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is an American dark fantasy/adventure web television series
- It is produced by Netflix and The Jim Henson Company
- It is a prequel to the 1982 Jim Henson film The Dark Crystal
- There are ten episodes
- The series explores the world of Thra created for the original film
- The series premiered on August 30, 2019
- On the planet Thra, three Gelflings (Rian, Brea and Deet) inspire a rebellion against the Skeksis
- When they discover a horrifying secret behind their power that threatens all of Thra
- Initially conceived as a feature-length sequel to The Dark Crystal
- Entitled The Power of the Dark Crystal
- The project was for years in a state of development hell
- In 2012, director Louis Leterrier expressed an interest in joining Jim Henson Productions in their project
- Shortly after the release of Clash of the Titans
- Hoping to interest large studios
- But was repeatedly turned down
- As, according to him, they were only interested in Transformers, and many executives had never heard of The Dark Crystal
- It was during this impasse that Leterrier decided to shoot a prequel series rather than a film sequel
- Because of the richness of material available in Jim Henson and Frank Oz’s notes on the events leading up to the original film
- Lisa Henson identified the “Wall of Destiny” from the original film as a “jumping point”
- Jeff Addiss, Will Matthews and Javier Grillo Marxuach, all fans of The Dark Crystal, were subsequently hired as writers
- The project was eventually sold to Netflix
- After Leterrier found a studio executive who shared the team’s enthusiasm for the original film
- In May 2017, it was announced that The Jim Henson Company, in association with Netflix, would produce a prequel to the film The Dark Crystal
- The series, written by Jeffrey Addiss, Will Matthews, and Javier Grillo-Marxuach, began filming in the United Kingdom in November 2017
- With Louis Leterrier serving as director
- At New York Comic Con in 2018, Leterrier insisted that the series would depend on puppetry and not CGI
- Except for the use of green screens to remove puppeteers
- On December 17, 2018, the 36th anniversary of the original film’s release, the voice cast was revealed
- As well as some images of the main Gelfling characters
- On May 30, 2019, Netflix released a teaser trailer and poster for the series
- Announcing its official release date on August 30, 2019
- Additional voice actors were announced on June 26
- Including Awkwafina, Lena Headey, Hannah John-Kamen, Sigourney Weaver and Benedict Wong
- It was released August 30, 2019
- The puppets were fabricated in early 2017 in Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in Los Angeles
- Then exported to Langley Studios in London
- With Muppet veteran Dave Goelz and The Dark Crystal’s concept artist Brian Froud participating in performing and designing the characters
- Aside from Froud’s new sketches, the original film’s tie-in book, The World of the Dark Crystal, was used as a reference point
- Other sources of inspiration in building the world of Thra included Game of Thrones and Avatar: The Last Airbender
- According to Toby Froud, the first season of the show will make use of 20 principal puppets
- With an additional 90 for secondary roles
- Unlike the original film, the Gelfling puppets require only two puppeteers
- As opposed to four in The Dark Crystal
- Thus permitting greater freedom of movement
- Also, while the animatronic components of the original film’s Gelfling puppets were controlled via cables, the mechanical parts of the new Gelflings were remotely operated via a modified Wii controller
- On May 30, 2019, the first teaser trailer for the series was released
- It received a generally favorable response
- The series has gained universal acclaim
- On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an 90% “certified fresh” rating
- With an average score of 8.55/10
- Based on 48 reviews
- The website’s critical consensus reads, “An epic fantasy adventure that will please old and new fans alike, Age of Resistance expertly builds on the lore of The Dark Crystal, crafting compelling new mythos without losing sight of the humanity at the story’s heart”
- On Metacritic, the series has a weighted average score of 84 out of 100
- Based on 17 critics
- Indicating “universal acclaim”
- During a Nintendo Direct at E3 2019, it was announced that a video game based on the Netflix series
- It will be called The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics
- It was in development by BonusXP and En Masse Entertainment
- The game is set to release sometime in 2019
- And it will be available for Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Microsoft Windows, and macOS
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