The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance: Netflix Season One Review

Hey everyone, whilst we normally cover Heavy Spoilers on the Heavy Spoilers show…which is why it’s called the Heavy Spoilers show, I thought i’d drop a quick no spoilers review on the new Dark Crystals: Age Of Resistance Series that’s just dropped on Netflix.

This is more sort of just a general discussion of the entire season and if you’re just looking to hear whether it’s good or bad I have to say that from the off it’s a great start to the series that really feels like a piece of art throughout it’s ten-episode run.

I will be covering the show more indepth down the line but I think that this kinda just deserves some coverage minus the spoilers because of how breathtaking it is.

Now those who were around for the original movie will know that whilst it was a pretty great ride, it never quite got the critical acclaim that it deserved and even today it almost has a cult following. So, when I heard that Netflix was using some serious money to bring the story up to date, it seemed like an awesome way to garner interest once more in the entire thing.

From the off the series can be a bit overwhelming with the number of tribes, species and people that the show dumps on you from the off but it’s definitely worth sticking with and once you get your head around the lore and characters of The Dark Crystal, the show is really easy to get behind.

Now whilst the characters may catch you off guard from the introduction, what won’t and is the big thing that will hook you, in my opinion, is the way that the show uses puppets and animation to paint out its picturesque landscape that feels like something ripped straight out of your childhood.

Everything looks and feels immaculate here and it’s easy to forget that these aren’t real, living things and that you’re actually watching some of the best animation ever put to screen. My biggest problem with the original film was that the puppets didn’t age well, however, Netflix completely corrects this due to the increased budget and technology of modern-day and it makes for a seamless show that’s incredible to watch.

The Lore Of The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance

The show itself is set in the land of Thra and contains a classic battle between light and dark with the Gelflings taking the main stage as the protagonists. They’re amazingly designed and have an almost early Disney-esque look to their faces that subtly gets you on board with them. You might need a map in front of you at the start whilst watching it but there’s nothing here that fans of Game Of Thrones won’t be able to overcome within a couple of minutes watching.

What the show beautifully does it that it balances all of its complexity and paints it in a way that is rather simple, once you’re on board with anything. I find most Netflix shows just become background noise after a while and easy watching that don’t really require much concentration and whilst The Dark Crystal is more than capable of doing that if you don’t wish to engage with it fully, it’s also possible to become fully swept up in its lore.

This is a sort of prequel to the original film so you don’t even need to have seen that in order to enjoy this new project. Whether they will eventually delve into the events of the movie remains to be seen but they’re more than capable of doing that or going off in their own direction if they choose to.

Add to this the awesome cast made up of the likes of Mark Hammill, Simon Pegg, Andy Samberg and more and you have some awesome voice actors that really bring the puppets to life.

The Verdict

Overall The Dark Crystal is an awesome first season, that whilst not perfect definitely does its job of reintroducing the Dark Crystal franchise to the world. This is a perfect example of how Netflix can resurrect long-forgotten franchises and bring them fully up to speed for new audiences whilst also remaining faithful to previous iterations without damaging the love that older fans have over the work.

It’s a blast and whilst I think it may weigh in a little long at ten hours, this is a brilliant beginning to a franchise that will clearly go on to become bigger and bigger.

In the end, The Dark Crystals is great and that’s why it gets an…