Reminder: The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Is a Stone-Cold Masterpiece

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is one of the greatest fantasy adventures of all time. An absolute masterpiece. We say that full well knowing that, these days, hyperbole is way too common. Words meant for maximum impact get thrown around much too easily. But, in this case, we mean it exactly as it’s intended. “All time.” “Masterpiece.” We are so emphatic about it, in fact, that we’re making the statement now, just randomly. Not on an anniversary. Not for any real reason. Just today, right now, because we recently rewatched the series on a whim and its magic infected us with the deep need to praise it from the mountaintops once again.

Released by Netflix in 2019, Age of Resistance is a 10-episode prequel series to the Jim Henson/Frank Oz 1982 film, The Dark Crystal. That film wasn’t a big hit when it was released but in the decades that followed gained a large fan following. Enough of a following that a team of obvious superfans (such as showrunners Jeffrey Addiss and Will Matthews as well as director Louis Letterier) were able to mine bits and pieces from the lore of the original film and expand it into a story that’s richer, more exciting, and more beautiful than the film in every single instance. It was made in conjunction with the Jim Henson Company and uses some of the most incredible puppetry the world has ever seen. We here at io9 praised it to the skies when it was released, named it our favorite television show of the year, and also had the unfortunate job of breaking the news of it not returning for a second season.

The first season is set hundreds of years before the events of the movie, focusing on the inhabitants of the planet Thra finding out that their rulers, the Skeksis, are pure evil. Lead by a ragtag group of Gelfling from various tribes, the beings of Thra band together, rise up, and start the titular “Age of Resistance” against the Skeksis. Within that overarching story, you get everything you want from an epic story like this. Every character is multifaceted. The action is rousing and important. And seemingly every choice, from the sets to the music to the camerawork, all come together to create an incredible, sweeping, emotional journey filled with wow moments.

All of which is hugely bolstered by its medium. At each turn, the puppetry in Age of Resistance adds an undeniable, tangible quality that blankets everything with glorious artistry. Forty years removed from the work of the already impressive original, here there are more creatures with more details and, most importantly, more evocative expressions. Much like you’d expect from a great actor, you can see every nuance in the performance of each puppet. Subtle changes to their faces. Their arms. All of which are given life by—again without hyperbole—one of the greatest voice casts ever assembled

Seriously—we’re just going to list the names, and you will be amazed: Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nathalie Emmanuel, Simon Pegg, Mark Hamill, Jason Isaacs, Benedict Wong, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Andy Samberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Harris Dickinson, Hannah John-Kamen, Keegan-Michael Key, Ralph Ineson, Awkwafina, Eddie Izzard, Toby Jones, Lena Headey, Alicia Vikander, Natalie Dormer, Mark Strong, Theo James, Bill Hader, and Sigourney Weaver, to name quite a few. So yeah, an impressive list. And, while each of those names is pretty big on its own, they’re all given equal credit for the characters along with the puppet performers, which is very cool. Names like Henson icons Dave Chapman, Kevin Clash, Louise Gold, Alice Dinnean, and many others.

The problem with all this is the same thing great animation runs into. Because of the medium, many people choose to ignore the show or dismiss it as made for kids. Age of Resistance is okay for some kids but it’s also very, very dark. The main crux of the show is that the Skeksis decide to drain the essence of the Gelfling in order to stay alive. So we see multiple scenes of characters having the literal life sucked out of them before exploding. There are also horrific deaths, disgusting violence, and lots of very messed-up psychological warfare. None of which you’d expect if you made assumptions based on the medium. In fact, this puppet show is probably more adult than most of the live-action shows put on television week to week.

It’s certainly darker than something like Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings films, a series that’s probably considered the gold standard for modern fantasy on film. And yet, Age of Resistance is seemingly as impressive, if not more so, on almost every level. The depth of storytelling, the care of worldbuilding, the level of craft put into the filmmaking, etc. It also, like the Lord of the Rings, makes its source material better. Where Lord of the Rings was an epic sequel to The Hobbit, expanding and enriching that already beloved story, Age of Resistance vastly improves onThe Dark Crystal, adding layers upon layers of subtext and meaning.

The only bad thing about Age of Resistance is that it was a show clearly meant to run longer than one season. The existing season has a very satisfying ending with the creatures of Thra, lead by the Gelfling, finding the key to defeating the Skeksis and healing Thra. When things pick up at the beginning of the film though, hundreds of years later, all the Gelfling in the world have been wiped out and the key has been lost. Which is a very depressing thought considering the show ends with seven kingdoms of Gelfling teaming up to take back their world. Clearly, not only aren’t they successful, they’re presumably victims of genocide. What happened? We’ll, unfortunately, never know.

Or will we? When io9 spoke to executive producer Javier Grillo-Marxuach and others in 2019 he said “We have built our narrative very much with an endpoint that addresses the fate of the Gelfling in the film, why the film is the way it is, and what has happened to them. But, again, to get too deep into it would be to spoil our future plans. If we don’t get a second season I’ll tell you everything.” Hey Javier, we’re still waiting!

Because, as we know, there isn’t going to be a second season of Age of Resistance. Netflix decided to only do one season of this gem because it was certainly very expensive and not enough people watched. Which is a shame because, if you didn’t see it, you’re truly missing out. Right now, you’re paying for and not watching a true all-time classic. A series made with such passion and care that it gets better and better the more you think about it. A show that deserves to be held up with all your favorite epic franchises: Star Wars, Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, Planet of the Apes, Alien, Game of Thrones, all of it. And yes, it’s so good that we’re telling you this on a random week six years after release. It’s one of the best things the Jim Henson Company has ever done, it’s one of the best things Netflix has ever done, and one of the best things you’ll ever do is watch it, whether you’ve seen it before or not.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is, thankfully, still on Netflix. Watch it here. You will not be disappointed.

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