“The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance”. A Time of Renaissance

If Netflix were to make only one series, it should be The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance. By the middle of the first episode, I was completely hooked. The creators — among them Jim Henson’s daughter and Louis Leterrier — cared deeply about two things. First, to recreate and expand the world of the cult classic The Dark Crystal using puppetry and traditional techniques, with minimal computer intervention. And second, to make viewers lose themselves in the story and forget they were watching puppets instead of actors. The result exceeded my wildest expectations. Netflix resurrected the puppet world of nerdy nostalgia and breathed an incredible amount of life into it!

The land of Thra is inhabited by many creatures, but it is ruled by the Skeksis, beings from another world. They live in a castle that houses the physical manifestation of Thra’s life force — the titular Crystal. Instead of honoring and protecting it, the Skeksis use it to unnaturally prolong their own lives at the expense of the entire realm. When the Crystal stops providing them with energy, they begin to extract essence from the Gelfling, Thra’s native people. The first victim of this horrific experiment is Mira, a guard. Her death is witnessed in secret by her friend, Rian, who flees the Crystal Castle to spread the truth about the Skeksis across the land.

Along the way, he gathers a group of Gelfling determined to seek the truth above clan divisions. The simple main plot serves as a pretext to showcase how richly developed the series’ world has become, especially compared to the 1982 film.

Despite the lack of human faces on screen, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is captivating from the very first episode — perhaps even more so than if actors had replaced the puppets. Without recognizable faces, it’s easier to focus on discovering the world and following the unfolding events. We’re not watching an actor in costume, but a completely new, almost alien being. True, the puppets’ facial expressions are limited, and during complex choreography you can spot the occasional constraint, but that’s part of its old-fashioned charm. It’s as if the creators decided that, since the series is a prequel to a 1982 film, it should also draw from that era’s artistic methods.

Yet these minor limitations are nothing compared to the richness and dark beauty of Thra. At every turn we encounter fantastic — and often dangerous — creatures, whose traits we learn alongside the characters. Many races inhabit this world, but the Gelfling, beings halfway between elves and hobbits (or, to fans of Rosiński’s comics, reminiscent of Shninkls), are closest to nature. They are divided into clans and live in a matriarchal society. Each clan has its own culture and worldview: the proud Vaprans see themselves as superior; the subterranean Grottans are experts in herbs and animal care; the Sifa are shrewd seafarers and symbolists, and so on.

Beyond the Gelfling clans and the beaked Skeksis, the series introduces us to the phlegmatic, four-armed Mystics and the cheerful Podlings. These races appeared in the original Dark Crystal, but Netflix has expanded their folklore immensely, giving each its own depth and lore. Watching over them all is Mother Aughra, the guardian of nature’s balance — a key figure in both the film and the series.

The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a fantastical melting pot: it pays tribute to the 1982 film while greatly expanding its universe. There’s a bit of The Lord of the Rings, a touch of Dune, and a lot of fairytale magic. The simple story is mainly a vehicle for exploring Thra’s mythology in full detail. We learn clan symbols, totem animals, hear folk songs, and witness traditional rituals. It’s as if Lisa Henson and Louis Leterrier were saying: “We love The Dark Crystal too — we want to explore every corner of its world!” Watching the behind-the-scenes documentary (available on Netflix), many Henson fans will be moved to tears.

Netflix has brought out its biggest guns in the battle for nerds’ hearts. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is a dream come true for those who complain about omnipresent CGI and long for rubber monsters and practical effects. Netflix has delivered a concentrated fantasy experience reminiscent of The Lord of the Rings in craftsmanship — albeit on a smaller scale. It’s the kind of series you watch in disbelief, looking for flaws, thinking: surely this can’t be real. A commercial network investing in ten hours of puppetry, with hand-finished costumes and sets? Impossible!

And yet they even dubbed the characters with voices from the likes of Helena Bonham Carter, Alicia Vikander, Anya Taylor-Joy, Natalie Dormer, Mark Hamill, Jason Isaacs, and Toby Jones. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance proves that revisiting old worlds isn’t only about feeding off viewers’ nostalgia. Netflix restored my faith in the idea that pop culture can be reimagined with heart and purpose. Jim Henson lives on — and if you’ve missed him, you’ll find him in the new Dark Crystal.