The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

+Superb visuals +Excellent voice talent +Great storytelling -some cliche fantasy maguffins Thus far exceeded my expectations. I am so sad there is no season 2

Pros: + the creators did an excellent job expanding on the fictional world of Thra + fantastic creature design and voice acting for most characters + well written dialogue + well written plot (except for the last 3 episodes) + pacing was good (except for the last 3 episodes) + surprisingly good soundtrack (though nothing compares to Trevor Jones!) Cons: - not enough character development (I know this is a very tricky balancing act with so many characters) - not enough time spent with the Gelfling resolving their petty prejudices/biogtry and finding ways to build alliances - too many scenes with oozing/spraying of body fluids, and even a scene with a Skeksis pissing in public (WTF?!) - the collector character was gross with super annoying voice acting - the last three episodes (8-10) were a nonsensical mess - nitpick the Gelfling named Rian looked too much like a young Mark Hamil, I had to remind myself that no this is not Luke Skywalker! LOL! Synopsis: As a big fan of the original movie (I saw The Dark Crystal a few times as a 11 year old) I was excited to hear about this series though when I found out it was a prequel I was concerned. I was curious how a war between the Skeksis and the Gelfling would play out and how the eventual genocide would occur. I thought that this addition to the story would almost certainly deserve an R rating (since it would have to be truly dark and horrible) but to my **** PG? This was a mistake. To be honest if it wasn't for the last three episodes I would have given the series (miniseries? continuing series?) a 10/10. I will elaborate below...SPOILER WARNING! Didn't the emperor say that the Ascendancy was banished from the basement of the Crystal Castle and that allowing them in would have led to their corruption due to the darkening energy emitting from the rift in the ground? Would that not have been a better way for the Arathim to be transformed into the Garthim (vs the disgusting and ludicrous frankenstein like fusion of a dead Gruenak to a dead Arathim)? But really the down hill slide started with the idea of the super weapon the Dual Glaive when the real super weapon was the cooperation of the Gelfling clans into a fighting force?! (Was it not Eisenhower the one who stated that "cooperation wins wars"?) Why wasn't the importance of the Gelfling putting aside their petty differences to fight a common foe elaborated on more fully (though the shared dream fast hosted by Aughra was amazing!)? The General character looked off from the beginning (silly overbite) and if it wasn't for the Chamberlain killing him at the end I never would have guessed that he wasn't the same General as presented in The Dark **** do this guys? The end battle was ludicrious the Skeksis are a cowardly people who never would have engaged in battle let alone in melee combat. As far as battles are concerned the action was disjointed and absurd (what is it with Hollywood's fascination with swords?) not to mention too tame. If your going to show war, show all of the horrors not some goofy dance with no substance. The Jim Henson Company please note: The place to make major missteps is NOT the ending! Episodes 8-10 ruined the whole experience. Too bad because otherwise The Dark Crystal Age of Resistance was brilliant!

Visually beautiful, well voice acted, but poorly written and a mess of plot holes. As a fan of the original, I was looking forward to getting answers...instead I got far more questions. While I will give it credit for trying to establish a rational for the original, I also have to point out the movie felt like they came up with too many intertwining stories and left several unfinished. Critics calling this a masterpiece are wearing beer goggles, but just for the fun of **** is worth watching once.

"Fine for parents and kids, not so for the rest of us" Dark Crystal: A of R is entertainment right out of the late 70s, just a notch or so better than Fraggle Rock. Do not be mistaken and don't be fooled, this muppet show is for young pre-teen kids and their parents; it's simply not interesting to anyone else. It would've helped a bit if the production were fully animated and not muppet-based, but the real barrier to general acceptance/popularity is that the story, values, and characters are really aimed at pre-teens, it's just too simplistic overall. I found "Niko and the Sword of LIght" and "3Below" to be more engaging for all, not just pre-teens. (originally posted IMDB 10/2/19)

The puppets did not look convincing to accurately portray this story in a way where it looked believable. The out of sync and stiff puppets don’t match with the voices and direction of the scene. This was terrible and showcases why CG and animation was favored over puppets. It looks so bad. I don’t understand the hype over this film. It was so weird and the story was terribly cliche.