WARNING: The following article contains minor spoilers for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, streaming now on Netflix.
Even if you can't tell a Gelfling from a Podding, if you grew up in the 1980s, chances are you remember the Skeksis, the screeching, vulture-like creatures from Jim Henson's The Dark Crystal that caused more than one sleepless night. For fans of The Muppet Show, the dark fantasy adventure delivered a jolt that belied its PG rating. But how does its television prequel, released nearly 37 years later, rate, as far as scares?
Streaming now on Netflix, the 10-episode The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is set "many years" before the events of the 1982 film, the story centers primarily on three Gelfling from different clans (Rian, a crystal castle guard of the Stonewood Clan; Brea, a princess of the Vapra Clan; and gentle Deet of the Grottan Clan) as they uncover the horrifying secret of the Skeksis, the ruling aristocracy of Thra, and set out to ignite the fires of rebellion in hopes of saving their world.
Directed by Louis Leterrier (The Incredible Hulk, Clash of the Titans), the series is gorgeous, with puppets created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop interacting with a world created from a blend of unbelievably detailed sets and CGI. However, much like the original film, the beauty of Thra and the cuteness of the Gelfling and Podlings in Age of Resistance are deceptive. This isn't a series you can simply turn on to entertain a young child while you make dinner. It's scary, particularly in the final episodes.
The scheming, bickering Skeksis are undeniably gross in a way that exceeds the 1982 film; snot drips from breaks and pus oozes from sores. Don't even get us started on their table manners. All of that may elicit laughter from young viewers entertained by scatological humor (there's some farting and peeing too), but the Skeksis become increasingly menacing as the season progresses, and kill Gelfling, and even each other, in brutal fashion. Well, as brutal as creepy puppets can.
It's perhaps because they are puppets that some of the actions feel so disturbing. Adorable, elf-like Gelfling are tortured; they're drained of their essence using a monstrous machine that requires instruments to be jammed into their backs; and they're murdered, cut down by Skeksis whom they've displeased. However, one of the most unsettling scenes doesn't involve bloodshed at all: It's when Princess Seladon (Gugu Mbatha-Raw), who betrayed her own family to remain true to the Lords of the Crystal, realizes (too late) just what the Skeksis are. Surrounding Seladon, they pull at her clothes, cackling with glee as it looks as if the creatures will rend flesh.
And that's before the series even gets to all-out war between the Gelfling clans and the Skeksis. In short, Age of Resistance is, at times, downright scary -- more so than 1982's The Dark Crystal, which is really saying something.
Arriving Friday on Netflix, The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is directed by Louis Leterrier, and features the voice talents of Taron Egerton, Anya Taylor-Joy, Nathalie Emmanuel , Caitriona Balfe, Helena Bonham Carter, Harris Dickinson, Natalie Dormer, Eddie Izzard, Theo James, Toby Jones, Shazad Latif, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mark Strong, Alicia Vikander, Harvey Fierstein, Mark Hamill, Ralph Ineson, Jason Isaacs, Keegan-Michael Key, Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, Simon Pegg, Andy Samberg and Donna Kimball.