The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance / YMMV - TV Tropes
 

Follow TV Tropes

Following

YMMV / The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance

Go To

  • Alternative Character Interpretation: The Skeksis and the Mystics, both of whom get a thorough fleshing out and more complex motivations.
    • Ingesting the Gelfling essence plunges the Skeksis into a kind of addicted madness and they were never the most stellar of individuals before, but opinions are divided as to how bad they were pre-essence, how much of a direct role the substance itself played, and whose fault it was that they started down this road in the first place. It would explain why skekSil abstained from drinking essence: he didn't want his mind polluted like the others.
    • The majority of the Mystics spend the season in hiding and we learn that they're highly reluctant to tackle the mounting Skeksis problem themselves, whether it's through pushing reunification or confronting them directly. They're said to be "unimpressed" when the Wanderer suggests the former, and it's unclear whether they're strategically playing the long game (waiting for the Great Conjunction to move to the castle, which happens at the end of the 1982 film) or simply as fallible and afraid of death as everyone else.
    • Were the Skeksis always an Always Chaotic Evil race or were they more on a Blue-and-Orange Morality scale and became corrupted due to Immortality Immorality?
    • Do the Heretic and the Wanderer actually want to be rejoined and lose their individualities in the process? Or have they simply concluded it's the least unpleasant path forward and/or the best one for Thra?
  • And You Thought It Would Fail: For 37 years the Henson Company tried to produce a continuation to the first movie to no avail. By the time the series was finally greenlit by Netflix, much of the fandom had lost interest in the project along with the film's co-director Frank Oz, who publicly questioned why they were even bothering after so many years. On top of a string of failed puppet shows the Henson Company made over the last few years, Age of Resistance was announced shortly after the critical and financial failure of The Happytime Murders, which certainly didn't help restore anyone's faith in the show. Any skepticism against the series however quickly died out after first trailer dropped, and since then it's gone on to receive widespread acclaim from critics and fans alike, with many of whom going as far as to call series superior to the original movie.
  • Awesome Music: The entire soundtrack by Daniel Pemberton.
  • Base-Breaking Character: Some viewers dislike Seladon for being a Big Sister Bully and an overall bossy Alpha Bitch, while others find her descent into darkness upon her mother's death, along with her eventual Heel Realization to be legitimately compelling and dramatic.
  • Catharsis Factor:
    • Tavra being the first Gelfling to WIN against a Skeksis in a straight-up fight when she stabs skekVar, and might even have killed him if it weren't for the Chamberlain showing up to ruin things.
    • The Archer finally putting an end to the Hunter for good by jumping off the Circle of the Suns. After spending the whole season as an unstoppable monster, the sheer TERROR in the Hunter's eyes right before the end is magnificent to behold.
    • Deet getting back at the Skeksis in a big way by blasting them with Darkening-fuelled lightning like a Gelfling Emperor Palpatine. Killing the Collector in a gruesome manner is just the violent cherry on top.
    • The Chamberlain betraying and murdering the General. Yes, he's not much better morally, yes, he did it for the most selfish possible reasons, but damn if it isn't extremely satisfying.
  • Complete Monster: Emperor skekSo is the greedy, depraved ruler of the Skeksis. Upon discovering the Dark Crystal can extract the essence of Gelflings, skekSo, to prolong his life, plans on a mass draining of Geflings, purging his own palace guard and plotting to attack the Gelfling clans to harvest as many as possible. Abandoning all pretense of benevolence, skekSo is fit to have his own Skeksis tortured and mistreated for failure, having the scientist skekTek's eye eaten by a Peeper Beetle at one point. Making a deal with the Arathim to crush the Gelflings, skekSo plots to abandon them to their deaths when their purpose is served and eventually leads his troops to smash the Gelfling resistance, bent on massacring them and harvesting the survivors. By the time of the first film, skekSo is responsible for the genocide of the Gelfling race, willing to condemn countless beings to stave off his own death.
  • Continuity Lock-Out: For viewers who have only ever seen the original movie and not read any of the supplemental materials, the nature of Aughra's whole "I am Thra!" personality might seem a bit out of left field. In the film, she was portrayed as a crotchety old Yoda-type at best, and a confused, reactionary Cloud Cuckoolander at worst, with almost no stakes in the plot whatsoever. These viewers could thus easily be forgiven for not realizing that Aughra is, in fact, the literal avatar of the world of Thra, the first living thing, born of the crystal and the planet itself, as described in the prequel comic series The Dark Crystal: Creation Myths. Even the Netfilx series' opening narration only vaguely hints at this fact, but doesn't actually explain any of it.
  • Creepy Awesome: The Skeksis yet again, with the "awesome" part of equation amplified by new members like skekMal the Hunter.
  • Crosses the Line Twice:
    • Cadia completely losing his memory would be horrifying, except for Eddie Izzard's comedy skills making him so inexplicably happy about having no idea who he is and cheerfully shouting "Hello!" to everyone he meets.
    • The Emperor refusing Seladon's desperate pleas for mercy for the Gelfling would be mortifying, if it weren't for the fact that he does so with the bluntest "Uh....no" possible and then mimicing her plea for help while flapping his hands, like a school bully. The sheer childish pettiness of his tone, coupled with the rest of the Skeksis laughing themselves stupid to a degree that far exceeds the actual wit of his response, turns it from horrific into something rather darkly hilarious.
    • The Collector’s head exploding. Especially since it’s preempted with them saying "That wasn’t so bad!".
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Brea and Seladon's sword-wielding older sister, Tavra, is a fan favorite for being one of the most badass Gelflings on the show and for being the first to actually severely wound a Skeksis. Many fans refuse to accept that she's dead.
    • SkekGra the Heretic has quickly proven popular for his generally lovable personality and for being the only non-hostile Skeksis in the entire franchise.
    • His mystic counterpart urGoh the Wanderer has also become a fan favorite for being a humorous member of the typically stoic mystics in addition to his banter with skekGrah.
    • SkekMal the Hunter, in contrast to his more decadent brethren, is a savage, vicious and athletic killer voiced imposingly by Ralph Ineson, who comes off as a great threat all on his own. Coupled with a terrific design, this has made him quite a fan favorite.
    • Likewise, his counterpart urVa the Archer is beloved for being the flat out most noble of the Mystics, being willing to actually do something from helping Aughra to killing himself for the sake of everything.
    • Hup, the Badass Adorable Podling who wants to be a Paladin. His humorous moments, his fearless bravery, and his earnest desire to do good combined with his heartwrenching breakdown of self-loathing after being humiliatingly tossed aside like he was nothing by skekMal has gotten just about everyone in his corner.
    • It's generally agreed that the fandom will riot if anything happens to skekTek's bird.
    • The un-named red haired Paladin have been noticed by the fans and have even been made fanart of.
  • Epileptic Trees: Some fans theorize that the series is going to branch into its own Alternate Continuity in which the Gelflings actually win, thanks to Aughra's line about seeing numerous possible futures, and the Sanctuary Tree's vision of the future appearing to feature Rian restoring the Crystal shard just as Jen did in the film. Though others believe the shard Rian uses is a false shard, like the extra ones Aughra had in the movie, especially since it only goes in halfway.
  • Even Better Sequel: A rare prequel example, that is. While The Dark Crystal's reputation has grown over the years to the point of becoming a Cult Classic, many still consider the film to be rather weak in terms of plot, writing, and characters. Age of Resistance has been widely acclaimed and faces no such criticism, though having ten hours to develop a story vs one hour and a half surely helps. Several fans even now say newcomers should watch Age of Resistance first, so they can go into the film already having an attachment to the world and characters.
  • Evil is Cool: Besides the Nostalgia Filter or the All-Star Cast, one of the main reasons people probably wanted to watch this show is to see the Skeksis getting their evil on.
  • Fanon: SkekGra and urGoh are often portrayed as hippies in the fandom, which includes allusions to them getting high in their free time. Due to Ho Yay undertones of their relationship, they're also a very popular ship.
  • Fanfic Fuel: A few fanworks dives into how SkekGra and UrGoh met and how they were both outcasted. In a similar vein, some fics like to dive into how the two reacted to UrVa's and therefore SkekMal's death as well, since the show never shown their reactions.
  • Foe Yay Shipping: UrVa and SkekMal are a popular ship due to sharing the same lifeforce and stuck in a lifelong battle.
  • He's Just Hiding: Quite a few fans suspect that Tavra being permanently bonded to the Arathim allowed her mind to survive in their hive when her body was killed, especially given the oddity of introducing such an intriguing change to a character only to immediately kill them off. This is helped by the fact that this turns out to be her fate in the YA novels.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • In the 1982 film, the mechanical eye of the Skeksis Scientist was made using a die cast TIE Fighter model's cockpit. In Age of Resistance, he's voiced by Mark Hamill (AKA Luke Skywalker).
    • Rian, Gurjin and Ordon are voiced by Taron Egerton, Harris Dickinson and Mark Strong respectively. It's a small Kingsman reunion, with them having played Eggsy, Conrad and Merlin respectively.
    • Deet is a adorable green skinned, long eared elf-like creature with Puppy-Dog Eyes who quickly became popular to the audience because of it. Later that year, another character with the same description showed up in The Mandalorian and took the internet by storm. Some have even begun comparing the two.
    • Benedict Wong and Awkwafina, who play the only two Skeksis to die, seem to have taken the hint when they're together again on the heroes' side, fighting a force very visually similar to the Darkening, in Raya and the Last Dragon.
  • Ho Yay: The Heretic Skeksis, skekGra, and Wanderer Mystic, urGoh, have lived together for a long time, bicker (at least on skekGra's part) Like an Old Married Couple, and seek to become one being once again, being literally each other's other half.
  • Jerkass Woobie: SkekTek is a nasty individual who plays a major role in getting the Skeksis' villany ball rolling, but he's also routinely bullied by the other Skeksis, has his eye ripped out by a hungry beetle, and sincerely loves the little bird-creature he keeps as a pet. It's also telling he's treated like trash despite being the one keeping the entire Skeksis race alive.
  • Like You Would Really Do It: Anyone who's seen the movie won't be too concerned about Aughra dying.
  • Love to Hate: The Skeksis, naturally.
  • Magnificent Bastard:
    • Chamberlain skekSil is a Skeksis who appears to be a simpering toady of Emperor skekSo but is far more intelligent and dangerous than he lets on. Coming up with the idea of harvesting Gelflings for essence, skekSil pins the blame for the Skeksis' first victim on her lover Rian to divide the Gelflings, even almost breaking Rian's will with a simple conversation after setting the Hunter skekMal on him and winning the Hunter's respect by revealing he sees power itself as his quarry. After being replaced by the General skekVar, skekSil saves his rival's life and manipulates him into a deathly duel with Rian, later ambushing and murdering him to reclaim his position of power. Long after most Gelflings are gone, skekSil fails in his bid to reclaim power, only to capture one of the final Gelflings to return himself to the good grace of the Skeksis to hatch new plots in his quest for the throne.
    • skekMal the Hunter is one of the few Skeksis to reject the decadent politics of the Emperor's court. Favoring the harsh wilderness outside the castle, the Hunter hunts the most dangerous of quarries, risking his life to corner and outsmart his prey. Called in by the Chamberlain to catch the renegade Rian, the Hunter is only too eager to track Rian and catch him while surviving even the self-sacrifice of Rian's father. Later unleashed again against the Gelflings, skekMal is able to more than match them with his skill and wits, only his Mystic counterpart the Archer overcoming him. Returning at last at the battle of Stone-In-Wood, the Hunter all but overwhelms the Gelfligs himself, boasting that "none can stop the Hunt" and only Archer's sacrifice being able to bring him down for good.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • Skeksis have three dicks.note 
    • "You dare try to control Aughra? Aughra can barely control Aughra!"note 
    • "Podling Justita"note 
    • "It's all Brea's fault" note 
  • Moe:
    • Because of her name, Puppy-Dog Eyes, gentleness and curious personality, Deet manages to be incredibly cute and sympathetic.
    • Hup's childlike behavior and personality makes him one too.
  • Moral Event Horizon: The Skeksis are at their cruelest here, even moreso than the original film, and many of them each get their individual MEH-crossing moment proving them irredeemable.
    • The Chamberlain crosses it when he grabs Mira's essence bottle from Rian and gleefully drinks what's left of his girlfriend in front of him as Rian screams and begs him to stop, before sadistically shouting "Tasty! Tasty!" and smashing the bottle to the ground to rub it in further.
    • Despite skekTek the scientist being probably one of the most sympathetic Skeksis in the entire franchise, he gets his own MEH moment when he sees the Gruenaks trying to escape, and responds by throwing one down the chamber to be burned alive and violently beating the other to death.
  • Narm:
    • Seladon's new Skeksis-esque wardrobe is so obviously evil that it's a little too on-the-nose and seems to work against the idea that she simply thinks she's in the right.
    • Deet's spasms when absorbing the darkening discharges from the emperor in the last episode can be considered this.
    • The whole starting premise of the show is that the Gelflings all have the wool pulled over their eyes by characters who were first created to be over-the-top Obviously Evil fantasy villains. That the Skeksis were, at one point, far more affable leaders is information found only in side material, and without knowing this, the Gelfling seem pretty clueless.
    • The Skeksis will occasionally break out into spontaneous dance parties when things go right for them and it's always impossible to take seriously. The one viewed by a crying, traumatized Rian immediately following Mira's death is especially hilarious.
  • Narm Charm: For some, Seladon's over-the-top, Skeksis-inspired make-over actually works because it fits with her characterization at this point; an insecure, misguided girl playing dress-up to appear intimidating and powerful (and failing miserably), who is also trying to distance herself from her mother in every way possible. The Skeksis themselves mock her outfit and some of the Maudras also think it looks terrible.
  • Nausea Fuel: The show has a rather surprising theme of gut-churning fluids flying in all directions in virtually every episode.
    • Pus frequently oozes out of skekLach the Collector's pustules, some of which falls into his food, which he promptly gobbles up.
    • The Emperor's rotting fingers ooze white pus. What's underneath his nose plate is also quite unpleasant.
    • The scene where skekAyuk the Gourmand urinates three streams onto the walls.
    • SkekTek begins experimenting on a dead Arathim. After shocking its organs, they spew green gunk all over his face and into his mouth.
  • One True Pairing: Most fans agree that Rian and Deet make a cute couple.
  • Signature Scene: The puppet show in episode 7 (done with help from youtuber Barnaby Dixon) has become one of the most well-known and praised moments of the show.
  • Slow-Paced Beginning: It takes the entire first half of the season for all the heroes to meet and get on the same page with the stakes they're facing. Luckily, most reviews agree Tropes Are Not Bad in this case, as it allows for a ton of development for the world and characters beyond what the original film was able to do.
  • Too Cool to Live: SkekMal the Hunter, being the strongest Skeksis who was agile and fast, being able to capture Rian twice. The second time he had to be killed by urVa, his Mystic counterpart, committing suicide in order to be stopped. Also applies to urVa, since he's the first Mystic to have actual combat skills.
  • Too Good to Last: The show got rave reviews, rave audience scores and tons of fan love... then Netflix opted out of a second season. To add salt in the wound, the show's cancellation was announced shortly after it won an Emmy for most Outstanding Children's Program. In this case, it would seem that the show's high quality was something of a double-edged sword; it was very expensive to produce but didn't quite draw in enough viewers to justify the cost.
  • Ugly Cute:
    • The Arathim that implant themselves on Gelflings to force them into their collective mind? Terrifying. The lone Arathim carrying Aughra's eyeball on its back to help her spy on the Skeksis? Adorable.
    • The peeper beetle. Yes, it's The Dreaded and it eats your eyes, but it's soooo cute with its traditionally Muppety eyes. It really looks like something Jim Henson would've made back in the day.
    • The Skeksis themselves. How cute you find them will largely depend on how cute you find vultures, but it doesn't hurt that they're noticeably more colorful and expressive this go around.
    • SkekGra himself is also seen in this way. Despite looking like an frightening old vulture, many fans find SkekGra cute in even beautiful, depending on whether you find beautiful to vultures in beauty standards, for his eccentric, hyperactive and lovable personality and for being the only non-hostile Skeksis in the entire franchise.
  • Visual Effects of Awesome:
    • The original film’s practical effects are all faithfully recreated to again make Thra a truly living, breathing world, and now with the ability to add some subtle CGI touches for things that would be impossible with puppets.note 
    • Even better is the exposition scene in Episode 7, where more traditional types of puppets, such as hand puppets and shadow puppets, are used by skekGra and urGoh to explain to the Gelfling protagonists what long-time fans of the original movie already do. In order words, you have puppets puppeteering puppets for other puppets.
  • Viewer Gender Confusion: SkekLach, who was referred to as male in the manga, and now has a female voice actor. Then again, with the manga now rendered at least partially non-canon (being that skekLach the Collector was alive and well through the Garthim Wars in the manga, whereas the very first Garthim was only just created at the end of the first TV season after skekLach was already killed), The Collector's gender is up for interpretation. More blatantly, skekEkt has gone from having a male voice actor in the movie to a female one in the show. If some of the earlier notes on the original movie (such as the behind-the-scenes and the novelization) are still canon, the Skeksis are either agender or hermaphrodites as are their counterparts, the Mystics.
  • What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?: Much more so than in the original. We get dialogue that frequently lapses into Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness, a Skeksis pissing, sexual innuendos, some very overt violence, and attempted genocide. One of the showrunners has said their mission statement was "It's The Dark Crystal, not The Happy Crystal."
  • Win Back the Crowd: With the show being stuck in Development Hell for 37 years and The Jim Henson Company falling from grace after The Happytime Murders, many fans had doubts over whether or not the show would be any good. Thankfully, it was met with near universal acclaim upon its release, and the Henson family had planned a second season (before it was cancelled), along with newer projects in the future.
  • The Woobie: The Gruenaks have it all: their species was wiped out by the Skeksis, they were enslaved by the Skeksis, the Chamberlain stitched their mouth shut, promised them freedom, then screwed them...

  • Show Spoilers
  • Night Vision
  • Sticky Header
  • Wide Load

Important Links

Ask The Tropers Trope Finder Media Finder Trope Launch Pad Tech Wishlist Reviews Go Ad Free!
Crucial Browsing
Resources
Top