If you have never heard of the Dark Crystal you aren’t alone. It is a fairly obscure film from 1982 although it was a commercial and critical success. It is not an animated film but it also has no human actors. Every character is a puppet or more specifically a Muppet as this was what Jim Henson did after the first two Muppet movies and working on Yoda. I remember watching it when I was young on VHS and being struck by the high fantasy, weighty themes, and world building. However, the movie itself is not the subject of this post, the ten part prequel on Netflix and making-of documentary are. They released last August but I watched the series over a few nights recently.
You don’t need to have seen the movie to understand Age of Resistance as it is a prequel and I think going in cold may heighten the mind blowing effect. Go ahead and watch it, I’ll wait. Ok now watch the documentary. Great, let’s talk about how they blew my mind.
First let’s talk about the setting and the world. This is a prequel so it is an earlier version of the world of the movie which is based on the art of Brian Froud. The rich forests, living creatures, faeries and magic of the world is both rich and surprising. It has rules and cohesion while lightheartedly making little sense. That they had to build all the sets allowing for puppeteers to be able to move through them makes it all more impressive. Watching this made me want to look at Froud’s art again and go camping in some deep woods.
Next has to be the puppets themselves. The craft of creating these creatures is baffling. Single hairs, complex articulation, multiple versions, the technologies and skills needed to bring these characters to life is an awesome feat which is obvious in their uniqueness.
Last has to be the puppeteers and voice actors. Frank Oz, who co-directed the movie and may well be one of the most talented puppeteers to ever live was on-board for this and it shows. During the documentary you can see the work that was put in to get some of the shots and the emotion and feeling of these bundles of cloth, hair, silicone, and metal comes from them.
Enough being a fan boy of the world and work, I did enjoy the story but it is not mind blowing itself and the series does end bluntly due to the movie picking up the story. None of this diminishes the uniqueness of this project and in a world of green screen and motion capture seeing Muppets take on mature themes and high fantasy is refreshingly different.