The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Is a Stone-Cold Masterpiece
49 comments
·March 14, 2025OisinMoran
donatj
If you have not seen "Princess Mononoke", I highly recommend it. I rewatched it recently and the people and creatures on both sides of the conflict are neither really good nor evil. Just two opposing forces with different goals.
It offers a level of subtlety I have not seen often in film, particularly since Star Wars.
tmountain
Very common in eastern storytelling. Ghibli films are some of my favorite for many reasons, but I particularly love how they contrast ideas.
icu
I think Studio Ghibli's 'secret sauce' is the "Kishōtenketsu" or four act structure that makes Studio Ghibli special:
1. Ki (Introduction) - Sets up characters and situation.
2. Shō (Development) - Expands the characters and fleshes them out.
3. Ten (Twist) - Introduces a new element or change.
4. Ketsu (Conclusion) - Shows the outcome and connections between elements.
In contrast Western films usually follow a three act structure:
1. Setup - Introduces the hero, often stepping into the unknown, and establishes the initial conflict and sets the stage for the story.
2. Confrontation - The hero faces mounting challenges and conflicts, often involving threats to innocent people or community. Stakes are raised and the story progresses to a conclusion.
3. Resolution - The story culminates in a climatic confrontation between the hero and the villain. Some sacrifice is usually paid, the hero triumphs, justice is served and order returns to the community.
I grew up on Disney and the three act structure, so when I experienced Studio Ghibli for the first time with Princess Mononoke it felt very different, fresh and more mature. While I don't necessarily love all of Studio Ghibli's catalogue, I do treasure Princess Mononoke, Kiki's Delivery Service, and Porco Rosso.
In the case of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, I highly recommend reading the manga over watching the Studio Ghibli anime.
jhbadger
Yeah, the whole point of the original is that the Mystics and Skeksis were both flawed societies (even if the Skeksis were closer to the normal meaning of "evil") and the ending unites them rather than having the Skeksis destroyed.
engineer_22
The Netflix show is a prequel, setting up the story of how the gelfling were wiped out
dash2
The author seems to conflate "dark" with "adult", so let me take the chance to point out this common mistake. Horror films, Warhammer 40K and 2000 AD comics are all famously dark, but they're for kids or teens. A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Importance of Being Earnest are light but grown-up. It's a weird deformation of the past generation to think that being depressing makes you deep.
techterrier
Given it was so obvious that the team had bottled lightening with this creation, it stands as a monument to the failure of bean counter driven programming. Surely any creative person looking at the quality of this work would have kept this team in the groove. It's not like they didnt have the money.
They could easily have made the cash back on some reality thing that cost nothing but made bank.
ReptileMan
I mean they had to finance rebel moon, the idol and the electric state.
This is what I also hate about the gaming industry. If you have a team that works good - find something to do for them.
The guys behind Prince of Peria lost crown were brilliant in every aspect. And Ubisoft disbanded them instead of giving them time to get their footing. But we have a bloated AC:Shadows crap coming our way.
hibikir
A great game, but one that had a very poor product market fit. It might be better than most games of its genre, but it also had a much higher budget, and with that, a much higher price. People buy metroidvanias for 20 or 30, on steam. They released elsewhere, for $50. They didn't have to just be very good, but make Hollow Knight and the like look like relics, and they didn't. The closest thing at selling at that price was Metroid Dread, and it did only fine, not great, despite carrying a higher value IP.
They were always doomed by the budgetary limits, kind of like how the latest Indy movie was doomed to lose money unless it was as big as Avatar.
ekianjo
> The guys behind Prince of Peria lost crown were brilliant in every aspect.
You seem to assume that people want to keep working together forever. Gamesdev can be really intense and for a lot of devs the end of a game is the opportunity to part ways cleanly and try something else.
duxup
I love the film. The film is a real masterpiece.
I'm struggling to get through the series. That ultra clunky opening narration is not a great sign and the world building and underlying plot feels shallow in the series.
I'd LOVE for more Dark Crystal content but I would like them to start over...
trentnix
If you liked the original, you should absolutely watch Age of Resistance. It’s not a masterpiece but it was clearly made by people that care about the original, its legacy, and its lore.
donatj
How strange, the most positive review I heard from anyone I know was that "It ruined my childhood" and that it let's say "craped" on the source material. Mind you these are the nicest things people said.
I have not seen it nor the original film to be fair, but this is quite literally the first positive thing I have heard about it.
icu
If you're a sci-fi and/or a fantasy fan I really recommend watching the original film and the prequel in that order and make your own mind up.
I was young when the original came out so I found it good but scary. I felt the prequel was excellent and it left me wanting more.
These days I feel a lot of my youthful nostalgia has been vandalised for a quick corporate buck. Probably the worst has been Willow on Disney+.
There are so few examples of good follow-ups to nostalgic media. The only other example I can think of is Blade Runner (1982) and Blade Runner 2049 (2017).
domador
What happened to Willow?
pavlov
I remember this was the first HDR program I watched on my new OLED TV back in 2019, and the experience felt like all my life I'd been watching TV with foggy sunglasses that had been suddenly removed.
It's a really beautifully shot show.
donatj
The first season of Westworld was this far me. Started it the same day we got our first HDR TV. Blown away.
chuckadams
I loved DC:AoR but I never expected it was anything more than a one-off. Keep following the struggle as much as you like, but you still know that in the end, the Gelflings lose. I mean yes they pull it off in the end and maybe the Ur-Skeks magic them all back, they discover a lost tribe, whatever, but in the meantime they pretty much get wiped out. Making a good story in the face of that dark inevitability is what the writing craft is about, and they pulled it off and left on a high note. Best thing they can do is leave it that way.
moomin
I don’t know if I’d go quite so far, but it is very good. The Chamberlain remains a piece of work, and Lena Headey sometimes feels like she’s still on the set of Game of Thrones.
beloch
This was a brilliant show, but it had the misfortune to come along at a time when Netflix was cancelling even moderate successes after one season and slashing the budget of hit shows for their second season before cancelling them too (e.g. Altered Carbon). Only very rarely does a show turn into the kind of pop culture sensation that seems to make the bean-counters want to go past two seasons (e.g. Stranger Things), unless it's some executive's idea of a tent-pole for their platform (e.g. Rings of Power).
Given how fragmentation and enshittification of streaming services is driving users back to piracy, one can't help but feel like the current model may not persist much longer. Heck, I wonder what the impact of the trade war is going to be! A lot of people in a lot of countries are cancelling Disney Plus, Netflix, Amazon Plus, Apple TV, etc. just because they're American.
whywhywhywhy
>A lot of people in a lot of countries are cancelling Disney Plus, Netflix, Amazon Plus, Apple TV, etc. just because they're American
Think you might be over-estimating the size of your algorithm bubble there. Normal people don't even make that connection.
icu
Yeah I was upset at Altered Carbon being cancelled. It was very good. I've been hoping a video game studio picks up the rights and makes a good AA or AAA game. I sadly didn't find Altered Carbon: Resleeved as good as the main series.
pcmaffey
The writing in the series is unfortunately terrible. It sinks the otherwise beautiful show with sterile and laborious narration/dialogue, telltale signs of over workshopped writing room slop, from which no real living plot ever emerges. Such a disappointment.
kermit___
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Hard disagree with a lot said here. Watched both the film and this series (though haven't got around to finishing it yet) for the first time last year, and the series lacks a lot of what makes the film great.
The film has some interesting zen-like qualities like duality, and a more complex set of morals. The series just feels like most modern creations with a pretty bland right vs wrong.
The film is also almost entirely practical effects, which are incredible (the behind the scenes footage is amazing), while the series leans a bit too heavily on CGI in parts, which detracts from the action a bit (à la LoTR vs The Hobbit).
Given this piece I might go back to finish it now (and from another comment possibly upgrade my TV), but I still think I'll prefer the film.