As I’m literally 100% sure you’ve seen, the first trailer for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance dropped, and it really is something else. When we first heard about this prequel series to the Jim Henson classic film, we didn’t know what to expect. Would the miniseries try and replicate the style of the 1982 movie? Would we see any familiar characters? Would there even be puppets?? (Okay, we were pretty confident about the puppets.). We’re beyond pleased to see all our questions answered and more in the trailer, which you should watch (again) here:
There is a LOT to unpack. I watched this thing several times, paused a lot, and tried to pull out all of its secrets. Here are a few highlights:
Our first glimpse at Thra (and its triple suns), fittingly, features Aughra. Aughra not only ties all the creatures and histories of The Dark Crystal together, but she’s also an impressive puppet. I legitimately got chills just watching her walk up this hill, both because I was happy to see her again, and also because she looks like she’s alive.
Speaking of chills, did anyone else feel them when seeing a Gelfling for the first time?
This is Deet (voiced by Nathalie Emmanuel), the only character referred to by name in the trailer. A lot of what we’ll see next comes from her vision given to her by the tree thing after she asks what the Darkening is. (I’m sure this will make a lot more sense soon.)
Landstriders! I always loved these guys, and they look bad ass running toward the camera with angry, red eyes.
Aughra looks amazing in this shot, and I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that.
You know, they keep calling it a “dark” crystal, but then they hit it with a little electricity and it glows pretty brightly. They should rename the movie.
Here are two more of our central Gelfling characters. I believe this is Brea (voiced by Anya Taylor-Joy) and Rian (voiced by Taron Egerton). It’s just nice to see new Gelflings in the world, especially since we only ever met two of them in the original film.
Don’t forget, female Gelflings have wings! And they can BOLT!
We see these spider monsters a few times in the trailer, and they look remarkably like Garthim to me (which were more crab-like than spidery). Could there be a connection? Or is the only link the fact that they’re scary as all get-out?
There’s a brief shot of Rian the Gelfling fighting a Skeksis with a sword, and it’s amazing. I can’t wait to see this entire battle in the series.
Welcome back to Aughra’s observatory! Don’t get used to it – it will be destroyed in the 1982 film.
Ah, so Aughra sleeps under her giant planet mobile. That explains why her house doesn’t have a bed.
Fizzgig! The furball with teeth is back, and… older than I expected? Unless this is Fizzgig’s ancestor, but somehow I doubt that. In the trailer, we see him rolling like a Sonic the Hedgehog ball, and then sniffing someone’s hand, as if he’s about to become a pet to a Gelfling for the first (and not the last) time.
Here’s our first look at the extended Skeksis family. This made me recall the fact that a few Skeksis had already died by the time the original film started (including the Emperor Skeksis, who crumbles on screen). Will we see them all in this miniseries? What will the Emperor Skeksis be like as a leader and not just a screaming pile of wet sand?
The Skeksis have a car. A Skeksismobile. If this were any other series, I’d think they were trying to sell toys. But sure, why not? Let the Skeksis get places faster. No more wasting time walking.
This is just a really great shot of the Dark Crystal from above, and you can really pore over the symbols and placements. The mythology of this franchise is just simply amazing.
This shot is almost identical to one from the classic film, but updated in high definition. Which is perfectly okay with me in every single way.
Uh oh, that looks like essence to me! Methinks the Skeksis have some immortality serums to brew in this miniseries.
I always forget how scary the Chamberlain Skeksis is until he looks directly into your soul.
Okay, for real though. This shot of a Skeksis swiping at a running Gelfling is terrifying (and exciting).
Is that a Gelfling army??? Oh man, this show is gonna be the new Game of Thrones!
Podlings! Watch out, little guys. The Skeksis are gonna kidnap you and drink your blood.
There’s a lot more to unpack in these two minutes, and a lot more I’m sure you’ve earmarked as something to look out for in the series. And there’s even more that we didn’t see. Like, where are the Mystics?? I can’t wait to find out when the series launches on August 30th!
Click here to drive the Skeksismobile to the ToughPigs forum!
by Joe Hennes – [email protected]
