The Dark Crystal Prequel Series Coming To Netflix

Discussion in 'Science Fiction & Fantasy' started by JD, May 18, 2017.

  1. PSGarak

    PSGarak Commodore Commodore

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    We just finished it up yesterday, and while I have a few little nitpicks, overall, I am stunned at the quality of the production and the depth of characterization. I always loved "The Dark Crystal" movie largely out of nostalgia (I was 12 when it came out) and because of the intricate puppetry and scenery, while I felt the story fell pretty flat in adult hindsight. This series did not in any way fall flat for me. I hope they go for another season, but to be honest, even if they don't, I feel like it stands alone very competently.
     
  2. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    We watched episode 2 this morning.
    Loved the introductions of Hup and Aughra.
    One of my favorite things in the movie is all of the different creatures that Kira sees as he's going through the swamp, so I loved the scene of Deet going through the forest.
    Ugh, I've always had a thing about eyes, so The Scientist's punishment really freaked me out. I love First Contact, but I still cringe every time the needle goes into Picard's eye in his dream. I can watch scenes of people getting gutted and decapitated and it doesn't bother me that much, but screw with someone's eye, and I'm practically watching through my fingers like a little kid.
    It was cool getting to see another one of the Gelfling tribes.
    I'm very curious why Cadia was so concerned with the symbol Brea was asking about that he was willing to wipe her memory.
    I was surprised to see that J.M. Lee was the writer for this one, he is also the author of the current novel series.
    For anyone who's interested the novels are:
    Shadows of the Dark Crystal
    Song of the Dark Crystal
    Tides of the Dark Crystal
    Flames of the Dark Crystal

    I'm not going to read it yet, but IGN has posted a story about what Lisa Henson has said about a second season of Age of Resistance.
     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2019
  3. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    Oh, that's interesting. I didn't even think about those symbols and how they might correlate to the urSkeks. Funny how that there are 22 there but other sources have indicated 18 urSkeks. Does World or any other source say the same thing about those symbols (and the count) or is it just the trivia section of the film (which may not have been written by someone who is more directly involved with the lore)?

    You didn't link to the IGN article.
     
  4. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Fixed it.
    Does anybody know what Brian Henson's up to since The Happytime Murders bombed? It seems like all of the announcements and stuff are all coming from Lisa Henson, and I haven't seen mention of Brian anywhere.
     
  5. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    io9 posted a lengthy, spoiler-filled interview with writers Jeff Addiss, Will Matthews, and Javier Grillo-Marxuach, where they also talk about what could happen in a possible second season.

    I've been wondering the same thing. It felt a little odd watching The Crystal Calls and he was nowhere in sight.

    Dare I hope...secretly developing more Farscape?!
     
  6. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Yeah, I was really surprised when I was watching the credits and didn't at least see him as an executive producer or something.
    They did say something about there having been discussions or at least that they have ideas for more Farscape at SDCC.
     
  7. Reverend

    Reverend Admiral Admiral

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    I'm not anywhere near deep enough into the fandom to have any useful knowledge in that regard. All I know is that the disc came out in 2007 and most of the trivia pieces are descriptions of the various characters and places. A lot of it is taken up with naming all the skeksis, mystics and who everyone's counterpart and "parent" identity is. With all of it being so sparse and fairly obviously culled from existing BTS material, it would seem odd for someone to just make up a detail like that without a source of some kind.
    If it helps any, the other detail that jumped out at me was the story of how the Skeksis originally tossed the shard down the mountainside, then later tossed a bunch of replicas so if found, the Gelflings wouldn't be a be to know which was real, hence Aughra having a whole bunch of shards when Jen arrived. If account crops up in another source then it's also probably where the symbol trivia originated.
     
  8. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    Correct.
     
  9. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    Alright! Having gone into the Wayback machine for habidabad.com (a wonderful site that seems to have died not long after February 2, 2017), I have pulled out all the pertinent text from "The Song of Aughra", that was transcribed from The World of the Dark Crystal.

    In case you're wondering, "Habidabad" (a.k.a. "Habeetabat") was the original name of Aughra's character in early drafts of the story, when the character was male. After several revisions, they changed the gender and name to go with more of an "Earth Mother" vibe. Other accounts have Aughra as both male and female (with the male aspect named "Habidabad"), which was "burned away" by the first Great Conjunction, and only the female "Aughra" aspect survived.

    Bolding is mine for certain passages that either apply to, or have been superseded by, Age of Resistance. This stuff is truly poetic to read; nearly biblical in its epic nature. I wish they hadn't changed some of the more significant backstory items...
     
    Last edited: Sep 3, 2019
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  10. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    The Darkened World:
     
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  11. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    On the Nature of the urRu:
     
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  12. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    On the Nature of the Skeksis:
     
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  13. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    The Prophecy and the Quest:
     
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  14. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    The Shard Restored:
     
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  15. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I only kinda skimmed up to this point, but so far most of it seems fairly consistent with what was presented in Creation Myths, at least in terms of the general ideas, although some of the details are different. Raunip's role seems to be the biggest difference, so far at least.
     
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  16. The Nth Doctor

    The Nth Doctor Infinite Possibilities... Premium Member

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    They've been talking about a film or something else for years now, so obviously they're interested in doing something but whether it actually gets green lighted is another matter. So until something more firms comes out, I'm holding back any excitement. But I do wonder if Brian's absence from this show means he's busy working something else more concrete and maybe it's Farscape?

    Hm, interesting. I'm still curious to know who was actually behind the trivia section.

    Oof, that's a lot of reading! Like JD, I only skimmed parts of all of that, but I'll be interested to see how much of that actually makes it into the series. I also wonder if they'll update The World of the Dark Crystal with what has been developed for the series. In the IGN article, Lisa Henson notes that the writers had a lot more material developed than what was seen (only about six episodes worth of their original outline is in the first season), which is more or less confirmed by the io9 interview regarding held back material.

    The writers mentioned in the interview I posted that they wanted to include him but there wasn't any room for the character for the story they wanted to tell. They said they wanted to focus on introducing the basic elements of the story first and if they get a second season, he'll likely get introduced.
     
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  17. 137th Gebirg

    137th Gebirg Admiral Premium Member

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    ^^^ If, true, it sounds like, at the very least, Creation Myths - and maybe a few other graphic novel series - will be considered canon going forward.

    Yeah, apologies for the lengthy posts. I just wanted to get everything in there that I could find and get it all in one place. The original site it all came from has long disappeared, with the content therein spread across several pages, and there's always the fear that the information could be lost "in the blur of forgetfulness". :)
     
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  18. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Yeah, I only read the first couple of posts' worth.

    Now, if it had been presented through the ancient and noble art of puppetry...
     
  19. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    If I'm correct and the official Dark Crystal website is the source of what is and isn't canon, then the canon would be Creation Myths, the novels, Age of Resistance, Legends of the Dark Crystal manga, The Dark Crystal Tales storybook, the movie, and Powers of the Dark Crystal.
    I'm thinking this must not be up to date, because it doesn't include the last two novels, and if the first two books are canon then I would assume the second two are also since they're one ongoing series by the same author. Beneath the Dark Crystal isn't mentioned either.
    There is no mention of World of the Dark Crystal, and since that is the only thing not on the list that came out before it was put together, I'm thinking it must have been made non-canon.
    I'm little frustrated that the Legends manga are no longer in print, since they are the only things on the list not easily available.
    EDIT: I was just looking through the site's encyclopedia entry on Aughra and it does have The World of the Dark Crystal as a source, so I guess they aren't totally ignoring it.
     
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  20. Mr. Low Frequency

    Mr. Low Frequency Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Thank you for posting all of that. Epic stuff. Makes me think too that the inconsistencies might not be, but just our limited pov (much like the Gelflings have) of the overarching myth. All of the seeming differences, between the series and movie, that had me confused over the first few episodes came together nicely by the end. Hopefully the full story gets to be told.

    It also makes me kind of want a Game of Thrones puppet show. Once the novels are all done that is.
     
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