Dark Crystal Franchise

[Jag]

Look! You can now buy a figure of Mira! It looks amazing!

I'm a terrible person and I don't feel sorry about it. >.>

[Haruki]

Look! You can now buy a figure of Mira! It looks amazing!

I'm a terrible person and I don't feel sorry about it. >.>

Spoiler: Click to Show/Hide

Ooof, too soon friend, TOO - Soon!!.

(Hidden behind spoiler tag for those still watching.)

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I finally closed the book on Season 1 last night, deciding to throw eps 9 and 10 back-to-back.  All I will say outside of spoilers is that.....This show craves and NEEDS another season (or two) worse than the Skeksis crave and need Gelfling essence to gain immortality!  Particularly to close out the two huge plot ropes that were left dangling at the closing scenes.

Ep 9 & 10 Thoughts.  Do NOT Peeek unless you like being spoiled rotten!

• I don't know why...I may need to pay closer attention in a re-watch, but Ep 9 felt the most 'dragged out' of the season.  Only two significant things really happened: Aughra cuts a deal with the Skeksis (it turns out to be part of a master plan to turn the tables on the Skeksis), and Rian puts out the call to all 7 Gelfling clans to unite and wage a revolution against the Skeksis.  I don't know, it just seemed to drag a little in spots.  Still some breathtaking scenes though, no surprise as this whole season has been a lot of yummy visual eye-candy.


• I must say, some of those motions from the Gelfling, particularly our male lead Rian, in that battle...if there's a mix of CG and puppetry wizardry here, I can't tell either apart.  While the big finishing battle between Gelfling and Skeksi can be a bit tricky to watch with all the cutaways, all things considered, they did a good job.


• Not in the closing minutes of EP 10, but earlier.  OOF!  Someone give Brea virtual huggles.  She's losing everyone she's grown up with left and right.  She warned them of their fate but those close to her chose not to listen, and thus they are meeting their fate and dropping like flies.

Closing Scenes

• Before the closing title card (with that memorable reprise of the original "Dark Crystal' theme), we see Deet just walking away deeper into the woodlands....and leaving a trail of the Darkening in her wake.  Uh oh.......!  Rian just can't catch a break....losing Mira, then his Father after mending the fences with him to boot!, and now close friend, ally and possible love interest (?!...and yeah, that ship is at port in my head, hoping it can sail) in Deet being consumed by the Darkening?
• The Scientist's newest creation, a Garthim (!!) gets its big reveal in the epilogue.  Any die-hard Dark Crystal fan like myself knows what this is going to lead to.  Big Trouble!

Whew.  What a ride this series has been.  Hats off to the crew and cast of voice actors bringing this world and its characters back.

[Jag]

Awesome you finished it!

I don't think that Aughra knew she would be reborn. She's been alive for a very long time and she's made some awful mistakes. She was really willing to sacrifice herself to free the captured Gelfling because she believe the Gelfling are the important ones, not herself. She's willing to give up her long life to rescue the ones she think will save Thra. But I did like the Hunter/Archer's end. It was dramatic and emotional.

I have some fears that there is going to be a big retcon of the movie if continue with seasons. I have my own theories of why there are so few Gelflings in the movie beyond just the massacre and why there are so many in the sequel comics. More seasons will either follow to the movie where all Gelflings are killed off and that'll be it. Other options are for select Gelflings to go into hiding. We don't know how big Thra really is. It's entirely possible that they escape the main land and hide out somewhere until Jen and Kira fix the crystal. The last option is to remove the film entirely. It's possible that Aughra saw the future since she did mention at one point preventing it from happening. She saw the events of the film and is taking an active role to prevent it and will succeed.

Honestly, if they do that last one, I imagine there will be a large backlash. People don't want Jen and Kira's story removed from the equation, we want to know what happened to make it necessary. I'm perfectly fine with all these adorable Gelfling getting the axe in the end, because my theory on how Gelfling life works supports the storyline and does not require Gelfling to go into hiding or for Jen/Kira to repopulate.

As for the CGI, as far as I know, the CGI was reserved for enhancement only (making eyes blink, tongues move, and the like). That it was not used for anything else, which would make the fight scenes even more impressive if that's the case. I'd have to look into it further.

I'm worried for Deet. Her vision showed her on the Skeksis throne with the Darkening Eyes. We didn't see that happen in the show, so we have to assume that is likely something they have planned for the future. I don't see Deet going evil, but I do see her trying to take on the Skeksis on her own. Hoping that by absorbing all the Darkening she can, that she can just kill them. That she'll give up on their quest to heal the Crystal and just try to off them.

I have a theory on Hup. He was left in the Circle of the Suns. Deet gets her vision and part of it is a female Gelfling (who looks a lot like Brea) hiding a baby in a tree. This is what happened to Kira. I think Kira is Brea's child and Hup is going to rescue her from the tree and bring her to the Podling village. Hup is a better Paladin than most of the Paladins. He even stood up to the Hunter to save Deet. Hup is the best.

Gurjin

And can we all appreciate what a good Gelfling Gurjin is? Like seriously, he's underrated.

-No questions asked followed his friends on an Arathim hunt through the castle.
-No questions asked believed Rian when he said he didn't kill Mira.
-No questions asked followed Rian to rescue Mira's essance.
-Gave Rian a chance to escape with no thought to his own safety.
-Sat through Skeksis torture without giving up.
-Rescued Rian with his sister despite being in pain after his tortures.
-Went back with his sister to rally the Drenchen to the rebellion.
-Willing to hug an Arathim.

Rian couldn't ask for a better friend.

[Rinzler]

Really enjoyed this series. The design was just stunning - the care for the world absolutely shone through. For me, the standout was the Skeksis emperor - a truly, truly evil-looking creature (a fact helped by Jason Isaac's voice work - all barely supressed rage and spite and bitter hatred). It really shone a light (well okay, a dark light) on why the Skekses in the original film remained visibly afraid of their emperor even when he was withering away on his deathbed. He really was an absolute nightmare.

[Jag]

Jason Isaac's did great at portraying a character that we saw and heard so little from in the movie. It's great to see the Chamberlain and such, but seeing how the Emperor got to where he was is good. Isaac has such a good smooth villain voice.

Heretic and Wanderer Funny

[Jag]

Theory Time!

I love a good theory.

Anyway...Deet had a vision when the Century Tree gave her it's powers. She had several, actually. She saw a baby Gelfling being put into a tree for hiding (I'm guessing this is Kira since that's exactly what happened to Kira), she saw herself sitting on the Emperor's throne with Darkness in her eyes, and she saw Rian putting the shard back into the Crystal.

First viewing, I thought she was seeing Jen putting the shard into the Crystal since she saw Kira being hidden. But watching it the second time, I realize that the hair is too dark with too much green to be Jen. The Gelfling is also wearing dark brown clothing, but Jen's was a lighter tan. It's not Jen. It's Rian. She's seeing him trying to heal the Crystal. My thoughts are that they will do one more season. More than that is a large task. One season alone is a large task to create. I can't see them reasonably going beyond two. So I figure the season will end with Rian attempting to heal the Crystal. He will succeed in getting there and getting to that point, but it's not going to work. Why? Because there's no Great Conjunction. A Great Conjunction brought the urSkeks to Thra. A Great Conjunction split the urSkeks. And we know the prophecy requires a Great Conjunction to put them back together and send them home. Rian will succeed in placing the shard into the Crystal, but it will not heal the Crystal. This is going to be the ultimate leading to the Gelfling massacre. They tried and failed. It wasn't that they were wrong, they just don't have the timing. It's going to be another hundred trine or so before another Great Conjunction from the current timeline.

As for Deet seeing herself on the throne. That's going to happen too. Deet is going to die and not in the massacre. Remember, energy can only be transferred. The Darkness can't just go away. But it can be put somewhere else. Deet is going to absorb all of it. However, her plan is going to fail. Because at some point she is going to realize that just absorbing it solves nothing. If it kills her, it will just release the Darkness back into Thra again. She's going to get angry. It's going to corrupt her because she's going to see that there is nothing she can do to stop it. It's going to be bottled up in her until she dies and then it will destroy Thra again. In the end, she's going to allow Rian to kill her, but he will do it with the shard. As we saw in his fight with the General, it can absorb. He's going to absorb the Darkening from Deet, which will kill her, and try to put the shard back to heal the Crystal.

For her being on the throne...Deet is going to kick some Emperor ass. She's full of the Darkening. She's angry. She knows all of this is their fault and he's their leader. She won't kill them (at least not all of them), but they will walk into the throne room to see her sitting there before she knocks them around a little before Rian shows up.

Again, this plan won't work. Instead, we'll lose Deet and the Gelflings will die. What will happen though is that it will allow Augrah to take the shard and hide it away.

Just my thoughts. Obviously we have no idea how it's really going to go.