The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (Netflix)

[Silver Nemesis]

I've never been a big fan of the original Dark Crystal. I watched it again earlier this year, and my reaction was the same as when I last saw it over a decade ago: it's got beautiful visuals, great special effects and an interesting mythology, but the characters and storyline fall flat for me. That said, the trailer for this new Netflix series is very impressive. It looks gorgeous.

I've been vocal about how tired I am of seeing old IPs revived with inferior reboots. But in this instance, I think the revival stands a good chance of surpassing the original. If they preserve everything that worked about the 1982 movie – the art direction, production design, practical effects, cinematography and mythology – but give it a better plot and characters, then this could turn out to be a really good series. It's already reminding me of old Jim Henson shows I used to watch as a child, such as Dinosaurs and The Storyteller: Greek Myths.

I also think this offers a good example of what Disney should be doing with their Lucasfilm properties. Instead of making sequels to Star Wars and Indiana Jones, I think they should be focusing on the more flawed Lucasfilm IPs like Labyrinth and Willow. That way they could actually improve on the originals instead of retroactively damaging them.

[thecolorsblend]

I've been wondering about Willow myself, now that you mention it. Considering the attention that the LOTR show is garnering, now might not be a bad time for Disney to blow the dust off Willow and give that property another look.

[Silver Nemesis]

Willow has a lot of potential. The original movie's fun, but hardly a great film. There's plenty of room for improvement, and both Warwick and Val have spoken of wanting to revisit their roles. After her terrific performance in Daredevil season 3, I'd love to see Joanna Whaley come back too, though it might be awkward for her and Val to work together again.

The original movie has enough of a cult following that there'd be public interest in a soft reboot. However the expectations wouldn't be so impossibly high that they couldn't be met. A movie sequel has been talked about for years, but considering the current appetite for high fantasy TV shows perhaps a miniseries would be preferable. At any rate, I'd much rather see a soft reboot of Willow than Indiana Jones 5. There's no way that movie can possibly live up to expectations. A Willow sequel, however, could.

[Silver Nemesis]

The cast of this series is shaping up nicely. So far it includes Sigourney Weaver, Simon Pegg, Mark Hamill, Jason Isaacs and Toby Jones amongst many other notable names.

A turn-based strategy game called The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics was unveiled at E3 last month.

There's also a 12-issue comic series being published by Boom! Studios: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/dark-crystal-comic-book-series-accompany-netflix-show-1220211