THE DARK CRYSTAL: AGE OF RESISTANCE
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team later, as Addiss and Matthews were both
inexperienced in running a writer’s room for a
TV show.
Grillo-Marxuach tells us that when he came
on board he “fi gured we would need a number
of weeks to fi gure out what the long-term arc of
the fi rst season would be, and then I looked at
the bible and the pitch materials that these guys
had written and it was so just involved that we
were probably breaking story within a couple of
days of us starting the writer’s room, in terms of
individual episodes, because part of selling it to
Netfl ix and part of doing the work that they did
was really to fi gure all of this out.”
Luckily, selling it to Netfl ix had gone smoothly,
as they had fi nally found an executive who loved
The Dark Crystal as much as everyone else on
the team did, and who was keen to stay true to
the fi lm’s roots and do it with puppets. Everyone
was thrilled – until they realised they had to
fi gure out how to tell a 10x60 minute drama
series entirely with puppets. That’s where the
A DARK CRYSTAL
GLOSSARY
THRA
The world in
which The
Dark Crystal
is set.
THE CRYSTAL
The Crystal is
the living heart
of Thra, but has
been turned into
a source of power by the Skeksis,
granting them eternal life.
URSKEKS
These creatures
were the fi rst to
attempt to use
the Crystal. In
trying to purify themselves, they
accidentally split themselves into two
beings: Skeksis and Mystics.
SKEKSIS
Monstrous
creatures who
rule Thra,
drawing their
power by corrupting the Crystal.
MYSTICS
Peaceful
creatures who
are also known
as urRu. They
remain connected to their Skeksis
other-halves.
GELFLING
Elf-like creatures,
often found
living in harmony
with nature.
PODLINGS
Small creatures
who are
employed as
servants in the
Skeksis castle.
LAND
STRIDERS
Long-legged
creatures that are
like horses, but
far more terrifying.
real challenge began. Luckily, the UK – where
they chose to shoot the show – has a wealth of
puppet knowledge, as the Jim Henson Creature
Shop has had a UK base for a number of years,
and the show was able to bring back some
key players from the original fi lm, including
some puppeteers – including Dave Goelz, the
puppeteer behind The Muppets’ Gonzo and The
Dark Crystal’s Fizzgig – and, crucially, original
concept artist Brian Froud, the man behind the
distinctive look of The Dark Crystal.
Froud came on board to help translate
the look of the fi lm into the series. Where the
fi lm only featured two Gelfl ing, the series has
upwards of 50 distinct Gelfl ing puppets, plus
entire, varied Gelfl ing civilisations. As the
creator of the Gelfl ing, Froud was invaluable to
the show. His job was to get the series’ designers
on the right page when it came to replicating
and expanding on the world of Thra. “In the
beginning, oddly enough, it was all going
awfully wrong, we couldn’t fi gure out why it was
