How Netflix may have failed The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance

Forbes

The Dark Crystal prequel series, which was canceled after one season on Monday, dealt with timely topics such as inequality, oppression and political scheming. Yet despite the popularity of fantasy series like Game of Thrones and The Witcher, The Dark Crystal may have failed to catch on because the puppets lacked emotional range and because of its lengthy run time, says Dani Di Placido. "There were several dramatic sequences involving Gelflings befriending, loving, and vehemently disagreeing with one another, but most had the emotional resonance of Disney’s lifeless remake of The Lion King; that inability to emote, I think, made these segments difficult to sit through," he says. "Considering the depth of the world-building on display, that was a tremendous shame; there was a real sense of history when it came to the Gelfling clans, and their contracting cultures and traditions. Netflix also has a problem when it comes to bloated runtimes; an episode of The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance could run anywhere from forty minutes to an hour, and, sometimes, that length felt unjustified. It was far from the only Netflix show in desperate need of a trim, but combined with that lack of emotional expression, likely led to a lot of viewers losing patience. Where Netflix really went wrong with the show, however, was cancelling it before it had the chance to grow into itself (the same mistake was made with Tuca & Bertie, which was eventually picked up by Adult Swim)."