“It completely changed the course of my life.” “It was a very visceral, intense experience, because I was 10, I think, and I started making short films using my toys and stuff - Super 8 movies - and this felt like it was the mega version of what doing,” he said in a telephone interview. Now the director of the series, Leterrier said it wasn’t only the story, but also the process, that drew him in. The influence of the original film’s hair-raising puppets was felt strongly by a young Louis Leterrier back in the 1980s. Like the “Star Wars” prequels, viewers will recognize Thra, but it’s shinier. That world is still filled with creatures like the peaceful, heroic, elf-like Gelflings the gardening, dirt-loving Podlings and the dog-like balls of rolling fur called Fizzgig. The Netflix series, which premieres Friday, is a prequel to the film, a way to see the magical world of Thra before it’s ruined by the Skeksis and their greed. “Now we’re living in a generation that has gone through so many iterations of fantasy films that have a darker side that I think ‘The Dark Crystal’s’ time has really come again.” Fear of the Skeksis is a common reaction to the original “Dark Crystal.” The initial feedback surprised Froud and the others, since they “didn’t even think about whether it was for children or adults.” But he knows the world has changed.

“I know that when I was designing - specifically the Skeksis - Jim Henson and Frank Oz loved them, so they were just encouraging me to make them worse!” he added, referring to the villainous, vulture-like creatures who subjugate, and help to corrode, much of the world of Thra. “So a lot of my costuming and designs of characters were in shapes and forms to hide the puppeteers.” “Because it’s puppetry, a lot of what we do is disguise,” Froud said. Brian Froud, the primary concept artist and costumer on both the 1982 film “The Dark Crystal” and Netflix’s upcoming prequel series, “The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance,” remembers constant trickery on the set of the original.

The dark crystal