I Just Watched The Dark Crystal: Age Of Resistance...

I guess the title of this blog post kind of gives it away but guess what! I just watched The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance on Netflix and Oh My God!!!

I remember watching the original film when I was young and it scared the living bejesus out of me. I never saw it again because of that, but then just as the age of DVD's starting dawning, I saw a copy of it on a trip to Switzerland and had to buy it for old time's sake. Unfortunately I had no idea what area codes were on DVDs back then so when I got it home to the UK I couldn't watch it. I was so disappointed.

Then Netflix announced they were making a prequel as a series, and with it put the original up, so I was there. I love the original, with all its Gelflings and Skeksis, and it was no where near as scary as I remember, but then I'm not six years old anymore (I don't actually know how old I was when I first watched it, but know I was fairly young - born in 1980). Yeah, it's full of your typical tropes, of chosen ones and prophecies, but it was released back in 1982 when those things probably weren't considered as tropes, and the whole thing is so endearing. And the puppetry design by Brian and Wendy Froud is brilliant

I've always been a big fan of Brian and Wendy Froud, and not just because of their work on the Dark Crystal and, of course, the Labyrinth with David Bowie (their son, Toby, played Toby in this film, in case you didn't know). Back when I used to blog Pic of the Week every Friday, I featured Froud (here) and was absolutely thrilled when they left a comment. I felt like I had been contacted by an A-lister! It seriously made my day.

So anyway, the fabulously talented duo were back doing what they do best on the Age of Resistance series, and wow. Just wow! They kept the puppetry work so don't expect any amazing Matrix CGI stunts but the work they put into it was amazing, and it still keeps the original 1982 endearing feel and all its charms that fans love so much - including me. I was blown away. And it didn't scare me this time :). Definitely worth a watch.

Well done, Netflix. Well done.

By the way, if anyone wants to by me a Christmas (or even birthday) gift, I wouldn't mind a little Fizzgig :)

A Good Omen for Good Omens . . .

I finished watching Good Omens by Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman last week. I have to admit that I've not read much Terry Pratchett but I am familiar with his work, and boy! you can see it come through in this. It is very Pratchett-esque. And that's a good thing. It's light hearted and good fun and the chemistry between Sheen's angel and Tennant's demon is just divine!

However, I had to laugh yesterday when I read in the news that 20,000 Christians have petitioned for NETFLIX to cancel the show, claiming it is normalising Satanism, amoung other things. Now, I'm not against people airing their opinions - everyone has a right to - but I'm shocked that 20,000 people failed to spot their one blinding error. Any guesses what that error might be?

One of Neil Gaiman's responses to this on Twitter, which made me chuckle, was:

"This is so beautiful. Promise you won't tell them."

And even though there have been a few tweets regarding this since then, the tweet from Amazon Prime to Netflix was, I thought, priceless...

Pic of the Week . . . DareDevil

So, what does a writer do when they're not writing - or blogging? Well, watching a lot more TV, that's for sure. I've taken a very keen liking to the Netflix series Daredevil and Jessica Jones, and since finding out that the second series of Daredevil AND The Defenders, which bring them all together, are all on the cards, plus more, I'm am so excited. More time to spend not writing. Yay!

So what makes them different to the usual Marvel stuff that's out or in progress - which I also absolutely love? For starters, the writing. I don't know how they do it, but at some point they make you start routing for the bad guy - and you don't even realise it until you find yourself wishing they could have their happy ending (and question what the hell you're doing!). But in the words of Wilson Fisk, "Not everyone deserves a happy ending."

This week's Pic of the Week goes to NLMDA for his mind-blowing depiction of Charlie Cox as Daredevil. So go check out his other awesome pieces on his Tumblr website or like him on Facebook (which he deserves). He also does commissions too if his work can sway you.

Enjoy.

Daredevil by NLMDA