I’ve been seeing a lot of stuff about AI lately. Instagram reels of people talking about Meta using your personal messages and digital footprint for training data, trying to make computers feel more human. A Chinese company made a robot so lifelike some thought it was a person in a suit. Humanity has this obsession with progress and expansion, often at the expense of what we already have.
Like the Earth.
This week’s review is Scavengers Reign, the 2023 animated HBO series that I would bet Bitcoin on that most East Londoners haven’t heard of.
You might have to dig around a bit to find it, but it’s worth the hunt.
This adult animation (because animation is not only for children, you uncultured demibot) is a fascinating, haunting, delicate and violent space-survival story. It shows the consequences of human fear, individualism and greed.
The premise: humans have conquered space travel. A cargo ship called the Demeter 226 is ferrying colonists through deep space when it is damaged by a solar flare and crashes on a strange, living planet. Created by Joe Bennett and Charles Huettner, the series builds on their 2016 short film Scavengers. It was produced by Titmouse Inc and took years to grow into the full 12-episode season that finally premiered on Max in October 2023.
I only got to it this week, so… anyway.
We follow several survivors as they try to make it back to the wreck, discovering the planet’s ecosystem through life or death experiences. Which plants can float, which secrete breathable air, which try to eat you.
The voice cast is stellar: Sunita Mani as Ursula, Wunmi Mosaku as Azi, and Alia Shawkat as Levi, a robot companion whose curiosity becomes the emotional core of the story.
Levi’s wonder at the planet, the way she studies insect-like creatures and mycelium forests is pure and joyful as she interacts with the world around her. I wish humanity had the same grace, respect and awe for the sanctity of our own fragile ecosystem. Every creature here has a purpose, and even as our human characters are mauled, gassed, chomped and sliced, our awe for the planet grows.
Scavengers Reign is a visual masterpiece. I say it’s not for young viewers because it’s scary! And unsettling!
The story, the visual panoramic visions of space and landscape, are magnificent.
I think it’s also a reminder of how humans are not at the centre of everything. And how fragile we actually are. And why we need to rely on one another.
It’s the fear and love of nature. It’s also what happens when we put individualism over community.
In essence: technology, robots, invention … there’s also discovery in the subtle science of what lives around us.
A solid 10/10 show and must-watch.
