A Damn Fine Cup of Culture

Welcome to Six Damn Fine Degrees. These instalments will be inspired by the idea of six degrees of separation in the loosest sense. The only rule: it connects – in some way – to the previous instalment. So come join us on our weekly foray into interconnectedness.

In last week’s column Matt wrote about the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. that “You’re put in a world that is likely to eat you alive in many, many ways – but you’re also reliant on that world…“, and the moment I read those words I knew I had to abandon any plans I had to talk about another video game, or Tarkovsky, or even return to the actual Chernobyl. Because it made me want to write about my favourite TV show right now, Scavengers Reign.

Based on an animated short, its a twelve-episode series about a group of space travellers abandoned on a beautiful yet deadly alien world. Originally commissioned (then axed) by HBO, its been picked up by Netflix where it’ll hopefully find a global audience it deserves.

The list of clear influences on this series are pretty much a list of “Things I would desperately want to see in an animated Science Fiction film”. The most striking is the French artist Mœbius, whose beautiful and disturbing art is written into the very DNA of the show. In fact, I would say that this is possibly the first time that what makes Mœbius’ art so great has been captured outside the world of graphic novels.

If that wasn’t enough reason to watch, another influence I’d wish for is also here: Hayao Miyazaki. There’s a wonderful delicacy to some of the animation when capturing the life on an alien world, as well as a real sense of darkness when that life is disturbed by the intrusion of humanity. Not that this is necessarily a harmonious idyll before our lead characters crash here. The ecosystem is repeatedly displayed as being as ruthless not just in tooth and claw, but tentacle, invasive parasitic egglaying and psychic manipulation. If you ever wondered what images might have been produced if HR Giger had ended up a Studio Ghibli animator in the mid-‘80s, this series gives you a pretty good answer.

The brutality of the world is reflected in the story of the leading characters. It’s hard to write too much about this without going into the realm of spoilers. Suffice to say that this is a deadly world for those stuck on it, but it never feels like another cheap sci-fi Aliens rip-off, with a cast being whittled down for the nasty death scenes. It’s just that this world is dangerous. And it is a testament to the skill of the writing that I was surprised by how much I cared when a certain character died. But again – I’ll need to stop there before spoilers.

Don’t be put off by the twelve-episode count. These clock in at a breezy twenty-five minutes each, more or less. And while it’s fair to say a good chunk of the plot is “humans exploring a beautiful and deadly planet”, there is enough peril, imagination and beauty to sustain the running time. And beyond that, there is enough of a bigger tale being told to justify sticking with it to the end.

There is talk that if the show ends up doing well for Netflix, it might get a second season. And while I’d definitely be up for that, there can never be enough great animation in my book. But even if this is all we get of Scavengers Reign and its wondrous, twisted hellhole of a planet, it’s more than enough to make it a recommendation.