Scavengers Reign: Season 1
Created by Joseph Bennett & Charles Huettner
Written by: Joseph Bennett, Charles Huettner Sean Buckelew, James Merrill, Jenny Deiker Restivo, Jillian Goldfluss
I'm a big sucker for original sci-fi. It's why I tuned into the ultimately-disappointing Raised by Wolves, and into The Ark and Beacon 23, the latter of which I have yet to review.
I'm delighted to say Scavengers Reign held up, beginning to end.
It's a fairly simple story, in concept: the colonial ship Demeter crash-lands on an alien planet. Several crew members escaped in pods prior to the main ship landing, and their pods landed in scattered locations across a vast area. Now these crew members have to make their way back to the crashed remains of the Demeter for a chance to regroup and possibly make it back off the planet.
Right as the show begins, we're introduced to the survivors as already having been established for a fair amount of time. One of them, Azi, has established a thriving vegetable garden with the help of her robot, Levi. Two others, Sam and Ursula, landed in the same area and are trying to use local energy sources to revive pieces of equipment they had with them. The last survivor who we focus on, Kamen, landed by himself, and is going a bit stir crazy when he befriends some mysterious local fauna. The show takes off as each of them witness the Demeter itself finally crash onto the planet, giving all of them a destination and goal to regroup.
The craziest, most exciting, and most original aspect of the series in my opinion is the elaborate flora and fauna present on the planet and the even more elaborate and intricate ecosystems that Bennett and Huettner have dreamed up. (Coupled with, of course, the beautiful and tantalizingly smooth animation and art that brings it to life.) It does require a bit of suspension of disbelief, especially from myself as having a biology background, because the relationships aren't always the most realistic. There isn't always a clear-cut predator-prey relationship or clear animal symbiosis. Heck, who am I kidding, though? It's an alien planet; anything should go. Every episode, and usually several times per episode, we're treated to a new animal or plant and some other animal or plant that interacts with it. Half the time it's sinister, but half the time it's just pretty or mutualistic. In fact, for the first few episodes, I was convinced that it was a largely friendly planet because many interactions (including ones with the crew) were benign and just pretty. The latter half of the series proved me wrong with a lot of death and some very elaborate parasites.
Two fantastical and brilliant parts of the series pertained to forms of alien intelligence. The aforementioned robot, Levi, becomes contaminated with what appears to be an alien fungus that roots itself into its circuitry. But instead of hurting the robot--to Azi's bewilderment--it seems to organically mesh with the wiring, adding to Levi's functions and programming. This is a series-long development and threw me for some awesome and unexpected loops. The other thing was a certain animal species introduced early on that seems to communicate telepathically, able to connect with the crew's memories. The animal seemed to get some enjoyment out of drawing memories out, but I never quite grasped the nature of the animal's interest.
Toward the end, new characters are introduced who aren't part of the Demeter and have alternate interests in the ship, and things get wild when the survivors finally meet up with each other and these new characters. The plot is rich and fascinating the whole way through, with some layers of mystery unraveling with regard to the Demeter. Season 1 gives us some good answers, but this series is very ripe for exploration, both with the future of the Demeter and in what this alien planet can offer. Also check out IGN's similarly-glowing review of the show's first season here.
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