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Raised by Wolves
2020 · TV series · 2 seasons
Created by Aaron Guzikowski
After Earth is ravaged by a great religious war, an atheistic android architect sends two of his creations, Mother and Father, to start a peaceful, godless colony on the planet Kepler-22b. Their treacherous task is jeopardized by the arrival of the Mithraic, a deeply devout religious order of surviving humans.
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25 comments on Hacker News
The same theme was present in season 2 of Raised By Wolves. (RIP my favorite show in some years)
I can give you all other movies and admit that Ridley Scott made more than one movie in his career, but Prometheus and Raised by Wolves are exactly what I'm talking about.
What I wanted from "Raised by Wolves" was out there, big concept Sci-Fi
What I would have settled for was a decent Space opera.
What I got was a Shaggy God Story, a wild hallucinated fever dream, a wooly, baggy technicolour Biblical riff, that promised a lot but made little actual sense. I slogged through season 1, and then gave it up.
We just have to get creative, or discover some new physics :-)
In addition to the ark-ship colony, or the cryosleep slow ship:
1. Assuming it's a stream of robotic probes doing flybys, without decelerating, we have the Breakthrough Starshot approach. Maybe there's a way to use the target system's sun for solar sail braking? Send smart enough robots that have agency, that can do the exploring for us.
2. For human travel - it could just be a bunch of frozen embryos with a robotic nursemaid, accelerated via external propulsion and decelerated via nukes / high-g aerobraking... (Raised by Wolves had a cool introduction like this in the first episode - then went quickly downhill)
3. ...
These remind me of styling in Raise by Wolves [0] of the Mithraic [1].
By the way, it's a great sci-fi show and I was very saddened when I heard HBO Max canceled it (during its transition to Max). I unsubscribed from them and I'm boycotting them due to this hostility.
[0]: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9170108/
[1]: https://raised-by-wolves.fandom.com/wiki/Mithraic
Edit: Movies, unsorted, from the top of my mind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Limits_of_Control https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Origins https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_East_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter%27s_Bone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contagion_(2011_film) , seen before Covid, deemed to be realistic, and therefore better than stuff like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Andromeda_Strain with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warning_Sign_(film) somewhere in between. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phase_IV_(1974_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizards_(film) The remakes of the Planet of the Apes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Days_Later , https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/28_Weeks_Later a little less so, though it had some great scenes of flying into London City Airport and the modern parts around that. Bladerunner in the original versions, the remake not so much. 2001: A Space Odyssey, the intro and first parts, spaceflight to the moon and such, the rest not. Too boring. I liked the sequel 2010: Odyssey Two better, actually. Avatar. Part one only. All of this https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alien_(franchise) with the exception of the crossover stuff. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elysium_(film) for the almost cyberpunkish fuckedupness of it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dracula_Untold https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beach_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harrison_Bergeron_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Idiocracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WALL-E https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Island_(2005_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/THX_1138 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logan%27s_Run_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropia_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rollerball_(1975_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleep_Dealer https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southland_Tales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Live https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendence_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_for_Vendetta_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puppet_Masters_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Survivalist_(2015_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supernova_(2000_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_(2007_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_(1987_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patient_Zero_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capricorn_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hangar_18_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_One_(2001_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timecop Ron Silverman Badass! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucy_(2014_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_Blonde https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Are_the_Night_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_(1997_American_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Truman_Show https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombiana https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knowing_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dead_Zone_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_(1998_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adjustment_Bureau https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrival_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lifeforce_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourth_Protocol_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Machine_(2013_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon_(2009_film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Final_Countdown_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefox_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paycheck_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypher_(film) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trigger_Point https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echelon_Conspiracy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Anderson_Tapes https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Parallax_View https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Seduction
TV-Series: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survivors_(1975_TV_series) and the remake linked from there. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Train_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jericho_(2006_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strain_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayward_Pines https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silo_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_All_Mankind_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellowstone_(American_TV_series) and its prequel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_(TV_series)
WESTWORLD!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_100_(TV_series) Praimfaya! Yeehaa! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counterpart_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altered_Carbon_(TV_series) All of Black Mirror! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_Experiments_Lain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travelers_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falling_Skies https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Devs_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Peripheral_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Expanse_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helix_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incorporated_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raised_by_Wolves_(American_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/See_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tales_from_the_Loop https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutschland_83 and sequels. ÄXZÄLLÄNNT! JAWOLLJA! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humans_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Into_the_Night_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Worlds_(2019_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_Nova_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Gods_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozark_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_High_Castle_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension_(miniseries) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Person_of_Interest_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Event https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Origin_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pioneer_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolution_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resurrection_(American_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salvation_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Under_the_Dome_(TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V_(2009_TV_series) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprica
This all began about 2006 with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battlestar_Galactica_(2004_TV_series) after having abstained from possessing a TV, or watching that by other means (with some exceptions for news and documentaries) since 1996, and mostly no cinema either.
That stuff rehooked me in a binge-watching session. Shit happens :-)
Do yoo vanna häff fries wiff thät?
/nerdsnipe off
I haven't watched it, but that's supposedly the premise of the scifi TV show "Raised By Wolves". Frozen embryos born and raised by robots.
Raised by wolves too. Supposedly amazon has it for a price per-episode maybe? HBO said they were selling it to other streaming services for a limited time too for some reason.
Overall I feel pretty disappointed in all of this. It seems like they've been dropping all the original stuff like Raised by Wolves or The Nevers and just making a bunch of spin off/remakes of existing stuff like a Harry Potter TV show and GoT spin offs. Just seem dedicated to only taking what they think are safe bets.
we would also be disgusted
Would we? the Predator film franchise is popular because the alien visitor is an obvious dark reflection of ourselves. Ridley Scott's Alien franchise is considered more horror than action because the creature is parasitical and asocial. (Incidentally you should check out his TV shows Raised by Wolves for yet another perspective.)
It seems like any decent plot succumbs to soap opera writing. e.g. Raised by Wolves season 2. I thought the SCC was a lot of fun for about 6 hours. Then it waned… Sometimes I’ll see a different “written by” on sci-fi credits and think “ahh, that’s the reason!”
This may be an unpopular opinion, but I wish networks/services would stop trying to make safe bets with new screen adaptations of classic books and movies. Some of the worst TV I've watched this year has been adaptations of classic books/movies (Foundation, LOTR) and some of the best has been new content (Severance, Raised by Wolves, House of the Dragon).
Not a movie but the recently canceled Raised By Wolves dealt a lot with AI and was frankly incredible
Raised by wolves season 2 also has a government led by an AI.
Have you seen raised by wolves? Season 2 deals with this
> This was touched upon a bit in season 2 of the Raised by Wolves sci-fi
To add to this, also very relevant and on-topic piece of Sci-Fi is the Movie "Her": https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/ where a guy falls in love with his operating system - so knowing it is not a real-entity but basically a chatbot.
> In a few years, if access to even better chat bots becomes common place, what will happen if there's no longer one Blake Lemoine...
> How long before we have a religion where you ask the chat bot for daily guidance?
That might actually happen at some point in the not too distant future. When we mix technology designed to fool people, with people that want to believe it is something other than what it is, then you are very likely to get into those situations.
This was touched upon a bit in season 2 of the Raised by Wolves sci-fi, where they showed people who allowed and counted on AI to make decisions for them. It is not too hard to imagine having a chat bot built for or is easily adapted to the purpose of providing daily guidance for those in a state of mind to seek out and become dependent upon such.
I've always had a soft spot for ancient-tech-scifi a la Mass Effect/Expanse/Horizon/Raised By Wolves, and of course StarGate. In that regard Atlantis should be right up my alley as I like most fictional Atlantis-depictions.
What I disliked about SG:A wasn't the setup or the actors (which had fun chemistry), but the antagonists/wraiths that I found completely uninteresting, and the droning problem-of-the-week episodes, with too little focus on developing the backstory of the city/ship/base itself.
SG1 was definitely a show of the 90s TV show archetype too, but atleast evolved into higher stakes, borrowed tech, Asgardians, etc.
I've noticed an even newer effect: Making scenes almost all black. It might be a software problem with the HBO Max app's gamma and brightness settings, but it's absolutely the case that, during the day with thin curtains drawn, I had to put a thick blanket over my head and an iPad in order to see the highlights in some of the darker scenes in one of their recent original productions (probably Raised by Wolves Season One; can't remember for sure).
These were action scenes with grunting and no dialogue, so the blanket was the only way to follow the plot.
That isn't true. The first season of Raised by Wolves is a masterpiece and key episodes (some of its best) were directed by him.
It's gnostic existential sci-fi horror with gorgeous set-pieces and style evocative of LOT 2046's more out there designs. Amanda Collin's emulation of an android is the best I've ever seen.
Makes me feel less bad about being so bored watching Raised By Wolves, as I was expecting an epic TV show on par with the exploration of the Aliens universe.
Would you be, or would you just wonder why the author did that? I'm watching the Raised By Wolves TV show right now (probably not for much longer, it got pretty bad after the first half of the first season.) They have a giant serpent that flies around as if air were water. Nobody on the show explains or questions that.
The "explanation" you're referring to is what criticism is attempting to provide.
edit: That's why it hopped from a psychological theory of everything like Freudianism in the first part of the 20th century to a materialist theory of everything in Marxism in the 60s. They're frameworks for answering questions that weren't directly answered in the work. Part of making writing interesting is prompting questions that you trick people into answering themselves.
> * it passed the Matrix test. (1. I want to watch the original Matrix. 2. I searched for the Matrix and clicked the result. 3. It streamed the Matrix to me.)
This Matrix test is a great one, I'm going to apply it to a bunch of services and see what I get.
I think I might just have a bit of a hangover from how many times HBO Max logged me out and made me log back in via some contorted system with my cable provider that has caused me inertia with renewing it. Also, now that I think back, another problem that caused me to avoid it a bit was that the HBO Max app sometimes just seemed to freeze up on my Roku in the middle of navigating through shows. Certainly possible they have improved the app over the last year, and will respect my time more if I pay them $15 + taxes per month directly instead of through a shitty cable subscription.
In any case, I freely concede that HBO Max probably does have a higher-quality backlog of content overall – my main point is that a simpler interface can actually make up for lack of content in some cases.
> * that crazy Ridley Scott series with those shrieking harpies that fly around asploding the hell out of atheists
Raised by Wolves? I think the creepy sci-fi vibe of Scott's stuff is just not my thing – everything in Prometheus and Alien: Covenant both just made me uncomfortable instead of interested, even though they had visuals that were technically impressive. The trailer for that series seemed similar when I watched it.
> Edit: reworded so I only use the adjective "fucking" once when referring to ad-based streaming services
I think you were right the first time. Ad-based services these days always remind me of the 15 Million Merits Black Mirror episode.
My other Four:
o Firefly - no brainer. Brilliant. o Battlestar Galactica - Has some issues mid-late course, but still pretty end-end enthralling. o Dark (I keep re-watching this over and over every few months. I have many notebook pages full of analysis. Seriously good SciFi for the most part.) o Altered Carbon (mostly Season 1 - but Season 2 was okay)
Big Recommendation:
Not really science fiction (even bigger themes explored) but far superior in terms of overall quality of work/screen writing, and has a similar "concept" that a lot of supposed science fiction shows have - "The Leftovers" - Which I put on my list of the 5 most brilliant things on Television (Sopranos/The Wire/Deadwood/Breaking Bad being the other 4).
I'll give a honorable mention to stuff I loved but I can't totally recommends:
o Travelers - I'm a sucker for a good Time Travel Show. o Foundation - Pretty - I watch it, but I totally would never recommend it. o Fringe - Wow - was totally into this. Definitely an acquired taste though. o Raised By Wolves - Interested in where it's going. Could entirely suck eventually I guess. o Black Mirror - Hit and miss, though hits often enough that I keep coming back to it. o WestWorld - I mean, we all watched it. Season 1 was *awesome* if you watched it in realtime and didn't read all the internet commentary when the aha moment hit you. Season 2 was pretty good as well IMHO. Season 3 was just dreck where the screen writing tanked *but* it paid an *awesome* homage to the very last of the Foundation Novels to bring it all home.
There's at least a few books like that, though I can't name the ones I've read. I'm sure it's 2-3.
The TV Show Raised by Wolves is essentially this too.