Ridley Scott to direct 'Raised by Wolves', Sci-Fi drama series

[Ingwar]

Steven says embargo lifts in the am.

[Nightmare Asylum]

https://twitter.com/colliderfrosty/status/1299014545646608384

https://twitter.com/THR/status/1299017943330807809

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

I see NA and another guy told Weintraub to ask Ridley about Moebius influences.

Here is a few possible ones I found in Moebius' "Arzach":










The Cederberg mountains, one of the shooting locations:






Giant skeletons in the desert:











First review is in:

Ridley Scott executive produces and directs the first two episodes of this HBO Max drama about androids, faith and raising children on a far-off planet.
The first episode of HBO Max's Raised by Wolves is, if nothing else, an intriguingly enigmatic crossroads.

Directed by Ridley Scott and shot with evocative flair by Scott's frequent cinematographer Dariusz Wolski, the pilot establishes only a small corner of the show's world, introduces only a taste of the show's science fiction allegory and concentrates most heavily on the show's two most interesting characters. It's hard to walk away from those opening 53 minutes with any clue what Raised by Wolves is as a series, but it's easy to leave the episode with faith — it's kinda the theme of the show — that what you're watching might unfold as something impressive. Derivative as all get out. But impressive.

It's more than possible that the momentum of that first episode might be enough to carry some viewers — fans of evasive-yet-ponderous hard sci-fi — through the series. I found the next five episodes a study in diminishing returns, the breathtaking aesthetic fading with Scott and Wolski's baton-passing after the second episode and the overall world of the show becoming less and less compelling with each contrived plot point and thinly sketched new character. With nobody and nothing to really care about, I'll probably skip the season's last four episodes.

Created by Aaron Guzikowski (The Red Road), Raised by Wolves is a nearly impossible series to summarize. Set midway through the 22nd century after a war between atheists and the ultra-religious Mithraics turned the Earth into a smoldering battlefield, the series begins with a small capsule landing on the planet Kepler-22b. The passengers of the vessel are a pair of androids, Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim), sent by the atheists to begin a process of asexually repopulating the universe. Mother and Father have been trained to produce and raise a group of children, including Campion (Winter McGrath), on terrain that is inhabitable, but not hospitable. Food is sparse and the gigantic skeletons of toothy serpent creatures suggest they may not be alone.

Several years after the androids comes a vast space ark of Mithraics heading to the same destination. That the fundamentalist Mithraics appear to be every bit as scientifically advanced as the atheists is something Raised by Wolves almost surely would prefer that you ignore. The Mithraics, whose space knight costumes are meant to not-so-subtly call to mind the Crusades, count among their ranks Marcus (Travis Fimmel) and Sue (Niamh Algar), a couple with secrets that aren't nearly as involving as Guzikowski thinks they are — and whose presence is one of several narrative stumbling blocks in later episodes, when Raised by Wolves is spending roughly half its screen time with them.

The Raised by Wolves pilot often works because Scott and Wolski are on such familiar ground. So far there's no suggestion that this is supposed to be another of Scott's recent string of Alien prequels, but if later episodes were to introduce a xenomorph or facehugger, it could surely be a companion to Prometheus and Alien: Covenant (with just a bit of Kingdom of Heaven, thanks to those pesky Templar-esque Mithraics). Scott is transfixed by the show's production landscape and its hostile mixture of mountains and barren desert, captured with its own humanity-averse, washed-out color scheme.

Mother and Father could absolutely be white-blooded siblings to the late, great Ian Holm's Ash in an exploration of what happens when artificial intelligence evolves beyond its design and takes on an almost divine condescension toward humanity. Mother and Father's reverence for their human Creator — just one of many points of on-the-nose irony relating to these condemners of religious faith — is at least something worth exploring even if after six episodes I'm not sure Guzikowski has anything more profound to say than, "Fundamentalism comes in several varieties, all scary."

If there's a reason to keep watching Raised by Wolves after the Ridley Scott-directed opening episodes  — Scott's son Luke exhibits no skill with narrative momentum in the third and fourth episodes, while Sergio Mimica-Gezzan restores some order in the fifth and sixth hours — it's Collin, blending dancer-like grace and robotic rigidity to entrancing effect. Don't spend too much time pondering why an android would be designed to speak with a slightly Danish accent, nor any of the show's varied accent work, nor why a show whose best and most interesting character is a woman (of a synthetic sort) thought it was acceptable to have a slate of all-male directors in its first season. Salim matches Collin in figuring out how to portray android physicality and contributes the only humor in the dour series through his character's humorless effort to craft jokes.

When Mother and Father do things that make no particular internal sense, you can at least excuse it with, "They're androids and they're weird." It's less easy to pass off how consistently inconsistent and weakly developed every other character in the series is. As much as I appreciate Guzikowski's willingness not to overly explain the Mithraic religion or the dystopian world that led to humanity fleeing Earth, it's astonishing how dull Marcus, Sue and everybody else on the ark are. It's one thing to not want to tip your hand as to whether the Mithraic characters are supposed to be the villains or stealth heroes of the show, but they're absolutely the villains in that the series sags any time we cut over to their side of the story. Fimmel, who I generally thought was a terrific leading man on Vikings, turns "mumbling" into Marcus' defining characteristic, which gives him one more attribute than Algar has been able to give Sue.

There's just no reason to be interested in the Mithraic side of the story, much less care, and even the Mother/Father side of the story is muddled by a group of one-note characters and performances. Maybe there's a way of telling this story that explains the value of a spiritual belief system in parenting and how ideas like recognition of a higher power, a code of God-given morality and the idea of a soul contribute to nurturing and personal development. But Raised by Wolves can't illustrate those concepts, though man does it keep coming back to shots of Mother, arms outstretched in what Soundgarden would call a "Jesus Christ Pose." When it tiptoes into more provocative notions like a storyline relating to abortion, it flails hopelessly.

For fans of Big Idea science-fiction who are able to avoid digging too deep or asking too many questions, Raised by Wolves will have some appeal. For me, it wasn't just that, after six episodes, I'd lost all affection for every character and their world; I'd also run out of curiosity.

Cast: Amanda Collin, Abubakar Salim, Winta McGrath, Niamh Algar, Jordan Loughran, Matias Varela, Felix Jamieson, Ethan Hazzard, Aasiya Shah, Ivy Wong and Travis Fimmel

Creator: Aaron Guzikowski

First three episodes premiere Thursday, September 3, on HBO Max.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Here's EW's review:

Raised by Wolves is f---ed up.

The cosmic drama streams Sept. 3 on HBO Max, with three episodes available immediately. Earth is a battle-bled Hellscape, and that's just the flashback. Androids incorporate a remote space colony, and it all goes so wrong. Viscera cascades. There is a monstrous fossil big enough to camp in, some battlefield plastic surgery, gigantic holes, a starship shaped like male overcompensation, and cute children. If you want a sincere conversation about the benefits of atheism, here's the science-fiction saga for you.

And it's real f---ed up.

I realize this is a family-friendly website. Writing "f---ed up" isn't what I'm going for. It reads like "effed up," which teens probably say on Nickelodeon. The "uck" is missing; the "uck" is what I'm going for. Here are my notes on the Raised by Wolves premiere, rendered within our website's linguistic barriers:

Uck. Uck. Uck! UCK! Uuuuuuck. Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck. Ucking uck! Uckity whoa! Uck, uck, uck, UCK. Damn. Oh, uck!

Raised by Wolves begins with two androids landing on a distant planet, designated Kepler-22b. Their precise mission is unclear, though their names tell a tale. Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim) model skintight gray jumpsuits and a cheerfully blank attitude. They build a settlement, growing crop circles around a high-tech yurt and a grungy cabin. Using cool-gross biotech, they grow human embryos into a multiethnic gaggle of kids. One of the youngsters, Campion (Winta McGrath), narrates the series premiere, and his voiceover prepares you for the worst. He loves his robo-parents, but warns: "All the bad stuff that happened wasn't their fault."

The "bad stuff" starts early. Very terrible things happen to very young people, and then more terrible things happen to other people. More humans appear in orbit, led by Marcus (Travis Fimmel). He's a warrior-priest in service of the Mithraic, a puritanical neo-religion that worships the sun. Mother and Father are rocking Onesie Chic, but the Mithraic resemble swashbucklers who found Jesus and leftover stormtrooper costumes. They wear all white and have a couple of rayguns shaped like revolvers. Everyone's fleeing an apocalyptic Earth. The mood is grim, but the timestamp is secretly optimistic: Good news, the world won't self-immolate 'til 2150!

I should explain more. But I went into the series knowing nothing, and I can't shake the genuine surprise of the first couple episodes. You think you're watching one kind of genre show — drab, gritty, New Age-y, faintly prestigious, a bit boring — and then people start exploding into blood dust. If you have a thing about eyes, you will get stressed by all the eye-things. Mother has secrets, and so does Marcus. The Mithraic are sort of demented Crusaders, reflecting hypocritical excesses of actual Catholicism, but their scriptures point to key plot points scattered around Kepler-22b.

Much of this is a little too familiar. There are ghosts that might not be ghosts, and paranormal whispers. The planet's landscape sustains a snowy desert, a shadowy forest, and impressive mountain ranges all within walking distance — and then characters spend too much time in a flat-out awful version of virtual reality. There are bargain-bin insectile endo-skeletal reptile monsters, though how fun to discover those creatures taste like pork. And I generally have an allergy to prophetic nightmares, but there is a dreamy vision that, when described in spoiler-y detail, would require using the words "blood" and "vomit" and "sex" and "gigantic snake fossil skull" all in one sentence.

Raised by Wolves was created by Aaron Guzikowski, best known as the writer of 2013's Prisoners, which was also not a fun story for children. The first two episodes are directed by Ridley Scott, and the series really does suggest 2017's Alien: Covenant with less alien and more covenant, all these white-blooded androids and frozen embryos and dreamy muses about existence.

I've seen six episodes, and worry that the momentum drags. This is the kind of show where two sides fight, and then spend half a season preparing to fight again. The eccentric performances are intriguing, though. Mother is a fearsome figure, and Collin plays her with tightrope terror: She's a new god, an anxious mom, or maybe just a broken appliance stumbling toward obsolescence. Salim's more whimsical, turning Father into a genial robo-dad cracking knock-knock jokes to understand this thing we humans call humor.

Fimmel's the most familiar face, and the Vikings star brings his knack for loopy mannerisms to the straightfaced material. Marcus smiles when things are going bad, and frowns when people cheer. He's well-matched by Niamh Algar as Sue, Marcus' wife, who shares his secrets but struggles with their lies. The kids are a little lame, frankly, though Ethan Hazzard has fun as a clerical princeling maintaining aristocratic dignity in a grungy mud colony.

I'm torn. Raised by Wolves can be slow and silly. The later episodes backpedal off the wowzer twists in the premiere. (In episode 6, one character says "Are you going to kill me again?" which sums up the current hysterical state of genre storytelling.) It all looks dangerously mulchy, overextending the grimy-brown spectacular realism that Scott helped to pioneer in Gladiator and Black Hawk Down. That whole style just feels so meh now: The grooviest aesthetic for videogame trailers 10 years ago. People keep talking about going to Kepler-22b's tropical region, and, like, just go there already! How is it possible that horrible Rogue One is the only recent space adventure with palm trees?

On the other hand, Raised by Wolves reflects an unusual instinct for decent-budget science-fiction: It's impossible to root for anyone. By the end of episode 2, the "heroes" are all mass murder-adjacent. They're either motivated by lunatic belief systems, or they lie all the time about everything. The kids are innocent, of course, but the central tension is right there in the title: Which wolves will raise these children...and how long until they grow into wolves themselves? "I gotta admit, I'm starting to get a little confused," says Marcus. Ucking A, man.

Grade: B-

https://ew.com/tv/tv-reviews/raised-by-wolves-hbo-max-review/

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

A bit lukewarm so far...

Beware of mild spoilers in both reviews.

This is what I was worried about:

I found the next five episodes a study in diminishing returns, the breathtaking aesthetic fading with Scott and Wolski's baton-passing after the second episode and the overall world of the show becoming less and less compelling with each contrived plot point and thinly sketched new character.

The later episodes backpedal off the wowzer twists in the premiere.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Yeah, it doesn't shock me to hear that Luke Scott's episodes are a pretty sharp decrease in quality, unfortunately. Glad to hear that Sergio Mimica-Gezzan's episodes step up a bit after that; I loved his work on BSG.

I'm definitely going to keep my expectations in check after those first two episodes, but I am still very in for the overall design and the core of the characters that are established early on; we still don't know anything about the final four episodes, either. Hopefully whatever lull there is in the middle ramps back up for the season's endgame. Plus, Covenant had some middling reviews, and I was still all over that one.

Also, based on the EW review, it looks like we are getting three episodes right off the bat on day one. I didn't know that.



EDIT: Couple other reviews from sites I haven't heard of:

Okay, I'll just say it: Raised by Wolves is hands down the most thrilling original sci-fi show in more than a decade. Not since the Battlestar: Galactica reboot have I been more instantly hooked by a genre show or flummoxed by its twists and turns. Created by Prisoners scribe Aaron Guzikowski and shepherded to the screen by legendary director Sir Ridley Scott, the new HBO Max series combines mystery with mythology to create a savage vision of humanity's future. Get hyped because Raised by Wolves is here to take you on an insane ride.

The basic concept of Raised by Wolves is fairly simple by science fiction standards. Two androids named Father (Abubakar Salim) and Mother (Amanda Collin) arrive on an alien planet and immediately snap into action upon a crash landing. Their mission is to save humanity by raising a new generation of atheists on this blank slate of a new home world. After some housekeeping, Mother hooks herself up to six frozen embryos and spends the next nine months nursing them in external incubators. All this is narrated by the "youngest" of the children, empathetic Campion (Winta McGrath). Named for the androids' creator, he is the one who will wind up carrying most of his robot parents' hopes.

I hesitate to share more because the joy of watching Raised by Wolves is in letting it unfold in its strangeness. What I will tease is, naturally, the believers eventually show up. An "Ark" containing the chosen faithful from among a powerful faith called the "Mithraic Church" finally arrives in orbit. Vikings star Travis Fimmel plays a high-ranking soldier in the Church, but he and his wife Sue (Niamh Algar) have their own dangerous secrets. And a son they are as desperately attached to as Mother and Father are to their kids.

Raised by Wolves is a show that is deeply invested in what it means to be a parent. From Mother's rabid devotion to her charges to Father's adorable "Dad Joke" programming, Raised by Wolves tips its hat to the traditions of parenthood while wildly subverting them. What does it mean to be a good parent? Is it about protecting your children at all costs? Or emboldening them to make mistakes? Should you push your kids into your own faith or give them the leeway to make their own path? What is the tie that binds a parent to a child? Biology or something deeper? Raised by Wolves uses these deep emotional bonds to anchor its more "out there" storytelling.

And Raised by Wolves goes there. Whether it's toying with its characters' commitment to faith, introducing strange new alien threats, or going full gore with some of its fight scenes, Raised by Wolves swerves all over the place tonally. In a good way! The last time I felt so simultaneously confused and enraptured by a television show was Twin Peaks: The Return. While Raised by Wolves never gets quite so esoteric as Lynch's more experimental episodes, it does often feel like a sandbox for Ridley Scott's darker ideas.

Over the last 43 years, Scott has carved a place for himself in film history with historical epics like Gladiator, intimately visceral dramas like Thelma & Louise, and even feel-good space flicks like The Martian. But Raised by Wolves feels like it was made by the same Ridley Scott who made 1979's Alien and its stunning follow up Blade Runner. Like those films, Raised by Wolves toys with the humanity of androids and the inevitability of a bleak, dangerous future. In fact, there is so much tonally in the first episode that specifically reminded me of Alien that I briefly thought that Raised by Wolves was set in the same universe as Ripley and those ferocious alien queens. (It's not. Episode 2 grounds us in a different sci-fi timeline.)

As magnificent as the first six episodes of Raised by Wolves are, they also take some impossibly big swings. It's really hard to trust that Guzikowski, Scott, and the rest of the show's stewards can stick the season's landing. The show could easily get lost in the forest of its own lore before too long. The series manages to balletically spin around these issues in the first half of the season, in huge part thanks to the cast. Travis Fimmel might be the only cast member instantly recognizable to US audiences, but that means the international cast simply sinks into their roles. In particular, Dutch actress Amanda Collin makes a strong case for superstardom with her turn as Mother. By all rights, her performance should be as big a breakthrough for her career as Sigourney Weaver's was in Alien.
Based on the episodes sent to critics, Raised by Wolves has the potential to be the first great sci-fi show of the '20s. Visually stunning, technically marvelous, and trippy as hell, it feels like both a callback to the golden era of sci-fi and a template for what the genre could be in this century. Raised by Wolves is a must-watch for sci-fi devotees and a return to early career form for Sir Ridley Scott.

The first three episodes of Raised by Wolves premiere on HBO Max on September 3.

https://decider.com/2020/08/27/raised-by-wolves-hbo-max-review/

Ridley Scott is 83 years old in 2020. Let that sink in.

The renowned and legendary director responsible for iconic science fiction and historical fiction movies like the 1979's Alien, 1982's Blade Runner, 2000's Gladiator, and more is widely regarded to be past his prime. While 2015's The Martian was a great movie, his other recent movies like 2014's Exodus Gods And Kings and 2017's Alien Covenant were not.

The question now is whether his latest project (Raised By Wolves is executive produced by Scott, but the true showrunner is actually Aaron Guzikowski, perhaps best known for The Red Road TV series) is as good as Alien and Blade Runner, or just another overly-ambitious dud like 2012's Prometheus.

Religion Versus Atheism

Why did I mention Prometheus? Well, at first glance, Raised By Wolves immediately reminded me of that film. Not only the basic ideas and concepts but also the visual aesthetics and designs. Prometheus could have been a decent science fiction movie if it hadn't been bogged down by having to be a prequel to Alien.

The less said about Alien Covenant, the better.

While the first season of Raised By Wolves will feature 10 episodes, I was only provided with the first three episodes. Those three episodes introduced me to the unique world and characters that inhabit said world.

Raised By Wolves centres upon two androids tasked with raising human children on a mysterious virgin planet. As the burgeoning colony of humans threatens to be torn apart by religious differences, the androids learn that controlling the beliefs of humans is a treacherous and difficult task.

The underlying theme explored in Raised By Wolves touches on religion versus atheism, and quite literally at that. I won't reveal much, but humanity basically split into two warring factions; one that supports atheism and another that believes in a Mithraic religion, worshipping Sol AKA the Sun.

The Earth was ravaged by this war and one of the factions managed to build arks to escape the doomed planet. What's refreshing and surprising about it all is that Raised By Wolves subverts the conventional science fiction tropes. In Raised By Wolves, it is the religious faction that is more technologically superior than the atheists or liberals.

The Androids (who are a huge focus of the plot) were made and used by the Mithraic faction in the war, but the two main Androids in the series have seemingly been reprogrammed for the other side. As previously mentioned, they're tasked with raising a bunch of human children to be atheists, which are at odds with Mithraic beliefs.

The religion versus atheism theme gets a bit too heavy-handed at times, as it seems like the story is a bit one-sided and against religion from the beginning. However, Scott and Guzikowski have seemingly not committed that mistake, as flashbacks employed in the narrative (expect a lot of these) reveal that there's quite a bit more depth to the story than that.

There are also a lot of religious allegories and symbolism in Raised By Wolves. While some of these are too on the nose at times, they add to the lore of the world in the show, and I'm excited to learn more of these real-world parallel elements.

For instance, the Mithraic beliefs mirror those of Christianity. Instead of crosses, they wear the symbol of the sun. Their clothes also seem reminiscent of the Crusaders, while their rituals remind me of Catholic rites. Even the Androids themselves remind me of Gorgons or Siren in the depiction of their abilities. For Pete's sake, they even fly (or float) in a pose reminiscent to that of a crucified person, or Jesus Christ himself.

Just like his previous science fiction efforts, Raised By Wolves explores the ideas of artificial intelligence and the themes surrounding it. Don't worry though, you won't find any cringe-worthy "I'll do the fingering" scenes like in Alien Covenant. At least, not in the three episodes I've seen so far.

Scott Brings His Visual A-Game

Even if the plot doesn't interest you, fans of Scott's signature science fiction aesthetics will have a lot to appreciate in Raised By Wolves. There are both elements from the sleek and clean designs of his more recent works like Prometheus, as well as the gritty and grimy aesthetics of Alien or Blade Runner; it's the best of both worlds.

The visuals look like a combination of utopia and dystopian elements, which makes for striking imagery. Impressively, the production design and visual effects in Raised By Wolves are incredible to behold, as expected for something with Scott involved. Say what you want about his works, but they will usually be pleasing to the eyes at the very least.

You certainly won't be disappointed if you're planning to watch Raised By Wolves for its visuals. It is definitely cinematic, which is bolstered by the haunting music and sound effects featured in the show. Remember when I said that an Android's ability reminded me of Sirens? Well, you won't forget the first blood-curdling scream you hear.

The two main Androids in Raised By Wolves are Mother (Amanda Collins) and Father (Abubakar Salim), who struggle to raise their human child named Campion (Winta McGrath). There are a couple of children actors in Raised By Wolves, but none of them really stick out as particularly memorable.

The highlights of the series are the Androids, especially Collins' Mother and the two main human characters; Marcus (Travis Fimmel) and Sue (Niamh Algar). The two human characters have an interesting background, and Fimmel manages to exude a bit of the same charisma he showed as Ragnar Lothbrok in the History Channel's Vikings TV series.

Really though, in all the three episodes I've seen so far, Collins' Mother is the standout character. Menacing and mysterious, she's the one carrying the series so far, and I want to see more of her. That said, the others probably just need more time to grow and be more compelling.

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

If you like Ridley Scott's visual aesthetics and flying Androids killing humans, then Raised By Wolves is likely for you to enjoy. Still, I will have to wait until I've watched the seven remaining episodes before I can say for sure if this will be as good as Scott's best. Again (to clarify), he's not the showrunner, but his name is attached to the series and he directed the first two episodes. It might as well be his, considering how much HBO is promoting the show using his name,

Ultimately, the potential is still there, even if the first three episodes aren't exactly that stellar. Lord knows we need more science fiction shows to take more risks, and Raised By Wolves could be one of them.

FINAL SCORE: 70/100

https://kakuchopurei.com/2020/08/28/raised-by-wolves-review-kkp/

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

This review at least sounds more positive:

Okay, I'll just say it: Raised by Wolves is hands down the most thrilling original sci-fi show in more than a decade. Not since the Battlestar: Galactica reboot have I been more instantly hooked by a genre show or flummoxed by its twists and turns.

[Nightmare Asylum]

A few more:

https://twitter.com/ThePlaylist/status/1299023384009818112

https://twitter.com/DenofGeekUS/status/1299017579760152576

https://twitter.com/TVGuide/status/1299013911426019331

[Voodoo Magic]

Well, it looks like it will be a mixed-bag at best. Damn.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

Even if the plot doesn't interest you, fans of Scott's signature science fiction aesthetics will have a lot to appreciate in Raised By Wolves. There are both elements from the sleek and clean designs of his more recent works like Prometheus, as well as the gritty and grimy aesthetics of Alien or Blade Runner; it's the best of both worlds.

Why did I mention Prometheus? Well, at first glance, Raised By Wolves immediately reminded me of that film. Not only the basic ideas and concepts but also the visual aesthetics and designs. Prometheus could have been a decent science fiction movie if it hadn't been bogged down by having to be a prequel to Alien.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Closing comment from the TV Guide review:

Raised by Wolves is an experiment as much as it is an experience. It's an unpredictable, unusual, and unrelenting watch that's created its own odd space in science-fiction television. Or maybe it's an overwrought jumble of ideas and visuals. Whatever it is, I've never seen anything like it, and that's why I want more.

This... actually excites me a whole lot. I'm totally fine with this being a mixed bag, if the central ideas grab me. And it sounds like they will, based on the reviews, even if it does meander a bit after Grandpa Ridley steps away and his son takes over.

Fingers crossed that it ramps back up again in the second half to stick the landing and deliver on this promise and, if it gets a second season, that Ridley Scott returns to direct some more.

Anyways, I remain very intrigued and cannot wait to see what next week brings with those first three episodes. Looking forward to discussing it all over the next couple months!

[Ingwar]

Ridley Scott Comes to TV With Eerie Sci-Fi Drama Raised by Wolves

What could have been an intense, stylish feature film is more uneven as a series, but Raised by Wolves still presents plenty of intriguing ideas.

So much happens in the first episode of the HBO Max sci-fi series Raised by Wolves that it's difficult to imagine where the story will go next. That makes for an exciting viewing experience, but it also means the pacing in the 10-episode first season (or at least in its first half) is a little lopsided, opening with a rush of momentous developments before slowing down and looking backward. With director Ridley Scott on board for the first two episodes, in his first work for American television, Raised by Wolves could have been an intense, stylish feature film. As a series, it's a bit more uneven, but creator Aaron Guzikowski still presents plenty of intriguing ideas.

Scott may have been drawn to the series by the central characters, androids known as Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim), who bear more than a passing resemblance to the androids in Scott's Alien films. In particular, the androgynous, commanding Mother could be a cousin to Michael Fassbender's David from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant; Collin's masterful performance is every bit as chilling as Fassbender's. The androids here even bleed milky white blood and have innards that resemble wet noodles, clear callbacks to Scott's iconic work.

Mother and Father aren't facing off against deadly aliens, however (at least not at first). Instead, they're tasked with restarting humanity on the distant planet Kepler 22b, after Earth is ravaged by the usual apocalyptic culprits (climate change, war). As the first episode begins, Mother and Father arrive on Kepler with six human embryos that Mother then brings to term, and they attempt to raise the children as humanity's new hope. They explain that the final war on Earth took place between atheists and a religious group known as the Mithraic, and the atheists sent the androids to Kepler to establish a new society based in atheism.

But the Mithraic aren't far behind, at least in space-travel terms. Their ship, which they of course refer to as the Ark, travels slower, because it's filled with humans in cryogenic stasis, who can't withstand the same speeds as androids. Thus, Mother and Father have 12 years to raise their children before the Mithraic arrive. But life on Kepler is bleak, and over the course of the first episode, nearly all of the initial six children succumb to disease or accidents, leaving only the initially scrawny Campion (Winta McGrath), named after the man who programmed Mother and Father.

That's when the Mithraic arrive, with the determined military officer Marcus (Vikings' Travis Fimmel) leading the way, and that's when the true extent of Mother's abilities are revealed. She's actually a war machine known as a Necromancer, and her turn to ultra-violence in defense of what she believes (or is programmed to believe) is terrifying. There's clearly something not quite right about Mother from the beginning, and Collin expertly handles her abrupt shifts from nurturing to homicidal, making those contradictory aspects into essential character traits. She can turn a simple telling of the story of the three little pigs into a creepy, ominous threat. Collin is so mesmerizing as Mother that she often overshadows the rest of the cast, whose characters are generally less complex.

Later episodes reveal a more complicated backstory for Marcus and his wife Sue (Niamh Algar), but the Mithraic are never as interesting to watch as the androids are, and the flashbacks to the war on Earth feature mostly standard post-apocalyptic action. In his opening two episodes, Scott establishes Kepler as an eerie, desolate place with secrets of its own, including strange creatures that slowly emerge, and a possible supernatural presence. The unsettling mysteries of the planet are far more intriguing than the basic battlefield clashes, and the show is most effective when it focuses on the characters' struggles in this hostile environment rather than looking back to how and why they arrived there.

The conflict between rationality and religion is sometimes presented in overly simplistic terms, and Guzikowski hedges his bets by using the fictional Mithraic religion (named for a Roman mystery religion) rather than an existing faith tradition, which makes the show's philosophical debates a bit toothless. The androids who discover human emotions are a sci-fi cliché, but the development of Mother and Father is unpredictable enough to find new ways to approach that idea. They both start to catch feelings, but in very different ways, which often places them in opposition to each other.

As the potential savior of humanity who becomes a valuable asset to both sides, Campion is sometimes more of a symbol than a character, and the other children in the care of Mother and Father are still underdeveloped as the season reaches its halfway point. But Marcus and Sue operate in an interesting moral gray area, and there's potential both in their clash with Mother and Father and in a theoretical team-up. Raised by Wolves is sometimes overly ambitious, but Scott's direction establishes an immersive world, and the creators have plenty of corners of it left to explore.

https://www.cbr.com/raised-by-wolves-review-ridley-scott/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJ3HZ3_2hJ0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHgRZomhpPk

There is one thing that I don't understand. How can you review series based upon 6 episodes?

Apparently it's very slow-paced which I'm gonna probably love.

[𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔈𝔦𝔤𝔥𝔱𝔥 𝔓𝔞𝔰𝔰𝔢𝔫𝔤𝔢𝔯]

There is one thing that I don't understand. How can you review series based upon 6 episodes?

And some of the reviewers have only seen the first 3 episodes.

All the reviews seem to praise Amanda Collin's performance though:

In particular, the androgynous, commanding Mother could be a cousin to Michael Fassbender's David from Prometheus and Alien: Covenant; Collin's masterful performance is every bit as chilling as Fassbender's.

Like the sound of this:

In his opening two episodes, Scott establishes Kepler as an eerie, desolate place with secrets of its own, including strange creatures that slowly emerge, and a possible supernatural presence. The unsettling mysteries of the planet are far more intriguing than the basic battlefield clashes, and the show is most effective when it focuses on the characters' struggles in this hostile environment rather than looking back to how and why they arrived there.

[Nightmare Asylum]

Good to know that, if this conflict is totally wrapped up and then the series does get picked up for a second season, the planet Kepler-22b seems to offer enough mystery and intrigue that could host other narratives that branch off of this one.

[Ingwar]

Review: When your series gets Ridley Scott as a director, you know you are going to garner some buzz. Raised By Wolves is a high profile series debuting on HBO Max from creator Aaron Guzikowski, writer of Denis Villeneuve's PRISONERS, and the series The Red Road starring Jason Momoa. Set in the distant future, Raised By Wolves is a difficult series to describe. If you have seen the trailers, you know it involves a violent, dystopian landscape where androids and humans come into battle with one another all in the name of religion. It is a baffling and dense series with a very deliberate pace that may be a challenge for some viewers to sit through.

Blending the scale of Ridley Scott's PROMETHEUS and ALIEN COVENANT with the desolate look of THE MARTIAN, Raised By Wolves also owes a great debt to the filmmaker's work on KINGDOM OF HEAVEN, another foray into storytelling centered on opposing faiths. But, Scott is not the only director involved in this project. The 10 episode season also features episodes directed by James Hawes (Black Mirror), Sergio Mimica-Gezzan (The Terror), Alex Gabassi (The ABC Murders), and Luke Scott (MORGAN). Ridley Scott sets the tone with the first two episodes which drop us into the visual landscape of the series with very little explanation as to what is going on. This presents the first challenge for viewers who have to figure out who these characters are and why we are watching them.

Set in the mid-22nd century, Raised by Wolves centers on the remnants of humanity after a war decimates Earth. What remains are a band of androids charged with restoring humanity via colonies around the galaxy with the zealous followers of Mithraic do the same. In battle mode, Raised By Wolves evokes the grittiness of Scott's BLACK HAWK DOWN while the armor of the Mithraic looks like a blend of future weaponry crossed with what knights wore during the Crusades. The religious implications of this story are far from subtle with the focus of the war being the Mithraic versus all Atheists. By using a fictional faith rather than one grounded in our real world, the series does allow some distance for the audience to objectively weigh the two sides of the argument, but if you are deeply religious you make have issues with this story.

While the majority of faces in this series may not be recognizable to North American audiences outside of Travis Fimmel, this is a breakout role for Amanda Collin. Ridley Scott certainly sets the proper tone with his two episodes and his experience directing actors playing androids, but Collin approaches her role as Mother in a unique way that equals Alicia Vikander's role in EX MACHINA and Rutger Hauer's in BLADE RUNNER. Mother is an android with warrior-like skills and abilities that make her a powerful weapon. She alone can rival the entirety of the Mithraic faction and yet she shows a lot of vulnerability as she protects not only her son Campion (Winta McGrath) but several other children as well.

Over the six episodes made available for review, Raised By Wolves shifts from horror elements to survival thrills while shiting between grand scale war sequences and action to intimate dramatic moments, all supported by flashbacks that help fill in the story which starts in media res. The score by Ben Frost adds an alien feel to the series that adds to the cinematic style on display. The biggest problem I had with the show is that it takes far too long to get going. The first episode is difficult to get into as we are given very little introduction, something that is rectified with title cards and background that help you orient yourself to the story.

I am still not sure how I feel about Raised By Wolves. At first, the production values and set design had me intrigued and flashes back to the war on Earth enticed me to find out more about this vision of the future. But, many of the characters are all fairly unlikeable with performances, aside from Amanda Collin, that feel wooden and two-dimensional. I reached a point in each episode where my interest was piqued before I began to lose interest again. The filmmaking on display is top-notch and equal to most studio feature films but the story doesn't quite click. Maybe it is the non-linear storytelling and flashbacks that prevented me from connecting with the story more consistently. The trailer makes Raised By Wolves look less like the contemplative and existential drama that it is and more of an action thriller. You may like Raised By Wolves but I am not sure anyone will love it.

7/10

https://www.joblo.com/movie-news/tv-review-raised-by-wolves