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0 pointsizzydata2y ago0 comments

I'm really enjoying Scavengers Reign, but I can't help but feel like the local biology is a bit too absurdist. Or the amount of consistently lucky moves some of the characters would had to make to discover some weird quirk of that alien life. They had been there for maybe weeks or months, but somehow discovered that if you climb inside of the belly of this particular creature and twist some of his internal organs that it will release a light producing egg when you hit them against a hard surface? Or that if you attach this tentacle sac to your face that you won't inhale some fungus gas.

Very creative, but a bit hard to believe. Perhaps the timescale of how long they were stranded there could have been increased a little bit.

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ChristopherDrum2y ago

This is precisely what I was saying to my friend the other day. Their knowledge of the planet is hyper-specific in some ways, but they also seem to acknowledge that they don't understand the planet. One person says, "This place is like a puzzle." but it seems like a puzzle they've solved, if they know that taking the tiny skull from a worm and rolling it in a leaf will make a whistle that summons a bird that won't hurt them.

Yet, on the other hand, they seem mystified by things like which plants are edible, or the yellow fungus on the computer circuits, or the intelligent mind-power beasts. Stuff that should be top-level knowledge, I'd think? So do they understand the planet or not? Clearly a lot is known about the esoteric workings of the planet, but weirdly the BASICS of the place are a total mystery to them.

And yeah, the biology of the planet is both supremely alien yet also amazingly perfectly suited to incredibly specific use cases: this creature doubles as a gas mask, this other one is a personal flying machine with handlebars, reach inside this one and it'll inflate into a personal balloon guaranteed to hold your weight.

If I turn off that part of my brain, I enjoy letting myself get caught up in the "LOST"-ish mysterybox-ness of it (LOST, in space!).

Caligatio2y ago

I've been wondering the same thing! My explanation is that the planet was already known/cataloged and that the crew has access to that knowledge somehow.

stolksdorf2y ago

I also struggled with this when watching it. It's frustrating because I am really enjoying the show, it makes me feel like a kid again, but I have such a strong desire for consistent and cohesive world-building.

The trick/explanation/excuse I've been using is that we know our characters are explorers and experts, so maybe the life on this planet isn't as "alien" or "unknown" to the characters as it seems to us.

I've had survival training, I know how to identify certain useful plants or recognize tracks from animals in ecosystems I don't live in, so I tell myself that it must be like that from their perspective. Which lines up, seeing as the character's don't seem to react that strangely or shocked to most of what they see. Even one of them says that their goal is to not only survive, but _thrive_ here until rescue.

Highly recommend it, the trailer gives a good sense of the vibes without giving away too much.

leoqa2y ago

That particular character is a biologist before the crash, perhaps prior knowledge since the planet has been inhabited before.

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