快猫短视频

Raised by Wolves
Aaron Guzikowski
HBO Max

This review contains zero spoilers other than the basic premise and setting.

THE blockbuster new science-fiction series from HBO Max, Raised by Wolves, is set on a real exoplanet: Kepler-22b.

Discovered in 2011 by the Kepler Space Telescope, Kepler-22b was the first exoplanet to be found in the habitable zone of its star. In reality, we don鈥檛 know much about what it would be like to stand 鈥� or perhaps swim or float 鈥� on whatever this world can boast for a surface. Yet you would think you would probably need a spacesuit on arrival, right?

Such things aren鈥檛 a concern in Raised by Wolves, an original work by US screenwriter Aaron Guzikowski. Not that that is a criticism 鈥� this is an ambitious and visually stunning piece of science fiction and I, for one, am prepared to forgive the odd missing space helmet, and even the occasional plot wobble.

Here, Kepler-22b is sandy and windy, with rocky outcrops and air that is OK to breathe. It is warm enough by day and you can even grow things outside, just about, but the night leaves behind drifts of snow.

It actually looks very much like the moon the crew head to in the film Prometheus 鈥� which isn鈥檛 that surprising when you learn that the first two episodes of Raised by Wolves were also directed by Ridley Scott and that he is an executive producer on the show.

Much of its visual style actually feels very like that of Prometheus, and there are many other echoes of Scott鈥檚 Alien sequence here, right down to the thin, white liquid that serves as blood for the androids.

Ah yes, the androids! Two such beings, Mother and Father, have left war-torn Earth to raise a new generation of human children on Kepler-22b. The look of the robots is quite arresting, with their strange, rubbery bodysuits and Joan of Arc helmets.

鈥淭he look of the androids is quite arresting, with their rubbery bodysuits and Joan of Arc helmets鈥�

Mother, played by Amanda Collin, is particularly captivating. She seems to feel emotion and to have real softness, as she cares for the tiny infants that she and Father (Abubakar Salim) rear up from a precious cargo of embryos they brought to the Kepler-22 system. But there is steel in Mother too, telegraphing all that is to come.

There are other hints of darkness right from the start. The planet has strange tunnels going straight down into its depths, allegedly dug long ago by mysterious, ancient serpents, into which people and things tend to disappear. It is all very Dune, mixed up with a bit of Pitch Black, David Twohy鈥檚 cult sci-fi flick.

The tiny, unconventional family isn鈥檛 alone in having chosen Kepler-22b for refuge. An 鈥渁rk鈥� ship is heading their way, carrying a very different bunch of colonists on board (one of whom is played by the very charismatic Travis Fimmel, aka Ragnar Lothbrok in the TV show Vikings).

What is wonderful about a fresh show that isn鈥檛 based on any source material is that you have no idea what is going to happen, so I won鈥檛 ruin it for you by veering too close to the plot. Suffice to say, things are going to get a great deal more complicated as the 10-episode first season unfurls.

Actually, the show was immediately judged a hit in the US, so much so that season two has already been commissioned. Annoyingly, the first batch of episodes isn鈥檛 yet available in all regions. Fingers crossed that this will be sorted out soon.