“The Kingdom of the Scavengers” - a series for science fiction lovers

In 2016, little-known authors Joe Bennett and Charles Huettner released the short animated film Scavengers. The seven-minute work told the story of two people who are on an unknown planet. They use local plants and animals as tools to complete a task. And all this leads to a completely unexpected outcome. Despite the simple animation, the crazy and amazing plot was instantly captivating and even frightening.

In 2023, the animated series “The Kingdom of the Scavengers” from the same authors was released on the Max streaming service: it does not continue the story of the short film, but rather expands and rethinks the idea. But the timing and budget for animation have increased. The result is a stunning piece: amazingly beautiful, sad and frightening.

“The Kingdom of the Scavengers” will surely appeal to all fans of old science fiction, post-apocalyptic anime and just unusual cartoons. And at the same time it will make you think about the interaction between man and nature.

The plot of “The Kingdom of the Scavengers” is filled with mysteries

The spaceship Demeter 227 crashed off the distant planet Vesta. There were many people on board, immersed in cryo-sleep, but it seems that the company that sent the ship is not going to save the victims.

Several people from the team that was awake during the accident landed in different parts of Vesta. Now they have to survive on a planet where literally every creature, plant or even mineral can kill them. Or, conversely, help if you contact them correctly.

The plot is divided into three lines dedicated to different heroes. In the first, experienced astronaut Sam and his companion Ursula are trying to get to the crashed Demeter. To do this, they use local flora and fauna (this just references the scenes from the short film). Sam is more aggressive towards the nature of the planet, while Ursula is inclined to study it and even admires some of its phenomena.

At the same time, Azi, together with his robot named Levi is trying to grow something on the planet, but constantly faces difficulties. Gradually, she begins to notice something strange: Levi seems to gain consciousness and begins to behave like a person.

The third line, the saddest, is dedicated to Kamen, a gloomy loner who falls under the influence of a creature from Vesta and most of the time is immersed in memories of the past.

The details described above are just elements of the plot from the first two episodes. Strictly speaking, even these can be partly considered light spoilers: from the pilot episode it is completely difficult to understand what is happening. But more important details will be revealed gradually, so you should avoid too detailed descriptions of the plot, which some reviews are guilty of.

It is better to independently find out the reasons for the shipwreck, the connections of the heroes and the twists of their destinies on an unknown planet. There will be a lot of surprises.

The series references science fiction and anime classics

Those who were born in the 80-90s or just love the old Soviet and European animation, will experience a rush of nostalgia literally from the very first episode of “The Kingdom of the Scavengers.” After all, visually and plot-wise, it resembles the bold works of those times, and not modern cartoons.

First of all, parallels with the legendary “Wild Planet” by Rene Laloux - the first full-length cartoon produced in France - come to mind. Or with the no less famous “Lords of Time”, which the same director shot together with the artist Jean Giraud, aka Mobius. The influence of the latter's work in Kingdom of the Carrion is obvious: those who have read his Incal comics will instantly notice the similarities in the images of alien animals.

You can also remember the Soviet experimental cartoons based on the works of science fiction writers: “There Can Be Tigers Here” by Ray Bradbury, “Vampires of Geona” and “Masters of Geona” based on the story by Gennady Tishchenko, and especially “The Pass”, based on “The Village” by Kir Bulychev. In the latter, even the plot is somewhat similar: a group of people are trying to get to a crashed spaceship.

This does not at all make the novelty secondary or predictable. Rather, it simply returns to the times when science fiction writers and animators raised bold themes in their plots: in “The Kingdom scavengers”, as, for example, in “Alien”, also remind us how corporations do not care about ordinary employees.

And at the same time, the authors, as in old films, show that nature and life in general on another planet can be so different that a person simply cannot understand it. Here it is already possible to draw parallels with “Solaris” - of course, the original by Stanislav Lem, and not the film adaptation of Andrei Tarkovsky.

At the same time, the visual style of the animated series is in many ways reminiscent of classic anime. You don’t even have to dig too deep and remember “Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind” Hayao Miyazaki. Like the work of the famous Japanese author, the plot of “The Kingdom of the Scavengers” is largely devoted to the fact that nature, albeit dangerous, needs to be studied and understood. But it’s not worth fighting with her.

“The Kingdom of the Scavengers” immerses you in the amazing world of nature

There is one more detail that makes “The Kingdom” similar to the animation classics: the authors do not strive to make the plot too “fast” and do not just talk about the survival of people on another planet.

First of all, they immerse the viewer into the life of the unknown nature of another world. Almost a third of the running time of each episode is sketches about the flora and fauna of the planet. Some of them influence the actions of the main characters, while others will simply remain a way to feel like they are in another world.

In one of the scenes, Ursula accidentally witnesses the entire life cycle of a miniature animal, which is born only to complete one task and then die. And even if all the previous events of the series do not catch your attention, at this moment it is simply impossible not to be amazed and saddened by what is happening.

Despite the fact that this is just a cartoon - the imagination of the authors. But for some reason it hits the heart: as if this small scene reflects the whole spirit of the mysterious planet.

And then, for contrast, they will show the most unpleasant manifestations of nature. For the sake of survival, the heroes will have to put some living creatures on their faces instead of masks. They will hide from the storm in the insides of a waterfowl, but a huge insect will climb in behind them and eventually have their guts released. The characters will use the huge corpse as a boat. And it’s better not to tell what will happen to their own bodies.

But this is not an abomination for the sake of abominations. “The Kingdom of the Scavengers” surprisingly balances on the brink of beauty and disgust, showing all facets of life and its an inextricable connection with death: animals and plants constantly hunt each other, but from this new ones are born creatures. And this applies not only to the world of a fictional planet, but also to ours.

“Kingdom of the Carrion” already has incredibly high ratings: 100% positive reviews from critics and 96% from viewers on Rotten Tomatoes and 9 points for IMDb. And it's deserved. The entire season lasts about 3 hours - a little more than a full-length film. But during this time, the animated series manages to immerse the viewer in an incredible world: as beautiful as it is frightening. Each character reveals their best and worst qualities and each ultimately goes through their own difficult path.

This is a return to the classics of science fiction, when directors and artists were not afraid to experiment and come up with something completely new that an ordinary person cannot even imagine. Therefore, almost every fan of the genre will surely love this amazing cartoon.