The Monstrefact: The Hollow of Scavenger's Reign

In this episode of STBYM’s The Monstrefact, Robert discusses the alien creature known as the Hollow on the series “Scavenger’s Reign.”

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hi, my name is Robert Lamb, and this is The
Monster Fact, a short-form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind,
focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. I
recently completed a rewatch of the 2023 animated sci-fi series
Scavenger's Reign, which I highly recommend. Created by Joe Bennett

(00:32):
and Charles Hüttner, based on their 2016 short film Scavengers,
which you can find last I checked on YouTube, the
show balances a mature sci-fi plot full of complex human
characters with an exotic alien ecosystem. It provides near limitless
biopunk fun. Our characters make frequent mechanical use of alien

(00:53):
flora and fauna for their survival, alongside just chill-inducing body horror.
The planet Vesta is a dangerous place full of near-constant
threats to human life and autonomy, but it also presents
enticing possibilities for a new life lived in harmony with nature.
And of course, in this, Vesta is an exotic take

(01:14):
on our own world. Over the course of the show's run,
we encounter multiple life forms intent on hijacking or otherwise
controlling human bodies, but the most central to the plot
is Hollow. When we first meet Hollow... It's just a
small example of a seemingly native Vestan species. These big-headed, piebald,

(01:34):
frog-like forest dwellers also bring to mind koalas, human infants,
and a little bit of the gray extraterrestrials from ufology.
We quickly learn that these creatures use potent telepathic and
telekinetic powers to survive, mostly leaning on telepathy to manipulate
other organisms into doing their work for them. The creatures

(01:56):
seem to have a balance to their way of life,
living socially with others of their kind, ruled over by
a larger alpha, and above all, in balance with their surroundings. Okay,
major spoilers ahead for this show. So if you haven't
seen it, and you're interested in watching it, go out
and watch it, and then come back. Okay, let's keep going.
So these creatures are living in some sort of harmony,

(02:18):
but then the smaller individual, Hollow, discovers one of the
human castaways from the spaceship Demeter. a very flawed man
by the name of Kamen. It telepathically manipulates Kamen, as
it would any creature, but Hollow then develops a vicious
streak of greed, gluttony, and cruelty that puts it at
severe imbalance with its environment, transforming it into the main

(02:40):
antagonist of the series. So one major read here is
that Kamen's state of mind corrupts Hollow and makes it
the monster that it becomes. though I think you can
also view it as a synthesis, with the raw power
of Hollow also bringing out the worst in Kamen's emotional state,
with these two things feeding into each other. By the

(03:01):
end of their time together, Kamen is reduced to an organ,
or perhaps a gestating embryo, inside Hollow's now gigantic body.
And in their final defeat, we see Hollow itself reduced
to its original form, held in Kamen's arms like an infant.
paradoxically inverting the parent-child presentation of impulse and manifestation that

(03:22):
we saw earlier. Like much in the show, this presents
us with a lot to think about, and I love
that each in their own way, both Caiman and Hollow
are ultimately redeemable in the show's eyes. Scavenger's Reign obviously
draws a great deal of inspiration from French comic legend Mobius,
as well as the rich ecosystems of Hayao Miyazaki, Certainly,

(03:44):
there's a lot of Nausicaa of the Valley of the
Wind here, with its poisonous jungles and fantastic insects. But
there's also an undeniable connection to be made between Hollow
and the spirit No-Face from Spirited Away, who is also
presented as an entity that, corrupted by the greed and
gluttony of others, quickly spirals out of control in monstrous ways.

(04:08):
Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact, The Artifact,
or Animalia Stupendium each week. As always, you can email
us at contact at stufftoblowyourmind.com.

Speaker 1 (04:27):
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