TV review: Raised By Wolves
The draw for many here is that this is Hollywood heavyweight Ridley Scott returning to the small screen after decades of creating iconic films on the big screen.
While he directs only the first two episodes, and the series – now showing on HBO Go – is created by Aaron Guzikowski, Scott's imprint is throughout.
Many of the costumes in the show emulate the looks of Scott's design hero, French illustrator Moebius.
If anything, Raised By Wolves forms an artificial life trilogy for Scott, joining his two iconic sci-fi classics Alien (1979) and Blade Runner (1982).
Two androids on the run set down on an inhospitable planet. Their cargo? Six human embryos they have been tasked with raising far away from a military/religious society - which also appears to be all that's left of humanity after a major conflict.
The androids refer to themselves as Mother (Amanda Collin) and Father (Abubakar Salim) and appear to be the ideal parents - dad jokes included - until the children start to die.
Soon, they are left with one child. And then Mother starts to lose it, and the relationship begins to strain.
Scott fans will recognise the dripping milk that usually signifies an android has gone insane in the mainframe.
Collin is perfectly unnerving and is able to flip effortlessly from caring to chilling.
However, those hoping for a big whiz-bang space opera will be disappointed.
Raised By Wolves is very old-school, cerebral sci-fi, where the ideas are put above the pace of storytelling - for the first episode at least.
Much of it deals with this odd family unit coming to terms with the harsh environment, and there's little colour to it.
So it's some relief when humans arrive, led by Travis Fimmel in a bad mullet. (The future isn't great for hair).
When there is action, it is made more shocking by the slow-burn build-up - even if the result leaves you wondering where the remaining episodes can go.
While the beginning can feel self-indulgently stretched, we get more world-building in subsequent episodes, more Fimmel - which is no bad thing as he has been relatively quiet since his stellar lead role in Vikings - and more new paths and twists.
It's far from a romp, but there is plenty going on to make this world worth exploring.
RAISED BY WOLVES (M18)
Score: 3/5
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now