FWIW, it's unlikely that any other studio would have greenlighted AoR at anywhere close to the budget it got. It might have had more seasons elsewhere, but not at this level of quality. I'm glad we at least got one incredible season out of it.
Scavenger's Reign on Max got similarly cancelled after one season. There isn't much audience for weird shows like that, apparently. :(
I think it’s a shame that shows like this need to be runaway hits out of the door, rather than slow-burners. Cult TV has historically had a long tail; you’d think that this was something that would benefit streaming services.
It sucks too because with streaming they can track so many finite details; with "old school" TV it was mostly self-reporting (i.e. Neilsen Ratings). And so much of the TV-streaming budgeting took "Hollywood budgeting" to the extremes: if total_individual_views < (total_episodes * 2) && total_episodes_binged < total_episodes && average_time_spent_on_episode < (average_episode_time * 0.98) && release_date <= 1week then CANCEL_SHOW=true ... just shortsighted and sad :(
The art of Scavenger’s Reign was really good. The ecosystem was really interesting (a bit overly-clever for stuff that is supposed to have evolved IMO, but it was still really interesting). Really great setting and art.
The plot and characters felt a bit shallow/stereotypical/predictable in a bad way.
It’s like they had too much of the ecosystem that they wanted to show, so they split it up among too many characters, and didn’t invest the appropriate character development in each. Plus, I really want to steep in the ecosystem, the rush to get to the ship is, IMO, not really necessary (it serves to force the characters to explore the environment, but IMO some alternative force that doesn’t put the characters on such a tight timer would be preferable). I often found myself thinking: wow, I wish the characters could take more time exploring this phenomenon, but also, the character should, given their in-character motivation, leave this interesting thing alone. They are wasting precious time.
I’d love to see a Mushishi like series set in that universe. Focus on one character’s journey through the ecosystem. Give the character motivation to unravel the mysteries instead of dodge them.
FWIW Scavenger's Reign's creators have been making the show Common Side Effects. It's a brilliant show in its own right IMO but the animation is nowhere near as high-effort.
Scavenger's Reign is probably the best show I've seen, in terms of world building and creativity. Just absolutely stunning.
I'm massively disappointed it got cancelled. It really scratched the sci-fi itch that usually only gets scratched via books. Most sci-fi movies and shows are really just lazily dressed up romance.
I'm gutted it's cancelled! Thanks for letting me know. What a pity, it was amazing. I haven't liked a sci-fi animated series that much since Final Space.
This is the first I am even hearing about it. Interesting that Netflix has never recommended it to me as someone who watches a lot of fantasy, sci-fi, animation, etc. Although TBH if it weren't highly recommended I would be pretty hesitant to watch a show with muppets, despite my other interests. Even with this glowing recommendation I'm still a bit skeptical.
