1 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:08,520 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,520 --> 00:00:13,399 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamman. This is The Monster Fact, 3 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:15,840 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind, 4 00:00:15,920 --> 00:00:24,279 Speaker 2: focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. In 5 00:00:24,320 --> 00:00:26,560 Speaker 2: the previous episode of The Monster Fact, we began our 6 00:00:26,600 --> 00:00:30,479 Speaker 2: alien series with a look at the mysterious Engineers. Today 7 00:00:30,560 --> 00:00:34,040 Speaker 2: we'll turn to this Elder race's most dangerous creation, a 8 00:00:34,159 --> 00:00:39,800 Speaker 2: highly volatile genetic accelerant classified by human researchers as Agent 9 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 2: A zero thirty nine fifty nine x point ninety one 10 00:00:43,760 --> 00:00:48,240 Speaker 2: dash fifteen. In its purest form, this so called black 11 00:00:48,320 --> 00:00:52,000 Speaker 2: goo does in fact resemble a viscous tar like material 12 00:00:52,159 --> 00:00:56,520 Speaker 2: or liquid. Human explorers first discovered the substance amid the 13 00:00:56,560 --> 00:01:00,360 Speaker 2: ruins of an engineer outpost on the planet designated LV 14 00:01:00,560 --> 00:01:04,240 Speaker 2: two twenty three. They found the gou and core TETs 15 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:09,400 Speaker 2: of glass like vials secured in steatide ampules or urns. 16 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,280 Speaker 2: The engineers had secured it there like a precious treasure, 17 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:17,360 Speaker 2: like the remains of the dead, like a devastating bioweapon, 18 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 2: the pinnacle of the engineer's advanced biotechnology. We can even 19 00:01:22,319 --> 00:01:24,960 Speaker 2: think of Agent A zero thirty nine to fifty nine 20 00:01:25,080 --> 00:01:27,520 Speaker 2: x point ninety one slash fifteen as a kind of 21 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 2: biological AI that reprograms everything it touches, perhaps following specific instructions, 22 00:01:34,400 --> 00:01:39,000 Speaker 2: general directions, or left entirely to its own generative impulses. 23 00:01:39,920 --> 00:01:43,400 Speaker 2: As revealed in the film's Prometheus and Alien Covenant, and 24 00:01:43,480 --> 00:01:47,760 Speaker 2: as discussed in Freely Publishing's Alien RPG, the black Goo 25 00:01:47,840 --> 00:01:55,960 Speaker 2: aggressively recodes DNA, rapidly transforming individual organisms, species, and entire ecosystems. 26 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,600 Speaker 2: When exposed to the atmosphere, it atomizes and spreads as 27 00:01:59,600 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 2: an aeros but may also be further manipulated in liquid 28 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:07,800 Speaker 2: form if handled with proper expertise. High level exposure to 29 00:02:07,840 --> 00:02:12,080 Speaker 2: the substance generally spells instant death for organic beings. Select 30 00:02:12,120 --> 00:02:15,720 Speaker 2: engineers are thought to have ritualistically ingested the substance in 31 00:02:15,760 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 2: its pure concentrated liquid form to seed new worlds, allowing 32 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:23,240 Speaker 2: the black Good to rapidly break down their bodies and 33 00:02:23,320 --> 00:02:27,320 Speaker 2: spin new life forms out of the genetic pieces. Likewise, 34 00:02:27,360 --> 00:02:31,639 Speaker 2: when weaponized, aerial bombardments of the steatide ampules quickly lay 35 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:35,840 Speaker 2: waste to entire populations, finally twisting the life forms at 36 00:02:35,880 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 2: the peripheries of the attack into dangerous new creatures. At 37 00:02:41,040 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 2: lower exposure levels, the black Goose steadily mutates human beings 38 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 2: into zombie like forms known as abominations, noted for their 39 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 2: increasingly aggressive behavior, enhance strength, elongated limbs, and swelling craniums. 40 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:57,040 Speaker 2: They are also able to pass on their rampage in 41 00:02:57,080 --> 00:03:00,440 Speaker 2: genetics through different infection routes, as will explore in the 42 00:03:00,440 --> 00:03:04,200 Speaker 2: next episode. It's impossible to know exactly how the engineers 43 00:03:04,240 --> 00:03:07,120 Speaker 2: regarded the black Goo, but we might best understand it, 44 00:03:07,200 --> 00:03:10,480 Speaker 2: like many forms of technology, as having tremendous potential to 45 00:03:10,520 --> 00:03:13,800 Speaker 2: destroy or create. It can enable the seating of whole 46 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:16,639 Speaker 2: new worlds with the divergent genes of a single donor. 47 00:03:16,919 --> 00:03:19,320 Speaker 2: But it can also be a weapon of terrifying power, 48 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 2: wiping out most life on a world and reprogramming the 49 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:28,200 Speaker 2: surviving biome into aggressive monstrosities that steadily grind all life 50 00:03:28,320 --> 00:03:31,680 Speaker 2: to its end. But let's set aside metaphors and interpretations 51 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:35,560 Speaker 2: and consider a few additional takes on black goo. With 52 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 2: all of these extraterrestrial horrors now running through your brain, 53 00:03:39,080 --> 00:03:41,080 Speaker 2: you might find it a bit unnerving to realize that 54 00:03:41,160 --> 00:03:43,760 Speaker 2: here on Earth, outside of the sci fi horrors of 55 00:03:43,760 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 2: the alien franchise. We actually do have to contend with 56 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:51,600 Speaker 2: strange black goo within the buried creations of ancient civilizations. 57 00:03:52,480 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 2: As Kate Fulcher reported for the British Museum back in 58 00:03:55,080 --> 00:03:57,920 Speaker 2: twenty twenty, the goo in question here would have been 59 00:03:57,960 --> 00:04:03,240 Speaker 2: poured warm into the caskets of mummified individuals, effectively cementing 60 00:04:03,520 --> 00:04:08,600 Speaker 2: their linen wrapped mummy cases into the encasing casket. Museum 61 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,160 Speaker 2: scientists analyzed more than one hundred samples of the now 62 00:04:11,280 --> 00:04:14,960 Speaker 2: long dried gou and determined that while the exact ingredients varied, 63 00:04:15,240 --> 00:04:18,239 Speaker 2: the main components tended to be plant oil, animal fat, 64 00:04:18,520 --> 00:04:23,400 Speaker 2: tree resin, beeswax, and bitumen, a viscous or solid form 65 00:04:23,440 --> 00:04:28,279 Speaker 2: of petroleum. Egyptian black gou was reserved for royalty and 66 00:04:28,360 --> 00:04:30,920 Speaker 2: those rich enough to afford the very best in their 67 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:34,760 Speaker 2: funerary preparations. We've even found the stuff on the golden 68 00:04:34,839 --> 00:04:38,520 Speaker 2: mask of Tutin Common. According to Fulcher, its pitch black 69 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:43,640 Speaker 2: color was associated with mythic osiris and concepts of rebirth 70 00:04:43,920 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 2: and regeneration. It's clear that a certain amount of Egyptomania 71 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,280 Speaker 2: went into conceptions of the engineers. It even goes all 72 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,600 Speaker 2: the way back to artist hr Giger's late seventies concept 73 00:04:55,760 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 2: art for Alien, which includes a hieroglyphic inspired alien life 74 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:03,320 Speaker 2: cy called Tableau. Look it up, and it makes sense 75 00:05:03,440 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 2: in later ruminations of the franchise that filmmakers might have 76 00:05:06,640 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 2: found inspiration in the real life black Goo of Egyptology. 77 00:05:12,120 --> 00:05:15,000 Speaker 2: It's rather fitting, after all, given that the ancient Egyptians 78 00:05:15,040 --> 00:05:17,599 Speaker 2: seemed to have viewed the journey into the next life 79 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:21,799 Speaker 2: as something cosmic and transformative. There's sarcophagus in many ways 80 00:05:22,080 --> 00:05:26,120 Speaker 2: like a cryo chamber, and monstrous entities like Ahmet awaiting 81 00:05:26,160 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 2: the passage of the dead. Black Goo has, of course, 82 00:05:29,520 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 2: another larger life in sci fi in general, sometimes as 83 00:05:34,000 --> 00:05:37,359 Speaker 2: a catch all name for just black inky evil, or 84 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:41,120 Speaker 2: other times more specifically as a self replicating meta material 85 00:05:41,839 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 2: graphene oxide. Jason Kahey profiled the notion in a twenty 86 00:05:46,160 --> 00:05:49,920 Speaker 2: twenty two article for Wired Magazine, drawing on sci fi 87 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:54,840 Speaker 2: usages of the stuff on TV's Westworld and TV's Severance, 88 00:05:55,360 --> 00:05:57,240 Speaker 2: and if we go wider than that, he points out, 89 00:05:57,240 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 2: we see dangerous black goos in the original X File, 90 00:06:00,200 --> 00:06:03,720 Speaker 2: as well as in Miyazaki's Spirited Away. Elsewhere, we've watched 91 00:06:03,760 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 2: it drip onto Gary Olben's head in the Fifth Element 92 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 2: and Yes, the low budget nineteen eighty five alien knockoff 93 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:12,560 Speaker 2: Creature features a scene in which the stuff leaks from 94 00:06:12,560 --> 00:06:15,920 Speaker 2: an alien tube shortly before a monster breaks out of it. 95 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:20,600 Speaker 2: What is Marvel's venom but a slightly more stylish black goo, 96 00:06:21,000 --> 00:06:23,400 Speaker 2: and the Sorcerer egg Shin in Big Trouble and Little 97 00:06:23,480 --> 00:06:26,400 Speaker 2: China warned us, matter of factly, not of oil, but 98 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:30,000 Speaker 2: of the black blood of the Earth. The examples are endless, 99 00:06:30,320 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 2: though they often betray a Western prevalence for the negative 100 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:36,960 Speaker 2: connotations of the color black, which dates back through the 101 00:06:36,960 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 2: Middle Ages and into humoral theory with its black bile. 102 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 2: But black also represented power in secrecy during this time 103 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:48,760 Speaker 2: period as well. Colors are in the end multipurpose, culturally 104 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,440 Speaker 2: dependent and based on context. The color black may be 105 00:06:52,560 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 2: invoked to convey everything from darkness and mystery to beauty 106 00:06:56,200 --> 00:07:00,400 Speaker 2: and power, and when we combine all of that with gooiness, well, 107 00:07:00,880 --> 00:07:04,920 Speaker 2: visually there just seems to be something otherworldly about black goo, 108 00:07:05,440 --> 00:07:09,279 Speaker 2: and so it's the perfect visual manifestation of the underlying 109 00:07:09,400 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 2: power in the alien universe, a kind of anti blood 110 00:07:13,280 --> 00:07:17,320 Speaker 2: and anti seed. As dark as the spaces between the stars. 111 00:07:19,000 --> 00:07:22,280 Speaker 2: Tune in for additional episodes of the Monster Fact each week, 112 00:07:22,440 --> 00:07:25,640 Speaker 2: especially as we roll through the various creatures of the 113 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:30,840 Speaker 2: alien Universe. More episodes of the Artifact and Animalias Stupendium 114 00:07:30,840 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 2: will return on Wednesdays after that. Thanks to the excellent 115 00:07:34,840 --> 00:07:37,720 Speaker 2: JJ Possway for producing this episode, and as always, you 116 00:07:37,720 --> 00:07:40,360 Speaker 2: can email us at contact at stuff to Blow your 117 00:07:40,360 --> 00:07:50,880 Speaker 2: Mind dot com. 118 00:07:50,960 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 119 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:56,800 Speaker 1: more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, 120 00:07:56,960 --> 00:07:59,720 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.