1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:06,840 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:10,360 --> 00:00:13,240 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lammin. This is the Monster Fact, 3 00:00:13,320 --> 00:00:15,680 Speaker 2: a short form series from Stuff to Blow Your Mind 4 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 2: focusing on mythical creatures, ideas and monsters in time. I'm 5 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:28,800 Speaker 2: returning this week to the alien Universe, specifically to one 6 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:33,200 Speaker 2: of the minor creatures from the twenty twelve film of Prometheus, 7 00:00:33,800 --> 00:00:37,080 Speaker 2: just to refresh. The film follows a high tech exploration 8 00:00:37,240 --> 00:00:41,120 Speaker 2: expedition to the distant planet LV two twenty three to 9 00:00:41,240 --> 00:00:46,920 Speaker 2: investigate the possibility of an ancient interplanetary civilization responsible for 10 00:00:47,040 --> 00:00:50,960 Speaker 2: seeding life on Earth. Guess what they find it? But 11 00:00:51,040 --> 00:00:54,960 Speaker 2: the crew of the Prometheus, including directed Panspermia zelots propped 12 00:00:55,000 --> 00:00:58,400 Speaker 2: up by a longevity hungry CEO, get more than they 13 00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:02,560 Speaker 2: bargain for when they encounter Engineer Ruins and the deadly 14 00:01:02,640 --> 00:01:05,800 Speaker 2: alien pathogen agent A zero thirty nine to fifty nine 15 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,200 Speaker 2: x point ninety one slash fifteen, or as we commonly 16 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,600 Speaker 2: refer to it, the black Goo. As I discussed in 17 00:01:12,680 --> 00:01:15,319 Speaker 2: last year's multi part series on the Creatures of the 18 00:01:15,360 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 2: Alien Universe, the black Goo can be thought of as 19 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 2: a biological AI that reprograms everything it touches, perhaps following 20 00:01:24,760 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 2: specific instructions, general directions, or maybe it's just left entirely 21 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:33,720 Speaker 2: to its own generative impulses. Whatever the case, it weaponizes 22 00:01:33,880 --> 00:01:38,000 Speaker 2: organic life and spreads rapidly through an ecosystem, producing in 23 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:43,280 Speaker 2: its extremes deadly strains of xenomorphic life. I already discuss 24 00:01:43,400 --> 00:01:46,320 Speaker 2: some of the forms this winds up taking in Prometheus, 25 00:01:46,360 --> 00:01:48,240 Speaker 2: but one of the earliest we see in the film 26 00:01:48,320 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 2: is that of the so called hammer pede. The missions 27 00:01:51,760 --> 00:01:57,520 Speaker 2: woefully inept biologist Milburn initially interprets the organism as reptilian, 28 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:00,600 Speaker 2: and it is indeed an elongated, limbless creature that we 29 00:02:00,720 --> 00:02:03,520 Speaker 2: might well compare to a serpent, though I get a 30 00:02:03,640 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 2: strong hagfish vibe as well as an eagle vibe from 31 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:10,040 Speaker 2: the creature. More on that in a second. Its nickname 32 00:02:10,320 --> 00:02:13,720 Speaker 2: ham Repede apparently refers to earlier creature designs for the 33 00:02:13,760 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 2: film that more closely resembled a centipede or a millipede. 34 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,040 Speaker 2: The origin of this creature, however, in the film, is 35 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:24,760 Speaker 2: heavily implied to be some manner of worms like earth worms, 36 00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:28,240 Speaker 2: either tracked in by the Prometheus crew or found in 37 00:02:28,320 --> 00:02:32,320 Speaker 2: the soil of planet LV two twenty three. In either case, 38 00:02:32,680 --> 00:02:36,640 Speaker 2: the black goo exposure rapidly evolves the worms into slithering 39 00:02:36,680 --> 00:02:39,800 Speaker 2: creatures with a hooded head that it once mirrors a 40 00:02:39,840 --> 00:02:43,120 Speaker 2: cobra and maybe a human hand, throwing up a pair 41 00:02:43,160 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 2: of devil horns that sort of thing. Its expansive mouth 42 00:02:46,840 --> 00:02:50,600 Speaker 2: displays four fangs, one at each point of the compass. 43 00:02:50,800 --> 00:02:56,120 Speaker 2: It also boasts impressive regenerative powers. Now, when Milburn approaches 44 00:02:56,160 --> 00:02:59,320 Speaker 2: the creature, it latches onto his arm, constricts it, and 45 00:02:59,360 --> 00:03:03,600 Speaker 2: then breaks the underlying bones. Geologist Feftfield attempts to cut 46 00:03:03,639 --> 00:03:07,480 Speaker 2: him free, but the creature bleeds potent acid, as xenomorphic 47 00:03:07,760 --> 00:03:12,320 Speaker 2: organisms often do. Finally, it breaches Melbourne's suit, injures his helmet, 48 00:03:12,600 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 2: and in a rather shocking scene, lodges itself in the 49 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,880 Speaker 2: victim's mouth. The same hammerpeede, or maybe a different one, 50 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:23,680 Speaker 2: is later seen emerging from his corpse. Now, the Free 51 00:03:23,760 --> 00:03:27,480 Speaker 2: League Alien RPG in the supplement Building Better World provides 52 00:03:27,520 --> 00:03:32,040 Speaker 2: additional information or possible insight into what's going on here, 53 00:03:32,120 --> 00:03:35,960 Speaker 2: stating that after suffocating the victim, the hammerpede will quote 54 00:03:36,200 --> 00:03:40,200 Speaker 2: rearrange your internal organs to create a personal corpse den 55 00:03:40,360 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 2: for themselves. Now what does that mean? They don't go 56 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:45,760 Speaker 2: into a lot of detail. We have to speculate. Does 57 00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,160 Speaker 2: it mean that it's going to carry out reproduction inside 58 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 2: the victim? Is it eating the flesh of the victim inside? 59 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:55,760 Speaker 2: This rearranging organs certainly raises a number of questions, And 60 00:03:55,880 --> 00:03:59,240 Speaker 2: of course that's what I like about the description allows 61 00:03:59,280 --> 00:04:03,120 Speaker 2: the gameplay to maybe decide what exactly is happening here. 62 00:04:04,120 --> 00:04:07,960 Speaker 2: So let's get into the potential science here now. Comparing 63 00:04:07,960 --> 00:04:10,960 Speaker 2: the hammer peede morph to natural world organisms, we of 64 00:04:11,000 --> 00:04:14,720 Speaker 2: course find little in the way of a direct match. Generally, 65 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,680 Speaker 2: creatures attempt to avoid entering the mouths of larger creatures. 66 00:04:19,279 --> 00:04:22,520 Speaker 2: We do have some notable exceptions cleaner species. For example, 67 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:25,280 Speaker 2: we talked about this on Stuffed to blow your mind before, 68 00:04:25,320 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 2: where you'll have say a smaller fish or aquatic organism 69 00:04:29,279 --> 00:04:31,720 Speaker 2: that'll enter the mouth of a much bigger organism in 70 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:36,800 Speaker 2: order to consume say debris or even parasites in some 71 00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:39,520 Speaker 2: cases that sort of thing. But that is not what's 72 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:42,240 Speaker 2: going on with the hammerpeed. It also doesn't seem to 73 00:04:42,240 --> 00:04:47,320 Speaker 2: be attempting to enter a potential host like a parasite 74 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 2: would for starters. It ends up killing the victim. In 75 00:04:51,560 --> 00:04:54,320 Speaker 2: the process, it suffocates the victim by lodging itself in 76 00:04:54,360 --> 00:04:58,040 Speaker 2: the esophagus. A parasite generally has nothing to gain from 77 00:04:58,120 --> 00:05:00,880 Speaker 2: a dead host about the The only way you could 78 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,040 Speaker 2: apply this and have it make sense here is if 79 00:05:04,240 --> 00:05:07,360 Speaker 2: the hammer pede is really looking to get down the 80 00:05:07,360 --> 00:05:10,400 Speaker 2: throat of a much larger creature and would otherwise be 81 00:05:10,440 --> 00:05:12,520 Speaker 2: able to gain access. And there might be a case 82 00:05:12,560 --> 00:05:15,279 Speaker 2: to be made here comparing the large size of the 83 00:05:15,320 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 2: engineers to much smaller human beings. But still there's some 84 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:22,120 Speaker 2: potential problems in trying to make that all work the 85 00:05:22,160 --> 00:05:26,840 Speaker 2: mental gymnastics involved. Now we do encounter organisms that defensively 86 00:05:26,960 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 2: make themselves difficult meals capable of clogging and esophagus and choking, 87 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:35,440 Speaker 2: it would be predator, but again not what we're seeing 88 00:05:35,480 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 2: here exactly. While the hammerped's method of suffocation is unique 89 00:05:39,960 --> 00:05:43,480 Speaker 2: or seems to be unique, plenty of terrestrial predators employs 90 00:05:43,480 --> 00:05:47,560 Speaker 2: suffocation via more time tested methods, such as crushing the 91 00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 2: throat of a prey species. We see this with cats 92 00:05:52,000 --> 00:05:56,200 Speaker 2: and various canids for example. Also we see, of course 93 00:05:56,200 --> 00:06:01,360 Speaker 2: constriction in some snakes, but constrictors can also cause cardiac arrests, 94 00:06:01,400 --> 00:06:05,839 Speaker 2: so it's not strictly suffocation. Now, coming back to the 95 00:06:05,839 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 2: comparison to the hagfish, these marine scavengers will often enter 96 00:06:09,760 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 2: the carcasses of large animals to consume them from the 97 00:06:13,080 --> 00:06:16,640 Speaker 2: inside out, and they will enter through various ways various 98 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,479 Speaker 2: natural openings, including the mouth, say on a large shark 99 00:06:19,560 --> 00:06:23,240 Speaker 2: or a whale. They'll also bore through the flesh, so 100 00:06:23,279 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 2: they're open to various entry points. Interestingly enough, a would 101 00:06:27,480 --> 00:06:31,280 Speaker 2: be predator of the hagfish might find itself suffocating when 102 00:06:31,320 --> 00:06:34,640 Speaker 2: the creature emits a defensive galt of slime to choke 103 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:39,400 Speaker 2: its attacker. So again, no super close Earth analogs here, 104 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:45,240 Speaker 2: but the hammer Pede nicely invokes distorted, aggressive reflections of 105 00:06:45,279 --> 00:06:49,880 Speaker 2: the natural world while also featuring core alien themes of 106 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:54,760 Speaker 2: bodily invasion. Tune in for additional episodes of The Monster Fact, 107 00:06:54,839 --> 00:06:57,960 Speaker 2: the Artifact, or Anomalius to Pendium each week here in 108 00:06:57,960 --> 00:07:00,280 Speaker 2: the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast feed as All Ways. 109 00:07:00,400 --> 00:07:02,920 Speaker 2: You can email us at contact at stuff that Blow 110 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:13,320 Speaker 2: your Mind dot com. 111 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:16,000 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is a production of iHeartRadio. 112 00:07:16,320 --> 00:07:20,320 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, 113 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:22,160 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.