1 00:00:03,080 --> 00:00:07,600 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind, a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:09,480 --> 00:00:11,640 Speaker 2: Hi, my name is Robert Lamb. And this is the 3 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:14,880 Speaker 2: Monster Fact, a short form series from Stuff to Blow 4 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:19,520 Speaker 2: Your Mind, focusing on mythical creatures, ideas, and monsters in time. 5 00:00:24,040 --> 00:00:27,400 Speaker 2: Today we turn it last to the Predator franchise, but 6 00:00:27,560 --> 00:00:31,800 Speaker 2: not to discuss its central Yatjaw alien Hunters. Now. We 7 00:00:31,880 --> 00:00:35,120 Speaker 2: might come back to the titular Predators at some point 8 00:00:35,159 --> 00:00:37,120 Speaker 2: in the future, but for today, I just want to 9 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 2: talk about the latest installment in the series, twenty twenty 10 00:00:40,440 --> 00:00:45,840 Speaker 2: five's Predator bad Lands. Here's something I never thought I'd say, Hey, 11 00:00:46,280 --> 00:00:49,479 Speaker 2: the cute alien and odd couple humor in this latest 12 00:00:49,479 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 2: Predator movie. It really worked. But hey, here we are. 13 00:00:53,120 --> 00:00:55,800 Speaker 2: I have a lot of nostalgia for Predators one and two. 14 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:58,720 Speaker 2: I enjoyed most of the sequels at least on some level, 15 00:00:58,920 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 2: and I thought twenty twenty two Prey was just a 16 00:01:01,040 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 2: great take on the original concept. Its director Dan Tracktenberg 17 00:01:05,680 --> 00:01:09,720 Speaker 2: apparently considered a slasher style follow up to Prey in 18 00:01:09,760 --> 00:01:13,360 Speaker 2: which we cheer the Predators on against Nazis, which would 19 00:01:13,360 --> 00:01:15,960 Speaker 2: have been something. But I'm ultimately glad they gave us 20 00:01:15,959 --> 00:01:18,560 Speaker 2: this fresh action adventure approach that we got with bad 21 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:21,520 Speaker 2: Lands Again, just something different that is also a lot 22 00:01:21,520 --> 00:01:25,160 Speaker 2: of fun. The movie follows a young cast aside predator 23 00:01:25,240 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 2: runt named Deck as he seeks the ultimate prey on 24 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,680 Speaker 2: an alien planet. At the same time as an all 25 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,640 Speaker 2: android Wayland Utani research mission is also active on that 26 00:01:35,720 --> 00:01:39,840 Speaker 2: planet seeking the same target. Yes, the film is something 27 00:01:39,880 --> 00:01:44,000 Speaker 2: of a soft alien versus predator film, but without literal 28 00:01:44,160 --> 00:01:48,880 Speaker 2: AVP action, instead pitting the alien franchisees, corporate villains, and 29 00:01:48,960 --> 00:01:53,360 Speaker 2: multiple synths against our yacht jah protagonist and a damage 30 00:01:53,400 --> 00:01:56,960 Speaker 2: synth named Thea. Again, it's a lot of fun. I 31 00:01:57,000 --> 00:01:59,000 Speaker 2: had a lot of fun with this one. I'm still 32 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:02,080 Speaker 2: not sure if I want to see another film in 33 00:02:02,080 --> 00:02:05,840 Speaker 2: which predators actually take on xenomorphs, at least not anytime soon. 34 00:02:05,960 --> 00:02:09,760 Speaker 2: But hey, Predators Versus Synths was still pretty great. But 35 00:02:09,880 --> 00:02:13,040 Speaker 2: let's come back to that crazy alien planet. It's presented 36 00:02:13,080 --> 00:02:18,160 Speaker 2: here as a hyper dangerous ecosystem in which just about 37 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:21,280 Speaker 2: every form of fauna and flora is trying to kill you. 38 00:02:21,400 --> 00:02:25,160 Speaker 2: Even its grass is razor sharp, and as you might imagine, 39 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:30,000 Speaker 2: the planet's apex predator is darned near unkillable. And this 40 00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:33,720 Speaker 2: is the callusk, prized by the Yatcha as the ultimate 41 00:02:33,760 --> 00:02:37,320 Speaker 2: prey and sought after by waylay Nutani for its incredible 42 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:42,799 Speaker 2: regenerative abilities. I describe the callusk as roughly a cross 43 00:02:42,840 --> 00:02:46,600 Speaker 2: between a hippo, a lion, and Sonic the hedgehog. There 44 00:02:46,680 --> 00:02:49,399 Speaker 2: might be a little gorilla in there as well. This 45 00:02:49,720 --> 00:02:54,360 Speaker 2: towering creature, almost like a kaiju, is incredibly vicious and durable, 46 00:02:54,880 --> 00:02:58,320 Speaker 2: and it boasts powers of regeneration so intense that it 47 00:02:58,360 --> 00:03:03,800 Speaker 2: can bounce back in seconds from evisceration, dismemberment, decapitation, and 48 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 2: seemingly anything short of total body fragmentation. The natural world, 49 00:03:09,280 --> 00:03:12,960 Speaker 2: of course, features some regeneration star players of its own, 50 00:03:13,200 --> 00:03:15,920 Speaker 2: such as tiny hydras and flat worms, and even some 51 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:20,440 Speaker 2: larger regenerators like the axolotel, but none of these organisms 52 00:03:20,639 --> 00:03:25,000 Speaker 2: are capable of the sort of stealth head reattachment while 53 00:03:25,040 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 2: Predator's back is turned action we see in the film. 54 00:03:28,120 --> 00:03:30,679 Speaker 2: Even with the hydro, we're talking eighteen to seventy two 55 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:34,680 Speaker 2: hours to regrow header body. But the hydra is also 56 00:03:34,680 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 2: worth bringing up here. In some ways it also lines 57 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 2: up with the callous because some scientists have made the 58 00:03:40,480 --> 00:03:46,320 Speaker 2: case that it's biologically immortal, not unkillable, not invulnerable minds you, 59 00:03:46,600 --> 00:03:50,760 Speaker 2: but possibly immune to aging. The late sci fi author 60 00:03:50,840 --> 00:03:53,440 Speaker 2: Ian M. Banks touched on this topic in his nineteen 61 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:57,480 Speaker 2: eighty seven culture novel Consider Flebus, which features an alien 62 00:03:57,600 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 2: race called the Idherons, who are biologically immortal due to 63 00:04:01,680 --> 00:04:05,560 Speaker 2: the savage, hyper competitive environment of their home world. Here's 64 00:04:05,560 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 2: a quick quote from that novel, which is among one 65 00:04:08,880 --> 00:04:13,440 Speaker 2: of my favorites. Quote. The Durans themselves had evolved on 66 00:04:13,480 --> 00:04:16,799 Speaker 2: their planet Ideir as the top monster from a whole 67 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:20,680 Speaker 2: planet full of monsters. The frenetic and savage ecology of 68 00:04:20,720 --> 00:04:24,240 Speaker 2: Adir in its early days had long since disappeared, and 69 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,719 Speaker 2: so had all the other home world monsters except those 70 00:04:27,720 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 2: in zoos. But the Adherans had retained the intelligence that 71 00:04:31,760 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 2: made them winners, as well as the biological immortality, which, 72 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:38,080 Speaker 2: due to the viciousness of the fight for survival back then. 73 00:04:38,560 --> 00:04:41,480 Speaker 2: Not to mention, Idir's high radiation levels had been an 74 00:04:41,520 --> 00:04:46,800 Speaker 2: evolutionary advantage rather than a recipe for stagnation. It's a 75 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:49,039 Speaker 2: really cool idea, and I wouldn't be surprised if it 76 00:04:49,080 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 2: at least partially inspired the invention of the callus, but 77 00:04:52,480 --> 00:04:55,640 Speaker 2: it actually runs counter to one of our leading hypotheses 78 00:04:55,640 --> 00:05:01,000 Speaker 2: of aging, Thomas Kirkwood's disposable soma theory or DST. According 79 00:05:01,000 --> 00:05:04,919 Speaker 2: to DST, it would be low environmentally induced mortality, not 80 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,279 Speaker 2: high that delays reproduction and aging. The evolutionary response to 81 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:12,440 Speaker 2: a high risk world like this, hypothetically would be to 82 00:05:12,440 --> 00:05:16,640 Speaker 2: speed things up and waste few resources on long term maintenance. Plus, 83 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 2: on a biological level, everything about the fictional callusk is 84 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:25,080 Speaker 2: just expensive. It's body size, its spines, it's tough hide, 85 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 2: and of course that high speed and nearly all inclusive regeneration. 86 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:31,919 Speaker 2: I feel like we need a lot more information on 87 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,400 Speaker 2: their life cycle to understand just how all of this 88 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 2: would fit together. Perhaps, though the callusk isn't truly biologically 89 00:05:39,360 --> 00:05:42,760 Speaker 2: immortal at all, it is actually incredibly short lived, just 90 00:05:42,880 --> 00:05:47,240 Speaker 2: extremely impossibly durable in the short term, and this might 91 00:05:47,320 --> 00:05:50,600 Speaker 2: actually line up well with the rapid growth we see 92 00:05:50,640 --> 00:05:55,080 Speaker 2: in the cask juvenile named Bud. But hey, anyway you 93 00:05:55,160 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 2: slice it, the Callusk is still a super fun monster 94 00:05:58,760 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 2: and a fitting obsession for both sci fi biomedical labs 95 00:06:03,279 --> 00:06:07,680 Speaker 2: and alien hunters. Tune in for additional episodes of The 96 00:06:07,680 --> 00:06:10,799 Speaker 2: Monster Fact the artifact or Animalius to Pendium each week. 97 00:06:11,120 --> 00:06:14,039 Speaker 2: As always, you can email us at contact at stuff 98 00:06:14,080 --> 00:06:24,280 Speaker 2: to Blow your Mind dot com. 99 00:06:24,400 --> 00:06:27,359 Speaker 1: Stuff to Blow Your Mind is production of iHeartRadio. For 100 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:31,280 Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 101 00:06:31,360 --> 00:06:33,160 Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.