We turned this short into a TV show! Watch SCAVENGERS REIGN streaming right now on MAX, or on Netflix starting May 31st!

I LOVE that they did all this just to return home for a moment. In the series, there's a much greater sense of danger and scavenging for survival, but the "plot twist" in this original animation, that they're going through all of this incredible effort just for a tiny reprieve of mental health, is really special.

the fact that this is getting a full show is unbelievably awesome.i can't wait to see it

The little seed creature going through all that work, and then Ursula just pinging the bean unceremoniously into a bucket is absolute peak comedy.

Coming here after finishing Scavengers Reign, and I need to say: Congratulations on the incredible work, It was probably the best show i've watched in years, I hope we get a sequel! (Really curious about that last scene)

This makes you wonder how many times they did this and how much trial and error they went through to complete this complex process.

What an absolute gem. Great work to everyone involved.

It’s so incredibly rare to see an animated project that defies all expectations. Especially when the project is as unique and alien as the world it exists in. Congratulations to all the people involved on landing a series, can’t wait to see more!

Having begun watching Scavenger's Reign now that it's on Netflix, it's incredible to come back to this and see proto-Sam and proto-Ursula again.

Glad they toned down in the main show just how elaborate interacting with the ecosystem can be, as putting together this many bizzare steps in that Rube Goldberg machine way starts to stretch credulity! Still, fascinating to see the prototype for what turned out to be a truly amazing and special first season!

Revisiting after the S1 finale. Really nice to see how some elements from the short made their way into the show here and there.

I saw this ages ago when I was still in college, just got done watching the series and I'm AMAZED! The animation, the story, the environment design, the diverse ecosystems, they're all so gorgeous and captivating. I love how none of the alien lifeforms are given any weird names, it helps them feel so much more unknown and bizarre. You should be very proud of your work, it really is something stellar and inspiring!!

Because, even after all of that, it's enough to just get a taste of the humanity and lives they left. Just a moment's sensation. That's it? Is it worth it? It's all you've got. This spoke so very deeply to me, it's one of my most favorite stories and bits of artwork and the human imagination and condition. I return to it when I feel lost, it helps me remember the worth of the world. Thank you so very much for having the brains and imaginations that created this.

So this is where it began..they even used some of the original frames and backgrounds in the series, straight out of this short. It's a visual treat, it's a masterpiece to experience such artistic marvel coming to it's fulfilment ❤❤

I remember watching this when I was younger. When the trailer of scavenger reign came out, I immediately recognized it was from this short . Great work! I really hope this gets the recognition it deserves!

Dude this is so dope! I watched this when it aired on Adult Swim and I'm eagerly awaiting the series!!! Keep up the good work.

who would have thought a decade later, this would become the best cartoon of 2023!

The attention to detail on some of the movements was a joy to experience. The animation and storyboard team did outstanding work here.

The animation of the alien lifeworm was so well done and strangely satisfying... impressive work

Surprised as hell to find out this got a show, just found it on 'flix. Had no clue HBO picked it up last year; they clearly didn't advertise. 3 eps in & I love it; fingers crossed for a 2nd chance at another season

Was brought here by the announcement of the coming series and *damn* did I miss out on this lovely gem. I am *very* excited by what is to come.

This is just whoa. I'm just... Wow Amazed to have watched such a masterpiece. All that trouble just to get a glimpse of their homeworld.

Came here after watching the new Scavengers Reign series season 1. Looked up Bennett and Huettner and found out about this short. I was thinking it was going to be similar to the series. Nope, this is like that series on DMT. Loved it.

Wait THIS is where it came from!?!?! I already watched the whole show and it was amazing!!! It's so cool to see the work that started everything in a sort of prequel! Even more knowing that these characters were canonically in the show in the Cure episode! W lore W series W art 100/10

Watching this for the first time after seeing the trailer for the series on Max, and I have to say I’m impressed. The story, the art style, along with the setting being in space on a distant planet go together perfectly. Can’t wait to watch the full series! And right after the game Starfield is released? What great timing lol

Coming back here after seeing this get made into a full series and it was absolutely incredible. So glad the world gets to see animation like this

i cannot say enough how lightning-in-a-bottle this show is. EVERYONE WATCH FOR SEASON TWO!!

This is hauntingly beautiful. A simple flow of colors, story, sound effects and light. 8 minutes that scared the crap out of me because it’s a world we don’t realize we live in.

One of the most incredibly transcending pieces I have ever seen. Was left gobsmacked last night at the ending. Watched it again this morning and felt equally as elated and deflated. What a powerful piece of art. Work of utter genius!!!!

I love how alien this is. You don’t know if it’s what they’ve been trying to get, or if it’s just the next step. Along with that, what would the next step be? Truly beautiful

This animated series is astounding. It's imaginative beyond anything I've ever seen except real life and it doesn't hold back when showing the brutality of survival of the fittest. The art style grew on me and I enjoyed the 'show don't tell' approach to its story. Also the show really brings a MOOD of 'this place is so alien, diverse and interconnected - we don't belong here and should leave it alone' which is accentuated by brutal deaths that occur. What a treat watching this has been!

The fact that this found me naturally after having watched the show is astounding

Came here after watching 9 episodes of the show, this is a incredible triumph of sci-fi and animation, hypnotically beautiful, I was in the same trance as the characters are with the planet Vesta while watching.

I recently came across the TV series "Scavengers Reign" which is a masterpiece! I hope there are more seasons to come! It's amazing! Thank you for this!!!!

i was just recommend this video after watching the official teaser from the “MAX” channel and i’m astonished at how beautiful it looked! i’m proud of you guys and hopefully we get to unravel this intriguing universe y’all created through multiple seasons!

Loved Scavengers Reign. I didn't know what to expect, now I want more.

One of my favorite animations from one of my favorite animators, remember this from highschool. The fact it has a show now is insane, all the best.

This was AMAZING! Beginning gave me some 80s Anime cinema vibes. I'm guessing some of your inspiration comes from that scene? Gonna share this with my fans cause this needs more attention

I'm amazed and delighted that such a unique short was greenlit as a series. LOVED it and really hope it gets renewed for season 2!!

Amazing to see the prototype short film for what would become one of the greatest shows I watched in recent memory. Hats off to your creativity and story telling. The fact it's all hand drawn only adds to the beauty of this fascinating piece of work. I only hope hbo realises the potential of this show and allows it to be fully realised.

Absolutely incredible. Sound design was immaculate, wow

just finished the show. this was amazing to see right after it.

Vindo aqui após assistir Scavengers Reign e só posso dizer uma coisa: essa série é incrível demais! Parabéns!

The first three episodes of Scavenger's Reign have been amazing, can't wait to see where this goes!

How does this video only have 191k views? It deserves millions! I've watched this video numerous times and I think about it all the time. Such a great story. So much world-building potential.

Coming back to this after watching show, I *CANNOT* recommend it enough- I feel like some concepts lose quality when being moved to a show format, but if anything Scavengers Reign improved on the original. It was such a ride that I wept at the end, because I could finally take a breath and know it was all over- it’s a beautiful yet terrifying masterpiece that will grip you until the very end

So incredibly cool how this became a serie that will forever be in my memory. So much care, criativity and imagination. Thank you for making such a special creation. You deserve all the success and I hope more people lay eyes on your production. Amazing, just amazing!!

This is the most peculiar, artful, and pleasingly interesting clip I’ve ever seen. The soundtrack is really good.

Wow, didn't realize how many years in the making this was- just saw the new trailer! Can't wait to see it on HBO

brother you have changed my life with scavengers reign. If i ever get to finish learning art fundamentals, get out of my creative block, learn animation like i wanted to, then its because of Scavengers reign.

This is now one of my favorite shows, I love the world everyone created

To Charles Huettner and Joe Bennett You guys are complete masterminds, beautiful work. Congrats on making something so interesting and trippy.

TODAY'S NEWS IS AMAZING, Y'ALL! I've been a fan of this since I stumbled across it on Vimeo in 2017, and am already counting the days to the premiere. Congratulations!

Brilliant! There's already a prequel ;) It's amazing that this has, rightly, blown up. Love the concept, animation style, big questions. Proper sci-fi!

Scavengers Reign is a masterpiece!!! Joseph Bennett & Charles Huettner - thank you guys)))

This is absolutely stunning, really happy to find out this is getting picked up by HBO.

So excited for Scavengers Reign!!

I saw the preview for scavenger's reign on netflix and immediately recognized the animation. This short film got a series! Fantastic!

Amazing to think this was the precursor for Scavanger's Reign. You guys did an excellent job with the world building and character chemistry with the show, honestly these type of stories would also work great for a game too!

Wow, all of that insane detailed work, like a crazy dance, all to get a moment to breath the air and see the sights of home. The swell of music when that first building sprang into view moved me almost to tears. So excited for the full show.

I really enjoyed this, so imaginative. I hope there’s more to come! Because I NEED more. 📽🎥📹💻📱

Incredible series. This short film has no sense of danger

I would be very , very happy about a 2nd season. The outro and foreshadowing was also really promising. If somehow possible please make it happen Charles :)

This randomly popped into my mind and it’s just as great seeing it now as the first time I saw it on adult swim.👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

This reminds me how much I love art. Absolutely amazing

I'm here after watching scavengers reign. What an absolute ride. Amazing work.

Thank you Joseph Bennett and Charles Huettner. In addition to the monetary recognition for your work, please know that you have touched the imagination, feelings and joy of your work in the series you created. Please let us know if a second season is planned. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

This is awesome! Love the universe you guys created. The sound design is great as well.

wonderful from start to finish, thank you all for your work

You guys fucking rock. I loved your series, and this short feels so crazy knowing it came out in 2016. Thanks for scaring the shit out of me with something so beautiful.

I was just about to say Scavenger Reign ripped you have before I read for info! Amazing work.

NEW SHOW ON HBO!! LETS GGOO!!!

Holy shit dude! You assembled the animation dream team for this one! I love the concept of showcasing all the completely alien ways you would interact with non-earthian lifeforms! I feel like you guys took a video game fetchquest and got crazy weird with it! Fucking incredible!

So this is where the series originated.

just binged the show. it was incredible

I REMEMBER WATCHING THIS AND IT TOOK SO LONG TO FIND AGAIN THANK YOU

I want you to know that the TV show you subsequently turned this into is absolutely fucking amazing, and I hope a second season gets greenlit. PS: I'd love to get it on Blu-ray and buy the soundtrack as well, rather than it being at the whims of Big Streaming whisking it away at any moment🤞

One of the most inspiring works of art I've seen this decade. Totally deserved to be made into the show.

It transported them to the pre-Covid era NYC. Sublime!

Shocked this doesn’t have more likes and views that’s the best animation I’ve seen all year like that was incredible

This is really amazing complex with a story I gotta try and wrap my head around, I'd love to see more like this masterpiece

This is the best and most original show I've seen in such a long while. Sublime! Thank you!

Hello!!! Just finished watching Scavengers Reign. Thank you so much for this! This is the best space science fiction I've seen in the last 10 years! This cartoon struck me in the heart and made my mind shrink into a ball. With this cartoon you have become one of the greatest science fiction writing teams in the world! Now tens of millions of people will be waiting for the new season!

After watching the series on Netflix. This feels like a hidden episode.

And then it repeats over and over and over again

Cant wait for the HBO series❤️

So this is where the mind bending 10/10 show I watched came from!!! Awesome stuff! Can't wait for more

This short is amazing and I’m so psyched about how great the show was. Hope there is a second season in the works.

if I get to see something as good as this every week, I'll die happy :D

Yo I think I've watched this a dozen times now, hope to see some more from you

Come here after watching Scavenger’s Reign. I can’t help but taking screenshots. Every scene is just otherworldly beautiful.

A perfect example of “show, don’t tell” done right.

Hey guess what I'm going to analyse inebriation jokes. So of course a lot of responses to this short are this thing of, oh wow, they went through all of that effort just to get high! And yes, they did. It was a lot of effort and they got high. Perhaps less ironically, this short lined up in a playlist with some old school surrealist animations, perhaps some good old Jan Svankmajer eh? Could make excellent weed watching! Get high and get lost in it. Could be good. But I think it's very reductive to hold our experience to the characters in the story. They are certainly not just bored scientists getting high. These are two people who have been stranded. The intro suggests that there was originally a third who has perhaps died. We see what looks like one of them counting the days on a wall, with dozens of days already counted. They have suffered extreme loss with no recovery in sight. These are not two people seeking a joyful escape from a mundane reality. Just the opposite. These are two people who have been horrifically denied a mundane reality and desperately crave to return to it. The high does not give them the altered senses and stimuli. It is not a playful space of new experiences. It is the last remnant of belonging that they firmly cling to, in fear that letting go is true oblivion. I think perhaps in this year of 2020, what I've described above has now become a widespread feeling due to the pandemic. With people returning to restaurants, knowing that it could result in their deaths or long term disability or the same of their loved ones, but desperately risking that for just a chance of brief normality. To return to a simple life that has been denied them. For some of us, this desperation is all too familiar. The pandemic is not the first time in our lives that we have experienced this, and will not be the last. I have long since dried any tears I have to shed for the normal life that I have lost. I cannot return to what was never mine. I can only live. Striving to create a new normal. To anyone experiencing this despair for the first time, I can only promise you this; Life can be beautiful again but it will never be the same.

This was unreal. What an insanely great animation

This was awesome and I'm also enjoying Scavengers Reign very much.

Brillaint short and brillaint series. I'm really hoping we get a second season!

I'm getting some heavy René Laloux meets Aeon Flux vibes here, I'm digging it.

Here are some names and bios for the Flora and fauna I thought of: 1:10 Vestan Banshee Medium sized, reclusive omnivore that lives in densely forested environments. Produce loud wailing sounds through special vocal sacs 1:34 Bulbapod Fungi Large, fungal growth that only grows under specific conditions. Will sprout 'fruits' following a period of extensive growth. Ripe fruits contain bright blue seeds which swell up, explode, and spread spores upon contact with proper nutrients. 2:03 Bulbapod Dweller Minuscule, humanoid creatures that live in symbiosis with the Bulbapods. Thought to somehow aid in the Bulbapod's reproductive cycle. Have an incredibly short lifespan. 2:41-5:10 Burrowing Rocksprite Colonial animals native to arid regions. Namely canyons and ravines. Live within complex underground colonies and gather Plants and fungi as food. Have special bladders in their tails that swell up with gases and explode upon death, creating a loud booming sound which serves as a warning for other Rocksprites nearby. 2:43 Scopebugs Small, cosmopolitan detritivores found under rocks. Heads are crowned with a gel-filled organ which holds vital nutrients needed for the creature's survival. Often harbours many parasites. 3:01 Trunkerpig Large foragers that live in lowland areas. Emit low squealing sounds. Often travel alone or in small herds. Mostly fungivorous, though will opportunistically dine on carrion and small animals. 3:13 Fluorescent Screacherpillar Gentle herbivores found under rocks and in caves. Will screech loudly if provoked, often shattering the senses of would-be predators. 3:20 Greenberries Small, inconspicuous berries, often found growing on the forest floor. Although not particularly dangerous, the seeds of the plant contain a potent neurotoxin which can trigger seizures and even cause death. 3:29 Lesser Flitterfish Aquatic, fishlike creatures found in freshwater throughout Vesta. Found in large schools. Diet primarily consists of Phytoplankton. Mainly locomote by swimming, though can fly great distances to evade danger or if there waterways dry out. 3:35 Greater Flitterfish Massive relatives of the Lesser Flitterfish found in deep, murky, lakes. Feed on abundant Zooplankton. Produce nutrient-rich ejecta which is highly coveted by other creatures. 3:48 Vestan fly Relatively large, flying creatures reminiscent of Earth arthropods. Found in the canopies of forests where they feed on lofty fungal outcrops. Are remarkably strong and can carry off objects much heavier than themselves. 5:35 Colossal Skywhale Cryptic, apex predators that roam the vast vestan skies. Bodies are partially transparent and are covered in light bending cells, rendering them near invisible to the naked eye. Catch prey by dragging a long, cordlike proboscis with a set of jaws at the end for ensnaring prey. Prey is quickly digested and formed into large, waste-pellets. Pellets have been observed to have potent, psychedelic properties in humans.

Went straight to the show after watching this. Amazing

The show on Max and Prime is seriously a amazing. It ties everything together and it’s just better then you can imagine. The perfect way to describe it is beautiful and terrifying