The subreddit for Love, Death & Robots, a 3-volume animated anthology that spans across genres of science fiction, fantasy, romance, horror, and comedy. Extreming on Netflix. Volume 4 coming soon.
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Imagine, there may actually be far corners in our galaxy with gigantic webs and spiders. Maybe they're on their way here now.....
maybe they are already here...
maybe we're already under their simulation
In this thread, people not reading the books and coming up with wrong interpretations then getting angry when someone tells them they are wrong
Am i tripping or does thom look like captain price from call of duty?
Actually to me...he looks like the guy from Sam Raimi from The Evil Dead.
Now THATS a catfish! 💔
My original thought was that they (the alien spider thingies) feed off of thoughts and ideas. I mean I didn't make the story so its just what I'm throwing out there. I also found it quite lovecraftian (could just be that I've recently been reading a lot of lovecraft)
The web looked sort of liked a neural pathway system and the ships sparking looked like connections being formed. The aliens also have telepathic powers of sorts, being able to induce sleep onto victims and allowing them to live in a false reality.
The bodies that we see in the nest also didnt look like they had been eaten away at but simply rotted. It could be that the aliens dont eat their pray quickly but may simply store them if there isnt much food about but Im unsure.
My theory is that they feed off of memories, ideas and all that kind of stuff which is why the spider alien guilt tripped Thom saying she cares for all those who crash. This is simply a way to keep them wanting to stay asleep. She also fuels him with ideas when he is realising he isnt in a 'real' place.
I doubt that Suzy was really there and it was instead a part of his subconcious that was resisting but was eventually put to sleep, which is why at the end he is back in the fake station, subdued yet again.
This sounds great and honestly made me enjoy it even more. I like the idea of a station that has been dead for a long time and overrun with these psychic spiders. He looks terrible in reality and I'm assuming the spider gives him at least some kind of nutrient to keep him alive? He looks to be older and his hair has been grown out for at least a year.
My assumption was the pods did work for quite awhile after the ship was marooned keeping them all alive, all the while the psychic spider thingies are in their minds. This goes great for awhile, no doubt those space pods come with emergency backups and contingencies to keep the people alive as long as possible so they can maybe be rescued. But eventually the backups of the backups run dry, the pods open, and the people are left in a weakened, dazed state. This is also why everything is "overgrown". It has time to before the pods failed and apparently the other two crew members pods either broke or they already woke up and died before him.
Then your options are be awake and soon after die surrounded by fleshy webs and spider monsters or you could take the alternative and live out your finals days, maybe even hours, in a relatively enjoyable (psychic sex) dream until your body eventually gives out and you die. But you get to skip all the suffering from hunger and dehydration before death, I mean you're not exactly escaping that situation. There's worse ways to go out.
Let me just tell you, I'm so very high and also buzzed (perfect combo) and everything you said really struck me and enhanced the episode to an even higher level. Personally, just like most people, I definitely would enjoy the last days of my life in a happy horny dream. It's still a shame though that from a routing error he just has to die like this in space. That's the style of LDR though. However, thinking about how much death occurs anyway, the way captain price goes out is definitely respectable and definitely interesting.
Can someone tell me WHO CREATED THE HIVE?
There are more of the aliens in the station then just her. When Thom was finally seeing reality the scene that’s slowly panning back while showing his ship goes behind a “bar” and you can see one crawling along the line while another one is in the top left corner
So was he having sex with that monster alien but the monster alien was making him hallucinate into thinking it was a sexy lady?
He was way too emancipated for his body to ejaculate everytime the simulation runs.
Did you mean emaciated lol
🤣 yes.
But technically he was emancipated as well.
No, it was basically a wet dream x1000 since its a simulation
That pod he’s in is gonna turn into a snow globe
I think he was because, that's what is being implied when the spider first appears, it seems like a woman figure at first
I don't think he was really having sex with anything.
Oh thank god.
Idk man it showed the mouthvagina when the alien first popped up and we might have a pretty sick case on our hand. Dear lord what if she survives off semen but she still has to set up a good simulation and keep him happy for the semen to not be ruined.
Ngl, this is some amazing sfm 3d porn plot lmaoo
This was the second episode of the show I watched (order on my Netflix is 1. Three Robots 2. Beyond the Aquila Rift) and I literally thought that they were real-life actors ... lol. insanely realistic looking
Man, season 3 is even crazier realistic.
Holy s*** this is a great episode. Does anyone else think Greta looked like a blonde Sigourney Weaver? Wait....Weaver.....spider...?
I can't say I've ever made that connection. Sigourney Weaver actually played her role in Galaxy Quest as a blond. So, comveniently enough, you can compare it to the real thing, heh.
Sigourney Weaver as a blonde
Holy crap, now that I've looked at a bunch of results on Google Images, Greta DEFINITELY looks like a blonde Sigourney Weaver with freckles and her hair done up a bit different. At least, Sigourney Weaver as she was 20 years ago.
It's amusing to note that almost every result was some picture of her cleavage or sideboob from the movie. Though, I won't deny that Sigourney Weaver is hot, and apparently doubly so as a blonde.
P.S. Sorry about the poor image quality. Google Images apparently sucks on a phone. I was barely able to get this preview image it so graciously allowed me to have the link to.
Not really. Weaver has a very distinctive nose and jawline, neither of which Greta possessed.
I was thinking it was her eyes
"About Greta": does this and this look similar to any of you?
I guess the artists behind the episode have quite a good laugh seeing how others react ;)
No
I thought about this episode way too much than expected. In my opinion he was never phisically awake so he didn't really have sex with that alien thing (that still haunts me).
What Im more interested in is:
What did Suzy see when they woke her up? Or was she just still experiencing the "traveling sickness"?
How did Thom go back to the simulation after waking up? I guess alien "Greta" was pretty cool to put him back down to sleep until death?
Once again, LD+R has me stunned and not leaving my head for days
I don't think thom actually woke up, what he saw after waking was still inside the simulation and as viewers(for the sake of explanation) we got to see the hive.
Suzy was Thom's subconsciousness
Yea I feel like that was his subconscious telling him that something was very wrong.
If everything Thom experienced was a simulation, then that means he didn't really have sex with the alien spider creature that was pretending to be Greta. So I guess that's one saving grace for the ending. Because I dunno about you guys, but one of the thought I had after the reveal of Greta was "HOLY SHIT HE HAD SEX WITH THAT THING?" But it took me a few days of thinking about it, and rewatching the episode to realize that all of the sex was simulated.
No no, they did have sex. The world was simulated, but their interactions and conversations they had with each other were real.
How do you figure that? The show never says or shows anything of the sort. And it just doesn't make sense. He clearly wakes up from his tank after he demands to see what reality actually is. So how is he having sex with her and doing all of this other stuff for real if he's still in the tank? And if he's not in the tank when he's doing this stuff, why put him back in just to wake him back up? I'm not trying to be confrontational or what have you about this. Unfortunately it's hard to properly convey things like that just with text, though. I'm just really curious to know more about your take on it.
I’m not saying he’s physically leaving the tank at any point, the entire thing takes place in his head with him physically inside the tank in real life. But she isn’t a part of his consciousness, she is real separate being who is feeding him a fake reality. When he interacts with her in this fake reality, the interactions are real.
If I cam with a hot girl and we both get off, then I find out it’s actually a guy with a green screen and a female avatar, I have just had a sexual experience with a man. It doesn’t matter that there wasn’t anything physical about it, or that I thought it was initially a woman.
I don't follow this idea of it really happened even though it was a simulation. You can't have both. Either it was a simulation and it didn't happen, or it did happen and wasn't a simulation. Sure, mentally he had a sexual experience. But having what amounts to a realistic sexual fantasy is quite a different act from actually having sexual intercourse with somebody.
I'm not sure I follow your analogy either. What does gender have to do with anything? We're talking about whether they had sex or not. At least that's what I thought you were saying.
Amazing episode, the one I've most enjoyed so far.
I love the digital and video aspects of this ep. The acting is also pretty intense. I love the way the characters morph between cgi, video and annim
So is Greta feeding off of them or maybe like the ships power in her web?
I don't think it was made explicitly clear that she was completey altruistic. I think the webbing, malnourished bodies, others around the decrepit station that appear to be ensnared and wrapped in webbing...
It all points to me that she might be subsisting off of the stranded, it's in their best interest to be mentally subdued so that she can sustain from them for long periods of time. That doesn't mean that she can't also make their remaining time appealing, but it probably isn't wholly caring for someone in the way they might want.
No, she was actually a wholly benevolent being. This was made clear especially in the book. But it doesn't read quite as well in the short film since I've seen several people misinterpret it like that.
I haven't read the book yet, but what I understand has happened is the ships have all come to this place through the routing error Greta talked about. They've been adrift or stuck for so long, that the ships have withered away and the crews are all long dead. Greta was the first one to get stuck there, and has helped others since. But Thom was the first human who ever wound up there. His other 2 crewmates didn't survive because they had modified their pods in a way that caused the long-term life support to fail. But because Greta had never dealt with a human being there yet, she wasn't sure of how to break the news to Thom. So she tried over and over again with these different simulations to break the news to Thom trying to figure out how to break the news to a human about what's happened without him freaking out.
Which makes sense to me. I mean, if she wasn't benevolent, what would she have to gain by feeding them the simulated reality? She could just as easily keep them in an unconscious or subdued state, given their apparent severe atrophied muscles and emaciated bodies, they wouldn't be hard to control. But nor would they make very good sources of energy, either. And you've gotta feed them, too, so as much energy as you're extracting from anything you catch, by keeping it alive and happy just to let it wither you're not going to get very much energy out of it.
Anyway, I dunno about you, but I'm definitely getting the book as soon as I get the spare cash for it. It's in a collection of short stories of the same name, Beyond the Aquila Rift. And from what I hear, the other stories are superb as well.
Did you get the book? I struggle to accept his story because "Greta" in the simulation says "you don't know how many lost souls Ive been through this with" which would indicate the spider has done this song and dance with basically all humans that end up there
Lost souls does not equal humans. It's other aliens
Late reply to another late reply...
I just watched the episode and I'm surprised about how pessimistic people are about the intentions of the spider alien. It seem assuming the worst is the default response despite evidences to the contrary and that's quite sad.
It is because it is ugly, people judge intention by her appearance
The alien seemed nice, at least that was the interpretation of the episode that I got. To me I'm glad the ending was left on a cliffhanger but I imagine there would be a lot for the main character to talk about with the alien.
Thanks for this explanation. Will put this book in my wish list!
I'm sure he'd appreciate a response after nearly 3 years.
Kidding, I did.
Hey, I'm here now and reading the post, so people like me still appreciate it.
I usually don't care/pay attention to the time things are posted. The way I see it, they'll still get a notification if the account's active. So they should see it just the same. And if they don't, oh well. Maybe somebody else will. Maybe not. It doesn't really matter to me. For example, if nobody ever read this reply, it certainly wouldn't affect my life tomorrow, or a week from now or what have you. So I see no reason to care. I won't even remember I posted anything in all likelihood. And I've got nothing better to do with my free time (obviously).
That's my rationale for replying to things that are years old. And I figure any thread that still lets me post a reply is fair game, heh. But I do the same thing on YouTube, too. I'll write a reply to a comment only to realize it was posted like 8 years ago lol.
If that were true, why would she ever let them wake up?
Did anyone else notice that during the scene where Greta is wearing her yellow dress, her spiderform is revealed very briefly through a bottle of whiskey.
where?? Im looking for this!
time 05:32, her true image is shown through the bottle
I've seen the episode when it came out but just realised what you've said proof that everything was there under our noses and that's just a problem of perception
Damn
Wow good eye
this episode was one of the most amazing and profoundly disturbing i've ever seen, and i love it
This is best episodes I've seen! And + extra 1 for music!
What would you do in that condition? Go back to unpleasant reality or stay in fantasy simulation?
Definitely the simulation.
The moment I would saw the reality, definetly sim. And brainwash. With bleach. Multiple times.
So was she fucking his body with that spider mouth in the real world while it was all an illusion to him? Or did she put the whole thing in his head and they didn’t actually fuck in reality.
There was a scene that focused on Thoms butt, and I thought this spider women needed some sperms.
doubt he would be able to get a boner while being so malnourished.
whole thing in his head.
That’s not so bad then
One thing that i absolutely adore about this is how Greta actually looks alien.. im pretty tired how every single alien is essentially a human but someone threw green or blue paint on him/her. Alien life or something else entirely that develops consciousness is going to look so bizarre and shocking we might not be able to even comprehend it or even think it is life in the first place.
yyyyeah, this was something i thought as well.
Greta was genuinely unpleasant as fuck to look at, and thoms scream really sent it home (it was exactly how the interaction felt)
Not saying humans are peak or anything, but there is evidence to show that evolution can come with similar profiles completely separately. Something bipedal with two arms may be the common denominator for all we do or don't know. O.o
Within our specific environment that is true. You don't see that in the ocean though, and there's no reason to believe it would be the case wherever that spider came from.
You pretty much described Lovecraftian creatures
I really enjoyed it because it was to us a horrific thing, and of course it is, but it was this strange and alien horror that was actually if you think about it empathetic and benevolent and doing its best to help these castaways that ended up in her domain.
To be fair: I don't think it was made explicitly clear that she was completey altruistic. I think the webbing, malnourished bodies, others around the decrepit station that appear to be ensnared and wrapped in webbing...
It all points to me that she might be subsisting off of the stranded, it's in their best interest to be mentally subdued so that she can sustain from them for long periods of time. That doesn't mean that she can't also make their remaining time appealing, but it probably isn't wholly caring for someone in the way they might want.
That's true, but she also resembles a lot like a spider.
Alien life would very different from humans, but also very different from anything that we have on Earth, including spiders.
And how do you know that aliens do not look exactly like that?
As far as I know, no one has ever discovered one, so they do not know what they look like.
Maybe they look just like a mixture of spider and human.
Honestly, I say FUCK spider-Greta. I think she was being nice in the simulation just because she didn't want Thom to snap out of it and continued to act all sweet and guilty as he continued to resist. She seems nice but I think it's that spider-from-hell's way of trying to keep people in its hellish simulations. Nothing is real, therefore none of the feelings displayed are real. However, Suzy immediately realizing that Greta wasn't real could be some sort of analytical part of Thom's brain which was incredibly perceptive. Because of this, the spider bitch made Suzy seem faint to keep Thom around for a bit longer. Then, as Thom became more comfortable and diddled Greta's fiddle, the spider became a little too comfortable and let the truth slip. Because Suzy (AKA Thom's analytical side) was shut down, all that was left was his emotional side. Thom became angry, betrayed, and worried all at the same time, which was too much for that DEMON spider to handle. Thom is clearly the determined type, and doesn't like not having control, so there was no way to stop him once he was told the truth. The spider finally caved and let Thom out while still trying to seem innocent. It was all a damn FARCE. It's a heartless, emotionless PARASITE that's slowly feeding off people until they're sucked dry. And that's my theory. Another theory I'll add is that it may all be like a hive minded thing, so the spider may just be like a sort of representative, not specifically the one causing the simulations. But man is that thing ugly. Also this was my favorite episode of them all. Truly frightening and intriguing.
Damn, people really are hellbent on thinking the worst of the alien, seemingly because it's so hideous.
I honestly think the alien had the best of intentions, as does the writer Phillip Gelatt. There's lots of information we're not given, such as "how much food is salvagable in the vicinity?" and "can they fix the ship?" (although Greta says in the simulation that there's no way home).
Given that the food is definitely limited at least, and that the ship is snapped in two, what options did she/it have?
Go around mercy-killing survivors with your spider legs.
Do nothing and let them wake up and starve to death in horror.
Put them in simulations to make their time left pleasant and comprehendable, gradually trying to introduce them to the reality of the situation but keeping them sane.
I don't think the alien did anything wrong. Although it was horrifying to look at.
This was my understanding too.
Also just coming to this thread after watching it last night and there are so many people talking about the spider physically having sex with Thom even though it was clear that wasn't happening. Lot's of people misunderstanding everything about this episode I think.
I don't think she said there was no more home, but that several hundred years have past and the home that you knew no longer exists. If you were in a time capsule on earth, and several hundreds years have past (like on Futurama), you wake up to earth, but everyone and every thing you loved, valued and etc are gone. Earth physically still there, but not the Earth that Thom was from.
To add to your point, if the spider-Greta was eating everyone, why wouldn't see have completely eaten the others before opening Thom? You can see that the glass covers were broken for the other two, but their bodies were still intact. While Thom was the only survivor, she could've kept him on ice a lot longer and finished off the other two first, if that was her intention.
i understand but i would definitely go to any earth over that hive, rome, 2700 ad, the Qing dynasty, you name i go, at least they might have milk or chocolat milk if i'm lucky.
But the ship is broken, and the technology to send you back is not there. You will die there, so better die happy.
I don't think it was made explicitly clear that she was completey altruistic. I think the webbing, malnourished bodies, others around the decrepit station that appear to be ensnared and wrapped in webbing...
It all points to me that she might be subsisting off of the stranded, it's in their best interest to be mentally subdued so that she can sustain from them for long periods of time. That doesn't mean that she can't also make their remaining time appealing, but it probably isn't wholly caring for someone in the way they might want.
PLUS. IF it truly was altruistic, why not give new arrivals the opportunity to fix their ship and jet out ..