‘Raised by Wolves’ gets lost in a sci-fi zoo filled with too many distractions

On the surface, HBO Max’s Raised by Wolves is the kind of big-issue, thinking person’s, epic science fiction saga that whets the appetite of both hard-core sci-fi fans and solid drama enthusiasts. Created by Aaron Guzikowski, best known as the writer of director Denis Villeneuve’s dark, cynical 2013 drama Prisoners, it’s received much attention because its executive producer and the director of its first two episodes is the 83-year-old sci-fi pioneer Ridley Scott.

On paper it’s also a potentially intriguing examination of some of Scott’s favourite themes — the relationship between artificial intelligence and humans and the battle between faith and science that seems inevitable in any situation where humans are placed in the middle of environments that seem bent on their destruction...