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In the movie Riddick, Riddick spent several months understanding environment and new life forms on a planet where he was left off. He used his vision to distinguish bad water from good one.
Later, after seeing the rain that was coming, he understands that it was bad news - for the creatures, which he fought earlier, it's a good environment for expansion. I don't understand how he gets this, it's somehow related to his vision.
How is it that Riddick knows the weather is bad news?
The answer is linked to Riddick's vision and the telescopic goggles he uses to magnify the distant ground. Living things seem to give off an aura (we are not ever made clear if it is heat, or some other radiation signature) he is sensitive to. After seeing the rain and the proliferations of auras, he decided it was time to leave the planet.
Explanation:
Living on the planet for a year or so, gave Riddick ample time to learn the lay of the land, but living on the side of the mountains he did, there were few incursions of the hibernating creatures where he lived. The creatures were always active where he was because they lived in the pools from the runoff and as far as he could tell, there was no rain there. Once he crossed the mountains, he discovers much to his dismay, large and very stable storms formed and would bring out of the ground thousands of these hibernating beasts.
If you listen close you can hear him inhale deeply through his nose, smelling the water. The next shot is overhead showing him laying around pools with a lot of yellow sulfer looking deposits. My idea is that he smelled sulfer content too high to drink then he notices the surrounding deposits.
Riddick's goggles are purely block light. He notices the weather may be trouble because his new canine companion begins acting anxious after the scene when they eat together. Riddick pets it in this scene and realizes it's trembling with fear. It is looking out toward the storm. Riddick removes his goggles and due to his eyes can "see" the light reflecting differently off all the squirming and crawling creatures at the bottom of the shot. The canine has an innate fear of the storms being from this planet and tips Riddick off to look closer and realize it's waking up the hibernating beasts.
I saw the film and I believe Riddick could smell that the water was not safe. The wet, which may be seasonal rather than regional, gave the creatures an environment in which to operate and move freely.
