Kathryn Hahn reprises her WandaVision role as Agatha Harkness in the spinoff series Agatha All Along.
Disney introduced the poster and first full trailer for Agatha All Along during its annual D23 Expo earlier this month. And now Marvel Studios has dropped a one-minute teaser that has fans wildly speculating about the possible true identity of one character in particular, who might just be a future Young Avenger.
As previously reported, the nine-episode series, starring Kathryn Hahn, is one of the TV series in the MCU’s Phase Five, coming on the heels of Secret Invasion, Loki S2, What If…? S2, and Echo. Agatha All Along has been in the works since 2021, officially announced in November of that year, inspired by Hahn’s breakout performance in WandaVision as nosy neighbor Agnes—but secretly a powerful witch named Agatha Harkness who was conspiring to steal Wanda’s power. The plot twist even inspired a meta-jingle that went viral. WandaVision ended with Wanda victorious (of course) and Agatha robbed of all her powers, trapped in her nosy neighbor persona. This new series picks up where WandaVision left Agatha, and apparently we can expect a few more catchy tunes. Per the official premise:
The infamous Agatha Harkness finds herself down and out of power after a suspicious goth teen helps break her free from a distorted spell. Her interest is piqued when he begs her to take him on the legendary Witches’ Road, a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they’re missing. Together, Agatha and this mysterious teen pull together a desperate coven, and set off down, down, down The Road…
In addition to Hahn, the cast includes Aubrey Plaza as warrior witch Rio Vidal; Joe Locke as Billy, a teenaged familiar; Patti LuPone as a 450-year-old Sicilian witch named Lilia Calderu; Sasheer Zamata as sorceress Jennifer Kale; Ali Ahn as a witch named Alice; and Miles Gutierrez-Riley as Billy’s boyfriend. Debra Jo Rupp reprises her WandaVision role as Sharon Davis (“Mrs. Hart” in the meta-sitcom), here becoming a member of Agatha’s coven. Also reprising their WandaVision roles: Emma Caulfield Ford as Sarah Proctor (aka “Dottie Jones”); David Payton as John Collins (“Herb”); David Lengel as Harold Proctor (“Phil Jones”); Asif Ali as Abilash Tandon (“Norm”); Amos Glick (pizza delivery man “Dennis”); Kate Forbes as Agatha’s mother, Evanora; and Brian Brightman as the Eastview, New Jersey, sheriff.
This latest teaser opens with Billy fanboying over Agatha, newly released from her spell, admitting that he knows “an egregious amount about you”—ever since he discovered her history during “the Salem days.” WandaVision fans will recall that’s when Agatha absorbed all the power in her then-coven, killing them in the process—including her own mother. Billy admires the fact that Agatha is the only witch to have ever survived the Witches’ Road. But when she asks him who he is, a magical script covers his mouth and garbles his answer. Naturally Agatha finds this intriguing.
Given that the squiggly script resembles an ornate “M,” (or possibly a “W” and “V”) fans are speculating that Billy is connected to Wanda Maximoff—possibly a young Billy Kaplan, who goes on to become Wiccan of the Young Avengers, one of Wanda and Vision’s twin sons. Those sons technically ceased to exist when Wanda ended her reality-warping spell in WandaVision‘s finale. But does anybody ever really cease to exist in the MCU? (The twins were eventually reborn in the comics, with Tommy becoming Speed.)
The first two episodes of Agatha All Along drop on September 18, 2024, on Disney+, with episodes airing weekly after that through November 6. It looks like dark, spooky fun, just in time for the Halloween season.
Enlarge/Cursed Gold: A Shipwreck Scandal documents the spectacular rise and fall of treasure hunter Tommy Thompson.
Recovery Limited Partnership Liquidating Trust
Many people dream of finding lost or hidden treasure, but sometimes realizing that dream turns out to be a nightmare. Such was the case for Tommy Thompson, an American treasure hunter who famously beat the odds to discover the location of the SS Central America shipwreck in 1988. It had been dubbed the “Ship of Gold” since it sank in 1857 laden with 30,000 pounds of gold bars and coins—collectively worth enough money to have some impact on the Panic of 1857 financial crisis.
Thompson and his team recovered significant amounts of gold and artifacts to great fanfare, with experts at the time suggesting the trove could be worth as much as $400 million. The euphoria proved short-lived. Thirty-nine insurance companies filed lawsuits, claiming the gold was rightfully theirs since the companies had paid damages for the lost gold back in the mid-19th century. Thompson eventually prevailed in 1996, when courts awarded him and his discovery team 92 percent of the gold they’d recovered.
But actually realizing profits from the gold proved challenging; In the end, Thompson sold the gold for just $52 million, almost all of which went to pay off the massive debt the project had accumulated over the ensuing years. So naturally, there were more lawsuits, this time from the investors who had financed Thompson’s expedition, accusing him of fraud. Thompson didn’t help his case when he went on the run in 2012 with his assistant, living off some $4 million in assets stashed in an offshore account.
Thompson was finally captured by US marshals in 2015 to face his investors in court. A jury awarded the investors substantial compensatory damages, and the court ordered Thompson to hand over 500 commemorative gold coins that had been minted out of some of the Central America gold to meet that judgment. Thompson claimed he had forgotten where he’d stashed them and was jailed for contempt of court until the coins had been recovered and handed over. He’s still in prison as of this writing, and the gold coins have yet to be found.
It’s quite a tale, so small wonder that National Geographic has made a riveting three-part documentary about Thompson’s spectacular rise and fall: Cursed Gold: A Shipwreck Scandal, based on the 1998 book by Gary Kinder entitled Ship of Gold in the Deep Blue Sea. Cursed Gold director Sam Benstead read Kinder’s book and was instantly hooked on the story. “Not only was it a hugely exciting story with many twists and turns, but it was also an emotional story, which left you pulling for Tommy and his crew,” he told Ars. “Tommy came through as an extraordinary character: eccentric, brilliant, someone willing to try things no one else had. When I discovered all the things that had happened after the book, I knew it was a story I had to tell.”
Ship of Gold
Engraving by J. Childs of the 1857 sinking of the SS Central America.
Public domain/National Maritime Museum, London
Sonar expert Mike Williamson hard at work during production of Cursed Gold.
National Geographic
John Moore is a lead designer of deep-sea robot Nemo.
National Geographic
Dramatic reconstruction of crew members looking at monitors in the ship’s control room.
National Geographic
Dramatic reconstruction of a crew member looking at computer screens in the ship’s control room.
National Geographic
Dramatic reconstruction of sonar operator John Lettow navigating Nemo from the ship’s control room.
National Geographic
Dramatic reconstruction showing Nemo descending to the seabed off the coast of North Carolina.
National Geographic
Gold bars and coins on the bottom of the sea bed off the coast of North Carolina.
Recovery Limited Partnership Liquidating Trust
Robotic machine recovers gold bars on the bottom of the seabed.
Recovery Limited Partnership Liquidating Trust
Crew members ogle gold bars on deck after being brought up from the sea floor.
Recovery Limited Partnership Liquidating Trust
Crew members looking at gold bars retrieved from the ocean floor.
Recovery Limited Partnership Liquidating Trust
Journalist Dylan Taylor-Lehman looks through case files.
National Geographic
Veteran US Marshal Mark Stroh lifting box of files in a dramatic reconstruction.
National Geographic
Lawyer Quintin Lindsmith works on case files.
Gold bars and coins on the bottom of the sea bed off the cost of North Carolina.
US Marshal Christopher Crotty waits in his car in a dramatic reconstruction.
National Geographic
A case displaying the missing 500 commemorative gold coins.
Recovery Limited Partnership Liquidating Trust
A lot has happened to Thompson since Kinder’s book was published in 1998. Benstead and his production team combed through more than 600 hours of archival footage from the original expedition, as well as over 700 pages of court transcripts. “We also consulted multiple figures who we didn’t film with but who helped inform the story,” said Benstead. “In the editing process, National Geographic’s research department, together with our team, worked diligently to do their best to bottom out every fact, every claim. In a story that is so contested, this really helped us feel confident in standing behind the resulting films.”
“One of the main challenges was in condensing an incredibly complex 30-year saga into three films,” Benstead continued. “There were many legal cases and side stories that we had to exclude or could only touch on. And there were areas of the story that were strongly disputed by different sides. Sometimes we had to make choices that didn’t fully satisfy either camp, but we did our best to remain fair to the plurality of viewpoints, while also telling a powerful story.”
The director remains in awe of the original discovery, however badly the adventure turned out. “For the guys on the boat, almost without exception, this period was one of the best times of their lives,” he said. “It was a privilege to relive their struggles and final triumph in finding the gold. I still find it remarkable that they found the SS Central America in almost two miles of water with the resources they had in the 1980s.”
The experience also instilled “a real respect for the people who shared their story with us, especially Tommy’s family members, who have had so much written about them over the years,” said Benstead. “They didn’t trust us easily, and I feel very fortunate that they took part. Whenever people share the deepest, most affecting parts of their lives with you, you walk away carrying a big responsibility. I hope that they feel we have done their side of the story justice.”
Did Benstead come to his own conclusions about whether or not Thompson committed fraud? “Different people have different viewpoints on Tommy, even amongst those on the boat, investors, lawyers, and law enforcement,” he said. “We felt it was very important to allow the series to reflect this diversity and to allow the audience to make up their own mind. My own view is that Tommy isn’t a con man, and to be in prison for approaching nine years for contempt of court feels like a sad reflection on the US justice system. But it is also the case that, albeit under immense pressure, he made certain choices (like going on the run), which contributed to his own downfall. I hope that in the coming years his achievements, which have been obscured by the legal circus, are given the recognition that they deserve.”
Cursed Gold: A Shipwreck Scandal is now streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
Enlarge/ We have doubts that any amount of Force powers will bring the show back.
YouTube/Disney+
In news that will delight some and disappoint others, Disney has canceled Star Wars series The Acolyte after just one season, Deadline Hollywood reports. The eight-episode series got off to a fairly strong start, with mostly positive reviews and solid ratings, albeit lower than prior Star Wars series. But it couldn’t maintain and build upon that early momentum, and given the production costs, it’s not especially surprising that Disney pulled the plug.
The Acolyte arguably wrapped up its major narrative arc pretty neatly in the season finale, but it also took pains to set the stage for a possible sophomore season. In this streaming age, no series is ever guaranteed renewal. Still, it would have been nice to see what showrunner Leslye Headland had planned; when given the chance, many shows hit their stride on those second-season outings.
(Spoilers for the series below. We’ll give you another heads-up when we get to major spoilers.)
As I’ve written previously, The Acolyte is set at the end of the High Republic Era, about a century before the events of The Phantom Menace. In this period, the Jedi aren’t the underdog rebels battling the evil Galactic Empire. They are at the height of their power and represent the dominant mainstream institution—not necessarily a benevolent one, depending on one’s perspective. That’s a significant departure from most Star Wars media and perhaps one reason why the show was so divisive among fans. (The show had its issues, but I dismiss the profoundly unserious lamentations of those who objected to the female-centric storyline and presence of people of color by dubbing it “The Wokelyte” and launching a review-bombing campaign.)
The Acolyte opened on the planet Ueda, where a mysterious masked woman wielding daggers attacked the Jedi Master Indara (Carrie-Anne Moss) and killed her. The assassin was quickly identified as Osha Aniseya (Amandla Stenberg), a former padawan now working as a meknek, making repairs on spaceships. Osha was arrested by her former classmate, Yord Fandar (Charlie Barnett), but claimed she was innocent. Her twin sister, Mae, died in a fire on their home planet of Brendok when they were both young. Osha concluded that Mae was still alive and had killed Indara. Osha’s former Jedi master, Sol (Lee Jung-jae), believed her, and subsequent events proved Osha right.
Mae’s targets were not random. She was out to kill the four Jedi she blamed for the fire on Brendok: Indara, Sol, Torbin (Dean-Charles Chapman), and a Jedi Wookiee named Kelnacca (Joonas Suotamo). The quartet had arrived on Brendok to demand they be allowed to test the twins as potential Jedi.
The twins had been raised by a coven of “Force witches” there, led by Mother Aniseya (Jodie Turner-Smith), who believed the Jedi were misusing the Force. While Mae was keen to follow in their mother’s footsteps, Osha wanted to train with the Jedi. When the fire broke out, both Mae and Osha believed the other twin had been killed along with the rest of the coven. How the fire really started, and the identity of Mae’s mysterious Master who trained her in the dark side of the Force, were the primary mysteries that played out over the course of the season.
(WARNING: Major spoilers below. Stop reading now if you haven’t finished watching the series.)
Enlarge/ The camera moved on a single axis for the wuxia-inspired fight scenes.
Lucasfilm/Disney+
From the start, The Acolyte was a bit of a departure from a typical Star Wars series, weaving in elements from wuxia films and detective stories while remaining true to the established Star Wars aesthetic and design. That alone made it an intriguing effort, with fresh characters and new takes on classic Star Wars lore. And the martial arts-inspired fight choreography was clever and fun to watch—especially in the shocking, action-packed fifth episode (“Night”).
But there were some obvious shortcomings as well, most notably the clunky dialogue—although that’s kind of a long-standing attribute of the Star Wars franchise. (Alec Guinness notoriously hated his dialogue as Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope.) The pacing lagged at times, and there was a surprisingly high body count among the central characters.
Enlarge/ A high body count: All of these Jedi are dead.
Lucasfilm/Disney+
That alone might have made a second season challenging. I mean, they killed off Moss’ Jedi master in the first 10 minutes (although she reappeared in flashbacks), with Torbin and Kelnacca meeting the same fate over the next few episodes. By the time the final credits rolled, almost all the Jedi lead characters were dead. And senior leader Vernestra (Rebecca Henderson) opted to blame the murders on Sol (RIP) rather than Mae’s master, who turned out to be Vernestra’s former apprentice, Qimir (a scene-stealing Manny Jacinto)—now apprentice to Sith lord Darth Plagueis. (This was strongly implied in the finale and subsequently confirmed by Headland.)
Ultimately, however, it all came down to the ratings. Per Deadline, The Acolyte garnered 11.1 million views over its first five days (and 488 million minutes viewed)—not bad, but below Ahsoka‘s 14 million views over the same period. But those numbers declined sharply over the ensuing weeks, with the finale earning the dubious distinction of posting the lowest minutes viewed (335 million) for any Star Wars series finale. That simply didn’t meet Disney’s threshold for renewal, so we won’t get to learn more about the Qimir/Darth Plagueis connection.
Kathryn Hahn seeks a new witchy coven in Agatha All Along.
Disney introduced the poster and first full trailer for Agatha All Along during its annual D23 Expo this weekend. The nine-episode series, starring Kathryn Hahn, is one of the TV series in the MCU’s Phase Five, coming on the heels of Secret Invasion, Loki S2, What If…? S2, and Echo.
As reported previously, Agatha All Along has been in the works since 2021, officially announced in November of that year, inspired by Hahn’s breakout performance in WandaVision as nosy neighbor Agnes—but secretly a powerful witch named Agatha Harkness who was conspiring to steal Wanda’s power. The plot twist even inspired a meta-jingle that went viral. That series ended with Wanda victorious and Agatha robbed of all her powers, trapped in her nosy neighbor persona.
Head writer Jac Schaeffer (who also created WandaVision) has said that the series would follow Agatha as she forms her own coven with “a disparate mixed bag of witches… defined by deception, treachery, villainy, and selfishness” who must learn to work together. And apparently we can expect a few more catchy tunes—one of which is front and center in the new trailer. This new series picks up where WandaVision left Agatha. Per the official premise:
The infamous Agatha Harkness finds herself down and out of power after a suspicious goth teen helps break her free from a distorted spell. Her interest is piqued when he begs her to take him on the legendary Witches’ Road, a magical gauntlet of trials that, if survived, rewards a witch with what they’re missing. Together, Agatha and this mysterious teen pull together a desperate coven, and set off down, down, down The Road…
In addition to Hahn, the cast includes Aubrey Plaza as warrior witch Rio Vidal; Joe Locke as Billy, a gay teenage familiar; Patti LuPone as a 450-year-old Sicilian witch named Lilia Calderu; Sasheer Zamata as sorceress Jennifer Kale; Ali Ahn as a witch named Alice; and Miles Gutierrez-Riley as Billy’s boyfriend.
Debra Jo Rupp reprises her WandaVision role as Sharon Davis (“Mrs. Hart” in the meta-sitcom), here becoming a member of Agatha’s coven. Also reprising their WandaVision roles: Emma Caulfield Ford as Sarah Proctor (aka “Dottie Jones”); David Payton as John Collins (“Herb”); David Lengel as Harold Proctor (“Phil Jones”); Asif Ali as Abilash Tandon (“Norm”); Amos Glick (pizza delivery man “Dennis”); Kate Forbes as Agatha’s mother, Evanora; and Brian Brightman as the Eastview, New Jersey, sheriff.
The first two episodes of Agatha All Along drop on September 18, 2024, on Disney+, with episodes airing weekly after that through November 6.
The Star Wars universe continues to expand on streaming television with the release of the first trailer for Star Wars: Skeleton Crew this weekend at Disney’s annual D23 Expo. The eight-episode standalone series is set in the same time frame as The Mandalorian and Ahsoka.
Executive producer Kathleen Kennedy was intrigued when series co-creator Jon Watts pitched a Star Wars series inspired by the 1985 film The Goonies. (Kennedy had co-produced that film and co-founded Amblin Entertainment.) She told co-creator Christopher Ford that The Goonies hadn’t been created specifically for kids, instead telling a story that just happened to be about kids going on an adventure. So Ford and Watts wrote Skeleton Crew with the same mindset: a show for everyone that just happened to feature kids as the central characters. Per the official premise:
Skeleton Crew follows the journey of four kids who make a mysterious discovery on their seemingly safe home planet, then get lost in a strange and dangerous galaxy, crossing paths with the likes of Jod Na Nawood, the mysterious character played by [Jude] Law. Finding their way home—and meeting unlikely allies and enemies—will be a greater adventure than they ever imagined.
Jude Law leads the cast as the quick-witted and charming (per Law) “Force-user” Jod Na Nawood. Ravi Cabot-Conyers plays Wim, Ryan Kiera Armstrong plays Fern, Kyriana Kratter plays KB, and Robert Timothy Smith plays Neil. Nick Frost will voice a droid named SM 33. The cast also includes Tunde Adebimpe, Kerry Condon, and Jaleel White in as yet undisclosed roles.
The trailer opens with our young protagonists at school, preparing to take a test that will set the course of their respective futures. At least one of them is bored with the daily routine and longs to do something more exciting. “What if we could go anywhere we want in the whole galaxy?” he asks. “A real adventure. No more pretend.” Naturally they find a mysterious “lost Jedi temple” buried in the woods and soon find themselves rocketing away on a spaceship—and getting lost. Can they survive all the dangers of space and find their way back to their home planet? With the help of Law’s Jedi, we like their chances.
Star Wars: Skeleton Crew premieres on December 3, 2024, on Disney+.
Enlarge/ A scene from the new season of Doctor Who, which is streaming on Disney+.
Disney+
Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ will get more expensive as of October 17, whether users have a subscription with or without ads. After most recently jacking up streaming prices in October 2023, The Walt Disney Company is raising subscription fees by as much as 25 percent, depending on the streaming service and plan.
Here’s how pricing will look in October compared to now:
Now
As of October 17
Disney+ with ads
$8/month
$10/month
Disney+ without ads
$14/month $140/year
$16/month $160/year
Hulu with ads
$8/year $80/year
$10/month $100/year
Hulu without ads
$18/month
$19/month
Hulu and Live TV with ads
$77/month
$83/month
Hulu and Live TV without ads
$90/month
$96/month
Disney+ and Hulu with ads
$10/month
$11/month
Disney+ and Hulu without ads
$20/month
No change
ESPN+
$11/month $110/year
$12/month $120/year
Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ with ads
$15
No change
Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ without ads
$25
No change
Disney didn’t announce any pricing changes for the bundle that contains Disney+, sister streaming service Hulu, and Warner Bros. Discovery’s rival streaming platform, Max.
Based on the updated pricing, Disney is seemingly trying to coax people to sign up for one of its streaming bundles, which combine multiple services for a lower price than if the services were each subscribed to individually. Streaming companies have been trying to use bundles to deter people from frequently canceling their streaming subscriptions. But as we’ve written before, streaming bundles don’t address subscribers’ complaints around incessant price hikes, content quality, confusing packages, or features.
Another price hike
One of the biggest problems that streaming subscribers, especially long-term ones, are facing is ever-rising prices. Disney already increased prices in October 2023, meaning Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN+ are facing their second price hikes in about a year.
Early reactions online, including on forums like Reddit, show people dissatisfied with streaming price hikes that don’t seem to align with the quality of content available. For example, Reddit user Montysucker wrote: “easy[,] cancel now,” adding:
“The enshittification of media in the last few years is insane and it’s wild how seemingly no one cares anymore about making something that is actually enjoyable to watch and not their egotistic[al] pipe dream.”
Of course, many expressed being overwhelmed with continuing to see streaming prices rise, as Slow_Investment_2211 wrote:
On October 12, 2023, as Variety summarized, Disney+ without ads went up by 27 percent, from $11 to $14 per month. Hulu without ads went up 20 percent ($15 to $18/month). Hulu with Live packages each also increased by $7 at the time, while ESPN+ pricing increased by $1.
Disney paired the price hike announcement with the revealing of new upcoming features for Disney+. However, the new linear channels are little comfort for people who don’t use Disney+.
The new channels will be ABC News Live, which Disney+ users can access on September 4, and channels “focused on preschool content, featuring TV series and shorts available on Disney+.” Disney+ will also get four more channels (or as Disney’s calling them, playlists) that show: 1) “Seasonal Content” from Disney+; 2) “Epic Stories” from big franchises like Marvel and Star Wars; 3) “Throwbacks” with “nostalgic pop culture”; and 4) “Real Life” documentaries.
It’s possible that Disney will introduce more channels to appeal to more users. But with all the price hikes that streaming subscribers have endured over the past few years, many would prefer avoiding price bumps that are partially for extra channels that they may never watch. Charging for unwanted content in media packages that are already priced questionably is reminiscent of cable, something that streaming was initially supposed to replace, not replicate.
Subscribers to Disney’s trio of streaming services will be unlikely to be alone in facing price hikes for long; analysts suspect Netflix pricing will also increase this year.
Kathryn Hahn reprises her WandaVision role as Agatha Harkness in the spinoff series Agatha All Along.
The true identity of nosy next-door neighbor Agatha—played to perfection by Kathryn Hahn—was the big reveal of 2021’s WandaVision, even inspiring a meta-jingle that went viral. Now Hahn is bringing the character back for her own standalone adventure with Agatha All Along. Based on the first trailer, it looks like a lot of dark, spooky fun, just in time for the Halloween season. The nine-episode series is one of the TV series in the MCU’s Phase Five, coming on the heels of Secret Invasion, Loki S2, What If…? S2, and Echo.
WandaVision was set immediately after the events of Avengers: Endgame (but before Spider-Man: Far From Home), with newlyweds Wanda and Vision starting their married life in the town of Westview, New Jersey. Wacky hijinks ensued as the couple tried to lead a normal life while hiding their superpowers from their neighbors—especially Hahn’s nosy Agnes. Each episode was shot in the style of a particular era of sitcom television, from the 1950s through the 2000s. The couple noticed more and more jarring elements—a full-color drone, a voice calling out to Wanda over the radio, neighbors briefly breaking character—hinting that this seemingly idyllic suburban existence might not be what it seemed.
We learned that a grief-stricken Wanda had inadvertently locked the entire town in a reality-warping Hex, with the residents forced to play their sitcom “roles” and adhere to Wanda’s “script,” creating the happily ever after ending she never got with Vision. But the hijinks weren’t all due to Wanda’s powers. Agnes turned out to be a powerful witch named Agatha Harkness, who had studied magic for centuries and was just dying to learn the source of Wanda’s incredible power. Wanda’s natural abilities were magnified by the Mind Stone, but Agatha realized that Wanda was a wielder of “chaos magic.” She was, in fact, the Scarlet Witch. In the finale, Wanda trapped Agatha in her nosy neighbor persona while releasing the rest of the town.
Agatha All Along has been in the works since 2021, officially announced in November of that year. There were numerous title changes, culminating this May with my personal goofy favorite: Agatha: The Lying Witch with Great Wardrobe (a nod to C.S. Lewis). It briefly appeared on the Marvel Twitter account before being taken down, and Disney soon revealed that the various name changes were “orchestrated by [Harkness] as a way of messing with Marvel fans.” Head writer Jac Schaeffer (who also created WandaVision) has said that the series would follow Agatha as she forms her own coven with “a disparate mixed bag of witches… defined by deception, treachery, villainy, and selfishness” who must learn to work together. And apparently we can expect a few more catchy tunes.
Enlarge/ Ncuti Gatwa wrapped his first full season as the Fifteenth Doctor and proved more than up to the challenge.
YouTube/BBC
Doctor Who is now in its 61st year featuring a host of gifted British actors each taking on the iconic role in turn. So Ncuti Gatwa had some very big shoes to fill when he took on playing the Fifteenth Doctor. Now the season has concluded and the verdict is in: Gatwa is more than up to the challenge, bringing sparkling energy, charisma, and a superb sense of style to the role. He sings and dances, too, as does winsome new companion Ruby Sunday (Millie Gibson). They have terrific onscreen chemistry and Davies is in top storytelling form. In short, the new season mostly feels as fresh and energetic as ever and I’m already looking forward to more.
(Spoilers below.)
Here’s a brief summation for the benefit of those who may not have kept up with the more recent seasons. This is Russell T. Davies’ second stint as showrunner, having revived the series in 2005. He lost no time introducing a few new twists after signing back on as show runner. When it came time for Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor to regenerate, fans had expected Gatwa to be introduced. Instead, the new Fourteenth Doctor was played by former Tenth Doctor David Tennant, reuniting with former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) for three specials.
The third special was called “The Giggle.” During the climactic battle, the Doctor was shot. But instead of the usual regeneration, the Fourteenth Doctor “bigenerated” instead, resulting in both a Fourteenth Doctor and Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, a separate physical entity. Tennant’s incarnation settled into a comfy retirement with Donna and her family, while Gatwa’s newly regenerated Doctor headed off for a fresh set of adventures.
In the Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road,” Gatwa’s Doctor picked up a new companion: Ruby Sunday, a young woman abandoned at a church on Christmas Eve and raised by her foster mother. Goblins kidnapped the new foster baby, Lulubelle, to feed her to the Goblin King in a ritual sacrifice involving a rather silly goblin song. Ruby and the Doctor joined forces to save her. Naturally Ruby decided to join him for a few more adventures in the TARDIS. (You can read our interview with Davies, Gatwa, and Gibson here.)
The Doctor and Ruby kicked things off by rescuing a group of talking “space babies’ on an abandoned baby farm space station who were being terrorized by a monstrous Bogeyman (made, as it turns out, from actual “bogies” aka snot). It’s a clever standalone concept that never quite gels, despite the charm of seeing babies in motorized strollers operating Rube-Goldberg-like systems to perform basic tasks on board the ship. But it works well as an appetizer for what’s to come.
By contrast, “The Devil’s Chord” is a classic Whovian adventure, in which the Doctor and Ruby must save the world from a powerful being called Maestro (Jinkx Monsoon), child of the Toymaker (arch-villain of “The Giggle”). Unwittingly summoned by a piano teacher playing the “devil’s chord” in 1925, Maestro has been robbing the universe of music, intent on leaving nothing but Aeolian tones. So when the Doctor and Ruby crash a Beatles recording session in 1963, they are dismayed to hear the Fab Four play a decidedly uninspired tune about Paul McCartney’s dog rather than one of their future hits. Everything works in this episode, from Monsoon’s maniacal cackle to the fabulous outfits and sly visual callback to the Abbey Road album cover (not to mention the famous keyboard scene in Big). Bonus points for the big musical number at the end, taking advantage of Gatwa’s and Gibson’s natural talents.
Enlarge/ Jinkx Monsoon as Maestro, who is robbing the universe of all music.
BBC/Disney+
The Bridgerton references run wild in the delightful “Rogue,” as the Doctor and Ruby travel to Regency England and discover a group of “cosplaying” shapeshifter aliens have crashed the same gathering. (The Chuldurs kill whomever they want to “play” and take over their identities.) They are aided by a futuristic bounty hunter named Rogue (Jonathan Groff), with whom the Doctor enjoys a romantic interlude—only for Rogue to sacrifice himself to save Ruby, banished to an unknown alternate dimension with the Chuldurs.
“Boom” takes the duo to a war-torn planet in which the casualties are strictly controlled by a corporate algorithm, while in “Dot and Bubble,” the Doctor and Ruby try to save an off-planet community of rich young white people from carnivorous slugs—which the youngsters don’t notice because they live their lives literally shrouded in an online bubble. Is the metaphor a bit heavy-handed? Yes it is, but it’s amusing to watch Lindy Pepper-Bean (Callie Cooke) try to navigate the outside world without the aid of a helpful virtual arrow telling her where to step.
(WARNING: Major spoilers for “73 Yards” and the final two episodes below. )
Enlarge/ Sparks fly between the Doctor and a futuristic bounty hunter named Rogue in Regency England.
BBC/Disney+
Gatwa’s Doctor Who debut overlapped a bit with shooting the final season of Sex Education, so two of the episodes constitute what Davies calls “Doctor-Lite” because Gatwa has much less screen time: “Dot and Bubble” and the Ruby-centric “73 Yards”—actually the first episode Gatwa filmed, and among the most inventive Doctor Who episodes in recent years. Davies drew on Welsh folk horror for this haunting ghost story, bringing a smidgen of fantasy to the sci-fi series. The Doctor and Ruby arrive on the Welsh coast, where he accidentally steps on a fairy circle and mysteriously vanishes, just as Ruby notices a mysterious old woman standing on a distant bluff, gesticulating and saying something that Ruby cannot hear.
The apparition follows a confused Ruby into town, always staying 73 yards away. Others can see the woman but whenever Ruby asks them to go talk to her to find out what’s going on, we see their faces change, they look at Rudy, then run away in horror, insisting they never want anything to do with Ruby again. This goes on for decades. The TARDIS remains abandoned on that Welsh cliff with no sign of the Doctor. Ruby lives out her entire life with this apparition haunting her, estranging her from anyone she asks for help (including her own foster mother and UNIT). She does figure out how to use the apparition to avert nuclear catastrophe, however. On her deathbed, the ghostly woman finally appears right in front to Ruby—at which point Ruby is transported back to that first day on the Welsh clifftop and sees her younger self with the Doctor. This time, Young Ruby is able to warn the Doctor and stop him from breaking the fairy circle, and everything returns to normal.
Enlarge/ A mysterious woman in the distance haunts Ruby in “73 Yards”
BBC/Disney+
To say that some fans were flummoxed and unsettled by this episode would be an understatement. Davies is content to leave all the major questions unanswered. Who is the woman? What is she saying? We never find out for sure, although I interpreted the ghostly apparition to be Old Ruby traveling back through time at the end of her life to warn her younger self and the Doctor not to disturb the fairy circle, thereby setting things right. But it’s left deliberately ambiguous (Old Ruby and the apparition are played by different actresses) and that’s part of this episode’s lasting power.
All Davies has said is that “something profane” occurred when the Doctor disturbed the circle and Ruby “had to spend a life of penitence” and do something good in order to bring everything full circle. He said he would never reveal what the woman was saying, since this was the source of the horror. “It’s kind of up to you to sit there and think, ‘Well, what could someone say that make a mother run away from her daughter forever?'” he said. “Once you start to do that, you enter the real horror story, the dreadful things that are being said there.” As for the 73 yards, that’s the distance where a figure in the distance appears as “a blur but not a blur.” It’s also the distance of the perception filter around the TARDIS.
We do get an answer to the mystery of Ruby’s parentage, however, in the final two episodes, as well as a trip down Whovian memory lane. Throughout the season, strange phenomena have been manifesting around Ruby—usually it starts snowing, like it was the night she was abandoned as a baby, and sometimes we hear “Carol of the Bells” playing. The Doctor turns to UNIT for help analyzing the grainy VHS security footage of that night. This leads to the emergence of The One Who Waits (mentioned in “The Giggle”), aka Sutekh, the God of Death. Sutekh was the arch-villain defeated by the Fourth Doctor in 1975’s Pyramids of Mars storyline.
Enlarge/ The Doctor reunites with former companion Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford) in the season finale.
BBC/Disney+
In “Empire of Death,” we learn that Sutekh actually attached himself to the TARDIS and his been tagging along on the Doctor’s travels through time ever since, through every incarnation. He releases his dust of death to kill everyone all through time, sparing only the Doctor, Ruby, and (initially) former companion Mel Bush (Bonnie Langford), who traveled with the Sixth and Seventh Doctors—mostly because Sutekh wants to know Ruby’s parentage too, convinced that her birth mother held the key to defeating him.
The joke’s on Sutekh (and on us), because Ruby turns out to the spawn of perfectly normal teenaged parents; Sutekh’s assumption that she was important is what made her significant, giving rise to all the mysterious phenomena. (Davies made that decision because he was frustrated with the Star Wars bait-and-switch concerning Rey’s parentage in the sequel trilogy—supposedly insignificant in The Last Jedi but revealed as Emperor Palpatine’s granddaughter in Rise of Skywalker.) The Doctor defeats Sutekh once again and everyone who turned to dust is magically restored. Ruby meets her birth mother and decides to search for her biological father while the Doctor continues on without her.
It’s a perfectly good Whovian finale to an excellent season that mostly sticks the landing. What’s next for Gatwa’s Doctor? We’ll have to wait to and see, but Gibson is expected to return next season—Davies has said her story is not yet finished—although we’ll also get a new companion, played by Varada Sethu. One might expect to see more of the Toymaker’s offspring going forward. And Ruby’s quirky neighbor, Mrs. Flood (Anita Dobson), is clearly not what she seems, breaking the fourth wall at finale’s end to tell us the Doctor’s story will end in “absolute terror.” So, business as usual then. We’re here for that.
All episodes of Doctor Who‘s fourteenth season are now streaming on Disney+.
Enlarge/ Extreme sportsman Ross Edgley comes face to face with a great hammerhead shark in the waters of Bimini in the Bahamas.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Ultra-athlete Ross Edgley is no stranger to pushing his body to extremes. He once ran a marathon while pulling a one-ton car; ran a triathlon while carrying a 100-pound tree; and climbed a 65-foot rope over and over again until he’d climbed the equivalent of Mt. Everest—all for charity. In 2016, he set the world record for the world’s longest staged sea swim around the coastline of Great Britain: 1780 miles over 157 days.
At one point during that swim, a basking shark appeared and swam alongside Edgley for a day and a half. That experience ignited his curiosity about sharks and eventually led to his new National Geographic documentary, Shark vs. Ross Edgley—part of four full weeks of 2024 SHARKFEST programming. Edgley matches his athletic prowess against four different species of shark. He tries to jump out of the water (polaris) like a great white shark; withstand the G forces produced by a hammerhead shark‘s fast, rapid turns; mimic the extreme fasting and feasting regimen of a migrating tiger shark; and match the swimming speed of a mako shark.
“I love this idea of having a goal and then reverse engineering and deconstructing it,” Edgley told Ars. “[Sharks are] the ultimate ocean athletes. We just had this idea: what if you’re crazy enough to try and follow in the footsteps of four amazing sharks? It’s an impossible task. You’re going to fail, you’re going to be humbled. But in the process, we could use it as a sports/shark science experiment, almost like a Trojan horse to bring science and ocean conservation to a new audience.”
And who better than Edgley to take on that impossible challenge? “The enthusiasm he brings to everything is really infectious,” marine biologist and shark expert Mike Heithaus of Florida International University told Ars. “He’s game to try anything. He’d never been in the water with sharks and we’re throwing him straight in with big tiger sharks and hammerheads. He’s loving the whole thing and just devoured all the information.”
That Edgley physique doesn’t maintain itself, so the athlete was up at 4 AM swimming laps and working out every morning before the rest of the crew had their coffee. “I’m doing bicep curls with my coffee cup and he’s doing bicep curls with the 60-pound underwater camera,” Heithaus recalled. “For the record, I got one rep in and I’m very proud of that.” Score one for the shark expert.
(Spoilers below for the various shark challenges.)
Ross vs. the great white shark
Ross Edgley gets some tips on how to power (polaris) his body out of the water like a white shark from synchronized swimmer Samantha Wilson
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
The Aquabatix synchronized swim team demonstrates the human equivalent to a white shark’s polaris.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Edgley tries out a mono fin to improve his polaris performance.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Edgley propelling 3/4 of his body out of the pool to mimic a white shark’s polaris movement
National Geographic/Bobby Cross
For the first challenge, Edgley took on the great white shark, a creature he describes as a “submarine with teeth.” These sharks are ambush hunters, capable of propelling their massive bodies fully out of the water in an arching leap. That maneuver is called a polaris, and it’s essential to the great white shark’s survival. It helps that the shark has 65 percent muscle mass, particularly concentrated in the tail, as well as a light skeleton and a large liver that serves as buoyancy device.
Edgley, by comparison, is roughly 45 percent muscle mass—much higher than the average human but falling short of the great white shark. To help him try to match the great white’s powerful polaris maneuver, Edgley sought tips on biomechanics from the Aquabatix synchronized swim team, since synchronized swimmers must frequently launch their bodies fully out of the water during routines. They typically get a boost from their teammates to do so.
The team did manage to boost Edgley out of the water, but sharks don’t need a boost. Edgley opted to work with a monofin, frequently used in underwater sports like free diving or finswimming, to see what he could achieve on his own power. After a bit of practice, he succeeded in launching 75 percent of his body (compared to the shark’s 100 percent) out of the water. Verdict: Edgley is 75 percent great white shark.
Ross vs. the hammerhead shark
Edgley vs. a hammerhead shark. He will try to match the animal’s remarkable agility underwater.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
A camera team films a hammerhead shark making sharp extreme turns
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Edgley prepares to go airborne in a stunt plane to try and mimic the agility of a hammerhead shark in the water.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
A standard roll produces 2 g’s, while pulling up is 3 g’s
YouTube/National Geographic
Edgley is feeling a bit queasy.
YouTube/National Geographic
Next up: Edgley pitted himself against the remarkable underwater agility of a hammerhead shark. Hammerheads are known for being able to swim fast and turn on a dime, thanks to a flexible skeleton that enables them to bend and contort their bodies nearly in half. They’re able to withstand some impressive G forces (up to 3 G’s) in the process. According to Heithaus, these sharks feed on other rays and other sharks, so they need to be built for speed and agility—hence their ability to accelerate and turn rapidly.
The NatGeo crew captured impressive underwater footage of the hammerheads in action, including Edgley meeting a 14.7 hammerhead named “Queenie”—one of the largest great hammerheads that visits Bimini in the Bahamas during the winter. That footage also includes shots of divers feeding fish to some of the hammerheads by hand. “They know every shark by name and the sharks know the feeders,” said Heithaus. “So you can safely get close to these big amazing creatures.”
For years, scientists had wondered about the purpose of the distinctive hammer-shaped head. It may help them scan a larger area of the ocean floor while hunting. Like all sharks, hammerheads have sensory pores called ampullae of Lorenzini that allow them to detect electrical signals and hence possible prey. The hammer-shaped head distributes those pores over a wider span.
But according to Heithaus, the hammer shape also operates a bit like the big broad flap of an airplane wing, resulting in excellent hydrodynamics. Moving at high speeds, “You can just tilt the head a tiny bit and bank a huge degree,” he said. “So if a ray turns 180 degrees to escape, the hammerhead can track with it. Other species would take a wider turn and fall behind.”
The airplane wing analogy gave Edgley an idea for how he could mimic the tight turns and high G forces of a hammerhead shark: take a flight in a small stunt plane. The catch: Edgley is not a fan of flying. And as he’d feared, he became horribly airsick during the challenge, even puking into a little airbag at one point. “It looks so cool in the clip,” he said. “But at the time, I was in a world of trouble.” Pilot Mark Greenfield finally cut the experiment short when he determined that Edgley was too sick to continue. Verdict: Edgley is 0 percent hammerhead shark.
Ross vs. the tiger shark
Shark expert Mike Heithaus holds a gelatin shark “lolliop” while Edgley flexes.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Edgley and Heithaus underwater with a tiger shark, tempting it with a gelatin lollipop.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Success! A tiger shark takes a nice big bite.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Edgley flexes with the giant gelatin lollipop with a large bite taken out of it by a tiger shark
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Edgley gets his weight and body volume measured in the “Bodpod” before his tiger shark challenge.
National Geographic/Bobby Cross
Edgley fasted and exercised for 24 hours to mimic a tiger shark on a migration route. He dropped 14 pounds.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
After all that fasting and exercise, Edgley then gorged himself for 24 hours to put the weight back on. He gained 22 pounds.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
The third challenge was trying to match the fortitude of a migrating tiger shark as it makes its way over thousands of miles without food, only feasting at journey’s end. “I was trying to understand the psychology of a tiger shark because there’s just nothing for them to eat [on the journey],” said Ross. And once they arrive at their destination, “they can chow down on entire whale carcasses and eat just about anything. That idea of feast and famine is something we humans used to do all the time. We live quite comfortably now so we’ve lost touch with that.”
The first step was to figure out just how many calories a migrating tiger shark can consume in a single bite. Heithaus has been part of SHARKFEST for several years now and recalled one throwback show, Sharks vs. Dolphins, in which he tried to determine which species of of shark were attacking dolphins, and just how big those sharks might be. He hit upon the idea of making a dolphin shape out of gelatin—essentially the same stuff FIU’s forensic department uses for ballistic tests—and asked his forensic colleagues to make one for him, since the material has the same weight and density of dolphin blubber.
For the Edgley documentary, they made a large gelatin lollipop the same density as whale blubber, and he and Edgley dove down and managed to get an 11-foot tiger shark to take a big 6.2-pound bite out of it. We know how many calories are in whale blubber so Heithaus was able to deduce from that how many calories per bite a tiger shark consumed (6.2 pounds of whale meet is equivalent to about 25,000 calories).
Such field work also lets him gather ever mire specimens of shark bites from a range of species for his research. “The great thing about SHARKFEST is that you’re seeing new, cutting-edge science that may or may not work,” said Heithaus. “But that’s what science is about: trying things and advancing our knowledge even if it doesn’t work al the time, and then sharing that information and excitement with the public.”
Then it was time for Edgley to make like a migrating shark and embark on a carefully designed famine-and-feast regime. First, his weight and body volume were measured in a “Bodpod”: 190.8 pounds and 140.8 pints. Then Edgley fasted and exercised almost continuously for 24 hours with a mix of weight training, running, swimming, sitting in the sauna, and climate chamber cycling. (He did sleep for a few hours.) He dropped 14 pounds and lost twelve pints, ending up at a weight of 177 pounds and a volume of 128.7 pints. Instead of food, what he craved most at the end was water. “When you are in a completely deprived state, you find out what your body actually needs, not what it wants,” said Edgley.
After slaking his thirst, it was time to gorge. Over the next 24 hours, Edgley consumed an eye-popping 35,103 calories in carefully controlled servings. It’s quite the menu: Haribo mix, six liters of Lucozade, a Hulk smoothie, pizza, five slices of lemon blueberry cheesecake, five slices of chocolate mint cheesecake, fish and chips, burgers and fries, two cinnamon loaves, four tubs of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, two full English breakfasts, five liters of custard, four mars bars, and four mass gainer shakes.
When his weight and volume were measured one last time in the Bodpod, Edgley had regained a whopping 22 pounds for a final weight of 199 pounds. “I wish I had Ross’s ability to eat that much and remain at 0 percent body fat,” said Heithaus. Verdict: Edgley is 28 percent tiger shark.
Ross vs. the mako shark
In 2018, Edgely set the world record for longest assisted sea swim.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Edgley tries to match the speed of a mako shark in the waters of the Menai Strait in Wales.
National Geographic/Nathalie Miles
Finally, Edgley pitted himself against the mighty mako shark. Mako sharks are the speediest sharks in the ocean, capable of swimming at speeds up to 43 MPH. Edgley is a long-distance swimmer, not a sprinter, so he threw himself into training at Loughborough University with British Olympians coaching him. He fell far short of a mako shark’s top speed. The shape of the human body is simply much less hydrodynamic than that of a shark. He realized that despite his best efforts, “I was making up hundredths of a second, which is huge in sprinting,” he said. “That could be the difference between a gold medal at the Paris Olympics and not. But I needed to make up many kilometers per hour.”
So Edgley decided to “think like a shark” and employ a shark-like strategy of riding the ocean currents to increase his speed. He ditched the pool and headed to the Menai Strait in Wales for some open water swimming. Ultimately he was able to hit 10.24 MPH—double what an Olympic swimmer could manage in a pool, but just 25 percent of a mako shark’s top speed. And he managed with the help or a team of 20-30 people dropping him into the fastest tide possible. “A mako shark would’ve just gone, ‘This is a Monday morning, this isn’t an event for me, I’m off,'” said Edgley. Verdict: Edgley is 24 percent mako shark
When the results of all four challenges were combined, Edgley came out at 32 percent overall, or nearly one-third shark. While Edgley confessed to being humbled by his limitations, “I don’t think there’s anyone else out there who could do so as well across the board in comparison,” said Heithaus.
The ultimate goal of Shark vs. Ross Edgley—and indeed all of the SHARKFEST programming—is to help shift public perceptions of sharks. “The great Sir David Attenborough said that the problems facing us in terms of conservation is as much a communication issue as a scientific one,” Edgley said. “The only way we can combat that is by educating people.”
Shark populations have declined sharply by 70 percent or more over the last 50 years. “It’s really critical that we protect and restore these populations,” Heithaus said. Tiger sharks, for instance, eat big grazers like turtles and sea cows, and thus protect the sea grass. (Among other benefits, the sea grass sequesters carbon dioxide.) Sharks are also quite sophisticated in their behavior. “Some have social connections with other sharks, although not to the same extent as dolphins,” said Heithaus. “They’re more than just loners, and they may have personalities. We see some sharks that are more bold, and others that are more shy. There’s a lot more to sharks than we would have thought.”
People who hear about Edgley’s basking shark encounter invariably assume he’d been in danger. However, “We were friends. I’m not on its menu,” Edgley said. “There are so many different species.” He likened it to being chased by a dog. People might assume it was a rottweiler giving chase, when in fact the basking shark is the equivalent of a poodle. “Hopefully what people take away from this is moving from a fear and misunderstanding of sharks to respect and admiration,” Edgley said. “That’ll make the RAF fighter pilot plane worth it.”
And he’s game to take on even more shark challenges in the future. There are a lot more shark species out there, after all, just waiting to go head-to-head with a human ultra-athlete.
Shark vs. Ross Edgley premieres on Sunday, June 30, 2024, on Disney+.
Enlarge/ Ncuti Gatwa is the Fifteenth Doctor, and Millie Gibson is his new companion, Ruby Sunday, in new season of Doctor Who.
Disney+
A new season of Doctor Who is almost upon us, featuring Ncuti Gatwa’s first full run as the 15th Doctor, with a shiny new companion. It’s also the first time Doctor Who will stream on Disney+, after the platform acquired the international broadcasting rights. That could translate into a whole new generation of fans for this beloved British sci-fi series.
(Spoilers for “The Power of the Doctor,” “The Giggle,” and “The Church on Ruby Road” below.)
Here’s a brief summation for the benefit of those who may not have kept up with the more recent seasons. Russell T. Davies—who revived the series in 2005 with Christopher Eccleston as the Ninth Doctor—has returned as showrunner. Davies lost no time introducing a few new twists. When it came time for Jodie Whittaker’s Thirteenth Doctor to regenerate, fans had expected Gatwa to be introduced. Instead, the new Fourteenth Doctor was played by former Tenth Doctor David Tennant, reuniting with former companion Donna Noble (Catherine Tate) for three specials.
The third special was called “The Giggle.” During the climactic battle, the Doctor was shot. But instead of the usual regeneration, the Fourteenth Doctor “bigenerated” instead, resulting in both a Fourteenth Doctor and Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, a separate physical entity. Tennant’s incarnation settled into a comfy retirement with Donna and her family, while Gatwa’s newly regenerated Doctor headed off for a fresh set of adventures. In the Christmas special, “The Church on Ruby Road,” he picked up a new companion: Ruby Sunday, played by Millie Gibson. The eight-episode new season kicks off this weekend with the Davies-penned “Space Babies” and “The Devil’s Chord.” Davies wrote six out of the eight episodes, in fact, closing out with “The Legend of Ruby Sunday” and the finale, “Empire of Death.”
Doctor Who is now in its 61st year, and this is Davies’ second stint as showrunner. Yet the new season feels as fresh and energetic as ever in terms of its storytelling. Davies attributes this to the format. “Because it is an anthology show, every week it’s a different show, a different script,” Davies told Ars. “Often it’s a different writer. He lands at a different place, a different time, a different planet. And very often he lands in a different genre. That demand means I can’t sit back. The audience wants a new punch. You want that cold open where you’re surprised and shocked and taken aback and thrilled and delighted to be going to meet The Beatles, or to find yourself under an alien dome, or to be racing through the streets of London in a thriller. All I have to do is meet the ambition of the show and keep running with it. That’s my job.”
Enlarge/ Davies: “All I have to do is meet the ambition of the show and keep running with it.”
Disney+
Furthermore, the sheer scope of the show pretty much guarantees a vast wellspring of new ideas. “You literally have the whole of time and space and within that you can tell so many different stories,” said Davies. “World War II is often a very evocative setting for Doctor Who. The Victorian era is very evocative. Somehow, it matches that wooden TARDIS in ineffable ways, so it’s been to certain locations more than once. But that’s so rich. You can think of a thousand World War II stories. You can think of a thousand Dickensian stories. And equally, Doctor Who can be completely unafraid of reinventing its own history. It’s actually seen the destruction of Atlantis three times. So, the territory always remains fertile.”
Gatwa had some very big shoes to fill when he took on this iconic character, and he pulls it off with great charisma and style. He credits the writers and production staff, as well as Gibson, with helping him craft his unique take on the Doctor. Gatwa told Ars that his greatest challenge was portraying the character’s wisdom. “I’ve always had a baby face,” he said—so much so that he was often told at drama school that he just couldn’t portray more mature characters. He found the answer in the Doctor’s regenerations. “He’s reborn each time,” said Gatwa. “He’s seeing things with new eyes, like [picking up a bowl of berries], ‘This is the best bowl of berries I’ve ever had!’ That youthful energy ended up being really helpful in terms of accessing other traits, like his wisdom.”
The elements Gatwa brings to the role also drive much of the writing, per Davies. “His skill and talent, it makes me run faster because all you ever want in life is a limitless actor and also a fearless actor,” he said. “There is nothing he can’t do. Milly, too; she has a kind of bounce and energy. It’s not just the depth of their emotions, it’s their technical comic skills. It’s my job to showcase that.” Davies also tried to make sure he challenged Gatwa and Gibson in some way on a daily basis by having them do something they’d never done before, whether it be a new stunt, an exciting confrontation with a villain, or a heartbreaking personal scene.
“No one is safe from the truth” in new trailer for The Acolyte.
It’s Star Wars Day, and to mark the occasion, Disney+ has dropped a new trailer for Star Wars: The Acolyte. As previously reported, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, the Galactic Republic and its Jedi masters symbolized the epitome of enlightenment and peace. Then came the inevitable downfall and outbreak of war as the Sith, who embraced the Dark Side of the Force, came to power. Star Wars: The Acolyte will explore those final days of the Republic as the seeds of its destruction were sown.
The eight-episode series was created by Leslye Headland. It’s set at the end of the High Republic Era, about a century before the events of The Phantom Menace. Apparently Headland rather cheekily pitched The Acolyte as “Frozen meets Kill Bill.” She drew on wuxia martial arts films for inspiration, much like George Lucas was originally inspired by Westerns and the samurai films of Akira Kurosawa. Per the official premise:
In Star Wars: The Acolyte, an investigation into a shocking crime spree pits a respected Jedi Master (Lee Jung-jae) against a dangerous warrior from his past (Amandla Stenberg). As more clues emerge, they travel down a dark path where sinister forces reveal all is not what it seems…
In addition to Lee (best known from Squid Game) and Stenberg (Rue in The Hunger Games), the cast includes Manny Jacinto (Jason on The Good Place) as a former smuggler named Qimir; Dafne Keen (Logan, His Dark Materials) as a young Jedi named Jecki Lon; Carrie-Ann Moss (Trinity in The Matrix trilogy) as a Jedi master named Indara; Jodie Turner-Smith (After Yang) as Mother Aniseya, who leads a coven of witches; Rebecca Henderson (Russian Doll) as a Jedi knight named Vernestra Rwoh; and Charlie Bennet (Russian Doll) as a Jedi named Yord Fandar.
In addition, Abigail Thorn plays Ensign Eurus, while Joonas Suotamo plays a Wookiee Jedi master named Kelnacca. Suotamo portrayed Chewbacca in the sequel trilogy of films (Episodes VII-IX) and in Solo: A Star Wars Story. Also appearing in as-yet-undisclosed roles are Dean-Charles Chapman, Amy Tsang, and Margarita Levieva.
The first trailer dropped in March, in which we saw young padawans in training; Indara battling a mysterious masked figure; learned that somebody is out there killing Jedi; and were told that there is a growing sense of darkness. This latest trailer reinforces those themes. The assassin, Mae (Stenberg), once trained with Master Sol (Lee), and he thinks he should be the one to bring her in—although Master Vernestra correctly suspects Mae’s killings are a small part a larger plan, i.e, the eventual return of the Sith.
Qimir doesn’t seem to be a Jedi fan, claiming that their “peace is a lie.” Meanwhile, Mae receives encouragement from Mother Aniseya and her coven of witches, who look like they are draining the life of a young Padawan at one point. “Destiny is not decided for you by an anonymous force,” Mother Aniseya tells Mae. “If you want to pull the thread and change everything, then pull it.”
The first two episodes of Star Wars: The Acolyte debut on Disney+ on June 4, 2024.
Enlarge/ A Day octopus (Octopus cyanea) named Scarlet parachutes her web over a coral head while Dr. Alex Schnell observes.
National Geographic/Disney/Craig Parry
With Earth Day fast approaching once again, it’s time for another new documentary from National Geographic and Disney+: Secrets of the Octopus. It’s the third in what has become a series, starting with the remarkable 2021 documentary Secrets of the Whales (narrated by Sigourney Weaver) and 2023’s Secrets of the Elephants (Natalie Portman as narrator). James Cameron served as producer on all three.
Secrets of the Octopus is narrated by Paul Rudd. Per the official synopsis:
Octopuses are like aliens on Earth: three hearts, blue blood and the ability to squeeze through a space the size of their eyeballs. But there is so much more to these weird and wonderful animals. Intelligent enough to use tools or transform their bodies to mimic other animals and even communicate with different species, the secrets of the octopus are more extraordinary than we ever imagined.
Each of the three episodes focuses on a specific unique feature of these fascinating creatures: “Shapeshifters,” “Masterminds,” and “Social Networks.” The animals were filmed in their natural habitats over 200 days and all that stunning footage is accompanied by thoughtful commentary by featured scientists. One of those scientists is Dr. Alex Schnell, a native Australian and self described storytelling who has worked at Macquarie University, the University of Cambridge, and the Marine Biological Laboratory, among other institutions. Her research focuses on the intelligence of marine animals, particularly cuttlefish and octopuses.
Ars caught up with Schnell to learn more.
Ars Technica: How did you become interested in studying octopuses?
Alex Schnell: I had this pivotal moment when I was young. I had the luxury of actually growing up on the beaches of Sydney so I would spend a lot of time in the water, in rock pools, looking at all the critters. When I was about five years old, I met my first octopus. It was such a monumental moment that opened up a completely different world for me. That’s the day I decided I wanted to be a marine biologist.
Alex Schnell prepares for a dive on the Great Barrier Reef
National Geographic for Disney/Craig Parry
Alex Schnell SCUBA dives over a coral garden on the Great Barrier Reef, while an Australian research vessel floats on the surface above.
National Geographic for Disney/Craig Parry
A Day octopus perched on corals on the Great Barrier Reef.
National Geographic/Disney/Richard Woodgett
Director and DOP Adam Geiger operates a jib arm with Producer / Camera operator, Rory McGuinness, and Camera Assistant, Woody Spark.
National Geographic for Disney/Annabel Robinson
Woody Spark preparing cameras and underwater housings with cinematographer Rory McGuinness.
National Geographic for Disney/Harriet Spark
Alex Schnell observes a Mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus mimicus) while on a dive with wildlife photographer and local dive guide, Benhur Sarinda
National Geographic for Disney/Craig Parry
A Mimic octopus, with striped skin patterning, stretches out all eight arms across black volcanic sand.
National Geographic for Disney/Craig Parry
A Blue-ringed octopus (Hapalochlaena maculosa) displays bright blue rings, a warning that the venom in her bite is deadly.
National Geographic
Ars Technica: What is the focus of your research?
Alex Schnell: I’m a marine biologist that turned into a comparative psychologist—just a fancy word for studying the different minds of animals. What I’m really interested is how intelligence evolved, where and when. The octopus is the perfect candidate to answer some of these questions because they diverge from our own lineage over 550 million years ago. We share an ancestor that looked like a flat worm. So if the octopus shows glimmers of intelligence that we see in ourselves or in animals that are closely related to us, it reveals a lot about the patterns of evolution and how it evolved throughout the animal kingdom.
When you meet an octopus, you really get the sense that there is another being looking out at you. A few years ago, I worked with a team at London School of Economics to write a report reviewing the evidence of sentience in animals. Does the animal have the capacity to feel emotions? We found really strong evidence in octopuses and it ended up changing UK law. Now under UK law, we have to treat octopuses ethically and with compassion.
Ars Technica: One behavioral aspect the series explores is tool use by octopuses. I was struck by the scene where a little coconut octopus uses her clamshell both for shelter and as a shield. I’ve never seen that before.
Alex Schnell: Neither had I. Before we traveled to Indonesia on that shoot, I had read about that particular defensive tool use by the coconut octopus. This species will often be seen carrying around two halves of a coconut, like a mobile den or an RV home. And they use it as protection because they live in a very barren sandy landscape. So I was really excited to see that behavior unfold.
We got more than we bargained for, because in the clip that you mentioned, our coconut octopus was being threatened by this angry mantis shrimp. They pack a really powerful punch that’s been known to break through aquarium glass. And here we have this defenseless little octopus with no bones or anything. In that moment we witnessed her have this idea. She walked over to the shell and picked it up and dragged it back to her original spot and literally used it like a shield to fend off this angry mantis shrimp. She had imagined herself a shield. I saw her get an idea, she imagined it, and she walked over it and used it. I was so blown away that I was screaming with excitement underwater.
Rory McGuinnes, operating an underwater jib arm to film a colorful coral reef on the Lembeh Strait.
National Geographic for Disney/Adam Geiger
Woody Spark tests the controls for the underwater camera-and-slider system
National Geographic for Disney/Adam Geiger
Local dive guides Reifani and Benhur Sarinda observe a Coconut octopus (Amphioctopus marginatus) sheltering between two clam shells.
National Geographic for Disney/Adam Geiger
Woody Spark uses the underwater camera-and-slider system to film a Coconut octopus sheltering between clam shells.
National Geographic for Disney/Adam Geiger
An 8-foot Giant Pacific octopus (Enteroctopus dofleini) rests on the arms of tech diver and octopus enthusiast, Krystal Janicki, on a dive in the shallow waters off Vancouver Island.
National Geographic for Disney/Maxwel Hohn
A Giant Pacific octopus crawls over the sandy seafloor in shallow waters
National Geographic for Disney/Maxwel Hohn
Dr. C.E. O’Brien observes a resting Island octopus (Octopus insularis) on a dive in Turks and Caicos.
National Geographic for Disney/Adam Geiger
Ars Technica: At one point in the series you celebrate having a “conversation” with an octopus. How do octopuses communicate?
Alex Schnell: Octopuses generally communicate with changes to their skin. They can change the color and the texture of their skin in the blink of an eye, and they can also change their posture. What we’ve found with one particular species is that they have cross-species communication, so they collaboratively hunt with some reef fish. Again, I had only read about this behavior until I had a chance to see it in person.
I had this kind of playful idea while I was down there with a Day octopus named Scarlet, who was allowing me to follow her on a lot of her hunts. Because I was so close to her, I noticed she was missing little crabs here and there. Normally her fish hunting partner will do a head stand to point to where the missed food is. I thought, I wonder what’s going to happen if I just point at it, not expecting anything. To my astonishment, she responded and swum right over and looked where I had pointed.
So that’s what I mean by having a conversation with an octopus. I can’t change color sadly, but it’s as if she was responding to my pointing, my “referential signaling,” which is incredible because this is kind of what we see in humans and chimpanzees: this development of communication before language develops. Here we have this octopus responding to a human pointing.
Ars Technica: Scarlet actually reached out her little tentacle to you on multiple occasions; she seemed to recognize you and accept you.
Alex Schnell: I had had those moments before, the ET moment where you get to meet an octopus, and I’ve spoken to other avid divers and people who have a love for octopuses that have had similar experiences. The really special thing with this relationship that I had with Scarlet is that we were able to develop it over weeks and months. Every time I would return to her, she would appear to recognize me quickly and let me back into her world.
What continues to blow me away is that Scarlet grew to trust me really quickly. She reached out and shook my hand after 30 minutes of me watching her, and she let me swim alongside her as she hunted. This is a creature with no skeleton, no shell, no teeth, no claws to protect itself. And despite that extreme vulnerability, she quickly let her guard down. It’s like she was driven by curiosity and this need to reach out and connect, even with an alien creature like me.
Ars Technica: I was surprised to learn that octopuses have such short lifespans.
Alex Schnell: A lot people ask me if they lived longer, would they take over the world? Maybe. It’s life in the fast lane. They are essentially born as orphans because they don’t have any parents or siblings to guide them. They just drift off. They’re loners for most of their lives and they teach themselves. Everything is driven by this intense curiosity to learn. I think that’s why a lot of people have had these incredible moments with octopuses because even the fear or the vulnerability that they might feel is outweighed by a curiosity to interact.
Alex Schnell on the surface in full SCUBA gear.
National Geographic/Harriet Spark
A Coconut octopus pokes an eye out from between partially buried clam shells. Her powerful suckers hold the two shells together for protection from passing predators.
National Geographic for Disney/Craig Parry
Alex Schnell and Benhur Sarinda observe a Coconut octopus walking across the seafloor with clam shells held underneath her web.
National Geographic for Disney/Craig Parry)
A tiny Coconut octopus reaches out to touch Alex Schnell’s hand.
National Geographic for Disney/Craig Parry
An Algae octopus (Abdopus aculeatus) foraging amongst the algae and seagrass in Bunaken Marine Park.
National Geographic/Annabel Robinson
Alex Schnell observing a Southern keeled octopus (Octopus berrima) on a night dive in Port Phillip Bay
National Geographic
A Dorado octopus mother group with eggs
Schmidt Ocean Institute
Ars Technica: Do you find yourself having to be on guard about anthropomorphizing these amazing creatures a bit too much?
Alex Schnell: I think there’s a fine balance. As a trained comparative psychologist, we are taught to be really careful not to anthropomorphize and attribute human traits onto the animals that we see or that we work with. At the same time, I think that we’ve moved too far into a situation that Frans de Waal called “anthro-denialism.” Traits didn’t just sprout up in the human species. They have an evolutionary history, and while they might not be exactly the same in other animals, there are similarities. So sometimes we need to call it what it is. One of der Waal’s examples was researchers who described chimpanzees kissing as “mouth-to-mouth contact” because they didn’t want to anthropomorphize it. Come on guys, they’re kissing.
We do strive to see human traits in other animals. We watched cartoons growing up, we had pets around us, so it’s really hard not to. Our job is as comparative psychologists is to find really strong evidence for the similarities and the differences between the different minds of the animals that we share our planet with.
Ars Technica: What were some of the highlights for you, filming this documentary series?
Alex Schnell: It was challenging in the sense that when the production team first approached me, I was 38 weeks pregnant. So I went out into the field with a five-month-old baby. I was sleep-deprived, trying to go diving and also be on camera. I had worked on natural history films before, but always on the other side of the camera. So it was a steep learning curve.
But it was such a rewarding experience to be able to have the luxury of time to be out with these animals. I had no project because I was on maternity leave. Sometimes when you’re part of a project, you can get tunnel vision. “I’m going to see this particular behavior and that’s what I’m focusing on.” But I could be completely mindful in the moment with my time with octopuses and get to see how they interact in their natural environment. It opens up this incredible secret world that they have. I was seeing things that, yes, I’d read about some of them, but some I’d never heard of before. I think each episode in this series reveals secrets that will take your breath away.
Ars Technica: What is next for you?
Alex Schnell: I’m working on a project called One World, Many Minds. What this project strives to do is accentuate that, yes, we are one world, but there are many minds that make up our collective existence. I really want to showcase the minds of animals like the octopus or the cuttlefish or a big grouper, and show that we have traits that we can recognize, that we can connect with. That will help remove a barrier of otherness, and highlight our shared vulnerability and interconnectedness with animals.
Secrets of the Octopus premieres on Disney+ and Hulu on April 22, 2024.
