Star Trek: Prodigy has found a new streaming home with Netflix, after being both canceled by Paramount+ and completely deleted from the platform back in June. Not only will Netflix air the previously-released 20-episode first s...
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Today the BBC announced it will finally add every available classic episode of Doctor Who, and all of its spin-offs, to iPlayer. It’s the culmination of work which began when Russell T. Davies returned as the show’s major creative force, and a significant change for the BBC. In a statement, it said every episode of the classic series, plus spin-offs like The Sarah Jane Adventures, Torchwood and Class, as well as making-of series Doctor Who Confidential, would all be added on November 1st.
All of Doctor Who’s post-2005 revival series are widely-available on streaming services both in the UK and abroad. But the original run has rarely, if ever, been on-demand without an extra charge, as it’s still one of the BBC’s most reliable cash-cows. The series has been released on VHS, DVD and now Blu-ray, with several of its most recent releases requiring multiple printings. The only place to stream Doctor Who on-demand, at least with a clean conscience, is by paying for BritBox’s premium streaming service.
As part of the release, the BBC is making a point of the new accessibility features — including every episode featuring sign language translation — and that a new archive of material will also be put online on the official Doctor Who website. It's not clear, at this point, if this will include the hours upon hours of special documentaries and behind-the-scenes material that comes with the show's numerous DVD and Blu-ray releases.
The change comes as the show builds up to its 60th anniversary later that same month, as the show stops being a purely BBC production. Instead, it’s being made by Bad Wolf productions with cash backing from Disney, which will stream the show on Disney+ outside the UK. It’s pure speculation on my part, but if the BBC has cleared any issues that prevented it from streaming all of Doctor Who in the UK, then the whole series may also be available on Disney+ at the same time.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/all-of-doctor-who-is-finally-coming-to-bbc-iplayer-152006413.html?src=rssAll of Doctor Who is finally coming to BBC iPlayer
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The following article discusses the fourth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks.There’s a risk, using a word like “should” that we’re a short hop away from a tantrum to police the borders of What Proper Star Trek(™) is. But after watching most of Star Trek...
Lower Decks taps into what Star Trek really is
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208 episodes of The Clone Wars and Star Wars Rebels. Three Tales of the Jedi shorts. Two episodes of The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. One movie. That's everything you'll need to see to truly understand everything going on in the new Ahsoka series on Disney+. For Star Wars diehards, especially those raised on the animated shows spearheaded by Ahsoka creator Dave Filoni, it's everything they've hoped for. Everyone else, though, may find themselves adrift.
Ahsoka deftly brings animated characters to live action — Rosario Dawson remains a beguiling Ahsoka, and she's joined by Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Hera Syndulla, and Natasha Liu Bordezzo as the impulsive Sabine Wren — and it wastes no time introducing intriguing villains (especially Baylan Skoll, a former Jedi portrayed by the late Ray Stevenson). The series is a direct sequel to Rebels in almost every way. But while that's great news for fans, the downside is that newcomers to the wider Rebels verse, even those who've seen Ahsoka in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett, will have a hard time finding any emotional stakes.
Photo by Lucasfilm
With the previous live action Star Wars TV shows (including the enjoyable-yet-unneccessary Obi-Wan Kenobi series), Filoni and co-producer Jon Favreau tried to ease general audiences into deeper aspects of Star Wars lore. That was most successful in the first season of The Mandalorian, which was filled with new characters and simple emotional stakes. (Protect Baby Yoda, no matter what it takes!) But Filoni eventually managed to bring in some characters from his animated shows, including the nefarious bounty hunter Cad Bane.
For better or worse, Ahsoka feels like a riskier project than most of those other live action shows. Almost everyone refers to events and major characters from Rebels, without explaining much about who they are. We know that Grand Admiral Thrawn seems like a major new antagonist, but the show never says why. We later learn that Ahsoka is driven to find him because that may reveal the location of Ezra Bridger, the main character of Rebels who disappeared at the end of that series. Sabine and Ahsoka share some pensive moments reflecting on their lost friend, but we don't get much about their shared relationship beyond that.
Photo by Lucasfilm
At times watching Ahsoka is like being invited to a party where everyone else are old friends, and who refuse to explain their in-jokes or shared history. It's not their problem if you're not having as much fun as them. Deal with it. I had similar issues with The Mandalorian's third season relying too much on The Book of Boba Fett, but at least those were shows airing in close proximity. Ahsoka hinges on direct continuity from an animated series that began in 2014 and ran for four years.
Of course, the series may get better down the line. Ahsoka is Filoni's baby, after all, and he's too talented of a storyteller to have her tread water for a season. And I'll admit, even the excellent Andor took a few episodes to really rev things up. I just hope this show weaves character motivations into its plot more effectively moving forward.
In the first two episodes, Ahsoka is basically sent on a fetch quest when a new trio of villains pops up. There’s some investigative work that sheds light on the post-Empire world (would former members of the Empire really want to support the New Republic?), but much of the time I felt like I was waiting for something, anything to happen. At least the handful of action scenes spice up the proceedings – Dawson’s months of training really show in her lightsaber duels. And there are hints of interesting character dynamics moving forward.
In the years since Rebels ended, it turns out Ahsoka started training Sabine as a Jedi, but then abandoned her. It’s a reflection of Ahsoka’s own story, where she started as Anakin Skywalker’s padawan before a (very complicated) series of events pushed her out of the Jedi Order. Can Ahsoka make up for her mistakes, or is she doomed to fail her student like her master failed her?
At the very least, Ahsoka’s first two episodes are far more intriguing than the Book of Boba Fett or Obi-Wan’s intros. Both of those shows felt superfluous – did we really need Boba Fett’s backstory and redemption tale? Did seeing another Obi-Wan and Darth Vader duel really accomplish anything? Ahsoka, on the other hand, is trying to push Star Wars into new territory. It’s just too bad that everyone isn’t invited for that journey.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ahsoka-review-star-wars-disney-193023619.html?src=rss‘Ahsoka’ is both solid Star Wars and proof that there’s ...
Fans of shows like Andor and The Last of Us who are looking forward to finding out whether their faves will triumph at the Emmy Awards will have to remain patient for an extra few months. The Television Academy and Fox have announced that the Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony will now take place on January 15th — Martin Luther King Jr. Day — rather than September 18th.
That marks a delay of four months and it means the ceremony will air one week after the Golden Globes. The Television Academy and its broadcast partner have pushed back the Creative Arts Emmy Awards to the same weekend as the Golden Globes as well (an edited version of that two-night ceremony will air on January 13th).
The delay isn't unexpected. Rumors have been swirling for weeks that the Academy and Fox would have to postpone the Emmy Awards amid writers and actors strikes that have ground Hollywood productions to a halt. With no Writers Guild of America members available to write jokes for the Emmys host and actors in SAG-AFTRA unable to attend awards ceremonies due to union rules about promoting struck work, a rescheduling seemed inevitable at this point.
Actors and writers are on strike in an attempt to secure fair contracts with Hollywood studios that protect the future of their professions. One of the major points of contention is that both unions want to safeguard their members against advancements in artificial intelligence that could harm their employment prospects. For instance, SAG-AFTRA claims the studios wanted to scan actors and have the right to use their digital likenesses in perpetuity in exchange for a single day of pay.
As has been the case for several years now, shows and television movies from streaming services are competing with those from broadcast networks for Emmy glory. HBO and Max racked up a combined 127 nominations thanks to the likes of The Last of Us and Succession. Netflix has 103 and Apple (with a big helping hand from reigning Emmys champ Ted Lasso) has 52. Thanks in large part to its various Star Wars shows, Disney+ has 40 Emmy nominations this year.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-television-academy-has-delayed-the-emmys-until-january-144508081.html?src=rssThe Television Academy has delayed the Emmys until January
The following article discusses spoilers for “Hegemony” and Star Trek more generally.
1. Bloody hell. I’ve repeatedly said that Strange New Worlds exudes a special sort of confidence this season. The cast and crew are working as a seamless whole, knowing that the conviction at which you sell is just as important as the quality of what’s being sold. The team has raised their floor and ceiling in equal measure, and even the worst episode was bad because of what it said, not because of how it said it. “Hegemony,” is a finale that, aided by the early commission of season three, acts as one part victory lap and one part set up for what follows.
2. The powers that be at Paramount didn’t signal ahead of time that this episode would end on a cliffhanger. In fact, Henry Alonso Myers’ screenplay is a brilliant feint, suggesting the episode will wrap up on a satisfactory, if brisk, ending before the rug pull in its final moment. You’d be forgiven for not noticing the different transporter energy when the survivors were beamed away on your first watch. Myers’ script and Maja Vrvilo’s direction is permeated with a low-level feeling of dread that suits the needs of both the Alien-esque horror and the raised-stakes of a finale.
3.Strange New Worlds has been smarter about setting up and paying off its threads than you might expect. “Among the Lotus Eaters” saw Ortegas feeling sidelined after getting bumped from an away team which forced her to accept her role as the ship’s pilot. Here, she finally gets her wish to go on a mission, but her initial enthusiasm is sapped when she realizes she’s more or less out of her depth. Her scene with Dr. M'Benga, where she admits she’s leaving the role of action hero to the captain, underscores this. The fact she’s one of the crewmembers taken by the Gorn at the end adds a darker weight to her finally getting her wish granted.
Michael Gibson/Paramount+
4. Montgomery Scott’s voice-only cameo in last season’s finale was a neat hat-tip to fans with a basic fluency for Star Trek. I guess it was just too tempting not to follow up on that this time, with Martin Quinn as the young engineer. It’s gratifying to see an actual, Paisley-born Scot playing the role, and an amusing fact that he’s the second actor – after Simon Pegg – who has paid their dues playing roles in various British comedy shows. If Quinn hangs around, I can’t wait for Trek completionists to watch Limmy’s Show and Derry Girls to watch his early work, much like when I watched Brent Spiner on Cheers and Night Court.
5. I don’t want to harp on about the limitations a prequel imposes, because we all know the score now. It may bend the edges of Trek’s established narrative but Strange New Worlds can never escape its eventual destination. Young Kirk, Young Spock, Young Uhura, Young Chapel, Young Scotty and Young Dr. M’Benga will all be here, around and alive, to turn into their 1966 counterparts. You can’t put any of those characters in jeopardy, or base your episode around asking that question, because we already know who is safe.
That’s why the emotional beats of Spock’s dramatic rescue of Chapel worked perfectly, but asking the question of her survival did not. The show was smart enough to only leave the issue lingering for the first act before we saw Chapel working to stay alive. (Notice she also gets to do an EVA in a proper spacesuit after her emergency leap in “The Broken Circle.”) But I can only speak as a “fan” so maybe it worked better for those mainstream viewers who have made Strange New Worlds one of the biggest shows on streaming TV.
Michael Gibson/Paramount+
6. Back in the ‘60s, Pike and Kirk were the same character with the serial numbers filed off, both drawn from the same template of rugged mid ‘60s masculinity. Two-fisted thinking men of action as comfortable on the back of a horse as they were quoting poetry or discussing naval history. This lack of distinction wasn’t really an issue back then, or even now, until Strange New Worlds made the conscious decision to let Kirk lurk on the periphery of Pike’s narrative.
It meant the production team needed to retrofit Pike as different from his successor, helped by Anson Mount’s gravitas and easy charm. And the first season finale made it clear that Pike’s reluctance to shoot first and ask questions later was his tragic flaw. One that Kirk didn’t have, which made him a better leader to take the Enterprise on its next set of missions. But Anson Mount’s paternity leave and reduced shooting schedule meant there wasn’t time to examine the fallout from “A Quality of Mercy” in any detail.
After all, he now knows his desire to find a peaceful solution single-handedly started a war that wiped out the Federation. He also knows he has to remain true to his principles or else he could pollute the timeline and not be in the right place to save future Spock’s life. The fact he’s unable to make a decision in the cliffhanger is entirely congruent with the journey Pike has been on, but it’s clear the steps leading to this moment would have been explored far more had Mount been available.
“Hegemony,” then, is the show’s first real chance to look at how Pike has tried to grow into Kirk’s mold, despite how ill-fitting he finds it. In his first talk with Admiral April, he advocates a policy of shooting first, but not long after he’s thinking about trying to find a peaceful solution. It’s those two competing urges that paralyze Pike in the finale, knowing there are lives on the line whatever he does. But, again, you have to praise the production team for trusting the audience will keep up with what happened in the previous season.
7. It’s not great that Strange New Worlds can only do so much to put clear water between Pike and Kirk. You can’t make Pike look too old-fashioned or useless without alienating him from the audience, especially given his forthcoming ultimate sacrifice. But go too far the other way and you make Pike a dove in comparison with the more hawkish Kirk which, to me, feels like the wrong message to be sending.
Michael Gibson/Paramount+
8. It’s hard to know how long Strange New Worlds will run for, or what the plans are for its future. You could easily argue it never needs to end so much as just swap out characters until you’ve rebuilt the 1966 ensemble. Every generation of Paramount executives harbors a desire to get a do-over on Kirk and Spock in the hope their name recognition alone will carry a series.
But I’m curious if that’s something people would actually want? I’m not sure I do, but then my dream would be an original series set in Trek’s present with no legacy characters at all. And I know that’s something of a minority opinion compared to all those folks who want yet another run on the nostalgia treadmill set in the safety of Trek’s past. (If nothing else, at least Strange New Worlds has kept its fan service to a minimum and tried, as best as it can, to set out on its own path.)
9. At the end of my season one finale review, I wrote “Whisper it, friends, but Strange New Worlds might actually be good?” That was a fair line at the time, since the show took a while before clicking into a high gear. Since then, however, more or less every episode has improved upon the last to produce a second season with barely any weak notes. We don’t need to whisper anything now, Strange New Worlds is the best live-action Trek of the streaming era.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nine-thoughts-about-star-trek-strange-new-worlds-blockbuster-finale-130046409.html?src=rss