Month: April 2022

We're counting down to another regeneration on Doctor Who, although exactly who will replace Jodie Whittaker to become the Fourteenth Doctor remains a tightly guarded secret. (No, it's not Tom Holland.) But the BBC this weekend dropped a teaser for Legend of the Sea Devils, one of three special episodes airing this year to mark Whittaker's final days as the Thirteenth Doctor.

As previously reported, the recently concluded 13th season was particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. (That's the 13th season since the franchise restarted in 2005, not the 13th season since the show debuted the day after the Kennedy assassination). Instead of the usual 13 episodes, S13 only planned for eight because of the pandemic. Ultimately, showrunner Chris Chibnall decided to cut the season down to just six episodes, with a complete narrative arc rather than the episodic structure that has been more typical of the series. (The decision is not unprecedented, however. The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986 was also one complete narrative.)

Collectively, the six-episode arc was given the subtitle Flux. In it, the Doctor and her companions encountered a universe-ending anomaly intent on killing the Doctor. The crew also faced a smorgasbord of classic Whovian alien races: the Ood, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, and the Weeping Angels. While some critics found the narrative arc confusing—almost inevitable when the Weeping Angels are involved—and the finale disappointing, it was generally a solid season.

We're counting down to another regeneration on Doctor Who, although exactly who will replace Jodie Whittaker to become the Fourteenth Doctor remains a tightly guarded secret. (No, it's not Tom Holland.) But the BBC this weekend dropped a teaser for Legend of the Sea Devils, one of three special episodes airing this year to mark Whittaker's final days as the Thirteenth Doctor.

As previously reported, the recently concluded 13th season was particularly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. (That's the 13th season since the franchise restarted in 2005, not the 13th season since the show debuted the day after the Kennedy assassination). Instead of the usual 13 episodes, S13 only planned for eight because of the pandemic. Ultimately, showrunner Chris Chibnall decided to cut the season down to just six episodes, with a complete narrative arc rather than the episodic structure that has been more typical of the series. (The decision is not unprecedented, however. The Trial of a Time Lord in 1986 was also one complete narrative.)

Collectively, the six-episode arc was given the subtitle Flux. In it, the Doctor and her companions encountered a universe-ending anomaly intent on killing the Doctor. The crew also faced a smorgasbord of classic Whovian alien races: the Ood, the Cybermen, the Sontarans, and the Weeping Angels. While some critics found the narrative arc confusing—almost inevitable when the Weeping Angels are involved—and the finale disappointing, it was generally a solid season.

Interplanetary adventures, political intrigue, and a spot of romance are in store for the crew of the USS Enterprise in the official trailer for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. The spinoff prequel series debuts on Paramount+ next month.

As we've reported previously, one of the highlights of Star Trek: Discovery's second season was the appearance of classic original series (TOS) characters Capt. Christopher Pike (Anson Mount), Number One (Rebecca Romijn), and Spock (Ethan Peck). All three reprise their roles for Strange New Worlds.

Babs Olusanmokun plays Dr. M'Benga; Celia Rose Gooding has the unenviable task of filling Nichelle Nichols' shoes as Cadet Nyota Uhura; Jess Bush plays Nurse Christine Chapel; Melissa Navai plays Lt. Erica Ortegas; Bruce Orak plays an Aenar named Hemmer who is blind in one eye (Aenar are an albino subspecies of Andorians that are generally depicted as blind); and Christina Chong plays La'An Noonien-Singh (a relation of the classic revenge-obsessed Star Trek villain Khan).