Avatar: The Way of Water may have fared extremely well at the box office — and that’s a huge understatement — but the sequel failed to garner the same level of critical acclaim as its predecessor. Now that James Cameron’s long-anticipated follow-up has finally debuted outside of theaters, viewers aren’t all that impressed with their second viewing, either. The criticisms are running rampant on social media, with some going so far as to compare the movie to a 40-year-old sci-fi blockbuster.
In other news, Bella Ramsey is celebrating the birthday of his on-screen dad Pedro Pascal, inviting the rest of the internet to do the same, and thirst over him while they’re at it. The biggest TV producer in the UK, Russell T. Davies, is also stirring out of his showrunning binge and singing the praises of Ncuti Gatwa’s Fifteenth Doctor, so check out these beats in our weekend’s sci-fi roundup down below.
Avatar: The Way of Waters haters will stop at nothing in their crusade to negate the sequel, and Star Trek IV is the latest victim of their onslaught
With the benefit of hindsight backing up our arguments, perhaps there never was a chance of the Avatar sequel flopping at the box office. What people didn’t expect, however, was to go back to the world of Pandora after a decade only to be underwhelmed by the utterly generic storytelling at play, especially after James Cameron spent the better part of that decade hyping up his sequels.
That seems to be the case with Avatar: The Way of Water, where the disappointment is apparently so sky-scraping that people simply can’t let it go. In the latest edition of “creative ways to pan James Cameron’s Avatar sequel,” people are saying the old and forgotten Star Trek sequel from 1986 titled The Voyage Home is actually a better sci-fi flick.
Today is Pedro Pascal’s 48th birthday, so Bella Ramsey is celebrating it in style
After taking two lost kids under his protection in the forms of Ellie Williams and Baby Grogu, Pedro Pascal has turned into the hypothetical daddy of the entire internet. If ever there was a time to celebrate the brilliance of this man who has dazzled us with his acting chops for more than a decade, it’s today. Pascal celebrated his 48th birthday on April 2, and Bella Ramsey was all there for it. The Last of Us co-star took to Instagram to post a few adorable shots of Pascal while on set, captioning it: “Happy P-Day.” Yes, April 2 shall henceforth be known as P-Day.
Russell T. Davies praises Ncuti Gatwa and calls his portrayal “faithful” to all who came before him
Doctor Who fans usually take a lot of convincing to finally admit that an actor is the perfect choice for the next incarnation of their favorite character. Right now, we’re slowly getting used to the prospects of another person picking up the mantle after Jodie Whittaker, but if you were to ask the ultimate Doctor Who maestro, Russell T. Davies, he’d tell you that Ncuti Gatwa will blow everyone’s expectations out of the water.
“I can promise you a completely new Doctor, and yet a Doctor utterly faithful to the 60 years that came before,” he said in a recent chat with RadioTimes. Russell also said that he can’t wait for fans to experience this new version, who’ll officially be taking over next year after David Tennant’s 60th-anniversary romp.
