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Comments and queries for the week of January 25

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Very important message! How can I see “The Power of Play” again? I am a grandmother of three small children. —Joan

Hi there, you can steam The Nature of Things episode, “The Power of Play,” for free on CBC’s website.

I would like to know where the [Murdoch Mysteries] writer found evidence that Dan Seavey was ever in Toronto. I do historic research on the maritime history of the Great Lakes. Dan Seavey was a pirate here at that timing, BUT on all accounts that I have found, he was located on Lake Michigan and the Lake Michigan side of the Straits of Mackinac. He did go to Chicago to sell contraband to the black market in Chicago. He was in Alaska briefly with Captain Frederick Pabst during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush. In 1900, Seavey was was in Escanaba, Michigan. In 1904, he was in Frankfort, Michigan. In 1908, he was arrested by U.S. Deputy Marshall Thomas M. Currier for the theft of a ship named the Nellie Johnson but was not indicted. However, I have found no evidence that he was ever in Toronto. The Wanderer was his ship, but I also do not believe that he would leave his ship behind—pirates do not usually do that. No official documents actually cited Seavey under the charge of piracy and throughout his life denied all accusations of such. I think that the writer took a lot of liberty in this story but should try to stick to historic facts since people may just believe what they see. —Lori

Murdoch Mysteries may feature real people and events from Canadian and world history, it is and remains a drama series. It is not a documentary.

Very profound episode for most of the night, but it’s a shame the writers feel compelled to turn the B-story in this episode into a farce. Does not work when you are telling an emotional story and then bring us right out of it to some silly story that deals with their version of Shades of Grey. In the earlier seasons of the show, the B-story often had some relationship with the A-story. Now you have shorter viewing time, and still you add a goofy back story. Frustrating for long-time fans of the show who wonder at what the heck is going on while watching, and then the whole thing does not actually sync up. Profundity does not sync with the absurd most of the time. And also you’ve got a great historical story in this episode and then we get Shades of Grey 1906 from the Ruth character. Blah….. BTW the pirates episode was terrific. —Pierce

 

Got a question or comment about Canadian TV? Email greg.david@tv-eh.com or via Twitter @tv_eh.

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The Nature of Things

The Power of Play world premiere on January 20 as part of The Nature of Things

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From a media release:

Did you ever see an octopus play? How about a kangaroo frolic with a deer? A hamster riddled with social anxiety? Researchers are finding some astounding evidence that all living things – from fish to humans – not only like to play, but they need it for survival. The new episode of The Nature of Things - The Power of Play, explores why this is especially crucial in children, as more young Canadians spend less time outdoors and more time indoors focused on screens.

The Power of Play is a one-hour documentary that explores the science behind play and reveals how researchers are linking play deprivation to mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. The documentary will have its world broadcast premiere on CBC’s THE NATURE OF THINGS on Sunday, January 20 at 8 P.M. (8:30 NT) and will also be available to stream on CBC Gem from 5 p.m. ET on Friday, January 18.

The documentary takes viewers to research labs, zoos, and aquariums around the world to see how animals play, who they play with, and what happens when they are prevented from playing. McMaster University’s Jonathan Pruitt found out that a species of female social spiders that “play” sexual intercourse live longer. Sergio Pellis, a behavioural neuroscientist at the University of Lethbridge explains how he came to the conclusion that play deprivation causes depression in lab rats. It’s something American psychiatrist Stuart Brown suspected when he studied violent offenders in the United States. Pellis and Brown are among a growing number of experts who are convinced that unstructured play is vital to our mental health and well being.

Other experts, including Vancouver’s Mariana Brussoni and Norway’s Ellen Sandseter are leading a movement to return to risky play which involves some level of danger. A visit to an outdoor childcare centre in Norway shows the resilient, rosy-cheeked children benefiting from playing outside all day in a space with no fences and almost no limits.

The Power of Play was written and directed by Halifax’s Christine MacLean, created and produced by Erin Oakes, and executive produced by Edward Peill from Halifax-based Tell Tale Productions Inc. It was produced in association with the CBC / Radio-Canada with support from the Canada Media Fund, The Nova Scotia Film & TV Production Incentive Fund, and Federal Tax Credits.

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Featured, The Nature of Things

Preview: The Nature of Things opens its new season with “Equus — Story of the Horse”

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In 2015, director and anthropologist Niobe Thompson debuted “The Great Human Odyssey” as part of The Nature of Things. It won several awards, all deserved. Now Thompson is back with a new, and expansive, look at the life of an animal that has a close relationship with humans: the horse.

The three-part “Equus — Story of the Horse,” kicking off The Nature of Things’ new season on Sunday at 8 p.m.,  is an ambitious, masterful exploration into the animals through visits to 11 countries, three continents and trips back in time to delve deep into the human-horse relationship.

“No other animal has done more for us,” Thompson says in press materials for the program. “We built the world around us with horsepower. But what is it that makes humans and horses so perfect for each other? And how have we transformed the wild horse we tamed 6,000 years ago into over 400 specialized breeds today?”

Much of Episode 1, “Origins,” does exactly that, with Thompson tracing back to the beginning of this proud, muscular beasts’ entrance to the world. He begins his journey in Saudi Arabia and the Bedouin people, who live on horseback and regard them as members of the family. His two-day experience into the desert is astride the Arab horse, a breed hardy, spirited, quick and able to handle the harsh climate thanks to some unique physical details. The Arab is one of the world’s oldest breeds, but it’s not the oldest.

That recognition is bestowed upon the 45 million-year-old Dawn Horse, a creature that led to modern horses. Tiny, forest roaming, vulnerable to predators, and a fruit eater, fossils of Dawn Horse are brought to stunning (and a humorous) life by evolutionary biologist Martin Fischer and Thompson’s team of 3-D animators. The changing of the planet from a greenhouse world to more temperate place meant the introduction of grasses and shrinking of the places a petite, chubby mammal could hide. So Dawn Horse ran and evolved into the tall, fit animal we recognize today.

With stunning visuals (the slow motion is simply amazing) and Darren Fung’s soundtrack, “Equus — Story of the Horse,” is a gem to behold and will likely garner more awards for Thompson. Future episodes of “Equus — Story of the Horse,” continue with “First Riders,” on Sept. 30 and “Chasing the Wind,” on Oct. 7.

The Nature of Things, “Equus — Story of the Horse,” airs Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Image courtesy of Handful of Films.

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Preview: The Nature of Things celebrates the fun and fearsome world of fungi

To me, there is nothing better than a nice pile of sauteed mushrooms nestled up against a grilled steak. But those buttery morsels merely scratch the surface on the beautiful, dangerous and important world of fungi.

The Kingdom: How Fungi Made Our World, airing as part of The Nature of Things on Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC, is the result of a three-year journey by science documentary director Annamária Tálas that digs deep into fungi, those odd-shaped, sometimes colourful things that are neither plant nor animal and exist much of the time out of sight. Some facts to get you thinking … and possibly freak you out: a fungus in Oregon is 3.4 square miles large and is 2,400 years old. The mushroom you see poking out of the ground is merely the fungi’s fruiting body; the main body is a mass of filaments underground that form the mycelium, a fungal network tied to water, minerals and sugars with trees. Also? Fungi spores are everywhere. Like, on you right now. Yeah.

All of this is revealed in The Kingdom: How Fungi Made Our World thanks to folks like Professor Lynne Boddy, Dr. Mark Fricker, Dr. Anne A. Madden and Professor Rob Dunn, and stunning still and time-lapse photography from Steve Axford. Through their words and images, we learn how fungi have evolved to survive by consuming and recycling matter to feed itself, defending itself against harm, and that experts have only identified less than one per cent of the estimated five million fungi species.

Fungi have been on Earth for a long time. About a billion years ago, the planet began to be populated by microbes that contained bacteria and, eventually, fungi. Those first critters consumed the minerals contained in rocks and established a foothold on the planet. Later, land-bound fungi and marine algae swapped nutrients to start the process of plant-life evolution and the greening of the planet. And, on the opposite end of the life cycle, fungi consume dead plant life that in turn enriches the soil and encourages new growth.

Meanwhile, the fact we’re mammals seems to be the reason why most fungi haven’t killed us already. The Kingdom: How Fungi Made Our World is a truly fascinating, and admittedly creepy, peek at an alien lifeform that has been integral to all life on Earth.

The Kingdom: How Fungi Made Our World airs as part of The Nature of Things on Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Image courtesy of Stephen Axford.

 

 

 

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Featured, The Nature of Things

Preview: The Nature of Things explores the captivating “Science of Magic”

I distinctly remember performing my first-ever magic trick. It involved a plastic tube, a plastic stick and a penny. Remember pennies? Anyway, the trick was to place the penny inside the tube so that it filled the tube crossways. It appeared to be solid, but wait! A quick poke with the plastic stick and—poof!—the penny allowed the stick to go through it. The fact the stick turned the penny on its side didn’t matter. I had tricked my endlessly patient parents. I suspect they knew the truth but were just being polite.

That memory has led to a fascination with magic that has never abated, so I was thrilled to see The Nature of Things would be devoted to magic in Sunday’s newest instalment at 8 p.m. on CBC. Indeed the aptly-titled “The Science of Magic” follows researchers and scientists who are bringing magicians’ tricks into the laboratory.   This extraordinary exploration peeks behind the curtain into a fascinating world where ancient magic meets modern science.

Produced by Reel Time Images, directed by Donna and Daniel Zuckerbrot and with host Julie Eng as our guide, the episode not only delves into the exploration of the human mind through the eyes of magicians but throws a few tricks in for good measure. Eng dropped a card trick in the first two minutes of the broadcast that had me scratching my head. The reason she was able to do it? As Gustav Kuhn of Goldsmiths, University of London explains, Eng and fellow magicians are exploiting limitations in human cognition. Turns out choosing a random playing card from a deck is anything but random; we’re being manipulated. Digging deep into what’s called the magician’s force has given scientists insights into human free will.

As an added bonus, “The Science of Magic” performs several on-air tricks for viewers to try out while watching The Nature of Things as a way of demonstrating how—and how easy it is—to mess with us. Jay Olson, a performer of magic since he was a kid, is completing his PhD in psychiatry at McGill University in Montreal and takes magic to a whole other level; we witness his amazing demonstration involving an MRI machine that seems not only to read minds but manipulate thought. The MRI machine doesn’t do anything—the magnets aren’t in it—but serves to show how easily the human mind is to the power of suggestion.

Meanwhile, Professor Ronald Rensink at the University of British Columbia believes that magicians’ practical knowledge about how to fool the eye and the mind can lead to new research with regard to how small distractions can blind automobile drivers to obvious dangers. Then Kuhn works with Canadian magician Billy Kidd on an experiment into how we can be blind to even our own choices via tricks that fool us despite nothing actually happening.

“The Science of Magic” is an engrossing and, yes, magical episode of The Nature of Things.

The Nature of Things airs Sundays at 8 p.m. on CBC.

Image courtesy of Andy Lee.

 

 

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