Can't wait three years for Avatar 4 to be released? Never fear, James Cameron is here — and by "here," I mean on Hulu and Disney+ as of today (March 31).
The acclaimed director has produced a new NatGeo documentary, Secrets of the Bees... and man, is he buzzing, literally and figuratively.
In its own words, the series "uncovers their astonishing architecture and intelligence, unlocking their secrets and featuring never-before-filmed moments." Think the scale and ambition of Avatar 3 in the smallest quantities you've ever seen.
It's the sort of series you can binge over a lazy Sunday afternoon, so when I got the chance to speak to the legend himself, alongside entomologist Dr. Samuel Ramsay, I obviously had to get their recommendations for what to watch next.
Of course, they weren't happy just giving us one idea, so they gave us two. They're both effortless and genius choices at the same time... but it's the second option that stands out as absolutely unmissable.
Queens is your next documentary binge after watching Secrets of the Bees
"I also think you should definitely see the other Secrets of documentaries, but also there's something else that I want you to consider," Ramsay tells me.
"Our documentary, in a lot of ways, really emphasizes how incredible female organisms are and how easy that is to discount. At times, the workers inside of those honey bee hives are all female, and they are doing incredible work. The queen is laying 2000 eggs a day.
"Then there are all of these other bee species that are single moms that are just handling everything by themselves. So if I were to recommend a companion documentary, it's one called Queens. I think it would actually be a really incredible one for you to watch, because it also highlights how remarkably female organisms really take over and make incredible stuff happen in the natural world."
Cameron continues, "I'm going to answer from a place of utter self interest, which is watch the rest in the Secrets of series. There's whales, octopus, penguins, all obviously very diverse, but equally fascinating.
"I would say, watch them with a sense of picking up the common themes. What are we trying to show? They all exhibit different forms of intelligence and need can be applied in a very guarded way, but it's clearly higher level processing for problem solving that we would not normally associate "lower animals." We tend to view the world through the lens of human exceptionalism."
It's a fantastically fresh approach to recommendations that I didn't expect, but also spotlights how clearly passionate he is about nature itself.
Sure, we could argue that the painstaking worldbuilding that's gone into Pandora has proved this already. But it feels completely different when you see his cinematic touch put into practice in real life.
Both documentaries are currently streaming on Hulu (US) and Disney+ (internationally) — and if you want to feel like there's the smallest shred of hope out there, I suggest you take Cameron up on his enthusiasm.
