En 2025 nos enterábamos de que Netflix preparaba un live-action de Scooby-Doo, la serie de dibujos animados que nació en los años 60 de la mano de Hanna-Barbera y alcanzó el estatus de clásico de la animación gracias a sus versiones posteriores de los 80 y 90. Sus películas de acción real de los 2000 también conquistaron al público, que esperaba con ansias una nueva adaptación en carne y hueso de los personajes.

Ha tenido que pasar bastante tiempo para que podamos empezar a echar un primer vistazo a los protagonistas, aunque el resultado no ha dejado a satisfechos a todos por igual, especialmente por la nueva apariencia de su gran danés.

Netflix ha publicado un vídeo en el que vemos, desde un plano subjetivo, cómo se mueve Scooby-Doo para, finalmente, mostrarlo en una primera imagen junto a Shaggy. Se trata de una versión realista del perro que difiere mucho de la imagen a la que estamos acostumbrados y que ha provocado todo tipo de reacciones.

Entre los comentarios más compartidos se encuentran quienes señalan que "parece un perro callejero", que "el CGI es horrible" o que "nadie pidió tanto realismo para la serie".

A través de 8 episodios, y bajo el nombre de Scooby-Doo: Origins, esta serie precuela también cuenta con Mckenna Grace (Scream 7) como Daphne, Abby Ryder Fortson (The Pitt) como Velma, Maxwell Jenkins (Un lugar en el cielo) como Fred y Tanner Hagen (Just Like You: Food Allergies) como Shaggy.

Esta nueva serie cuenta los orígenes de Misterios S. A., lo que explica que Scooby-Doo sea todavía un cachorro de gran danés que intenta sobrevivir a un asesinato sobrenatural. Ante este nuevo caso, la pandilla tendrá que unirse para descubrir los secretos que se ocultan tras él.

Scooby-Doo: Origins cuenta con Toby Haynes (Andor, Black Mirror) en la dirección, trasladando a la pequeña pantalla el guion de Josh Appelbaum (Ninja Turtles (Las Tortugas Ninja) y Scott Rosenberg (Venom).

La serie llegará a la plataforma en 2027, a falta de una confirmación de su fecha más concreta.

66 años de edad, notables carreras como actor y músico, además de escritor ocasional, y un severo historial de depresiones contra las que lleva luchando toda su vida: si a este perfil de Hugh Laurie le sumamos su exquisita educación (Cambridge, nada menos) y esa flema británica que le sale por los poros, intuiremos que el actor no es alguien con quien uno deba meterse. Por algo le salían tan naturales los pullazos del doctor Gregory House.

Janet Murray, sin embargo, no ha tenido en cuenta todos estos indicios, y eso le ha salido bastante caro. En un mensaje de X (antes Twitter), esta periodista inglesa ha osado meterse con House, la serie que Laurie protagonizó entre 20014 y 2012: su premio, por así decirlo, ha sido un descacharrante mensaje del propio Hugh Laurie desmontando sus argumentos con una saña propia del galeno cojo, pero mucha más finura.

"Si el paciente se moría, el público no estaba contento"

En su mensaje, Murray reconocía haber visto los primeros capítulos de House, detectando en ellos una estructura basada en los sucesivos tanteos del protagonista y su equipo para encontrar un diagnóstico. Todo esto se resuelve cuando "Hugh Laurie tiene una idea imprevista en el último momento". "¿Ocho temporadas así?", se quejaba la periodista.

"Gracias por tu crítica", Janet, comenzaba la respuesta de un educado Laurie antes de sacar el bisturí. "Intentamos rodar un par de episodios en los que House lo resolvía todo a la primera, pero solo duraban 6 minutos. En NBC no estaban contentos. Entonces lo intentamos con otros en los que House nunca acierta y el paciente se moría. El público no estaba contento".

¿Se quedó contento el actor con esta disección narrativa? En absoluto. "Tu incisivo análisis podría aplicarse a otras formas artísticas -prosiguió su respuesta-. J. S. Bach escribió 30 Variaciones Goldberg con la misma progresión de acordes; Frida Kahlo pintó 50 autorretratos; y [el escultor] Henry Moore, ¿qué?".

"La cuestión es, o eran, las variaciones sobre un tema: si solamente ves un hospital, medicinas y bla, bla, bla, entonces es que esto no es para ti", concluía Hugh Laurie antes de decir adiós con lo que podría ser la invectiva más fina de todas: "En todo caso, estoy deseando leer tu primera novela".

Además de protagonizar House, serie por la que fue nominado siete veces a los premios Emmy y ganó dos Globos de Oro, Hugh Laurie es una leyenda de la comedia en Reino Unido gracias a las series Jeeves y Wooster y A Bit of Fry and Laurie, además de haber intervenido en películas como Sentido y sensibilidad, Stuart Little y Los amigos de Peter. En cuanto a Janet Murray, que sepamos, no prepara ninguna novela.

For decades, the massive MH-53E Sea Dragon helicopter has served as the Navy’s primary airborne mine countermeasure platform, dragging massive mine hunting sleds through waters all around the globe. However, the Sea Dragon’s days are now numbered, with the last 11 aircraft scheduled to sunset sometime next year. With the MH-53E’s demise on the horizon, we reached out to one of its former pilots, Steve Jones — a man who came to know this monster intimately during the Global War On Terror. He had plenty of stories to tell and provided us with a new understanding of the often misunderstood counter-mine mission.

The MH-53E’s mission is also, of course, extremely topical right now thanks to ongoing tensions with Iran. Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently told senators that the Islamic Republic mined “large segments” of the Strait of Hormuz, endangering shipping in the region.

As it currently stands, the mighty Sea Dragons, which are considered one of the military’s most dangerous to fly due to numerous fatal mishaps, are being phased out in favor of the smaller MH-60S Seahawk paired with a suite of new aerial mine countermeasures systems, as well as other new technologies, like uncrewed underwater and surface vessels. The Navy’s overall mine hunting force is going through a transition that is controversial, to say the least, with many questioning if the Pentagon is investing enough resources in this critical missions set.

With all these issues in play, in an exclusive, wide-ranging, two-hour interview, Steve Jones offered in-depth insights about the Navy’s airborne counter-mine mission, the Sea Dragon’s capabilities and dangers, current mine sweeping operations, as well as everything from what it was like to narrowly avoid getting entangled with a surfacing sub to his experiences ferrying celebrities like Robin Williams and Tom Jones around a war zone.

So, with the stage being set, let’s get into this incredible exchange.

Some of the questions and answers have been lightly edited for clarity.

Q: How did you end up becoming an MH-53 Sea Dragon pilot?

A: During the time that I selected, you could choose SH-60 Seahawks, you could choose CH-46E Sea Knights and the MH-53 Echo. You could choose SH-3 Sea Kings, but they were kind of winding down the H-3s, which is the same as the presidential helicopter Marine One that they fly now, but they were flying out of Norfolk and Puerto Rico, primarily for VIP transport. 

So, I looked at the 53 for a lot of reasons. One, I liked the instructors that came from that community in the advanced helicopter training. And two, I just thought the helicopter just really looked awesome, and it was big, and so that’s why I chose it, and I just thought it would be a good personality fit, work fit for me, and it ended up being that way.

Q: What are the main differences between the Navy’s MH-53E and the Marines’ CH-53E Super Stallion?

A: It’s primarily the same aircraft. Except our aircraft has larger fuel sponsons, so we could carry more gas. The reason for that is ideally we’d want to be able to fly an hour to where the mission objective was, be able to stay on station for about an hour, and be able to fly back. That requires at least three and a half, four hours of gas and extra fuel in those side sponsors. And that allowed us to do that. So instead of a small sponson with two tanks, we had one big sponson with four fuel tanks that were inside each of the sponsons on either side of the aircraft.

Q: So how much gas would that larger sponson hold?

A: About 22,000 pounds of gas.

Q: Talk about the training and some of the biggest challenges of flying that huge aircraft. 

A: Typical Navy training is two years of flight school, and then after flight school, we went to our Replacement Air Group, which we call the RAG, that was in Norfolk, Virginia. You spend about a year, or up to 10 months, in Norfolk, Virginia, learning primarily how to fly the helicopter, how to land the helicopter, and we do that in the combination with the Airborne Mine Countermeasure Squadron. We used aircraft from Helicopter Mine Countermeasures Squadron (HM) 14 to learn how to fly the different mission sets and learn aircraft familiarization. And then from there you either get assigned to HM-14, which was in Norfolk, Virginia, or HM-15, which was in Corpus Christi, Texas. HM-15 has now moved to Norfolk, Virginia. [Editor’s note: HM-14 sunsetted in 2022.]

The training takes about 10 months. Mine was a little bit longer because when I actually joined that community, the aircraft were down because of a crash off the coast of Corpus Christi, Texas. There was a problem called ‘thermal runaway,’ where the bearings in the main rotor head would fail, and they would seize together and get hot, and we lost a few sailors from HM-15. And until they figured out why and how to prevent it, it took about a year for those aircraft to come back up, so I was in Norfolk for maybe about a year and a half, almost two years, before I got to Corpus because of that bearing issue.

Q: What was it like when you finally got out there and learned how to fly while pulling a mine countermeasure sled?

A: There’s different types of equipment that you use and it takes a special kind of person to be able to maintain the situational awareness – both flying the aircraft and what’s happening in the back – because there’s dangers in the back. You have a very confined area, lots of equipment, and under lots of tension, and so the very first couple of times, the instructor is kind of handling everything, and you’re just kind of riding along.

Then eventually you start to do more tasks, physical tasks, in terms of flying and maintaining a stable platform for the men and women that are working in the back, and then over time those skills translate into a larger situational awareness, where you’re now a mission commander – where you’re flying the aircraft, but also, conducting the mission in the back is your primary responsibility. The positions are second pilot or co-pilot, and then you become a Helicopter Aircraft Commander (HAC), which is like the captain, and then you become an Airborne Mine Countermeasures Mission Commander (AMCM MC), meaning you’re flying the aircraft, you’re the commander of the aircraft, but you’re also commanding the mission.

Q: Did you become a mission commander?

A: I did. So I was fully qualified in the MH-53 Echo in my squadron, so I was a mission commander. I worked the maintenance side, so I was the maintenance check pilot and functional check pilot. It takes a lot of maintenance, and then post maintenance, and you have to do post maintenance flights to be able to make sure the aircraft is safe for anyone else to fly. So I spend most of my time in those areas in that squadron.

Q: What are the MH-53’s unique quirks and advantages?

A: One of the advantages was pure brute strength. You had three GE engines, so you could handle lots of torque, and the way that we hunted and swept for mines was pulling sleds in the water, which causes thousands and thousands of pounds of stress, so it’s really like a forceful instrument in the water. The operation requires the coordination of not only meteorologists and Operations Specialists, which are like intel specialists in mine warfare, but then you have the maintainer, you had two pilots and a crew chief, plus it could be up to four people in the back, depending on the type of gear you’re stowing in the back, so it really takes coordination from the front.

The disadvantage is that it’s a very expensive aircraft to operate. Every hour of flight, required 24 hours of maintenance, and if a squadron had 10 helicopters, which we did at one point in time, you’re looking at the largest deployable squadrons in the Navy, like 600-plus people to operate these aircraft.

With everybody working together, we advertise that we could be anywhere in the world in 72 hours, where there’s a mine threat. We could break down the helicopters, put them in a C-5 and then reassemble them anywhere in the world in 72 hours. After 9/11, for Operation Iraqi Freedom, we did deploy by C-5. We took half the helicopters to Sicily and the other half went to Bahrain and took 11 C-5s in order to move a squadron that size into those two locations, so big footprints, lots of money, lots of parts.

Q: How fast could the Sea Dragons fly?

A: The 53 is a fast helicopter. One of the fastest out there. We were limited to 150 knots for airframe preservation. Under towing conditions, we typically flew between 18 and 25 knots, depending on the device in the water.  Each vehicle had different performance parameters to properly deploy the device. Under rapidly changing conditions we always had to maintain proper speed and altitude control. 

Q: The Sea Dragon has experienced a notoriously high rate of mishaps. Did that ever concern you? What do you think contributed to this record?

A: It did. If you’ve ever seen one or been on one, been close to one, or heard one, you’ve got 100-foot long machine with millions of moving parts, right? 

Our maintenance crews were very good, I always felt safe flying. I think you have to if you choose to fly that particular weapon system, but there were a lot of accidents. And I knew folks that were killed in MH-53 accidents who I went to flight school with, and buddies.

It’s a very complicated machine that did a very important mission, and accidents do happen, both mechanically, but also because of pilot error. In combination, you end up losing a lot of airframes. Besides the United States, there is only one other nation that flew that airframe, and that was the Japanese for their mine sweeping operation. It’s a very complicated, expensive machine, and that’s why not very many people flew it.

Q: Did the danger concern you?

A: You know, you’re in your 20s, right? So you feel a little bit invincible. I’ll tell you a story. When I switched from 53s and started flying C-130s, after the Haitian earthquake, I flew into Guantanamo Bay, and my old squadron was there on the same ramp as we were. So I walked over to see who I still knew there, and they had a 53 turning on the deck there, and I was just going, ‘wow, I couldn’t believe I used to do that,’ and not thinking about how many things have to go right in order to have a good day. And I just kind of said to myself, ‘it’s really a young person’s game,’ because you gotta kind of hit the ‘I believe’ button on a lot of things, because there’s just a lot of opportunity for negativity to come in. Weather, environment, and then the mechanics of things.

Q: What were the biggest factors contributing to the Sea Dragon mishaps?

A: With any aircraft system, the largest factor that contributes to any accident is the human factor. Yes, engines will fail, components will fail, but a lot of times it was human error that caused the ultimate catastrophe because when an emergency happens, you have three criteria in order to gauge when you should land.

The two critical ones are ‘land immediately,’ meaning if you do not ditch in the water or put the aircraft down, it is going to come apart in flight. The other critical criteria is ‘land as soon as possible,’ meaning as soon as you have a safe place to land, then you land as soon as possible. Then you have another condition where you can continue to fly, but flying is not recommended. And so that decision factor between land immediately and land as soon as possible, it’s a bit of a gray area, right? You have a set of skills you can fly, but you can never time when the aircraft is going to come apart.

For example, in the Corpus Christi crash, they knew that they had a problem. I’m not second-guessing the pilot, but it was in that gray area between land immediately and land as soon as possible.

The aircraft commander chose to try to bring the aircraft closer to the beach, so you could survive a ditch, because putting a helicopter in the water – nothing is guaranteed, right? Then you have no control. However, bring it closer to the beach means you’re flying that much longer. So land immediately, there could have been more survivors.

Not to ‘Monday morning quarterback’ anything. I probably would have made the same call. And then with the new equipment that was put on the aircraft, there are lights now placed in a monitoring system that kind of took the gray area out of those decisions when it came to thermal runaway with the main rotor head. So now the decision is clear. Land immediately if certain indications happen, and land as soon as possible if certain indications happen. Prior to 2000, we didn’t have that.

Q: The Sea Dragon community has been well-documented for being neglected by the Navy. What was your experience when you were flying it? Why do you think that was?

A: It’s a unique mission set. It kind of came online during the Vietnam War and Haiphong Harbor, and clearing those mines, and then again in Desert Storm, when the USS Tripoli was hit by a mine.

Mining sea straits is a very cheap way to stop a huge navy, such as the one that we have in the United States. However, the Navy, in my opinion, didn’t necessarily see the value in that mission. There are very limited resources. There’s only so much money to go around, and large strike groups and ships just took priority. We were always probably a little bit underfunded, in my opinion, for a mission that’s important, which you can see today with the Strait of Hormuz. But it was definitely a huge problem that many people did not talk about during the first two Gulf Wars.

Q: Why was it a huge problem?

A: Well, when you try to move a carrier strike group into a small area like the Persian Gulf, by putting mines in the water, you create doubt in a captain’s head. The captain is responsible for thousands and thousands of lives, and the battle group commander is responsible for thousands and thousands of more lives, plus the strategic reason of why they’re there. If a mine is discovered, then everything has to pause. You can’t land Marines on the beach, you can’t move the strike group closer to the shore. The ability for you to project power ashore, all that kind of comes to an end. 

Q: How does the MH-53E go about this unique mission set? Can you walk us through what a mission would look like from start to finish? 

A: Depending on the intel, you’ll have a threat and the threat could be you suspect that there’s mines in the water, or that you know that there’s mines in the water. So, typically it’s ‘you suspect,’ right? And we used the AN/AQS-14, or “Q-14.” There’s about three different versions of the Q-14. It’s a side-looking sonar, which you drag in the water – we call it the fish. We would fly the fish at certain depths based on the terrain and what was in the water. That was called mine hunting. 

So initially you would always kind of begin with a hunting mission, where we could, or the OS operator, or the console operator would mark what they view as a mine-like contact. You’re really kind of looking at the sonar and distinguishing between man-made objects and natural objects. If you believe it’s a man-made object, and then you would mark a tape. You could also, real time, send that image back to the ship, but that capability came a little bit later.

We also had devices that allow you to sweep. A mine can be triggered by different mechanisms. Sometimes they’re triggered by contact.

Some mines are acoustically triggered, meaning you can set that mine to blow up for a certain type of ship acoustics. For instance, a destroyer has a different set of acoustics from an amphibious ship, from an aircraft carrier. If you want to let 1,000 destroyers pass you or a submarine and then wait for the aircraft carrier, you can tune it to that way. So we had devices that could mimic the sound signatures of different ships, and you could tow that in the water, you could tow it really fast. One of the reasons why we were successful is that we could do large areas of the ocean relatively quickly. 

The last piece for sweeping is the magnetic variation. Each ship is a metal hull, and as a ship is moving through the water, it has a magnetic signature, and then we have gear, which you could tune to mimic certain types of ships in the water, in order to have them explode behind the gear that we’re towing in the water.

So you hunt, that means you’re searching, and then you sweep, and then that means you’re clearing. Sometimes you can clear using other technology, such as sometimes the Avenger class ships would go in and sweep, and not us. Sometimes you would use dolphins to work with EOD teams in order to sweep mines. It just depends upon the threat, on what the second tool is used after you hunt.

The most time that I spent was in the hunting phase of the mission set. In Bahrain, every week, a couple days a week, we would hunt. We would do the Strait of Hormuz. We would do the approaches into Saudi Arabia for the tankers. We would do the approaches into the Suez Canal, just to be sure that there are still no mines in that area.

That is for what we call change detection, meaning you map the ocean floor, and then over time, because of consistency, you’ll be able to tell if something changed. If something changed, then you went in to investigate further. It’s constant because the ocean floor is constantly moving, and then somebody could easily place a very cheap object that could be devastating.

Q: Walk me through how a mission would take place.

A: The intel can be good sometimes, sometimes the intel is lacking. The weather has to be at a certain sea state in order for it to be successful, and you can’t do it at night, right? You have to do it during a daytime in littoral situation, so you’re pretty close to shore and you are susceptible to threats that are on the beach. That is the mission set and if you don’t know where the mines are, that’s why you begin with hunting. The Q-14 is a relatively quick device to deploy. You can pull it in the water relatively fast. Then you can real-time send images back, or you can collect tapes to study for that change detection.

When you’re going out for a mission, you’ll have your standard aircraft brief, where the crews get together and talk about the state of the aircraft, the conditions, the environmental conditions of today. And then you’ll get into the mission brief on where the ship is, or where the shore is, and where actually the square, or the box, or the rectangle is, where we’re going to conduct a mission. We talk about the distances from that point that we’re going to deploy the gear, because it takes time to be able to do that, and then we’ll enter what we suspect is a minefield or an area of interest from which we want to be able to tow in.

Then we fly what we call tracks. It’s almost like rows on a field, like cornrows, and we go up, down, up, down, and you have to stay within track by feet, okay? If you, if you stray as little as 20 feet off track, then you have to redo that track, because you want to have a continuous picture of the ground. And so it may take two or three sorties to cover an entire minefield.

And then times where the device may have strayed off track. It takes time, but we can do it quicker than a ship doing it on its own, like the Avenger class ship, and so between the aircraft brief and the mission brief, and executing, it’s like a six, seven hour day in the heat or in the cold, depending on where you are.

There’s no air condition on that helicopter. So everybody’s working in those conditions based on the information that we bring back. Then the tactics folks that are supplied to us by COMINEWARCOM  (Commander, Mine Warfare Command), which was our bosses, those intel folks will say what needs to happen next, meaning there’s nothing that needs to happen now, or we need to investigate this further. And then they pick the next tool for us to be able to deploy, or they go with the EOD and dive teams to go take a closer look.

Q: How fast are you flying, and how high are you flying? How deep do the sleds go?

A: The helicopters are anywhere between 25 and 75 feet over the water, depending on the gear, because the speed in which we pull through the water is extremely important. You could go as fast as 25 knots in some cases, which is about the top speed, or you’d have to go as slow as 12 knots.

Q: How deep do the sleds go?

A: The depth of some of the gear is classified, or at least it was at my time. I’m not sure now, but you could go relatively deep. It’s under lots and lots and lots of tension, and the reason why you had to go very deep is that some gear has to be able to get to the sea floor at certain distances, because there’s also the subsurface fleet that is operating down there, and mines will affect them as well.

Q: What’s the tension like when you’re dragging a sled?

A: You’re looking at around 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of tension. The aircraft will kind of buckle. You look at the side of a 53, it has a crease from the tension that goes on it.

If there is a swell in the sea state, sometimes the Doppler radar – which would kind of track how fast you’re going forward, backwards, or sideways – it’ll go from forward to negative, meaning we’re actually getting pulled backwards by the sea state. And the engines would automatically just start – the torque would come in as the blade did a bigger bite out of the air. And the aircraft will kind of turn, because of the torque. It’ll kind of turn and whine, and you’re just flying an out of balance flight, nose down.

Q: Did you ever have the sled get tangled up behind you?

A: Yes. It can get caught on things in the water, and the tension will spike. If the tension spikes too high, or the gear gets fouled in something, you always have the option to guillotine or cut the gear.

Q: Did the aircraft have other devices that helped in the mine hunting mission?  

A: Yes. In addition to the Q-14, we had the Mk 104 acoustic device, mine chain cutting devices and the Mk 105, a huge gas generator, which produces electrical charges in the water for those magnetic-seeking mines that change the magnetic variation.

There’s at least six devices that I know of that are used for hunting mines, including something as simple as what we call a MOP, which is stands for Magnetic Orange Pipe, which is what they used in Vietnam.

Essentially you have this pipe, it looks like a telephone pole, which is about the size of a telephone pole or larger, and it’s orange. It has a positive charge on one end and negative on the other end. It’s just a magnetic pipe that we would tow in the water. It’s probably the easiest thing that you can tow, and the simplest, but it’s looking for those magnetic variations. The problem with the magnetic orange pipe is you can’t change it, so it’s set for a certain amount of tactics. You can see how that could become obsolete in today’s environment.

Q: How does the Sea Dragon integrate with other mine hunting capabilities, like the Avenger class ships or other assets?

A: We worked as a team, but obviously we’re a tool in that larger mine warfare strategy. We were the speed aspect of that, meaning we could have left holes, but if you’re trying to move at the speed of war, then sometimes we were the tool that was required. And if you have 72 hours to be somewhere, speed is required. We could do that to be sure that the fleet can continue to do what it needs to do, but if you’ve got time, then you could sail a ship or move one of those slower small boats into that environment, that makes sense.

Q: Did you ever work together with Avenger class ships?

A: Maybe in the same AOR, but other than an exercise where you would see an Avenger class ship working the tow area, and then we will be working our tow area. It was under controlled condition. When I was doing change detection, and during work conditions, we were operating concentrated on our mission set, they’re probably concentrating on their mission set, and between the two pictures, they came together in the operation center to have a very clear picture.

Q: When was the Sea Dragon actually used for this mission operationally? How did it perform?

A: It was used throughout Iraqi Freedom, from Shock and Awe to the pull-out to the drawdown. If not every day, every week there was change detection in mine operations, because it’s always a threat. It’s a very cheap weapon that non-state actors can get off the black market. One mistake or one mishap causes devastating consequences for the individuals on that ship, but also the mission, so it’s a constant threat, and still is a threat. 

During my time, actively hunting for mines to be sure that those straits and those approaches remain clear, dominated my entire career in the community. From the time I started  and then I towed to my last days in the squadron, which was in 2005.

Q: How did the Sea Dragon perform?

A: I would say, since there was not a mishap, it performed as designed. It doesn’t mean that the mines were not there. During Iraqi Freedom, mines were put in the water, but we didn’t have the mishaps like we had before that I can recall. So I would say it was a success.

Q: Any close calls during any of your sled-towing flights? 

A: I got disoriented one time with vertigo. Like I mentioned earlier, you’re on an out-of-balanced flight, so your ears are doing one thing, your eyes are doing another thing, and sometimes there’s low fog over the water early in the morning. Under tow there was a time where I got vertigo and put the aircraft in an undesired state, but there’s two pilots. I recognized it and told the aircraft commander ‘I’ve got vertigo.’ He took the control and saved it. Being that close to the ground, getting vertigo could have devastating effects, right? We just ended up releasing the gear that day.

Q: How do the big rearview mirrors help with towing?

A: Mirrors are super important for situational awareness when lowering the equipment into the water and for ensuring the tow cable is staying on track. The co-pilot is crucial while under tow because they are responsible for making sure the aircraft remains clear of obstacles and threats. The pilot flying will be head-down monitoring performance of the helicopter and the gear deployed. The pilot flying will maintain navigation in the minefield and overall safety. When flying, looking out of the windows was a brief luxury. 

Q: Tell me about the time you encountered a surfacing sub while dragging your sled.

A: It was sometime in 2003 or 2004. We were flying over the Strait of Hormuz, towing a side-looking sonar to do bottom mapping. I’ve got a very loud helicopter in the air and a sonar that’s pinging on the bottom, so it probably was not a surprise where we were to the submarine, but their location was a surprise to us.

It’s a bright sunny day. The water looked beautiful, and we’re just doing a random tow. And all of a sudden, this big black submarine surfaced right in front of us. Just popped out of the water, and right in line with our track.

I think I was maybe 50 feet over the water and the gear is behind me. Now I have to turn like a semi truck, having to turn myself and the gear all at the same time to maneuver around the submarine. I said something like ‘holy shit’ and I remember I banked to the right because I think it was the easiest thing to do. There’s more space.

We ended up able to clear the sub, but it had a startling effect. So either they were in the wrong spot or we were in the wrong spot, I couldn’t tell you. But no one came and knocked on the door, saying that I did something wrong. So I’m gonna leave it as if they were in the wrong spot.

Q: What was it like aerial refueling such a monstrous helicopter and did you use it operationally often?

A: Very intimidating at first. However, it is all about training. Yes, you are very close to the other airplane, but that is not your focus. Your focus is on check points. Align your check points and the aircraft will plug. Once you connect and position the aircraft above the wing and propeller wash, the ride is smooth. When I switched over the flying C-130s, it would have been nice to go full circle, but never got the chance to give fuel.

We almost did aerial refueling during a possible mission scenario, but the plan was scaled back and we ended ship hopping. I only used the boom in training. I’m sure it happened, but didn’t know anyone who did it. They were there for a reason, and we trained for it.

Q: What’s the operational situation regarding Iran at the time you were flying?

A: Annoying. They have a lot of islands that are in the Persian Gulf that are their territory, and sometimes during operations, when you’re either delivering cargo or going to field a tow, it puts you in close proximity with those islands. At the same time, if it’s necessary, you could have your own boat team in the water as well. It was post-Cole [a reference to the October 12, 2000 attack on the USS Cole just a few years earlier by explosive-laden suicide boats at the port of Aden in Yemen. The blast ripped a 40-foot-wide hole near the destroyer’s waterline, killing 17 U.S. sailors and injuring nearly 40 other crew members.]

So you have fishing boats in the water, and you don’t know who’s on that boat that is getting close to your ship. But when you got close to Iranian territory, they will speak up on the radio, and tell you to turn around, that you’re approaching their territory,. Even though you know exactly where you are, and you know exactly where this island is, they’re still going tell you are in violation of their airspace. 

Then it’s always a constant threat, right? So, if I were to have to ditch a helicopter or airplane in the water, they’ve got boats in the water. You wouldn’t want to get captured by them, where they could say you are in violation of their sovereign territory by mistake, and then it becomes an issue.

We were flying helicopters without GPS, so you’re using visual navigation maps and whatnot.  I’m sure there’s a GPS on those birds now, but at the time, I had a handheld GPS from Academy Sport, where I marked the islands myself, so I knew exactly where I was, or at least the best that I could manage with the equipment, to be sure that was in the right position. 

Q: Did they ever directly threaten you while you were on those missions?

A: No. They talked about violating their airspace, but they never intercepted or anything like that. I think that would be a huge mistake. It would not be a good day for them.

Q: Tell us about other locales where Sea Dragons operated.

A: We had detachments in South Korea for the North Korean threat from underwater mines. We did exercises in the Pacific. We did exercises with Japan because there’s a threat of mine in those straits, like the Strait of Malacca. 

There’s obviously a threat in the Pacific theater. But because of the situation with Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom, I spent most of my time in the Middle East.

Q: Were there any difference between operating in the Persian Gulf area and the Pacific, or Europe?

A: A lot of the effectiveness of what we do is dependent upon water. The salinity of the water, the sea state, the amount of garbage and trash that’s in the water. So those environmental threats change the tactics. That’s why you need to practice out there.

In terms of the purpose of the mission, that does not change, but how you go about it does change. If you’re closer to a near-peer actor, it’s going to require better intelligence, different types of equipment in order to counteract the threat. I would say the Iraqi Navy was not near-peer in terms of mine tactics, but the Chinese could probably be very different in terms of mine tactics. They would be a more sophisticated enemy in this case, which would heighten everything.

Q: Did the Iraqi Navy or the Iraqis present a threat to your aircraft? Did they harass you, fire at you?

A: No, not during my time. I think maybe possibly during the first Gulf War. The threat was that there, it was always a threat when you’re operating close. So yes, something could have happened. They’ve got boats, they’ve got men in the water.

Q: What are your thoughts about the current MCM missions taking place now in the Middle East? Just how hard is it to clear an area of mines like the Strait of Hormuz?

A: I would say that it is difficult. All mine clearing operations are difficult because you’re talking about the needle in the haystack. Like literally, and you know they’re deploying something that can be hoisted by one person and thrown overboard into the water or by a machine, and you can deploy a lot of mines in a very short time in a concentrated, tactical way, or randomly. It really doesn’t matter, it’s still a threat. 

I would say it is difficult because people talk about how narrow and small the Strait of Hormuz is, but you have to remember the earth is large, and there is just a sheer volume of water, and square miles or square kilometers on which something can happen.

It is a very daunting task, and so having more MH-53E helicopters probably wasn’t the solution for the future.

From reading, and then from hearing from my peers that are still in, the tactics are different, but also the equipment that they use to detect this threat is also different. It is faster. It is unmanned. You can deploy more assets quicker because you’re not relying upon one machine or two machines at one time being deployed.

Q: What equipment are they using now? What are the differences?

A: I retired in 2017 and it has changed dramatically. For one, it is more integrated into the fleet, so you’ll have multi-mission capabilities, meaning an MH-60Ss can be used for different sets of missions, from delivering cargo, to deploying different sensor arrays. You have AI for detection assistance. You have side-looking sonar, which instead of being towed are now on underwater unmanned vehicles. So I think more of what you’re looking at now is a mission package of sensors that can be deployed.

When you have sensor sets, it’s integrated into the larger Navy strategic picture better. I think that that was lacking in the past in a way, because you have to cover such a large volume of area, you need more sensors and eyes to be able to do that, and I think that’s the strategy today.

Q: Do you talk to any of the current pilots/crews of the last squadron flying them? What do they say about the current status of the fleet? Are they involved in the mine clearing operation in the Strait?  

A: So I talked with folks, there’s still some folks that are still active duty. Some of them have transitioned out of the 53 pilot-wise and have transitioned into the MH-60S community and so they are deploying those tactics and new systems.

I would say it is probably still a neglected community in their opinion. Everybody’s fighting for resources, but I think when you’re talking about the current situation with Iran in the straight, there’s always a time where mine countermeasures become a very hot topic, because people do forget about it. 

Q: Are the MH-53Es still performing airborne counter-mine missions?

A: I’m not sure. 

Q: What other missions does the MH-53 community perform? Can you talk about your experience with those and what they entail?

A: When you have that much capability, you move a lot of things. And so we did a lot of moving cargo. I could move an F-14 Tomcat engine with the afterburner completely attached. I could move it at 150 knots from shore to ship internally, so I didn’t have to sling it underneath the aircraft in a pod. I can have the engine assembled together and be able to move it. So we moved things that the C-2 Greyhound couldn’t.

The primary mission was mines, the secondary cargo and people. We would do people movement, if a better ride wasn’t available to move an admiral or someone for an important meeting, then we would do so. Obviously, you know, it’s a very dirty ride.

Q: What admirals did you move?

A:  I can’t remember the admirals, because they kind of all blend together, but we did move fun people. We did Tiger Woods for all the USO engagements. Blink 182. We did Tom Jones, Robin Williams, a number of NASCAR folks and other celebrities. We did a lot of that.

Q: What was Robin Williams like?

A:  Funny. He was on from the time that we picked him up in Bahrain, and then giving him the brief. He liked talking with sailors and making jokes. Tom Jones was memorable because he’s got the hair right, and he didn’t want to wear a cranial or helmet on his head to mess up his hair before he did the show, and so that became a thing. But you know, the hair won out. The hair was not going to get covered by the helmet.

Q: What will the Navy miss when that last squadron is finally retired next year and there are no more Sea Dragons flying? Can the MH-60S handle the job?

A:  With the Greyhounds going away, I think even with the CMV-22, which is a very capable aircraft, a very fast aircraft, but in terms of lift capacity internally, there’s something to that. If it’s outsized or weirdly shaped or is on wheels, the MH-53E is your catch-all aircraft. The Navy will miss that and the large numbers of people that we can move.

During the start Operation Iraqi Freedom, when I was in Sigonella we spent four days offloading the Marine Corps battalion landing team from the Iwo Jima on to Souda Bay for them to be flown into the northern part of Iraq. With those two helicopters and in one helicopter with Helicopter Detachment 4, we moved hundreds and hundreds of Marines from a ship to the shore for them to be staged in order to be moved into Iraq in a matter of days. I don’t think that same amount of capability in terms of volume of moving at that speed can be done with what’s available today. So I think they’re going to miss the kind of the ad hoc nature of having a big aircraft to move odd things. It’s good to be a generalist sometimes.

Q: What about the mine countermeasures mission? Is there anything that the Navy will miss from the capabilities of the 53 from that standpoint?

A: I can’t speak on it with the new equipment, because I’ve never operated it, but I think what the Navy won’t miss is the price tag, and maybe the lack of full mission capability. We operated a lot of times in that partial mission capability, because of the complexity of the equipment and the machine, and then you have to get the equipment and the machine to work together, the machine being the helicopter. I don’t think the Navy will miss that part of it.

Q: Can the MH-60 do the job?

A: They can do the job, but they don’t conduct it the same way we did. They can’t pull big sleds like we did for underwater sonars because of power and tension. And you can’t send as many crew members in the back in order to make that mission successful. But the 60 is a very capable platform in order to conduct the mission the way they do it now.

Q: What’s the difference between what they do and what you did?

A: They’re deploying sensor arrays and underwater vehicles from the thing, so they have standoff distance. They’re capable of not putting the helicopter in the same proximity to danger. They can’t put a Mk 105 in the water, but they don’t need to, because they have other types of technology to do it. 

Q: What was your most fear-inducing flight in the Sea Dragon?

A: For me, I was on the sea wall in Corpus Christi, Texas, about to do a towing training mission off the coast of Texas. In the 53 you have three engines, and then you have an auxiliary power unit – another gas turbine that’s above the cockpit.

The purpose of the auxiliary power unit is to run the hydraulics and various components and accessories when the engines and the rotor head aren’t turning. The idea is, once you get the engines going and the main rotor is turning, there is a shaft that goes from the main gear box into that auxiliary power unit, where all your generators and hydraulic systems are run. So we had the engines running, we were on the sea wall – we had a hanger, and then we had an apron, and right there was the Corpus Christi Bay.

I was taxiing out to take off from the helipad, and you’re over the water as soon as you take off from the sea wall. Well, that shaft sheared while I was taxiing up. I have to push the cyclic (the stick) forward in order to tip the rotor head forward to pull me along the ground. If you lose hydraulics in a 53 there is no amount of strength that you or the other copilot has to help to change the path of that helicopter. 

When the shaft broke, it meant whatever condition that rotor head was in, it was not going to move, and that rotor head was in position for me to be able to take off, but I did not have enough power in order for me to lift off. Even if I lifted off, I probably would have just careened into the water. 

So we were going in a situation where I heard it pop, and then all of a sudden the controls froze, and I told the co-pilot, Ty Jurica, that I was so concentrated at that point because I could not control the aircraft. I said ‘I don’t have control, I cannot move the controls.’ But Ty’s quick thinking noted that he could get the hydraulic power unit started again, which it takes time to spool up, but he was able to hit the start on the APU, and we managed to spool up to get hydraulics back, and as soon as the pressure came on at 3000 psi, I was able to move the controls again.

We stopped the aircraft where we were, and we shut it down at that particular time, but in a few seconds, maybe, we probably just would have taxiied off over the sea wall, and into a very bad situation.

Q: What was your best memory of a mission you flew, or a moment during one of your missions in your time in the Sea Dragons? Put us in your shoes of what that was like.

A: Oh man, my best day there? There were a lot of good days. A lot of times, we would fly in formation – two ships going out to whether it was an aircraft carrier or whatever – and we would take off before sunrise. When you’re flying in formation low over the water, and the sun is coming up over the Persian Gulf, those are those are great days. Because everything is working. You have two planes actually going to conduct the mission and not training. I don’t care who you are, it’s always a lot of fun. 

You’re going relatively fast. I mean, we’re not Hornets or whatever, but we were low and fast at that time for us, and we thought we were pretty cool.

You couldn’t touch us on those days.

Author’s note: we added three additional sets of questions and answers to this story. We asked Jones about how fast the Sea Dragons could fly, how helpful the big rearview mirrors were when pulling a sled and what it was like conducting aerial refueling in the giant helicopter.

Contact the author: howard@twz.com

The post Confessions Of A Navy MH-53E Sea Dragon Minehunter Pilot appeared first on The War Zone.

A estas alturas, debería haber quedado claro que uno no ve The Last of Us para alegrarse el día. Sin embargo, una cosa es que la serie de HBO nos haga sufrir lo más grande con sus historias emocionales, postapocalípticas y fungosas, y otra que nos llevemos un mazazo por culpa de su calendario de rodaje.

Y esto último es justo lo que acaba de ocurrir: según ScreenRant, las fechas previstas para el rodaje de The Last of Us en la Columbia Británica (Canadá) se han suspendido sin explicaciones. Esto no significa necesariamente que la cadena y el productor Craig Mazin (responsable del show tras el abandono de Neil Druckmann) hayan decidido darle cerrojazo, pero sin duda hará sudar tinta a los fans de Ellie (Bella Ramsey).

¿Por qué se ha suspendido el rodaje de 'The Last of Us'?

La evidencia del parón está en el registro de rodajes del gobierno de Columbia Británica. Según vemos en el documento, la tercera temporada de Calm Current (el título de trabajo de The Last of Us) cancelará su producción del 1 al 28 de junio, aunque su fecha de fin de rodaje sigue fijada para el 27 de noviembre.

Aunque no tenemos una razón oficial para la suspensión, ScreenRant especula con que este puede deberse al Mundial de Fútbol 2026, que tendrá lugar en EE UU, Canadá y México del 11 de junio al 29 de julio. Teniendo en cuenta las dimensiones del evento y las medidas de seguridad que este llevará consigo, es fácil pensar que este puede convertir cualquier rodaje en una pesadilla logística.

Es más: el mismo documento señala que la cuarta temporada de Yellowjackets también ha sido suspendida, aunque, en este caso, volverá a ponerse en marcha el 10 de junio.

Basada, al igual que su predecesora, en el videojuego The Last of Us: Parte II, la tercera temporada de la serie dejará de seguir a Ellie para centrarse en su archienemiga Abby (Kaitlyn Dever) y en su protegido Lev (Kyriana Kratter), que recorren una región devastada por sectas religiosas, grupos paramilitares y, claro, infectados por el hongo cordyceps. El estreno de la nueva etapa está previsto para 2027.

A través de tres episodios, El testigo se ha colado en el ranking de visualizaciones de Netflix en todo el mundo. Creada por Rob Williams (El hombre en el castillo) y dirigida por Alex Winckler (Mary & George), esta miniserie británica arrasa por el caso real que narra, uno de los más misteriosos y cruentos de la crónica negra de Reino Unido.

Corría el año 1992 cuando la modelo Rachel Nickell, de tan solo 23 años, disfrutaba de una mañana en el parque de Wimbledon Common, en Londres, junto a su hijo de dos años, Alex. Lo que se presentaba como una apacible jornada de juego se tornó en tragedia cuando la mujer apareció brutalmente asesinada y el único testigo fue su hijo de dos años, que quedó traumatizado de por vida.

El padre del niño y pareja de Rachel, André Hanscombe, tuvo que luchar a partir de entonces por el acoso constante de los tabloides británicos y los errores continuos de la investigación policial, que dejaron durante años expuesto a su hijo.

El misterio que rodeó a esta muerte inesperada fue mayor por el ensañamiento con el que se cometió, ya que después de cortar la garganta de la joven, el responsable la apuñaló 49 veces y abusó de ella sexualmente.

Pronto surgieron dos sospechosos principales: Robert Napper y Colin Stagg. El primero estaba en la lista porque ya había sido denunciado por violación. A este se le pidió una muestra de ADN y no se presentó. Sin embargo, Napper fue descartado por la ausencia de pruebas concluyentes y la investigación pasó a centrarse en Stagg.

Un asesino en libertad y los errores policiales del caso

Colin Stagg era un hombre conocido por pasear a sus perros por el lugar de los hechos, pero la ausencia de pruebas forenses hizo que la policía decidiera crear un perfil del asesino para encontrar coincidencias. Sus rasgos cuadraron y las autoridades intentaron tenderle una trampa con una agente encubierta que fingió durante meses tener una relación con él y que obtuvo comentarios descontextualizados para que las autoridades, presionadas por los medios y la gente, lo arrestaran.

Finalmente, los juzgados dictaminaron que las pruebas eran tramposas e inexistentes y obligaron a que fuera liberado, cuestionando el modus operandi de la policía. Años después, el caso se reabrió empleando técnicas modernas que se usaron para identificar una muestra de ADN que no coincidía con ninguna persona relacionada con la víctima y lo relacionaron con un asesino convicto.

Entonces salió a la luz la ineptitud de las autoridades, quienes descubrieron que Robert Napper había asesinado a otras jóvenes después de haber sido descartado en este caso. Posteriormente, fue internado en un centro psiquiátrico debido a su esquizofrenia. Finalmente, el ADN de Napper coincidió con las muestras halladas en la ropa de Rachel, y este terminó confesando el asesinato en 2008.

Una historia que reconstruye ahora la serie de Netflix a través de su reparto: Jordan Bolger (Peaky Blinders), como André Hanscombe; Eleanor Williams (Halo: Nightfall), como Rachel Nickell; Max Fincham (El alienista), como Alex Hanscombe; Steve Stamp (The Curse), como Robert Napper; y Jamie Bisping (Alien: Planeta Tierra), como Colin Stagg.

El fenómeno de las adaptaciones literarias vive uno de sus mejores momentos, especialmente en el terreno del romance contemporáneo y el público joven adulto. En este escenario de éxitos globales, la llegada de Todos nuestros veranos se perfila como el próximo gran hito del año. Basada en la novela debut de la canadiense Carley Fortune (cuyo título original es Every Summer After), la producción da el salto al streaming con la expectación de millones de lectores que la situaron durante 16 semanas en la lista de los libros más vendidos de The New York Times.

A las puertas de su inminente estreno, la ficción ya promete dar mucho de qué hablar, desde su sinopsis, marcada por segundas oportunidades y el paso del tiempo, hasta un reparto liderado por dos promesas del panorama audiovisual actual. Este lanzamiento consolida también, y definitivamente, la estrategia de Prime Video para adueñarse de las grandes historias románticas de la televisión actual.

Seis años y un reencuentro clave: ¿de qué trata 'Todos nuestros veranos'?

La historia se desarrolla en Barry’s Bay, una localidad pequeña junto a un lago que se convierte en el refugio idílico de los protagonistas. En este entorno, Percy Fraser y Sam Florek entablan una amistad incondicional durante su adolescencia. A lo largo de seis veranos compartidos, ese vínculo inicial se transforma en un primer amor profundo. Sin embargo, la relación se quiebra por completo debido a una serie de errores, provocando un distanciamiento que parecía definitivo.

Años después, una llamada inesperada altera la realidad de Percy y la obliga a regresar al lugar de su juventud. Al reencontrarse con Sam, se hace evidente que la conexión entre ambos permanece intacta a pesar del tiempo. Aun así, las heridas del pasado siguen presentes. Además, Sam ha intentado rehacer su vida sentimental con otra chica, lo que añade otra carga de drama que complicará su reconciliación.

Reparto y equipo de la producción

El peso de la historia recae en dos actores que conocen muy bien las dinámicas del streaming. Sadie Soverall, que viene de destacar en Saltburn y en Destino: La saga Winx, se mete en la piel de Percy. A su lado, Matt Cornett, conocido por su trabajo en High School Musical: El musical: La serie o Verano del 69, asume el reto de interpretar a Sam.

Detrás de las cámaras, el proyecto cuenta con un sólido respaldo creativo liderado por la showrunner y productora ejecutiva Amy B. Harris, mente detrás de éxitos como Sexo en Nueva York o Gossip Girl. En la producción ejecutiva la acompaña la propia autora de la novela, Carley Fortune, junto a un experimentado equipo compuesto por Lindsey Liberatore (Avatar: la leyenda de Aang), Amy Rardin (Jane the Virgin), John Stephens (Gilmore Girls) y Grace Gilroy (Invasión), quienes se encargaron de cuidar la esencia de la obra.

El elenco se completa con otros actores que también tendrán parte de protagonismo. Michael Bradway toma el papel de Charlie, hermano de Sam, mientras que Aurora Perrineau y Abigail Cowen interpretan al grupo de amigas de Percy. Como guinda para los seguidores del género, la producción recupera a la mítica Elisha Cuthbert (La vecina de al lado, 2004) para dar vida a Sue, la madre de los hermanos Florek.

El éxito del libro y de su autora, Carley Fortune

El salto de esta novela a la televisión está avalado por un éxito editorial incuestionable. Todos nuestros veranos aguantó 16 semanas en la lista de bestsellers de The New York Times, superó el millón de copias vendidas y su etiqueta en redes sociales sobrepasa los 81 millones de visitas. Fortune, que ejerció como periodista antes de volcar sus propios recuerdos de juventud en esta ficción, se ha consolidado como un referente del género.

Desde el lanzamiento de esta historia en 2022, la carrera de Fortune ha sido meteórica y expansiva. Lejos de ser una autora de un solo éxito, ha encadenado publicaciones anuales de enorme repercusión como Te veo en el lago, Esta vez será diferente o Un verano dorado. Su consolidación definitiva llega con su trabajo más reciente, Una tormenta perfecta. A día de hoy, los libros de Carley Fortune ya se han traducido a 35 idiomas y acumulan más de 4,7 millones de ejemplares vendidos en todo el mundo, consolidándola como una de las reinas del romance y justificando plenamente que Prime Video haya confiado en ella como productora ejecutiva para supervisar la adaptación de su universo.

¿Habrá cambios en la adaptación?

Para que el ritmo literario funcione lo mejor posible, el equipo creativo podría haber introducido algunos ajustes importantes que afectan directamente al reloj de la historia. Mientras que el libro plantea un salto temporal de 13 años, situando a la pareja ya como treintañeros, los primeros detalles oficiales apuntan a que la serie preferirá concentrar la maduración de los personajes en una línea de aproximadamente seis años. Habrá que esperar al estreno para ver si esto favorece el ritmo visual y permite que el reencuentro se sienta mucho más inmediato en pantalla.

Esta posible alteración de la línea temporal podría venir acompañada de otra gran duda creativa, centrada ahora en el peso de los personajes secundarios. Todo indica que, en lugar de limitarse a la perspectiva íntima y en primera persona de Percy que ofrece el papel, la producción buscará expandir notablemente las subtramas del entorno de amigos y de Charlie, el hermano mayor de Sam. Si finalmente se confirma este enfoque, la serie nos regalará un universo algo más enriquecido para la pequeña pantalla.

Fecha de estreno en pleno auge del género

Los ocho capítulos de Todos nuestros veranos se estrenarán este 10 de junio. Con este lanzamiento, Prime Video vuelve a blindar su posición como la plataforma de referencia para el público joven adulto. No es un movimiento aislado, sino la evolución natural tras el impacto de fenómenos como El verano en que me enamoré, Culpa mía, Maxton Hall, Rojo, blanco y sangre azul o el reciente éxito de Off Campus. Amazon sabe perfectamente qué tipo de tramas activan la atención, y esta nueva producción podría ser la próxima en liderar las listas de lo más visto.

A dupla Giulia Gasparri/Ninny Valentini, em femininos, e André Baran/Michele Cappelletii, em masculinos, venceram o primeiro Sand Series, equivalente a um Grand Slam de ténis de praia, disputado este fim de semana, em Portimão.

Campeãs de Matosinhos em 2025 e segundas cabeças de série esta semana, as italianas Giulia Gasparri e Ninny Valentini repetiram a festa na Praia da Rocha ao vencerem as russas Elizaveta Kudinova e Anastasiia Semenova, terceiras favoritas e responsáveis pela eliminação das cabeças de cartaz na parte da manhã.

Sophia Chow e Vitoria Marchezini já conquistaram 22 títulos lado a lado e entraram na jornada dupla deste domingo como as maiores favoritas à vitória em Portimão, mas perderam a meia-final por 6-3 e 6-4.

Quanto a Gasparri e Valentini, precisaram de uma reviravolta (1-6, 6-2 e 10-3) contra Veronica Casadei e Ariadna Costa Graell — quartas pré-designadas — para chegarem ao encontro de atribuição do título.

Parceiras há vários anos, Giulia Gasparri e Ninny Valentini celebraram a 38.ª conquista conjunta. Entre os vários troféus estão um Campeonato da Europa, um Campeonato do Mundo e o Sand Series Finals. Gasparri tem 34 anos e ergueu, no areal de Portimão, o 74.º título da carreira, enquanto Valentini, de 27 anos, conquistou o 47.º título do palmarés.

André Baran e Michele Cappelletti também viveram um dia perfeito na Praia da Rocha para fecharem a semana com o título.

Quintos pré-designados, o brasileiro e o italiano começaram o dia a eliminar os favoritos Nicolas Gianotti e Mattia Spoto — líderes do ranking e vencedores do Sand Series de Matosinhos em 2025 — com os parciais de 6-2 e 6-3 e à tarde colocaram a cereja no topo do bolo ao derrotarem por 6-3 e 6-2 a dupla transalpina composta por Mattia Bazzi e Dario Jublin, que também eliminou um par mais cotado pela manhã — no caso Felipe Cogo Loch e Gabriele Gini (terceiros favoritos) por 6-2 e 6-4.

Campeões mundiais em 2024, André Baran e Michele Cappelletti celebraram, no areal algarvio, o primeiro título da temporada e o 14.º enquanto parceiros, quinto na categoria Sand Series. Para Baran, de 35 anos, a conquista em Portimão traduziu-se no 45.º título do palmarés (oitavo Sand Series), enquanto Cappelletti, um ano mais novo, chegou aos 91 troféus de campeão (13 desta dimensão).

No sábado, a galeria de campeões deste Sand Series de Portimão já tinha sido inaugurada por Ariadna Costa e Antonio Miguel Ramos, que venceram a prova mista.

Quanto ao ITF BTJ100, torneio reservado aos juniores no Sand Series de Portimão, terminou com a portuguesa Carlota Loureiro como segunda classificada ao lado da brasileira Maria Julia Moreira.

Num encontro da fase de grupos que funcionou como final, Loureiro e Moreira perderam por 6-4 e 7-6 com a espanhola Eva Santana Sanchez e a russa Alina Zaitseva.

A prova masculina foi ganha pelos brasileiros Leonardo Neiva Mariani e André Zambonetti Caetano, que venceram os compatriotas Enzo Battaglini e João Godoy por 7-6, 4-6 e 10-7.

O conteúdo Gasparri/Valentini e Baran/Cappelletti vencem o primeiro Sand Series de Portimão aparece primeiro em Sul Informação.

Los seguidores de las adaptaciones literarias tienen una joya escondida en los laberintos del streaming, donde siempre podemos asirnos a contenidos que ya tienen la mayoría de edad y que nunca está de más recuperar, en especial si no los hemos visto. Prime Video cuenta en su catálogo con Quart: el hombre de Roma, una miniserie de seis episodios basada en los personajes de La piel del tambor, una de las novelas más conocidas de Arturo Pérez-Reverte.

La ficción, producida originalmente por Antena 3, adapta el universo creado por el escritor cartagenero a través del personaje de Lorenzo Quart, un sacerdote enviado por el Vaticano a Sevilla tras una inquietante denuncia recibida por el Papa a través de un pirata informático. Su misión comienza investigando el robo de la Cruz de Caravaca en una iglesia marcada por sucesos extraños, incluida la desaparición de fieles y la muerte de una asistente durante una misa.

Sin embargo, la investigación pronto deriva hacia una trama mucho más oscura. Quart descubre las maniobras de Monseñor Aguirre, líder de una organización secreta dentro de la Iglesia llamada 'Iter ad Deum', que pretende devolver el poder eclesiástico a los tiempos medievales.

La serie está protagonizada por Roberto Enríquez (Asalto al Banco central) en el papel de Lorenzo Quart, acompañado por Ana Álvarez (Mía es la venganza) y Josep Maria Pou (Nit de nits). El reparto lo completan nombres como Daniel Grao, Biel Durán o Pep Cortés.

'Quart: el hombre de Roma'. ¿Cuántos episodios tiene?

Con solo seis capítulos, Quart: el hombre de Roma combina thriller, conspiraciones religiosas y conflictos personales, en una propuesta que a priori podría recordar a títulos como El código Da Vinci o Conclave. Además, supone la primera adaptación al formato televisivo de una obra de Pérez-Reverte, mucho antes del estreno de otras obras a través de ficciones como Las aventuras del Capitán Alatriste o La Reina del Sur, que también conoció una adaptación norteamericana.

Mientras los fans esperan el estreno el próximo otoño de El problema final, la nueva adaptación de Pérez-Reverte para Netflix protagonizada por Jose Coronado, esta miniserie se presenta como una opción perfecta para quienes disfrutan de los misterios ambientados en el corazón de la Iglesia.

Con el recuerdo aún presente de Sophia, la hija de Carol (Melissa McBride) y uno de los zombies que más consternaron a los espectadores de The Walking Dead, la actriz estadounidense que la interpretó es noticia estos días.

Madison Lintz, de 27 años, se ha casado, lo que ha llevado a muchos a preguntarse qué ha sido de ella durante estos años. Y es que, aunque muchos lo desconozcan, su carrera ha seguido ligada al cine y la televisión.

Tras su paso por el universo de muertos vivientes de AMC+, entre 2010 y 2012, la actriz participó en la serie Nashville (2012), así como en las películas After (2012), Abuelos al poder (2012), Tell me your name (2018), Mis dos vidas (2022) y Self-Help (2025).

Sin embargo, su trabajo más destacado tras interpretar a Sophia, con tan solo 10 años, fue el de Maddie Bosch en los 64 episodios de la serie Bosch emitidos entre 2015 y 2021. La actriz retomó posteriormente este personaje entre 2022 y 2025 en el spin-off Bosch: Legacy, que cosechó una notable audiencia en Prime Video.

Lintz contraía matrimonio recientemente con el también actor Jackie Kay (31), el pasado 23 de mayo, lo que curiosamente coincidió con el 61 cumpleaños de Melissa McBride, quien estos meses rodaba la cuarta y última temporada de The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon en España. La actriz compartió en su cuenta de Instagram numerosos momentos del enlace.

Kay es conocido por sus trabajos en la serie Monstruo, de Ryan Murphy; así como por las ficciones Para toda la humanidad y también Bosch: Legacy, donde conoció a su esposa.

Aunque Lintz se desvinculó de TWD tras la muerte de su personaje, la actriz volvió como Sophia en el videojuego The Walking Dead: Destinies, en 2023. Además, su imagen apareció de nuevo en una serie de flashbacks de la segunda temporada de Daryl Dixon en 2024, donde Carol debía enfrentarse a los traumas de su pasado.

Próximamente, Lintz aparecerá en el cortometraje LA Brunch, dirigido por el norteamericano Xavier Jimenez, conocido por sus trabajos anteriores como actor en Agentes de S.H.I.E.L.D., The Mandalorian y El libro de Boba Fett. Además, la intérprete también tiene en el horizonte su participación en la serie detectivesca Eve Ronin, de la que apenas ha trascendido nada.

Stephen King dirigió su primera película, La rebelión de las máquinas, bajo la premisa “nadie era capaz de adaptar este relato, así que tuve que hacerlo yo”. El resultado fue un desastre que ya es obra de culto y King nunca repitió al otro lado de la cámara. Justo al contrario que con Cien años de soledad, cuya segunda temporada desembarca en Netflix España este 5 de agosto.

El paralelismo entre La rebelión de las máquinas y Cien años de soledad está en que la monumental novela de Gabriel García Márquez ha sido trasladada a la pequeña pantalla, si bien no por su autor, sí por su hijo, Rodrigo García. Pese a que su carrera como director en cines sea discreta, en su currículo seriéfilo hay obras maestras como Dos metros bajo tierra, en la que fue uno de los directores de capítulo más recurrentes.

La segunda temporada de Cien años de soledad finiquita el trasvase literatura-cine, y Netflix ha diseñado un plan específico: sus ocho episodios se dividen en dos fechas diferentes. La primera es el 5 de agosto, en la que se nos devuelve al mundo de los Buendía. La segunda, el 26 de agosto, cuando los cien años de soledad concluyen de golpe.

Todo sobre la 'Cien años de soledad' de Netflix

La familia Márquez, que recientemente ha publicado una novela que el Nobel de Literatura desechó, parece decidida a librar una batalla imposible: la de introducir el realismo mágico en el celuloide, operación que, en general, pocas veces ha salido bien. No por casualidad el boom latinoamericano tiene pocas adaptaciones, ninguna de mérito y casi todas del único miembro que no exploró el realismo mágico, Vargas Llosa.

Si hasta ahora Cien años de soledad apenas había gozado de tentativas de adaptación es por un motivo: es un rompecabezas narrativo. Pero Netflix, desde que compró los derechos de Pedro Páramo, parece haberse aficionado al realismo mágico, y la primera temporada de Cien años de soledad no pasó desapercibida.

El anuncio de la serie se anticipó por parte del público desde dos ángulos: o es un desastre catedralicio o una obra colosal de la pequeña pantalla. Ni lo uno ni lo otro: la versión Netflix de Cien años de soledad gozó, en general, de buenas críticas e incluso ganó el Premio Platino del Cine Iberoamericano a mejor teleserie o miniserie.

Mucho más violenta y homoerótica que el clásico literario de Anne Rice de 1976 y que la aclamada adaptación cinematográfica de Neil Jordan de 1994, Entrevista con el vampiro, la serie de AMC+, impactó a millones de espectadores de todo el mundo en sus dos primeras temporadas.

Cuatro años después de su aterrizaje en el streaming, su tercera tanda de episodios ha sido rebautizada como El vampiro Lestat, en una alusión a la secuela que la autora norteamericana, que llegó a estar involucrada en el proyecto antes de su muerte en 2021, publicó en 1985.

Si anteriormente conocíamos la historia desde el punto de vista de Louis de Pointe du Lac, interpretado por Jacob Anderson (Juego de tronos), ahora el protagonismo recae en Lestat de Lioncourt, encarnado por Sam Reid (The Newsreader), convertido en vocalista y líder de una banda de rock que se embarca en una gira por varias ciudades mientras aumenta cada vez más su poder e influencia sobre vampiros y humanos.

Más cerca de los Targaryen que de Tom Cruise

Una versión de Lestat mucho más cercana a la que concibió Anne Rice que a la versión cinematográfica interpretada por Tom Cruise. "Hago todo a partir de los libros. Creo que son un recurso increíble. Rolin Jones [creador y guionista] y Hannah Moscovitch [guionista] han hecho un trabajo increíble al adaptarlos a la pantalla, lo cual es realmente difícil porque son libros muy complejos, abordan muchos temas y son densos", confiesa Sam Reid a CINEMANÍA.

"Poder condensar estos libros tan extensos en siete horas, y ni siquiera eso, porque tienen que incluir los cortes publicitarios, es un desafío. Para mí, poder volver a los libros y obtener más información y profundidad del personaje es invaluable", añade.

A través de flashbacks a su pasado en Francia –que muestran su incestuosa relación con su madre, Gabrielle, y presentan a vampiros tan poderosos como Marius y Akasha–, la historia culminará en la Gran Conversión, un crecimiento inusual de la población vampírica. "Supongo que su relación con su madre sí que tiene algo de los Targaryen de Juego de tronos. Todos rubios y con una relación tan complicada", explica Reid.

"Es una relación de madre y de amante. Una dinámica muy compleja. Para Jennifer [Ehle] y para mí es muy divertido interpretarla. Ella es su aprendiz, pero también su madre. Él es su hijo y su creador. Esa dicotomía va alternándose y es muy enrevesada. Lestat ama la complejidad y la busca por todas partes, y no creo que pudiera tener una relación más complicada que esa", aclara.

De esta forma, El vampiro Lestat intenta mantener al máximo el espíritu de la novela de Anne Rice. "Seguimos la misma sensación que se obtiene del segundo libro, que supone un cambio total del tono respecto a Entrevista con el vampiro. Cuando lo lees por primera vez, es algo maravilloso y surrealista", confiesa el actor.

Y es que Anne Rice creó Entrevista con el vampiro como parte del duelo por la muerte de su hija, fallecida de leucemia con tan solo cinco años, un tipo de cáncer que afecta a la sangre y la médula ósea. Esta experiencia inspiró la saga literaria que comenzó con Entrevista con el vampiro y dio un giro con El vampiro Lestat, secuela publicada diez años después que reflejaba la propia evolución vital de la autora.

"Es algo surrealista pasar de una historia muy sombría y dolorosa, donde ella explora el duelo a través de un contexto sobrenatural, a esta reconfiguración donde se usan la alegría y la irreverencia, y se encuentra una salida a la adversidad. Así fue como se aferró a Lestat. Encontró en él un personaje muy inspirador. Y creo que adoptó esa personalidad, muy distinta de la de Louis, que también fue una representación de ella antes. Intentamos respetar eso. Así que debería sentirse como un cambio brusco", agrega Reid.

Un 'rock star' inmortal en el universo Anne Rice

Además de encabezar la ficción, Sam Reid también interpreta en estos nuevos capítulos los temas originales, entre ellos All Fall Down, Dancing with Myself y Long Face. Este último fue publicado con gran éxito en YouTube, donde acumula más de un millón de visitas. Reid los interpretó recientemente ante 2.800 personas en un concierto exclusivo celebrado en el Beacon Theatre de Nueva York.

La importancia de la música será fundamental esta temporada y, por ello, el creador de la ficción, Rolin Jones (Perry Mason), ha contratado al compositor Daniel Hart, colaborador habitual de David Lowery, con quien ha trabajado en El caballero verde, A Ghost Story o Peter y el dragón. Hart también ha compuesto recientemente la banda sonora de Mother Mary, la nueva película de A24 que presentará a Anne Hathaway como una estrella del pop.

"Empezamos con la música hace muchos meses. Tuve un maravilloso entrenador vocal, Matthew Santos, que me ayudó a trabajar para interpretar las canciones de Daniel. También tuve profesores de violín, de guitarra y de piano", ahonda el protagonista sobre el proceso para introducirse en el papel de un rock star inmortal.

"Long Face es la primera canción que escribí para la serie. Desde el primer momento, decidimos que David Bowie sería la gran influencia musical y estilística para Lestat, y desde luego hay algo de inspiración en Ziggy Stardust para este single", explicaba, por su parte, Hart.

"Veremos cómo Lestat cambia su estilo musical a lo largo de la temporada, conforme va descubriendo cómo mantenerse fiel a sí mismo y cómo expresar esa verdad sobre el escenario cada noche", añadía el músico sobre los planes de una de las ficciones de mayor éxito de AMC+, que forma parte de su universo de Anne Rice, donde también encontramos Las brujas de Mayfair y Talamasca: La orden secreta.

"El crossover ya está aquí. Hay personajes que aparecen y desaparecen en las tres series, así que ya está ocurriendo. Estoy feliz de vivir dentro de ese mundo", concluye Reid sobre este universo que está dando grandes alegrías a AMC+.

El fuego vuelve a crepitar. El universo de Juego de tronos crece con la tercera temporada de La casa del dragón, apenas unos meses después de que se estrenara la primera tanda de capítulos de El caballero de los siete reinos. HBO Max España inaugura la nueva temporada de La casa del dragón este 22 de junio.

La tercera temporada de La casa del dragón se compone de ocho episodios, con una duración aproximada por entrega de una hora. De nuevo, HBO apuesta por el estreno semanal en lugar de la tendencia principal de las plataformas, en las que o bien se vuelca toda la temporada de una vez o bien se distribuye en tandas de episodios.

Los amantes de La casa del dragón deben de poner su alarma en los lunes. Cada primer día de la semana, se incorpora un nuevo capítulo de la serie basada en la obra de George R.R. Martin. Por tanto, tras el 22 de junio, la siguiente fecha de estreno será el 29, y así hasta llegar al 9 de agosto, cuando se incorpora al catálogo la octava entrega de esta tercera temporada.

¿De qué trata esta temporada de 'La casa del dragón'?

Las maquinaciones han llegado a su fin. Por eso, la Batalla de Gullet abre la tercera tanda de episodios de La casa del dragón: para marcar el tono de lo que estará por venir. Rhaenyra Targaryen, interpretada por Emma D’Arcy, se liberará en esta temporada. Sus maniobras entre las sombras, jugando varias partidas de ajedrez al mismo tiempo, han terminado, y ahora debe dar un paso adelante. La actriz ya ha anunciado que conoceremos a una nueva Rhaenyra en los próximos capítulos.

La gobernante justa e íntegra (o más o menos justa e íntegra según el canon de George R.R. Martin) quedará atrás para cederle su puesto a una villana que no evita el derramamiento de sangre para fortalecer su puesto como reina. Algo que los seguidores de Juego de tronos podían prever: ya sabían de cierta Targaryen que parecía muy legal hasta que tocó el hierro del trono. De momento, aquello de que los dioses lanzaban una moneda al aire cuando nacía un hijo de la casa del dragón está saliendo siempre cruz.

O primeiro Sand Series organizado em Portimão sorriu a Giulia Gasparri e Ninny Valentini na competição feminina e a André Baran e Michele Cappelletti no quadro masculino, sendo estes os quatro nomes eternizados na história do circuito mundial de ténis de praia em Portugal. Foi a segunda vez que a Federação Portuguesa de Ténis organizou um torneio equivalente a um Grand Slam e os […]

Torneio mais importante da Europa acontece na Praia da Rocha até domingo

Ariadna Costa e Antonio Miguel Ramos sagraram-se campeões de pares mistos do primeiro Sand Series a acontecer em Portimão e conquistaram o primeiro título do fim de semana na Praia da Rocha, o palco escolhido pela Federação Portuguesa de Ténis para organizar o maior torneio de ténis de praia da Europa.

Já com o sol a pôr-se, os espanhóis, segundos cabeças de série, venceram os brasileiros Flaminia Daina e Fabrício Neis, que formaram a dupla mais cotada e foram campeões em Matosinhos, em duas partidas, com os parciais de 7-6(5) e 6-0 após 57 minutos.

Para Costa, de 22 anos, e Ramos, de 32 anos, a vitória no Sand Series de Portimão traduziu-se no terceiro título lado a lado, segundo este ano — ambos na categoria máxima. A mais nova passou a contar com 15 títulos no palmarés, o mais velho com impressionantes 91 troféus de campeão.

Antes, ainda durante a tarde, o segundo Sand Series a acontecer em Portugal (o primeiro realizou-se na temporada transata em Matosinhos) ficou com as meias-finais femininas e masculinas definidas.

Na competição feminina, as oito jogadoras mais cotadas do ranking mundial garantiram um lugar no Dia D.

Campeãs em Matosinhos, as italianas Giulia Gasparri e Ninny Valentini deram mais um passo em direção ao 40.º título enquanto dupla ao vencerem as compatriotas Greta Giusti e Nicole Nobile por 5-7, 6-1 e 10-4.

O triunfo das segundas cabeças de série foi o único da competição feminina a ser resolvido no match tie-break e permitiu-lhes marcar encontro com as quartas, Veronica Casadei e Ariadna Costa Graell, que passaram por Giulia Trippa e Marcela Vita com os parciais de 6-1 e 6-4. Juntas, Casadei e Graell já venceram quatro provas, a mais recente este ano, no Sand Series das Ilhas Canárias.

As líderes do ranking, Sophia Chow e Vitoria Marchezini, passaram com autoridade (6-2 e 6-4) pelas transalpinas Sofia Cimatti e Flaminia Daina para se aproximarem de mais um título.

Já com 22 lado a lado, dois deles esta época e um no nível Sand Series, as primeiras pré-designadas discutirão o acesso à final com Elizaveta Kudinova e Anastasiia Semenova. Terceiras favoritas, as russas — campeãs mundiais em 2025 e de outros 21 títulos lado a lado — completaram o elenco das meias-finais ao superarem Patrícia Diaz e Rafaella Miiller por equilibrados 7-6(2) e 7-6(2) ao cabo de 1h50.

No torneio masculino, Nicolas Gianotti e Mattia Spoto deram mais um passo em direção a um segundo título em Portugal. Vencedores em Matosinhos no ano passado, o francês e o italiano chegaram a Portimão como líderes do ranking e primeiros cabeças de série, estatuto que voltaram a confirmar este sábado ao vencerem os brasileiros Fabrício Neis e Allan Oliveira por 6-2 e 7-5 no primeiro encontro dos quartos de final.

Campeões de 39 torneios lado a lado, quatro deles já esta época (e os dois mais recentes na categoria Sand Series), Gianotti e Spoto vão lutar por mais uma final em Portugal com Andre Baran e Michelle Cappelletti, quintos favoritos e responsáveis pelo afastamento de Niccolo Gasparri e Antonio Miguel Ramos Viera (quartos) ao vencerem por 6-1 e 6-3.

Finalistas em Matosinhos, Giovanni Cariani e Daniel Mola não tiveram a mesma sorte que os campeões e despediram-se de Portimão nos quartos de final.

Segundos cabeças de série, os brasileiros perderam por 7-6(3), 0-6 e 10-8 frente aos italianos Mattia Bazzi e Dario Jublin, que discutirão a passagem às meias-finais com Felipe Cogo Loch e Gabriele Gini. Os terceiros favoritos levaram a melhor sobre Diego Bollettinari e Carlos Vigon por 6-2 e 6-3.

Este domingo, as meias-finais masculinas acontecerão em simultâneo a partir das 10h30, seguidas das femininas. A decisão masculina está agendada para não antes das 14 horas e a feminina para não antes das 15h30.

Com colaboração do Gabinete de Imprensa do Portugal Beach Tennis Open

Ariadna Costa e Antonio Miguel Ramos sagraram-se campeões de pares mistos do primeiro Sand Series a acontecer na Praia da Rocha (Portimão), conquistando assim o primeiro título do fim de semana.

Este domingo, as meias-finais masculinas acontecerão em simultâneo a partir das 10h30, seguidas das femininas. A decisão masculina está agendada para não antes das 14 horas e a feminina para não antes das 15h30.

Neste que é o maior torneio de ténis de praia da Europa, organizado Federação Portuguesa de Ténis, a dupla de espanhóis, segundos cabeças de série, venceram os brasileiros Flaminia Daina e Fabrício Neis, que formaram a dupla mais cotada e foram campeões em Matosinhos, em duas partidas, com os parciais de 7-6(5) e 6-0 após 57 minutos. 

Para Costa, de 22 anos, e Ramos, de 32 anos, a vitória no Sand Series de Portimão traduziu-se no terceiro título lado a lado, segundo este ano — ambos na categoria máxima.

A mais nova passou a contar com 15 títulos no palmarés, o mais velho com impressionantes 91 troféus de campeão.

Antes, ainda durante a tarde, o segundo Sand Series a acontecer em Portugal (o primeiro realizou-se na temporada transata em Matosinhos) ficou com as meias-finais femininas e masculinas definidas.

Na competição feminina, as oito jogadoras mais cotadas do ranking mundial garantiram um lugar no Dia D.

Campeãs em Matosinhos, as italianas Giulia Gasparri e Ninny Valentini deram mais um passo em direção ao 40.º título enquanto dupla ao vencerem as compatriotas Greta Giusti e Nicole Nobile por 5-7, 6-1 e 10-4.

O triunfo das segundas cabeças de série foi o único da competição feminina a ser resolvido no match tie-break e permitiu-lhes marcar encontro com as quartas, Veronica Casadei e Ariadna Costa Graell, que passaram por Giulia Trippa e Marcela Vita com os parciais de 6-1 e 6-4. ~

Juntas, Casadei e Graell já venceram quatro provas, a mais recente este ano, no Sand Series das Ilhas Canárias.

As líderes do ranking, Sophia Chow e Vitoria Marchezini, passaram com autoridade (6-2 e 6-4) pelas transalpinas Sofia Cimatti e Flaminia Daina para se aproximarem de mais um título.

Já com 22 lado a lado, dois deles esta época e um no nível Sand Series, as primeiras pré-designadas discutirão o acesso à final com Elizaveta Kudinova e Anastasiia Semenova.

Terceiras favoritas, as russas — campeãs mundiais em 2025 e de outros 21 títulos lado a lado — completaram o elenco das meias-finais ao superarem Patrícia Diaz e Rafaella Miiller por equilibrados 7-6(2) e 7-6(2) ao cabo de 1h50.

No torneio masculino, Nicolas Gianotti e Mattia Spoto deram mais um passo em direção a um segundo título em Portugal.

Vencedores em Matosinhos no ano passado, o francês e o italiano chegaram a Portimão como líderes do ranking e primeiros cabeças de série, estatuto que voltaram a confirmar este sábado ao vencerem os brasileiros Fabrício Neis e Allan Oliveira por 6-2 e 7-5 no primeiro encontro dos quartos de final.

Campeões de 39 torneios lado a lado, quatro deles já esta época (e os dois mais recentes na categoria Sand Series), Gianotti e Spoto vão lutar por mais uma final em Portugal com Andre Baran e Michelle Cappelletti, quintos favoritos e responsáveis pelo afastamento de Niccolo Gasparri e Antonio Miguel Ramos Viera (quartos) ao vencerem por 6-1 e 6-3.

Finalistas em Matosinhos, Giovanni Cariani e Daniel Mola não tiveram a mesma sorte que os campeões e despediram-se de Portimão nos quartos de final.

Segundos cabeças de série, os brasileiros perderam por 7-6(3), 0-6 e 10-8 frente aos italianos Mattia Bazzi e Dario Jublin, que discutirão a passagem às meias-finais com Felipe Cogo Loch e Gabriele Gini.

Os terceiros favoritos levaram a melhor sobre Diego Bollettinari e Carlos Vigon por 6-2 e 6-3.

O conteúdo Ariadna Costa e Antonio Miguel Ramos conquistam primeiro título do Sand Series em Portimão aparece primeiro em Sul Informação.

Dicen que los finales tristes son los que más nos marcan. No es extraño, en consecuencia, desear vivir una vida aburrida, de esas en las que todo sale bien y se tiene un final feliz del que nadie se acordará. Pero existen personas que, sin embargo, y por mucho que lo deseen, no están destinadas a pasar por este mundo sin sufrir, y la mayoría de veces, por no decir todas las veces, lo hacen, no por falta de amor, sino por exceso de sentimiento, sea correspondido o no.

Hugo (Seth Manteus), August (Felix Sandman) y Thora (Rebecka Harper), los protagonistas de la serie sueca Trío (ya disponible en SkyShowtime), son de los afortunados. De los que se conocieron de jóvenes y se enamoraron de verdad, de los que fueron correspondidos, no una, sino dos veces y al mismo tiempo, y de los que, al final, y en contra de sus deseos, tuvieron una vida que sería difícil tachar de aburrida.

“El otro día estaba hablando con un amigo… Bueno, en realidad era un conductor de Uber”, cuenta riendo Sandman cuando le preguntamos si ver el amor como lo hacen sus personajes, es decir, como algo que nunca te hará libre, es algo romántico o pesimista. “Decía que cuando estás persiguiendo tu sueño, ese es el sueño, porque, cuando lo consigues, ya no estás soñando. Esto es igual. Cuando estás sufriendo el amor, esa es la mayor de las pasiones”. Sus compañeros coinciden con él.

'Trío': amor, arte y autoconocimiento

Basada en el libro homónimo de Johanna Hedman, la historia de sus personajes, quienes se enamoran a tres durante su juventud y se reencuentran de mayores, cuando las decisiones ya han sido tomadas y los errores cometidos, no es una historia de celos, sino de un amor al que le cuesta entenderse a sí mismo.

“Anders Hazelius [director] nos dijo que no debía haber celos en este trío, es puro amor entre tres personas dividido equitativamente”, explica Manteus. “Cuando le hablas de la serie a la gente te dicen: ‘Oh, ¿es un triángulo amoroso?’ Y es como: ‘No, en realidad no, es algo más”, añade Harper.

La actriz no se refiere solo a la parte romántica de Trío. La historia de este amor es también la de tres jóvenes que intentan descubrir quiénes son durante su época universitaria, que tienen el arte como compañero eterno de juegos y que deben decidir entre perseguir sus sueños o asegurarse un futuro, ahora sí, tremendamente aburrido.

“Yo no tengo plan B”, afirma Manteus. “Yo tampoco”, secunda Sandman. “Creo que, al menos, tienes que intentarlo. Yo me lancé a los 14 años y dejé el colegio, así que ni siquiera tengo esa educación, por lo que soy muy de ‘perseguir tus sueños’. Es duro, pero si tienes esa pasión… Tienes que sentirla en tu pecho”.

Resulta bastante difícil que en lo que le queda de carrera Emilia Clarke se tope con un papel más icónico que Daenerys Targaryen.

Y es normal y no pasa nada. En una reciente entrevista con Variety la actriz se ha tomado con mucho humor el momento en que se encuentra su carrera y lo asegurado que tiene un puesto en la cultura popular, una vez se involucra en dos nuevas series muy distintas: por un lado está el thriller de espionaje Ponies, que vio la luz en Peacock hace unos meses.

Y por otro está la inminente Criminal, adaptación del cómic homónimo de Ed Brubaker y Sean Phillips que desarrolla Amazon Prime Video.

Clarke toma las cosas con más calma ahora de lo que sucedía a finales de la década pasada, cuando su fama alcanzó un punto álgido. La actriz quiso entonces alternar su presencia en Juego de tronos con otros proyectos de altas expectativas comerciales: así que se involucró tanto en comedias románticas como Last Christmas y Antes de ti, junto a franquicias consagradas cuya huella en el público no le iba a la zaga a Canción de hielo y fuego. Clarke puede presumir de haber participado en Star Wars, el Universo de Marvel y Terminator. Y todo en poco más de un lustro.

Bien es cierto que no ha sido en los proyectos más afortunados de cada franquicia. Terminator Génesis y Han Solo fracasaron en 2015 y 2018 (aunque Han Solo puede enorgullecerse de que le fuera mejor en taquilla que la presente The Mandalorian and Grogu), mientras que en 2022 Clarke protagonizó Invasión secreta una vez ya había concluido Juego de tronos (con un desenlace de lo más controvertido para su personaje).

Invasión secreta pasa por ser una de las propuestas menos apreciadas del MCU (costando, además, una millonada inédita en el streaming). “Creo que a nadie le gustó esa serie, chicos. ¡Lo siento!”, bromea Clarke. “¿Star Wars? No gustó. ¿Terminator? Eso nunca debería haber pasado. Pero eran trabajos a los que dije que sí, ¿sabes a qué me refiero?”.

¿Se arrepiente Clarke de haber protagonizado estos proyectos? Pues no le quita demasiado el sueño: “Me incorporé a franquicias ya existentes así que, cuando no sale bien, no me lo tomo de forma personal”. Hoy por hoy, Clarke tiene una actitud más distendida con su trabajo, y no le apura decir ‘no’ a grandes blockbusters solo por el hecho de serlo. Se ha propuesto “aceptar un papel sin más razón que el hecho de disfrutar ese trabajo”.

Y todo con una saludable perspectiva en mente: “Mi conexión con un proyecto termina cuando dicen ‘corten’, no me corresponde a mí decidir lo que la gente piense de él”.

Este fin de semana la actualidad en España tiene dos protagonistas indiscutibles. Por un lado, la esperada visita del papa a nuestro país, que concentrará gran parte de la atención mediática y ciudadana, especialmente en Madrid y Barcelona. Por otro, el multitudinario concierto de Bad Bunny, llamado a reunir a miles de seguidores y a convertirse en uno de los grandes acontecimientos culturales de estos días.

Pero si prefieres mantenerte al margen de todo ese ruido mediático, siempre queda una alternativa infalible: acomodarte en el sofá y dejarte atrapar por alguna de estas siete miniseries perfectas para una maratón de fin de semana.

Por suerte, el catálogo de las plataformas no nos defrauda: durante estos días, tenemos a nuestro alcance un amplio surtido de miniseries lo bastante variado como para mantenernos a salvo hasta que al termómetro le dé por aflojar. De los thrillers made in Spain a las historias de superhéroes con Nicolas Cage, pasando por misterios surrealistas y adaptaciones literarias, estos programas te ayudarán a desconectar del alboroto con el que nos da la bienvenida junio.

'La nena' (Disney+, atresplayer, 8 capítulos)

Tras La novia gitana y La Red Púrpura, Nerea Barros vuelve a interpretar a la inspectora Elena Blanco en esta nueva adaptación de los bestsellers del colectivo Carmen Mola. Tras abandonar la Brigada de Investigación de Casos, la protagonista volverá a la acción para descubrir el paradero de su compañera Chesca (Lucía Martín Abello), desaparecida en extrañas circunstancias durante el Año Nuevo chino.

'Berlín y la dama del armiño' (Netflix, 8 capítulos)

El universo de La casa de papel vuelve a expandirse mediante esta nueva aventura de Pedro Alonso como ese ladrón egocéntrico e irresistible a partes iguales. Esta vez, Berlín y su banda se mudan a Sevilla por encargo de un aristócrata (Tristán Ulloa) ansioso por hacerse con una de las obras maestras de Leonardo Da Vinci, robo mediante: ¿cuál de los dos será el primero en traicionar a su presunto socio?

'Esto no es un misterioso asesinato' (Filmin, 6 episodios)

Si todo whodunit a la antigua tiene un punto surreal, ¿qué ocurre cuando encerramos a Salvador Dalí, Max Ernst, René Magritte y Man Ray en una mansión inglesa donde un asesino campa a sus anchas? Pues esta serie belga, que ofrece una variación desopilante sobre un tema clásico y en la que el artista de Figueres (interpretado por Iñaki Mur, el Oliver de Merlí) es el que más da el cante. ¡Faltaría más!

'Ravalear' (HBO Max, Movistar Plus+, 3 episodios)

Pol Rodríguez e Isaki Lacuesta, colaboradores habituales, se alían de nuevo para esta miniserie creada por el primero y que aborda un tema candente: la gentrificación de los centros urbanos. Con Sergi López y Enric Auquer en el reparto, y basada en una historia real, Ravalear expone las cuitas de un restaurante barcelonés que en peligro de desaparecer por culpa de un fondo de inversión y sus manejos.

'El señor de las moscas' (Movistar Plus+, 4 episodios)

Con la flama que está cayendo, ¿a que apetece pasar unos días en la playa? Pues ten cuidado con lo que deseas: esta adaptación de la novela de William Golding firmada por Jack Thorne (Adolescencia) te helará la sangre en las venas con su retrato de unos niños ingleses que naufragan en una isla tropical... y se deslizan de inmediato hacia el salvajismo y la ultraviolencia.

'Spider-Noir' (Prime Video, 8 episodios)

Por si no bastase con la historia de un 'Spidey' alternativo que trabaja de detective y tiene el rostro de Nicolas Cage, esta serie nos da la opción de ver a 'Nic' lanzando redes en color o en blanco y negro mientras vive una historia que combina el universo Marvel con el ambiente de clásicos del misterio como El halcón maltés. Está claro que, si Phil Lord y Chris Miller no existieran, tendríamos que inventarlos.

'The Hack' (Filmin, 7 episodios)

Tras el éxito de Adolescencia, Jack Thorne está que no para. En esta miniserie, el guionista y Lewis Arnold (Misfits) reúnen a los grandísimos David Tennant y Robert Carlyle para un híbrido de comedia satírica y drama criminal que recrea uno de los hechos más vergonzosos del periodismo británico: la trama de escuchas telefónicas que, tras ser destapado en 2009, llevó al cierre del tabloide News of the World.

Ao longo dos próximos quatro dias, os melhores jogadores de ténis de praia do planeta vão atuar no areal da Praia da Rocha, em Portimão, o local escolhido pela Federação Portuguesa de Ténis para organizar o Sand Series, que com um prize-money de 115.000 dólares se assume como o torneio mais importante da Europa. No quadro masculino, […]

A proximidade da Copa do Mundo também influenciou a programação da Netflix para o mês de junho. A plataforma anunciou uma seleção de produções esportivas que têm o futebol como principal destaque, reunindo estreias, documentários e títulos já consagrados pelo público.

Entre as novidades está México 1986, filme original que retrata, por meio de uma narrativa marcada pelo humor e pela sátira, os bastidores da escolha do país como sede do Mundial realizado naquele ano. A produção busca revisitar um dos momentos mais importantes da história do futebol mexicano sob uma perspectiva pouco convencional.

Os fãs da Seleção Brasileira também terão conteúdo voltado à conquista do tetracampeonato. O documentário Tetra: Acreditar de Novo resgata a campanha vitoriosa do Brasil na Copa do Mundo de 1994, disputada nos Estados Unidos. A obra reúne depoimentos exclusivos e imagens registradas pelos próprios atletas durante a competição.

Outro lançamento previsto é a série Várzea: Onde Nasce o Futebol, que volta os holofotes para os campos amadores espalhados pelo país e para personagens que ajudam a manter viva uma das expressões mais populares do esporte brasileiro.

A programação esportiva de junho ainda contará com o documentário Diego Maradona, dedicado à trajetória de um dos maiores nomes da história do futebol mundial, além da chegada de todos os filmes da franquia Rocky Balboa, clássico do cinema que atravessou gerações e se tornou referência entre as produções inspiradas no esporte.

Confira os lançamentos de séries da Netflix para junho

Séries

Série	Data de estreia
Notas da Última Fila	Em breve
Law & Order: SVU – Temporadas 12 a 16	1º de junho
A Testemunha	4 de junho
Sobreviventes: Na Selva	10 de junho
The Rest is Football	10 de junho
Viral Hit	11 de junho
Doces Magnólias: Temporada 5	11 de junho
Perdendo o Juízo	12 de junho
Eu Vou Te Encontrar	18 de junho
As Bruxas Mayfair de Anne Rice	18 de junho
Oasis	19 de junho
Várzea: Onde Nasce o Futebol	20 de junho
Avatar: O Último Mestre do Ar: Temporada 2	25 de junho

Filmes:

Filme	Data de estreia
Rocky: Um Lutador	1º de junho
Rocky II – A Revanche	1º de junho
Rocky III – O Desafio Supremo	1º de junho
Rocky IV	1º de junho
Rocky V	1º de junho
Rocky Balboa	1º de junho
Creed: Nascido para Lutar	1º de junho
Creed II	1º de junho
Creed III	1º de junho
O Hobbit – Uma Jornada Inesperada	1º de junho
O Hobbit: A Desolação de Smaug	1º de junho
O Hobbit: A Batalha dos Cinco Exércitos	1º de junho
Kick-Ass 2	5 de junho
A Sogra	5 de junho
Penetras Bons de Bico	5 de junho
Watchmen – O Filme	5 de junho
México 1986	5 de junho
Paixão de Escritório	5 de junho
O Casamento de Rachel	8 de junho
Não Fale o Mal	12 de junho
Flashdance	12 de junho
Onde os Fracos Não Têm Vez	19 de junho
Destino Especial	19 de junho
Mensagens Para Isabelle	19 de junho
Miami Vice	20 de junho
Little Brother	26 de junho
Maridos em Ação	Em breve

Documentários:

Documentário / Especial	Data de estreia
Diego Maradona	4 de junho
Tetra: Acreditar de Novo	7 de junho

Desenhos:

Título	Data de estreia
Davi: Nasce um Rei	3 de junho
Sesame Street: De Volta à Vila Sésamo – Volume 3	8 de junho
Pokémon: Horizontes – Temporada 3 – Altas Esperanças: Parte 3	26 de junho
Uma Noite no Museu	26 de junho
Uma Noite no Museu 2	26 de junho
Uma Noite no Museu 3: O Segredo da Tumba	26 de junho

Animes:

Anime	Data de estreia
One Piece: Whole Cake Island 6	1º de junho
One Piece: Whole Cake Island 7	1º de junho

The post Netflix revela estreias de junho com séries, filmes, animes e documentários appeared first on Diário da Manhã - O Jornal do leitor Inteligente.