We're kicking off Earth month with the Disney+
Original Series "Secrets of the Whales,"
from National Geographic.
Then, we have Dave Goelz from "The Muppet Show"
and so much more.
I'm Jenny.
And I'm Andre.
This is "What's Up, Disney+," where
we talk all things Disney+.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
"Secrets of the Whales," the Disney+
Original Series from National Geographic,
chronicles the whale way of life and their challenges
and triumphs in an ever-changing ocean.
Joining us today is National Geographic
explorer and photographer, Brian Skerry,
brought to you by Geico.
For bundling made it easy, go to Geico.com.
Welcome to the show, Brian.
We're excited to have you.
Oh, it's my pleasure, Jenny.
Thank you.
It's a pleasure.
You're one of the world's top ocean photographers.
You have spent 10,000 hours underwater documenting
uncharted territory and bringing awareness
on environmental issues.
Tell us about your work and how you got into it.
As a little boy growing up in Massachusetts,
my parents would take me to the beaches.
We didn't live near the ocean, but I
wanted to get out and explore.
There was something very mysterious
about that dark ocean surface that I wanted to dip beneath.
So, when I was old enough to begin scuba diving,
about age 15--
and I remember for the first time putting on a tank
and regulator and sitting in the shallow end
and breathing underwater.
And it was just a game-changer for me.
But it was maybe a year or two after that that I attended
a diving conference in Boston.
And I remember sitting in the audience
and watching photographers and filmmakers present their work.
And I often describe it as an epiphany, you know.
I knew I wanted to be an ocean explorer,
but now I knew how I wanted to do it-- with a camera.
It was a long sort of evolution to figure
out how to get to do it.
But dreams do come true.
And for decades now,
I've gotten to swim with sharks and whales and sea
turtles, and tell their stories.
That's awesome.
I don't know about the swimming with sharks.
I respect you for that one.
[LAUGHTER]
They're not so bad.
That's really cool.
What is a typical day look like for you?
A normal day might be an 18-hour day
in the field where I'm getting up
at 5 or 6 in the morning.
Then go out to the boat-- try to spend as many hours
underwater as I can.
You know, natural history moments don't reveal themselves
usually very quickly.
So, I'm often limited by how much
time I can spend underwater.
I can either have a scuba tank-- so I might spend an hour
underwater on a given dive-- or, with the whales,
I'm only underwater as long as I can hold my breath.
I'm free diving.
I get in the water.
I have to get close, and I have to make those pictures.
So, it's really on the animals' terms,
and they have to allow me into their world.
Now I know this is going to be difficult to answer,
but what do you love most about your work?
You know, it's evolved throughout the course
of my career, in the sense that I began to see
a greater purpose, perhaps.
You know, that there was a lot of problems occurring
in the world's oceans.
And if I could shine a light on those and tell stories--
not only about the problems, but the solutions
as well-- that maybe we could move the needle
in favor of conservation.
We could restore the planet.
It's what it's about.
It's about the animals, it's about conservation,
it's about educating people on these creatures.
And, you know, with "Secrets of the Whales,"
it's just a great way for us to come along on this journey
and learn about this.
It-- it is the most ambitious and most exciting project
of my career because it was sort of this confluence of working
with charismatic animals, using cutting-edge science
to reveal human-like traits.
To me, understanding that whales have ancestral traditions,
that they have cultures, that they celebrate identity, and--
and personality-- and realize that-- that we
share this planet with other species that are not below us,
but similar to us in many ways-- that maybe
we would change our perception.
Disney had it right all along, you know--
that animals talk, they sing, they do things just like us,
so--
yeah.
I think its-- I think it's fabulous.
This project looks like such an undertaking.
What was the production like?
So, we worked in 24 locations.
And we're trying to tell a story.
So, it is complex, but we were very lucky in every location.
You know, there were these extraordinary moments
in New Zealand.
We were hoping to get orca feeding on stingrays.
This one day, I was able to get in the water,
and here was this family of orcas feeding
in a shallow water harbor.
And then this adult female is coming towards me,
and she's got a stingray hanging out of her mouth.
Then she drops it.
She drops the stingray, and it just drifts down to the bottom.
So, I followed it down.
And then out of the corner of my right eye,
I see this giant black and white whale moving in.
And it almost doesn't seem real.
It-- it's enormous.
There's her, there's the ray, and there's me.
And she's looking at me, and looking at the ray,
and looking at me, and looking at the ray, as if to say--
as if to say, you know, are you going to eat that?
So, when I didn't eat the ray, she
very gently bends over and picks it up delicately in her mouth.
And she picks it up, and I was able to get
a still frame while the cameraman
was getting the motion.
And then she turns gently and another member of her family
came in, and they were food sharing.
They were eating together.
You couldn't imagine that in your wildest imagination.
You just hope to see an orca.
You hope to see them doing the behavior that you came to see,
which is not always going to be predictable.
And then to have a moment like that was--
was off the scale.
You've spent your career documenting oceanic wildlife.
What impact do you hope that has on audiences?
98% of the biosphere--
98% of the livable habitable planet, where life
can exist on Earth-- is ocean.
And even though we are terrestrial creatures,
and we see our world from that terrestrial-centric viewpoint,
we very much live on a water planet.
Every other breath that a human being takes
comes from the ocean.
Most of the oxygen we breathe is generated by the sea.
So, it's in our best interest then
to explore this watery world and to protect it.
So, the more we know about animals--
like whales, and their lives, and their personalities,
and their cultures--
then I think the better chance we
have of-- of having the same kind of empathy
that they have for each other.
So, that's my sort of broad hope, you know.
I think if-- if we can see this planet
for the magnificent thing that it is, and understand
that we're not alone on this planet,
and we share with other creatures
that have complex lives-- then that would be a great thing.
That was beautifully stated, Brian.
We cannot thank you enough for being
here and sharing all of these wonderful gems with us.
And I know that so many people are going to take
away a lot from the series.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it.
It's been a great pleasure.
Andre, thanks for the great questions.
Jenny-- and, yeah.
To be continued.
JENNY: The Disney+ Original Series, "Secrets
of the Whales," from National Geographic
is streaming this Earth Day, April 22 on Disney+.
ANDRE: Also, while you're there, make sure to check
out the Earth Day collection.
Now it's time for "What's New."
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ANDRE: Explore the details behind Pixar Animation Studios
in new episodes of "Inside Pixar," an original series
now streaming on Disney+.
Hunter? Check.
Echo? Check.
Tech? Check.
Wrecker? Check.
Crosshair?
Check.
"Star Wars: The Bad Batch," an Original Series,
arrives May the 4th on Disney+.
Check out the new trailer and key art now.
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ANDRE: The Great Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf,
and Zoot are just a few of the Muppet characters
performed by the great Dave Goelz.
And I am excited that we have him here today
on "What's Up, Disney+."
Welcome to the show, Dave.
It's so great to have you here.
Nice to see you, Andre.
You've played so many iconic characters,
from "The Muppet Show," all the way
to today with "Muppets Now."
So, what is the process like to create
the voice of those characters?
Usually, there's a puppet first.
Not always, but usually.
And so, if there is the puppet kind of tells you who it is.
A good puppet is designed with a character that's evident.
So, you simply try to match a voice and a behavior
and a thought process with what the puppet is.
In the case of Bunsen Honeydew, I was building him.
I built Bunsen in the workshop.
And Jerry Nelson came in and looked at him, and put him on.
And he sort of talked in this little pinched voice,
like this.
And I remember at the time thinking that was pretty good.
And when Jim asked me to perform him,
I just used that kind of a voice.
There's something really deeply psychological about it,
you know, that these people are little--
they're little machines that represent parts of us,
you know.
And what we try to do is make it believable so that not only
you, but we can buy into it.
How does it feel to have "The Muppet Show" on Disney+
where it can be revisited or discovered
by a new generation of fans?
I'm really thrilled about that,
I think mostly for myself, because I don't have
to get out DVDs or VHSes.
And it's going to look good.
It's going to look very pretty.
It's been all remastered.
And I know that when I start watching them,
I'll remember specifics about the day they were recorded.
And they are also timeless, you know.
They're timeless and not timeless, because some
of the audience won't know these people who are guests,
but they'll be exposed to their talents, you know.
And I think that's a lovely thing.
I've heard there's been some Muppet pranks
that were pulled on the show.
Is that true?
Many, many, many pranks--
and this was a part of the Muppet culture way
before I joined.
And I continued it.
Don Sahlin was this incredible original Muppet maker
who would literally take a bolt, and he
would wrap some fake fur around, and put a little piece of yarn
on it.
And then he would connect rubber band rubber.
Like he bought rolls of 1,000 feet of rubber band rubber.
And he would stretch it around all the table legs in the shop.
And then with a T-pin, he'd stick it down 30 feet
away from his desk.
And so, when he was ready he could just pull that string
and the mouse would start running through the room.
And he used to plan it for when our Greek bookkeeper, Helos
Gogos, came down to the shop to visit us.
He would wait until she got to just the right place,
and he would pull the string.
And she would literally come a foot off the floor
as the mouse went under.
[LAUGHTER]
It's something that you've reminded me I need to--
I need to reinstigate that.
I need to have more pranks now.
We're doing some, but we're not at the level we used to be.
So, I'm curious, did you ever have
to be in a physically uncomfortable position
while performing on the series?
Almost every moment.
Come on, Andre.
Jeez.
It's not a-- it's not a--
it is almost never a comfortable job.
You're either standing like this with your head out of the frame,
or you're in something worse.
We were shooting "The Great Muppet
Caper" at night and a location.
It was a mansion out of the country in England.
And it started to rain.
It's about 2 in the morning, and we were all, like 10 of us
were arranged on this large dolly.
We were literally woven together like a cherry pie topping.
Rather than have us-- we didn't know how long it was
going to rain-- so rather than get all
separated and going to our trailers,
they just threw a tarp over us.
It's just crazy what happens.
Well, thank you so much, Dave, for being here.
It was an honor to talk to you and get so much Muppet history.
Great to chat with you, Andre.
"The Muppet Show" is now streaming on Disney+.
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We dove in the "Secrets of the Whales,"
a Disney+ Original Series from National Geographic.
And we talked to the Dave Goelz from "The Muppet Show."
That's our show for today.
Be sure to head on over to Disney+ to stream
all of your favorites and more.
We'll see you next--
Jenny?
Technology these days.
All right, we'll see you next time, folks.
April fools.
I knew it.
Get me every time, Jenny.
Yes, you've guessed it already--
the electric sledge hammer.
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