The following article discusses the fourth season of Star Trek: Lower Decks.

There’s a risk, using a word like “should” that we’re a short hop away from a tantrum to police the borders of What Proper Star Trek(™) is. But after watching most of Star Trek: Lower Decks’ fourth season, it does feel as if the show’s outlook is the most Star Trek of the bunch. Part of this is because the show is mature enough to laugh at itself, and part of it is because it’s now letting its characters grow. This is a sitcom, so its first duty is to be funny rather than weighty, but it’s a welcome sight to see the quartet escape the bottom rung.

I don’t think that’s much of a spoiler, because it’s in the trailer, the press material and the cast’s promotional interviews with TrekMovie. At the start of season four, some of the quartet get their promotions to Lieutenant Junior Grade, and out of their shared bunk. Now they’re expected to lead away missions, take on real real responsibilities and actually lead other people. It affects them all differently, with Boimler struggling to grow into his role, and Mariner fighting every urge in her body not to self-sabotage, with varying degrees of success. And it’s here, I think, that we see the side of Star Trek that so often gets overlooked in its other properties.

After all, Starfleet is an organization of people coming together to do better for other people, but also to improve themselves. For every daring scientific experiment and skin-of-the-teeth rescue, we see more of the senior officers’ desire to actually nurture their charges. This, too, helps to broaden the series’ focus, to include T’Lyn, the fan-favorite who joined the Cerritos at the end of last season. The broader view also gives Captain Freeman more of a central role in several episodes, especially highlighting the times when her knowledge is ignored by her superiors. For all we’ve seen of the dung rolling downhill and landing in Beta Shift’s trench, it’s not as if those higher up the chain don’t get their fair share of excrement, too.

I wonder if its status as Star Trek’s officially-sanctioned Class Clown gives it room to be more subversive than anyone gives it credit for. Time and again, both in this series and before, we see totems of Star Trek’s past commoditized and packaged for sale. It’s an easy way to milk fans’ nostalgia glands, but it’s also potentially a subtle critique about the nature of nostalgia. As much as Lower Decks was created by a Next Generation fan who wants to recapture some of that magic, it’s also a commentary on that very same desire. And the show’s creative team is clear-eyed enough to notice that series’ blind spots and mine them for comedy.

But, for all of this high-falutin’ talk, this remains Lower Decks, a series that can have you in tears at the sight of a pair of dueling [SPOILERS] trying to out-compliment each other. And, if nothing else, it’s a pleasure to spend more time with Starfleet’s horniest and weirdest crew.

The first two episodes of Star Trek: Lower Decks will be available to watch on Paramount+ on Thursday, September 7. A new episode will arrive on subsequent Thursdays.

Late-night comedy’s five biggest hosts are starting a podcast. Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver and Jimmy Fallon will host Strike Force Five, a weekly chat about “the complexities behind the ongoing Hollywood strikes.” All proceeds will go to out-of-work staff from the hosts’ five talk shows.

“The hosts bring their unique insights, opinions, and humor to the show as they navigate the Hollywood strikes and beyond,” a Spotify blog post reads. The five comedians will take turns moderating the episodes. Spotify’s Megaphone is producing the series, and the streaming service is the podcast’s sole sales partner — but the series isn’t exclusive to the platform. “[It’s available on] Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts,” Meyers said in a video Kimmel posted to X (formerly Twitter). “But Spotify, you fucks,” Oliver aggressively deadpanned.

The series launches on August 30th (day 120 of the strike, as noted byTVLine). It will run for at least 12 episodes.

The Writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP) have been at odds without much discernible progress since the WGA began striking on May 2nd. The WGA described the sides’ latest meeting last week as more of a “lecture” than a negotiation. “We were met with a lecture about how good their single and only counteroffer was,” the WGA negotiating committee wrote to members. “But this wasn’t a meeting to make a deal. This was a meeting to get us to cave, which is why, not 20 minutes after we left the meeting, the AMPTP released its summary of their proposals. This was the companies’ plan from the beginning — not to bargain, but to jam us. It is their only strategy — to bet that we will turn on each other.”

Quirky game publisher Panic's first-ever digital games showcase is about to kick off. The event, dubbed the Panic Games Showcase, can be streamed directly on Panic’s YouTube channel starting today at 1PM ET, or you can come back right here to catch all the action.

The showcase will feature a 20-minute video presentation with Panic's games publishing roadmap, including new looks at previously announced games Nour: Play With Your Food and Despelote. During the event, you can also expect to hear about new unannounced titles, along with new game development partnerships. While there are no further details on upcoming games, we do know there will be no mention of the Playdate. It's likely that the games being discussed at this event will be for PC or more popular gaming consoles, like the PS5 and Nintendo Switch.

With this event, Panic is hoping to gain more recognition as a full-fledged game publisher by showing off the games in its pipeline. Despite its smaller size, Panic is known for pushing unconventional but interesting games that really capture players. Untitled Goose Game is one example of that, as is just about everything that’s been released for Panic’s Playdate hardware.

In a press release, co-founder Cabel Sasser expressed his excitement about the Panic Games Showcase. He also hinted at a wide variety of games, saying viewers will come away excited about at least one new game that piqued their interest.

"A lot of people out there know us as makers of Mac software like Transmit and Nova. And some people know us as the creators of the Playdate handheld video game system. And honestly, not very many people know us as the publisher of Firewatch and Untitled Goose Game”, Sasser said. “We thought it’d be fun to put on a little show and let the world know about the wonderful games we’ve been working on publishing, from amazing developers all around the world.”

Not since The Wizard hyped up an entire generation for Super Mario Bros. 3 has a film about video games felt as naked a marketing ploy as Gran Turismo. Based on an improbable true story, the movie follows Jann Mardenborough (Archie Madekwe), a 20-something Gran Turismo fanatic who wins a Nissan-sponsored contest to race professionally. Even more improbable (and this is technically a spoiler, but hell, it's also real life), he manages to hold his own in the racing world. The original story was already a dream marketing win for Nissan and Sony, but now the two companies can milk it once again to bolster the mythology of Gran Turismo. Don't call it a game – it's a driving simulator.

Cynicism aside, the Gran Turismo film, directed by Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Chappie), successfully hits every mile marker you'd expect. Mardenborough doesn't have much support from his parents early on, but he ultimately proves them wrong. There's an entitled rival racer from the Cobra Kai school of villainy who you can't help but hate. And the movie sports genuinely thrilling race sequences, thanks to Blomkamp's inventive camera work and use of visual effects. Gran Turismo even manages to get some genuinely moving performances from David Harbour and Djimon Hounsou. It's the very definition of a crowd pleaser.

But the film also constantly reminds you that it's meant to sell you Sony products in an alien reality where Apple doesn't exist. No joke: One character is inexplicably attached to his Walkman cassette player, and he only moves on when he's gifted a modern Walkman digital music player in an overwrought emotional moment. (Outside of Hideo Kojima's Twitter feed, I've never seen a normal human use one of those things.) (Ed note: It’s debatable whether or not the guy who created Death Stranding is a “normal human”.)

Had Sony just relaxed a bit, the film would have seemed less like a desperate marketing ploy. But as it stands, I couldn't help but cringe every time we encountered another moment of corporate promotional synergy. Even before we're introduced to Mardenborough, the movie begins with a short promo reel hyping up Gran Turismo creator Kazunori Yamauchi, who spent five years developing the first game in the series. It's the sort of over-produced clip you'd expect during one of Sony's PlayStation Showcase events or the Game Awards – not a theatrically released film.

Sony also doesn’t trust the audience to view actual footage from the Gran Turismo games. We see Mardenborough playing early on, but it looks far too sharp to be Gran Turismo 5 on the PS3 – the title he actually competed with in real life. Instead, we're shown footage that looks closer to the incredibly realistic PlayStation 5 version of the game (though I wouldn't be surprised if it's all CG generated, instead of showing us actual gameplay). Rather than lean into the incredible lengths Sony pushed the PlayStation 3 at the time, the film sells a beautiful lie.

Of course, you can argue that every adaptation is ultimately a marketing ploy. But even the incredibly safe Super Mario Bros. Movie didn't feel as desperate as Gran Turismo. Sure, Mario was filled with oodles of references for fans, but there was a level of confidence in that movie that Gran Turismo lacks. Nintendo didn't need to push new hardware or games through that movie, its mere existence promoted the company's overall brand.

Sony Pictures Entertainment

It’s almost a miracle that Gran Turismo still manages to be enjoyable. It’s more fun than the forgettable Uncharted movie, and you can’t help but root for Mardenborough. He achieves the ultimate gamer dream: What if you could actually bring your virtual skills to the real world? It’s just a shame that the true story is fundamentally a PlayStation ad, and Sony couldn’t help but use the film to sell itself even more.

Max, formerly known as HBO Max, will give subscribers access to several AMC shows, at least for a limited time. The streaming service has struck a deal with AMC to feature some of its more recent programming from September 1st to October 31st. According to CNBC and Variety, their deal encompasses over 200 episodes from titles that include Fear the Walking Dead, Anne Rice's Interview With the Vampire and Killing Eve. AMC will even make more of its shows available through Max this fall. 

While the network has its own streaming service called AMC+, it's been struggling to make money off it and to keep up with rival providers. When company chairman James Dolan sent a memo to staff members in the midst of layoffs last year, he wrote: "It was our belief that cord cutting losses would be offset by gains in streaming. This has not been the case."

AMC's programs will be marked as such on the Max app and will be listed in a tab labeled as "AMC+ Picks on Max." They will be available to both ad-free and ad-supported Max subscribers, though the AMC+ titles will reportedly not include commercials and ads. HBO EVP Meredith Gertler said "[t]he AMC+ collection pop up is an excellent example of how [the company] can use innovative strategies to add value to [its] content offering." 

The parties have yet to announce the other titles arriving on Max this fall, but CNBC says they will not include AMC's biggest shows, such as Mad Men and The Walking Dead. Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, which also won't be making their way to Max, are already licensed to Netflix. 

The release of Dune: Part Two has been pushed back to March 15th amid ongoing writer and actor strikes, according to Variety. The hotly anticipated film was originally scheduled for November 3rd, but Warner Bros. and producer Legendary Entertainment agreed to delay it over four months — likely because the film wouldn't meet its full box office potential without publicity from the star-studded cast. 

The studio and production company held out on delaying the film as long as possible, according The Hollywood Reporter, but would have needed to start advertising the film by early September. It reportedly hoped the extra time would allow the cast, which includes Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh and Christopher Walken, to participate in a full marketing push.

Along with Part Two, Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire and Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim have been pushed back to April 12th, 2024 and December 13th, 2024, respectively. Those dates were shuffled largely to accommodate Dune: Part Two. 

The ongoing labor actions by writers and actors in Hollywood are a result of long-simmering tensions over a number of issues, but particularly due to residual payments from Netflix and other streaming platforms. Warner Bros. Discovery was at the center of these in the recent past, as it elected to release some films either directly to its HBO Max (now MAX) streaming platform with zero or limited theatrical releases. However, CEO David Zaslav said last year that the company "will fully embrace theatrical" going forward. 

Dune: Part One performed well enough at the box office with a $402 million gross, but hype for the sequel is much higher. "Part One is more of a contemplative movie. Part Two is an action-packed, epic war movie. It is much more dense. We went to all new locations," said director Denis Villeneuve. 

The Call of Duty franchise continues its Fortnite-ification by announcing the latest playable character will be Tomb Raider star Lara Croft. The fictional grave robber will appear in Call of Duty: Warzone and Modern Warfare II, joining recent real-life playable characters like Nicki Minaj, Snoop Dogg, Kevin Durant and various characters from the Prime Video show The Boys, among others.

Publisher Activision hasn’t announced details as to how you get Lara Croft on your side, though it’s likely you’ll have to purchase some sort of bundle to access the renowned ruins ruiner. For instance, Minaj was available as part of the $10 season 5 battle pack. There will also likely be Croft-related items, skins and weapons for sale, though her signature dual-wielded pistols should be part of the initial buy-in.

Additionally, the publisher hasn’t announced when Croft would officially debut as a battle-tested combatant. There’s a mid-season update coming for season 5, which would be as good a place as any to introduce the treasure hunter. Engadget reached out to Activision for clarification regarding pricing and availability.

In related news, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare IIIis rapidly approaching, hitting consoles in November. As for Croft, the last mainline Tomb Raider game was 2018’s Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Developer Crystal Dynamics, along with Amazon, announced in December that a new game is on the way and that it'll be a “single-player, narrative-driven adventure” built using unreal Engine 5. Amazon is also making a Tomb Raider TV show, though who knows when that’ll premiere.

The long-awaited web version of Threads has finally arrived. After announcing that its Twitter competitor would be accessible from browsers earlier this week, Meta’s rollout is finally underway. Instagram head Adam Mosseri confirmed Thursday the update is now live for all users.

That means if you’ve been impatiently refreshing threads.net in waiting for it to be available, you should check again. Up to now, many Threads users have been frustrated by the lack of a web version. Though it was possible to manually navigate to a specific user’s profile, people have been unable to browse their feeds, post, reply or even log in to their accounts from browsers. 

As the app has seen a significant drop-off in engagement following its initial launch, many have viewed the lack of a web version as a significant barrier to the app. Both Mark Zuckerberg and Mosseri have been promising a web version was high on their agenda for Threads, though Mosseri recently said the team was working out some bugs with the experience. 

Now that the web version is finally live, it will be interesting to see which of the many “missing” features Threads will get next. Users have also complained about the lack of content search — right now people can only search for users, not for specific posts — and hashtags, both of which help people discover new content on Instagram and Twitter.

One feature, however, that seems unlikely is the addition of DMs. Mosseri has said he’s reluctant to add another inbox to user’s lives, though he recently raised the possibility of incorporating Instagram DMs into the Threads experience. But he did confirm that post-editing features are in the works, so at least Threads users won’t have to wait more than a decade for an edit button.

CNN+ lasted barely over a month before Warner Bros. Discovery pulled the plug last year amid reports of abysmally lower viewer numbers. But the company still thinks there’s room for live news from CNN on a streaming service.

It’s bringing CNN Max to all Max tiers in the US at no extra cost on September 27th. The new round-the-clock service will “be part of an open beta for news that will enable experimentation with product features, content offerings and original storytelling, all with the input and feedback from the Max community," WBD said in a press release.

CNN Max will feature original programming, as well as live programs from CNN US and CNN International. New shows include CNN Newsroom with Jim Acosta, Rahel Solomon, Amara Walker and Fredricka Whitfield and CNN Newsroom with Jim Sciutto. The streaming channel will feature several CNN tentpoles as well, like Amanpour, Anderson Cooper 360, The Lead with Jake Tapper and The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.

Meanwhile, WBD will rename Max’s CNN Originals hub to CNN Max. Non-news CNN programming like Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown and Stanley Tucci: Searching for Italy will be available through this hub, along with the new 24/7 channel and more than 900 episodes of new and classic programming.

CNN Max is perhaps a less-risky bet for WBD than CNN+. CNN sank hundreds of millions of dollars into that endeavor. CNN+ was more personality-centric, while it seems CNN Max will be aligned with CNN proper’s approach to news. Having a blend of CNN and original programming should help keep costs down too.

Amazon is still working on a Fallout TV series — and we'll finally find out next year whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. The company has revealed that the Fallout TV show will premiere on Prime Video sometime in 2024, over three years after it first announced that it was developing an adaptation of the franchise with the creators of Westworld. According to GameSpot, Bethesda's Todd Howard and Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer presented a short teaser of the upcoming series at Gamescom's Xbox booth. 

The brief clip reportedly showed a nuclear explosion near a city resembling Los Angeles, characters crossing a wasteland and a woman emerging from one of Fallout's Vaults. And, as you can see above, Prime Video shared an image confirming LA to be the site for Vault 33. In October last year, Amazon's Prime Video X account posted a photo of characters wearing Vault 33 suits, and before that, a few behind-the-scenes images for Vault 32 leaked online. 

When the series was first announced, Bethesda said it had been looking for ways to adapt the Fallout games into a movie or a TV show over the past decade. The adaptation that it eventually approved, written and developed by Lisa Joy and Jonathan Nolan, will take on a "serious and harsh" tone but will also feature "ironic humor" and "B-movie nuclear fantasies."