Entertainment
How Censorship Ruined Star Trek's Sexiest Planet
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
In Star Trek, there is a planet named Risa that is known for one thing: being the most sexually adventurous destination location in the galaxy. We got our greatest look at this pleasure planet in Deep Space Nine’s “Let He Who Is Without Sin,” an episode that producers originally intended to fill with bikinis and naughty storylines. Unfortunately, they faced so much censorship from the network that the raunchiness was completely neutered, leaving showrunner Ira Steven Behr to declare that there was no longer any point to the story they were trying to tell.
Speaking of which, the story in “Let He Who Is Without Sin” is that Worf and Jadzia Dax want to hash out their relationship problems on Risa, and they bring Quark, Bashir, and Leeta along for the ride. But Worf hates the relative softness of this pleasure planet and its people almost right away, which is why he falls in with a group of radicals who think Risa is the prime example of Federation citizens becoming overly weak. After committing some light eco-terrorism (as a treat) by screwing with the planet’s weather system, Worf learns the error of his ways and patches things up with Jadzia.
Where’s All The Sex?
Most Star Trek fans who hate this episode do so because the Worf storyline is utterly insane: his actions affect thousands of people, and he never faces any consequences whatsoever. However, the writers and producers behind this Deep Space Nine episode believed it failed for a reason entirely different from the one they had in mind. Namely, network censorship kept them from portraying anything too naughty on the pleasure planet, ultimately making Risa feel sexless and boring.
In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Companion, veteran Deep Space Nine writer Robert Hewitt Wolfe is quoted as explaining why Star Trek couldn’t do anything really risque with its most infamous sex planet. “Kids watch this show, and in some markets it airs at five o’clock,” which “meant we couldn’t show skin” and “there was no sex.” At that point, “It became a totally asexual show, and once that happened, the whole thing got flushed down the toilet because none of it made sense anymore.”
What Slips In Must Slip Out
To his credit, Wolfe understood immediately that these restrictions were going to ruin the story he had written, and he tried to warn the showrunner (and co-writer) Ira Steven Behr. In a later interview with Geektown, Behr said that Wolfe kept telling him, “let’s pull the plug on this,” and “this is not going to work.” In retrospect, he agreed, but admitted that at the time, “I just didn’t have the guts to dump it.”
As for why “Let He Who Is Without Sin” couldn’t work with all the censorship requirements, Behr said that in order “to do a really sexy show about Risa,” they had to be able to portray characters “experiencing pleasures” of a carnal nature. Unfortunately, he discovered that “you couldn’t even have sexy bathing suits, really.” The producers also couldn’t have sexy birthday suits: after filming a naked massage scene, Leeta actor Chase Masterson was told by executive producer Rick Berman that the scene was getting cut because it was “too sexy for Star Trek.”
Sex: The Next Generation
On top of his general creative frustrations over what they could and couldn’t show onscreen, Ira Steven Behr hated the fact that this censorship rendered Worf’s story completely nonsensical. Summing up his concerns, he asked Geektown, “Why the hell were we doing this dumb show about someone who is upset about Risa when Risa seemed so unassuming and so tame?” Originally, Behr wanted to present a society so permissive and hedonistic that even the forward-thinking Star Trek fandom would question whether this planet had gone too far in embracing pure sexuality.
Unfortunately, network restrictions killed any real exploration of sexuality, and making the required changes to the story meant the writers never addressed the big plot hole in “Let He Who Is Without Sin:” the fact that Worf is never penalized by Starfleet for a blatant act of petulant ecoterrorism. As Behr points out, the entire plot about Worf hating Risa’s hedonism makes no sense when the entire planet has zero sex appeal. Ultimately, the failure to properly portray Risa and properly motivate Worf cements this as one of the worst Deep Space Nine episodes ever made.
Entertainment
SNL opens with another Pete Hegseth press conference
Saturday Night Live returned from a brief hiatus Saturday with a cold open depicting a joint press conference between Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and FBI Director Kash Patel, with “Master of None” creator Aziz Ansari playing the latter.
Colin Jost’s Hegseth hit the familiar beats at the podium — performative machismo, military bravado, and repeated jabs at the secretary’s well-documented drinking habits. This time, Hegseth arrived at the mic hauling an oversized pitcher of scotch, which he assured the room was his one for the day. He then fielded questions from the press about the administration’s handling of U.S. strikes on Iran, dismissing each reporter with the particular brand of smug confidence that has become central to Jost’s portrayal of the character.
Ansari’s Patel proved to be the sketch’s standout, arriving to defend his tenure at the FBI and proceeding to do so poorly. The bit’s centerpiece involved Patel simultaneously denying and admitting that he had locked himself out of his work email for 36 hours after forgetting he had changed his password to “kashmeoutside69.”
Funnily enough, Patel was reportedly locked out of his FBI email in real life and believed, at least momentarily, that he was being fired. As the sketch demonstrated, the distance between SNL’s Cold Open and the actual news cycle has rarely felt smaller.
Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 3, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will require some knowledge of popular U.S. sports and pop culture.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
Mashable Top Stories
Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: In Good Shape
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Green: Current NFL Head Coaches
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Blue: Famous Sports “Curses”
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Purple: Starts of Big Ten Names
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #586 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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In Good Shape: AGIL, ATHLETIC, FIT, STRONG
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Current NFL Head Coaches: COEN, GLENN, REID, RYANS
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Famous Sports “Curses”: BAMBINO, BILLY GOAT, MADDEN, SI COVER
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Starts of Big Ten Names: BOIL, BUCK, CORN, HAWK
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to yesterday’s Connections.
Entertainment
The DJI Mini 5 Pro drone is $500 off right now at Amazon — save on this content creator favorite
SAVE $500: The DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale for $1,099 at Amazon. That’s $500 off the list price of $1,599.
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What’s going to happen to the drone market in 2026? Due to legislative pressure on DJI imports in the U.S., there is so much uncertainty at the moment. We expected stock issues by now, but we’re actually seeing strong discounts on some of the best drones in the DJI range.
The DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale for $1,099 at Amazon. That’s $500 off and close to the record-low price.
The DJI Mini 5 Pro offers a huge 1-inch CMOS sensor, so whether you’re shooting 50MP stills or 4K/120fps slow-motion, the dynamic range more than delivers. The DJI Mini 5 Pro also makes use of forward-facing LiDAR that powers the new Nightscape Omnidirectional Sensing, meaning it can dodge branches, power lines, and buildings even when you don’t have eyes on your drone.
This popular drone offers 42GB of internal storage, meaning you can actually capture a full session of 4K footage without needing an external card as backup. That can have a massive impact for content creators.
Mashable Deals
Save $500 on the DJI Mini 5 Pro this weekend.
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