Entertainment
What Everyone Is Getting Wrong About Star Trek’s Starfleet Academy
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
The new Star Trek spinoff, Starfleet Academy, has had a controversial launch, and I have been one of its harshest critics; after all, the show’s casual mangling of franchise lore and cringeworthy humor is sometimes downright painful to watch. However, the one criticism that I’ve always found insane is fans hating how the show often focuses on its young cadets learning something about themselves and embracing a hidden power they didn’t realize was there. The reason this critique is so silly is simple: Starfleet Academy is explicitly designed as a Young Adult show, and this kind of storytelling is a major part of the most famous YA literature.
Season 1 of Starfleet Academy has spent many episodes focusing on specific characters: “Kids These Days” is all about Caleb losing his mother and becoming a criminal who seeks redemption (not to mention a surrogate mommy figure) in Starfleet. “Beta Test” focuses on how Betazed princess Tamina builds a new life for herself at the War College, and “Vox in Excelso” is about the Klingon Jay-Den making peace with his family and with the cultural heritage that he simultaneously embraces and rejects. Most famously, “Series Acclimation Mil” focuses on SAM as she studies Benjamin Sisko, all in the hopes of being a better emissary for her holographic race.
You Can Blame Harry Potter For This
These kinds of stories aren’t for everyone, and they will be particularly disappointing to fans who want stories with higher stakes. However, Star Trek fans who relentlessly dunk on these kinds of stories are missing the point of what Paramount is trying to do: recruit younger fans into the Star Trek family. With Starfleet Academy, they are attempting to do so in the most straightforward way possible: by copying the formula made famous by Harry Potter and countless other book franchises aimed at Young Adults.
Ask yourself: beyond the specifics about wands and broomsticks, what is the story of Harry Potter about? It’s about the titular character leading a fairly boring existence until he is plucked out of obscurity and whisked away to a magical academy. There, he learns that he is a special person of important destiny, one who is destined to take on the greatest threat the Wizarding World has ever known.
May The Odds Be Ever In Paramount’s Favor
This basic formula plays out again and again in YA literature: The Hunger Games, for example, is about an unassuming young woman who receives special training and taps into abilities that help her take on a fascist dictator. Twilight is about an equally unassuming young woman who falls in love with a vampire, eventually discovering special mental abilities that she uses to save the day before becoming a creature of the night. Oh, and Percy Jackson & the Olympians involves the titular everyman character finding out he’s a literal demigod whose training will eventually help him overcome a Titan bent on ruling the world.
Starfleet Academy is doing its own version of this with its cadets: the academy functions a bit like Hogwarts, representing an entirely new world to these traumatized youngsters who grew up during the Burn. There, they all discover that the things that have always made them outcasts are actually special strengths that can help them serve the greater good. Caleb’s lifetime of criminal activity makes him a scrappy and resourceful hero, SAM’s relative lack of life experience gives her fresh insights, Jay-Den’s rejection of Klingon values helps him become a better Starfleet officer, and so on.
Kids Will Be Kids (Even Chosen Ones)
Does this mean you need to magically like Starfleet Academy’s preferred brand of storytelling? Of course not: by definition, YA literature is aimed at young adults, and many longtime Star Trek fans are very thoroughly middle-aged. Therefore, it’s no great shock that stories designed to appeal to teenagers are often off-putting to older viewers who are unlikely to pick up such books in the first place.
However, Starfleet Academy has been (slowly but surely) getting better at balancing out its YA-centric “everyone is a special chosen one” storytelling with more serious and ambitious episodes aimed at more discerning viewers. In time, Paramount may succeed and, like JK Rowling’s famous books, appeal to fans of all ages. If not, though, this attempt to appeal to bite Harry Potter’s style could backfire, casting “Avada Kedavra” on the franchise and killing Star Trek altogether.
Entertainment
Worried about your digital privacy? I tested the top 3 VPNs to find the best of the best.
ExpressVPN is my top choice for anyone who needs a VPN while they’re traveling. It’s a well-established provider that offers city-level access to servers throughout the entire U.S. Plus, some of its plans come bundled with useful bonus tools — including an eSIM with several days’ worth of unlimited data.
ExpressVPN launched a separate free VPN service called EventVPN in September 2025. I haven’t tested the free version yet, but it seems promising: Users get access to servers in over 35 countries with zero data limits. (Proton Free restricts you to servers in 10 randomly selected countries, while TunnelBear’s free tier caps you at 2GB of data per month.) The only catch is that EventVPN makes you watch ads before every session. I’ll update this guide with my thoughts once I’ve tried it.
Read Mashable’s full review of ExpressVPN.
ProtonVPN may have the bigger global server network, but ExpressVPN has a few advantages over its competitor when it comes to travel. For one thing, it’s the rare VPN provider with servers in all 50 U.S. states. (ProtonVPN and other premium VPNs stick to major U.S. cities.) Anyone working or living abroad won’t have trouble accessing content back home. Additionally, ExpressVPN Pro and Advanced subscribers get access to a holiday.com eSim with a couple of days of unlimited data, among other extra privacy features that make its plans a decent value. An eSim will let your phone connect to a cellular network outside of your home country without a physical SIM card.
ExpressVPN’s heavy U.S. presence also makes it great for unblocking local content — say, regional sports games or adult sites. (For legal reasons, I’m not telling anyone to break laws or violate streaming services’ terms of use.) VPN servers that are close to your actual, physical location will be faster and more reliable than those further away.
Going broader, ExpressVPN has over 3,000 servers in 105 countries worldwide. That’s a pretty small network overall, but there’s still a good amount of global geographic diversity. ProtonVPN’s network is bigger and more spread out, while TunnelBear has more servers but a vastly less extensive reach.
ExpressVPN’s privacy and transparency practices are top-notch. Its privacy policy is thorough and clear on the kind of data it does and doesn’t collect. Most importantly, it never logs users’ browsing history and other sensitive data. This policy has been vetted in independent audits along with ExpressVPN’s apps, server technology, browser extension, and more. (The company started doing these audits in 2018, and since 2022, it’s undergone nearly 20 of them.) It’s only been issuing biannual transparency reports since 2024, but its no-logs claim held up in court way before then. Like ProtonVPN, it offers a bug bounty program.
In my testing, browsing while connected to ExpressVPN servers felt no different than browsing unprotected. It didn’t have a noticeable impact on my connection speed. It was also able to unblock streaming services in the UK, no problem. You get 10 to 14 simultaneous connections, depending on your subscription tier. All plans are backed by a 30-day money-back guarantee and include 24/7 live chat support.
The ExpressVPN app has a clean Corporate Memphis look, and it’s super easy to navigate. As far as features go, you can turn on a kill switch and a split tunneling tool that lets you choose which apps and websites get sent through your VPN tunnel. ExpressVPN lacks common advanced VPN tools like multi-hop and Tor over VPN, which offer extra layers of protection. However, there is a neat built-in “ShuffleIP” feature that swaps your IP address every time you visit a new website, making you tough to track.
As a final note, I think it’s important to mention that ExpressVPN’s parent company doesn’t have the best reputation in the cybersecurity space. My take is that the severity of its issues hinges on your use case. Privacy sticklers and users with critical VPN needs will probably use them as reasons to rule out ExpressVPN entirely, but more casual users might be inclined to brush them off. For more details, read my ExpressVPN review in full.
Entertainment
How to watch Wales vs. France online for free
TL;DR: Live stream Wales vs. France in the 2026 Six Nations for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
The Six Nations started with a number of huge performances from the usual candidates. The best performance from the opening round? It’s difficult to look past France. They dismantled Ireland in front of a passionate Stade de France, making a big statement of intent as the tournament kicked off.
Next France face Wales at the Millennium Stadium. Wales suffered a defeat to England in the opening round, and will be hoping to see improvements over the next few weeks. Fans will expect France to win this one comfortably, but you can never truly count out Wales.
If you want to watch Wales vs. France in the 2026 Six Nations for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
When is Wales vs. France?
Wales vs. France in the 2026 Six Nations starts at 3:10 p.m. GMT on Feb. 15. This fixture takes place at the Millennium Stadium.
How to watch Wales vs. France for free
Wales vs. France in the 2026 Six Nations is available to live stream for free on BBC iPlayer.
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BBC iPlayer is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock BBC iPlayer from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Wales vs. France from anywhere in the world by following these simple steps:
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Subscribe to a streaming-friendly VPN (like ExpressVPN)
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Download the app to your device of choice (the best VPNs have apps for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Linux, and more)
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Open up the app and connect to a server in the UK
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Visit BBC iPlayer
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Live stream Wales vs. France for free from anywhere in the world
$12.99 only at ExpressVPN (with money-back guarantee)
The best VPNs for streaming are not free, but most do offer free-trials or money-back guarantees. By leveraging these offers, you can watch Wales vs. France without committing with your cash. This isn’t a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream most of the 2026 Six Nations before recovering your investment.
If you want to retain permanent access to free streaming services to watch the Winter Olympics, the T20 World Cup, and more from anywhere in the world, you’ll need a subscription. Fortunately, the best VPN for streaming live sport is on sale for a limited time.
What is the best VPN for the 2026 Six Nations?
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport, for a number of reasons:
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Servers in 105 countries including the UK
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Easy-to-use app available on all major devices including iPhone, Android, Windows, Mac, and more
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Strict no-logging policy so your data is secure
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Fast connection speeds free from throttling
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Up to 10 simultaneous connections
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30-day money-back guarantee
A two-year subscription to ExpressVPN is on sale for $68.40 and includes an extra four months for free — 81% off for a limited time. This plan includes a year of free unlimited cloud backup and a generous 30-day money-back guarantee. Alternatively, you can get a one-month plan for just $12.99 (with money-back guarantee).
Live stream Wales vs. France in the 2026 Six Nations for free with ExpressVPN.
Entertainment
Mind-Bending Sci-Fi Anthology Series Is The Digital Age's Twilight Zone
By Robert Scucci
| Published
Sometimes you want to watch sci-fi anthology series like The Twilight Zone, The Outer Limits, or Black Mirror for their existential subject matter without fully diving off a dread-induced deep end. That’s where 2017’s Dimension 404 comes in handy. It tackles the same kind of metaphysical topics while functioning as a straight-up comedy series. Narrated by Mark Hamill and featuring talent like Joel McHale and Patton Oswalt, Dimension 404 plays out like The Twilight Zone for the digital age.
Clocking in at only six episodes across a single season, Dimension 404 is a breezy weekend binge if I’ve ever seen one. It’s a satisfying watch if you’re into the above series but want to lean more toward levity. It’s still cynical and brushes up against the same moral and philosophical conundrums you’d expect from a forward-thinking sci-fi anthology, but it carries significantly less existential baggage.
We’ve Seen These All Before, But Not The Funny Versions
While I fully understand that shows like Black Mirror aren’t all doom and gloom and can be quite funny at times, they tend to occupy that lane more often than not. Dimension 404 leans into camp, comedy, and parody as its baseline approach to storytelling.
The first episode, “Matchmaker,” which premiered just months before Black Mirror’s Season 4 episode “Hang the DJ,” treads similar territory with its absurdist take on dating apps.
Where the Black Mirror episode hinges on the futility of modern dating, “Matchmaker” goes full absurdist, involving cloning, dating do-overs, and a campus full of men named Adam (Robert Buckley), all of whom chow down on pink slop while watching each successive version of themselves try to win the dating game. It’s the same subject matter but has a better sense of humor about everything.
The rest of Dimension 404 follows a similar pattern, with each episode feeling vaguely familiar but twisted toward comedy instead of dread.
Patton Oswalt portrays a movie snob who brings his own 3D glasses to a high-tech theater in “Cinethrax,” only to discover that a Lovecraftian monster is crawling out of the screen and face-sucking every patron wearing the glasses the theater provided. In “Chronos,” a young woman named Susan (Ashley Rickards) finds herself stuck in a time loop centered on her favorite 90s cartoon that nobody else remembers, and she has to break the cycle in time to submit her physics final.
“Polybius” centers on an arcade game that pulls its players into its realm, complete with ancient, biblical implications. “Bob” gives us the classic “what if AI has feelings” routine, except the titular machine is made entirely out of genetically modified human meat and is as disgusting to look at as you’d expect. And finally, “Impulse” follows an aspiring professional FPS gamer who learns the dark side of fame after slugging down one too many energy drinks.
Doesn’t Reinvent The Wheel, But Still A Fun Vehicle
Dimension 404 doesn’t reinvent the thought-provoking sci-fi anthology wheel, but it doesn’t really need to. There are plenty of genuinely laugh-out-loud moments, and everybody involved is clearly having fun with whatever ridiculous scenario they’re trapped in. It’s the diet Black Mirror, or the version of The Twilight Zone that mom says we have at home. I don’t mean that as a knock, but the series clearly wears its influences on its sleeve, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that.
If you’re a sci-fi fan who’s seen it all before, you know exactly what you’re getting into when firing up Dimension 404, which is currently streaming for free on Tubi. That familiarity doesn’t make it any less entertaining, though. For everything it may lack in originality, it’s still an engaging watch from start to finish thanks to the talent involved, and it swerves away from baseline expectations just enough to earn your attention.
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