Entertainment
Star Trek Fans Divided Over Legal Ruling That Could Save Or Destroy The Franchise
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
These days, the Star Trek fandom is on the verge of a warp core breach. The sudden cancellation of Starfleet Academy means that there are no new shows on the horizon. Meanwhile, Paramount has pivoted and wants to focus exclusively on making Trek movies, the first of which will likely reboot the entire universe for the second time. That would potentially wipe out 60 years of continuity in favor of yet another creative gamble that may or may not actually gain the franchise any new fans, but will almost certainly drive many older fans away.
Now, with the Justice Department approving Paramount’s purchase of Warner Bros., the Star Trek fandom is divided. Some believe that this is exactly what the franchise needs; that taking a break from nonstop content so that new creators can try new approaches could lead to a new golden age of Star Trek. Others are distrustful of Paramount’s leadership and believe it would be better for the franchise to die altogether than slowly become right-wing sci-fi. However, both the extreme optimism and the extreme pessimism miss the mark, and the truth about Star Trek’s future is somewhere in the middle.
When Fans Get Sick Of Star Trek
This may come as a great shock to you, but I, uh, spend a lot of time online. Lately, I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the r/startrek subreddit and various fandom Facebook groups as everyone discusses a singular topic: the future of Star Trek. The future of the franchise already seemed dire when Starfleet Academy was canceled. Regardless of that show’s quality (or lack thereof), its cancellation meant that (thanks to Strange New Worlds having already wrapped) we had no new Trek shows in production for the first time in over a decade. That obviously put something of a damper on celebrating the franchise’s 60th anniversary!
This, combined with changes at Paramount, has soured some fans on Star Trek even having a future. After the previous merger with Skydance, David Ellison (son of billionaire Oracle founder Larry Ellison) now runs Paramount. The new boss is a very prominent conservative who is cozy with Donald Trump, and under Ellison’s leadership, conservative mouthpiece Bari Weiss has been hired to run CBS News into the ground. Because of these factors, many blackpilled Star Trek fans have become convinced of two things: 1) Ellison will leverage his influence to make Trek more conservative and less progressive, and 2) they’d rather see Trek die than become a franchise people like Trump would enjoy.
Trek, When The Walls Fell
Obviously, there are some optimists in the fandom that see all this disruption as an opportunity for their favorite franchise. Starfleet Academy wasn’t canceled because people hated its super-woke characters; it was canceled because not very many people were watching it. That’s a product of bad writing and bad leadership, but Alex Kurtzman was just certain that Star Trek fans would love a show about hormonal teen drama. He was wrong about this and many other things (more on that in a minute), so the optimists think that any change in leadership will lead to new writers, new ideas, and a bold new vision for this 60-year-old franchise.
Ironically enough, both the optimists and the pessimists are half-right and half-wrong. Pessimists need to realize that, regarding the politics of the man in charge, Star Trek has still managed to thrive under some people who wouldn’t pass a political purity test. Franchise creator Gene Roddenberry was a progressive visionary, but he was also a womanizer who feared putting gay characters in Trek and greenlit stuff like “Code of Honor,” the most racist Trek episode ever created. Later, the entire Golden Age of Star Trek was overseen by Rick Berman, a progressive who nonetheless killed gay storylines and was allegedly misogynistic to female cast members like Terry Farrell and Jeri Ryan.
Neither Side Is Fully Right
Where am I going with this? Basically, Star Trek became a cultural institution under progressive leaders who, nonetheless, had some very regressive attitudes towards certain things. With that in mind, it’s entirely possible that future directors and showrunners will be more progressive, even if they work for conservative leadership. It helps that Ellison is apparently a big fan of Star Trek, previously calling it one of Paramount’s most “beloved franchises.” As I have written about before, conservatives love the same Trek that progressives do, just for different reasons. So we are far likelier to get an Original Series-style reboot than, say, MAGA: The Final Frontier.
So, the pessimists are wrong, but does that mean the optimists are right? Not necessarily. It’s true that Alex Kurtzman has driven NuTrek into the ground (literally all but one show was canceled early!), and almost any change in leadership is admittedly going to be a good thing. But focusing almost entirely on Star Trek movies is probably a bad idea, especially because there are nearly one thousand episodes and only 14 films, over half of which are pretty mid. The movie focus, combined with the rumored franchise reboot, may be the nail in the coffin for old-school fans.
It Could Always Be Worse
In short, the Star Trek fandom is divided, but one thing unites us all: our love for the greatest sci-fi franchise ever made. We all want the best possible future for Trek, and there’s no reason to think the cash-strapped Paramount won’t do its best to generate money with its biggest franchise. That means nobody is actively sabotaging Trek with a political agenda, but they may yet release enough crappy movies and shows to finish a dying franchise off. All fans can do, then, is hope. After all, Rebellions are built on hope.
Wait, that’s the wrong franchise! But that’s a reminder to every Star Trek fan worried about their franchise: just go look at The Mandalorian and Grogu choking at the box office and realize things could always be worse.
Entertainment
How to watch Sweden vs. Tunisia online for free
TL;DR: Live stream Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free on ITVX. Access this free streaming platform from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is finally here, and the start of this famous tournament has already delivered loads of huge moments. We’re expecting more of the same from Sweden vs. Tunisia.
These sides will battle it out with Netherlands and Japan for places in the knockout rounds. On paper, it’s a really difficult group to predict. We could see any of these four sides taking control of the group, so these opening games could prove pivotal.
If you want to watch Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
When is Sweden vs. Tunisia?
Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup kicks off at 10 p.m. ET on June 14. This fixture takes place at the Estadio BBVA.
How to watch Sweden vs. Tunisia for free
Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup is available to live stream for free on ITVX.
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ITVX is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock ITVX to live stream the 2026 World Cup for free from anywhere in the world.
Live stream Sweden vs. Tunisia for free 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 ITVX
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Watch Sweden vs. Tunisia for free from anywhere in the world
$12.95 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 access free live streams of the 2026 World Cup without actually spending anything. This obviously isn’t a long-term solution, but it does give you enough time to stream Sweden vs. Tunisia (plus more World Cup fixtures) before recovering your investment.
If you want to retain permanent access to the best free streaming services from around 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 ITVX?
ExpressVPN is the best choice for bypassing geo-restrictions to stream live sport on ITVX, 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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Up to 10 simultaneous connections
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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 Sweden vs. Tunisia in the 2026 FIFA World Cup for free with ExpressVPN.
Entertainment
As an early Prime Day treat, Amazon is offering 3 months of free access to Kindle Unlimited
SAVE $35:97: Get three months of free access to Kindle Unlimited as part of Amazon’s early Prime Day special offers. In total, that’s a savings of $35.97 for the three-month duration. Current and past Kindle Unlimited members aren’t eligible for this deal.
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Prime Day is officially on the calendar. Instead of July, Amazon is hosting Prime Day between June 23 and 26 this year, but the deals have already started. One of the best offerings applies to those who plan to spend the summer reading. Here are all the details.
For a limited time, Amazon is offering a free three-month subscription to Kindle Unlimited, which usually comes with a bill of $11.99 per month. In total, that works out to a savings of $35.97. You’ll need to be new to Kindle Unlimited to be eligible for this deal, and it’ll auto-renew at $11.99 per month until canceled.
Mashable Trend Report
You have the Kindle, but you’ve been waiting in a Libby line for your titles to become available. We’ve all been there. Instead of waiting, consider upgrading for the summer by snagging this free deal from Amazon that’ll give you three months of access to nearly unlimited book titles.
Kindle Unlimited has more than 5 million digital titles, audiobooks, and magazines. The Kindle Unlimited subscription is a bit like a library hosted by Amazon. Members can borrow up to 20 titles at a time, and magazines don’t count in this title total.
If you have a Kindle, that’ll be great for reading your Kindle Unlimited books, but it’s not a requirement. You can use Kindle Unlimited on any device with the Kindle app. That includes your phone, tablet, computer, or any web browser. But if you’re wondering, the Amazon Kindle Paperwhite is Mashable’s favorite Kindle.
If you’ve never tried out Kindle Unlimited, but you’re interested in reading more for the next three months, hop on this free deal.
Entertainment
Claude Fable 5 vs GPT 5.5: Is this why the Trump admin banned one and not the other?
Earlier this week, Anthropic released its most powerful public model yet: Claude Fable 5. This model is the “safe” version of an even more powerful model, Mythos, that Anthropic has yet to release to the public due to potential dangers.
Just days later, the Trump administration issued an export control directive barring the use of Fable 5 from foreign nationals. As a result, Anthropic was forced to disable Fable 5 for all its customers to comply with the order.
In a statement, Anthropic said it believed the order was issued by the U.S. government to use a method to “jailbreak” Fable 5 to identify vulnerabilities. Anthropic claimed in its statement that other AI models could do the same without a bypass. The company specifically named GPT 5.5, the latest AI model from its biggest competitor, OpenAI, as one such model.
There are currently too many unknown variables to determine if this is accurate. However, Mashable was preparing a piece comparing Anthropic’s Claude Fable 4 and OpenAI’s GPT 5.5 prior to the Trump administration’s order.
It appears the U.S. government’s concerns could be related to just how powerful Claude Fable 5 appears to be, even with its safeguards.
Here’s how Fable 5 stacked up against GPT 5.5.
Claude Fable 5 vs GPT 5.5: Feature set
According to Anthropic, “Fable 5’s capabilities exceed those of any model we’ve ever made generally available.”
“It is state-of-the-art on nearly all tested benchmarks of AI capability, showing exceptional performance in software engineering, knowledge work, vision, scientific research, and many other areas,” Anthropic says. “The longer and more complex the task, the larger Fable 5’s lead over our other models.”
When GPT 5.5 rolled out in late April, OpenAI said that the model had improved on its “agentic coding, computer use, knowledge work, and early scientific research” capabilities.
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Both are very similar when it comes to their feature set and stated purpose. These aren’t images or videos. generation models. These are large language models used for document analysis, data interpretation, and advanced coding and development. Both are definitely competitors when it comes to use cases.
The difference between the two competing models will be how they perform.
Claude Fable 5 vs GPT 5.5: Leaderboards and benchmarks
On the popular Arena leaderboard, Fable 5 far and away leads all of the other AI models.
Claude Fable 5 currently sits at the top of the Arena leaderboard with Claude Opus 4.7 Thinking and Claude Opus 4.8 Thinking taking the second and third spots. The top three are all Anthropic’s models, with OpenAI’s GPT 5.5 coming in fourth.
Fable 5 also leads in Artificial Analysis, Simple Bench, and practically every other leaderboard that has ranked the AI model.
Credit: Anthropic
According to Anthropic’s own comparison chart, when it launched Fable 5, the AI model simply blows GPT 5.5 away across multiple benchmarks, from agentic coding and knowledge work to cybersecurity.
While it may be accurate that other models can also identify these alleged vulnerabilities, perhaps the U.S. government calculated that Claude Fable 5 was just too dangerously good at it based on the data.
Claude Fable 5 vs GPT 5.5: Availability and pricing
Before Anthropic pulled Fable 5 due to the U.S. government’s order, Fable 5 was available to paid subscribers on Pro, Max, Team, and seat-based Enterprise plans at no additional cost until June 22. Anthropic planned to remove Fable 5 from these plans on June 23 and temporarily move to a usage-based paid add-on model until demand for Fable 5 dissipated.
Fable 5 was priced on its Claude API and consumption-based Enterprise plans at $10 per million input tokens and $50 per million output tokens.
Fable 5 is no longer available for any of Anthropic’s users.
OpenAI has made GPT 5.5 available to OpenAI Plus, Pro, Business, and Enterprise users in ChatGPT and Codex. Usage-based API pricing for GPT 5.5 starts at $5 per million input tokens and $30 per million output tokens.
GPT 5.5 is currently available for OpenAI’s users.
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