By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 12 seconds ago

Star Trek: Voyager and Seinfeld couldn’t be more different. One is about a Starfleet vessel stranded halfway across the galaxy, trying to find its way home. The other is about a comedian and his neurotic friends navigating the trials and tribulations of New York City. Normally, the only thing these shows have in common is a few shared cast members. For example, Sarah Silverman once served as a love interest for both Kramer and Tom Paris. George Costanza actor Jason Alexander had his own memorable Voyager cameo. Oh, and George’s boss, Mr. Wilhelm, was played by Richard Herd, who went on to have an ongoing Trek role as Paris’ father.

However, one Star Trek: Voyager episode took its storytelling cues from Seinfeld rather than its actors. That episode is “Persistence of Vision,” in which Captain Janeway and her erstwhile crew have to deal with weird hallucinations being caused by a malicious alien with telepathic powers. It’s an episode that Paramount hated because it was so weird, but it ended up being surprisingly effective and popular. This is ironic because showrunner Michael Piller once pointed out that “Persistence of Vision” is a bit like any given Seinfeld episode; that is, it was a show about nothing!

Is Chakotay Spongeworthy?

“Persistence of Vision” begins with a fairly typical early Voyager plot. Captain Janeway must negotiate with some weird aliens for safe passage through their territory in the Delta Quadrant. However, things go sideways almost immediately when she and other crew members end up experiencing bizarre hallucinations. It’s a huge mystery that leads to a rather disappointing reveal: all of this mischief has been caused by a telepathic alien who did it for no reason and who isn’t even really there. Arguably, this resolution is frustrating because it emphasized how this loose episode was really just an excuse for some entertaining character acting. 

Because of this, showrunner Michael Piller was pleasantly surprised by how the episode turned out, including how well fans received it. In an interview with Cinefantastique, he summed his feelings up by saying, “The show turned out particularly well, yet it’s not a show that is about anything.” As a lover of all things ‘90s, his phrasing here really tickled me. Piller seemed genuinely shocked that a show that’s not really about anything could resonate with audiences. However, that was Seinfeld’s claim to fame from the very beginning: that it was “a show about nothing.”

You Had To Replicate The Big Salad!

Seinfeld gained its “show about nothing” reputation early on for throwing out traditional sitcom storytelling in favor of weird (and sometimes, weirdly realistic) plots. A prime example of this is “The Chinese Restaurant,” an episode that takes place in real-time. Normally, sitting down for dinner would be the start of a story, or at least, just one element of it. However, this episode took place entirely at the restaurant and captured the hilarious frustration of simply waiting to be seated. According to Jason Alexander, the network thought this episode was “sacrilege,” but he sees it as “the defining beginning of the anarchy of Seinfeld.”

In its own way, “Persistence of Vision” was very similar. The network hated the script because it was so weird, and they wanted to add more aliens and more fight scenes. However, writer Jeri Taylor stuck to her guns and created an episode that arguably helped define the series’ creative legacy. In that same Cinefantastique interview, Michael Piller noted how desperately the show needed to start exploring new, buzzworthy ideas. He claimed this episode “marked the beginning of the turn” and that “We started building on that momentum, and I think if you look from that show on, we consistently started doing interesting things.”

They’re Real, And They’re Honorable

In other words, Star Trek: Voyager fans owe the improved quality of their favorite sci-fi show to an episode where B’elanna Torres wants to get down and dirty with Chakotay, her resident father figure. Paging Dr. Freud to the holodeck! With any luck, nobody on the ship started a bet with the chief about who’s really the master of their domain.

TL;DR: The iPhone 17 and iPhone 17 Pro are free right now with T-Mobile. Here’s how to qualify for this limited-time offer.

All we seem to hear about these days are price increases. Apple just bumped up the price of its iPad and Mac lineups, RAM prices are about to rise nearly 50 percent, and smartphone price hikes are on the way.

It’s a grim picture. So imagine our delight when we see that you can still score an Apple iPhone 17 for free with T-Mobile.

T-Mobile has dropped a fresh batch of free iPhone deals to beat the price increases:

• Apple iPhone 17 — free when you trade in your eligible phone on an Experience More or Experience Beyond plan.

• Apple iPhone 17 Pro — free when you switch to T-Mobile and bring your number on an Experience More or Experience Beyond plan (no trade-in needed).

Of course, T-Mobile isn’t simply handing over these latest handsets as a favor. Instead, the retail cost of your new phone is offset by 24 consecutive monthly bill credits. Your monthly statement will show a standard charge for financing the phone, which is immediately balanced out by an equal credit to bring that charge to zero.

What’s happening here is you are signing up for a 24-month commitment with the network. If you decide to cancel your service, switch to another carrier, or upgrade to the iPhone 18 before those 24 months are up, the remaining unpaid balance on the phone’s retail value will become due immediately.

You will also need to cover the standard upfront taxes and a one-time $35 activation fee. But that’s a small price to pay to lock in the iPhone 17 before Apple’s prices bump up again.

Score the latest iPhones for free with T-Mobile.

By Chris Snellgrove
| Published 7 seconds ago

Sony still owns the movie rights to Spider-Man, which is why they tried (and failed) to build a whole cinematic universe around his villains. The studio hasn’t released any live-action films with Spidey in them, preferring to loan the character over to Marvel Studios so he can headline movies like Spider-Man: Brand New Day. Outside of live-action, though, Sony created Into the Spider-Verse, which is still the best Spider-Man film ever made. That movie kicked off a franchise focused on an entirely different Spider-Man: Miles Morales, whose comic book incarnation has proven to be insanely popular.

Given how much fans love him in the comics and in the Spider-Verse films, it’s only a matter of time before Miles Morales pops up in the MCU. Now, it’s looking like he might end up there even sooner thanks to one of Marvel’s biggest stars. In a recent interview, Spider-Man: Brand New Day star Tom Holland has expressed a strong interest in bringing Miles into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. He also wants to mentor whatever young actor gets hired to play the role, guiding him into this popular franchise the same way that Robert Downey Jr. once guided him.

Spider-Man No More

Ahead of Brand New Day’s July 31 release, Tom Holland recently offered an interview to Hobby Consolas. While discussing his upcoming film, the actor described his desire to bring another spider into Marvel’s growing web of movies. “I think at this point in time, we’re being really open-minded about what the future looks like,” Holland said. “I know that I have aspirations to bring Miles Morales into the universe, however that works out. We’ve got a lot of work to do to bring that to life. But yeah, I feel really strongly about it.”

Holland didn’t elaborate on why he feels so strongly about the matter. He may just sincerely be a major fan of Miles Morales and want to see the character thrive. Of course, there’s a chance that Holland is just looking for his own replacement. Back in 2021, he told GQ that, “If I’m playing Spider-Man after I’m 30, I’ve done something wrong.” Now, the actor is 30, and he may want a younger star to effectively take his place. That could happen sooner than you might think; next year’s Avengers: Secret Wars will reboot the MCU, which would be the perfect time to introduce Miles Morales along with newer heroes like the X-Men.

Holland may or may not still be in the MCU when Morales shows up; after all, his Spider-Man could be recast or even written out of these movies altogether. If he is still around, though, it sounds like Holland wants to have the same relationship with the new actor that Robert Downey Jr. had with him, both onscreen and off. “I feel incredibly grateful for the way I was introduced into this world and that I was shepherded by [Robert Downey Jr],” he said. “I would love to kind of return that favor to the next generation of people that get the luxury of making these movies.

Does that mean we’re likely to see Holland’s Peter Parker mentor Miles Morales onscreen? That all depends on what’s happening behind the scenes. Given Holland’s previous comments about playing an aging Spider-Man, he might be happy to tap out after the events of Avengers: Secret Wars. But Spider-Man: Brand New Day is on track to earn well over a billion dollars at the box office. If so, Marvel may offer Holland the kind of contract he just can’t refuse. Should that happen, we can look forward to a future team-up with Hugh Jackman; after all, why not make a film with two superhero actors who will play the same part until they are 90?