Entertainment
A Star Trek Legend Plays Horror’s Most Iconic Mother
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
One of the subjects I have passionately written about before is the unexpected joys you may discover when you go back and rewatch a “bad” film. For example, when I recently checked out the infamous remake of a horror classic, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that Nana Visitor played Pamela Voorhees in the 2009 Friday the 13th. If you aren’t aware, she is best known for playing a Bajoran terrorist-turned-girlboss in the seminal series Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.
If you’ve already watched the movie and don’t remember seeing Nana Visitor in this most recent Friday the 13th film, it’s because she has a very abbreviated cameo appearance. The movie tries to cram several bits of iconic Jason Voorhees lore into a single story, so that means we get a brief flashback at the beginning that basically recreates the ending of the first Friday the 13th. Accordingly, our favorite Star Trek icon played Pamela Voorhees, the surprise killer of the original franchise outing who gets her head cut off by a would-be victim who becomes our first final girl.
Another reason why it’s so easy to forget that Nana Visitor appeared in Friday the 13th is that this movie follows up her flashback sequence with an extended cold open. We basically get introduced to an entirely different cast of young characters who are obsessed with sex and weed, and they get systematically murdered by Jason (who at first rocks an updated look of his bag-head appearance from the first sequel film). By the time we get introduced to the real cast of characters, it’s easy to forget that the movie began with a Star Trek legend playing one of horror’s most iconic roles.
Sadly, we don’t get to see Nana Visitor flex her significant acting chops after the flashback sequence of Friday the 13th. After all, getting her head chopped off as soon as the movie begins doesn’t leave room for her to do much else. However, as a huge Star Trek: Deep Space Nine fan, I wish that this movie was a proper remake of the original, right down to Pamela Voorhees being revealed as the killer. Very few people could match the performance of original Pam actor Betsy Palmer, but Visitor is so good in Deep Space Nine that I’m confident she could have carried the entire film.
If you just want to see more Nana Visitor in Friday the 13th, you’re in luck (more or less). As with the earlier entries in the franchise, Jason keeps her severed head in an odd bit of slasher sentimentality. The Star Trek actor’s head first appears in a bit of a jump scare, but it later takes on a surprising bit of narrative importance. That’s because this movie’s Final Girl realizes she has a surface-level resemblance to Pamela Voorhees and uses that to temporarily trick Jason in her bid to escape his clutches.
Should you wish to check out Nana Visitor’s memorable foray into horror, you can stream Friday the 13th (2009) on Max. Admittedly, the movie isn’t for everyone, which is why it has a bleak 26 percent critical rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But for those who want to see a Star Trek legend embody a horror legend, this surprisingly great remake (suck it, haters!) is more than worth the price of admission.
Entertainment
Hurdle hints and answers for April 29, 2026
If you like playing daily word games like Wordle, then Hurdle is a great game to add to your routine.
There are five rounds to the game. The first round sees you trying to guess the word, with correct, misplaced, and incorrect letters shown in each guess. If you guess the correct answer, it’ll take you to the next hurdle, providing the answer to the last hurdle as your first guess. This can give you several clues or none, depending on the words. For the final hurdle, every correct answer from previous hurdles is shown, with correct and misplaced letters clearly shown.
An important note is that the number of times a letter is highlighted from previous guesses does necessarily indicate the number of times that letter appears in the final hurdle.
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If you find yourself stuck at any step of today’s Hurdle, don’t worry! We have you covered.
Hurdle Word 1 hint
To admire.
Hurdle Word 1 answer
ADORE
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Hurdle Word 2 hint
Heavy.
Hurdle Word 2 Answer
HEFTY
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Hurdle Word 3 hint
Two-legged.
Hurdle Word 3 answer
BIPED
Hurdle Word 4 hint
Hefty.
Hurdle Word 4 answer
HEAVY
Final Hurdle hint
Pointy.
Hurdle Word 5 answer
SHARP
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Entertainment
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on April 29
It may appear full, but the Moon isn’t actually at 100% illumination yet. In fact, we’re still a couple of days away. But it’s still big and bright enough to do some moon gazing, so keep reading to find out what features you might be able to see tonight.
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Wednesday, April 29, the Moon phase is Waxing Gibbous. Tonight, 94% of the moon will be lit up, according to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide.
Without any visual aids, tonight you should be able to see the Mares Vaproum, Tranquillitatis, and Imbrium. With binoculars, you’ll see the Mare Frigoris, Clavius Crater, and the Alphonsus Crater. And, finally, with a telescope you’ll see all this plus the Apollo 17 landing spot, Rima Ariadaeus, and the Fra Mauro Highlands.
When is the next Full Moon?
The next Full Moon is predicted to take place on May 1, the first of two in May.
What are Moon phases?
According to NASA, the Moon takes roughly 29.5 days to circle Earth once, going through eight distinct phases in the process. Even though we always see the same side of the Moon, the amount of sunlight hitting it changes as it moves in its orbit. The shifting light creates the changing shapes we know as full, half, and crescent Moons. Altogether, there are eight main lunar phases.
New Moon – The Moon is between Earth and the sun, so the side we see is dark (in other words, it’s invisible to the eye).
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Waxing Crescent – A small sliver of light appears on the right side (Northern Hemisphere).
First Quarter – Half of the Moon is lit on the right side. It looks like a half-Moon.
Waxing Gibbous – More than half is lit up, but it’s not quite full yet.
Full Moon – The whole face of the Moon is illuminated and fully visible.
Waning Gibbous – The Moon starts losing light on the right side. (Northern Hemisphere)
Third Quarter (or Last Quarter) – Another half-Moon, but now the left side is lit.
Waning Crescent – A thin sliver of light remains on the left side before going dark again.
Entertainment
The ASUS TUF Gaming F16 gaming laptop is down to a record-low price at Amazon — now $400 off
TL;DR: Amazon has the ASUS TUF Gaming F16 gaming laptop on sale for $899.99, down from its $1,299.99 list price. That saves you $400 on a 2025 gaming laptop with an Intel Core i5-13450HX processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 graphics, 16GB of DDR5 memory, and a 165Hz FHD+ display.
$899.99
at Amazon
$1,299.99
Save $400
Finding a current-gen gaming laptop in today’s economy for under $1,000 is already amazing, but Amazon’s latest ASUS deal is offering you an all-time low bargain.
As of April 28, the ASUS TUF Gaming F16 gaming laptop is on sale for $899.99 at Amazon, marked down from $1,299.99. Price tracker camelcamelcamel has confirmed that this is the lowest-ever price for this gaming laptop.
For that price, you’re getting the RTX 5050 and Intel Core i5 version of the TUF Gaming F16, which is built around an Intel Core i5-13450HX processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5050 Laptop GPU. It also comes with 16GB of DDR5 RAM and a 512GB PCIe Gen4 SSD, so it should be nicely suited for jumping between games, school work, everyday browsing, and plenty of tabs without causing your sessions to come to a sudden crash.
With those sorts of specs, this version of the ASUS TUF Gaming F16 lets you comfortably run games from the latest graphically demanding titles — including Crimson Desert, Cyberpunk 2077, Black Myth: Wukong, Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, and Pragmata.
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The 16-inch FHD+ display is a big part of the appeal, with ASUS’s fitted 165Hz 16:10 panel with 100% sRGB color giving you extra vertical space compared to a standard 16:9 screen while keeping motion smoother in fast-paced games like Fortnite and Counter-Strike 2. The handy Adaptive-Sync also helps cut down on stuttering and screen tearing when your frame rate starts shifting during intense firefights or brawls with lots of assets moving around at the same time.
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The TUF Gaming F16 keeps the series’ usual more rugged angle, as well. ASUS has had the laptop tested to MIL-STD-810H standards, while its 2nd Gen Arc Flow Fans, full-width heatsink, and full-width vent are designed to help keep performance steady without making the machine unnecessarily loud.
If you’re after a laptop that’s more for work than gaming, Samsung’s ultra-sleek Galaxy Book5 Pro 360 just got a $450 price cut.
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