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
Want to try Clawdbot? Get the Apple 2024 Mac mini for under $550 at Amazon.
SAVE $50: As of Feb. 11, the Apple 2024 Mac mini ison sale for $549 at Amazon. This is $50 off its list price of $599.
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The MacBook lineup is always worth considering if you’re seeking portable power, but if you’re someone who prefers a more permanent setup, it’s worth checking out the Mac mini. This desktop computer features a compact build that fits neatly next to a monitor. What’s even better is it’s currently on sale at Amazon, making now a great time to buy.
As of Feb. 11, the 2024 Mac mini has dropped to $549 at Amazon, an 8% discount from its retail price of $599. Overall, this saves you $50.
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The Mac mini packs the M4 chip into its five-by-five inch build, which provides you with speedy performance no matter if you’re using it for work or just casually browsing around the internet. This version also comes with a 10‑core CPU and GPU, 16GB of Unified Memory, and a 256GB SSD. On top of that, you’ll find Thunderbolt, HDMI, and Gigabit Ethernet ports on the back, and USB-C ports and a headphone jack on the front.
If you’re still torn between this and a MacBook, writer Matt Binder argued that price is another point to take into consideration. In his breakdown of why you should get the Mac mini over the M4 MacBook Pro, he says the “base model M4 Mac mini has the exact same specs, but comes with a slightly smaller 256GB SSD drive.” As for the price difference, you’re getting around “one thousand dollars in savings.”
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Act fast to save $50 on the 2024 Mac mini at Amazon.
Entertainment
Pornhub traffic dipped during Bad Bunnys halftime show
Bad Bunny’s halftime show at the Super Bowl made waves even among porn watchers. During the game, Pornhub’s traffic crashed the hardest not during the (admittedly snoozy) four quarters, but during the Benito Bowl.
Credit: Pornhub
Compared to an average Sunday, Pornhub’s traffic dropped 46 percent at 8:31 p.m. ET — right around the ending of Bad Bunny’s performance. The big dip began between 8:11 and 8:19, and according to Men’s Journal, the halftime show started at 8:12. Football and non-football fans alike turned off explicit content for a few minutes to tune in.
Despite the Patriots’ performance, Massachusetts fans had a bigger drop-off on Pornhub around halftime than fans in the Seahawks’ home state of Washington: Massachusetts traffic was 44 percent below average at that time, while Washington’s was only 14 percent below average. Once the game was over, though, Pornhub traffic in The Bay State crept up to 15 percent above average — maybe they were soothing their loss. Washington fans were celebrating, with traffic at a one percent below average at the same time.
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Credit: Pornhub
Surprisingly, Pornhub traffic in Bad Bunny’s home of Puerto Rico had a smaller dip below average during halftime (29 percent below an average Sunday).
Credit: Pornhub
Overall, the decline in Pornhub traffic during the Big Game was pretty typical. According to this graph from the tube site, it usually sees a 15 to 28 drop in traffic during those times. This year’s game was somewhere in the middle (24 percent). Considering it wasn’t the most exciting game of football, it’s no wonder that most locked in to see Bad Bunny.
Credit: Pornhub
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Entertainment
Meta AI can now animate your Facebook profile picture
Facebook is rolling out a new, Meta AI-powered feature that will allow users to animate their profile pictures.
Was the online public necessarily clamoring for Facebook profile pictures that waved via AI? Well…not really. But it’s here nonetheless.
Users will have access to preset animations that will turn a photo into an AI-powered, GIF-like moving profile picture. Wrote Facebook in a press release:
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“You can now animate your profile picture, turning a still photo into a playful animation in seconds. Choose from preset animations — like natural, party hat, confetti, wave, and heart — to bring your profile picture to life depending on how you’re feeling. We’ll add more animation options throughout the year so you can celebrate and express yourself during seasonal moments and special events.
For the best results, we recommend using a photo that features a single person facing the camera with their face clearly visible, and not holding other objects. You can select photos to animate directly from your camera roll or choose photos you’ve already uploaded to Facebook. Once a photo is animated, you can share it to your Feed and view it on your profile.”
How the animation process looks.
Credit: Meta
Is it the coolest thing to animate your profile picture to make it look like you’re making a heart with your hands? Not really. But honestly, I can imagine a kooky aunt or uncle loving it. And kooky aunts and uncles love Facebook as much as they love AI photos and images.
Facebook also announced it had added a “restyle” feature that uses AI to touch-up or change photos in Stories. So, a normal photo with a friend, for instance, could be reimagined to look like an illustration. The restyle feature has preset options and can also reimagine a photo based on a text prompt.
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