Entertainment
New Star Trek Series Just Lost The One Actor Who Can Save The Show
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
One of the few things that even the biggest fanboys and harshest critics of Starfleet Academy can agree on is that Oscar-winning actor Paul Giamatti is the best thing about the show. His Nus Braka has proven to be a downright frighteningly competent villain, one who some have compared to franchise greats such as Gul Dukat. Unfortunately, in a recent appearance on The D-Con Chamber Podcast, Giamatti dropped a major bombshell: that he won’t be appearing in Season 2 of Starfleet Academy.
This is unfortunate because preliminary data suggests that Giamatti’s character may be the only thing that can save this struggling show. Starfleet Academy has consistently failed to make the Nielsen Top 10 list of streaming shows (something that Strange New Worlds once did with regularity), and it regularly fails to make even the Top 10 streaming list on Paramount+. However, the day after the premiere of “Come, Let’s Away” (an episode featuring the return of Giamatti’s character), FlixPatrol reports that the episode landed on the streamer’s list of Worldwide Top TV Shows, and Amazon Channels reports that it held the number one slot on the Top 10 Overall list.
In the short term, this is good news for Starfleet Academy, a show desperately in need of both better buzz and more viewers. In the long term, though, the fact that Giamatti was seemingly the key to audiences flocking to this episode may be the kiss of death for this new Star Trek series. That’s because the Oscar-winning actor recently made it clear that he won’t be returning to the show under any circumstances.
Paul Giamatti recently appeared on The D-Con Chamber Podcast, and he bluntly told hosts (and former Enterprise actors) Dominic Keating and Connor Trinneer that he “was not around” for Starfleet Academy’s second season. His use of the past tense is due to the fact that the second season of this new Trek spinoff has already been largely filmed, with only the season finale (which will be personally directed by co-showrunner and controversial executive producer Alex Kurtzman) left to shoot.
Star Trek Is Losing Paul Giamatti
Does this mean that Nus Braka is going to die, possibly at the hands of Holly Hunter’s impossibly chill chancellor? Nope: according to Giamatti (who admitted to his podcast hosts that he “probably shouldn’t” tell them this), the villain is “still alive” by the end of Season 1. He noted that “something could be done with him” if the writers wanted to and expressed optimism that “if it goes another [season], perhaps I will be back around.”
Based on the recent streaming numbers, though, there may not be a Starfleet Academy to come back to. Season 1 hasn’t been able to consistently draw viewers, but the return of Paul Giamatti’s character helped one of the show’s most recent episodes become a Top 10 hit. His inevitable appearance in future Season 1 episodes may be a similar draw for audiences, but the show is going to lose all of these Giamatti superfans when he doesn’t appear in the second season at all.
He Might Just Take Starfleet Academy With Him
Plus, Giamatti might have hit the nail on the head with his doubts about Starfleet Academy getting a third season. While it was originally conceived as lasting four seasons (to match the four-year educational journey of its cadets), the show has not yet been renewed for Season 3. That renewal is unlikely to happen if the streaming numbers don’t improve, and there are already rumors that Paramount has quietly axed the show and that the second season will be its last.
Should Starfleet Academy fade away, Paramount will have only themselves to blame: they were wise to hire an Oscar-winner like Paul Giamatti for their new Star Trek show, but they then failed to feature him in enough episodes to save Season 1. Now, his complete absence from Season 2 may seal the show’s fate entirely. That just leaves one question: when Starfleet Academy dies, do you think Paramount will stuff its corpse into a torpedo tube and fire it off into space, Spock-style?
Entertainment
Crime 101s Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry play our new mash-up game
In Crime 101, Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry play a game of cat and mouse, as his mastermind jewel thief and her fed-up insurance broker plot a heist that’s drawing the attention of a determined detective (Mark Ruffalo) and a mercurial robber (Barry Keoghan). So, what better way to toast the latest crime thriller from writer/director Bart Layton than to play a new game?
Entertainment Editor Kristy Puchko sat down with Hemsworth and Berry for a portmanteau game. She’s combined the plotlines of two movies whose titles share a word in common. Can these stars name the new mashed-up titles?
Here are a few of the challenges put before the Crime 101 stars. Can you find the answer faster than them? As a bonus clue: One movie in each mash-up stars Halle Berry or Chris Hemsworth.
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Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry co-star in a heist thriller about a non-violent thief facing off against a fur-loving fashionista named Cruella de Vil.
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This superhero sequel from director Brett Ratner follows Wolverine, Storm, and four young boys as they learn life lessons while searching for the body of a missing kid. Adapted from a Stephen King novel, River Phoenix co-stars.
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An all-girls a cappella group must survive a deadly pair of honeymooners in this musical thriller, where Chris Hemsworth appears as a mysterious hitchhiker.
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Kevin Kline won an Oscar for his comedic turn as an apoplectic jewel thief called Otto in this cyber-thriller, which co-stars Halle Berry and John Travolta.
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A fairy tale princess and an iconic comedian collide in this action-packed reimagining of the life of Andy Kaufman.
For the answers, watch the video above.
Crime 101 is now playing in theaters.
Entertainment
Google Maps looks different for some users in big change
Google Maps has potentially rolled out a change that could vastly change the user experience, depending on whether you’re logged in to a Google account.
Google-focused tech website 9to5Google spotted a change where non-logged-in users apparently now get a “limited view” version of Maps, which is missing lots of key features, including displays of nearby businesses, more detailed info on nearby attractions, and user reviews. In “limited view” mode, for instance, when clicking on a restaurant — which doesn’t display on the side of the page — users wouldn’t get key info like user reviews, busiest hours, or dine-in/take-out status, 9to5Google noted.
As is often the case with such changes, users posted about noticing the change on Reddit.
Mashable Light Speed
There are some indications that perhaps the change could be a glitch of some sort, rather than a wholesale shift. Tech site Tom’s Guide noted an error message received by some users indicated the issue could be network problems, a Chrome extension, or other problems. The error message does state that the issues could be fixed by logging in. The writer for Tom’s Guide noted, however, that they saw a stripped-back version of Maps while logged out with no error message.
Mashable has reached out to Google and will update this story with any clarification or further details.
Entertainment
Amazon shuts down Blue Jay warehouse robot project after less than a year
Last October, Amazon announced Blue Jay, a new robotic arm system that was supposed to act as “an extra set of hands” for its warehouse workers. This week, Amazon decided Blue Jay is no longer needed.
The news was reported first by Business Insider and then corroborated by TechCrunch. Blue Jay was meant to be a multi-arm helper system for same-day delivery facilities, and it was being tested in South Carolina at the time of its announcement last fall. After six months, though, Amazon is winding down project Blue Jay and moving its core tech and employees to other projects.
Look at it go!
Credit: Amazon
While this was not made explicitly clear when Blue Jay was first announced, an Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch that it was always meant as a prototype.
Mashable Light Speed
“We’re always experimenting with new ways to improve the customer experience and make work safer, more efficient, and more engaging for our employees,” the spokesperson told TechCrunch. “In this case, we’re actually accelerating the use of the underlying technology developed for Blue Jay, and nearly all of the technologies are being carried over and will continue to support employees across our network.”
Blue Jay was not the only warehouse robotics initiative Amazon has under its belt, and it won’t be the last. But for whatever reason, this one just didn’t work out as planned.
Crime 101s Chris Hemsworth and Halle Berry play our new mash-up game
Google Maps looks different for some users in big change
