Entertainment
Star Trek Has Always Lied To You About Data
The notion that Data never uses contractions – often brought up in Star Trek – isn’t true and never really has been.
By Michileen Martin
| Published
If you’ve watched enough Star Trek: The Next Generation, then you know Data (Brent Spiner) never uses contractions. You’re probably also aware that this aspect of the android has helped the heroes in some precarious situations; particularly when someone else has been disguised as their positronic colleague. The only problem is that Data has always used contractions, including in episodes in which the writers bend over backwards to let us know that he never uses contractions.
The Season 1 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Datalore” establishes the rule that Data can’t use contractions. In other words, he will always say “I am” rather than “I’m,” “cannot” rather than “can’t,” “should not” rather than “shouldn’t,” etc. It’s the use of contractions that tips off Wesley (Wil Wheaton) that Data’s twin Lore has incapacitated him and taken Data’s place.
Likewise in the Season 4 Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Future Imperfect,” Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) is able to detect treachery in part because of Data using a contraction. Riker is led to believe that he’s 15 years in the future and suffering from memory loss, and while he’s already gotten hints that someone is trying to fool him, the proverbial final straw is when Data says “can’t” instead of “cannot.”
In Season 3’s “The Offspring” Data and Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) both act like they just saw Santa Claus dating the Tooth Fairy when Data’s daughter Lal (Hallie Todd) says “I’ve” instead of “I have,” leading her father to believe she has exceeded his programming. Much later, in one of the final episodes of Star Trek: Picard, Geordi (LeVar Burton) is amazed to hear Data say, “we’re” rather than “we are.”
The thing is that ever since the series premiere of Star Trek: The Next Generation, Data has used contractions. When the elderly Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley) is curious about his nature, Data tells him “I’m an android.” When Data is one of the crew members transported to Q’s (John de Lancie) courtroom, Data quips to Picard (Patrick Stewart), “At least we’re acquainted with the judge.
Now, to be fair, since “Datalore” is the Star Trek episode that establishes Data doesn’t use contractions, some might argue it isn’t fair to nitpick when he used them before that episode. But even in “Datalore” he uses them. After Lore’s deception is uncovered, Picard asks Data if he’s all right and the android answers, “Yes sir. I’m fine.”
Again in “The Offspring,” another Star Trek episode that makes a big deal out of Data not using contractions, Data uses contractions. When speaking to Picard of Admiral Haftel, Data says, “I’m forced to wonder how much experience he had as a parent when his first child was born.” And this is well past the establishment of the rule in “Datalore.”
What’s the lesson to be learned here? Nothing, really. Except maybe every now and then it’s better to pay more attention to the shiny spaceships and the ray beams than the dialogue.
Entertainment
How to watch Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt online for free
TL;DR: Live stream Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga for free on BBC iPlayer. Access this free live stream from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN.
After some incredibly tense Champions League action this week, the focus returns to domestic action over the weekend. There are a number of fascinating matchups in the Bundesliga over the next few days, starting with Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt.
The hosts are looking to secure second spot in the standings. They’ll face a tough test against Eintracht Frankfurt, a team that is gunning for European qualification. It should be an exciting contest in front of a passionate support at the Signal Iduna Park.
If you want to watch Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga for free from anywhere in the world, we have all the information you need.
When is Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt?
Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga kicks off at 2:30 p.m. ET on May 8. This fixture takes place at the Signal Iduna Park.
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How to watch Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt for free
Borussia Dortmund vs. Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga is available to live stream for free on BBC iPlayer.
BBC iPlayer is geo-restricted to the UK, but anyone can access this free streaming platform with a VPN. These handy tools can hide your real IP address (digital location) and connect you to a secure server in the UK, meaning you can unblock BBC iPlayer from anywhere in the world.
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Entertainment
Nintendo Switch 2 officially gets a $50 price hike in the US
After less than a year on the market, the Nintendo Switch 2 is going up in price.
The company announced in a press release on its website that the device is getting a price increase in every major region, including the United States. Customers in the U.S. will pay $50 more for the console, as its price is going from $449 to $499. Nintendo did not delve into specifics in the press release, citing only “changes in market conditions,” but this is almost certainly a response to the global memory shortage driven by high demand for AI data center construction.
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That same memory shortage was the culprit behind recent price hikes on PlayStation 5 consoles and Motorola phones, among other tech products. Even if the reasoning is understandable, it must be stated that video game consoles rarely rise in price over time in a normal economic environment. The opposite usually occurs, typically after at least a few years on the market. Nintendo having to hike the Switch 2’s price less than a year after its June 2025 launch is fairly unprecedented, at least in recent memory.
Nintendo said the changes go into effect on Sept. 1 of this year, so if you want a Switch 2, that’s your deadline to get one for $450.
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Entertainment
Christopher Nolan’s Latest Odyssey Trailer Looks More TV Drama Than Historical Epic
By Jennifer Asencio
| Published
The latest trailer for Christopher Nolan’s controversial The Odyssey was released on May 5, 2026, and revealed more of the director’s take on Homer’s epic. Like the other trailers and casting announcements, it drew equal parts controversy, criticism, and avid defenders.
This time, most of the action is focused on Ithaca, where Penelope (Anne Hathaway) and Telemachus (Tom Holland) deal with the numerous suitors trying to assume the throne by marrying the queen. Robert Pattinson lurks and smarms as Antinous, trying to woo Penelope, while cutaway footage shows the tribulations of Odysseus (Matt Damon) against Calypso (Charlize Theron), the whirlpool Charybdis, armored giants, and the Trojan War.
Ancient Accuracy Versus Anachronistic Angst
There are a lot of new problems with this trailer that echo issues people already have with Nolan’s vision. Previous complaints include ahistorical armor from a later Grecian period, boats that look more Viking longboat than bireme, and a plethora of miscast characters, such as Jon Bernthal as Menelaus and Lupita Nyong’o as Helen of Troy.
One of the two main problems with the new trailer is Tom Holland. The actor who has been bringing Peter Parker to spectacular life in some of the rare good content from the Marvel Cinematic Universe looks like a lost child as Telemachus, and has been apparently directed to play the Greek hero that way. The parts of the trailer that aren’t Anne Hathaway angsting as Penelope feature Holland having plenty of angst of his own. Sure, Telemachus had some daddy issues, but Holland looks more like a kid looking for his mommy than a prince defending his father’s kingdom against overwhelming odds.
A large part of Holland’s failure in the new trailer is that the dialogue is extremely cringeworthy. At one point, Antonius actually says, “You’re pining for your daddy,” as though this is a CW teen drama and not a serious Homeric epic. “That world is gone!” Penelope cries with the appropriate amount of suffering and phony British accent.
The translation allegedly being used for the movie is based on the work of Emily Wilson, a feminist translator who felt that Homer’s epic didn’t have enough modern sensibilities. She simplified the poet’s gorgeous turns of phrase and literalized his abstract concepts, trying to take the focus away from the male point of view and focus on the women. Her translation has caused controversy among scholars. It is not confirmed that Nolan used this version to base his script on, but the quality of the dialogue is a poor rendition of modern Gen Z slang.
Follies In Formation
Another thing that stands out from this trailer is the battle scenes we are shown.
For one, Odysseus leads the Greeks in a very un-Grecian formation as he charges down a beach. The Greeks were known for their discipline and their deadly phalanx formation, not for charging into battle like a horde of barbarians. The scene looks more like a sword-and-board version of the opening of Saving Private Ryan than anything the Greeks would have actually done. That may sound like a nitpick, but the discipline of the Greek troops and their loyalty to their kings and to Greece is a huge theme of Homer’s duology.
The other is a ridiculous charge by a troupe of giants who are dressed in armor that looks like they salvaged it from the leftovers of a King Arthur movie than a Homerian epic. These silver-clad warriors look out of place and anachronistic in The Odyssey, another example of Nolan using spectacle and visual shorthand rather than something that actually reflects the source material.
Sure, the special effects look cool, with Charybdis a wide, gaping hole in the sea and the battle in Troy looking explosive. But so far, that’s the only thing The Odyssey has shown it has going for it. Between its snarky, modernized dialogue and its attempt to be a visual spectacle, the trailer looks more like Not Another Marvel Movie than it does a tribute to an important ancient epic.
While, I admit that I may be more sensitive to this vandalism of Homer because my family emigrated to America from Sparta, I can’t help but feeling affronted that my heritage as a Greek is being used by Nolan as a cynical Hollywood cash grab. This telling of Homer’s Trojan War sequel is looking more like a pageant of modernized filmmaking meant more to show that it, to paraphrase Ian Malcolm, could be done, regardless of if it should. Plus, the removal of the values Homer wrote about means that it is more like a presentist fanfiction than anything the Greeks may have written.
We will all find out when The Odyssey premiers in theaters on July 17, 2026.
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