Entertainment
Star Trek Has Updated The Worst Writing Trope In The Stupidest Possible Way
By Chris Snellgrove
| Updated
Decades ago, comic writing legend Gail Simone coined the term “women in refrigerators”, (better known as “fridging,”), which describes writers killing female characters in gruesome ways just to motivate male protagonists. Star Trek started doing its own, more inclusive spin on this trope in Star Trek (2009), and the practice is alive and well in shows like Picard and Starfleet Academy. Instead of killing off a single character, though, this venerable sci-fi franchise keeps destroying entire planets in order to give its characters the most basic motivation.
In the 2009 Star Trek reboot, Romulus is endangered by a supernova, so Ambassador Spock embarks on a crazy plan to save the planet using red matter. He fails, and the subsequent red matter reaction sends both him and a Romulan named Nero over half a century into the past. There, Nero becomes enraged by the death of his planet and his family; blaming the older Spock, he decides to go “eye for an eye,” using red matter to destroy the planet Vulcan.
In Space, No One Can Hear You Cry
This leads to some fairly exciting action scenes as the Enterprise crew tries (and fails) to save Vulcan. Arguably, though, the primary reason for having Nero destroy this iconic Star Trek planet is to have Spock lose his mother. Star Trek (2009) was all about making Spock an angry emo kid, and killing off his mother helped contextualize both his rash decisions about young James T. Kirk (he literally ejected him out of the ship!) and his later desire to kill Nero rather than resolve things diplomatically.
Years later, the spinoff Star Trek: Picard returned to the plot beat of Romulus getting destroyed, revealing that Picard left the Enterprise-E to command an armada of ships whose mission was to save as many Romulans as possible before the planet’s destruction. Unfortunately, that armada is wiped out by a rogue group of synthetic lifeforms, and Starfleet subsequently abandons its rescue efforts. This causes Picard to retire, ending a lifetime of service in utter disgust at Starfleet abandoning the very principles upon which it was founded.
Even Picard Gets Riled Up
For The Next Generation fans, it was fun to see Picard flesh out how the destruction of Romulus affected the rest of the galaxy, but the primary reason the writers returned to this plot point was to explain how and why Picard went from celebrated Starfleet celebrity to disgruntled old fart wasting away on his vineyard. Like Kelvinverse Spock before him, Picard now had a tragic back story that explained why he might be more emotional than usual (which is presumably why he later lets his Romulan sidekick just behead anyone who gets in their way).
Most recently, Starfleet Academy introduced the shocking plot point that the Klingon homeworld of Qo’noS had been destroyed by the Burn. That homeworld and all the worlds of the empire were apparently powered by dilithium reactors. After the Burn (a galactic event that rendered all dilithium crystals inert and blew up any ship with an active warp drive), the Empire that once nearly destroyed Starfleet was reduced to about 50 ships and eight family houses.
It’s Getting Hot In Here
While Starfleet Academy may do something cool with this plot development (hey, stranger things have happened), it really seems like the writers destroyed Qo’noS just to give extra motivation to Jay-Den, the show’s Klingon cadet. As a pacifist, wannabe doctor Klingon with a combo of Daddy and abandonment issues, this guy already has a lot going on. However, the show’s writers decided to also make him one of only a relative handful of Klingons trying to keep their millennia-old culture alive despite only a fraction of his people surviving the Burn.
Watching that Starfleet Academy episode, it hit me with all the force of a bat’leth blow: for Star Trek, blowing up entire planets is the new fridging. Back in the ‘90s, writers were content to motivate characters like Green Lantern by simply killing their girlfriends in the most edgelord way possible (and stuffing their bodies in the fridge, no less). Now, these modern-day sci-fi writers feel the need to destroy entire planets and snuff out billions of lives just to explain complex plot points like “why is Spock sad?” and “why is Picard sad?” and ‘why is Jay-Den sad?”
Obviously, there’s nothing wrong with blowing up an entire planet if it really suits the story; Star Wars, for example, had the Empire blow up Alderaan to demonstrate how evil they really were. But since 2009, Star Trek has gone to utterly excessive lengths to motivate its chief characters in the stupidest possible ways. Like, be honest for a minute: would you have found Spock any less compelling if his mommy didn’t die in an extinction event, or Picard any less engaging if his reputation didn’t die along with Romulus?
This Repetitive Plot Is Without Honor
The blunt truth is that this is just lazy writing by Star Trek creative teams who don’t know how to motivate characters without giving them tragic backstories with body counts in the billions. It was already tired when they did it in the first Star Trek reboot film, and it was completely played out when they used it to explain why Picard was now so cranky and boring. Starfleet Academy has returned to this well for a third time, and to nobody’s real shock, the well is completely dry.
Gail Simone was right all those years ago when she called out fridging, and her general thesis was solid: namely, that writers need to find better ways to motivate characters than by killing the ones they care about. Instead, Paramount has continually upped the fridging ante by destroying entire planets because their creators can’t figure out any other way to give characters depth or emotional growth. Now, it’s well past time for the Star Trek writers to boldly go where they arguably haven’t gone in decades: to original stories featuring dynamic, properly-written characters with grounded motivations.
Should that prove impossible, what should the Star Trek writers actually do? They should blow up our own planet, which would be far, far more merciful than making us sit through this predictably awful franchise plot point for the umpteenth time. Plus, the destruction of the entire Earth might finally give us the motivation to do what we should have done long ago: unsubscribe from Paramount+ before we are finally claimed by the void.
Entertainment
Stuff Your Kindle Day is live now — score 150+ free ebooks for 1 day only
FREE BOOKS: The latest Stuff Your Kindle Day takes place on April 23. The Cozy Mystery Book Blast, hosted by Cozy Mystery Book Club, isoffering cozy mystery books for free.
This has been such a huge month for Stuff Your Kindle Day. We’ve already been blessed by a number of free giveaways, and we’re not done yet.
The Cozy Mystery Book Blast, hosted by Cozy Mystery Book Club, is offering participants the chance to download 150+ ebooks without spending anything. Everything that you download is yours to keep forever, so take this as your sign up to stock up ahead of the summer reading season.
Looking to make the most of the latest Stuff Your Kindle Day? We’ve lined up everything you need to know about this popular event.
When is Stuff Your Kindle Day?
The Cozy Mystery Book Blast takes place on April 23. This free giveaway only lasts 24 hours, so you will need to act fast to download everything you want to read. Clear your schedule, make a list of priorities, and add to your TBR list with this limited-time promotion.
Which ebooks are free?
The Cozy Mystery Book Blast has a helpful hub page with everything on offer organized by sub-genre:
You can find these free ebooks from the Kindle Store and other popular retailers. There really is something for everyone in this latest book blast.
Mashable Deals
Is Stuff Your Kindle Day the same as Amazon Kindle Unlimited?
Everything you download on Stuff Your Kindle Day is yours to keep, and there’s no limit on the number of books you can download. Stuff Your Kindle Day downloads don’t count towards the 20 books that Amazon Kindle Unlimited subscribers can borrow at the same time, so don’t hold back.
The best Stuff Your Kindle Day deal
Why we like it
These popular e-readers let you take your entire library on the go. With weeks of battery life and an anti-glare display, you can read anywhere and anytime with the Kindle. Plus, you can get three months of Kindle Unlimited for free with your purchase for a limited time.
Entertainment
Moon phase today: What the Moon will look like on April 23
We’re almost at the First Quarter which means the Moon is almost half illuminated. Each night it gets a little brighter, and this will keep happening until the Full Moon when the reverse will then occur and each night it will appear less.
What is today’s Moon phase?
As of Thursday, April 23, the Moon phase is Waxing Crescent. Tonight, 41% of the moon will be lit up, according to NASA’s Daily Moon Guide.
If you’re looking at the Moon with just your naked eye, you should be able to catch a glimpse of the Mares Serenitatis, Tranquillitatis, and Fecunditatis. If you have binoculars, the Mare Nectaris and Endymion and Posidonius Craters should also come into view, appearing from halfway up the Moon to near the top. And, finally, with a telescope you’ll see all this plus the Apollo 11 and 17 landing spots, and the Rupes Altai.
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?
NASA says that the Moon completes a full orbit around Earth in about 29.5 days, during which it passes through eight stages. Although the same face of the Moon is always turned toward us, the portion illuminated by the Sun shifts as it travels along its path, producing the familiar cycle of full, half, and crescent shapes. These variations are referred to as lunar phases, and there are eight altogether:
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
Tinder responds to viral video about tricking facial scan
Earlier this month, journalist Christophe Haubursin published a YouTube video called “Something very weird is happening on Tinder.” In the video, which has over 1.5 million views as of this publication, Haubursin described a way to workaround to Tinder’s Face Check feature — the facial recognition that is now required for all U.S. users as of Oct. 2025.
What Haubursin and his interviewees discovered is a bunch of profiles that appeared normal, but the last photo on each profile was…off. It was usually a digitally-altered image of a different person in a weird scenario, like on a billboard or in a Victorian painting. And if someone matched with this person and asked about the image, they dodged the question. Instead, they asked to move the conversation to WhatsApp, where it became clear they were romance scammers.
But how did they evade Face Check? Haubursin found that Tinder and Hinge, both owned by Match Group, only need one photo for the facial recognition software. So these people may be the actual person in that odd image, and able to pass the face scan. Then, they could grift images of other people from the internet to use for the bulk of their profile.
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Tinder didn’t respond to Haubursin’s request for comment, but it did respond to Mashable’s.
“We’re aware of the concerns raised about our Photo Verification and Face Check features. In recent weeks, we’ve taken action to strengthen our Photo Verification badging logic, including requiring greater consistency across profile photos and additional reviews to achieve higher confidence in cases that warrant extra scrutiny,” a Tinder spokesperson told Mashable. “Face Check, our more recently launched verification system, builds on Photo Verification to help confirm accounts belong to real users. We are committed to continuously improving and investing in our systems to keep Tinder safe and authentic for our users.”
Mashable Trend Report
Mashable also recently spoke with Hinge’s Chief Product and Technology Officer, Ben Celebicic, about this, as Haubursin also replicated this on Hinge (which began implementing Face Check after Tinder). Celebicic hasn’t seen Haubursin’s video, but he did say that there’s a constant battle between trust and safety teams and policy-violating actors.
“They’ll find new ways,” he said. “We’ll find ways to prevent them from accessing the platform.”
There’s not going to be a single product the team builds that will fully prevent people from bypassing our solution, Celebicic continued. He said they have a big team working on these issues, and they’re in tune with new ways bad actors try to penetrate the platform and work to fix them.
Around one-third of Hinge’s workforce is dedicated to trust and safety, the app told Mashable, and Match Group invests $125 million annually in this area.
Trust and safety is a major concern for dating apps. In Sept. 2025, two senators sent a letter to Match Group CEO Spencer Rascoff, urging him to do something about romance scammers on the platforms. In Dec., a class-action lawsuit against Match Group claimed that a serial rapist was allowed on Tinder and Hinge after several women reported him.
Facial recognition scans have boomed recently thanks to the influx of age-verification laws, which require a robust method of proving someone’s age in order to access certain content, usually explicit content. These methods include uploading a government ID to a platform, using a credit card, or in other cases, scanning your face. But, like with Face Check, people have found workarounds to evade the scan and see the content they want to see.
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