Entertainment
The Secretly Raunchy Star Trek Episode That Could Never Be Made Today
By Chris Snellgrove
| Published
Star Trek: The Next Generation had several surprisingly naughty episodes, including “The Naked Now” (where Tasha Yar finds out Data was programmed to be a love machine) and “Sub Rosa” (where Dr. Crusher gets down and dirty with her grandmother’s ghost boyfriend). Nobody really thinks of “The Game” as a dirty episode, though, because it features very little sex outside of Riker picking up a dangerously addictive game from his latest alien booty call. However, episode writer Brannon Braga later revealed a raunchy little secret: all of the Enterprise crew who get infected by the parasitic video game experience onscreen orgasms.
First, some context: in “The Game,” Starfleet Academy cadet Wesley Crusher has returned to the Enterprise, eager to catch up with his mother and his many shipboard friends. But they are more than a bit distracted because Riker got everyone hooked on a weird video game that feels insanely good to play. That’s because completing levels stimulates the pleasure centers of a player’s brain, causing intense addiction; this leads to the ship nearly getting hijacked, but Wesley and his new friend Robin Lefler (played by Ashley Judd) manage to re-activate Data and save the day.
Getting The High Score On Sex
One of the most notable features in “The Game” is that we can see the effect that the titular game has on fan-favorite Next Generation characters like Riker. When someone completes a level, the game lights up their pleasure centers, making them feel good right away. Most fans always assumed this was to emphasize the game’s addictive nature; after all, the faces these actors pull make it seem like their characters just replicated and consumed the finest heroin in the galaxy.
However, “The Game” writer Brannon Braga later set the story straight when discussing the Next Generation episode “Sub Rosa.” If you don’t already know, this episode is infamous for making Dr. Crusher impossibly horny: she reads her grandmother’s erotic journal entries and ultimately has ghost sex with grandma’s spooky slampiece. Oh, and Picard walks in on her, an interruption that prevents the, um, warp core breach that Dr. Crusher is working towards.
Paging Dr. Love
In Captains’ Logs: The Unauthorized Complete Trek Voyages, Brannon Braga mentions how he thought the sex in “Sub Rosa” (an episode he wrote) was “mild by comparison” to what he had written for his earlier episode. According to him, Dr. Crusher’s infamous scene in “Sub Rosa” wasn’t a big deal to him because, “I scripted the first orgasm in ‘The Game.’”
That’s right, Star Trek fans! Every time you see your favorite Next Generation characters making those happy faces in “The Game,” they are supposed to be experiencing honest-to-God orgasms. This is straight from Braga himself, who apparently took his own perverse pleasure sneaking a series of “O faces” past network censors without getting any real pushback.
A Raunchy Episode Hiding In Plain Sight
In retrospect, Braga wasn’t exactly subtle in his writing; pull up the script for “The Game” online, and his description of the game’s effect on the Enterprise’s first officer makes things quite clear. “Suddenly, Riker’s entire body tenses up,” the script reads. “A moment, then he relaxes and lets out a small gasp. Like he’s experienced a brief moment of internal pleasure.”
As he gets better, the erotic nature of the game gets the better of him. According to Braga’s script, after Riker completes the second level, he ‘lets out a gasp of even greater pleasure,” which is the last thing we see during the cold open. Riker’s own ecstatic O-face is the last thing you see before the opening credits, perfectly setting the tone for one of TNG’s naughtiest episodes.
Nobody ever really clocked how raunchy “The Game” was, and most fans chalked the characters’ apparent onscreen pleasure up to the drug-like effect of the game. Now, we know the truth: that our favorite characters were getting their rocks off onscreen, over and over again. Given this information, I don’t need to be a Betazed to read Brannon Braga’s mind: I sense great freakiness, captain!
Entertainment
The DJI Mini 5 Pro drone is $500 off right now at Amazon — save on this content creator favorite
SAVE $500: The DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale for $1,099 at Amazon. That’s $500 off the list price of $1,599.
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What’s going to happen to the drone market in 2026? Due to legislative pressure on DJI imports in the U.S., there is so much uncertainty at the moment. We expected stock issues by now, but we’re actually seeing strong discounts on some of the best drones in the DJI range.
The DJI Mini 5 Pro Fly More Combo is on sale for $1,099 at Amazon. That’s $500 off and close to the record-low price.
The DJI Mini 5 Pro offers a huge 1-inch CMOS sensor, so whether you’re shooting 50MP stills or 4K/120fps slow-motion, the dynamic range more than delivers. The DJI Mini 5 Pro also makes use of forward-facing LiDAR that powers the new Nightscape Omnidirectional Sensing, meaning it can dodge branches, power lines, and buildings even when you don’t have eyes on your drone.
This popular drone offers 42GB of internal storage, meaning you can actually capture a full session of 4K footage without needing an external card as backup. That can have a massive impact for content creators.
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Entertainment
NYT Connections Sports Edition today: Hints and answers for May 2, 2026
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition will require some knowledge of popular U.S. sports and pop culture.
As we’ve shared in previous hints stories, this is a version of the popular New York Times word game that seeks to test the knowledge of sports fans.
Like the original Connections, the game is all about finding the “common threads between words.” And just like Wordle, Connections resets after midnight and each new set of words gets trickier and trickier — so we’ve served up some hints and tips to get you over the hurdle.
If you just want to be told today’s puzzle, you can jump to the end of this article for the latest Connections solution. But if you’d rather solve it yourself, keep reading for some clues, tips, and strategies to assist you.
What is Connections: Sports Edition?
The NYT‘s latest daily word game has launched in association with The Athletic, the New York Times property that provides the publication’s sports coverage. The sports Connections can be played on both web browsers and mobile devices and require players to group four words that share something in common.
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Each puzzle features 16 words, and each grouping of words is split into four categories. These sets could comprise anything from book titles, software, country names, etc. Even though multiple words will seem like they fit together, there’s only one correct answer.
If a player gets all four words in a set correct, those words are removed from the board. Guess wrong and it counts as a mistake — players get up to four mistakes before the game ends.
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Players can also rearrange and shuffle the board to make spotting connections easier. Additionally, each group is color-coded with yellow being the easiest, followed by green, blue, and purple. Like Wordle, you can share the results with your friends on social media.
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Here’s a hint for today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Want a hint about the categories without being told the categories? Then give these a try:
Here are today’s Connections: Sports Edition categories
Need a little extra help? Today’s connections fall into the following categories:
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Yellow: A Pittsburgh Athlete
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Green: Seen on an MLB Scorebug
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Blue: Teams in the PWHL Playoffs
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Purple: Horse Racing Triple Crowns
Looking for Wordle today? Here’s the answer to today’s Wordle.
Ready for the answers? This is your last chance to turn back and solve today’s puzzle before we reveal the solutions.
Drumroll, please!
The solution to today’s Connections: Sports Edition #585 is…
What is the answer to Connections: Sports Edition today?
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A Pittsburgh Athlete: PANTHER, PENGUIN, PIRATE, STEELER
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Seen on an MLB Scorebug: COUNT, INNING, OUTS, SCORE
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Teams in the PWHL Playoffs: CHARGE, FLEET, FROST, VICTORIE
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Horse Racing Triple Crowns: AFFIRMED, CITATION, JUSTIFY, WHIRLAWAY
Don’t feel down if you didn’t manage to guess it this time. There will be new sports Connections for you to stretch your brain with tomorrow, and we’ll be back again to guide you with more helpful hints.
Are you also playing NYT Strands? See hints and answers for today’s Strands.
If you’re looking for more puzzles, Mashable’s got games now! Check out our games hub for Mahjong, Sudoku, free crossword, and more.
Not the day you’re after? Here’s the solution to today’s Connections.
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