Google is introducing a new Live Game Feed to keep you updated on NFL games as the regular season kicks off tonight. Look for the red "Live" icon and you'll see a recap of the ongoing game, play-by-play updates, top commentary on social, video highlights, and "AI-powered insights." It's available now on mobile in English, with support for college games and more languages coming later this month.
Search on mobile is also getting a new carousel that lets you flip through scores for other games currently in progress. Stats are improving too, now showing which players lead in categories like passing touchdowns and rushing yards, as well as impr …
While I was rewatching season 1 ahead of diving into The Paper season 2, one thing quickly became apparent: the internet was incredibly divided on Esmeralda (Sabrina Impacciatore).
Self-centered, brash and oblivious, she's usually found tearing though the office of the Toledo Truth Teller like a bull in a China shop. She's incredibly hesitant to absorb (or even listen to) other people's ideas, and that comes back to bite her in new episodes.
Without giving anything away, Esmeralda is set up to face more than one brutal reality check across the 10 season 2 episodes, which all land on Peacock on September 9. But perhaps the damage has already been done — some fans think she's too overpowering and narcissistic, although others fully buy into her unique brand of silliness.
Has any of this affected how Esmeralda appears in The Paper season 2? According to Impacciatore herself, she's very much still "a work in progress."
"I don't think so," Impacciatore tells me when I ask her if fan opinion has affected how we see Esmeralda in season 2. "I think Esmeralda, like every other character, is a work in progress. The show itself is so alive. It's something that changes every day. Somehow, we keep exploring new things, and that direction changes day by day.
"We talk a lot with [the show's creators] Greg (Daniels) and Michael (Koman), going to the writer's room. I think we all enjoyed things more this year because we felt more relaxed. But I'm still figuring out how Esmeralda is perceived. I surprise myself when I watch the series... things sound new to me. It's an interesting process."
In my opinion, what will be even more interesting is whether fan opinion of Esmeralda will change following the events of The Paper season 2 — and for now, you'll have to trust me when I say that her upcoming storyline certainly has the power to do just that.
Don't get me wrong, though: in many ways, she's still as annoying as she ever was. If The Paper does get picked up for a third season and beyond, which we're yet to find out, I'm still doubtful that she'll ever fully leave her self-obsessed ways in the past.
Disney's Marvel movies have had their ups and downs, but James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy trilogy has never missed. Now, thanks to this deal, you can get 40% off this Lego version of Baby Rocket Raccoon's Ship, as seen in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3. However, you'll have to hurry as this set has been retired by Lego and is selling fast.
Get the retired set of Lego Marvel Baby Rocket Raccoon's Ship, on sale for $21 at Walmart.
Put together this 330-piece set and you have a blocky replica of the vessel that Rocket Raccoon used to make his escape from—well, that would be getting into spoiler territory. But if you're a fan of this fuzzy little guy, you will want this Lego Marvel Baby Rocket Raccoon's Ship on your shelf. Just remember, this is a retired Lego set so when it's gone it's gone.
Save $14 on this play-friendly Lego Marvel Baby Rocket Raccoon's Ship set. With 330 pieces it's an easy afternoon's build, and the included Baby Rocket figure is so cute it should be illegal under intergalactic law. You will have to hurry, though, this set is retired and likely to sell out. View Deal
Alongside the usual interstellar shenanigans, Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 revealed the origin story of Rocket Raccoon. This Lego model, which comes with an utterly adorable model of Baby Rocket, captures one of the most dramatic moments of the film, Rocket's escape from his captor. And if you're fast, you can grab this Lego Marvel Baby Rocket's Ship at a bargain price.
Made up of 330 pieces and for builders aged 8 years and up, this should only take you a couple of hours to build, maybe longer for little fingers. It's a seriously striking ship, and is sure to entertain Guardians of the Galaxy fans of all ages. Aside from Baby Rocket, it also comes with a minifigure of grown-up Rocket Raccoon, both of which can be perched in the opening cockpit.
Pilot's seat aside, there are several other play-friendly features. You can also lower the landing gear and given how light it is, you or younger builders can swoosh this striking ship around the house. Why not make up your own Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 4? Maybe you can catch up with Doctor Doom and prevent Avengers: Doomsday from happening.
You will need to hurry, though, because this set has been retired by Lego and this could be your last chance to get your hands on it, outside of paying double or triple the price on eBay. And for more MCU builds, we have rounded up the best Lego Marvel sets.
Key features: 330 pieces, for builders age 8+, Baby Rocket and Rocket Raccoon minifigures, 9 × 4.5 × 2.6 in. / 23 × 11 × 7 cm size.
Launched: April 2023
Price history: This set has dropped to $25 in the past when other retailers were selling their stock off, but this is the cheapest we've seen it at.
Price comparison: Walmart: $21 | Amazon: $38
Reviews consensus: Over at Walmart, this set's reviews are almost universally positive, praising it as a fun, straightforward build, with some of the praise coming from non-Marvel fans. At this price, you really can't go wrong.
✅ Buy it if: You want an easy-to-build, entertaining set that not only looks great on a shelf, it's fun to play with too.
❌ Don't buy it if: You want a lot of minifigures. Instead, consider some of the best Lego Marvel sets, such as this Lego Endgame Final Battle set.
Check out our other guides to the best telescopes, binoculars, cameras, star projectors, drones, Lego and much more.
The first trailer for Artificial, a movie about controversial OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman, has been revealed.
Unveiled yesterday (September 8), the teaser for the Neon-distributed film strikes an unusually sinister tone for what's being billed as a biographical comedy-drama.
Indeed, from the gun-laden room that lead star Andrew Garfield, who'll portray Altman, visits, to Garfield's unsettling voiceover that plays over Artificial's publicly-released footage, it's certainly foreboding in nature. I get the feeling, then, that it'll be a dark-comedy dramatization of Altman's rise of prominence, the launch of artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot ChatGPT, and his brief and somewhat disputable ousting as OpenAI CEO in late 2023.
Artificial will initially debut in US theaters on December 25, 2026, before receiving a wider international rollout in early 2027. UK viewers, for example, will have to wait until January 22, 2027 to catch one of many new movies that'll arrive in the months ahead.
Oscar-nominated filmmaker Luca Guadagnino (Challengers, Call Me By Your Name) is on directing duties, while Saturday Night Live writing alumnus Simon Rich has penned its screenplay. Meanwhile, Blur and Gorillaz frontman Damon Albarn has also created original music and songs for Artificial.
Where the movie's cast is concerned, Garfield, who impersonates another Silicon Valley techbro following his portrayal of Eduardo Savarin in The Social Network, aka the 2010 dramatization about Facebook's creation, is arguably its most recognizable star — and based on what little footage we've seen thus far, he appears to have Altman's mannerisms, vernacular, and other unique traits down to a tee.
Here's who else you'll see in Artificial:
Here's the official logline for Artifical: "[The movie] chronicles the incredibly consequential days leading up to the sudden firing and reinstatement of Sam Altman, as the fate of who gets to control the technology at the centre of an AI arms race hangs in the balance."
It's unclear how much of Altman's backstory, his various relationships with his OpenAI colleagues, and ChatGPT's launch and subsequent sociopolitical impact will be covered as part of Artificial's story. One thing is for sure, though: given that it dramatizes events concerning Altman and OpenAI, the discourse that will surround Artificial's release will be impossible to ignore.
September 8th, 1966 was a Thursday. Not a fresh-start-Monday or an exciting Saturday. A regular old Thursday; except that this one catalysed a cultural phenomenon. This was the Thursday that "Star Trek" was first broadcast, drawing viewers across the United States into a space-age world that revolutionised television.
The thing is, in 1966 no exoplanets (planets beyond our Solar System) had actually been discovered. Yet the franchise gave audiences a galaxy brimming with desert planets, ocean worlds, binary sunsets, and countless versions of Earth. Sixty years later, astronomers have confirmed more than 6,000 planets beyond the Solar System, known as exoplanets.
But how well do "Star Trek"’s fictional worlds compare with those astronomers have actually discovered?
When many of us think "Star Trek", the first planet that comes to mind is the dry, hot, and rocky Vulcan. Canonically, it orbits 40 Eridani A, a real star around 16 light-years from Earth. Real stars invite real observations, which led to astronomers announcing a possible planet in orbit in 2018. Of course, this was nicknamed Vulcan. However, later work has shown that this apparent signal was likely caused by stellar activity, rather than a planet in orbit.
This is, unfortunately, a common issue. Stellar activity, such as starspots, convection, and other magnetic activity, is very good at producing signals that look incredibly planetary.
Although the candidate planet was ultimately discredited, genuine hot, rocky planets do exist around other stars. Many of them orbit extremely close, completing an orbit in less than an Earth day. Some may have molten surfaces, atmospheres poisoned with vapourised rock, or even permanent day and night sides. While Vulcan itself may not be real, nature has produced rocky worlds considerably more hostile than Spock’s birthplace.
In contrast to Vulcan, "Star Trek" also gave us planets almost entirely covered with water. One particularly intriguing case is The Waters, from Voyager’s Thirty Days episode. The Waters is a sphere of water, with no solid core, kept together by a containment field. This is a little different to what an astronomer would refer to as a water world, but a planet-sized mass of water could theoretically be held together by its own gravity, without the need for a containment field.
However, the immense pressure deep inside this would transform much of the water into high-pressure ice rather than leaving it as one enormous liquid ocean. While no exoplanet has been definitively proven to have a global ocean, there are candidates like TOI-1452 b — a super-Earth orbiting a red dwarf star — that could contain a much larger proportion of water than Earth. It’s important to keep in mind, however, that a water-rich planet doesn’t necessarily make a good home. Water could exist beneath a chokingly thick atmosphere, as high-pressure ice, or sitting above an inhospitable interior.
Something "Star Trek" got very right is planets with two or more suns, such as Risa under its twin stars. The first confirmed planet orbiting two stars — known as a circumbinary planet — was Kepler-16 b. As it orbits a binary star system, it would experience a double sunset from the surface…if a surface existed.
Unlike many of the fictional planets in "Star Trek", Kepler-16b is a cold, gas giant; not somewhere we could sit and admire the view. In 1966, not only had exoplanets not yet been discovered, but astronomers had no observational evidence that planets could form and remain stable in dynamically complicated multiple star systems.
There are, however, many circumstances where reality goes far beyond what was imagined in "Star Trek".
Take WASP-76 b, an ultra-hot gas giant around 640 light-years away. The planet has a dayside so hot that iron vaporises, and it could be re-condensing into iron-rain on the cooler nightside. KELT-9 b is similarly hot, with molecules torn apart by the heat and metals existing in the atmosphere. 55 Cancri e is a super-Earth that orbits its host star every 18 hours, and could be covered by a magma ocean. There are also rogue planets, wandering through space with no host star.
"Star Trek" frequently invented strange planets by changing one familiar feature, but nature stared at the rulebook and ripped it to shreds. We’ve observed planets that have combinations of temperature, gravity, chemistry, and orbital architecture that writers in 1966 never could have anticipated.
The greatest scientific accuracy in "Star Trek" wasn’t the description of any given planet. Instead, it beautifully predicted that we live in a galaxy in which planets are abundant, gorgeously varied, found around a huge range of stars, and worth investigating even when they are nothing like Earth.
The necessity of a large population of conveniently habitable, human-safe worlds for "Star Trek"’s storytelling definitely set a limitation on the types of planets explored throughout the franchise. Our discoveries so far show that finding planets with Earth-like conditions is incredibly difficult, but not that they aren’t out there, somewhere.
"Star Trek" gave us a galaxy teeming with strange new worlds. Sixty years later, the surprise isn’t that these worlds exist, but that the real ones are even stranger than writers dared to imagine.
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One of the cinematic highlights of 2023 was director Takashi Yamazaki's gloriously grounded kaiju epic, Godzilla Minus One, which became a major international hit and snagged an Oscar for best visual effects. Yamazaki is back this fall with the hotly anticipated sequel, Godzilla Minus Zero. Toho just dropped the full IMAX trailer, featuring not just our beloved Godzilla, but also a distinctive roar that teases the appearance of none other than the three-headed King Ghidorah.
(Spoilers for the 2023 film below.)
Godzilla Minus One focused on kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima, who struggled with survivor's guilt after he failed to take action when Godzilla attacked the Japanese base on Odo Island in 1945. Knocked unconscious, Kōichi woke to find he was one of only two survivors—and the other, a mechanic named Tachibana, was furious about it. His parents and many others were killed in the World War II bombing of Tokyo. Kōichi rebuilt a life with a woman named Noriko and the orphaned baby she rescued, Akiko. But then Godzilla re-emerged, and Kōichi resolved to die fighting the monster to atone for Odo Island.
© Toho
The date of 'Star Wars Day' is based on a "May the fourth be with you" pun. The date of 'Alien Day' (April 26), meanwhile, is inspired by an extremely tenuous link to LV-426, a moon pivotal to the first two movies.
'Star Trek Day', however, is based on an actual date; September 8 is the anniversary of the Original Series' very first broadcast in 1966. This year's birthday is more important than most, as the "Star Trek" franchise reaches the ripe old age of 60 — Kirk and Spock's diamond jubilee.
Birthdays are traditionally a time to take stock of past, present and future, so we've taken this opportunity to deliver a status report on the legendary franchise, via TV, movies and 60th anniversary celebrations — including commemorative coins and record-breaking Vulcan salutes.
Will "Star Trek" continue to live long and prosper, or would Dr McCoy deliver one of his more pessimistic assessments, Jim?
It's time to give the veteran franchise a health check…
Television is where the voyages of the starship Enterprise began, and still feels like the franchise's natural home. There have now been 12 separate TV shows set in the "Star Trek" continuity — 14 if you throw in "Short Treks" and pre-school YouTube series "Star Trek: Scouts" — and the final frontier has flourished on the small screen over the last decade.
Indeed, since "Discovery" first spooled up the spore drive in 2017, we've enjoyed the most bountiful period of "Trek" since the glory days of the '90s, when "The Next Generation", "Deep Space Nine" and "Voyager" became appointment viewing. In many ways it's been a masterclass of universe-building, as executive producer Alex Kurtzman (with his Secret Hideout production company) has overseen an impressively large and varied fleet of shows.
Although Disney+'s "Star Wars" TV adventures have all — with the notable exception of "Andor" — tended to be relatively uniform in tone, "Trek" has generally taken much bigger swings. "Discovery" warped off to the undiscovered country of the 32nd century, while "Lower Decks" proved that "Star Trek" and out-and-out comedy can be natural bedfellows.
"Star Trek: Picard"'s peerless final run of episodes (arguably the best season of "Trek" ever made) skilfully mixed masterful storytelling with unashamed "TNG"-era nostalgia. "Strange New Worlds" managed to recruit the franchise's best ensemble since the '90s. "Prodigy" was a kids' show grown-up fans could enjoy, too.
And for a brief period between May 2022 and April 2023, there were five active "Star Trek" shows at various stages of the production/release cycle. Little did we realize that would be a peak for the franchise and that — a little over three years later — we'd be facing the prospect of a future without any "Star Trek" TV at all.
At present, there are no "Trek" shows in production. "Strange New Worlds"' fifth season and "Starfleet Academy"'s second are already in the can, but both will be their respective show's final voyages; the sets have been dismantled, the casts have moved on to new projects.
Meanwhile, rumored spin-offs like "Picard" follow-up "Legacy" and "Strange New Worlds" sequel "Year One" seem destined to remain in the realms of Trekkie fantasy.
As "SNW" co-showrunner Henry Alonso Myers told TrekMovie in August 2026, "We haven't been told anything [about 'Year One']. It's not up to us. It's up to Paramount. We stand by and are ready to work at their discretion. We love 'Star Trek'. We'd be happy to do it again. It is out of our hands."
Rights holder Paramount (and its CBS subsidiary) is the unknown factor here. Skydance Media bought the studio last year, and — perhaps unsurprisingly — execs have been hesitant to invest in major new projects as they wait to learn the new regime's direction of travel.
Skydance's impending acquisition of Warner Bros may also be a factor — if, say, Paramount and Warner were to merge their respective streaming platforms, would "Trek" get as much prominence on HBO Max as it currently does on Paramount+?
Reports in early 2026 suggested that Kurtzman was in early negotiations to renew his production deal (the previous one expired with "Starfleet Academy"), but it's looking increasingly unlikely he'll return. Paramount, however, has reiterated the ongoing importance of the franchise to its bottom line.
"It's one of the reasons why Chris [Parnell, executive vice president of Paramount+ Originals] is here as the resident number one fan of the 'Star Trek' franchise," said head of Paramount+ Originals Jane Wiseman in an August 2026 interview with Deadline.
"And there’s so many people in this building, by the way, that are. It is our goal and it is our job to figure out what the next bounce of 'Star Trek' is. We're talking to a lot of writers, we are leaning on [production company] CBS Studios, and it is imperative that we figure out what the next iteration is in this franchise because it's just too important. We also are in touch with Paramount Pictures; they have a 'Star Trek' movie that’s in development." (More on that below…)
That still leaves an awful lot of questions. Would a new iteration of "Trek" stick with the current 10-episode format, or go back to the longer 20+ runs of the '90s? Has the disappointing "Section 31" killed the prospect of another "Trek" TV movie stone dead? Will Paramount see more value in its massive library of legacy "Trek" content? And how will "Trek"'s famously progressive and liberal outlook mesh with a new-look company whose CEO, David Ellison, is close to President Trump?
Like fellow veteran genre franchises "Doctor Who" and "Star Wars", "Star Trek" is still trying to find its place in a streaming world. There's little doubt that it will one day return to TV, as it did after a decade away following "Enterprise"'s 2005 cancellation. But the how and the when will have to wait for another day.
Nearly seven years elapsed between "The Rise of Skywalker" and "The Mandalorian and Grogu", but that's small fry next to the extended wait for a new "Star Trek" movie. It's now 10 years (and counting) since "Star Trek Beyond" brought the Kelvin-verse adventures of alt-Kirk and alt-Spock to a close, as movies from the final frontier took a backseat to their TV counterparts.
Having made a critically acclaimed start in 2009 — director JJ Abrams ramped up the fun, effectively using "Trek" as a calling card for "The Force Awakens" — this self-contained "Trek" offshoot gradually ran out of momentum. Released four years later, "Star Trek Into Darkness" made more money than its predecessor, but felt like a tired retread of past glories. "Star Trek Beyond" (2016) made less money than either, offering an enjoyable (though hardly memorable) planet-based romp that set up the crew for more voyages… voyages that would ultimately never happen.
JD Payne and Patrick McKay (now showrunners on "The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power") were hired to write a script, while SJ Clarkson ("Madame Web") and Matt Shakman ("The Fantastic Four: First Steps") were both attached as directors at one stage or another. One iteration would have seen timey-wimey stuff uniting two of the Hollywood Chrises, Pine and Hemsworth, bringing James T Kirk face-to-face with late dad George.
"The conceit was that through a cosmic quirk in the 'Star Trek' world, they were the same age," McKay told Esquire. "It was going to be a grandfather-son space adventure — think 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade' in space. We were really thrilled about it."
"Alien: Earth" boss Noah Hawley also worked on a new story entirely separate from the Kelvin-verse, and even Quentin Tarantino pitched his take on "Trek" to the Paramount suits. The "Pulp Fiction" writer/director's Earth-bound story would reportedly have taken its cues from "A Piece of the Action", a 1920s-inspired episode from the Original Series.
"I think [Tarantino's] vision was just to go hard. It was a hard R. It was going to be some 'Pulp Fiction' violence," recalled "The Revenant" screenwriter Mark L Smith, who worked with Tarantino on the script (h/t Collider). "Not a lot of the language; we saved a couple things for just special characters to kind of drop that into the 'Star Trek' world, but it was just really the edginess and the kind of that Tarantino flair, man, that he was bringing to it. It would have been cool."
But after all those false starts, Paramount is seemingly moving ahead with another film, currently — as far as we know — the only "Trek" screen project in active development.
The as-yet-untitled movie is scripted by "Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves" writer/director duo Jonathan Goldstein and John Francis Daley, will feature an entirely new group of characters, and will apparently be inspired by a pair of hit movies from the '90s and '00s.
"Two movies we cite as [comparisons] for what we're hoping to do are 'Training Day' and 'Crimson Tide'," Goldstein told Inverse on the recent press tour for Apple TV+'s "Mayday".
"I think the portrayal of Starfleet and the people that work within it have always been generally idealized versions of what the future could be," added Daley. "And while this [script] isn’t a cynical or nihilistic take on it, I think it does acknowledge that there are some bad apples in every institution that can have a strong voice and can really make an impact on that institution and everything it stands for."
It's hoped that the new film will launch a new franchise of its own, though it seems to be a riskier franchise relaunch option than a TV show. Although "Trek" has spawned a long-running and successful movie franchise, its films have rarely ranked among the biggest earners in Hollywood — not since 1986's "The Voyage Home" has a "Trek" outing made it into an end-of-year top 10 in the US.
Maybe Paramount is eyeing up this "Training Day"/"Crimson Tide" format as an excuse to cast a pair of high-profile A-listers in the lead roles, following Disney/Lucasfilm's lead in recruiting Ryan Gosling for the upcoming "Star Wars: Starfighter". But with IP-based, space-set adventures "The Mandalorian and Grogu", "Masters of the Universe" and "Supergirl" all having floundered in multiplexes this summer, this film could be a gamble — especially as it'll need to appeal far beyond the traditional "Star Trek" heartlands to become a hit.
As "Doctor Who" proved when it was off air between 1989 and 2005, a lack of new screen "product" can be good news for other platforms.
In other words, there's little chance of a shortage of new stories across media, old (novelisations and comics) and new (Webtoons, audiobooks and videogames) — way too much to list here, in fact.
You can also get stuck into some "Star Trek" Lego, which is a pretty good way to fill that Starfleet-shaped hole.
A media franchise reaching its 60th anniversary is a massive deal, but is Paramount doing enough to celebrate one of its crown jewels becoming a sexagenarian?
The 30th birthday was marked by a couple of special episodes: "Voyager"'s literally titled "Flashback" saw Tuvok remembering his days on the USS Excelsior alongside a certain Captain Sulu, while "Deep Space Nine"'s "Trials and Tribble-ations" spliced Sisko and the gang with footage from Original Series episode "The Trouble with Tribbles".
But now, even though we're seven episodes into a run of "Strange New Worlds", there's no special birthday episode on the cards — it's no spoiler to say that this week's tense instalment, "Orders of Magnitude", is not very party-ish at all. It feels like a missed opportunity, seeing as "Doctor Who"'s 50th and 60th anniversary outings — most notably 2013's multi-Doctor "The Day of the Doctor" — have been memorable in their own right.
"The days of being able to know when your show was going to be on television are maybe behind us," "SNW" co-showrunner Akiva Goldsman lamented to SFX magazine. "God knows nothing would have been more fun than a 'Strange New Worlds' Christmas episode, and yet there'll not be one."
So we'll have to make do with 60th anniversary side events, like the cast of medical drama "The Pitt" performing a live reading of debut "Trek" episode "The Man Trap", birthday screenings, special episodes of game shows "The Price Is Right and "Let's Make a Deal", commemorative coins, and the London Science Museum's attempt to claim the Guinness World Record for the biggest ever simultaneous Vulcan salute.
And if you want to mark the occasion yourself, there are nearly 1,000 episodes of "Star Trek" — plus 13 movies — to enjoy, most of them on Paramount+. That's one hell of a legacy.
Live long, and prosper!
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The first trailer for an upcoming CBS legal drama called “Cupertino” is leaving actual residents of the California town scratching their heads. Scheduled to premiere on October 8, the show claims to focus on high-stakes courtroom battles involving massive tech companies. However, the preview footage shows a heavily fictionalized version of the city that completely […]
The post New ‘Cupertino’ Legal Drama Fails To Reflect The Real Tech City appeared first on The Mac Observer.
I'm a pretty thrifty guy; no one will ever accuse me of being a hoarder or a bulk shopper. You won’t ever see me at a Costco lugging around 48-count packs of toilet paper, hernia-inducing apple bags, or ginormous 5-pound boxes of Goldfish Crackers.
But after tinkering around with "The Last Starship" for a while, I think I could be converted into a doomsday prepper; someone who loads up on necessary supplies and has a keen sense of the proper protocol for acquiring stockpiles of food, water, ammo, and —if I were stuck out in deep space — oxygen.
After being available in early access for nearly three years, "The Last Starship" 1.0 was finally released on Feb. 6, 2026, for PC from Introversion Software, the same inventive creators of "Prison Architect". It's hardly a new release at this point, but I've been absorbed by it for the last few months, and it's definitely one that space game fans should check out.
This engaging indie sci-fi video game teaches single-player gamers how to strategically operate an interstellar shipping and trading conglomerate. It does this by repeatedly driving home the importance of planning ahead while operating in the cold vacuum of outer space and fortifying your sturdy spaceship.
Oh, and watch out for space pirates!
Introversion's "The Last Starship" is officially classified as a 2D space construction and simulation game, where you design, build, and upgrade your very own working starship. Once it’s in operational order, you strike out into the starfields to investigate colorful solar systems, discover rare resources, and even stumble upon arcane secrets.
There's a dreamy, meditative element to "The Last Starship" that can’t be denied, even in this middle-aged gamer’s attitude of flying by the seat of my pants and holding an advanced degree in procrastination from Cambridge University.
You get a sense of genuine pride in accomplishing goals, fine-tuning your interstellar trading operations, and seeing them flourish before you.
Just as in real life, your specific choices will dictate your personal odyssey, whether you’re a brave soul itching to become a pirate hunter, a working joe looking to get into salvaging, mining, or transport delivery, or a visionary scientist like the Stargate engineer.
First, choose an appropriate spaceship hull, then boost its propulsion system with engines, add critical life support systems, external sensors, thrusters. Then, supply your crew with tasty chow, and some bristling lasers and autocannons to test your might on the battlefield against space buccaneers. Rescue crews and civilians in peril, or go into business for yourself organizing an asteroid mining camp for profit. The choice is yours.
And for my fellow right-brained individuals who can barely fathom how a basic kitchen toaster works, this indie gem is a real eye-opener to the planning and engineering know-how that goes into such fantastic machines.
Once you’re up and running and your dutiful crew is bustling about carrying out various operational tasks, you're free to explore the galaxy in your new cosmic ride as its proud captain, picking up missions.
Gliding around the cosmos as the master of your own epic domain with your starship humming happily beneath you provides a supreme sense of satisfaction. Mostly you’ll be hopping around the open-world environment, building and customizing your vessel, and grabbing contracts for a variety of legitimate and illegitimate enterprises to fatten your alien-skin wallet.
Feeling ambitious? Become a hustler as a commercial spacebus driver or strike out excavating and smelting minerals for profit to sell and bolster your bank account to purchase even larger starships or equipment upgrades. Feeling lazy? Just play around and create cool ships while traversing the universe!
For intrepid commanders, the game’s procedurally generated map delivers missions and meteor storms featuring a multitude of characters inhabiting their own storylines waiting to be uncovered.
Managing your resources will be of the utmost importance, but organizational aptitude and drone deployment will exponentially increase your survivability in the final frontier. Intense space combat sessions do remind me of some of the cooler "close quarters battle" scenes in "The Expanse."
On the slight downside, "The Last Starship" might be a bit rudimentary for gamers seeking more challenging logistical endeavors, as I've found it's pretty easy to build up your spaceship. Obstacles are usually solved easily by slapping on another module or installing more reactors and managing your oxygen and CO2.
Despite that, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable initial iteration that’s constantly receiving attentive updates and patches, so hang with it, ye gallant captains.
"The Last Starship" is an excellent 2D open-world, spaceship-building game that offers tons of strategy fun in a nostalgic visual package. If you’re an "F.T.L." fanatic, you’ll absolutely dig it!
"The Last Starship" is available for purchase on Steam, Humble Store, and GOG for Windows and macOS. Oh, and there's a free demo you can check out if you're on the fence.
Nicolas Cage has finally spoken out about the sudden cancellation of his hit television show, Spider-Noir. Prime Video decided to pull the plug on the series just days before it swept five major trophies at the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys. Viewers were shocked by the surprising network news, but the lead actor seems to have […]
The post Nicolas Cage Reacts To Spider-Noir Cancellation By Prime Video appeared first on The Mac Observer.
The live-action superhero series Spider-Noir just scored five major trophies at the 2026 Creative Arts Emmys. The hit Nicolas Cage television show took home these big awards mere days after Prime Video officially canceled it. This highly unusual timing creates a rare situation where a massive streaming company is actively celebrating major critical success for […]
The post Spider-Noir Wins Big at 2026 Emmys Right After Being Canceled appeared first on The Mac Observer.
Netflix has officially confirmed The Inbetweeners 3, with production now underway in the UK. Simon Bird, James Buckley, Blake Harrison, and Joe Thomas are all returning for the third movie, more than a decade after the last film arrived. Simon Bird will return as Will McKenzie, James Buckley as Jay Cartwright, Blake Harrison as Neil […]
The post The Inbetweeners 3 Officially Confirmed by Netflix, Filming Begins in the UK appeared first on The Mac Observer.
Lanterns Season 1, Episode 4 finally gives Hal Jordan and John Stewart a major answer in their investigation, but the discovery creates an even bigger problem between the two Green Lanterns. The episode, titled “The Weenie,” reveals who has really been hiding behind the Manhunter mystery in Rushville. The fourth episode also brings Sinestro back […]
The post ‘Lanterns’ Season 1, Episode 4 Recap: Zoe’s Manhunter Secret Revealed appeared first on The Mac Observer.
The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3, Episode 7 brings Maggie and Negan’s growing conflict with Dillard to a violent turning point. Titled “Hourglass,” the episode reveals what really happened to Dillard, delivers a major character death, and puts Manhattan’s new community under dangerous leadership. Warning: Major spoilers for The Walking Dead: Dead City Season […]
The post The Walking Dead: Dead City Season 3 Episode 7 Recap: Dillard Takes Control appeared first on The Mac Observer.
‘Lioness’ Season 3, Episode 6 pushes Joe McNamara deeper into danger as her team finally gets close to finding her, only to discover that her kidnapping is more complicated than they believed. The episode, titled “Sugar Land,” arrived on Paramount+ on September 6, 2026. It continues the season’s split timeline, moving between the events that […]
The post ‘Lioness’ Season 3, Episode 6 Recap: Joe’s Kidnapping Takes a Brutal Turn appeared first on The Mac Observer.
Star Wars' starships are almost as memorable the saga's character and thanks to Lego's Star Wars range, you can build your own replicas of these iconic craft. We've rounded up the very best, from a palm-sized version of Darth Vader's Tie Fighter to a massive, table-hogging Star Wars Clone Wars-era Venator Star Destroyer.
While several of these sets are display pieces, we've included some play-friendly models, such as this mid-sized Lego Star Wars Millennium Falcon that can be swooshed around your living room and this Lego Star Wars Imperial Star Destroyer which, with seven mini-figures and removable roof, will delight younger Star Wars fans.
Read on and build the largest fleet the galaxy has ever known.
Patrick Brammall is heading into a much darker week on television. Following the Last Seen screening in Sydney, the Colin from Accounts star arrives on Apple TV as a father whose missing daughter has left his life suspended for more than a decade. The Australian thriller premieres September 9, bringing a very different kind of emotional discomfort from the romantic comedy that introduced him to many American viewers.
In Colin from Accounts, embarrassment can become an opening for affection. Last Seen gives Brammall a character with far less room to recover from a bad decision. Ian Ridley is a former detective, now working as a police dispatcher, who receives a call he believes could finally lead him back to his daughter.
The casting offers an immediate reason to be curious. Audiences familiar with Brammall’s comic timing will be watching him carry a story built around loss, uncertainty, and a hope that could become dangerous.
Brammall has described drawing on fatherhood to understand the role. In an interview with Radio Times, he explained that being the father of two young daughters gave him access to an emotional vulnerability he could bring into the performance.
He did not need to imagine the story happening to his own children. Becoming a parent had already changed how available those feelings were to him.
“Ian is like a raw nerve,” he said.
That description gives a more precise sense of the character than the familiar image of a troubled detective. Ian’s professional experience may help him interpret a crisis, but his connection to this particular call makes distance almost impossible.
The challenge for a performance like this lies in keeping both sides believable. An audience needs to understand why Ian recognizes a possibility others might dismiss, while remaining alert to how much he wants that possibility to be true.
Brammall also credited his classical theater training and casting director Kirsty McGregor with helping him move between genres. The dramatic assignment draws on an established acting background, even if it surprises viewers who associate him most closely with comedy.
Maggie disappeared 11 years before the events of Last Seen. Ian has never accepted that she might be gone forever. When a teenage girl calls for help, he becomes convinced that he recognizes his daughter and begins pursuing the possibility of bringing her home.
The premise places an ordinary professional responsibility under extraordinary personal pressure. A dispatcher must listen carefully, gather information, and help someone through an emergency. Ian suddenly has to do that while confronting the possibility that the voice belongs to the person he has spent years hoping to find.
There is tension in the simple absence of a face. A voice offers clues without providing the certainty of seeing someone. Memory, fear, and recognition can arrive together, leaving very little time to sort one from another.
The emotional question extends beyond whether the caller is Maggie. Eleven years have passed for everyone involved. Even a reunion could not return the family to the day before she disappeared.
That gives the story room to explore the difference between finding someone and recovering the life that existed before their loss. It also gives Brammall something more complicated to play than determination alone: a man whose idea of rescue may be tied to a past that cannot be restored.
These are the tensions established by the premise. How the series resolves them remains part of the mystery awaiting viewers.
Last Seen adapts Ryan David Jahn’s novel The Dispatcher, with Kris Mrksa serving as writer and executive producer. The series is produced by 60Forty Films and was entirely set and filmed in Victoria, Australia.
The official cast and crew credits name Christian Schwochow as director and executive producer. Brammall is joined by Maxine Peake, Brendan Cowell, Daniel Henshall, Jessica Wren, Zahra Newman, Chloe Jean Lourdes, and Tobias Muhafidin. Executive producers also include Hakan Kousetta, Jamie Laurenson, and Joanna Werner.
For American audiences, the Australian setting gives the show an identity outside the familiar geography of U.S. police dramas. Victoria is the location of the story itself, allowing the adaptation to establish its own surroundings rather than asking local scenery to stand in for another country.
The ensemble also creates room for perspectives beyond Ian’s. A missing-person story can become claustrophobic when every event is filtered through a single person’s conviction. The dramatic interest comes partly from encountering people who have their own knowledge, loyalties, and reasons for responding differently.
Brammall carries the central search, but the relationships around him will determine whether that search feels convincing as a family story.
Last Seen also demanded action sequences, and Brammall has been candid about finding them harder at 50 than he once imagined.
Discussing the production with Radio Times, he credited a younger scene partner with taking on much of the physical work during an early confrontation. Asked about the possibility of doing more action, he offered a practical condition: “Give me the right stunt double and I’ll do it.”
His account brings a welcome human detail to the promotional image of a desperate father fighting his way toward an answer. Performing that desperation requires choreography, cooperation, and people prepared to absorb the physical demands of a scene.
For the character, physical vulnerability can be useful territory. Ian’s willingness to intervene does not necessarily mean he is equipped to control what follows. The possibility of getting hurt gives an impulsive decision consequences beyond moving the investigation forward.
Apple’s official premiere announcement confirms that the first two episodes arrive together on Wednesday, September 9. The remaining four episodes follow weekly, with the sixth scheduled for October 7.
That gives the thriller a five-week release window. Viewers can begin with a substantial introduction to Ian’s situation, then follow the investigation one chapter at a time. Those who prefer watching a complete season can plan around the final episode’s arrival.
The U.S. Last Seen page provides access to the series through Apple TV. No familiarity with the source novel or Brammall’s previous work is needed to begin.
American viewers will have an unusually sharp contrast available the following day. Paramount+ has confirmed that the third and final season of Colin from Accounts arrives September 10, with all episodes released at once.
Brammall returns there alongside Harriet Dyer, his wife and fellow creator, writer, and star. Their comedy began with a car accident, an injured dog, and two strangers drawn into each other’s lives. Its farewell season places another set of complicated relationships on his schedule, with considerably more space for laughter between the difficult moments.
The post Patrick Brammall Takes a Dark Turn in Apple TV’s Last Seen appeared first on AppleMagazine.
You can keep your space camels, the AT-ST is Star Wars' coolest land vehicle, and now this Lego Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series AT-ST is $39 off at Amazon, the cheapest this set has ever been.
Save $39 on this Lego Star Wars UCS AT-ST at Amazon.
Like the rest of Lego's Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series, this Lego Star Wars AT-ST is a seriously detailed model. It has some interactive features, including rotating guns and an opening hatch, but at 14.5 inches tall, this is very much a display model. Want to expand your collection further? We've also rounded up the Best Lego Star Wars sets.
Star Wars AT-ST Walker: was $200 now $161
Save $39 on this Lego Star Wars UCS AT-ST set, sure to look absolutely stunning on any shelf or table. Launching just last year, this buildable model has never been cheaper.
NOTE: Make sure you tick the coupon box to get it at this price. View Deal
What's not to love about Star Wars' AT-ST? First glimpsed in The Empire Strikes Back and heavily featured in Return of the Jedi are typical of the Empire; designed to instil fear, but laughably impractical. I can just imagine the Emperor laughing.. "Yes.. yes.... more like a chicken!" as his engineering team roll their eyes. And now, thanks to Lego, you can own this super-detailed Lego Star Wars Ultimate Collector Series AT-ST.
Made up of 1,513 pieces, it's for builders aged 18+ or over. It comes with an information plaque and a minifigure of an AT-ST driver. It is designed to be fun to build as well as looking striking as a display piece. It does include an AT-ST pilot minifigure but at 14.5 inches tall, it's much bigger than minifigure scale, which is why he'll stay perched next to the plaque.
It's posable to a degree; you can move the cockpit and peek inside it, but the legs are fixed; this is not a play-friendly set. If you're buying for children, consider instead this Lego Star Wars Smart Play Attack on Endor set. Yes, the AT-ST is a hilariously impractical vehicle, easily foiled by a gang of teddy bears, but that's half of its appeal.
Key features: 1,513 pieces, 14.5 × 8.5 × 8.5 in. / 37 × 22 × 22 cm, builders aged 18 or over.
Product launched: August 2025
Price history: Launched last year, this is the cheapest this set has ever been.
Price comparison: Amazon: $161 | Lego: $200 | Target: $172
Reviews consensus: The reviews from Lego and Amazon purchasers are almost universally positive, with people praising how fun it is to build and how fantastic it looks when finished.
✅ Buy it if: You want to build a stunning, detailed display model of Return of the Jedi's iconic vehicle.
❌ Don't buy it if: You want a playset. Despite the minifigure, this is purely a display model.
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