Paramount+ today announced that the fan-favorite original series Star Trek: Strange New Worlds has been renewed for a fifth and final six-episode season ahead of the third season premiere this summer.

Huh...

I'm standing in line at the polls right now, and all I can say is to be prepared for long lines.

Absolutely. It's beyond me why someone would be against a hearing taking place, considering a "no" would be practically guaranteed in cases like these.

And with that, I think Singh's goose is officially cooked.

You don't run an election campaign on supporting another party. You run it on the assertion that you deserve to win.

We should never go back

I agree...but at some point, there will have to be normalization. Whatever that new normal ends up being.

It's interesting how quickly multiverse stuff became a tired trope in current genre TV/film.

Lower Decks being what it is, I suspect it will be a one-off gag.

I think the episode implies ethical issues, but stops well short of spelling them out. The fact that Kingsley concealed the childrens' true natures for as long as she did suggests that their research was not on the up-and-up.

My best guess is that the station's research, on paper, fell within Federation regulations, but their actual work did not. But that's stretching pretty far, given that no one explicitly raises the issue.

WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE RACISTS

To be fair, it's kind of challenging when you're supposed to wait six months following your last COVID infection...

Of all the new series, Lower Decks has been perhaps the most consistent - seasons 1-3 premiered in August, while season four premiered in early September.

This pattern may or may not hold.

I think there are two big elements that made this episode as successful as it was:

1. Taking ongoing SNW storylines like Spock/Chapel seriously, and not using them as punchlines.

2. The unexpected delight of the Enterprise crew fanning out over the NX-01 era, holding a mirror to Boimler and Mariner.

Both of these elements were welcome, and helped keep the episode grounded.

why does he get a pass while Janeway is condemned?

Firstly, the episodes are doing completely different things, and have completely different presentations. "The Enemy Within" uses the transporter malfunction to examin the duality of man, and doesn't address the ethics of the situation in any way. That's going to inform the viewers' reactions, just as bringing Janeway's decisions regarding Tuvix to the forefront of that episode informs the viewers' reactions of that.

Secondly, Tuvix himself would have agreed with Spock - at least, at first. He was initially an active participant in trying to find a way to undo the situation. Over time, though, he changed...and so did Janeway and the Voyager crew. Tuvix is given a name. He's given a job. Janeway calls him an officer and an advisor.

In short, Janeway granted Tuvix personhood...and then unilaterally stripped it away.