USSBurritoTruck

Anyone implying there are jokes in the canon connections post is mistaken. Star Trek is serious business.

Personally I think the existence of the extra-galactic synths is the least interesting thing they could have done to wrap that season up, followed only by Picard dying and instantly coming back to life before any characters even have time to process his death.

Oh, wait....

The theory I saw floating around that I really liked while season one was still airing was that it would have been revealed that the Romulans were actually organic synthetics created by the Vulcans, who rebelled and escaped, and then erased the memory of that fact, with only the Zhat Vash aware of the truth, and working to make sure no one else learned it, because of what that could potentially mean for Romulan society.

However, Michael Chabon and Akiva Goldsman didn't call me up for my opinion before the fact, and we're stuck with what we've got. So, no, I don't think the extra-galactic synths are particularly interesting, but they could be. However, at this point I'm certain we're never going to see any follow-up on them, except for in some novel someone eventually writes, which will have some elements almost immediately contradicted by canon material.

I don't disagree, but the AGIMUS drones are not the exact same design as the Echo Papa 607s, nor is there any explicit connection between AGIMUS and the Minosians, so I don't think it qualifies.

Because it's the only option I'm aware of to blur out the image so anyone concerned about spoilers doesn't see it.

Also, it's out of frame, and we're seeing him from the back, but Badgey's dick and balls are fully out.

I would be surprised if that's the last we see of Badgey, though pleasantly so.

Having Badgey appear to save Rutherford and the other Lower Deckers in a key moment as some sort of literal deus ex machina seems very likely.

On the other hand, by having Rutherford keep the Goodgey program, it does seem as though there is plenty of opportunity for Jack McBrayer to continue to make guest appearances on the show, without having to scream about ripping off peoples' skin, and I fully support that.

Personally, I think the most interesting thing they could do is tie Badgey's decision to an empty dimension and create a new universe into the extra-galactic synths we learned the existence of in season one of PIC, with no follow-up on. That's absolutely not going to happen, though.

Those were streaming series. They would not exist if not for the streaming market.

So you're claiming that they're making Star Trek for the explicit purpose of releasing it on physical media without streaming it first? Man, you've got to tell the rest of the community about this, because this is the first I'm hearing, and I imagine I'm not the only one who's missed the boat on this direct to DVD Trek you're speaking of.

That would be great, but unfortunately they’re not going to produce new Trek for direct to physical media.

TOS was corny at times, but they acted like absolute professionals most of the time.

Nothing says professionalism like McCoy's constant needling of Spock over their racial and cultural differences.

Paramount+ is still the entity that decided to cancel the series and remove it from their platform less than a year after advertising themselves as being the home to "Every Series. Every Episode."

Ransom is less bisexual and more buysexual. You know that dude is dropping the credits for the deluxe horga’hn on his shore leave trips.

This is an entirely over the top interpretation of what is happening in the scene the OP shared where a villainous character is trying to exploit what they perceive to be a weakness in one of the protagonists.

However, if you want to get into it, the biggest factor in any tone shift from TOS to now was DS9. That’s where we see the Federation abandoning humanity to the whims of the Cardassians for the sake of a treaty. That’s where a Starfleet enforces martial law on Earth and an admiral attempts a coup of the Federation government. That’s where we learn it’s illegal to engage in genetic modification, even when it would reverse a person’s intellectual disability. And, of course, DS9 introduced the concept of Section 31.

The seeds were always there, though. Even in TOS we learn that the governor of the colony Kirk grew up on had half the population executed because there was a famine and not enough food for everyone. We see a Federation professor who taught at the Academy introduce fascism to a planet because he believed it to be the most efficient philosophy for advancement. We see a planet that’s heavily implied Starfleet maintains a base there strictly for sex tourism, and we hear Federation delegates debate the issue of whether or not they should allow a planet whose resources they’ve been exploiting to even join the Federation. Kirk and the Klingons fight a proxy war using the native population of a pre-warp world before Kirk gets sad and just abandons his side. It’s even heavily implied that women cannot rise to the rank of captain in Starfleet.

The only Trek that resembles your interpretation is TNG, but even there we learn of human colonies with roving “rape gangs” like the world Tasha Yar grew up on.