ValueSubtracted

I tried the Lower Decks game when it came out - it's an idle game, which didn't exactly interest me.

But hey, it led to me learning what an idle game is.

BASHIR: Captain, is there any word from Starfleet about Sloan or Section 31?

SISKO: There's no record of a Deputy Director Sloan anywhere in Starfleet. And as for Section 31, that's a little more complicated. Starfleet Command doesn't acknowledge its existence, but they don't deny it either. They simply said they'd look into it and get back to me.

BASHIR: When?

SISKO: They didn't say.

KIRA: That sounds like a cover up to me.

BASHIR: I can't believe the Federation condones this kind of activity.

ODO: Personally, I find it hard to believe they wouldn't. Every other great power has a unit like Section 31. The Romulans have the Tal Shiar, the Cardassians had the Obsidian Order.

When the top brass of Starfleet are covering your ass, you're an official agent, whether you're "on the books" or not.

I always took that explanation as the thinnest of lie meant to give an air of legitimacy.

I think a lot of people did, but the episode doesn't really make the case that it's a lie - in fact, Sloan is protected at the highest levels of Starfleet Command, which supports the idea that Sloan was being completely truthful when he was trying to recruit Bashir. It's a legitimate reading of the episode, at any rate.

Section 31 was portrayed less as an extremist cabal and more as a misguided morally-grey organization

My interpretation was more that they were "hiding in plain sight" at that point in time - Pike was under the impression that they were some kind of special forces, and learned the truth over the course of the season.

I only watched this trailer once, but I didn't see any insignia, so I think S31's exact status is still TBD.

The only current show that hasn't portrayed them as villains is arguably Lower Decks...

I was trying to temper my expectations, but mobile games are a bit of a letdown, to say the least.

In this case, I'm wondering if, since Spock is the origin of the serum, the crew are somehow reflecting his self-doubts.

Paramount+ has been cancelling shows (which sucks and is bad), but they're certainly not dumping the franchise has a whole.

Prodigy moved to Netflix because the studio - also owned by Paramount - was able to shop it around for a new distributor.

Please, everybody knows Garrett's natural hair colour is blue.

It should be a conspiracy of like-minded individuals that exists parasitically within Starfleet, not an official (or an unofficial official agency).

In fairness, Sloan said they were a branch of Starfleet Intelligence with an official designation in his very first appearance on DS9, and nothing that came after that really contradicted him (other than his obvious lies in "Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges").

Whatever liberties have been taken since then, that wasn't one of them.

I feel insufficiently teased!

Yeah, without any evidence whatsoever it feels to me like some kind of plan was changed midstream.