Amph "Go fast." - Star Trek: Prodigy [Netflix / CraveTV / Nick animated series]

With this series starting to connect more with past shows, it seemed appropriate to finally splinter off discussion into its own thread now, as we approach the launch of the second half of Season 1 on Oct 27th. Also a good time for the story to come together from a viewer discusison's perspective, given that the release run so far as had large gaps up until this point (1.0 premiered almost exactly one year to the day [Oct 27th] before this second half launches, ran for less than a month, then took a 2 month hiatus before the last batch of the first 10 episodes were released starting back in Jan of this year, followed by around a 9-10 month hiatus to the debut of 1.5).

I'm not going to move the posts from the main Trek thread about Prodogy to here, but I will quote most below to get the thread up and running (and make them easier to reference, as they're easily lost among the rest of the conversations in that thread). However, I'll spoiler tag them to make that collapsible so that the thread is easier to navigate. But, first, the trailer for Season 1.5 from earlier this month at NYCC:



PRO comments from the main thread:

Spoiler

 

I'm curious if they'll have a custom Protostar version of the Star Trek franchise intro added for these episodes, even though these episodes are technically still part of a season that was produced and which began airing before SNW began. They started it with SNW S1 and then LD S3 got their Cerritos version after that. Would like to see them keep adding new variants.

So, if they did change things up, would they only add the intro to 1.5's episodes even if that means it popping up for the first time in the middle of a seasonal episode listing? Retroactively add them to 1.0's episodes so that the whole season is consistent? Or do they wait for Season 2 before doing so (since 1.0 began pre-SNW and waiting would keep the whole first season consistent but now through the absence of the intro rather than through its addition). Or does it not technically apply because of Nickelodeon's involvement?

 

Me too. I’m hoping that the fact that they have both PIC S3 & DIS S5 on-deck for early 2023 means PRO can run Nov-Jan uninterrupted.

PIC starts Feb 16th and runs til Apr 20th, leaving DIS to potentially start right after in the same general slot that SNW debuted in last year and take us through most of the summer until LD S4 can hopefully hit in late August like it typically has.

Of course, if they want a seamless handoff to PIC, or any overlap, then, sadly, there might be a small hiatus in the middle for PRO.

 

I feel like they’re saving SNW for the fall if they’re already putting out teaser trailers with finished FX for DIS S5 while being silent on SNW S2.

Plus that gives them time to potentially anchor the first half of 2024 with Season 6 (and maybe at least part of PRO S2) while they continue to prep Section 31 as a (presumed) replacement for PIC in the production slate rotation (since Kurtzman has said S31 was basically waiting for one of the shows to end).

 

So, pretty good mid-season premiere (well, except where the P+ PS4 app kept freezing during the last commercial break unless you skipped ahead 10 seconds), paying off a tease of the weapon against the Federation that was set up at the end of the first half of the season.

Spoiler

Though kinda amusing that, instead of calling it a "comm relay station" like they do in the episode (because that's what it is), the episode description blurb on P+ calls it "Deep Space 13". I could be wrong, but it looks like that guy has been this far out here for so long that he hasn't gotten a uniform upgrade for awhile, either.

Anyways, we get more of Chaktotay and Vice-Admiral Janeway. Also amused that Janeway's situation at the end is your typical Trek opening act setup of a Federation ship finding a stranded, hibernating alien survivor who turns out to be of nefarious intent. Obviously she'll be bringing him aboard the Dauntless and things will go awry (especially if the computer weapon comes into play again so soon after this event*)

I also liked the science equations showing up and Rok verbally mentioning certain principles as they try to figure out the jump. It's kind of a kids show version of Discovery's "Go Science!" moments.

*Sidenote: we're getting a lot of AI-based threats in the franchise lately, aren't we? Discovery had Control, Picard had the Alliance of Synthetic Life as well as the Synths, Lower Decks had the Texas-class and Badgey and Peanut Hamper and AGIMUS, now Prodigy has this anti-Federation, computer-controlling weapon/virus. You're up next, SNW!

 

Protostar franchise intro, yay! Weird that they dropped it with episode 2 of Season 1.5 instead of 1, but, still.

Spoiler

I guess it's not a Delta Quadrant show without the Borg. Showing that the Medusans could/have been assimilated was interesting, given that they're effectively non-corporeal. Not much new for a Borg story otherwise, but, then, the point here was probably to introduce them to younger viewers who haven't watched TNG, VOY or PIC.

Weapon from the future that can't be destroyed or removed is an interesting dilemma- especially since contacting the only people who could probably figure it out, Starfleet, would destroy them in the process. I wonder if Janeway might have a trick up here sleeve from the tech brought back from the future by Endgame Janeway that might help counter the Living Construct?

It also raises the question of the nature of the Dauntless. Is it the original Dauntless? Or a recreation? I know the original was sent off to the Borg, but, if it was somehow recovered (slash that guy escaped with it somehow), then, technically, the Dauntless isn't a Starfleet vessel but, rather, a simulacrum of sorts. Which means that it may be immune from the Living Construct.

 

Wow, I did not know about that account. That's pretty cool.

Spoiler

So, the Dauntless is a new Dauntless designed by Torres (every hero ship engineer gets to design a ship eventually- Geordi gets the Jellyfish, Scotty gets the Sovereign, Torres gets the Dauntless), which means it would not be immune. Oh, well- there goes that theory. I do like that that log sort of elaborates on the Protostar's mission of being a type of Pathfinder-like mission of follow-ups to Voyager's Delat Quadrant actions.

 

I didn't- what was the nod? "Second Contact"?

This was a fun episode- it's such a TOS episode premise that it only makes sense that they literally connect it to TOS and the Enterprise. There have been so many episodes dealing with civilizations imitating stuff they've found or contacts they've made with humanity/Starfleet, or Federation officers influencing a culture they're among. It only makes sense that they'd push it further to full-on Starfleet imitation.

Basically, a cross-section of A Piece of the Action, Patterns of Force, Omega Glory, False Profits, Hope and Fear, the prologue to STID, etc. And, yeah, a healthy spattering of Galaxy Quest.

I called the origin of the glowing eyes. But I'm curious to see what emerges from Murf's cocoon. I think they've said we've seen what he becomes before. Which gets me guessing. Since this is Delta Quadrant (mostly), maybe he is Species-8472 (fluid space, goo doggie, why not?)? But the show has shown itself happy to drawn from more obscure sources, such as the Medusans, so it could be any number of things (and not just from VOY, either). Maybe a Horta from Devil in the Dark? Would explain why Rok takes to him so much.

 

Ooh, there’s a Murf hatching livestream:



EDIT- Well, the episodes aired and I guess they’re taking the long approach to Murf through multiple stages to keep us guessing. No easy answers to day!

Seems like a two-parter story here- and one that is bringing the plot threads together in a much stronger adventure. This is what I would have expected a more action-y Trek cartoon to be like.

 

I think this "real" Dauntless is also much bigger than the original "fake" Dauntless, which I think was supposed to be more like a Nova-class.