The first episode of Star Trek: Prodigy has so much story to tell. Picking up approximately five years after Star Trek: Voyager and one year after the most recent events of Star Trek: Lower Decks, this series has been placed in a very specific spot in the timeline. It isn’t the most recent part of the Trek canon, but it isn’t all that far off either.
1. Adventure & Intrigue
At a surprising 45 minutes, this new chapter of Star Trek has a lot of story to tell and it dives right in. We are quickly introduced to some of our heroes, some of the major antagonists, and a wild setting that is fairly different from what we have gotten in the last 55 years of this franchise. On a prison mining colony, a young man named Dal’Rel is toiling away with all the snarky attitude one would come to expect from our post-MCU adventure heroes. Dal and the prison as a whole is quickly thrown into a prison break scenario with explosions, prisoners running amok, and far more questions than answers. As Dal attempts to use the prison break as his own means of escape – something no one has ever achieved before – we are quickly and briefly introduced to our other heroe, aliens of various species. Some of these aliens we have seen before, like Jason Mantzoukas’s Tellarite, Jankom Pog. Pog is a mechanic at the prison, and Tellarites are a species we were first introduced to in The Original Series days, they tend to be full of themselves and hard to get along with. Pog is no different. The cause of the prison break is Zero, a non-corporeal, telekinetic species from TOS days called a Medusan. They are living within a mechanical body they created, as their true form would cause most mortal creatures to go mad. Voiced smugly by Angus Imrie. There is also the sweet, but hulking crystalline species (but not cleverly named) Rok-Tahk, voiced by the young Rylee Alazraqui, Murf, a gooey little guy with sounds voiced by the masterful Dee Bradley Baker, and the intelligent and dangerous Gwyn, brought to life by Ella Purnell.
All of these characters are trying to find their way out of their current predicament for various reasons. Whether they are a prisoner, an unsatisfied employee, or trapped by their link to the prison. As we get more information, it only raises more curiosity. And from start to finish we are given constant action and mystery to keep our eyes glazed over and our head spinning with questions. When the group comes across a crashed Federation Starship, the USS Protostar, they know it must be their only way out, and it kicks off the adventure of a life time. We know next to nothing about this class of ship, as it is something new created for this series, but it does have a striking resemblance to another famed ship. While viewers are most definitely along for the ride, Star Trek fans still have plenty of details that we know and can grasp right from the start. This is going to be the first time that fans will know more about the Federation and Starfleet than the entire main cast of characters. It’s a really interesting viewpoint to take this franchise in new directions.
2. Mystery Surrounding Dal’Rel
Along with all of the other secrets and puzzles in this premiere, there is a recurring question popping up regarding Dal’s species. This is something we haven’t really seen in all of Star Trek. Sure, our Federation heroes have come across new species constantly, but someone, either those newcomers, or someone else in the galaxy knows who or what they are. Here, not even Dal knows what he is. To causal and indoctrinated Trek viewer alike, Dal looks like any other bi-pedal alien character from all walks of sci-fi. This idea first comes up when a mechanical prison guard has to ask Dal what species he is and he has no answer. This immediately caught my attention, but I wasn’t sure if it was going to be a main thread until it popped up a few more times from other characters. This idea of a hero not knowing their own story is an old one, but in the right hands it can be used to great effect.
Continued below3. Return to the Delta Quadrant
The Delta Quadrant is nothing new to older Trek fans. First, being the portion of the galaxy the Voyager was thrown to giving them a 75 year journey home, this far off and dangerous expanse is home to some of the scariest and most imposing villains in all of Star Trek. This allows Prodigy to fill our screens with a ton of new wild and interesting designs, with a few species we have encountered before peppered in, like the Kazon bounty hunter early in this episode. To new generations of Trekkies it will all be new to them, but the show is already laying the ground work for appeasing fans of all eras. Fans will know that Star Trek: Voyager was a blend of tones started on both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine with a definitive Lost in Space type of over-arching plot. This new series is shaping up to lean even harder into the unknown, something that tends to go missing throughout each and ever previous series. The major question set for now is how did another Federation ship make it all the way out to the Delta Quadrant without a crew? It will most likely be the biggest mystery of the season.
4. Oh Captain, My Captain!
Speaking of Voyager and the major ties to the Delta Quadrant, one of the biggest draws for existing fans to this show should be the return of, the always amazing, Kate Mulgrew as Captain Kathryn Janeway, well sort of… This Janeway is a holographic re-creation included as a training program and guide within the computer of the Protostar. She only appears briefly at the end of this first episode, but I would be lying if I didn’t get a little choked up hearing her embody this beloved character once again. Having her in the cast allowed me to skip right over the awkward feeling of seeing Janeway in animated form rather than live-action. And as Mulgrew is 20+ years older now than she would look as this hologram it made far more sense to add her to this show. I am very excited to see how this version of Janeway shapes up against the real deal, and who knows we may see the human version of her yet. It’s already be disclosed that Robert Beltran will be reprising Janeway’s first officer Chakotay once again in future episodes.
5. The Star Wars Model
I was hoping to stay away from this subject, especially with how much happened in this premiere, but it can’t be helped. As much as I liked this opening episode, and as much as it does carry on a lot of what Trekkies love about the franchise, it is far and away the most Star Wars-esque endeavor yet. From some of the character designs, to dialogue, to the level of action, it has lifted things right from the other “Star” franchise. I get it, they are looking to expand this property further and reach new viewers. I don’t think it will lose sight of what makes Trek, Trek, but it does make me a little nervous. Because this is aimed at younger modern audiences it has to grab them. While The Next Generation through Voyager may have been some of my favorite shows from ages 4 – 15, this isn’t the 80s or 90s anymore. Things need to be a bit more bombastic, even Trek.
As a whole the show worked for me, but also as a fan of Star Wars, I could see all the parallels happening. I believe this show will have a lot to offer, whether I end up truly falling in love with it or not. For now, I am still very excited to see where it goes next.
