Star Trek Prodigy (PRO) Season 2

Season 1Season 2

Into the Breach I/IIWho Saves the SaviorsTemporal Mechanics 101Observer's ParadoxImposter SyndromeThe Fast and the CuriousIs There in Beauty No Truth?The Devourer of All Things I/II

 

Into the Breach I/II

Synopsis

Stardate 61859.6: Rok-Tahk, Murf, Dal, Zero and Jankom have been in Starfleet Academy preparation courses for some time when they receive a message from Admiral Janeway, who orders the "Starfleet Academy hopefuls" to join a mission. They are greeted by the EMH and board USS Voyager NCC-74656-A, together with some cadets of Nova Squadron. Janeway doesn't give them any information on the mission. When the Doctor mentions something about shuttlebay 3 although the ship supposedly only has two, Zero informs their friends that the senior officers keep a secret from the crew. Using the Jefferies tubes, they find shuttlebay 3 with a cloaked vessel in it, the Infinity. They hide from the senior staff as these suddenly enter the room and discuss their plan, which is not approved of because Starfleet deems it too dangerous. In the meantime, Gwyn has arrived on her homeworld Solum. But Asencia has beaten her to it. She convinces the ruling council that Gwyn is an imposter. Warships of the Vau N'Akat destroy the shuttle Gwyn came with, so she is on her own when she escapes. She finds the home of her father, who is an astronomer and still goes by the name of Ilthuran at this time. He initially doesn't believe that Gwyn is his progeny from the future, but she proves it by showing her heirloom that she will receive from him. In order to earn the trust of the planet's leaders, they decide that Gwyn should undergo an ancient ritual, the Va'Lu'Rah. On Voyager-A, Janeway lets in Dal and his friends on the mission to rescue Chakotay, by going to the future through the wormhole that was created by the destruction of the Protostar. Time on both sides is synchronized, and the right moment to cross over without changing history is in 41 hours, just after Chakotay has launched the Protostar to the past. To complicate things, some object appears near the wormhole and warns Janeway not to enter the anomaly. The friends inadvertently reveal the secret to Maj'el, a Vulcan member of Nova Squadron. They hurry to shuttlebay 3 to hide the ship before Nova Squadron can find it. But it is too late. And worse, as a scuffle ensues and Maj'el neck-pinches Jankom, his head hits the console and triggers the automated launch of the Infinity, which now heads for the wormhole...

Commentary

One year ago, Star Trek Prodigy got canceled overnight at Paramount+, the probable reason being a tax write-off. This became a (deserved) public relations disaster for the self-proclaimed home of all Star Trek. At that time, the production of the second season was almost finished. The series fortunately found a new home a few months later when it was sold to Netflix. Unfortunately the streaming service decided to drop season 2 all at once on July 1, 2024, thereby disabling the weekly discussion about new episodes and leaving fans with the two choices to either binge-watch it or to avoid forums, social media and other sources of spoilers for weeks. Netflix evidently doesn't understand the fandom at all and forgoes the chance for Prodigy to receive a lot more free publicity over a much longer time.

I am not trying to be part of the rat race, and I will watch and review the show at a speed that is manageable for someone with a job and a life. Fortunately there are five double features in the season, which I will review as single episodes, which may save one or two weeks and leaves a chance for me to finish before Lower Decks season 5 begins.

"Into the Breach I" begins with a little bit of exposition that spotlights what our friends have been up to at the Academy in the past couple of months and that establishes that they have been in separate departments for much of the time. Then they all receive the message from Janeway to join her for a mission. This could have been nice, if not an annoying reference had ruined it for me in the first minute. It is only a passing remark, but when Rok-Tahk mentioned Larkin and his Tribbles, I almost felt like switching off the TV. It is inappropriate for three reasons. Firstly, it is another unnecessary cross-over between Discoverse and non-rebooted Trek. Secondly, the only way to explain why Tribbles would be unknown in "The Trouble with Tribbles", a few years after the disaster caused by Larkin, would have been that Starfleet pulled another Lex Spock and swept it under the rug - a loophole that is hard to maintain if Rok-Tahk lectures on the incident at school. Thirdly, "The Trouble with Edward" is such a cynical and unsavory episode that it should have remained totally isolated.

So far for my rant. And now for the many more things that I like about the season premiere.

It is pleasant that the episode doesn't spend too much time at the Academy (or actually just in prep school) and gets into motion very soon when our friends assemble to board the shuttle. Well, the beginning of their mission comes with some more exposition, but of an enjoyable kind, as we meet Voyager's EMH (Robert Picardo) again and learn a few things about Janeway's new ship, Voyager-A. Following the principle of Chekhov's gun, almost everything mentioned in this phase of the episode will pay off in some fashion, which I find quite satisfying. It is also noteworthy that the series continues to explain its technology to young viewers in a manner that it is easy to understand yet casual. Besides the character of the Doctor, his mobile emitter and the cloaking of the Infinity, "Into the Breach I" introduces the Jefferies tubes and demonstrates how different it is to move through these service corridors instead of simply taking the turbolift. And although I am not too fond of the concept, including the cetacean ops was a no-brainer in this show.

I don't know if it was an in-joke included on purpose, but the reference to "shuttlebay 3" on a ship that has only two made me chuckle because shuttlebay 2 was mentioned repeatedly on VOY, although that ship had just one of them.

"Into the Breach I" ends a bit abruptly after 24 minutes that are entertaining but not very eventful. A lot more happens in the second part.

"Into the Breach II" switches to Solum where Gwyn tries in vain to convince the rulers of her planet that she is one of them and that she came to avert a disaster that would happen in the future. It was foreseeable that Asencia would be there as well (which raises the question why Gwyn wasn't better prepared for this eventuality). I didn't anticipate that we would meet the younger versions of Asencia and of Gwyn's father as well because I was of the impression they may not be alive over 50 years prior. Anyway, thanks to the longevity of the Vau N'Akat, this story has considerably more potential than I would have hoped for. It is adorable that the younger self of the Diviner is a nice person and a Trek version of Doc Brown of sorts. The character not only returns but is given an unusual opportunity for redemption.

Meanwhile on Voyager-A, Janeway explains the mission to save Chakotay to our friends. She also points out that the only way to preserve history is to enter the future after Chakotay has sent the Protostar to the past. I already mentioned it in my season 1 reviews and would like to repeat that Prodigy takes a mature approach to temporal phenomena and is more consequential in this regard than many "adult" series that boast time travel.

Only the ending of the second part feels a bit like a throwback to the early days of the series for our cadets, as if they had never learned about duty and responsibility. After carelessly revealing details of the top secret mission, they don't report their error and they don't try to gain the trust of Nova Squad member Maj'el (who is not very Vulcan but at least a tad more mature than they are). They decide to cover it up and thereby aggravate the situation, the way it happened repeatedly in season 1. Well, I don't really mind because it is funny after all, but I could imagine ways how things could have gone south because of bad luck, rather than with everyone acting stupid. Anyway, it looks very much like Maj'el will be a regular character, perhaps to provide some guidance for the wild bunch.

Overall, the season opener feels very much like a single episode, and in this one case I am glad I could watch it consecutively. In a way, the kids' show sets up its serialized second season better than Picard or Discovery routinely did. Without having seen any more episodes yet, I am confident that the season will not tread water and will not be another one of those mystery boxes, only some parts of which will make sense eventually. I am really looking forward to seeing how Chakotay is rescued and reunited with Kathryn (this simply deserves a happy ending)!

Annotations

• Continuity:
  • "Polygeminus grex" as spoken out by Rok-Tahk is the scientific name of Tribbles, as written on the display in Keiko's class room (but not legible in any episode) and unlike the one given in the Edward episode.
  • The EMH speaks of a holonovel that was "very well received" and apparently means the unfairly disparaging piece he wrote about his crew mates in VOY: "Author, Author".
  • Nova Squadron, of course, is from TNG: "The First Duty" (and LOW: "Old Friends, New Planets"). I only wonder why a group with such a bad reputation thanks to Nick Locarno still exists at the Academy. Well, perhaps the name has a much longer tradition. I am glad the special pin worn by these cadets does not feature Locarno's starburst symbol because it is an outlawed maneuver after all.
• Nitpicking:
  • The two animated series don't get ship sizes right, although they can't use the excuse of being limited by available miniatures. Lower Decks is notorious for not matching exterior views with cross-sections, which to avoid may be the reason for Voyager-A in Prodigy (just like the Protostar) to have no windows or other features at all in the secondary hull, although there are supposed to be numerous decks. Also, in "Into the Breach I" Voyager-A is stated to have 29 decks (making the ship at least 800m long, but never mind), whereas the MSD shows only 24 or 25 decks and deck 32 is mentioned in "Into the Breach II". Even though this mess could be rated as an obscure "Nemesis" in-joke, it more likely is negligence and/or disinterest in the topic.
  • The shuttle type that takes the crew to Voyager-A and Gwyn back to Solum has a size or design problem as well. It looks similar to a tiny Type 9 on the outside, but it clearly is some 30m long and has two, possibly even three inhabitable decks. The windshield, at least as seen from outside, takes up almost half of its length and much of its height!
  • It is one of the most persistent clichés of Trek but was never realistic that everyone can launch a shuttle without passing any security measures and the bridge is only notified when it is too late to stop.
  • It doesn't make sense for applicants, who are not yet accepted to the Academy, to have courses mainly on specialized topics like cadets their final years, instead of Starfleet 101.
• Remarkable quote: "I'm a doctor, not a butler." (Doctor)
• Remarkable ships:
  • Voyager-A is a ship of the Lamarr class, was refitted, has 29 or 32 decks, 800+ crew, two schools and officially two shuttlebays. The ship is equipped with slipstream drive. It looks much like a "Protostarred" and "Sovereignized" version of what the original Intrepid-class Voyager looks like, but retains the characteristic deflector dish of the latter.
  • The Infinity features cloaking, as well as temporal shielding.

Rating: 6

 

Who Saves the Saviors

Synopsis

Stardate 61860.1: The Infinity with Jankom, Zero, Dal and Maj'el passes through the wormhole and crash lands on Solum, decades in the future. The Protostar is still there. Zero reminds everyone that they have to stay out of history's way and let Chakotay launch the Protostar before they are allowed to rescue him. But then they are apprehended by a patrol and are locked up behind the same forcefield as Chakotay and his first officer Adreek-Hu. On present-day Solum, Gwyn and Asencia undergo the Va'Lu'Rah. They leave their heirlooms behind and step onto a platform that is lowered into the ground. On the way down, Asencia develops the power to create a new weapon and attacks Gwyn. After dodging the first couple of attacks, Gwyn too produces a new heirloom to defend herself. Asencia then launches a whole barrage of weapons against Gwyn, which Gwyn redirects and uses to form ladder steps that she begins to climb up. In the future, it becomes obvious that Chakotay has no plan to escape and that the time travelers are there to enable it in the first place. Jankom Pog uses a tricorder that Adreek-Hu snuck in to remote control his mechanical hand to disable the forcefield. But once they are free, there are still guards that block the way to the ship. Dal and his friends suggest to stay behind and create a diversion so Chakotay and Adreek-Hu can reach the Protostar (in the hope that history would repeat and the two would have to stay behind). But Dal drops a disruptor that Chakotay grabs and successfully fends off the guards that would otherwise have shot Adreek-Hu and would have forced him to launch the ship remotely. The two make it to the bridge and escape through the wormhole. The past has changed, as the Protostar has never landed on Tars Lamora upon its arrival on the other side. Gwyn does not exist in this version of history. As she climbs up the steps of the Va'Lu'Rah ground, her body begins to dissolve, and she falls down, leaving Asencia as the winner of the duel.

Commentary

One of my few complaints about "Into the Breach II" was that Dal and his friends, just like Maj'el too, acted very selfishly and immaturely when they struggled for the control of the Infinity. It is good to see that they lay down their conflict and cooperate, as soon as they realize that they have screwed up and that even worse things may happen if they don't pull themselves together. I also like that Maj'el behaves more the way we should expect from a Vulcan this time, after being inappropriately nasty in the season opener.

I sort of expected it, but it still is a great pleasure to see how Dal and his friends are locked up in the same prison cell as Chakotay and his first officer and how it becomes obvious that they are here to help the captain of the Protostar escape in the first place. It is admirable that there are only minor problems with the convoluted time travel story. The pieces fit together so far, and I am confident they still will at the end of the season. Although Prodigy is an animated kids show, its writing is far superior in this regard to the horrible mess that was Discovery's Red Angel arc. Well, maybe the frequent explanations of the temporal situation to Dal (and through the fourth wall) are a bit overdone, and his lack of knowledge of Temporal Mechanics 101 isn't such a great running joke. Anyway, kudos to the writers to keep their complex story together!

It is priceless how awkward Dal and his friends are when they run into Chakotay and Adreek-Hu, and how these react to the silly kids - only to notice after a while that the newcomers are smarter than they thought. I love the idea that Adreek-Hu's tricorder can be used to control Jankom's mechanical hand to operate the console and take the forcefield down.

Regarding the events on present-day Solum, it is a bit disappointing that the Va'Lu'Rah boils down to a simple physical fight (involving some mental forces) to "prove" the worthiness of the duelists. Even though it is mentioned to be an ancient ritual and even though it fits with the racist ideology of the Vau N'Akat that seems to celebrate strength, I would imagine that an advanced society has different ways to solve conflicts than a trial by combat. It is my opinion that writers of modern-day sci-fi are stuck in a mindset of conflicts inevitably leading to duels and of these having to look like in superhero movies. I haven't seen any further episodes at this point and there may still be a twist concerning the nature of the ritual, but for now it is rather uninteresting (and if I'm not mistaken the whole thing will be erased from history anyway).

"Who Saves the Saviors" is an overall strong episode whose story thread set in the future is wonderful but whose part on present-day Solum appears rather pointless right now.

Annotations

• Continuity: Maj'el mentions the Bell Riots (DS9: "Past Tense") and Cochrane's warp test ("Star Trek: First Contact") as examples of causal time loops.
• Nitpicking:
  • What are the odds for the Infinity to crash land in the immediate vicinity of the Protostar after passing the wormhole? And no, it's not an excuse that it was meant to happen.
  • Why does Maj'el cover her ears, except for it being a Leonard Nimoy homage? She, Dal, Jankom and Zero are still easily recognizable as aliens.
  • Robots can be disabled with the Vulcan nerve pinch? Now that's quite a stretch.
  • Gwyn suddenly begins to dissolve because she is not meant to exist in the changed timeline, much like Marty McFly. But everyone attending the ritual and lots of things and people elsewhere would have to be in flux too in that case.
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "She may use your voice, Stargazer." (Solum elder, to Ilthuran)
  • "If we cannot honor our past, we do not deserve a future." (Solum elder)
  • "Nice tattoo." (Dal, to Chakotay)
  • "Over here! Look how distracting I am!" (Dal)
• Remarkable ship: The Infinity design incorporates many element of Chakotay's Maquis raider, as well as of the executive shuttle or Sydney class.

Rating: 6

 

Temporal Mechanics 101

Synopsis

Stardate 112152.1: History is changing after Chakotay and Adreek-Hu have escaped with the Protostar, but the impact is limited, probably due to the temporal shielding of the Infinity. On future Solum, Jankom is trying hard to make the ship spaceworthy again, as the crew receives a hail from Janeway and then a mysterious message "SAVE GWYN" that is followed by a set of coordinates on the planet. Zero, Dal and Maj'el proceed to these coordinates and find the hole where the Va'Lu'Rah took place 52 years earlier. Zero takes the two other cadets to the bottom, where they find Gwyn. She is in flux, in a superposition of two quantum realities. Zero and Maj'el conclude that they need to travel back in time to help her. As Jankom converts the Infinity to a time machine, Dal studies the Starfleet course Temporal Mechanics 101. The crew lowers the ship into the hole and prepares for the time travel, tapping energy from the wormhole. But the first attempt fails. Vau N'Akat drones track them down and begin to attack the ship. Jankom hits the console with a hammer in anger, upon which the contraption works properly and transfers the Infinity to the same place, 52 years back in time. Dal, Jankom, Zero and Maj'el find Gwyn and her father Ilthuran, who has never seen outworlders before. The trouble is that they won't be able to escape from Solum, as Jankom was not able to repair the propulsion system. However, the ship is mysteriously restored to a pristine condition, apparently a repair done by the same person who sent the message to Dal and who also communicates with Gwyn while she is in flux. Gwyn says goodbye to her dad as the Infinity is going to rendez-vous with Voyager. The EMH manages to stabilize her condition. Meanwhile in stellar cartography, Murf is communicating with a mysterious figure...

Commentary

So this is the episode, whose title was foreshadowed half a dozen times. Dal finally takes the eponymous Temporal Mechanics 101 course, which is quite entertaining but which in my impression may have been inserted strategically to distract from the weaknesses of this story. Well, we could see this as an offer to the viewer to either internalize the explanations in the Starfleet instructional video or to try to make sense of what is actually going on and why (the latter of which is doomed to fail).

I have several gripes, not only with the temporal mechanics in a narrow sense but also with other aspects of story logic. But let me differentiate. I wrote in last week's review that this season is not a mystery box. That has changed because there are now a couple of questions that are supposed to make sense later, such as who is the benefactor that sends messages and miraculously repairs the ship. Some other problems, such as why Gwyn, and only Gwyn, is in superposition should be accepted as a storytelling concept even if it doesn't hold up to scrutiny. A few things will probably remain inconsistencies, such as why contact with Gwyn's diplomatic ship was purportedly lost after the Infinity vanished in the wormhole, although it was in fact destroyed by the Vau N'Akat some time prior. Some issues, such as why the effort was taken to lower the ship into the hole, are without explanation but not significant enough to impair the storyline beyond this episode. Finally, there are those things that are minor as well yet childish and annoying, such as Jankom getting the time machine to work by slamming his hammer into the console.

On a note about the character relationships, everyone on future Solum seems to be on edge in this episode. Maj'el continues to blame Dal for everything that has gone or could go wrong, which is unfair because compared to everyone's stupid conduct (Maj'el included) in "Into the Breach II", Dal made a very small mistake in "Who Saves the Saviors" when he dropped that gun. Also, no one could possibly anticipate that the first was supposed to happen whereas the second wasn't! It is no wonder that Dal struggles with his ability to lead a team. Maybe studying Temporal Mechanics 101 helps him understand what is going on, but it doesn't look like he is helpful to anyone else during that time. Jankom does his very best to repair the ship with no one giving him a hand and everyone just complaining (including himself). Finally, Maj'el more or less tells Zero that she likes their logic and, between the lines, that she sees the other "misfits" as rather annoying.

"Temporal Mechanics 101" is the first episode of the season where things don't make sense, but hopefully with no lasting impact on the credibility of the storyline. It is a bit of a mess, not only as the temporal effects are concerned but also with regard to general story logic and to character interaction.

Annotations

• Continuity: Maj'el cites Worf as an example for someone jumping between quantum realities (TNG: "Parallels").
• Nitpicking:
  • Contact with Gwyn's diplomatic shuttle, the Sacajawea, was purportedly lost shortly after the departure of the Infinity. But it actually happened earlier when the ship was destroyed by the Vau N'Akat.
  • Why don't the Vau N'Akat search for the escaped prisoners in their ship, which evidently hasn't moved in the meantime because its propulsion system is out of order?
  • Solum really is a tiny planet. The Va'Lu'Rah hole is in walking distance. It would have been more plausible for the crew to use the transporter to get there.
  • Is there a reason for Gwyn, who is in a quantum superposition, to be present in the same place at different times? The analogy to Worf doesn't really help in this regard, as he never was in superposition and never appeared at different times.
  • In order to get back to their time, it may be the most obvious course of action to convert the Infinity with its temporal technology to a time machine. But why should it be the only way to help Gwyn? After all the mentions of specific events in time that have to be either enabled or avoided (just as in the domino analogy in Dr. Erin's video as well), it would be helping Gwyn to go back to the point of divergence, rather than any other time or place.
  • There is no reason why the Infinity would have to be moved and then lowered into the hole prior to traveling in time, with a huge logistical effort (that gets overplayed by Dal viewing the Temporal Mechanics 101 video while it is happening). Well, the ship might materialize in a region of Solum that was densely populated 52 years ago, but there are no ruins suggesting that. The hole could have been heavily guarded in the past, but that ought to have been mentioned. So what is the reason? And how could the ship be moved in the first place? We know the hole is in walking distance, but even then it would be extremely hard without a working propulsion system.
  • So Jankom makes the time travel mechanism work by smashing the console with a hammer. Don't try this at home!
  • Gwyn and Ilthuran are very lucky that the ship from the future materializes a few meters away.
  • The nice Ilthuran wouldn't become the Diviner in the first place and history takes a different turn - but that was a problem from the start of the season. If we're strict about it, Gwyn should never have gone to Solum in the first place.
  • Couldn't the crew lift off with the Infinity the bottom of the hole with Ilthuran and drop him off on the surface (or beam him down) instead of letting the poor man climb all the way up?
  • The Doctor builds a temporal stabilizer for Gwyn. I thought he was a doctor, not a quantum physicist.
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "I'm a doctor, not an exorcist." (Doctor, after learning that Gwyn is some sort of ghost now)
  • "This is all completely illogical." (Maj'el)
• Remarkable appearance: Science advisor Erin McDonald appears as herself (sort of) in the Temporal Mechanics 101 course.

Rating: 4

 

Observer's Paradox

Synopsis

Stardate 61865.1: After their debriefing, the friends wonder who could be the benefactor that helped them. Murf seems to know more. He arranges items to some sort of spiral but no one can understand what it means. The friends would like to find out more, but the Doctor keeps an eye on them. Zero manages to distract him, an opportunity that Jankom uses to modify a communicator to translate Murf's language. But the attempts fails. Gwyn and Dal find the spiral symbol that Murf created in a database and can link it to Chakotay. Janeway receives orders from Admiral Jellico to seal the wormhole, although it may be the last chance to save Chakotay. Meanwhile in cetacean ops, Rok muses that Murf is an aquatic lifeform and may be comprehensible once he is under water. The humpback whale Gillian translates Murf's gibberish as "FIND ME" and a series of numbers. These are no coordinates, however. Janeway grudgingly follows her orders and has her crew seal the wormhole. Gwyn looks at the quantum stabilizer on her arm and becomes aware that the numbers are a frequency. She reprograms the device accordingly and finds herself in an environment in space where she learns how to find Chakotay.

Commentary

After four episodes in a row that were exciting or revealing (or both), "Observer's Paradox" is the first filler. It starts with the interrogations of the young crew members, which merely serve as a recap of how they all screwed up to various degrees. The Doctor becomes a nuisance not only for our friends but also for the viewer, as he repeatedly materializes beside them, to prevent them from getting into mischief. This continues for a couple of minutes. After Zero has successfully distracted him, the Doctor fortunately forgets to take custody of them any further because otherwise it would have become unbearable. Our friends learn that Chakotay is the mysterious benefactor, which is no surprise, and they finally understand what Murf is telling them, which gets only mildly interesting.

Murf is the arguably most popular character of the show, but also the most plot-driven one. Depending on what is just needed, he may be a cute creature that acts as comic relief or an enigmatic entity with all kinds of powers (except the one to articulate himself in any way). He underwent a metamorphosis in season 1, but that mostly concerned his look. Now Murf is the recipient of Chakotay's message for some reason. It may still make sense in the further course of the story why Murf of all characters was chosen. But I somehow doubt that Murf will be developed in a way to become more than a squeaking slime worm, although at least Gillian the humpback whale can understand him now.

Overall, "Observer's Paradox" is a break from time travel action that the season may have needed but that turns out bland. There are a few positive aspects, though. Janeway's heavy-hearted decision to follow her orders and seal the wormhole doesn't leave me cold. I also like the bond between Dal and Gwyn, who are palpably horrified by the idea of being separated again.

Annotations

• Continuity:
  • Chakotay's CHAH-mooz-ee first appeared in VOY: "The Cloud".
  • The humpback whale is apparently named for Gillian Taylor and likely a descendant of George and Gracie.
• Nitpicking:
  • It makes no sense for Murf to be an Academy aspirant if no one can communicate with him.
  • So Murf can somehow understand Latin letters and tell Gillian, but isn't able to depict them in any form?
  • Why would Chakotay leave messages that are effectively riddles if his goal is to be found?

Rating: 3

 

Imposter Syndrome

Synopsis

Stardate not given: The friends manage to identify the nebula that Gwyn saw and that is the likely hiding place of Chakotay and the Protostar. Although Rok-Tahk suggests they could ask Janeway for help, Dal intends to "borrow" the Infinity to get there. Dal and Gwyn learn that the ship is going to be destroyed on Starfleet's orders by launching it into a blue hypergiant, which may give them the perfect opportunity to escape with it. Rok and Jankom create holographic substitutes to take their places while they are gone. These are programmed in a way not to be aware of their true nature. They are so realistic, they fool Janeway as she comes to the holodeck to check on the friends. But the perfection leads to a chaos as all of them leave the holodeck, thinking they are real and have to prevent the duplicates from getting to the Infinity. As the other holograms and originals are struggling with each other, the two Rok-Tahks appear with a plan. They all return to the holodeck, overload the ship's holomatrix, which reboots the holograms and allows to keep them in storage until they are actually needed. The real Zero, Dal, Gwyn, Rok-Tahk, Jankom and Murf now hurry to the launch bay. Maj'el appears and distracts the Doctor, who too has been rebooted and thinks it is time to tutor them. As they arrive, the Infinity has already been launched. However, the friends manage to mask the emergency transporter, get aboard the ship and cloak it just as it has left Voyager's sensor range. Rok activates the holograms back on Voyager. But there is a glitch - their personalities were switched!

Commentary

The fun is back. After one episode in which the characters and their actions felt off and one which was lame, Prodigy returns to form in "Imposter Syndrome". Well, we may take offense by our friends disobeying their orders yet again. But I'm inclined to be forgiving in light of the wonderful story that unfolds. Doppelgänger stories are popular in Star Trek ever since Kirk was duplicated in "The Enemy Within". The idea that holographic copies could create confusion because they were programmed to think they are the real deal is new, and I enjoyed that a lot. Although it was never life-threatening, the situation of someone facing their duplicate in a fight, without me knowing who is who, gave me the vibes of "Futureworld", one of my favorite movies from my childhood that I feel is vastly underappreciated. Also, Prodigy proves once again that funny situations don't need to be prolonged and exaggerated to a point where they become mere slapstick. It is good that after a few minutes of chase scenes there is a solution to the dilemma on the horizon. This season's episodes are all 24 minutes long, and "Imposter Syndrome" uses this time perfectly; it shouldn't have been a minute longer or shorter.

The idea to steal a ship with cloak just as it is going to be destroyed is genius. I am glad the Infinity wasn't simply blown up or scrapped. And speaking of ships that will return, I am looking forward to our friends being on the Protostar again. The holographic bridge of the ship is a foretaste.

Overall, this is a well-rounded episode (despite the return of Jankom's hammer to start the engines), one of the best of the show so far. The doppelgänger story is a lot of fun, and the twist when the holograms materialize with switched personalities in the end is hilarious and a really great cliffhanger. I also like that everyone of the other characters is involved in some fashion, such as Maj'el (who really likes Zero), Noum (who really loves to relax) and Tysees (who has a sense of humor after all).

Annotations

• Nitpicking:
  • It really would have been a good idea to ask Janeway for help, just as Rok suggested in vain.
  • There is quite a chaos on the ship as the originals and duplicates are chasing each other for one hour. At some point, someone would have noticed what is going on or would at least have confined some of the friends, real or not, to their quarters.
• Remarkable dialogue: "I think you overdid it on the cockiness." - "Nope, that's spot-on." (Dal and both Gwyns in unison about his holo duplicate)
• Remarkable music: The Doctor briefly hums "La donna è mobile" and mentions "Questa o quella" (though he said "questo"), both from Rigoletto by Guiseppe Verdi.
• Remarkable fact: This is the first mention of a Class-O planetoid.

Rating: 7

 

The Fast and the Curious

Synopsis

Stardate 61875.9: It will still take 61 days at warp for the friends to reach the spiral nebula, the presumable hiding place of Chakotay. They decide to take a shortcut through a Borg transwarp conduit. As the Infinity is inside the conduit, a drone attaches itself to the hull, takes over control and forces the ship to land on a planet. Zero and Murf escape, but Dal, Gwyn, Rok-Tahk and Jankom Pog are apprehended by Kazon guards. A man named Maje Ekthi welcomes the friends and demands latinum as tribute. When they tell him they don't have latinum, he offers them their freedom if they win a shuttle race against his best pilots. Dal and Jankom team up, as do Gwyn and Rok-Tahk. Two of the five initial starters drop out during the race through the planet's underground, leaving only the friends and one of the maje's teams. When Dal's shuttle collides with the latter and both crash on the ground between lava rivers, Dal wants to help the other pilot, who turns out to be a robot. Gwyn could win the race and her freedom, but she turns around and picks up Dal and Jankom. Zero and Murf confront Maje Ekthi and disable the device that mind-controls him. They learn that this was a Kazon training ground, whose AI now seeks to perfect itself by creating perfect pilots. The AI now attempts to control Murf and Zero, upon which Zero runs into the machine to disable it, in the course of which their containment suit is heavily damaged. The friends are free to go, but they need help for Zero and also for Gwyn, whose quantum stabilizer armband begins to malfunction. Meanwhile on Voyager-A, the holographic duplicates with their switched personalities raise Maj'el's attention. Also, time on the ship suddenly freezes and some sort of tentacles grab and abduct the Gwyn hologram.

Commentary

The Kazon traditionally rank among the less popular recurring Star Trek species. They mostly appear as some kind of second-rate Klingons with awful hair. Although or just because no one really cares for them, I appreciate the efforts of Star Trek Prodigy to expand on their culture, with new characters, new business sectors and especially with new types of ships and shuttles. I like the designs and visuals of the race a lot.

It doesn't make sense at the beginning why Maje Ekthi would be more interested in staging a shuttle race than in earning latinum and why he is so apathetic anyway. But as satisfactory as the solution to this specific conundrum is, as disappointing is the rest of the story after the race (which becomes rather pointless in retrospect). So it is another AI that has run out of control and that thinks it can perfect itself by perfecting its pilots. It is where so many Trek stories have gone before, only with a cool shuttle race this time.

The most important outcome is that Zero almost gets killed when they save their friends from the AI, but in hindsight it doesn't really matter how it all came about. It could have been a fight against a ferocious creature or an armored battle drone just as well.

Not much happens on Voyager in the meantime. It is anticlimactic that after the funny cliffhanger with the switched personalities no one would notice that there is something wrong with the "Starfleet hopefuls", still several days later. Only Maj'el has a suspicion, which hopefully pays off in the following episode. The disappearance of the Gwyn hologram is another mystery, which may or may not be tied to Chakotay and which may or may not have a deeper significance. Let's wait and see (I'm writing the reviews without any advance knowledge, even though avoiding spoilers is becoming increasingly hard).

The label "filler episode" for "The Fast and the Curious" may be unfair because it tells a story in its own right and in the best tradition of episodic Trek. But after the build-up of suspense in "Imposter Syndrome", almost nothing of it gets carried over. I hope a few things will pay off later though.

Annotations

• Remarkable shuttles: The racing shuttles are very Kazon-like and five distinct types. I'm looking forward to having them in the database!
• Remarkable wreckage: We can recognize parts of a Gorn ship, at least one Klingon BoP, something looking a bit like a Galor class and two Excelsior saucers, of which one is labeled USS Cairo NCC-42136. The relative scales are, well, very flexible.

Rating: 4

 

Is There in Beauty No Truth?

Synopsis

Stardate 61881.4: A few weeks later, Jankom's attempts to repair Zero's containment suit have failed. But they are telepathically contacted by Medusans, who live in a colony with other non-corporeal species and offer to help them. Although Gwyn's condition is getting worse too, she agrees to set a course to the colony on Ovidia IV. Here, the formerly non-corporeal beings have bodies, which is enabled by the hydrocarbons in the rings around the planet. Zero agrees to undergo the procedure that will give them a body as well. They are overwhelmed by the new sensations. But they don't know the whole truth yet. they wouldn't be able to leave the planet with the new body. Also, there is a dangerous ritual knowing as the "Running of the Nazamon", in which the inhabitants willingly expose themselves to the feeling of fear. The Nazamon turns out to be a gigantic flying creature. Zero finishes the run, and although everyone would expect them to stay, they decide to leave with their friends. On Voyager, Maj'el exposes the holographic imposters. Janeway learns that the true cadets are on their way to find Chakotay. Also, after the disappearance of the Gwyn hologram, her reconstruction reveals that eight minutes in the ship's logs are missing...

Commentary

The title "Is There in Beauty No Truth?" is a dead giveaway that the episode is all about Zero. Other than that, the broad strokes of the plot are the same as in "The Fast and the Curious". Once again, our friends take a detour instead of proceeding straight to Chakotay's supposed location. One again, they land on a planet where not everything is as it seems to be. And once again, very little is going on on Voyager.

I wrote in my last review that I was hoping the confusion about the character switch would still pay off in some fashion. It could have led to funny complications and could have caused a chaos on Voyager. But nothing like that happens. Janeway simply switches off the simulations and thereby exposes the imposters, which may have happened a lot sooner and which would realistically have happened even without them behaving strangely. This is a squandered opportunity in my view, considering that on other occasions Prodigy pushes comical situations.

But let me come back to the main plot on Ovidia IV. Zero has the chance to become a corporeal being, and just as in the story of the Little Mermaid there is a catch to it. I like a lot how Zero discovers their new possibilities at the "Feast of Senses". But then the "Running of the Nazamon" starts, and everything that happens from now is sketchy. The meaning of the ritual never becomes clear. We may muse that, after acquiring their new bodies, all Ovidians have become adrenaline junkies. We may also overlook that fear is not a sensory impression as stated by an Ovidian but an emotion, one that Medusans like Zero are familiar with. Overall, running away from a giant flying manta is more like an excuse to show some action in a so far pleasantly cerebral episode, and to eschew further questions about the Ovidians, such as why exactly no one of them would ever want to leave. Every paradise in Star Trek customarily comes with a catch, sometimes with a rather absurd one. With Zero simply saying they don't want to stay, without this having any consequences for them, this story goes to other extreme, which is just as dissatisfying.

I wrote that this episode is comparable to the previous one in many regards. I could have awarded "Is There in Beauty No Truth?" with more points because it is the clearly more meaningful story in the end. But it makes overall poorer use of its higher potential.

Annotations

• Continuity:
  • The inhabitants of Ovidia IV consist of Medusans, Paxans (TNG: "Clues") and Calamarain (TNG: "Déjà Q").
  • Tysees mentions a mind-meld that has gone wrong (SNW: "Spock Amok") as a possible explanation for the personality switch.
• Nitpicking: The attempts to fix Zero's containment suit with wires wrapped around him are ludicrous. The visuals should have shown that Jankom and his friends at least try to help Zero.
• Remarkable dialogue: "Paxans, Medusans, Calamarains." - "Sounds like a bunch of nobodies. Get it? 'Cause non-corporeal beings have no bodies. Haha!" (Zero and Jankom)

Rating: 4

 

The Devourer of All Things I/II

Synopsis

Stardate 61886.6: The Infinity finally arrives at the coordinates that the enigmatic messages originate from and where the six friends hope to find Chakotay and the Protostar. A planet, which is out phase, becomes visible only after remodulating the Heisenberg compensators. The Infinity lands inside a huge artificial structure, a ziggurat, which was built by the Travelers. Here, the cadets run into Wesley Crusher, who has been waiting for them. He sent the signals because he figured out that the six are needed to repair the timeline by sending the Protostar to Tars Lamora to be found there. His signs were hard to decipher on purpose in order not to attract the Loom, scavengers who feed on dying timelines. Then the Loom appears and time freezes. Wes and Gwyn manage to escape and lure the creatures away from the five other friends. They finally manage to equip everyone with protective armbands and open a gateway to another place in time, in a 1968 New York apartment. In the meantime, Voyager has arrived at the coordinates of the planet too, against Jellico's orders. Janeway sends down an away team consisting of Tysees, Maj'el and Ensign Middleton. They are attacked and Middleton gets devoured. Tysees orders an emergency beam-out, but Maj'el throws away her commbadge and remains behind to continue the search for Zero. On Voyager, Tysees is shocked that no one remembers that Middleton even existed. His existence has been erased retroactively. Maj'el follows the telepathic link with Zero. Everyone urges Wesley to open the gate for her, but he hesitates. Dal activates the portal. Maj'el is reunited with Zero and is amazed he has a body now. However, the Loom breaks into the hiding place and forces everyone to return to the ziggurat. The Infinity, their intended means of escape, gets devoured. Janeway takes Voyager into a low orbit and creates a diversion. But the creatures easily penetrate the shields and hull and begin to devour crew members. The Doctor gets attacked too and escapes to the holodeck. Janeway takes a shuttle, whose phasers she matches to the Loom's phase variance and lures the creatures away from the ship. Her shuttle crashes during the fight. Inside the ziggurat, Wesley connects the six friends to a machine, which is supposed to find the possible timeline that would save everyone. The attempt fails, and he recognizes that he has to add Maj'el as a new variable. As he is about to send the seven cadets through the gateway, Janeway appears and demands them to return with her. But Wesley convinces her to let them go, upon which he transfers her to the bridge of Voyager. From here, Janeway witnesses how Wesley, through the power of his thoughts, makes the whole planet disappear. On the other side of the portal, Maj'el, Zero, Gwyn, Dal, Murf, Rok-Tahk and Jankom find the Protostar and Chakotay...

Commentary

The double feature "The Devourer of All Things" acts as a mid-season finale and is designed to be accordingly suspenseful and revealing. The inescapable spoilers about the return of Wesley Crusher had raised my expectations as I began to watch. They also increased my discontent as I kept watching and asked myself whether it was worth the hype.

My first issue with "The Devourer of All Things" is that it puts spectacle before substance: in the course of the story, in the characterizations, in the humor and references, in the visuals. The two episodes spread it on thick. Although it is not all about action and there are many sequences that take it slow, fine tones are rare, or hard to make out in the noise created by in-jokes and mindless references. It almost seems the writers were paid for the number of time travel and parallel universe concepts they included (plus Wesley jokes), whether these make sense or not. And that's another consistent problem. When it takes a break from running or fighting against the Loom, the story tries to appear smart, without actually being smart. It just wants to talk us into thinking that everything is interconnected or everything happens for a reason, without providing any kind of proof.

Wesley Crusher appears more like a parody of himself, or rather of a generic ceaselessly blathering nerd. He is not at all like the pensive and empathetic young man he had become by the end of TNG and would still or again be in PIC season 2. I think it was a poor decision to enlist Wil Wheaton for comic relief above all. Rather than giving the character closure (which already happened in a brief but wonderful scene in PIC: "Farewell"), it adds an awkward chapter to his personal history. I still like that Wes wears the same sweater (only a larger size) as when he first met the Traveler. But instead of a successful running joke, the four(!) verbal sweater references that follow become pacepalm moments, and they, among other idiosyncracies, sadly reduce the character to a stereotype. Wesley connects to his past only in references, only by citing from it and not by being himself a credible mature version, a person with all the experiences and more of the boy he used to be on TNG. Of a boy who, in my view, was never such a nuisance as the adult man in this double episode. I was thinking "Shut up, Wesley!" by myself several times as I watched.

Is my criticism too harsh, considering that Prodigy is a fun show for kids? Well, Okona too was more like a joke when he reappeared in PRO: "Crossroads". But he already couldn't be taken seriously when he showed up on TNG many years prior. We should rather compare Wes to Janeway. Her character isn't overdone or otherwise changed in Prodigy, it is much like I am watching a good old Voyager episode whenever she shows up. Wesley, as a principal character, would have deserved the same treatment.

The Loom is another major nuisance in the episodes. It is unlikely but still possible that their nature and their look will make a little bit of sense. Right now, they are just generic monsters that are meant to be creepy in the first place and enable chase scenes that are rather reminiscent of Harry Potter than of Star Trek, only that Wes doesn't need a magic wand. I have no grudge against Harry Potter, but Star Trek is a different genre, which should at least attempt to explain things with science and not along the lines of "temporal scavengers who will eat you".

Not everything is bad in "The Devourer of All Things". I really like the return of Action Kate from VOY: "Macrocosm", who is well in character, unlike Wes. This is a fine example of how to have fun with legacy characters without damaging them. I also cherish that it was possible to include the apartment from "Asssignment: Earth" without explaining it to death, and without namedropping Gary Seven. This example demonstrates how to include references without them becoming annoying.

"The Devourer of All Things" is exciting for the most part. But there are way more things that it gets wrong than it gets right. So I think four points are a fair deal.

Annotations

• Continuity:
  • The Traveler first appeared in TNG: "Where No One Has Gone Before". The Supervisors (and Gary Seven's 1968 NYC apartment) are known from TOS: "Assignment: Earth". PIC season 2 established that the two are the same basic organization.
  • Wesley wears one of his famous sweaters, more precisely the one from "Where No One Has Gone Before" when he first met the Traveler.
  • Various time travel or parallel universe concepts get namedropped in the double feature, such as the Mirror Universe from TOS: "Mirror, Mirror", the Narada incursion (not "Kelvin Timeline"!) from "Star Trek (2009)", fluidic space from VOY: "Scorpion", the mycelial plane from *CLASSIFIED*, the Boreth crystals from DIS: "Through the Valley of Shadows" and the Orb of Time from DS9: "Trials and Tribble-ations".
• Nitpicking:
  • Neither the Travelers nor the Supervisors were known as time travelers. But that problem is inherited from PIC season 2.
  • In order to make the planet visible, Rok-Tahk remodulates the Heisenberg compensators to "collapse the superimposed wave function" and "pull the planet out of its hiding spot". First off, this is probably supposed to mean to adjust the phase of the ship to that of the planet, rather than the other way round. Secondly, while the terminology sounds correct because Heisenberg has something to do with the wave function, this is not how quantum physics works, even not if we imagine it applies to the macroscopic world. Thirdly, the statement will be contradicted yet again at the end of the episode when Janeway speaks of the planet being hidden (still hidden, just as I suspected!) in a subspace layer, which is something different than a phase variance.
  • Dal took the Temporal Mechanics 101 course in the eponymous episode and still has no idea what a paradox is.
  • The Loom doesn't make any sense right now. It is visualized as a biological lifeform, which it can't be because it feeds on the weird phenomenon of "temporally displaced matter", which is retroactively erased from history in the course. Then again, why would it prefer biomatter over anything else that is out of phase in the unstable universe?
  • If the Infinity gets erased from time, how did the six friends get to the planet in the first place? And even if they are unaffected because of their armbands, for Janeway the ship would never have existed. What would have been the consequence, had the Loom devoured her whole crew, which almost happened? Would Starfleet think she had piloted Voyager all alone, all the time?
• Remarkable quotes:
  • "Does anybody need a sweater? I have got more sweaters than you would believe." (first sweater joke)
  • "Look, think of me as your guardian angel. Or if you don't have angels where you come from, think of me as the interdimensional equivalent of a guardian angel." (Wesley)
  • "I only have three rules when captaining a starship: Keep your shirt tucked in, go down with the ship, and never abandon a member of your crew."(Janeway, citing her rules just as to Naomi in VOY: "Dark Frontier")
  • "I'm a doctor, not an assembly line." (Doctor, when he is supposed to build phase discriminators for the whole crew)

Rating: 4

 

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