Netflix Paramount+ Star Trek: Prodigy (Paramount+ → Netflix) (1 Viewer)

[Josh Steinberg]

I just like saying “VOY”

 

[Nelson Au]

Prodigy out on the 28th, today.

I’m not really sure what to expect with this show. I’ll check it out Thursday evening.

 

[joshEH]

Yeah, I'm gonna be firing this one up later today, once I'm home from school. Looking forward to it.

 

[Jason_V]

I fired it up this morning...got through the ads at the beginning and then realized it was a two part episode (45 minutes). I didn't have time for it, so I'll be watching after work tonight.

 

[Doug Wallen]

Watching it now. Very interesting cast of characters. Intriguing premise. Seems like a worthy addition to Trek.

 

[Philip Verdieck]

The NX registry prefix would point toward it being a prototype ship. While the registry numbers aren't an exact science (NCC-1031 was supposed to be more advanced than NCC-1701, for example), they do increment upwards roughly chronologically. The 76884 registry number would place the Protostar as being more recent than the USS Prometheus (either NX-59650 or NX-74913 depending on where you looked with the episode), but before the USS Titan (NCC-80102). So probably launched sometime after 2374 and prior to 2379. "Prodigy" could be set anytime after 2374, though, depending on whether the ship sat abandoned for a short while or a long while.

I don't know where this fits in the Canon timeline, of if already discussed...

What year must it be after to be equipped with a Janeway Emergency Command Hologram program?

What was the date of Voyager's return?

 

[joshEH]

It's set in the year 2383 (the Romulan-supernova happens four years later, in 2387), and the U.S.S. Voyager returned home in 2378. Star Trek: Nemesis takes place in 2379, and Lower Decks opens in 2380, for comparison.

 

[TonyD]

20 minutes in and it’s feeling very Star Wars-y
I’m not complaining

 

[joshEH]

This was an excellent start to the series. It’s well-made, and did a great job with the characters, having fun, but treating the situation and the relationships seriously too. Clever use of suspense and payoff with the shields in the escape-sequence. I do wonder how you can have a Kazon in the same region of space as a Medusan, a Tellarite, and a Lurian, and a Caitian. I could buy those species being in the nearer part of Delta seen in VOY seasons 6-7, but the Kazon were clear on the other end, half a galaxy further away.

(Unless maybe the Kazon either arrived closer to the Alpha Quadrant aboard a ship using transwarp drive -- or an abandoned Borg transwarp-conduit -- and then set up a slaving-business there afterwards.)

Also, it’s rather strange for just a moment to see a Starfleet vessel with stairs rather than turbolifts, though it really does make more sense that way. (Real-world military naval vessels avoid elevators because they can get stuck in the shafts if combat damages the ship. Also because naval personnel are expected to stay in good enough shape to get anywhere they need to go on foot.)

Overall this was an extremely-solid series opener, and never once did I find myself simply counting down the minutes until Janeway finally showed up. That’s the sign of really good character-work right there.

 

[Jason_V]

Okay, “Lost and Found” surpassed any expectations I had for Prodigy. We got introduced to the main characters in an organic way, more or less, and got dropped into an existing situation (as opposed to the fresh starts other first episodes have had). It worked wonderfully and I didn’t feel the obvious hand of exposition maneuvering pieces to where they needed to be. The music works very well, the visuals were great, the choice of color palate unique and fresh.

Even the humor felt organic and natural here. Why? Because I could see people of the age group our characters are supposed to be reacting how they did. They‘re regular people in the 24th century, not Starfleet officers. And they act like people.

Who would have ever thought we’d see a Kazon in official Trek again? Or a Medusan? Nice call backs fans will recognize but you don’t need any additional info on them to understand what’s going on.

The 45 minutes blew by fairly quickly meaning I was invested in what was going on. Bring on next week!

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

I really enjoyed it too. John Noble always makes for a great villain, and the mystery of what the USS Protostar is and how it got there is an intriguing question to start the series with.

It's also fun that the character who seems the most like captain material -- Gwyn -- is the captive daughter of the bad guy. At the same time, we see her decency at a few key junctures, and her father is clearly worried about the Federation's ideas influencing her in ways he wouldn't approve of.

I do wonder how you can have a Kazon in the same region of space as a Medusan, a Tellarite, and a Lurian, and a Caitian. I could buy those species being in the nearer part of Delta seen in VOY seasons 6-7, but the Kazon were clear on the other end, half a galaxy further away.

Assuming that the Protostar wasn't intentionally sent to that prison colony, perhaps the same thing that sucked it in also sucked in lots of other ships from across the galaxy.

Also, it’s rather strange for just a moment to see a Starfleet vessel with stairs rather than turbolifts, though it really does make more sense that way. (Real-world military naval vessels avoid elevators because they can get stuck in the shafts if combat damages the ship. Also because naval personnel are expected to stay in good enough shape to get anywhere they need to go on foot.)

This is also probably the smallest standalone starfleet vessel we've seen. It appears to be only three or four decks, like the Defiant, but it's not nearly as bulky as the Defiant.

The registry number is NX-76884, so we know it's an experimental prototype. The registry numbers don't increment up perfectly with the ships' introduction into service, but they do generally trend upward with newer ships generally having higher registry numbers than older ships. 76884 is higher than the Defiant's registry number of NX-74205 but lower than the Titan's registry number of NCC-80102. So the Protostar was probably launched (or at least registered) between the DS9 finale set in 2375 and Nemesis set in 2379.

If the Protostar wasn't accidentally lost in the Delta Quadrant, but was rather deliberately sent there, perhaps as a form of soft power to spread Federation ideas in an area of space that would be impractical to colonize in a traditional way, it could be that it was launched in response to Voyager's return home. Hologram Janeway wearing the Generations-style uniform could have been a deliberate choice, since that is the only Starfleet uniform most people in the Delta Quadrant would have ever encountered.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I enjoyed it. It felt a bit like Beyond Guardians of the Clone Wars/Rebel Trek, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

I was honestly expecting this to play a bit younger than it did. It might be a kids show but it seems too violent, too dark and too serialized to be a KIDS SHOW.

 

[Nelson Au]

I had the same reaction in that it felt very Star Warsy in the early parts of the premiere. I was physically tired from doing a large house painting project this week. So I feel asleep halfway through and woke up very quickly. I’ll have to rewatch parts of it.

I agree the production design is very well done. The story is very dark. I kept asking myself how a Federation Starfleet starship got there and where the crew is and how and why is Janeway being used as a holographic training instructor.

Oh yeah, it was odd to see all the commercials as they are aimed at the kids age group.

 

[joshEH]

Assuming that the Protostar wasn't intentionally sent to that prison colony, perhaps the same thing that sucked it in also sucked in lots of other ships from across the galaxy.

[...]

If the Protostar wasn't accidentally lost in the Delta Quadrant, but was rather deliberately sent there, perhaps as a form of soft power to spread Federation ideas in an area of space that would be impractical to colonize in a traditional way, it could be that it was launched in response to Voyager's return home. Hologram Janeway wearing the Generations-style uniform could have been a deliberate choice, since that is the only Starfleet uniform most people in the Delta Quadrant would have ever encountered.

Another possibility for how all of those Alpha Quadrant species could be near Kazon-space if they were survivors (or descendants of survivors) from ships that were pulled there by the Caretaker. (That said, Medusans, as I recall from TOS, can fairly easily navigate beyond the boundaries of the visible universe, so maybe they kind of turn up everywhere.)

There's a pretty standard trope in SF that our ragtag group of Human heroes will stumble across some super-advanced alien tech or ship. Like in Stargate, Farscape, or Lexx.

I love that in Prodigy, it's the ragtag group of ALIEN heroes who stumble across the super-advanced HUMAN ship.

 

[Sam Favate]

I enjoyed the first episode, and will be curious to see where it goes. Much of the opening, establishing the characters, felt a bit generic to me, like something you'd see in an animated Star Wars or Marvel show. Once they got to the starship, it became more recognizably Star Trek.

 

[Greg.K]

I had the same reaction in that it felt very Star Warsy in the early parts of the premiere.

The bad guy robot having more than a passing resemblance to General Grievous didn't help.

 

[TonyD]

Yes I felt this too @Nelson Au @Greg.K

I typed Star Trek-y but meant Wars-y

Liked it. Will be watching every week.

 

[Nelson Au]

There was one bit on board the Protostar I recalled this morning that I thought was interesting. When they discovered the Janeway hologram, as I recall, she is describes the ship and her function and the mission of the ship “to explore strange new worlds and to boldly go where no one has gone before”. I could not help but think, that was a nice way to indoctrinate the ragtag crew to what the mission of Starfleet was about. It was also a nice subtle way to get young viewers into Star Trek. When they later watch Star Trek TOS, the words will be familiar.

 

[Adam Lenhardt]

This week's episode was a fun example of the dangers of space travel that experienced Starfleet crews would know to avoid.

We also got some more tidbits about the Protostar's mysterious background. The Janeway hologram fully expected to be in the Delta Quadrant, so it seems that the ship's presence there is not an accident (though it getting buried in the rock of a prison colony probably wasn't part of the plan.) However, the Janeway hologram was surprised that the ship wasn't being led by experienced Starfleet officers. So whatever the intentions, it was supposed to be a Starfleet crew.

 

[DaveF]

I was oblivious Prodigy was out and on P+. Added to my list to check out!