Most of the current Trek shows have settled into a pattern of ten-episode seasons, which is one of the reasons why I have a real hard time thinking of “Asylum,” the episode of Star Trek: Prodigy that debuted two weeks ago on Paramount+, as the eleventh episode of season one. It really feels a lot more like the first episode of season two, and not just because Picard, Strange New Worlds, and Lower Decks all have ten-episode seasons.
“A Moral Star” felt like a season finale, with the Diviner defeated and left for dead, the Unwanted freed, and the Protostar gang headed toward Starfleet—with, unbeknownst to them, a Trojan horse on board…
SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST THREE EPISODES OF STAR TREK: PRODIGY SEASON 1.5!
“Asylum” sets up the new status quo in fairly short order. The Protostar heads to a relay outpost past the edge of Federation space, which has only one occupant: Lieutenant (j.g.) Barniss Frex. Dal and the gang explain that they’re not really a Starfleet crew (though they are wearing cadet uniforms), and they wish to return the Protostar and claim asylum in the Federation.
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Our heroes have to get processed, and what’s fun here is the results of the DNA scans. Jankom Pog is thrilled to learn that he’s a Tellarite, a species who co-founded the Federation. Rok-Tahk learns she is a Brikar, and they all learn that Murf is a Melanoid slimeworm. Gwyn is not surprised to see she isn’t in the database, since the Federation’s first contact with her species is still in the future. Dal is very surprised to see that he is in the database, and they’re all surprised to see that it’s classified. He’s thrilled to know that Starfleet apparently has the answers he’s been searching for his entire life.
So, naturally, it all goes to hell. The weapon the Diviner put on board the Protostar infects the relay station, destroying it. Frex takes the only escape pod. Eventually, Gwyn is able to retrieve the memories of her conversations with her father on the subject of the weapon, which were suppressed by her brief view of Zero’s true form.
One of the things I really like about these first three episodes is the solidifying of the bond among our heroes. Zero is devastated that they had such a terrible effect on Gwyn, though Gwyn totally forgives them. Rohk is worried about Murf, who seems to be getting sick. Rohk also didn’t realize until she talked to Frex that there’s more than one discipline of science (which is an amusing meta-commentary on Trek’s tendency toward “science officers” like Spock and Dax who have multiple specialties depending on the needs of the plot).
Dal is still growing into his leadership role, but what’s interesting is that the rest of the group is more than happy to follow his lead. And he is making some better decisions.
One of his not-better decisions is to check out a dormant Borg cube in last week’s episode, “Let Sleeping Borg Lie,” which would’ve been good advice for the writers to take. I get that they’re in the Delta Quadrant, so we’re gonna get some Voyager hits, but do we have to do another story where they encounter the Borg and unconvincingly get away? And are the Borg the best idea to feature in a kids’ show anyhow? Also, how have none of the people on the Protostar ever heard of the Borg? I mean, okay, they’ve been slaves for a long time, but I find it hard to believe that Gwyn, at least, didn’t know who the Borg are. I mean, the Diviner must know about them, and it seems to me he would’ve told Gwyn about them in case they showed up at Tars Lamora, if nothing else…
Anyhow, this second story follows the usual beats of a Borg story—specifically a Voyager Borg story, and this is not a compliment, as the Borg are utterly toothless and not at all scary.
Luckily, we have today’s episode as a palate cleanser, as it’s the delightful “All the World’s a Stage.”
Okay, way back in 1996, the producers of DS9 were batting ideas around for how to celebrate the franchise’s thirtieth anniversary. They eventually settled on “Trials and Tribble-ations,” but one of the early concepts they considered was revisiting Sigma Iotia, the gangster planet from the original series’ “A Piece of the Action,” only the very imitative inhabitants had moved on from emulating the gangsters from Chicago Mobs of the Twenties and instead decided to pattern their lives after the crew of the Enterprise.
In “…Stage,” Prodigy has run with this notion, albeit not with Sigma Iotia. Instead, the Protostar answers a distress call on a planet that has patterned themselves after the Enterprise crew from a hundred years earlier. The inhabitants, who call themselves Enderprizians, have names derived from the crew: James’t, Sprok, Sool’u, Scott’ee, Huur’a, and Doctor Boons. Voice actors Dee Bradley Baker, Fred Tatasciore, Eric Bauza, and Samantha Smith all have a grand old time matching the cadences of the original series characters.
Eventually, we find out that an Enterprise shuttle crashed on the planet, and the sole survivor, Ensign Garrovick (presumably the same one who was the focus on the original series episode “Obsession”) taught the natives about Starfleet—which, a century on, they refer to as “Starflight.” (There’s other wonderful examples of linguistic drift, like the saying “live logs and proper,” with the Vulcan salute having different fingers separate from each other…)
At first Dal is depressed, because the Enderprizians are ridiculous, cosplaying at being “Starflight” but not being legit. Dal is, of course, projecting, because he is doubting himself and his people. They, too, are cosplaying at being Starfleet. But by the end of the episode, the Enderprizians prove themselves to be good and noble people who help save the day because they live up to Starfleet ideals, and Dal also comes to realize that he’s not faking it, either.
Meantime, we have the U.S.S. Dauntless, which we saw in “A Moral Star” being commanded by Vice Admiral Janeway, going after the Protostar. We get a holodeck-created flashback that establishes that Janeway saw Captain Chakotay off on the Protostar, whose mission was to re-explore the Delta Quadrant, but on purpose this time. (It’s the same premise as the post-finale Voyager novels written by Kirsten Beyer, except Beyer had a whole fleet sent out instead of a single ship.)
And thus we have our tragic setup. Admiral Janeway is determined to find the Protostar, and thanks to the destruction of the relay station, she’s convinced that it’s been taken over by bad guys. Dal and the gang have to stay away from any Federation technology because the weapon on their ship will destroy it. To make matters more entertaining, the Dauntless goes to Tars Lamora and finds a comatose Diviner, bringing him on board. It’s not clear as yet whether or not the Diviner is faking his confusion as to what actually happened. I hope that he is suffering memory loss, because the notion that he’s playing Janeway isn’t one that sits particularly well with me. However, I’m glad the Diviner is still around generally, as more John Noble is a good thing. (It’s also as yet unclear what Drednok’s final fate is, though Jimmi Simpson is still listed in the credits, for what that’s worth…)
As it is, Kate Mulgrew gets the fun job this half-season of playing both Richard Kimble and Sam Gerard, as the hologram Janeway is still advising the Protostar crew. (She has many many words on the subject of why they should get the hell away from the Borg cube, to which the crew does not listen.) And it means that she’s voicing both the chaser and chased, which is delightful.
Admiral Janeway also has a fun crew working with her, including Ensign Ascensia, a Trill who serves as Janeway’s aide, voiced by Jameela Jamil; Commander Tysees, voiced by Daveed Diggs; and Doctor Noum, a particularly snotty physician voiced with supreme obnoxiousness by Jason Alexander, his second Trek role after appearing on Voyager’s “Think Tank.”
There are still lots of unanswered questions, most notably what happened to Chakotay and his crew, whether or not the Diviner is faking his lack of memory, and why Dal’s species is classified. I hope we don’t have to wait too terribly long for these answers, as stretching it out will get tiresome if we don’t get at least some answers…
Prodigy continues to be an absolute delight, and still the strongest of the current crop of Trek shows—which is not a dig at the other shows, this show is just that good. It’s sweet, it’s got heart, it’s got a compelling storyline, it’s got some fascinating characters, and it’s true to the spirit of Trek in every way. Just some wonderful stuff, and even with the misstep of the Borg episode, a very strong start to its “second season.”
Keith R.A. DeCandido’s next bit of work for the Trek franchise will be a Klingon-focused role-playing game module for Star Trek Adventures entitled Incident at Kraav III, written with Fred Love, which should be out in late 2022 or early 2023 from Modiphius.
