‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ is Good For Adults, Too – Season One Recap So Far
The one show most Trek fans have not given a chance is Star Trek: Prodigy: because it’s supposedly for kids. But it’s good for adults, too! Here’s why.
We like to recap a Star Trek show in the lead-up to a new season here at Bell of Lost Souls. Usually, that just means reminding you of what you forgot. However, Star Trek: Prodigy is a little different. Despite the return of Kate Mulgrew as Kathryn Janeway, a lot of adult Trek fans do not watch the show. And the reason isn’t terribly complex – it’s billed as a show for kids and so people without kids are less inclined to give it a chance.
Case in point, I (hi, hello), did not watch Prodigy for precisely that reason until recap time. And it turns out that Star Trek: Prodigy is actually very good. Yes, even if you are fully grown and do not have babies to watch it with.
The closest analog for Star Trek: Prodigy is Star Wars: The Clone Wars. While Prodigy is still more geared towards children, both its CGI animation and its serialized storytelling make it comparable with Clone Wars. The characters grow in every episode and the stories build in complexity and nuance. And, frankly, even from the pilot, there’s a huge promise for emotionally satisfying and intellectually rich pay-offs.
So, that being said: here’s what you need to know about Prodigy if you need reminding OR if you want to jump in for the first time with the second half of this first season.
Courtesy of Paramount Plus
The Pitch
It is the year 2383. In the Delta Quadrant, slaves toil away in the Tars Lamora Prison Colony. It’s impossible to escape imprisonment because, without universal translators, essentially no one can really communicate with one another. But there’s one kid who still believes he can break free: Dal R’El. But in order to do that, he has to outwit drone guards, a robot named Drednok, and Tars Lamora’s slave master the Diviner.
Luckily for Dal, he’s not the only one looking for a way out. A Medusan named Zero is also looking to escape after the Diviner used them as a weapon. Together, the pair happen upon something the Diviner is desperate to locate: an abandoned Starfleet vessel called the Protostar.
Thanks to a Starfleet communicator, Dal and Zero can communicate with others on the Tars Lamora. And together they assemble a crew and escape. But not before they run afoul of the Drednok, the Diviner, and the Diviner’s progeny, Gwyn. Kidnapping Gwyn, they barely escape with their lives.
The good news is that the Protostar comes equipped with an onboard emergency hologram version of Captain Kathryn Janeway. She teaches the crew how to use the Protostar, assuming they are Starfleet cadets. The bad news is that the Diviner and Drednok are always nearby, always trying to take back the Protostar and return the crew to slavery.
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The Protostar Crew
Dal R’El is an alien who does not know what species he is. He does not know what his parents look like. But he does know he is a born leader. Brash and impulsive, Dal takes control of the Protostar but struggles at being an effective captain.
Gwyndala is the Diviner’s daughter. She and her father are the last of their kind. She is committed to helping her father obtain the Protostar. However, over time she comes to see her father as heartless and throws in with the Protostar crew. She speaks a lot of alien languages and has a metallic heirloom she controls with her mind to make tools and weapons.
Jankom Pog is a Tellarite and the engineer of the Protostar. He is contrarian by nature but not unwilling to sacrifice himself for others. If there’s a sophomoric art joke, it’s literally coming from him.
Zero is a non-binary Medusan. They are able to read minds. If anyone sees what Zero really looks like, they will go insane. The Diviner used Zero as a weapon.
Rok-Tahk is a Brikar, which basically means she is a big rock. She seems like a large monster, but she is actually very timid and sweet. The presumptions based on her size make her insecure. She can be tough, but mostly she just wants a hug.
Hologram Captain Janeway is a tutor built into the Protostar’s computer systems. She seems to have all of the memories that the flesh-and-bone Janeway does, but some of her memories have been tampered with. Notably, she knows that Chakotay is the original Protostar captain, but she does not know why he is missing.
Murf is an indestructible slug and a stinkin’ cute one at that.
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The Villains
The Diviner is a Vau N’Akat from the future. His planet descends into chaos after first contact with the Federation. He blames the destruction of his world on Starfleet and intends to use their own vessels against them while also preventing his world from destruction in the first place.
Drednok is the Diviner’s right hand. He is a robot with a humanoid torso and a spider-like lower body. Drednok has the ability to change his body shape and is also capable of uploading his consciousness across long distances. He seems to be responsible for whatever happened to Captain Chakotay. He may or may not be entirely loyal to the Diviner.
DaiMon Nandi is a Ferengi thief. She is the closest thing Dal has to a mother. However, despite her fondness for Dal, she turns on him at the first sign of trouble. She eventually helps the Diviner track the Protostar.
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Where Last We Left Our Heroes
A lot happens in the first ten episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy. Here are the big notes:
Dal learns to be a better captain with a little help from Hologram Janeway and the Kobayashi Maru exam. The entire crew gets locked in different quantum realities at one point and Rok spends an unknown amount of time (likely years) learning the ins and outs of the entire ship.
Speaking of the Protostar, it is so named because it has a protostar in its engine which allows it to travel very quickly. Also onboard is a living, bionic weapon. The weapon specifically targets all Federation vessels and stations within range and infects them with a virus that causes Federation tech to destroy itself. The Diviner invents the weapon as a means to wipe out all of Starfleet and put an end to the United Federation of Planets.
Zero eventually defeats the Diviner by showing the Diviner their true form. The Diviner goes insane. Gwyn also sees part of Zero and loses all memories of her last fight with her father as a result. As a result, Gwyn loses all awareness that the Diviner is from the future and that the Federation will be responsible for the destruction of her home world.
On the subject of victories, the Protostar crew goes back to Tars Lamora and frees the slaves there while giving them the means to communicate with one another.
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About the Federation
The actual, Admiral Janeway is still out there. She wants to find the Protostar and she wants to find her friend Chakotay. And despite the Federation-destroying weapon on board the Protostar, Dal and his crew want to join Starfleet.
Our outstanding questions are thus:
Where is Chakotay? What will happen when Admiral Janeway meets the current Protostar crew? Are the Diviner and Drednok really done for or merely waiting in the wings? What species is Dal? And will Gwyn get her memory back in time to prevent her world’s destruction?
Thanks to the mid-season trailer we know that Starfleet is not an immediately attainable goal. However, we also know that the Protostar will meet up with two familiar faces: the Outrageous Okona and the original, accept no substitutes, Borg.
And that’s everything you need to know for now. The second half of Star Trek: Prodigy debuts October 27 on Paramount Plus.
