“I like to boldly go! Or at least I think I do.”
Dal gets himself into a spot of trouble when he refuses to ask for help from the Janeway hologram or his “crew” as they head directly into a red giant as it collides with a white dwarf in this, the second episode of Star Trek: Prodigy. Dal’s characterization is important because he doesn’t make these decisions from air-headedness, but rather stubborn tenacity. Janeway assumes these alien kids are Starfleet cadets but that doesn’t stop her from giving them the recruitment speech.
Just about everybody is impressed with the idea of a “federation,” whose main mission seems to be to seek out and contact alien life. Dal’s not buying it. He has a problem with authority figures. Being a slave will do that to you. He’s convinced even if the Federation is all sunshine and puppies right now, they could still wind up becoming the bullies of the cosmos; a fact Star Trek: Picard confirmed with its ridiculous story arc. It’s an interesting thought.
I suppose humanity could never improve upon itself or be saved three hundred years in the future. We’ve had these discussions a million times. Does the nature of a replicator override greed and envy? It certainly doesn’t satiate the Federation’s hunger for galactic expansion (even if it is benevolent). We’ve established Dal isn’t an idiot, and this Janeway hologram, sharp as she is, figures out these aren’t cadets and advises against said course into the red giant, but it’s too late.
Diverting power to impulse engines to escape the gravitational pull of the collision causes systems to go down all over the ship, and strangely, we don’t get a Majel Barrett-style series of warnings. Janeway does caution the cadets, but Dal doesn’t listen. Their prisoner, Gwyn, escapes from the brig and attempts to flee the ship. The childlike Rok-Tahk catches up to her and ignores her protests because Gwyn never did anything to help the kids when they were enslaved. This is interesting. We set up some serious issues, throw in a little humor, and yet I don’t feel patronized or condescended to! I wonder how that works. It’s just an observation.
The only problem I’ve had with the first two episodes is the relative lack of a motivation for the Diviner, Prodigy’s antagonist and the father of Gwyn. This early in the game I have to assume he wants the ship for himself. At the end of this episode, he sets out to find the Protostar, but his reasons remain a mystery. Hopefully, it’ll become clearer in the next few episodes. I was hoping the show would stay the course, and not sink to Lower Decks levels of stupidity. So far, so good.
Star Trek Rewind explores the Star Trek universe. From Archer to Janeway, Kirk to Picard, and Georgiou to Sisko — boldly read what no one has read before!
