Prodigious Progenies: A Spoiler-Free Star Trek: Prodigy Review

♪♫ It's been a long road, getting from Nickelodeon to Netflix, it's been a long time, but the time (to stream season 2) is finally here ♫♪

I would apologize for using the Enterprise theme lyrics in such a way, but, when I suffered through ENT for the first time last year, I became attached to the music in a weird way, so now we all get to suffer together. Hooray! What is not suffering, however, is the incredible 3D animated show Star Trek: Prodigy, and I'd like to talk about it today.

Star Trek: Prodigy's Premise

In 2383, five years after the USS Voyager returned to Earth at the end of Star Trek: Voyager, a motley crew of young aliens finds an abandoned Starfleet ship, the USS Protostar, in the Tars Lamora prison colony. Taking control of the ship, they much learn to work together as they make their way from the Delta Quadrant to the Alpha Quadrant. In the second season, they join Admiral Kathryn Janeway as warrant officers aboard the USS Voyager-A on a mission to find the original crew of the Protostar.

It's the first time an entire season of any Star Trek series has dropped to a streaming service all at once, which lends some difficulty to speaking about the series when the popularity is most high; who knows what pace everyone will take to get through the 20 episode season? So, I want to talk about what I loved about season 1, without spoiling any of it, and hope to encourage you to check it out, too.

I have to admit, I was late to the party on this one. At first it was because I hadn’t gotten to it in time before Paramount+ unceremoniously dropped the show mid season; later it was because I don’t carry a Netflix subscription. However, I was able to purchase season 1 part 1 on DVD to support the series, and have access to Netflix through my local library’s Roku check-out process.

I can’t believe it took me so long to get here. Prodigy takes a different entry point into the world of Trek, gearing itself as a show that both children and their families can enjoy on multiple levels. It’s a show about a group of misfits, mostly still children, who come together to persevere. The Trek elements come in fits and starts at first; a found Starfleet ship with a holoprogram designed around Vice-Admiral Janeway, questions of First Contact and interference, the complexity of communicating in a vast galaxy. But, at its heart, Prodigy is about a group of people who, despite the intense difficulties they’ve all endured, grow and learn together. 

And it’s about inheritances, generational trauma, and finding your own identity, too. Let’s just look at the main group of protagonists and you’ll see what I mean: 

Zero, the Medusan (Far Left)

Intially referred to as Prisoner Zero, Medusans are non-corporeal beings without form, gender, etc. They are telepathic to an extent, and first appear in The Original Series where we learn that to look upon them in their natural form is to invite madness. Zero builds himself a containment suit which both allows others to safely look at him, and allows him to interact with the physical world. Zero can thus never fully be himself with his newfound family, and requires the assistive devices of his containment suit to safely and accurately interact with the world around him. He can only carry things, for example, using the hands of his suit; he has no hands of his own. 

Jankom Pog, Tellarite

Jankom Pog, voiced by Jason Mantzoukas, plays a Tellarite that joins the motley crew. Founding members of the Federation, as seen in Star Trek: Enterprise, Jankom Pog’s back story provides a rare insight into Tellarites through cryogenics and Jankom Pog never quite belonging to his own people. 

Gwyndala, Vau N'Akat

Gwyn provides a clear glimpse into what it means to be prodigal; the only daughter of her people's last survivor, the future of her entire species is placed on her shoulders from a very young age. At 17 she has studied thousands of languages, and clearly plays an important part in her father's management of the Tars Lemora Prison Colony.  Without spoiling elements of her journey, I can say that the more she learns about the galaxy and the Vau N’Akat’s place within it, the more closely her character becomes indebted to questions of inheritance. Her species is new to Trek, and much of the season 2 plot seems to revolve around her people and home-world of Solum. Inheritance clearly plays a massive role, here, tied into the passing of heirlooms from one to the next. Gwyn’s heirloom, which was her father’s, is usually worn as a gauntlet around her arm. Her father also often refers to her as “his progeny,” rather than daughter, emphasizing a genetic lineage through time rather than the relationship that exists in the present day. Her father is voiced incredibly by the great John Noble, whose track record as a father to fantasy/sci-fi children is so not good.

I’ve only watched the first couple season 2 episodes, so perhaps we will get a more definitive answer, but I believe her people reproduce somewhat asexually; that she is less a daughter and more a clone or a strand-cast of her father. If so, I think a fascinating conversation about identity, generational pressure, and choosing for yourself is being explored. Regardless, living up to the expectations of your parents, especially when they want a different path for you, is a relatable story-element with a ton of potential to explore.

Hologram Janeway/Vice-Admiral Janeway

Of course, it wouldn’t be a Star Trek show if it wasn’t also full of Easter eggs and incredible references to all that has come before. From the start, Kate Mulgrew lent her voice to the hologram program modeled off Vice-Admiral Kathryn Janeway, and Janeway herself joins the cast of characters partway through season one. Season two promises to include more of Captain Chakotay, and the first episode starts with bringing back Voyager’s EMH. Holo-Janeway has so many elements that come from Voyager's exploration of personhood in the form of the Doctor. She isn't our Janeway, but she's so very close. Even when our Janeway does appear, because the show is framed from the ragtag group of kids, she isn't the instant relief of a saved day we've come to expect; she's the authority that holds the power to undo all the group has achieved.

Dal R'El, Unknown

The main protagonist of the show, Dal is a purple teenager with no idea where he comes from or who he people are. Dal wants to solve the mystery of his past: who, and what, is he? Who were his parents? The revelations surrounding Dal’s birth are not, perhaps, shocking, but they do reinforce Starfleet's ongoing discomfort with certain forms of bodily autonomy and/or manipulation. I went back and watched the Strange New Worlds episode “Ad Astra Per Aspera” after finishing season 1 of Prodigy; while the shows feel different because of their genre/audience, the conversation at play resonates. Dal is not quite in the same situation as Number One was, but this is clearly an ongoing conversation in Starfleet and our own world. 

Murf and Rok-Tahk

Murf and Rok-Tahk make a dynamic duo, in part because Murf doesn’t actually speak. He is, however, voiced by the incomparable Dee Bradley Baker, who you may know as the voice of all the clones in Star Wars animation. I’m not totally sure what Murf’s deal is, but he brings a great level of humor and seriousness into the group. Rok, meanwhile, is a gigantic Brikarian. She’s not what meets the eye, however, and is an adorably earnest and brilliant young science-officer-to-be. Talk about not judging a book by its cover, even the other characters have to reassess their initial assumptions about Rok, once they’re able to fully communicate. This clip from the first episode introduces Rok-Tahk perfectly. 

Star Trek: Prodigy - Meet Rok-Tahk

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Prodigious Progenies

Prodigy, noun: 
*A highly talented child or youth; an extraordinary, marvelous, or unusual accomplishment, deed, or event.
*Something extraordinary or inexplicable; a portentous event: OMEN
-Merriam-Webster Dictionary

Star Trek is so often about the hope of a better future, but it also acknowledges that to get to that idealistic future we must earn it now. By following a group of children raised away from the Federation and knowledge of Starfleet, Prodigy has to convince both the characters and the audience that it not only makes sense to go to Starfleet, but that it is the only possibility. We need to see why Starfleet is a beacon of hope throughout the galaxy. We’ve seen it from the human perspective, the human drive to explore and learn and grow; but there’s always been those who come to Starfleet despite their races not belonging (yet) to the Federation. Worf and Nog come to mind right away. The diverse cast of characters to follow means many different ways to explore how someone can seek belonging, and the audience gets to learn about new and exciting things in the Trek world at the same time. 

You don't need to know anything about Trek to start with this one. Sure, it follows about five years from the end of Voyager, so having explored the relationship between Janeway and Chakotay over that show’s seven season run adds depth to the story in Prodigy, but the focus is on the group of kids, not Janeway. The emotional punch is nice, but ultimately not necessary to follow the story of the Prodigies…

Because that’s what I keep thinking about: the title. Most of the Trek titles make sense, Star Trek becomes The Original Series simply to differentiate, Enterprise, Lower Decks, Discovery, Deep Space Nine, and Voyager take their names from their base locations, and Strange New Worlds references the opening voice-over; so why is this one Prodigy? 

Because, all of the children, and they are all children, are prodigies. Brilliant, driven, and hard-working, none of them would have escaped their initial situations if not for the combination of all of the above. Brilliance alone isn’t enough, we see that explored in Discovery somewhat; to even get to Starfleet, you’re already among the best of the best, so what else have you got? 

Jankom: Wahoo! Jankom calls that maneuver the Slippery Dipsy-Doodle.
Dal: Great work… except for that name.