Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 1x07 - "First Con-tact"

I mean, in her very first episode Janeway destroyed the Caretaker's array (not hers or Federation's or Starfleet's property) which she herself arbitrarily decided was too powerful to remain in the hands of the primitive Ocampa and whoever else. Practically every prime directive violation in Voyager was a chain result effect of this one.

 

I thought this was a good episode, if somewhat of a step down from last week.

Once again, the episode served as an introduction of sorts to kiddos of several aspects of the Trek universe, from transporters to the Prime Directive to the Ferengi. I have to say that while it's a bit weird to see a Ferengi so far afield, they do make perfect antagonists for a kids show, as they're irksome without being genuinely threatening. The writers did their homework quoting the Rules of Acquisition as well.

The episode was not just memberberries for Trek fans however. This episode was great when it came to developing Dal's character into something more compelling. Not only do we see some of Dal's backstory, we also get to see him make a big mistake, own up to it yet continue to suffer consequences from it (the loss of respect of holo-Janeway), and hopefully grow more as a person. Gwyn's empathy for his situation was well played too. If there was any fault here it's just that the supporting characters really had no role this week - the episode could have run exactly the same if Jankom Pog, Rok-Takk, and Zero had stayed onboard the ship.

 

A solid 9. Very Trek and very sci-fi in parts. I kind of wish we'd gotten a little more reveal of the Chakotay and Protostar mystery - and what was shown was no mystery - and that's most of what keeps this from a full 10 but this was still a solid piece of entertainment with fantastic alien visuals and a new species with a very cool design.

 

The Caretaker’s array would have self-destructed if not for Voyager’s intervention. Therefore, destroying it minimized the impact of Voyager on the situation.

 

She wouldn't be leaving the Array in the hands of the Ocampa... she's be leaving it in the hads of the Kazon who showed themselved to be aggressive.
Desperate? Yes, but regardless highly aggressive who would have indeed exploited the array and probably cause more damage in that part of the galaxy.

What Janeway effectively did by destroying the Array was returning the balance of power in that part of the galaxy to as it was before the Nacene arrived (and without Nacene to control the array, the less advanced species would have likely misused the technology).
By his own admission, the Caretaker destroyed the Ocampa atmosphere and chose to remain behind to protect them as a result. That was a consequence of their interference.. but was also stifling the Ocampa too.

Janeway gave the Ocampa the opportunity to handle matters for themselves without further outside interference.

 

Strange new worlds. New lifeforms. This episode Trekked so hard. Glad to see Dal growing and learning.

Liked this much better than last week's episode.

 

I was thinking a lot about Nandi. I'm guessing she got lobe enhancements to be less distracting to her male counterparts? It strikes me that she'd be a rebel through and through though, she really seems to have been at it longer than Ferengi females have been legally wearing clothes.

Her ship looks like a mini D'Kora, though OTOH we see that those ships have operated with a crew as small as three per VOY. Neat call on the cloaking device being a) Klingon and b) literally out of DS9.

Mark

 

Since the Array was going to be destroyed by the Caretaker originally (or was supposed to), yes, that somewhat minimizes VOY's involvement.

Remember though that the self-destruct mechanism was damaged (which halted it) when the Kazon ship collided with the station (which was Chakotay's doing).

And, Janeway did say to the Kazon initially she intends on destroying the Array, to which he objected and started the fight.. Enter Chakotay, and his Maqui ship ramming action because neither VOY or the Maqui vessel had enough firepower to stop the Kazon battleship.

On top of that, Tuvok said it would be hours before he could access the mechanism to send them back to UFP space... and Kazon reinforcements were on the way.

So, in a way, it was Chakotay's fault for the self-destruct mechanism not working, but that WAS an unfortunate after effect of the battle that I don't think could have been predicted... plus, both ships might have been weakened still from their initial push to the DQ which damaged them originally (even with repairs, the crews might not have had enough time to bring the ships up to full strength).

Either way, the Caretaker wanted to destroy the Array... with the self-destruct mechanism out of action, Janeway simply finished what he started, thereby preventing the Kazon from getting their hands on a technology which in their hands could have resulted in reprecussions for that (or a larger) section of the galaxy (not just the Ocampa).

Janeway and Tuvok were on the station and managed to get a lot of sensor readings using the Tricorders... so they inadvertendly managed to scan the technology the Array had... I would say that's 'sort of sneaky', but most other species don't really whip out tricorders or scanners to familiarize themselves with their environment, so UFP was better prepared and stands to usually (if not inadvertendly) gain from that.

 

Dal seems more like Quark. A schemer with a conscience. Just like when Quark went into arms dealing until one of his clients was going to use the weapons for genocide

 

Yet another great episode for Prodigy!

Nice to see more of Dal’s past and also great seeing truly alien aliens, whose motives and ways if thought are really unfathomable.

There are a few issues with this episode, though...first if all, the ship is somewhere in or near the gamma quadrant and they stumble on a detengo ship? And not even a random one, but the one owned by Dal’s foster mother?! Speaking of this, it was obvious she had sold him, but ok, makes sense...by 2383 ferendo females can own ships...or can’t them? She appear to be all alone on a huge marauder ship with many decks, with only a robot cube as a crew, perhaps she stole the vessel.

Unsurprisingly, the boarding party was drednok.

great introduction to the transporter, which for once is used intelligently...But why did they land the ship again?!

A few doubts but still a great episode overall, between a 7 and a 8 for me, going for 8.

 

I don't think criticism about the Prime Directive is limited to Janeway. I think Kirk was much worse. All Trek captains are hypocritical as plot demands. I think obsessive devotion to that guiding principle is the greater wrong. Picard acted like a slave to it so much as to think extinction is preferable to interfering in an alien culture. Whatever 'natural' development a people has it's surely much worse if the culture dies when those who can help don't.

 

Let's remember that Quark didn't fully come around until the mid-end of the episode in question... and by that time, he was already living on DS9 for protracted period of time (which had UFP administration there with their cultural ideology rubbing off him somewhat).

 

It was a bit of a downer how the episode skimmed over the main story line from last week to go for the 'filler episode'... however, it DID give us more of a glimpse into Dal's past and explains quite a few things about him (minus working in the mines).

While I agree character development is good, the little issue is that this could have served better as a background story rather than be the focus... but that's just my inner complaint on how we are being 'fed' little dribblets.
One would have thought the kids would be elbow deep into studying that data along with Janeway... but they ARE kids...

 

The DS9 finale and Rom's ascension to Grand Nagus were in 2375, 8 years before Prodigy. 8 years is a fair amount of time for Nandi to establish herself, even if she wasn't breaking Ferengi law before then. Although she certainly doesn't seem like the type to subjugate herself to men.

I don't think the canon has ever been particularly clear on exactly what a Daimon is. They're out there in uniform captaining starships, doing pretty much the same thing that non-uniformed Ferengi do. I've long presumed that there's some sort of government-sanctioned trading fleet with military overtones, and the Daimons are the starship captains.

Regardless, for all we know, Nandi stole the ship and calls herself Daimon without any official standing.

The cold open was delightful. It felt very real that kids would play around with the transporter once they discovered it.

Dal certainly seemed humbled after the Kobayashi Maru experience. He led the team astray this week, but not out of arrogance. And nobody was particularly angry at him about it. Except Holo-Janeway.

This is a starship full of trauma, and Dal got another big kick in the nuts this week.

Good episode. Very enjoyable.

 

WOW to the design on the trippy crystal aliens. Gorgeous. Are we sure this show is intended for kids, and not just adult stoners?

Good episode! I continue to struggle with Brett Gray's performance, but the writing for Dal was much stronger this week, so that helped.

My assumption was that Nandi had done something similar to what Pel did with her relocation to the GQ in "Rules Of Acquisition" -- unable to pursue profit within the Ferengi Alliance, Nandi stole a ship (or got it through some Ferengi-ish plot) and set out to find her fortune out on the frontier. My guess was that she had just given herself the Daimon title.

I've gotta say, I love how Prodigy often seems to have what first strike me as continuity errors, then after I contemplate it a little longer it starts to feel like it fits.

 

Yeah. If Okona can be a Captain, Nandi can easily be a Daimon.

 

10 for me, just for the awe of new species..

You'd think that ships would have at least transporter inhibitors in cargo areas??

 

A new species, one that bases its survival on manipulation of harmonic resonances that shape their environment and enable communication. I love that their gift was a song.

Dal bothered me less this week. He's starting to learn now, and I also felt bad for him because he finds that his surrogate mother figure actually sold him into slavery. We also get a new piece of information regarding the initial attack on the Protostar and its Starfleet crew.

Gwen and the others back up Dal not because of his swagger, but because they trust him, and they stuck with him when everything went to shit.

Floor pie.

This episode gets a very good 9/10 from me. I like the direction in which we're moving.

 

So, is Murf related to Yaffat?