we're what 3 years away from that event?
Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 1x14 - "Crossroads"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
- Start date
They’re not going to do that on a children’s show
That's right. He had both eyes in LD and that episode was set in 2380 or 2381.
I believe the show started in 2383.
I'm really torn on this episode, because I thought it was pretty successful in isolation as an entertaining and fast-paced episode of TV. However, I really, really hate what it means for the remainder of the season arc.
There was a lot to like here, particularly in terms of fanservice. We get to see the Xindi and meet Okana again. We get to have the kids run into various members of Janeway's crew. There's tense action scenes in spades, and the status quo was certainly upset by the end.
But the episode - and the entire plot of the season - now rest on a series of contrivances which largely come down to no one being able to communicate properly. Stretching out a plot via miscommunication is one of the absolute worst writing crutches. Literally everything could have been solved if just one of Dal, Gwyn, or Jankom Pog actually could have said something coherent and understandable to a member of the crew of the Dauntless. But they all turn into a bunch of dum-dums who can't actually say the right thing because of the needs of the plot.
Look, I get it. They want Vice-Admiral Janeway to be the antagonist for the back half of Season 1, and since she's good, and the kids are good, there had to be some scenario that would stop the kids from actually explaining what was going on. But having them to meet face-to-face with six episodes yet to come...and faceplant so badly...is just a letdown. I suppose we're meant to be disappointed like the kids are, but I'm more just left wondering why they're all absolute morons...which isn't something I should feel for the protagonists of a show.
There was a lot to like here, particularly in terms of fanservice. We get to see the Xindi and meet Okana again. We get to have the kids run into various members of Janeway's crew. There's tense action scenes in spades, and the status quo was certainly upset by the end.
But the episode - and the entire plot of the season - now rest on a series of contrivances which largely come down to no one being able to communicate properly. Stretching out a plot via miscommunication is one of the absolute worst writing crutches. Literally everything could have been solved if just one of Dal, Gwyn, or Jankom Pog actually could have said something coherent and understandable to a member of the crew of the Dauntless. But they all turn into a bunch of dum-dums who can't actually say the right thing because of the needs of the plot.
Look, I get it. They want Vice-Admiral Janeway to be the antagonist for the back half of Season 1, and since she's good, and the kids are good, there had to be some scenario that would stop the kids from actually explaining what was going on. But having them to meet face-to-face with six episodes yet to come...and faceplant so badly...is just a letdown. I suppose we're meant to be disappointed like the kids are, but I'm more just left wondering why they're all absolute morons...which isn't something I should feel for the protagonists of a show.
It reminds me of the fight-then-team-up contrivance in superhero stories.
What I'll say is that they turned into dum-dums, but I felt they were in character, at least. There is a verisimilitude about it.
Jankom Pog is a Tellarite, so prone to argumentation, and Noam obviously has a prejudice against "runts" so his forgetting his mission in a fit of outrage made sense in a broad way. Jankom may be an engineering genius, but he does seem to be broadly kind of clueless.
Gwyn is terrified of her father. The man wants to commit genocide, has previously tried to kill her, and was supposedly utterly defeated, and now is somehow back. I can understand her panicking and choosing to flee.
As for Dal, he bumbled his way through the conversation with Janeway, sure. But he's in a situation where he's dealing with someone familiar he trusts, but also trying to keep in mind she is not his Janeway. Hologram Janeway is much warmer than the real one, who is motivated by fear for her friend and his crew and a great responsibility to stop an apparent threat. Even then, I liked how her inner warmth shined through briefly. Dal was trying to present his truest hopes to convince this alternate version of his mentor, and probably heavily affected by his recent betrayal by his "mother". Given all that, and the Denobulan guy suddenly showing up, Dal slipped back into his instinct to slip away, probably heavily motivated by an absolute fear of being caught. He had been a slave until very recently after all.
What I found incredibly stupid was the Murf on the console thing.
I was hoping Murf would look radically different. That's part of the reason I gave the episode an 8 instead of higher.
When have the Romulans ever not been duplicitous.
We've seen several occasions in which they were caught in the Neutral Zone.
It's not a buffer to them, it's territory that they feel they own and is just there to give them an excuse to attack any Star Fleet ship that enters it.
Real Janeway is pissed off right now, but once she starts to methodically go over things in her head she's going to figure out that something else is going on with the "kids".
Especially since it's very obvious that Captain Chakotay isn't a prisoner on the Protostar.
Of course by then, the Diviner will probably have somehow managed to disable the/damage the Dauntless.
We've seen several occasions in which they were caught in the Neutral Zone.
It's not a buffer to them, it's territory that they feel they own and is just there to give them an excuse to attack any Star Fleet ship that enters it.
Real Janeway is pissed off right now, but once she starts to methodically go over things in her head she's going to figure out that something else is going on with the "kids".
Especially since it's very obvious that Captain Chakotay isn't a prisoner on the Protostar.
Of course by then, the Diviner will probably have somehow managed to disable the/damage the Dauntless.
Last edited:
Even five years after the Shinzon Crisis they treat Starfleet ships near the Neutral Zone like they're going to rob the place to sell the cool stuff for drug money. That's consistency for you, though. Romulans and humans and their allies have been enemies for almost the entirety of the previous 230 years of history. Habits are hard to break, especially for xenophobes.
Is the girl's mom a diary?
I wonder if the distrust actually comes originally from the association with the Vulcans, whose obsession with logic can easily be interpreted as the very reason the Romulan people lost their home. Anyone who can ally with a people who treated their own people so harshly as they had to leave their homeworld in order to avoid subjugation cannot be trusted. And since humans are also an emotional species (not to mention Andorians and Tellarites) it's like the ultimate fuck you. Then humans actually effected political change on Vulcan, subjugating it to their will (in a way). Given most Romulans we've seen have been military, it's interesting to consider what your average Romulan citizen might think.
It's funny also because Janeway has EVERY REASON to want to chase down the vessel even without contrivances. A bunch of children piloting a Starfleet warship is, by itself, something that she must absolutely want to stop no matter the cost. The fact they shouldn't have it and are using it for "good" doesn't really apply materially to it.
No, it's her mom's diary but a page goes missing when she discovers her mom had the same ability to talk to animals as she does. But a page goes missing right as she reads "the ability to talk to animals can disappear when..."
And so the episode goes is on the idea that Blythe (the girl) is losing her ability to talk to her friends (the pets) and can't tell them why and the pets blame each other.
Eh, the Romulan government is a racist totalitarian dictatorship so let's not try to give them too much slack. One of Star Trek's few flaws is the fact that they rely overly on the idea that there's no such thing as evil people and we're all just misunderstood good guys at heart when, no, there are people for whom the cruelty and xenophobia is the point.
One things @Christopher pointed out was the Romulan government should be letting Federation ships through, though, in order to evacuate Romulus.
Though THE LAST BEST HOPE shows the Romulans were stingy about that anyway and it got millions more people killed than were needed.
Okona had an eyepatch in his appearance in Lower Decks, too. Not sure what you are referring to.
My memory of that episode is not the best. Thanks for clearing it up.
That means the accident happened at any point between 2365 and 2381.
That means the accident happened at any point between 2365 and 2381.
Similar threads
- Poll
- Poll
