Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 1x05 - "Terror Firma"

[Deks]

Perhaps that protostar drive uses up so much power that there isn't enough left for a transporter

Wouldn't be sustainable in the long run.
Considering how much power that thing was consuming in a very short time span in this episode alone.
I would suspect the Protostar engine itself is able to replenish the used up power reserves... otherwise, next order of business for the kids would be to find alternate sources of energy.

I liked the episode... yet another hit.
Now we have a month long hiatus though.

 

[Shawnster]

So, they know about Tellerites, Tellerite sleeper ships, Klingons, that Klingons are warriors, the name of at least 1 Klingon weapon.... but have no idea what the Federation or Starfleet is?

And how did this Klingon ship get there?

 

[Lakenheath 72]

Long range exploration, though it would make more sense if it was a larger vessel like a K't'inga-class or Vor'cha-class cruiser.

 

[Tim Thomason]

So now we've got Dal rappelling out of the ship to save Gwyn...the absence of the transporter gets even more conspicuous.

The Diviner (and probably Drednok) beamed down to the planet. They have transporters, at least. I think they're saving the transporter reveal for a later episode.

 

[Tachyon]

This episode was awesome and January cannot come soon enough.

I loved the character growth, the Murder Planet getting more murdery, and the Protostar reveal. Never expected this series shaping up as good as it already has.

 

[Saul]

Great episode, great series. The only bad thing, we have to wait until January for new episodes. It was a very short run of episodes.

I wasn't the biggest Voyager fan but I love seeing Janeway again as she was back on Voyager. Wouldn't it be cool to see other hologram captains show up, Archer, Pike, Kirk etc.

 

[Mike McDevitt]

A possible combination of shrinking and subspace perhaps?
Its possible that UFP/Starfleet managed to CREATE a baby star in a controlled fashion... but during its creation, they progressively shrunk it to something the size of a Warp core so it can be used on a starship.

At least as early as the 2360s, Romulans used "forced quantum singularities" aka "confined" aka "artificial" quantum singularities in their engines. Potentially there was some technology exchange between the Romulans and Federation during/following the Dominion War? The Federation also does know at least two ways to shrink things- "The Terratin Incident" and "One Little Ship".

 

[Mike McDevitt]

Exciting stuff- glad to see the gang inching towards becoming a team, appalled by the priorities of Our Diviner, very USS Vengeance in "Into Darkness" moment with the Really Evil Vehicle bearing down and the baby star engine reveal was keen! I will miss this series next month!

 

[cooleddie74]

A solid 9. This show has yet to disappoint me on more than a very low level, and most of that is Dal's obnoxious behavior which is hopefully now receding into the background.

 

[cooleddie74]

So, they know about Tellerites, Tellerite sleeper ships, Klingons, that Klingons are warriors, the name of at least 1 Klingon weapon.... but have no idea what the Federation or Starfleet is?

And how did this Klingon ship get there?

I suppose the labor colony had at least one Klingon at some point? That or Tellarites in their pre-warp history had encounters with Klingons and that information got disseminated among the Tellarite people?

 

[Deks]

At least as early as the 2360s, Romulans used "forced quantum singularities" aka "confined" aka "artificial" quantum singularities in their engines. Potentially there was some technology exchange between the Romulans and Federation during/following the Dominion War? The Federation also does know at least two ways to shrink things- "The Terratin Incident" and "One Little Ship".

I don't think the Romulans would provide the UFP with technical details of their power core despite their mutual alliance during the Dominion War.

The UFP had pretty decent containment and power extraction/recycling systems in place before, and given the advent of ship shrinking ('One little ship' could have played a part in shrinking the protostar to Warp core size)... I don't think they would need Romulan technology one way or the other.

I mean, it would be nice to see the Romulans engaging in mutual scientific research with the Federation... but given how they were portrayed, I can see re-opening of diplomatic channels after the Shinzon incident... but not necessarily exchange of technology.

Although, SF did know (after Deanna Troi was on one of the Romulan ships) about the forced Quantum singularity, and Troi, Geordi and Data had access to Romulan Warbird engineering... Data was even able to get scans of the FQS system... so its possible different bits of data culminated in the creation, shrinking and containment of the Protostar.

 

[Norsehound]

I gave it a 7. Maybe because it's riding off the previous episode, but I was missing the punch to this episode.

Thoughts:

• "What would the real Janeway do?" - clear sign that Holo Janeway is her own entity- expressing doubt in her own ability but reflecting on what her "character" would do to resolve a situation.
• The downed Klingon ship is a Bird of Prey. Interesting... there's been plenty of causes for ships to travel so far out of the alpha quadrant, but it does make me wonder where they are that this ship could get here.
• When the Fear Beast attacked was it coming out of the vision of the Protostar engine again? It had structure to it- I almost wondered if we'd find out if the vine creatures originated from somewhere out of another crashed ship.
• The most impressive moment in this episode was Dal's heart to heart with Gwen. "People treat me differently when I tell them what race I am." An interesting observation and something really thoughtful to consider about prejudices. We get a little of this from Rok-Tahk as well, saying those fuzzy creatures she imagined were one of the few that approached her without being intimidated by her appearance. All the more unfortunate they were just hallucinations.
• Interestingly the planet didn't try to communicate with anyone in the way vine Janeway did with Dal last week.
• So harnessed protostars are more powerful than M/AM reactions?
• The "Warp corridor" is interesting. The optics of warp have been changing a lot over the past few treks, haven't they? We're a long way from TNG's technicolor starfield. I'm not bothered by it because of how inconsistent the optics of Trek have been for so many installments. IDIC, after all.
• There's going to be contention for leadership between Dal and Gwen. Though he's impulsive and driven, she's much more measured and mature. I wondered if that would come to a head in this episode- everyone except Dal was very appreciative of Gwen saving them. And now that Gwen isn't aligned towards the Diviner, if she were to take leadership it isn't necessarily in a bad direction. I think for the purposes of the show Dal is going to remain captain and we'll see him mature into that role. Gwen, if she isn't set for command, will be a great first officer in addition to her communications duties.
• Kudos? I guess? To mirroring Lord of the Rings by showing the crew hiding from Dreadnok in the same way the hobbits were from the Ringwraith in Lord of the Rings.

 

[Amaris]

First off, Dal was so much less annoying this week, and I sincerely hope this is the direction in which he continues to travel. Gwyn redeems herself nicely, and it's clear she has formed bonds with the crew. The betrayal by her father was the complete eye opener, which I expected, and in this case it works. Predictable isn't always bad, because I liked Gwyn. Something about her character from the start appealed to me, and it's good to see her pushing away from the influence of the figure she's held up for so long.

Jakom-pog had the best lines this episode. Well, almost, because I think Larry's a fine name for a planet, Rok-Tahk.

We get to see Janeway clean house, and by damn that felt good. I swear I could hear Kate Mulgrew smile as she said it, because that was *pure* unfiltered Janeway. Makes me want to go watch some of my favorite VOY episodes.

So the Protostar isn't just the name of the ship, it's the actual protostar being contained in a warp chamber that apparently enables some kind of hyperwarp. That's metal AF, though I have to wonder, considering the history of containment breaches on Federation starships, just what might happen in a real battle. I'm sure we'll find out at some point.

I see the question pop up about a protostar being so much larger than what is depicted in this show, and consider this: if a protostar is powering a hyperdrive of some kind, then it may not sit entirely in our space/time. Like an iceberg, what is contained in the chamber is only what appears in this universe, and what is outside of it is much, MUCH larger. Just a thought.

Let's see... any cons? Not really. Writing was good, visuals very good, characterizations feel natural, story kept me interested. The only slightly cringe moment was the constipation/constellation line. It doesn't bother me in itself, I mean hell, who doesn't get that every so often? It's more that I would not expect Gwyn, someone so exceptionally capable and intelligent, to mix up astronomical terminology for gastronomical terminology.

They need to let me write for this show. I have so many more of these.

Speaking of the show itself, it's growing on me! Yeah, it's primary aim is children, but like other shows I enjoy, it has enough meat on it for adults to get something good out of it, and to be entertained by it while not wishing for the sweet embrace of death.

This episode gets a very good 8/10.

 

[Deks]

• So harnessed protostars are more powerful than M/AM reactions?

Seems to be.
Its a baby star after all (or suppposed to be) Baseload energy production may be well in excess vs what UFP can generate via M/AM reactions.

En extract from online sources:
"The main source of energy of a protostar is the conversion of the gravitational potential energy of the falling stellar material into kinetic energy."

Mind you, an actual star uses fusion... however a protostar isn't at that stage yet (EDIT: I seem to be mistaken, fusion is also what powers a protostar... but I would imagine the reaction is somewhat different compared to what happens in a full blown star).

Fusion power exists in Trek, but I'd imagine that those reactors aren't each as powerful as a sun (or even as a protostar). For that matter, not even Warp cores (of the 24th century) seem to be/

Even with subspace technology amplifying energy outputs of base M/AM reactions (and other power generation) by orders of magnitude, I'd imagine that a protostar might give off FAR more baseload energy which is then radically amplified via subspace technology.

As an example:
1.5kg of matter and 1.5kg of antimatter in a photon torpedo (which would result in baseline numbers of 64 Megatons) = 300 km blast radius (or roughly about 13 Teratons) from what we saw on Protostar LCARS display (and is also consistent with on-screen portrayal of the devices).
Its the 24th century subspace technology which is amplifying the baseline energy release of 64 megatons to 13 million megatons (an increase of 203,125 times).

Depending on how much M/AM is smashed at any given time in a Warp core (probably smaller amounts over time than what gets annihilated in a photon torpedo at once for the purpose of blowing stuff up), a baby star may/would emit much more energy from the get go which is then amplified via subspace technology (same like it's happening in regular Warp cores with M/AM reactions).

I'd need to have a look if we have any data on how much power a protostar emits every second (or minute) compared to a full blown star (probably nowhere near as much given the much lower density ratio).
That would give us a starting point between what's generated in a Warp core vs what's emitted by a protostar.

 

[cooleddie74]

Was the energy source of Emperor Georgiou's flagship in the 23rd century Terran Empire a protostar?

 

[Deks]

Was the energy source of Emperor Georgiou's flagship in the 23rd century Terran Empire a protostar?

No. It was powered by a Mycelial reactor which was drawing power from the Mycelial network itself in a highly unsustainable capacity.

 

[cooleddie74]

That's right. It just looked like a tiny star. Thanks!

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

The episode gets dinged in my book for one reason alone - the idea of a ship powered by a "protostar" is dumb, even in the history of Treknobabble. Protostars are not small, they are actually much larger than regular stars due to being lower density. I simply cannot completely look past this, even though I enjoyed the episode considerably.

If it's really a ProtoStar and not a AQS reactor, StarFleet managed to figure out how to make a really compact unit.

So now we've got Dal rappelling out of the ship to save Gwyn...the absence of the transporter gets even more conspicuous.

Yet the bad guys used Transporters, I feel like Janeway is holding back on the tech to teach the cadets to do things the hard way.

 

[The Old Mixer]

If HoloJaneway is holding back on the transporter, then whenever it is revealed, we seriously need a good Dal moment where he asks, "Couldn't you have told us about this when we had to....?"

Regarding Gwyn becoming accepted as part of the crew, it occurs to me that she's potentially a great asset to Dal...she not only knows how to operate the ship, she knows things about the ship that HoloJaneway doesn't know (the protostar drive). Her cooperation could allow Dal more autonomy in running the ship without needing to rely on HoloJaneway.

 

[jackoverfull]

Very enjoyable but with a few flaws that being down my mark, giving a 7.

The good: the plot is pretty straightforward but coherent and well paced, good to see more of HJaeway (which now seems solid?!) and that Gwyn has now made her choice. Loved the Forbidden Planet parallel and especially the scene where they were shooting at the monster engine was straight out of that movie - well done! The mystery of the protocore is finally over and it even makes sense in universe: if Romulus a can use a singularity as their source of energy why not a star? I keep liking Gwyn a lot and the others are getting better too, including Dal.

The bad: many things are just so convenient, why does the planet keep toying with them instead of just consuming them? How is HJaneway suddenly back to normal? Why don’t they contact her to send a signal to guide them once they realize they’re being misled? How “following the stars” help if they don’t know the direction the ship is?

Notes: the planet being in the Hirofumi system was irrelevant after all; still no mention of the transporter, even if it would have been the easiest way to save Gwyn at the end; so there is a crashed Klingon ship out in the delta quadrant?!


Looking forward to the second half of the season.