Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 1x09 - "A Moral Star, Part 1"

[JoseNoodles]

“Mr. Worf… Fire.”

But that was a cliff hanger masterfully setup to raise the stakes and ensure you'll tune in for part 2. The ending of this episode doesn't feel like an ending at all. It's just Dal and Zero flying to a thingy in the distance, then a black screen and then a credits roll. It feels like your watching an hour long episode and someone shuts off the television mid-way through and by the time you get the TV back on, the credits are rolling. It was good episode, but that "ending" gave me whiplash.

 

[Roald]

But that was a cliff hanger masterfully setup to raise the stakes and ensure you'll tune in for part 2. The ending of this episode doesn't feel like an ending at all. It's just Dal and Zero flying to a thingy in the distance, then a black screen and then a credits roll. It feels like your watching an hour long episode and someone shuts off the television mid-way through and by the time you get the TV back on, the credits are rolling. It was good episode, but that "ending" gave me whiplash.

True, there is also no logical ending in the score, it just cuts off halfway during a note…. My guess is that this was supposed to be aired as one longer episode, much like the pilot, and that it was just literally sliced in two…

 

[JoseNoodles]

True, there is also no logical ending in the score, it just cuts off halfway during a note…. My guess is that this was supposed to be aired as one longer episode, much like the pilot, and that it was just literally sliced in two…

I'm 100% certain that was the case.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

What is Murf made of?

He can survive swallowing multiple Photon Grenades detonating inside his stomach, or what passes for one.

He can survive Exotic Matter Radiation inside of him and block out that strange "Face-Melting" radiation to people outside with seemingly zero side-effects.

Phaser/Energy fire doesn't do squat to him other than irritate him.

The only weakness is that solid objects pass through him since he's a slime type creature.

Whatever material "Murf's" slimey gooey body is made of should be studied and replicated to become "Body Armor" for regular folks.

There are plenty of other materials that can deal with Kinetic Bullet Attacks and Knife / Blade attacks.

But to be so resistant to Phaser/Energy/Radiation is amazing!

I can imagine a flexible Body Glove style Wet Suit like body armor being worn by your regular officer that makes them incredibly hard to kill with "Murf-Goo" like armor built into the fabric layers.

 

[IMC Headquarters]

What is Murf made of?

He can survive swallowing multiple Photon Grenades detonating inside his stomach, or what passes for one.

He can survive Exotic Matter Radiation inside of him and block out that strange "Face-Melting" radiation to people outside with seemingly zero side-effects.

Phaser/Energy fire doesn't do squat to him other than irritate him.

The only weakness is that solid objects pass through him since he's a slime type creature.

Whatever material "Murf's" slimey gooey body is made of should be studied and replicated to become "Body Armor" for regular folks.

There are plenty of other materials that can deal with Kinetic Bullet Attacks and Knife / Blade attacks.

But to be so resistant to Phaser/Energy/Radiation is amazing!

I can imagine a flexible Body Glove style Wet Suit like body armor being worn by your regular officer that makes them incredibly hard to kill with "Murf-Goo" like armor built into the fabric layers.

Murf is one hundred per cent cartoon stock. Another character in a long line of animated creatures able to withstand the worst disasters one can throw at it. Think back to all the times Wile E. Coyote, Tom the cat, Butch the Bulldog and others survive explosions that would, in real life, well...let's not go there. But being indestructible is, as Janeway would say, part of the job.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Murf is one hundred per cent cartoon stock. Another character in a long line of animated creatures able to withstand the worst disasters one can throw at it. Think back to all the times Wile E. Coyote, Tom the cat, Butch the Bulldog and others survive explosions that would, in real life, well...let's not go there. But being indestructible is, as Janeway would say, part of the job.

I figured that was the reason why they included murf, to be a cartoon pet that the kids can enjoy.

But the implications for the greater Star Trek Universe is insane.

Imagine being able to wear a "Body-Suit" like layer underneath your uniform that makes you:
Phaser/Energy Blaster Resistant
Grenade Resistant
Radiation Resistant.

The body suit would be of similar thickness to modern day "Wet-Suits" that scuba divers wear.

Imagine how broken your away team becomes.

Your only weakness is kinetic attacks like Bullets & Bladed weapons.

Which we already have pretty good 21st century defenses for, much less the 24th century and beyond.

You could probably tank most of the attacks, similar like Mando from "The Mandolorian".

The only difference is that your armor suit would look like it's straight out of Super Sentai / Power Rangers given the tight fitting body suits.

 

[thribs]

Murf is one hundred per cent cartoon stock. Another character in a long line of animated creatures able to withstand the worst disasters one can throw at it. Think back to all the times Wile E. Coyote, Tom the cat, Butch the Bulldog and others survive explosions that would, in real life, well...let's not go there. But being indestructible is, as Janeway would say, part of the job.

We need some Drip then.
He is apparently a creature we have already seen in Trek. Haven’t worked out what yet.

 

[dupersuper]

They were pretty fragile on Voyager and DS9, too!

Well, according to TNG they're made of gold. You know how brittle gold is...

In the real world we don't negotiate with terrorists. David marcus died because kirk wouldn't negotiate with kruge over genesis.

David was killed as an example, and Kirk was in a stolen ship with three other guys: he was hardly in a position to offer diddly.

 

[jackoverfull]

The only weakness is that solid objects pass through him since he's a slime type creature.

Unless he ingests them, apparently. And he can ingest stuff much bigger than himself, apparently!

By the way…How do they plan to retrieve the protocore from inside him?!

 

[Deks]

I really like the Protostar's unique uniforms. I had a feeling they were designed specifically for the ship and its mission.

A solid 9.

The uniforms are not bad looking.
New design.
I do like dark clothes myself, but in case of SF, there's far less emphasis on more colorful notions.
I think they could have designed it in a way that has a few accenting lines of red/blue/yellow departments... right now they are too drowned out to notice.

I do have doubts whether the Diviner actually would have gone through with the slave purge, although it's possible. That seemed to be his only bargaining chip, and if he followed through on that and if for some reason the kids didn't even hear the message (as very nearly happened if Dal hadn't knocked over the robot head), he'd have nothing left to bargain with.

I'm also unclear as to whether the Diviner's enslavement of multiple species automatically means the Federation will get involved. The tellarite isn't automatically a fed citizen because of his species--the human native americans in that one TNG episode that had to escape the cardassians come to mind. The Dominion was enslaving tons of species long before the fed went to war with them, and I'm not sure the female changeling calling sisko and telling him to hand over the defiant or she'll kill a thousand vorta and jem'hadar would justify sending a squadron in to help.
(minor Picard season 1 spoilers)

Spoiler

Romulan General Oh almost got away with claiming the synth planet as Romulan jurisdiction to annihilate at will and it was only Admiral Picard's claim of first contact with the synth planet that averted that fate. No Federation official has first contact claim to the Diviner's slave empire that I'm aware of. I concede Chakotay's defeat by them might count, barely.

On the status of Federation citizenship... I think all members of a species who are UFP members are automatically granted Federation citizenship status.
Its just that certain situations may be different, hence if SF encounters individuals who work outside of the Federation, and those people don't consider themselves UFP citizens, then what happens is assessed in that given situation.

As for the human native americans in the TNG episode that estaped the Cardassians... I think they WERE Federation citizens... its just that they refused to be relocated by the Federation, so a 'compromise' was formed where those colonists were allowed to stay but they had to RENOUNCE their Federation citizenship status and therefore protection by the Federation - they did so willingly and were told that if they don't bother the Cardassians, then the Cardassians won't bother them (which didn't exactly pan out that well - maybet that one Gul wanted the infighting to stop, but obviously, not all Cardassians felt the same, so they were supplying their colonists there secretly with weapons - and because the Federation was not there in person, the Cardassians got away with weapons smuggling, leaving the formed Federation colonists to fend for themselves).

In fact that was the very beginning of the Maqui (who also felt the Federation abandoned them)... but that was a rather bleak situation with the previous conflict UFP had with the Cardassians, so the Neutral Zone was 'the best they could do under the circumstances'... at any rate, a solution of sorts was reached, but it left those Federation citizens along the border quite a bit disgruntled they had to suddenly move - but since they decided to stay, they rencouned the citizenships willingly so they can remain where they were (after that, the UFP couldn't really interfere as the Prime Directive would apply).

At any rate, given that we've seen Federation member species at Tars Lamora who knew nothing of the Federation, I would imagine that by birth, they would already be technically considered members of the Federation if they expressed a decision to live in the Federation.
If however their parents left the UFP some time ago and renounced membership, that would be different... but the kids would probably be offered the status of Federation citizenship and protection (after all, not all kids follow in their parents footsteps).

If the sleeper ship left before the UFP was founded... then technically, the parents and their kids aren't UFP citizens, however, afte tthe UFP was founded, I'd imagine all member species individuals anywhere would have been given UFP citizen status anyway... unless they specifically didn't want it or renounced it.

 

[Deks]

I’m a bit confused about why they put on Starfleet uniforms (whose design I don’t particularly like), but perhaps it will become clear next week.

Starfleet should really stop being cheap in building commbadges.

Gave it a 9.

One of the reasons the kids may have put on the SF uniforms was to officially/openly declare their defiance against the Diviner.
They DID concot a plan to rescue the Tars Lamora slave population after all.
Also, the recent Time anomaly stunt from last week gave them a different perspective. They have worked together (albeit separately) across timelines to save themselves and Janeway's mentoring may have also had something to do with it.

As for the commbadges... to be fair, on ST: VOY, they DID survive a planetary explosion and emitted a locator signal (which was how SF tracks the victims).

One would have thought if the commbadges survived that, it would be extremely difficult to just step on them and crush them... though there may be a difference between an explosion and active crushing with something metallic and heavy (but if you ask me, this really shouldn't have played a part at all).
Designing stuff from superior synthetic materials which would prevent the badges from breaking by simply stepping on them would be doable.
Even today we can design phones and laptops that can be dropped from a very high ground and survive unscathed (on the screen or functionality)... phones can be made water proof too.
Its just that most commercial products aren't really designed like this. Also the term 'military grade' is just a fancy way of saying 'designed for the most part properly from the get go'. Manufacturers of conusmer goods don't particularly care about stuff like that ... so if they make a phone or a screen break proof or water proof... it just gives them an excuse to slap a higher price on it (despite the fact it wouldn't really cost them more to do it properly from the get go).

Starfleet and UFP are in the future... and given the society they built, sustainability, efficiency and making stuff that LASTS (and is pretty much difficult to destroy by hand or foot - unless you vaporize it) would be a given.

It actually would have been funny if the Diviner stepped on it, only to learn nothing happened. Then trying his best to jump up and down on it in an attempt to break it, untill finally he draws out a phaser and vaporizes it (which would technically be the only viable thing that could do the job).

However, the Diviner was in a pretty tough metallic (although easy to move around in and use) armor. Its possible those metals would have a directly opposing force which could break SF badges when you step on the,
Similar to Georgiou breaking one with her boots... it seems more like a thing she would have some alloys in her boots which would allow her to break the badge casing.

At any rate, its already possible for us to make stuff that doesn't really break... SF would have definitely gone down that route, especially if they use badges to track victims of accidents, etc.

It seems more like the case of real world people not understanding that stuff can be designed that doesn't break easily and will in fact last (and can be easily repaired and maintained... or designed to NOT need repairs or maintenance almost never... or that it can be designed to be self maintained - this is something not fully explored in Trek if you ask me).

But I guess it was for dramatic purposes too (but it would be nice to learn it wasn't a real commbadge).

 

[Deks]

Unless he ingests them, apparently. And he can ingest stuff much bigger than himself, apparently!

By the way…How do they plan to retrieve the protocore from inside him?!

Murf will probably just regurgitate the core back into its casing when everything is done and no one is in the engine room, or they are behind protective field.

 

[Deks]

I figured that was the reason why they included murf, to be a cartoon pet that the kids can enjoy.

But the implications for the greater Star Trek Universe is insane.

Imagine being able to wear a "Body-Suit" like layer underneath your uniform that makes you:
Phaser/Energy Blaster Resistant
Grenade Resistant
Radiation Resistant.

The body suit would be of similar thickness to modern day "Wet-Suits" that scuba divers wear.

Imagine how broken your away team becomes.

Your only weakness is kinetic attacks like Bullets & Bladed weapons.

Which we already have pretty good 21st century defenses for, much less the 24th century and beyond.

You could probably tank most of the attacks, similar like Mando from "The Mandolorian".

The only difference is that your armor suit would look like it's straight out of Super Sentai / Power Rangers given the tight fitting body suits.

If I'm not mistaken, Starfleet already has stuff that could (or at least should) stop bullets and bladed weapons... but we seldom or never see it because so many species have moved beyond those kinds of 'primitive technologies' they just don't think about them really and a lot of situations the crews find themselves in (short of the Dominion War) leaves them with little or no time to prepare... so crewmen are often left without technological aid to solve a problem. I think we need a change in this to see them solving problems with all of that fanciness at their disposal.

Personal shields come to mind, but this is also so far into the future (which we know exist in SF but are EVER so elusive like Transwarp Beaming) , I mean already we have very strong materials that are flexible. One material was made which is tougher than Kevlar, but almost paper thin and far more flexible.

It would be inconceivable that SF doesn't have that kind of protection in place.. but I guess the writers never thought about it, or they may have, but considered it 'too much' if seen on-screen (which just means the writers will have to find cleverer ways of neutralizing them).

Same thing with Murf's resistance to pretty much anything.
I guess personal shields can act as a layer of defense for this, but they also have limits.
As I said before, by this time, SF should have already made a uniform made of superior synthetic materials that would have billions of fully networked microscopic versions of sensors, comms/translation, and power packs spread across the entire uniform that could also act as body armor and protection against bullets and bladed weapons but also against energy, radiation, etc. (it would still have limits of varying degrees, but it would have been one of the disctint features UFP could also distinguish itself from other organizations... it shows the power of cooperation and how multiple species pooling their knowledge and resources has its benefits - beyond the regular peaceful life etc.).

 

[Campe]

I’m guessing Murf is far more important to the overall story than any of us realize at this time.

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

We need some Drip then.
He is apparently a creature we have already seen in Trek. Haven’t worked out what yet.

Also, Prodigy writer Aaron Waltke has mentioned a couple times already that Murf’s species hasn’t been seen onscreen before, and in a couple different podcast interviews in the last couple weeks, that it has been mentioned onscreen, specifically on a show.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Like I said, Prime Directive status doesn't strike me as something that automatically applies to every individual in the galaxy.

 

[Deks]

Speaking of Janeway's holo-program being tampered with and easily reprogrammed... its possible this was predicted/expected by Gwyn.

While the montage was showing kids implementing their plan, Gwyn worked on the bridge on one of the consoles which by the looks of it had an outline of Janeway's holo matrix shown.
Janeway mentioned 'that's one heck of an upgrade'... so its possible they knew or suspected the Diviner and/or Drednok will try to override her with the leftover code or a new code, so Gwyn may have integrated some algorithms which protected friendly holo Janeway, so, she could just be playing the dummy... either that and she WAS overriden (but only temporarily - in which case our real holo Janeway will re-emerge when the time is right).

After all, Gwyn was able to reprogram holo-Janeway when she first escaped the brig on the planet in the Hirogen system... its possible she noted Janeway might be prone to outside control too easily (possibly because she's just a training advisor hologram and a low priority system).

I've attached a screenshot so you can see what I'm talking about:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B8WlJMz-Vt6cjf0cSTdGu3498cmfOMh3/view?usp=sharing

 

[YetAnotherSubspaceAnomaly]

I'm also unclear as to whether the Diviner's enslavement of multiple species automatically means the Federation will get involved. The tellarite isn't automatically a fed citizen because of his species--the human native americans in that one TNG episode that had to escape the cardassians come to mind.

Those were federation citizens, and the Federation did get involved. The Federation had ceded their territory in treaty negotiations, and the Federation colonist were rightly pissed

here’s my question — half our crew are species that we know are from the Federation (Tellarite, Brikkar, Medusan), plus the Caitian. Is the only reason they are ignorant of the federation because they were enslaved so young? It strikes me that if a dozen years worth of child abduction cases from across the Fed turned out to be the responsibility of a single person then damn straight the Federation would send in Starfleet.

 

[Yistaan]

Those were federation citizens, and the Federation did get involved. The Federation had ceded their territory in treaty negotiations, and the Federation colonist were rightly pissed

here’s my question — half our crew are species that we know are from the Federation (Tellarite, Brikkar, Medusan), plus the Caitian. Is the only reason they are ignorant of the federation because they were enslaved so young? It strikes me that if a dozen years worth of child abduction cases from across the Fed turned out to be the responsibility of a single person then damn straight the Federation would send in Starfleet.

My doubts as to their membership are the fact they were so far from Fed space, when clearly the Diviner didn't have access to that tech (unless he used the Protostar to enslave them)

 

[Deks]

My doubts as to their membership are the fact they were so far from Fed space, when clearly the Diviner didn't have access to that tech (unless he used the Protostar to enslave them)

In the case of Jankom Pog... he was on a Tellarite sleeper ship... so its possible that sleeper ship PREDATES the Federation.

Also, I think Starfleet would have responded either way.
Mainly because there are Alpha Quadrant species on Tars Lamora, some of which are part of the Federation... and even if the kids don't know about the Federation, the Federation would see them as oppressed individuals, and UFP memer worlds from which the kids originated from may have wanted Starfleet to intervene - especially if the kids knew nothing of the Federation in the first place.

Had those kids and their parents left UFP willingly and renounced their Federation citizenship, then the Federation probably couldn't involve themselves (unless they were directly asked for help).

This is more of an issue the UFP doesn't seem to know there are AQ species held prisoner at Tars Lamora, and the species at Tars Lamora don't know about the UFP (or at least the kids don't)... so its a lack of information that's the problem here.

EDIT: Something else I forgot to mention. While I was watching this episode the first time yesterday, I wondered: 'why hadn't the kids composed a message and sent it to Starfleet and the Federation?' It would not have taken holo Janeway a lot of time to compose a response explaining what happened and for the kids to STILL go to Tars Lamora.
If anything, Starfleet could potentially respond (if they have the means to get there - sans the Protostar), even if its later.

The show suggested that the Protostar was always within the communications range of the Federation after all... plus, there's also MIDAS array with hypersubspace comms... and I suspect a transciever of that nature was integrated on all or most Starfleet ships by 2383 so in case ships get stranded elsewhere in the Galaxy (or possibly outside of it)... they could at least send a message back relaying their position and situation.