Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 2x20 - "Ouroboros, Part 2"

[Firebird]

Just finished the season.

My god, that was incredible!

Prodigy managed to not only stick the landing for these 20 episodes of season 2, they pulled it off for a forty episode arc. Along the way, they’ve managed to enrich and enhance other Trek shows, chiefly Picard. They gave Chakotay his best writing since 1995.

The way Prodigy used fan service was the exact way I like it. Every bit of it was in service to the story. Nothing was there merely to titillate the fans with a shameless call-out.

The way this show has envisioned strange, new worlds needs to be talked about and commended more. Some incredible planets we’ve seen across these couple seasons.

I say this with utter sincerity - season 2 of Prodigy is one of the all-time great seasons of Star Trek, and probably the best season since the commencement of the Kurtzman era.

I’m gonna be rewatching this again and very soon.

 

[CPT Baldwin]

Simply fantastic, i binge watched from start to end, absolutely superb. Cannot get over how much I enjoyed this and the closure it gave. Outstanding piece of work!!!

 

[Campe]

The way Prodigy used fan service was the exact way I like it. Every bit of it was in service to the story. Nothing was there merely to titillate the fans with a shameless call-out.

Right?!? It was somewhere in the middle of the season, after they introduced Wesley that something happened where I realized that with this AMOUNT of fan service, I should be annoyed. But the QUALITY of it was on point.

I will say Wesley’s line about sweaters in his first episode did elicit a chuckled eye roll out of me. But I got over it.

 

[Hawku]

The Picard 2385 uniforms! What a fantastic season.

 

[Daedalus]

I've got that PIC S3 feeling where I know I want more, but have a gut-wrenching feeling that's really it. If it really is so, giving this anything less than a 10 would be doing this show a massive disservice, so it has absolutely earnt it.

To add, they have shown an enormous amount of care when dealing with continuity and have my appreciation. I know that a lot of people don't care about this sort of thing, but Jellicho mentioning a significant lack of commbadges perfectly explains why 2 are now in common use. The flashback uniforms, the attack on Mars, and the sudden introversion of Starfleet could've just been ignored but they did right by the Star Trek Universe and kept it.(Oh, and Jack! I nearly forgot)

If Prodigy is truly done, which I hope it isn't, then I really wish for these guys to have a crack at other Trek shows in some capacity.

 

[Seven of Five]

That was awesome!

I cheered! I cried!

It's a lot to process, but what a well-put-together season. If it turns out to be the last word on PRO, then I'm fine with it.

Sort of...

After everything, Chakotay should have kissed Janeway!

It must have some residual J/C from years ago, which is funny as VOY was never my favourite show.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

Hopefully they weren’t tied into the rest of the fleet. And I want to see how our couples have progressed.
ETA: I also was screaming at the TV when Janeway and Chakotay were close to , “Kiss, darn it!!”

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Best S1&2 of a Star Trek TV series. Period!

Also, did anybody get 9/11 vibes from watching the Synth Attack?

Man, those new uniforms at the end sure look spiffy.

You know the logistics shortage is bad due to the Synth Attack that you have to bring in old "Combadges" and share the new ones by reprogramming them for other officers.

We all know how bad logistics can get, we experienced that recently IRL.

 

[Deks]

Best S1&2 of a Star Trek TV series. Period!

Also, did anybody get 9/11 vibes from watching the Synth Attack?

Man, those new uniforms at the end sure look spiffy.

You know the logistics shortage is bad due to the Synth Attack that you have to bring in old "Combadges" and share the new ones by reprogramming them for other officers.

We all know how bad logistics can get, we experienced that recently IRL.

Yes, but that didn't make much of a sense.
Earth alone probably has massive amounts of replicators (or they would be so abundant that using them wouldn't exactly be an issue).
Earth spacedock has them, all outposts and starbases have them... existing ships in service has them, pretty much all UFP member worlds have them.
Issuing new commbadges shouldn't be a problem really (especially if you recycle older matter and repurpose it into brand new one).

And also, there are shipyards in Earth's orbit... throughout UFP space too (or at least there should be).
The attack on Utopia Planitia shouldn't have resulted in this kind of logistical problem for Starfleet.

Yes, the 20,000 ships they were making to evacuate Romulus were lost (also, 20,000 ships being constructed at Utopia Planitia should provide a general number of ships that such a facility should be able to make if each UFP member planet solar system has them - which they should - resulting in about 1.5 to 3 MILLION ships that UFP could technically build - if we count at least 150 member planets).

But, one of the main problems with Trek was that earlier writers didn't really see things in a larger scope.
They seemed to have only focused on SOL having Utopia Planitia only (even though we have evidence of ships being built at other locations).

Still, with the proliferation of all manufacturing tech throughout the UFP and SF, replicators practically being anywhere... the loss of Utopia Planitia still doesn't strike me as that big of a problem for logistics.

Just mobilize most SF ships inside UFP for a few months to a year to handle the logistical part of things for the time thing (mining, distribution of materials/resources) and use pre-existing technology and personnel to perform maintenance, upgrades, etc. and emphasize the need for new engineers and personnel when it comes to the Academy recruits.

I mean for an organisation spanning 8,000 Ly's, resources would be virtually unlimited given the amount of solar systems it would have given the density of the Milky Way (aka about 5.45 billion stars within UFP alone).

There's no way UFP space would be 8,000 cubic ly's though because there would only be around 20 stars in that region (and there's no way they would all be habitable, even in Trek).

So a more radial spread of the UFP space makes a lot more sense (so yeah, the statement UFP spans 8,000 Ly's from one end to the other makes a LOT more sense)... and with 5.45 billion stars in that region of space alone, the resources would be ridiculously huge.

This suggests to me that the writers never really fully thought out the the scope of UFP and SF's own space operations.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

Earth alone probably has massive amounts of replicators (or they would be so abundant that using them wouldn't exactly be an issue).
Earth spacedock has them, all outposts and starbases have them... existing ships in service has them, pretty much all UFP member worlds have them.
Issuing new commbadges shouldn't be a problem really (especially if you recycle older matter and repurpose it into brand new one).

You're assuming that COMMbadges are generic replicatable items and not made of unique materials that can't be replicated and must be manufactured for "Security Reasons" so no generic civilian can falsify a Commbadge via personal Replicator and sneak into StarFleet facilities.

And also, there are shipyards in Earth's orbit... throughout UFP space too (or at least there should be).
The attack on Utopia Planitia shouldn't have resulted in this kind of logistical problem for Starfleet.

Remember, the Global Logistics chain shortage we lived through recently?

They're short on Man-Power, lost their Automated Synth Work Force, one of their Major Manufacturing Hubs went down.

It'll take time to fix Mars and bring Utopia Planetia back online, we saw that in ST:PIC

Yes, the 20,000 ships they were making to evacuate Romulus were lost (also, 20,000 ships being constructed at Utopia Planitia should provide a general number of ships that such a facility should be able to make if each UFP member planet solar system has them - which they should - resulting in about 1.5 to 3 MILLION ships that UFP could technically build - if we count at least 150 member planets).

You're assuming all 150 member planets are capable of Man Power like Earth is, maybe some are, maybe some are far smaller in population & resources.
It only takes the downing of one section of the Global Supply Chain to throw things into chaos, this should be something similar to the UFP as well.

But, one of the main problems with Trek was that earlier writers didn't really see things in a larger scope.
They seemed to have only focused on SOL having Utopia Planitia only (even though we have evidence of ships being built at other locations).

Yup, that's very true.

Still, with the proliferation of all manufacturing tech throughout the UFP and SF, replicators practically being anywhere... the loss of Utopia Planitia still doesn't strike me as that big of a problem for logistics.

We only need to see IRL's recent Global Supply chain woes as a example.

Just mobilize most SF ships inside UFP for a few months to a year to handle the logistical part of things for the time thing (mining, distribution of materials/resources) and use pre-existing technology and personnel to perform maintenance, upgrades, etc. and emphasize the need for new engineers and personnel when it comes to the Academy recruits.

Recruits are the hardest thing to get, the massive loss of man power was the most devastating thing since Utopia Planetia is one of StarFleet's largest Shipyards.
The Attack on Mars = 92,143 dead & at least 20,000 ships, imagine of the majority of the 92,143 were mostly Engineering / Science personnel responsible for manufacturing, they'd have a HUGE shortfall of man power that can't be easily replaced, especially highly trained & experienced personnel who are specialized in their expertise.

I mean for an organisation spanning 8,000 Ly's, resources would be virtually unlimited given the amount of solar systems it would have given the density of the Milky Way (aka about 5.45 billion stars).

There's no way UFP space would be 8,000 cubic ly's though because there would only be around 20 stars in that region (and there's no way they would all be habitable, even in Trek).

So a more radial spread of the UFP space makes a lot more sense... and with 5.45 billion stars in that region of space alone, the resources would be ridiculously huge.

It's not the raw materials that are the bottle neck, it's the personnel / brain drain in one foul swoop that causes the halt in the logistics supply since they control the machines & Synths that operate the work force.

This would be similar to any loss in a automated Fab like from Intel / TSMC. One major Fab going down would have HUGE consequences on the Global Economy.

Remember, modern Semiconductor Fabs are running 24/7/365.

This suggests to me that the writers never really fully thought out the the scope of UFP and SF's own space operations.

Size/Scope of UFP, they probably don't understand it very well, but they do understand that hitting a critical node does majorly impact supply chain, we only recently lived through that ourselves.

 

[tomalak301]

Also, did anybody get 9/11 vibes from watching the Synth Attack?

I got the same vibes when I originally saw the short trek "children of mars." It's interesting that both times we saw the Mars Attack from earth, it was from the point of view of children. I have a feeling that was intentional.

 

[Daedalus]

I just like how the combadge thing was given some kind of explanation.

 

[eschaton]

My feelings about the Season 2 finale are similar to those of the Season 1 finale. In both cases, there was tension between what made a good episode of TV and what made a good ending to the season arc. So they decided to go with the latter, meaning it doesn't really work as an episode proper.

Thankfully, it works much better here than in season 1. Still, it's pretty similar structurally. After two minutes of opening credits, we have no more than three minutes where the Loom is portrayed as any threat whatsoever. After five minutes of the episode proper, they get past the Loom. Then they have a few minutes of sappy coda, which contains numerous clips from both Seasons 1 and 2 (appropriate, given the nature of the closed time loop), with the entire back half of the episode given to the epilogue.

Given the timeline they chose to set Prodigy in, I understand why they needed to reference the synth attack on Utopia Planitia. However, it makes for a pretty strange ending. We have some "all is well" closing shots with Wesley reunited with his mother/brother, Janeway enjoying retirement, and the kids back at Starfleet Prep. Then we have the attack, which upends everything. It's an excuse for why the kids are given a ship of their own, but it's not a teaser for anything storywise other than further adventures.

The touch of Dal concluding his arc by realizing that Gwyn, rather than he, is the one who should have the chair is great - for his character - as learning he's not the "main character" has been a central theme. However, I'm not sure I like this for Gwyn, as it seems arbitrary, given she hasn't shown much desire for command.

While the closer was a bit of a letdown for me, it's still a decent end to what has been far and away the best-serialized arc in all of modern Star Trek. I realize they had much less to cover here than the other shows (total runtime discounting credits is less than 3.5 hours), but it's still shocking to me they stuck the landing in a way that Discovery and Picard were never quite able to.

 

[Ar-Pharazon]

Soooo, if Ilthuran doesn't become the Diviner now, doesn't that change the timeline anyway?

 

[David cgc]

Soooo, if Ilthuran doesn't become the Diviner now, doesn't that change the timeline anyway?

The alternate future timeline with the ruined and violent Solum is still out there in the multiverse, and he still went back in time to a point where his version of history and the current version of history were both possible. It’s like how in the JJ movies Spock Prime was still around even though the alternate Spock is now living a different life. It’s specifically that they interrupted the Protostar coming back from that alternate future, and thus averting that future and creating the current chain of events, that caused the paradox.

 

[Tuskin38]

They connect to PIC S3...

Beverly's jacket is the same one from S3, and on her desk is an award that was also originally created for Season 3.

 

[Blackout]

Cetacean ops actually had an important contribution, amazing lol. and it actually makes enough sense. they can provide manual navigational direction by literally swimming through a holographic representation of the ship's obstacles. fantastic!

jellico was the one to instruct picard to cease the romulan evacuation due to the synth attack on mars! they even explained the uniform incongruence with the different combadges, wow. and wesley, who is actually interesting now, finally visiting his mom and meeting jack as a child?!!! i really did not expect prodigy season 2 to be complimenting picard season 3 and even picking up a little of the slack. it was even implied that maddox's a500 androids are the tech that made Zero's new body possible.
Using the attack on mars as a sort of inciting factor to ground the USS Prodigy, leaving it without a crew/purpose and thus allowing Janeway to reassign it herself (when in normal circumstances starfleet probably would have had other plans for it), is pretty clever.

I really loved what they did with Wesley. Finally someone is running with the potential that his past storylines implied, but we never previously saw. He's much more quirky and interesting now, and he's almost like the Doctor of Doctor Who, and that's fantastic.

The Doctor's holonovel is hilarious. I paused to read the couple pages available, and it's gleefully horrible. i love it. The Doctor was my favorite part of Voyager and it has been a joy to get more Bob Picardo.

 

[Akiraprise]

10/10

Just a fantastic show all around. It's sweet, touching, humorous. It ties into the existing lore well. All of the characters got a chance to shine both new and legacy. A true sequel to VOY, but much more as well. A shame if it doesn't get another season or two but this is a good ending if it doesn't.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I don't give a lot of 10s, but this was a 10. Fantastic season and fantastic finale. This is how you do a weave the past into something new.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Just realized if we get season three it joins the Ship/Show same name club.