Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy General Discussion Thread

[Sci]

Caught up on Star Trek: Prodigy today and I'm loving this show. It's like the Hageman Brothers figured out how to combine Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars, and Star Trek into one show.

Re: the backstory.

I see no reason to assume the Protostar was launched in the early 2370s. If anything, I would say that the presence of the protostar drive implies it's a design that has its origins in the USS Voyager's encounters with super-FTL drives like quantum slipstream. I would argue, further, that the presence of an advanced FTL drive far exceeding normal warp speeds -- integrated into a system so well-designed and user friendly that literal children were able to figure out how to operate it -- means it is indeed far more advanced than the Intrepid, Defiant, or Sovereign classes.

I figure development probably began on it in 2376 after Project Pathfinder re-established contact with Voyager and the Starfleet Corps of Engineers gained access to Voyager's logs on quantum slipstream and coaxial warp drives, and that the protostar drive is based on one or more of the super-FTL technologies Voyager encountered.

 

[Deks]

Caught up on Star Trek: Prodigy today and I'm loving this show. It's like the Hageman Brothers figured out how to combine Avatar: The Last Airbender, Star Wars, and Star Trek into one show.

Re: the backstory.

I see no reason to assume the Protostar was launched in the early 2370s. If anything, I would say that the presence of the protostar drive implies it's a design that has its origins in the USS Voyager's encounters with super-FTL drives like quantum slipstream. I would argue, further, that the presence of an advanced FTL drive far exceeding normal warp speeds -- integrated into a system so well-designed and user friendly that literal children were able to figure out how to operate it -- means it is indeed far more advanced than the Intrepid, Defiant, or Sovereign classes.

I figure development probably began on it in 2376 after Project Pathfinder re-established contact with Voyager and the Starfleet Corps of Engineers gained access to Voyager's logs on quantum slipstream and coaxial warp drives, and that the protostar drive is based on one or more of the super-FTL technologies Voyager encountered.

USS Defiant NX-74205 (was designed and made before VOY, that much can be inferred because Sisko mentioned it was supposed to be made as part of a battle fleet against the Borg) - unknown official launch date as it was mothballed due to engine problems.

USS Voyager NCC-74656 (year first seen in service: 2371) - stardate 48315.6
USS Prometheus NX-74913 (year seen: 2374 or 2375) - stardate: just before 51501.4 (but it was stolen by the Romulans, so we don't know if it was meant to be place into service at that time).

USS Protostar NX - 76884 (year seen 2383 - however, due to wibbly timeline, we don't know specifically when the ship was put into service).

There is 451 difference between the Defiant and VOY
257 difference between VOY and Prometheus, and 2228 between VOY and Protostar (or 1971 between Prometheus and Protostar).

Huh... actually, if we go by that, it would suggest SF was only making just over 2000 ships every decade (for an organisation that spans 8000 LY's, has a humongous number of ship construction facilities spread over fully developed 150 star systems [not counting colonies], each of which has its own FTL capabilities and ships/construction facilities were absorbed into Starfleet, and went through a devastating war, that seems awfully low).

That (as low of a number it is) WOULD actually suggest the Protostar was put into service in roughly 2380 or 2381 (and it meshes with the fact that since Janeway was promoted to an Admiral by 2379, her hologram would be installed on the Protostar as a training advisor.
Add Chakotay to the mix who probably became captain as Janeway was promoted, the Protostar could be his first official command (or second - depends).

As for the Proto Core being developed due to VOY's encounter with super FTL drives... its a possibility, but to fit an actual Protostar into a ship that small, you'd have to be able to hyper shrink the thing to ridiculously small proportions and NOT lose on its gravimetric effects.... which is probably what's draining the ship's power reserves.

 

[Tuskin38]

Stop taking registry numbers seriously.

 

[137th Gebirg]

There was a time when they were largely indicative of establishing a timeframe for a ship’s entry into service but, yeah, now they’ve become somewhat random and pointless.

 

[cooleddie74]

And even in TOS they were all over the map even for Constitution-class starships launched around the same time. There are 684 between the Constellation and Enterprise and those were roughly the same age.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

I think the TNG era was pretty sensible with its registry numbers. Starfleet apparently decided to try numbering ships in chronological order by this time. Then Discovery went back to the old TOS method of starting with 1 and then picking three more numbers randomly.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Mike & Denise did the best they could to keep up with it all and make sense of it, but a bunch of stuff got passed even them.

Are they still on the Paramount/CBS payroll for such things or have they retired? I see their names pop up every so once and a while in new projects. Just curious if they’re still operating as graphic design consultants on the new projects.

 

[Sci]

Yeah, registry numbers are all over the place. (I sometimes think that we don't appreciate quite how much minutiae the Okudas kept track of for all those harried writers and producers back in the day...!) From a Watsonian perspective, I would say that registry numbers can be broadly indicative of what era an order was placed for a ship, but clearly some ships end up with significant delays that give them seemingly anachronistic registry numbers by the time they're launched.

 

[cooleddie74]

I heard Mike Okuda is working for PIC or is at least being consulted.

 

[Ray Hardgrit]

The Okudas are both working on Picard at the moment.

 

[Sci]

Mike & Denise did the best they could to keep up with it all and make sense of it, but a bunch of stuff got passed even them.

Are they still on the Paramount/CBS payroll for such things or have they retired? I see their names pop up every so once and a while in new projects. Just curious if they’re still operating as graphic design consultants on the new projects.

Well, they're both credited for every episode of Ronald D. Moore's show For All Mankind as technical consultants. I want to say that Doug Drexler mentioned they're working on PIC with him, but I'm honestly not sure if that's true or me having a bad memory.

Edited to add:

Oh good, two other posters confirmed they're working on PIC!

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

Yup, here’s Terry Matalas’s tweet about Dave Blass’s tweet that broke the news of their coming on to work on Picard.

 

[137th Gebirg]

That’s awesome! Glad to see them back where they belong.

 

[Dukhat]

There was a time when they were largely indicative of establishing a timeframe for a ship’s entry into service but, yeah, now they’ve become somewhat random and pointless.

These days I think it's more that some people involved in the production take them seriously and try to establish some kind of chronological sense to them, while others involved in the production don't give a crap and just pull numbers out of their ass. Case in point, the California class from LDS. We have the Cerritos's registry as 75567, which makes sense chronologically. But then there's the Merced with an 87075 reg, which is way too high to be chronological. Then to add to that, we have the Rubidoux and the Solvang, with 12109 and 12101 respectively, which not only aren't chronological to the (somewhat) established registry scheme of the 2380's, but they're not even chronological to each other (the Solvang was built in 2380 after the Rubidoux was destroyed, yet has a lower registry number.) It's possible these numbers are in-jokes, but it's not like any of us know exactly what the joke is.

 

[AnimationAdmiral]

My theory:

The Protostar begins construction as part of Project Pathfinder.

Voyager arrives home early, travelling 70,000 lightyears in just 7 years thanks to numerous transwarp and advanced FTL technology that it brings home to share with the Federation.

The Protostar is completed and refitted using this new tech, allowing the Federation to venture further and deeper into the Delta Quadrant than ever before without the risk of being stranded again like Voyager.

it’s launched around 2381 or 82 with Captain Chakotay and Hologram Janeway and a skeleton crew on a test run.

Something goes awry, and they fly through an anomaly during Proto warp. They are stranded with the Diviner and the other Vau N’akat, who hijack the ship and modify it with their own computer code for unknown nefarious purposes that would allow for their species’ “salvation.” Maybe turn it into a warship(?)

Before they can do so, the ship is lost again — perhaps due to the efforts of Chakotay using what he knows went wrong the first time.

This time, the anomaly sends it back into the past to around 2360s without a crew. The Diviner follows but loses track of the ship, and spends decades looking for whatever they loaded onto it and a newfound hatred of the Federation thanks to Chakotay.

 

[JoaquinSlowly]

Today’s Paramount+ press releases gave us an episode description and the writer/director credits for this week’s new episode of Prodigy, Time Amok.

Episode 108 – Time Amok (Available to stream Thursday, January 20th)

When the U.S.S. Protostar is fractured in time by an anomaly, Hologram Janeway must synchronize the disjointed crew and save their ship before it destructs.

Written by: Nikhil S. Jayaram

Directed by: Olga Ulanova, Sung Shin

Wonder if the time anomaly story is a flashback to Chakotay and his crew, or maybe a repeat of what happened to them to send them back in time?

Very excited to see where this one goes!

 

[cooleddie74]

Sounds similar to "Shattered(VOY)."

 

[shapeshifter]

Oh, NO! It's happening again!I

 

[NCC-73515]

Today’s Paramount+ press releases gave us an episode description and the writer/director credits for this week’s new episode of Prodigy, Time Amok.



Wonder if the time anomaly story is a flashback to Chakotay and his crew, or maybe a repeat of what happened to them to send them back in time?

Very excited to see where this one goes!

That sounds really interesting!

 

[Tuskin38]

Are they still on the Paramount/CBS payroll for such things or have they retired? I see their names pop up every so once and a while in new projects. Just curious if they’re still operating as graphic design consultants on the new projects.

Mike visited the Lower Decks offices a couple times and gave suggestions and even made an MSD of the Cerritos for them, but he wasn't working on the show.

Denise and him are officially part of the PIC Season 3 art team. Along with Doug Drexler (who also worked on Season 2)