Star Trek: Prodigy: A Moral Star, Part I

January 27, 2022 3:43 PM - Season 1, Episode 9

The Diviner employs a little-known codicil in the Tars Lamora constitution to invoke a double secret double-cross on the Protostar's crew.

That wasn't part of our deal, Memory Alpha! That wasn't paaaart!

• By acknowledging the entire writers' room for their contributions, this episode holds the record for most writers credited on a single episode of Star Trek.

Poster's Log:
Anybody else notice artier camerawork, and a just generally more serious tone here? Could be a consequence of that writer's room datapoint above. It also makes me wonder if the next new "Stream Trek" series to be announced will be a serious and grown-up animated one.

The uniforms look like they might be the same as PROD Chakotay's. Hopefully his looks less like he's a waiter.

Memory Alpha indicates Kitty-Miner, whom we all knew we would see again, is a Caitian.

posted by CheesesOfBrazil (7 comments total)

Wow, the Diviner is a hateful old fuck, isn't he? I mean, maybe his whole motivation here is to re-create his race (based on little hints that he's dropped), but trying to murder all the people that he enslaved on his way out for... for why, exactly? Trying to scrub the record of how he did it when he resurrects the Vau N'Akat or something? He's just the worst. (Even Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin had the excuse of wanting to test the cool new laser cannon when they zapped Alderaan.)

But, yeah, there's a bit more heft to the narrative here, and not just that. I thought that Evil Holo-Janeway was a nice touch. (Speaking of Evil Janeways, Star Trek Online has another installment on its latest Mirror Universe storyline that features both the elder Janeway of the series finale "Endgame" (well, technically not the same one, you know) and Mirror Janeway, who has some familiar changes to the character's look.) More hopeful, though, is that Dal doesn't just run off and do the first thing that pops into his head, and calls out his own tendency to do so.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:17 PM on January 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

I like "Go fast" as Dal's version of "Engage."
posted by Banknote of the year at 8:27 PM on January 27, 2022 [1 favorite]

Oh good, HJ, I was afraid I was misremembering that the Diviner's storyline is more complicated than just grr arg scenery chewing villain, but I didn't really want to scan through the prior 8 episodes to find it.

I dunno, this is shaping up to be an interesting story, and I'm looking forward to episodes as they come out.
posted by Kyol at 6:15 AM on January 28, 2022

Honestly, the Diviner story is my least favorite aspect of Prodigy, and I'm hoping that in the second half of the season that aspect gets played down in favor of more traditional Trek style stories with the main characters. It's been great seeing these outsider kids experience the sort of Trek stories us long-time fans are familiar with, and bringing a new perspective and treatment of the tropes we're familiar with.
posted by SansPoint at 6:41 AM on January 28, 2022 [1 favorite]

Have Rok's speech patterns and cadence changed following "Time Amok"?

I was not really expecting the kids to be so well-prepared for the double-cross. Well done!

The Protostar can't have gotten very far in the few minutes the kids were flailing about before the double-double-cross reveal. They really only have a few minutes to get ready for the ship's return.
posted by hanov3r at 8:14 AM on January 28, 2022

wow cool they got a Bad Janet in here huh
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:52 PM on March 14

[evil Kate Mulgrew voice] I went to warp with your MOM, you DINKS
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:52 PM on March 14