Star Trek: Prodigy: Crossroads
November 17, 2022 5:04 AM - Season 1, Episode 14 - Subscribe

On the run from Janeway, the Protostar crew kills a Xindi or two and brings aboard an erstwhile disc jockey.

Where's the outrage, Memory Alpha?:

• William O. Campbell originated the character of Thadiun Okona in TNG: "The Outrageous Okona" (FF previously). He returned for the character's second appearance (which introduced the eyepatch) in LD: "An Embarrassment of Dooplers" (FF previously).

• This episode takes place three years after the events of the LD episode, and 19 years after the events of the TNG episode (which aired close to 34 years prior to the  airing  release of "Crossroads").

"This baby goes all the way up to warp four."
"Did he say four? Aww, he thinks his ship is fast."
- Okona and Jankom

"It's not an exact science."
- Rok, on meteorology

"Fear of failure has killed more dreams than anything else, so I usually go for it."
- Vice Admiral Janeway

Poster's Log:
Hooray, they were listening to me when I complained in the last thread that it was about time to get back to the serial story.

Janeway's Dauntless looks sort of The Abyss-ish, especially from behind. It was that aft view that finally led me to compare it and its predecessor side-by-side, and the exterior of the OG Dauntless definitely resembles the new one, but not very very closely.

Good plan, leaving the ship behind; Dal is becoming a leader. And burying it on an icy planet is a nice visual callback to one of VOY's more memorable visual moments in "Timeless", an ep that also referenced the Dauntless's quantum slipstream drive. Dang it, now I really do want Ray Wise to come back.

I'm less sold on the whole dragging Okona along thing, except for the "it'll be fun" factor. The kids shouldn't be so quick to take a rando on, and he shouldn't be so quick to involve himself in their obvious drama—especially if he just left behind his original ship from TNG season two, and it sure did look the same. OTOH, they may well address this early in next week's ep. And maybe he's even more of a rootless opportunist now than he was then, if his doomed DJ career is any indication. Heck, maybe he's even been an oyster pirate.

The Diviner's amnesia is starting to seem legit, since we've had not even a momentary hint otherwise. That in turn may mean he turns out to be the reason for his homeworld's catastrophe, as theorized by somebody in a previous FF thread IIRC. Or, perhaps more appropriately for a kid's show, he ALMOST does, but realizes what will happen/(Ted Logan voice) DID happen, and averts it for redemption-arc purposes. Maybe sacrificing himself to do so, in that tidy Star Wars fashion.
posted by CheesesOfBrazil (6 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
One of the best things about this episode, above and beyond the callbacks (Xindi! Okona! Starships on ice!), was the reaction of the kids to meeting the Real Janeway and the others; I wasn't quite ready for that meeting, and obviously neither were they. I especially liked Dal, who was never my favorite because he was obviously intended to be and written as the Designated Cool Kid of the bunch, but was all "gawrsh, I'm your biggest fan" when meeting Meat-J. (That's Vice Admiral Janeway to you, bub.) And, of course, she rolled out her standard Starfleet recruiting speech in response. Of course, someone a bit more mature and poised might have had their first-contact-with-Starfleet speech all squared away--warning about the future weapon embedded in the Protostar, the whole history with the Diviner, and so forth--but these are kids and still have a lot to learn.

Speaking of the Diviner, I'm still not 100% sure that he isn't playing a long game, although it would be kind of funny if the doc has him doing some occupational therapy to try and jog his memory, and he's fiddling around in a workshop... and putting together something that looks a lot like Drednok.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:54 AM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


eh, I felt like this was a return to star wars style with stupid hover car chase scenes. and I'm not super OK with the kids' actions apparently leading to the death or at least serious injury of some of the port's security officers. Convenient that it wasn't starfleet security chasing them, because this way it can have no repercussions I guess. :(

and what was with the Denaxi Depot both being "a haven for smugglers" (yet about to arrest Okona for smuggling) and happy not only to let starfleet just wander around but also to just take orders from Janeway on a second's notice? It must be a study in contrasts.

nobody in starfleet was acting like starfleet. Making fun of Jankom for his stature? and just generally being non-thoughtful.
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 9:52 AM on November 17, 2022 [1 favorite]


Okona? A rando?? He’s outrageous!
posted by Servo5678 at 4:36 AM on November 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


Making fun of Jankom for his stature?

That's the "hat" of the Tellarites; their interpersonal style comes off as strongly confrontational and rude, at least to other species. That's been true since their original appearance in TOS' "Journey to Babel", and was commented on by Sarek, Spock's father. Jankom isn't like that, of course, but he was raised apart from other Tellarites.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:05 AM on November 19, 2022 [2 favorites]


OK, point taken about the Tellarite encounter. And I guess the others were acting pretty starfleet. Just not doing a good enough job to head off problems when the plot arc doesn't call for it yet.

Also I guess chlorine trifluoride is real and is pretty nasty stuff. oof.
posted by the antecedent of that pronoun at 6:13 PM on November 19, 2022


I'm glad the crew of the Dauntless is getting a little more character building. Up until now, they've had some good talent delivering generic lines.

And I thought that the encounter with Starfleet was really well handled, up until the chase sequence. Everyone had a good reason to lose their nerve and slink away. But once the chase started, it mostly felt like padding to end on a cliffhanger.

And I completely agree that these kids shouldn't be casually killing/injuring the guards. I kept hoping we'd see the Cobra Xindi guards parachuting to safety.
posted by Banknote of the year at 6:26 PM on November 22, 2022


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