Review: ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Grows Up In “Time Amok”

“Time Amok”

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1, Episode 8 – Debuted Thursday, January 20, 2022
Written by Nikhil S. Jayaram
Directed by Olga Ulanova & Sung Shin

SPOILER-FREE REVIEW

Star Trek: Prodigy delivers one of its best episodes by using a classic Star Trek sci-fi narrative to tell a touching story about character.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

RECAP

“It’s time to come clean”

Following last week’s disastrous attempt at first contact, Janeway has the kids doing a teambuilding exercise in the holodeck, but they fail to solve the riddle, which results in chicken-chasing chaos and Rok-Tahk’s frustrated insistence that she is NOT the security officer no matter what Gwyn and the others think. Dal shuts it down, and in an act of contrition born from frustration, finally admits to Janeway the crew has been lying to her from the beginning about being Starfleet cadets, “Who are we kidding? We are a bunch of strangers who stole a ship.” With that mic drop he exits, leaving Zero behind to fill Janeway in on the full story. A dejected Jankom turns to Gwyn for solace, but there is no time for that as the ship is headed towards a tachyon storm sending him to the engine room in a panic discovering his worst fear: The storm is destabilizing the Protodrive, which pulses with purple energy, briefly splitting Holo Janeway into 5 parts as she talks about “temporal settings.” Yep, it’s time anomaly time as Jankom believes he has 10 minutes before a core breach… except the ship explodes 10 seconds later. Boom.

But through the magic science of time anomalies, Janeway finds herself back on the ship, where the only one onboard is Rok-Tahk: Each member of the crew is “stuck in their own temporal phases” and each is moving at a different speed, with Jankom going much faster than Rok’s slow phase. Janeway tries to talk Rok into taking on the task of fixing the core but it’s too much for the big little girl, who shuts the hologram down… literally. Jumping to the next time phase, Janeway finds Zero is already on top of things, designing a thingie (okay, a “warp matrix”) to solve the exploding core problem that will also reset the “oscillating time” problem. Hooray! Except they literally run out of time, so Janeway is left to carry the idea forward to the next phase as “although we are divided by time, we can work together.” What’s more Star Trek than that?

“The crew believes in you”

After an abrupt but amusing visit to Murf’s time phase, Janeway breaks Dal out of his petulant funk through a mix of straight talk about the “temporal catastrophe” and some old-school inspirational storytelling. The kid’s on board to make Zero’s thingie, and after noticing the replicator is on the fritz, he taps into his Tars Lamora scrounger past to slap something together that isn’t pretty but will do the job. But just as he is about to hook it all up they realize they are missing a critical doohickey (sorry, “dilithium coupler”). Before his time phase winks out in yet another explosion repeat, Janeway assures the would-be captain that he didn’t fail, he “added a piece to the puzzle.” Now it’s up to Gwyn to find that last needed critical component, but she is derailed by Drednok, or more specifically a Drednok copy The Diviner uploaded to the ship’s replicator after getting the Protostar’s coordinates from Nandi the nasty Ferengi. It turns out to be a blessing, as the bad robot knows just where to find the missing part, and right before he uses it to steal the ship Gwyn pulls a Ripley and ejects him… Yay! But the warp matrix is lost too… Boo! Out of time and out of parts, she is left to record one last log before it’s her turn to go boom.

Looping back to the slowest time phase, Rok-Tahk tries in vain to call up Janeway, but Drednok deleted the hologram as an evil parting gift. As time moves very slowly in this phase, our hearts break as we watch a lonely Rok try to recreate her friends by leaving icons of each around their bunks to talk to. Her melancholy is interrupted via a transphasic message from Gwyn, apologizing for pressuring Rok to play the unwanted part of security officer, telling her she can be much more—and she is going to have to dig deep into this potential to save them all. It takes a beat, but Rok finds her inner cadet and gets to work, eventually rebooting Janeway… after 276 tries. Quite a bit of time has passed and Rok has been busy building the warp matrix and finding that dilithium coupler, but Gwyn forgot to tell her where it all goes. D’oh! Once installed, the timelines and crew are lovingly reunited. Rok used her slow phase to find her true calling: teaching herself “quantum science, computer engineering, and SO much math!” So yeah, not security officer. Things wrap up with some well-earned hugging, more Janeway teambuilding boosterism, and an ominous red glowing eye reminder the ship has also been reunited with that Drednok copy… or at least part of him.

ANALYSIS

They grow up so fast

“Time Amok” is a perfect example of how Prodigy can take a Star Trek science fiction story and tell it in a unique way, all in service of a bigger character story. As the title telegraphs, this is another in Trek’s long line of time anomaly episodes that includes “Shattered,” and various episodes with “time” in the title (“Timescape,” “Timeless,” “Time Squared,” etc.). But Prodigy refreshed the subgenre with a focused version that can work for brand-new audiences, was still rich, and didn’t even skimp on the technobabble. This sci-fi story was in service of the larger themes of the episode (and Star Trek in general) of teamwork and family, with the fractured phases being an apt metaphor for the state of the crew following their failures in “First Con-tact.” Sure, there are nitpicky questions like aren’t there more replicators on the ship and why did they blindly fly into the tachyon storm in the first place, but these are easily solved by head canon and eclipsed by the emotional storytelling, effective pacing, and elegant production design.

The episode has lots of nice little moments of character-building: Jankom showed Gwyn his regrets , Zero wished they could have let the crew know how they really felt about them, Dal admitted to lying and finding a way to reconnect with Janeway, and Gwyn got some payback on Drednok. But it is Rok-Tahk who provided the emotional core, with an outstanding, nuanced performance from Rylee Alazraqui. Just like the last few episodes have seen Dal and Gwyn grow into their crew roles, “Time Amok” revealed a whole new Rok, and it all started with a beautifully subtle moment of doubt-turned-determination, inspired by looking down at the ship’s Starfleet emblem no less… and punctuated with a sting from the Star Trek theme. In a fine (and acceptable) example of the Plot-Relevant Age-Up trope, Rok grew up (exactly how long she was alone remains a mystery) to reveal her true self… a Science Officer (which was how the character was described in pre-show publicity; remember her line in the series opener, “I’m big, not dumb”?). There is also some grey area to this, with Gwyn and Janeway discussing how Rok spent “too long” alone, which could (and should) have future consequences.

What makes Prodigy work so well is how grounded all of this is. From Janeway trying to pry Dal away from his PADD game to Gwyn bonding with Rok over feeling pressure to fit into an unwanted role, new audiences (and their parents) can relate, and more importantly, be inspired. And that is Star Trek at its best.

There must be more to this

If there is a frustration with “Time Amok,” it is the way the show handwaves how the crew has been lying to Janeway. Her comment about still considering them her crew and being “programmed to help” even if they stole the ship just doesn’t add up, or indicates Starfleet needs better programmers. While locking the kids out of control of the ship and turning for the Federation might not suit the goals of the show, allowing a group of what are essentially pirates (cute, relatable, adorable pirates to be sure) play around with an important Starfleet ship just can’t be the end of this conceit.

It could be that Janeway is playing the long game here and she plans to recruit these kids to become actual cadets, with a mention of wearing uniforms in the previous episode a possible bit of foreshadowing. The hologram is going to need their help if she is going to get to the bottom of the mystery of what happened to Captain Chakotay and her original crew. Drednok offered up some new morsels this episode, saying he was “surprised” she remembered him and telling Janeway she was “close, but not quite” when she assumed he was the one who corrupted her files. While that isn’t a lot, this and referring to The Diviner as the “rightful master” of the Protostar was a good bit of lore-building for the short time available, squeezed in between all the timey-wimey stuff going on.

Final thoughts

“Time Amok” was a fun revisit to classic Star Trek storytelling with the combined emotional punch making this one of the best of the series so far. With only three episodes left in the show’s first 10-episode story arc, the anticipation for next week only grows stronger.

RANDOM THOUGHTS AND CANON CONNECTIONS

  • “Time Amok” is another play on a classic episode title, in this case TOS “Amok Time.”
  • Episode begins with Holo Janeway’s first “Training Officer’s Log,” with Stardate given as 607125.6.
  • The duplicate Drednok is listed in the credits as “Dred 2,” also voiced by Jimmi Simpson.
  • Robert Beltran returns to (briefly) voice Captain Chakotay, although via Dred 2 simulating his voice.
  • Chakotay’s authorization code was: Chakotay, Zulu, X-ray, X-ray, Dash, Four, Seven, Five (ZXX-475), another use of 47 in Star Trek.
  • The time anomaly was triggered by a “tachyon storm” which is new to Star Trek, but tachyons have been mentioned quite a bit, often associated with temporal phenomena. Tachyons are based on theoretical particles that travel faster than light.
  • The Diviner’s ship (Rev-12) is “months” away from the Protostar due to it jumping 4,000 ahead with the Protodrive.
  • The Protostar core requires artificial gravity to maintain stability, which proved to be a bit of a vulnerability.
  • The Apollo 13 mission mentioned by Janeway (popularized by the film of the same name) is cited by NASA as a “successful failure” which all ties into her goal of inspiring the crew to learn from their failure.
  • The mission motto of Apollo 13 was “Ex Luna, Scientia” (“From the Moon, knowledge”) which was the inspiration for the motto of Starfleet Academy—”Ex Astris, Scientia” (“From the stars, knowledge”), which ties into how Dal finally revealed the crew aren’t genuine Starfleet cadets.
  • A screw on Dal’s warp matrix device had a Starfleet delta screw head.
  • Rok saying goodnight to each of her friends (who weren’t there) was a nice homage to The Waltons.
  • Even with all the time she had, Rok continues to just eat the same gruel from Tars Lamora.
  • The simulation to solve the riddle with the fox, chicken, and grain is based on a classic riddle with many variations that dates back to the 9th century.
  • Pog line of the week: “Jankom distinctly remembers not being alive.”

More to come

Every Friday, the TrekMovie.com All Access Star Trek podcast covers the latest news in the Star Trek Universe. The podcast is available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyPocket CastsStitcher and is part of the TrekMovie Podcast Network.


New episodes of Prodigy premiere on Thursdays on Paramount+ in the U.S. and on CTV Sci-Fi Channel in Canada, where it’s also available to stream on Crave. It is available on  Paramount+ in Latin American, the Nordic Countries, and Australia. It will debut in 2022 in parts of Europe with the launch of the Paramouint+ Sky partnership.

Keep up with all the news and reviews from the new Star Trek Universe on TV at TrekMovie.com.

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This was, in my opinion, the best episode of Prodigy yet. We got a genuinely new temporal anomaly (which is saying something!), and really good character development. This episode made the kids really feel like…kids, with complex emotions. We saw Dal’s dejection and frustration, Zero’s love for his crew mates, Gwyn’s pain at Drednok saying she was her father’s greatest mistake, her bravery and compassion for Rok, and Rok’s perseverance and determination.

This was truly Rok’s episode. It would be very easy to continue with a shallow “big but young” conceit, but she really got a chance to show her bravery, love, and learning to speak up for herself. My heart broke once I realized just how long she was alone – months, maybe even years. And she continued to eat that prison gruel since it’s the only thing she knows. But it looks like she’s finding her place in the crew. I just want to give the poor child a hug! She will make a great science officer.

Yes, there were a few issues in the episode, but I really don’t mind. It’s a kid’s show, and what matters is the story and message, which this episode knocked out of the park. Prodigy has a very bright future ahead if it continues with episodes like this one, not like last week’s.

Yeah Rok definitely was the stand out of the episode. She could’ve been by herself for years. Imagine what that would be like for any young girl in real life, especially one who always wants to be around her friends and family. Amazing character development.

And this episode proves, once again, that while Star Trek has done these types of stories over and over again, you can still make them feel fresh and unique when you have great writers that can find new ways to tell these stories.

I used to feel so frustrated listening to narrow minded fans online say you can’t do anything new with certain tropes anymore. Or everything has already been done up to Nemesis, so why bother going farther than that? Or they used so and so species too much already, there is nothing left to do with them anymore, so why bring them back? And on and on and on. It amazes me at times these are fans saying these things because they seem to think since they can’t imagine how to find new angles to plot devices, characters and time periods, no one else can’t either apparently.

Well clearly MANY can! Lower Decks and Prodigy is proving that in droves even if you don’t like the shows themselves. They are taking well worn ideas and finding new creative approaches to them. Star Trek is such a wide canvas of ideas and why I love it so much in the forty years I been watching it. There is always a new direction to take it in if you simply have the right people who are smart enough to do it.

These new creators are a great asset to the future of this franchise. They understand and get classic Star Trek, while forging something new on their own.

Was the stardate an error or purposeful? It should be 5 digits before the decimal if this is truly 2383.

I ran the stardate through a stardate calculator and it indicates that stardate corresponds to 2930.

According to Star Trek: Prodigy producer Aaron Waltke, the stardate’s unusual number was the first hint in the episode that time was being distorted. Namely, Hologram Janeway’s temporal settings were already being affected by the approaching tachyon storm, something she observes later in the episode.

However, we saw something a couple of episodes back that said a stardate of 437XX (I can’t remember what it was) was 17 years ago. That would work right if the writers inadvertently added an extra digit. 60712.56 makes much more sense in that context.

And that stardate does correspond to 2383.

Okay, that’s explains my only critical issue with the episode. That stardate put it about 550 years after the end of Voyager, so it didn’t make sense to me. Just based on Memory Alpha, the TNG-era stardates jumps roughly by 1000 every season (year).

I never put a lot of thought into the stardates. They were essentially created to chronicle ship board time and a way to get around the relativity issues with traveling faster than the speed of light. I realize someone came up with a way to translate them into actual dates but I don’t think that sort of thing is meaningful or important in any way.

That’s true for TOS and TAS, but starting with TNG they were pretty consistent.

Stardates were not created to get around “relativity issues,” but to avoid pinning-down TOS to a too-specific timeframe, which Roddenberry (at least initially) did not want to do.

Well, that was part of it but the relativity issues were mentioned in the things I read about TOS.

To this day I can’t tell you anything about star dates. I hear them said and that’s about as much as I think about them.

I’m happy Enterprise is the one show that uses real calendar dates since I assume star dates weren’t invented then.

Man Prodigy is just knocking it out of the park!

It’s incredible this show is only 8 episodes old and yet it feels so confident in its story telling and hits these intricate plots like it’s already a third or fourth season show. Temporal anomalies are really one of my favorite Star Trek tropes (but most time travel plots in general are) and this one managed to do it in a still unique and creative way. This would’ve fit right in with the best Voyager or TNG episodes as the review said.

I loved seeing how the crew had to adapt with their own crisis but still work as a team even out of temporal synch while Janeway was the glue to guide them (kind of like the old days of Voyager ;)). And the writers are doing such a great job of using her as a teacher, scientist and a mother to these young characters.

Yes Rok was definitely the standout in the episode but I loved them all. I laugh every time Jankom is on screen. Just hilarious. Zero is really the smartest, most capable and well balanced one in the group. They really should be the Captain but Dal is improving too. Also liked they basically all died except Rok and of course all came back to life. The youngsters watching just learned another long held Star Trek tradition lol. It’s not real Star Trek without one resurrection every season at least.

I am just in awe of this show. I knew I would like it, but my expectations were tempered going in. But the people making this show just honed in of what makes Star Trek special and just doing it in ways it took grown up shows like Discovery years to finally get better at. And I think Prodigy is just a much better written show than that one a few episodes in. Hell better written than most of them first season in.

This is the Star Trek I loved and missed for a long time. And its great it’s really taking everything we love about it and showing the next generation of fans the fundamentals of what make Star Trek so fun, smart and creative.

Can’t wait until next week!!

I agree! They’re doing an amazing job on this series. I was very happy to read about the early renewal the other day.

Honestly I’m just amazed at what they come up with. These are very simple stories on one hand to get across to young kids but yet still tell them in mature ways to long time fans and adults. They are just doing an incredible job of what makes Star Trek special IMO.

I can’t believe I’m more impacted by a show designed for nine year olds than I am with the $150 million Kelvin movies (and I like those movies). But it just proves to me why Star Trek is really so much stronger as a TV show. It can just tell stories in a more meaningful and thoughtful way. And yes that includes the action stories too at times or I wouldn’t love DS9 as much as I do. I don’t mean just the ones where people are in a room debating philosophy with each other while sipping tea (but yeah I’m sucker for those too lol).

But Prodigy is doing something I haven’t felt in a really long time with Star Trek. It’s really the most ‘traditional’ Trek show of the modern shows so far IMO, but yet still different from the others too.

Yup, once again you are spot on Re a show made for kids that still appeals to adults. Nothing more to say about the Prodigy positives that you and others have already posted.

Clearly Prodigy is getting a lot of love from adult legacy fans. The only thing I wonder is if the show is appealing to its target audience and it is bringing in a new younger demographic. I guess those analytics won’t be available for a while.

I guess the real test whether Prodigy will be able to reach the audiences it is officially targeted at will come once it starts running on Nickelodeon.

That’s obviously a good question. The only anecdotal info we have is that Anthony who reviews the show here usually includes the thoughts of his niece and nephew and they seem to love it so far at least. I just read the latest review on Trekcore and that reviewer watches the show with their own young kids and they seem to have the same reaction to it as well. Both groups seem to like the story and can follow along with everything so far at least. Not much to go on, but it at least shows it can reach younger kids as it was meant to.

Of course I would be really curious to see how well it actually does once it gets to Nickelodeon, but since they already renewed it for season 2 just based on the traffic it gets on P+, we adults don’t have to worry much if the younger set doesn’t love it it looks like.

Yep. Stunningly, this show, one that I was not all that excited about upon hearing about it and based on the pre-production synopsis, ends up being the winner of the 4 SH shows out there. And it’s not even close. Consider me floored.

I still can’t get over just how good this series is. It’s definitely written with kids in mind but elevates the storytelling that kids in this age group are typically exposed to.

I don’t know… There are episodes, including this one, that feel like it would go over the head of most kids. This show feels to me like the most “adult” oriented show of all the SH outings.

Haven’t seen this one yet, but this show definitely can be viewed at different levels.

Which has been one of the things that has made Trek series so rewatchable as it’s audiences grow and mature.

The Devil in the Dark made an indelible impression on my primary school aged mind back when TOS was in first run, but there were many layers to grasp as I saw it again as I developed and matured.

Original Trek was pretty good at that. I recall being entertained by the episodes growing up in the 70’s and watching them again as an adult they took on whole new meaning. That was part of what I found great about it.

I think a lot of this was due to the fact that TOS was created at a time when networks didn’t have demographic information about their viewers, so TV shows had to appeal to a broad audience. Well after TOS was canceled, NBC learned that it was actually the #1 show for either Adults 18-49 or Men 18-49 (I can’t remember which), and if they had known that, they never would have canceled TOS when they did.

TOS’s appeal to a broad audience is one reason among many for the show’s longevity. It appears that Prodigy has learned that lesson, too.

I feel like the show would still work with the same concept if the characters were all young adults, too. That is how solid I think the show is.

Wow, i usually read one or two lines of various comments to get an idea of the episode playing up here in the evening, and it sounds like tonight’s episode is another must see event. “Thanks for the look ahead!”

No spoilers from me in this reply, but it really is a great one, with another Weird Space / Time Thing that, despite being the Nth such thing is a franchise full of them, still feels fresh, and despite the fact we know they’re not going kill off the entire main cast just seven episodes or so into a show, feels like it has real, urgent stakes, and the suspense really works. And it also works as a great character piece, with everyone getting time to shine. I liked this one a lot; I bet you will too.

Sounds like we’re doing the same thing DeanH in terms of peeking at the comments but not wanting to be spoiled.

What it is doing is making me committed to try to catch the 6:00 pm early broadcast here with some of the family. We haven’t been disappointed yet.

Yup as I said above, nothing but good things to say about this episode that you, Blondie Wan and others haven’t already posted.
Clearly Prodigy is hitting the spot with many legacy fans like us, but the one question I do have is if the show is actually appealing to its target audience and is it building a new younger audience. I guess we will have to wait a while to see those demographic analytics.

Superb episode.

Another good one from Prodigy. I cannot help but think that influence from the regular Secret Hideout higher ups like Kurtzman, Kadin and the like, are being held at bay by Hageman and his staff. I honestly feel like hiring this guy for this show was an accident by Kurtzman, who has shown he is a poor judge of talent.

But this episode was very much in line with Trek and worked for our group of young aliens. Each one is sympathetic in their own way. And they all have their issues. It’s a great set of characters and the production team is to be commended for being able to do with them in this less than half our format what they have. Prodigy is not the best Trek but I am liking it better than TNG.

This gives me hope that a similar mistake will be made with Strange New Worlds.

First of all, I know the first half of Discovery S1 left many upset (with legit reasons) and Kurtzman took much of the abuse from SOME legacy fans but since the departure of Moonves (who according to The Center Seat – seemed to despise Rick Berman dating back to the days of Enterprise), I think AK has done a pretty good job. Under Moonves, virtually all ties to Berman’s Trek universe were essentially destroyed. Since his departure, that has obviously not been the case.

No, not all his hires are spot on, but do you count the new Trek hiring of Doug Drexler, Terry Matalas and Mike and Denise Okuda as mistakes? Sorry, that was a rhetorical question. All I am saying is AK got the deserved heat for Discovery S1 so now when things are much better, maybe he deserves some slack and credit, where credit is due – that’s all.

I for one am pretty happy that we will get 50 new episodes of Star Trek in 2022 and like it or not, that is all happening under Kurtzman’s watch.

Star Trek Discovery had problems from the very beginning but season 1 REALLY went downhill after that break and they went to the MU and did some of the most idiotic things I have ever seen on a Trek show. The show never recovered. Season 2 was just as bad and had the same issues S1 had. Season 3 tried to repair some issues and as I have said elsewhere credit to Kurtzman for recognizing there were issues but what they did to that show fixed none of them. Moving it to the future did not cure the bad characters and writing and plotting and history. They even made the problem worse by moving it so very far into the future.

Yes, the question is rhetorical but here are your answers. I have no real issues with the production artists. The SPFX are good and it is shot well. The only real problem there is the production design people. But the creative folks on the writing staff… That is where the real problem lies. Not a huge fan of the casting director either. Not many good choices in casting. There are some who are spot on. But that was not well done either. Matalas remains to be seen if he can right the Picard ship or not. But I have to say based on what little we have seen so far it doesn’t look good. That said, Prodigy didn’t look good at all until we saw the final product. Kurtzman had the right idea to create multiple kinds of Trek shows. Kudos to him for that. But he was the wrong guy to implement the idea.

In all honesty I’d rather have 10 episodes a year of GOOD Trek or even no Trek than crap Trek. Which until Prodigy came along is what we were getting.

Well, we can agree that Prodigy is pretty good and we should take stock of Discovery, Picard and SNW at the end of the year. For now I am actually optimistic and you are not. We shall see what happens over the next 11 months.
For now, LLAP!

Sorry to disappoint you, but you’ll have to take off your hat for Kurtzman on this one. The Hagemans told in a podcast that it was Kurtzman who looked out for them and asked if they were interested in doing a Star Trek. They were not thinking of it until Kurtzman asked them to. That’s for judge of talent…

One of the strengths of the Hagemans is that they brought Treklit author David Mack on as a consultant and seem to be really listening to him.

His influences have been evident to those of us who read his books and the Trek series he’s collaborated on. Rok the Brikarian for their big alien, and Chimareum as the substance that makes cloaking device work (so that the Protostar could be hidden from scans in an asteroid).

The Hagemans tweeted out a particular thanks to Mack for the idea of an occillating temporal anomaly for tonight’s episode.

He really is a deep library of Trek lore across the eras and they seem to have developed a working relationship that makes the most of it.

I wonder why they don’t just have David Mack as a writer on any of these shows? Clearly he’s a gifted writer with a ton of Trek novels under his belt…some that they directly reference on the shows as you mentioned. And he wrote several tie in novels for Discovery. So what’s the deal? Why is he not involved more?

Beyer is also a novelist who still writes her Voyager novels but also produces and writes on Picard and Discovery. I just wonder how these things work?

All that suggests is that Kurtzman occasionally can make a mistake.

Or, maybe, more probably, since he keeps succeeding at his job, you are a poor judge of producers… just a thought.

I guess that depends how one defines “success”. I define it by creating a decent product. Something that has eluded his staff until Prodigy. I may not be the best judge of producers but I am a pretty good judge of the final product. And when your people keep cranking out sub par product one must wonder where the poor judgement lies… So you might want to perish that thought.

Man…seriously? I understand a lot of people really don’t like Kurtzman or question if he’s right to run Star Trek, but the guy is a HIGHLY successful producer for a reason. It’s not an ‘accident’ he can spot talent, hence why he has so many successful TV shows on even if you personally don’t like them.

Yes maybe he himself is not a great writer (as an argument), it doesn’t mean the guy can’t spot other great writers since he works and hires many for years now. If us nobodies blabbing on message boards can identify who we think does solid work as writers, I’m going to guess he can too, even more so actually being in the business. Crazy I know.

I don’t hate or adore Kurtzman. I’m just judging him by what I have seen from his efforts. I would hardly call him HIGHLY successful. I’m thinking Scorpion was probably the best show that had his name on it. Was that a hit? It did manage to squeeze out 4 seasons. But then Sleepy Hollow? Clarice? The Hawaii 5-0 reboot? Were those hits?

But based on the results from his Trek efforts… Yeah. I stand by my assessment of his ability to pick the right people for the shows.

Dude, he’s had multiple TV shows, many that lasted for years. They don’t have to win Emmys to be considered successful, they only need people to keep watching them.

You don’t have to like the guy, you’re clearly not alone in that. I’m not some big lover of his myself. I haven’t watched most of his shows or movies outside of Star Trek and Fringe is the only one I can say without a doubt I thought was excellent.

But the main point was discussing if the guy can spot talent. Obviously he can. It’s just childish to say anything he does that is successful is an ‘accident’. Hollywood is a cut throat business and for every successful producer or writer, there are probably four others who never makes there very long. If he’s still in the game 20 years later, it’s because he gets results by both audiences and the executives who pays him.

No one is giving him $160 million dollars and keep renewing his shows if no one is watching them.

It just depends on what one defines as a “success”. From what I can tell, the main reason he is still active in TV is because he probably delivers a product on time and on budget. Which is indeed a skill and highly valued among the studio execs. But is this Trek gig his first job where he is overseeing everything and making all the hires himself without having to get OKs from others? I don’t know but it is certainly looking that way judging by the results. As I said, this is not emotional. I don’t know the guy from Adam. I’m just looking at results. From what I can tell, as an audience member (whose standards are obviously different from what a studio exec will have) its been pretty obvious he has not been a very good judge of talent when it comes to his handling of the Star Trek TV franchise. I’m guessing this gig is the one that is afforded him the most freedom as well.

Of all of the newer Star Treks, Prodigy is the only one that I actually like and look forward to watching. It’s the most family friendly series since Voyager and Enterprise. After being disappointed with Discovery (watching every episode of the first season and a few from the second), I’m really enjoying Prodigy. Prodigy isn’t just for kids it’s also well made for old school Berman-era Trekkies like myself. Even though I wasn’t a fan of Picard after watching every episode of season 1, I have a feeling that seasons 2 and 3 will be an improvement. And I am cautiously optimistic about Strange New Worlds. Prodigy is a sign of Trek’s improvement. :)

I would give Discovery season four a try.

Many of us find it feels much more like what we were hoping for. The 32nd century is interesting too.

Agreed. I was a bit cynical on season 4 but it has actually defied my expectations in multiple ways. Still not perfect but a much more interesting and thoughtful season than I thought it would be. I also feel the last two seasons have felt much more Berman like in the way the episodes have been told as well (certainly when compared to the first season). I don’t care either way but for others like the poster, it might help them get into the show more like many are with Prodigy.

And love the 32nd century setting. That one I can’t get enough of (but 24th century is still my favorite and luckily getting tons of that lately too).

If someone really didn’t like season 1 of Star Trek Discovery and gave up on it after watching a few from the 2nd season I think the odds of them being OK with season 4 are pretty low. If Capt Gomez wants to give it another shot, fine. But my recommendation would be if one thought it was so bad that it wasn’t worth watching any longer then watching season 4 isn’t going to change that opinion.

I don’t buy that someone who comments – on a comment – on a Star Trek blog doesn’t watch and “gave up on it after watching a few from the 2nd season.” Nah. Doesn’t seem like a credible statement. Seems more like a way to dramatize your dislike of the show. But that you don’t watch it? C’mon. And yet you comment on comments deep in the weeds?

I’m not really following what you are saying here. Could be a couple of things. Could you clarify?

Did anyone else notice that the first person Dal calls when Janeway says they’re all gone is Gwyn, and then “everyone else”?

Do you think Dal views Gwyn as the only responsible or near-adult one? I’d put Zero ahead of her myself…how old is Zero supposed to be (or be like), anyway?

Dal and Gwyn knew each other before the events of the pilot. He might have seen Jankom and Rok before but Gwyn was the only one he could communicate with.
That probably explains why he has more of a connection to her. Also, they might be going for some attraction between the two.

Good point.

I thought of the attraction bit, but I hope not. How old is each supposed to be, by the way?

IIRC, they’re both about 17. Note a recent episode gave us a flashback to Gwynn’s creation 17 years ago.

While I don’t remember their ages being given in the show (yet), IIRC Jankom Pog is supposed to be 16, and I think Rok-Tahk is supposed to be 8 at the time the show begins (which I think is actually the same age her performer was when she was first cast and started recording lines; Rylee Alazraqui has the distinction of being the youngest regular main cast member of any Trek show, beating both Wil Wheaton and Cirroc Lofton by a few years). I don’t know about Zero, and of course much of Murf’s characterization is that everything about him/her/them is a mystery, including age.

Maybe I misheard, but did Janeway say at one point that the crew of the Apollo 13 lacked ingenuity? If so … off.

Otherwise, terrific episode; possibly even an instant classic.

You misheard. She was saying Dal had the *same* thing as them, which was ingenuity, when he was berating himself for not being able to solve the problem.

Okay, good! I am pleased to have gotten that wrong.

I have to admit when I first put this show on, I thought it would be another show like lower decks. STUPID! Surprising it isn’t. Its not all humor and jokes. And my favorite character is the jello thing and robot crew persons. I like the fact that though the stories are stand alone, they are part of a interlocking themes with the Diviner. As the story progresses as will the mystery. This is another show I will keep an eye on.

I thought it would be Lower Decks level garbage, too. But lo and behold… It’s the opposite!

For the record, Lower Decks would be much better if it was all humor and jokes. Sadly it has NONE of that.

Just a brilliant Star Trek show. Wish these guys did live action. I suspect this might happen some day.

Not being able to suffer beyond the third episode of this show, I find it hard to believe the storytelling could advance to a degree warranting the glowing reviews of the author and comments in only 5 episodes. I went into this hoping for something like the original Ben 10 or Teen Titans series, but with Star Trek, and instead got something only a few steps above Peppa Pig in space.

Not sure what you’ve been watching but your “Peppa Pig” statement is erroneous at best.

Man Admits He Knows Nothing About Subject, Has Opinion Anyways