‘Star Trek: Prodigy’ Producers And Cast Explain Stardates And More From “Time Amok”

[SPOILERS FOR PRODIGY 108]

The eighth episode of Star Trek: Prodigy, “Time Amok,” ventured into Star Trek’s time anomaly sub-genre. Since then, Paramount+ and the team behind the show have revealed more insights into the episode and explained a Stardate mystery.

Prodigy Stardate mystery

Prodigy‘s time setting has been said to be 2383, or five years after the USS Voyager returned from the Delta Quadrant. However, “Time Amok” was the first time on the show that a stardate was given, and it was a bit curious. The episode started with Holo Janeway saying the stardate was 607125.6 which, according to how stardates work, would put it well beyond 2383. Co-executive producer Aaron J. Waltke explained this wasn’t an error, but a clue. He also promised an accurate stardate will be revealed.

“Time Amok” writer broke new ground

Executive producers Dan and Kevin Hageman revealed that episode writer Nikhil Jayaram actually included the oscillating time graph in his script, which they explained is something not done in the business. Waltke followed up to say it was a first for the studio, but they welcomed it.

They also gave a shout-out to show consultants David Mack and Dr. Erin Macdonald for their help on getting both the real and the Star Trek science correct.

Mulgrew on Rok-Tahk’s lesson

The weekly lesson from Kate Mulgrew for “Time Amok” focused on the message to believe in yourself, as seen in Rok Tahk’s story.

Rylee’s time to shine

“Time Amok” focused a lot on the character of Rok-Tahk, and the Hagemans took to Twitter to praise the work of voice actress Rylee Alazraqui.

Later, Alazraqui revealed the “Time Amok” script was used for her audition.

Would hugging Rok-Tahk hurt?

“Time Amok” got Star Trek biology science consultant Dr. Mohamed Noor wondering about Rok-Tahk and what it would be like to hug a Brikarian. Aaron Waltke chimed in to say Brikarians would be analogous to one of his former pets. (And Dr. Noor replied that he had the same pet.)

Angus explains warp

“Time Amok” featured a lot of scenes in the engine room, so this week’s Star Trek tech video (delivered by the voice of Zero, Angus Imrie) was all about warp drive.

 

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 on Fridays. It will debut later in 2022 in parts of Europe with the launch of the Paramouint+ Sky partnership.


Keep up with the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.

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It would be cool if Prodigy could do a science lesson for the kids at the end of each episode, or maybe a separate show on its own. I would love to write them!

YES! I was hoping for something like that to be part of the show. There are many intriguing phenomena: twin stars, black holes, birthing nebulas, pulsars, post-nova voids etc… They could also tangle the microverse or quantum realm at some point.

The two science consultants for the franchise (physicist Erin McDonald and biologist Mohamed Noor) do have a YouTube channel that covers science in the various series.

However, targeted 5 minute science bites associated with each Prodigy episode would be a nice complement to each of the Prodigy episodes. It would be nice to have those posted on P+ along with Mulgrew’s featurettes on the social lessons from each episode.

That would have been fantastic, and the perfect vehicle for it.

I am starting to think maybe this show is taking place farther in the future than they are letting on. Why would you wait until the finale to show a stardate?

And it could explain why we are now seeing so many species in the Delta quadrant now like the Ferengi, Klingons, etc along with the alpha quadrant characters on the ship. Maybe after Voyager came home they found other means to get to the Delta Quadrant faster after a decade or two of research.

This show may actually be taking place in early 25th century and that time travel being involved is a red herring.

Or maybe it’s something else. Either way, I have to admit this ‘kids show’ has become a really intriguing show for me with both the basic story outlook and the ongoing mystery. It’s all done so well so far!

Didn’t they already feature a stardate in the “17 years ago” segment that worked out with the year the show is supposed to take place in?

But if they already showed us that stardate in the episode, then why are they now saying the ‘Actual’ stardate will be revealed later? Wouldn’t it just be the stardate 17 years later as implied? See what I’m getting at?

Clearly it’s not that straight forward.

Well, they haven’t shown a stardate for Prodigy’s present-day, at least I don’t remember one.
Of course, they could do more time travel shenanigans. If not, the year should work out to what they said before the show started.

That’s what I mean though. Wouldn’t the statdate just be whatever it’s supposed to be 17 years later? Why keep that a secret at all? Why are they being so coy over it? What am I missing?

To be honest I didn’t realize they weren’t referencing the statdates in each episode until now. That shows you how much I don’t care about statdates lol.

Nice, I guess, that they are putting in that kind of effort for something as innocuous as the star dates. But honestly I never paid them any real attention as they were never important.