The penultimate episode of the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy arrives this week with the first part of the two-part finale. We have details and images from episode 19.
“Supernova, Part 1”
Episode 19 of Prodigy is called “Supernova, Part 1” and was written by Erin McNamara and directed by Andrew L. Schmidt. It debuts on Paramount+ on Thursday, December 22.
Synopsis:
Surrounded by the Federation armada, the crew attempts to stop their ship from destroying all of Starfleet.
New images:
Ella Purnell as Gwyn
Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog, Ella Purnell as Gwyn, Brett Gray as Dal, Kate Mulgrew as Janeway, Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk, Angus Imrie as Zero and Dee Bradley Baker as Murf
Angus Imrie as Zero, Brett Gray as Dal, Dee Bradley Baker as Murf, Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk and Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog
Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk and Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog
John Noble as The Diviner, Jameela Jamil as The Vindicator, and Jimmi Simpson as Drednok
Brett Gray as Dal and Ella Purnell as Gwyn,
New episodes of Prodigy debut on Thursdays exclusively on Paramount+ in the U.S., and on Fridays in Latin America and select countries in Europe. The series is also carried on SkyShowtime in the rest of Europe with the second half of season one expected to arrive in 2023.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
They could just destroy the Protostar.
Probably the Protostar holds the key to save Chakotay from the future….?
Perhaps he and the rest of the crew are actually being held “prisoner” in the transporter buffer, and the youngsters haven’t yet figured out that they’re in there. Or, maybe in addition to being a weapon, the Living Construct might be some sort of dimensional gateway that Chakotay and crew will have to pass through to get back onto the ship.
They’d need control of the ship first. Otherwise they’d blow up the entire fleet and thousands of innocent lives.
The construct would find a way to stop them.
Well, the episode is called Supernova, and the ship is powered by a “baby star,” so that may be exactly what they try to do.
Good point.
That was my first thought.
There is a direct line between the title of the two-part finale and the protostar engine’s ‘baby star.’
And the mid season finale 2-parter was titled ‘A Moral Star.’
It’s a theme.
Supernova? The one which destroyed the Romulan world?
Not a happy thought Jay.
Not for Prodigy, that’s for sure. Isn’t at the same Stardate?
It’s close in time. I doubt it is the same thing. There was never any hint that the supernova was artificially generated.
The supernova event that destroyed Romulus was in 2387 or about three years later than this season of Prodigy.
According to Picard the supernova that destroyed Romulus was first seen developing in the early 2380s. 2385 was when evacuation fleet under construction was destroyed.
The first PICARD novel, which set the series’ backstory, strongly hinted at exactly this.
Temarc, I stand corrected, that novel was a while back.
It seemed that the Romulans had done it to themselves, but you’re right that given the cultural imperative of misdirection, it’s always possible that the supernova got its start from something the Romulans took from the Federation or its opponents.
Awesome. I am really enjoying season two
Welcome, time traveler! We are currently enjoying the latter half of the first season.
Well for me, given the year-long break between the 10 eps increments, it’s Season 2. They are welcome to label it Season 1 as the official season number, but for me personally this is Season 2.
If you stick your fingers in your ears and say “nyah nyah nyah”, it would be more convincing.
Are you referring to the Key West Hotel or the beauty products company?
You aren’t.
I love how they keep even the promo pictures vague. I have no idea how this will turn out and I am so excited to see what clever ways they will resolve things. I think that shows a confidence in themselves that they can just trust the product and their decisions when it is released and discuss it afterwards.
Such a refreshing way to enjoy something not like the blabbermouths over at PIC who keep teasing details of season 3 since before season 2 even ended.
Such a refreshing way to enjoy something not like the blabbermouths over at PIC who keep teasing details of season 3 since before season 2 even ended.
Well said! Matalas is out of control. I think we are headed for rough Pic S3 — I am losing confidence in all of his pronouncements on how great his new season of Picard is suppose to be, yet the trailer was kind of “meh” the more that I watch it.
Someone asked him who the captain of the Titan will be, and he replied it was way above his pay grade.
It seems he’s taking the approach of getting away with spinning out everything possible he can. But given what he can’t, it may all be very misleading.
On the other hand, he actually seems to get all the geeky details that the fans really want to have addressed as opposed to the ‘big things’ Paramount seems to want to save for investors’ meetings.
Ok I’m glad you gave this example because it highlights exactly my “blabbermouth” problem.
So, back in September reports started circulating that 12 Monkey’s star Todd Stashwick was cast on the show, but no details of who he was playing were revealed. About a week before that Matalas had gave an interview saying that the captain of the Titan was yet to be announced, that it was a major character in the season and that we hadn’t seen them before. He said that it was an actor he had worked with before and was very fond of, before going onto talk about a few actors from 12 Monkey’s popping up in various roles throughout the season. And earlier this month, instead of just staying mute on the whole thing, he responded to a tweet that suggested that Stashwick would make a great Titan-A captain with “Now that’s a good idea 😏 “.
This lead to people, and this very site, locating someone who looks very much like Stashwick featuring in a split second of the trailer on the Titan bridge that people have screen-grabbed. This in turn led to people finding his stunt double, Chris Naylor, being listed on IMDB in the credits for season 3.
So all of this is to say that the captain of the Titan- A is Todd Stashwick. And the reason we know this is because of Terry Matalas’ inability to stop dropping hints and bits of information.
We already know so much; that Tasha Yar will appear for instance, that someone from Star Trek who wasn’t in the primary TNG cast would also return so…Colm Meaney, that the Enterprise D bridge was recreated and filmed on for 3 days with the TNG cast, Picard and Bev have a deep dark “secret” that if you connect what has been said is probably a shared child and that caused them conflict and is somehow connected to the villain and why they’re after Picard… I could go on but I don’t want to spoil anything else on you in case you’re lucky enough to have escaped the hints and info dumps.
I’m pretty sure that it is not “his inability to stop dropping hints and bits of information” but this is indeed part of their marketing campaign.
LOL, OK, sure.
He’s most likely under an NDA just like anybody else involved in making the show. So if Matalas released information against Paramount’s will they’d let him know (politely, at first) and make him stop if he continued despite their wishes.
Most of the promo pictures released before an episode are pretty vague. That’s true for all the Trek shows. In fact, fans have sometimes complained that the promo pictures are boring because they do not reveal anything.
The big difference between Prodigy and Picard is that Prodigy has been mostly well-received. Fans have generally enjoyed the episodes and are eagerly looking forward to what’s coming next.
Contrast that with Picard, which had a mixed first season and a pretty brutal reception to season 2. The producers have a much more uphill battle to fight trying to get fans excited for season 3. Not only do they want to end Picard on a positive note, by all accounts this season will also introduce characters and ships that could be spun off in a follow-up show. So there is a lot riding on it, and a lot of bad preconceptions to overcome. That’s why it seems like the producers are trying harder.
That’s true to an extent about the promo pictures but you also have to remember that for both PIC and DISC they also released individual trailers or sneak peek clips after each episode for the upcoming episode so that people can get a glimpse of what’s to come. Prodigy have not done this, and Lower Decks didn’t either. So for Prodigy we really have no clue what’s going to go down, and I like that.
Perhaps that is more down to the marketing budgets that are allotted to the animated shows versus the live action, but I think that is in keeping with the PRO and LDs showrunner’s generally just letting their seasons play out without having to hype it up too much and being comfortable with talking about specifics after the fact.
But I do very much agree with you, and you make a valid point well said about the reception of the shows and the potential for spin offs. It is probably a “win ’em back” marketing strategy for PIC season 3 that has been on now for what seems like forever. I honestly could not believe that we got that early teaser trailer with the TNG cast announcement so soon; before season 2 had even ended. But by the end of season 2 I did understand why they did that. It definitely did cushion the underwhelming experience for me a little bit, the potential of what was to come.
Given how tight Paramount has constrained Star Trek related information since the merger, I have to agree that Matalas and the cast have been given not only a green light but also marching orders to build the hype in the core fanbase to regain the audience lost in Picard season two.
Matalas has every incentive as his helming a new spinoff seems to be riding on getting the TNG crowd back.
And it seems that Patrick Stewart may not truly get it, but some of his ambitions for ending Picard’s story without his TNG colleagues seem to have been humbled.
I really don’t see the problem with Matalas talking up the season by releasing some tidbits. If you don’t want to know, don’t follow him, and don’t read the articles that cover his comments. Pretty simples.
This is the same nonsense when people say movie trailers give away too much. I read a piece a few years ago from a marketing firm that did a decades worth of study and all evidence suggested that the MORE you show before a release the MORE people actually show up.
I for one have no problem with this. Maybe the season is great, maybe the season is terrible, but I can’t imagine having such a stick up my rear end that i cared what the showrunner talked about.
If you want to go in blind, I get that, so just don’t follow along, tune out and watch the show when it releases.
Yeah I don’t remotely get the issue. This is what showrunners and producers do. No one had an issue with Bob Orci was showing up talking up the Kelvin movies with clues and insights for literally years before those came out.
If you’re this bothered, then don’t click on the link. It’s what we call willpower. But for practically everyone else, say as much as you want Matalas, I’m hanging on to every word!
Just guessing here, but the reason for the complaints is probably not the amount of information that’s released, but that people do not like what is being released. So they’d rather have no more news than more bad news.
Also, I can imagine that it can get exhausting for some people who obsessively overanalyze every little detail ;-)
Not necessarily, as I said in a post above which is awaiting approval as I have provided a link, for me it is not that I don’t like what is being said at all. I’ve been excited about some reveals, conflicted about others, and totally indifferent to some tidbits like the fact that the Enterprise E doesn’t feature. I don’t really care about that kind of stuff. It’s more character-based info that concerns me.
But my problem stems from the amount of information that is out there. Tiger2 said to ignore it… “it’s what we call willpower” – rude btw. But I’m not sure that’s possible online anymore.
For instance, I don’t follow Matalas and have his tweets muted because of his daily tweets, but still the information reaches me because of the personalised targeted algorithm.
Now, obviously the way in which the internet works these days is not his fault, and off course it’s his prerogative to talk as much as he likes about something he has created, but it has not been enjoyable for me to know things I do not wish to know although I’ve tried to avoid it. If he was not saying as much as he is then I would not be finding out as much as I am.
Guess I have to go into a literal cave without any internet connection until Feb to avoid things. Wish me luck!
No offense, but if you are this bothered by it, then you shouldn’t even be on Trekmovie itself. Look, you’re not wrong, you can’t avoid this type of information ONCE you’re in the bubble. But then you’re complaining on a site that literally feeds into that bubble. TM has released every single bit of info Matalas has released so far just as they have released every bit of info to every previous show and Kelvin movie. Why? Because A. they are a news site and B. they know most of their fans want it.You mention Matalas tweets. Well even when they don’t make an entire new article about some some quote made, TM still links his tweets on the side page practically daily, so you’re still not really avoiding it even if you ‘muted’ his tweets, right? Not if you’re here anyway.
This is the same site that did a two part interview with Matalas back in August and tried to ring every piece of info they could out of him. And believe me, if they could get him to do another interview before the show starts, they will. Because, once again, the majority of fans come to hear as much as they can, not less.
It’s just strange for people to be complaining about this on this very board where 90% of what he says is presented and decimated here weekly on the front page. Anthony Pascale has been very instrumental in reporting whatever Matalas says. And again, this has been the case with everyone. It’s why we now have dozens of articles of cast members, directors and writers saying a whole lot of nothing about all the dead Kelvin movie projects for the last 6 years because he feels any news is viable for fans out there.
For example Trekcore doesn’t make hardly any articles about the Kelvin movies or what Matalas tweets. They only posts official news about something like a trailer or a press release. TM however is much free flowing with the information, good or bad. But it’s probably more popular because it DOES present a lot of quotes and speculation because it’s just fun to talk about.
And I wasn’t trying to be rude, just being honest. People can’t come to a Trek site like this, which since 2006, has pushed every single bit of information they can find dealing with any Trek news…and then complain how they can’t avoid the news. Sorry, it just rings false to me.
And I agree with Diginon. They knew the first two seasons were a bust and trying desperately to get the fans who become cynical over the show to give it another chance. It’s very much a PR measure as it is a marketing one at this point.
But it isn’t “simples”, not in this day and age of the personalised algorithm on every social media platform. I don’t follow the man, I even have his tweets muted but still the information reaches me. I know that’s not his fault, but what is is that he’s been talking about it every. single. day. for almost a year. Yep, that’s his prerogative but honestly the red flags are waving. Whenever I hear anyone hyping up their own stuff for an extended period of time I know something has to be amiss somewhere. There has to be some kernel of insecurity there. That or he is just not busy at all at the minute, and hasn’t been since they started shooting, which in itself is concerning for a showrunner of a high-profile show. I can honestly say that I have never experienced a showrunner talking about a show on it’s third season this much. When D&D put GOT on hold for an entire year to “perfect” the last season they did not talk about it as much as Matalas has been talking about season 3, even though at the time GOT was the biggest show in the world and was by then threading new ground and beyond the timeframe of George R.R. Martin’s narrative with people foaming at the mouth for any insights. This is unprecedented for me. And you’d have to agree that Mike McMahon, Dan and Kevin Hageman, Henry Alonso Myers or Michelle Paradise have not talked about their Trek shows this much. I can’t even remember seeing anything from Paradise at all recently tbh. Hope she’s ok! And I’m not sure what piece about film marketing you are referring to, but if you read it a few years ago and it was based on a previous decade of research, then it’s probably out of date at this point. Digital marketing for films specifically has totally changed in recent years because of social media platforms, pirating and streaming services rise and dominance, particularly after the pandemic. For instances, the window of time for films to appear in the cinema until they reach a streaming platform has reduced, or has become extinct in some cases, with releases in theatres and streaming being simultaneous; see Mulan, Black Widow etc. Digital marketing can now directly target a particular audience with analytics and metrics based on users preferences and behaviours etc. The world of marketing in general has changed vastly in the last few years and they ways films are marketed has changed with it. There’s a research paper called “How film marketing has changed in the last decade” published in 2018 by Marika Valo on the topic if you’re interested. As stated in this research paper there are many ways to market a film successfully nowadays like viral marketing or stunt marketing, but one of the most prominent ways to do this is by “mystery marketing”. This is a successful model whereby the mystery of knowing nothing about a film, or anything, is itself the driving force behind the marketing. They use “The Cloverfield Paradox” as an example of this in the research paper. That was released straight after the Superbowl onto Netflix, and was proceeded by just one promotional commercial during that Superbowl and without any other marketing. “Mystery marketing” is what Christopher Nolan uses for all his films. It’s what James Cameron employed when releasing the trailer for the new “Avatar” with visuals and next to no dialogue. It’s the model that Marvel uses to extremes which manifests in the shredding of scripts and sides after each day of filming, having security personnel present when cast members are reading the full scripts. Those cast members only receive pages that they feature in to memorise and often include “dummy” scenes that are filmed that never see the light of day to confuse the memories of the actors. Zoe Saldana has recently talked about the frustrations of this process as an actor, but all of these devices are used to keep as much information out of the hands of the public as possible. Poor Andrew Garfield having to lie through his teeth that he wasn’t appearing in the most recent “Spiderman” movie during his press junket for “Tick Tick Boom” comes to mind. It’s also a successful model of marketing that is used most prominently within the music industry too thanks to Beyonce dropping her “surprise album” out of thin air in Dec 2013 without any promotion which ended up being a huge success and changing the way in which people perceived the relevance of extended marketing run-ups. So I wouldn’t agree that revealing more means more people are interested at all. I just wish that Matalas was taking more of a “mystery marketing” route and then I wouldn’t have found… Read more »
Trekutopia, I agree with a lot of Tiger2’s points above.
All that aside, as was noted at the top of this thread, given the tight NDAs in the Trek franchise, there’s no way that all this spinning out of details from Matalas and the other cast is not only allowed, it’s an intentional strategy at the level of the suits. Matalas is doing his part to save the value of the show by increasing potential viewship.
What we know or not of market research aside, it seems patently obvious that this extensive a campaign of hints and teasers is deliberately targeted at the significant portion of the core Star Trek audience that tuned out the second season of Picard.
My spouse and one of our teens are in that category. My spouse often runs a few weeks behind, and I rewatch with them. They hadn’t got to it before they heard enough not to want to bother. One of our teens was so offended by the Icheb abbatoir scene that they said they’d only check out season two after the full season had run and if it had good reviews. So, not. But both have heard enough of the season three spoilers and hype to be intrigued. Which suggests the strategy is working.
That’s a really interesting insight that you’ve been able to gain from your own family’s experiences in relation to how effective the marketing for season 3 has been, especially in terms of raising their awareness and anticipation. And obviously as you have pointed it it has been effective even after losing one of your teens from season 2 on the basis of its poor reception.
It’s this kind of informed and considered comment that I really enjoy from this board. Your comment has made me consider an aspect of the marketing strategy that was and issue for me in a new light, and which in turn has made me reconsider my original gripe. I guess that’s the beauty of sharing opinions and debate in general, it can lead to a better understanding of things that you may not have considered before. Definitely better than just being told to go elsewhere.
Thank you for sharing that TG47.
Yeah, it’s much needed PR for a lot of disgruntled fans. I’m one of them lol.
Sure I was going to watch no matter what, but my interest level for a show has never been so low for a Trek show before which is ironic considering Picard was the highest it’s been since Voyager was announced as a show (ENT and DIS just didn’t get me excited as shows being prequels at the time). And to bring back Stewart just skyrocketed in itself. I couldn’t be more excited about it at the start and now two seasons later it has flat lined. I was still super excited for Discovery’s third season even after feeling let down by the second season. Don’t ask me about its fourth or fifth season though lol.
I am now a lot more intrigued as I imagine a lot more people. Not just having the TNG cast back but that he’s made clear this is a true post-Nemesis story line. That probably interest me more so than anything. To me, the more he talks, the better. That seems to be the case with most fans since you can see how positive most have been over the news. Matalas seem proud of season 3 and wants to spread the word it’s not like the first two seasons…GOOD!
Now if it’s actually good is still a bigger question mark but I am onboard once again even if still cautious. ;)
And glad your kids are interested in checking out the again.
Can’t wait! And, really, I’ve got to applaud the creatives – these are almost all new characters (and I was never a huge VOY fan, so there’s not a big nostalgia factor for me), it’s a kid’s show, so death is probably off the table, and we know Starfleet can’t be wiped out. So by most measures, esp. with an ongoing IP, they’ve built up to a “low stakes” season finale. But they’ve got me on the edge of my seat wanting to know how the Protostar kids get out of this and what it costs them. Just really good storytelling all around.
I know I’m probably getting ahead of myself here (per always) but I am starting to wonder if we’re going to get any surprise cameos in that huge Starfleet armada? I know I’m not the only one at least thinking about it? Maybe Worf might be on one of those ships? Or Bashir? Or Paris? You just never know these days. ;)
Now if it’s no one, totally fine, I’m just raising the fanboy flag!
Anyway, Prodigy has had a phenomenal season and can’t wait to see how it ends!
We get a Video Game Ship Cameo.
I’ll happily take that too! :)