Thursday’s season finale of Star Trek: Prodigy wrapped up a lot of the storylines built up over the 20-episode first season and set up some new stories for next season. It also cued up a big change for the show by introducing a new element tied into Star Trek: Voyager—so the following can be a spoiler for both the season 1 finale and season 2.
Admiral Janeway needs a new ship
The battle of the Living Construct ended when the main characters sacrificed the USS Protostar, with Hologram Janeway volunteering to go down with the ship as the kids escaped in a makeshift shuttle and later found their way to Earth. The Protostar wasn’t the only ship lost by Starfleet; the finale showed the battle had a devastating effect on the rest of the fleet. Admiral Janeway’s ship, the USS Dauntless, was also crippled, and Admiral Janeway even ordered her crew to abandon ship in “Supernova, Part 1” before help arrived. In Part 2 it was revealed that Starfleet was planning to explore the wormhole created by Hologram Janeway which replicated the one that sent Chakotay into the future. The admiral intended to be on that mission, and said she was being given “a ship of my choosing.”
The USS Protostar moves away from the battle in “Supernova, Part 2.”
The season 1 finale set up season 2 as a search for Chakotay led by Admiral Janeway, with her new “warrant officers in training” along to help. There were no specifics on her new ship for this mission, although there was a bit of a fakeout when she showed the kids the first of a new Protostar-class vessel, a near duplicate of their former ship. Then Janeway made it clear the new Protostar-class ship wasn’t her new command when she told them, “Oh, I have a much bigger plan for us,” as she looked up to see a ship streaking through the sky.
New Protostar-class ship from “Supernova, Part 2”
It’s the USS Voyager-A
Co-creators Dan and Kevin Hageman know they have created a bit of a mystery. In their post-finale Ready Room interview, Dan teased, “Admiral Janeway has promised them a new ship, but not the Protostar. So I think that is something fans can speculate.” And Kevin added,”Something much bigger.” Even without a definitive answer, there are some clues regarding the ship, the biggest of which comes about midway through the finale when the kids crash-land in San Francisco Bay. The rescue shuttles that come to save them have the designation NCC-74656-A. Janeway’s original USS Voyager had the designation NCC-74656, so these shuttles clearly came from a successor ship: the USS Voyager-A.
Shuttles with NCC-74656-A designation
Originally launched in 2371, the USS Voyager returned to Earth after seven years in the Delta Quadrant in 2378, six years before the events of the Prodigy season finale. Its fate hasn’t been established in canon, but in the Voyager finale, “Endgame,” Admiral Janeway from an alternate future said that in her timeline the ship was turned into a museum on the grounds of the Presidio in San Francisco. It’s reasonable to assume that something similar happened to the storied ship in the prime timeline—unless of course, Starfleet R&D kept it to themselves to study all the advanced technology and upgrades provided by future Admiral Janeway. It’s entirely reasonable to assume the USS Voyager was decommissioned prior to 2384.
The USS Voyager returns home in “Endgame.”
It has been established that Starfleet commissioned additional ships with the name Voyager. In Star Trek: Discovery‘s third season, set in the 32nd century, Starfleet included the USS Voyager-J (designation NCC-74656-J).
USS Voyager-J in Discovery‘s “Die Trying”
A new ship for a new season
The original USS Voyager was an Intrepid-class ship (so too was the 32nd-century Voyager-J, although it was clearly a new type), designed for long-term exploration. In the finale, Janeway was told Starfleet was planning on sending an “exploratory ship” to the new wormhole. For her part, Kate Mulgrew spoke about her affinity for the original USS Voyager on the Ready Room, saying “I have an absolute fidelity to [the] Voyager Intrepid-class. That is my starship. That is where my captaincy rooted itself. And that’s where Admiral Janeway went down [in “Endgame”].” Even though Intrepid-class ships are likely still in service in 2384, it’s likely a Voyager-A would have a new design, giving the artists on the show a chance to create a new hero ship, as they did with the Protostar.
For now, all we know for sure is Admiral Janeway got to choose her new command, and the ship is “something much bigger” than a Protostar-class ship. Almost any Starfleet ship would be physically larger than a Protostar class, but Janeway’s comment at the end of the episode could be about the ship having a larger importance or possibly personal meaning to her. Putting the pieces together, what would be a better ship for Admiral Janeway on her mission to find Chakotay than the new USS Voyager? It would be a delight for fans and offer the chance to feature a new hero ship with a strong legacy.
Final shot of season 1 of Prodigy
What do you think?
Do you agree with the above, or do you think Janeway will get something entirely new, or maybe something entirely familiar? The Enterprise-E or Enterprise-F? Another Dauntless? Or something else entirely? Let us know in the comments below.
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Sound like a perfect opportunity to bring in some more legacy VOY actors. Personally, I’d like to see Picardo’s EMH back, maybe running a fully staffed sickbay on the VOY-A. Or for the kids to be mentored by an officer Naomi Wildman. Just keep Neelix far, far away…
OMG, it would be great to see a grown up Naomi Wildman now in Starfleet herself. Terry Matalas even said they were considering using her as a main character in Picard next season before they dropped the idea. And they can even bring back Icheb before…you know. :(
I’m open to any Voyager legacy characters showing up! Yes, even Neelix lol. That’s actually the irony, I thought they would run into him in first season since he’s the only character still living in the Delta quadrant.
It has to be Voyager-A. I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe Ensign Kim is aboard and finally gets his long long waited promotion.
OMG. LOL. Please, NO
Yeah, Garrett Wang is kinda annoying and Ensign Kim is uninteresting. Please don’t give him another Trek platform. The Doctor I would accept though!
No. I need him to be an ensign on Lower Decks lol
That would be an excellent joke!
Agreed
Love Kim, would love to have him back! I think eventually more will show up here and there.
I was definitely figuring a new Voyager, but I’m also hoping “much bigger” refers to something like a whole fleet mission or something.
Sheesh, enough with the legacy connections. Let this awesome group of young characters establish their own Star Trek history now. Kids today who have been brought in by this great series could care less about Voyager connections. And I think a lot of Trek fans would have been fine if the boring and poorly drawn character of Chakotey had sort of just faded into history.
They… did that in Season One?
Voyager has already established itself as the entry legacy show for tweens.
It’s the show that became ‘the show’ for our kids at that age just a few years ago. From the Netflix ratings, our kids weren’t alone.
So, there was a very strategic reason to tie this show closely to Voyager such that can take advantage of the already existing bridge into the older shows.
Whatever you, I or my spouse might think to the contrary, Voyager is the franchise gateway for the younger generation not TOS, TNG or DS9.
I really don’t think the typical 10 year old who is watching their first Star Trek show on Nickelodeon with Prodigy either knows or cares about Voyager. Sure, they probably like Janeway, but not because she’s from a legacy series that they have never watched, but because she is a likable parent figure who is teaching them stuff.
And that what is this series is suppose to do, market-wise — bring kids into Star Trek. And in general, kids today could really care less about characters from a show from 30 years ago, and it’s doubtful that when they get older that they will want to watch much of the older Trek in blurry SD, 4/3 aspect ratio, let alone with dated sets and special effects.
I think it’s a pipe dream to expect 5 to 11 year old’s to pick up Prodigy and then become Voyager fans…that’s an older Voyager fan’s wishful, sentimental thinking at work. Sorry dude, but I’m just not buying that.
I didn’t expect one of our now teens to write a fifth grade composition explaining why Janeway was who they looked up to as a hero, but there it was just a few years ago.
(Tiger2, ML31 and other long time commentators on this board will attest that I was saying “Wait! What?!! about this when it happened.)
Given that my spouse never liked Voyager or Janeway, and that I started our kids off with TAS followed by a curated set of TNG and TOS episodes, our tween kids’ putting Voyager at the top of the franchise completely unforeseen.
Best just to get over it, we have.
“A few years ago” was before Prodigy. I am talking about kids that watch Nick that get into Star Trek from that experience. Apples and Oranges.
BTW, “a few years ago” we had the Kelvin movies, which got my older son into Star Trek, and then TOS, Enterprise and DS9 ended up being his fav shows, and he was lukewarm to both Voyager and TNG. There was nothing close to him viewing Voyager at the most accessible show to him — again, DS9 was actually his favorite.
Also, the point is NOT to get these kids into the classic shows, it’s more to create a broader market for future Trek media produced by P+. That’s an older fan’s wishful thinking to say that. And if P+ really cared about that, then they’d be funding HD versions of Voy and DS9, but of course they are not. A gateway to the older shows is obviously not a priority. Paramount know this — they know what they are doing and their actions show it.
The older actors from those shows like Voyager and being shoehorned into Prodigy so they can also maximize the market of adult/older fans — it’s for us, not the kids. And for me, I am concerned that they are going to be overdoing that now given the news of S2 of Prodigy…I don’t think we need expanded legacy involvement in Prodigy.
Yes the point is to get them into the classic shows. They said from the beginning the show is designed to turn kids on not to just the Trek universe but the shows in general. Not tomorrow lol, but eventually. It’s a gateway to the other shows and Voyager is the main gateway.
Kids who are watching Prodigy now could be watching Voyager and the other shows in a few years time. And the longer this show goes into Voyager lore will make them appreciate that show even more once they watch it. Imagine if this show goes 5 years, that would literally be a hundred episodes. Janeway is basically the star of the show now and Chakotay is part of it. Imagine once they introduce the Doctor, B’Elanna, Paris, etc. It’s building on that show’s legacy and will get many to watch it. Especially if they are watching with parents who are only watching this show because they’re Voyager fans in the first place. They will get their kids into this show and eventually Voyager too!
New fans are watching Voyager every day. I know because I see constant posts and they are usually older, ie, in their 20s. Imagine watching this show at 10 years old and watching the older shows around 13.
CBS knows what it’s doing. ;)
I have to give credit to Kurtzman as well. I really thought when he took over, we were just to get a lot of boring TOS prequels once they announced Discovery. But he’s widening the base in so many ways and trying make the franchise for a wide demographic with shows and time periods to reflect that. It’s a great time to be a fan…and new fan! :)
I agree, but lots of ST fans really like seeing old, familiar faces, it seems.
Yep
It’s the reason why we even have Picard and SNW in the first place. ;)
I’m old enough to remember people whooping and hollering for bringing back Picard and the 24th century along with the same fans begging for a Pike show because it’s basically a TOS prequel show. End of the day, people wanted to be on the original Enterprise and eventually run into Kirk and Bones (which we already got Kirk one season in lol). Basically Picard is turning into a full on TNG sequel show, SNW is turning into a TOS prequel show and Prodigy is a Voyager spin off show.
Like it or not, this is the stuff most fans want. CBS knows that. They have to figure out a way to get people to pay for Star Trek all year. People on this board doesn’t count, we will watch it all lol. But believe me, a lot of casual fans are even bothering to watch something like Prodigy because of Janeway. If not, it would’ve just been that kid’s show to a lot of fans. They were obviously aware of that on day one.
To me, I just think it’s kind of funny. You can’t push for characters you want to see on one show but then complain about bringing back characters on another show lol. EVERYONE wants to see legacy characters, that’s just a fact. Now it doesn’t mean every show has to have them, but it’s not a shock most of the shows stars legacy characters. And in fact, I have a feeling from every show on will have more legacy characters from TNG, TOS, VOY, DS9 etc because it gets fans more invested on day one.
i took it that the ship streaking away was the one Gwnn was on.
Yeah, I agree with you.
I thought that it was canon that Voyager was decommissioned when it returned from the Delta Quadrant? It’s on barely legible text during the Academy scenes in Picard’s “The Stargazer”.
Sounds about right. Decommissioning and making it a museum piece is consistent. Then inaugurate the Voyager-A, next in line.
Agreed! My head canon always thought Starfleet would study the Borg tech on board and decommission it to set it up like a museum.Its a famous ship.
I’m so excited if the Voyager A will be the main ship next season!!!! And yes, it would be nice to have 1 or 2 more legacy characters on it. My personal favorite would be the Doctor (and it would make the most sense since it could be a new version of him obviously). But I’m open to anyone, I love those characters so much!
It’s going to be fun to see where this show goes in the next few years!