“The Last Flight Of The Protostar, Parts I & II”
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episodes 11 & 12 – Debuted Monday, July 1, 2024
Written by Diandra Pendleton-Thompson (Part I), Alex Hanson & Aaron J. Waltke (Part II)
Directed by Ruolin Li & Andre L. Schmidt (Part I), Sung Shin (Part II)
A pivot in tone takes our heroes on an entertaining and harrowing journey of the soul, with plenty of adventure to keep you engaged.
WARNING: Spoilers below!
RECAP
“You are never getting my ship off this planet.”
On a sandy planet, a marooned Captain Chakotay montages his way through ten years of eating fish eggs on fruit (gross) and carving a chess board populated by his fallen crew, including Adreek, who’s flown the coop for the last time. Too soon? Arriving via Wesley Crusher’s time stuff, the prodigies are excited to see Chakotay and the Protostar, although both are looking worse for wear. This cynical Chakotay is unimpressed with their tale of time monsters and paradox fixing. He stranded his ship on Ysida so the Vau N’Akat Living Construct could never threaten Starfleet and he isn’t going to let some “time-traveling misfits” change that, even with his Holo-Janeway arguing for compassion. Reluctantly he lets them inside to weather an ion storm, where they discover he bricked the Protostar by ejecting the proto-core and draining all the fuel. Dal finally has had enough and calls Chakotay a broken old man who has given up. Harsh, but true.
“We need to fix a captain.”
Holo-Janeway tells the kids how Chakotay lost his spirit, especially after Adreek reconsidered their self-marooning and was lost trying to find a new source of antimatter. Inspired by the fallen first officer, they take up his plan and start fixing up the ship, with enough sunny Starfleet spirit to thaw the cynic. When Dal is lost during a storm, Chakotay takes the Runaway, joined by Gwyn, Pog, and Murf, along to be cute for security. The captain reveals Dal is in more danger than they realize as this “nightmare” planet also has giant burrowing eel monsters. Great. Dodging the lightning creatures, Chakotay starts to get his mojo back as he skillfully pilots the flying car through a twisting subterranean maze. They track Dal’s badge to a cavern where he has found Adreek’s final resting place. Chakotay is astonished to discover his friend’s last act was to successfully harness enough antimatter to fuel the Protostar. Well, that’s a real feather in his cap. Sorry. Returning to the Protostar, Chakotay is a new man, inspired by his first officer’s sacrifice and this young crew’s enthusiasm. After setting Adreek to rest and getting assured Starfleet is safe from the Construct, Chakotay agrees it’s time to empty this nest. Okay, that’s the last one.
“To save the future, they must do it alone.”
Meanwhile, the crew of the Voyager is picking up the pieces from the harrowing battle with the Loom, and Janeway is starting to have second thoughts about entrusting the future to the kids on the word of a “Starfleet expat.” Noum helps settle her mind by putting her in touch with Dr. Crusher, who has faith her son is doing the right thing, but would it kill him to call once in a while? On Ysida, they are putting Adreek’s crazy plan into action, transforming the Protosar into a boat to sail across the vapor ocean to a source of fuel for the warp drive, a cloud of deuterium… the peanut butter to the antimatter’s chocolate. After another montage, the ship is released from the dunes, with a little assistance from Chakotay who gives the kids a lesson in levers. Dal and the captain continue to clash and the kid remains cocky when put in charge of the important jib, but when their makeshift ship almost founders, Gwyn and Chakotay have to step in to guide them through safely. The abashed Dal gets demoted to rope coiling duty. Welcome to the navy, kid.
“We’re at the mercy of the storm.”
Dal’s funk runs deeper than just learning discipline. He confesses to Chakotay he is questioning his destiny after getting a glimpse of his future. The captain shares some life lessons learned from his time as Janeway’s number one, but bonding time is cut short when they find themselves heading into the violent eye of the storm. The ship gets battered as they lose their sail, with the last bit of power used to open up the fuel scoops. Their only hope is to manually steer to the target so one and all (even poor Rok, who is terrified) can brave the storm and get the ship on course. Just as the Bussard collectors start doing what they do, it’s old man overboard. Without hesitation, Dal jumps into the maelstrom, but the kid has to release his lifeline and the gang reels it in empty, turning a moment of triumph into potential tragedy. But Dal isn’t a quitter; he grabs unconscious Chakotay and hitches a ride to the surface with an accommodating lightning eel. Back inside, the fuel gage maxes out and the engines fire up. The Voyager-A is still way far away and the protodrive is kaput, but the gang is filled with way too much Star Trek optimism to worry… that’s the next episode’s problem. For now, just cue the theme music and let this bird soar… Okay, that one doesn’t count.
ANALYSIS
The past echoes the future.
The second half of the season begins with a slow burn, leading to a big bang of a two-part episode. After spending so long seeking Chakotay (with a brief out-of-time visit earlier on), the show took a chance by subverting expectations for what should have been a triumphant moment. Instead of finding a grateful Starfleet officer, they discover this disheveled shell who has given up on life, an unexpectedly dark twist that still works. But this was no Heart of Darkness, as all the kids had to do was rally what they had learned since Tars Lamora with the enthusiasm and optimism gained under their Holo Janeway, turning this into an adventure more akin to Flight of the Phoenix, utilizing a few well-crafted montages and frenetic action sequences to tell a movie’s worth of story in around 44 minutes. The opening sequence was especially impactful, forgoing a traditional captain’s log with an extended series of moments to convey the sense of time, adding context to this different Chakotay, now 10 years older, mourning the loss of Adreek and his crew. The episodes were replete with many examples of stunning visuals, accentuated with stirring music, carrying the narrative when words weren’t necessary.
There still was plenty for Robert Beltran to work with in his best episode of the series yet as he took us through quite a journey back to that Star Trek hope. Right there with him is Brett Gray, as this two-parter is just as much about Dal, who is running through a parallel arc and crisis of confidence. And when you scratch a little deeper, you can see how all season long, Prodigy has been creating parallels with his relationship and potential future with Gwyn and Chaktotay’s relationship and past with Janeway. This makes Chakotay’s talk about his father, his history with the Maquis, and his time on the Voyager far more than just canon references, using the lore to weave together the story of his life and help Dal with what he has learned from it. This is all pretty deep stuff that treats both the new audience and the old fans with respect. With so much focus on Dal and Chakotay, there wasn’t a lot for the other characters to explore, but they helped keep things light with all the drama going on between Dal and Chakotay. And Kate Mulgrew was a highlight playing both Admiral Janeway and a distinctly new version of Hologram Janeway.
A highlight for fans will be the cameo of Gates McFadden, reprising her TNG role of Dr. Beverly Crusher, who sounds great, but the character design didn’t really capture the original character in the same way as other legacy characters in the series. And this wasn’t really a cameo: As Janeway was going through her own crisis of confidence handing the future off to the kids based on Wesley’s word, his mom was the perfect person to set things right, giving the brief scene emotional punch, especially when Crusher talked about how Janeway is like a mother to her crew. And the look on Beverly’s face when she talked about how the Romulan refugee crisis is taking up all of Jean-Luc’s time spoke volumes. This little moment set between Nemesis and the third season of Picard deftly wove in bits of their bigger story, making this show feel more tied into that larger Star Trek Universe, which is important to us fans. But the show also continues to build its unique voice, doing things in this episode we have never seen in Star Trek before, including making that vision of “Horatio Hornblower in space” realized—and pretty amazing.
Final thoughts
This kickoff for the second half of the second season feels like the show is once again leveling up, with the show maturing just as much as the characters. Watching these two episodes back-to-back seems to be a must as this tells a single, emotional story of a ship and a captain (and a potential future captain) being reinvigorated.
BITS
- Stardate 61898.2 (as of Part II).
- The Protostar’s Runaway vehicle Pog fixed was first introduced in season 1. It was left on Ysida, but they can always make another with the ship’s vehicle replicator.
- Ysida is “Class P,” a planetary classification previously established Star Trek: Star Charts and other Trek books, but became film/TV canon for the first time in this episode.
- “Give me a place to stand and with a lever I will move the whole world” is a quote attributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes. There have been two different USS Archimedes ships in Starfleet.
- Admiral Janeway indicates she has met Dr. Crusher before, referencing “the Shinzon incident” (from Star Trek: Nemesis), set six years prior. Janeway did appear in the film, but only in a communication with Captain Picard.
- Dr. Crusher says she hasn’t seen her son in “years,” possibly not since the Riker/Troi wedding depicted in Nemesis.
- Chakotay calling the Protostar the “HMS Protostar” is reminiscent of Dr. McCoy renaming a captured Klingon Bird of Prey the “HMS Bounty” in Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.
- Moment of science: deuterium and antimatter.
TrekMovie’s Prodigy July binge-watch
Since all 20 episodes were released on Netflix at once, we’re binging it in five-episode arcs; we can’t stick to watching just one a week! Each All Access Star Trek podcast (every Friday morning) will cover five episodes, while written reviews for all five will publish throughout the week, with two-parters paired up. This will all wrap up just as San Diego Comic-Con kicks off at the end of the month. We also hope to have more Prodigy interviews and analysis in July and beyond.
NEW: Full spoiler open thread!
We welcome fans joining us through our July coverage of 5 episodes each week, and we ask our readers to keep comments related to the season up to the episode being reviewed.
For those choosing to binge the show even faster, we have created an open thread where you can post all the spoiler comments you want for the entire season.
Season 2 of Prodigy is available to stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Mainland China) and season one is currently available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe with season two coming soon. Season two has launched in France on France Televisions channels and Okoo.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
Chakotay got more out of this show than he did in 7 years of Voyager.
Happy to say that I much preferred this two-parter (esp. Part 1) to the mid-season finale. Airlock me if you must, but I’ll take the opening montage depicting Chakotay’s long years of exile with only a hologram of his former captain for company, along with the heartfelt sendoff for his own first officer, over a chase by cartoon monsters any day. Seeing the Protostar under sail just added to the coolness. I’ll never stop thinking of “Prodigy” as a kid’s show, but when it’s on its game it’s a damn fine one.
Excellent two parter! I loved Chakotay in these episodes and jist really brought back the more cynical and hardened Chakotay. I describe him as the Luke Skywalker/Last Jedi version of the character.
I loved him and Dals relationship here. But how they scienced their way off the planet was the best part. This is the kind of stuff we live for in Star Trek. Again, the show designed for 8 year olds.
But poor Adreek though. 😥
Also loved the cameo by Beverly. That was a nice touch. I loved all the two partners this season and this one is probably my second favorite.
The gradual convincing of Chakotay was very well depicted. I’m delighted by the redemption of the character through this show.
And yet another well-realized alien planet. This show is so good with strange new worlds.
I remarked a week ago we are seeing way more strange new worlds this season on this show than the two seasons of Strange New Worlds.
I know with live action comes budget issues (and it was very obvious season 2 had a smaller one) but at least show a few new planets every season.
And the other benefit of animation is that the environments are so seamlessly integrated, you don’t stop to do more than marvel. With live action often there’s an inevitable commentary on the location filming which is almost always adjacent to LA or Toronto, or now we’re becoming experts on AR walls instead of judging how effective the Planet Hell rock formations were used in a given week.
Star Trek IV: The Voyager Home
WHY do you guys keep calling it that???
Also, bearded Chakotay is WORLDS better than shaved Chakotay! 😉👌
What I found interesting in this episode is that Admiral Janeway, with some difficulty, was able to find and talk to Beverly. What this tells us is that if Admiral Picard really wanted to find and talk to Beverly, he could have, at least during this time period. This scene ends up being a bit of a criticism of Picard, perhaps unintentionally, but a criticism nonetheless.
Really enjoying watching these with our 8yo!
Kate Mulgrew was fabulous in this episode; I love the way she makes Admiral Janeway a slightly different person from Hologram Janeway. She’s so very good!
Robert Beltran, on the other hand, was adequate. He wasn’t terrible, by any means, but I thought he was just okay.
Did Chakotay inherit his father’s hat? The hat chakotay wears seems similar to Kolopak’s.