Hello all, Ric here with an update on Star Trek Prodigy and a simple question.
So what is going on with the timeline in Star Trek Prodigy? For a recap, the show has been softly
centred around the mystery of the USS Protostar NX-76884. It was discovered within a mine, the
Tars Lamora Prison, owned by a man referred to as the Diviner. A Diviner is typically a term used to
refer to a person who employed fabled divination tactics in order to locate mineral wealth through
supernatural means but is an apt title for someone who is searching for a particular thing in a
mine. He, and his vat-grown daughter are the last survivors of his people, the Vau N’Akat.
Their homeworld called Solum. Here’s the thing, a flashback
recently revealed that he had been searching for the Protostar in that mine for at least 17 years
and from all the promotional interviews, we were told that this series of Trek takes place in 2383,
five years after Star Trek Voyager returned from the Delta Quadrant.
This would place the crashing of the Protostar at around 2366,
right during the midst of The Next Generation era Trek and this vessel exhibits technology
and a look that just doesn’t fit with that era. This goes beyond modern Star Trek attempting
to redesign everything cos it wanted to, established looks be damned (a la Discovery),
because everything else in the show has remained true to pre-existing designs.
So the USS Protostar was very deliberately designed to look different. Now, plot point two
and three. The vessel is the host to a hologram captain Janeway to serve as a Delta Quadrant
advisory hologram, to aid in whatever mission had the Protostar assigned to the Delta Quadrant,
under its captain, Chakotay. If the vessel was launched in 2366, as 17 years ago would suggest,
then at that time, neither character was near captain in rank, let alone experienced enough
to have an adaptive hologram made of them and their experiences in the Delta Quadrant.
This is why I always pegged the Protostar as being a post-Voyager vessel, it made no sense
to have Janeway aboard if Voyager hadn’t occurred yet, but now we learn about its missing status for
at least 17 years. Possibly longer, which leaves one of three solutions.
One. My first thought was time travel is involved. The recording of Chakotay doesn’t look very old,
but admittedly it is hard to tell through animation and the bad quality of the security
footage. He is wearing a uniform that we haven’t seen, and a badge that is not
current with the Square backed badge, nor the Picard era badge. However, both of these could
be Protostar specific designs, as the vessel was a prototype, testing out new technology,
probably the Protostar Drive itself. If it was launched at some point beyond Voyager’s return,
say around 2400 or so, then the technology we see at play, as well as its look would fit in
a Trek universe, 20 years post- Nemsis easily. Perhaps the protostar’s drive had some issues
that could result in time travel, messing with new drive and warp can cause all sorts of errors,
especially when things start brushing into the realms of “Transwarp”. The footage also shows
the Diviner’s droid henchman, aboard the Protostar immediately before its accident,
possibly a boarding party, but they could be pre-existing aboard it for whatever reason.
Option Two, is one that I’ve also seen voiced in the comments, and that is that we, as an audience
have been lied to, and that the date is not really 2383, but perhaps that is the date the Protostar
was launched, 17 years ago. It could now be closer to the early 25th century. There no evidence that
I can see to support this either, but maybe it would help explain the presence of so many species
from the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. We hear tell of a Telerite Sleeper ship, that possibly boar
Jankum Pog to the Delta Quadrant, but we are also seeing signs of Klingon wrecks and technology all
over the place and many other remnants of areas of the galaxy, thousands of lightyears away. It
could be that after Voyager, there was a bit of a space race to the Delta Quadrant, leading to an
influx of aliens from the other end of the galaxy. After all, the prison mine was populated by the
“Unwanted” and I suspected that these non-delta native inhabitants are brought to the Diviner
as just that, unwanted interlopers. Voyager and Starfleet, after all,
left a bit of sour taste in the mouths of many in the Delta Quadrant.
Option three is the least appealing. It is that there is no answer because it is a kid’s show,
and no one put any thought into any of this. Fortunately, I doubt this is the case,
because what is the point of doubling down on creating a shared “Star Trek Universe”, spanning
multiple properties, if there is no linearity? The show is aimed at children and an introduction to
Star Trek for a younger demographic, so it makes sense to want to highlight Trek staples through
the eyes of non-Starfleet personnel. “This is a Klingon, they are Warriors”, “This is a Ferengi,
they are schemers and merchants,” “This is a transporter, its’ a teleporter”. These are
takeaways that a first time viewer can translate into the other shows easily enough, and for there
to be no timeline or coherent chronology would sabotage a very reason for this show’s existence.
I have also seen speculation that the Protostar is from another timeline altogether, which, I guess
it could be, but with a hologram Janeway, it would have to be a near identical one and aside from the
look of the vessel and transporter effect, I don’t see much else Kelvin Universe about it. If this is
the case then… wow, I did not see that coming. But Multiverses are in now, right? Plus the Holodeck
contained detailed information on Prime reality characters and ships, that just seems strange to
have such a focus on Prime reality characters if the ship was from an alternate universe. Although
there were these alternate future badges among the crew files, so not entirely off the board.
So far, I’m guessing time travel until we get more information. I think the diviner
attempted to steal the Protostar when he found out Starfleet’s experimental new drive could
accidentally be made to time hop, perhaps to undo something that led him to be the last
of his kind. He attacked and Captain Chakotay hid the vessel, or abandoned to a random destination.
Then what happened to the original crew? Unsure, but the Diviner was aboard for the time hop,
is cast off but knowns the Protostar’s rough position and starts an operation to unearth it.
The mystery deepens and as I said in the intro, it has been the core puzzle of the show, so I’m going
to enjoy the riddle in trying to figure it out. As for how the show’s unfolding so far?
It’s fine, a little too overt for my tastes when it comes to character development.
By that I mean that it’s all clearly spelled out, rather than left for you to piece together,
but that’s cos every episode is around 25 minutes and it’s simplified for a younger
audience. It’s hard not to compare it to shows like the clone wars, and so far,
it’s coming off like the earlier seasons of that show, more so than something like Bad Batch.
What’s your guess, or have you another theory not mentioned here on the origin of the Protostar?
It did strike me as a bit rushed that the Protostar’s development would have been so
tight in the timeframe alluded to, so maybe this plot will resolve that. Thanks for watching this
speculative video on the Protostar and if you’ve not checked it out yet, there I did
a video on just what the crew of Voyager got up to after they returned to Earth,
based on the books, games and shows, that might appeal if you’ve been keeping an eye on Prodigy.
Until the next one, I’ve been Ric, thanks again and goodbye!