Originally, I had another video planned for today, but then I saw the conclusion of Star Trek Prodigy
and with it, more pieces of the puzzle and some exciting reveals for the next chapter. So I did
this instead because it has some intriguing lore and sheds some light on some things that Starfleet
has been up to in the years since Voyager’s return. So last time I did a video on this series,
I brought up some theories concerning the timeline of the show and how things don’t quite fit and
lots of people voice the same. Well, now we have more information on this puzzle, but still not
all the pieces. Time Travel is involved to an extent so let’s cover the lore from the show.
The Diviner, the antagonist of the series has alluded to the fact he is the last of his species
alongside his daughter, the Vau N’Akat from the planet Solum. Well, it turns out that Solum is
a flourishing society in 2383 that eventually makes first contact with the United Federation
of Planets, but this proves to be his people’s undoing. The planet splinters into factions,
a pro-UFP group and an isolationist one, all the while the Federation itself remains hands-off with
this conflict, probably because of the Prime Directive and trying to distance themselves
from the situation. Over the next 50 years Solum tears itself apart with civil war and eventually
the Diviner is selected to go back in time from 2433, to prevent First Contact with the Starfleet.
To do this, he ambushes the USS Protostar and plants something aboard it, this is still a
mystery, but apparently whatever it is, will destroy the Federation when the Protostar comes
into contact with them. I’m assuming some form of temporal bomb that will prevent the UFP from
ever forming considering time travel is already involved, and the protodrive can interact with
other elements to produce unexpected temporal accidents. One question is,
did he go back to 2383 to ambush the Protostar, or did he attack it in the 25th century?
Either way, things evidently did not go to plan something took the Protostar back in time,
at least 17 years and hid it within a Chimerium asteroid. If I had to guess, Captain Chakotay did
this on purpose to hide the Protostar and whatever weapon the Diviner placed aboard it, to slow down
his plan. So, it looks like the in-universe year may indeed be 2383 to 84 as we are also
introduced to Vice Admiral Janeway in the flesh. She is aboard the USS Dauntless NCC-80816, which
is a recreation of Arturis’ Slipstream vessel of the same name, with some alteration. Evidently,
the scans and thorough look of the Dauntless that the Voyager obtained when first encountered
proved detailed enough to recreate the vessel in almost its entirety. While the saucer section,
including bridge is the same, the secondary hull and nacelles look a bit more Starfleet.
The Dauntless too, wouldn’t be special without its Quantum slipstream drive
and according to a producer for the show, this recreation includes such a drive, meaning
alongside the Protostar, Starfleet was indeed fielding alternatives to warp drive, to reach
those ever more distant goals of exploration. Its commanding officer is, as mentioned, Kathryn
Janeway and we see her on the bridge surrounded by Starfleet officers in slight variations of the
Lower Decks style uniform, but with badges from the alternate futures seen throughout the series.
The uniforms (I spotted) seemed to have some customisation on them, including differing boots,
a pair of gloves, a jacket and for Janeway’s admiral’s uniform, the pips were on the shoulder,
not the collar. However, they are close enough in style that they seem to line up
with what we’ve seen of the 2380s so far, and the new badge could be stepping stone between
the Dominion War era badge and the Picard one. I suspect that this is an era appropriate uniform,
considering its similarities to the ones we see in Lower Decks, and that those seen on
the Protostar are just that, Protostar specific outfits, befitting some cutting-edge prototype
crew. It was also confirmed out of-universe that this scene featuring Janeway was prime timeline,
happening concurrently with the episode. The final point I want to bring up is that Admiral Janeway
knew of Chakotay’s posting as captain of the Protostar and seems to be looking for it too,
meaning that in all likelihood, the Protostar was deployed around the 2380s
before it went missing. But that is an assumption. Janeway here has a streak of grey in her hair,
and apocrypha has her born year i-… her born year? That’s a weird way… I’ve never heard anyone say,
“Ah yes, my born year is…” and apocrypha has her birth year in 2336, which would make her
approaching 50 by the time of this appearance, providing time is all in order. More or less.
The rest of the crew around Admiral Janeway are Commander Tysess, and Andorian, the Tellarite
is the Medical officer, Doctor Noum and the ensign at the sensor station was a trill called
Ascencia. She appears to be the only one wearing the differing boots and gloves.
The origin of the Protostar itself is still not 100 percent confirmed on screen, and with the
Diviner being from 2433 (ish), the ship too could be from that era, but I find that increasingly
unlikely, despite its super advanced technology. Nor do we know how it ended up at Tars Lamora,
where the Diviner was able to spend 17 years looking for it, and just
what this doomsday weapon hidden aboard it is. However, with the bridge crew of the USS Dauntless
already cast, the ship equipped with an almost-as-fast experimental drive and the
signal of the Protostar on their sensors, it seems that the two vessels are going to meet,
so here’s hoping that the whatever device it is, whatever sabotage the Diviner initially did to the
Protostar, doesn’t trigger immediately on detecting another Federation vessel in proximity.
There has been some talk centred around the Star Trek universe moving forwards,
and it looks like, just as the TNG era was centred around the 2360s to late 70s,
the chronology for Star Trek shows seems to be ticking ever closer to the 25th century as the
“default” setting for more series, with the exceptions of things like Discovery in the far,
far future, and Strange New Worlds taking place almost right next door the Original Series.
I’d love for more tales around this time, but I hope if that is the case, then someone is keeping
a close eye on the canon, as the 80s are getting a little crowded with big events. Two years
after Prodigy, Utopia Planetia is attacked, Picard resigns and then two more years after that Romulus
is destroyed. The trek galaxy is large, but with multiple shows beginning to fly in same skies,
they’re going to have to keep tabs on one another. Nods like this to a consistent uniform
for this era however, give me hope that they are working together in building out a cohesive
universe. Thanks for watching this video on Prodigy as the show moves on with its mysteries.
I’ve been Ric and I’ll see you next time for another video. Thanks again and goodbye!