Star Trek: Prodigy rings in the new year with a transcendent episode that truly showcases the power of the premise of the show. In “Kobayashi”, Prodigy stages a beautiful tribute to some of the most beloved Star Trek legends, while at the same time carves out it’s own special place by introducing new mysteries that shake up the Star Trek timeline as we know it.
“Kobayashi” begins just moments after the Protostar’s protodrive jump at the end of “Terra Firma,” and our gallant crew quickly learns that they’ve been thrust 4,000 light-years away from their previous location (a journey that would have taken the USS Voyager four years to cover).
My feelings of calm at them escaping The Diviner quickly turning into unease that they now may be in Dominion territory — as we see they’re now in the Gamma Quadrant — and while the kids wouldn’t know of that potential threat, the trio of Zero (Angus Imrie), Jankom (Jason Mantzoukas), and Rok-tak (Rylee Alarzaqui) urge resistant acting captain Dal (Brett Gray) that they should seek out the Federation for help.
Convinced that he knows best, Dal goes to track down Murf — with Jankom hot on his heels — and finds the blobby fellow in the newly-discovered holodeck, a new technology that Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) helpfully introduces to her wards (and the kids watching at home).
After flipping through a selection of holoprograms both familiar and new, Dal stumbles across the famous Kobayashi Maru training scenario, which Janeway encourages him to try out using a great bit of reverse psychology — claiming that he’s not ready for the program, suggesting that he stick to his “silly little cone and disk game.”
The defiant Dal won’t shy away, and he launches the program with a puff of ego… dropping him and Jankom right onto the Galaxy-class bridge of the Enterprise-D. The reveal is played for all it’s worth, as we sweep through the bridge as every computer panel and light source powers up around them — and then offers a roster of Starfleet offers to join the pair as their starship crew.
I was happy to see the Next Generation bridge once more, but I was not prepared for what — and who — we would encounter next! When Dal says “Gimme the best you got,”, I practically held my breath in anticipation, and the reveal of his new ‘crew’ was like unwrapping a leftover Christmas present discovered behind the tree.
When I watch Prodigy with my kids, I try to keep my emotions and opinions to myself — I want to see them react to the show, not to me — but as the crew began to materialize, they could tell this was a big deal. “You know who these guys are,” my son said, “don’t you?” — as if there was any chance I wouldn’t immediately recognize Earpiece, Jelly Man, Pointy Ears, Mustache, or Big Red!
In an effort that must have taken hours and hours to get just right, Dal’s crew features not only the first appearance of Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden, who recording new dialogue) since Star Trek: Nemesis, but a spectacular use of archival audio to bring holographic versions of Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Odo (Rene Auberjonois), Scotty (James Doohan), back into action.
I can’t even begin to imagine how much it work it took to find just the right bits of vocal audio to make “Kobayashi” come off as natural and as (nearly) seamless as it does, while still keeping each character true to the original performances — and allowing them each to mentor Dal in a unique way. It felt like a true passing of the torch to the next next generation of Star Trek heroes.
(Also, the choice to use Nimoy audio and not have Ethan Peck record new dialogue for Spock — despite the opportunity to link Prodigy to Strange New Worlds? The right call.)
When the heartfelt dedication came up on the screen — “In memory of René Auberjonois, James Doohan, and Leonard Nimoy, who inspire us to go boldly.” — I teared up. My kids asked why, and I explained to them that some of the people who play those characters had passed on, and that they used clips of things their characters said in past Trek to make them talk. Its a testimony to how well this episode was put together, my kids had no idea that it was archival audio — and once they learned about it, they wanted to go back and watch it again with fresh ears.
Beyond the magical use of the legacy Star Trek characters, the video game nature of the test really resonated with my kids — right from the moment Dal selected his crew, just like picking players in Super Smash Bros. They were absolutely enthralled during Dal’s myriad attempts to “beat the game” after his abysmal first-round scores, as his “Judgment: 0.1%” rating got one of the biggest laughs of the episode.
I was glad I managed to keep quiet about the true nature of the Kobayashi Maru, because when they found out that the “correct” answer was that it was a no-win scenario, that also got a huge laugh out of them — but it wasn’t just funny that Dal spent so much time trying to beat the program. It’s the “why” that makes this such an important character moment for Dal, and the lessons that he learns — to listen to his crew — really show us his true potential to sit in that center seat next to those larger-than-life figures.
I can’t help but compare “Kobayashi” to the training scenarios of Lower Decks’ “I, Excretus,” as Brad Boimler repeats his Borg challenge over and over in a near-endless quest to score a perfect rating. In that episode, Boimler is trying to prove his worth as a Starfleet officer and land a much-coveted promotion — an external motivation — where Dal’s motivation is internal. He starts the test to prove something to his crew, his determination in beating the ever-more-difficult test becomes something he must prove to himself: does he really have what it takes to be the Protostar’s captain?
It’s an extension of his heightened survival instincts. And you can almost see the change happening in real time: he starts off just walking away from the danger of potential battle to a starship captain who learns that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few — and that he needs to listen just as much as he speaks.
Its a well-earned moment. Dal’s personal journey continues to be one of my favorite parts of the series and it’s impossible to watch him interact with Spock on the bridge of the Klingon ship without seeing his potential. And, not for nothing, while it might have taken him hundreds of times, he did actually find a solution to the Kobayashi Maru… if only he hadn’t put his feet up on that Klingon console!
While Dal and Jankom spend time on the holodeck, Gwyn (Ella Purnell) is spending her time hiding out in sickbay, still hurting over her father’s choice to leave her to die rather than let the Protostar escape his clutches — and feeling useless and unwanted aboard her new starship home.
Zero works to ease her mind though some impromptu ship’s counselor work; the Medusan sharing how they were plucked from their hive-mind by the Diviner was a genuine moment of grief, while also showing why they seem to be wise beyond their years explaining the difference between “translation” and “interpretation.” As a parent, I really appreciated this part of the episode as it’s nuances like this where real learning happens.
Their conversation takes us into a flashback scene that is surely going to be the second-most-talked-about thing coming out of this episode.
Set 17 years in the past, we witness a frustrated Diviner (John Noble) beg Dreadnok (Jimmi Simpson) to help him create an offspring to carry on his hunt for the Protostar — which at that point as already been ongoing mission for years, meaning the futuristic Federation starship has been on his radar for at least two decades… putting its arrival at Tars Lemora even before the earliest episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Somebody call the Department of Temporal Investigations! This is a fascinating idea, with wild implications for the series — even before it was revealed that Gwyn is essentially the Diviner’s clone! Unfortunately, that part of her history so cryptic that my kids didn’t get much out of it, calling it “creepy.”
It did seem out of place compared to the rest of the episode, but I kind of like that they just dropped such a huge bomb on us, with a lot of room for the type of wild speculation that is part of the fun of fandom, along with other revelations in this episode that helped clue in the younger ones to the important details with implications for the greater overreaching arc of the show. I’m starting to get an Annorax vibe from the Diviner, and I’m not sure what to make of that!
Returning to the present, Zero and Gwyn ask Holo-Janeway what the Protostar’s mission was before they found it — and she doesn’t know, calling it classified and even out of her own reach behind encrypted file protection. Zero and Gwyn both really shine here, as Zero realizes Gwyn’s language skills can come in handy in retrieving the data.
(Along the way this week, my kids asked for some elaboration on some of the technical terms of starship operations, including “trajectory,” “classified,” and “light-years” — but my young digital natives had no need for an explainer on encrypted files!)
Just as Dal finishes up his time on the holodeck, Gwyn makes a bombshell discovery: the encryption locking up the Protostar’s computer system is written in Solum, the language of her home world. This shocks not only Gwyn, but also Holo-Janeway. This clue was easier for my kids to understand, as both characters explain that as far as they know, the Vau N’Akat and the Federation have never met.
We were all on the edge of our seats when she cracked the code with a phrase the Diviner taught her… and unlocked the database that includes not only a mountain of technical data, but twin revelation: not only was the Protostar captained by Chakotay (Robert Beltran), but Hologram Janeway doesn’t remember him or his crew!
Jankom speculates that it will take months to understand all the data they’ve uncovered — good thing there’s another 14 episodes this season! — so this is just the beginning of the Captain Chakotay mystery, as there are plenty of questions to answer: if the Protostar was sent back in time, does that mean that there’s been a second, older Chakotay in the Delta Quadrant this whole time? Is he or his crew still alive in 2383, the “present” of Star Trek: Prodigy? Why doesn’t Holo-Janeway remember him — and what was the starship’s original mission in the first place?
The use of archival, glitchy holo-recordings is a really interesting device to use to drop bits and pieces of information about the Protostar’s past — or future? — into the ongoing series, and with so many mysteries, I’m already looking forward to the next chance to learn more about just what this starship, and its first crew, has been through.
OBSERVATION LOUNGE
- The pair didn’t have much to do this week, but Rok-tak’s adorable moment of panic after Murf ate a case of photon grenades was so cute! Her nervous “asking for a friend” moment of worry really worked to make her relatable to my 21st century kids — and the elastic animation work as Murf digested the inevitable explosion was a lot of fun.
- Zero reveals that the telepathic Medusan species exists in a “hive mind.”
- The flashback to Gwyn’s creation is set on Stardate 43929.9, which puts those events between TNG’s “Sarek” and “Ménage à Troi” in the year 2366 — confirming that, as the show’s producers have previously mentioned in interviews, the Prodigy “present” is 2383 (17 years later).
- Dal quickly hides the K’Tarian game from his shipmates when they enter the captain’s quarters — knowing the pleasurable side effects that game offers, he acts briefly like a teenager hiding something else he shouldn’t be looking at!
- When Dal is offered the chance to crew up his holographic starship, we see a selection of Star Trek badges and deltas representing the Bajoran Militia, as well as Starfleet from the Original Series, the patch design from The Motion Picture, the Star Trek II – VI era, from The Next Generation, from DS9 and Voyager, and even a few surprises — including the 29th century Starfleet badge from “Future’s End” and “Relativity,” the bar-backed delta seen in “Future Imperfect” and “Parallels,” the alternate-future badge seen in “All Good Things…,” “The Visitor,” “Timeless,” and “Endgame,” and even one that resembles the oval Star Trek logo used througout the late 1990s.
(Interestingly, no badge designs from Star Trek: Discovery or Star Trek: Picard appear in the holoprogram.)
- The domed Protostar holodeck is a unique design, made of triangular segments; it’s likely a coincidence, but the holographic projectors are similar to the tracking sensors used on Star Trek: Discovery’s AR Wall set up in Toronto.
- Would Odo, a member of the Bajoran militia, really have been part of Starfleet’s officer database for cadet training? Probably not — but who cares!
- The Kobayashi Maru distress call and viewscreen tactical graphics are a direct pull from Star Trek II’s opening sequence, updated with the Enterprise-D starship.
- Some of the other holodeck programs in the Protostar database include Andoria-4 (the planet’s icy tundra as seen in “The Aenar”), the orange skies of Ceti Alpha V (from Star Trek II), a Vulcan kal-if-fee gladiatorial match, complete with lirpas and TOS -inspired music (from “Amok Time”), the old west city of Deadwood, South Dakota (from “A Fistful of Datas”), a take on Jane Eyre, similar to program Janeway Lamda One (from “Learning Curve”), and the Paxau Resort, a tropical Talaxian getaway seen throughout Star Trek: Voyager’s third season.
LINGUISTIC DATABASE
Here’s our best effort to identify the source of every archival dialogue audio used in this episode.
“Excuse me…” “…what does it matter?”
— FASCINATION and SHADOWPLAY“You can order me all you want, as of now I’m resigning my commission!”
— HEART OF STONE“That’s not good enough…” “…may very well start a war.”
— THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR and CALL TO ARMS“We have two [Klingon] ships closing aft of us, bearing 136 mark 4!”
— WHAT YOU LEAVE BEHIND, edited snip of “Klingon” to replace original “Jem’Hadar”“No, I’m not going to let this happen again… not again!”
— THINGS PAST“Frankly, I fail to see any point… at all.”
— SHADOWPLAY
“Excuse me…” “…what does it matter?”* * *
— BALANCE OF TERROR“Captain, I’m getting something on the distress channel.”
— STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN“I don’t care whether it’s allowed or not. I will not do it!”
— THE GAMESTERS OF TRISKELION“Battle stations. All hands, battle stations.”
— THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT“Yes, he’s infuriating, sir, how can you stand it?”
— THE MARK OF GIDEON“All channels are totally jammed, captain.”
— SPACE SEED“Sensors are picking up a Klingon battlecruiser, rapidly closing on the station.”
— THE TROUBLE WITH TRIBBLES
“All decks, standing by.”* * *
— RELICS“The plasma cooler’s gone, the engines are overheating!”
— RELICS“You’ve got it, captain.
— THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE
“Thank you, sir, and call me Scotty.”* * *
— THE IMMUNITY SYNDROME“Outpost 2 coming into sensor range, Captain.”
“We have a blip on the motion sensor, Captain.”
“…or on what this vessel fails to do.”
— BALANCE OF TERROR“We are surrounded.”
— THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT“Photon torpedoes locking on target.”
— THE ULTIMATE COMPUTER“Captain, are you quite alright?”
— JOURNEY TO BABEL“I believe he has lost the capacity for rational decision.”
— THE ENTERPRISE INCIDENT“Sweeping the area of outpost 2. Sensor reading: indefinite.”
— BALANCE OF TERROR“Transporter operational captain.”
— THE DOOMSDAY MACHINE“My congratulations, captain.”
— THE CHANGELING“Am I correct in my assumption that you’ve been disturbed by what you consider to be a failure on your part?”
— OBSESSION“And what is it that makes one man an exceptional leader?”
“No disrespect intended, but you must surely realize you cannot announce the full truth to the crew?”
“You are the captain of this ship. You can’t afford the luxury of being anything less than perfect. If you do. They lose faith… and you lose command.”
— THE ENEMY WITHIN“That the needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few.”
— STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN“It is the only logical conclusion.”
“In your own way, you are as stubborn as another captain of the Enterprise I once knew.”
— UNIFICATION II“Live long and prosper.”
— STAR TREK (2009)
“Request permission to come aboard.”
After this game-changing episode, it’s hard not to be excited for future installments of Star Trek: Prodigy, as now anyone or any place from Trek history is on the table for future inclusion, and it’s exciting to know that this rag-tag group of kids — who only just recently learned that the Federation exists — are actually tangled up with the UFP in such a mysterious way.
Lovingly constructed and expertly crafted, “Kobayashi” is an instant Star Trek classic, and something that really shows what animation can do to expand what’s possible in a Trek tale — and it’s actually quite remarkable how well they managed to thread the needle between catering to older and newer fans.
Star Trek: Prodigy returns Thursday, January 13 on Paramount+ in the United States, Australia, Latin America, and the Nordics, as well as on CTV Sci Fi Channel in Canada.
Additional international distribution has not yet been announced.