Our young Star Trek: Prodigy crew is back! It’s been eight months since “A Moral Star, Part 2” aired — which in kid-time is more like, “Soooo loonnnggg, Mom!” — so my cadets were more than ready to get back on board the Protostar. “Asylum” does a great job of being a plot-refresher, while still adding excitement and action in a rousing demonstration of just how high the stakes will be for the rest of the season.
Straight out of the gate, “Asylum” fires on all cylinders with a fun and exciting opening sequence reminiscent of the opening underwater moments of Star Trek Into Darkness, complete with composer Nami Melumad’s homage to Michael Giacchino’s “Enterprising Young Men” score from the Kelvin Timeline films. The crew has decided that spending their time doing good deeds may help their case when they return their ‘stolen’ ship to Starfleet.
They couldn’t have picked a more Starfleet good deed here: they maintain the grand Star Trek tradition of saving the whales by relocating an endangered “aquathawns” being chased by poachers. This framework is apt — randomly performing good deeds while traveling through space is the whole premise of Trek itself, and our crew literally saving a whale was such a strong unintrusive way to connect them to Treks past.
Everything about this sequence is exceptional. The gorgeous underwater animation, the unique and interesting alien design of the poachers, the cool shuttle-sub (great to know they are making use of that handy vehicle replicator!), and the effortless action-banter between the characters as they navigate themselves out of the situation. All while trying to maintain the Prime Directive. A+, cadets!
This fun little side trip leads to us learning that even weeks later, Gwyn hasn’t recovered her memories after being briefly exposed to Zero’s true Medusan nature. The flashback of the Diviner saying “It’s a weapon” — referring to the trap built into the Protostar’s systems — was enough to jog my kids’ memories, however, so when we hear that the plan is to approach a Federation outpost, they knew that was a bad idea.
The crew, though, are excited to finally arrive. There’s a lovely parent/child moment between Dal and Hologram Janeway as she adjusts his uniform while he squirms (look familiar, kids?), and then she dispenses some really great advice. I love the Dal-Janeway relationship, and I like for both of them that they seem to be becoming more like family then just a teacher/student or a mentor/mentee.
The hug they share here goes down as one of Trek’s best hugs (step aside Miles and Julian!). Hologram Janeway has quickly become her own character, and this scene did a lot to contrast her more with the “real” Janeway — which helps the younger kids, especially, keep track of the two versions of Kate Mulgrew’s character. (I had to remind my youngest why there were two Janeways at first as we got back into the swing of things.)
Reaching the Federation — even the far-flung comm station — really felt like a milestone to the crew, and to my kids as well. My kids were enthralled during the meeting of the Starfleet officer, and completely silent as they curiously watched each member of the crew go through the bio-scanner. What a great way to reintroduce information about the crew and also to deliver us some bombshells!
Jankom Pog learning that Tellarites were founding members of the Federation was really cute. It’s nice that he had something to feel proud about in a connection to who he is. We get to hear for the first time that Rok-Tahk is a Brikar — we’ve known this from Paramount+ publicity, of course, but this is the first time the species has been mentioned by name on-screen. Gwyn shows up as an “unregistered species,” which makes sense as the Federation hasn’t met the Vau N’Akat yet in the timeline.
The most interesting scans were of Murf and Dal, of course. From Murf’s scan we finally learn what Murf is: a Mellanoid Slime Worm — a cut so deep I had to look it up! The term was used as an insult towards our very own Wesley Crusher in “Coming of Age,” but hasn’t been mentioned in any other capacity since that 1988 episode.
I love that the Murf connection involves a young Starfleet hopeful like our Protostar crew. It’s also funny that was meant as an insult — Rondon must have never met one before, because I can’t imagine anyone thinking being like Murf was an insult! My kids thought this reveal was great, and we had a lot of fun laughing about the name. “A slime worm?!”, my youngest declared, echoing Rok-Tahk’s reaction.
(My ten-year-old is convinced that a “Mellanoid” worm has to be related somehow to the “Graboid” worm from Tremors, and I very much would like to read that cross-over fan fic someday!)
While some questions were answered, Dal’s heritage still remains a mystery. When he stepped into the bio-scanner, an alarm flashed that stated that Dal should report to Starfleet Command. Intriguing! The look on Dal’s face when he realizes he’s close to an answer hit me straight in the gut; the animation and Brett Gray’s line delivery really made me feel that moment for him.
When Barniss Frex (a top tier character name) links the station’s computer with the Protostar, the Diviner’s weapon activates, and the animation here is spectacular. You can almost see the computer virus propagate through the station on each monitor and panel as it’s red fragments move in a very “blocky” way around the screens. Everything gets a red tinge to it as Red Alert alarms blare, malfunctions happen all over the station, and the station’s weapons begin firing on the station itself.
This demonstration of what the weapon can do was a really effective way of showing just how high the stakes are both to the Protostar crew and the children watching, who might not have had as much of a reference for what a computer virus can do as some of us more seasoned viewers.
The weapon itself is beautifully designed as an exact counterpoint to the ship’s Protodrive itself: an evil orb; an immoral star; a red core surrounded by a containment that is almost pulsating as it lies in wait for its moment to unleash its programming. It’s sinister in design in the same way that Drednok is, these technologies obviously of the same origin and time. It’s exquisite.
The crew’s escape from the exploding station felt really suspenseful. The classic Trek trope of the transporter being offline was perfectly used here to give the crew a chance to work together with their patented whole group dynamics that are such a strong suit of this cast.
Trusting Rok’s calculations as their science officer was a great example of how they are falling into their roles on the ship. Her calculations might have been a little off, but they were within the tolerance of the tractor beam. A great fake out!
Meanwhile, Vice Admiral Janeway and her Dauntless crew have tracked the Protostar’s warp signature to Tars Lamora. It feels surreal to have the “real” Janeway back — in command and leading an away team. What a gift. They find The Diviner floating around, obviously still gravely injured by his encounter with Zero.
Connecting him with the Dauntless crew is an interesting way to return him to the story, and makes the Dauntless an even greater threat to Dal, Gwyn, and the rest of our young heroes.
OBSERVATION LOUNGE
- Unlike Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks, there is no opening Star Trek franchise intro to this episode. It’s possible this is because it’s a Nickelodeon Animation production and not “really” a Paramount+ managed property, or it simply may be added to the series at a later date.
- The aquathawn the crew relocates is pregnant, connecting her even more strongly to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home —Gracie the humpback whale was also pregnant when she made her trip to the 23rd century. The aquathawn being beamed into the cargo bay is reminiscent of the endangered gormagander being beamed aboard the Discovery in “Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad.”
- We visit Communication Relay Station CR-721, or as Barniss Frex likes to call it, “The Final Frontier.” I laughed at Zero’s “Why does he keep saying that?,” to which my ten-year-old said, “I bet you know, mom.” My kids are getting good at parsing out Star Trek references in Prodigy, even if they don’t always understand them.
- Lieutenant Junior Grade Barniss Frex is a Denobulan. He mentions not wanting to be stationed somewhere worse than CR-721, like the Gamma Quadrant or Nimbus III. At least it’s not Starbase 80!
- Frex has an unusual combination of rank pips on his collar; one black and one solid pip representing the Lieutenant (junior grade) rank, and a provisional Starfleet rank badge with the same LT-jg rank, previously seen on Voyager‘s Maquis crewmen. (Perhaps he’s just bored at his remote posting and he thinks no one would notice!)
- The Protostar uses the same kind of forcefield gangway corridor to dock with the relay station as the technology used to connect Discovery and the Enterprise in “Such Sweet Sorry, Part 1.”
- Before this episode, the Brikar species was named only in Star Trek novels, originating in Peter David’s young-adult story, Starfleet Academy: Worf’s First Adventure.
- “Well I’ll be a Horta’s uncle!” is going to make its way into my regular idiom rotation.
- Frex guesses that Dal might be a Sakari or a Talaxian, two species that fandom speculated about as possibilities when the first images of the purple alien were released.
- There are hints of the Voyager theme during Vice Admiral Janeway’s holodeck recreation of the christening of the USS Protostar, a moment which also gives us our first moment with Captain Chakotay (and returning Voyager actor Robert Beltran) since his fuzzy hologram was first spotted in “Kobayashi.”
- The Protostar was christened with a bottle of Chateau Picard wine, bearing the same label styling seen in Star Trek: Picard Season 1.
- The Dauntless‘ Andorian officer Commander Tysses, played by Daveed Diggs, sounds so regal. I am interested in learning more about him!
- “Don’t think we didn’t notice that!”, my eight-year-old shouted at the TV, when Dal gave a loving look to Gwyn when he knew she was safe from the bio chamber.
- My kids got such a kick out of Jankom’s huge pile of hot dogs: food fit for Federation royalty! Hot dogs are a nice addition to the expanding canon of foods being ejected from a malfunctioning replicator.
What an exciting way to start this run of episodes! “Asylum” does a great job of setting the stakes and putting all the pieces on the board without feeling like a filler episode. Things seem to be moving already, and hopefully this momentum will be carried into the subsequent chapters of this adventure.
Star Trek: Prodigy will return with “Let Sleeping Borg Lie” on Thursday, November 3 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on October 28 in Latin America, Australia, Italy and the U.K. The series will arrive in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in December.