The fall run of Star Trek: Prodigy episodes keep delivering with “All the World’s a Stage,” an episode of television that is only possible in a show with as rich a history — and as un-muddled of an ethos — as Star Trek.

The episode is absolutely off the scales when it comes to being self-referential, but not just for it’s own sake, and it legitimately resides in a place that fits within the established boundaries of the Star Trek universe — continuing the legacy of episodes with prime directive violations in a really fun and clever way. Beyond that, it manages to be a story about overcoming self-doubt, and what it means to be a part of something bigger than yourself.

The episode starts off with a check-in on the Dauntless, as the Diviner has awoken from his coma-like state with what appears to be some memory loss. He tells Admiral Janeway that Chakotay was captured, and she changes the mission parameters from a rescue operation to a “manhunt”, which seems ominous.

It’s very classically Janeway, the way she acts when she’s focused on a mission and — if it wasn’t aimed at the darling Protostar crew — I would be very excited to watch her follow through here, like old times. The Dauntless scenes continue to very smoothly advance towards the inevitable meeting of the two ships and help the younger audience get to know Admiral Janeway, and understand her perspective of the Protostar crew.

Back on the Protostar, the crew has detected a distress signal and beam down to investigate. They meet the locals. What an incredible delight! When we meet James’T and Sool’U, it’s immediately obvious that they are fans of our classic heroes, even if we don’t know why — or how.

Their homemade uniforms, their incorrect finger placement in the Vulcan salute, their use of the term “Live logs and proper” — every detail is ‘off’ by just the perfect amount for maximum endearment towards these “Enderprizians.” And their entire vibe of excitement at the arrival of a real “Star-Flight” crew was infectious.

Then they “play the logs” by performing a play of how they ended up this way. This was a really effective method of delivering the story to us, but also just such fun. We learn that a mysterious person named “En Son” crash-landed on their planet and he told them stories of our beloved NCC-1701.

We also learn of the mysterious “Gallows” — a monster that poisons the land, which we’ll eventually learn is the Galileo shuttle — and that as En Son died, he promised that Star-Flight will come someday and rid them of the monster. So it seems that the Enderprizians were not ready for first contact and their society got polluted from the arrival of an ensign who taught them about the Enterprise. What a wonderful extension of a classic Star Trek idea!

While I was enjoying every minute of this TOS love fest, none of it was landing with my kids. They simply don’t have any of the reference points necessary not just to get the homage, but the entire concept of a society corrupted in this way. They were a little confused about what was happening and who these people were.

This episode felt more directed towards legacy fans then the others so far, save for the first half of the season’s “Kobayashi”. “Kobayashi” also had a deep homage to Treks past, but basing it around the idea of Dal playing a video game gave the kids a landmark to grab onto that is missing in the high-concepts in “All the World’s a Stage”. This is an episode that will be easier for them to understand with repeat viewing.

Also, I can picture kid fans returning to this episode someday when they get a little older and have more cultural touchstones regarding Trek under their belts and really appreciating it on more levels.

What they can appreciate and relate to is Dal’s sense of self-doubt and impostor syndrome as he feels like they are “cosplaying” Starfleet just as much as the Enderprizians. It’s something everyone deals with sometimes, even our own TOS hero Captain Kirk. We see Kirk and another character, Ensign Garrovick, second-guess the decisions they have made in the TOS episode “Obsession,” so when we later find out that En Son is Ensign Garrovick, its a lovely connection — and a truly wonderful deep c ut of a reference.

Dal and the young “cadet” Huur’A contract a mysterious illness when she returns from exploring near the Gallows. Gwyn, Rok-Tahk, and Jankom explore to find the cause of the illness so that Zero can synthesize a cure, another great Trek standard. They figure out that En Son’s shuttle — another TOS cameo, the Galileo shuttlecraft — has been continuously leaking plasma into a dilithium-rich cave and causing radiation pollution. This is enough for Zero to synthesize an antidote.

Our Protostar crew absolutely rocks this mission. But it’s not over, as the transporter can not get a lock on Jankom, Rok-Tahk, and Gwyn. The Protostar needs to get closer. Down three crew members, Dal trusts three Enderprizians  to help. The looks on their faces matched mine when they get on the ship and Dal holo-projects the NCC-1701 back panels and helm controls onto the Protostar bridge. It was a great choice to have it blend into the Protostar bridge on the sides, instead of having it be a full overlay. It looks amazing.

What a moment of triumph for all four of the Starfleet hopefuls on the bridge — and all the ones watching at home who’ve always dreamed of being on that bridge. I looked around with a tear in my eye and my kids, again, were completed unaffected by this. Okay. Maybe someday.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

• Where to begin! Our new friends that live on New Enderprize have a society corrupted by humans, similar to TOS episodes “A Piece of the Action” and “Patterns of Force”. We meet James’T (complete with Shatner-like cadence to his voice), Sool’U, Sprok, Huur’A, Doctor Boons, and Scott’Ee (who also appears to have a familiar way of speaking).
  
  They are fans of Star-Flight and the Fed’ration, and salute each other with the phrase “live logs and proper” with fingers splayed slightly differently to the classic Vulcan gesture. When we first meet them they are practicing stage fights, and performing very familiar fighting moves, such as the two-hand punch favored by Kirk. During the play, they shake around to represent the ship in distress the way Trek actors always do.
  
• The ensign who crashed was Ensign Garrovick, seen in the TOS episode “Obsession.” He crashes in the shuttle Galileo, seen in various episodes of TOS. It’s same-named predecessor was also lost, in “The Galileo Seven”.
  
• Star Trek: Lower Decks and voice-acting legend Fred Tatasciore voices many of our Enderprizians and Ensign Garrovick.
  
• “All the World’s a Stage” continues the grand Star Trek tradition of Shakespearean titles.
  

• Throughout the episode, Murf appears to be sick, with Rok-Tahk and then Holo Janeway take care of our resident Mellanoid slime worm. At the very end of the episode, Rok finds Murf in a blue and purple cocoon. My kids were screaming — literally screaming with excitement. Prodigy really knows how to leave their audience wanting more!
  
• One of the funniest lines was Jankom Pog’s “Who’s this guy?” when random red shirt En Son shows up in the play. So meta. Also, I’m waiting to see Jankom eating popcorn as a reaction GIF.
  
• The Enderprizians’ play recalls another episode of Star Trek where Starfleet members inspired theater. In Voyager’s “Muse,” the locals performed a play based on B’Elanna Torres and her crewmates. Another wonderful episode about the power of the idea of Starfleet.
  
• “Playing the logs” also brought to mind the “historical documents” of another group of alien fans: the Thermians from Galaxy Quest.
  
• Holo Janeway refers to the mission as a “second contact,” and what a successful one at that. Captain Carol Freeman would be so proud of this crew!

The away mission ends with a supplemental log entry from Dal, where he calls the Enderprizians “a new chapter of Starfleet” — and the resolution here is poignant and heartfelt and wonderfully inclusive. Anyone can be a part of this. As Doctor Boons tells Dal, “You don’t need a real ship to believe in what it stands for,” and who you are isn’t just what shows up on a bioscan. It’s what you chose to do that makes you who you are — and Starfleet, like love, is a verb, not a noun.

Watching “All the World’s a Stage,” my kids might not have gotten the specific references, but they got the moral of the story — and I got reminded of why I love Star Trek in the first place.

Star Trek: Prodigy will return with “Masquerade” on Thursday, November 17 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on November 18 in Latin America, Australia, Italy and the U.K. The series will arrive in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in December.