This week, Alex and Jim discuss the 2022’s biggest moments in Star Trek news, including: incredible seasons of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, Lower Decks, and Prodigy, big losses to the Star Trek community, a mixed year for Star Trek merchandise, and one of the biggest announcements in franchise history — the impending return of the cast of The Next Generation for the final season of Star Trek: Picard.
All that, and a couple of the things we’re looking forward to in 2023!
WeeklyTrek is available to subscribe and download each week on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify— and we’ll be sharing the details of each new episode right here on TrekCore each week if you’re simply just looking to listen in from the web.
Do you have a wish or theory you’d like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!
Returning to the Star Trek universe for the first time in quite a while, QMx announced their lineup of papercraft starship models called the Qraftworks Star Trek PuzzleFleet back in February 2022, with eight familiar starships from all eras of the final frontier.
Each 8-to-12-inch model ranges in complexity from about 55 to 85 pieces, and is made of double-sided, highly-detailed gloss paper over a layer of thin foamboard. The initial wave of starships includes the classic original USS Enterprise, the refit Enterprise from Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, the USS Enterprise-D, the starship Discovery, the California-class USS Cerritos, a Klingon D-7 from the Original Series, and the iconic Klingon Bird of Prey from Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
As you punch out each piece from the various boards included in each set, you must match up the numbered piece with the corresponding instruction set for assembly — it’s not a matter of using part 1, then part 2, then part 3 — as the pieces aren’t always near each other on their boards.
Each starship build also includes pieces for a display stand, which supports each ship to varying degrees of success. The stands for the Constitution-class ships seems much more stable than the Cerritos stand, probably because the California-class ship is so front-heavy.
QMx Qraftworks — USS Cerritos
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Many of the pieces will also have punch-out slots for other pieces’ tabs to fit into, and these slots can be very small. It’s a good idea to have some small tools to help with those bits, and the QMx instructions suggest an unfolded paperclip to get in those tiny crevices and remove the placeholder foam during assembly.
That certainly helped, though we did end up with a lot of little bits of foam and paper on our table after prepping all the puzzle pieces for assembly – so be ready for a bit of cleanup afterwards.
Once fully constructed, each Qraftworks starship really does resemble their on-screen counterparts quite well, with perhaps the Cerritos bringing the animated style from Lower Decks to life more effectively than the other ships, since the puzzles can’t fully replicate the complex curves or subtle angles of physical studio models.
QMx Qraftworks — USS Enterprise-D
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That said, there are still certainly some drawbacks in this kind of construction method, mostly due to the relatively thin foamboard that makes up the structure of each puzzle piece. In a few cases, the small tabs that were required to fit into sections with tight tolerances — like the wraparound pieces that make up the Cerritos warp nacelles, or the fold-over Bussard collectors on the refit Enterprise — can become easily bent.
Once that happens, it becomes a minor miracle if you can fit them back into their corresponding slots, even with your handy straightened paper clip to assist the process. In two or three instances, we had to use a small amount of clear tape to cover for the loss of tabs in critical assembly points — thankfully however in the final builds, you can’t really see the tape unless you’re looking closely.
QMx Qraftworks — USS Enterprise
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These Qraftworks model kits won’t be for everyone — certainly they’re nothing like a ‘screen-accurate’ buildup kit like the sets offered by Polar Lights, or the fully-constructed models from the now-defunct Eaglemoss — but for those of you who might have lower model-building skill levels, or if you want to involve younger people in the build-ups, these could be the perfect little sets to spend an hour on once and a while.
If you’re interested in checking out the QMx Qraftworks PuzzleFleet starships for yourself, all eight releases are available for purchase now.
Keep checking back to TrekCore for the latest in Star Trek merchandise news and reviews!
Una McCormack returns to Star Trek: Picard to deliver the exceptional Second Self, the fourth Picard novel — and best so far.
Second Self is taut, creepy, thoughtful, and propulsive, and the book includes a big legacy character who meets a surprising fate. This novel is by far the most adventurous of the Picard novels to date, seeking not only to explore the Picard characters in more detail, but also to expand upon the world of the early 25th century — and to pull back the curtain on the state of the galaxy two decades after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis.
Published in September, Second Self has been out for a few months now, so this review is going to contain full spoilers. Consider yourself warned!
(Photo: Paramount+)
Second Self s a Raffi Musiker novel, set between the events of Picard’s first and second seasons. It continues to build upon the No Man’s Land audio drama from earlier this year, and explores Raffi’s re-emergence into the world, and return to Starfleet, following the events of Picard’s first year. At the behest of Admiral Picard, Raffi is sent to the planet Ordeve to track down a Cardassian who is wanted for crimes committed during the Bajoran Occupation.
It is also a planet where Romulan refugees have settled following the destruction of their homeworld, and a planet that has history impacting the Bajorans, Cardassians, and Romulans alike. A Bajoran colony world that was taken over by the Cardassians during the Occupation, the planet was later taken over by the Romulans at the end of the Dominion War — before eventually being returned to Cardassian control.
Raffi also has a history with Ordeve; while at Starfleet Intelligence’s Romulan Affairs division, she was sent to the planet to observe Romulan control of the world at the end of the Dominion War.
Second Self explores the planet’s history through three time periods: during the Occupation of Bajor, in the aftermath of the Dominion War, and in the “present” of 2401. The novel tells a story of a planet with a dark history and a lot of conflict between different factions, reminiscent of Eastern European countries in the 20th century who traded one foreign power for another.
McCormack deftly pitches Raffi into the middle of this mess in the two time frames, where the aggressors switch sides: the Romulans oppress the Cardassians following the Dominion War, while the Cardassians oppress the Romulan refugees in the present.
Raffi is required to navigate these shifting sands, and the lack of a clear right and wrong in many instances, to make the best choices possible. Raffi is a great character — probably the best original Picard character — because of her troubled personality, and McCormack makes good use of Raffi’s foibles to help support pushing the story forward.
Second Self is also an Elim Garak novel. It wouldn’t be an Una McCormack novel without a hefty dose of Cardassians, and in this book she returns to one of her favorite subjects from the Cardassian race. It’s a big swing for a Picard novel to take on such a big legacy character, particularly because the events of this book effectively reveal Garak’s final fate, but I appreciated it.
Some of the other Picard novels have felt a little too enclosed because of a desire not to tell a story that will be overwritten by on-screen events. But honestly, I’d rather the books take big swings that the show might later contradict, instead of trying to skirt around telling us anything interesting about galactic events — or including legacy characters — where it makes sense. This book is so much better because the Cardassian fugitive from justice is Garak, and not some new character who fits the same profile.
McCormack’s new history of the Garak character is not as triumphant as his role in the now defunct literary continuity of the First Splinter that ended last year with Star Trek: Coda. Rather than becoming the leader of the newly democratic Cardassian Union, Garak tops out in the Prime Timeline as ambassador to the Federation… that is, until the Bajorans discover evidence about his role in killings during the Occupation as a member of the Obsidian Order, and seek his extradition to face his crimes.
It is here we find Garak — on the run from Bajoran authorities — and it’s a much more ignoble place for the character to end up than in the old book timeline, which McCormack had a big hand in creating. But somehow, it feels more fitting and more appropriate for a character who, as much as we like him, does have an evil past that he should have to atone for in some way.
And the book’s final resolution, in which Garak uses the newly discovered Orb of Restitution to go back in time and save the Orb and the Bajoran colonists’ children from a younger version of himself to seek cosmic forgiveness for his crimes is fitting and poignant.
(Photo: Paramount+)
As McCormack explains, it’s another exile for the Cardassian tailor. His first exile was aboard Deep Space 9, and his second is on a Bajoran colony world under control of the Cardassians — where his charge is to protect Bajoran children from himself. Describing it back it sounds a little absurd, but when you’re reading the book you are totally hooked. I raced through the final hundred pages of the novel at warp speed, and found the resolution of the novel to be emotional and cathartic.
In addition to the Raffi and Garak storylines, there are a lot of other great characters dotted throughout the story. Admiral Picard makes a number of brief appearances and frames the novel, Captain Rios of the Stargazer is Raffi’s ride to Ordeve, and she brings Elnor with her, who has a lot of chemistry and fun exchanges with Garak.
It is a real shame that the supply chain and other factors forced Second Self to be delayed from it’s original pre-Picard Season 2 publication date, because this would have landed even better in the build up and excitement to the new season. But regardless of that, Second Self is an excellent Star Trek novel, and an even better Picard story
It’s a shame, though, that we close 2022 with only two tie-in Star Trek novels getting to readers hands — this and December’s just-released Harm’s Way. What’s up with that?!
We’re all wrapped up with Star Trek episodes for 2022, but in just seven weeks the marathon will start all over again with the debut of Star Trek: Picard‘s third and final season!
Following the Star Trek: Prodigy coverage in the post-finale episode of The Ready Room with Wil Wheaton Thursday, the show unveiled the first extended clip from the February 16 season premiere of Star Trek: Picard — where Admiral Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) receives an unusual, encrypted subspace signal through an old combadge from his days aboard the Enterprise-D.
Working in his office at Chateau Picard late at night, Picard has a number of storage crates surrounding his desk, including one containing a Next Generation-era Starfleet uniform and combadge. Chirping away to his surprise, the communicator is said to be receiving a ‘codec’ signal, requiring a passcode to access — but who could this signal be coming from?
You can also see the clip within the full December 29 episode of The Ready Room with Wil Wheaton at the 28:30 mark.
Most likely, this is the “distress call from Beverly Crusher” which Picard describes in the Season 3 trailer released at New York Comic Con in October, the inciting incident which draws the admiral back out into space — and what inspires him to round up his old Enterprise crewmates for their final mission.
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 stars Patrick Stewart as Jean-Luc Picard, Jonathan Frakes as Will Riker, Marina Sirtis as Deanna Troi, Gates McFadden as Dr. Beverly Crusher, Michael Dorn as Worf, LeVar Burton as Geordi La Forge, Brent Spiner as Lore, Michelle Hurd as Raffi Musiker, and Jeri Ryan as Seven of Nine.
Keep checking back to TrekCore in the new year for all the Star Trek: Picard Season 3 news as it breaks!
Star Trek: Picard Season 3 will debut February 16 2023 on Paramount+ the United States, and on CTV Sci Fi Channel and Crave in Canada. Outside of North America, the series is available on Amazon’s Prime Video service in most international locations.
Star Trek: Prodigy concludes one of the most successful first seasons in Trek history with the satisfying “Supernova, Part 2,” a finale which gives us the thrilling conclusion of last week’s battle as it settles all the bets Prodigy’s made this season — and racks up for the next round in a very constructive and intriguing way.
With seemingly every other possibility exhausted, Dal and the crew come to the conclusion that they need to destroy the Protostar, which would stop the long-range subspace signal being sent out by the Living Construct, and hopefully return the affected Starfleet ships to normal.
There is definitely a little bit of fuzzy math here, as the weapon had been previously treated more like a computer virus carrier — rather than a signal generator — which is where the provision that they needed to connect to a ship to infect it makes more sense. It’s also why it seemed they were “too late” to fix anything as soon as the Dauntless was infected. But we can roll with this.
The science gets better as soon as you accept the premise, as Rok-Tahk comes to a fascinating solution to the problem: destroying the ship’s protodrive would cause a blast that would be equal to a supernova, and easily destroy everything in a 50 million mile radius. However, if they detonate at the moment of a proto-jump, the blast will be distributed equally in space along the trajectory of their jump — a much safer outcome for the Alpha Quadrant.
It’s a really great physics thought experiment made “real.” In this scene, Prodigy really solidified itself as a spiritual successor to Star Trek: Voyager as that is something Voyager itself really excelled at.
Prodigy earned Rok-Tahk’s science officer credentials very cleverly in “Time Amok,” and it’s paying off dividends here with her technobabble skills. Yet again, Prodigy makes a challenging concept easier for the young viewers to grasp by restating the concepts in simpler terms, and with a really useful graphic that explains the plan visually.
With all the challenging concepts this season — none of which the show has shied away from — it’s a real testament to writers that my kids haven’t very often been confused, or have needed more information to understand what’s happening. It’s truly a show made with all their viewers in mind.
With the self destruct offline, someone will have to stay behind to detonate the Protostar — and following Janeway’s second tenet of starship captaincy, Dal volunteers to go down with the ship. It’s a proud moment, as he truly has grown as a person and as an officer this season.
Holo Janeway, however, offers to stay behind, as they can make a copy of her program to take with them… but she soon realizes that isn’t possible. Her programming has gained so much new information after spending time with her young crew, and she secretly allows them to leave empty-handed.
Everything about the destruct sequence has emotional impact, as the crew holds hands as they eject out of the ship in a makeshift escape shuttle — another fantastic use of the vehicle replicator. It’s genuinely sad, and Nami Melumad’s beautiful score plays as a sort of funeral dirge for both the ship, and for Hologram Janeway. Holo Janeway’s last words to the crew was a poignant goodbye, but her final sentence — “Go fast!” — brought a tear to my eye.
She dies saving her crew and all of Starfleet, with a tremendous explosion marking her sacrifice, leaving behind a sublime trail of cosmic dust in the void of space. A hero’s death — worthy of any version of Kathryn Janeway.
At this point I was holding my breath, because I knew my kids hadn’t picked up on Janeway’s failed attempt to duplicate her program. They found out along with the Protostar crew of her sacrifice. “Janeway’s really dead?!” asked my daughter incredulously.
The surprise had impact for them, just as Janeway’s message to the crew had impact for me. It was a love letter from a parent to her children, explaining that her sacrifice was for them, so that they can fulfill their potential. By the time she told them to ‘go boldly,’ I was openly weeping.
We find out Holo Janeway left a legacy for herself beyond her crew when we pick up the story a month later, at a debrief at Starfleet headquarters. Holo Janeway’s last act was to recreate the conditions of the original wormhole that sent Chakotay and the Protostar into the future — the anomaly that sent them into the hands of the Diviner and Asencia.
Through this new wormhole, they were able to pick up Chakotay’s last distress signal. Starfleet will send an exploratory ship through the wormhole and Admiral Janeway says she wants to be on it — so thank you, Holo-Janeway, for an incredibly interesting mission for Season 2.
Starfleet holds a tribunal listing the various charges against our Protostar crew, and in a classic Star Trek courtroom moment, the real Admiral Janeway defends them in an impassioned plea to the board of officials running the show. They drop all charges, but do not allow them fast-tracked entry to Starfleet Academy.
This seems realistic. and the solution to allow them to become “warrant officers in training” — enlisted personnel, not officers — under the command of Admiral Janeway is a pretty artful way to get them all on a ship with her next season.
Gwyn, however, doesn’t stick around for Starfleet duty, choosing instead to go to present-day Solum to see if she can help prevent the coming civil war that will occur when Starfleet eventually makes their first contact with her people. Hopefully, that’s a great start to her Season 2 story, and not a goodbye to the character.
Solum is a planet who has yet to experience first contact at this point in the timeline, which means there are a lot of interesting questions to answer about how to delicately handle going there. Gwyn is the perfect person for this job, and her new nickname — “The Unifier” — is such an elegant counterpoint to “The Diviner” and “The Vindicator.” Her story is just as intriguing as the rest of the crew going off with Janeway to save Chatokay, and I hope we get to see it.
Gwyn and Dal have a touching goodbye scene, reflecting on how far they both have come since “Lost and Found” — and share a moment and a very sweet kiss that almost makes up for last week’s misstep. We get to see Rok-Tahk and Jankom working on their respective disciplines with real Starfleet scientists and engineers. Zero gets a new body, and its not my favorite design — it has all the warmth and individuality of an Apple product — but they seem so happy so I’m happy for them.
We even get to see a shiny new starship in the formally-created Protostar-class design, and Janeway cryptically remarks that she has something bigger for them in mind for the coming mission to rescue Chakotay — another big tease for next year’s story.
OBSERVATION LOUNGE
In what is sure to be a massively-anticipated starship reveal next season, the rescue shuttle which lifted Dal and the gang out of their crashed escape shuttle reads NCC-74656-A, which is the registry of what can only be a successor to the Intrepid-class USS Voyager.
In what may be an homage to the HMS Bounty’s crash-landing in Star Trek VI: The Voyage Home, the Protostar escape shuttle splashes down in the San Francisco Bay.
I was relieved to see the Protostar crew make it to Starfleet Command back on Earth, something unfortunately missing from Voyager’s return home in “Endgame.”
While we’ve seen Star Trek’s version of future-Earth many times, this was the first my kids have seen of our home from the 24th century perspective, and they were riveted by the presentation.
The anomaly which sent Chakotay and the Protostar 52 years into an alternate future is called an interspatial flexture — the same kind of wormhole Brenari refugees used to escape Devore space in “Counterpoint.”
The Living Construct battle destroyed (or nearly destroyed) several Starfleet vessels, but there’s no sign of the USS Defiant in the debris field seen in the beginning of the episode — hopefully that tough little ship made it out of the area in one piece.
Assuming Dal and company make it to the future where Chakotay currently resides, depending on when they get there, they may find the original Protostar — and original Hologram Janeway — still on Solum, not yet sent back in time with the Living Construct aboard.
Holo Janeway’s final act, blazing a trail to find Chakotay, reminded me of Kes’ transformation in “The Gift,” sending Voyager nearly 10 years closer to home as she ascended into a being of pure energy.
Like its appearance in Star Trek: Discovery and Star Trek: Picard in recent years, the Golden Gate Bridge is covered in solar panels here in its Prodigy depection.
The admiralty tribunal panel wear yet another new variation on the Starfleet uniform, as do Dal, Rok-Tahk, and Jankom Pog after they’ve been accepted into the service.
Despite the destruction of the USS Protostar, the successful flight of that prototype has led Starfleet to officially classify the Protostar-class design for active duty — meaning we may see more ships with protowarp engines in upcoming seasons of Prodigy, or other shows in the Star Trek universe set after the mid-2380s.
As Rok-Tahk enters the Starfleet science lab, an Enterprizian (from “All the World’s a Stage”) can be seen at a computer console.
The Starfleet scientist who invites Rok to become a Xenobiologist is modeled after Star Trek science consultant Dr. Erin Macdonald — who also voices the character in a fun cameo.
Our Protostar crew isn’t all grown up yet, but they have all come so far. It feels like this season was their backstory, and just a prologue to their coming Starfleet journeys. No longer alone, they found a place where they belong: that’s what Star Trek is all about.
Living aboard a more traditional starship run through their eyes next season — and watching them grow even more in their new-found home — should be as satisfying as the end to this first chapter.
Star Trek: Prodigy has delivered a season of television that has transcended its moniker of “kid’s cartoon,” while also maintaining everything great about that genre. I’m very much looking forward to seeing how that translates next season, as Dal and the gang “go boldly” into their next great adventure.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 is expected to air sometime in late 2023.
In addition, stick around to hear Ron’s theory about the future of official live Star Trek events — and what may happen to the Star Trek Cruise after this year’s sailing — and Alex’s theory that we’ll learn about when a second modern Star Trek series (following Picard) may conclude sometime in 2023.
WeeklyTrek is available to subscribe and download each week on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, YouTube, and Spotify— and we’ll be sharing the details of each new episode right here on TrekCore each week if you’re simply just looking to listen in from the web.
Do you have a wish or theory you’d like to share on the show? Tweet to Alex at @WeeklyTrek, or email us with your thoughts about wishes, theories, or anything else about the latest in Star Trek news!
Star Trek: Prodigy returns this Thursday to close out its 20-episode first season, and here’s a first look at images from “Supernova, Part 2” for your review!
After the Living Construct aboard the Protostar began to turn Starfleet’s mighty armada against itself — with more Federation ships joining the self-destructive fight each passing minute — Dal and the gang must find a way to shut down the Vau N’Kat weapon before it’s too late.
Here are six images from this week’s season finale:
SUPERNOVA, PART 2 — As the Federation hangs in the balance, the crew must make the ultimate sacrifice to save Starfleet’s future.
Written by Kevin & Dan Hageman. Directed by Ben Hibon.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 concludes with “Supernova, Part 2” on Thursday, December 29 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on December 30 in Latin America, Australia, Italy and the U.K. and other territories.
Star Trek: Prodigy begins its two-part season finale with “Supernova, Part 1,” a thrilling installment that has our heroes seeming to exhausting every last option to save themselves — and Starfleet — from annihilation from the Vau N’Akat weapon. Prodigy is almost indistinguishable from live action Trek here, as this episode has all the hallmarks of a great year-ending climax.
The action, the villain, the writing, the direction, and the starships(!) all transcend what you would expect from an all-ages animated program. It’s an incredibly successful cliffhanger, leaving you wondering where the Prodigy story can possibly go from here.
No time to ease into things, we start the episode with Admiral Janeway in the Dauntless brig while the Protostar is surrounded by Federation ships. Admiral Jellico is back on the Dauntless viewscreen, he’s furious about the Protostar being in Federation space. It’s almost a comforting presence to have someone connected to the greater Trek universe here — even someone I love to hate, like Jellico.
It grounds the episode in the reality that they are close to “our” part of the universe, and really ups the danger quotient. It’s also great that he ends up being wrong, as he approves Asencia’s plan to disrupt the Protostar’s shields and board the ship.
Admiral Jellico. (Paramount+)
The crew’s practicing in the holodeck has paid off as they perform like any good Starfleet crew — doing things like rerouting power to the shields and taking evasive maneuvers. Dal and Zero take advantage of the Protostar’s small size and weave around the bigger ships, avoiding fire and correcting course as necessary. It’s great to be at this point with these characters, and it feels like they really earned it over these last 18 episodes.
More than ever they seem like true Starfeet material — and it doesn’t seem so far fetched when Dal talks about them “laughing about it one day at Starfleet Academy.” Knowing about the Augment ban, however, his words are an effective punch to the gut as Rok wants to tell Dal that future isn’t possible, when Gwyn stops her: it’s not the right moment.
We don’t have to wait long for that shoe to drop, however. When their shields drop and Gwyn finds herself alone with Dal in the armory, the takes that moment to tell him about the Augment ban. Unfortunately, what could have just remained a sweet moment of compassion is ruined by having Dal misconstrue the situation and kiss Gwyn — uninvited — full on the lips.
Gwyn is surprised, and asks him what he’s doing; Dal immediately apologizes, but its still a real disappointment. Dal thought they were “having a moment,” which they were… just not a physical one.
Dal immediately regrets his impulsiveness. (Paramount+)
Gwyn wanting to break the news to him herself alone is intimate and loving, and I can see why it might have stirred Dal’s feelings, but that is why you ask first. With Gwyn and Dal, Prodigy had a real opportunity to model positive consent in their first kiss.
I had been looking forward to a cute, awkward moment between the two when it finally happened. Instead, I had to use it as a teachable moment for my kids and remind them that you never kiss anyone without their permission. (That’s not something I thought would come up watching this, of all shows.)
On a positive note, we get a completely unexpected, touching moment while Janeway is in the brig. The Dauntless ensign guarding her simply lets her out, and her explanation why is a wonderful deep-cut reveal. The ensign is Brenari, and as a child was one of the refugees Janeway smuggled out of Devore space in “Counterpoint” — one of Janeway’s finest moments. The “Counterpoint” reference is welcome, yet surprising, and I was equal parts delighted at a favorite episode being referenced this way and taken aback by the seemingly randomness of it — which is completely the point.
One of Prodigy’s themes is that if you put good out into the world, than good might find you back when you most need it. We saw it last week when Janeway’s kindness inspired even The Diviner to help her and we see this theme again in a big way at the end of this episode. This seemingly random encounter actually ties the theme together nicely.
Janeway gets help from an unexpected source. (Paramount+)
Meanwhile, the Vindicator has given up her Asencia persona, revealing herself in the Dauntless transporter room. She’s all business as she incapacitates two officers and gives an evil little grin as Drednok takes out the third. Jameela Jamil’s delicious performance lends an air of sinister finesse to the Vindicator, calling to mind performances of other classic Trek villains — Khan and Nero in particular— as larger than life characters with pure revenge on their minds.
The scenes on the Protostar really showcase what a fantastic villain the Vindicator is. Singularly focused on her mission, she locks the Diviner in with the Living Construct, and tries to take out Gwyn — her only remaining obstacle. The Vindicator is a perfect counterpart to Gwyn, and their fight is as fascinating visually as it is psychologically. Both fight with a version of Gwyn’s fretwork, with Gwyn’s youth and the Vindicator’s experience giving each one Vau N’Akat an advantage.
Once again, Prodigy takes full advantage of the idea of this unique item, as we see it morph into different shapes throughout the fight. At one point, Gwyn manages to land a blow, giving the Vindicator a long scar across one eye — adding a wonderfully gritty detail to the design of the character, hopefully to be seen again in a future season.
The Diviner faces a choice. (Paramount+)
Eventually the Vindicator overpowers Gwyn, and uses her as a hostage to control the Diviner. He uses his mind to send the fretwork screaming towards the Vindicator’s face, and she nimbly catches it, sending it careening straight into his abdomen.
It’s the last minute act of a father trying to protect his daughter, and if I didn’t witness him abandon her to die on murder planet back in “Terror Firma,” I might even find it heartwarming. As it is, his death is not a mournful one for me, but one that might give Gwyn some comfort in her grief at least. Him dissipating into a fizz of blue energy was really unexpected, and leaves me wondering if he somehow imbued Gwyn with some of his power as it touched her.
Outside the bridge, Drednok is keeping the other members of the Protostar crew occupied in another exciting fight sequence. Drednok “bugs out” again with extra limbs like we saw back in “Lost and Found” — as far as killer robots go, it’s one really cool and threatening design. He incapacitates Jankom and Rok with a gravity mine, and Zero with some kind of energy disruptor. It’s very realistic that the crew is no match for the killer bot, but very Starfleet that they try anyway.
Murf, our cute little security officer comes closest, distracting Drednok from choking Dal with some crazy moves of his own before Drednok freezes him to the wall and cuffs Dal to the wall by his neck. They couldn’t have done a better job of making it seem hopeless for our crew — I almost wondered if time travel was going to be involved to walk it back.
But luckily, the Brikar has brains, and sets into motion a Rube Goldberg-esque sequence where Rok uses Jankom’s multi-mitt torch to melt the frosty Murf, Murf frees Zero from the energy disrupter, Zero frees Dal, and Dal knocks away the gravity mine with his restraint. It’s such a lovely moment of teamwork and togetherness for our crew.
Drednok scores a temporary win. (Paramount+)
They make it to the bridge… but not before the Vindicator deploys the Living Construct weapon against the Federation fleet, grinning manically as her plan comes to fruition. Time for one more spectacular villain moment: the crew sets her up with a classic “You’ll pay for this,” and her delivery of “Maybe. But not today!” is an all-time line reading. Drednok ups his transformer cred by turning into an escape pod.
The Vindicator doesn’t even turn around — she just nonchalantly steps back into it, grins again, and blasts straight out of the top of the Protostar, breaching the hull. What an exit. What a villain. (More, more, more of her, please!)
How this episode is only 20+ minutes long is baffling, because there’s somehow still time for one last moment of excitement and emotion as the universal translators break as part of the deployment of the Living Construct. It’s a lovely callback to the beginning of “Lost and Found” when no one on Tars Lamora could understand each other.
Dal and Janeway work together — it’s great to see — to come up with a plan of asking ships with non-Federation signatures to help. It’s Gwyn’s time to shine, as she can speak the languages. She gives an impassioned plea for assistance to a nearby Klingon captain.
Gwyn pleads for help. (Paramount+)
My cold, cynical Grinch heart does not believe this would have worked, but it doesn’t matter – my kids watching people help each other is what matters. The whole over-arching theme of why Starfleet is important matters.
Doing your best to help people when you can, and them helping you when they can, is something I want to believe in and want my kids to believe in. Seeing all those different ships helping was pretty powerful imagery of that, especially when the Klingon Bird of Prey steps between the Dauntless and a phaser blast at the last second which took my breath away. A really heartfelt moment.
The relief and joy is short-lived, however, as more Starfleet ships come too, in response to the automatic distress signals being sent out by the infected ships. They will keep coming, until the entirety of Starfleet will eventually be infected. The word ‘annihilation’ is used, and it’s hard to see how Dal and the gang will get out of this one — and how Starfleet and the Federation will avoid total destruction.
Now that’s how you set up a season finale!
Not great. (Paramount+)
OBSERVATION LOUNGE
When Janeway is in the brig, she uses the phrase “Blink of an Eye,”which happens to be the title of one of the best episodes of Star Trek: Voyager.
“The Slippery Dipsy-Doodle” may not work so well as the name for a starship flight maneuver, but it would be a great name for a Prodigy-themed beverage or ice cream sundae!
The Protostar armory is stocked with multiple sizes of phaser rifles, along with the hand phasers introduced earlier this season.
The massive transporter room aboard the Dauntless is houses a huge control station that seems like it would need two officers to properly manage.
The transporter room aboard the USS Dauntless. (Paramount+)
Both the Vau Nu’kat fretwork and Drednok technologies get great moments in this episode, and it’s such a terrific detail that both transforming technologies originate on the same planet.
Language buffs are fed well, as we hear snippets of Klingon, Tellarite, Brikar, and Andorian languages.
Klingon Captain Trij is played by Debra Wilson, the former MADtv star who lent her voice to marooned Starfleet captain Lisa Cusak in Deep Space Nine’s“The Sound of Her Voice.”
From top: the USS Centaur, the USS Thunderchild, and the USS Sovereign. (Paramount+)
A few starships duplicate the legible ship registries — there are at least two USS Sovereigns — likely due to animation production time constraints; digital models like the Sovereign design are missing the red impulse engine grilles in the back of its saucer section.
Several alien vessels come to Starfleet’s aid, including multiple Klingon Birds of Prey, civilian-controlled Vulcan Suurak-class ring ships, a Gorn trading vessel, an old Petarian bulk freighter, a D’Kora-class Ferengi marauder and a Tellarite freighter.
Of course we can’t ignore the appearance of the Defiant-class USS Defiant (NX-74205), the hero starship assigned to starbase Deep Space 9! Last seen in 1999’s “What You Leave Behind,” this is the first appearance of the starship Defiant in modern Trek, as the ship was not docked at DS9 when the Cerritos visited in “Hear All, Trust Nothing.”
(Star Trek: Prodigy is set in 2384, which means the second Defiant has remained in service for at least nine years — “What You Leave Behind” takes place in 2375.)
Still a tough little ship. (Paramount+)
“Supernova, Part 1” is emotional, exciting, and everything you could want from the start of a season finale. It also manages to drive home the very heart of the show: found family, belonging, and helping others, with enough good feelings to revel in for a week even though everyone is in danger still. That’s a problem for next week’s conclusion!
Star Trek: Prodigy will conclude its first season with “Supernova, Part 2” on Thursday, December 29 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on December 30 in Paramount+ international territories. Prodigy Season 2 is expected to air sometime in late 2023.
Tomorrow brings the penultimate episode of Star Trek: Prodigy‘s lengthy first season, and today we’ve got an exclusive first look at a clip from “Supernova, Part 1” — where the young crew of the USS Protostar has to evade Admiral Janeway’s Dauntless while surrounded by a mighty Federation armada.
Dal and the gang finally made it to Federation territory in last week’s “Mindwalk,”only to find the last thing they wanted — a fleet of Starfleet vessels unknowingly within range of the dangerous Living Construct weapon aboard the Protostar, ready and waiting to infect the starships.
First contact with Starfleet’s armada in “Mindwalk.” (Paramount+)
With Akira,Sovereign, Defiant, and Centaur-class ships circling them, the Protostar must outrun the Dauntless and the other vessels’ weapons — while Gwyn and Rok-Tahk must keep Dal from finding out that genetically-modified Augments like himself can’t join Starfleet service.
Check out this exclusive clip from “Supernova, Part 1” below:
In addition to this new clip, which for the first time illustrates the size disparity between the Protostar and those other well-known Starfleet designs — including the USS Centaur (NCC-42043) itself — we have several new images from this week’s episode to share.
STAR TREK: PRODIGY — 'Supernova, Part 1'
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SUPERNOVA, PART 1 — Surrounded by the Federation armada, the crew attempts to stop their ship from destroying all of Starfleet.
Written by Erin McNamara. Directed by Andrew L. Schmidt.
Star Trek: Prodigy will return with “Supernova, Part 1” on Thursday, December 22 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on December 23 in Paramount+ international territories.
Nine months after its 13-episode run concluded, Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 arrives on Blu-ray with a collection of new behind-the-scenes special features, illustrating the difficult task of bringing the show back into production during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Available now on DVD, on Blu-ray, and in special Blu-ray Steelbook packaging — as with the previous three years — Season 4 is a four-disc collection which includes 105 minutes of supplemental features spread across four documentaries, a gag reel, and a collection of deleted scenes, and an audio commentary track on “Coming Home,” the season finale.
President Rillak (Chelah Horsdal) and Captain Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green). (CBS Home Entertainment)
Season 4 follows Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) and the USS Discovery crew — including first officer Saru (Doug Jones), Dr. Hugh Culber (Wilson Cruz), Commander Paul Stamets (Anthony Rapp), newly-promoted Lieutenant Sylvia Tilly (Mary Wiseman), and Ensign Adira Tal (Blu del Barrio) — as they race to stop a dangerous anomaly which destroyed the homeworld of Cleveland “Book” Booker (David Ajala) and threatens the entire galaxy.
The season also includes recurring characters like Federation President Laira Rillak (Chelah Horsdal), Fleet Admiral Charles Vance (Oded Fehr), Grey Tal (Ian Alexander), renegade scientist Ruon Tarka (Shawn Doyle), the still-mysterious Dr. Kovich (David Cronenberg), United Earth’s General Ndoye (Phumzile Sitole), and Ni’Var leader President T’Rina (Tara Rosling).
Our edition of choice is of course the lovely Steelbook edition, which features striking art of Captain Burnham on the glossy exterior, and a moment from Saru’s return to Starfleet duty on the interior. The standard Blu-ray edition contains the same discs of course, but for our tastes the four years of Steelbooks look much better on our shelf.
The standard Blu-ray edition this season does not include a slipcover on the US release, which we know is a disappointment to some Blu-ray collectors who value such things; we have confirmed the UK release includes a slipcover, however, so this seems to be a regional variation.
I am a person who loves extra features, and if streaming services had an add-on tier that included audio commentaries I would gladly pay a few extra bucks a month for it. So I’m pleased that Paramount continues to produce additional content for its physical media releases — and frankly, I’m please that Paramount is still releasing physical media at all!
A Trill zhian’tara ritual cut from “Choose to Live.” (CBS Home Entertainment)
The four Deleted Scenes (4:05) are interesting, but it’s also pretty apparent that their episodes wouldn’t (and don’t) suffer from their omission. A cut moment from “Choose to Live” does offer some interesting insight into how the actors ‘use’ the computer’s holo-interface while shooting a scene — they literally just poke and twist and swipe at empty air, which makes the final seamless effect all the more impressive.
There is also a nice, 90-second sequence from “Choose to Live” which would have been nice to include in the original episode — showing the full Trill zhian’tara ceremony — but it would have slowed down the pace of the adventurous story (and probably raised too many questions about how a hologram could perform a mental transference). It’s good to include here for completists, though.
Another short cut from “The Examples” features Stamets and Saru discussing the failed DMA-replication experiment, as the scientist apologies for not listening to Saru’s order to shut things down. Finally, a very quick insert shot of Detmer having her eye implant calibrated in sickbay — the loss of this scene isn’t materially significant, but given how little we know about or even acknowledge her cybernetics after four whole seasons, this cut moment from “Rosetta” would have been nice to keep just for that.
Doug Jones goofs off on the ‘Discovery’ set. (CBS Home Entertainment)The Season 4 Gag Reel (2:46) is surprisingly short, and is unfortunately also rather sterile. Gag reels are a fun chance to see the cast and crew goofing around, blowing a line, and keeping each other entertained between takes — and while this one is all that, it never really feels candid to me. People flub their lines, everyone smiles and laughs politely, and Doug Jones says things like “Good gosh.” It’s all very… restrained.
Wilson Cruz, Jones, and Anthony Rapp in masks between scenes. (CBS Home Entertainment)
However, this restraint is almost certainly a result of the intensive COVID prevention protocols in place on set which are explored in detail in The Toll It Took (11:50). This feature, in which the cast and crew discuss the physical, mental, and emotional tolls of filming a show in the middle of a global pandemic is undoubtedly important, and a presentation that will likely become even more significant as time goes on.
It’s a great time capsule of a peculiar — but very significant — element of film and television production in the early 2020s. That said, the folks who are interviewed are so uniformly somber about the whole experience that by the end I found myself feeling bad about being a viewer of the final product of their efforts. It was almost as if the interviewees were saying, “Thank you for watching me sing and dance, and here are all the ways performing for your entertainment hurt me.” Yikes.
Martin-Green and guest star Stacey Abrams on the set of “Coming Home.” (CBS Home Entertainment)
The Voyage of Season 4 (52:24), the longest of the features, is the exploration of Discovery’s latest season and what it all meant to the characters, producers, and performers — including “President of Earth” guest star Stacy Abrams. There are some interesting moments (Ian Alexander wears some incredible earrings) and the discussion of T’Rina and Saru’s budding courtship is nice.
Tara Rosling and Doug Jones are as pleased about their characters quietly and respectfully getting together as I am. Overall though, not much about this feature will come as a revelation to anyone who watched the season and witnessed the stories, themes, and character growth for themselves.
Martin-Green gives a tour of Burnham’s new quarters. (CBS Home Entertainment)
Being Michael Burnham: The Captain’s Log (14:21) is a contemplative look at the ways Sonequa Martin-Green’s personal and emotional journey to where she is today has mirrored Burnham’s journey to the captain’s chair, and is sprinkled throughout with candid recordings Martin-Green made during the season’s filming.
Seeing and understanding the actor’s experiences and perspectives on race, emotional vulnerability, motherhood and responsibility, and grief — including discussions around having a new baby just ahead of Season 4 production, and the loss of both her parents in 2020 — adds extra dimension to her already powerful performance as Burnham.
The casts reviews the script on the AR wall production set. (CBS Home Entertainment)
Creating Space (19:36) is a very thorough look at how the AR wall functions — a new addition to Discovery production for Season 4 — and how both its limitations and the opportunities it creates touch nearly all aspects of production. The production crew is rightfully proud of their big new toy, and it’s nice that they’ve been given the opportunity to show it off.
Beyond the logistical and technical discussions about how exactly the wrap-around projection and camera tracking system (which the crew appropriately calls ‘the holodeck’) is used, we learn about the impact that minimizing traditional green-screen VFX shots has on everything from the number of takes that are needed to film a single scene, to opening up the writing process to include more exotic location shots that can now be filmed much more affordably.
‘Discovery’ executive producer/showrunner Michelle Paradise. (CBS Home Entertainment)
Finally, the “Coming Home” Audio Commentary is a lively discussion between executive producer/showrunner Michelle Paradise, executive producer/director Olatunde Osunsanmi, and actors Sonequa Martin-Green and David Ajala. As I mentioned, I am an enjoyer of audio commentaries and have watched/listened to a lot of them, and I know that sometimes commentaries can be sparse in relevant detail — not so here, though!
All four of the participants seem thoroughly interested in being there, and there’s very little downtime in the discussion. While “Coming Home” isn’t going to earn a place in the Star Trek commentary hall of fame (nothing will top the infamously fun and funny Frakes/Sirtis Star Trek: Insurrection track), this one is engaging and certainly worth a listen.
Doug Jones wears both Saru prosthetics and a complicated spacesuit in “Rosetta.” (CBS Home Entertainment)
With the still-challenging efforts to view Star Trek: Discovery in many regions since the show departed Netflix in late 2021, bringing home Season 4 on Blu-ray may be the easiest way to catch up on the show for those who can’t yet access Paramount+.
The discs are region-free and can be viewed on Blu-ray players around the world without issue, so if you’ve been missing out, any version of the retail release will work for you if imported to your country.
Even if you’re a loyal Paramount+ subscriber, the additional bonus content is enough of a reason to add Star Trek: Discovery Season 4 to your home collection, especially for the focus on COVID production and the detailed look into AR wall technology — and of course, in these tumultuous days of streaming uncertainty, knowing you permanently own the season is always nice, too.
Burnham and Book (David Ajala) share a final moment before he departs Discovery. (CBS Home Entertainment)
Star Trek: Discovery’s fifth season will return sometime in 2023 on Paramount+ in the United States and several international territories, and on CTV Sci Fi Channel and Crave in Canada.
