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Interview — STAR TREK: PRODIGY’s Julie and Shawna Benson on “Mindwalk” and Bringing Two Janeways Together

Jim Moorhouse
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Interview — STAR TREK: PRODIGY’s Julie and Shawna Benson on “Mindwalk” and Bringing Two Janeways Together

This week’s Star Trek: Prodigy outing finally bridged the gap between Dal’s Prototar crew and Admiral Janeway’s pursuing USS Dauntless — but not in the way anyone expected, as the two starship commanders swapped bodies in a hilarious and heartwarming telepathic mixup.
 
We spoke to the writers of the latest Prodigy episode — sister writing partners Julie and Shawna Benson — about their most recent tale, and what it took to bring the “Mindwalk” story to life.
 

TREKCORE: How challenging was all that to get your heads around all the storypoints in play as “Mindwalk” began — the Dauntless vs. the Protostar, Asencia and the Diviner, and Janeway’s incapacitation?

JULIE BENSON: It’s a big episode, isn’t it? We get to turn over a lot of cards in this episode, so that was fun.

SHAWNA BENSON: We wanted to have that episode where you saw the backstory of these characters, and you get to this place where your like, “Oh, my gosh. What’s going to happen to Admiral Janeway?” — and then we take you to what’s happening on the Protostar during those events in “Ghost in the Machine” — and now those events have caught up to the present. So, for us it was figuring out how to get it all to meet at the same place so that we could then do this episode and tell this story.

TREKCORE: Where the did the inspiration for the body swap come from? It’s something seen quite rarely in Star Trek.

JULIE: We are just big fans of body swap movies; the Freaky Friday thing is such a trope. In the writers room, we came up with a list of some Star Trek tropes — to see what we could ground certain stories around — and this was on the board. When we realized we had no way for the Protostar crew to communicate with Janeway — and the story got to a point where we absolutely had to have the Admiral learn about the weapon — this was sort of the way to do it.

SHAWNA: Even though it wasn’t a specific Trek trope, it definitely fell into a sci-fi trope. Julie and I were big fans of Quantum Leap back in the day, so we knew there had to be a way to just have this be kind of fun, too. You know — kids are our primary audience, but we want to make sure that everyone remembers that although there is some heavy, serious stuff happening, there is lightness to this show, just like any other Star Trek series, honestly.

It also became one of those things that definitely made even more sense after we explored Dal’s backstory in “Masquerade.” Once we sort of knew what Dal was, we suddenly had an open where somebody could say, “Wait a minute — I think I know how we can do this.”

TREKCORE: And you tapped in the Organians for that.

SHAWNA: That was definitely a little bit of a deeper cut, because we also established that Dal has Vulcan DNA in his genetic makeup, so it wasn’t the only thing to leverage — but  Organian really made sense so we said, “Let’s go with that.”

JULIE: And getting to see Kate and Brett — they nailed each other’s vocalizations and delivery so well.

SHAWNA: They were incredible. Amazing.

TREKCORE: Did you give the actors any performance notes, or did they work out all of that on their own?

JULIE: We were quarantined during the pandemic, so all of the recording happened without us — but I did ask Kevin Hageman when I saw him at the Emmys last weekend to confirm a suspicion we had: Brett recorded Dal-in-Janeway’s lines, and Kate apparently recorded Janeway-in-Dal’s lines, so the two were able to hear how the other would deliver the dialogue. That gave them something to work from, which I think is incredibly insightful.

Even if they hadn’t, I think they would have nailed those characters having lived with them this long — but oh my gosh, we were blown away by the final result.

SHAWNA: There’s like four different versions of Janeway that Kate has to play in this episode: Holo-Janeway, Admiral Janeway, Dal-in-Janeway being himself, and Dal trying to BE Admiral Janeway in front of the Dauntless crew — so she really gets to stretch.

We were a little worried. We weren’t sure how she was going to feel about it, but we talked to her at last year’s Star Trek Day event and she seemed so happy with how it all turned out — she got to let her hair down a little bit.

JULIE: I think she got to have a lot of fun.

TREKCORE: How did you put together that lovely discussion between Admiral Janeway and the Janeway hologram? At one point, I think there’s even a moment where you can see three Janeways on screen at the same time…

JULIE: We really wanted it to be a heartfelt scene, where we had to immediately get it across that holo-Janeway would recognize that Dal is telling the truth — and that the real Admiral is inside of him. We just did a lot of research and tried to go back into our own memory banks — since we’d already mentioned her dog Molly in a previous episode, we thought we’d have her talk about her sister and talk about painting, and getting that across really quick. We wrote it as the camera transitions so we finally see them as their true selves, but the animators did it better than we could have ever written.

SHAWNA: There are definitely a lot of great visual interpretations the animators did with that. The way that we had talked about it, the two Janeways would be watching the record of what happened to Chakotay and his crew.

Once Admiral Janeway was on board, we’d have her use admiral command codes which would supersede anything the Vau N’Akat had done. Because holo-Janeway has no access, even Dal’s command code wouldn’t work, so you get to the major override that allows them to see what the true record was.

So when we did that, we were just going to do it on a flat screen in our heads — as we forgot that there are holo-emitters all over this ship [laughs] — so the animators did this in a holographic way…

JULIE: …so you end up with all three of them on camera, which is insane.

TREKCORE: The moment where Dal says, “I’d do anything for Gwyn, too,” is really powerful moment. Can you talk about what the Diviner’s motivation was in letting Janeway free? What state of mind is he in in contrast with Asencia, and how did you make the decision to have him do that?

JULIE: Right now, he’s spent a lot of time aboard the Dauntless, and around Janeway’s crew — Starfleet is very influential and very inspiring. I think he has been seeing the good that they can do, but still has his mission. It’s still very important to him, but here I think it’s a bit of an “I owe you one” act.

SHAWNA: He’s seeing the world through a new filter. He doesn’t have his memory, so he’s not seeing it through the point of view he had — back when all he could see was the terrible aftereffect of Starfleet coming. So now he is sort of seeing the good all around him. And even though Asencia tells him everything, there is still this doubt: “I’ve seen this with my own eyes now, so I don’t know how to feel.”

He wants to do his mission, but he also wants to do right by Janeway. So that is where we came to in the story, with him empathizing, at least, with her plight and wanting to help her.

JULIE: It’s the best thing we learned from working on a show like The 100 before Prodigy, where everything on that series was a shade of grey. Every villain and every hero had to be in the grey, and you had to make the best worst decision out of all the bad decisions you have.

SHAWNA: But for the Diviner, his daughter is the key component. Gwyn is basically the only memory he has been able to retain, and her coming back to him in a way and remembering how important she is to him — but seeing it again through a new lens.

She is not important to him because she has a purpose, she’s important to him because she’s his daughter — and that’s the other switch we made: he stops calling her ‘progeny’ and he starts calling her ‘daughter.’

JULIE: I don’t know if anyone noticed that!

SHAWNA: It was a subtle clue to show that his relationship with her has really changed at this point.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Star Trek: Prodigy will return with “Supernova, Part 1” on Thursday, December 22 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on December 23 in Latin America, Australia, Italy, the UK, and additional territories.

STAR TREK: PRODIGY Review — “Mindwalk”

Jenn Tifft, Senior Warp Core Inspector
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STAR TREK: PRODIGY Review — “Mindwalk”

Every once in a while an episode of television airs that — as you are watching it — you know it’s special, and is going to become a favorite. Such is it with this week’s brilliant “Mindwalk,” an exciting, hilarious, smart and poignant episode which both sets up the coming two-part Star Trek: Prodigy season finale, but also completely stands on its own.
 
It’s also just pure off-the-walls bonkers Trek in the absolute best way possible, and watching it with my children was one of the best experiences I’ve had watching television with them. An instant classic in my book!
 
After a two-episode respite, it’s time for things to really start moving before the two-part season finale. “Mindwalk” really comes to play, setting up for the finale in a clever way: aligning our Protostar crew and Admiral Janeway so they can focus on the shared goal of defeating the Living Construct. It’s also a vehicle to showcase the deep talents of both Brett Gray and the legendary Kate Mulgrew, and getting there is an absolute joy.
 

With the crew locked out of the controls, the Protostar leaves the Neutral Zone and comes face-to-face with the Dauntless. Right away the tone and the physicality of the humor in this episode is set, as Dr. Noum sees them out a window and does a double-take as Murf blows raspberries at him. This episode manages a perfect balance between irreverent, physical comedy and the seriousness of the situation — and walks that tightrope throughout, keeping you laughing and at the edge of your seat the whole time.

There’s also plenty of great classic Star Trek techno-goodness, as the Protostar jumps to warp… in order to not lose them, the Dauntless merges their warp bubbles together. A very cool piece of Trek physics, it’s great that those things are still included in the ‘kids’ show. Prodigy never forgets either audience, as Zero looks at a panel and there’s a really well-designed graphic that pictures exactly what it means to ‘merge warp bubbles,’ which is helpful for younger viewers to understand what happened.

It’s in the duel warp bubble, with the Dauntless firing phasers at the Protostar, when Zero suggests they take advantage of Dal’s newly discovered blended-with-aliens DNA to try and reach Admiral Janeway telepathically to try to explain the situation. It’s while trying to establish this connection that Dal and Janeway swap neural patterns.

A lot of strange things happen in Star Trek — sometimes the “scientific” explanation for them is better than others — but I have to say that I completely buy into the explanation here enough to roll with it (especially since the combination of the phaser burst occurring at the same time as the attempted mind-link then plays into the solution of swapping Dal and Janeway’s minds back at the end of the episode).

The whole conceit is well crafted and thought out, with a “connected by energy beams” explanation simple enough for young fans to understand. My kids were definitely rolling with it as well. The mind swap itself is such a fun concept, and it’s executed absolutely perfectly here.

The animation of the way the characters move and express themselves is fully immersed in the idea of the swap. Under Janeway’s control, Dal’s skull ganglia waves majestically as if in the wind, and his body stands taller, with the authority and posture of the Admiral’s mind within.

Under Dal’s control, Admiral Janeway’s body moves like the frantic teenage mind inside. The physical comedy in seeing “Janeway” run around manically, face panicked — even giving officers it’s-all-good finger guns — was just pulled off beautifully.

But the absolute MVPs of the episode are Brett Gray and Kate Mulgrew, whose performances as each other are so spot on that there’s not a single moment of confusion, not a single moment of doubt of who is who at any giving time — even for the youngest viewers. Brett Gray is almost regal as he takes charge on the bridge as Admiral Janeway. He says “How do we fix this? Ideas!” and you can almost hear it in Mulgrew’s voice, as if she was around the conference table on Voyager.

Kate Mulgrew plays the swap in a way we’ve never seen Janeway before, and it’s incredibly satisfying to watch her let loose here. She has the cadence of Brett Gray’s deliveries down pat, and hearing these words she would never say coming out of Janeway’s mouth is so much fun to watch. She never exaggerates, it never feels like a farce, it feels straight up like Dal. It’s truly an incredible performance.

My kids were in hysterics watching Mulgrew’s performance as a freaked out Dal in Janeway’s body. I wish I could bottle the sound of the absolute belly laughs that were coming from all of them. Mulgrew’s performance combined with the ridiculous — but very much in character for Dal — dialogue and the reactions of everyone else on the Dauntless all came together perfectly for maximum humor. “He’s not even trying!” one of my kids giggled, as they all laughed with sheer delight when Dal spit out the coffee. Truly some of the most fun I’ve ever had watching television with my kids. A really special sequence.

After the laughs, the episode doesn’t let up: it’s back to the Protostar, where we get a very heartfelt and cathartic scene between the real and holographic Janeways. They make the choice to show Admiral Janeway as herself, although she is still in Dal’s body, and it’s a choice I’m really glad they made as it made it easier to focus on the emotional impact of the scene instead of having to filter it through the visual of Dal. (My kids caught on fine to what was happening.)

Mulgrew has done a surperb job this season making Holo Janeway her own character, and seeing the two characters together really highlights her talent. Admiral Janeway mentoring Holo Janeway through her self-doubt, and being the one to purge the virus from her program  — rebooting her systems and restoring her deleted memories — was a really sweet moment for both characters. Watching them both watch the footage together of Chakotay being boarded as Holo Janeway reclaims her lost memories was heartbreaking.

The Protostar crew realizes that they have to recreate the connection in order to swap the two officers back, and they come up with the plan for the two to space walk outside the ships and touch hands. Another hilarious moment as they play charades through the windows to let Dal in on the plan. On the way to execute the plan, however, due to “Janeway’s” odd behavior, Dr. Noum uses his medical authority to send her to sickbay.

The suspense is real, watching Janeway — Dal, really — be incapacitated when she has somewhere very important to go.

Unexpectedly, it’s the Diviner himself who ends up freeing Janeway from sickbay. He appears conflicted as he explains that he is still on board with his original mission, but is confused by the kindness he has received from Janeway and the rest of Starfleet since they rescued him from Tars Lamora.

He makes a deal to free her, if she promises to watch out for Gwyn if he fails his mission. I am not interested in a redemption arc for someone who’s been so profoundly evil as the Diviner, but it works pretty well plot-wise for him to be the one to free her — if for no other reason then to hear Dal/”Janeway” deliver the great line, “You know, I get it… I’d do anything for Gwyn, too.”

Pure action excitement follows our two heroes outside the ships and towards each other. This scene has it all. The danger feels real, and as Dal loses his phaser, it burns up at the edge of the warp bubble — a very effective visual. There’s a great use of Murf’s abilities here, as he stretches for Admiral Janeway, acting as a tether between the two characters. A perfect moment of suspense as they almost reach each other and then a tractor beam pulls the Admiral’s body back towards the Dauntless. We were all at the edge of our seats!

Finally Janeway fires her phaser at Dal to make the connection, and they switch back. An exciting moment with a satisfying payoff. With everyone back where they belong, Dal explains that he’s not sure Janeway knowing the truth will be very helpful, because his actions caused the Dauntless crew to question her sanity and —  sure enough — we return to her body only to find the ally Admiral locked up in the brig.

Once again the Prodigy cliffhanger machine is operating on all cylinders, as the Protostar drops out of warp and into Federation space. They are surrounded by a fleet of Starfleet’s finest, with many familiar starship designs ready for battle. Now that’s how you set up for a season finale!

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

  • The mind-swap accident was blamed on Dal’s hybrid DNA, which apparently contains segments of Organian — we saw Organians inhabit the minds of Captain Archer’s Enterprise in “Observer Effect.”
  • We’ve seen ships merge warp bubbles before, like the memorable sequence from “Divergence” where Enterprise NX-01 and Columbia NX-02 must merge warp fields to rescue Captain Archer’s ship — that episode also featured a dangerous spacewalk, as Trip Tucker had to traverse the distance between the ships along a tether.
  • For the second time in 2022, Star Trek takes on the Freaky Friday-style body swap trope — following the Spock-T’Pring katra exchange in June’s “Spock Amok.” While we’ve seen plenty of other instances of bodies being inhabited by outside consciousnesses (or computer programs, like Voyager’s “Body and Soul”), the only true ‘body swap’ prior to 2022 was “Turnabout Intruder.”
  • We get to see a lot of the Dauntless interior this episode, with plenty of new panels and display screens for starship geeks to pour over.

  • This is not the first time Janeway has had a conversation with another version of herself — the discussion between Admiral Janeway and Hologram Janeway carried shades of the double-Janeway encounters from “Deadlock” and “Endgame.”
  • Admiral Janeway drops a surprising “Threshold” reference, sharing that she was once transformed into a salamander — the first time any member of Voyager’s crew has mentioned the incident since the events of that episode. (It’s time for these kids to learn that weird is part of the job!)
  • Though she’s mentioned her sister in passing — in episodes like “Sacred Ground” and “Coda” — this is the first time Kathryn Janeway’s sister Phoebe is named in dialogue. The name “Phoebe” was first introduced in Jeri Taylor’s 1996 Star Trek: Voyager novel Mosaic, and has been used in several post-Voyager tie-in novels since.
  • Janeway tells Rok-Tahk that she will make a great science officer one day is especially poignant, as Janeway was a science officer herself before taking her career to the command track.
  • As the Dauntless and Protostar drop out of warp, they encounter a Federation fleet comprised of several familiar designs, including Sovereign-class, Centaur-class, Akira-class, and Defiant-class starships.

“Mindwalk” is one of the best Star Trek episodes of the year. Prodigy is completely comfortable in its own skin here and does what it’s best at wholeheartedly and unapologetically. A great example of the magic this show has as being truly for everyone and just a super enjoyable and rewatchable episode of television. The finale has a lot to live up to!

Star Trek: Prodigy will return with “Supernova, Part 1” on Thursday, December 22 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on December 23 in Latin America, Australia, Italy, the UK, and additional territories.

STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS Lands on Blu-ray March 21

Ken Reilly
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STAR TREK: STRANGE NEW WORLDS Lands on Blu-ray March 21

The first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is headed to Blu-ray and DVD early next year, and we’ve got all the details on the just-announced release for you today!
 
Beaming down on Blu-ray, DVD, and a collectible Blu-ray Steelbook edition, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season One will arrive on physical media in North America on March 21, 2023. (Fans in the UK will get the set March 20, and in Australia on March 29).
 

STRANGE NEW WORLDS Season 1 Blu-ray and Steelbook packaging. (CBS Home Entertainment)

In addition to all ten episodes from Strange New Worlds’ first year, the three-disc set will also include these bonus features, noted as running more than 90 minutes, along with a commentary track on the series premiere episode.

  • PIKE’S PEAK — Anson Mount takes fans through his journey as Captain Christopher Pike in the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, providing a glimpse into his portrayal with intimate footage throughout the season.
  • WORLD BUILDING — Led by Production Designer Jonathan Lee and his team, the season’s production design utilized cutting-edge technology to create worlds prior to shoots, allowing the actors to fully immerse themselves into scenes rather than imagine the worlds around them in a green room. Through interviews with producers, cast and crew, fans will learn about the expertise involved in the development process and how the powerful technology was seamlessly integrated into the show.
  • EXPLORING NEW WORLDS — Fans will explore the storylines and characters that bring Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to life with writers, cast and crew.
  • COMMENTARY — Anson Mount and Akiva Goldsman: “Strange New Worlds”
  • DELETED SCENES
  • GAG REEL

The release will include English and French subtitles, and the Blu-ray editions will include English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio and 5.1 Dolby Digital in French. The DVD edition will have 5.1 Dolby Digital audio in English and French.

You can preorder all three editions of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds – Season One ahead of the March release: on Blu-ray, on DVD, or the special Blu-ray Steelbook edition.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds Season 2 is in post-production now; it is expected to arrive on Paramount+ in the first half of 2023.

STAR TREK: PRODIGY and LeVar Burton Land Emmy Awards; LOWER DECKS Nabs Critics’ Choice Nomination

TrekCore Staff
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STAR TREK: PRODIGY and LeVar Burton Land Emmy Awards; LOWER DECKS Nabs Critics’ Choice Nomination

It’s awards season for the Star Trek franchise, as this week the animated Star Trek: Prodigy brought home its first Emmy Award, Trek veteran LeVar Burton was honored by the Television Academy, and Star Trek: Lower Decks caught critics’ attention.
 

Still in the midst of its first season, Star Trek: Prodigy was nominated for two awards at the first annual Children’s & Family Emmy Awards: the prestigious Outstanding Animated Series award, for which it was bested by the Netflix series City of Ghosts, and Outstanding Individual Achievement in Production Design, for which series art director Alessandro Taini brought home the win.

The “Individual Achievement” category works differently than the primary award process, as Animation Magazine describes it:

Panels of expert animation peers evaluate the work of talented individual artists and animators, with submissions drawn from a single episode of a series or a special. Judges view and evaluate original artwork, video and other documentation from the disciplines of Background, Character Animation, Character Design, Color, Production Design and Storyboard. They consequently convene to discuss the detail and finer points of each submission in order to determine winners.

In addition, Star Trek: The Next Generation veteran LeVar Burton received a lifetime achievement Emmy Award at the ceremony — after a decades-long career of inspiring young readers through his television show Reading Rainbow, and the digital forums he’s moved into since the conclusion of the series.

An actor, director and educator, Burton has taught multiple generations of children about the joys of reading through his work on “Reading Rainbow”.

 

He has been honored with 13 Emmy Awards, three NAACP Awards, a Grammy Award for Spoken Word Album, a Peabody Award, the Fred Rogers Award, the Inamori Prize for Ethics in Entertainment, and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. The City of Sacramento dedicated LeVar Burton Park in his honor and President Bill Clinton appointed Burton as Commissioner of the National Commission on Libraries and Information Sciences.

 

Burton is the award-winning author of The Rhino Who Swallowed a Storm, A Kids Book About Imagination, and his Grammy Nominated book, Aftermath. His podcast, LeVar Burton Reads, has been downloaded more than 25 million times. Recently, he launched the LeVar Burton Book Club via the Fable app.

Finally, Star Trek: Lower Decks has also caught the eye of award voters, as the Critics Choice Association nominated the show as one of six Best Animated Series for 2022.

Along with Disney+’s Bluey, Fox’s Bob’s Burgers, Adult Swim’s Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, HBO Max’s Harley Quinn, and Prime Video’s Undone, the animated Trek series landed the nomination for its recently concluded third season.

The 28th Annual Critics Choice Awards will take place Sunday, January 15, 2023 in Los Angeles.

Keep checking back to TrekCore for more Star Trek franchise news!

WeeklyTrek Podcast #200 — STAR TREK: PICARD Season 3 Will Continue DEEP SPACE NINE and VOYAGER Stories

Alex Perry
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WeeklyTrek Podcast #200 — STAR TREK: PICARD Season 3 Will Continue DEEP SPACE NINE and VOYAGER Stories

On this week’s episode of WeeklyTrek, brought to you in partnership between The Tricorder Transmissions Podcast Network and TrekCore, host Alex Perry is joined by Bill Mann to discuss all the latest Star Trek news.
 

 
This week, Alex and his guest discuss the following stories from TrekCore and around the web:

In addition, stick around to hear Bill’s wish to find a Star Trek: Strange New Worlds soundtrack waiting for him under his Christmas tree this year, and Alex’s wish that we’ll hear soon about the future of Star Trek starship models after the Eaglemoss bankruptcy.

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 UNLIMITED Debuts New Houseware Items — Storage Containers, Dinnerware Sets, a Vasquez Rocks Sculpture, and More

Ken Reilly
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STAR TREK UNLIMITED Debuts New Houseware Items — Storage Containers, Dinnerware Sets, a Vasquez Rocks Sculpture, and More

Star Trek merchandise company Star Trek Unlimited has put out some fun Trek products in the past — like the Lower Decks Tom Paris plate, and the Next Gen engineering toolkit — and this fall they’ve been busy cranking out new releases for collectors to bring home.
 

If you want to get ready for the final season of Star Trek: Picard, the company has released a 16-piece dinnerware set based on Starfleet’s 25th century era — which will actually be seen in Picard Season 3, since the set was commissioned for use in production. In fact, Star Trek: Picard showrunner Terry Matalas shared an image of the in-use dishware on social media more than a year ago.

The 16-piece set is available now for $129.99, and includes four dinner plates, four side plates, four bowls, and four mugs.

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If you’d rather dine like it’s the 2260s, the company’s just-released 8-piece USS Enterprise-themed place settings may be for you, with plates designed to mimic the saucer section of Captain Kirk’s famous starship.

The 8-piece set is available now for $74.99, and includes four dinner plates and four bowls.

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Star Trek Unlimited has one more new kitchen product, a set of four Next Generation-themed food storage containers that have come right out of the Enterprise-D cargo bay. These four stainless steel, airtight containers have Starfleet deltas on their lids, and familiar Okudagram capsule-shaped labels — since we don’t yet have replicator technology figured out.

The 4-piece set is available now for $74.99, sized 790ml, 1000ml, 1300ml, and 1800ml each.

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Moving out of the kitchen, the company introduced a line of 13-inch collapsible storage bins late last month, compatible with a wide range of shelving units — and depending on your preference, you can line your cube shelves with either Original Series or Next Generation-themed designs.

Both sets of storage bins are available in 3-packs at a price of $49.99; the Original Series set is emblazoned with the USS Enterprise’s registry and primary division symbols, and the Next Generation set comes in bright division colors.

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If you need to light up your own corner of the galaxy, Star Trek Unlimited has the latest from Risa: a new lamp based upon the famous horga’hn idol from the Alpha Quadrant’s most famous pleasure planet.

The 14-inch lamp holds a standard bulb and has a sculpted base; the horga’hn lamp is available now for $89.99.

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Finally, if you want to celebrate the many times the famed desert location has been visited across Star Trek history, the company’s new Vasquez Rocks garden sculpture is definitely a unique product for fans!

The real Vasquez Rocks is located in southern California, of course, and served as the setting for “Arena,” “Shore Leave,” “Who Watches the Watchers,” Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, “Maps and Legends,” and many more Star Trek tales — and this “small scale replica” (which measures 7″ by 5″) is a neat way to honor the franchise’s California roots.

The Vasquez Rocks garden sculpture is available now for $44.99.

Keep checking back to TrekCore for the latest in Star Trek product news!

STAR TREK: PRODIGY Review — “Ghost in the Machine”

Jenn Tifft, Senior Warp Core Inspector
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STAR TREK: PRODIGY Review — “Ghost in the Machine”

This week’s episode is Star Trek: Prodigy‘s spin on the classic holodeck malfunction trope — “Ghost in the Machine” is a fun adventure that continues the ‘get to know you’ vibes that started last week, showcasing each crewmember’s taste in holographic programming. It also showcases the holodeck itself, touring its magical possibilities in a way that effectively captures the imagination of viewers new to the concept.
 
As the episode starts, the crew is using the holodeck to simulate ways to safely leave the Neutral Zone, knowing they are going to run into Admiral Janeway and the Dauntless on their way out. The crew have really grown into their roles, as we see a confidence in their actions as they execute the plan.
 

Their efforts show shades of “Kobayashi”, however, as we learn they have attempted this 86 times with no luck and they all begin to realize this may be a no win scenario. They all decide as a group that they have to give up their dream of finding a way to safely go to Starfleet. It’s a mature decision and they make it together, cohesively as a team.

The best scene in the episode happens early, as we see the crew coping with their decision together in the mess hall. They eat their feelings with comically large bowls of ice cream and whenever someone brings up a bummer they all chant “Pile it on!” and give them another scoop. Needless to say this scene was a hit with my kids, and the cherry on top for them was when Gwyn squirted whipped cream directly into her mouth. Since this is a habit I actively try to discourage at my house, I had to laugh when all three kids gave me a LOOK, that plainly said “see Mom, Gwyn does it too!”.

But this scene wasn’t just for laughs, it was also a culmination of all the bonding this crew has done over the last 17 episodes. This wasn’t just a “group of kids” eating ice cream, this was a family at the dinner table. The ease they have with one another, the understanding, the acceptance of each other made this scene heartwarming through the laughter. Just beautiful.

After they head to bed, the crew see some strange things… and soon realize that they never actually left the holodeck. This is a scenario any seasoned Trek fan has encountered before, but it was brand new to my kids — and I think it blew their minds a little. I could practically see their gears turning as Zero explained what was going on, and as Rok-Tahk laid out some great scientific explanations for the physics of the holodeck itself. This episode really captured their imaginations as the possibilities of the holodeck are laid out.

Each scenario the crew travel to is a fully realized environment that really captured the spirit of each crew member it belonged to, while also paying homage to classic holoprograms of Treks past. We solve mysteries, we exercise through combat, we sing lounge songs — and of course, we captain an actual sailing ship. The whole adventure also added the layer of solving a puzzle similar to an escape room, which added to the fun in a familiar yet fresh way.

Zero’s program showcases their intellectual side, in that they spend their holodeck time solving mysteries. The preciously-named “Cellar Door Society” headquarters has just the right atmosphere to begin a quest like this. My kids love escape rooms, so they were all in from the very start — you could hear a pin drop in my house as the crew piece together the first clue and find what they believe is the answer to shutting off the holodeck: the Case of the Lost Skeleton Key.

Jankom Pog’s program appears through a door, and our crew find themselves in an alley facing a street gang full of Dr. Noums — the Tellarite doctor from the Dauntlessc. Jankom fights them to let off steam during his holodeck time. The idea that Jankom really took to heart his brief encounter with the doctor is a really fitting character detail; he’s always so proud of his heritage, so of course meeting another Tellarite (and being insulted by him) would stick with him.

There are Dr. Noums all over this episode. It’s a great thread that connects all the programs together and it’s a real treat to keep hearing Jason Alexander’s voice throughout.

The crew defeats all but one of the gang (“The tatooed ruffian flees!” Zero exclaimed. Adorable!), and they find the next clue on his tattoo. It’s on to to The Key Club, a lounge that turns out to be Murf’s program. My kids gasped as he took the stage — a really fun way to build on Murf’s personality. The club itself had an appealing, surreal quality to it, with the black-and-white visuals and the characters from the other programs integrated in.

The Diviner himself makes an appearance as the bartender, which gave Gwyn a lovely opportunity to kind of pick his brain about her relationship with him and her homeworld. It was effectively disquieting to see him outside the normal context, and “Find your own way!” is pretty great advice. A really nice moment.

Next up is Dal’s program, and of course our budding captain plays as a captain in the holodeck — but here he’s the captain of a pirate ship. Zero channels WarGames when they realize that the only way to win… is not to play. Zero figures out that the keys are just a distraction from the real mystery of why they are trapped in the first place, and extrapolates the data to point to the only explanation: Hologram Janeway.

It’s a shocking yet believable twist that her program was also corrupted by the Living Construct, and using Dal’s command codes, she was able to take control of the ship — bringing the Protostar out of the Neutral Zone, and right up to the Dauntless‘ nose.

As is with most Prodigy episodes, they really leave you ready for more.

OBSERVATION LOUNGE

  • We learn that Rok-Tahk plays a holodeck game called Delta Heart: Magical Veterinarian when one of the pets from the game, the perfect parody-named “Glittersmooch,” is found seemingly outside the holodeck. My children are very familiar with games like this on Roblox, so this instantly made Rok-Tahk even more relatable to them. My youngest wants to play this game something crazy!

  • Rok-Tahk describes some of the science of the holodeck when Gwyn wonders how Zero is so far away from them if they are in the same room. She mentions motion floor dragging and visual-horizon manipulation — clearly this girl has read the Star Trek: The Next Generation Technical Manual!
  • Gwyn does chin-ups using her heirloom as the bar. That thing has a million and one uses.
  • Mr. Murfy No-Shoes lip syncs to a song called “Smile and Forget It,” written and performed by Troy Kline.
  • Holo Janeway sets a course for the Terran system. Uh-oh.

“Ghost in the Machine” is a clever new addition to the Trek holodeck episode portfolio. It was a hoot for me to see where they would go next, but for my kids it went even farther in capturing their imagination — this episode really took advantage of the longstanding holodeck concept.

My kids were super into the holodeck after this, asking me questions about it, and even asking if we could watch more holodeck Trek episodes. Music to my ears. Computer, run program!

Star Trek: Prodigy will return with “Mindwalk” on Thursday, December 15 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on December 16 in Latin America, Australia, Italy, the UK, and additional territories.

New Photos Beam Down from STAR TREK: PICARD Season 3

TrekCore Staff
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New Photos Beam Down from STAR TREK: PICARD Season 3

We’re still more than two months away from the February 16 return of Star Trek: Picard, but today Paramount+ released three new images from the upcoming season after their initial publication in Den of Geek magazine late last month.
 
In these three images, we can see Captain Will Riker (Jonathan Frakes) back in his Starfleet uniform aboard the new USS Titan (from Episode 302) after meeting with Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) at the Ten Forward Avenue bar in Los Angeles in the season premiere.
 

In the bar we can see a trio of Starfleet flags, representing the emblems seen during the eras of the classic Trek films and The Next Generation, and in the Titan’s briefing room (a redress of last season’s Stargazer set) we can see a trio of Titan models reflecting the starship’s legacy — the middle one is Riker’s Luna-class Titan seen in Star Trek: Lower Decks.

In addition, a good look at Dr. Beverly Crusher (Gates McFadden) comes from her time aboard the SS Eleos, an “old TNG medical vessel now in private hands,” as showrunner Terry Matalas described it on Twitter in September.

We saw the Riker-Picard meeting and travel to the starship — along with Crusher on the Eleos — in the Picard Season 3 ‘sneak peak’ trailer released in September.

Keep checking back to TrekCore through the next two months for all the latest on Star Trek: Picard‘s return!

Star Trek: Picard is currently in post-production on its third and final season, set to debut in February 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 EXPLORER Magazine’s Short Fiction Collection Beams Down Next Week with 14 TREK Tales; Read an Exclusive Excerpt

TrekCore Staff
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STAR TREK EXPLORER Magazine’s Short Fiction Collection Beams Down Next Week with 14 TREK Tales; Read an Exclusive Excerpt

A new collection of short stories from Star Trek Explorer, the official magazine for the Star Trek Universe, beams down this month — and we’ve got an exclusive look at the upcoming publication, complete with an excerpt from one of the new tales!
 
The new magazine kicked off its run last fall, and each issue to date has included some new Star Trek short fiction in each issue — from established and new names to the Trek literature game — and on December 20 Star Trek Explorer Presents: “Q and False” and Other Stories hits stores with fourteen stories to scratch the Trek fiction itch many of you may be feeling in recent months.
 
Here’s the official description for the new release:
 

The short stories contained in the book feature characters and situations from across the Star Trek universe, including Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager.

 

These mini-epics, written by acclaimed Star Trek authors, include the strange tale of James T. Kirk’s encounter with the mysterious, seemingly omnipotent being, known as Q, get swept up in an adventure with the dashing Captain Proton, and join Doctor Beverly Crusher as she battles to save Worf from some ferocious predators.

The fourteen stories in the collection include:

  • ALL THAT MADDENS AND TORMENTS (Christopher Cooper)
    James T. Kirk meets a mysterious figure following the disaster on the Enterprise-B.
  • Q AND FALSE (Lisa Klink)
    The crew of the Enterprise-D’s commitment to the Prime Directive is challenged.
  • A NIGHT IN (Una McCormack)
    Garak has an unexpected encounter aboard Deep Space Nine.
  • THE OFFER (James Swallow)
    Captain Jonathan Archer has a chance encounter as he prepares for his first voyage in the Enterprise.
  • SEVEN>SEVEN (Greg Cox)
    Seven of Nine confronts her inner demons.
  • QUALITY OF LIFE (Christopher Cooper)
    Q witnesses the genesis of the Federation’s greatest foes.
  • RETRIBUTION (Lisa Klink)
    The Voyager crew leap into action to stop a saboteur.
  • BROKEN OATHS (Chris Dows)
    Doctor Crusher faces a challenging ethical dilemma.
  • THE WAY TO EXILE (Greg Cox)
    In a coda to the classic episode “Space Seed,” Khan attacks!
  • KILL CAPTAIN PROTON! (Lisa Klink)
    An all-new adventure for the holodeck hero Captain Proton.
  • CUMULATIVE DAMAGE (Story: Chris Dows)
    Scotty notices something is awry with the Enterprise as he supervises her refit.
  • EXPLORERS OF THE STORM (Peter Holmstrom)
    Will Decker and Ilia reunite on Delta IV.
  • PREY (Story: Lisa Klink)
    A shuttle craft accident leads Beverly Crusher into a fight for survival.
  • GROWING PAINS (Peter Holmstrom)
    Geordi La Forge takes his first steps as an officer aboard the Enterprise.

We can bring you today an exclusive excerpt from the collection’s final story, author Peter Holmstrom’s “Growing Pains,” which tells the tale of Lieutenant j.g. Geordi La Forge’s first experience aboard the new Enterprise-D starship.

GROWING PAINS
Written by Peter Holmstrom. Art by Louie de Martinis.

 

GEORDI LA FORGE TAKES HIS FIRST STEPS AS AN OFFICER ABOARD THE ENTERPRISE.

 

Pain… The first glint of awareness was always the same. Childhood dreams of blissful joy faded, transitioning into a dull throbbing on each side of the temple. For a moment, he let himself believe the dream was real – perhaps the childhood in Mogadishu, Somalia was real, and he’d awaken to find his mother and father back from an exozoology mission. He would be well. But, as it had done many mornings before, the dream faded, the dull pain remained, and Lieutenant, Junior Grade, Geordi La Forge sat up in bed.

 

Geordi instinctively rubbed the side of his head, knowing it would only make the throbbing worse, but unable to stop himself. He had slept on his temple again, right where the VISOR connection to his skull would be made. An instinct to protect a wounded area? Or perhaps his body’s desire to draw attention to the pain, and notify appropriate departments to help thwart infection. The unintended pain came with the VISOR, with no cure.

 

Doctor Crusher tried to tell him as much when he first reported to the Enterprise, three months before.

 

“I see two choices. The first is painkillers—”

 

“—Which would affect how this works. No. Choice number two?”

 

“Exploratory surgery. Desensitize the brain areas troubling you.”

 

“Same difference. No, thank you, Doctor…”

 

It had been a long shot, of course. Even Doctor Beverly Crusher, one of the best and brightest of the Federation, wouldn’t have a miracle cure which no other medical textbook had. Still, he’d allowed himself a glimmer of hope. Instead, he received another sympathetic shrug of the shoulders.

 

That conversation rolled through Geordi’s head as he strolled through a lush forest on the planet Ruan IV, with an away team from the Enterprise.

 

“How much further, Minister?” Commander Riker asked the amphibian minister leading the charge. The Federation had been contacted by the Ruan IV with promises of powerful medical resources, if a trade treaty could be reached.

 

“Thessss temple isss ahead, Comanderrrr.”

 

The planet had a long history of religious activity tied to nature. Yet, there was no denying, the claims of medical miracles from the natural plant life were… intriguing.

 

Despite extensive education in antimatter power and dilithium regulators at the Academy, Geordi accepted a helmsman position on the Enterprise – no better way to be on the front lines of the latest discoveries, both for technological advancements, and maybe… just maybe… a cure for himself…

 

 

Geordi’s red and black uniform bounced off the multi-colored display of plant life around him. Unlike the natural sight experienced by other humans, Geordi’s VISOR subverted his blindness to translate the visual landscape into complex electrical signals directly to the brain. He could see… everything. The whole range of the EM spectrum, translated by his VISOR, to his brain. Color, sound, heat, and even vibrations coalesced into a wide symphony of inputs.

 

Security chief Tasha Yar strolled up.

 

“I always thought the Federation was a secular system, yet here we are negotiating with a people that prides themselves on their religious heritage. Why?” Geordi always found Tasha’s voice the most soothing of the crew. While he didn’t technically have the frame of reference to know what humans described as objectively beautiful from a visual perspective, he imagined her to be a very beautiful person.

 

Geordi shrugged. “Hope? Hope of something better, left undiscovered?”

 

“Arrrivvveeeddd,” The Ministered indicated from the front of the party. Geordi stood before a large ornate temple, spread into the side of a mountain. The temple seemed to be made of plants, each flower, fungi, and bush ungulated in unison, as if connected.

 

“Theyssss heallsssss.”

 

As they neared the Temple, Geordi was hit with a cacophony of visual input. “Commander, I…” Every wave, from sound to light to heat, crashed into Geordi’s VISOR in ways he’d never seen before. “Whoa… Would you look at that.”

 

“What is it, Geordi?” Data asked. Geordi focused on the android, finding comfort in the almost lack of VISOR inputs from his lifeless friend.

 

“Everything is… changed. This temple has a very different resonance frequency than any I have ever seen.”

 

“Recommend caution, sir. This may be a trap.” Tasha’s soundwaves cut through the cacophony like cool water, giving an anchor of normality to latch onto.

 

“Nosssss… issss sacred placcceee,” the minister reassured.

 

“Commander, if these lifeforms are truly different than anything we have seen, the possibilities for scientific advancements would be significant,” Data countered.

 

The pain through Geordi’s temple increased. Perhaps something associated with the planet? Perhaps just his imagination.

 

“Are they safe to harvest? Scientific study will be required before a trade deal can begin.” Riker authoritatively proclaimed. The minister nodded and bowed.

 

Geordi did his best not to show his discomfort. “Sir, I’d like to assist with the sample analysis. I think my VISOR readouts may be useful.” Tasha’s body temperature rose, clearly not pleased with this support of a potential threat.

 

“Do it.” Riker nodded towards Tasha. “Hopefully this mission proves uneventful.”

 

It was… on the planet.

You can read all of these new short stories from the Star Trek Universe in Star Trek Explorer Presents: “Q and False” and Other Stories which is available for preorder now from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, Forbidden Planet, and other retailers.

New STAR TREK: PRODIGY Images — “Ghost in the Machine”

TrekCore Staff
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New STAR TREK: PRODIGY Images — “Ghost in the Machine”

Star Trek: Prodigy returns this Thursday for the seventh episode of its fall run, and today we’ve got new images from “Ghost in the Machine” for your review!
 
The Protostar crew has their first encounter with a classic Star Trek trope, as the group finds themselves trapped in the starship’s holodeck after the simulation room’s programming malfunctions.
 
Here are just two images from this week’s new episode, which means there’s probably a number of unexpected surprises coming in Thursday’s story.
 

GHOST IN THE MACHINE — When the crew gets trapped in the holodeck by a mysterious malfunction, they aren’t sure what’s programmed or what’s real.

 

Written by Chad Quandt. Directed by Andrew L. Schmid.

Star Trek: Prodigy will return with “Ghost in the Machine” on Thursday, December 18 on Paramount+ in the United States, and on December 9 in Latin America, Australia, Italy and the U.K. and other territories.

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