Review Text
Taken together, the two parts of "Last Flight of the Protostar" represent the pinnacle of Prodigy. Here are two episodes that manage to shake up the regular rhythms of the show in favor of a self-contained adventure about a shipwrecked crew, featuring spectacular and fully realized visuals, while telling focused and satisfying character stories and still advancing the larger story's overarching goals. In our age of serialization, these long arcs can often become over-stretched slogs, but stories like this show how you can optimize the best of both worlds.
The story opens on Voyager, where Janeway contacts Beverly Crusher to tell her that they've made contact with her son Wesley. It's the type of scene mainly used to remind you that these other people still exist (and to give Gates McFadden a crossover cameo), but strictly speaking, it's not necessary to what the episode has on its mind.
The real meat of the story is actually very simple: In order to relaunch the Protostar, Chakotay and the kids must jerry-rig the starship into a naval vessel, get it off the beach, and and sail it across the ocean to a swirling gas of deuterium that can be used to recharge the warp engines and gain escape velocity. Along the way, of course, they will face challenges in navigating between mountains and through turbulent currents. This episode, as much as any I can remember in possibly all of Star Trek, is sold almost exclusively on its visual imagination and special effects, used to create a vast ocean of vaporous clouds that more resemble the sky than the sea. The effect is mesmerizing; we feel like we're floating on air, even though the episode has the stylistic hallmarks of a rousing sea adventure — a skeleton crew on a makeshift vessel trying to navigate on instinct.
The outing's character thread focuses on Dal, who has a particularly bad run of things. His usual overconfident persona is not getting the job done, as he finds that a string of failures under Chakotay's watch exposes him as lacking basic competence. His attempts to pull the ship off the beach come across as amateur hour (I wouldn't be anywhere in the path of a starship that's about to slide down a beach), and, in what may be his lowest point, he nearly crashes the ship into the mountains when he's unable to properly operate the jib. But one important thing about leadership is taking care of your people, which Chakotay does by providing guidance to Dal about finding your place. Even if Dal isn't ready to be a captain, it doesn't mean he can't play an important role and continue to learn.
As the ship ventures into the maelstrom to recharge its engines, I found it refreshing how the story came down to manual labor and physical effort rather than the usual Trekkian technobabble. The crew must pull the rudder with a lever to avoid succumbing to the storm, which proves far more cinematic than the usual technical dialogue. And Dal is able to redeem himself in the final act, by rescuing Chakotay after he's thrown overboard. This is a superb adventure, featuring characters doing real work, and gorgeous visual effects with a purpose. When the crew is able to relaunch their ship into space, it represents a true victory of teamwork.
Previous episode: Last Flight of the Protostar, Part I
Next episode: A Tribble Called Quest
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9 comments on this post
Brandon
This two parter was frankly kind of brilliant. The old Last Jedi version of Chakotay getting cheered up again happened maybe just a little too quickly, but until then, Robert Beltran really seemed to be sinking his teeth into it, and the whole episode. The use of Adreek to this end hit you right in the feels and was a good way to get Chakotay's spirit back up.
The sheer imagination of the premise was nuts, made just believable enough by the technobabble - the crew has to sail a starship across a vapor ocean and then plunge into its eye in order to ramscoop some fuel and jump itself back into space - and the energy was there to warrant the trip. I also enjoyed Chakotay's lesson to an ego-bruised Dal: "Sometimes, where you're needed is rope duty." Much more valuable than the usual tired Disneyisms, and very Starfleet.
Another thing that stands out to me about this series is its willingness to use big or esoteric words here and there ("jib", "suspension", "ziggurat", etc.). I approve. Kids will always learn up to what they're given, even if they just google it, and this show respects their intelligence. Imagine that - actually educating! I think someone else's comment made mention of the show not shying away from a truly Gordian time travel story just because it's a kids' show, and I agree, it's a good decision. Some will nerd it out in their heads just fine, and there's more than energy and character development here to keep the rest engaged.
Karl Zimmerman
This episode, more than any other for the season, got across the sheer sense of adventure in this season. The idea of the near-dead Protostar sailing across gaseous oceans - having a full-on nautical adventure, right down to sea monsters and whirlpools - was inspired. It stretched credulity a bit that Chakotay had become an expert in seafaring, but hey, the man had ten years to himself; I guess he studied up.
It also seems worth noting that Robert Beltran has not skipped a beat in his role as Chakotay. There were those who were arguing that Trek should have recast him due to a number of problematic things he had done recently (including arguably breaking the SAG-AFTRA strike rules), but I don't think this season would have played the same if he had been overdubbed with someone else.
Jeffrey's Tube
Just awesome. What more is there to say?
These writers really know their Trek-tech to come up with this scenario. Why do I feel like this was someone's dream episode, laying awake in their childhood bedroom staring at the ceiling and fiercely imagining after having watched the latest episode of Voyager right before bed? A giant Trek nerd who has an amazing sense of adventure (and actual writing chops) wrote this, and the love showed through on screen in every minute.
@ Brandon
Totally agree on the Chakotay-Dal conversation and lesson. Can you imagine if a Discovery writer had written that?
(Well, first of all it would have happened right in the middle of Dal rescuing Chakotay while he was holding on to the eel. "I know neither of us can breathe right now but hey listen I just want to tell you you can totally be captain someday if you just believe in yourself . . . wait there's no rope here because no one coiled it? Well shit. Can we get out of this by breaking the Prime Directive somehow? No? Wait, got any mushrooms in your pocket? You do? Perfect, just rub them together and let's teleport out of here.")
EscapedLion
I loved the dad vibe coming from Chakotay towards the kids in this episode, especially the fatherly advice he gave Dal. I would have really liked if he had shared some made up legend on how a strong silent man can get out of the “friend zone” with his fierce warrior queen. I think Dal could use that advice.
The Queen
Finally Dal is going to grow a little bit. Chakotay shows him what a real captain is like, and he actually pays attention. Thank God. I may end up liking Dal some day.
Chakotay in these episodes is another example of a rather poorly used original character being brought up to an appropriate and highly satisfying future. These writers know what they're doing.
Della Kujo
Whoever was responsible for giving Chakotay more development in this two partner than he got in all seven years of VOY deserves a raise.
Black Oatmeal
I thought that this was a good two-parter. Best story of the season so far. Beltran does a very nice job here.
I do think this story could have been done without tying it into the messy time travel plot that has run throughout the series. I really think the producers made a big mistake in over complicating the show's plot. Most of these stories could have been broken down into stand-alone episodes, or mini-arcs, and would have been all the stronger for it.
Random thought:
The voice actress for Maj'el sounds a little like Kree Summer.
Joel
Great episode.
Is it just me or did the CG version of Beverly Crusher look not at all like her?
Black Oatmeal
My father made the same comment, Joel.
Prodigy takes place a few years after Voyager and about 15 years before Picard, so maybe they were trying to find some middle ground between now and when we last saw her in Nemesis?
I don't think the character design and animation for the non kid characters is a strength of this show, and will probably age badly. Not a huge deal to me though. I don't care if it's animated like Clutch Cargo as long as the story is strong enough to compensate.
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