#brikars

[star-trek-fandom-confessions]

#483 by @thelesseroftwoweevils

"I'm really happy Peter David's Brikar species got ported into proper canon in Prodigy.

Rok-Tahk's a lovely character in her own right."

[sshbpodcast]

Won’t someone think of the children?! A Rok-Tahk Appreciation Post

By Ames

Last week, we covered just why your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By largely dislike the children characters in classic Star Trek (tl;dr: it’s mostly because they’re written as props instead of people, or so I make my claim). There is one show in the franchise, however, that’s a huge outlier in how its children characters are written, acted, and treated overall as individuals who grow and develop. Obviously, it’s Star Trek: Prodigy. Since basically all of the main characters are children, the show would have failed if it couldn’t make them compelling and relatable to both a young audience and the preestablished fanbase. 

And against the odds, it succeeded like whoa. There’s a reason why the fanbase is in such an uproar right now about Paramount’s avaricious cancellation of the Emmy Award–winning animated underdog (go sign the petition if you haven’t yet!), and that’s that the show is just so surprisingly good. We’re the last group of people who would laud a kid’s show so much, and we absolutely adore it.

Read on below for what Prodigy gets so right when establishing its children characters. Rok-Tahk is the prime example here because a) she’s voiced by Rylee Alazraqui, a legit child voice actress, who NAILS IT, b) she ticks all the boxes for what makes a good child character, and c) she’s just the best. Period. But let me explain anyway…

[images © CBS/Paramount… I guess? For now? Yikes.]

Rok is more than you expect

I think all the kids who made our favorites list in last week’s blogpost have one thing in common: they had some kind of hidden depth to explore. A character having some kind of twist or secret or hidden identity is just a staple of science fiction. We see it in Barash and Taya, who turn out not to be the children they appear to be. We see it in Mezoti, whose dual nature as both a young innocent girl and a Borg drone with the collective experiences of a whole hivemind makes her endlessly fascinating. 

So when this massive rock creature whom we start off being intimidated by turns out to be the sweetest little girl, we’re immediately interested because it subverts our expectations. We’re forced to remind ourselves not to judge someone by how they look on the outside, something Star Trek has been doing since its very conception. And then when we learn even more about her and realize that her jailors put a child in a prison camp, we can’t help but root for her.

Rok is allowed to just be a kid

Sure, Rok is still smarter than your average kid, but she’s smart without being obnoxious like other naturally brainy kid characters I could name. *cough cough Wesley Crusher* As the obvious example, Wes is exhausting as a character because he’s a boy genius who is acutely aware of it and his supernatural smarts force him into situations another kid wouldn’t be in. He isn’t allowed to be a kid because he is first and foremost a child prodigy. 

Rok, on the other hand, is first and foremost a child in the show Prodigy! Her excitement about new encounters is because most encounters to her are just that: new! She plays “Delta Heart Magical Veterinarian” in the holodeck, she loves ice cream, she plays with the cute little creatures on “Dream Catcher” planet, she naturally cares for Murf as though he were her puppy. Rok’s youth informs how she reacts to circumstances in the show and she acts accordingly in ways that aren’t forced, better suited for other characters, or just downright unnecessary. And seeing the universe through the eyes of someone with such a clean slate allows the audience to make their own judgements about the Protostar crew’s circumstances episode by episode.

Rok is a freakin’ alien monster

Prodigy also introduces us to the Brikar, a new alien race of rock monsters. And everyone accepts her without a single word! Now that’s the Star Trek way! From the moment we meet Rok-Tahk, she’s not physically cutified or even feminized, which is frankly refreshing. She’s less humanoid than most creatures we meet, outside of say, the Horta or Murf. It’s also a great use of the CGI-animated medium because live-action shows can’t pull stuff like this off. 

I’m honestly impressed to see any female character, let alone a little girl, portrayed in a way that isn’t that cookie-cutter kind of attractive that we see everywhere. Rok is BIG. Rok is HARD. She’s not feminine or pretty or soft. Her cuteness comes from how she acts, talks, and treats people. And the crew of the Protostar and the Starfleet officers we meet later treat her like they treat everyone else: like a person. The people who run the slave show in “Preludes” pin her as a monster because they don’t/can’t know her. But our other main characters do get to know her and barely even bring up her size! And when they do, Rok subverts it by proclaiming that she doesn't want to be the muscle on the ship, and they go with it. I love that.

Rok has character flaws

Like any person, especially a well-written character in a television program, Rok isn’t perfect. Perfect people make for obscenely boring television (unless it’s a satire or something), and perfect children are just plain not believable and take you out of the story. But Prodigy writers went a few extra steps in developing someone like Rok to have credible flaws for her situation that also informs how she acts, changes, and grows. Rok overthinks and doubts herself constantly because she has anxiety. She’s suffered through traumas, like some of the orphaned boys mentioned in last week’s blog have, and that gives her something to overcome over the course of the season and [hopefully] beyond. 

And, as mentioned above, she’s also really young! She doesn’t have the experience and knowledge yet to save the day every week. She knows she has limitations and when she remembers this, she panics, freezes, and languishes in self doubt. I’m thinking specifically about the turmoil she goes through in the supremely excellent “Time Amok,” in which she is forced to be alone (already terrifying) and also with so much pressure put on her (downright immobilizing!). Audiences can relate to anxiety and stress like this. It doesn’t matter that she’s a kid: we all get what she’s going through and connect with her immediately.

Rok grows throughout the season

You’d think it would be easy to create story arcs that help child characters grow since they’re going to grow up just by virtue of natural development anyway, but it’s harder than you think. Both Jake Sisko and Wesley Crusher get things to do as they get older that build on the foundations for their characters, but they also had several seasons to work with. Rok, in just one season, has her entire world opened up for her because of the nature of the story, and she runs with it!

This is a science fiction show, so of course the characters are going to love science, and watching Rok learn, try new things, occasionally fail, and try again is an excellent entry point into STEM. Just like how a lot of today’s doctors credit watching Dr. McCoy and today’s engineers got their start because they wanted to be like Scotty, and just like how many women and people of color joined the space program specifically because of Nichelle Nichols, I really hope that kids today watching Rok-Tahk and crew are captivated by science in that same way. I would be.

We love you, Rok! We love the other crew members of the Protostar too! We love Star Trek: Prodigy! Check out the other character appreciation posts for Dal R’El, Gwyndala, Jankom Pog, and Zero while you’re here. I know I can speak for not only the other hosts here at A Star to Steer Hey By but for myriad other fans when I seriously hope someone picks up this wonder of a show. We’re really looking forward to seeing more from these amazing child characters, and we’re seriously wishing we get that opportunity. #SaveStarTrekProdigy

[emhtransswag]

100%. The thing with prodigy and ig lower decks too is that they're doing something different without fucking up canon. Like i personally am not a huuge fan of LD but for better or worse what gives them their big appeal is a combination of actual fans on the writing team and a deviation from the standard ship crew format.

And esp what makes Prodigy for me is that there is an insane amount of references, it's so lovingly made. They have book lore in that and everything. Like maybe I am judging it less harshley because it's for kids but it is so good for both die hard fans and kids and adults who know nothing about trek.

people constantly tell me Strange New Worlds is the best mordern Star Trek. Are you okay? Come here, take my hand. I know the CGI is scary, ok, but we will watch Prodigy together, I promise it can't hurt you.

[startrekprodigyfan]

I really like that Star Trek Prodigy, as an introduction to the Star Trek franchise for kids, literally just runs the gauntlet of atypical plot lines. In no particular order we have:

Alien planet is sentient and wants to kill you.

Time travel shenanigans (several times).

Aliens want to help you obtain nirvana… but there’s a catch.

First contact goes awry.

Scary Borg episode.

Sentient AI wants to destroy you.

Sentient AI wants to take over the planet.

Trapped on the holodeck.

Holodeck characters run amok.

Additionally, they also run the gauntlet of introducing different aliens and races and concepts. So we’ve got:

Klingons, Romulans, Ferengi, Vulcans, Tellerite, Andorians, Borg, and Tribbles. But we’ve also got Medusians, Kazon, Caitian, Brikar, Trill, Lurian, and Denobulans.

And on top of that we get slow fed Star Trek concepts and staples such as:

Phasers, Transporters, holodecks, genetic modification, starships, photon torpedos, quantum torpedos, shields, deflector, tractor beams, universal translators, com badges, pips, and more.

Like I cannot overstate how monumental this show is in trying to cover every aspect of Star Trek and get people into the franchise in a way that doesn’t talk down to them or scare them off. Every piece is explained, explored, utilized, and put to great effect in service of the story, not just as Easter eggs or jokes.

[hazelcephalopod]

I am genre aware enough to know that the kids being officers in Prodigy is ok Bc it’s a show for children first. It’s supposed to make them feel empowered and have relatable characters. That said.

Star Fleet really gave -well they let Janeway do it tbf after I assume she called in all her favors- ensign ranks to a like 5 year old whatever Murf is and to a roughly 10 year old Brikar -who if I remember correctly actually mature later than humans. At least the rest are basically in late adolescents and even maybe adults. Rok and Murf are literal children -ok tbf we know so little about Murf idek for sure still. It’s so damn funny. That’s canon now. Star fleet doesn’t just have children on their “exploration” ships they fully are out giving them commissions. Janeway made that happen!

[star-trek-pop-quiz]

Star Trek POP-QUIZ #11

( 16 / 12 / 2023 )

Question 1. What race is Morn from Star Trek: Deep Space 9? a. Tholians b. Lurian c. Brikar d. J'naii

Bonus Question: How many episodes does Morn appear in? ( Points for within 5 numbers )

Question 2. TRUE OR FALSE Rene Auberjonois ( Odo's Actor ) also played the role of Pepé Le Pew.

Bonus Question: TRUE OR FALSE: Rene Auberjonois' mother is a Princess.

Question 3. Which of these characters are vegetarian? a. B'Elanna Torres b. Geordi La Forge c. Chakotay d. William Riker

Bonus Question: What is this character's position on their ship?

Question 4. What does Dr Mccoy leave behind on Sigma Iotia II in "A Piece of the Action"? a. a Medical Tricorder b. a Communicator c. a Phaser d. a Journal

Question 5. Fill-in Question! How many separate temporal offenses has Kirk committed?

Score: __/ 5 + 3 bonus ( Answers under cut )

Question 1. b. Lurian

+ Morn had 93 appearances in DS9, meaning that he had more appearances that Jake Sisko ( 71 appearances ) and Elim Garak ( 37 episodes ).

Question 2. TRUE

+ TRUE

Question 3. c. Chakotay

+ First Officer.

Question 4. b. a Communicator

Question 5. Kirk has had 17 separate temporal violations, making it the biggest on record .

[divinemissem13]

30 Days of Prodigy, day 12: Favorite Character(s)

After smashing a vial in the science lab, Warrant Officer Rok-Tahk has run off in a fit of anger and embarrassment. The Admiral rubs a hand over her face and drains the last of her coffee (this mission requires coffee, no matter what Doctor Noam says) and goes to find the young Brikar.

She’s not sure of the context of Rok-Tahk’s childish tantrum, but she has to remind herself that despite her stature and impressive intelligence, Rok-Tahk is, after all, still a child. 

When she had taken the former Protostar crew under her wing, Janeway had been surprised to realize how quickly she would become a mother figure to them. She has certainly been in that position before, lost in the Delta Quadrant with such a young crew… but this time is different. These young heroes had no mother figure in their lives at all until they came across the Protostar, and it seems that they had quickly imprinted upon their Emergency Training Hologram which just happened to look and sound a whole lot like Admiral Janeway herself. 

So now, here she is, trying to figure out how to deal with Rok-Tahk’s outburst in a way that is both commanding and comforting. Chakotay was always so good at finding this balance. She thinks and then quickly corrects herself: Is … he is good at it.

Janeway finds Rok right where she knew she would - in the holo-enabled zoology lab, sitting scrunched up (well, as much as a Brikar can scrunch) in a corner and stroking a targ that is curled up in her lap.

Janeway is struck, suddenly, by the memory of another young woman, wise beyond her years with the gentlest of souls, who used to take refuge amongst nature as well. On a different Voyager. In a different lifetime. 

Returning to the present, the Admiral clears her throat gently, just enough for Rok to realize she has company. 

“Vice Admiral Janeway!” she exclaims, her voice impossibly high pitched and young sounding coming from her gigantic stone-like stature. Rok moves as if to stand, but Janeway stops her with a gesture and instead finds a stool which she perches on so that they can speak face to face. 

Before Janeway can say a word, Rok-Tahk is launching into an apology. “I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to break anything! But no one was listening to me - they never listen to me because they think I’m just a kid - and I got frustrated.” 

Rok hangs her head in shame and Janeway is overcome with the urge to take her in her arms and rock her like a baby. Of course, that would be an impossible proposition even if Rok wasn’t under her command. Instead, she compromises by resting her small hand on the massive rough shoulder and giving her an encouraging pat.

“What were you trying to tell them?” Janeway asks diplomatically. 

“They were talking about tachyon particles and if they can really be controlled and… and I know they can. I’ve done it. But they wouldn’t let me talk.”

“Ah, so you broke the vial to get their attention,” Janeway says.

“Yeah, but then… I was so embarrassed that I just ran away,” Rok moans.

Janeway hops down from the stool and begins to pace thoughtfully.

“Did you know that I started out as a science officer too?” she asks.

“Really?” Rok asks, wide-eyed.

“Oh, yes. And I also had to struggle to be heard,” Janeway confirms.

“But you’re an Admiral! Everyone listens to you!” 

“They do… now,” Janeway smiles sympathetically at her young charge. 

“You may not have noticed, but even for a human, I’m fairly, well, short,” she chuckles. “When I was first starting out, other officers found it easier to simply talk over my head than to listen to what I had to say. Especially if I had something to say that might challenge their way of thinking.”

“So what did you do?” Rok asks, leaning forward with rapt attention.

“I did my fair share of yelling, of storming off, but then I realized something: If I was confident and assertive, people began to listen. I was trying to make them listen, but what I should have done is stated my case, firmly and confidently, they would want to listen.” 

“Firmly and confidently,” Rok echoes, sitting up a bit straighter. 

“That’s the ticket,” Janeway nods. She hesitates for a moment and then adds, “And try not to break things. At least not on purpose.”

“Ohhhh my gosh!” Rok-Tahk jumps up to her full height, now towering over the Admiral. “I didn’t clean it up! I’ve gotta go! Thank you, Admiral Janeway!” she calls as she runs from the room. 

Admiral Janeway pinches the bridge of her nose and looks down at the holographic targ that is now stubbornly head-butting her leg.

“That went well,” she quips to the targ and then she leaves the room too, making sure to deactivate the holograms before she goes.

[thelongestway]

I'm rereading Time to Orbit: Unknown in honor of the ebooks coming out (and that it's something of a day off for me), and as I was getting groceries A Horrible Crossover Thought popped into my head.

TTOU/Star Trek: Prodigy.

After the first meeting on neutral ground.

On the Courageous:

Tal: ALIENS. COOL ONES!! Did you see the one built like a brickhouse?

The Friend: She's a Brikar, Tal. And very good at her job, if a little young. This Friend wonders if we can get her to help with the genetics...

Tinera and Denish: wait. these kids were. convict miners. fucking what.

Aspen: ...and one of them got woken up on a sleeper spaceship to fix it while ever more problems cropped up and at the end of it the AI said he'd used up too many resources and he decided to jump out in an escape pod.

Tinera: AND THEN HE GOT CAPTURED AND MADE INTO A CONVICT MINER GIVE ME THOSE VAU N'AKAT I WILL HAVE THEIR HEADS.

Adin: Tiny, I think that one's already dead anyway.

Tinera: Not with those kids' luck he isn't.

On the Prodigy:

Gwyn: ...Well, here we are, first contact with a spacefaring race, us representing Starfleet - didn't expect to have it happen quite so quickly. But all the languages!..

Jankom: And their ship! Brrr, it gives Jankom flashbacks.

Rok: They even have someone named Friend! It's so nice!

Dal: Nope. Nope. No it isn't. Something is wrong here. Does it even count as first contact if they're obviously some sort of weird alternative humans? This is Not Normal!

Ma'jel: They seem like perfectly normal humans to me.

Zero: ...and one perfectly normal hive mind.

Everyone: WHAT.

Zero: What?

[ricardoazsi]

Desenho gráfico de tela de PADD sobre vestimentas de membros da Frota Estelar. Vários uniformes técnicos de serviço: dramiano, brikar, damiani e andoriano.

Graphic design of a PADD entry on Star Trek's Starfleet members' uniforms and clothes. [made with MSWord + HeroMachine 3]

[quasi-normalcy]

@unassumingtherizinosaur

Okay!

"They do nothing with McCoy's communicator..." Star Trek (DC Comics, 1989 series), issue #11 by Peter David and Gordon Purcell

"...Built a Starfleet cosplay society..." Star Trek: Unlimited (Marvel Comics), issue #10 by Michael A Martin, Andy Mangels, and Ron Randall

"...Flying around in ships that look like black Studebakers..." Star Trek: Picard: Rogue Elements, by John Jackson Miller

"The Borg ATE PLUTO!" Before Dishonor, by Peter David

"Janeway became the Borg Queen and Died" Also in Before Dishonor, by Peter David

"She got better" The Eternal Tide, Kirsten Beyer

"...rift where you will slowly turn into a ghost..." Star Trek: The Next Generation (DC Comics, 1989 series), issues #30-31, by Michael Jan Friedman and Carlos Garzon

"Trelane is Q's son" Q-Squared, by Peter David

"...remarkably similar to the cast of Lost in Space" Star Trek (DC Comics, 1989 series), issue #13 by Peter David, Bill Mumy and Gordon Purcell

"...a giant bird hatched out of its home planet." Star Trek: New Frontier, books 1-4, by Peter David

"...Assimilated a Ferengi..." Vendetta, by (again!) Peter David

"...basically a velociraptor" Shenti Yisec Eres Ree, introduced in Taking Wing, by Michael A Martin and Andy Mangels

"...Sorbonne-educated dolphin..." Dark Mirror, by Diane Duane

"...homophobic dinosaur joined Starfleet Academy." Star Trek: Starfleet Academy (Marvel Comics), issue #17, by Chris Cooper and John Royle

"Q...accidentally killed the dinosaurs" The Q Continuum, by Greg Cox

"Worf was roommates with a rock monster" Worf's First Adventure, by Peter David (the rock monster's species, the Brikar, much later became canon in Star Trek: Prodigy)

"...An ancient alliance of 666 alien species..." The Furies, as they were known, were the subject of the Invasion crossover event.

"...Burning them in a wicker man." Also Invasion, specifically Book 1, First Strike, by Diane Carey

"...Visited the planet of the Apes" in the aptly named comic Star Trek / Planet of the Apes: The Primate Directive, by Scott and David Tipton and Rachel Stott

"The Eugenics Wars already happened..." according to the again aptly named novel duology Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars, by Greg Cox

"The crew of the Cerritos created a sentient Dracula..." Star Trek: Lower Decks (IDW publishing), issues #1-3, by Ryan North and Chris Fenoglio

"...Against the family of the Enterprise-D's barber" Star Trek: Unlimited (Marvel Comics), Issue #2, by Dan Abnett, Ian Eddington, and Ron Randall

Things that I SWEAR I'm not making up about the Star Trek franchise:

A shifty alien bartender, his brother, and his nephew were what happened at Roswell

There are three mutually contradictory canonical explanations for what exists at the centre of the Galaxy, none of which are "A fuck-off gigantic black hole"

Two of these things are, respectively, God and the Devil

(The crew got along well enough with the Devil, but Spock had to blow-up God with a torpedo)

One of the most compelling and sympathetic characters in the franchise is a hologram of Professor Moriarty who gained enough self-awareness to realise that he didn't need to be evil just because he was written that way

If you fly too fast, you turn into a salamander

(Said salamanders are actually the inevitable endpoint of human evolution)

The universe is balanced on the back of a giant koala (why is it smiling? What does it know!?)

There have been three separate groups of Space Nazis (not just aliens with a fascist government; literal Nazis with armbands and swastikas)

There are also: two (2) cowboy planets, two (2) planets that are just post-apocalyptic versions of Cold War-era Earth, one (1) planet ruled by Chicago mobsters from the 1920s, and one (1) version of Earth where the Roman Empire never fell

The Roman planet has its own Jesus

There is an anthropological law governing parallel planetary development that holds that planets are likely to recapitulate eras from Earth history

Because of the intervention of an ancient race of ur-humanoids, most sentient races in the galaxy look like human actors with rubber prostheses glued to their foreheads

There are so many planets centred around sex and hedonism that people in the fandom use the term "Roddenberry Sex Planet" to describe them

Jack the Ripper was an alien ghost

Amelia Earhart was abducted by aliens

If you have a high ESP score, you turn into a god when you try to fly outside of the Galaxy

The major antagonists are: Space Vikings/Samurai, Space Romans (not the Romans mentioned earlier), Space Fascists (not any of the nazi groups mentioned earlier), the Space British Empire (ruled by goo people), and Space Bees (except you'll turn into one if they sting you)

Klingons have two dicks

Borg assimilation can be catalyzed by eating car batteries

[marymoss1971]

Brikars in Trek

I've been thinking about how different Rok-Tahk looks from Peter David's Zak Kebron. They're both Brikars, yet Zak has a chiseled look. Of course, Rok is a child, so I'm curious, does their appearance change as they get older (the equivalent of humans losing "baby fat") or are there different species of Brikars?

BTW, I think it's so cool that Brikars are canon now!

[spockvarietyhour]

Wait that's a Zak Kebron species! I either missed or wasn't revealed til now that Roh-Tahk was Brikar

[ussjellyfish]

There’s a short story in one of the official magazines about her campaign, which is not canon, but in that one she’s the hope candidate.

The story is called “work worth doing” and it’s in the 8th issue of the Star Trek Explorer magazine.

The election is right after Discovery arrives and solves the Burn. There’s a “we need to be careful, who doesn’t want to join the Federation” candidate who is Denobulan named Tira and a “annex the Emerald chain planets” candidate who is Brikar named Hrak-Nat.

Laira doesn’t particular want to be president, she’s worried it’ll be overwhelming. She takes over from a six term Tellarite named Ligg, who suggests Laira run for the position.

It’s a cute story with a little flashback to teenage cargo pilot Laira making compromises work.

(Here’s some screenshots from the end of the story).

I liked it because the previous president and all the candidates were women, and there were some neat ideas about rebuilding after the Burn.

I imagine Starfleet (like the military) has to remain neutral. I think Vance voted for her, they seem to have a relationship that’s longer than her just being in office, and he has faith in her (there’s that great speech of his in episode 3).

I imagine an interplanetary election has to be such a huge undertaking. At least it’s after money so it’s hopefully much more sensible.

As I'm standing in line waiting to vote, I'm wondering how President Rillak ran her campaign...

What was her slogan?

"A vote for Rillak is a vote to restore The Federation"

"Rillak for Restoration"

Who did she run against? What were the issues? Did she have endorsements from individual Starfleet captains or just Starfleet in general?

Did Vance vote for her?

[nerds-yearbook]

In the year 2383, a group of teenage alien convicts, Dal, Zero, Rok-Tahk, Jankom Pog, Murf, and their captive Gwen escaped a penal colony on Tars Lamora in the Delta Quadrant using an abandoned Federation space ship they found. They were able to fly the USS Protostar with the help of a training program Hologram in the form of Captain Janeway of the USS Voyager. They were hunted by The Diviner, who was Gwyn's father, and his robotic assistant Drednok. ("Lost and Found", Star Trek Prodigy, TV)

[commandermeg]

I mentioned this on twitter but here's a thought...

A star Trek prodigy episode where the translators stop working for one reason or another (To quote Ensign Mariner: "It's not a day in Starfleet until Comms are down") and we get to see the sheer magnitude of Gwyn's language knowledge because she winds up translating for everyone.

Brikar, Ferengi/Standard, Tellarite languages - all of it

(Zero, being a medusan, would be able to telepathically communicate and wouldn't need a translator.)

[ploppythespaceship]

I've never even heard of Star Trek Prodigy, what is that? Is there a new animated Star Trek show?

This show honestly passed a lot of people by, considering how the common reaction to me mentioning Prodigy is huh? But I think it’s been pretty good so far, and it’s a shame that it’s not getting as much attention as the other new Treks.

So! What is Star Trek: Prodigy?

Prodigy follows a group of kids and teens from the Tars Lamora prison colony in the Delta Quadrant. They come across a Federation ship deep underground called the Protostar, and use it to escape. The head of Tars Lamora, known as the Diviner, is desperate to get his hands on the Protostar and begins chasing them across the galaxy. Aboard the Protostar, a training hologram of Janeway is activated and, believing the escapees to be Starfleet cadets, begins guiding them into becoming a proper crew as they head towards the Federation.

The main characters are:

Dal R’El, the self-proclaimed captain of the Protostar from an unknown race, slowly but surely learning to put aside his selfish and cocky instincts to become a proper leader.

Gwyndala, the Diviner’s daughter who seems to have been trained for the Protostar all her life, being a skilled navigator and linguist. Originally brought aboard as a hostage, but later joining the crew for real.

Rok-Tahk, a Brikar who seems to be a terrifying enormous rock monster at first glance, but is actually just a young girl who’s never experienced life outside of captivity.

Murf, Rok’s indestructible pet blob.

Jankom Pog, a Tellarite engineer known for his exuberance, argumentative nature, and tendency to refer to himself in the third person.

Zero, a Medusan (remember them from TOS’s “Is There In Truth No Beauty?”) living in a constructed suit so that corporeal beings can safely observe and interact with them. A sentient, nonbinary, telepathic cloud.

And of course, Hologram Janeway, the mentor to this wayward group, guiding them to become better people and an even better crew.

So that’s what Prodigy is. Why do I think it’s good so far?

The characters are all engaging and likable. It’s a nice mix of familiar tropes tossed in with brand new ideas, and it makes for a batch of people that I care about and want to see succeed.

There’s also an ongoing mystery that’s really simple and engaging, but without the entire show relying too heavily on it to function.

The show is a welcome return to the more episodic structure of classic Trek. I know this one’s more subjective, but sometimes I’m tired of long involved plotlines where each episode blends into the last. Sometimes I just want to see an interesting group of characters that get sent on a series of unique adventures. Prodigy happens to scratch that particular itch for me. It still has an overarching story, but each episode still stands on its own with a complete beginning, middle, and end.

Also, if you’re like me and don’t like how newer Star Trek has been trending darker and darker, this will be a breath of fresh air for you. It still tackles some heavy topics, like slavery and abandonment, but it’s not excessively violent or gory. It handles them in a way that’s approachable for kids.

There are a lot of really simple tie-ins to other Trek series that I just love. I’ve had issues with other shows just jamming any reference they can wherever they can *cough* Lower Decks *cough* but Prodigy doesn’t feel like it’s doing that. It feels more like the writers are just taking advantage of the entire Trek universe to slip in some little details that fans would appreciate.

The animation is really, really good. Some of the character movement is a bit stiff, and the lip syncing is frankly atrocious. But the character designs and the settings are superb. Some of the scenes are so gorgeous that they took my breath away on first viewing.

It’s only eight episodes in, so there’s plenty of room to improve, and only time will tell if the quality holds. But for right now, I think it’s well worth checking out, especially if anything above interests you.