#protostar crew

[spockvarietyhour]

Star Trek Prodigy "The Devourer of All Things Pt. 2"

[louthestarspeaker]

it's almost 1am here's my essay about Dal and captainhood <333

I hath promised a Dal essay and I hath delivered… 

I've had this in the drafts for so long, but I just rewatched season two and it really allowed me to solidify a lot of my thoughts.

One of things that really strikes me about Dal's character and his relationship to command is that being in charge is a place of safety for him. He's had to be self-reliant and self-sufficient pretty much his whole life until the Protostar. It's something that was engraved into him since he was small, that the only person Dal could really depend on was himself.

And because he was never around anyone who actually cared about him until the Protostar, that was the right thing to do. This need to be in charge, to be in control really, is a learned survival skill. "I can tell you from experience, people in authority lie."

But in season two, his circumstances have changed (for the better!), and that's not the right thing to do anymore. Ultimately, to me, Dal's season two character arc is about vulnerability and trust. He's been in survival mode for so, so long, and now we watch him learn to heal.

You start with this boy who's spent the grand majority of his life alone or with people who are exploiting him, and the story takes him by the hand and tells him "now that you're safe, now that you have people who care about you, you can't live like that anymore."

All throughout season one he learns trust. Trust in his crew, in Hologram Janeway, in the Federation and in Starfleet as institutions that can and will help him and his newfound family. But as a captain,when he was guiding his crew through active crisis after crisis, trust looked like open doors. It looked like laying out all the variables and problems on a table so they could figure a way out together. 

Trust looks very different on the Voyager-A. It asks him to have faith in what he's not seeing, what he's not being told. He has to believe that they have his best interests at heart, that he's not trusting his family to something that will try to hurt them. 

Captainhood isn't just bossing people around for Dal. It's the responsibility of holding the lives of the people he loves in his hands. He trusts his own hands. He has the best interest of his crew at heart. 

To ask Dal to relinquish control, is to ask him to place the lives of himself and his family into someone else's hands. Which, historically, has not gone great for them. It prods directly at his trauma, asks him to take undo and ignore the survival instincts that kept them alive for so long. Is it any wonder he has trouble with that?

Dal's not going around crawling through Jeffries Tubes because he's a brat or because he thinks he's entitled to know everything. He's a traumatized kid whose self-sufficiency, independence, and ability to make his own decisions were once, for a very long time, the literal line between life and death for him and his crew.

And even if he trusts Starfleet and Janeway in his head on a logical level (which I absolutely believe he does), there's still this instinct that's written into him. It's a process to learn how and when to turn that off, and that's what we see especially throughout the first half of season two. 

This really culminates in the cafeteria scene after they return with the Protostar and Chakotay, when Dal advocates for the Starfleet temporal management guys to figure out a way to get the Protostar back to Tars Lamora. Dal was able to see that his hands weren't the best ones for the job, and trust Gwyn's life to someone else. That's huge for him. He trusts not just a person, but a branch of an institution he's never interacted with before, with one of the people that mean the very most to him. And Dal's able to give up that control, to place himself and his crew in that position of potential vulnerability, because he's finally started to feel it in his bones that he's safe here.

[xchronicles]

One plotline I really wish Prodigy handled differently is that the kids brought Chakotay back only up to a certain point somewhere in Cracked Mirror, but that it was Admiral Janeway who had to step in and go get him herself. Bonus points if she was in a gray tank top.

One of my fave aspects of the show is Chakotay's relationship with the kids, but I feel it was a missed opportunity to really bring Janeway's arc home.

We've been watching her search for Chakotay since S1E11, and the way they handled her search is that she made a choice to let the kids go after him, and then they suddenly popped up on Voy, surprising everyone.

I just wish it was Janeway who ran that last stretch in bringing Chakotay home. To let her cross the finish line of her long search and not have someone else do it for her.

[gijane-7702]

Me: 😭😭😭😭

First scenes of Last Flight of the Protostar Part 1:

Last scene of Last Flight of the Protostar Part 1:

He lost one crew and gained another.

[ilovefredjones]

i’m always thinking about how dal never knew his parents and the only mother figure he had sold him into slavery as a child and then it turns out he never even had parents, he was just a failed experiment. and then his next mother figure is simply a hologram of a famous admiral who then deceives him before ‘dying’. but the real janeway cares for him so much, and defends and advocates for him in court and wants him to join her crew

[geoderocks]

Oh my goodness Prodigy season 2 is incredible! Fantastic writing and character development, and also stunning art (these are the kinds of planets I always hoped to see in Star Trek!)

This show is making me feel again how I did when I first fell in love with Trek, decades ago. (It inspired me to become a scientist, and Janeway never stopped being a role model for me.)

Thank you to all involved, @aaronwaltke and cast and crew! 🖖🏼❤️

[baylardo]

i think the nature in which kathryn retires in the prodigy universe is sad. like losing faith in the cause youd once doubtlessly sacrifice your life to uphold. i think that in itself is sad and hopleless for her. as opposed to how the first splinter timeline treats it, which was a forced “retirement” (albeit brief) where at first she struggles with giving up the fight but settles into how the universe is not in her control nor will it ever be and she finds peace in that. its not inaccurate to her character, but it sucks that its where we landed.

the same could be said for chakotay who’s serving a cause kathryn once held dear but starfleet no longer resembles what it once was. why go back into that? after how they were fine with abandoning him lol. idk maybe he thinks he would have made that call too and his life was too insignificant to risk so much. maybe him and kathryn disagree over that :T

it just sucks that starfleet’s future is so bleak in canon and seeing where it has now canonically placed these characters who had such interesting and evolving perspectives on starfleet. maybe it was inevitable with what picard did and impossible to satisfactorily salvage while still complimenting the other series. in support of the decisions prodigy made, those are the cards they were unfortunately dealt. i mostly just dont like where chakotay landed lol for all that he endured. maybe he owes it to his protostar crew. its just hard to justify. like girl settle down and do anthropology, captaincy was never your dream i hate that thats what gets pushed on EVERY beloved trek character it feels like.

i think itd be really interesting to explore the switch in roles shes taken with chakotay though. like no doubt wouldnt be surprised if she helped the romulan evacuation despite starfleet’s reluctance similarly to picard. almost maquis in nature. i just think its frustrating it so easily pits chakotay against her tho lol. like if they were younger, YES ABSOLUTELY. but ummmmm they really should not have a dog in this fight anymore imo.

[divinemissem13]

30 Days of Prodigy - Day 30: Boldly Go

On the bridge of the USS Voyager-A, Commander Tysess stood to attention as the turbolift doors slid open to reveal the ship’s commanding officer. 

“Vice Admiral on the bridge!” he announced, prompting the other officers on the bridge to stop their work and follow suit. 

Kathryn Janeway nodded to her crew as she emerged onto the bridge. “Thank you, Commander, as you were,” she ordered and the bridge immediately became a hive of activity once again. Kathryn loved this part of a mission - the buzz of excitement as everyone went through their final preparations for launch, the anticipation of what would come next, and welcoming her carefully selected crew to their new home. She began her tour of the bridge at the Ops station, just to the left of the ‘lift. 

“Ensign Icheb,” she said warmly, placing a hand on the ex-borg’s shoulder, “it’s good to see you. Welcome aboard.”

Despite the years of history between them - or perhaps because of them -  the young ensign was determined to display the utmost professionalism and so he nodded sharply and replied, “Thank you, Admiral, glad to be here,” and then returned to analyzing the status readings on his screen. “Everything appears on track for an on time launch,” he added. 

One last pat on the shoulder and Kathryn was moving along to greet the rest of the crew. The bridge was a bit more crowded than usual, due to the presence of a large number of trainees who would be joining this mission. She had requested several jump seats be installed along the back wall of the bridge to accommodate observers and she stopped there now to welcome her warrant officers aboard. 

“Well, are you ready for your first official Starfleet mission?” she asked them. 

They all answered at once, their voices overlapping gleefully: 

“Yes, Admiral.” 

“Ready, Admiral!”

“Yes, Vice Admiral Janeway.” 

“Jankom Pog is ready… er, yes, Admiral.” 

and of course, a few chirps from Murf. 

She smiled at the ragtag group, despite herself. They may not be Starfleet officers - yet - but what they lacked in official knowledge and experience, they more than made up for in enthusiasm.

Kathryn continued on her tour, freely offering welcoming smiles to crew members old and new.

She even afforded a tight-lipped smile at her new head of security, the only member of the crew that she had not hand-picked for this mission. Commander La’an Noonien-Singh seemed extremely competent, if a bit cold. But Janeway still resented the fact that Temporal Investigations had seen fit to place one of their own on her bridge. Even if they were going to be dealing with time travel on this mission. And even if she did have a bit of a reputation where such things were concerned.

Finally, Kathryn reached her command chair. She lowered herself down reverently and ran her hands over the arms of the chair before allowing herself to relax into the backrest and cross one knee over the other. 

Commander Tysess stood to the left of her with his hands behind his back and she gestured for him to begin systems checks. (The one thing she really didn’t like about this new class of ships was the fact that the command chair sat all alone in the middle of the bridge. She missed being able to lean over and share the odd observation with her first officer at any time.)

As each station reported in, Kathryn gripped the arms of her chair, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Here we go again, she thought. She opened her eyes and looked towards the tall blond pilot sitting at the conn. “Mr. Paris, is the course laid in?” He was the best pilot she knew, and after her last helmsman turned out to be an undercover saboteur, Kathryn was doubly glad to have Tom Paris at the helm of her ship now.

“Yes ma’am,” he drawled with a cheeky smile. 

“Let’s do it.”

[gun-roswell]

Chapters: 1/1 Fandom: Star Trek: Prodigy, Star Trek Rating: General Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Dal R'el, Gwyndala (Star Trek), Rok-Tahk, Zero (Star Trek), Murf (Star Trek), Maj’el (Star Trek), Hologram Janeway (Star Trek), Jankom Pog Additional Tags: Poetry, Ficlet, Homage, Found Family, To the Journey!, Fluff Series: Part 1 of Tales of Star Trek Prodigy, Part 169 of Poetry Shorts Collection (Various Fandoms) Summary:

They, are all family now.

Part of Tales in Star Trek Prodigy / Fandom Poetry series

[ncc-42069]

For Halloween, the Trek-obsessed 4-y.o. now wants to go as the Protostar.

Not as a member of the Protostar crew. The ship.

We're going to make this happen.

[cihojuda]

The various types of screaming that happens on various Star Trek vessels

The Enterprise (TOS/TAS): not a whole lot, actually. Mostly internal screaming by Bones.

The Enterprise-D: intermittent Dramatic Shouting. Things like "Pull yourself together, man!" and "Shut up, Wesley!"

The Enterprise (Enterprise): I think Archer likes to let his crew have a little nonsense, as a treat; but T'Pol is Very Against random shouting. Tucker knows that ship inside and out and he knows the best place to scream depending on if you want to be heard or not.

The Enterprise (SNW): barking orders? maybe. Screaming? No.

Voyager: when not being chased by Delta Quadrant hostiles, there's not a lot of screaming going on over here either. Random hallway screaming will get you reactions ranging from "mood" to "bruh do you need to see the Doctor?"

The Protostar: there is so much screaming on the Protostar. Imagine your boss asked you to put out eight simultaneous fires and also your boss is twelve and also YOU are twelve and all of you are traumatized and don't really like each other. There is so, so much screaming on the Protostar.

Voyager-A: you know that trope where the chaos passes by in the background and the characters just shrug and keep working? That. Just... All the time.

The Cerritos: to quote T'Lyn,

There is nothing that happens on the Cerritos that does not result in some kind of yelling.

Deep Space Nine: mostly this.

[spockvarietyhour]

Star Trek Prodigy "The Last Flight of the Protostar Pt. 1"

[louthestarspeaker]

i think it's interesting how Maj'el had to resign from Nova Squadron to be allowed to go on the Solum mission, but the rest of the Protostar Crew didn't seem to have to formally renounce the Starfleet apprenticeship thing they had going on. My best guess is that the Nova Squadron candidacy program is directly sponsored by Starfleet, while the Protostar crew (if I'm remembering correctly) are sponsored by Janeway personally. Maybe it puts them in a grey enough legal area that it's not outright breaking the rules

[xchronicles]

The exact moment Chakotay went "these are my kids now" in his head.

[rin-solo]

Following especially the latest season of Prodigy, I would just like to give a shoutout to Chakotay.

I actually liked him even back in Voyager, although he could definitely have been written better in that show. But then Prodigy came, and despite his limited screen time, that show did him SO well I can still barely believe it. And no, I'm not talking about how unexpectedly hot he looks in a cowboy hat ... That's the bonus cherry on top if anything.

If Prodigy proved anything (besides that it is now one of my favorite Star Treks of all time) is that Chakotay's earned that captain's chair, and so, so much respect.

I love how we get to see him be the selfless, dedicated, strong leader that he is and has always been, entirely disconnected from Janeway or any other legacy character. Now more than ever Chakotay and Janeway are just equally hardcore, badass captains who would give their lives for the greater good in an instant, and that's part of what makes them so great. Their equality, despite the different ranks, really came across in Prodigy more than ever before, which I loved to see.

Honestly, whenever I see Chakotay dismissed as a doormat or "best off as second in command" I just kind of rage a little. Even back in Voyager, it was pretty clear to me that he wasn't (for example, some people seem to forget that he was a captain originally and only became a first officer for the good of the Maquis crew.)

And now that we have Prodigy ... Even though we don't really see much of it on screen (which is a shame), I like reminding myself how, since the launch of the Protostar, he went through 12 (!) more years of (self-)sacrifice and (leadership) hell and managed to come out of that seemingly stronger and more certain of his place and himself than ever.

Even the events of "The Last Flight of the Protostar" aside ... Just think about how many life-altering, defining, difficult choices and sacrifices he had to make in those 12 years.

In the timeline that was averted, he sacrificed his only shot to get back home through the wormhole (the Protostar) to save the Federation from the weapon on board.

In the new timeline, he sacrificed himself by choosing to stay on that planet where he and Adreek landed, also for the sake of protecting the Federation from the weapon on the Protostar.

Chakotay was technically stranded in the Delta Quadrant twice (once with Voyager, once with the Protostar), and despite how abysmally things went on his first command, he never sacrificed his integrity or his dedication to Starfleet's values. He becomes a little grumpy over 10 years in solitude, but honestly, who wouldn't? And then the first thing he does after being rescued is take over Voyager-A and continue his service ... That's some dedication if I've ever seen it. I think he may have wanted to prove something there ... and honestly, he couldn't have succeeded more.

And no, he did not "teach" Dal that his place was "the second in command" ... On the contrary, he very likely showed Dal through his own competence and perseverance that Dal himself was simply not ready yet for such a responsibility.

He's just an extraordinary captain who has gone through things and made choices that very few others could have made. Choices like sending the Protostar back in time, that had the fate of the entire Federation depending on it.

I adore Prodigy in general, but one of the things I adore the most is that it finally shows us more of why Chakotay is not second to Janeway or to anyone. He's his own leader, his own character, and his own captain who deserves so much more acknowledgment.

Although, I still feel that we were robbed of some of Chakotay's best moments by not showing us the arrival of the Protostar on Solum and later the events preceding its (presumably) emergency landing on that planet where it stayed for ten years (honestly, I'd love for future Prodigy seasons to have maybe a flashback episode or two about the Protostar's maiden voyage and Chakotay's arrival on Solum and maybe later on that planet where he was stranded.)

Anyway, long rant over ... All I wanted to say was that Chakotay has more than earned the command of Voyager-A; seeing him in that chair made me very happy, I won't lie.

And I really hope if/when Prodigy gets more seasons, he'll be a more major character because he deserves a more central role.

[isagrimorie]

On my slower rewatch of Star Trek Prodigy season 2, episode 11 - Last Flight of the Protostar, I.

After 10 years with the Protostar, it really is Chakotay’s ship. It’s an interesting thought that Janeway would find immediately find a way to go down with her ship, but Chakotay has the bad luck that all his crew went down instead of him.

A Captain’s worst nightmare realized. He has lost his people twice over, first the remaining Maquis in the Alpha Quadrant and second, his entire Protostar crew.

Another interesting thing about Chakotay, without an external motivator he could actually live his days in some planet. (BTW, HoloJaneway and Chakotay still acting like an old Married, but in a reversal of his dynamic with Real Janeway, Chakotay is the grumpy one, who would push away people to hide his hurt.)

Last Flight of the Protostar is Chakotay’s Night (Voyager).

Chakotay staying in that planet for 10 years mean without someone else prompting him, he can settle on any planet.

Captain Janeway’s stubborn refusal to give up and continue the journey home is the engine that kept Voyager moving to the Alpha Quadrant. Adreek shared this stubborn personality, he didn’t give-up, even in death he found a way to help.

Chakotay needed that kick in the pants to get his spark back, and he got it in spades with the kids, and finding Adreek again.

*Edited /July 11 638 AM