Nice notes, other than the Berman comment, which was tacky and unnecessary.

It’s the same dumb cycle that’s happened with every new Trek show since TNG (and probably TAS). It’s tiresome, but at least it’s predicable, I guess? Just ignore the obligatory backlash and see how it turns out.

I love Prodigy, but I’ve seen people struggle to get past the first episode. If someone’s coming in reluctantly it’s not where I’d start.

I’ve shown this as a first episode (or at least first 2-3 episodes) and it hasn’t been an issue. If you’re sitting with them you can explain significant items, but generally they get enough without much help.

Great episode, but I’d argue it doesn’t really give a new viewer much of a feel of what Star Trek is. Probably works better when you have a few episodes of TNG already under your belt.

Might be worth showing him the first episode of Lower Decks then. Or “Temporal Edict” is another strong early episode that’s still fairly introductory and really gives a lot of the Star Trek vibes about being capable and ethical while still showing it as a fun time.

They’ve retracted the comment.

“The premiere date for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds S3 was given to one of our members in error and is incorrect. Apologies for the inconvenience caused. We share your excitement and can’t wait for the 3rd season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds to premiere.”

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCN67nU54jJap8YLNTbSPBZg/community?lb=UgkxyY8OW7LJKPTqVl1gc46zFVOUZHBfFFZz

Though it could still be accurate and they’re just doing damage control. Maybe we’ll find out for First Contact Day?

To clarify, Melumad does the incidental music in Prodigy, but the theme is by Michael Giacchino. He also scored, among many other things, the three Kelvin Timeline films, so he probably brings that “cinematic” feel you’re describing.

Melumad does occasionally integrate part of Giacchino’s Kelvin Timeline themes. For example, I want to say it appears toward the beginning of Prodigy 1x11.

Westlake is great, but so is Nami Melumad (who does the music for Strange New Worlds and Prodigy), so I’m absolutely not behind a call to have her fired, whether that call is meant to be tongue-in-cheek or not.

I agree it’s overused for the average episode of Trek, but if we accept that they’re doing a Section 31 movie, what’s the point of a low-stakes feature film (even a streaming film), especially one centered around Section 31?

Also worth noting that the article describes it as “Big stakes emotionally, big stakes for the characters in our story”, so the “stakes” are referring at least in part to character stakes, not necessarily universe-ending stakes. (Though I admit in practice it will probably be both.)

Great notes, as always.

In addition to the already-cited references, the Beagle could additionally be a sly reference to Archer’s pal Porthos.

Interestingly, Jolene Blalock is credited simply as “Jolene”. EDIT: Mike McMahan says this was at her request. https://bsky.app/profile/mikemcmahan.bsky.social/post/3ld3v4usznc2i

Our T’Pol also had some indirect experience with the concept of katra transference when Archer briefly carried Surak’s katra.

Nice notes, as usual.

V’Ger is the antagonist in TMP

Also it’s in the Lower Decks opening credit sequence this year.

the Cambodian word for “toilet” is bangkon, which is pronounced similarly.

Interesting catch. That didn’t occur to me, ហើយខ្ញុំចេះភាសារខ្មែរ។

Nurse Westlake is named after Chris Westlake

He’s also appeared as far back as the series premiere, though he’s rarely spoken until now, and I don’t think he’s ever said more than a couple of lines.

I guess I could add a similar note to this for every episode this year with a Stardate, but the launch date of the Protostar is Stardate 59749.1, placing this episode just under 100 days before that ship launches under Captain Chakotay.

The Star Trek: New Frontier novel series previously featured Mark McHenry, a Starfleet officer who was a descendant of Apollo and had powers as a result.