WARNING: Contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy season 1!
Star Trek: Prodigy broke a major franchise tradition in the season 1 finale, marking the USS Protostar as a unique Star Trek hero ship. When Dal R’El (Brett Gray) and his fellow prisoners discovered the Protostar underneath the Tars Lamora prison colony, they become involved in an elaborate Trojan horse plot against Starfleet and the Federation. Guided by Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the young cast of Star Trek: Prodigy learned what it took to be a Starfleet officer, and ultimately made some heroic sacrifices that saved the Federation.
The USS Protostar was a unique Star Trek ship because it didn’t use conventional warp drive like the franchise’s other hero ships. However, Star Trek: Discovery‘s revolutionary spore drive meant that this particular franchise tradition had already been broken in 2017. And yet, the USS Protostar is still a unique starship, due to its proto-drive, and its being weaponized by the Diviner (John Noble) in his plot against Starfleet in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1. To save Starfleet and the Federation, the Protostar was destroyed, breaking Star Trek tradition.
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Prodigy Broke Star Trek Tradition By Destroying The USS Protostar
When it was overcome by the Diviner’s Living Construct, the USS Protostar had to be destroyed to save Starfleet and the Federation from destruction. This makes the Protostar the most short-lived hero ship in Star Trek history. While the USS Shenzhou was destroyed in Star Trek: Discovery season 1, episode 2, “Battle at the Binary Stars” it was never the show’s hero ship. Star Trek has destroyed multiple starships over the decades, but never during the ongoing series. A plan to destroy the USS Enterprise-D in Star Trek: The Next Generation season 6 was nixed, allowing the ship to survive until its eventual destruction in Star Trek Generations. Years earlier, the Star Trek: The Original Series USS Enterprise was destroyed above the Genesis Planet in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Each of those Enterprises, and the USS Defiant in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7, had racked up a long service record before their destruction. The USS Protostar was cut down in its prime, thanks to the machinations of the Diviner. This means that Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 will have a completely new starship, the brand-new USS Voyager-A, under the command of Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). Whether Voyager-A outlasts the Protostar to also feature in Prodigy season 3, remains to be seen.
What Made USS Protostar A Special Star Trek Ship
The short life of the USS Protostar isn’t the only thing that makes it a special Star Trek ship. It was a prototype for a brand-new model of starship, powered by a proto-drive, burning up a young star to cross vast distances in a short time. Originally commanded by Star Trek: Voyager‘s Chakotay (Robert Beltran), the Protostar was intended to return to the Delta Quadrant to redeem some of the mistakes made by Captain Janeway and the crew of the original USS Voyager. Instead, it fell through a temporal anomaly and ended up in the future, where the planet Solum had been ravaged by a devastating civil war.
Captain Chakotay then sent the Protostar back in time, hoping that it would remain lost forever so that the Living Construct could never be activated. While that plan didn’t work, the USS Protostar played a major role in inspiring the next generation of Starfleet hopefuls. If it weren’t for the Protostar and the guidance of Hologram Janeway, Dal R’El, Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukis), Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), Zero (Angus Imrie), Murf, and Gwyndala (Ella Purnell) would never have freed themselves from their tragic circumstances. While the USS Protostar may have only burned bright for a brief time, it’s made a huge impact on the cast of Star Trek: Prodigy and paved the way for the franchise’s future.
All episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 are streaming now on Netflix.
Star Trek: Prodigy
Star Trek: Prodigy is the first TV series in the Star Trek franchise marketed toward children, and one of the few animated series in the franchise. The story follows a group of young aliens who find a stolen Starfleet ship and use it to escape from the Tars Lamora prison colony where they are all held captive. Working together with the help of a holographic Captain Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), the new crew of the USS Protostar must find their way back to the Alpha Quadrant to warn the Federation of the deadly threat that is pursuing them.
