Star Trek: Prodigy reveals the reason for the USS Protostar's name
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ก.พ. 2025
- In Episode 5 of Star Trek: Prodigy, "Terror Firma", we finally find out why the USS Protostar was given its name. It turns out the USS Protostar is not only equipped with a warp core, but it actually has a protostar (or young star) in its engines, giving it tremendous speed and power - very cool! Enjoy watching the USS Protostar out-flying The Diviner. 🖖🏻
Star Trek: Prodigy premiered 28 October on Paramount Plus and Nickelodeon and it follows the story of a young crew aboard the USS Protostar, guided by Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew).
Watch Star Trek: Prodigy on Amazon Prime: amzn.to/3WPNciU
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"Baby star?!" Rok-Tahk is too sweet in this moment and I love it! I know she is a rock alien, but she also has an adorable personality!
my favorite Rok-tahk line is from the first episode where she says to Dal in a very nonchalant kinda way, *"Yeah, I know -- I'm big... not dumb."* lol. I wonder if we'll ever hear her speak her native "Wookie"-ish tongue again.
Rok-Tahk: *says or does literally anything*
Me: *squees uncontrollably*
She's as pure as Tendi ♥️
I want to make sure she’s warm, safe, is well fed and has as many cute things as she desires! I’d adopt Rok-tahk and be honored to have her as a daughter.
I love how a vast majority of the comments are people questioning the physics. It's that kind of scrutiny that has got us smartphones, bluetooth technology, tablet computers, and DARPA saying that they might have accidentally created a warp bubble (still awaiting peer review on that one). Good Trek inspires good tech.
Always has. Let's do a partial roll count
Communicators = Cell Phones (who else practiced the Kirk flip when opening a flip cell phone?)
Padds = Android Tablets/Ipad
Wearable optical monitors - Google Glass
Video Communations Screens = Skype
@@danielhaire6677 Hell, the first clamshell phone was the Motorola Startak. Modeled after the TOS communicators and the name is inspired by, but legal distinct for trademark reasons, Star Trek.
Yeah the Protowarp sounds and looks a lot cooler than the Spore Drive
Spore drive still beats it in terms of speed
Pure muscle Warp drive
They may as well called it the "fungus engine". Still sounds stupid as all get out, minus Burnham's latest weeping episode... 🤨
Ehh apples and oranges. The Spore Drive is based on an organism living in subspace
The Protowarp drive is basically just stacking two normal warp drives on top of each other
@@simpsonman956 2 warp drives AND a star ^^ And somehow can even do like 9.7 on a single narcelle apparently
According to Star Trek Voyager, a type-6 protostar could create a wormhole to shorten distances.
The writers have confirmed that's what's happening. The ship uses exotic dilithium to generate a miniature facsimile of a type-6 protostar, then collapses it to create a momentary wormhole the ship jumps through.
K. Can we give props to the animation team for just nodding to the Enterprise vs Vengence warp scene here? I mean, nnniiiccceee touch guys! Ships in warp! WOOSH!
Warp speed should not be a colliedor passage effect.
It looked a little Borg-ish. Remember Voyager's last act before showing up at Earth from it's long trip?
@@Nighthawke70 Also the ship chasing them looks like a Borg diamond.
@@DanBen07 why not?
I'm pretty sure this wasn't a nod to anything.
Holographic Janeway in season 2 of this:”Hey kids want to commit some crimes against sentient life”
The Romulans fly around with a black hole for their engines. Not sure what the big deal is.
those are kids that where just surviving, now they are riding a supership that uses starts to move around the galaxy
that is the big deal
Also, I'm not sure how many people, even the fans, remember that the Romulans are packing barely contained black holes.
@@bthsr7113 Discovery sure didn't.
They use artificial black holes, this thing is real.
Borg they basically could open up a rift and go back in time which makes me wonder why they didn’t just go back into the 20th century and assimilate everyone on the planet therefore getting rid of star fleet before it even existed
I just love how cool the Protostar looks when it goes into Proto-warp! The nacelles go down, and the back end opens up to show the third engine prior to engaging Proto-warp. I do not know if this is faster than Slipstream, yet I find it a very cool way to travel the galaxy :) Edited in later: Okay... I just saw a clip of the USS Dauntless able to follow the Protostar into Proto-Warp, so this shows Slipstream is just as fast as Proto-warp. If so, why bother with creating the Protostar engine anyway if Slipstream is just as fast?
Maybe testing two kinds of super drives to see which works better.
They merged the warp bubble
it's all experimental tech. Like how IRL we're pursuing nuclear fusion reactors when we already have hydroelectric, wind, solar, fission, geothermal, and other viable power sources. Slipstream is promising, but not fully proven so starfleet is exploring all possible avenues to see which is most viable long term. Some may be easier to create, more reliable, or have more possibilities for further development. It's also worth studying effects on the ship, crew, subspace, and other such things. It would suck to implement one tech on all new ships and abandon all others, then discover it shreds subspace and results in another warp 5 limit type of deal.
Dauntless followed them at warp 9.97 the precursor to proto-warp. They were disabled before they could make the proto jump
Quantum Slipstream requires Boronite and a device to see a few seconds into the future in order to function. Protowarp requires a powerful gravity sink( Starfleet R&D picked a protostar instead of a singularity) and a special variant of Dilithium.
This was a great episode and enjoyed the end of it
Same! So cool!
I expect the Proto warp tech to be canned by star fleet, its highly inefficient requiring two warp cores to power the containment field
a dual-core engine? and we have PCs today running with 9 or more cores.
The only other Starfleet ship I know of with more than 2 warp cores is the Prometheus. And that is because it needs a core for each separate sub-ship when it engages multi-vector assault mode.
Efficiency is relative.
UFP is an organisation comprised of over 150 different species in late 24th century.
Technology and science evolve exponentially the more technologically and scientifically advanced societies become... there really is no stopping that kind of evolution once it reaches crucial levels... and for a multi-planetary organisation like UFP which doesn't use money, ... even the Burn wouldn't stop progress from occurring.
The Proto warp is an experimental technology.... think of it as a prototype... that means that it can go through several revisions for the efficiency of the containment field to be improved by orders of magnitude.
@@deksroning125 Unfortunately, the stalling of technological advancement seems to have occurred as no one figured out an alternative to dilithium for about 130 years.
Unless the protostar *is* the sole source of the ship's power....
In any event,I suspect that the problem with the protostar core is that it is simply *too* powerful. Sine there's no evidence that the protocore exists in the 32nd century, it would indicate that the propulsion technology was one of Starfleet's failures and it can only be because the protostar is simply too powerful to be contained, particularly when you factor in the potential hazards that a Federation starship faces on a daily basis.
so the protostar drive is pretty much going to give you quantum slipstream type of speed considering that their little jump put them beyond sensor range of hte "diviners ship"
Captain Gwyn just hits so much better than Captain Dal.
Yeah I think Dal will be her number 1
@@bigshadow847 I'm thinking the same. She has the right skill set.
@@Chadlton The crew is loyal to Dal. They are all connected to each other as slave miners.
Dal was inspired by survival.
She defiantly wears the seat better. We'll see how it shakes out.
@@SalinaMoonfall She was trained by her father on some operations of the ship. But she has betrayed the crew and did nothing
to stop them from taking others for enslavement . My guess they go back to rescue the others with Chekotay. Gwynn will play a big part.
The crew of the protostar trying to find out what the protostar reactor is that uses half of it's protostar power for protostar containment;
I say the reason this drive isnt in discovery is because this is the only prototype ship for this drive and it disappeared which meant starfleet canned the idea
Discovery writers are idiots and handwaved away all tech VOY brought back just so they could make 'the Burn' work.
Otherwise I'd have 0 problem Prodigy similarly 'handwaving away' Disco saying it jumped from the prime 23rd century into the alternate universe 32nd century.
:D... leaving the prime Trek universe future wide-open.
Frankly, I’m not sure the writers even think about continuity when they write these shows. JJ’s rebuild of Trek resulted in a cleaning of the slate to enable non Trek writers to jump on the sandbox and start shovelling their stories with a Trek veneer.
There might also be loads of reasons it couldnt replace warp as the primary type of travel. Heck, if dilithium is used at all in it, it wouldnt have worked as a replacement
@@davfree9732 Continuity wouldn't be the problem if the writers made an actual effort.
Problem is, Disco writers haven't seemingly put in a lot of effort into thinking about what kind of technologies would be in existence after 930 years.
What they showcased was more indicative of what could have happened in late 25th century (not 32nd).
Nothing about epxonential developments and returns... so many missed opportunities.
I watch Disco because its Trek and I like the crew's application of UFP principles and ideals in practice... but technology wise, its more or less absurd on how low the bar dropped.
@@deksroning125 The problem is that it's not that easy to write new stories while taking care not to contradict over 50 years of story telling. Star Wars experienced the same problem, that's why Disney decided to axe the Expanded Universe and make it non-canon, so that they wouldn't have to worry about contradicting any of the hundreds of stories that had already been told.
Here is how I think it works
It doesn’t really carry around a protostar, because they are huge, if you compress it to this few meters in length it’ll become a black hole instead
What I think is the warp core(s, since there are 2 of them) charges up what’s essentially a very powerful fusion reactor and contains it (which is also how stars produce their energy) and then release all that energy at once, creating a very powerful warp field for a short time
This can also explain why the ship is so small, as we know large ships going at high warp damages sub space (that’s why post tng ships are mostly smaller than a Galaxy class, according to canon), therefore, the ship may be going maybe way higher than warp 9.999+ (Or smth along those lines), a large ship with such a powerful warp field may very well damage sub space, hence the small size
Another metaphor for the proto-warp engine would be: 2 batteries (the 2 warp core) charging up a much larger battery (the “protostar” along with its containment) and then the large battery released all the energy to make it go real fast
Actually this isn't still much good explanation. By definition any fusion reaction produces way less energy than matter/antimater anihilation. After all fusion reactors are standard part of all SF ships since NX-01.
Saying they have a compressed star is nonsense, as you say, it would turn into black hole. Saying it is a proto star is even more nonsense, because proto-star is essentially first stage of star, its fusion still just barely begun.
By the way damage to subspace doesn't depend on a size of a ship, but on the properties of the warp field. Small ship with strong warp field could make more damage than large ship with low warp field.
Hm, I see
Ok so why are 32c ships not like the Protostar? Sersiously this is so much cooler and it gives off much more of an "advanced" flair than Discoveries 32c designs.
"advanced" then you see Voyager J and the 32c Constitution
I think that Captain Gwyn and Commander Del has a much nicer ring to it. If Voyager had Protostar warp capabilities then they might’ve gotten back to the Alpha Quadrant in no time, which would not have made for an entertaining show.
That was a great scene and I am WOW the size of the Diviners ship, I HOPE they go into the Gamma Quadrant NOT ALPHA OR BETA
Yes! xD
The ship chasing them remind me of a borg diamond from Voyager.
Yes it is like the chase in the episode END GAME
It's like the Enterprise being chased by the Vengeance but actually escaped.
only now am i realising this, XD but im not the only one who notices the warp effect in this show is basically Lego Dimensions tunnel Batman, Gandoulf and Susan use right?
So wait... a proto Star powering the warp drive.... wouldn't that be a less powerful version of a Romulan singularity core? :P
Since stars get their energy from nuclear fusion, it would even be less powerful than regular warp cores. Not to mention that fusion reactors are standard source of energy for impulse engines on SF ships.
@@Lukas-Trnka It is not so much the method but the output. Not all fusion reactors are made equal, the same goes for stars themselves. It also depends on the size of the warp core
@@k1productions87 Yes, that is true. However as it was introduced as "energy from star" or exactly proto-star, it means fusion of hydrogen. If they would say it to be fusion of gold or lead then it could make some more sense. Just then it couldn't be called proto-star. But the process of fusing hydrogen is way less efficient than anihillating it. So fusion reactor that would equal to warp core would have to be insanely huge and fuel consuming. Why make it more complicated when there is already a list of better technologies?.. It simply looks like the current writers are playing with scientific terms they know nothing about.
@@Lukas-Trnka That's a stretch. Its the same "playing with scientific terms" that the TNG episode "Relics" drew from, as the unfathomable engineering technology and capability needed to build a Dyson Sphere was all so they could draw energy from a star.
It isn't WHAT element is being fused, its the amount of said element. After all, fusing two of each particle would produce twice the energy as fusing one of each, would it not? So the question becomes, how many particles per second are fused in the Protostar's core, vs. a typical Fusion Reactor of the time? I'm sure the answer to the latter can be found in any Tech Manual produced during TNG's run (though one should only accept those that Michael Okuda was involved in).
Remember the romulans used proto black holes in their drives.
... A protostar is literally just a fusion reactor. There is no benefit to it, and it's literally just the same thing that's the normal backup system of a ship.
"just a fusion reactor" lol sure, a fusion reactor that's TURNING INTO A STAR.
@@Shadowkey392 yes. That's what a star is. What the hell do you think a fusion reaction is? This is basically writers getting the scale of the idea so hilariously wrong that it stops being hilarious and just dumb.
@@defies4626
Yes, that was my first reaction - why would you use fusion energy insead of matter/anti-matter conversion?
Effectively you would get 100% of the available energy from matter/anti-matter conversion, not so much in fusion.
More terrible writing :(
I don’t understand yalls comment. Its an engine utilizing a contained star for power. This isn’t just some simple itty bitty fusion reactor, its a stellar object set at a miniature scale. Its not just a fusion reactor, its the PERFECT fusion reactor. Like you say just cause its fusion its garbage, bruh its a star, an object so powerful that today just harnessing our own suns rays is proving to solve energy problems across the globe. Now take that except tiny with advanced technology that can utilize its full potential, and it being even with its size an entire ball of pure energy.
Protowarp may be faster than transwarp since they are expected to return the ship to the alpha quadrant and it came from the alpha quadrant too. I'm thinking it's the twenty fifth century though
Guys I think they got the idea from the romulans
There some sense this could be based on the Romulan artificial quantum singularity tech, maybe the new the leadership of the Romulan Empire had a joint venture with the Federation following Shinzon's defeat, but I doubt it because what we know about the led up to supernova was government was still full of distrustful dicks who more concern for the secrets than its citizens. So I think the best outcome for this being based Romulan tech is that was reverse engineered.
Personally, my dark horse candidate, would be that the drive is the product of one Captain Montgomery Scott aka Scotty who been studying the same Dyson Sphere that Ent-D found him and miniaturize the tech to work on artificial protostar...oh and have Chris Doohan voice the role that his dad made famous XD
... No one will believe this, but I so thought of this idea a long time ago for a story.
You were right, I don't believe it.
@@Shadowkey392 I figured as such. Gist was having a star in the core of the vessel. Wrote it bout seven years ago.
So did Gene Roddenberry. A star is a large fusion reaction. ST impulse engines were always powered by fusion reactors.
The USS Protostar has gone to plaid once they entered Ludicrous Speed.
Dal would say it: “Ludicrous speed! GO!”
Transwarp drive maximum velocity in five, four, three, two, one.
I wonder if the ship will stop inside another planetoid after they disengage Protostar engine or something else cause that to happen
So it's not a QSD (Quantun Slipstream Drive), but a Protostar Drive Array., oh sweet.
Protostar - like a "baby star", in another words a massive compressed cloud of hydrogen that has just begun producing energy from fusion reaction. So it is essentialy a fusion reactor. But fusion reactors are standard part of every singe Starfleet ships since NX-01. And by definition, any fusion reaction produces way less energy than matter/antimater anihilation. That would be a downgrade to the engine and not an upgrade. This doesn't make sense.
"doesn't make sense" from an in-universe point of view sadly is what defines nu-trek :/
Except ensign Harry Kim proposed once a type 6 protostar detonating could possibly form a wormhole. Whatever that means. So basically, wormhole-warpdrive-hybrid-thingy.
@@florianN132 (all trek)
Unless its more of a power storage deal then a power maker.
Hear me out.
Those two warp cores are continuesly dropping power into that ball of hydrogen, getting hotter and hotter while the containment field keeps it from undergoing fusion. Even a few minutes of the twin warpcores dumping power into will give you a frankly scary amount of power use.
Until it time to engage it then it undergoes fusion while dumping the resulting hypercharge plasma into the warp drive giving you a massive burst of power need for increasing speed.
@@ericzaiz8358 Well, I'm afraid this would still not be a functioning explanation. That containment field would have to continually decrease pressure to prevent fusion. That itself would presumably consume wast amount of energy. Plus more energy doesn't mean more speed. For more speed you need stronger warp coils and faster plasma injectors. Putting there more energy into it would just burn it out. Just like bigger gas tank doesn't mean faster car.
Anyway there is still that fundamental problem, that fusion of hydrogen can literaly never produce more energy than hydrogen/anti-hydrogen annihilation. M/A annihilation will always produce several orders of magnitude more energy than fusion ever will. It's like having to use two strong diesel engines to heat the boiler of an ordinary steam engine. Why so complicated? It simply doesn't make sense.
These current ST producers are simply playing with scientific terms they know nothing about. It seems they've heard on TV about "magnificent power of stars" and now they believe they've invented something new. Under such conditions it is often impossible for fans to propose any plausible or just semi-plausble explanation.
Is the "Protostar" a new type of FTL Drive, or its just an equivalent of Nitrous Oxide to provide a significant horsepower boost to the Warp Drive?
Seems more like a more powerful warp drive.
I was thinking the same thing. The romulans used proto black holes in their drives.
I’m wondering do they have to disengage the warp drive to use proto drive would it be safe to use both at same time?
Where did this show come from? Is it good?
It’s very good IMO, one of the best Star Trek shows.
The creators and showrunners are Kevin and Dan Hageman, a brother duo who’ve established a reputation for high-quality animated works aimed at kids and families but fully appreciable by child-free adults. They (and some of their Prodigy writing staff) collaborated with Guillermo del Toro on his Tales of Arcadia franchise, and before that they helped write The LEGO Movie. They do good stuff.
They would have used protomatter, but the starship would have formed another Genesis Planet.
Was that supposed to be a Borg diamond? I haven't watched it yet but I'm assuming that's a new change to the borg that they used red as their main color instead of green
The ship is controlled by an entity known as the Diviner, the main antagonist and father to one of the characters on the show, Gwyn. Some years from "now," the Federation will make first contact with his people, causing an uprising in the otherwise religious society, resulting in a civil war that causes its collapse. Needless to say, the Diviner is displeased about this and would very much like to see the Federation dead and Starfleet destroyed and the Protostar is key to his plans, hence why he's so desperate to catch it.
So they were warp speed at the beginning of the clip?
yes, through I wonder what is Protostar's top speed at warp with containment field active since it is draining a lot of power. It is interesting idea to move away at this point ridiculous warp scale were the can't get past warp 10 thanks Voyager's Threshold...so writers just keep adding nines to warp 9.9 XD
Now the Protostar might be limited to warp 5 or 6 before jumping to ludicrous speed. Also we know the limitations of this new drive...fully expect it to be offline next episode
@@amazedsatsuma Actually warp 10 will always be maximum possible speed, because it literaly mean infinite speed acording to that scale. But there is no problem to change the scale itself, to make the warp factors more convenient. In TOS they were also using different warp scale. The scale is not bound to any laws of physics. It is like Richter scale for earthquakes. If that scale would stop being convenient for our uses, we can also change it.
@@Lukas-Trnka I understand the concept that was introduce Threshold...and I'm not saying that Protowarp somehow leaps past the concept of infinite velocity
My point was in regard of simplifying the way to convey higher warp speeds that standard warp scale fails past warp 9. In other words Protowarp could be equivalent to warp 9.9975.
@@amazedsatsuma Ok, I wasn't sure, and because there are people who don't know about it, I thought I rather mention it here.
Protowarp nice
Star Trek Discovery of the alphabet aliens around Uranus.
Best warpping ever
it makes sense if this is in a post nemesis timeline, as they had "protomatter" which could be used to stop a supernova, its entierly possible that this drive is built on that tech in some fashion
then again I could be reading to much into it
There is no real science behind protomatter so they could use it for anything regardles of any believability. Anyway I do think by saying protostar, they mean realy a protostar like a "baby star". Compared to well thought out warp drive, they didn't put much effort in inventing this technology.
You’re probably aware by now, but just in case not, yes, this show is indeed post-Nemesis. Nemesis was set in 2379, and this show begins in 2383.
I gotta get me wanna these
-- will smith 🖖🏽
They need to go to the alpha quadrant tobe safe from the Deviner but make it season 5 or something I like this show
Std hate it picard is ok lower decks comedy too much comedy but prodigy has action adventure danger if it was live action or maybe it will become live action like what Disney is doing with asuka tano
So a crew member of an alien species last seen in the original series, discovers a generator that we last saw in the next generation, to power a travel system last used in deep space nine, guided by a captain from Star Trek Voyager
This series is just a buffet of Trek plot threads being woven together into a brand new tapestry
Meh.... it's still slower than SpaceBall One... that can got so fast that it can go to Plaid!
Better than that dam sporedrive my ship runs on inter galactic flowers. BAH
This is 1000 times better tech although what time line is the ship from prime or jj verse.. I hope these all connect too discovery and make the uss discovery the fault..
They’ve gone to plaid!!!
Some terran level shit
Spooky think...
Star Trek: RGB
Baby star dodo dododo
Will they Warp to Alpha quadrent already were we can see shon on enterprise f Kik some but
USS Discovery es mas rapida o la protostar mmmm
And at this point in time, the Spore drive is classified and the discovery itself is in a time travel wormhole.
This is star wars, in a star trek skin. Why?
It really isn’t. If anything, it’s the most Trekish of Trek shows; the entire first season serves as sort of a primer on Star Trek for both its characters and much of its audience, not just in terms of lore but in terms of its core philosophy. The six youths at the show’s core start out not having even heard of the Federation or knowing what Starfleet is, and as their adventures progress the show teaches them - and, by extension, young viewers who’ve never seen Star Trek before - what Starfleet (and Stsr Trek) are all about. It is absolutely Trek through and through, and also really good.