Since it wasn't mentioned in the video, and since I'm not seeing it in the comments, I feel I have to give a personal up to my favourite moment of the episode. Which is when due to Dal in Janeway's body acting so weird the doctor orders her to drink some coffee, and Dal just spits it out. It was the perfect gag to show the crew of the Dauntless that something was well and truly wrong.
Just the fact that he ordered her to drink coffee after previously ordering her to switch to tea was enough to show they knew something was up, made me giggle.
Indeed. I feel like I've seen other sci fi series use the mind swap trope. A guy goes to his doctor after being zapped by an alien artifact and says, "I'm not me! Scan me and figure out what's wrong!" and the doctor just says, "sounds like stress. Stop worrying about the mysterious artifact that rendered you unconscious with a flash of strange energy. Go home with no escort for a nice long weekend before anybody checks in on you, and have some hijinks on the town/base/ship." Star Trek has played the mind swap game enough times, that they just trust the characters are competent enough and know each other well enough to figure out what's going on pretty much immediately.
@@Anduril74871 my interpretation was that the doctor thought she was having an episode of caffeine withdrawal or something, and so orders get to get her fix. He's like "oh no, I've pushed her too hard!". Either is funny though.
Also not mentioned but great moment, when Janeway in Dal immediatly puts their hands on their hips while assessing the situation, insulting every Tak Tak out there.
I was blown away by Kate Mulgrew's performance. It's so far removed from not just the character, but the actress, being that silly and it worked so well.
Honestely I did find it a little silly, but I'll admit the idea in the end worked so well that I was impressed by the performance, to be truthful I do think it worked ten times better that in SNW when in one epiosde Spock swap mind with his Vulcan girlfirend, which however didn't resulted in much of a change of the character performance, so in SNW I did not see much of a point, in Prodigy instead it worked perfectly
Very upset that this wasn't mentioned because to me it deserves a big up. At 17:25 Janeway in Dal says to Rok-Tahk "You're going to make a great science officer someday". It was just so heartwarming!!!
You missed the part about the Doctor prescribing Janeway Coffee and Dal Spitting it out, that was a great gag and a great call back top the fact that she has been drinking tea for so long that when she started acting a little off that the Doctor prescribed her Coffee as a first step in helping her to relax
Since the doctor is played by Jason Alexander, it reminded me of the Voyager ep:"Think Tank". His character sipped her coffee and said, " You drink this?"
My favorite scene is the the moment with the Diviner. It really opens up his character and adds much needed context to his prior actions. He is not without honor. He's truly driven to try and save his people at any cost, but he's not actually a monster... despite having done, and intending to DO, monstrous things. It would have been nice to have had the opportunity to see a deeper exploration of his character.
In regards to Janeway's comment concerning Dal's disqualification to joining Starfleet...I believe the events of "Doctor Bashir, I Presume..." were classified. In legal terms, Dr. Bashir didn't choose to be Augmented. He was allowed to remain in Starfleet due to his past actions. I think Dal will still be allowed to join Starfleet as long as he nor anyone else reveals the truth about his condition. They need to keep up the façade of disfavoring Augmentation so it doesn't become common.
That’s something I feel should be revamped. Because in Dal’s case especially, he LITERALLY had no choice. He had no voice to speak his mind when he was created. So in technical terms, he’s not an Augment at all. If anything he’s an entirely new Species.
It does seem to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis when it does actually come up...problem is the attitude it's dealt with borders on near racism, or at the very least instant panic when confronted with such a case, cause the ghost of Khan still seems to haunt the Federation even far into the future. Strange New Worlds at least is touching and voicing that the policy might not be "perfect" since it leads to a people being wiped out almost explicitly because they were trying to "de-augment" themselves so they could join the federation, plus the previously mentioned arrest. So far it seems when the genetic tampering is done without consent, they "eventually" rule in favor of the one involved, but they really seem to hate dealing with the cases in the first place and prefer to not look at the skeleton in the closet as it were.
I loved this episode too! Kate Mulgrew obviously had so much fun and has never been as goofy as she was here.😂👏One personal note which got a grin out of me is that, when Dal is escaping the Dauntless and sneaking to an airlock, I thought, “Hang on! How does he know his way around the ship? He’s never been on it and it’s a much bigger ship than Protostar.” Mere seconds later, we have him coming out an airlock in the WRONG end of the ship! Sheer genius from the writers, like they’d read my mind!😂👏 Anyway, I wanted to answer your initial comment about the combadges. My understanding is that by removing Janeway’s badge isn’t technically making her hard to find. The internal sensors would still be able to detect there’s a human inside a closet, they just wouldn’t be able to identify her. As far as the computer knows, Janeway’s in her quarters. Finally, LOVED that fleet at the end! You know how much of a fan of the Sovereign class I am and so it’s a real joy how much the recent Trek shows have been shoving as many as possible into episodes.😁👏Plus, definitely always happy to get some Defiant class too. One thing I was going to say, I have a feeling there was a Centaur class ship regularly orbiting DS9 in one of those stock shots of the station they regularly reused in later seasons. Also, there’s actually a new Trek game coming out called “Star Trek Resurgence” which looks like it takes place on a Centaur class ship too!👏
Yes I’m really surprised this wasn’t brought up. There’s not many other times we’ve seen people outside a spaceship while it’s at warp. It was my first thought while watching this episode when they discussed the plan with Admir-Dal
According to the writers, the Benson sisters, on the 7th Rule channel, Mulgrew and Gray recorded their own lines first and then swapped recordings to compare delivery.
That makes perfect sense, because the other possibility was that they had studied the *hell* out of each other's performances elsewhere. Gray, in particular, sounded *exactly* as I remembered Mulgrew sounding at her best on Voyager, and it was a glorious result.
I like that they delve into the area of Language. There have not been very many in all the various series that dealt with the conundrum of the many diverse languages.....
@@jceggbert5 I really like S1 of SNW, but I think the season as a whole fell just short of greatness. I think the writers were unsure of themselves and didn't develop their ideas as fully as they could have. LDS started bad, but S1E10 is an all-time classic Trek episode. Prodigy is giving a masterclass on doing self-contained episodes that form an ongoing story, and the episodes have been getting better and better all season. SNW just didn't, quite, hit those highs. I am proper stoked for S2 and have high expectations, they're so close and there's so much to love about it.
The back half of this first season has just been bangers on bangers. Time Amok was the best episode of the series until Mindwalk came along. This series just does not miss
I'd like to point out in a precious video I had a itching suspicion that the Diviner in some way might eventually go against his own mission some way or form. And it happened someone showing compassion/kindness to Janeway "Dal"....makes me wonder if Ascencia will do something radical that endangers his daughter and he snaps to stop her and save his daughter and/or give his own life in the process
I was thinking the same thing about the Diviner, especially when they revealed in the prior (?) episode that he was originally one of the people from his planet that thought that their world should maintain contact with the Federation before he was sent back in time.
I love this episode, it is my favourite so far. My favourite scene was with Admiral Janeway and Holo Janeway, especially when she AJ said 'I would be hard on you, but I already know you're being hard on yourself.' Here, she isn't referring to 'betraying' the crew, which was not HJ's fault, but because HJ deactivated herself and ran away from the problem. AJ says 'sounds like something I would do,' which is a reference to 'Night', when she locked herself away in her room due to guilt and depression. I think this helps her see that sometimes she is/has been to hard on herself. On a lighter note, one thing that I haven't seen others mention, that I absolutely love is when Dal pretends to do stretching exercises when caught playing charades, and then hurts his/Janeway's back in the process. I was watching up to that point, thinking, 'he's sure putting Janeway's body through its paces; surely he should be feeling the difference. Then we got that scene. This ain't a teenager's body, dude!😂 A cetacean observation that was not mentioned was the warp bubble, which we've previously seen in Enterprise, when Trip had to travel from the Columbia to the Enterprise while at warp.
The last episodes have been knocking them out of the park. Awesome stories. This is a show I look forward to each week as the plot intensifies. Janeway meets hologram Janeway was priceless and the cunning Janeway is back who no longer sees the kids in the same light and wants to help. It was also fun to watch the body switch antics and the actors play different characters.
What about a shout out for the mention of Janeways sister Phoebe. That was a very clever way to reintroduce a character that has actually never been seen.
The black window in Janeway’s quarters could be explained by the fact that she was taking a nap and dimmed the window to block the light from the warp stream.
I loved the episode, and I think they did an excellent job setting up for the finale. I don't think we're going to be making much progress in resolving the Chakotay storyline this season - but I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes the focus for Season 2. And you can definitely tell that the cast were having a blast with the episode - just such a wild departure from their usual characterizations, and they were absolutely hamming it up every minute.
I’d like to see the first half of S2 focus on Chakotay & crew in the future and have them make contact with the present in the “mid-season finale” then spend the 2nd half trying to get back home. It would nicely mirror how this season focused solely on the kids on the Protostar at first, and then the latter half showing Admr. Janeway’s pursuit of the ship and the Protostar crew trying to avoid making contact with Starfleet.
@@shutterbug8860 I think that would make for a rather solid seasonal structure, though this being a kids show, I don't think they're going to want to take the focus away from the kids for that long. But, I could see a split focus between Chakotay and his crew in the future, and the kids in Starfleet Academy in the present, before being put back on the Protostar as experts on the Solum (presumably under Vice Admiral Janeway's command, with Dal as first officer and the others filling the current roles) on their mission to rescue Chakotay.
Loved the episode!! Greater Trek commentary: Combadge/Signal Lock. I have always assumed the Transporter/Scanner protocol functioned on a hierarchy of probabilities. Passive Scans "Janeway isn't on the Ship" because the Combadge isn't active/attached. > "Janeway is in her Quarters" because the inactive Combadge is in her Quarters. > "Janeway is in the Ensign's quarters" Combadge Last Active coordinates. These are all 'locations' but not scanning/teleporter coordinates. To actually transport you need an active scan. "100% Accuracy Lock" Pattern Enhancers + Combadge > "99.99% Lock" Active Combadge > "98% Lock" Life-form/Material scan (that 2% error for the person/object being scanned for would be compensated by the Transporter's buffers). The Skeletal Lock felt to me like switching off 'lifeform' mode and turning on 'material mode' and selecting a bone mineral that is common in most lifeforms and then pushing out a radius of acceptability to ~20 centimeters to get the entirety of the crew's bodies. If I had been writing/special effects, I would have included parts of the Cube's hull that the crew was standing on to emphasize how dangerous/reckless this 'skeletal lock' option is.
Kate has talked about Threshold a lot, including on the Delta Flyers podcast where she says the following: "Of ALL the episodes you could ask me to join you in conversation about, of everything we did together, every conceivable adventure, confrontation, peril, right? You choose “Threshold.” The story of Lt. Paris and Captain Janeway having lizards."
The Diviner's comment about "keep my daughter safe" kinda reminded me of Dukat in "Sacrifice of Angels" and "Cathedral", where he's coming out of the trauma of Ziyal's murder and blaming Sisko. Mr. D isn't quite as cracked up as Dukat was, but I could still feel that kind of " I'm not as mad as I was, but I'm stoked underneath" feeling. Mr. D is still not stable, but he's stable enough to make some sense.
It's pretty clear whatever ruling body made the directive it was tailored specifically so the survivors wouldn't just have kids and say maybe we should just start over somewhere else
All Dukat ever wanted was for the Bajorans to see him in a positive light. Ziyal was the 1 Bajoran who loved him for who he was. In his mind justifying his life's actions, making all his horrible deeds worth it. When she died, it shattered Dukat's entire world, everything he "worked" for.
Thank you as always for doing these episode reviews. I am love Love LOVING Star Trek: Prodigy. It's been such a great first season/series--possibly the best first season of a Trek show ever. Lower Decks s1 was also terrific, as were TOS and Strange New Worlds, but the rest of the first seasons I usually just skip.
@@MichaelLlaneza LDS? Is that an autocorrect error do you mean Discovery? Or is there a Mormon Star Trek series (Latter Day Saints) that I'm not aware of?
The doctor giving Admiral Janeway her coffee saying "you're not yourself" is reminiscent of the old Snickers commercial punchline "you're not yourself when you're hungry". I half expected him to ask if she was better after, before projectile spitting it out.
I am 42yo and I have to say, I really like this "kids show". Certainly the fan service may help but I do really like this story. I wish it would be a little longer and not so rushed, but then it would not be a kids show anymore. Anyway, epsiode and good video!
@@williambell3304 lol watching the wife get deleted 2x from an escape pod window..That part really showed the downside of having families onboard..I'm sure they had time to drop them off somewhere on the way to wolf 359
I’m not sure the Diviner realized that he was talking to Dal in Janeway’s body. I think he was surprised when Dal mentioned Gwynn’s name, since he realized that Janeway wasn’t supposed to know her name. What do you think? Brilliant episode 😍
Great episode! Even though this is targeted at a younger audience, it still manages to impress the older generation with its new tropes and callbacks. Was laughing at the scene when the Dauntless doctor looked out the window and saw the crew of the Protostar looking back at him. I think that was the first time ever someone looked out a ship window to help advance the plot in this episode with the charades bit.
You missed 2 major things: 1. The phaser beam transfearing their souls, that came from DS9 season 1 "the passanger" when Dr. Bashir was possessed by a criminal Kobliad and they sent an interference pattern along a tractor beam that disrupted the possesing alien long enough for Bashir to drop the Norkova's shields and get beamed out. 2. Warp Bubble merging, Enterprise Klingon Augments 2 parter
Watching Dal and Janeway’s awkwardness in each other’s bodies was hilarious and well done. BTW, did any notice an Excelsior Class vessel on the upper right side of the welcoming committee scene?
Loved this episode. So many references but I was especially happy about the warp bubble merge. Felt like a shout out to the Enterprise episode divergence where the Enterprise and Columbia merged warp bubble to get Trip across
4:00 To be fair to Voyager...a phrase I never thought I'd say...a "skeletal lock" is explicitly said to be a lock on the minerals in their bones, so it's still looking for an "artificial" point to lock onto, tricking the transporter into reading THAT as the signal (I don't think anyone on the Voyager staff knew what the minerals in bones were, they just knew it from milk adverts)
That was an absolutely brilliant episode. Mulgrew and Gray really nailed it when they acted as each other. Prodigy really is becoming one of my favourite new Trek shows, along with Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks. I also loved the line Janeway said to the hologram version of her, "Now make something good out of this mess" (Yes, that was paraphrased, unless I got it exactly right.) I was actually surprised you didn't mention it.
I had an eyebrow up when the Threshold reference wasn't the Latinum UP of the Week, but I can see saving that for a Centaur-class appearance. Forgiven.
It was my understanding that the sensors can detect an individual lifeform's species, but not a specific person's DNA. So yeah, if you're looking for someone to transport, and you know they're the only human or vulcan or whatever there, you can just lock on to anyone of that species. So in the case of throwing Janeway in a closet, they could detect that there's a human in that closet, if they had any reason to look there. But they wouldn't know it was Janeway.
Best episode, period. The voice actors had to have had a blast. It's definitely gonna be interesting to see how the two part finale will go down, but I feel as though we'll get a switch on the half of the Diviner. Was also funny when the Doctor is just like . . . you're not in the your right mind, drink coffee lol. Also glad Sean is good with those easter eggs. Will admit when I didn't see an Ups and Down on Thursday I was a bit worried TrekCulture might have dropped them for Prodigy again.
About the Augment ban.. I wonder what's in store for Una too... If we're going by the Bashir example, he was still allowed to continue his service in Starfleet despite being an Augment and - more importantly - *lying about it*... So I will Una be given the same exception? The thing is, Starfleet wasn't interested in punishing Bashir, because as enlightened humans they understand that people can't help how they were born. Bashir wasn't the problem, his parents were, and they - specifically his dad - were punished with jail time. That was made clear explicitly in the text of the episode. Sisko and O'Brian were pissed off that Julian *lied* about it but Starfleet was more concerned that his parents cooked him up in the first place. However Una's a product of her species being pretty darn cool with genetic augmentation - actually. So what's Starfleet gonna do? Punish the Illyrians? They kind of already did - they're, like, shadowbanned from joining Starfleet. So... what's left? How can Starfleet make an example of the practise of genetic augmentation when they're already punishing the species that practise it? You gotta go after the other facet of the crime - Una lying about it. So I dunno. If Starfleet want's to make an example of Una's augmentation they *have no option than to hit Una personally and hit her hard*. She can't get the same treatment as Bashir. My guess is a court-martial... but probably no jail time. Maybe a demotion... maybe even discommendation. Either way, I'll be surprised if it's a slap on the wrist unless it comes with a lot of conditions.
Little observation about the warp bubble practice. I recall the first time seeing the practice was in "Enterprise" where the Enterprise and Columbia match speeds at warp and transfer Tripp to the Enterprise.
I loved this episode too! The merging of the warp bubbles was a small nod to Enterprise and Tucker moving between the ships. I was a little annoyed that once the nature of the telepathic link was understood, that they didn't merely.... Return fire.... But the Janeway fly on the view screen gag was worth it
Very good episode along with the humour. My only beef was about Dal having Organia DNA? If the organians were pure energy? How would DNA be found? Also? Everytime I look at the Andorian guy in the show? He looks like the English comic actor Peter Cook.
You’d think a com badge would be taking biometric readings and the moment it wasn’t it would send an alert. Or even better when it registered the wearer knocked unconscious.
I'll add that to my list - Crewmember sucked out due to hull breach? Emergency transport to sickbay Unknown person beaming aboard? Emergency transport to the brig etc, etc.
I thought the walking and being in the warp bubble between ships would have had a cetatian observation from the enterprise episode where Trip has to go between the two ships when warp drive had a virus in it.
We definitely have the same sense of humor - this too is one of my favorite episodes and Adm.Janeway finally came out of her single-minded emotional pursuit and opened up to what was going on. Which you are talking about as I type this - LOL. There were a few other minor edit issues with the ep too besides the window - but the ep definitely makes up for any mistakes that can still be corrected eventually. I really hope Dal can get into Starfleet - he deserves it. More than Wesley Crusher ever did.
I remember watching Scorpion with a friend when it aired and he pointed out the potentially horrific consequences of locking on to a person's skeleton to beam them out of someplace
This was definitely my favourite Prodigy ep so far! So much fun. The only thing that would've made it absolutely perfect would have been one or two California class starships there at the end, although seeing the Defiant class made me very happy too.
Two things, one which has been mentioned, Dal spitting out the Coffee, was totally not a Janeway thing. And, in Cetacean Operations, ya totally missed the reference to Enterprise, merging of the two warp fields between the Entprise and Columbia to allow Trip to take a trip from the Columbia to the Enterprise to fix the Enterprise's main warp core computer.
Lol when this came out a day late I was worried you'd canceled this series again which would be a shame for my favourite episode so far. Teamwork makes the dream work!
Had a weird thought. The joke runs, 'keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.' Admiral Janeway has been very close-minded with regard to the Protostar for most of the season, and just look what happened.
Good point about the combadges and lifeforms, the only aspect I can use as a defence of the Federation is that it's much easier to identify and locate a person by their combadge. BUT, if it's misleading or lost, of course, they should use their magical lifeform detectors. One detail I loved was the voices of the characters stayed with each body - what is obvious, yes? What allowed the two actors to show their abilities and talents when personifying each others' character. =]
I'm already excited to see these new episodes but sadly I can't watch them alredy here in Austria (Österreich) because they haven't beenon TV yet but thanks to you i know how it wil go on and that makes me even more excitde to see the new episodes Thank you.
Since it wasn't mentioned in the video, and since I'm not seeing it in the comments, I feel I have to give a personal up to my favourite moment of the episode. Which is when due to Dal in Janeway's body acting so weird the doctor orders her to drink some coffee, and Dal just spits it out. It was the perfect gag to show the crew of the Dauntless that something was well and truly wrong.
Just the fact that he ordered her to drink coffee after previously ordering her to switch to tea was enough to show they knew something was up, made me giggle.
I agree I was at least expecting that in Cetacean observations.
Indeed. I feel like I've seen other sci fi series use the mind swap trope. A guy goes to his doctor after being zapped by an alien artifact and says, "I'm not me! Scan me and figure out what's wrong!" and the doctor just says, "sounds like stress. Stop worrying about the mysterious artifact that rendered you unconscious with a flash of strange energy. Go home with no escort for a nice long weekend before anybody checks in on you, and have some hijinks on the town/base/ship." Star Trek has played the mind swap game enough times, that they just trust the characters are competent enough and know each other well enough to figure out what's going on pretty much immediately.
@@Anduril74871 my interpretation was that the doctor thought she was having an episode of caffeine withdrawal or something, and so orders get to get her fix. He's like "oh no, I've pushed her too hard!". Either is funny though.
Also not mentioned but great moment, when Janeway in Dal immediatly puts their hands on their hips while assessing the situation, insulting every Tak Tak out there.
I was blown away by Kate Mulgrew's performance. It's so far removed from not just the character, but the actress, being that silly and it worked so well.
Even in other roles I've never seen her in that kind of a mode, lol. It was fun.
I have a new found respect for Kate Mulgrew and her acting ability.
Honestely I did find it a little silly, but I'll admit the idea in the end worked so well that I was impressed by the performance, to be truthful I do think it worked ten times better that in SNW when in one epiosde Spock swap mind with his Vulcan girlfirend, which however didn't resulted in much of a change of the character performance, so in SNW I did not see much of a point, in Prodigy instead it worked perfectly
So many of us who are fans realised long ago how versatile she is as an actress.
Absolutely. Unlike anything I've heard from her before. It was fantastic.
Very upset that this wasn't mentioned because to me it deserves a big up. At 17:25 Janeway in Dal says to Rok-Tahk "You're going to make a great science officer someday". It was just so heartwarming!!!
Especially because Janeway herself started as a science officer!
Kate Mulgrew as Dal in Janeways body was brilliant! Superb performance
As a kid, I would skip school to stay home and watch Ryan's Hope. I think it's incredible that 50 years later, i'm still enjoying Kate Mulgrew's work.
You missed the part about the Doctor prescribing Janeway Coffee and Dal Spitting it out, that was a great gag and a great call back top the fact that she has been drinking tea for so long that when she started acting a little off that the Doctor prescribed her Coffee as a first step in helping her to relax
Since the doctor is played by Jason Alexander, it reminded me of the Voyager ep:"Think Tank".
His character sipped her coffee and said, " You drink this?"
To me, when Janeway spits out coffee in disgust, I would go ABOVE red alert status!
One thing I love about this episode - the mind swapping Organian telepathy angle is an Enterprise reference :D
I would love to see a behind the scene video of Kate Mulgrew and Brett Gray voicing each others characters.
strongly seconded
Plus one
The voice acting coming from the body swap is some of the best performances I’ve seen in Star Trek. It was so funny and it worked and I loved it
Janeway turning on her heel and doing "pew pew" finger guns is now my EVERYTHING!
"um the admiral's on the hull" loved that line
"teamwork makes the dream work."
My favorite scene is the the moment with the Diviner. It really opens up his character and adds much needed context to his prior actions. He is not without honor. He's truly driven to try and save his people at any cost, but he's not actually a monster... despite having done, and intending to DO, monstrous things. It would have been nice to have had the opportunity to see a deeper exploration of his character.
In regards to Janeway's comment concerning Dal's disqualification to joining Starfleet...I believe the events of "Doctor Bashir, I Presume..." were classified. In legal terms, Dr. Bashir didn't choose to be Augmented. He was allowed to remain in Starfleet due to his past actions. I think Dal will still be allowed to join Starfleet as long as he nor anyone else reveals the truth about his condition. They need to keep up the façade of disfavoring Augmentation so it doesn't become common.
That’s something I feel should be revamped. Because in Dal’s case especially, he LITERALLY had no choice. He had no voice to speak his mind when he was created. So in technical terms, he’s not an Augment at all. If anything he’s an entirely new Species.
It does seem to be dealt with on a case-by-case basis when it does actually come up...problem is the attitude it's dealt with borders on near racism, or at the very least instant panic when confronted with such a case, cause the ghost of Khan still seems to haunt the Federation even far into the future. Strange New Worlds at least is touching and voicing that the policy might not be "perfect" since it leads to a people being wiped out almost explicitly because they were trying to "de-augment" themselves so they could join the federation, plus the previously mentioned arrest. So far it seems when the genetic tampering is done without consent, they "eventually" rule in favor of the one involved, but they really seem to hate dealing with the cases in the first place and prefer to not look at the skeleton in the closet as it were.
I loved this episode too! Kate Mulgrew obviously had so much fun and has never been as goofy as she was here.😂👏One personal note which got a grin out of me is that, when Dal is escaping the Dauntless and sneaking to an airlock, I thought, “Hang on! How does he know his way around the ship? He’s never been on it and it’s a much bigger ship than Protostar.” Mere seconds later, we have him coming out an airlock in the WRONG end of the ship! Sheer genius from the writers, like they’d read my mind!😂👏 Anyway, I wanted to answer your initial comment about the combadges. My understanding is that by removing Janeway’s badge isn’t technically making her hard to find. The internal sensors would still be able to detect there’s a human inside a closet, they just wouldn’t be able to identify her. As far as the computer knows, Janeway’s in her quarters. Finally, LOVED that fleet at the end! You know how much of a fan of the Sovereign class I am and so it’s a real joy how much the recent Trek shows have been shoving as many as possible into episodes.😁👏Plus, definitely always happy to get some Defiant class too. One thing I was going to say, I have a feeling there was a Centaur class ship regularly orbiting DS9 in one of those stock shots of the station they regularly reused in later seasons. Also, there’s actually a new Trek game coming out called “Star Trek Resurgence” which looks like it takes place on a Centaur class ship too!👏
The space walk/warp field merger was very Enterprise-esque, with Trip doing a space walk to go between Columbia and Enterprise.
I was *stunned* this wasn't mentioned in Cetacean Observations.
@@chasethevioletsun9996 Same here. Or canon watch sneaking in a conspiracy for a moment.
Yes I’m really surprised this wasn’t brought up. There’s not many other times we’ve seen people outside a spaceship while it’s at warp. It was my first thought while watching this episode when they discussed the plan with Admir-Dal
According to the writers, the Benson sisters, on the 7th Rule channel, Mulgrew and Gray recorded their own lines first and then swapped recordings to compare delivery.
That makes perfect sense, because the other possibility was that they had studied the *hell* out of each other's performances elsewhere. Gray, in particular, sounded *exactly* as I remembered Mulgrew sounding at her best on Voyager, and it was a glorious result.
I like that they delve into the area of Language. There have not been very many in all the various series that dealt with the conundrum of the many diverse languages.....
Did anyone notice that Sal’s tail was more animated when Janeway was in his head.
I imagine Dal has better control over it so when it was Janeway in charge it just emoted with her
As T'Pring would say "shenanigans". Loved this episode!
I was just constantly cackling. But it felt ORGANIC instead of just a one-off comedy episode. Great work all around. :)
The humor in this episode was entirely earned. Great stuff, probably the best first season of a Trek show since TOS.
@@MichaelLlaneza snw s1 is pretty great
@@jceggbert5 I really like S1 of SNW, but I think the season as a whole fell just short of greatness. I think the writers were unsure of themselves and didn't develop their ideas as fully as they could have. LDS started bad, but S1E10 is an all-time classic Trek episode. Prodigy is giving a masterclass on doing self-contained episodes that form an ongoing story, and the episodes have been getting better and better all season. SNW just didn't, quite, hit those highs. I am proper stoked for S2 and have high expectations, they're so close and there's so much to love about it.
Kate Mulgrew really knocked it out of the park with the madcap Dal behavior.
I can just imagine her not just voicing in the recording booth but actually sneaking around the room performing the actions live.
Mulgrew had me absolutely cracking up this episode. Must’ve been a blast to record.
I know she was saying how much she was loving the work but to see it in action is awesome
The combined warp bubble space walk was originally seen in Enterprise.
Another fun review, Sean. I enjoy your reviews better than any other! 👏
Yup
The back half of this first season has just been bangers on bangers. Time Amok was the best episode of the series until Mindwalk came along. This series just does not miss
The fact that the best episodes in this show are both right before a 2 parter is really coincidental.
I can see that Dal being in Janeway's body must have been really fun to record for Kate Mulgrew.
I'd like to point out in a precious video I had a itching suspicion that the Diviner in some way might eventually go against his own mission some way or form. And it happened someone showing compassion/kindness to Janeway "Dal"....makes me wonder if Ascencia will do something radical that endangers his daughter and he snaps to stop her and save his daughter and/or give his own life in the process
I was thinking the same thing about the Diviner, especially when they revealed in the prior (?) episode that he was originally one of the people from his planet that thought that their world should maintain contact with the Federation before he was sent back in time.
Admiral Dal-way not being able to walk properly was my favorite 🤣
Loved Kate Mulgrew’s performance! It was amazing!
I love this episode, it is my favourite so far. My favourite scene was with Admiral Janeway and Holo Janeway, especially when she AJ said 'I would be hard on you, but I already know you're being hard on yourself.' Here, she isn't referring to 'betraying' the crew, which was not HJ's fault, but because HJ deactivated herself and ran away from the problem. AJ says 'sounds like something I would do,' which is a reference to 'Night', when she locked herself away in her room due to guilt and depression. I think this helps her see that sometimes she is/has been to hard on herself.
On a lighter note, one thing that I haven't seen others mention, that I absolutely love is when Dal pretends to do stretching exercises when caught playing charades, and then hurts his/Janeway's back in the process. I was watching up to that point, thinking, 'he's sure putting Janeway's body through its paces; surely he should be feeling the difference. Then we got that scene. This ain't a teenager's body, dude!😂
A cetacean observation that was not mentioned was the warp bubble, which we've previously seen in Enterprise, when Trip had to travel from the Columbia to the Enterprise while at warp.
Especially when you can just hear AJ's bones cracking when Dal was doing those stretches. I felt that.
LOVED the Centaur class cameo. One of my favorite classes but it hardly ever gets screentime!
The salamander reference made me laugh hysterically. That should have been a latinum or the coffee gag.😅
The last episodes have been knocking them out of the park. Awesome stories. This is a show I look forward to each week as the plot intensifies. Janeway meets hologram Janeway was priceless and the cunning Janeway is back who no longer sees the kids in the same light and wants to help. It was also fun to watch the body switch antics and the actors play different characters.
All she needs to do is get out of the brig
What about a shout out for the mention of Janeways sister Phoebe. That was a very clever way to reintroduce a character that has actually never been seen.
I'll agree that Salamander line got me laughing hard.
The black window in Janeway’s quarters could be explained by the fact that she was taking a nap and dimmed the window to block the light from the warp stream.
Yeah, we have e-glass now that turns black because the electric field rotates the glass molecules iirc.
It could be a privacy mode.
I suspect Dal wouldn't know how to do that.
I loved the episode, and I think they did an excellent job setting up for the finale. I don't think we're going to be making much progress in resolving the Chakotay storyline this season - but I wouldn't be surprised if it becomes the focus for Season 2. And you can definitely tell that the cast were having a blast with the episode - just such a wild departure from their usual characterizations, and they were absolutely hamming it up every minute.
I’d like to see the first half of S2 focus on Chakotay & crew in the future and have them make contact with the present in the “mid-season finale” then spend the 2nd half trying to get back home. It would nicely mirror how this season focused solely on the kids on the Protostar at first, and then the latter half showing Admr. Janeway’s pursuit of the ship and the Protostar crew trying to avoid making contact with Starfleet.
@@shutterbug8860 I think that would make for a rather solid seasonal structure, though this being a kids show, I don't think they're going to want to take the focus away from the kids for that long. But, I could see a split focus between Chakotay and his crew in the future, and the kids in Starfleet Academy in the present, before being put back on the Protostar as experts on the Solum (presumably under Vice Admiral Janeway's command, with Dal as first officer and the others filling the current roles) on their mission to rescue Chakotay.
Loved the episode!!
Greater Trek commentary: Combadge/Signal Lock. I have always assumed the Transporter/Scanner protocol functioned on a hierarchy of probabilities. Passive Scans "Janeway isn't on the Ship" because the Combadge isn't active/attached. > "Janeway is in her Quarters" because the inactive Combadge is in her Quarters. > "Janeway is in the Ensign's quarters" Combadge Last Active coordinates. These are all 'locations' but not scanning/teleporter coordinates. To actually transport you need an active scan. "100% Accuracy Lock" Pattern Enhancers + Combadge > "99.99% Lock" Active Combadge > "98% Lock" Life-form/Material scan (that 2% error for the person/object being scanned for would be compensated by the Transporter's buffers).
The Skeletal Lock felt to me like switching off 'lifeform' mode and turning on 'material mode' and selecting a bone mineral that is common in most lifeforms and then pushing out a radius of acceptability to ~20 centimeters to get the entirety of the crew's bodies. If I had been writing/special effects, I would have included parts of the Cube's hull that the crew was standing on to emphasize how dangerous/reckless this 'skeletal lock' option is.
Kate has talked about Threshold a lot, including on the Delta Flyers podcast where she says the following:
"Of ALL the episodes you could ask me to join you in conversation about, of everything we did together, every conceivable adventure, confrontation, peril, right? You choose “Threshold.” The story of Lt. Paris and Captain Janeway having lizards."
Remember, teamwork makes the dream work!
Kate mulgrew was obviously having a ton of fun with this
I've grown to like Prodigy a lot. Very well done. This episode was indeed excellent.
THis is the BEST Voyager sequel EVER
The Diviner's comment about "keep my daughter safe" kinda reminded me of Dukat in "Sacrifice of Angels" and "Cathedral", where he's coming out of the trauma of Ziyal's murder and blaming Sisko. Mr. D isn't quite as cracked up as Dukat was, but I could still feel that kind of " I'm not as mad as I was, but I'm stoked underneath" feeling. Mr. D is still not stable, but he's stable enough to make some sense.
It's pretty clear whatever ruling body made the directive it was tailored specifically so the survivors wouldn't just have kids and say maybe we should just start over somewhere else
All Dukat ever wanted was for the Bajorans to see him in a positive light. Ziyal was the 1 Bajoran who loved him for who he was. In his mind justifying his life's actions, making all his horrible deeds worth it. When she died, it shattered Dukat's entire world, everything he "worked" for.
Thank you as always for doing these episode reviews. I am love Love LOVING Star Trek: Prodigy. It's been such a great first season/series--possibly the best first season of a Trek show ever. Lower Decks s1 was also terrific, as were TOS and Strange New Worlds, but the rest of the first seasons I usually just skip.
Hands down best episode of Prodigy so far, perhaps even the best episode of any CBS Trek series
I'd say several episodes of LDS match or beat it, but not by much.
@@MichaelLlaneza LDS? Is that an autocorrect error do you mean Discovery? Or is there a Mormon Star Trek series (Latter Day Saints) that I'm not aware of?
@@Michael-bk5nz Lower DeckS
The doctor giving Admiral Janeway her coffee saying "you're not yourself" is reminiscent of the old Snickers commercial punchline "you're not yourself when you're hungry". I half expected him to ask if she was better after, before projectile spitting it out.
I am 42yo and I have to say, I really like this "kids show". Certainly the fan service may help but I do really like this story. I wish it would be a little longer and not so rushed, but then it would not be a kids show anymore.
Anyway, epsiode and good video!
Looking out of the window is a novel concept for Star Trek
Laforge looked out the readyroom window Before
@@LHGII There was a particular window on DS9 that was pretty popular, lol
@@williambell3304 lol watching the wife get deleted 2x from an escape pod window..That part really showed the downside of having families onboard..I'm sure they had time to drop them off somewhere on the way to wolf 359
@@LHGII Oh, Dark, I was just talking about there's a window people like to watch the wormhole through lol
@@williambell3304 loll that window also. Jake & Nog's favorite spot
I’m not sure the Diviner realized that he was talking to Dal in Janeway’s body. I think he was surprised when Dal mentioned Gwynn’s name, since he realized that Janeway wasn’t supposed to know her name. What do you think? Brilliant episode 😍
Except she did know her name. There was a bounty report she read.
@@Nebula1701But that would presumably have listed her full name, not that she'd be called by her nickname.
Great episode! Even though this is targeted at a younger audience, it still manages to impress the older generation with its new tropes and callbacks. Was laughing at the scene when the Dauntless doctor looked out the window and saw the crew of the Protostar looking back at him. I think that was the first time ever someone looked out a ship window to help advance the plot in this episode with the charades bit.
I hope there's a video of Kate Mulgrew's recording session for this episode.
You missed 2 major things:
1. The phaser beam transfearing their souls, that came from DS9 season 1 "the passanger" when Dr. Bashir was possessed by a criminal Kobliad and they sent an interference pattern along a tractor beam that disrupted the possesing alien long enough for Bashir to drop the Norkova's shields and get beamed out.
2. Warp Bubble merging, Enterprise Klingon Augments 2 parter
Watching Dal and Janeway’s awkwardness in each other’s bodies was hilarious and well done.
BTW, did any notice an Excelsior Class vessel on the upper right side of the welcoming committee scene?
I teared up hearing the voyager theme kick up. That’s my personal favorite theme of all trek.
Loved this episode. So many references but I was especially happy about the warp bubble merge. Felt like a shout out to the Enterprise episode divergence where the Enterprise and Columbia merged warp bubble to get Trip across
If they don't have Janeway *somehow* reaching out to Ducane of the timeship Relativity there's no justice. That guy owes her a favour.
Prodigy is some of the best Trek. I love and watch all trek and the writing of this show is top notch. LLAP IDIC
Funny how Drednok suggests sticking Janeway out of an airlock, and by the end of the episode Janeway sticks herself out of one.
4:00 To be fair to Voyager...a phrase I never thought I'd say...a "skeletal lock" is explicitly said to be a lock on the minerals in their bones, so it's still looking for an "artificial" point to lock onto, tricking the transporter into reading THAT as the signal (I don't think anyone on the Voyager staff knew what the minerals in bones were, they just knew it from milk adverts)
Anyone else notice how Ascensia kept holding a gun behind her back whenever Janeway was near?
Also, Sean: thank you for everything you do. I love watching you just... be a huge Star Trek geek.
I remember months ago Mulgrew said she had a very special episode with Dal.
That was an absolutely brilliant episode. Mulgrew and Gray really nailed it when they acted as each other. Prodigy really is becoming one of my favourite new Trek shows, along with Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks. I also loved the line Janeway said to the hologram version of her, "Now make something good out of this mess" (Yes, that was paraphrased, unless I got it exactly right.) I was actually surprised you didn't mention it.
I just loved(and got a huge kick out of) 'I was once transformed into a salamander.' Great reference back to Voyager.
I had an eyebrow up when the Threshold reference wasn't the Latinum UP of the Week, but I can see saving that for a Centaur-class appearance. Forgiven.
It was my understanding that the sensors can detect an individual lifeform's species, but not a specific person's DNA. So yeah, if you're looking for someone to transport, and you know they're the only human or vulcan or whatever there, you can just lock on to anyone of that species. So in the case of throwing Janeway in a closet, they could detect that there's a human in that closet, if they had any reason to look there. But they wouldn't know it was Janeway.
And then Dal is beamed to the bridge, they knew a human was right next to the person that was talking.
Im sure Kate Mulgrew had so much fun with this episode.
Also, worth mentioning, Mindwalkers are the Narn term for telepaths in Babylon 5.
Best episode, period. The voice actors had to have had a blast. It's definitely gonna be interesting to see how the two part finale will go down, but I feel as though we'll get a switch on the half of the Diviner. Was also funny when the Doctor is just like . . . you're not in the your right mind, drink coffee lol. Also glad Sean is good with those easter eggs. Will admit when I didn't see an Ups and Down on Thursday I was a bit worried TrekCulture might have dropped them for Prodigy again.
When the Diviner and Ascensia were talking, they did say that he was pro-Federation at first.
@@SamCogley Yeah and sounds like he might go back to pro-Federation.
@@BlackHedgehog He did seem to be wavering there during "Mindwalk."
About the Augment ban.. I wonder what's in store for Una too...
If we're going by the Bashir example, he was still allowed to continue his service in Starfleet despite being an Augment and - more importantly - *lying about it*... So I will Una be given the same exception?
The thing is, Starfleet wasn't interested in punishing Bashir, because as enlightened humans they understand that people can't help how they were born. Bashir wasn't the problem, his parents were, and they - specifically his dad - were punished with jail time. That was made clear explicitly in the text of the episode. Sisko and O'Brian were pissed off that Julian *lied* about it but Starfleet was more concerned that his parents cooked him up in the first place.
However Una's a product of her species being pretty darn cool with genetic augmentation - actually. So what's Starfleet gonna do? Punish the Illyrians? They kind of already did - they're, like, shadowbanned from joining Starfleet.
So... what's left? How can Starfleet make an example of the practise of genetic augmentation when they're already punishing the species that practise it? You gotta go after the other facet of the crime - Una lying about it.
So I dunno. If Starfleet want's to make an example of Una's augmentation they *have no option than to hit Una personally and hit her hard*. She can't get the same treatment as Bashir. My guess is a court-martial... but probably no jail time. Maybe a demotion... maybe even discommendation. Either way, I'll be surprised if it's a slap on the wrist unless it comes with a lot of conditions.
i was getting worried until Cetacean Observations lol (I mean...Janeways response to the plan was fantastic)
Little observation about the warp bubble practice. I recall the first time seeing the practice was in "Enterprise" where the Enterprise and Columbia match speeds at warp and transfer Tripp to the Enterprise.
I loved this episode too! The merging of the warp bubbles was a small nod to Enterprise and Tucker moving between the ships. I was a little annoyed that once the nature of the telepathic link was understood, that they didn't merely.... Return fire.... But the Janeway fly on the view screen gag was worth it
Very good episode along with the humour. My only beef was about Dal having Organia DNA? If the organians were pure energy? How would DNA be found? Also? Everytime I look at the Andorian guy in the show? He looks like the English comic actor Peter Cook.
You’d think a com badge would be taking biometric readings and the moment it wasn’t it would send an alert. Or even better when it registered the wearer knocked unconscious.
Like medical monitoring in the hospital. Disconnect that heart monitor and it's a code blue.
Probably privacy reasons it doesn't mostly.
I'll add that to my list -
Crewmember sucked out due to hull breach? Emergency transport to sickbay
Unknown person beaming aboard? Emergency transport to the brig
etc, etc.
OMG I love that picture of Kor in his youth from TOS!
They catch Jane-Dal playing charades...
"Admiral, what are you doing?!"
Jane-Dal: "Stretching my calves! Isometric exercises! Care to join me?"
Just before she served everyone a mouth-watering plate of steamed hams.
I thought the walking and being in the warp bubble between ships would have had a cetatian observation from the enterprise episode where Trip has to go between the two ships when warp drive had a virus in it.
This is a great episode 22:03
We definitely have the same sense of humor - this too is one of my favorite episodes and Adm.Janeway finally came out of her single-minded emotional pursuit and opened up to what was going on. Which you are talking about as I type this - LOL. There were a few other minor edit issues with the ep too besides the window - but the ep definitely makes up for any mistakes that can still be corrected eventually. I really hope Dal can get into Starfleet - he deserves it. More than Wesley Crusher ever did.
I remember watching Scorpion with a friend when it aired and he pointed out the potentially horrific consequences of locking on to a person's skeleton to beam them out of someplace
Which is probably why they never use it again.
This was definitely my favourite Prodigy ep so far! So much fun. The only thing that would've made it absolutely perfect would have been one or two California class starships there at the end, although seeing the Defiant class made me very happy too.
Two things, one which has been mentioned, Dal spitting out the Coffee, was totally not a Janeway thing. And, in Cetacean Operations, ya totally missed the reference to Enterprise, merging of the two warp fields between the Entprise and Columbia to allow Trip to take a trip from the Columbia to the Enterprise to fix the Enterprise's main warp core computer.
I love the merged warp fields, because WOW did I not expect ANOTHER callback to Enterprise. YET HERE WE ARE.
Murf blowing raspberries was my Golden Up for this episode
Aa a trekkie since the 90's I'm just loving Prodigy, even more than I liked Lower Decks.
Sorry, Seán I just missed your awesome self...I hope You and Kris have a great Christmas and New Year's
Thank you Sean.
Absolutely no mention of the doctor ordered coffee and Dal spitting it out all over the Dauntless' shiny bridge.
Brilliant, simply brilliant.
Lol when this came out a day late I was worried you'd canceled this series again which would be a shame for my favourite episode so far. Teamwork makes the dream work!
20:56 LOLOL Totally believable Data impersonation there Seán.. you NAILED it!.. as you like to say.. ;) I'm seriously ON BOARD!!
I loved this episode!
Had a weird thought. The joke runs, 'keep an open mind, but not so open your brains fall out.' Admiral Janeway has been very close-minded with regard to the Protostar for most of the season, and just look what happened.
Well done and I can’t wait to get the box out of this I’ve already pre-ordered it of prodigy
ALMOST 250k!!!!! LETS GO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Arnock, on the night of his joining!
This episode was great and did I see a constitution class ship
Good point about the combadges and lifeforms, the only aspect I can use as a defence of the Federation is that it's much easier to identify and locate a person by their combadge. BUT, if it's misleading or lost, of course, they should use their magical lifeform detectors.
One detail I loved was the voices of the characters stayed with each body - what is obvious, yes? What allowed the two actors to show their abilities and talents when personifying each others' character. =]
16:03 The Diviner vs the Vindicator is interesting. The Vindicator is still a zealot. The Diviner has had 15 years to cool off.
I'm already excited to see these new episodes but sadly I can't watch them alredy here in Austria (Österreich) because they haven't beenon TV yet but thanks to you i know how it wil go on and that makes me even more excitde to see the new episodes Thank you.