Prodigy: First Con-tact

The most recent episode of Star Trek: Prodigy felt to me like perhaps the purest distillation yet of what the show is meant to be: a series to introduce Star Trek (and its morals) to children... and not really for an adult audience.

The Protostar encounters Nandi, the Ferengi who raised Dal before he became imprisoned in the Diviner's prison colony. She has a job for the Protostar's crew, and Dal is eager to help... but the mission runs against the Starfleet principles that the Janeway hologram implores them to honor.

Star Trek: Prodigy had already been introducing concepts as though to a first time audience -- and understandably so, since it's trying to broaden the franchise's fan base. Still, while explaining the Prime Directive seemed like clearly necessary background for new Trekkers to catch up on, the idea that the transporter would need to be "explained" (in the form of an extended comedic teaser) felt kind of wild to me.

Yet an even clearer statement that "this Star Trek is for new fans" came in the many questions it opened up that would plague only the longtime fans. Didn't the Protostar just hop over the Gamma Quadrant in the last episode? What's a Ferengi doing there? (Setting aside the improbable coincidence that a person from Dal's past just happens to be there, of all places.) How did she get to the Delta Quadrant to hand over Dal to the Diviner? Are we going to get explanations for any of this in future episodes, or am I just supposed to tell myself (in the words of William Shatner in a famous Saturday Night Live sketch): "Get a life! It's just a TV show!" ?

All that is to say that this episode asked me to ignore a lot of things that felt like they didn't make sense. But I suppose to the degree I was able to do so, I was rewarded for the effort. Certainly, I feel like the character of Dal makes a lot more sense now. Why is his first instinct always to lie and scam? Why does he have so much to learn, morally speaking? The fact that he was raised by a Ferengi feels like all the answers you need. And positioning a Ferengi as an adversary for the Protostar crew makes sense; they're a villain you can imagine children getting the best of. (We've seen it before.)

The visuals in this episode were especially impressive. The alien planet that our heroes visited (and the beings they encountered there) were especially beautiful in concept and magnificently rendered in animation. It's easy to take such detailed art for granted, but you have to remember that the movies that usually serve up these kind of visuals take far more time and money to make than an episode of Prodigy. They really pushed a lot of chips in the pot for this one.

And once again, the moral was a solid one: a generally applicable lesson on making a first impression that went beyond simply espousing the ideals of Starfleet. Add in some solid action, and it was all pretty good... if you just keep reminding yourself that "this is for kids." More for kids, I'd even say, than the typical Pixar movie.

Perhaps there will come a point where the Trekker in me doesn't feel compelled to watch a show that's clearly not meant for me. But not as long as I'm still enjoying enough to be swept along. I give "First Con-tact" a B.