Prodigy: Into the Breach, Part I

I've been a Star Trek fan for so long that the last time there was a big pile of new episodes I'd never seen before was pre-Next Generation, when I'd become a fan and had all the episodes of the original series to watch. But now, long after I might have thought it was possible, I find myself in that position again. Because the second season of Star Trek: Prodigy was sent from Paramount+ to Netflix -- and Netflix did what Netflix does -- all 20 episodes of the season were released at once.

I'm not planning to bring you 20 straight posts about Star Trek: Prodigy. For one, I don't think anyone would want to read that much about Star Trek. (I have a feeling that a chunk of my readers think I post too much about it as it is.) Also, I simply won't be bingeing them that quickly. But I am going to get the ball rolling here with the season premiere, "Into the Breach, Part I."

Most of the Protostar crew is plucked from their work at Starfleet Academy to join a mission aboard a new Voyager, led by Admiral Janeway. Dal has been struggling with being away from the action, and hopes this opportunity will provide relief from boring course work. And it seems he may get his wish: some secret is being hidden by the senior officers, and Dal is determined to get to the bottom of it.

At this time a decade ago, Star Trek was completely off television. Yet when Star Trek: Prodigy arrived, it was one of a staggering five Star Trek series in active runs. That, plus the fact that it's always been the explicitly kid-friendly arm of the franchise (you know, not made "for me") and it's kind of been an easy series to overlook. Still, it's quite enjoyable, and this first episode back was a nice reminder of that.

First, the stories do a good job of balancing "kids being kids" with "Star Trek idealism." Sure, I wish that Dal wasn't telling children in the audience that reading is boring and lame... but we've also got Rok-Tahk proudly displaying her genius, Zero working to fit in while staying true to themself, Jankom Pog explicitly working on self-improvement, and Gwyn (though at the margins in this first half hour) off to save an entire planet. (Plus, Murf being Murf.) They're a generally likeable cast of characters; animation allows them to be more diverse than the average Star Trek cast, and Prodigy makes full use of that.

And speaking of animation: second, it's really quite good. The main characters are all very expressive (to match their vocal performances), the "visual effects" are as compelling as any other Star Trek, and everything is vibrant and exciting and colorful. Maybe some of the characters returning from Voyager look a little odd compared to their real-life versions, but at least there's a clear sense of style. (And: we are getting more Voyager characters this season, which is nice. The finale of that series really left things open-ended for so many of them, and I like that Prodigy is able to follow up on that without letting it overwhelm their own storytelling.)

If I'm talking mostly about the series in general and not much about this episode in particular... well, that's because it's hard to get specific on this occasion. The episode is not only setting up a new long story arc, it's explicitly the first half of a two-parter. 30 minutes is just enough time to get reacquainted with the characters and kick things off before we hit the end credits. (Though it's not like we get nothing; we do learn by the end of the episode what Janeway is hiding in the mysterious "Shuttlebay 3.")

For reminding me that new Star Trek: Prodigy is something I can and should look forward to, I give "Into the Breach, Part I" a B.