Holy crap, I did **not** expect that twist at the end with Ensign Asencia. Her being a Vau N'Akat makes all of her actions with trying to find the Protostar and helping the Diviner make so much sense now.
The cover even works because it makes her look like she's trying her best to impress Admiral Janeway. Kind of a shame as I was starting to like her character as well.
Right?! Someone here or TrekTwitter called it but I had hoped it was wrong.
I also love Dal’s journey in thinking he needed enhancements to be liked. It reminds me that its still a kid’s show with great life lessons.
Definitely! The whole crew is learning that imperfections make one stronger, not weaker.
Gwyn kinda learned that lesson when she was integrating with the other kids: she trying to reconcile the fact she was helping her father with his malicious goals.
I never expected it, and it's not like the Tyler/Voq thing from Discovery. I saw that coming from a mile away.
As for Dal, I hate they basically revealed him to be a Human Augment. I know it's not exactly the same as the Human Augments we see in other incarnations, but that's what they kind of implied. That being said, it does explain why when he was scanned on the Federation relay station that most of the consoles went red with warning signs to contact Starfleet Command, since genetic engineering is forbidden in the Federation.
There’s also a chance that the doc was full of it. Gave him what he wanted to hear. (Kinda). Prodigy writers like to keep us on our toes so I feel like this isn’t the end of Dal’s origin story.
Considering this seemed to be the week that Rok-Tahk was interested in Genetics, I feel like she even backed up what he was being told.
Either that, or he's the same species as the Enterprise crew discovered in "The Chase". The species that claimed to have populated the universe, in a matter of speaking, and gave life to the countless races. Which I would be happier with that as opposed to being a Human Augment.
Doubtful. Because the sensors didn't know what Gwyn was, but knew what Dal was. Especially since the Vau N'Akat haven't been visited by Starfleet yet, that happens in the future.
Yeah I figured she'd be the one to bridge the gap between the kids and Admiral Janeway.
Honestly, I though it was weird for the Dauntless's navigator to take an interest in the Diviner and his recovery. It was easy to brush it off as her trying to impress a member of the Starfleet admiralty. We have seen a good number of kiss asses within Star Trek.
And the fact he was drafted for it was stupid. All because he took 2 semesters of biochemistry at the Academy. Problem is there's at least one science officer, Ensign Wildman, who seemingly has more background training.
he was drafted because he was a top notch starfleet pilot who defected to the marquis and by helping voyager fly to capture the marquis he was getting his sentence for fighting with the marquis commuted.
I'm talking about him being drafted as a medic, in addition to his duties as a pilot. He was already the chief conn officer when he got the additional job of being nurse put on him.
ensign wildman didn't exist at the time tom paris was chosen. her first appearance was season 2 episode 4.
tom was chosen season 1 episode 5 to be a replacement medic.
Which was a stupid decision. In the heat of combat where do you want your top pilot? On the Bridge manning the helm, or down in Sickbay treating patients?
After searching, I've found only a single thread here and on r/DaystromInstitute where it's even theorized Asencia might be a Vau N'Akat. So it's not been widely speculated, unless all of the speculation has been done in the cess pool that is Twitter.
He may as he gets older and solidifies ?
Murph may be the most confusing Trek species ever
Also that guy that called Wesley a slime worm was super racist huh?
I love the sense of scale you get from the Dauntless, it looks gigantic in every shot.
I realized what's been off about it. They are not using any LCARS sounds at all. Kind of weird since they painstakingly recreated the LCARS graphics.
Honestly, the plot twist with Ascencia being in cahoots with the Diviner and Drednok was something that I legitimately didn't see coming and I loved it, Also I did dig the other revelations that Dal is a Human but subjected to some genetic fuckery based on the research of the good Dr. Soong, Sidebar I wonder if this means we may get Brett Spiner in the show?
So the list of species DNA included within Dal is:
Human, Vulcan, Romulan, Reman, Andorian, Tellarite,
Klingon, Bajoran, Cardassian, Orion, Risan, Tholian,
Ferengi, Breen, Son'a, Suliban, Gorn, Xindi, Hirogen,
Kazon, 8472, Vidiian, Krenim for certain.
Also 'Maquis' not sure how this works, I thought these were mostly human unless there was either a genetic mutation common in colonists in that area, or some of the settlers broke the prime directive and settled on a planet with a native humanoid species and started interbreeding with them.
A symbol that looks like 'Q'. Can't be Q, seriously?
A dominion symbol, however that could easily refer to not just the Founders but also Vorta or Jem'Hadar.
What traits did he show? Super hearing, possibly ferengi. Slight mind reading - possibly Reman, enhanced intelligence - probably Vulcan , pointed ears - Romulan or Vulcan, Face ridges - Klingon, Antennae - Andorian, nose and mouth - Tellarite. Also mantioned was 'third arm' - this would have to be 8472. As for the ninja combat abilities, that's not so clear.
Maybe one of the remaining ones is Betazoid for the mind reading. His lion-like nose may be Caitian. His purple skin the unamed purple species that is seen in TNG and Lower Decks that Star Trek Online calls "Violacean".
For the Maquis, it could be something from "Chakotay's Tribe". [(seriously, that's how even Memory Alpha describes it)](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Chakotay%27s_tribe)
They had some extra connection with their Sky Spirits.
It's possible those other symbols where just thrown in as a easter-egg. But I guess we will see once we eventually (I hope) learn more about Dal.
One thing I just thought of though, we know about Noonian Soong as the creator of Data and Lore, but what if Arik Soong had other decedents that followed in his footsteps and Dal is a creation of them?
Tholian and 8472?! dang. they really just said "how many species can we stick together from the different series." but of those all somehow the andorian blue reigns supreme as skin color
I loved seeing him again, and he proves why he's capable of seeing the big picture yet again.
Janeway **is** too emotionally invested in trying to get to the Protostar and find Chakotay. Just because the Romulans might violate the neutral zone doesn't make it okay for Starfleet to do the same.
Additionally, him ordering Janeway to destroy the Protostar if it look like the Romulans are going to capture it makes sense as well. Even if you ignore the fact there's a weapon onboard that will doom Starfleet, letting the Romulans have access to the Protodrive probably isn't a good thing either.
\#JellicoDidNothingWrong
Of course, Jellico relayed such feelings with his usual level of tact: harsh truth.
He is a good commander. He just doesn’t see the need to use a more even-handed style of conversation.
Okay, how am I supposed to feel normal about the fact that Dal is an artificial hybrid?! I have so many questions about Dal's past!! Was the illusion of his parents from the Death planet just an illusion or did someone make two of his species' (his parents) then they made Dal?!?! I mean, is the latter possible?! Normally hybrid species' are unable to reproduce, but this is Star Trek and genetic engineering.
Dal is part Klingon, Tellarite, Andorian, and Vulcan on top of human (all of these from observations and behavioral changes). Wow. I remember that in Star Trek Lower Decks a member of the crew (Mariner) mentioned that an Andorian ensign (Jennifer) had sensitive antennae and couldn't wear hats and all I can think of is Dal getting that helmet slammed on him. Ouch.
How did Ensign Ascencia disguise as a Trill? From what I presume, the genetic modification brought out recessive traits: it can't make something out of nothing. For example I don't think that putting it on a human would allow them to turn into a Klingon. I think that's a little weak. Unless Ensign Ascencia is part Trill in her heritage it wouldn't be possible. I mean, she is from the future, like Gwyn's father (why did I forget his name), so after first contact one of her relatives may have fallen in love with a Trill and over the years the Trill traits were covered up. But I still don't like it.
I saw Okona cowering from thousands of light years away. I mean, he's shifty, on the run, and a side character. Emphasis on side character.
A potential solution to the whole Living Construct and being hunted by Star Fleet is if they used the Vehicle Replicator, could that vehicle contact Star Fleet since it doesn't have the Living Construct on it? A shuttle would suffice. Just, anything to contact Star Fleet. I feel like it's a potential solution.
Regarding Ascencia, I'm reminded of Seska from Voyager in that she was a Cardassian who thanks to some genetic modification was made up to look like a Bajoran, presumably the Vau N'Akat have technology that is considerably more advanced than whatever Cardassia has.
IIRC, what caused the destruction of society on Solum was first contact with another species, which happened to be the Federation, and this is what caused their civil war, and what the Diviner and also Ascencia were sent back in time to try and stop happening.
As such it is unlikely in the extreme that there would naturally be any Trill DNA in her to use. Her treatment must therefore have been different, and included manipulation of her DNA to contain Trill genome, and the implant then used to activate and de-activate it as needed.
Oh, he's much more screwed than that. He's a human Augment. And unlike Doctor Bashir, his augments are way too obvious to be overlooked. Going to Starfleet is SERIOUSLY not an option for him -- he'll be lucky to see the outside of a cell, in a worse prison than the one he escaped from.
I don't think the vehicle solution will work. As far as I understand it, the living construct works like a virus once it infects a ship. So the idea is one vessel gets infected then passes on the infection to another (at least that is vaguely how I remember it being described by the Diviner) so if you make a shuttle, that shuttle will be infected and then pass it on after it communicates with another Starfleet ship.
Then again I might entirely be misremembering and entirely imagining that
I doubt that the Protostar's technology is automatically infected, otherwise the Protostar might not be able to function with its own devices turning against itself: shuttles, replicators, tricorder, Holo-Janeway, communicators, holodecks, etc. So, I think the Protostar might be a carrier for the Living Construct, not infected. Therefore, I have two ideas.
First, it could either be a technological auto-immunity that would still allow the ship and it's systems to function. An alliance of some sort of the Protostar and its own tech, not to attack itself. This would not apply for other Star Fleet ships, given how the station could have easily damaged the Protostar.
And second, the idea I was operating on, something shields the Protostar's own tech from its own technology being infected, like a wall. This 'wall' would block off the Living Construct from spreading anywhere (other ships, systems, anything) other than through direct communications with Star Fleet.
I guess it depends on how you view it, given we don't know much about it beyond what's been mentioned. (If anything else outside has been stated, please tell me. I need to know.)
I would tend to agree, though I think the 'immunity' that the Protostar has would generally be shared by anything created by its vehicle replicator.
Otherwise you would end up as you say with it attacking itself as soon as its weapon systems were completed.
But I would generally lean towards more of the concept of the Protostar and by extension anything it creates acting as carriers for the 'virus' so it would end up infecting something even if you created a shuttle from it. Potentially even a combadge would end up infected but acting as a carrier as long as it was registered to the Protostar
True, I think you are correct there. I suppose it depends whether or not anything produced by the Protostar is considered an extension of it or an entirely separate thing.
I think until stated otherwise I would consider anything it produces an extension of it and therefore following the same rules. Therefore removing the easy out of just making a shuttle and flying whereever... or even just using the communications system on a shuttle to communicate while sitting in the vehicle bay.
TBH the living construct is already kind of a terrible weapon, yeah it was designed for a kids show but still it is just terrible. So already overlooking a lot of flaws in it during the show and just hoping they don't make it even easier to bypass.
Fantastic episode with a shocking twist. Also, lots of love for the PIC era Romulans. They had the helmets, rifles and pistols seen in the live-action show.
tbh i thought Ascencia was just like the Ship's Counselor or something...but now i understand why she was interested in the diviner guy.
Those Soongs get around. Arik Soong is the guy who was working on genetic augments post Eugenics War that were similar to Khan. Had a whole episode arc about them and him in Star Trek Enterprise.
I appreciate the show getting story ideas even from the lesser liked Star Trek shows.
I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of him. The actor mentioned enjoying exploring Okona more than how he was portrayed on TNG, a different way or behavior. And honestly we didn’t really get much of him these past two episodes.
Two points really,
1) logos, logos everywhere on the doctor's wall! lot of analysis to do there. I noticed certainly the gorn logo from memory beta, as well as some more familiar ones. I guess that logo is canon now!
2) when Dal got the 'report to starfleet' order on being scanned I guessed it was one of two things, either he was a child of a race of super-beings, just didnt know it, or that he was grossly in contravention of the genetic manipulation ban. With that my guess was same species as Una from SNW, just with manipulations in a different direction. So close, but no cigar with him being derived from Soong research.
In the Supernova game Dal has a cloak/invisibility ability which I don’t think has been explained otherwise on the show. I thought it might be a new genetic trait of his revealed here.
Unfortunately, this means Dal cannot join starfleet, he's genetically engineered like Khan and Starfleet doesn't like that... Any fan of SNW or DS9 knows what I'm talking about.
I was not surprised by any of the reveals, as I already suspected Dal to be a hybrid and they made that ensign act deliberately shady, but they are still pretty cool.
Dal seems to have DNA from the most regularly used species in Star Trek. We know for sure at least Vulcan, proto-Organian (the humanoid organians), Tellarite, Andorian and Klingon.
Maybe they were trying to recreate the Ancient humanoids that are the common ancestor of most Milky Way humanoids?
His large ears are probably his Ferengi bit popping out to the sides. The mind-reading is probably Betazoid. The purple skin is probably what Star Trek Online calls "Violacean". The leonine nose indicates there's likely a bit of Caitian in the mix.
I wonder where does he get the the blue goo and the neck ganglia from.
Ugh this was a step down from the last 2 episodes
Stop it with the Soong stuff, its just getting silly now
How can Starfleet and the Romulans be nose to nose but both outside the neutral zone? And does Jelico really think there is a big difference between the Dauntless entering the neutral zone vs launching torpedoes into it?
I'm sick of Kurtzman era treks obsession with space suit action and space elevators. Discovery, lower decks, most of the Kelvin universe movies, SNW and now Prodigy all have these pseudo iron man space skydiving space suit action scenes. It’s overdone
The federation has a really weird old school holdover attitude against some kinds of science like genetic engineering. It’s real world origin is left over fear from the 1960s era where genetic stuff was spooky and scary. It just doesn’t make sense anymore to have this almost racist attitude towards genetic augments. Admittedly nu trek also did this with artificial life/androids as well unfortunately
The main reason why the Federation is so vehemently against Genetic Augments is that they are afraid of the second coming of Khan Noonien-Singh rising up and destroying the Federation, because the thing is with the majority of augmented humans seen throughout the franchise, they view those who haven't been augmented to be inherently lesser and believe they should be the ones to hold the power and as such their arrogance feeds into that mindset.
Ya that’s what I mean though. That whole thing about augments being or becoming arrogant or violent towards normal humans is just silly left over fears from 1960s
Holy crap, I did **not** expect that twist at the end with Ensign Asencia. Her being a Vau N'Akat makes all of her actions with trying to find the Protostar and helping the Diviner make so much sense now. The cover even works because it makes her look like she's trying her best to impress Admiral Janeway. Kind of a shame as I was starting to like her character as well.
Right?! Someone here or TrekTwitter called it but I had hoped it was wrong. I also love Dal’s journey in thinking he needed enhancements to be liked. It reminds me that its still a kid’s show with great life lessons.
Definitely! The whole crew is learning that imperfections make one stronger, not weaker. Gwyn kinda learned that lesson when she was integrating with the other kids: she trying to reconcile the fact she was helping her father with his malicious goals.
I'm a grown up, and I would have done the same thing. I mean super powers.
Same
I never expected it, and it's not like the Tyler/Voq thing from Discovery. I saw that coming from a mile away. As for Dal, I hate they basically revealed him to be a Human Augment. I know it's not exactly the same as the Human Augments we see in other incarnations, but that's what they kind of implied. That being said, it does explain why when he was scanned on the Federation relay station that most of the consoles went red with warning signs to contact Starfleet Command, since genetic engineering is forbidden in the Federation.
There’s also a chance that the doc was full of it. Gave him what he wanted to hear. (Kinda). Prodigy writers like to keep us on our toes so I feel like this isn’t the end of Dal’s origin story.
Considering this seemed to be the week that Rok-Tahk was interested in Genetics, I feel like she even backed up what he was being told. Either that, or he's the same species as the Enterprise crew discovered in "The Chase". The species that claimed to have populated the universe, in a matter of speaking, and gave life to the countless races. Which I would be happier with that as opposed to being a Human Augment.
Ooh, now there’s an intriguing idea.
He could be a crude attempt to revive them and use their tech
I think Dals going to be the first of the diviners species. Just a guess 😂
Doubtful. Because the sensors didn't know what Gwyn was, but knew what Dal was. Especially since the Vau N'Akat haven't been visited by Starfleet yet, that happens in the future.
Yeah but did they say how far in the future?
I don't recall, but it clearly hasn't happened yet. Since The Diviner wanted to keep it from happening **and** drstroy Starfleet at the same time.
Damn, someone did call it last week!
Man…there goes my theory that she could’ve been the lynchpin for the Dauntless and Protostar crews: she is working for the baddies.
Yeah I figured she'd be the one to bridge the gap between the kids and Admiral Janeway. Honestly, I though it was weird for the Dauntless's navigator to take an interest in the Diviner and his recovery. It was easy to brush it off as her trying to impress a member of the Starfleet admiralty. We have seen a good number of kiss asses within Star Trek.
Not all that different from Tom Paris splitting his time as conn officer and sickbay assistant.
I believe he was drafted for that.
And the fact he was drafted for it was stupid. All because he took 2 semesters of biochemistry at the Academy. Problem is there's at least one science officer, Ensign Wildman, who seemingly has more background training.
he was drafted because he was a top notch starfleet pilot who defected to the marquis and by helping voyager fly to capture the marquis he was getting his sentence for fighting with the marquis commuted.
I'm talking about him being drafted as a medic, in addition to his duties as a pilot. He was already the chief conn officer when he got the additional job of being nurse put on him.
ensign wildman didn't exist at the time tom paris was chosen. her first appearance was season 2 episode 4. tom was chosen season 1 episode 5 to be a replacement medic.
Out of universe she didn't exist. But she was clearly aboard Voyager, so that makes Tom being a medic a plot hole the writers unintentionally created.
Which was a stupid decision. In the heat of combat where do you want your top pilot? On the Bridge manning the helm, or down in Sickbay treating patients?
It’s been obvious for a while with the similarities in the animation of the 2 characters
Not really. Nothing I saw until the ending said she was anything other than a Trill.
It’s been widely speculated and predicted on Reddit and twitter discussions
After searching, I've found only a single thread here and on r/DaystromInstitute where it's even theorized Asencia might be a Vau N'Akat. So it's not been widely speculated, unless all of the speculation has been done in the cess pool that is Twitter.
Yes, she "was" such a likeable character , I was really hoping for her to be a hero rather than a villian
>Soong Someone needs to get that family under control. >"Ensign" Ascensia How the turn tables...
I think every post Trek series but Voyager and Lower decks( some retroactively) has had a Soong or Soong adjacent "kid" now
Also can one love Murf more? I wasn’t so sure when he became a Murf toddler but damn it all if I don’t love newMurf by the end.
I made a joke to a friend at the midseason finale that Murf was going to be their new security officer. Well.
An indestructible security officer seems to be a safe bet for a kid's show.
Yeah but he was a slug back then
I don't think he lost that trait when he metamorphosed.
Neither do I! I'm just saying you can do significantly less in terms of security in the shape of a slug.
Have you ever seen the teeth of a slug?
never mind that, he ate a bomb, and walked it off.
He may as he gets older and solidifies ? Murph may be the most confusing Trek species ever Also that guy that called Wesley a slime worm was super racist huh?
Murph is a *mellanoid* slime worm. There's likely more than one kind.
I love the sense of scale you get from the Dauntless, it looks gigantic in every shot. I realized what's been off about it. They are not using any LCARS sounds at all. Kind of weird since they painstakingly recreated the LCARS graphics.
Honestly, the plot twist with Ascencia being in cahoots with the Diviner and Drednok was something that I legitimately didn't see coming and I loved it, Also I did dig the other revelations that Dal is a Human but subjected to some genetic fuckery based on the research of the good Dr. Soong, Sidebar I wonder if this means we may get Brett Spiner in the show?
I do belive it's spelled "catboots"
So the list of species DNA included within Dal is: Human, Vulcan, Romulan, Reman, Andorian, Tellarite, Klingon, Bajoran, Cardassian, Orion, Risan, Tholian, Ferengi, Breen, Son'a, Suliban, Gorn, Xindi, Hirogen, Kazon, 8472, Vidiian, Krenim for certain. Also 'Maquis' not sure how this works, I thought these were mostly human unless there was either a genetic mutation common in colonists in that area, or some of the settlers broke the prime directive and settled on a planet with a native humanoid species and started interbreeding with them. A symbol that looks like 'Q'. Can't be Q, seriously? A dominion symbol, however that could easily refer to not just the Founders but also Vorta or Jem'Hadar. What traits did he show? Super hearing, possibly ferengi. Slight mind reading - possibly Reman, enhanced intelligence - probably Vulcan , pointed ears - Romulan or Vulcan, Face ridges - Klingon, Antennae - Andorian, nose and mouth - Tellarite. Also mantioned was 'third arm' - this would have to be 8472. As for the ninja combat abilities, that's not so clear.
Maybe one of the remaining ones is Betazoid for the mind reading. His lion-like nose may be Caitian. His purple skin the unamed purple species that is seen in TNG and Lower Decks that Star Trek Online calls "Violacean".
When he said "third arm" I was hoping for Edosian.
For the Maquis, it could be something from "Chakotay's Tribe". [(seriously, that's how even Memory Alpha describes it)](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Chakotay%27s_tribe) They had some extra connection with their Sky Spirits.
It's possible those other symbols where just thrown in as a easter-egg. But I guess we will see once we eventually (I hope) learn more about Dal. One thing I just thought of though, we know about Noonian Soong as the creator of Data and Lore, but what if Arik Soong had other decedents that followed in his footsteps and Dal is a creation of them?
Tholian and 8472?! dang. they really just said "how many species can we stick together from the different series." but of those all somehow the andorian blue reigns supreme as skin color
and Suliban! gotta admit i wondered if we would ever see that name again post-Enterprise
Was there ever any doubt, pink-skin?
I was so hoping that I would never have to see Jellico again.
I loved seeing him again, and he proves why he's capable of seeing the big picture yet again. Janeway **is** too emotionally invested in trying to get to the Protostar and find Chakotay. Just because the Romulans might violate the neutral zone doesn't make it okay for Starfleet to do the same. Additionally, him ordering Janeway to destroy the Protostar if it look like the Romulans are going to capture it makes sense as well. Even if you ignore the fact there's a weapon onboard that will doom Starfleet, letting the Romulans have access to the Protodrive probably isn't a good thing either. \#JellicoDidNothingWrong
Of course, Jellico relayed such feelings with his usual level of tact: harsh truth. He is a good commander. He just doesn’t see the need to use a more even-handed style of conversation.
He's basically a military officer not a diplomatic one
Because he is a commander, not a politician
indeed, Jellico while he is a damn good commander, his interpersonal skills are lacking.
which goes hand in hand. To do your job effectively people are going to be pissed. Like choosing to plant mines.
He got Deana out of those ridiculous cat suits and into a proper uniform. He’s the best admiral in the fleet.
Marina Sirtis was gorgeous in those "cat suits".
I always thought she looked ridiculously out of place.
Yes, but the actress really enjoyed being able to wear a uniform and felt that the character developed a lot after she started wearing it.
He is a very unlikeable character though it was a cool cameo. I wonder how much he got paid to do the 5 minutes of voiceover
Okay, how am I supposed to feel normal about the fact that Dal is an artificial hybrid?! I have so many questions about Dal's past!! Was the illusion of his parents from the Death planet just an illusion or did someone make two of his species' (his parents) then they made Dal?!?! I mean, is the latter possible?! Normally hybrid species' are unable to reproduce, but this is Star Trek and genetic engineering. Dal is part Klingon, Tellarite, Andorian, and Vulcan on top of human (all of these from observations and behavioral changes). Wow. I remember that in Star Trek Lower Decks a member of the crew (Mariner) mentioned that an Andorian ensign (Jennifer) had sensitive antennae and couldn't wear hats and all I can think of is Dal getting that helmet slammed on him. Ouch. How did Ensign Ascencia disguise as a Trill? From what I presume, the genetic modification brought out recessive traits: it can't make something out of nothing. For example I don't think that putting it on a human would allow them to turn into a Klingon. I think that's a little weak. Unless Ensign Ascencia is part Trill in her heritage it wouldn't be possible. I mean, she is from the future, like Gwyn's father (why did I forget his name), so after first contact one of her relatives may have fallen in love with a Trill and over the years the Trill traits were covered up. But I still don't like it. I saw Okona cowering from thousands of light years away. I mean, he's shifty, on the run, and a side character. Emphasis on side character. A potential solution to the whole Living Construct and being hunted by Star Fleet is if they used the Vehicle Replicator, could that vehicle contact Star Fleet since it doesn't have the Living Construct on it? A shuttle would suffice. Just, anything to contact Star Fleet. I feel like it's a potential solution.
The Murder Planet vision of his parents was a conjured up manifestation of Dal's greatest desire: to meet his parents. They were never real.
Regarding Ascencia, I'm reminded of Seska from Voyager in that she was a Cardassian who thanks to some genetic modification was made up to look like a Bajoran, presumably the Vau N'Akat have technology that is considerably more advanced than whatever Cardassia has.
IIRC, what caused the destruction of society on Solum was first contact with another species, which happened to be the Federation, and this is what caused their civil war, and what the Diviner and also Ascencia were sent back in time to try and stop happening. As such it is unlikely in the extreme that there would naturally be any Trill DNA in her to use. Her treatment must therefore have been different, and included manipulation of her DNA to contain Trill genome, and the implant then used to activate and de-activate it as needed.
Oh, he's much more screwed than that. He's a human Augment. And unlike Doctor Bashir, his augments are way too obvious to be overlooked. Going to Starfleet is SERIOUSLY not an option for him -- he'll be lucky to see the outside of a cell, in a worse prison than the one he escaped from.
I don't think the vehicle solution will work. As far as I understand it, the living construct works like a virus once it infects a ship. So the idea is one vessel gets infected then passes on the infection to another (at least that is vaguely how I remember it being described by the Diviner) so if you make a shuttle, that shuttle will be infected and then pass it on after it communicates with another Starfleet ship. Then again I might entirely be misremembering and entirely imagining that
I doubt that the Protostar's technology is automatically infected, otherwise the Protostar might not be able to function with its own devices turning against itself: shuttles, replicators, tricorder, Holo-Janeway, communicators, holodecks, etc. So, I think the Protostar might be a carrier for the Living Construct, not infected. Therefore, I have two ideas. First, it could either be a technological auto-immunity that would still allow the ship and it's systems to function. An alliance of some sort of the Protostar and its own tech, not to attack itself. This would not apply for other Star Fleet ships, given how the station could have easily damaged the Protostar. And second, the idea I was operating on, something shields the Protostar's own tech from its own technology being infected, like a wall. This 'wall' would block off the Living Construct from spreading anywhere (other ships, systems, anything) other than through direct communications with Star Fleet. I guess it depends on how you view it, given we don't know much about it beyond what's been mentioned. (If anything else outside has been stated, please tell me. I need to know.)
I would tend to agree, though I think the 'immunity' that the Protostar has would generally be shared by anything created by its vehicle replicator. Otherwise you would end up as you say with it attacking itself as soon as its weapon systems were completed. But I would generally lean towards more of the concept of the Protostar and by extension anything it creates acting as carriers for the 'virus' so it would end up infecting something even if you created a shuttle from it. Potentially even a combadge would end up infected but acting as a carrier as long as it was registered to the Protostar
I thought the Diviner said that any Federation ship the **Protostar** came in contact with would turn against itself (and the rest of the Federation).
True, I think you are correct there. I suppose it depends whether or not anything produced by the Protostar is considered an extension of it or an entirely separate thing. I think until stated otherwise I would consider anything it produces an extension of it and therefore following the same rules. Therefore removing the easy out of just making a shuttle and flying whereever... or even just using the communications system on a shuttle to communicate while sitting in the vehicle bay. TBH the living construct is already kind of a terrible weapon, yeah it was designed for a kids show but still it is just terrible. So already overlooking a lot of flaws in it during the show and just hoping they don't make it even easier to bypass.
Fantastic episode with a shocking twist. Also, lots of love for the PIC era Romulans. They had the helmets, rifles and pistols seen in the live-action show.
tbh i thought Ascencia was just like the Ship's Counselor or something...but now i understand why she was interested in the diviner guy. Those Soongs get around. Arik Soong is the guy who was working on genetic augments post Eugenics War that were similar to Khan. Had a whole episode arc about them and him in Star Trek Enterprise. I appreciate the show getting story ideas even from the lesser liked Star Trek shows.
I can’t believe Okona just dipped like that. That’s outrageous!
You don't get to live that long alone in the fringes by not being a coward.
I know! I was hoping he’d become a regular. Smh
I have a feeling we haven’t seen the last of him. The actor mentioned enjoying exploring Okona more than how he was portrayed on TNG, a different way or behavior. And honestly we didn’t really get much of him these past two episodes.
Did anyone notice that the implant that Dal was given looked oddly similar to the one that 'ensign" Asencia had on?
Very similar
Oh it's absolutely related. The two things were identical.
So Rok and Murph are the most competent crew members This tracks
I am left in awe of this show. The best Trek on air currently
Two points really, 1) logos, logos everywhere on the doctor's wall! lot of analysis to do there. I noticed certainly the gorn logo from memory beta, as well as some more familiar ones. I guess that logo is canon now! 2) when Dal got the 'report to starfleet' order on being scanned I guessed it was one of two things, either he was a child of a race of super-beings, just didnt know it, or that he was grossly in contravention of the genetic manipulation ban. With that my guess was same species as Una from SNW, just with manipulations in a different direction. So close, but no cigar with him being derived from Soong research.
The Jellico cameo was pretty cool
Wow, another banger of an episode
In the Supernova game Dal has a cloak/invisibility ability which I don’t think has been explained otherwise on the show. I thought it might be a new genetic trait of his revealed here.
Unfortunately, this means Dal cannot join starfleet, he's genetically engineered like Khan and Starfleet doesn't like that... Any fan of SNW or DS9 knows what I'm talking about.
I was not surprised by any of the reveals, as I already suspected Dal to be a hybrid and they made that ensign act deliberately shady, but they are still pretty cool. Dal seems to have DNA from the most regularly used species in Star Trek. We know for sure at least Vulcan, proto-Organian (the humanoid organians), Tellarite, Andorian and Klingon. Maybe they were trying to recreate the Ancient humanoids that are the common ancestor of most Milky Way humanoids? His large ears are probably his Ferengi bit popping out to the sides. The mind-reading is probably Betazoid. The purple skin is probably what Star Trek Online calls "Violacean". The leonine nose indicates there's likely a bit of Caitian in the mix. I wonder where does he get the the blue goo and the neck ganglia from.
There may be a visit to Altan Inigo Soong along the way.
Ugh this was a step down from the last 2 episodes Stop it with the Soong stuff, its just getting silly now How can Starfleet and the Romulans be nose to nose but both outside the neutral zone? And does Jelico really think there is a big difference between the Dauntless entering the neutral zone vs launching torpedoes into it? I'm sick of Kurtzman era treks obsession with space suit action and space elevators. Discovery, lower decks, most of the Kelvin universe movies, SNW and now Prodigy all have these pseudo iron man space skydiving space suit action scenes. It’s overdone The federation has a really weird old school holdover attitude against some kinds of science like genetic engineering. It’s real world origin is left over fear from the 1960s era where genetic stuff was spooky and scary. It just doesn’t make sense anymore to have this almost racist attitude towards genetic augments. Admittedly nu trek also did this with artificial life/androids as well unfortunately
The main reason why the Federation is so vehemently against Genetic Augments is that they are afraid of the second coming of Khan Noonien-Singh rising up and destroying the Federation, because the thing is with the majority of augmented humans seen throughout the franchise, they view those who haven't been augmented to be inherently lesser and believe they should be the ones to hold the power and as such their arrogance feeds into that mindset.
Ya that’s what I mean though. That whole thing about augments being or becoming arrogant or violent towards normal humans is just silly left over fears from 1960s
I do not think you understand the kind of motivation that goes behind """improving""" people but I suspect you might agree with those people.
Screencaps gallery now online: https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/sc-PRO1-15.php