Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 1x12 - "Let Sleeping Borg Lie"

[F. King Daniel]

Too easy. Waaaaaaaay too easy. Very sanitised version of the Borg for kids, which I kinda expected soon as I saw them. Worst episode thus far, but still watchable.

How come Dauntless didn't find the Denobulan's escape pod?

 

[AnimationAdmiral]

Too easy. Waaaaaaaay too easy. Very sanitised version of the Borg for kids, which I kinda expected soon as I saw them. Worst episode thus far, but still watchable.

How come Dauntless didn't find the Denobulan's escape pod?

Considering the Borg were crippled by Janeway’s neurolytic pathogen from VOY “Endgame” and Jurati describes the Borg as “essentially decimated, functionally hobbled”, it was actually about on point.

Their nanoprobes were disabled and they were cut off from the Collective with no Queen. I thought it was plenty scary for a show with children viewers, and them not knowing as much about the Borg as say, a seasoned Star Trek viewer like us, actually adds to the suspense.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

We also should note the out of story reason that it exists: so our heroes can keep on adventuring in their stolen ship.

That's not going to last forever. Dal and the others actively wish to join Starfleet, so obviously the Protostar isn't going to be lost or stolen for much longer. They're eventually going to have to give it up.

Perhaps at that point, the show's setting will shift to the Academy? The Protostar could become their cadet training ship...

 

[Timofnine]

Omg this episode was amazing! *Such* a good episode!!! It lays the groundwork *perfectly* for a Seven of Nine spin-off show as well as being a possible prequel to Picard season 2. This cube is *obviously* the Artifact from Picard, dormant from the decimation of the Collective as a result of Janeway’s neurolitic virus, yet still to experience it’s sub matrix collapse as a further unfortunate result of experiencing the ‘Admonition’ after it’s encounter with the Romulan’s and the assimilation of Rahmda.

I also *love* the confirmation that the Borg can or at least have discovered a way to assimilate non corporeal entities/forms of life at last. If the Borg could not do so before, they have now learnt to adapt to such species as a result of their encounter with Zero and his Diviner designed suit which gave the Borg the knowledge to assimilate both the Medusan Zero’s energetic and technological distinctiveness.

This means that my Seven of Nine series prequel fan fiction can now come true in my head with the Borg being able to assimilate non corporeal entities and I might even be able to complete it one day, especially if the cube in this Prodigy episode *is* actually the Artifact. I just do not know how to resolve my fan-fic at the moment though…

Come on Eaglemoss or whatever has now become of it, give me some inspiration… let me finish my Enterprise D!

I grade this episode 9/10, it would have been 10/10 if Dal had more to do… but maybe he will have more to do in a Seven of Nine spin-off as a part of her crew. I am glad that his Prodigy backstory has a *bit* of experience with the Borg now though…

 

[The Wormhole]

Though the Transformers series 'Beast Wars' had to be renamed in Canada.

None of the content of the series had to be changed, the regulators just didn't like the show having 'Wars' in the title. So they renamed it to 'Beasties'.

Same thing happened with War Planet/Shadow Raiders. In the US, it was named War Planets (same as the toy line it was based on) while in Canada it was called Shadow Raiders. Although in that case, I think Shadow Raiders is the title more people remember it as these days.

The rules against using "War" in a title of a kids show in Canada have obviously been lifted, given there was no issue with the animated Star Wars shows having War in their titles.

 

[The Old Mixer]

How come Dauntless didn't find the Denobulan's escape pod?

Because they cut after an establishing shot of the station wreckage and will be getting to that next episode?

 

[ToddCam]

I know what Pog's problem is!

Interesting reference. I have wondered why there have been no explicitly female Tellarites shown before. I pointed out once on this forum that the novels didn't ever seem to feature a Tellarite woman. I got as a response along the lines of "why would you want to? Yuck" as if female characters are inherently there for the straight male eye. And it didn't even make sense, as there would be no actual image to look at.

I suppose that Jankom Pog could be a girl. That could be a neat twist, actually.

Or Tellarites could be uni-gendered or something.

 

[Tuskin38]

I have wondered why there have been no explicitly female Tellarites shown before.

Memory-Alpha seems to think this Tellarite seen in DSC Season 1 is female

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Female Tellarites do exist.

One was mentioned (but not seen) in "The Escape Artist". She's the sister of bounty hunter Tevrin Krit.

 

[fireproof78]

Interesting reference. I have wondered why there have been no explicitly female Tellarites shown before. I pointed out once on this forum that the novels didn't ever seem to feature a Tellarite woman. I got as a response along the lines of "why would you want to? Yuck" as if female characters are inherently there for the straight male eye. And it didn't even make sense, as there would be no actual image to look at.

I suppose that Jankom Pog could be a girl. That could be a neat twist, actually.

Or Tellarites could be uni-gendered or something.

We have a whole thread on this in the General Trek Discussion but in my opinion it has less to do with the attractiveness and more to do with the fact that the Tellarites are not really defined as a culture. They are known as "good debaters" and argumentative. How does that give rise to a culture? Their exploration has been limited because what was presented initially in TOS was pencil thin to begin with.

 

[Timofnine]

Has anyone got any screenshots of Zero inside the Borg vinculum? The kaleidoscope like abstract collective scenes I mean.

 

[Anduinel]

Not from the shows, but the CMO on Kirk's temp ship in the Boldy Go comics was a Tellarite woman.

 

[fireproof78]

Has anyone got any screenshots of Zero inside the Borg vinculum? The kaleidoscope like abstract collective scenes I mean.

@Jag2112 always posts screenshots so maybe check there?

Screencaps gallery now online:

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/sc-PRO1-12.php

 

[Timofnine]

@Jag2112 always posts screenshots so maybe check there?

Thank you, I found what I wanted. Is this the same website that used to do the screenshots for the older series in the 90’s/00’s? It looks like it was designed around that era… I remember visiting a similar website yeeeearrrrss ago and literally waiting a few hours each week for all the screen caps to load on my dial up connection so that I could pick my favourite out (usually SFX scenes) to save to my Star Trek folder, or if they were particularly good to use as my desktop wallpaper. I would usually visit *before* I had seen the episodes for *ultimate* spoilage.

Am I the only person here who thinks that this episode was *very* well and sometimes beautifully directed (from an ex Borg perspective) visually? I think that some here may have been far too distracted by Tellerite culture and gender to have noticed tbh… hehe, just teasing y’all . I’m not sure if cartoons have directors but they must have some form of artistic equivalent? This episodes visual style of direction would be great in live action, not just a toon… but I’m not sure how interchangeable the skill set is between live action and animation, I think that toon ‘directors’ might have more scope as things can more easily be visually depicted on a tight budget compared to live action. The scenes in the Vinculum and Artifact in particular were fantastically realised, but we should be seeing more high res CGI versions of things like this in live action TV Trek not just in the toons… we can’t all have a Star Wars or Lord of the Rings budget though.

The new Borg drone designs were cool too with some unique ‘head pieces’, though we are still yet to see a.. ‘Spider Borg’.

I was disappointed that the Borg did not speak with their usual collective voice, it sounded like one voice not the voice of ‘many’, but this could be a result of Janeway’s neuropathic virus, it could have given the Collective… a ‘sore throat’.

 

[Borgminister]

I can see the thought that went behind setting up Borg lore past, present and future, but couldn't give the episode a 9 because I couldn't get around the lack of horrific fear and trepidation the look and purpose of the Borg always wanted to evoke, which was only rarely excellent, but often good. The Nickelodeon factor was here in full evidence, and I think the animators probably erred on the side of caution in how they portrayed the collective from a visual and audible standpoint. Kind of took me out of the episode ever so slightly, although I still love me some Prodigy!

 

[jackoverfull]

Yes, it was very well directed. Also interesting that the Borg seem to have elements from TNG *and* from Picard.

 

[cooleddie74]

Yeah, this is the first time we've seen a TNG-style Borg drone in onscreen canon since "Descent, Part II" in 1993.

 

[fireproof78]

I can see the thought that went behind setting up Borg lore past, present and future, but couldn't give the episode a 9 because I couldn't get around the lack of horrific fear and trepidation the look and purpose of the Borg always wanted to evoke, which was only rarely excellent, but often good. The Nickelodeon factor was here in full evidence, and I think the animators probably erred on the side of caution in how they portrayed the collective from a visual and audible standpoint. Kind of took me out of the episode ever so slightly, although I still love me some Prodigy!

This will probably be why, for me, this will rate top Borg episodes for me.

 

[NCC-73515]

Thank you, I found what I wanted. Is this the same website that used to do the screenshots for the older series in the 90’s/00’s? It looks like it was designed around that era… I remember visiting a similar website yeeeearrrrss ago and literally waiting a few hours each week for all the screen caps to load on my dial up connection so that I could pick my favourite out (usually SFX scenes) to save to my Star Trek folder, or if they were particularly good to use as my desktop wallpaper. I would usually visit *before* I had seen the episodes for *ultimate* spoilage.

The other screenshot collection that I know of is on trekcore.com

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I really would like to know why that one Borg drone had an accordion on its head.