Sorry that the Lord of the Rings reference went over your head. Mine was a joke, not meant to be taken seriously.
Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 1x16 - "Preludes"
- Thread starter Commander Richard
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Again, another impressive use of the sphere-shaped hull. I surprisingly like it.
Starfleet always has had a "work harder, not smarter" mentality to a lot of things. They probably look down on the Kazon or Ferengi for using transwarp conduits.
Probably why they underestimated the Pakleds in Lower Decks. How could they have possibly become so powerful when they make the Kazons look like candidates for MENSA? Oops…
I suppose the Protostar and quantum drives are a lot faster still, and they are not tied to specific conduits. You can chase the Protostar in the Dauntless, but doing so using transwarp conduits on an otherwise conventional ship probably isn't feasible (as you need to first go to a conduit, then enter it, travel it, exit and travel to where the faster ship went already quite a lot of time ago). It's kinda like using passenger trains (on a line and a schedule) vs cars or even planes, depending on how fast or slow a transwarp conduit is relative to the superdrives.
And I guess there is still a residual risk you may run into a cube or sphere in one of those. "mostly deserted" may not mean fully deserted. Or vessels from other dangerous species.
Some more random observations about the episode:
-there is an error with Gwyn in the beginning: when she goes to encourage Rok to tell her story, she is suddenly wearing goggles (like Dal's) which weren't there before and gone right after (without her putting them or taking them off, to be sure)
-I like that they are all helping with fixing the drive, though Dal is showing some regressing again in this episode. That they managed to get it back online is highly important, not only to escape their current predicament but also with the Diviner and "Vindicator" now probably taking action very soon.
-the Vau N'Akat, as depicted in the history shown, seem even more elvish-like now. I once saw Gwyn described as a Jamaican (dreadlocks!) elf, a description that seems fit for the others as well
-in general, both "Vindicator" and Diviner just slide over the part of why the Vau n'Akat society broke down and fighting started. They blame it on Starfleet, but the only substance is that they did not intervene once it started. Which may be a fair point, but hardly would put full blame on them for what seems to be primarily a Vau N'akat problem.
-it's not entirely clear how advanced Solum is anno 2384/2385. Claims of Ascencia and/or the Diviner that the Federation had more to gain by contact and cooperation than the Vau N'akat themselves may be true, or could be part of the rationalisation for their hate (and not objectively true).
-Zero's fragment showed Zero to be the most curious of that group of Medusans, a trait which is still very much present. Zero's backstory is actually the least sad of all the Protogies, as Zero at least was not "unwanted" by his own group. This unlike Jankom Pog (who seems to be a total outcast), Dal (a failed experiment later sold by his adoptive mother) and Gwyn ( a failure for her own father, who is now chasing her). Jury still out on Rok-Tahk.
-"The Vindicator" makes it clear that the Living construct needs a Vau N'akat to guide it. It may work on its own as shown by CR-721, but to do what the order wants it to do, there needs to be someone at the helm who knows what he or she is doing
Just finished watching this weeks toon. It was good to find out more about the crew as an ensemble, with all of their backgrounds being fleshed out a bit more. To be honest though, this adventure felt a bit like a filler episode to me… nothing at all really happened in it to progress the overall story arc. At least the Romulan’s have gone quiet though. 
I give this weeks episode 7/10.
I give this weeks episode 7/10.
I disagree because it added the character's back stories.
I think that they should have spread this kind of character exploration out over the series rather than making a ‘bottle’ episode out of it which disrupts the flow of the overarching story. It made for a great ‘get to know you around the campfire’ kind of episode though. They should have had an episode like this in Picard season 2 as a filler episode actually, but they didn’t. People with short attention spans might forget what has happened so far this season in Prodigy with episodes like this breaking up the story. They might need to start doing ‘last time on Prodigy’ recap stings voiced by Majel Barrett at the start of each episode at this rate and pace of storytelling. If they need to do recaps like this for adults in Strange New Worlds, Picard and Discovery then why do they not do it for a younger audience who might need a little bit of extra help at understanding and remembering the ongoing story arc? Syndication can not be used as an excuse for this lack of transparency in storytelling, unless Nickelodeon want to show these episodes out of order one day?
Probably because Starfleet can't control the transwarp conduits (which they didn't build) the way they could control the FTL drives of starships produced in their shipyards. If everyone has access to the conduits now, some civilizations are not going to respond well to Starfleet all of a sudden deciding who can or can't go through them. Also I don't think Starfleet has the stomach to go to war with another civilization over transwarp conduits, considering they just fought a war that was partially based around control of the Bajoran Wormhole.
They could have done a few clips and snippets every here and there.
Still not buying it. There’s a transwarp conduit system that allows instantaneous travel to anywhere in the galaxy, and Starfleet is just going to ignore it? The exploration potential alone would be enormous. Even if Starfleet didn’t use it, there’s nothing to stop individual Federation member worlds from taking their ships through.
Lost a ship. Transwarp conduits forbidden.
One might say the same for cloaking devices....
One might say the same for cloaking devices....
Starfleet not using cloaking devices was for political reasons. I see no such issue with them using former Borg transwarp conduits.
I chuckled at the off hand comment the Diviner made. It doesn't diminish Gwyn. The meeting of a significant other as they reach teenage years can alter the course of a child's life in very unexpected ways. On film and in real life. I suspect many a parent has gone through this circumstance, not always approving of the child's choice in partner.
While this was an exposition episode I thought it was pretty good. I enjoyed the backstory we got on some of the other crew. I also like the fact that Admiral Janeway and the Dauntless crew are not being depicted as bumbling idiots for the sake of the plot. They're putting the pieces together fairly quickly. The Kirk chop to the neck at the end got another chuckle out of me.
8/10
Maybe they do use them? Just because they experiment with other superfast drives, doesn't mean they never use the conduits. La Sirena used them, at least, during Picard S1. And the Prometheus-class vessel that made first contact with the Vau N'akat may have used them as well (it would make some sense to use a heavily armed starship for that, given that the risk of running into potentially hostile vessels must be larger when using the transwarp conduits).
The crew of an unnamed Prometheus-class starship (see the episode of the same name on "Voyager" for info about that class of ships) made first contact with the Vau N'akat, probably not too long after 2384/2385.
Thanks!
Some questions about pictures from the sequence on Solum:
Do we think those two screenshots, taken from the time a Prometheus class starship arrives on Solum for first contact: https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/epics/PRO-S1/S1E16/PRO-S1E16-216.jpg and https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/epics/PRO-S1/S1E16/PRO-S1E16-217.jpg
Are supposed to show the Diviner and the Vindicator (Ascencia)? I'm pretty sure it's yes for the first, not sure about the latter (as she doesn't seem to have aged compared to the later screenshots of her as member of The Order).
Compare with screenshots from later in the Solum sequence, were three of the most prominent members of The Order, if not the three most important, are shown, the Diviner and Ascencia among them:
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/epics/PRO-S1/S1E16/PRO-S1E16-250.jpg and
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/epics/PRO-S1/S1E16/PRO-S1E16-245.jpg
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/epics/PRO-S1/S1E16/PRO-S1E16-252.jpg
https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/epics/PRO-S1/S1E16/PRO-S1E16-266.jpg
Other than the possible problem regarding age (there is no indication that Vau N'akat age significantly more slowly than humans, given the apparent health problems of the Diviner, due to old age, and Gwyn's growth tracking with that of a human girl), the woman in the depiction of the first contact does seem to share very similar details in hair, headband and general facial structure (though the earlier depiction is not very detailed and doesn't show ridges).
So, unless this is a case of reusing assets (but the earlier part is in a very different style and was presumably created apart from the usual 3D animation), does it look likely that Ascencia and the Diviner already knew one another at the time of first contact?
Ascencia name in The Order - The Vindicator - is a curious choice. Exactly what or who is she supposed to vindicate, given that it is the Federation that is the accused from the POV of The Order?
As an aside, it occurred to me that Jankom Pog may have been the only one of the crew, other than perhaps Gwyn, who actually may have had a relatively good time at Tars Lamora. It was practically an upgrade over what he had before, given his love of maintenance/engineering. He was alone on the sleeper ship, too, anyway.
Another observation I've seen online: the revelation that the Diviner originally sided with the Federation explains nicely why he didn't want Gwyn to learn about it; he had been very much tempted himself. There may be more to his story yet.
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Man, these kids. 
I think Rok's story was the biggest heart-stomper of the three - she went from one slave situation to another. I hope her Good Company manages to get free of that outfit someday and they can reunite, finally have an actual conversation. Jankom's was great too, though - the guy's all heart, just a little loud and bristly on the outside.
I am deeply curious at what the Diviner is up to. You can't just shove the captain of the ship into a closet and hope no one notices.
I think Rok's story was the biggest heart-stomper of the three - she went from one slave situation to another. I hope her Good Company manages to get free of that outfit someday and they can reunite, finally have an actual conversation. Jankom's was great too, though - the guy's all heart, just a little loud and bristly on the outside.
I am deeply curious at what the Diviner is up to. You can't just shove the captain of the ship into a closet and hope no one notices.
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