In Star Trek Prodigy episode 5 (the mid-season break) entitled “Terror Firma,” the crew of the USS Protostar finds themselves marooned on a deadly planet, and they must work together with their captive Gwyn to stay alive. However, the planet isn’t the only thing in pursuit. This episode was written by Julie Benson and Shawna Benson, and it was directed by Alan Wan and Olga Ulanova. WARNING: AS ALWAYS, THERE ARE SPOILERS AHEAD!
Star Trek Prodigy episode 5 brings a rough landing and a rocky start
Episode 5 jumps in right where episode 4, “Dreamcatcher,” left off. Dal (Brett Gray), Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas), Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), and Zero (Angus Imrie) find Gwyn (Ella Purnell) and Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) in the shuttlecraft that Gwyn used to escape The Protostar before it crash landed on the planet while trying to escape the entanglements of the planet’s vine-looking tentacles. However, both the crew and hologram Janeway face more problems besides trying to escape from the planet. As Janeway advises the crew on how to get back to the Protostar, Dal orders the crew to use The Runaway land vehicle to get back to the Protostar. Unfortunately, they find the planet devouring The Runaway and their quickest means of transportation back to the ship. Actor Brett Gray, voicing Dal, had the perfect and natural frustrated reaction in this scene.
Meanwhile, hologram Janeway faces the exact same obstacle with the relentless vines trying to consume the Protostar. Rok-Tahk then points to Gwyn, who is sitting on the floor trying to nurse an injured leg after crash landing in the shuttlecraft. Dal then goes on to blame Gwyn as the reason why they are in their current predicament. He instructs the crew to leave her and not to let her slow them down. This moment becomes more of a revelation into Dal’s character. He is supposed to be the one to lead the crew and also exemplify what it means to be a Starfleet Officer. So far, the only one to demonstrate any type of sympathy and assistance to Gwyn is Rok-Tahk, who offers her a hand to help her up. This relationship between Rok-Tahk and Gwyn was somewhat teased in a previous episode while Gwyn was still held in the brig of the Protostar. Establishing her own independence, Gwyn uses her ability to transform her armband into a makeshift cast to allow her to get up. With no one else around, no access to additional resources, and fear of a planet that could swallow them at any moment, the crew of the Protostar will have to rely on each other and work together if they are to succeed in getting off the planet.
The Name Game
On their quest to return back to the Protostar, we see the crew start to show signs of banding together, albeit unsure of where they are and what other things may lie ahead. At this part of the episode, it may even be considered a nice influence of the typical horror movie trope of walking into some forest in the dark. The title of the episode does allude to the theme of the episode while creating a pun out of the word “terra,” meaning earth, and instead uses “terror.” Rok-Tahk and Jankom Pog then provide a fun exchange to make a game out of their journey to name the planet. It is here that Jankom Pog refers to the planet as “Murder Planet,” while Rok-Tahk enthusiastically calls the M-class planet, “Larry.” Zero immediately chimes in and says, “technically it’s not a planet, but a sentient life form,” before appearing to create a psychic link to ask for its name. It appears not to answer, and Zero lets the crew know that it just wants to eat them. So, Jankom Pog makes it official to call the big sentient life, “Murder Planet.”
Not Quite Janeway and a New Discovery
Back on the USS Protostar, hologram Janeway comes up with a solution to do some space weed whacking and cut off the vines to the ship that’s been causing some damage to the ship’s hardware. Here, Janeway is without her crew and lacks access to any weapons, and instead, asks, “What would the real Janeway do?” It’s interesting to see a hologram even ask for assistance being that she (or it?) resembles the actual Janeway. Janeway then figures that she would activate the photonic ship scrubbers and activate them in with “full disenfection mode.” What results is a pretty awesome reveal of the use of this new Trek-tech, so to speak, and only hinted in its functions in a previous episode, to cut away the vines affecting the Protostar. After the high tech cleaning crew completes their work, Janeway then finds another aspect of the ship that appears to drain the ship’s power–a gravimetric protostar containment. Janeway tries to gain access to this unexplored part of the ship’s systems, but surprisingly, she cannot. The ship’s computer responds that only someone with proper command authorization can gain access. Janeway asks, “Not even from a former Captain?” It’s odd for a Captain who has been through the wringer and being estranged from Starfleet 70,000 light years away (watch Star Trek Voyager), would not be granted access to this feature of the ship and not know anything about it.
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
The crew continues making their way on “Murder Planet,” only to discover that their journey seemingly goes in circles. Zero points out that the planet is terra forming around them. Gwyn figures out that the planet’s intentions are not to have the crew reach its destination. The crew encounters another hindrance, and they all see the vines start to come out and form an arachnid looking monster with a body akin to Zero. What ensues is a battle to survive, and the crew finally makes use of their phasers, albeit with no success as they were on the stun setting by default. Gwyn’s resourcefulness and knowledge of Starfleet technology allowed her to adjust the phaser and use it on a tree branch to create a makeshift torch and throw it at the vine covered beast. Whether it was a good plan or not, the plan sort of backfires and the monster’s actions cause a fire. The crew then runs away and ends up with nowhere to go but to jump off of a cliff.
Getting to Know Each Other
Recovering from their fall, the crew then extend their gratitude towards Gwyn and thank her for keeping them alive much to the doubtful Dal. He still blames their entire situation on Gwyn. Acid rain then pours down on them, and Rok-Tahk recognizes a structure where they could seek shelter. It just so happens that this structure is a downed ship, more specifically, a Klingon Bird of Prey! In a very intimate setting inside the ship, each character then begins to share their own vulnerabilities. Rok-Tahk appreciated a group of creatures to not be judgmental. Zero expressed guilt over its obsession with the Protostar’s engine part, which caused the crew to be in harm’s way. When Dal is asked about what he saw from his experience on the planet, Zero answers that Dal wishes he had seen his family. Later, Dal is seen in a separate part of the ship and openly shared with Gwyn his disdain for his parents. He also expresses the trouble of other people asking what species he is when he does not know himself. Dal asks about the armband, which is still at this point a cast around her leg. Gwyn explains that it’s a family heirloom and the only thing her father gave her. Next, Dal and Gwyn look onto the stars and recognize that they could use them to guide their way back to the Protostar since they aren’t affected by the planet’s constant efforts to change the environment around them. However, it is revealed that Drednok (Jimmi Simpson) informs The Diviner (John Noble) that Gwyn released the coordinates to the USS Protostar, which leads them both to Murder Planet.
It’s Time to Go!
Dal finally makes proper use of a Captain’s Log entry, but it is later interrupted by the appearance of Drednok. Initially thought to be another image projection from the planet, Drednok reveals himself to be real by shooting the Klingon weapon out of Jankom Pog’s hands. Gwyn courageously steps to the front of the crew and pleads with Drednok not to harm them. She risks putting her life on the line, but Drednok shoots the brace around her leg, causing her to collapse to the ground. She tells the crew to run, and that saving her would only slow them down (Insert record scratch here). Sound familiar? It’s a callback to a scene at the top of the episode when Dal advises the crew to move on because she would slow them down. The crew runs away from Drednok and were able to successfully hide under a tree trunk and branches. After a quick trend search on Twitter for Star Trek Prodigy, many fans of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings were quick to point out an Easter Egg in this episode. Star Trek fan, Jorg Hillebrand (@gaghyogi49) shared the following tweet via his Twitter account showing the references from Lord of the Rings and even in-franchise from Star Trek Lower Decks:
A classic shot, first seen in Ralph Bakshi's "The Lord of the Rings" and then paid homage to in Peter Jackson's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" also appears in #StarTrekLowerDecks's "Mugato, Gumato" and in #StarTrekProdigy's "Terror Firma". pic.twitter.com/UGrCGYf655
— Jörg Hillebrand (@gaghyogi49) November 18, 2021
The next scene cuts to The Diviner as Gwyn struggles to break free of the vines. The Diviner also sees the USS Protostar, and he is within reach to recapture it. He also sees his daughter Gwyn almost enveloped by the planet’s vines. The Diviner is left in a position to choose between the two, and he looks back at his daughter several times contemplating over his decision. He ultimately decides in favor of the ship. What plays out next was a beautifully edited scene.
The Protostar computer detects life forms approaching the ship and alerts Janeway of their arrival. As Janeway opens the rear aft launching platform to the ship, viewers see the back of Janeway and expect that The Diviner would arrive and retake the ship as his trophy. However, it’s actually Dal and his crew ready to board and take off. The Diviner, on the other hand, has succumbed to the planet’s desire-granting ability, and all he actually sees are a bunch of the planet’s vines interweaving into each other and trying to capture him. While Dal and the crew rush to initiate their departure, Janeway notices that Gwyn is not with them. Dal then takes this on as a rescue mission, sees Gwyn trapped under the vines, and successfully pulls her out with some extended help from Gwyn’s heirloom. It’s finally good to see more acceptance on Dal’s part in his previous rocky relationship with Gwyn. This scene made it even more emotional seeing the crew together with Prodigy’s composer, Nami Melamud scoring that huge moment.
Dal orders the crew to immediately go as far away as possible. Jankom Pog initiates warp speed, but The Diviner is back on board his ship and is on the heels of the Protostar. The crew finds out that the “gravimetric protostar containment” is inhibiting their ability to go any faster and escape the tractor beam that is locked onto them by The Diviner’s ship. Zero points out that the Protostar is not just the name of the ship, but that an actual protostar is the core engine of the ship. It is to Dal’s amazement that they carry an intensely powered warp drive engine! The moment gets rudely interrupted as the crew gets hailed, and Dal says the words, “On Screen,” resulting in this writer having a bit of a nerd moment in reaction to a very recognizable quote in the Trek franchise and possibly for fans elsewhere.
The situation has changed for Gwyn in this moment because we last saw her in the Captain’s chair as a hostage. This time around, she sits on the same chair confronting her father over the choice he made in favor of recapturing the ship. She makes her own decision and instructs the computer to engage the Protostar drive. A gorgeous sequence follows to see the ship’s transformation before it engages into Protowarp. Just like that, the ship becomes un-trackable by The Diviner. Seeing the protodrive in action left this writer in awe of how it played out on screen. This may be the first time that we get to see this type of technology being used on screen. The Star Trek franchise has made their ships its own characters, and they get their own bit of development with a long history of developing their own propulsion systems. Star Trek Prodigy takes that evolution and uses the power of a baby star to become the USS Protostar’s engine. How and why Starfleet constructed this development, and moreover, how the ship ended up being where it was remains to be revealed.
Engaging Into Next Year
Overall, this was a fantastic mid-season break, and it ended on a great note to see the crew finally getting along and working more cohesively. The first season continues next year, on January 6, 2022 with Episode 6. Adding onto an already trailblazing season, the series had just gained a renewal for a second season so fans can look forward to more of the crew of the USS Protostar and more Murf!
Star Trek Prodigy is now streaming on the Paramount Plus app.
Star Trek Prodigy stars Kate Mulgrew (Hologram Kathryn Janeway), Brett Gray (Dal), Ella Purnell (Gwyn), Rylee Alazraqui (Rok-Tahk), Angus Imrie (Zero), Jason Mantzoukas (Jankom Pog), Dee Bradley Baker (Murf), John Noble (The Diviner), and Jimmi Simpson (Drednok). Showrunners: Kevin and Dan Hageman.
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