As they are discovered, Dal gives Gwyn one more chance to switch teams, imploring her with “Now, we can save each other,” but she is still heartbreakingly in too deep. Gwyn again appears torn, talking to Dal as he toils on the surface of their shared love of the stars and a “window of dreams.” An explosion gives Dal another chance to get away and back to the hidden Protostar, but it was all a ruse orchestrated by Team Bad Guys. Dal tries to buy some time by revealing all that Chimerium ore, but Drednok isn’t buying it, sending him up to the surface, and “no one comes back from there.” Gulp. This loose band of uncertain alien allies has a day to get the ship working before Dal is expected to hand over Zero.
Rok-Tahk also brings on that cute little blue blob and names him Murf, but the Universal Translator has no idea how to deal with his adorable squeaks and squeals. The team realizes they are going to need an engineer, and Dal remembers that tinkering Tellarite who just needs a bit of reverse psychology to get him interested, and now they are stuck with him and his unique brand of “percussive maintenance”… aka hitting things with his cool multi-tool prosthetic hand. After being brought to the asteroid to be used as a telepathic weapon by The Diviner, Zero escaped, spotting Dal as a possible ally to get out of the prison. I am Medusan.” Somehow this energy being built a mobile robotic suit, quite the accomplishment without any hands if they do say so themselves. The emotion soars as the ship lights up and Dal has found his ticket out, but for fans, seeing Starfleet’s USS Protostar come to life is on a whole different level.Īs it turns out, Zero has their own big reveal: “Not a robot, nor a he or she. She is now totally on Team Escape, as is a surprise last-minute entry, the enigmatic Zero.
The scuffle also reveals a treasure trove of Chimerium ore… oh, and a starship! After boarding the ship, Dal finally meets Rok-Tahk for real thanks to the Universal Translator combadge, and she turns out to be a little girl… well “little” for a Brikarian. The impasse escalates until Dal clumsily lasers down the whole ceiling, and the big growling creature actually ends up saving him. Just his luck, after watching some delightfully gruesome safety videos, Dal’s handed a laser bigger than himself and gets paired up with that rock monster who just wants to get to work, rebuffing his escape plan recruitment attempt (via finger painting). The scheme has Dal sent deep into the asteroid where only the big miners work. We also learn that The Diviner is keeping secrets from his daughter, who dreams of seeing stars, especially knowledge of something called “The Federation,” which starts the slow-burn reveals of Star Trek lore for this show aimed at the uninitiated. As an expert in language herself, Gwyn has some history talking to Dal, and together they agree to give him a day to find Zero… or it’s evil robot torture time.
While she is working alongside the clearly nefarious Drednok, she shows subtle compassion over a new (and adorable kitten) Caitian girl and steers her dad away from torturing Dal, who is having a nice chat with an unseen friendly fellow prisoner who can mysteriously speak his language. The tone shifts to a reticent tension with the introduction of Gwyn, the hesitant progeny of The Diviner, the mysterious ailing overlord of this prison.
While this first attempt ends in failure, his exciting opening chase really kicks off the series with a bang (including some slapstick gags) and shows both the cinematic scale and the savage stakes involved with the mission to find a ticket out. The ensuing chase has Dal running into a playful blue blob, a giant rock monster, and a cantankerous Tellarite, or as we will later learn: Murf, Rok-Tahk, and Jankom Pog. An exception to this is Drednok, an evil robot working for the guy who runs the prison, who seems to think Dal can help him track down a fugitive named Zero, a more friendly-looking robot-like thing who gives Dal an escape assist.
In short order, this wisecracking kid encounters most of the main characters on the show, although he doesn’t know that yet because none of the variety pack of aliens on this hellish mining asteroid can understand each other. The intro to Prodigy reveals Dal, an alien boy dreaming of escape from the Tars Lamora prison colony.