“A Tribble Called Quest”
The rebirthed Protostar with its diverse crew needs to make it back to Voyager-A, but that ship is 3,000 light years away. With a dead proto-drive, our protagonists aren’t going anywhere fast – that is until they find a planet that contains Bosonite, the element needed to refuel the proto-drive.
This planet doesn’t seem too welcoming when the crew lands, as there is hardly any sign of life. Indeed, the planet seems ravaged. The source of this destruction is found pretty quickly, as numerous tribbles – the furry, lovable animals introduced in The Original Series – make their appearance known. This initially excites Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), as she studied tribbles for her admission thesis, but those good feelings alleviate when it’s clear these aren’t ordinary tribbles – some are huge, all have teeth, and they have enormous appetites.
Fleeing the dangerous critters means Zero (Angus Imrie) gets injured, an unusual experience for the recently corporealized being, so Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas) stays with the Medusan on the Protostar. The rest of the crew, meanwhile, discover an even more unexpected sight than the massive tribbles: a Klingon scientist, Dr. K’ruvang (Jorge Gutierrez), who is apparently the one responsible for finding a way to defeat tribbles once and for all, but he accidentally created the oversized tribbles. K’ruvang is now on a mission to destroy them, lest he return to the Klingon Empire in shame.
(Klingons, remember, have a violent history with tribbles, as hinted at in Deep Space Nine’s classic “Trials and Tribble-ations.” In fact, Chakotay asserts in “A Tribble Called Quest” that tribbles almost wiped out the Klingon Empire at one point.)
“A Tribble Called Quest” is really a story centering on Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), as the young scientist is eager to exercise her knowledge about science, and tribbles specifically, to create a retrovirus to return the tribbles to their normal, non-threatening size and lower their reproduction rate. In fact, the Brikar was able to find where K’ruvang went wrong in his research within just a couple minutes of viewing his notes, which gave her the confidence to help him succeed in his quest.
While working on this, Rok accidentally combines her DNA with her experiments, creating a cuddly cross between a Bikar and a tribble – a Bribble. The existence of this Bribble weighs on Rak quite a bit, as she sees it as a failure of her science to solve the problem facing her friends; she’s actually pretty hard on herself, which was slightly surprising, but it provides an opportunity for members of her crew to come to her support. After everything works out, which you’ll read about in just a second, this Bribble joins the crew at the end of the episode, bolstering the sizable roster of the Protostar.
Working together, the crew and their Klingon compatriot devise a way to both shrink the tribbles to their normal size and gather the Bosonite needed for the Protostar; of course, this Bosonite lies at the heart of the tribbles’ nest. It’s a dangerous mission, as Dal (Brett Gray) and Gwyn (Ella Purnell) must enter the heart of tribble territory to transport Bosonite to their ship, which leaves Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and Rok to distract the tribbles with an ample supply of retrovirused quadrotriticale (tribbles’ favorite food).
The quadrotriticale distraction doesn’t work for long, but it is long enough for Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) to beam aboard the Bosonite. Dal and Gwyn, meanwhile, are trapped in the tribbles’ lair, leaving Rok, Maj’el, K’ruvang, and Murf (Dee Bradley Baker) to affect a rescue. This rescue is only temporary, however, and just as the group are about to fall to the oversized tribbles, K’ruvang is willing to destroy the nest and themselves to go out fighting, if not for the last-second intervention of the much bigger Rok and her crew, who restrain the fanatical Klingon long enough for Rok’s Bribble to assert its dominance over the tribbles and communicate that they should back off.
With the tribble infestation of the planet solved thanks to Rok’s retrovirus, K’ruvang returns to the Empire with his honor intact. But perhaps more importantly, Rak – and by extension, younger viewers – learns an important lesson: sometimes it’s okay to make mistakes, and those mistakes can sometimes lead to positive outcomes and learning experiences – like how the Bribble ultimately saved the day. As Rok so wisely says, “Before the right answer, we often find the wrong one.” This applies to science and life.
Taken together, Prodigy delivers a standalone episode that revisits a key aspect of this “kids” show: teaching young audiences life lessons. The lovable and innocent Rak has often been the catalyst for such lessons, so we deem “A Tribble Called Quest” an effective, albeit safe, episode.
It isn’t all about Rok, however, as Gwyn and Maj’el (Michaela Dietz) share a tender moment on the hull of the bird-of-prey, as the pair ponder how such a world can arrive at such devastation. Gwyn is worried such horror will befall her homeworld, Solum since she isn’t there to lead her people through first contact with the Federation. Maj’el, meanwhile, is uncertain of why Wesley Crusher said she needed to stay with Gwyn and her crew. The answer isn’t readily in front of her, but Gwyn assures her it’ll come in time.
“It could be worse. [Pause]. Ah, probably not. Tellarites don’t have the best bedside manner.” – Jankom upon seeing Zero’s lingering injuries.
Besides Rok’s scientific efforts dealing with tribbles, this episode also touches on a problem Zero will be dealing with for the foreseeable future: an aging body. It was no secret the body they manifested back in “Is There in Beauty No Truth” was a mortal being, capable of deterioration. By the end of “A Tribble Called Quest,” Zero is using a cane; we’ll be curious to see how Zero deals with their rapidly growing medical issues, especially since it’s hinted that Jankom is going to help build a better body for Zero.
Stray Thoughts:
Prodigy seems to be challenging the audience to pick who should be the captain of the Protostar: Dal, or someone else. In this episode, Dal gets a few points, as he, among other things, takes the initiative and tweaks some sensors to identify his ship’s needed Bosonite – an action that earns Chakotay’s praise.
Rak’s made-up word, “Problem-tunity,” a cross between problem and opportunity, is so characteristic of her innocent, go-getting nature, and definitely, a term we’ll be using in real life.
“Cracked Mirror”
After a few trials and tribulations, the Protostar crew finally arrives at the Voyager-A, and everyone, especially Chakotay, complete with a spiffy new uniform, is eager to see the real flesh-and-blood Kathryn Janeway. But there’s one final hurdle the crew must face – a surprise visit to not one, but multiple alternate universes.
This crossing happens as the crew beams aboard Voyager. Chakotay and the rest of them are tipped off to the change in universes when it isn’t Janeway who greets them in the transporter room along with the Doctor (Robert Picardo) upon arrival, but Admiral Edward Jellico (Ronny Cox), who asserts the Janeway in this universe died, along with Tysess and Noum, while trying to enter the wormhole that leads to Solum. This understandably makes our protagonists angsty, but they barely have time to figure out a plan before they enter another universe as they move between decks while headed to Voyager’s sick bay.
Gwyn, Chakotay, Maj’el, Jankom, Murf, and Dal are shocked upon arriving at a deserted, rundown sickbay, and it’s here they encounter a familiar face: Thadiun Okona (William O. Campbell), of all people, the roguish captain who the crew encountered twice before. What is this guy doing on an all-but-destroyed Voyager savaging for equipment?
The crew realizes Voyager’s decks each contain an alternate reality, caused by a tear in the fabric of time and space running along Voyager, and the deck where they currently reside is one where the Federation does succumb to the Protostar’s weapon. It’s more than a bit convenient that Okona, a recognizable face to the Protostar crew, would be inhabiting the Voyager-A in this particular alternate reality, but hey… someone had to exposit information to our heroes.
“I don’t like what you’re saying… but I like the way you’re saying it.” – Dal to Chakotay as the crew ponders a plan to repair the rip in their reality.
Getting to the bridge is a priority so the crew can repair the rift, in reality, running across Voyager; this tear happened because the crew being on the Protostar is still causing a paradox in their timeline, and proto-warping to Voyager caused a bit of timeline tomfoolery. The crew doesn’t want to cross each deck individually, as that would wear too much on Gwyn’s temporal stabilizer. So, they ask Okona to simply beam them to the bridge. It’s a decent plan, but upon beaming, the crew, sans Maj’el, who didn’t make the transport successfully, find themselves in an alternate universe that’s particularly familiar to Star Trek fans: the Mirror Universe.
In the Mirror Universe, Voyager is captained by an evil Kathryn Janeway, with a subservient, bearded, and equally evil Chakotay at her side; kudos to Robert Beltran for really leaning into his character’s evilness. After being trapped in the brig for some time, Dal, Jankom, Gwyn, and Chakotay escape their jail cell by Prime Chakotay pretending to be his evil counterpart. Luckily, a goatee is the only physical difference between the two Chakotays, a difference Prime Chakotay solves with a bit of grease.
The crew’s escape is soon detected by Mirror Janeway, and a chase ends in Cetacean Ops, where even the whales are evil. Thanks to fast thinking by Jankom, the party escapes encirclement and races to the bridge before any of Janeway’s crew can stop them, but they find another surprise awaiting them: the Loom are making their way from the reality tear to Voyager, ready to temporally eliminate anyone in their path. A quick shield remodulation is the only protection the crew has against the Loom for now.
“Why should I believe you.”
“Because no matter what reality we are in, I could never hurt you.” – Mirror Janeway and Prime Chakotay, as the latter pleads for help.
Only a successful, last-minute, desperate plea for help from Prime Chakotay to Mirror Janeway means the Loom is held off just long enough for Gwyn, free from the Loom’s temporal slowness thanks to her stabilizer, to trigger Voyager’s deflector controls, thus repairing the tear. This means the Protostar crew suddenly find themselves in their home reality, beaming aboard the proper Voyager and welcomed once again by the Doctor.
It’s a tender reunion, as you can imagine, for Chakotay and Janeway. The not-quite-lovers and former shipmates have been without each other for so long, and it’s been the overriding mission of each of them to find the other. Underscoring this scene is a delightful soundtrack with plenty of Voyager theme music callbacks, and a touch of Prodigy’s theme interlopes as Dal and Gwyn assert to each other they are happy to be in whatever reality has the other. It’s touching stuff. We suppose a brush with temporal extinction would do that to people who care about each other.
We are thrilled Chakotay and Janeway are finally reunited, especially since it came at some unexpected emotional cost to Chakotay, who had to see his friend’s evil version first after all these years before getting to the real thing. Prodigy’s use of the Mirror Universe, therefore, is fairly effective; we were also pleased this show didn’t really pull punches showcasing the evilness of this universe, as we might have expected considering the younger target audience. While we didn’t find too much value in Okona’s somewhat forced cameo, that’s the only flaw in an otherwise solid outing for this show.
With six episodes left in this season, we are eager to see how the combined teams on Protostar and Voyager tackle the existential threat posed by the Loom. On a more personal level, quite a few questions remain. Will we finally see Chakotay and Janeway’s relationship become more than just good friends, now that the two have been apart for so long and have had time to recognize their importance to each other? Will Dal mature enough to acknowledge his place may or may not be in the Protostar’s center seat, and how will his vision about ceding command come into play? How will Zero adjust to life in a mortal body, and what upgrades are in store for the body they have now?
Stray Thoughts:
When Rok asks Hologram Janeway to watch Bribble while the crew beams to Voyager, the hologram asserts she is more of a dog person. Voyager fans will remember Janeway having an Irish setter named Mollie back on Earth.
The alternate reality Rok and Zero accidentally visit contains crewmembers much like the Star-Flight crew in Prodigy’s memorable season one episode “All the World’s a Stage.” The captain in this reality seems to be Tuvix, the ill-fated hybrid organism seen in the Voyager episode of the same name. Nice to know Tuvix lived a decent life in at least one reality. Additionally, we learned that the captain had perfected the delicious art of Vulcan-Talaxian fusion cuisine, which we thought was hilarious.
This episode marks the first time we’ve seen any Star Trek: Voyager crew in the Mirror Universe, except for Tuvok in DS9’s “Through the Looking Glass.” Whereas other Star Trek shows like The Original Series, Deep Space Nine, Enterprise, and Discovery have visited this infamous universe, Voyager never did, so it’s neat to see how Chakotay and Janeway appear in this evil form.
Mirror Chakotay references how he thought the Terran Empire had installed safeguards against unwanted visitors from the Prime Universe. These visitors he speaks of are probably the crossings we see in Deep Space Nine.
Why did Chakotay and the others choose to escape to Cetacean Ops? Surely, they knew there would be better places to try and escape capture?
What narrative purpose did it serve for Maj’el not to complete the transport to the Mirror Universe with the other members of her crew? It seems odd she was just narratively cast aside while we peered through the looking glass.
The entire first and second seasons of Star Trek: Prodigy are now available to stream on Netflix.
The Star Trek: Prodigy voice cast includes 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), JohnNoble (The Diviner) and Jimmi Simpson (Drednok) in addition to recurring voice cast members: Robert Beltran (Captain Chakotay), Robert Picardo (The Doctor), Jason Alexander (Doctor Noum), Daveed Diggs (Commander Tysess), Jameela Jamil (Ensign Asencia), Ronny Cox (Admiral Jellico) and Michaela Dietz (Maj’el).