Star Trek: Prodigy has already advanced the timeline beyond where Star Trek: Picard season 3 will end, making the 25th century the next period to investigate in Star Trek’s canonical timeline.
Spoilers ahead for “Ghost in the Machine,” the seventeenth episode of the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy.
Despite the fact that Star Trek: Picard was the first Star Trek series to take place in the 25th century, Star Trek: Prodigy has now ventured even deeper into this fascinating new frontier.
The 2nd half of the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy takes place in the year 2384, although the history of the series centers on the unanswered question of what became of Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran) and the USS Protostar when they entered the Delta Quadrant in the year 2383.
The explanation was provided in the sixteenth episode of the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy, titled “Preludes.” It said that the Protostar had crossed a temporal aberration and landed at Solum 50 years in the future.
The destiny of Captain Chakotay plays a significant role in the happenings of the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy, and it also has repercussions for the Star Trek series as a whole.
The Protostar arrived at Solum several decades after Starfleet had established its historic “First Contact” with the homeworld of the Vau’Nakat.
When decades of fighting, the Vau’Nakat civilization was wiped off after a civil war broke out over the question of whether or not Solum should become a member of the United Federation of Planets.
The Vau’Nakat held Starfleet responsible for their predicament, and the coming of the Protostar made it possible for them to exact their vengeance.
Chakotay was taken hostage by the Vau’Nakat, and they implanted the Living Construct, a weapon that is capable of destroying Starfleet, aboard the Protostar.
However, Chakotay was successful in sending the Protostar back through time, even if he himself is still stuck on Solum in the year 2430.
Star Trek: The Next Generation: Prodigy Picks Up in the 25th Century After Picard
Because of the tragedy that Captain Chakotay went through, Star Trek: Prodigy has now moved beyond the 25th century that Star Trek: Picard takes place.
Apart from Star Trek: Discovery’s setting in the 32nd century, Star Trek: Picard had been the furthest point the series has begun to constantly explore. Picard season 2’s “present-day” was set in 2401, while Star Trek: Discovery’s setting was in the 32nd century.
Even though Chakotay is now trapped at least three decades in the future on a hostile alien planet with no recognized methods of escape, the temporal anomaly which led him to Solum most likely still exists.
As of the seventeenth episode of the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy, titled “Ghosts in the Machine,” Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway (played by Kate Mulgrew) has no idea where (or when) Chakotay is.
Her objective on board the USS Dauntless was to locate Chakotay, and she reasoned that he probably still held the position of Captain on the Protostar.
Janeway had just discovered some answers, and they revealed that the youths who presently crew the Protostar are “the Unwanted,” a group of juvenile slaves who fled from Tars Lamora and the grasp of the Diviner (John Noble). Janeway was knocked unconscious by the Diviner and his accomplice, Ensign Asencia (Jameela Jamil), who then held her hostage.
Star Trek’s Exploration of the 25th Century Is Its Next Logical Frontier
The Star Trek television series produced by Paramount+ takes set in numerous time periods: Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy both actually occur in the 2380s, Star Trek: Picard takes place at the beginning of the 25th century, and Star Trek: Discovery actually took place 100s of years into the future throughout the late 32nd century.
Star Trek: Strange New Worlds takes place in the middle of the 23rd century. Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Prodigy each started happening in the 2380s.
Therefore, in order to save Captain Chakotay as well as his staff, Admiral Janeway will have to travel back in time to the 25th century. This is an intriguing idea for Star Trek since it will allow the franchise to explore new territory.
The iconography that was established in Star Trek: The Next Generation continued into the 25th century while undergoing some significant changes.
Many fans of Star Trek regard the time period of The Next Generation (TNG) to be the “present day” of the franchise, with Strange New Worlds serving as a prequel and Discovery being an anomaly set in the far future.
The fact that Star Trek: Prodigy established a presence in the 25th century paves the way for the animated series to write fresh canon that would advance the TNG period decades after the conclusion of Star Trek: Picard.
It will provide a fascinating view of what Starfleet and the Federation will be like in the 25th century. But first, Admiral Janeway needs to figure out the facts regarding Captain Chakotay, who is now in a position where he is hoping to be saved in the future of Star Trek: Prodigy.
