STAR TREK: PRODIGY
SEASON 2, EPISODE 4
SEASON 2, EPISODE 4
Temporal Mechanics 101
Series: Star Trek: Prodigy - (2021 - 2024)
Season: 2
Episode #: 4
Original Airdate: July 1st, 2024 (March 22nd, 2024 in France)
Writer(s): Keith Sweet II
Director(s): Ben Hibon
Guest Stars
Dee Bradley Baker as a Vau N'akata Scientist
John Noble as Ilthuran
Robert Picardo as The Doctor
Jameela Jamil as Asencia
Michaela Dietz as Maj'El
Daveed Diggs as Commander Tysess
Erin Macdonald as Dr. Erin
Stardate: 112152.1 (Future Solum)
Synopsis
Aboard the USS Voyager-A, Rok-Tahk approaches Murf. She asks what he’s doing by himself. But before she gets an answer, she is summoned to the bridge by Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway. Tysess reports the wormhole has collapsed. Readings suggest the timeline has been changed. But then why is the Voyager-A still there? Janeway reasons that the temporal shielding on the USS Infinity is designed to resist temporal paradoxes. Janeway postulates this is preserving their reality ¦ for now. But it’s essentially delaying the inevitable. Tysess says they’re in uncharted territory. They can’t contact the Infinity. A probe lacks the Infinity’s temporal shielding. But Rok suggests they could boost the probe’s signal to stabilize gravitation effects. This could at least send a message through. Janeway orders this course of action.
On future Solum, The Diviner and another Vau N’Akat search for the escaped prisoners. Dal R’El tells Jankom Pog that they must get airborne. Jankom keeps his temper contained, but barely. Maj’el blames Dal for getting them to arrive too early in the first place. Zero says the timeline may have been changed. They are interrupted by a hail from Janeway. Maj’el says Chakotay and the USS Protostar were lost in the wormhole. Janeway says there could be complications. Tysess says they lost contact with Gywn’s shuttle. Then, communications are broken. The console seems to be malfunctioning. The main screen displays the message, “Save Gwyn.” Jankom wonders where this came from. Zero wonders how they can do that if she’s half a century in the past. However, Maj’el reports they are receiving coordinates for somewhere on Solum. In response to Dal’s inquiry, the message reports it is not from Voyager. Dal heads out.
Meanwhile, 50 years earlier, Gwyn is phasing in and out of reality. She is addressed by a cosmic entity. Possibly the Cosmic Koala? It says, “Stay present. This isn’t your time. You need to be together.” Ilthuran repels down to join her in the arena. He says he can’t rescue her but won’t leave her.
In the future, Dal, Zero and Maj’el approach the coordinates. Maj’el says it could be a trap. Dal says sometimes doing the right thing involves taking risks. Maj’el says they have a duty, as they are the closest thing to Starfleet officers present. She says they must be perfect. But she declines to return to help Jankom fix the ship. They reach the future version of the arena. “It is never too late to abandon a bad idea,” says Maj’el. She and Dal argue, but Zero cuts them short by using the boosters on their containment suit to lift Maj’el and Dal and transfer them to the bottom of the arena. But all they find is the abandoned heirloom chamber. Dal uses Zero’s glow to illuminate the area.
This locates a translucent version of Gwyn, phasing between the same location across two time periods. Zero reports that she fluctuates across time. They’re uncertain how to help Gwyn. Zero and Maj’el talk through the situation with Treknobabble. Dal asks for simplification. Zero says they need to build a time machine. In the past, Gwyn comes to and remembers seeing her friends. Ilthuran says he looks forward to meeting her friends. Gwyn says The Diviner did in a different timeline. Ilthuran wants to know more about being The Diviner. He asks if he was a monster. She says it depends on who you ask. But Ilthuran says he’s here now and will be there for her. Gwyn’s getting confused between timelines.
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Back at the Infinity in Solum’s future, Jankom is frustrated at being unable to get the ship in the air. But Dal says they might not need to do this to accomplish their goal. Voyager successfully re-connects with Infinity. Dal assures Janeway they’re going to save Gwyn. He swiftly recounts her temporal phasing predicament. The Doctor says he’d have to examine her. “I’m a doctor, not an exorcist.” The Infinity crew explains their plan to use excess wormhole energy to travel through time directly to Gwyn. But in the meantime, Dal asks Voyager to send them everything they have on Temporal Mechanics 101.
Soon, a “Temporal Mechanics 101” video hosted by Starfleet Science Officer Dr. Erin plays. In Chapter 1, Erin explains that time travel can be conceptualized as a series of falling dominos. She says one of these dominos must be pushed sometimes to ensure subsequent dominos fall. In Chapter 5, Erin advises against building a time machine. But, you know. Sometimes it has to happen. She recounts several ways of traveling through time. These include slingshotting around the sun or getting on “the wrong side” of a Q. However, the surest way is a “classic interspatial flexure,” or wormhole.
In chapter 15, Erin mentions quantum realities. She says these are “a whole other mess, so please try to avoid them.” She urges them not to screw up time if they can avoid it. Nevertheless, Dal and the others have completed work on the time machine. As Jankom brings the machine online, several Watcher robots approach. Zero detects them. They activate the machine. Dal orders them to “go fast.” It looks like the Infinity will time travel but then crashes to the ground. Jankom insists he did everything by the book. Then, frustrated, he uses percussive maintenance. The machine reactivates. Jankom declares he’s back.
A Watcher nearly breaks through the time machine viewscreen to attack Dal. However, the machine’s activation causes it to freeze mid-air and then begin going in reverse. They’re traveling backward through time. In Solum’s past, Gwyn and Ilthuran sense their impending arrival. The Infinity arrives in the arena in the past. Dal, Jankom, Zero and Maj’el disembark. They embrace Gwyn. But they are shocked to see Ilthuran. Gwyn assures them he isn’t The Diviner. Rescue Gwyn
Ilthuran is awed at making first contact with intelligent life from other worlds. Gwyn asks how they found her. Zero explains they received a message from an unidentified sender. Gwyn shares that she heard something, too. Zero ponders this. Ilthuran asks what’s happening to Gwyn. Dal explains Gwyn is caught between quantum realities due to time travel. It’s “a superposition where she both exists and doesn’t.” Zero uses a hypospray to stabilize her temporarily. Zero says they must get her to the Voyager. Dal asks if the Infinity will still fly. Jankom insists it won’t. Despite his assessment, the Infinity seems to repair itself before their eyes. Maj’el says this is illogical. Gwyn says they should go home. She promises Ilthuran she’ll return. Ilthuran promises he’ll do what he can on Solum.
Meanwhile, Asencia urges the Elders to prepare for an uncertain future. She insists they have enemies among them. But she’s angered by witnessing the Infinity’s escape from the planet. Maj’el tells Zero that they are the most logical of our young heroes. Zero bashfully attempts to return the compliment.
Janeway contacts Infinity. She orders The Doctor dispatched for rendezvous. Rok reassures Dal that they’ll figure it out once they’re together. Delirious, Gwyn says they need to be together. When she subsequently awakes in a Voyager biobed, she’s surrounded by the Protostar alums (save for Murf). Janeway arrives. She says they’ll discuss Chakotay later. Gwyn is their priority at the moment. Gwyn asks about the device on her right arm. The Doctor explains to Gwyn that he improvised. Using a phase discriminator, he built her a temporal stabilizer. It isn’t a permanent solution, but he says it’s a miracle they could rescue her. Zero points out that Maj’el is right: it’s all illogical. Gwyn wonders who is bringing them together. And Rok realizes Murf is absent.
Meanwhile, Murf is alone in the astrometrics lab again. He’s communicating with an unidentifiable figure. The figure says, “Finally, you’re all here. But I don’t have much time. They’re coming for me. Good luck.” Then, the figure vanishes.-geekgirlauthority.com
