3 questions we have about Star Trek: Prodigy’s Protostar

Star Trek: Prodigy has to answer some huge questions about the Protostar.

Star Trek: Prodigy introduced the fastest ship in all of Star Trek with the Protostar. An experimental ship that runs on an actual developing protostar. The use of the miniature sun has allowed the ship to travel faster than just about any other ship in existence.

That doesn’t mean the ship has been perfectly explained, just yet. The show is leaving out some key details, probably on purpose to better build the story of the ship but that doesn’t mean fans are speculating already on the who’s and what’s of it all.

That’s why I nailed down the three questions the show needs to get right about the U.S.S. Protostar.

These are three questions we have about Star Trek: Prodigy’s Protostar

When was it constructed?

So much of the ship and the believability that it brings to the table centers around the production and rollout. The ship is highly advanced but it’s possible that a lot of the advancements that that was added to it were done rather quickly after the Voyager returned from their sabbatical in the Delta Quadrant. If it started being constructed beforehand, and Voyager’s return expedited a nearly finished process, then that makes sense.

It also makes sense if the ship pulled a Barry Allen and went so fast it went back in time. That would explain why the ship was abandoned for years, despite it only exiting for about eight years in total.

Did Voyager’s journey into the Delta Quadrant influence how it was designed?

The ships look alike and even share some similar ship-to-ship features, like the shape of the ship itself. So clearly the ships are linked to a degree. Plus the Emergency Command Hologram is literally Voyager’s captain, Kathryne Janeway. Yet, with the protostar engine having similarities to the Hirojen engines of the Delta Quadrant, is it possible this ship only exists because Voyager made it home?

How did it get to the Delta Quadrant?

Did it go too fast and getaway? Was it time travel? Maybe the ship just slipped into an old Borg sub-space passage and ended up in the Delta Quadrant in record time. Heck, maybe it hit Warp 10 and with no crew, there are no slug people to worry about. This is going to be a key question that needs to be answered because everything else is irrelevant as long as the “how” is a well-designed answer.