Prodigy’ Learns An Adorable Lesson In “A Tribble Called Quest” [Episode 213] – TrekMovie.com

 “A Tribble Called Quest”

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2, Episode 13 – Debuted Monday, July 1, 2024
Written by Keith Sweet II
Directed by Sean Bishop

A diverting if forgettable side adventure brings back some classic critters.

WARNING: Spoilers below!

RECAP

“Can’t we go to a nice planet for a change?”

The re-launched Protostar can’t get back into the season arc without a working protodrive which requires an actual proto-star. Turns out making a baby star is super easy, barely an inconvenience… all they need is some stuff called “Bosonite” which is in abundance at a nearby planet. But when they arrive this world seems unexpectedly barren. Because it’s Star Trek, a tribble shows up and Rok, an expert on all things cuddly, is excited to nerdsplain how these cuties rapidly multiply and (not so cutely) consume planetary ecosystems. She is surprised when this tribble bites her, and even more surprised when they realize on this planet the toothy tribbles also come in super-jumbo size. Run! Dal and Murf save the day as the gang lead a horde of carnivorous furballs off a cliff. Zero is injured, not loving the newly discovered sensation of pain. They return to the ship with Pog and share a touching moment after the Medusan learns their days in this new body are numbered. On the planet, just Captain Chakotay’s away team starts forming a plan to get the Bosonite, they find themselves staring down the barrel of a disruptor. A Klingon disruptor. qaStaH nuq jay’!?

“I just don’t like my scientific mistakes staring at me.”

The gang meet Dr. K’Ruvang, a Klingon scientist searching for a way to defeat the Empire’s greatest enemy. He monkeyed with tribble DNA… with unexpected consequences. Oh, and the only source of Bosonite is in the middle of their biggest nest, which Rok sees as a “problem-tunity.” She works out where Klingon went wrong and starts sciencing a solution. After ominously sneezing into a petri dish a cell culture transforms into a mashup of her (a Brikar) and a tribble. They name it “Bribble.” Sadly Rok only sees living proof of science failure, but the gang boosts her confidence and she successfully makes a serum. The horde are lured with spiked grain allowing Dal and Gwyn to jump in and beam the Bosonite away, but everyone still ends up surrounded by angry (still hungry) giant tribbles. K’Ruvang gives up and tries to send everyone to Sto-vo-kor in a Bosonite inferno, but Rok is able to stop him.  Now Bribble enters the fray, screeching some sense into the monsters who just casually roll away. As the tribbles become manageable Dr. K’Ruvang can return home with honor. The Protostar gang has everything they need to make their little star, accepting how to learn from mistakes, including the little cutey that just joined the crew. Diversion over, Chakotay sets a course. Fire up your J/C speculation, they are finally heading back to Voyager.

ANALYSIS

They grow up so fast

This is a cute little episode that did what kid’s shows do best, wrap an important lesson in a fun and exciting package. Not only were there lots of Trek moments solving problems with teamwork, science, and communication, but there was a deeper exploration of the character of Rok-Tahk, who had a crisis of confidence. Star Trek (and literature) is full of stories of scientists forced to face their own hubris, which we saw here with K’Ruvang’s teethy tribbles. But Rok’s lesson was more about the fundamentals of the scientific method, including making mistakes. K’Ruvang as a foil to Rok was also a great opportunity to indulge in a few of the tropes of the classic Trek race. Rylee Alazraqui did an excellent job taking us on this little journey for Rok. As the youngest member of the gang (with the exception of Murf), she plays an important role and it’s important to see her grow, while also still holding on to that exuberance and optimism that defines the character. Centering an episode around tribbles was a good choice for this kind of journey, and we can see how well-crafted the seasons are looking back to the start of episode 201 and Rok’s presentation on the furry little creatures. This show is always playing the long game.

All that being said, for an episode about tribbles, there wasn’t a lot of humor, which is traditional for when these ubiquitous critters show up, starting back on TOS. If you are going to do a side-mission episode, why not ramp it up into a comedy while you are at it? The show’s strongest jokester, Jason Mantzoukas’s Pog, was mostly on the sidelines. However, it was nice to see him paired up with Zero with some touching moments. Now that we are deep into the second season, it’s nice to see Prodigy shake things up with different character pairings every once in a while. As for their new pet, does Prodigy need another adorable squeaking cutey? I’m not sold, yet, but do let me know when they release a talking Bribble plush.

Final thoughts

After a series of very strong episodes, this one was a bit of a letdown, but that’s grading on the second season’s elevated curve. There were still enough little moments of character and lore to provide entertainment. And now it appears there should be nothing between Chakotay finally reuniting with Janeway, so there’s that.

BITS

• The episode title appears to be a spin on the name of the hip hop group A Tribe Called Quest.
• K’Ruvang mentions Martok, indicating he still leads the empire in 2385, although the scientist may be out of date.
• The Klingon long-running conflict with Tribbles was established in TOS “The Trouble With Tribbles.”
• The grain used to lure the tribbles in this episode was Quadrotriticale, the same grain from that first episode with tribbles.
• Rok use the Tribble’s scientific name “Tribleustes ventricosus,” first established in the Short Treks episode “The Trouble with Edward.”
• Jankom boasts about how Rok “fixed a core breach with enough time to rebuild Hologram Janeway from scratch,” recounting the events of the season 1 episode “Time, Amok.”
• After the tribbles retreated K’Ruvang sang the Klingon victory song, from the TNG episode “Birthright Part II“
• Moment of science: How stars are born.
• This is the 63rd Star Trek episode or movie featuring a Klingon Bird of Prey, and the 5th Prodigy episode with one.

TrekMovie’s Prodigy July binge-watch

Since all 20 episodes were released on Netflix at once, we’re binging it in five-episode arcs; we can’t stick to watching just one a week! Each All Access Star Trek podcast (every Friday morning) will cover five episodes, while written reviews for all five will publish throughout the week, with two-parters paired up. This will all wrap up just as San Diego Comic-Con kicks off at the end of the month. We also hope to have more Prodigy interviews and analysis in July and beyond.

NEW: Full spoiler open thread!

We welcome fans joining us through our July coverage of 5 episodes each week, and we ask our readers to keep comments related to the season up to the episode being reviewed.

For those choosing to binge the show even faster, we have created an open thread where you can post all the spoiler comments you want for the entire season. 

Season 2 of Prodigy is available to stream on Netflix globally (excluding Canada, Nordics, CEE, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, Poland, Russia, Belarus and Mainland China) and season one is currently available on SkyShowtime in the Nordics, the Netherlands, Spain, Portugal and Central and Eastern Europe with season two coming soon. Season two has launched in France on France Televisions channels and Okoo.

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