(written from a Production point of view)
When a mentor from Dal’s past persuades him to use their Federation cover for personal gain, they quickly discover Starfleet has protocols for a reason.
Summary
The crew has been on edge since Gwyn uncovered what happened to the original Protostar crew, but has been unable to uncover anything more. While Janeway is obsessing over the recordings of Chakotay, the crew has left messes around the ship and found a new "welcome distraction" to play with: the transporter. After beaming a piece of pie around the ship gets boring, the crew volunteers Murf as a live test subject, only for him to be sent to the wrong side of the bridge window. Fortunately, he is unharmed due to his apparent indestructibility and is beamed safely back aboard.
Act I
After safely rematerialising Murf back in the ship, Janeway calls the crew to the bridge to answer a distress call. On-screen, a hooded figure talks about her sick children with the phage, which Dal immediately recognzes as the con of his adoptive mother, Nandi. She disables the holo-emitters and invites Dal and his friends on to the Damsel.
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Log entries
Memorable quotes
Background information
Title
The original episode title card without a hyphen
- The title was announced by StarTrek.com on 10 January 2022. [1] It was initially revealed as "First Con-tact", and was presented as such on the Paramount+ episode menu, however the original title card itself read "First Contact" without a hyphen. Creators Dan and Kevin Hageman tweeted that the title card was an error and "the fix is on the way" [2], and to their credit a corrected title card was uploaded to Crave on 14 January 2022, and later updated on Paramount+.
- This episode marks the fourth time that the phrase "first contact" is used in the title of a Star Trek installment, the first three being TNG: "First Contact", Star Trek: First Contact and LD: "First First Contact".
Production
- Excluding the premiere episode, "Lost and Found", this is the first episode to feature a teaser scene before the title sequence.
Continuity
- Dal is revealed to have been raised by a Ferengi woman, Nandi, who was the third Ferengi female (after Pel and Ishka) to appear on Star Trek, and the first identified as DaiMon. She was also the first Ferengi directly encountered in the Delta Quadrant since VOY: "False Profits".
- Grand Nagus Zek granted Ferengi females the right to wear clothes with an amendment to the Ferengi Bill of Opportunities in 2374, which was meant to act like a snowball effect for females to be able to acquire material goods, profit to buy the goods, and becoming part of the workforce so they could accrue profit, as seen in DS9: "Profit and Lace".
- This episode marks the first appearance of a D'Kora-class marauder (first introduced in TNG: "The Last Outpost") since VOY: "Inside Man", and the second Alpha Quadrant starship (since the abandoned Bird-of-Prey in "Terror Firma") directly encountered by the Protostar crew.
- A lirpa, a horga'hn, and a Klingon cloaking device are among the items found aboard Nandi's ship. She also carried with her a Klingon disruptor.
- Three previously known Rules of Acquisition were recited in this episode: #1 (originally from DS9: "The Nagus"), #21 (originally from DS9: "Rules of Acquisition"), and #208 (originally from DS9: "Ferengi Love Songs").
- A reference is again made to the Window of Dreams (last referenced in "Lost and Found"), as well as the Phage (last mentioned in VOY: "Think Tank").
- The text of the first two sections of the General Order 1 is taken from the reference book Star Trek: Federation - The First 150 Years (p. 108).
- The crew has designated Gwyn as the communications officer.
Links and references
Cast
- Rylee Alazraqui as Rok-Tahk
- Dee Bradley Baker as Murf
- Brett Gray as Dal
- Angus Imrie as Zero
- Ella Purnell as Gwyn
- Jason Mantzoukas as Jankom Pog
- John Noble as The Diviner (did not appear)
- Jimmi Simpson as Drednok (holographic recording; no lines)
- And
- Kate Mulgrew as Hologram Janeway
- Robert Beltran as Captain Chakotay (holographic recording)
- Grey Griffin as Nandi
- Melissa Villasenor as Nandi/Frail Woman
- Characters with unidentified voices
Background characters
- Unnamed Cymari
References
alien; bread; body; chimerium; civilization; combadge; cloaking device; communications officer; Cymari; Cymari homeworld; cymatic ability; cymatic transmutation (aka acoustic terra-molding); cymatics; dabo table; DaiMon; Damsel; "develop-lution"; diplomatic exchange; distress signal; D'Kora-class; electricity; energy; engine; evolution; face; Federation; Ferengi; Ferengi language; first contact; frequency; friend; friendship; General Order 1; gift; gravity boot; ground; hair; harmonic; harmonic resonance; holo-emitter; horga'hn; hover; kidnapping; Klingonese; Klingon disruptor; laughter; lifeform; lirpa; loaf; lobeling; lobes; mathematics; matter; mayday; metal; meter; mine; money; motive; mouth; Murder Planet; orphan; outer space; pain; parsec; partner; Phage; pie; pitch; planet; power source; precious metal; Prime Directive; profit; remalite crystal; REV-12; room; Rules of Acquisition; sand; sector; shield; Skeralyx system; song; sound wave; species; spit pan; star; Starfleet; Starfleet Command; Starfleet uniform; story; teleportation machine; test subject; thought; tone; trade; translator; transporter; transporter room; tricorder; tube grub; wall; warp core; Window of Dreams; year
Console references
analysis; impulse engine control; level; live data; lock mech; offset; radar scanner; short range sensor; target; tracking; window; wireframe
External links
- "First Con-tact" at the Internet Movie Database
- "Prodigy First Con-tact" at MissionLogPodcast.com, a Roddenberry Star Trek podcast
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