First Con-tact (episode)

Real World article
(written from a Production point of view)

Warning! This page contains information regarding Star Trek: Prodigy, and thus may contain spoilers.

"First Con-tact"
PRO, Episode 1x07
Production number: 107
First aired: 13 January 2022
←  6th of 8 produced in PRO  →
←  6th of 8 released in PRO  →
←  824th of 826 released in all  →
Written by	Diandra Pendleton-Thompson
Directed by	Steve In Chang Ahn Sung Shin
In-universe date	←  Unknown (2383)  →

For the TNG episode with a similar title, please see "First Contact".

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

Teaser

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.

Log entries

• Captain's log, USS Protostar

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+.

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

And

• Kate Mulgrew as Hologram Janeway
• Robert Beltran as Captain Chakotay
• Grey Griffin as Nandi
• Melissa Villasenor as Nandi/Frail Woman

Characters with unidentified voices

• Pik-Pox

Background characters

• Unnamed Cymari

References

alien; bread; body; chimerium; civilization; combadge; cloaking device; communications officer; Cymari; Cymari homeworld; cymatic ability; cymatic transmutation (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 link

• "First Con-tact" at the Internet Movie Database

Previous episode: "Kobayashi"

Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1

Next episode: "Time Amok"