WARNING: This article contains SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy, season 2, episode 14, “Cracked Mirror”
Summary
Star Trek: Prodigyremade a popularStar Trek: Voyagertime travel episode in season 2.Prodigyseason 2picked up almost directly from where season 1 left off, showing the further adventures of the former USS Protostar crew as they were pulled into a mission that ended up involving a time paradox and the fate of the multiverse.Along the way,Prodigycontinued to take heavy inspiration fromStar Trek: Voyager, showcasing the return of manyVoyagercharacters and referencesto the olderStar Trekseries throughout its 20-episode season.
One of the major points of connection betweenProdigyandVoyageris the return of Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran), a main member ofVoyager’s cast of charactersand the USS Voyager’s former First Officer.Prodigyseason 2 focused on the mission to locate Chakotay and did a lot to enhance his character in comparison toVoyager. One surprising way thatProdigydemonstrated its this connection wasseason 2’s remake of a Chakotay-centricVoyagerepisode, one thatProdigyimproved the overall storyline of significantly.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 3 - Everything We Know
Netflix has the option to order Star Trek: Prodigy season 3. Here’s what we know about the young Starfleet crew of the USS Protostar’s return.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Remade Voyager’s “Shattered”
“Cracked Mirror” has a lot of similarities with “Shattered”
Prodigyseason 2, episode 14, “Cracked Mirror” is a clever remake ofVoyagerseason 7, episode 11, “Shattered.“Both episodes feature a version of the USS Voyager being split into different time periods or parallel universes by an outside force. “Shattered” explored different periods fromVoyager’s past and possible future, while “Cracked Mirror” actually split the ship into separate timelines, many of them much darker than the primary timeline. GivenProdigyseason 2’s focus on Star Trek’s multiverse, this change made a lot of sense for the episode.
Prodigyseason 2 explored the multiverse more explicitly than any previousStar Trekproject, reintroducing Wesley Crusher to help explain the different timelines and the Travelers' roles in protecting them.
Another significant similarity between the two episodes was that both featured Chakotay as one of the few people who could cross between timelines. “Shattered” put Chakotay decidedly in the role of the main character, and while “Cracked Mirror” also focused onProdigy’s young cast, Chakotay still played a huge part in the episode. To cement the connection,Chakotay even referenced “Shattered” during the events of “Cracked Mirror,” saying “I’ve been through something like this before,”when discussing what to do next after the group found themselves trapped in a parallel universe.
How Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 Improved On Voyager’s “Shattered” Premise
Prodigy took the “Shattered” premise and went a step further
Rather than doing a straight remake, the changesProdigymade to “Shattered’s” premise actually helped improveProdigy’s version of the episode. Focusing only on different time periods made sense forVoyager, butProdigy’s delving into separate timelines helped expand “Cracked Mirror"into an action-packed episode without a dull moment. It also allowedStar Trek:Prodigyto explore some amazing callback and connections to the widerStar Trektimeline, such as the return of the Enderprizians from season 1, and the Mirror Universe, whichVoyagernever got to depict. All of these things helped cement “Cracked Mirror” as a better episode.
