Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1, Episode 11 - "Asylum"A cool homage to Star Trek Generations in Star Trek: Prodigy season 1, episode 11 also shows that the USS Enterprise-B and the USS Protostar share a strange thing in common. A flashback to the launch of the Protostar in 2383 showed Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) wishing her dear friend, Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran), best wishes on his new mission. But Chakotay's ill-fated first command into the Delta Quadrant echoed the calamity that befell Captain John Harriman (Alan Ruck) and the USS Enterprise-B.
Star Trek Generations began with a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne hurtling through space and christening the hull of the USS Enterprise-B in 2293. Star Trek: Prodigy cleverly nodded to this iconic moment by showing a champagne bottle smashing into the hull of the brand-new USS Protostar on the day of its launch. Whether or not this tradition was common throughout Starfleet's history, Star Trek Generations was the first time a starship was shown to be christened with champagne. But the champagne bottle itself seems to herald misfortune because the two instances Star Trek has shown it to happen result in a terrible disaster for maiden voyages of both starships, the Enterprise-B and the Protostar.
What Happened To The USS Enterprise-B In Star Trek Generations
The maiden flight of the USS Enterprise-B in Star Trek Generations was meant to be a simple "hop around the solar system" and a publicity stunt for the new Excelsior-class starship. Captain James T. Kirk (William Shatner), Montgomery Scott (James Doohan), and Pavel Chekov (Walter Koenig) attended the Enterprise-B's launch as special guests. But moments after the starship began its inaugural cruise, sensors detected a distress beacon from an El Aurian ship containing Guinan (Whoopi Goldberg) that was under attack by the Nexus. Worse, Captain Harriman was thoroughly unprepared for a crisis, and the Enterprise-B lacked key personnel and equipment that weren't due to arrive until "Tuesday."
Captain Kirk briefly took command of the Enterprise-B, but gave up the big chair to Captain Harriman so that he could deal with a problem below decks. While the Enterprise was able to rescue the El Aurians, the Nexus' shock wave struck the starship and ripped a hole in its hull. Captain Kirk was lost and believed dead, although he was actually transported into the Nexus, an energy ribbon beyond time and space. The truth about what happened to Kirk wouldn't be known until the 24th century, but the Captain heroically died saving Veridian III alongside Captain Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart). After the disaster of its maiden voyage, the Enterprise-B failed to match the distinguished legacy of Kirk's Starship Enterprise.
What Happened To Captain Chakotay And The USS Protostar In Star Trek: Prodigy
The fate that befell Captain Chakotay and the USS Protostar is one of Star Trek: Prodigy season 1's greatest mysteries. Based on the clues revealed, during Chakotay's first mission, the Protostar encountered an "anomaly" and was boarded by Drednok (Jimmi Simpson), the Diviner's (John Noble) robot enforcer. It's quite possible that the Protostar's Proto-Drive initiated a time warp because the starship ended up marooned in Tars Lamora in 2366, 17 years before its launch. Yet the Diviner had control of the Protostar at some point because he was able to install the Living Constuct, a Starfleet-destroying weapon, aboard the starship before he lost it.
It's unknown what happened to Captain Chakotay and the Protostar's crew. The Protostar was abandoned until Dal R'El (Brett Gray) and his teenage alien friends commandeered the starship and became its new crew, with Hologram Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) advising them. But it's certainly ironic that both the Enterprise-B in Star Trek Generations and the Protostar in Star Trek: Prodigy were ceremoniously christened with champagne bottles right before catastrophe struck.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 streams Thursdays on Paramount+.