Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Episode 5 - "Terror Firma".
The secret of Star Trek: Prodigy's USS Protostar sets a new standard for warp drive but also opens up a mystery for Star Trek: Picard and Star Trek: Discovery. The Protostar is the first known Starfleet ship to have two warp cores, but there was also an unknown device built in between them in Engineering. By the end of Star Trek: Prodigy episode 5, "Terror Firma," the Protostar's mystery tech was revealed to be a Gravimetric Protostar Containment, meaning the starship actually carries a baby star. Although this technical revelation is exciting, it raises some serious questions about the use of technology in other Star Trek spin-0ffs.
Throughout Star Trek, Starfleet has attempted to develop new technologies beyond conventional warp drive. In the 23rd century of Star Trek: Discovery season 1, Starfleet experimented with the spore displacement hub drive that lets the USS Discovery instantly jump to its destinations by traveling through the mycelial network. However, Discovery's sister ship, the USS Glenn, was destroyed and all hands were horrifically killed when their spore drive malfunctioned. Further, the Discovery's spore drive was believed lost at the end of Star Trek: Discovery season 2. Although, in truth, the USS Discovery time-traveled to the 32nd century, and Spock (Ethan Peck) deleted the spore drive from Starfleet records to protect his sister, Michael Burnham (S0nequa Martin-Green). A few decades later, the USS Excelsior's transwarp drive was considered "The Great Experiment" but it was sabotaged by Scotty (James Doohan) in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Star Trek: Prodigy has now introduced Proto Warp to the franchise's canon. While it's yet unclear just how fast Proto Warp allows the USS Protostar to travel, the starship boasts a brand new technology of a booster engine utilizing the raw power of a baby star, and this must be the reason it's so prized by the Diviner. Further, the Protostar's Proto Warp clearly works as the starship was able to escape the Diviner without incident and didn't fly apart. Proto Warp is also likely the reason why the Protostar ended up in the Delta Quadrant. However, the existence of Proto Warp technology now begs the question of why doesn't Starfleet utilize the revolutionary technology in Star Trek: Picard or in Star Trek: Discovery's 32nd century? Unless addressed, this could indicate a potentially major plot hole in the franchise
Star Trek: Prodigy is set in 2383 whereas Star Trek: Picard season 1 happens in 2399 and Star Trek: Discovery season 3 takes place in 3189. But Star Trek: Prodigy now establishes that there was a functional alternative technology to dilithium warp drives in Proto Warp in the 24th century, begging the question as to why it wasn't put into widespread use. In Picard's era, starships are still using conventional, dilithium-powered warp drives, and this is surprisingly still the case 800 years later in Star Trek: Discovery's future. In fact, it was the century-long destruction of all dilithium in the galaxy by The Burn that led to the collapse of the United Federation of Planets. After the USS Discovery's crew solved the mystery of The Burn, they began distributing dilithium throughout the galaxy so that traditional warp travel could resume. Apparently, Starfleet has been relying entirely on conventional warp travel for a thousand years.
Further, Star Trek: Prodigy's Proto Warp technology had to have been developed years before the USS Protostar was lost in the Delta Quadrant. It's possible that whatever happened with the Protostar led Starfleet to believe that Proto Warp was another failure, but this doesn't explain whether they scrapped the technology or attempted to develop it further. This raises another question as to what might happen if, during the course of Star Trek: Prodigy, the Protostar returns to Federation space. This is already hinted to happen because it was already announced that Star Trek: Voyager's Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran) will join Star Trek: Prodigy and it's likely Chakotay's starship will encounter the Protostar at some point. Star Trek: Prodigy has now introduced what may be the coolest warp drive alternative Star Trek has seen yet, but the franchise will now have to explain the mystery of why no one uses Proto Warp in Star Trek: Picard or Star Trek: Discovery.
Star Trek: Prodigy season 1 returns to Paramount+ in 2022.