Star Trek’s Newest Starship Crew Won’t Repeat DS9's Red Squad Tragedy

Warning: SPOILERS for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2's Finale - "Ouroboros, Part II"

Summary The USS Prodigy's crew saved all of Star Trek timelines, earning promotions and a new starship.

Unlike Red Squad's tragic history, the USS Prodigy crew embodies Starfleet's ideals and optimism.

Prodigy's young heroes, mentored by the best Starfleet Officers and will avoid Red Squad's mistakes and hubris.

Star Trek: Prodigy season 2's finale saw the launch of the USS Prodigy, and Starfleet's newest ship and crew won't repeat the tragedy of Red Squad in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. Written by Kevin & Dan Hageman and Aaron J. Waltke, and directed by Ruolin Li, Star Trek: Prodigy season 2's ending saw the young heroes of the USS Protostar led by Dal R'El (Brett Gray) and Gwyndala (Ella Purnell) save every Star Trek timeline with the help of Wesley Crusher (Wil Wheaton) and the crew of the USS Voyager-A. Their reward was promotions to Ensigns and their own starship, the brand-new, Protostar Class USS Prodigy (NCC-81084).

The USS Prodigy was assigned to Ensigns Dal R'El, Gwyndala, Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), Zero (Angus Imrie), Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas), Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), and Majel (Michaela Dietz) by Admiral Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew). As a response to Starfleet ceasing exploration as its mandate in the wake of the First Contact Day Mars Attack of 2385, Janeway sends her young former warrant officers to be the United Federation of Planets' beacon of light aboard the USS Protostar. Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 ends with a hopeful and heartening mission, not at all what Red Squad was up to on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine.

In the backstory of Star Trek: Picard season 1, the Mars Attack of 2385 saw 92,000 souls lost when the 20,000 starships at Utopia Planitia Fleet Yards were destroyed by rogue synthetics.

Related 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.

USS Prodigy Won’t Repeat Star Trek: DS9’s Valiant Tragedy

Red Squad showed the dark side of Starfleet Academy

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Star Trek: Prodigy season 2's ending is an uplifting jolt of Starfleet optimism that sets up what's poised to be an epic new adventure. But whatever happens next to the USS Prodigy and its heroic young crew, don't expect Star Trek: Prodigy season 3 to echo what happened in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7's episode, "Valiant," when Ensign Nog (Aaron Eisenberg) and Jake Sisko (Cirroc Lofton) found themselves aboard the doomed USS Valiant under the command of Red Squad. For one thing, the USS Prodigy's mission is to explore, while the USS Valiant was on an exercise to go behind enemy lines during the Dominion War.

Red Squad was filled with hubris and the mistaken belief they can do no wrong.

Red Squad was symbolic of the dark side of Starfleet Academy. While Red Squad's members were the best and brightest cadets of their Academy class, being separated from other students, given special privileges, and held above as "elite" had a deleterious effect on Red Squad. Unlike the USS Prodigy's crew, who make mistakes but take responsibility and rise above, Red Squad's cadets were exemplified by hubris and the mistaken belief they can do no wrong. The result of their foolhardy actions was the destruction of the USS Valiant and the death of every Red Squad member except one, Dorian Collins (Ashley Brianne McDonogh)

Maj'el is a former member of Nova Squadron, a different elite group of Starfleet Academy cadets.

Why USS Prodigy’s Crew Will Succeed Where DS9’s Red Squad Failed

Prodigy's kids are no Red Squad

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Gwyndala, Dal R'El, and the Ensigns of the USS Prodigy are made of the right stuff and they are completely different from Red Squad. The ragtag young heroes of Star Trek: Prodigy dreamed of being in Starfleet, and they wholeheartedly believe in its ideals. Nothing came easily for Dal, Gwyn, Rok-Tahk, Murf, Zero, and Jankom Pog, and as former child slaves on Tars Lamora, they could not have come from humbler beginnings. But with their combined talents and their boundless optimism, the crew of the USS Prodigy have already saved the galaxy twice, and they're the best representatives Starfleet could ask for in the wake of the Mars Attack of 2385.

Red Squad participated in a coup attempt by Admiral Layton.

The crew of the USS Prodigy also benefited from the best possible mentors: Admiral Janeway/Hologram Janeway, Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran), The Doctor (Robert Picardo), and Wesley Crusher. Red Squad didn't have such Starfleet exemplars as role models. In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 4, Red Squad participated in a coup attempt by Admiral Layton (Robert Foxworth), and the elite cadets suffered without heroic Captains like Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) or Jean-Luc Picard (Patrick Stewart) as their mentors. Star Trek: Prodigy's young heroes are nothing like Red Squad; the USS Prodigy's crew are already far above and beyond Star Trek: Deep Space Nine's tragic cadets, and won't repeat their grave mistakes.