One of the greatest mysteries of Star Trek: Prodigy, the nature of the origin of Captain Del Re’l (Brett Gray), begins to unfold! In the midseason premiere, Season 1, Episode 11, “Asylum,” the crew of the… protostar arrives at Comm Relay station CR-721. Once there, and at the behest of Lt. Jr. Grade Barniss Frex (Eric Bauza), they each subject themselves to a DNA scan to begin their military service with Starfleet. However, when the scan arrives at Dal, some very interesting information is revealed!
Before Dal is scanned, several other crew members undertake the procedure. This includes Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), who has been confirmed to be Brikar. This species was once the providence of Memory Beta, as they were previously only depicted on the pages of Star Trek couple novels, which first appeared in Star Trek: The Next Generation: Starfleet Academy #1: Worf’s First Adventure by Peter David.
Also scanned is Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas). This doesn’t give the public much new information, as we all already knew Pog’s strain: he’s an easily recognizable Tellarite. This scan, however, gives Jankom new information, as he was unaware that the Tellarites were one of the founders of the Federation.
Two other members of the protostar crew can also be scanned without surprises. We already knew that Zero (Angus Imrie) was a Medusian. And while the scanner doesn’t recognize the species that Gwyn (Ella Purnell) came from, it makes sense, since we already know that Starfleet won’t make first contact with them until the future.
Could Dal Neelix Be: The Next Generation?
But perhaps the most juicy bit of information in the series is the scanner’s reaction to Dal. Before being scanned, Frex tries to guess which species he might be. One of the possibilities he suggests is ‘Talaxian’, the same strain as Neelix (Ethan Phillips) on Star Trek: Voyager. The Talaxians were introduced on Voyagerthe same show that child prodigy’s main character Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew) came into existence.
But when Dal steps into the scanner, he does register a hit. However, instead of providing specific information about what that hit might be, the scanner only displays an urgent message urging contact with Starfleet Command.
What was detected by the CR-721 scanners? Before Dal or the public could find out, the weapon was aboard the… protostar destroyed the space station and sent the crew on the run from Starfleet. Still, this is a tantalizing hint of what’s to come with Dal in the back half of Star Trek: child prodigy Season 1!