Star Trek’s cutest mystery character is a deep-cut TNG reference
Warning: Spoilers for Star Trek: The Prodigy Season 1, Episode 11 – “Asylum”
Murph (D. Bradley Baker) was expressed by the species Star Trek: ProdigyAnd it has an amazing link to Wesley Crusher (Will Wheaton) and Star Trek: The Next Generation. inside Star Trek: ProdigyIn its midseason 1 premiere, the teenage alien crew of the USS Protostar arrives at a Federation relay station and meets a Starfleet lieutenant named Bernice Frakes (Eric Bauza). Frax scans each member of the Protostar’s crew to determine their species, and just like that, everyone learns what a morph is.
According to Bernice Frax’s scanner, Murph is a melanoid slime worm. This is a pretty deep cut reference Star Trek: Prodigy from Star Trek: The Next Generation Season 1 episode, “Coming of Age.” In that episode, which aired in March 1988, Wesley Crusher traveled to Relva VII to take the Starfleet Academy entrance exams. Wes accidentally bumps into a Zeldan Starfleet crewman named Rondon (Daniel Riordan), who insults young Wesley Crusher as a “Bulgarian sludge rat” and a “melanoid slime worm”. This was the only previous reference to a melanoid slime worm in Star Trek until Murph, making the adorable purple alien the first melanoid slime worm actually seen on Star Trek.
The Real Origins of Murph On Star Trek: Prodigy
In an interview with Dr screen rant, Star Trek: ProdigyIts executive producers Kevin and Dan Hagman revealed that they didn’t actually know what species Murph would be when they created him. The cute little worm was a late addition Star Trek: ProdigyIts cast Hagemans realized that the show’s young audience would respond positively to a pet on a protostar. When it came time to figure out what Murph really was, Dan Hagman said they googled ‘star trek worm’ and found ‘melanoid slime worm’ and the mystery of Murph was solved.
Know Murph as a loyal, sweet and supportive friend so far Star Trek: ProdigyIts crew, especially Rok-Tahk (Rylee Alazraqui), find it hard to understand why calling someone a mellanoid slime worm is an insult. But it hints at more secrets about Murph that have yet to be revealed Star Trek: Prodigy. After all, Murph is a very young melanoid slime worm, and can acquire less adorable traits as he ages. It’s also clever that Murph’s species is revealed when the Protostar crew tries to join Starfleet, calling Wesley a “melanoid slime worm” while taking the exam to join Starfleet Academy.
will power Star Trek: Prodigy What species of pulses are expressed?
Meanwhile, the self-appointed captain of the USS Protostar, Dal R’El (Brett Gray), has another mystery alien aboard. Dal never knows what species he is or anything about his past before being sent to Tars Lamora to serve the Diviner (John Noble). Bernice Frax’s scanner couldn’t figure out what Dal was, just as it didn’t identify Guindala (Ella Purnell) as Vau n’ Akat. It is possible that there is a link between Dal and Murph as they are both purple mystery aliens. Whether that remains to be seen Star Trek: Prodigy will solve the mystery of Dal, but now Murph’s species (and is related to TNG) is established. Both Murf and Dal Bear may be revealed in the second half as more secrets about them Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1.
Star Trek: Prodigy Season 1 is streaming on Paramount+.