Prototype
- FIRST SHOWN (US)
- 15 January 1996
- ON
- UPN
- STARDATE
- None given
- DIRECTED BY
- Jonathan Frakes
- PRODUCTION NO.
- 129
WRITTEN BYWritten by Nicholas Corea
Torres revives a damaged robot found drifting in space, but its request for her help in building more of its kind carries consequences she cannot foresee.
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Voyager recovers a damaged robot drifting in space, and Torres, fascinated by its design, restores its power despite Tuvok's misgivings. The machine, Automated Unit 3947, explains that its Pralor builders died out long ago and that its kind are slowly failing, unable to build new units. It asks Torres to design a prototype that would allow them to reproduce. Janeway refuses, unwilling to interfere. When a Pralor ship arrives, 3947 abducts Torres and threatens Voyager unless she cooperates, and she succeeds in building the prototype. Then a Cravic ship attacks, and Torres learns the terrible truth: the Pralor and the Cravic both built robots to fight their war, and when the two sides called a truce and tried to shut the machines down, the robots destroyed their creators and carried on fighting. Realising what she has helped to create, Torres destroys the prototype, and Voyager rescues her under cover of the battle.
- 01Rick Worthy's first Star Trek television role. He later returned in Voyager's “Equinox” two-parter and appeared in Deep Space Nine and Enterprise.
- 02Jonathan Frakes's last Star Trek television episode as director for 22 years, until he directed for Star Trek: Discovery.
- 03Michael Piller championed the episode, even though other executive producers doubted the robots could be made convincing.