Summary
- Evil whales in Star Trek Prodigy means Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home must have happened in the Mirror Universe.
- Humpback whales in the Mirror Universe must also have been extinct, requiring Admiral Kirk to time travel to retrieve whales from 1986.
- Star Trek: Prodigy revealed the Terran Empire is back in power in the Mirror Universe with the help of evil whales.
There are evil whales in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, so I think Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home must have somehow happened in the Mirror Universe. Written by Erin McNamara and directed by Ruolin Li, "Cracked Mirror" is one of the standout episodes of Star Trek: Prodigy season 2. Trying to reunite with the USS Voyager-A, the young Starfleet hopefuls of the USS Protostar and Captain Chakotay (Robert Beltran) inadvertently shift though different alternate realities, among them the dreaded Mirror Universe - where there is an evil humpback whale occupying the ISS Voyager-A's Cetacean Ops.
Humpback whales were extinct by Star Trek's 23rd century until Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) and the former crew of the USS Enterprise time-traveled to 1986 San Francisco in the Leonard Nimoy-directed Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Kirk and friends brought two humpback whales, George and Gracie, back to the future. Dr. Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks), a Cetacean biologist, jumped to the future with Kirk to care for George and Gracie. A century later, in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2, Gillian, the humpback whale serving in the USS Voyager-A's Cetacean Ops, is a descendant of George and Gracie and is named after Dr. Gillian Taylor.
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home Must Have Happened In The Mirror Universe
"Admiral, there be evil whales here?"
Here's why I think Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home happened in the Mirror Universe: If humpback whales were hunted to extinction in Star Trek's Prime Timeline, then there is no way that wouldn't also be the case in the Mirror Universe. The denizens of Mirror Earth are violent, duplicitous, treasonous, and bent on conquest. Before the Terran Empire ever rose, humpback whales must have also been wiped out from Earth's oceans. And, if that was the case, then the Mirror version of Admiral Kirk must have also traveled to 1986 San Francisco and brought two humpback whales, along with the Mirror Dr. Gillian Taylor, to the late 23rd century.
Some version of Star Trek IV must have brought humpback whales to the Mirror Universe's 23rd century.
If Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home did happen in the Mirror Universe, I don't think events transpired the way they did Leonard Nimoy's movie. A whale probe still must have threatened Earth, necessitating time travel and humpback whale retrieval, and Spock (Leonard Nimoy) probably still joined them because the Vulcan was needed to calculate time travel via the slingshot effect. But maybe the Mirror Chekov (Walter Koenig) died in 1986 whereas the Prime Chekov was rescued from a hospital. And perhaps Admiral Kirk kidnapped Mirror Gillian Taylor instead of Prime Gillian altruistically choosing to go to the future. Regardless, some version of Star Trek IV must have brought humpback whales to the Mirror Universe's 23rd century.
Jankom Pog (Jason Mantzoukas) uttered the now-classic line, "Even the whales are evil?" , in Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 's "Cracked Mirror".
Star Trek: Prodigy & Discovery Updated Mirror Universe History
Star Trek delivered new info about the 23rd and 24th century Mirror Universe
I personally love the Mirror Universe and its twisted version of Star Trek, so I've been genuinely delighted by how Star Trek: Discovery season 5 and Star Trek: Prodigy season 2 have delivered updates to the Mirror Universe's history.Discovery season 5 revealed the ISS Enterprise survived in interdimensional space since the 23rd century, and Captain Michael Burnham (Sonequa Martin-Green) brought the starship into the 32nd century. Burnham and Cleveland Booker (David Ajala) also learned that many refugees fled the Mirror Universe aboard the ISS Enterprise and made it to Star Trek's Prime Timeline where they made new lives.
Star Trek: Prodigy season 2's brief foray into the Mirror Universe in "Cracked Mirror" revealed that after the defeat of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance seen in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine season 7, the Terran Empire rose again. The Mirror Admiral Janeway took command of the ISS Voyager-A, with her goateed ally, Mirror Captain Chakotay. With a new Terran Armada, the xenophobic Mirror humans returned to their old ways of an earlier era before the reforms instituted by Mirror Spock weakened the Terrans so that they were conquered. Thanks to Star Trek: Prodigy, it looks like the Terrans, aided by their evil whales, are once again a force of terror in the galaxy - and I couldn't be happier about it.
