Kate Mulgrew To Return As Captain Janeway In ‘Star Trek: Prodigy’

At the end of the New York Comic Con virtual Star Trek Universe event focused on Star Trek: Lower Decks and Star Trek: Discovery executive producer Alex Kurtzman took a moment to announce some surprising news for Star Trek: Prodigy, the animated kids show coming to Nickelodeon in 2021.

Janeway boards Prodigy

Nickelodeon and CBS Studios today announced that Kate Mulgrew will reprise her Star Trek: Voyager role as Captain Kathryn Janeway in Nickelodeon’s all-new animated series Star Trek: Prodigy.

Mulgrew joined Kurtzman and Prodigy creators Kevin and Dan Hageman for a surprise virtual announcement during the NYCC Metaverse event (which you can see below). The veteran actress said, “I have invested every scintilla of my being in Captain Janeway, and I can’t wait to endow her with nuance that I never did before in Star Trek: Prodigy. How thrilling to be able to introduce to these young minds an idea that has elevated the world for decades. To be at the helm again is going to be deeply gratifying in a new way for me.”

Executive Producer Alex Kurtzman said, “Captain Janeway was held to a different standard than her predecessors. She was asked to embody an inhuman level of perfection in order to be accepted as ‘good enough’ by the doubters, but showed them all what it means to be truly outstanding. We can think of no better captain to inspire the next generation of dreamers on Nickelodeon, than she.”

“Kate’s portrayal of Captain Janeway is truly iconic, and has resonated with a global audience for many years,” said Ramsey Naito, President, Nickelodeon Animation. “We can’t wait to see her bring this character to life in a whole new way, while continuing to be an inspiration for both new and loyal fans.”

Developed by Emmy Award winners Kevin and Dan Hageman (Trollhunters and Ninjago) and overseen for Nickelodeon by Naito, Star Trek: Prodigy follows a group of lawless teens who discover a derelict Starfleet ship and use it to search for adventure, meaning and salvation.

In the official release, CBS also promised additional casting news will be announced in the coming months.

The CG-animated series will debut exclusively on Nickelodeon in 2021 for a new generation of fans.


Keep up with all the Star Trek: Prodigy news and analysis at TrekMovie.com.

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Wow.. I ain’t even read the article lol..

OMG, is The Sisko coming back soon?

Avery Brooks is semi-retired. There’s little to suggest he has any desire to return to the industry.

It begs a question – if a series were proposed, who plays The Sisko?

One can dream…..

Love to see Jake Sisko again.

With him, I think it’s possible we’d get a telefilm or *maybe* even a (genuinely) limited series. It would be a lot of fun.

…But between his semi-retirement, the passing of Auberjonois and Eisenberg, Meaney’s (I think?) ambivalence about revisiting Trek, Dorn’s being more associated with TNG, Dax-the-character being more associated with Farrell than de Boer, Jake-the-character being non-Starfleet, and Siddig being busy even if he is game, I think we’re more likely to get either Short Treks (maybe Siddig & Robinson in “My Lunch with Garak,” or a Ferengi three-hander with Shimerman, Grodénchik, and Wallace Shawn) or to get DS9 characters appearing on other Trek shows, either as brief cameos — the Daxes in a symbiont’s recollection/reflection on S3 of Discovery, or Hertzler as Martok when the Klingons show up on Picard — or as Seven-style recurring roles. (I can’t imagine they’d ever recast, even if it was “a new incarnation of the Emissary” or something.)

we all know ds9 is very well liked by the creatives at star trek right now… now with tng and voyager getting super love there has to be some kind of ds9 project that will eventually happen…

A garak themed show

Cool, cool!

Animated Janeway! I wonder which hairstyle though…

Nickelodeon…!

Maybe the hairstyle won’t change that much.

Bun Of Steel!

All of them!

More to the point, what character? How will she interact with ‘lawless teens’?

What a surprise!

I don’t plan to watch Prodigy but Kate Mulgrew as Captain Janeway will be a great role model for young children.

Kids will love Prodigy. A nice way for them to be introduced to Star Trek at their age.

You will.

LOL he will be.

Of course he will be. How else would he be able to complain all the time?

Well he seems to love Lower Decks…this week anyway.

You don’t need to actually watch the show to complain about it. Some people do it just based on articles and pictures.

I’m watching ! Excited for the chance for youngsters to discover Trek and to allow parents and grandparents to enjoy Trek with their youngest members.

He doesn’t complain all the time. The *c* word you’re looking for is contradiction.

Cool! Too bad it’s a kid show.

A Star Trek kids show on Nickelodeon. This made me fall off my chair.

What’s wrong with it being a kid’s show? Kid’s shows are often amazing.

Its from the people who made Tales of Arcadia, so hopefully it will be more that style.

What a delightful surprise! So happy for Mulgrew, love Captain Janeway! Took me by surprise, but makes a lot of sense! She had her maternal instincts with her crew in the Delta Quadrant! Kudos for the producers!

Wait a minute! Did they say CAPTAIN Janeway and mean it? She was an Admiral by Nemesis already, and obviously not available during the Voyager years. Where does that put this new show in the timeline, pre-Voyager in the 2360s?

Nah. I bet it’s after she left Starfleet (she must have done that, eventually). After all, the “crew” is not part of Starfleet either, as far as I know.

Why do they call her CAPTAIN Janeway then specifically, and repeatedly? I think in that case they’d have left out the rank altogether.

Because you can be a Captain on a ship without being a Starfleet Captain. You can’t be an Admiral of a single ship, sorry.

Did you notice how airplanes have Captains? They are NOT Starfleet Captains, with pips and all, you know…

Yes, but that’s not how the rank has been used in 50 years of Trek when preceding the name. Again, Picard is the precedent and they made it clear very quickly he’s not Captain anymore (of a starship or otherwise).

Kassidy Yates and Harry Mudd and Rios were all addressed as captains.

Whomever is commanding a Starfleet vessel, no matter what rank, gets the honourary title of Captain.

They may just be calling her that because it’s how people are accustomed to thinking of her. Though prequel, demotion, or “captain” of this ship regardless of rank (think “Captain” Kirk in ST:TMP) are all possibilities too.

The headline literally says… returning AS Captain Janeway!

Why are you so damn pedantic? For crying out loud, dude.

That’s not pedantic. Words have meaning and do matter. Like, don’t call Space Hitler “delicious” if you don’t want to be called out for it by fans for years :P

(I see we are still having more fun debating posters rather than posts… ;)

It’ll get explained eventually but I’m just happy our captain is BACK!!! :)

I have no idea what your comment about “Space Hitler” and “delicious” is supposed to men.

Well I would love to eat her

And he literally answered you with possibilities as to why.

Some deep-cut Trekmovie inside baseball, maybe you’re not around here long enough ;)

Non Trek fans know her as Captain Kathryn Janeway, not Admiral Kathryn Janeway. Its a branding thing.

The obvious answer, and almost certainly the correct one.

Ooookay. If that’s how you guys perceive it. Maybe its a cultural difference. I took this as an explicitly planted hint regarding the show’s setting.

(When Picard was back they did not just announce that but explicitly stated he’s not a Captain anymore…)

When they said Picard is not a Captain anymore that didn’t refer so much to his rank (he was an admiral before retiring) but to him being retired and not commanding a ship at all anymore. Their big point about the show “Picard” was that Picard himself was in a completely different place.
It seems that Janeway will return to captain the ship of kids on Prodigy, no matter what her actual rank is. It actually suggests that she may be retired from Starfleet as well because why would Starfleet have a ship crewed by one captain/admiral and a bunch of kids?

My thinking is that it’s either pre-Voyager or she took a willfull demotion after hearing about bunch of kids causing trouble on an old Starfleet vessel to try and help them as she did for many people in the Delta Quadrant.

I find it hard to believe that Starfleet would be okay with a bunch of kids causing trouble on an old Starfleet vessel. That’s why I’d guess that Janeway’s involvement isn’t in any official Starfleet capacity.
Since it’s animated they could make Janeway younger and have it play out pre-Voyager but that would also pose the question how a Starfleet captain can lead a bunch of kids on an abandoned Starfleet vessel.
Others have suggest Mulgrew may be playing a holo version of Janeway.

Yeah that’s true. Just like non fans only thought of Kirk as Captain Kirk even when he was already an admiral in the movies and Captain Picard although he is now a retired admiral on that show.

Awesome news! I suppose this confirms that it takes place in the 24th century, we didn’t know the timeframe of the show before, correct?

Captain? When does this take place? I thought this would have been post-Nemesis, meaning Janeway is an Admiral.

Well, maybe it’s a retcon to explain away that ridiculous three-stage promotion.

(The character was apparently supposed to be Seven of Nine.)

When I saw the Biden Trek fundraiser news, I thought it was odd that all the people involved were actors currently under known contract for Disco & Picard (and Wil Wheaton for the RR). But it also included Mulgrew, Gates McFadden, and Levar Burton, which I thought was odd. And then I humorously wondered, “did Joe Biden just reveal returning Trek stars?” Well, now Mulgrew is coming back…

Takei too, though.

Yeah, I just noticed that. A little wrench in my mildly humorous theory.

You never know, maybe that spin off Sulu show Takei has been pushing for 20 years is finally in the works. ;)

Love the fundraising Trek idea! Just genius for Biden to do. And to get actors from all five of the classic shows even more ingenious! I’m totally on board and will definitely be donating!

It’s time for Trump the orange reality freak show to go. This guy is sounding more deranged and crazier than usual. Maybe it’s the covid in him or all the medication they pumped him, I don’t know, but enough is enough already. This guy is just an unhinged idiot.

Your hate is so visceral against the President you had to bring it into a Star Treck discussion. Not cool, not cool at all.

You’ll live.

VOTE out the orange clown! OK, final word.

Already voted. The orange clown must go.

“I don’t know, but enough is enough already.”

Well I agree! But don’t forget that if things swing too much in the other direction there could be a more cultured and competent version of him waiting in the wings ;)

It’s the time to find back to moderation not push through either extremes.

I hate this nasty assclown sooooo much I would honestly vote for another Republican IF that was a choice. To me it’s not about party anymore, its about SANITY, just being civil and not someone who sounds like he’s inflicted with a brain tumor everytime he talks. How else can you explain the last 2 weeks alone?? Just bizarre. Today he’s going around telling people he think he’s ‘cured’ from the virus and wants to hold rallies while he is still infected, but same time don’t want to share any medical information to let us know exactly how sick he is. Cancelled the debate because apparently he seems to be offended no one wants to be in the same room with a guy who is infected with a deadly virus but also hate wearing masks. Even Mitch McConnell, Trump’s lap dog, says he thinks Trump and the White House has become too infected to go lol. You can’t make this up. I use to call that place a cesspool once he got in, now I literally mean it! I am all for moderation, but ANYONE compared to this weirdo would probably seem pretty moderate. I know you mean politically obviously.

OK, last time, I swear! No more orange monkey talk I need to think happy thoughts again and stay on topic! Janeway is coming back….ah, better! :)

VOTE!!!

You’re a republican Tiger?

Go away loser.

Trump is a loon.

Star Trek: Biden
Coming 2021

Fun news. She’s female so that fits 33% of the casting protocol for CBSTrek (the other 66 being black and non-straight, naturally)

Or heavily made up as aliens, at best.

I dont mind Janeway, Captain or otherwise, because unlike Screamin’ Soneca she is a strong and competent character who doesn’t over-emote. But maybe one day we will find out what specific grudge The Kurtz holds against Asians for giving the world’s largest ethnicity by far the short stick…

VS, Kurtzman’s trying to get a show launched with an Asian woman at the top of the call sheet.

Asian representation has been a genuine blind-spot in Hollywood casting such that casting Michelle Yeoh in Discovery, and Patrick Kwok-Choon as bridge officer shouldn’t be disregarded.

Not to mention Bo Yeon Kim is the co-showrunner developing the S31 show (with her writing partner Erika Lippoldt).

Let’s not critique too much until we see the full ensembles for SNW and Prodigy.

There’s also Isa Briones on Picard and Eugene Cordero on LD who are both Filipino-American.

Yes, and we shouldn’t omit South Asian representation: Shazad Latif is Pakastani-British.

Also, Amrit Kaur from the SNW Short Trek “Ask Not” may yet be a regular in Engineering.

She’s a genocidal mass murderer for crying out loud! Only in the wretched mind of a Kadin is that “delicious” and a “role model”. The other Kurtzman era Asian is a Harry Kim on Discovery who had less lines in 2 seasons than the Eternal Ensign had in many episodes (for the record, I dont remember any!) There’s stuffing people as tokens into series for satisfying “fake diversity” and ticking checkboxes of “representation”, and there’s creating a genuine canvas of rich characters that are believable as hailing from “United Earth” centuries from now. This ain’t it.

Sooooo boring.

Well isn’t this incredibly sexist…. and racist… and homophobic. I am genuinely appalled and disgusted at TrekMovie for allowing a comment like this to go unmoderated. There is no place for racism, sexism and homophobia- systemic or overt- in the Star Trek fandom. Shame on you, Steve and shame on this site.

Just watched her in Mr. Mercedes Season 3. Her character was evil! Damned good actress!

That show is still on? Loved the books, hate that I can’t see it.

That show is still on?

Its home, AUDIENCE NETWORK is defunct now, I think. I watched it on DVD. It went three seasons, one season for each of the three Stephen King books in the series (though they reversed the order of 2 and 3.) The related book The Outsider was made by another network, but with a different cast, which is unfortunate because Justine Lupe was excellent as Holly in Mr. Mercedes.

Mulgrew didn’t share any scenes with Harry Treadaway (Star Trek: Picard), however, since his character is not in Season 3 (though he is still often talked about.)

Mulgrew claims she was the first female captain, but she wasn’t. I don’t know why she always says that. She’s wrong.

Are you referring to the African-American woman captain in ST IV?

Unless you’re a fan, that’s easy to miss…

But before making that claim she should have checked…

No. There were numerous others before Janeway as well, notably Rachel Garrett.

The first woman captain to HAVE HER OWN SHOW. I mean this is pretty obvious.

I’m pretty sure she means the first female captain as a *series lead*. Much as there have been bit part alien captains before, but it looks as if we’ll have Captain Saru as the ‘first’ alien captain in Discovery season 3.

Obviously the first woman captain to lead her own show. C’mon man, let’s not split hairs. I think everyone understands what she means. And until Janeway showed up, we saw a woman captain in an episode or a scene in a movie or something with a few lines and never heard from again.

Same with Kirk. He was an Admiral since Star Trek 1, right? We still call him Captain Kirk! =)

C’mon, man. You get the idea.

Stop being so edgy Rios. It’s getting tiring.

This is so very smart.

I’ve mentioned over the past couple of years that there’s evidence Voyager works unexpectedly well as the entry into the franchise for both preteens and viewers outside North America.

I was really surprised at how Voyager became our kids favourite Trek series when they were middle graders. It’s still the series they rewatch most as teens.

Janeway seems to be the favourite captain with that age group, regardless of the kids’ own gender. One of ours wrote about Janeway as their hero in a school project a few years back. So, she’s already established qualities as a leader that resonate with kids.

Given the need for the franchise to build both a younger and global audience, bringing Janeway in as the star of Prodigy sounds like another example of Kurtzman’s strategic brilliance in mapping out market niches and fitting series to them.

This way new viewers can move on from Prodigy to Voyager when they are ready for live-action Trek.

Yeah this so smart on a marketing level, agreed!

Obviously it brings back a highly popular and iconic character that people who watched Voyager (and most a bit older than 15 ;)) to draw in to watch the show. BUT even better, it will now pull in young viewers new to Star Trek for the very first time and will be a gateway to the franchise as a whole and will get many of them to start watching Voyager!

And I been saying this for YEARS now since Stewart was first announced to come back as Picard that that was probably a way to start getting new fans to start watching old shows along with the new ones. And we now have three shows, Picard, Lower Decks and now Prodigy that can bring in characters and story lines from the 24th century as they been doing. It’s been mostly TNG and VOY of course but I know characters from DS9 will eventually show up as well. These shows are going to be on for a long long time, so plenty of time.

But it’s great to see so much worldbuilding again and even better bringing back so many known characters from Pike to Seven of Nine. And you hear me say it all the time, you have to give Kurtzman credit, he is trying very hard to attract old fans with so many iconic characters and why I’m super excited for the future. Great time to be a fan!

Totally agree. They trust Kurtzman, CBS is approving his shows, one by one, and now there are 6-7 new shows. He also listens and treats fans with respect. He takes criticism and tries to be sensitive to our feedback. Wish we have a lot of other things, but I have no complains….happy with the new stuff!

Exactly! And I’m not in love with all these shows either, BUT I see the guy is trying. Yes, I was disappointed with Picard, but the fact we even HAVE the show is a testament to Kurtzman that he heard the fans loud and clear and wanted a post-Nemesis show. Now we have four of them lol.

And I thought the changes they did with Discovery in season 2 was great. It too still need lots of work but as someone rewatching season 1 again for the first time since it aired, I can definitely say it is a BIG difference now, especially tonally. And I am super excited for season 3. I just love it’s going to expand the Trek mythology literally by centuries.

And I know some fans want something completely new and original without anyone from TOS, TNG, VOY, etc. The irony is for me, I originally Discovery to go farther in the future to come up with something completely new, start a clean slate and all of that ala TNG. Prequels ONLY create more nostalgia basically even if you bring in new characters because they are designed to highlight past characters or story lines we already know, even if thinly.

But clearly CBS and Kurtzman knows that is a big part of Trek these days and bringing in old characters sells. Pike was in just the first episode of TOS and he was more popular than all the new characters in DIS lol. Bringing in people like Seven, Picard, Riker, Janeway and on and on just gets fans more invested. And it also gets new fans to try out some of the old shows just like the Kelvin movies got some fans to try out TOS for the first time. It’s a win-win!

“And we now have three shows, Picard, Lower Decks and now Prodigy that can bring in characters and story lines from the 24th century”

I think it’s a little bit of a phyrric victory that two out of the three 24th century shows are cartoons and not really serious live-action drama, and the third one is not really Trek in my book (certainly not the 24th century we love!)

Well said TG47. Prodigy may be a more serious show, less goofy than Lower Decks. Will be interesting. For sure we will need to watch all shows to find clues for the upcoming Star Trek Avengers….sorry, Universe! =D

I welcome all this, glad and thankful we have all these new shows now!

I’m very positively impressed that Ben Hibon was chosen as director and as co-executive producer to lead the animation.

This looks to be very much different than typical Nickelodeon offerings.

I would argue Voyager is much more popular outside the USA while DS9 is more popular in the USA. The religious nonsense on DS9 is a huge turn off for me and my Atheist friends and family. Since the USA is an incredibly religious country you all seem to be much more accepting of such displays as being normal.

“The religious nonsense on DS9 is a huge turn off for me and my Atheist friends and family”

Same! As per the scifi/fantasy discussion above, DS9 was never much into the hard/”high concept” scifi that people like Braga pushed but in its last seasons it definitely veered too far into fantasy with all that “pah wray” hogwash. That and the endless war definitely soured the fruit for me.

I’m a proud lifelong atheist and DS9 is my favorite show. So don’t think it’s the religion thing is why so many like it. I mean sure they like it in context of the story but I don’t think they watch it to feel born again or anything. I just like it because Star Trek rarely deals with religion in general and its a different dynamic to watch. I would never be religious but I have no issues with it being discussed, especially when it’s more in conflict like DS9 does it.

Dont get me wrong, I think not the religion is the problem but taking it at face value in the latter seasons. That God and demons really do exist and are supernatural. These are elements of fantasy and a decidedly different dynamic than the early seasons that pitted science/secular humanism, as personified by Dax or Bashir, against religion, but kept it as a faith thing. And that was interesting. Pah Wraiths as cartoonish evil killing people with magic powers, not so much.

OK, yeah I agree with you on that. I wasn’t a huge fan of the Pah Wraiths story line either and I just hated that the wormhole aliens weren’t all benign. It did feel a bit too much like fantasy in places.

Your pride WILL be your downfall. ‘Nuff said’.

Always nice to talk to religious people lol.

As Tendi might say, ‘THIS IS AMAZING!!!!!!!”

I did not expect this at all. What an amazing surprise. Not as exciting as Stewart coming back (since it’s not live action and for kids) but close enough! And yet ANOTHER show in the 24th/25th century. Wow, nice. I was kind of hoping this one go a bit farther in the future like the 26th or 27th century, but not complaining! Janeway leading a bunch of kids should be a fun show. I can not wait to hear that majestic voice of Mulgrew again. It’s nice to see so many great returning characters to the Trek family.

The soon to be no longer “lawless teens” makes much more sense when one knows that a hero captain/scientist role model will be leading and mentoring them.

Agreed. As others said, Janeway is going to teach those kids about Starfleet values and why the Federation is an important symbol in the galaxy. This show has suddenly gotten much more interesting.

Maybe this show will surprise us and while aimed at kids, it will be more “edutainment’ than comedy or Discovery style pew pew pew!

Mulgrew is an excellent actress and was able to give us a strong portrayal of a female captain at a time when that was rare and unusual. I don’t get Nicekelodeon, but I might have to check into it, for the privilege of more Janeway.

Janeway is one of my faves! It’s amazing that she going to be in this new show. Star Trek: Prodigy is now officially on my radar.

Oh God I wish she would spank my bare bottom!

^ This.

Very disappointing, not so much Janeway but the Voyager time period. Was hoping this would be kids on the frontier exploring free of the blandness of TNG/Voyager; either TOS era or way post Voyager during the stagnation of the Federation between Picard and Discovery Season Three (preferably with a movie era Starship/uniforms/etc).
Where that TOS “star” in the Prodigy logo and that the crew wouldn’t be Starfleet had me excited, Janeway, more specifically the Voyager era/connection, has me again feeling this won’t be that great.

You still got Stange New Worlds dude. ;)

I’m loving this news personally! And I didn’t really want another 24th century show either. I would’ve prefered something in the 26th or 27th century, ie, something new, but I will happily take this to have Janeway in it.

It is still possible that the show will take place long after the Picard show and we will find out that this is not the real Janeway but a Captain Janeway hologram attached to the ship they find.

Yeah that’s also a possibility! In any case I do not believe they were so sloppy with words to repeatedly talk about Captain Janeway and not mean it!

So Captain Janeway returns…in an animated half-hour show oriented towards kids, whose story line features “lawless teens…in search of salvation.” (Yeach.)

I don’t see how this honors her character at all; quite the opposite. It means the female captain gets a (voice) cameo on kiddie fare while Picard got his own series.

With Janeway around, the “lawless” part won’t last long.

Sounds as though this is a pretext for Janeway to teach both Starfleet values and science/engineering.

What gives you the impression this will be a cameo? The coverage I’ve seen says that Mulgrew will “star” in Prodigy. You don’t say that about a cameo.

lets wait and see how this plays out… dont you think?

I’d more interested if Janeway was returning in live action, but I’ll take what I can get. My interest in “Prodigy” certainly just skyrocketed.

I’m seriously thinking of not watching the premiere at all. Between hamfisted fan-service comedy and kiddie shows featuring “lawless teens,” they’re in serious danger of killing the goose that laid the golden egg. How on earth anyone at CBS thought this was a good idea is utterly beyond me.

Kids = new viewers, potentially for decades to come.

‘young minds, fresh ideas, be tolerant’

Well then, don’t watch. Bye.

Same, but this is still amazing news!

And we can still see her in live action on Picard. I’m not giving up on that idea either.

I would not be surprised at all if that happened, or if she got her own show (possibly involving Seven as well). Voyager seems to be having a bit of moment, so it probably makes sense that they are considering capitalizing upon it.

I think if anyone got their own live show, it probably would be Seven first. I would be happy if Janeway got one, but I do have a feeling Mulgrew was probably persuaded to do this because she doesn’t have to put a uniform on for 15 hours a day and stand in front of bridge or run with heels on anymore. I think she would be game to do an episode or two on a show, but probably not a full on return again. This just based on what she said in the past. But Stewart use to say similar things, although he did come back without a uniform. ;)

But man I’m just SO excited now, way more than before. We are probably going to get a lot of Voyager back story on this show obviously. And yes I expect a few other character appearances. Would LOVE to see Tuvok since they were the closest. Or even catch up with Tom and B’Elanna again and see what happened to their daughter Miral. If this is a post-Picard show which I’m sure it is, she should be in her early 20s and maybe in Starfleet herself.

Man the show is over a year away and I’m already fanboying it up lol. I can’t help myself! It’s just always nice to see family return home. :)

I definitely didn’t see this coming, but that’s awesome. It will be cool to see Janeway again next year. I wonder if any other Voyager characters will have guest appearances in Prodigy, kind of like how Riker and Troi showed up for an episode in Picard.

I think Janeway is going to teach those kids to not break the rules that protect them from their basest instincts and not to allow desperation to destroy moral authority. She is going to teach the kids to say “we are Starfleet!” And it will be pretty pretty good.

I want to remind people that while yes this will be a ‘kids show’ it can still be an amazing show done right for all ages. The best example we have is The Clone Wars. That is also a ‘kids show’ and yet for many hardcore SW fans, its one of the best things ever done in the franchise. I personally avoided that show because I had the same mentality and its just for kids.

I finally decided to give it a shot last year thanks to all the SW hoopla with The Mandalorian and TROS on its way and I was blown away! It’s REALLY incredible and it does things on a level even movies can’t do that often in terms of the environment. It’s written so intelligently and has so many layered plot threads and character arcs happening. I’m still watching it and on season 6 now and everyone says the final season is the best.

Lower Decks is obviously more of a broad comedy and its amazing for what it is. But maybe Prodigy could be something close to what TCW is and if so it’s going to get a lot of oldies into the show just like TCW did. Having Janeway is already a huge plus and it tells us we should at least expect some real science themes being part of it show like every Trek show. So cross your fingers, this could be something really good and I’m feeling more positive about it now!

Dr Erin MacDonald, now the science consultant for all the franchise, has reportedly been dedicating a lot of her time to the science content of Prodigy.

My sense is that the show is intended to hit STEM educational points as well as the psychosocial educational elements the Hagemans are know for in Trollhunters.

Also, David Mack, the long time Trek-lit author who is a consultant on Lower Decks is also consultant for Prodigy. He knows his Trek continuity.

I’m expecting a series Emmy nomination for this one.

That is GREAT news!

And what’s crazy about Dr. Erin MacDonald, which I’m sure you know about, she said in an interview it was the character of Janeway that motivated her to go into science and get her PHD. Now she’s working on a show starring her. I can ONLY imagine how much she has been geeking out about that. Her entire career is due literally to this character and now she’s consulting on a show with her and getting paid for it. It must incredible. I love hearing stories like this! :)

And I didn’t know David Mack is consulting on this show too. All of this is great news. I had never heard of the Hagemans or their works until a few months ago and looked them up. Yeah, it’s not your typical kids animation like LDS, something much more stylistic and mature. I was hoping we see maybe a few images but I think we will be blown away when we do see some.

“Dr Erin MacDonald, now the science consultant for all the franchise, has reportedly been dedicating a lot of her time to the science content of Prodigy.”

That must be it, because she sure as hell hasn’t been dedicating any time to the science content of Discovery!

SCNR ;)

Savage VS! Savage!!

Dr Erin MacDonald joined the franchise after Discovery season 2.

If you watch her on panels (there are a few available on YouTube from virtual cons), she comes out and says “I’m not responsible for Discovery S1 or S2.”

The other thing people have to keep in mind: She is only a science consultant. The writers can always decide to ignore her advice.

I’m geeked by her enthusiasm!!!

Got excited till I saw….Animated series!?! lol na I’ll pass… I’m not a child.

What is it with the American prejudice against animation?

High quality animation appeals to all ages, even if it’s targeted at children. Ben Hibon is the winner of international animation awards. This isn’t going to be the usual Nickelodeon fare.

Why would you call it ‘American’ prejudice lol. That’s odd. Clearly animation is very popular here and why Disney animated movies can make hundreds of millions of dollars in America alone. Most people seem to like animation just fine.

The difference with Star Trek is people know it mostly as a live action show and why there is some hesitation with it. And to be more fair about it, they made the point it’s a kids show and since most of us here aren’t kids it’s going to be more of a downer by some. But as we been saying just because its aimed at kids doesn’t mean it can’t appeal to adults either.

But animation itself isn’t a huge deal for most just as long as the stories themselves are good. LDS seems to be really popular now because most think the stories are good. If that happens people will overlook everything else.

Tiger2,

Yes, animation is huge in the United States, but the sneering “cartoons are for children” seems to be a particularly American prejudice.

Not sure why there seems to be this part of the American audience that has such a really strongly held view.

I find it’s bizarre, particularly as I used to attend animation festivals when I was a student in the United States.

Animation just doesn’t seem to garner that same contempt elsewhere. Whether it’s the great tradition of European animation or anime, the idea that animation is automatically for kids isn’t shared globally.

I just don’t know why you think it’s an American issue though? It just seems to me some adults hate cartoons. Yeah but that pretty generalized. I don’t think Americans ‘hate’ cartoons on a bigger level. In fact Anime is huge in America these days, but most anime is much more adult orientated as well. I think it just really comes down to how mature something is.

But OK, no big deal. I just never got that and I LIVE in America.

I swear I’m not trying to harp on this, but its just odd since literally some of the most famous and long running shows in America are indeed adult cartoons: Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, American Dad, etc. Many have been on for decades now and much longer than a typical live action show or sitcom. And yes they are mostly for adults and are just as popular as any live action show. Lower Decks only exist because of how loved and clever Rick and Morty is considered by its fanbase and the producers thought it could work for Star Trek (but obviously a bit toned down). In fact that show comes from Adult Swim which half its shows are animated.

All the streaming sites, has lots of original animated shows for both kids and adults. Even All Access released an adult animated satirical news show called Tooning Out the News. I’ve watched it a few times, it’s actually pretty good and clever.

Adult animation have been popular in America for at least 30 years now. I know personally friends or family who watches at least one of these cartoons regularly. My own brother has been begging me to give Archer a try and been a South Park addict for 20 years now.

Animation typically has BOTH child and adult content. Bugs Bunny for example, and certainly Rick and Morty.

This might be fun for kids. Please got get KurtzmenTrek away from us Adults it’s horrible bad so so bad. Can’t wait for more Orville.

..oh please no! Not another bound-to-fail-again kurtzman using-the-star-trek-name-to-spew-his-political-propaganda series! Animated or otherwise! Hell, I’ll take back rick berman over him any day of the millennium!

If by political propaganda you mean “the values inherent to Star Trek” which you clearly don’t grasp, maybe this franchise isn’t really for you.

An aspirational show targeted at children and young adolescents promoting good behaviour and values as well as science and engineering, what kind of parents would have a problem with that?

It really reinforces the idea that “Next Generation” Trek is “the” definitive Trek, cuz now three of the current Trek series will focus on the era immediately after it. Meanwhile Disco tried and failed to fit into a pre-TOS timeframe, so now they have SNW to try again. Why can’t we see other eras, is my question? In the hundreds of years of Trek history, why do we have to tread the same familiar waters over and over? I guess now that these shows are moving us further into the 24th century, we’re getting new stuff. And of course we’ll see where Disco takes us

This isn’t all bad. While I am a TOS fan, I do think TNG-era has the greatest diversity for storytelling possibilities. And Also, it’s soooo bland in it’s TV form, speaking visually, that any new versioning is probably an easy modification.

I agree with this too. One of the things I like about Trek is that it can take place in multiple centuries now. I like the 23rd and 24th centuries but what I originally wanted to see when Discovery was announced to go much farther out from those and start anew. That just made the most sense to me, especially since its been off the air so long. But DIS was a prequel and people moaned about it, said it didn’t feel like it belonged in the TOS era, etc. So at least they listened and are going farther than any of us ever thought lol.

It is funny that there now seems to be a lot of emphasis again on the 24th century, which is great because it’s not a prequel (technically LDS is to Picard ;)) but I like to see other centuries being shown. But now that DIS is so far into the future, it brings hope that future shows will also go beyond the 24th century as well.

Also I think why they are focusing on the 24th century is because they just have so many actors from that time they can bring back like Stewart, Ryan and Mulgrew. It’s probably smart marketing wise you can have actors come back to their iconic roles since so many are still around and working. And of course there are millions of Star Trek fans who grew up watching the TNG era and so It creates more interest to see them back.

I’m not complaining, I just wanted to see Star Trek expand again and build out the universe and not just ‘fill in’ to stuff Discovery was doing they are definitely doing that now.

I think she could return as ETH (Emergency Tactical Hologram) programmed with her experiences and has been activated because of whatever reason the ship is left crewless acting in a partial command advisory role or a holodeck program that mentors the characters. This would easily allow her to be a major character in the show, and not emediately want to take a ship full of teens and kids to the nearest starbase as a active or retired admiral would most likely want to. Of course the story could set that MacGuffin but what reason for them not being able to return to federation space or the nearest federation base, colony, or planet, could be sustained for many seasons because that would most likely be the end of the show.
Wait! maybe we’ll see a return to the Gamma quadrant, or some other distant unknown sector of space and Janeways ETH is the one the ship IA creates to help the young crew, or the actual character is sent back with them. Ok so lots of things just occurred to me like children of Voyagers crew as a connection point, original caretaker or relative pulling them around, etc…
But I think Janeway as an ETH or something similar is the easiest way for her to come back sustainably for multiple seasons without to much of a plot hole being created or needing to much story complexity.
Just some food for thought from my simple brain.

I love this. Reminds a bit of the Sarah Jane Adventures, just animated.

Is it just me, or does Hagemann look a lot like JJ?

Great news. Now the only thing I miss is VOY on Blu-Ray! (And DS9 of course…)

Red Alert!

I had tears in my eyes watch Kate talk so enthusiastically. I can’t speak to the women who Captain Janeway inspired but for me her character was always a step forward, a timely and strong Star Trek lead that fit perfectly into Roddenberry’s vision of women in command.

I was watching ‘Year of Hell’ again recently and remembered what an extraordinary actress Kate is. Seeing Captain Janeway’s ‘daughter of sorts’ Seven of Nine in Picard had started me thinking of Voyager again; how much I loved the show and missed it.

My inner child has been awakened with this announcement and even though I’m in my 60s, I will be watching ….I am in!

One thing seems certain: we need a trailer featuring Janeway asap!