During a ViacomCBS Investor Day event today the company revealed more details about Star Trek’s future on the upcoming Paramount+ streaming service.
First look at Star Trek: Prodigy
Originally designed to be a Nickelodeon series, today it was announced that the kids-focused Star Trek: Prodigy is headed to Paramount+. The CG-animated series from Kevin and Dan Hageman (Trollhunters) will debut later in 2021 with a 10-episode first season. The show will also air on Nickelodeon after the Paramount+ season wraps up.
Star Trek: Prodigy is about a group of alien kids who commander a seemingly abandoned Starfleet vessel. Today Paramount+ revealed the first look at the all-alien bridge crew from the show. Prodigy will also feature the return of Kate Mulgrew, reprising her Star Trek: Voyager role as Kathryn Janeway.
More Star Trek coming in 2021 and beyond
Bringing Prodigy into Paramount+ ensures it will be the home of every series and every episode of the Star Trek franchise. In addition to Prodigy, Paramount+ is expected to bring season two of Star Trek: Lower Decks and season four of Star Trek: Discovery in 2021. Variety also confirms that season two of Star Trek: Picard and the first season of Star Trek: Strange New Worlds are both currently in production.
In a statement Star Trek executive producer Alex Kurtzman said this about the variety of Star Trek shows on Paramount+:
“In three years, we’ve expanded the Star Trek Universe to new heights, creating five original series – each with its own unique storytelling and distinct cinematic feel.”
Speaking to Variety. Kurtzman also said that there will be “interconnectedness” between the Star Trek shows, however he also said: “That’s a lot of fun, but our goal is not to make it so insular that if you haven’t seen the show you’re lost when you watch another show.”
Paramount+ EVP of programming Julie McNamara had this to say in a statement:
“When Star Trek: Discovery first premiered, we knew we had the beginning of something special. Over three years later, we are thrilled that Paramount+ will serve as the streaming home of the Star Trek Universe, with an unparalleled existing and expanding library of Trek content. The upcoming addition of Star Trek: Prodigy to Paramount+ means subscribers now have a Trek series for every member of the family – including kids.”
In addition to the five previously mentioned Star Trek series, Kurtzman also confirmed with Variety there are still “conversations” about a Section 31 series headed up by Michelle Yeoh, and other Trek shows that haven’t been announced yet.
McNamara tells Variety the goal is to debut a new season of Star Trek every quarter. “Whether there’s a show that comes up that feels additive and we should add that into the mix, or waiting for attrition of another ‘Trek’ show, we feel good about where we are.”
Watch Star Trek “Expansion Continues” promo
The following video narrated by Alex Kurtzman aired during the ViacomCBS presentation.
The ViacomCBS presentation is still ongoing, so this is a developing story. Check back for updates.
50% off Paramount+ deal ends next week
If you sign up now for a CBS All Access annual plan, you can get 50% off your first year. On March 4, your subscription will automatically switch over to Paramount+. To get the 50% off deal CLICK HERE and use the code PARAMOUNTPLUS. This limited-time offer expires on March 3rd.
Keep up with the Star Trek Universe on TV here at TrekMovie.com.
YES! I like the bridge crew, looks really on the “final frontier”. That being said why not a couple human kids that viewers can relate?!?
Was kind of hoping for some teenagers that are tired of the stagnation within the UFP and want to go exploring like the TOS days… I know I can relate!
Also I hope this abandoned ship is an old Excelsior or Connie refits…. please!! (Crosses fingers)
Humans are too meh.
Yeah, I just think you want to be able to hold the kids imagination from pre-teen through teen and having some rouge teenagers saving the galaxy seems a good way to do that. Throw in some flirtation / romance while your at it; girl is some corrupt Federation Council’s daughter and she’s on the run, Captain is some misfit that doesn’t know his parents on some dilithium mine (Han Solo type) – there you go, you’ve got some additional teenagers watching to see that interaction.
Star Wars is out Star Treking Trek these days, why not try to turn that around?
I mean, I like cartoon aliens and robots too, but I worry it will lose the teen demographic this show could capture.
I always think Disney should redo Earth Star Voyager same way.
“Rouge teenagers”? Well, I suppose the rocky one is a bit reddish…
Why not just throw in a baby Vulcan that the main character carries on his back all the time then?
Fair enough. I’m all in on the 100% alien crew, they can totally move away from TNG snoozefests with them. They aren’t Starfleet, they are on the frontier – Wagon Train to the Stars. Sold regardless of the teen angle that would have got them a wider audience.
The Lion King did pretty well with no human characters.
No Humans? How odd and not what Star Trek is really for. It is always about the Human experience first.
There are literally 8 other shows with humans. Also, If u haven’t paid attention, Janeway and apparently another human from a TNG episode will be involved…
None of which are for kids.
My kid watched TOS and the Berman era shows starting when he was 8 with no issues. Those shows are meant pretty much for all ages. I myself discovered TOS earlier than that.
Did you really just drop an “Earth First” reference? All kidding aside, Trek is about the human condition. Not the human experience. I’d argue we can get that from any well written character regardless of their planet of origin.
LLAP 🖖🏻
Make Earth Great Again!
/s
TNG made it clear that Earth is stagnant and best forgotten honestly.
I’m 100% on board now with an all alien crew now that I think about it, can totally throw out the TNG snoozefest.
I’ve always felt that Trek has too many humans. Given that Starfleet is part of the United Federation of Planets, the crews should be truly diverse, instead of mostly human with a few token aliens.
Agree there! The more aliens, the better, that’s what makes Star Trek Star Trek to me. And another reason why DS9 is my favorite show, because it had the most aliens out of all the other shows easily. Yes, the main core cast still had a lot of humans but when you look at the huge supporting cast 90% were in fact alien.
The human characters are also often the least interesting. I think Kirk, McCoy, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Trip, Boimler and Mariner hold their own, but they are vastly outnumbered by human characters who may be engaging but pale in comparison to the likes of Spock, Odo, Data, Seven and Saru. The non-humans tend to have more depth and clearly inspire the writers’ imaginations the most.
For me the only human characters who really held strong interest were the original triad of Kirk, Spock & McCoy. After that the best characters were generally the aliens. Worf, Garek and Saru for example.
We very much disagree about what constitutes a well-developed character, but that triad was very strong. I don’t consider Spock or Seven to be real human characters though. He’s half-Vulcan and she was Borg for her formative years. They both serve the “interesting outsider who can comment on humanity” role that usually gives writers great fodder.
Oops. I mentioned Spock as a human character. Even though he was a hybrid I ought not have included him in that category. Thanks for pointing that out.
I agree with this as well. I liked most of the human characters from all the shows, but the BEST characters outside of most the Captains are in fact the alien/non human ones for me like Gul Dukat, Data, Spock, Quark, T’Pol, Garek, Seven of Nine (yes human but you get it), Dax, the Doctor, Saru, Phlox, Odo, Worf and on and on and on.
In fact now that I’m thinking about it, I can’t wait to see what aliens will pop up on the Enterprise bridge in SNW. We saw some obviously on Discovery but I have a feeling none of those characters will be in the actual show.
Plus with animation they aren’t limited by budget or makeup restrictions like live action.
While I agree in principle I think we all know the reason for more humans than aliens on the show was purely budgetary. Also, in the live shows traditionally the alien character was the outsider who sees and learns about humanity. Like Spock and Data. Only DS9 seemed to avoid that trope. In animation we can have all kinds of weird aliens and the cost remains pretty much the same. Which leads to the question of why weren’t there more aliens on Lower Decks?
Well said!
Janeway will be in the show! It doesn’t get anymore human than that! ;)
Funny they didn’t show an animated version of her, but I guess they want to leave that for later when they make they officially start to market the show.
But really love the new images of the characters. This is looking very fun!
I don’t know about that I could have sworn there was some salamander dna mixed in there ;)
LOL, don’t go there!
I swear I see Yaphit in that group.
Ironically I would have had the adults be the aliens while the relatable kids are human.
Maybe it can be snake Janeway or whatever I heard some horrid episode of VOY had.
Yeah, but it often explores that through aliens that depict and explore specific aspects of the human experience. Amplifying that (and amplifying the “weirdness”) for a kids’ show may be a good idea.
Maybe they are in the delta quadrant and Janeway is a sort of holocaptain…
That’s not a bad thought. I have a tough time thinking that Janeway will actually be there on the ship with them. Something tells me she will mainly be in contact with them rather than be a “part” of their crew. Probably not even showing up in every episode, either.
What you got against aliens?
Thats funny, Ive always thought Star Trek has always been a little too “human-centric”
Give me an alien Enterprise captain, or a show set on another plane where Humans are the minority.
For the record, its never been about the “human experience” its about reflecting human values in different and infinite combinations. Welcome to that.
IDIC
“The Federation is no more than a homo sapiens only club”
It would have been nice if one of them was a familiar species, but these guys all look pretty cool. I’m looking forward to the show.
Is it possible the second character from our left is a Tellarite?
Its possible. That would be a pretty major redesign of the Tellarites, but it wouldn’t be the first time they were totally redesigned.
The third character from the left looks like a ripoff of the Na’vi from AVATAR.
I think you’re right about the Tellarite; but I don’t really see it as a redesign, just the usual caricature/grotesqueness of animation. I mean, no one says “humans are designed” just because the Lower Decks characters have impossibly thin waists and necks.
My own gloss on all this is that these animated series are diversions outside the main canon of ENT-TOS-TNG/DS9/VOY-PIC. Enjoy them for what they are, or pan them for what they aren’t; they’re just not mainstream serious Trek.
The short guy one in from the left looks like he may be Talaxian.
Here, too. That is something TNG did that always bugged me. The lack of established aliens from TOS. Yes, I know they did Klngons but I wanted to see a bit more. Not just the Klingons for Worf stories but more than the occasional Vulcan crew member. Really wanted to see Andorians and Tellerties on TNG. But that’s another topic and I do realize that part of it was TNG wanting to be more of their own thing.
Agreed, considering the Andorians, Tellarites, Orions, Caitians etc seemed to just have more depth than anything in TNG. I think it was because the aliens were allowed to be aliens, the Andorians were “good” Klingons in a way. The tellerites were allowed to be rather insular. The Vulcans rational regardless of how you feel about it.
Betazed (mind reading) and Bajor (religious) was the closest they got in TNG, everyone else was pretty generic.
It’s not like we got none though. Romulans, Klingons and Vulcans all showed up and let’s be honest, those were really the most popular aliens in TOS anyway. Most of the others were just aliens of the week. Even the aliens we did see more regularly weren’t really that regular. Romulans were only in three episodes all said and done. Yes TNG could’ve shown more but they did show the most important ones.
But it’s also why I learned to love Enterprise once we saw stuff like Andorians and Tellerites, which I never cared for on TOS, but loved them on ENT.
I honestly feel like the Romulans were used only because the concept of the Ferengi being the new advisory crashed and burned. Then Cardasians were created to essentially be the new Klingons.
And yes, we got a couple of background Vulcans and that was about it. I just wanted to see Andorians and Tellerites. They were established already and would have been nice to acknowledge them.
Regardless they were there. Sure they wanted new villains like the Cardassians. And it was 100 years later. The people we consider the ‘villains’ back then in the real world are now our allies today. That’s why I loved that the Klingons became allies because that is a parallel to historical reality. Of course some can just stay the enemy sort of like North Korea is today but others have changed greatly like Japan, Italy and Germany.
But OK you wanted to see Andorians and Tellerites but they didn’t exactly make or break TOS. They were all sort of just there. We never really learned much about them until Enterprise. I won’t lie, I completely forgot about the Tellerites until they were discussed and shown on that show.
But I do think what is funny is that in DS9, Andorians are referenced dozens of times on that show and we never saw them once lol.
Just because they were underused doesn’t mean they were not a part of the universe. Would have been nice if TNG fleshed them out a little and used them. I get the reason. The idea was they wanted to distance themselves from TOS and be more their own show. They pretty much were required to address the Klingons and Vulcans. But that was about where the old connections were planned to end. They were forced to bring in the Romulans but they had no reason to dip into the others we saw on TOS. I’m just saying as a fan I would have been happy if they did.
When I heard of the Andorian appearance on Enterprise I was ecstatic! And even happier when I saw their updated make up.
Liked seeing the Tellerites as well but less enamored that they turned one line from an episode into an entire cultural behavior for them. Thought that was a little lazy but, eh. What are you gonna do?
Baby Horta. Marketing goldmine!!
I’m excited to see what they do with this. Hopefully the tone is similar to the Star Wars animated shows — family friendly but still telling a great story anyone can enjoy.
The only way Janeway being added to this crew seems to fit is if she’s the ECH. Who better to use as the template for a hologram that could take command of an exploratory ship far from the Federation that lost its captain? She has some experience there. Who knows, maybe the crew will be in need of a doctor at some point too…
Wow, I guess they decided that Paramount+ is going to be all things for Star Trek going forward since Prodigy will now be on that site instead of going to Nickelodeon. It just makes more sense from a branding perspective. You’re never going to see any new Star Wars projects on any other networks other than Disney+ and will be the go-to place for literally decades. Of course the movies will still be shown in theaters (assuming those are still alive in a year ;)) but they will all end up in the same place by the end.
That’s what Paramount+ really needs to do, get all of Star Trek in one place and make it feel exclusive as possible. That’s why they at least need to get all the films there including the Kelvin movies, but I know that’s harder with all the existing contracts out there. And it’s probably even harder with the classic Trek shows since they are on every major streaming site right now including Hulu which is basically owned by Disney at this point. I really hope the shows stay on as many sites as possible (I just love having options ;)) but of course all the new stuff will stay on P+.
But really looking forward to all of it. Love the Prodigy image and it’s exciting to know we are getting another new Trek show within the year! And a post-Nemesis show starring the iconic Janeway, so I can’t wait!! And of course SNW is coming starring yet another iconic captain (and ship) so even more exciting! I’m still rooting for Picard even if first season let me down hard, but it’s still exciting to be back in this era again and see it expand into the 25th century. And yes there is also DIS and LDS!
So a lot to look forward to. And it’s finally my dream of Star Trek come true, to see shows in different eras, time periods and even formats. I would still love another DS9 type of show where it’s back on a starbase. But from the 23rd to the 32nd century and everything in between with a lot of old and iconic characters back on these shows, so it’s a great time to be a Star Trek fan!
Personally, and I guess this just shows how old I am, I honestly don’t give a crap what service has the features. I own them on disc so if they move from one to another it doesn’t effect me in any way shape or form. I also own the TOS discs as well as season 3 & 4 of Enterprise. Would consider DS9 if they got around to remastering it.
I haven’t bought a disc since 2010 lol. Even the few movies I do buy they are all on digital now.
I have actually been thinking to buy all the Star Trek movies (since as I said they don’t really have a ‘home’ on streaming the way the shows do, at least not yet). But even if I do end up buying all the movies, 1-13, I still prefer to buy them on digital since I don’t even own a blu ray player anymore.
Wow. I can’t imagine not having a BD player. I have a nice library and I enjoy checking them out at my leisure without the hassles of a streaming service. The picture sound and controls are just a billion times better than anything streaming can offer at this time. Maybe that will change but it’s been years and the controls for streaming still are pisspoor.
Honestly for people around me, BP is becoming like the VCR. I don’t think they are going away anytime soon because studios still sell DVDS and BP of course, but my guess is as digital just becomes a more and more powerful domain then yeah. And of course just like the disc technology, streaming will just get better and better. Most TVs are now 4K and HDR. I just got my first one 2 years ago and was blown away lol. I really have no complaints about stream in terms of video quality. And frankly the ease and access I have to it is worth it to me because until the whole Covid crisis, I wasn’t normally in front of my TV much to watch a lot of shows or movies.
I feel like the industry doesn’t want customers like me. I won’t buy their streaming services and would just much rather buy the discs. That way I have the content forever and don’t have to worry about licensing deals or any of that garbage.
And nobody comments on the fact that they talk about “the maiden voyage of the Enterprise” for Strange New Worlds in that video? I thought I would read lots of outrage and Captain-April-Forever, how Kurtzman ruins everything, all new Star Trek is garbage etc.etc.
Whatever. As long as they don’t use the phrase “maiden voyage” in the actual show, we can still assume that April was the first captain. April was even mentioned on Discovery, so clearly Kurtzman hasn’t forgotten about him.
Seriously?
I thought his comment about Star Trek: Discovery using the existing cinematic look was a flat out lie. This guy is not so ignorant to Trek to think that was true.
Interesting designs; glad it will be debuting on Paramount+.
My girlfriend approves of the new crew: “That’s cute!”
This is great. Wow. This animation looks really different from all previous Trek shows. Glad this show will be in Paramount+ right from the start!
Today is a glorious day to be a Trekkie!
We knew it would be when it was clear they were going with CG 3D animation like the Clone Wars and Rebels.
There’s something about the design of the large one I find really off-putting, I think it’s that the surface is too close to the colour and texture of irritated skin which is unfortunate. Hopefully it’s just me and also it looks better in the show itself.
It looks like Marvel’s Thing hybridized with a Troll.
My first thought was he was a cooled down Excalbian.
“We’ve crossed into a new frontier of teenage comedy with LOWER DECKS.” Finally, someone admits that Lower Decks isn’t pitched as an adult comedy.
I picked up on that. But after watching it still feels like the show was aimed at preteens while still inoffensive enough that grade schoolers could watch with no issues.
On the positive side, the PRODIGY animation actually looks distinctive and, dare I say, even somewhat novel.
But on the negative side: this is too much Star Trek. I love STAR TREK, but this is just an overdose, a sugar high. It just reinforces the impression among non-fans that Star Trek is a big, bloated game of inside baseball that’s inaccessible to the uninitiated.
They should have focused, as they did in the TNG era, on a single, quality series, possibly also with Picard as a miniseries as well. As things stand, I count five — yes, FIVE — Trek shows right now, three of them live action. The only one really worth investing time in is Picard. It’s just too much to keep up with, and the Star Trek universe no longer seems like a coherent whole.
It was a severe miscalculation to keep changing captains all the time on Discovery. The issue isn’t really Michael Burnham, who is not an uninteresting character; it’s that this doesn’t feel like a crew, and it’s first and foremost because of the rotating captaincy. Would TOS or TNG been so fondly remembered with a new captain every six months?
HBO had the good sense not to become “all Game of Thrones, all the time.” Paramount has badly, badly miscalculated.
HBO has multiple GOT spin-offs in the works. The Marvel Universe and Star Wars Universe are dead set on rivaling Trek and Doctor Who in terms of a quantity of content as they ramp up production of series so rapidly.
Star Trek is unique as a big sci-fi franchise in that the majority of its content is TV, and all of it is part of one continuity, even the Kelvin films, technically. Ron Moore himself said that is incredibly daunting to him. But it’s also an opportunity to be creative and appeal to different fans as well as those who watch everything. I never got tired of watching two 26 episode season Trek shows every week for 7 years, I could have probably added a 3rd. Not everyone is like me, but having more shorter season offerings with even more diversity of setting and tone could really work and not necessarily drive audiences into the “franchise fatigue” that apparently killed Nemesis and Enterprise.
That doesn’t mean Kurtzman won’t screw it up, but the overall approach I think is sound.
I’ve always felt the approach of different genres of Trek was sound as well. The problem is the incestuous nature of the behind the scenes staff of the shows. There is far too much overlap where there really should be NONE. (not counting the overall head of Secret Hideout) Each show needs to have its own voice. When the staff overlaps like they do then that just is not possible. What it means is that the odds are that if one show is not very good then then with the same staff the odds the other shows won’t be very good go up. Note, it is not impossible that the other shows could be good. Just that the odds are they won’t be.
For sure. And what did separate TNG from DS9 from Voyager when they aired concurrently was their very different showrunners and staffs. They shared Rick Berman and some Michael Piller overlap, but only a handful of freelance writers between them, and that let them have different approaches. A number of the “samey” elements they shared like music and DS9 not going too far off the reservation were down to Berman. I think it’s smart to double down and experiment with that, make very different series so they can all co-exist. Again, Kurtzman has his personal taste which leads to things like the ridiculous Discovery season 2 finale space battle, but I hope they really do try for variety.
I see what you mean. And don’t entirely disagree. Watching that promo it felt like they were going for quantity over quality. And I was thinking “would gladly trade all their new Trek for one GOOD Trek show.”
Also, reading between the lines the promo did not give me the feel they were going for quality programing in regards to Trek in any way.
How can it be too much star Trek when 4 shows across a given year on average only total like 48 episodes???
Not that we aren’t getting an embarrassment of Trek already, but I’m still kind of hoping for an announcement about more Short Treks. Really love having a Star Trek anthology show. It’s basically what I always wanted them to try but never thought would be viable realistically.
Yes. I was hoping for more Short Treks to be confirmed too.
I think its unlikely.
They may stay away from Short Treks while Corona is making production much more difficult. At least for the live action Short Treks the idea was to shoot them quickly on the side. That’s just not possible at the moment. Also, as others have pointed out, Short Treks were meant to bridge the gap between seasons. However, with all the shows in production they are getting close to having a new show to release all the time.
I don’t think the Short Treks format was such a great idea. They originally made some DSC vignettes that could have easily been handled that way. Just like those fan-made vignettes for New Voyages back in the day.
But as soon as they attempted to expand the series it didn’t really work out too well. The animated episode were bogus, the SNW teasers were great but only because they created excitement for that very show (which wasn’t even announced back then)…
The Short Treks are far too short for standing on their own and far too DSC-centric. I’d love the idea of an Outer Limits / Twilight Zone – style anthology series spanning the entire Star Trek universe and beyond, but with one-hour episodes or even two-hour telemovies!
If they continue making short episodes on individual shows than just treat them as bonus material for THOSE shows. It’s confusing to think of Short Treks as a show of its own…
Poochie Approves!
Although I think they could rastafarize everyone by 10%….
The artwork looks good, though I’m dubious the cg part.
From the article “…they emphasized that the current five-series slate will likely not expand further until at least one of the shows runs its course.” That doesn’t sound too hopeful that the Section 31 show will ever happen (even though previous reports talked about scripts being written, directors picked out…), though of course it’s understandable why SNW and Picard wound up bumping it off the list. I feel like the rumored 7of9 spinoff or some other show set in the same time period would be a more likely replacement for Picard if it’s only 3 seasons then Section 31–unless it’s actually set in Picard’s timeline which would be a choice. Or maybe Prodigy won’t take off, but again that slot seems like a purer fit for the Cadet academy show that was rumored in the past. Maybe it will be a short trek instead.
Thats awesome that they’re all aliens.
Smart move to introduce a new season of Trek every quarter. I imagine most trekkies only subscribe to CBS AA only long enough to watch the show and then unsubscribe. I’m sure that’s why I’m the summer/fall they had the marketing strategy of 24 weeks of trek; it most likely helped maintain subscribers.
There are no reports to confirm this but I think it VERY reasonable to conclude that their subscriber totals drop like a rock once the Trek shows end. Hence their desire to get one out every quarter.
I like this look a lot! This looks pretty cool as they do look like outcasts,sort of like the characters on DS9 were. This has a great vibe!
I wonder if that rock creature is part of the same species of rock monsters that Shatner wanted to include in Star Trek 5 but couldn’t because of lousy special effects. Also no one seems to be pointing the fact that among all these announcements, the Section 31 show is actually not as developed as many people thought. The producers might be rethinking the concept of that show.
I’m pretty sure that Section 31 was announced way before SNW- and they even devoted a whole arc in the last season of Discovery to setting it up- and here SNW is already under production and Section 31 is still “being discussed.”
I suppose I need to point out that Spock was a lieutenant, not a lieutenant commander, in The Cage, but of course SNW may well be set after that (certainly if it’s set after Discovery).
(Spock wore commander’s insignia throughout TOS but was referred to as “Lieutenant Commander” a few times in the first season.)
I can see Yaphit’s cousin there! Neat! I love gelatinous characters! :-) They’ve got more backbone than any humanoid ever would.
All of them sort of look like out of a Pixar / Dreamworks movie, which is great. Unlike the subgenre of animated adult comedy, I actually like all-age CGI comedies…
He reminds me of HG Blob from Futurama.
Did not like the dialog in that promo. So much of it was incorrect. I mean, Lower Decks is clearly aimed at children. Let’s be honest here. And then there were other bits in it that caused facepalms I don’t think it wise to get into here.
On the plus side, I did enjoy hearing the Voyager cue in it. I wonder, was that used as a subtle reference to Janeway’s return or because it’s such a good piece?
I could sure see this and Lower Decks as a great re-entry point for Playmates Toys to come back as a big Star Trek toyline again. Many of the Prodigy characters look like something from Ben 10 or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles so they would definitely fit into Playmates Creative direction at this time. It would be a great time to pepper the line with characters from all across the legacy!
How many more series can you have?! We will have Trek on TV all year, every year if this carries on…..not that I’m complaining!
Underwhelming, looks rather generic.
The cast photo could be more several other sci-fi shows or shows aimed at kids/teens.
Was just thinking… maybe these alien crews are finding this Federation starship way out there, far from the Federation and Janeway’s part is them reviewing the Captain’s Logs? Like some hostile part of the galaxy where they decide to build a Starfleet using the ship and information they found…
I don’t know if I like this though, tired of aliens learning from humans.. miss the days when everyone had something to learn from everyone.
I’d prefer if these were outcasts heading out into the frontier on purpose. Guess we will see!
Re: the lack of established species — We still don’t know in what *era* Prodigy is set, nor what section of the galaxy. These kids might be future-UFP (immediately post-Burn?), or non-UFP salvaging a Starfleet vessel that wandered into their region. And Janeway’s involvement? I’m still voting for a software replica. If a 24cen holodeck can simulate Dr. Leah Brahms or Leonardo DaVinci, and if Saru can ask his computer for “what would the best Starfleet captains do?”, then simulating a mentor based on log entries is plausible.
The character designs remind me of Tales of Arcadia (Netflix/DreamWorks): Trollhunters (2016), 3Below (2018) and Wizards (2020).
The leftmost character, the spherical junky/asymmetric robot-looking one: I wonder if it’s an energy being in a containment suit?
I am hoping with the TOS Starfleet emblem that they find a Constitution class cruiser (the real ones that can take a beating and keep on going, not the Kelvin version). Please, please, please.
Having that face off with some stagnant TNG ships, perfect!
A Star Trek cartoon that knows it’s a great kids show, has a production team that is comfortable enough with what they are doing that they don’t need to insist that it’s canon, and (hopefully) isn’t going to insult my intelligence with the shoehorned in, “old Trek series tie-in gimmick of the week” — awesome!
I cannot wait for this!
This is canon.
CBS has not stated so. Animated series are not canon unless the creators of the shows say so. In the case of TAS, Rodenberry said, no, so it’s not canon. In the case of LDS, Mike M said yes, so it is canon.
I am hoping the creators of Prodigy have the good sense to not declare this kids show is canon. That would be a deal-breaker for me assuming the show has moronic crap like the entire starship shaking due to the music in the crew lounge.
I believe that it’s been said that all the new show are canon, but I could be wrong.
What is certain is that David Mack, one of the leading Trek litverse writers of the last 15 years, is credited as a consultant on this show and Lower Deckss. Mack knows his canon to the level of minutia and has been cooperating with the other main TNG and TOS litverse authors in keeping the litverse coherent.
The Hageman brothers recognized his contribution in a tweet Wednesday saying that Mack was “such a wonderfully honest and supportive advisor. This show wouldn’t be the same without (him).”
So, I think that we can expect it to align with canon.
Anything on screen is canon. TAS is canon, no matter what Roddenberry said. That’s why there were direct references to it in Lower Decks.
This looks so cute! I don’t know that I’ll re-up my subscription just for this, but I’ll definitely watch it at some point.
If you’re in the U.S., the 50% of for a 12 month subscription deal is still available for a few more days.
Knowing Prodigy, LDS S2 and Discovery will all be streaming in that 12 month period makes it sound like a better deal.
But our household is in Canada, so I’m hoping that ViacomCBS will let it stream and be broadcast on cable at the same time like other Trek series.
I’m actually pleasantly surprised by the character designs here. Love that they’re all alien.
Should we speculate on what their roles in the show will be? They’re not statfleet so they probably won’t have official designations or jobs, but I still imaging they’ll each fill a specific niche.
Starting with the two in the middle, they’re the most humanoid and will likely serve as the main characters. Based on expressions I think the purple one on the right will be the “captain”, the take charge rougeish hero. And the taller one on the left will be the calmer and collected counterpart. The Spock to the other’s Kirk. Perhaps they’ll argue over who’s really in charge at the beginning. I also expect them to have some romantic tension. I can’t tell their genders and perhaps that’s intentional, especially with the alien designs. It’s possible they’re both young women which I think could be pretty interesting. Especially with the inclusion of Janeway who might serve as their guide/mentor.
The dwarvish looking character on the left with one robot arm is likely the mechanic/engineer. The full robot farthest left might be the tech expert. Perhaps as an assistant to the mechanic or perhaps as a bridge crew member. Maybe helmsman?
The real big dude on the right will likely serve as the muscle/security. Although his eyes give the impression of a more gentle soul. And then the blob in front of him… your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps it has some sort of space magic that allows for healing thus filling the doctor role. But it’s hard to say.
What does everyone else think?
Some folks on another board have been playing guess the alien based on the First Look image.
Here are some of the suggestions that resonate with me:
2nd from left – Tellarite – porcine nose, tusk, and cloven hoofish hand
2nd from right – Talaxian – spots along hairline and on limbs, Mohawk-like hair growth
Far Right – Brikarian – a litverse species that is large and has rock-like skin, wears no clothing when on their homeworld Brikar, and sleep standing up. These could be fun for kids, and would make litverse fans cheer to see them brought to the screen. There’s already a culture and history laid out in the novels. Notably, a Brikarian first appeared in a Academy novel about young Worf.
Here’s the Memory Beta entry, including an artist’s visualization from the descriptions in the books.
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Brikarian
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Zak_Kebron
https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Brikar
Far left – there’s speculation that this may not be an artificial lifeform – that is, not an AI or robot. Instead, it could be a biological species that cannot live in a typical environment without assistance.
What do others here think?
Have just listened to the ‘All Access’ podcast which brought me here…
Hadn’t really given this series much thought, to be honest, as I had assumed it was aimed at a much younger age group than myself. Was probably only going to check it out to see exactly what Kate Mulgrew’s role was going to be.
Hearing about it on the podcast, and now seeing the visuals, has me intrigued. I really like the look of the animation and if it is to be an all-ages show (something similar to the quality offerings from Pixar) then that sounds great. I’ll likely be on board for this now, even if I don’t catch it straight out of the blocks.
Not really concerned about when it’s set, but if Prodigy is to Star Trek what ‘The Clone Wars’ series was to Star Wars, then that will be a big hit in my book. More importantly, it could serve as a perfect gateway for the next generation of fans.
As for the characters…
Your guesses seem pretty good to me. The one wearing the tool belt definitely seems likely to be the one who will be ‘good with’ machines and/or vehicles. Difficult to tell with the rest, though I agree that the two in the middle will most likely be the two ‘main’ characters (the ones with the most screen-time).
The one that really intrigues me is the tall ‘rock’ person. I completely agree with you about the eyes seeming to suggest a gentle soul. The wave to the camera seems to indicate an open friendliness about the character too. Whether this helps to define a ‘role’ for them, I’m not sure, but I have a feeling that they could prove to be my favourite of the bunch.
Fingers crossed for good things here…
Inigo Montoya comes to mind.
I’m waiting for art or fan art presenting this crew in Starfleet cadets’ uniforms ;)