At TREKtalks2 and in a follow-up podcast interview with Mission Log, the co-creators of Star Trek: Prodigy, along with executive producer and director Ben Hibon, offered some hints about what’s coming in season 2. They also opened up about their hopes to continue the show and maybe even see it on the big screen.
Season 2 is about earning a ship
During the TREKtalks panel, executive producer Kevin Hageman summed up how the second season of twenty episodes is different than the first season of Prodigy:
Kevin Hageman: Season 1, if you boil it down, it’s about a bunch of kids who steal a ship and the adventures that unfold. In season 2, we just felt like what’s the next step of evolution of youth, of education, of growing up? And they’re going to earn a ship in season 2.
He also offered some details about what we can expect in season 2:
Kevin Hageman: In season 2, you’re going to see there are a lot of unanswered questions by the end of season 1. Asencia is still out there somewhere floating around. She is still alive. There is the promise of a new ship. There’s Gwyn flying off to Solum to try to do what her father could never do. Season 2 is going to be really exciting because it’s going to feel like a new chapter. We’re diving into new territory, but it still feels like a continuation of season one. And so I think by the end of season two, it’s all going to just feel like this gargantuan epic piece.
In their Mission Log podcast interview, the brothers emphasized how the season is designed to feel very different:
Dan Hageman: I’m excited for season 2. As excited as I was for people to watch season 1, I think internally our team is like, “Wait for season 2.” We all love the cast and crew and we love these characters. And it’s a totally different adventure.
Kevin Hageman: With season 2, Dan and I wanted to make sure that season 2 didn’t feel like it’s the exact same thing. I hate it when the seasons blur together, and you have no idea what season was which, and it was all kind of one in the same… So we tried to really keep the DNA of season 1, but what’s the next chapter? I apologize for making this comparison to Star Wars, God forbid. But when you watched Empire Strikes Back, I remembered that well. Because it was on Hoth and it had these different aspects to it. That was very different from Star Wars: A New Hope, right? And so we definitely wanted to make sure that season 2 has its own flavor.
From “Supernova, Part 2”
Season 2 should be coming this year.
Back on the panel, Kevin and Ben gave an update on the current state of production for season 2:
Kevin Hageman: We don’t even know when it’s going to get released. We’re hoping it will be 2023, later this year. We’re starting to mix the very first episodes of season 2 right now. So we should have things ready later this year. But that’s all up to the networks and the overlords of Star Trek, because you want to try to pace out each of the shows, right? You don’t want all the Trek shows to drop at the same.
Ben Hibon: We have multiple episodes in different stages of production all at once. That’s what happens when you work on a TV show. The different stages of production roll into each other. So you suddenly find yourself with 14 or 15 episodes in production at one time. So right we’ve locked animatic storyboarding on the entire 20 episodes. So we are on the tail end of that. And on the front end, we are doing the final mix on episode 1 and 2 next week. So we have final picture on the first two and we’re getting finished animatic on the last [two]. So that’s how wide of a breadth you have in terms of where the season is. So every pieces are kind of locked into place. But the production is in full swing, basically.
(L-R) Dan Hageman, Rylee Alazraqui, Dee Bradley Baker, Kate Mulgrew, Kevin Hageman, Ben Hibon and Brett Gray at NYCC 2021
Why Holo Janeway had to go
In the season 1 finale, “Supernova, Part 2,” Hologram Janeway sacrificed herself to save Starfleet, and the kids were later assigned to Admiral Janeway’s new ship. Dan Hageman talked about how he didn’t think it was a risk to kill off Hologram Janeway, citing this handoff to Admiral Janeway:
Dan Hageman: I think it would be a risk if we didn’t do that. For us, it was baked in… We lead with emotion, and so you have to end with emotion. And for us, we felt we felt storytelling is about relationships, and it’s the relationships between these children and their mentor and what she has taught them. And I also would think it would be odd if season 2 had two Janeway mentors. It would get muddled. And so one has sacrifice themselves so the other can flourish.
Even though the second season will have the kids on Janeway’s new ship, which will include more adult characters, Kevin said the show will still keep the focus on the kids:
Kevin Hageman: It’s always going to be about our crew of kids. What we love, though, is these kids who are thrust into the adult world of Trek and adult circumstances. And so it’s fantastic to have Admiral Janeway and these other adult characters. And in season 2 there’ll be other fantastic adult characters around them. And then that creates conflict and creates humor to play off of that. That’s part of the magic of Star Trek: Prodigy.
From “Supernova Part 2”
Pushing for more seasons and a movie
The 20-episode order for season 2 should probably keep the Prodigy team busy through 2024, but they made it clear they are hoping for more.
Kevin Hageman: Our hope right now is just that now that season 1 is fully out on Paramount Plus, we’re hoping that the numbers are good. And we’re all kind of eagerly waiting to see if we can get a green light for season 3.
… I could write these characters for a long time. They’re so fun. And unlike some of the other Trek shows, these are kids who started off so far from Starfleet. And now we get to do this fantastic growth of them growing up and becoming young adults and becoming Starfleet. It’s exciting to think about where we could go with them.
Back on the Mission Log podcast, they talked about how they are even thinking further into the future. When asked if they would keep going even beyond season 3, they revealed those discussions have already started:
Kevin Hageman: All our heads are always in the clouds here. Like we want to do an animated movie. I would love for the show to keep going for many, many seasons. And then, sort of like what they did with The Next Generation—they had the show, and then they started to spin off and do the features. And so to be able to have the show, and then to have a feature, like it’d be amazing. Not just an animated feature, but if you could do a live-action feature it would be absolutely stunning. So we have lofty ambitions. [Dan interjects: Theme park rides!]
Ramsey Naito, who is the head of animation for all of Paramount and Nickelodeon, so whenever we sit down with her, she’ll bring up maybe a season 3 and talking about possibilities and we’re like, “Season 3 and season 4 and we have an idea for the movie.” And she’s like, “Whoa, whoa, one thing at a time.” So we’re pushing as hard as we can. And everyone at the network and the studio have been so supportive, so wonderful. They love our show. Notes are so minimal. The trust that they have in all of is is so great. I think the future of our series just it really rests in viewership. If the viewers are there, then the show will keep going. But if the viewership isn’t there, if the numbers aren’t there. it’s going to be hard to convince the studio.
Ben Hibon and Ramsey Naito at New York Comic Con 2021
Watch the full TREKtalks2 panel here, and if you can, donate to the Hollywood Food Coalition.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
It would truly suck if this show was cancelled after 2 seasons. :(
It’s such a great show and my favorite at the moment. It sounds like season 2 will be great and I’m crossing my fingers it will be on the Voyager A. That would be a dream. And a bit sad holo Janeway is gone, but nothing better than having the real Janeway leading the show, which ironically I think we all thought was going to be the case in the first place. Now we really got it!
And my guess is while it’s still far out, maybe this show could be our next movie. Not holding my breath but it’s the only show so far they even suggested could be made into one. The movie side feels so dead (this is the seventh year without a film, now the longest stretch we had without one since they started, ugh) and they don’t seem to have a clue what to do next, this would be a great idea. I would prefer the next movie to be something completely different with new characters and a setting we haven’t seen before but this would probably be the better option marketing wise. And probably much cheaper too. ;)
I’m all but certain the next movie will not be a Kelvin universe movie so ya I think Prodigy of all the shows makes the most sense. I mean maybe Picard, but that’s if season 3 doesn’t suck and that’s a BIG IF.
If they could’ve gotten their stuff together and made another one, fine, I would’ve been there opening weekend. But I been wanting something different for years now anyway and since it’s clear they don’t have faith in those films anymore (and I CAN’T blame them) then hopefully they can move on to something new and cheaper. Prodigy seem like a great contender and no one expects it to make a billion dollars lol.
And I think most fans want a prime universe movie anyway, one of the bigger issues with the Kelvin movies.
Yes totally. Kelvin had it’s trilogy and that’s fine. But the biggest thing they did right was IMHO the biggest thing they did wrong. Setting it in an alternate universe meant this wasn’t MY Kirk or Spock or McCoy and honestly the films just failed completely to care about these characters.
Prodigy did the exact opposite. I’ve cared about these characters since like the 3rd episode which means I am vested in the show. And yes since it is animated it doesn’t nearly need to provide the returns Paramount asked of Kelvin Trek.
For me, I actually really love the alternate universe idea. Since I never cared to do a TOS reboot in the first place, that was its biggest draw for me. But I know I’m in the minority on that. Most people want adventures in the prime universe which is understandable and clearly they know that.
What gives the advantage to animated films is they can be made for under $100 million but still do crazy money in terms of box office. Yeah you have the $200 million Disney and Pixar films but those are in a class of their own. Most are much cheaper in general. And then the merchandising makes them even bigger.
The best example is The Secret Life of Pets. That movie cost $75 million and it went on to make $900 million. That came out the same month Star Trek Beyond came out whose budget cost over twice that and only made $345 million. People tried to make excuses that was just a slow year for box office and why the movie did so bad. Well those house pets managed to have a great year lol. And not a shock why two more have been made since AND their own theme park ride at Universal Studios lol. I been on it, it’s fun!
That”s why animated movies are always a good bet. Usually as long as they appeal to children, they can do solid business, especially with their budgets. Again we don’t know how well Prodigy is doing ratings wise but if they are doing well, make a $70 million movie and roll the dice. They can’t make anything that cheap live action anymore, at least not these days.
I might have misrepresented myself a bit. I think it was a great idea that they did the alt universe thing because it meant being able to tell whole new stories without affecting Trek TOS canon. It was boborci’s best idea. I just mean that in so doing they had to make us care for this TOS but not TOS characters all over again and they missed the mark for me, ESPECIALLY with Spock who was the most emotional one of the bunch and Pine’s Kirk who was based on Han Solo.
Oh yeah I also agree with that too. Plenty of people did like these group of characters and I include myself in that. But I don’t think the majority really cared because for many they will always just be the ‘alt’ version of those characters just like the Kelvin universe was the ‘alt’ universe of Star Trek and that was always the biggest issue for a lot of old fans.
I obviously get it, but it’s all fiction. No matter what universe these stories are in, William Shatner can’t play a 30 something Kirk anymore and it’s a new version regardless. But I know, people see it differently. And while they probably made Pine’s Kirk a little too actiony, at least he has a personality over the new Kirk in SNW. That guy so far is a total dud. But hopefully he’ll improve in season 2.
And I do wish Kelvin Spock didn’t get sad so much lol.
Yep of course I agree Shatner can’t play Kirk forever, 30 years old or otherwise. It was just a bit jarring when it happened because Kirk is not James Bond. There had only ever been one man to be in the part. But I do get that for casual fans it wouldn’t be nearly as jarring as it is for die hard fans and I will admit ST 2009 did pull a lot of new fans into the franchise. Friends that my whole life made fun of me for being a trekkie suddenly wanted to go see a Star Trek movie.
Yeah just too bad they squandered it. My guess is if things went how they thought it would after that first film, we would probably be on the fifth one by now and maybe a spin off show of some kind in the Kelvin universe, which I’m personally still very much open to.
I was never a huge supporters of these films but I did like them and more importantly NEW fans liked them. To me that was the best thing about them, getting new people into the franchise for the first time and I hope some of them watched the other shows like TNG, ENT, etc in time. I don’t expect tons, but at least some. And I do see them on Reddit who said those movies were their introduction into Trek and then they became fans of some of the other shows because of it.
To bring it back full circle, I hope that’s what Prodigy ends up doing with its new fans as well and they eventually become fans of some of the old shows. I think that’s partly the point as well! To be 8 years old again but now I have 800 hours of new stories and characters I can watch from the 22nd to the 32nd century. I would be in little boy nerd heaven lol.
Yup at the time ST 2009 went into production it was only a few years after Enterprise was deemed as the show that fizzled out the franchise. I think Paramount wanted a reboot and Orci gave them the reboot without a reboot idea. I don’t think they ever expected to do a prime universe show again till Beyond didn’t perform as expected. But TBH that was Paramount’s own fault for barely advertising it, esp on the 50th anniversary.
That’s the other irony, yeah the Berman era fizzled out but it took over 15 years. But these movies did it in 7 years lol. Think about it, if we WEREN’T getting new shows now, we would’ve been 7 years without Star Trek right now waiting for another movie, ANY movie. That’s very very depressing.
And I think they ALWAYS planned to do more prime universe shows because CBS didn’t care about the Kelvin movies. All their money was made via the prime universe. Les Moonves said the only reason why Discovery even got made because of how popular the old shows were streaming on Netflix and Prime Amazon and wanted to try to repeat that with All Access. And which btw he also said both of those companies came to him asking if they could make their own Star Trek shows.
So I was never worried about not having prime universe shows. In fact I just expected to have both, Prime and Kelvin shows, but didn’t quite work out that way.
LOL man, we’re the only ones here talking. It’s so weird, it’s like our own chat room or something. I think I’m going to bow out until others chime in. I feel weird we’re the ones making all the conversation.
lol ok
That was actually an enjoyable exchange to read, mainly because I agree with pretty much everything both of you said there! Well played.
LOL thanks! We probably could’ve went on for 50 posts easily. And it’s nice when you do talk to other like minded people here and get in a groove!
I also read this. It was a canny exchange on both your parts!
Thanks Ian!:)
I LOVE talking to you a lot btw, mostly because you usually agree with me. ;D
There is no way they would do a Picard movie after the dismal financial performance of Nemesis and Insurrection. TNG stuff, including Picard, is not a market grower at this point in time.
Normally I would agree but they keep talking about it so much like it feels like there is something in the works that we don’t know about.
Yeah. it could fit in the Kelvin Universe, because of the Design of the Protostar. But the surrounding Cast do not fit for me in the Kelvin Universe. I do not know. Kelvin is more an aggresive “Shot first ask laster” Universe. Do not know why. So for me the Capt./Admiral Janeway would not be this kind in the Kelvin Universe.So i hope they do not adept it into Kelvin Timeline
Frankly, i’d rather see a SNW movie than anything else. Give them a proper budget that allows for them to get out from virtual sets — give them a story with a broader scope, and I think it could be really magical. Plus, with the original Enterprise, and several iconic characters, it would have just the same kind of appeal as the Kelvin movies.
Or… how about this: a Kelvin/SNW crossover? Doesn’t even have to bring back Pine or Saldana (the pricey actors).
Could be Quinto as the next captain of the Kelvin Enterprise, to save costs. Would be a fun reversal, as Quinto would be the older, wiser Captain Spock, to Peck’s younger, more naive Lieutenant.
It would also help serve as a back door for Kelvin fans to watch the shows.
I was surprised that the Hagemans didn’t appear to have enough confidence in Prodigy’s audience ratings.
From the numbers that are available for the US, it premiered very strongly as a ‘breakout’ release in its return in November 2022.
Internationally, it seems to be doing well in the usual Anglophone countries plus Germany where there is already an established Star Trek base.
But it’s hard to get public metrics on animated and kids’ series beyond the juggernauts of SpongeBob SquarePants and Rescue Rangers.
It’s seemed to have settled down into the Bobba Fett level of audience which may not be enough as a streaming show alone, but with the follow on audience on Nickelodeon, may be sufficient. More, if it keeps Star Trek fans from dropping their subscriptions for part of the year, it will be bringing value on that basis alone.
Honestly dude, I know zip about any of that. I just basically know based on what you post lol. I have no clue what is going on for any of these shows viewers wise.
But, I actually said in the last SNW thread that I feel Prodigy is probably doing the lowest among the shows. And that’s obviously just anecdotal but you can really feel online there is much less talk and interest about it compared to the other shows. There is just less views whenever you see a review about it, etc. Even these boards, its not as big.
In fact, one of my favorite Youtube sites, TrekCulture (great Trek channel) originally stopped reviewing the episodes weekly because not enough people were watching them unlike the other four shows. BUT thankfully that did change and they reviewed the last ten but even they know it doesn’t carry like the other shows and keep saying they wish more people were watching it. For some people once they hear it’s for kids it just automatically turns them off. Another Youtube Trek site called The Popcast, one of the hosts admitted last week they only watch the show because Janeway is on it. If it wasn’t for her, they wouldn’t bother. I suspect that’s not a small viewpoint either for more casual fans.
Now maybe it’s reaching its actual intended audience with kids, but hard to say obviously. And I think it and Lower Decks probably has much smaller views overall compared to the live action shows, which is understandable.
I hope if the ratings aren’t hitting what they want but still doing enough, they can just lower the episode count in season 3. It’s really frustrating we don’t have numbers for any of these shows.
But if the Hageman brothers are suggesting they can be better that does says something. But you know I’m an optimist and I’m hoping Prodigy also gets seven seasons and a movie now! ;D
I think a lot of adults wrote it off as a kids show. Figures that the best thing out there might not have enough viewers to keep going. Story of my viewing life.
But this can still turn into a Clone Wars situation where I once read that more adults started tuning in more after the first season or two when word of mouth really got out about it’s quality and it was than just a ‘kids show’. Now Ashoka is getting a live action show this year. So things can turn around.
SpongeBob I can see, but RESCUE Rangers… a juggernaut??? That’s Chip ‘n Dale… and not counting last year’s TV movie, all just from the ’80s. 🤔
Were you maybe thinking Power Rangers? Though, even that’s old hat, and lagging behind a whole bunch of more recent stuff, right?!
Rescue Rangers, the toy promoting show from Spinmaster Toys is a global juggernaut for which Paramount+ has rights outside Canada.
It breaks into the top series in the US from time to time.
Can’t find anything about it. Hmm… Rescue Riders, maybe? That DreamWorks “How to Train Your Dragon” franchise spin-off? 🐉
With reoccurring chatter on the business networks that P+ continues to be an acquisition, and nothing but crickets from P+ on renewing currents shows and ordering up new ones, there’s a growing possibility that what’s in the pipe right now maybe it for a while. It was a good run, either way. Time will tell…..
OK, maybe someone can make this clear for me or is it just none of the new Trek shows haven’t been renewed or ALL the shows across the board so far (or most) haven’t been? Because if it is the latter, then yeah we may be talking a much deeper issue obviously.
But you’re right, maybe none of these shows are coming back at all. P+ is doing better but it’s still on the smaller end of streaming sites. If it was still just AA, that thing probably would’ve been shut down by now lol. They had to turn it into a real streaming service. I would hate to lose SNW, LDS and PRO as mentioned. Even Picard if season 3 is actually good, but we’ll see. Either way we got enough content to keep us happy for a long while. ;)
Just me, trying to read the tea leaves. What’s established, at the moment is that the only work going on at Secret Hideout is only what is currently in under contract. P+ hasn’t committed to anything new, or renewed, beyond that.
There are some differences between P+ and the studio. There’s enough detail in the chatter between P+, Secret Hideout, and other production houses that suggest that even if there’s a lull in ordering up new content at the moment, that may be temporary if the IP is enough of a draw during a merger and acquisition process. Basically, once P+ is acquired, a few of these shows will likely fire back up.
In comparison, over at PP, the studio has been dead silent on another movie for years now, except for when they trot out JJ for an occasional investor’s presser.
Personally, if there’s anything to be learned from the Star Wars franchise management model, there really can’t be any substantial gaps in creating new content. If that happens, the fans you’ve attracted will wander away. You need only to look at JJ spacing his Trek movies 5-6 years apart for evidence of that.
OK I understand. To be honest I never considered these shows could be in trouble until very very recently. I just assumed they were all coming back, period. But I admit now I’m a little more worried lol. Because if it is about selling P+, then anything can happen.
But I do stand by what I said about this before and that if this is all true, it seem like there would be TONS of rumors about it out there. That people would be leaking stuff like crazy and others would be reporting it somewhere. There are literally hundreds if not thousands of jobs at stake and no one is talking, at least in secret? This isn’t just one show possibly getting the chopping block, it’s the entire slate of modern Trek. Of course some ‘fans’ would really really love that lol. I imagine most of us here would be depressed even if some shows did come back later, it wouldn’t be like it was. But again, we don’t know, but yeah it’s a warning sign for sure.
The irony is a lot of us, me especially, has been flaunting the fact even though the movies have all but died at this point outside of useless Paramount Pictures trolling it’s fans pretending they may make a movie for the last 6 years, the TV shows are thriving. Even if you don’t like all of them, most fans do seem more positive about them than not. SNW has really turned a lot of people minds around whose been unhappy with NuTrek since the Kelvin movies. There finally feels like a real direction they found fans seem to generally enjoy like now and shows like LDS and PRO has hit the sweet spot of both providing tons of fan nostalgia but also doing something very different with the franchise.
It would be a shame it’s all in jeopardy when the last two years has finally gotten things back to basics and fans excited about its future. But to keep it at glass half full as you said it doesn’t mean it would all be over or maybe none of it, just everything is paused until there is a sale and the new owners could pick everything up again. It’s going to be interesting when we finally do hear some official news about these show’s future.
Honestly my biggest fear isn’t P+ going away, it’s the Tombstone universe eclipsing the Trek franchise in terms of TPTB, which is sorta already starting to happen.
I don’t think P+ is going away, it just sounds like what happened with WB and was sold to another company which has caused some nutty headlines lately lol, but HBOMax is still there (and still my favorite streamer by far even with some of changes).
Again, I don’t pretend to know about any of this but it seems like P+ is just too much money and influence at stake. They are literally still launching it worldwide recently launching it in parts of Europe. It would be crazy it’s all going away now. But I guess maybe you mean they can just rename it and make more changes YET again like what happened with All Access.
And for the record I thought All Access was bad, a real joke of a site only 60+ year old people can appreciate (it’s CBS right ;)) and you’re talking to someone who never cancelled it lol. But P+ is a vast improvement in so many ways and it’s honestly getting stronger. I knew we wouldn’t have this much Trek forever because both fatigue would eventually start to set in at some point or they would just have more better performing shows to draw other fans in. Either way it was probably only going to last a few more years before they started making less Trek shows and just keep the ones fans really loved.
I guess my last paragraph sort of made your point about another franchise overshadowing it lol. And do you mean the Yellowstone shows? If so, those seem to be getting plenty of headlines everywhere vs Star Trek. We all love Star Trek here, but yeah it still feels like none of these new shows are getting a tons of new fans or traction outside of the same Trek circles but that’s just my opinion.
You mean Yellowstone, 1883, 1924, etc. by Taylor Sheridan, I’m guessing. In terms of popularity, that franchise has Trek beat several times over at the moment, imo. It’s its own moving force in popular culture right now, a juggernaut, and is making Paramount a boatload of $$. As a huge fan of westerns, I love it as well. That said, and as others have echoed, Trek has a very old (and getting older) established fan base, and hopefully new fans due to PRO, LDS, SNW. Trek has it’s own ‘western in space’ qualities as well of course. “Wagon Train To The Stars,” anyone?
I get your concern, though. There’s a ton of competition and content vying for everyone’s dollars and attention out there these days.
The goal is always to have more and more popular franchises, not less. That makes the service attractive to new and existing subscribers. They might have calculated they don’t need close to 52 weeks of new Trek content anymore, but they can’t afford to let Trek lie fallow now, it’s still fueling plenty of subscribers, not all of whom dovetail with Taylor Sheridan’s shows.
It’s just frustrating to not have a lot of concrete ratings data anymore.
>It would truly suck if this show was cancelled after 2 seasons. :(
Me, too. But in the end this Show need to make Money to support themselves. That is the hard true facts. Just hope they make it. I am hopping for more. But first i need to see how this new Season turns out. Unlike the others, i only can see Screenshots or little Video clips. So i hope the Studio still allow short Fan Clips. Because Star Trek: Prodigy hit us on 3.January and Blu-ray are already out of Stock XD (Germany)
Obviously agree, it would just suck if they cancelled so soon just being in its second season. The only other Trek show cancelled that soon was TAS. And also because they clearly have a long term plan for these characters and I really want to see their end game now (no pun intended). And I could never have enough Janeway!
But I’m not that worried or anything, I do think it will get another season regardless. But I do feel this is the least watched show in the bunch and that alone probably makes it the one to potentially go first. Would love to be wrong obviously.
As much as i’d love to see a kid’s Trek continue for years, I also wouldn’t be that saddened. It’s not really for me, as much fun as it is, and as much as I may enjoy it for what it is.
In fact, I kind of despise the idea that something is a failure if it doesn’t get a 6-7 year run. If it’s canceled before it tells its full store, sure, I get how that can be awful.
But there’s room in this world for shows that run for just a season or two. After all, prodigy’s second “season” is likely to be another 20 episodes, meaning even if it just gets two, it’ll have as many as Discovery has after four.
Frankly, I think the franchise would be wise to adopt a more varied-run model. Not every show has to be ongoing. There’s room for a single season series, a miniseries, a direct-to-streaming movie.
What I love about Trek right now is the variety, and I’d love to see even more.
This show has def earned my viewership going into season 2. All of the newer Kurtzman era shows have been great and I can’t wait for more. It’s really rare that a Star Trek show fires on all cylinders in it’s first season.
Well said. I’m crossing my fingers I can include Picard in that this season as well. But it is nice to see all these shows really winning fans over and Prodigy has been a huge plus in that.
Yes more than anything else I think it is accomplishing what it set out to do which is introduce a whole new generation to Trek which is hugely important for the franchise.
Exactly! It’s great to have a show like this, not just to introduce new fans to this fantastic universe, but also remind old fans why we love it so much in the first place. That’s why its so good, it’s not talking down to the kids and giving them a real Star Trek adventure like the other shows while relying on tropes and stories old fans has always loved. But I can say the exact same thing for LDS and SNW. They all seem to be hitting that sweet spot of what fans love the most and why they are so popular.
Yep SNW really is the best show to date that truly embodies the feeling of TOS which is still my fav Trek. LDS is the first Trek comedy and it does a great job of being so without making Star Trek look ridiculous.
Yeah SNW is a breath of fresh air, honestly, especially for us TOS fans who grew up with it. It’s a tie for me with that and LDS.
TBH I am worried about the season 2 ep with the LDS crossover but other than that I am hugely looking forward to S2. I just feel like crossing over with a cartoon would be a fourth wall breaking type of scenario. Not literally of course but with the same effect.
Oh yeah it can be a total disaster lol. But I trust the people running the shows since I love them both, but fingers crossed it will be a good time had by all! :)
I trust them too. Fingers crossed it comes off as fun and believable.
The only time I have seen a sci-fi series do an animation crossover that was interesting was the Farscape episode “Revenging Angel” – but that show was always bonkers.
I loved that episode – and the show.
Season 1 was Guardians of the Galaxy Kids, season 2 will be Star Trek Scamps, season 3 will be Star Trek Responsible Youngsters, season 4 will be Star Trek Fall of the Federation, season 5 will be Star Trek Renegades, season 6 will be Star Trek Resurgence.
Yeah, this is the Trek animated series you take to the movie stage. MAKE IT SO!
I would not be surprised in the slightest if Lower Decks is sunsetted after S4 and P+ makes Prodigy the flagship animated series…more seasons, a movie, etc. This season is a market grower, while LDS is an insider show for older fans — not a market grower.
I love Prodigy! It’s my favourite new Trek show and I am so happy to read the excitement that the creators themselves have for the show and how enthusiastic they are about it continuing on for as long as possible and talking about a movie (and theme park rides lol). Even through the typed words you can tell how much they love this project.
What’s so great about Prodigy, and the beauty of animation as a by-product of it’s development process, is that these guys have to create the whole idea of the season first and get the writing down and cemented before anything else happens. I think that’s why season one was so successful and I just wish all shows worked like that, however that’s not the case for live-action unfortunately.
Can’t wait to see what season 2 brings!
Totally agreed! :)
And it also proves they CAN do serialized story telling well when they have great writers and worked out a solid plan! I wish Picard and Discovery learn from these guys.
Yes! (And I’ve enjoyed these posts.)
I’ve been wondering if Prodigy feels like such good, pure Trek because it *can’t* be dark or oversexed or hyperviolent. It can’t be gritty or overtly subversive. It has to work for kids intellectually and in terms of “appropriate” content.
Maybe you can’t hybridize Trek and Ozark in terms of vibe. Maybe TV-MA isn’t a promised land for storytelling in this franchise (and TV-14 would have been TV-MA had these ratings existed during TNG).
I’m not picking a fight… I’m just musing. And I know DS9 was darker and grittier than TOS and TNG. I’m just pondering whether Trek benefits from a certain restraint and almost innocence (yes, i know… Mudd’s Women, the female TOS uniforms, etc., aren’t rated G).
Hope I’m coveying my thoughts and… truly… I’m not arguing against anything or trying to be provocative… just pondering the resonance many of us seem to have with the vibe of Prodigy… YMMV and LLAP and all that!
I appreciate that, thanks! :)
I do think Prodigy leans in to a more ‘family’ style tone and it generally feels lighter and more upbeat. It started off pretty dark but once they started exploring on the ship the tone shifted to more fun and adventure. And being kids, there is no sex or language to think about. So I agree, that is definitely a positive for most fans.
I think they had to learn that Star Trek fans aren’t prudes but they don’t need it to be GOT either. That was a HUGE mistake IMO with both PIC and DIS first seasons and I think they lost a lot of people in the beginning because it was too much focused on blood and gore instead of science and exploration.
I have no issues with how ‘graphic’ something can be as long as its part of a good story. And I didn’t have a problem with DIS or PIC being more ‘edgy’ but the problem is it just felt edgy for edgy sake because they were trying to follow a trend more than anything. DIS felt more like a cheap BSG version of Star Trek and I was fine with Klingon nipples and people getting gored by a tardigrade but then you have psychotic genocidal emperors eating their slaves or Klingons cutting people’s necks and ALSO eating people (but they were at least dead ;)) and everything feels overly dreary, you kind of start to wonder ‘when are these people are going to just meet a nice alien?’ The show was just trying too hard and lost the plot of what Star Trek was IMO.
PIC wasn’t AS bad but I honestly think most fans generally liked the show up until episode 5 when Icheb was tortured and it just never felt the same after that. And then you had a Romulan incest siblings and dropping F bombs like it’s suddenly on HBO, we don’t need all of that stuff.
There’s a video on YouTube that’s not meant to be funny but when Picard started, there were parents who were big Trek fans and recording their, I think, 6 year old son watching Picard. They were going to document every episode of him watching it and his thoughts through the season.
They made two videos and stopped lol.I think the second episode was when the first F bomb was dropped and it only got worse from there. This isn’t your dad’s TNG kid! ;D
Hopefully he’s watching Prodigy now and loving it! :)
streaming is always cloaked in mystery but since the show is airing on nickelodeon are there any numbers to look at?
That’s an excellent point! Wouldn’t that be public? I assume it would be but no idea.
The problem is that Nickelodeon just doesn’t have the viewer pull generally that it used to.
Its average viewership over the course of a day (according to Nielsen) is currently 180,00 in the United States. Over the year of 2022, it was the 45th most watched channel. Yikes.
It’s still the most watched children’s channel on linear television, Disney Junior on cable has had the same issue, but with Disney+ and Paramount+, offering kids content, kids’ viewing has finally moved to streaming and YouTube (with WildBrain and other subscriptions). This seems to have been something that really accelerated during the pandemic.
It’s really been an interesting shift because just a few years back, Comcast was insisting that Nickelodeon get new content for 6 months before it could go to streaming because they had stats showing young parents reconnecting to cable to get kid’s’ content. Before Disney+, cable cutting wasn’t an option for parents of young kids.
Clearly, Paramount strategists saw where the market was going and flipped to put Prodigy on Paramount+ along with other new kids’ content in order to stay in the market segment.
I can’t find any specific numbers for Prodigy on Nickelodeon, but that’s because it hasn’t cracked Nick’s top ten in any recent numbers I can see. Given it has only the first 10 episodes and they were released to broadcast last summer, it’s not surprising.
Bottom line, if Prodigy can’t find enough younger viewers on Paramount+ to justify its continuation, Nickelodeon isn’t likely to add much to make a difference.
I just hope the writers don’t fall into the same situation that occurred with STID. I remember a quote from JJ Abrams in 2011 or 12 where he said something along the lines of “Kirk got command in the first movie. In this one he earns it.” Just hope history doesn’t repeat itself.
This show so truly surprised and positively blew me out of the water for season one, I found myself watching a couple of episodes over again right after initially watching them. Engaging characters that you care about at the get-go, a tight plot with solid, original writing, and it respects what came before without ruining canon. And it’s visually gorgeous. Such a pleasant surprise from Secret Hideout, whose track record with me is sketchy, at best. I hope this show continues for a number of seasons and the quality stays top notch. Kudos to all the creatives who make this show happen.
All I can say to all their plans is, yes. And yes. Yes, yes, yes please! (Now I guess I gotta convince some people who don’t watch it to watch it…)
Not adding to the substance of the topic, but could you guys please correct your Kevin Hageman quote, as I’m sure he knows English better than your transcription makes it appear:
It’s not “and it was all kind of one IN the same…”, it is “and it was all kind of one AND the same…”
Thanks! 🖖😉