Just days after Star Trek: Prodigy was removed from Paramount+, the animated series was nominated for prestigious award. Meanwhile, producers and fans continue to do what they can to ensure the show finds a future.
Prodigy nominated
Just one week after Paramount+ announced they were removing a number of shows (including Prodigy) as part of a cost-reducing purge ahead of integration of Showtime, the animated Star Trek show is being honored by the Television Critics Association. The 39th annual TCA Awards were announced today and Star Trek: Prodigy was nominated for Outstanding Achievement In Family Programming, a new category for 2023 which recognizes shows created for youths from seven years old and up. Prodigy is going up against American Born Chinese, High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Jane, Love, Victor, Marvel’s Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, Ms. Marvel, Never Have I Ever, and The Mysterious Benedict Society.
Since launching in 1985, this is the first time an active Star Trek show has been nominated for a TCA Award, according to Memory Alpha. Star Trek: The Original Series won the TCA Heritage Award in 2020. This isn’t the first high-profile accolade for the show. Last year, the first season of Prodigy was nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Animated Series. The series won an Emmy for production design.
Winners for the TCA Awards will be announced on Monday, August 7.
Producers fighting for Prodigy and the fans
Paramount has confirmed that work on the second season will continue as they shop Prodigy to other networks. There has been no official word yet on any negotiations with any specific outlets, yet. If you are looking for a hopeful sign, there may be something to be read into a Thursday tweet from co-executive producer Aaron Waltke using the active “SaveStarTrekProdigy hashtag and noting he “can’t say much,” but urging fans to “keep it positive,” and quoting Holo Janeway’s “we’ve only just begun.”
Still can’t say much.
Keep it up and keep it positive. To quote Hologram Janeway, “we’ve only just begun.” #StarTrekProdigy #SaveStarTrekProdigy pic.twitter.com/v0xL6Mglzj
— Aaron J. Waltke (@GoodAaron) June 29, 2023
Co-creators Dan and Kevin Hageman also had a hopeful tweet on Thursday using that same hashtag, saying it “feels good to fight” for the characters of the show, presumably fighting to find them a new home.
I don’t know about you, but it feels good to fight for these kids who are fighting as hard as they can to get accepted into Starfleet. #SaveStarTrekProdigy
— Dan & Kevin Hageman (@brothershageman) June 29, 2023
They also responded with some hope to a fan asking if there was good news ahead.
There’s always good news ahead. Just gotta get through the bad first.
— Dan & Kevin Hageman (@brothershageman) June 29, 2023
Fans continue to work to #SaveStarTrekProdigy
Fan support continues to be seen using that same hashtag and the Change.org petition continues to pick up support, closing in on 25,000 signatures.
There is even a fan film that was put together just in the last week, which impressed co-EP Waltke.
WOW. In less than a week, #StarTrekProdigy fans did the impossible.
Watch FLIGHT OF THE PROTOSTAR — a #StarTrek fan film from Power543 Films, supporting the campaign to #SaveStarTrekProdigy.
Seeing our show in live action made my heart swell! https://t.co/J1mRALgsol
— Aaron J. Waltke (@GoodAaron) June 30, 2023
The show is also getting support from other members of the Star Trek family, such as Voyager’s Robert Picardo.
Admiral Janeway says it’s time to save the USS Protostar and it’s crew! – – Aye, @TheKateMulgrew ! [ art by Scott Hussey • @designerscott on Twitter.] #StarTrek #startrekphoenix #StarTrekProdigy #SaveStarTrekProdigy pic.twitter.com/BMlDxaTv57
— Robert Picardo (@RobertPicardo) June 28, 2023
And Strange New Worlds season 1 star Bruce Horak showed off some of his original artwork supporting the show.
Hemmer @ home pic.twitter.com/VLUQf2y3PL
— Bruce Horak 🖖💙 (@brucehorak) June 27, 2023
Back in stock
If you are looking to support the show with your wallet, Blu-rays and DVDs of season 1, volume 1 (first 10 episodes) are back in stock at Amazon.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe at TrekMovie.com.
Okay the drawing from Bruce Horak is cute. I hope we do get good news here.
I am so conflicted though. My dad used to know the guy who wrote the Mysterious Benedict Society book series. The author is also from Little Rock.
I just ordered S1 V1 of Prodigy for Bluray.
All my hopes…..
I did too, it’s on backorder at Amazon.
They said it won’t come in until late July.
But, its worth the wait if ordering the Bluray helps out Prodigy.
OMG, one of the Trekyards hosts did a Prodigy live action fan film?? That’s amazing. I only could check out the first few minutes but will watch the rest when I have the time.
But it still hurts knowing what happened to this show, my favorite in the modern era. But I know not everyone loves it (obviously). But it’s so weird to see people saying that this show didn’t feel like ‘real’ Star Trek to them when it feels the most ‘Trek-y’ than all the new shows in a way, but I know everyone sees things differently. I see others saying they want to see the real Janeway and not just an animated version in a kid’s show. I definitely understand that but it’s still great to have her back and who knows in a few years maybe we will get the live action version again. It’s amazing how binary some fans can be at times.
It’s nice to see the outpouring by people who do love it and hopefully we’ll get season 2 somewhere at least.
I completely agree with you that it felt the most like the Star Trek that had come before and I loved Kate Mulgrew’s performance. It didn’t matter to me that it was CGI, it managed to recapture the magic. I literally fought back tears at holo-Janeway’s fate and has the best opening theme and musical score of any Trek series since Voyager. Really hoping we at least get season two, I’d gladly pay directly for those episodes. Really wish Paramount would make the back ten of season one available for purchase on iTunes as well as Star Trek The Animated Series, which turns fifty this year and is the only Trek series not available on iTunes…
And still ZERO WINS from any significant awards program for Lower Decks.
LMFAO
So, how is that relevant to anything?
cause this dude has a one track mind and can only spew his hatred towards one random show on the internet
Sure, I just picked that series at random to dislike. WTF? Random? Seriously? Lol
I am not a fan of Lower Decks, and I have many times stated the reasons here. If you had been paying attention to my criticisms you would know that, whether you agree with them are not, my dislike of the show is not a random factor. That’s just silly and weird to suggest that?
It’s covers Star Trek animated series’, awards programs and wins in those programs. So it’s not like I got way out there in irrelevancy, like, for example, asking if Flogging Molly is still touring.
Nah, my comment had some context to it, on a light thread. Your’s, not so much. Most good animated shows aren’t nominated for an award. Lower Decks hasn’t been nominated for a Pulitzer, the Nobel Peace Prize, won’t win the GOP nomination, or the World Series, either, for other irrelevant comparisons.
Yet TAS WON a freaking Emmy, and Prodigy has multiple major award nominations in just it’s first season. You’d have a good point if there were only two Trek animated series to date, with one being not rewarded, but with 2 out of 3 getting Emmy/TCA Awards and nominations, and the third show getting zilch, then sure, you can draw conclusions from that which are certainly relevant to a Trek animated series awards article.
2 out of 3, dude — it is what it is. And what it is is simply: The industry peers and critics judge Prodigy and TAS to be outstanding projects in their field, but they don’t consider Lower Decks to be worthy of similar consideration.
Don’t shoot the messenger — I don’t vote on these. But I certainly can draw conclusions from the results, and it so happens that they match my judgement of the three series. It doesn’t mean that I’m right, but it certainly points me to being more likely right than not in making a quality comparison of these three animated Trek series.
Prodigy and TAS are big game fish. LDS is a bottom feeder. But it’s all good — all three fish are part of the food chain and have their roles in putting food on the table for all fans!
🙄
LOL, goes to show how out of the times these big studio executives are. I feel like we need to send them like thousands of that Picard face-palming meme. Not everything needs to be just about money.
Rules of acquisition numbers 10 and 45 are the problems here.
They are executives in a for-profit corporation. If everything wasn’t about money they wouldn’t be doing their jobs, sadly.
That they are finishing up post on season two does suggest there may be a new home waiting in the wings somewhere for Prodigy.