After being removed from Paramount+ in June, Star Trek: Prodigy returned to streaming on Christmas Day via a global re-launch on Netflix. And the animated show appears to be hitting its target audience as it is already showing up on Netflix Top 10 lists around the world.
Top 10 Prodigy
After months of not being available to stream, the first season of Star Trek: Prodigy is back. All 20 episodes are available now on Netflix globally. The show about alien kids who find adventure on a Starfleet ship (with a little help from a hologram of Captain Janeway) debuted strong. After just the first day, it popped into the list of Top 10 Kids TV Shows in the USA at #9. As of today, it has climbed to #6. Prodigy is one of only two recently added shows in the Top 10.
Launching on the biggest streaming service in the world gives Prodigy a chance to find a new audience. The series was designed from the outset to appeal to younger audiences not familiar with the franchise. Elements of Trek lore were introduced gradually over the first season, making it more welcoming and accessible for new fans.
Screenshot from Netflix USA today
Prodigy goes global
The success of the relaunch is not just in the USA. Netflix is streaming Prodigy across the globe, except for Canada (where it is already available via CTV and the CTV app) and the SkyShowtime countries in Europe. Netflix has a larger global reach than Paramount+ so in many markets, viewers are getting their first chance to see Prodigy. According to the tracking site FlixPatrol, on its first day Prodigy also ranked in the Top 10 lists in the UK, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand. UPDATE: Just like the USA, the show is moving up the ranks globally. Today it moved from #9 to #6 in the UK and from #5 to #1 in Germany. It also jumped into the top 10 lists in Australia, Italy, and France.
Screenshot from Netflix Germany today
The second season of Prodigy was completed earlier this month. Netflix will release season 2 in 2024, but they have not yet announced when or if they will be splitting up the season of 20 episodes. The producers of the show have made it clear it is possible for Netflix to order additional seasons. If the show continues to perform well, Prodigy may live on into season 3 and beyond.
Keep up with news about the Star Trek Universe.
If the numbers continue to hold, it’ll look like a stroke of genius letting it go to Netflix.
If the numbers hold it likely means it was also doing well at P+ … and that will force me to wonder if the only reason they ditched it was because they knew Trekkies would stick around for SNW and LDS, and thought they could make more money selling Prodigy than airing it themselves. Curious how much Netflix is paying…
Not sure I’d call that a “stroke of genius” though, unless you’re a corporate bean counter who cheers when billion dollar companies make more money at the expense of consumers, fans, and viewers.
Not sure I understand how this is at the expense of the consumer. Do you mean, because the consumer willingly pays for goods and services provided by the company?
Are you willfully obtuse or just not very smart? Because now fans have to subscribe to two services to get all of newTrek when they previously only needed P+.
Pretty simple stuff, Mr Hawking.
An unnecessarily rude and aggressive reply. I suggest you spend less time making waffles and more time on improving your sadly lacking social skills.
They are welcome to make money off of me. I encourage them to do it.
Me too! 👍
This tells me all I need to know about you. Truly sad.
That goes both ways, fella.
Star Trek as a whole exists only because of people trying to make money off of other people. Whatever high horse you think you’re on, you’re actually in that moment right before Wile E. Coyote discovers he’s run right off the edge of the cliff. Enjoy!
Star Trek has been making money (and lots of it) off its fans since the 70s. There are people out there buying $100+ cast autographs. That’s how fandom rolls.
You mean it isn’t just some sort of state-supported media that is totally free to all citizens…? Like some people apparently expect it to be?
I guess when they are told everything is ‘free’ in the 23rd and 24th century in Star Trek, that should be the case today. Unfortunately Star Trek is fiction for a reason.
I don’t think I agree with that because Netflix just has a much bigger reach. I know only one other person who has P+ in America where as everyone I know has Netflix.
And Netflix has a huge kid’s library. I don’t know if if it’s more kids watching this show on Netflix or just their parents but I don’t care either way, as long as someone is watching it. 😂
But it be great if more kids are actually watching and can be introduced to the legacy characters like Janeway and the older shows at the same time.
Yes this is a great move for Netflix. Not a stroke of genius for Paramount unless it’s only about money, while making the viewing experience worse for fans.
The only way it’s a smart move is if nobody was watching it on P+.
Yeah Paramount may end up regretting letting it go. That said one single low budget cartoon isn’t going to exactly make or break them considering the huge hole they are in right now lol.
If there aren’t distinct subscribers who only paid for P+ because of Prodigy, then they weren’t making money off them compared to licensing the show to Netflix. It’s not ideal to feed a competitor, but they need money and the calculus would be that Trek fans would stay for the other series but this one could be sacrificed (but for a profit). With Paramount needing to cut costs, it was inevitable that they’d test the limits of just how much new Star Trek was enough to keep most of us on the hook.
Maybe not – there might have been fewer young people discovering it on P+.
I doubt that means anything about how many kids are watching – these numbers are being driven by adults. Let’s be honest: putting new Trek on Paramount+ (formerly CBSAA) was the worst way to reach audiences. If it had all been on Netflix, Star Trek might’ve been a cultural phenomenon again. Instead it was all locked away on the worst streamer that no one had.
IMO, if Star Trek had been built with Netflix in mind, Star Trek: Discovery would’ve lasted two seasons, and we’d probably be hearing about a new show sometime in 2028.
Funny thing is, TNG season one and two would have also been it if Netflix had been the platform. Same goes for Voyager and I doubt Enterprise would have made it past season 1
Thank goodness we had UPN and P+ for Star Trek which allowed for both of those shows to go on respectively long runs given their differing mediums.
Great observations, UD-NN. Looking forward to more of the same in 2024.
You can always count on some people to find ways to be negative about positive news.
C’mon, man. Prodigy being watched this much is good for the show. Full stop.
It is good news. He’s not wrong about Discovery though. Season 1 was on Netflix here in the UK. It didn’t fare well.
I genuinely hope the numbers hold for Prodigy because the pilot movie isn’t representative of the rest of the series.
Because Discovery is an awful show that’s why. That’s probably why Netflix had no problem giving the show back to Paramount+ because the ratings were probably dire on that site and it still got cancelled on Paramount + a season later.
Prodigy will hold because the word of mouth for it is stellar and the show only gets stronger as the season goes.
‘Because Discovery is an awful show that’s why. That’s probably why Netflix had no problem giving the show back to Paramount+ because the ratings were probably dire on that site and it still got cancelled on Paramount + a season later.’
That is completely false.
Netflix wanted to keep the show but Paramount wanted to have Discovery releasing on both Paramount+ when they were launching the service in Europe while also keeping it on Netflix but Netflix wanted the show exclusive according to journalists from Deadline and Variety.
So Paramount bought back the international streaming rights for the show and also Discovery was a ratings hit for Paramount+ as reported by Paramount themselves (they also said SNW was a ratings hit too so if you believe that report you have to believe the other one too).
Also the reason that Paramount is ending Discovery at 5 seasons is because they are having major financial trouble that they need to cut costs and since Discovery costed more to make than any other Trek show including SNW and the fact that it was on it’s 5th season too is the reason why.
It’s also the reason why Paramount has cancelled over 3 dozen shows in the past 2 years and a way to cut costs which by the recent reveal that Paramount is still having financial trouble and is looking for some one to buy them shows that their cuts aren’t helping much.
Yeah I know all of that but it still doesn’t prove that the ratings for the show was good lol. I think the ratings were awful for the show or the very least much worse than when the show started in season one. And it can be both bro, the show was costing too much AND less people were simply watching it to keep it around, ie what happened to Enterprise when it got cancelled.
Discovery was probably cancelled for both reasons. I just don’t remotely believe it was some ratings juggernaut when people all over social media were saying they stopped watching it including people here.
As for Netflix it probably did OK at first but I don’t remember a single report anywhere the show was actually a hit and probably why they didn’t care it left since they had so many others they actually owned that were.
I remember Discovery making the Netflix Top Ten when it was being released. Now, obviously I don’t know what that means in actual numbers but people here are hailing Prodigy a success for making the Netflix kids top 10.
Ok that’s fine if true, but that was six years ago! 😂
And do I believe it, of course I do. It was the first Trek show in over a decade. The hype was pent up because Trekkies were already cooling off on JJ verse and A. Wanted a TV show again and B. Wanted to go back to the prime universe. Every Trekkie was going to at least check it out and hoped they liked it. So it’s not a surprise it would be a ratings success at that time. It was literally the only thing around.
But I’m talking about 2023, today. Things have changed. Not only is there more shows on now but many people believe better shows. But I never claimed or said Discovery has always been a failure but I truly believe the last few years more people are hate watching the show than love it. Can I be wrong, of course but everywhere I go online including this site, supposedly the biggest Trek site out there it’s a lot of bitterness and hate for this show. People seem to hate it more today. The irony for me is I like it more now than I did when it started but still hate it! 😄🙄
But you know me well man, I say what’s on my mind and I’m direct about it. There was a small movement to get me banned from Trek Web because how much I put down down Enterprise and JJ verse at the time so I get it lol. People really didn’t like me over there but I’ve calm down a lot these days.
But I never try to shut down anyone’s opinion and I have never had a problem if people disagree with me. And I will be the first to admit I’m wrong or apologize if I gone too far. If someone has a link that says Discovery is the most watched Star Trek show ever made, then link it. I will admit to being wrong, shut up and go back under my bridge! 😁🖖
But I still think Discovery is a horrid show.
I wasn’t talking about 2017. My memory doesn’t go back that far ;-)
I was talking about when Discovery was last running on Netflix, i.e. during season 3 (season 4 wasn’t shown on Netflix anymore).
Ok but you said when it was being released, it sounded like when the show first aired.
And just for fun I went and Googled and nothing came up about Discovery being in any top 10 lists for Netflix. The only top ten lists that keeps coming up are their rewatched Star Trek episodes, ironically back in 2017.
I’m not saying you’re lying obviously and you know how much I respect you. It could’ve been mentioned off hand in an article somewhere so I’ll take your word for it.
As for Prodigy it’s only making the news because it was CANCELLED lol. So it’s great to hear that people are at least tuning into it right now.
But I been saying for months I thought more people would at least give it a chance because Netflix is just a much bigger site and because of all the buzz over the show after it cancelled. I said it to someone in the last thread I had faith more people would at least check it out because how much fans pushed to get it back on the air. So even people who never watched it became more curious about it over all the hoopla.
And even though I turned out to be right I never thought it would land in the top 10. 😂
It never occurred to me. I was just hoping it at least get a bigger audience so we can get more seasons but never thought anything huge. I don’t really know what that means to land in the top 10 kid shows either but it’s certainly not bad so I’ll take it lol.
I still don’t think that many kids are watching the show but mostly adults. Kids just don’t seem interested in Star Trek. But if more are then that’s even better news! And it proves word of mouth has really gotten out that it is a worthy show they should check out! Whatever it takes to get us to a season 3, that’s all I care about! 😉
This is the ONLY list I remember Discovery being in the top 10 list on Netflix, which was the ‘most watched together’, ie watched by families or friends. I remember it so well because it was such an odd list to have (and how do they even know that lol) but it was #4, so hey!
But this was also back in 2017 when the show was first starting. I read you said you were talking about a more current list but I can’t find a more recent one anywhere. Maybe you just confused the date with this one?
Anyway, Trekmovie actually reported on that list I’m talking about here:
https://trekmovie.com/2017/12/12/star-trek-discovery-one-of-netflixs-most-watched-together-toronto-studio-expanding/
Yup.
“Also the reason that Paramount is ending Discovery at 5 seasons is because they are having major financial trouble that they need to cut costs and since Discovery costed more to make than any other Trek show including SNW and the fact that it was on it’s 5th season too is the reason why.”
The irony is I said this very thing over and over again on this board and why I thought DIS would be the first to get cancelled and yet some people kept saying the opposite. ;)
It was a no-brainer this show would be the first to go. Maybe if the ratings were much stronger it could’ve got another season but all that is up for debate.
One last thing i know you hate Discovery for whatever reasons but trying to spread a false narrative that the show was a ratings failure is wrong. I wish Trekkies like yourself would stop posting false information on a show just to fit your narrative of hate.
Thanks for your time and LLAP.
Uh it’s me speculating, we do it all the time on message boards lol. I didn’t provide false information only what I feel probably happened. Hence the word ‘probably’. I never stated it as a fact. People here all the time state a show is either failing or successful based on anecdotal information alone because it’s usually all we have.
You haven’t shown one piece of data that Discovery was a huge hit either but you are saying it was, based on what exactly?
So are you spreading false information too? 🙄
Edit: Wait I miss the part you said Paramount+ said it was a ratings hit. Ok if that’s true then OK I apologize to you. But I never seen such a report. I’m not saying you’re lying. I’ll look for it and if so I will take back what I said about Discovery being a ratings failure.
See I can play fair. 😎
All I can say is I can’t find a single article anywhere that says Discovery is one of Paramount+ biggest shows. I’m not accusing Christoper of lying, but yes a source would be nice.
And in reality when something is really popular on the internet it’s not hard to find because it’s picked up and parroted over and over again by other news articles, message boards, social media, etc. You can find countless articles stating how well shows like SNW, 1883, Bass Reeves and etc has been for Parmount+ (the bigger irony is most of those easily came up when I was doing the search for Discovery) because not only does Paramount+ put it in their press releases, multiple entertainment sites also reported on them.
Discovery has been on that site for four seasons now, if it was a bigger hit, it shouldn’t be this hard to find one source that says it is. I’m just the stating the obvious.
AAAGGGGHH, this is so annoying! I literally made another post that I found an article that proved Christopher was actually right and that Discovery actually was a ratings hit during season 4. I posted the link and everything but for some reason it disappeared here. I’m going to see if it shows up again but I really wish TM just had a better message board. I took some time to post it and now it’s gone.
But if it doesn’t show up again, I will repost it when I get the time I guess.
In my experience, including a weblink is a sure way for a comment to be held back for moderation.
Looks like you’re right because it just showed up! In fact I responded to one your posts using a link and I just realized that one was held back until now, but it’s now posted.
Oh wait a second, it looks like I spoke to soon! I ALWAYS try to be objective and I wanted to see if I could find anything that matches Christopher’s claims and I went and did a more thorough search and this came up:
https://tbivision.com/2021/12/17/star-trek-discovery-named-paramount-most-watched-original/#close-modal
From the article: The show returned for its fourth season this year and took top spot on the originals list, with iCarly – which follows the influencer and her friends as they navigate work, love and family as adults – taking second spot.
Paramount+, which rebranded from CBS All Access, did not reveal how many people had watched the shows or how many hours they had been watched for, but instead broke down its most-watched across numerous other categories.
This is the only source I can find so far, but that proves Christopher was right after all and it was at least the most watched original show when it premiered in 2021. Again, what that means overall I really don’t know because oddly enough it states this show and iCarly as the top two most watched shows in their last seasons and yet they both got cancelled lol. I don’t remotely buy iCarly got cancelled because it was too expensive either. And that show was cancelled after only three seasons, so it’s a huge head scratcher.
But it doesn’t matter, at some point many people were watching the show in droves. Maybe it fell off more by the end of the season since this article was only reporting on the first few episodes and maybe why it got cancelled along with its costs, but that’s solely speculation on my part, so there it is.
Wow look at that, Christopher proved right in the end! ,😀👍
Yep I was wrong, Discovery wasn’t a ratings failure as I thought. I still believe many people probably stopped watching the last season by the end but I can’t prove that.
But thanks for finding this, seriously bro. You have amazing integrity my friend and why you’re so respcted here to go out of your way to be so objective even though you don’t seem to like the show much either.
And I apologize to Christopher for making an assumption that proved false in the end. I really did think it was a ratings loser lol. I have now been corrected! 🙂
Yeah he was right, but I still think the entire story is not told either. I think there are HUGE caveats to some of that, the biggest being Paramount didn’t actually release its numbers in that article. So yeah it can be the top original show at the time, it doesn’t mean it was a high performer either but got strong enough numbers for its premiere.
In fact I remember a year ago a Trek Youtuber looked into the DIS ratings for season 4 from various sources and concluded the show was down by a huge margin compared to the other prior seasons and it had lost a lot of views by the time season 4 ended. I was even thinking about posting it at one point but I didn’t want people yelling at me saying it’s just hate filled YouTuber who hates the show with ‘questionable’ sources and all of that, but his video was…convincing.
But these are nuance conversations. I have been saying since season one of this show I believe DIS has done well but probably never at the expectations CBS wanted when it first aired because to THIS day they have never released its numbers AND to add to that, was when Les Moonves was outright stating he thought the show would hit a certain number in the first year. Not only was it ever revealed if it did hit that number (I can’t remember what it was), it was never brought up again.
And it’s more telling considering they have released numbers for the Taylor Sheridan shows or maybe that was always just part of the Nielsen ratings when P+ was included. I would have to look into that if I cared enough lol.
The point is even in this case, two things can be true. The show could still be a bigger hit on P+ proving Christopher’s point, but still not big enough to keep it around longer. I’m not sure if we’ll ever know one way or the other.
I don’t know about US ratings but DIS definitely lost its international viewers when it was pulled from Netflix. Also, even though P+ has since expanded into some markets outside America I have some doubts whether those new subscriptions could offset the lost licensing fees Netflix no longer pays for the show.
P+ has become a little more transparent about its viewing numbers recently. There is a chance season 5 of DIS will surprise you and a few others here if it actually shows up in the Nielsen Top Ten. I don’t know it that’s going to happen but it could.
Yeah I really do think the biggest mistake Paramount made was when it brought back DIS from Netflix. I think once it lost that deal and P+ isn’t exactly firing globally as expected that helped seal DIS fate faster since it was one of the shows they were hoping to drive subscriptions abroad or why else buy it back in the first place? Again all speculation on my part only of course.
But I think season 5 could do well because it’s the last season. Plenty of shows have actually done better in their final season when a network market it as such and get people tuned in. So I won’t be surprised at all if it hits the top 10. I’m not saying it will just won’t be surprised if it does.
I imagine like Picard, it will be marketed hard making it clear it’s the final season whenever they decide to roll out another trailer.
I have been wondering when P+ will ramp up the promo for DIS season 5. I agree that P+ should market the hell out of it.
And lastly just to prove to you I’m not just saying I think Discovery has less ratings because it sucks (although I do think it really sucks lol) I have ALSO said I thought LDS was not only a ratings failure but I predicted back in season one that show was going to be cancelled…and I love that show. Absolutely love it!
But by some miracle it didn’t. 😂
Then I thought it was getting cancelled in season 2.
Then I definitely thought it was a goner in season 3.
Season 4 was the ONLY time I had faith it was getting renewed because I started to see it was becoming more popular online.
Season 5 I’m split on because with Paramount+ woes and the show being ‘older’ maybe it too will finally be cancelled now as well. But unlike Discovery where I never cared either way I am pulling that it survives one more year. But I’m prepared for fifth season to be it’s last like I was prepared for the last four lol.
So I’m not basing these thoughts solely if I like them or not. I know a lot of people do that here but I don’t. In fact I never thought Discovery was doing bad until season 3. That’s when I thought the show could get cancelled but I was wrong on that too.
You are one polite class act, Mr. 1701. Hope others will be inspired by your example.
May you Live Long and Prosper in 2024.
I can certainly be much more polite at times believe me! 😂
And I’m not here to make people feel bad, I’m just being honest about how I feel over a TV show lol. We all are passionate when it comes to Star Trek. But I know how much he likes the show and I guess he feels like it’s always under attack and he’s not wrong lol. But that’s due to it being a bad show IMO but it’s only MY opinion.
And I have no problem to admitting if I’m wrong about something which I just did.
But thank you for the kind words my friend and I hope 2024 is starting off great for you! 🙂🖖
It’s funny reading this because I have always had the complete opposite view of Lower Decks and thought that it would easily do multiple seasons. I knew we would get a season 2 regardless because the show already had a 2 season renewal before it started (yes, so did Prodigy at the time as well which is why it was all the more shocking how badly it was booted by Paramount+ and why this article even exists ;)).
As for PRO, I did say I was worried that show could be cancelled first, but I just assumed it would happen after season 2 aired at least since they already said it was coming back and it was already being worked on. I just thought they would announce that season as it last or something….but yeah once again here we are.
But as for LDS, to me it seem like it was already very popular and a lot of positive buzz about it by the end of season 2 and it was a cheap enough show to keep around. Of course we don’t know the ratings for it but I always thought it doing well enough for an animated show. Obviously I could be wrong but 5 seasons later clearly I wasn’t lol.
That’s the funny thing, I predicted DIS, PIC and yes PRO could be cancelled (with PIC, more like there wouldn’t be a spin off show) and sadly turned out to be right on all three, but I always assumed both SNW and LDS would be fine…at least for now.
Spot on, totally agree!
‘It is good news. He’s not wrong about Discovery though. Season 1 was on Netflix here in the UK. It didn’t fare well.’
Actually Discovery did great on Netflix in the UK (and most European countries as a matter of fact). I remember many times when the UK Netflix social media account was reporting what shows was in the top ten and when new episodes for Discovery were being released they were almost always in the top 10.
So anyone who says that Discovery didn’t do well on Netflix (and on Paramount+ where it has been one of the most watched shows as well as SNW).
They are either are getting their information from a bad source or trying to forge a false narrative that the show was a failure.
When in fact it was a great success and the only reason it’s ending is because Paramount is cutting costs and they needed to find a way to save money. Which isn’t really working for them since they are looking for another company to buy them.
His comment is lazy and ignorant as well — A total brain fart.
Fact check: everything that you are saying is untrue.
100%
WTF, LOL, seriously? :-))
Hey Einstein, these ratings are tied to their measurement of kids streaming the show. The Netflix Kids Top 10 ratings are specifically tied to kid’s Netflix profiles.
If that is the case then why was SNW constantly hitting the top 10 of original streaming shows?
And some of Pic S3 as well.
However, these inconvenient facts contradict that dude’s pretend Trek worldview.,
Yeah seems that way
I’m talking about a hypothetical where all new Trek existed on a bigger name streamer starting in 2017. In that case maybe it wouldn’t have taken 6 years for Trek to claw its way into the top 10. Granted, early seasons of Disco were in the top 10 as well, but not consistently and not for very long.
Point really is that Trek deserves the broadest possible audience and would be even more popular if it was on the streamer with 250 million subscribers globally vs 60 million.
I’ve had a continuous Netlfix sub since 2011, and it is now the streamer I watch the least. Mainly I use Netflix for standup comedy and that’s about it. It may be the “streaming giant,” but the quality of its scripted shows has seriously declined. The last few years have also shown that Netflix is less about letting a quality show find its footing and grow (think Orange is the New Black) and more about cancelling quality content when it suddenly gets too expensive. Netflix is NOT the platform to grow Star Trek. I am happy Prodigy found a home; I love this show, but Netflix would not have worked to make Trek the “cultural phenomenon” you apparently think it isn’t.
Trek was never on Peacock.
Lol is it really that bad? I don’t have it
It wouldn’t be on Peacock because Comcast is one of Paramount’s direct competitor. It would be like putting DC movies on Disney+.
If I were CEO of Paramount, or whatever it’s called now, I would pull the plug on Paramount+ and go back to licensing the intellectual property and get back into the production business.
Exactly! We would probably get Star Trek Legacy on Netflix no problem because unlike Paramount+ broke ass, it would have the money to make it and a huge reach around the world. That show could be a huge hit on Netflix.
There are millions of Trekkies out there who haven’t seen any of these new shows yet because it’s on a streaming site many can’t get yet or don’t want because they don’t think it’s worth it.
I think if P+ folds it will definitely open the flood gates to licensing deals again and yes that could definitely include Legacy in the future. Again, that’s under the assumption P+ is done for in the next year or two. But if Prodigy does well enough on Netflix to get it future seasons, it could signify a change because frankly Paramount just needs the money and it would get a lot more people to finally check out these shows again. And that includes in America where so many more people just have Netflix.
Why would you do that when you got two Trek series this year who consistently made it into the Top 10, plus similar ratings for the Yellowstone franchise? Makes no sense?
And make no mistake, Netflix is only going to fund series that will generate larger audiences — they would be heartless on greenlighting fan service vanity shows for the older fans, like Legacy for example.
Paramount+ can seriously go fck itself! It short term thinking nearly cost us one of the best shows since Voyager. But to be honest, I think this is just the beginning and in time other Trek shows will end up back on Netflix and other streamers. P+ is a decent service but that’s probably what they should’ve launched with instead of the very under par CBS All Access which was a joke and people barely watched. Now so many big boys have jumped in that it looks like P+ just came way too late and really can’t compete.
I’ve been saying for awhile the classic shows will probably just be licensed again in time and maybe some of the new shows will show up on other sites as well. I don’t predict that to happen anytime soon but it all feels inevitable to me. And Trek will get a much wider audience again.
It will be interesting to see if P+ throws in the towel or keeps trying to compete with Netflix, Amazon and Disney+. I am quite surprised to see that they have grown into the top 5 just below Max (HBO Discovery), but they are far far behind the likes of the big three. If WB Max and P+ merge they will move within close striking distance of Disney+. That said, I am not sure what that would mean for Star Trek. We shall see what happens on the M&A front.
As for the long term impacts and licensing, clearly Prodigy on Netflix is proving P+ is not adverse to considering the licensing model for some of its shows. The size of the subscriber bases for the big three really provide an advantage on reaching a potential audience.
That is what makes the viewing numbers for Picard and SNW so impressive as they both achieved top 10 ratings while on P+, with its paltry subscriber base compared with the likes of Netflix which boasts almost a quarter billion subs.
Yeah I can believe P+ is number 5 in terms of streaming, but that’s also akin to saying UPN was number 5 in terms of network ratings. Sure it doesn’t sound that bad but if the top 3 is way ahead of you in viewers, it’s not going to mean much, especially if you’re just never going to get out of being number 5.
I thought P+ could eventually get a lot more subscribers once they started expanding globally. But from what it sounds like, those numbers have been very soft. And I think a big of that is most of the world can’t afford all these services like places like America and Canada (and we can barely afford them) and the content is probably pretty soft in a lot of the world. And yeah, we all know Star Trek is not very big outside of western countries so that’s not going to make or break the service either in terms of subscribers globally.
I think it just makes sense at this point they start licensing their bigger IPs more because in the end it sounds like they just make way more money that way. MAX certainly seems to believe that because all their DC movies are now on Netflix. Disney has now licensed their shows and movies on other streamers. Now of the big stuff yet like Marvel or Star Wars but I wouldn’t be shocked those ended up back on third party streamers at some point.
I know none of them seems ready to license new content yet since they need SOME advantage of course and yes it helps to draw the ratings like PIC and SNW did, so I don’t see that happening anytime soon. But the older stuff seems inevitable to me.
Prodigy was obviously a fluke, but I do think it opens the door, at least a little, especially if if it’s really successful.
Oh and Happy New Years dude! :)
CBS All Access was such a horrible service. I think the tag line should’ve been ‘CBS All Access isn’t your father’s streaming service, it’s actually your grandfather’s streaming service because it has all the cool hip shows that appeals to anyone over 60 and we guarantee they will be asleep by 9:00 after 60 Minutes ends.’
They should definitely put TOS-ENT back on Netflix and the other streaming services because so few people have P+ the only people who watches them are now the same old fans watching all the new shows. If you want to capture newer audiences then it should be on bigger sites where they already are.
LOL! All Access did feel like a lot of CBS audience, mostly for older white guys or FOX news channel viewers without the conservative craziness.
I really hope this keeps up, allowing it to find a new audience, and it gets a 3rd season, and possibly beyond. This show is so good, it doesn’t deserve to be short-lived like it was on Paramount+.
Exactly, it’s just a great show and deserves way more attention. This may work out better than even Netflix thought it could since the fans and hopefully NEW fans have showed up for it. So fingers crossed.
Spot on! Couldn’t agree more or disagree less.
Prodigy deserves a long and bright future.
Happy to see it succeed, although I don’t like that Star Trek isn’t isolated to one streaming service anymore. Not going to pay for Netflix again. Prodigy is about all I would wish for from a Star Trek series targeted to kids. It’s great!
So you don’t join some services for one or two months a year, binge watch, and then move on? That’s what I do.
I haven’t really had reason to do that with Netflix since I cancelled my regular subscription to it several years ago. I suppose when Season 2 is fully released, I’ll do exactly that though, so you raise a good point. It’s going to be a pain to play this game of musical chairs for Star Trek though.
I re-screened the pilot yesterday, which was as far as I’d gotten before, based on how many people here really seem to love the show. It’s beautifully rendered, but I’m still not feeling it story-wise, with its tone very much that of a children’s show. But I’ll continue to watch.
Most people say it becomes amazing Trek, it just takes the first five episodes to get the crew together under Janeway’s training. Keep watching until Kobayashi onwards and it’s amazing.
For awhile it does exactly that, but then it loses its way slightly with the live Janeway and Chakotay fan service…but it has tons of potential to go for years if the get back to the original concept more for their pitch to Netflix to fund a season 3.
That was my understanding. I’ll keep at it, never fear, appreciative as I am to have the opportunity after Paramount + dropped it.
I think the show just gets stronger and stronger until the very end. It’s why I love it so much along with LDS.
I enjoy it. With that said, I don’t mind watching kid’s cartoons from time to time. It ultimately is just that–a kid’s show. Doesn’t mean it can’t still be a faithful interpretation of Star Trek for its target audience with a positive Star Trek message, but it’s just not for everyone–including most adults.
I hear you, but compared to the other animated series, it’s an honest show that isn’t loud, obnoxious and full of gimmicks. It’s pure Star Trek, not a middle school level humor sitcom.
Personally, I enjoy Lower Decks more actually. I like that it has humor and is more adult-oriented. There has been some surprisingly deep character development and overall it “fulfills the brief” in my book. I have pretty eclectic tastes though.
The Pixar films at their best (which I would favorably compare “Prodigy” to on a technical level, as it’s just gorgeous to look at) can be enjoyed by both children and adults, as the themes are universal. Where I’m not getting it so far is the storytelling, but we’ll see how it goes.
Not being a big fan of animated shows, initially I was not overly impressed with Prodigy, but the music and “gorgeous” space animation did keep me watching… and after watching 6+ shows it had me hooked. Give it a few more episodes and MAYBE it will do the same for you too.
The storytelling does get better. There’s an episode that features each main character’s backstory that I strongly recall with favor.
Michael, we always given our opinions to each other quite a bit over the years and I always love reading your thoughts on all the current and past Star Trek fare.
Of course I know you have issues with some of the current shows and movies but I implore you to keep watching this show! Yes it gets better, much better. You still may not like it in the end but please continue to watch at least the first ten episodes. Just get to the halfway mark and if you’re not won over by then, fair enough. I personally think this show is a absolute gem, especially after rewatching the first half again on Netflix. It was a great reminder why I love it so much! So I’m hoping now that it has a second chance, that fans like you who never watched it will also give it a second chance because it really deserves it IMHO.
Just finished watching #12, which I thought was pretty good. No question that the quality of the storytelling has gotten better as the series goes along, and I continue to be wowed by the quality of the animation and production design. (On a purely visual level, I’d much rather see a live action series set on the Protostar than the Enterprise-G.). Still, at the end of the day this is a show pitched at children, and the target demographic and the 22-minute runtime really makes it difficult for the drama to carry much weight, a limitation that plagued TAS as well back in the day. I’ll definitely continue to watch, as I’m certainly enjoying the experience, but now that I’m in pretty deep, can you clue me in specifically as to why you and others here love it so much?
The character arcs and growth. Lots of folks really like what comes up in the next few episodes.
OK, Michael you asked for it, so buckle up! ;D
I’m going to break down precisely why I love this show so much and why it’s my favorite out of all the current shows. I feel even stronger now after just finishing rewatching the first season this week.
A. It’s serialization: This is actually one of the best things about the show, just how amazing it tells it’s story and how tight the plot is. Remember how people felt after the first seasons of Picard and Discovery? How the story felt so rushed or half done by the time we got to the end? How there were soooo many questions people still had, especially for Picard. How some things just felt they threw random things in at the last minute and so on? NONE of that happens with Prodigy. The story is laid out extremely well. Everything falls completely in place by the end. Every single question you have is satisfactorily answered by the time it ends. You notice no one is asking what happened to so and so or how were they able to stop stop that plot device or why this story line don’t make any sense. Again the show made for eight year olds has a better plotted and laid out story.
B. Characters: I think out of all the new shows, I fell in love with these characters the fastest because they were all so well written out of the gate. Maybe because it’s a kid’s show they had to make it clear and identify how different and unique each one was but all their personalities flew out of that first episode. You got a sense of who each of them were and they all had so much heart, Rok and Zero at the top of that list. Jankom is actually my favorite, I laugh every time he opens his mouth. I see others didn’t like Dal in the beginning but I did. He was slightly annoying at first but he was also one of the most conflicted out of the bunch. Oh yeah, I also liked they had a rough life (at least recently) but they didn’t dwell on it. They were mostly good kids who got a bad break but still tried to be good people. And it didn’t turn into a melodrama, ie, Discovery.
C. The villain: Yes he should just be included in the first category but I separated him because I liked the Diviner’s motives and everything he did actually felt true to the character. I, like a lot of fans, is just so tired of the evil villain who wants to take down the Federation over and over again. This idea didn’t start in NuTrek but that is where it has been done to an exhausted level, first the Kelvin movies and now every show seems to have one at least one season. I really didn’t think I was going to like him but I loved the back story they gave him. It’s sad a show for 8 years olds have a more nuance villain than so many of the adult shows and movies do. He’s fighting to keep his planet whole and I liked that he originally fought to keep the Federation around but ultimately decided it just wasn’t worth it. And I loved in the finale. And it goes to my next one.
D. The reveals: One I love about this show is I can honestly say how they set up the twist and turns are great because A. I didn’t see any of them coming and B. they all make logical sense to the story. I know you are still watching so no spoilers (although I feel like you know the entire season already lol) but where did Dal came from, Why do none of the characters know about the Federation although they are Alpha quadrant species? What happened to Chakotay and so on. I didn’t see any of it coming but I didn’t roll my eyes when I did hear like the way I did when we learned a Kelpian was responsible for the Burn or Tyler was really Voq and so on. That’s the problem with DIS for me, they try too hard to go left field with the twists to shock you instead of just trying to tell a good story.
Oh my god, I have ranted lol. OK, consider this the end of part 1. There is still more. ;)
Thanks for the very thoughtful reply. I completed my own watch on New Year’s Day, but will withhold my own comments until you’ve finished with yours. At the very least, there will be lots to talk about. 🖖
No problem dude! :)
And you know I just love to rant. BTW, I actually posted the second part like an hour later, but it was stuck in purgatory for some reason but I see it’s posted again.
If and when you read it, I would love to hear your thoughts. But as I made clear in part 2, I’m only saying why I think it’s a great show for me. No one has to care about any of my points lol.
OK, where was I??? Let’s get to work!
E. Legacy Characters: I know people moaning about too many legacy characters in NuTrek is a big talking point (looking at you Emily lol) but what’s funny is Prodigy has easily done it the best out of all the current shows. For starters, all the moaning about it, Prodigy has had the fewest characters so far. We had 20 episodes, out of those 20, how many showed up? Four. That’s right, FOUR!! I don’t count the holodeck episode, I mean real characters. Now how many showed up in DIS first 20 episodes? Seven. Picard had nine it’s first two seasons (but yeah season 3 went nuts lol). LDS actually only had around seven it’s first two seasons IIRC. SNW has had, drum roll please, 14 legacy characters in the first 20 episodes lol. That’s insane. Janeway is really the only true legacy character that’s even part of the show in season one. Chakotay has maybe 3 minutes of screen time in 3 (out of 20) episodes. Okona and Admiral Jerrico showed up in two episodes each. But it’s sooooo many VOY characters how can the kids keep up? Give me a fcking break!
F. Exploring Star Trek concepts: Now this is common in basically all the shows obviously and I’m talking about stuff like meeting aliens, holodeck stories, time travel, etc. Again, what I loved about this show is they tried to explore ALL of them in this season. I loved one episode we’re getting a first contact story, the next a whacky holodeck story, another a time anomaly story, then a Borg story, an Augment story and on and on. It was giving us what classic Star Trek did all the time, but all of it wrapped up in the bigger story. Again for new viewers, they got a real taste of how diverse story lines can get in Star Trek week to week. We even got a court room story line squeezed in, one of my favorites.
F. Its subtext narrative: This is truly the genius of the show IMO. Why I don’t think Prodigy gets the praise that it should.When they announced the show and said that the show would be a way for new viewers to learn about about the Star Trek universe, I didn’t really think it would set things up the way they did to literally learn about Star Trek so directly. The symbolism in all of it is pretty surreal. What they did is make the kid characters on the show as stand ins for the kid viewers watching the show. The characters obviously knew nothing about the Federation or what it was. And they brilliantly set the show back in the Delta quadrant where the Federation doesn’t exist. But then episode after episode as they get closer to Federation space the kids on the show (and at home) are learning about things like first contacts, Kobiyashi Maru, surveying a planet, encountering hostile aliens, answering distress calls etc. But as the show gets closer to Federation space you start to see more familiar elements of Star Trek we know and love like more Alpha quadrant aliens like the Romulans, Starfleet space stations and ships, Starfleet officers, etc. It’s fitting the finale literally ends at Starfleet headquarters.
And I love the symbolism of holographic and Admiral Janeway. Holo Janeway was there to introduce both the kids at home and on the show what it means to be a Starfleet officer in season one. Now Admiral Janeway will teach them to actually be a Starfleet officer in season two. That’s where season 2 is going and season 1 set it up so beautifully from kids whose never heard of Starfleet to becoming Starfleet leaders themselves in the future.
G. It’s optimism: This is what really drives the show and the heart of what Star Trek is. These kids start out lost and aimless with little hope for the future. Once they find the Protostar and Holo Janeway appears, they are now given hope for something better. That was the entire message of season one, make it to the Federation and you can achieve your dreams. Yeah it sounds corny but that’s what Star Trek always preached. And again what the show constantly reminded us. And it always reminded us why Trek values are so important and was instilled in all the characters by the end. And it was Janeway who reminded Starfleet that in the final episode.
OK, I actually had a few more but I droned on long enough lol. Now to make this clear, I’m not telling anyone this is why they should like the show, I’m only saying this is why **I*** like it only.
This is great great GREAT news!
GOOOOO PRODIGY!!!
Everybody been getting the word out all over social media and fans are coming through big time. Not only did its cancellation give it more buzz than it ever did lol, it’s finally on a real streaming site that can reach almost everyone in America and around the world! I had faith this show was going to be a hit on Netflix but I didn’t think this much of a hit. 😂
This is the best Christmas present we can get as fans. If season 2 is just half this strong we are easily getting a season 3 now!!! 😄👍
I’m going to binge the entire season on Netflix today and I can’t wait!
I hope you’re right! Netflix does worry me though because they have developed a reputation for canceling critically acclaimed or popular shows after just a few seasons. I remain optimistic though as Star Trek is ultimately Paramount’s commodity, so Netflix can’t simply cancel it to produce the next hot Star Trek series. Really good news, however, a late Christmas present as you say!
Always great to see you my friend! 😀
And you’re right, Netflix has gained a horrible reputation cancelling shows fast. But I think this is different being part of a big IP and people have been pointing out how well the other Hageman brothers shows have done there. Why probably it should’ve been there on day one.
Someone else mentioned how much Netflix always wanted Star Trek and now they have their first Trek show in America again. So this is all good news for Prodigy.
I want this show to go for years, but if we just get a season 3 out of it I’m going to chalk it up to a win lol.
“Someone else mentioned how much Netflix always wanted Star Trek and now they have their first Trek show in America again. So this is all good news for Prodigy.”
I’m not sure if this is referring to me, but I said something similar in the last thread. And yes, it’s very true. They wanted to license Star Trek to make a show themselves along with Amazon. Les Moonves confirmed it himself.
That’s the irony about all of this, the only reason these new shows existed today and on a streaming site because CBS saw how strongly the classic shows were doing in places like Netflix and Amazon back in 2010. Putting them on those sites gave those shows a second life for, excuse me, the next generation and we have kind of come full circle now.
And we know how strong VOY was doing on Netflix, at least in America when it was still on it. Maybe having Janeway back again can duplicate that success lol. So I’m really hoping if Prodigy does well then it will open the door again to more Star Trek on that site, especially if P+ ultimately tanks. This next year will be interesting for both Prodigy and probably the future of Star Trek in general (did that sound dramatic enough ;)).
That was probably you, I just couldn’t remember who said it and was too lazy to look. 😁
I didn’t know Netflix wanted to make a Trek show before. Interesting. I’m not sure if it would’ve been better or worse but I would’ve been curious to see what they came up with. I have a feeling though we may not have ever gotten a LDS! 😂
LOL, thought so!
Yeah, they both wanted a Trek show. And because as said, they saw how well the old shows performed. I bet you if they all could have, they would’ve all kept the classic shows and make at least one Trek show. I don’t know if the shows would’ve been better or worse either but it proves Trek is a valuable franchise, it just doesn’t bring in the kind of hype or views as the bigger IPs, but still a solid one.
Thanks, you too! I appreciate your love for the show and sharing your perspective. I’m not familiar with the other Hageman brothers shows, so that’s certainly encouraging to hear!
Of course, I always love talking to you!
And the stuff I hate I usually really hate but the stuff I love I truly love and that obviously includes this show.
And it proves I’m not looking to be a NuTrek hater, I wanted to love every show and movie since 2009. But it’s amazing it wasn’t until the cartoons showed up I became a lover of modern Trek. If you had ask me before they both came out, I thought I was going to be pretty down on them for different reasons. Turned out not to be the case thankfully.
I love Prodigy and will get Netflix to catch up on it! Hated Discovery and the first two seasons of Picard. Great casts but garbage writing, both dialogue and plotting. Thank goodness for Prodigy and the third season of Picard! They are the bright spots and I’m very grateful for them.
Totally agree! Thought Picard truly sucked the first two seasons but season 3 brought me back to why I loved both TNG and those characters so much. I still think Discovery is royally bad but I’m going to stay open minded for season 5. But if that one sucks too than good riddance.
Prodigy though made me a fan from the start. I didn’t love it out of the gate because I originally hated Dal but truly loved everything else. But he grew on me by episode 10 and the show got even better when Admiral Janeway showed up.
I thought I was going to be a NuTrek hater for life after the really bad JJ verse movies, Discovery and Picard. But Star Trek has finally come back to the elements and type of story telling that made me a fan in the first place thanks to shows like Prodigy.
I really hated Dal too at the beginning. He was such a little <expletive that starts with F>. But then I realized that he was actually just being a teenage boy, albeit quite immature. He also became less annoying and grew as a character. Can’t fault him for being pretty much what he’s supposed to be at that age.
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Totally. I really hated him in the beginning and was hoping someone just push him out of an airlock. He just came off way too cocky and arrogant.
But by episode 6 which dealt with the Kobiyashi Maru and how he dealt with it that’s when I caught on this was basically part of his arc and that he was still a kid who needed to learn a few things like every teenager.
That’s when I myself realized this show was going to be awesome!
Not that I speak for anyone but i’ve found that to be the general consensus among ppl I have spoken with. And I agree as well.
The first two season of DSC were actually the best. The problem was that the creators then made the number one mistake you can make in a franchise — they listened to a subset of older, but very “loud” Trek fans on the internet, and then we got a watered down DSC after that, and the show has never been as great as those first two seasons because of that. But at least we have two spinoff shows from it to treasure — SNW and the Academy series…plus, the S31 movie. It’s become like the Law and Order of Star Trek — it’s spinoffs have set the table for the next decade of the franchise.
Picard S3 for me checked the box for TNG reunions and closeout sentimentality, but degraded into a Star Wars-like storytelling mess that bared no resemblance to TNG’s focus on a professional crew solving great problems to prevent wars — with no need for space opera. And the budget special effects were unfortunately very noticeable. Pic S1 to me was the highpoint — that was classic thinking man’s TNG, with gravitas and big issues to think about. Pic S2 was just horrible though, so I would rate S3 above S2. But S1 is far better than the two other seasons in my book.
I agree that while trying to make DIS more Trek-like (which they mostly succeeded at) over the course of seasons 2-4, they also rounded off the more interesting corners of their characters. But in those seasons they also had plot/character/mood problems big enough to drive a starship through. I remain optimistic for season 5, but the one clip released of Book and Michael fighting cloaking creatures reminded me of all the elements of DIS that I don’t like.
As for PIC, I agree that parts of season 1 (mostly the first half) were some really good “contemplative” Trek – which is what Kurtzman had promised originally (which he compared to the “bullet” of Discovery). But they lost their way by, according to their own confession, in not actually determining the direction/ending of their story until too late. The second half of season 1 stumbled into a bad ending and dropped or failed to explore interesting threads like Seven and the lure of being the Queen of the Borg, killing off Hugh, doing anything interesting with Elnor, or mistakenly tying in Rios’s past to the main android plot (small universe syndrome), or shoehorning in Picard’s illness and death with clearly no real intention to explore it further than the Checkhov’s Golem.
PIC season 3, though it did much better with character and story, was not great in the execution of its serialized arc. Switching villains midstream, totally sidelining the Changelings, and the obviously more limited budget hurt the show a little but it was still miles better than most of what had come before in late season 1 and in 2.
I thought every season of Discovery sucked. 🙄
But if I had to pick a ‘favorite’ it would actually be season 3 for me because I did like the time jump. But it’s still Discovery so they squandered that too.
Season 1 and Season 3 were so different it is hard to compare. I agree on Season 2. It pains me to say since I love the character of Picard, but it is probably my least favorite season of ANY Star Trek series. Just TERRIBLE. They could have done a lot more social commentary and that might have helped it but the social commentary they did (if there was any really?) was extremely half-baked.
I really enjoyed Season 1 and 3 though and would HAPPILY sit down for a rewatch of those in the future.
Star Trek Prodigy leaving Paramount Plus ends up being the best thing to ever happen and it’s now Top 10 in Netflix. Netflix could see Star Trek Prodigy as their answer to Star Wars Clone Wars. Hopefully this will mean a 3rd season.
BUT WAIT, several of the “expert commentators” here just insisted in last Prodigy article that the show would not do well with the Netflix kids market and was meant for older Star Trek fans — and because kids wouldn’t watch it in numbers, the show needed the reliance on VOY fan service to just maintain it’s audience, and hope for the best regarding a season three order.
WHOOPS !!! LOL. :-)
This 100% validates exactly what I was saying — that the focus of Prodigy needs to be on the kids audience, not the older Star Trek fans, and therefore the kids adventures should take predominance over the VOY fan service, since you typical 10-year-old who mom and dad allows (with some supervision) to pick their shows on Netflix could give a rat’s ass about Chakotey or the non-Hologram live Janeway.
The show seems to be doing just fine as it is, I trust the writers.
I agree though, it is funny how all of the people proclaiming it would be a failure on Netflix have all disappeared.
I agree though, it is funny how all of the people proclaiming it would be a failure on Netflix have all disappeared.
Yep, just classic!
Hey, I made some comments about that issue….oh.
I remember that your argument was that Prodigy should drop the supposed “show-killing” elements of Voyager fan-service. But now you say that 10-year-olds don’t care about Voyager stuff. And by the viewership figures, those elements don’t seem to be hurting the kid viewership at all.
On the other hand, those Voyager fan-service elements do have a lot of draw with older Trek viewers, so I still contend that it would be detrimental to the show overall to remove them. Why would you get rid of elements of the show that a large segment of the potential audience might have a strong connection to? Those VOY ties can only help the show with the wider audience metrics and thus help PRO get a potential extension on Netflix.
I do agree that the kid adventure should be “predominant” over the VOY elements. That is only logical for a kids show meant to bring in new audiences. And I would argue that is how the show has operated all along.
I wonder what the actual breakdown in screentime for the Chakotay storyline actually is. I would be surprised if there were more than 22 minutes in the entire ~440 minutes of show that actually focus on the Chakotay story. Most of the screentime that involves Admiral Janeway has been consumed with tracking down the ship and the “thieves” which, yes it’s part of the Chakotay story, but doesn’t rely on it. It could be any Admiral searching for the lost ship and crew for all the impact it has on the majority of the Prodigy storyline. Chakotay gets all of about 3 lines in the whole first season, and Adm Janeway gets maybe 1 or 2 emotional scenes to play out to ground her mission. The vast majority of the show is the kid’s story. [At least, this is my impression after having watched the season only twice and with no real dedicated analysis of the story breakdowns, so I might be wrong.]
They said in season 2 we’re going to get other legacy characters outside of VOY so I’m excited to see who that is! We will probably see a little more of Chakotay next season but I don’t expect a huge role outside of whenever he gets saved.
This show isn’t really a sequel to VOY so much as it’s being used as a gateway to the bigger Star Trek universe and why it was so smart to do. We did see other elements of past shows like TOS and TNG as well. And it sounds like there will be an episode in season 2 that will encompass all the past shows somehow according to Aaron Walkte. So I’m hoping now that it’s on Netflix and if it will pull in more kids, it will influence them to watch the other shows in the future, which was the point, not just VOY alone. It was suppose to introduce new fans to characters of the Star Trek universe, so yeah. Isn’t that what ALL these new movies and shows do now?
Anyways, I’m just excited to see the Doctor next season and be on the Voyager A!!!
Yay!
The Doctor is going to be AWESOME! 😎🖖
I hope we get Tom and B’Elanna back this season too even for just an episode, but I’m open to any legacy characters showing up, not just VOY obviously.
Of course the show has to be about the Protostar kids first and the writers on this show are amazing so I don’t have any doubts about that.
But I’m just happy more new fans will be introduced to Janeway and others for the first time keeping that legacy going while introducing new characters too. 😄👍
With SNW, Picard season 3 and now Prodigy NuTrek is finally starting to feel like old Tek again. 😂
It’s hard to believe Janeway has been around for 28 years now!!! She was my first Captain. It’s amazing but man I feel so old. 😥
Agreed!
Ooh, I hadn’t heard about connections to more Trek for season 2. That has me more intrigued!
Yeah me too. It sounds like season one was just the icing on the cake in terms of its connection to the other legacy shows and season 2 we will probably get the cake this time. ;)
It really does sound like we’re going to get another recurring legacy character outside the Doctor as well. Someone said it best but this show could be The Clone Wars of Star Trek.
Everything we’ve heard about season 2 has me even more excited than I was already. With a show like this, which wants to balance the appeal to Trekkie audience and newcomers, leaning into that stuff too much could be pretty risky, but season 1 has shown that these writers know what they’re doing in that regard, so I say bring it on.
Hopefully by the time Prodigy is over all the 10 year olds will have fallen completely in love with Janeway just like many 10 year olds did back in the 90s! 😎
I admire your spin doctor recovery here given you were way off with your comments concerning the importance of the kids audience just 4 days ago with the last Prodigy article…given now this new article’s information has proven my point (which you were in denial on) 100% correct in that the kids audience needs to be predominant on Netflix in order to get a season 3 order.
Concerning your other comments here, they already have hologram Janeway as a central character for the story. That’s enough given the show is designed to bring kids into Star Trek today. There is really no need for more legacy characters, and certainly no need to double up on Janeway and include Chakotay, lol, who I think the majority of fans already yawn over. That’s just not needed and dilutes the whole point of the show, and it’s core audience of kids doesn’t need those older fan service legacy characters. And I think this is really important for the pitch to Netflix for S3 — if they brief the suits that they are continuing with live Janeway and Chakotay, bringing in the Doctor, having some other legacy characters show up — well I think that is very risky given those suits are going to be looking at the demographic audience stats — and probably wondering, “what the F is up with all this legacy stuff from characters from nearly 30 years ago on this fresh Trek kids show?”
Well, I can’t agree about any “spin doctor” comments. I think all of mine have been very straightforward. VOY elements are helpful for viewing numbers for PRO. Period. Nothing in these new articles or viewership numbers refutes that, and the show being a success “even” with them refutes your “show killing” claim.
And I don’t agree that the larger VOY elements should be dropped to only focus on the kids story. I think the mix is just fine right now, and having those ties to older Trek is good in two different ways: (1) getting older Trek viewers to watch – more eyeballs period is good for the show – is important even if this is a kid-focused show and will support renewal, and (2) after kids get interested in PRO these ties to older Trek will be threads they follow to start watching the older series. Point 2 doesn’t matter much to Netflix directly, but it could encourage new viewers’ dedication to Trek in general and PRO in particular.
Yeah it’s very simple, Janeway is there the same reason every legacy character has been showing up since 2009 and that is to capture both old and new fans. I don’t know how this gets missed, but all these shows takes place in the same universe that has been around since 1966 which obviously Prodigy does as well for a very big reason; because they want to keep using those characters and stories to capture new fans.
Yes the legacy characters are there to initially keep the old fans interested, but they also want new fans to fall in love with the legacy characters as well. The producers have all but said this multiple times. Janeway is meant to be a bigger beacon to get kids and new viewers into the larger Star Trek universe because she is a very old and iconic character in the fanbase and hope that they will gravitate to her in time just like people did when VOY originally started. The hope is probably to duplicate that again.
She is just as important to Prodigy as the new characters are because she’s the one that represents the Star Trek universe as a whole to both the new characters and new fans watching. If they didn’t want new viewers to care about legacy characters then they could’ve put the show in its own universe or pulled a DIS and had the show take place in the 36th century or something.
As far as Netflix, they only care people are watching. And at the moment, apparently they are a lot!
Well.. this is just AWESOME!
Yes my friend completely awesome!!! 😀👍
I love it when Trek gets the recognition it deserves!
Yep so do I!
Prodigy deserves every bit it’s getting right now, especially if it’s bringing in new fans too thanks to Netflix!
Agreed. Tremendous news!
Heck yes this is awesome!!!
You said it man, glorious news!!! :)
OMG, this is AMAZING! I’m about to watch the first episode and binge the first half when I decided to check out TM first to see this great news! I have a huge smile on my face right now. To see this show get such a huge response its first day on Netflix from fans around the world is definitely a great Christmas gift. And I have to admit for being totally wrong because I remember writing this on Reddit and I think here that launching this show on Christmas day could be a huge mistake. I just thought it would get lost in the clutter of the holiday but it did the complete opposite and so happy to be wrong lol. I think word of mouth has really got people enthusiastic about this show and I’m hoping more kids are watching it as well!
But you have to thank the fans. They have been coming through since the day we all heard it was cancelled. You can see how wide and spread the word was spreading to keep this show alive and wow this is impressive. Now I’m not going to jump the gun and say the show is going to get 5 seasons or anything, but it looks like Admiral Janeway and the kids have a much brighter future at the moment. I’m so excited for all the possibilities. Bring on season 2 and most likely season 3 now! :)
OK, time to do my part and start my viewing. So excited to see this great show again!
Yeah, the fact that Prodigy is finding success on Netflix is great news and P+ is proving it is still open to licensing some of its shows.
Unfortunately, after signing up for Netfix way back in the late 2000s, I dropped it a few years ago as their library started to really get pretty thin up here in Canada while other streaming alternatives started popping up. Maybe I will binge watch on Netflix when S2 arrives. We shall see. Regardless, it is great to see Prodigy is taking advantage of the massive Netflix subscriber base.
I don’t care
No one cares you don’t care. ;)
Yeah, I’m with you on this Tiger, but A34 probably doesn’t care that we don’t care that he doesn’t care.
“I don’t care,” he said, after reading an article, logging in and typing his message to a forum, hoping others would see.
logging in?
C’mon now, Whatever — everyone logs in. Time for you to learn the modern catch phrases.
Awesome i hope it does well enough to continue for a few more seasons as Prodigy is my 2nd favorite of the modern Trek shows.
Star Trek does well on Netflix i remember when Discovery was on Netflix it was always in the top 10 in most countries when new episodes aired.
Again i hope the future is bright for Star Trek Prodigy.
Personally I’d like to see SNW on Netflix as well. It’s already a popular show despite being confined to Paramount+, but Netflix would take the audience to a much greater level.
Prodigy and Lower Decks are the only two Star Trek shows I watch. My new rule, no prequels, just post-nemesis star trek shows in the 24th or 25th centuries. The prequels don’t work for me. Since Legacy probably won’t happen, I hope Prodigy will get a S3.
Discovery isn’t a prequel anymore. The Academy show will also probably be post-Nemesis.
I’m going to finish Disco. I’ve been with it since its launch. I’m going to pass on SFA. I’m already watching two YA Star Trek. I’m not interested in a third.
Yeah bro I don’t really like prequels either, a big reason why I never cared much about Enterprise, the Kelvin movies and Discovery. They could’ve all been tossed in a dumpster and I would’ve never looked back. I really only care about post Nemesis stuff today.
Now my views on some of it changed, mostly with Enterprise but that took a loooong time lol. And I thought Beyond was decent but still don’t really care about it either.
I will say SNW is the first prequel I like and care about though because it is a great show IMO. But if I had to choose between it and LDS or Prodigy I would still choose those because I really just want to keep going forward and not backwards.
But there is enough Star Trek to do both so I’m OK with it. I think it bothered a lot of fans when they just kept making tired prequels when so many fans wanted to go forward again since Voyager ended. It was a very frustrating time for a lot of us. 🙄
I had to walk away from SNW. I don’t like the direction it was going. I love the cast but the writing made my blood boil, so I knew it was time to depart.
I recently discovered For All Mankind and I love it. It has the Stsr Trek spirit and it does feel like a prequel to Trek. I’m only in S2 so I’ll see if I still feel the same way by the time I catch up to S4.
I’m in for more post nemesis/24th and 25th century Star Trek though.
I hear you. I do really like SNW but it’s no TNG or even VOY for me. But it’s fun and light and unlike Discovery and Picard, they actually explore.
But yeah For All Mankind is on another level! I watched the first 3 seasons last year and I’m waiting for season 4 to end to binge it. That’s hard sci fi and so well written. I kind of imagine it as an Enterprise prequel lol.
I had no interest in it until I heard Ron Moore made it then I knew it was going to be excellent. You’re going to love season 3.
Sometimes I really wish he was back making Star Trek again. I really love Mike McMahon, Terry Matalas and the Hageman brothers but Ron Moore is still one of the great ones… when you don’t count Generations. 😂😥
I definitely want more 25th century Trek too, but we have to be patient. 😎
Paramount+ said they ditched Prodigy ‘for data driven reasons’ as in it cost more to produce than they got in viewership returns. They didn’t promote ST: Prodigy well, even on the Paramount+ platform. They don’t have the reach Netflix does. Netflix is making bank because they made a big deal out of getting Star Trek: Prodigy and there is a 3rd season planned. Paramount goofed.