Star Trek: Prodigy (animated children's series)

Spear

I've seen the first episode. It's not as bad as I feared, but still seemed pretty generic. Some of the main characters, Dal, Gwyn, Pog, are the cookie cutter stereotypes that I suspected they would be from their character designs. The others aren't though, and appear to be more interesting and varied.

It seems far more in the vein of Star Wars Rebels, and while there's a stready stream of action, there's nothing gory or graphic.

My other observations are slightly spoilery:

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It's unclear where it's set though. Given the Voyager callbacks, I had assumed the delta quadrant. But while there's an explicit delta quadrant race, in the form of the Kazon, there's also multiple alpha quadrant species in the form of a Tellarite and a Caitian.

Despite the hype about the return of Janeway, she barely gets 5 seconds of screen time.

They hint at some longer term mysteries, e.g. hiding the Diviners complete appearance, so I guess the longer story arc is about revealing those.

Overall, it's not terrible, but I'm not impressed by it either.

Slydice

A Two Parter! Yey! Feels Voyagery and Discovery-ey with only the smallest pinch of Lower Decks edgyness.

1 & 2: That was fun! Good intro to the situation.

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So, *shock surprise* a Janeway related story in the Delta Quadrant! That makes sense!

Kazon direction Delta Quadrant does lend to a feeling that this might lean a bit wild-west-ish.

Vau N'Akat (Gwyn) style reminds me a little of the look one of the Wraith race that was in the Stargate Atlantis series... just .. you know.. without the need to suck the life outta people 😀

Looking forward to seeing what they come up with for the Medusan character 🙂

Don't remember clocking that John Noble was involved in the Project

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He's voicing the Diviner

That was a nice surprise!

Who knows where they'll go from here.

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They certainly don't have to go to the Alpha quadrant.. but they could.

AMKC

I just finished watching it. It's not the worst thing I have seen. Definitely could have a been a Star Wars series.

Definitely aimed very much at kids but at least the ship is decent and they have got the weapons on it right. The shields were different but still similar too so I do not mind that.

It even has a bit of humour in it for instance

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Like when the Marussen says

"I am shattered that you think I know what I am doing"

Lol

That will keep me watching it.

corkie

What are a 'Palpatine' & 'General Grievous' lookalikes doing in Star Trek?

Star Trek: Prodigy Debuts And Drops Starfleet Into A Battle Against Star Wars

To keep the Villains in play, I doubt if we will see the ship actually leaving whatever quadrant they are currently in.

Physically the show is set in the Delta Quadrant, but what year is it? The answer is, Prodigy happens in the year 2383; five years after the end of Voyager, roughly a year after the most recent season of Lower Decks, and very close to the earliest flashback in Picard, in 2385. Meaning, Prodigy is wedged into a very specific part of the canon.

https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/star-trek-prodigy-timeline-explained-how-is-janeway-already-a-hologram/

CastorTroy

More Janeway this week.

corkie

Episode 3 ( Star Trek: Prodigy Starstruck ) : - Fun and entertaining episode but kind of stupid (due to intended audience).

Edit: -

How Star Trek: Prodigy Just Challenged Discovery Canon

What does the 24th century know about Discovery? We find some interesting clue in this week's Star Trek: Prodigy.

In the second regular episode of Star Trek: Prodigy — “Starstruck” — the hologram of Janeway briefly shows the crew of the USS Protostar a holographic montage all about the history of the United Federation of Planets. But, the big question is: Why would DISCO be a part of that? Isn’t it classified? Let’s dig in…

Spear

Episode 3 was fairly constricted as the series is still in the 'setup the rest of the show' stage.

But there's one aspect that seems incongruous with the rest of it. There's some specific astronomical terms used, such as binary stars, white dwarf and red giant. A target audience in their early teens isn't too likely to understand these terms, nor realise there's an added risk of a nova occurring. A more optimistic take would be that maybe they're trying to spark some scientific curiousity in young viewers, but I'm inclined to think there's a bit of a disconnect between the writers and the knowledge level of the target demographic.

Slydice

3: Wow!

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This dudes ship looks SO much like the mining ship from Star Trek (2009)

Really enjoyed that episode.

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Definitely showing the aiming at kids with the Janeway hologram going so easy on them. Even the Doctor would've figured them out by now for reels 🙂

Think Gwyn is going to be on a big redemption arc

Dal arc going to be about trust I and friendship I think

And, of course, all topped off with Giacchinos tune! That was real nice at the start. Fit so well.

Stark

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118119927#Comment_118119927

I remember being fascinated by different types of stars at pre-teen age. Would have known what a white dwarf, red giant and supernova were anyway. I'm glad it's not dumbing stuff down or under-estimating its audience just because its audience is young.

Anyway, watched episodes 1-3 and enjoying it so far. More Star Wars than Star Trek so far but still quite decent.

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I liked the reveal that the "robot" was a "Medusan", from the TOS episode "Is there no truth in beauty?".

I'm a little confused as to how it all fits into canon or if it's supposed to. It's set in the Delta quadrant, somewhere between "Lower Decks" and "Picard" in the timeline so the ship must have some sort of transwarp or quantum slipstream drive to have gotten there from Federation space. But there doesn't seem to be evidence of ships having transwarp in "Picard". (In cases of conflict, I'm happy to ditch the "Picard" canon tbh). Also I've counted at least 3 Alpha/Beta quadrant species which implies transwarp/slipstream is in common usage but at least 2 of them have claimed not to know about the Federation which doesn't make sense.

CastorTroy

I know the question is how it got there but I want to know what happened the crew, since I assume there was a crew on board.

AMKC

Must say it is a nice ship. The brig seemed huge and the Captain's quarters too. Surprising considering the ship is quiet small.

You can definitely tell it us aimed at kids but at least it is decent.

Only part I found silly was when Gwyn could hear them celebrating on the bridge from the brig. I doubt it really but its a kids show so I will let it away with it.

Can not wait to see them use the transport on it. I suspect that's a few episodes away yet.

JayRoc

I have to be honest, the first episode did absolutely nothing for me.

I don't mind the fact that it's made for kids but there is absolutely nothing about this show that makes it Star Trek, it's just a generic space cartoon.

I'm not really a huge fan of this style of animation as well; It actually felt like an episode of Clone Wars, perhaps one marketed for a younger audience than usual.

But who cares what I think, it's obviously not aimed at me.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118125988#Comment_118125988

Lol that last bit should be Transwarp not transport lol.

Slydice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118133603#Comment_118133603

Aaaaah. So that's what the engine could be.

Yeah maybe.

Stark

It has to be some kind of transwarp/quantum slipstream otherwise there's no way the ship could make it from Alpha/Beta quadrant to Delta quadrant and back in reasonable time.

AMKC

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118133907#Comment_118133907

Yep that's it. It shows the ship going transwarp or whatever it is in the intro.

Slydice

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118134344#Comment_118134344

Ah yeah, definitely looks like something experimental in the intro sequence for sure!

Was also getting a bit hyped about it.

CastorTroy

https://tvline.com/2021/11/08/star-trek-prodigy-renewed-season-2-paramount-plus/

Renewed for a second season.

And not sure if it was mentioned earlier but looks like it's taking a break after next week's episodes.

The first season is currently releasing new episodes weekly on Thursdays through Nov. 18, after which it will resume with five more installments beginning Thursday, Jan. 6. (The 10-episode second half of Season 1 will unspool at a later date next year.)

Slydice

4: Well.. I guess that makes sense

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This could all be about getting a situation for the kids to come together and maybe get Gywn on board as part of the team.

The planet and the plants had me remembering what I thought was a TNG episode. I think it might have been Shades of Gray. Saying that though, I think it also reminded me of the TOS episode This Side of Paradise.

So anyway.. definitely seeing the Deviner catching up with them now.. might even be part of getting the protostar off the planet.

TheIrishGrover

Is Janeway in it much? Her voice is like nails on a blackboard to me. I can't stand it

Stark

I love Mulgrew's voice so 🤷‍♀️ She's not in it a huge amount. I'd prefer if there was more of her tbh.

Slydice

I'd say she's got a supporting role but not as major as the kids.

CastorTroy

Seeing the ship landed, it doesn't look as big as one of the starships. Did a quick google but is there any word on its size?

corkie

@Slydice

Star Trek Has Always Loved Spores

• “This Side of Paradise.” ~ TOS
• TOS classic “Shore Leave” to
• TNG’s “Justice,”

Above are other episodes with similar tropes.

Evade

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118160257#Comment_118160257

I saw a post where some guy had calculated the size relativve to Janeway's height and he came to not quite as long as Voyager which is 343m.

EDIT: The post if anyone's interested https://www.reddit.com/r/startrek/comments/qsdnm2/how_big_is_the_uss_protostar/

CastorTroy

This week will be the last episode for this year. It returns on 6th January.

CastorTroy

I think someone saw Fellowship of the Ring before making this episode.

AMKC

I must say it was not a bad episode. The runaway was silly and not at cleverly designed but seemed quiet tuff. The ship itself seems quiet strong too. Its definitly a small but very advanced ship. I though ther was some very clever funny lines in it too.

Slydice

1.5: No No Noooooo! I need more!!!

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Don't just end like that! I want to see more Protostar go Proto-Warp!

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118174863#Comment_118174863

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

That was a fun episode!

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So cool to see the Bird of Prey!

So funny with Jankom Pog calling it a Murder Planet! 😁

Such a deep moment watch the Diviner pick the ship instead of Gwyn! Harsh dude, harsh!

It occurred o me that his ship is awful similar to a Borg Octahedron design

CastorTroy

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Well that didn't clear things up around where it's set. Like if it's the Delta quadrant where'd the Bird of Prey come from and how do they know what Klingons are considering they never even saw stars before.