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Star Trek : Prodigy has floored me

Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,284
I just finished season 1 on Netflix and I am in absolute awe. When I started this series I thought it was just ok. A little Clone Wars-esque with typical kids cartoon characters. Lots of overacting and over emoting. Characters screaming stuff like "Oh this is gonna hurt!" A sassy, annoying teen lead. But there was a little bit of Star Trek window dressing so I was willing to stick with it.

Little by little, each episode slowly introduces the characters to the basics of Star Trek lore. The Federation. Transporters. The Holodeck. First Contact. Holograms. Captain Janeway, etc.

Then episode 6 starts and the episode title is "Kobayashi". This episode was incredible. And by teaching the idea of this lesson to the annoying lead character , he started to grow. Gradually, so did the rest of the crew.

By the time the mid season finale happened I was fully onboard. This was a full fledged Star Trek series doing things that I hadn't seen before. It was classic Trek and had an underdog crew that you were rooting for. The odds just keeping stacking up against them and they're insurmountable-and yet each episode comes back with creativity, heart and just sheer awesomeness.

The season 1 two part finale was incredible. Epic in every sense of the word. You're thinking "they're not going to actually do this are they?" And then it does and you think there's no way out of it.

Whew. What a show. Highly, highly recommended. If you're like me and you think it seems a little too "kiddy" - stick with it and you won't be disappointed . By episode 6 you'll start to appreciate how deliberately they are slowly introducing everything.
 
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Tukarrs

Tukarrs

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,850
It's absolutely fantastic. I hope it can generate enough interest to get a third season made.
 
OP
OP
Dalek

Dalek

Member
Oct 25, 2017
39,284
THIS is the show that should be Starfleet Academy. It's going to be hard to top this.
 
firehawk12

firehawk12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,530
Season 2 might possibly be my favourite season of Star Trek of the entire franchise. I need to watch it in English of course, but even watching it in French and half understanding it, I was floored. Best crew, perfect balance between the season story and episodic story, and it even explains some of the stupidity of other contemporary Star Trek shows.

I don't know why it's trapped in limbo, but I hope more people get to see it soon.

As far as series rankings go, I would entertain an argument that lists Prodigy above TNG and DS9.
 
chrominance

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,941
I love Prodigy but I'm always surprised to find that anyone likes Kobayashi. For me it is by far the worst episode of the whole season, and normally I'd just tell people to skip it unless they really want to hear a bunch of disjointed sound clips of Leonard Nimoy for some reason.

There's an episode shortly after that one that really requires the crew to work together across unfathomable distances, and that episode really sold me on the show.
 
DrForester

DrForester

Mod of the Year 2006
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,949
It's a pretty good show, though I couldn't stand Dal at any point in the season. Everyone else is great.

chrominance said:
I love Prodigy but I'm always surprised to find that anyone likes Kobayashi. For me it is by far the worst episode of the whole season, and normally I'd just tell people to skip it unless they really want to hear a bunch of disjointed sound clips of Leonard Nimoy for some reason.
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Same with Odo. The stitching together of voice clips was awful.
 
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AniHawk

AniHawk

No Fear, Only Math
Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,280
how does it compare to lower decks?

i'm a casual star trek fan. saw most of the movies (not nemesis) and picard season 3 and all of lower decks so far. enjoyed lower decks as a sort of love letter to the franchise made by people who clearly care about the series. but that wouldn't mean much if the show sucked. it's also wholesome in a way a lot of adult animated shows are not.
 
Wrexis

Wrexis

Member
Nov 4, 2017
21,554
AniHawk said:
how does it compare to lower decks?

i'm a casual star trek fan. saw most of the movies (not nemesis) and picard season 3 and all of lower decks so far. enjoyed lower decks as a sort of love letter to the franchise made by people who clearly care about the series. but that wouldn't mean much if the show sucked. it's also wholesome in a way a lot of adult animated shows are not.
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Lower Decks is essentially Star Trek Easter Eggs: The Animated Series.
Prodigy is less slapstick, but also aimed directly at a newcomers to Trek, whereas Lower Decks is aimed at people who would get the easter eggs.
 
DarthMasta

DarthMasta

Member
Feb 17, 2018
4,199
AniHawk said:
how does it compare to lower decks?
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I've heard it be defined as you start out in a Star Wars Universe, and then slowly move towards a Star Trek one. So, probably the idea was to get kids who like Star Wars into Star Trek, while Lower Decks, yeah, that's for people who already know and love Star Trek.
 
firehawk12

firehawk12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,530
I think Prodigy does nostalgia differently than Lower Decks in that it's not metatextual. The kids don't call them "Those Old Scientists" or "The New Guys", but it does reference both old and new Star Trek events.
 
Digital Dinosaur

Digital Dinosaur

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,172
Rita Repulsa's Moon Palace
It's worth noting that Prodigy is explicitly written to introduce new viewers to the Star Trek universe step by step. The trick is the show is so well-written and executed, it doesn't come across as simplistic, patronizing, or burdened with redundant exposition dumps.

This ends up making it some of the cleanest written and clearest-eyed Star Trek ever.

The animated format is also used super well to breath fresh air into Trek by unlocking the potential for an alien setting. With no practical restrictions on characters, locations, and set pieces, the show goes hog wild.
 
thediamondage

thediamondage

Member
Oct 25, 2017
11,646
Keep forgetting to watch this show, I recently binged through Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks and absolutely loved both so this should be right up my alley.

I remember for a while it was literally impossible to actually watch it as HBO pulled it from their service and the DVDs only had the first 10 episodes, but looking at Netflix now and it seems all 20 episodes of season 1 are up. Too bad it got cancelled before any more got made, and I doubt any more would get made now.

Animation is seriously in a weird time right now, western animation is getting cancelled left and right but specific ones like Arcane or Blue Eyed Samurai or X-Men 97 are blowing up and anime seems even more wildly popular than ever, especially with kids. Its bizarre how US Hollywood companies just can't seem to get a handle on it. I'm just talking out of my ass here but it seems like the only company that is able to get enough people to watch animated shows is Netflix and I presume crunchyroll.

Even Disney with X-Men 97, I don't think that show really rocked the top 20 streaming charts during its current run. Disney doesn't seem to hyped about animation either, and of course we know HBO is cancelling everything left and right no matter how acclaimed it is.
 
Magister Xehanort

Magister Xehanort

Member
Sep 5, 2021
3,166
thediamondage said:
Keep forgetting to watch this show, I recently binged through Strange New Worlds and Lower Decks and absolutely loved both so this should be right up my alley.

I remember for a while it was literally impossible to actually watch it as HBO pulled it from their service and the DVDs only had the first 10 episodes, but looking at Netflix now and it seems all 20 episodes of season 1 are up. Too bad it got cancelled before any more got made, and I doubt any more would get made now.

Animation is seriously in a weird time right now, western animation is getting cancelled left and right but specific ones like Arcane or Blue Eyed Samurai or X-Men 97 are blowing up and anime seems even more wildly popular than ever, especially with kids. Its bizarre how US Hollywood companies just can't seem to get a handle on it. I'm just talking out of my ass here but it seems like the only company that is able to get enough people to watch animated shows is Netflix and I presume crunchyroll.

Even Disney with X-Men 97, I don't think that show really rocked the top 20 streaming charts during its current run. Disney doesn't seem to hyped about animation either, and of course we know HBO is cancelling everything left and right no matter how acclaimed it is.
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In fact, season 2 will premiere this year on Netflix.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AF5-qzfXHY


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr7dv4YQ_sk
 
firehawk12

firehawk12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
24,530
Generally I don't care about spoilers, but if you are one who is sensitive to that stuff and like being surprised, I would avoid any writing about S2 altogether. There are major surprises.

Digital Dinosaur said:
It's worth noting that Prodigy is explicitly written to introduce new viewers to the Star Trek universe step by step. The trick is the show is so well-written and executed, it doesn't come across as simplistic, patronizing, or burdened with redundant exposition dumps.

This ends up making it some of the cleanest written and clearest-eyed Star Trek ever.

The animated format is also used super well to breath fresh air into Trek by unlocking the potential for an alien setting. With no practical restrictions on characters, locations, and set pieces, the show goes hog wild.
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For better or for worse, it's closer to TOS and TNG in terms of having fairly simplistic characters and also being less shackled by the lore and continuity. Of course that comes from writing for a younger audience, but that's probably why it works so well. It's probably the most cohesive and evenly developed crew of the entire franchise because of it.
 
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