Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy General Discussion Thread

Something I noticed right away:

Here is Mr. Zero from the proposed Star Trek: Final Frontier animated series in 2006.

He seems awfully familiar with Zero from this new animated series.

I'm sure it's a coincidence, but the resemblance is striking.

 

Not for the first time, a 'like' feels woefully inadequate for one of your posts. Absolutely dead on the money, and I'd expand it to note that at its worst, graphic content can be a distraction from and a detriment to the story you're telling. I agree with what Christopher Lee asserted in the cast commentary for Fellowship of the Ring: a moment is often scarier, or more moving, or more exciting, or more erotic, for what you don't see, than what you do see. It's the element of personalisation, of letting your audience put their own spin on things, that seems increasingly lost these days, except in family or children's storytelling, which is a big reason why I honestly greatly prefer it to more 'adult' fare.

In that vein, can't say I'm surprised it's the animated Trek series 'for children' that's grabbing me the most of the modern offerings; great potential for all the things I like about Trek, in my favourite visual medium, with few or none of the things I dislike about current televisual genre shows, and, if the genderless Medusan is any guide, a decent dose of the open progressiveness animated fare has been superb for in recent years. Just have to hope it's on Netflix in the UK so I can actually, yannow, watch it!

 

According to the character description, Zero designed the suit for themself. So, we're dealing with a child Prodigy here, I assume. Probably other Medusans have excursion suits that don't look like they came from scrap heaps.

Or maybe they just chill out at home and people like Zero (and Kollos?) are rogues who have to fend for themselves and figure out how to interact with others around the galaxy.

 

When someone says it is "just for kids" I now roll my eyes very hard. It shows a complete lack of appreciation of what it means to be a child any more and that somehow being an adult automatically means more sophistication.

 

We should have learned that much from most of Pixar's movies.

 

I seem to remember a drawing in the Worlds of the Federation book that showed a Medusan box with little robotic tentacle arms... or was that something else?

 

At least. It is a constant source of head scratching of how people are like "kid's stuff is just so uninteresting." I'm like "Have you worked with kids at all?" Kids have an almost insatiable curiosity and a story that engages them usually is provoking far more questions than other media. They are not mindless consumers as commonly portrayed,

 

I'd say the risk-averse movie industry itself has to shoulder a lot of the responsibility, there. I mean, it's only recently they've started to realise an animated movie can be longer than 90 minutes, something the Japanese have known for decades, and they're still producing far too many films like Angry Birds and Minions and not nearly enough like Into the Spiderverse and Raya and the Last Dragon. Films like the latter, and the above-mentioned TV shows are helping to break the mould, but decades of cumulative effect will take time to overcome. Hopefully Prodigy will further aid that progress.

 

Kids are all different, just like adults. They like different things. It's just a matter of finding an audience. Between Trekkies, children of Trekkies, and fans of its assorted cast, I think Prodigy will.

 

That was Worlds of the Federation (p. 61):

 

Medusans kind of remind me of that old kid's cartoon called "Mighty Man and Yukk." The latter was a dog who was so ugly that if anyone (or indeed most inanimate objects) saw his face, they would either pass out or run away screaming.

 

Considering how much the current wave of Trek loves fan service (it always has to a degree), I wouldn't be surprised if we see Neelix specifically or other Voyager callbacks like the Hirogen or Vaadwuar (maybe picking up a native DQ species for the main cast later that puts them at odds with the rest of their species/family).

 

Oh, I won't be surprised by it either. I just find it completely detracting from the show.

 

A great example of this is in the first season of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous. When it starts to overlap with the events of the film, they show the ACU attack from a different perspective. In the film, we see people getting smashed into trees, getting stepped on, and getting snatched into the air and then raining blood. A kids' show can't do that, so instead, they just have some characters who are unaware of what's been going on find a bunch of radios which are receiving all the screams and roars, until they all go silent. Way more chilling and effective without showing anything graphic or costing a fortune in animation.

 

That's what I remembered, so robotic arms on a container were established (sure, not canon, but reference material) decades ago, and Prodigy realizes it

 

Using species is fine, but too much continuity porn/fanservice can be a barrier for new viewers, and a show like this should be an entry ramp, accessible to people who've never seen or even heard of Voyager.

 

Exhibit A: Lower Decks

I think we've established that Mike McMahan and Co. are fans.

 

The best parodies are the product of people who love the fandom.

 

Just tell good stories. Stop worrying about fan status!