Do you think this show will succeed in getting kids interested in Star Trek?

[Deks]

I'm no kid, but I definitely like ST: Prodigy.
I think its nice for VOY (a series which got so much flak from some Trek fans) to get a sort of continuation with Janeway back in the spotlight.
I have to say that I preferred VOY to DS9 by a LOT more. Ds9 seemed more 'static' to me and less exciting as a Trek series... plus as it went into the Dominion War, it just got a bit more worse and boring to be honest. It had its highlights, but if you ask me, it wasn't as good as TNG or VOY (and no, both TNG and VOY probably could have been better if some story lines spanned multiple episodes like mini arcs that were introduced in ENT S4).

Also, for some weird reason I get a hankering feeling someone used my USS Nightfire design as a baseline when making the USS Protostar for certain elements... on another note, the shape itself can be arrived at by using USS Voyager, ENT-E and USS Equinox as baselines and trying to 'streamline' them more.

I have to say I didn't care too much for ENT-E or Equinox more pointy nacelles... the sharper lines don't do much for me, so I like how the Protostar chose to use a cilindrical (albeit more detailed) approach of Kelvin timeline.

 

[Yistaan]

I was hooked on Star Trek by Next Generation at around 5-6 years old. I didn't need a cartoon to do it (I had never seen TAS at that point, don't believe it was even being aired anymore)

Kids just end up into these things or they don't honestly. Interestingly the same things I loved as a kid around 7 (video games, X-Men comic books, Star Trek and Star Wars, and cats) are the same things that make my day brighter at 37 (despite my mother insisting I was going to "grow out" of all of that stuff).

 

[dupersuper]

Not all of Berman-era Trek is necessarily for kids.

There was a lot of sex and violence (TNG's "Conspiracy", the "decontamination" scenes on Enterprise, the girl-on-girl T'Pol/Hoshi action, etc.).

It was certainly for this kid. I watched TOS reruns and movies too young to remember when I started, then TNG started when I was 10, and I was all in from the beginning.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I don't know about the kiddies, but I've been enjoying it more than I thought I would...which puts it ahead of Disco.

 

[fireproof78]

Maybe the question should have been will kids enjoy this as much as adults?

 

[CorporalClegg]

I don't know if the question was ever 'will they/won't they like it' so much as it is 'will they/won't they give it a try?'

 

[fireproof78]

I don't know if the question was ever 'will they/won't they like it' so much as it is 'will they/won't they give it a try?'

They will. And probably move on.

 

[Danja]

7 years or older can watch:
- PG rated (TWoK, TSfS, TVH, TFF, TUC, Generations, Insurrection)
- TV-PG (TOS, TAS, TNG, DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, some episodes of Discovery and LD)
- TV-Y7 (Prodigy will probably go here)

13 years or older can watch:
- PG-13 (FC, Nemesis, ST09, ID, Beyond)

A Nickelodeon rep said recently that their network targeted the 6-11 audience. He furthermore said that Prodigy would best be directed towards the upper limit of their age range.

 

[Lord Garth]

I think PG-13 has lost its original meaning. The name of the rating doesn't matter, what matters is the target audience. G and PG are now strictly "movies for kids" ratings. R is now a "strictly for adults" rating that the studio wants to avoid as much as possible. So almost every movie not intended just for kids and doesn't want a small audience is going to be Rated PG-13, no matter what.

PG-13 used to mean "suitable for teens and up". Now it means nothing. It's one of the many reasons I think the MPAA needs to either be drastically overhauled or completely done away with.

PG in the '70s, '80s, or '90s is not what PG would be today. TWOK, for sure, would be PG-13 now. But older movies are rarely resubmitted for ratings that comply with today's standards.

 

[Danja]

It was certainly for this kid. I watched TOS reruns and movies too young to remember when I started, then TNG started when I was 10, and I was all in from the beginning.

Perhaps I should've said that not all of Berman-era Trek is APPROPRIATE for children.

 

[STEPhon IT]

Not all of Berman-era Trek is necessarily for kids.

There was a lot of sex and violence (TNG's "Conspiracy", the "decontamination" scenes on Enterprise, the girl-on-girl T'Pol/Hoshi action, etc.).



For me, it was Voyager (Never got into Kirk. I've always found Picard bloviating.)

I LOVE Seven of Nine. She was the first Trek character who resonated with me.

I didn't say Berman Trek was for kids. Maybe not you but for me, my friends, and parts of my family was drawn into Star Trek because it was something we never saw before. The characters were as rich as the colors were presented, The ships were very appealing to me and my friends, and my brothers had decorations of posters and toys on our bedroom walls. I honestly don't recall when I watched Star Trek and the other incarnations, I was thinking or analyzing sexual content. I saw an episode where the good guys got shot by the bad guys, I understood the bad guys were bad, and when the good guys shot and fought the bad guys was because they needed to stop them from their bad ways. When Kirk or Picard or Sisko kissed a woman romantically I thought they really liked each other. As a child, I saw for what Star Trek was, SF adventure series, something like the movies I saw Johnny Depp in The Pirates of the Caribbean but was set in space.

I never got rattled because a woman was seen in a bra or mini dresses and briefs or seeing bare chested men on Star Trek, and with my 4 brothers around, who liked the violence, it was something I embraced on Star Trek and were far less in content than the "Scream", "Saw", and the "Friday the 13th" material they REALLY liked and sometimes nudged me and my mother to watch. They had a good laugh at us jumping and screaming at every vile moment of those monster movies.

 

[JeffOakland]

It feels an awful like Star Wars: Clone Wars. Even the animation is the same style. Hopefully, when it finds its groove, it will feel comfortable taking some chances.

 

[dupersuper]

Perhaps I should've said that not all of Berman-era Trek is APPROPRIATE for children.

Still can't agree.

 

[fireproof78]

Depends on the child.

 

[Shaka Zulu]

Paw Patrol is for pre schoolers.

I am not sure what kids watch today, I do know of some of the newer shows on say Disney for kids:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphibia_(TV_series)

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Owl_House

If you want to know what kids watch today, find some and ask them.

Not all kids are allowed to watch YouTube, though. I know if I had them, I'd seriously restrict it.

There is a kids version of YouTube, YouTube Kids.

There's also YouTube channels for kids that are off shoots of public TV networks/channels:

• TVO (TV Ontario) Kids
• PBS Kids
• CBC Kids
• CBBC

It feels an awful like Star Wars: Clone Wars. Even the animation is the same style.

Most CGI animation is like Clone Wars, Trollhunter, the movies and TV shows that comprise the How To Train Your Dragon franchise, any of the Pixar movies, most of the recent Disney movies and any of the DreamWorks movies; that's not a crime, at all. And having a show that aped Clone Wars (at least in style) is what CBS Studios should've been doing all along (even better is if they'd made a CGI animated series like this fan production, which was the first CGI Star Trek cartoon, ever.)

Even the animation is the same style. Hopefully, when it finds its groove, it will feel comfortable taking some chances.

How do you know it hasn't done so already?

I think PG-13 has lost its original meaning. The name of the rating doesn't matter, what matters is the target audience. G and PG are now strictly "movies for kids" ratings. R is now a "strictly for adults" rating that the studio wants to avoid as much as possible. So almost every movie not intended just for kids and doesn't want a small audience is going to be Rated PG-13, no matter what.

Siskel and Ebert wanted to see the rating system overhauled, and so proposed the 'A' rating for movies that are adult but are not pornographic. Maybe the MPAA should study and implement this rating.

 

[Danja]

R is now a "strictly for adults" rating that the studio wants to avoid as much as possible.

Unless it's the Saw franchise.

Most CGI animation is like Clone Wars, Trollhunter, the movies and TV shows that comprise the How To Train Your Dragon franchise, any of the Pixar movies, most of the recent Disney movies and any of the DreamWorks movies; that's not a crime, at all.

The Hageman Bros. (Prodigy producers) also produced Trollhunters.

 

[Jay Kid of Wonders]

I’m gonna say, maybe? I can only compare my experience with getting into Trek, and I have no idea if people are gonna get into it like I did.

I’m relatively young, growing up of course I knew what Star Trek was, but every time I caught a glimpse on tv I was bored to tears. It took going to a dollar cinema and seeing Star Trek 09 for me to become interested. Then I started watching sfdebris videos; which in retrospect might have painted some of my opinions on Trek going forward (not all of them just some), and playing Star Trek online. The biggest hurdle for me was; and I mean absolutely no disrespect, how shit Star Trek looked to me, the only way I even attempted to actually watch Star Trek was in reverse release order, seeing the most recent series, which was enterprise, and then going backwards.

so I had binged enterprise, then voyager, then I stoped because Senior year high school was ending, then college, hell I didn’t even watch deep space 9 until about a couple years ago.

I guess the point I’m making is that you gotta let people; especially kids, discover things themselves, you force them to watch something, it becomes a chore, you leave them alone, maybe they watch it, maybe they don’t, maybe they watch it now and hate it, but five, ten years later they remember it, watch it again and love it.

 

[Jay Kid of Wonders]

I’m gonna say, maybe? I can only compare my experience with getting into Trek, and I have no idea if people are gonna get into it like I did.

I’m relatively young, growing up of course I knew what Star Trek was, but every time I caught a glimpse on tv I was bored to tears. It took going to a dollar cinema and seeing Star Trek 09 for me to become interested. Then I started watching sfdebris videos; which in retrospect might have painted some of my opinions on Trek going forward (not all of them just some), and playing Star Trek online. The biggest hurdle for me was; and I mean absolutely no disrespect, how shit Star Trek looked to me, the only way I even attempted to actually watch Star Trek was in reverse release order, seeing the most recent series, which was enterprise, and then going backwards.

so I had binged enterprise, then voyager, then I stoped because Senior year high school was ending, then college, hell I didn’t even watch deep space 9 until about a couple years ago.

I guess the point I’m making is that you gotta let people; especially kids, discover things themselves, you force them to watch something, it becomes a chore, you leave them alone, maybe they watch it, maybe they don’t, maybe they watch it now and hate it, but five, ten years later they remember it, watch it again and love it.

and to be fair I loved, and still love animated media much more so than live action, so if I had prodigy and lower decks back when I was first getting into Trek, I legitimately might have gotten into it a lot sooner!

 

[tomalak301]

I hope this gets kids to watch Trek, but I'm a little confused by this release schedule. As soon as they start building momentum (And the final two episodes before the break were great), they go off. If you want to build an audience for this show, it's best not to stop it so soon after you start. Maybe they started this series too early and should have waited until after Discovery to air it.

 

[Danja]

I hope this gets kids to watch Trek, but I'm a little confused by this release schedule. As soon as they start building momentum (And the final two episodes before the break were great), they go off. If you want to build an audience for this show, it's best not to stop it so soon after you start. Maybe they started this series too early and should have waited until after Discovery to air it.

It's a streaming show.

It's not like broadcast TV where you need to air reruns to reacquaint people. The show is still here and available.

Besides, it's Christmas. Most kids are going to be more interested in what they're going to get from Santa than anything Trek has to offer right now.

so I had binged enterprise, then voyager, then I stoped because Senior year high school was ending, then college, hell I didn’t even watch deep space 9 until about a couple years ago.

I didn't get into it until Voyager (and Seven of Nine). I tried watching TNG, but it was just too cerebral for me. I didn't find it entertaining.

I guess the point I’m making is that you gotta let people; especially kids, discover things themselves, you force them to watch something, it becomes a chore, you leave them alone, maybe they watch it, maybe they don’t, maybe they watch it now and hate it, but five, ten years later they remember it, watch it again and love it.

It's usually the parents who have access to the streaming tech (phones, tablets, etc.).

The idea is for families to watch it together (the formula has worked well enough for Pixar).