That's reassuring. I probably won't take advantage of that, but it's nice to know that the entirety of Season 1 will survive in the iTunes libraries of other people, instead of just the first half on physical media.
News Star Trek Prodigy Cancelled, Season 2 to be shopped around
- Thread starter EnderAKH
- Start date
Again: I'm not SURE this will happen. The things that I have in my library that aren't available, but I can still watch, were not affected by anything like what's going on with PRO. So Apple may be able to delete it from my library. I'm still wondering what to do.
I may just say the hell with it and buy the BRs, which I rarely do anymore.
I may just say the hell with it and buy the BRs, which I rarely do anymore.
If only they had gotten around to a physical release of the second half of Season 1.
They probably see the lower viewership numbers and figure licensing the series to another service will bring them more money than keeping it on their own platform. They spent money to make it, people pay the flat fee to watch their content but fewer than hoped for people ware watching. So they off load it and get additional money. Not that many people are gonna dump P+ over this. If that was a danger, they'd keep it on.
It's sad for fans, who always turn out to be the losers.
It's sad for fans, who always turn out to be the losers.
That's my high school peers called me.
At least they talked to you...
It was a small high school. No secrets. Voted most likely to stay single.
I'm only now catching up on this sad news, but I'm not very surprised. Streaming services have been bleeding money left, right and center and P+ isn't the first service to pull this "tax optimisation" ploy of removing series from the roster entirely (apparently that allows them to write off the costs of a failed product).
Yes, the signs were there, the lethargic pace at which merchandise was being released also pointed at this. Moreover, the announcement of an Academy series - exactly at the point where Prodigy would have a main storyline touching the same subject - while budgets were shrinking was no good sign either. I also have the impression that kids nowadays are more about Tiktok and Youtube and the like and things that require a longer attention span, like books and series with a serialised plot, are a relatively hard sell especially for those age categories. Cutting the season up in 3 pieces didn't help in this regard, the release schedule on different Nickolodeon channels was also weird.
Then there is also the ST fan reaction, which was rather tepid. Not only did many disengage because of the marketing emphasis on being a kids program, the animation led to immediate reactions like "I don't watch animation, that's for kids" and "I can't stand this style of animation". A pity, as IMO Prodigy's animation is gorgeous.
Even besides the animation, I don't think many ST fans really want something new. Prodigy brought genuinely fresh plot and new characters, but the initial reaction was "too much like Star Wars, no Star Trek in it except Janeway as an alibi". This while Picard S3 got heaps of praise and viewing figures to match, showing P+ where the money should be going: into rehashing the same characters and enemies. Curiousy, everybody noticed that some aspects of Prodigy resembled other SF series in general and Star Wars in particular (Tars Lamora, Denaxi depot, Gwyn's sword,...) but few people remarked that the climax of Picard S3 took quite some elements from Return of the Jedi. People were so happy to see the TNG crew again, that any vices got overlooked.
Prodigy's serial plot is also an instant dislike for many ST fans (those who want purely episodic content) and being part of Kurtzman Trek immediately points a bullseye on it for those who are opposed to Kurtzmann. At the same time, as a generally "inoffensive" program for either sides in the present US culture wars (quite a feat in this day and age), it didn't get any particular free publicity (and support and hate watching) by creating polemic, either.
From a business POV, besides what are probably not terribly good viewing figures (especially for their main intended audience, the kids, I would guess), the present tendency of the media conglomerates to use AI to replace (or "fake replace" in order to lower wages) screenwriters also goes better with content like Picard S3, instead of new things like Prodigy. I could see AI using massive databases to create the base idea of something like Picard S3 (drawing from existing series and mashing them together), but not something like Prodigy.
I hope we get to see season 2 somewhere, at least. I barely dare hope for a pick-up for more content after that.
No, they don't.
There are dozens of us! Dozens!
At the end of the day, I think it's rather unlikely that absolutely no one else would be willing and/or able to take it. Even if it does just end up on Tubi or some other smaller streaming service, I think it will end up somewhere. At this point, all we can really do is speculate. Let's wait and see what happens.
Small sample size, but here's my experience from a sample size of 4:
My son was 11 when Prodigy premiered...He was interested and enjoying it from the start, but there was a break after only 4 episodes and he got annoyed with that. He still kept watching and enjoying it but there was a 9 month break after episode 10. He was eagerly awaiting its return for a few months, but by the time it came back he had just completely lost interest and didn't want to watch it any more. He also felt it was too childish for him at that point and pointed out that some of Pog's dialogue was "cringey" for him. I continued to watch week to week on my own. He did eventually watch some of the back half only when I kept bringing it up and now wants to finish only because he knows it's being removed. I feel like the 9 month break in the middle of the season just destroyed the momentum the show had even among its fans. Even I had a bit of a hard time getting back into the first few episodes after the break.
I've also wondered if the lack of a short recap or "saga cell" made it hard for kids to keep track of what was going on.
I have a nephew who was 9 when it premiered. He likes all the Star Wars animated shows and Marvel etc.. He was not interested in Prodigy because it was Star Trek and he thought it would be confusing to get into and understand. He never did watch it.
I have a niece who was 7 when it premiered. She saw some episodes on Nickelodeon and liked it but then didn't know when it was on and just stopped watching.
I have an adult friend who has watched every other Star Trek show and likes all the other new ones, but refused to watch this because it looked too kiddie for him. So from the people around me, there is an adult refusing to watch it and the target audience of kids not interested in it.
My son was 11 when Prodigy premiered...He was interested and enjoying it from the start, but there was a break after only 4 episodes and he got annoyed with that. He still kept watching and enjoying it but there was a 9 month break after episode 10. He was eagerly awaiting its return for a few months, but by the time it came back he had just completely lost interest and didn't want to watch it any more. He also felt it was too childish for him at that point and pointed out that some of Pog's dialogue was "cringey" for him. I continued to watch week to week on my own. He did eventually watch some of the back half only when I kept bringing it up and now wants to finish only because he knows it's being removed. I feel like the 9 month break in the middle of the season just destroyed the momentum the show had even among its fans. Even I had a bit of a hard time getting back into the first few episodes after the break.
I've also wondered if the lack of a short recap or "saga cell" made it hard for kids to keep track of what was going on.
I have a nephew who was 9 when it premiered. He likes all the Star Wars animated shows and Marvel etc.. He was not interested in Prodigy because it was Star Trek and he thought it would be confusing to get into and understand. He never did watch it.
I have a niece who was 7 when it premiered. She saw some episodes on Nickelodeon and liked it but then didn't know when it was on and just stopped watching.
I have an adult friend who has watched every other Star Trek show and likes all the other new ones, but refused to watch this because it looked too kiddie for him. So from the people around me, there is an adult refusing to watch it and the target audience of kids not interested in it.
It's lack of success really seems to come down to marketing. No one seems to have known enough about it to convince them to watch it.
The animation style of Prodigy is not cheap, Lower Decks is probably quite a bit cheaper to produce. The Academy series will probably not be terribly expensive to produce at first (filmed largely on set/greenscreen, unknown actors) and may have a far wider appeal than the for-kids Prodigy.
Agreed that I would much rather have more Prodigy that a teen-aimed Academy series. However, I don't think a Section 31 series has to be against the spirit of Trek. Even Jean-Luc Picard went on undercover missions during TNG, why would an utopian Star Trek take (better humanity and all that) on a CIA/James Bond/Mission Impossible series be un Star Trek by definition?
I have the impression that Prodigy, marketing wise but partially also as a concept, falls "tussen wal en schip" as we say in Dutch (between two stools is the equivalent UK expression, I think). The childish elements (though limited, and some aspects of adult ST series can certainly feel childish, too, think about the TNG Pakleds and early Ferengi for example) may irritate adults, and for children (who aren't ST fans yet) it may be uncool to watch Star Trek or be too much for the modern attention span or simply not be their interest. Prodigy does have a complicated plot for a children's/family program, and IIRC structurally similar shows like The last airbender where also at risk of getting cancelled.
It was not the commercial concept, but maybe Prodigy would have been better as a series aimed primarily more at (older) teens and less at kids, or even as an outright series for adult audiences. OTOH, that would also have taken away some of its charm.
Netflix currently hosts another Hageman brothers series with a similar vibe, "Trollhunters". Maybe they would be interested in season 2, to expand their offer in this category...
Yup. The outcry feels bigger than the actual interest.
I'm so sad this show was canceled! I didn't even know it existed until youtube started promoting clips to me (I've started looking for videos about Picard s3 and Voyager). I've only just started watching the show -- I'm in episode 4, and then to get this cancellation news suddenly, it's terrible 
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Personally, I'm not really bothered about the cancellation. I'm just concerned about the possibility of it being buried.
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