Those cost money too. If Paramount is trying to save money, Short Treks seems like wasteful spending.
I agree, it would be weird - and unpleasant for many fans of Prodigy, not too mention the showrunners, crew and contractors - to cancel Prodigy because it's too expensive to make (relative to the viewers it attracts), to only then pour money in multiple one-shots. Presumably, if short Treks were particularly commercially succesful, they would have been continued independently of other shows failing or getting picked up. If it was not a particular success, they might as well continue to produce Prodigy, which has already established characters, storylines and production team.
Generate interest. Talk it up. Share it.
Many tried that, it was noticeable on quite some places on the Internet and I also tried (offline) in my environment. If people don't bite though...
I think it's a hard sell. Children have their own interests (and this is rarely Star Trek, I fear, or even similar programming) and for others the "for children" moniker, animation and Star Trek label may be negatives.
And in the end, it seems that Prodigy didn't bring what Nickolodeon and/or P+ wanted out of it. It may even have been relatively succesful, just not enough in comparison to even more profitable things like Picard S3 and Yellowstone.
Yeah, I'm curious about that as well. What the hell is so important about ERASING the show?
It's a beancounters and accountants thing. They need to write-off the show - for their own streaming service, at least- to get tax deductions. And they also don't have to pay out royalties anymore. It's a business and a hard one, they are not ordering those things to please the fans or the critics or out of the good of their hearts. The financial bottom line is the only thing that counts.
Is the writer's strike one reason it's being cancelled?
I don't think there is a connection. If anything, a continued writer's strike (which would halt the Starfleet Academy project among others) could have been a lifeline for the show. The decision may indicate the suits believe a compromise will be reached, soon-ish.
I think it's clear that the makers were confused about who the target audience was.
All the PR for the show was about "kids", "getting young people into Star Trek", ETC.
But then you have these absurd tie-ins into Star Trek Borg lore.
Even more puzzling was that Holo Janeway, a legacy character from a show that ended 20 years ago, was at the center of the marketing for the show. Holo Janeway became the face of Prodigy and represented Prodigy in marketing material at multiple events:
The mystery box "what happened to Chakotay" was also about a legacy character.
A writer on the show complained on Twitter about how the show didn't get enough respect because it was regarded as a show for kids and how hard it was to balance a show aimed at old and new fans. She made the statement that it's hard to get kids into a 50+-year-old franchise.
A) Kids got into Berman-era Star Trek when the franchise was around 20-35 years old without a special kids' show.
B) Why is a writer contradicting what the marketing said about the show? The marketing message was clear "a show for a new, young audience". She said that the show was for an old and new audience.
Either Paramount got it wrong, the marketing team got it wrong, or the writers got it wrong who the target audience was. Maybe the writers didn't follow Paramount's instructions and made a show for an older audience.
I don't think the showrunners were confused - Prodigy is not too dissimilar to their earlier show "Trollhunters", nor to such series like "the last airbender" - but maybe they didn't quite make the exact show Nickolodeon wanted (even though this network also produced "the last airbender") or more likely, the marketing decided to really push the appeal for younger children in spite of what the show actually was.
I don't see what's absurd about involving the Borg, neither from the POV of older fans nor for introducing a younger audience to Star Trek. If you start watching the adult series, you also are going to encounter the Borg anyway!
Holo-Janeway, as mentor/mother figure with her own arc (and character distant from flesh and blood Janeway) was a good move IMO. An interesting character in her own right, and excellent as a guide for the young crew.
Of course. Assuming that there's some place willing to pay more than Nickelodeon already was.
I don't think anyone will need to pay more (or even as much as) than Nick/P+ were doing, unless they actually want to order a Season 3 (or a TV-movie or whatever other form a continuation might take). Season 2 has largely been produced and will be finished, so they merely have to sell the rights for broadcast and I guess the asking price will not have to cover the full production cost. It's a write-off, this way they can recoup some costs at least, if they don't sell they have to take the entire loss...
As I watched Prodigy, I did feel the move away from the kids to Janeway as the show progressed. It seemed to me that, at the end, that it became about Janeway's search for Chakotay, with the kids tagging along. The show should have kept its focus on the kids.
Another thing I didn't like about Prodigy was the revenge plot running through the series. I felt that it detracted from the show. I was there to watch the kids learn about Starfleet and the Federation, while exploring who they were and what their place was in the galaxy. The show should have been an introduction to the franchise, for those who were new to it, of all age groups.
Allthough there may be a danger that S2 may focus more on admiral Janeway, with the episodes released as of today I don't think I agree. Admiral Janeway didn't have that much screentime in S1B and holo-Janeway is not the same character. The search for Chakotay is merely a promise at this point, it was hardly the focus of S1A or S1B.
What can be wondered is whether or not it was a good move to change the premise of S1 (a group of young refugees "joyriding" and trying to do good on an advanced starship) already by the end of that season, to something different. The Hageman's have said they want each season to have its own story and that they want to surprise the viewer and not milk one aspect of the story. Maybe it wouldn't have been bad to keep the general status-quo a bit longer, though (the chase of the Dauntless and attempts to defeat/circumvent the weapon could have gone on longer).
As for the revenge story, I think it is a great underlying plot for the series. It's tied to the entire premise (without it, Gwyn wouldn't have the very specific relation she has with the other characters), gives the series a canvas wherein they can learn about the Federation and its principles and use them in practice, even at cost to themselves. Moreover, I think this revenge story will end very differently from the one in Picard S3, as I suspect it will be shown that Starfleet may not be entirely blameless while the Diviner is likely to ultimately see reason in Gwyn's thinking, leading to a solution that does not involve doomsday. Seems peak Star Trek to me.
1) I never said that writers need to be Trekkies, but writers need to understand Star Trek.
I think the Prodigy writers understand it well enough. One in particular is even a mega fan. While Prodigy does some things differently (it's its own thing), IMO it's closer to classic Star Trek than the rather "Abramsian" Picard S3.
Prodigy was at least trying to be something new. Loved the visuals. The music was some of the best I've heard out of Trek in recent years. I feel sorry for all the folks who worked so hard on this show, I hope it finds a new home for S2. I guess looking at how things are going, I can look forward to an ever more heady mix of nostalgia Trek over something new. Whoop whoop!
Visuals are great. I also hope that the people who work on it will quickly find new things, but sadly, unless someone else does pick it up with a new order (unlikely
) it will probably be in many different directions.
The good news is that fans seem to be coming out with an outpouring of support. The DVD and Blu-ray are selling out everywhere and Prodigy is in the top 10 TV series on Apple TV. This highly increases the chances that someone else will pick up Season 2, or even that Paramount+ themselves will reverse their decision.
It's good to hear that measurable interest is being shown, it might influence a decision by Netflix or others to decide to pick-up S1 and S2 of Prodigy "on the cheap", at least.
Did it have low views, though?
Parrot Analytics suggests that PRO is regularly in high demand.
I've also seen encouraging numbers, but I guess that one has to know how to interpret them. Having more views than 92% (or whatever number if was) of other streaming shows may be great, or maybe it wasn't good if those 92% largely consists of old shows, failed shows and such.
