Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy General Discussion Thread

[Wouter]

They can change actors for season 2. It's a simple matter to re-record lines.

That's not true under the current circumstances: actors are on strike too, and this would cost money and time. Moreover, the production team obviously wants to get the original actors (Mulgrew, Picardo, Campbell,...) just as Lower Decks gets the original actors whenever possible.

Since the whole thing started over Beltran not following the strike rules, they can hardly ignore those rules even more so themselves by rerecording lines now. The Hagemans support the strike.
And one of the few aces on their sleeves regarding Prodigy and the attempt to sell it to another streamer, is exactly that they can offer finished, new content regardless of the strikes.

 

[Christopher]

Getting a different actor to replicate the same cadence as the original (so that the speaking animation matches) can be difficult. I remember it was reportedly a challenge when they swapped out Peter Dinklage for Nolan North in "Destiny", and their character in the game didn't even have a mouth.

It can't be that hard. Delivering lines to match pre-filmed lip sync is something actors do routinely in ADR looping, since dialogue filmed on set or location often needs to be re-recorded for better quality.

Okay, maybe it's easier to replicate your own cadence, but I can think of several cases where an animated character's dialogue was re-recorded by a new actor. When Filmation recut and expanded their rarely-seen Flash Gordon feature film into the first season of the TV series, most of the characters had their lines re-recorded by new actors, playing multiple roles each so that the series could have a smaller, less expensive cast. Similarly, when Hanna-Barbera extended their 5-part Dark Water miniseries into the 13-episode Pirates of Dark Water series, they couldn't get Roddy McDowall back, so his scenes in the first five episodes were revoiced by Frank Welker, who took over the character in the new episodes. There was also an episode of Marvel's Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, I think it was, where Josh Keaton recorded a Spider-Man guest appearance, but Spectacular Spider-Man was cancelled and replaced with Ultimate Spider-Man before the episode aired, so they had USM's Drake Bell redo Keaton's lines (though lip sync is much less of an issue with Spidey).

And there are cases in live action where an actor's lines are looped over by a different actor because of performance issues or because the original actor isn't available for looping, like Gosheven in Star Trek: TNG's "The Ensigns of Command." There have been cases where an actor has been redubbed by someone else because their accent was deemed too heavy, or not heavy enough. And there was Tim Burton's Ed Wood, where Vincent D'Onofrio played Orson Welles but was dubbed over by Maurice LaMarche.

 

[Wouter]

People, there is a strike going on. Whoever would be recording those lines, would be breaking the strike and helping the big studios against the guilds.

Moreover, who is going to pay that actor, after Beltran has been paid already for the work that's been done? The Prodigy producers aren't exactly swimming in cash, the series is a pretty hard sell as it is.

 

[Campe]

Aren’t animated series covered under a different union?

 

[Christopher]

Aren’t animated series covered under a different union?

For SAG actors doing voice work, some things are okay, others not:

https://www.cartoonbrew.com/voice-acting/voice-actors-sag-aftra-strike-nava-230829.html

According to the National Association of Voice Actors (NAVA), the SAG-AFTRA strike affects only certain activities related to voice acting. Prohibited categories under the SAG-AFTRA strike are as follows:

• Feature-length animated films
• Looping
• ADR and voice matching for tv and films
• Trailers
• Narration for feature films

...While SAG-AFTRA is striking over their tv and theatrical contracts, the union has numerous other contracts that are unaffected by the strike. Most notably, the union’s Television Animation Agreement and New Media Animation Agreement are not being struck, which means that recording for episodic and long-form animation programs for television and new media (i.e. streaming platforms) can continue uninterrupted.

So it would be okay for a SAG actor to work on an animated TV series, along with other non-struck categories like commercial voiceovers, games, audiobooks, and podcasts.

 

[The Wormhole]

Aren’t animated series covered under a different union?

I thought that was just writers of animated shows?

 

[AnimationAdmiral]

If the episodes are locked and the lines recorded, they cannot be opened again without massive budget increases which a show on the bubble of cancellation will not get. it can’t be done. They can write characters off the show or replace them if there is another season.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

What did Beltran do? This is the first I’ve heard of it.

 

[Christopher]

What did Beltran do? This is the first I’ve heard of it.

He violated strike rules by talking about Voyager at a convention, which is essentially crossing the picket line by promoting the product of a struck company. Then, when someone made a homophobic tweet defending his actions, he appeared to agree with the comment.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Thanks

 

[Tuskin38]

Aaron Waltke will be on a Star Trek Online dev stream tonight. They're adding the Protostar to the game (in a lockbox because fucking of course) along with some other items from the show.

https://twitter.com/GoodAaron/status/1696572172246937942?s=20

 

[137th Gebirg]

Sigh... Really wish some of these things could be more easily attainable to us unwashed masses who have a metric ass-ton of EC's and refined dilithium reserves to spend on such things. I wonder if the World Razer has come down in price on the Exchange at all yet. It was around 700,000,000, IIRC.

 

[Wouter]

Interview with Aaron Waltke, regarding prospects of season 2 (and 3) and a little bit about the tech on Voyager-A (also stuff from Ent-D and Cerritos, apparently - possibly Cetacean ops) and the Doctor: https://trekmovie.com/2023/08/30/in...akes-things-up-in-star-trek-prodigy-season-2/

It seems the Bluray and DVD sets for season 1B have been selling very well and CBS took notice.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Good. Some folks actually like physical media that doesn’t make them holden to the whims of the streaming services or dodgy internet connections.

 

[Markonian]

Sorry for the tangent, but Prodigy content is being introduced to Star Trek Online in the upcoming (12 September) release of Season 30: "Incursion".
In particular, Commander Erin MacDonald, voiced by astrophysicist Erin MacDonald, is an officer aboard Captain Kim's USS Rhode Island.
Mellanoid slime worms will be available as non-combat pets. They come in different colors, including a style inspired by Goth Holo Janeway.
There's also the tier-6 Protostar-class Temporal Science Spearhead. A livestream showed a ship of this class, the USS Waltke NCC-93669. Screenshots shared by Thomas Marrone show a USS Protostar NX-76884 in 2411. One could argue that this ship is the unnamed Protostar-class ship constructed at the end of "Supernova" (episode). A model of the class cannot be made by GamePrint.
The Protostar uniform will be attainable.

On a personal note, I'm gonna try out these goodies on my VOY/DSCs4-themed character. But it's tempting to role a future character with Protostar stuff. I consider calling my Protostar-class starship the USS Polestar.

News link: https://trekcentral.net/star-trek-online-incursion-season-revealed/

 

[Wouter]

Prodigy's Indian animation studio has a specialised nomination (Ann awards) for best animated series: https://x.com/brothershageman/status/1701239597013914076?s=20

Also a personal nomination for one of their animators, for work on Prodigy: https://twitter.com/mikrosanimation/status/1701233567638921679
It's well deserved, those guys are doing great work. I like the animation style of Lower Decks, too, but the 3D style from Mikros Animation allows body language in a way 2D animation does not.

 

[Wouter]

Animator Rakshith has won his (personal) nomination for work as on Prodigy: https://twitter.com/mikrosanimation/status/1702307174817386772

 

[Markonian]

I'm re-reading the Prodigy novel Supernova, and might get some time to play the game of the same name again.
First of all, it's heart-crushing that the show is gone.
Secondly, it's strange how the novel and the game, both depicting the same adventure (mission to Orisi), depict the events as so different from one another. I would've expected the novel to be an actionized summary of the levels and chapters of the game. Perhaps a young readers novel just has to be really short?

 

[fireproof78]

Perhaps a young readers novel just has to be really short?

Yes.

 

[Wouter]

I'm re-reading the Prodigy novel Supernova, and might get some time to play the game of the same name again.
First of all, it's heart-crushing that the show is gone.
Secondly, it's strange how the novel and the game, both depicting the same adventure (mission to Orisi), depict the events as so different from one another. I would've expected the novel to be an actionized summary of the levels and chapters of the game. Perhaps a young readers novel just has to be really short?

The show is not gone yet, it's likely s2 will be released in some way and an s3 has not been ruled out just yet.

How does the novel differ? The game was relatively repetitive, a novel writer would want to avoid that.

Does the novel also have the curious passage of the game, where one of the level bosses claims Gwyn was created "to carry shadows inside her" or something close to that?