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

I am not trying to be negative, but I think the answer here is a solid “no.”

Most kids don’t even watch TV anymore. They watch YouTube videos and play online games. Very rarely will they get invested in a weekly show. And given that this isn’t Star Wars or Superheroes…unless Trek fan parents are passing it on to their kids, I think the young fan growth will be very limited.

 

His primary interest in a show is based upon whether it has a small cute creature in it - particularly if it's a mouse/rat. His favorite movie is My Neighbor Totoro.

I'm not particularly into superhero stuff myself, but he's really judgmental about it. Like, he won't be friends with kids who like superheroes.

He's just transitioning into being an independent reader. His favorite books tend to be a series about a guinea pig. Other than that, he mostly likes to read nonfiction books about space and prehistoric life...which I can relate to.

 

Sounds developmentally appropriate.

 

I loved Adam West as a kid, but it was Lego, and Star Wars, Star Trek's Mego figures, and Robert Heinlein that spurred me in to geekery.

 

Definitely.

How many kids is another matter entirely.

 

Shh…the merch suits might hear you!

 

I wish there had been a third option - "Maybe", for that would be my answer. My experience with Star Trek is that I learned to love Star Trek from my mother who saw the original series in the 1960s and passed her love of it to me. If there are parents who have this connection to Star Trek, they will watch this show with their children. And their numbers have not diminished greatly, as might have occurred with another franchise thankfully. Even though I think the current generation of show runners have made some questionable choices, they have not committed the equivalent of the unforgiveable sin that is "The Timeless Children" (Doctor Who) in the franchise. So, the fanbase is still relatively strong and people are still excited about Star Trek.

 

I don't expect Star Trek to become the hot new thing the kids are all in to... but I do expect to see an increase in merchandise at stores and to encounter an increasing number of fans in the coming decades who cite Prodigy as their entry point into the fandom.

 

While I'm sure it'll draw-in the random new young fan or two, I doubt it will be a culture-changing series or anything of that nature. Thing is, EVERY iteration of the franchise has done that to some degree.

If Star Trek ever wants to Ted Lasso itself back in to the Premier League of IPs, then it's going to have rely on the film franchise. It really needs a run of four of five Oh-Ninesque films (Both in quality and mass appeal.) over the course of a decade. A handful of tent poles to erect a new tent.

 

Who is expecting culture changing?

 

If nothing else, it will provide fans with a Trek they can stream while their kids are in the room.

 

I agree. I got into Star Trek when I was a child and it was the material presented which drew me in; seeing larger than life heroes was what got me into the series. My friends likes videogames, something which contrast the normal life of being a kid which was escapism. Star Wars and Superhero movies does that very well by taking a child somewhere which enhances their imagination, and then later we could play a version of what we saw on the PS3 and admire the toys and posters in the room and make their own stories.

 

Trek fans are not born they are made with years of forcing them to watch while you explain to them why they should love the damn thing!

 

Well, that explains...none of my experience.

I was told all along I was wrong for liking TOS...save by a couple of adults in my life. No wonder my Trek fan experience is so confusing.

 

I was exposed to Trek as a youngin. TNG came out when I was 8, and we watched it together as a family, but even before that, I had watched plenty of TOS in syndication, and had seen at least a few of the TOS movies (and a bit of TAS).

I can't say I ever particularly cared much about the characters though. Characters don't matter that much to me in fiction in general. It was more about the scenarios in the stories, and daydreaming about exploring the universe.

 

Even if you're right, I still see Prodigy finding an audience among older Trekkies. Especially with more Trek alums lending their voices.

 

I grew up on Popeye, Tom & Jerry, Looney Toons & Saturday morning cartoons.

Star Trek was the first adult oriented TV show that I gained any interest in at that young age.

But the times they have a changed ...
Unless they somehow find a way to show PRODIGY on YouTube and its ilk, then most kids of today will probably not develop an interest.

 

I will watch it with my kid. I probably wouldn't otherwise. I think that is part of what they are going for, Trek fans' young kids on streaming and a more general young audience on Nickelodeon.