Star Trek: Prodigy

... it got me. Thought I would hate this and watched out of pure curiosity (I really wanted to hate this) and after watching the first episode, I now can't wait for the next. Love the plot, characters are good, even got me jigging about on the final "death star" sequence when the phasers kicked in. Good showing guys. Worth a go. Don't get the initial bad ratings. People just don't have enough joy in there hearts nowadays.

I wasn't immediately convinced with Prodigy smashed onto our screens in late 2021 and feeling like a tonal mash between Clone Wars and Trollhunters. It was felt a bit bombastic and heavy-handed, but honestly it really began to grow on me and by the time of the wildly canonical "Kobayashi Maru" episode I was fully on board. With some beautiful backgrounds, dynamic set pieces, respectful references and a strong focus on character Prodigy ends up as one of the strongest entries in the recent Trek canon and easily my favourite set in the post-Voyager era. Hopefully it will do what it was built to do and give whole new generations of Trekkies a strong grounding on which to boldly go.

It's not that I expected Prodigy to be bad, I just had no real expectations. It was specifically marketed as a way to get a younger audience interested in Star Trek and I can see how it would. But it's honestly better written than some of its recent live-action peers. It strikes a nice balance between the chock-full of callbacks nature of Lower Decks and covering new ground that still seems recognizably situated in the same universe.

This review is for the first 10 episodes of season 1 only:

Pleasantly surprised at how good this turned out to be.

I thought the show was trying to appeal to both kids and adults through their choices of characters. The writing style and story-line worked well enough that I found that they succeeded in connecting me with the younger characters in a mostly nostalgic way.

I really liked that it was the older characters, however, that drove the core of each episode. It helped maintain the seriousness of the evolving story.

I'll admit that I have a preference for serious storytelling. The plot for this series definitely leans toward a more adult mindset within a coming of age framework.

The serious overtones, good Sci-fi elements and the way the story is organically growing made a huge difference for me. I'm very happy with the way this series started because Star Trek can be 'hit or miss'. This one hits the bullseye.

I also love the addition of Hologram (Captain) Janeway. Everyone has their favorite captain. Janeway happens to be my favorite post-TOS captain and Kate Mulgrew has delivered on the role once again.

While I get that it doesn't have a true Star Trek storyline, I like the fresh take. I have a feeling the crew will continue to grow and who knows who or what they will encounter from the Star Trek universe. The animation and voice acting are top notch and it has an element of action that I feel sometimes Star Trek lacks. I am on board to see where this takes us.