Star Trek: Prodigy

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.

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.

I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the shows animation and story, especially with all the bad reviews that came out even before the show did.

As much as I enjoyed the Original Star Trek animated show as a kid do I think this generation will enjoy this show.

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.

Quite good, even on its own.

A bit depressing that the feel and scope of Trek is better handled by an animation than by a live action show.... dear... why Discovery and Picard... uter failures they are.

But this is good! Sure it has it's misgivings and differences, but Trek fans should rejoice; we finally have a Trek we can appreciate that deeply pays tribute to what we know and love. This is a gem, thank you for this.