That show was already great and season 2 delivered and then some. Sure at points it feels kinda star wars-y but you can tell the creators really love Star Trek. The fact it was so unceremoniously cancelled then dumped really shows how out of touch studio executives are with the IP’s they own. Especially considering how god awful the final season of Discovery was (l mostly liked that show but Season 5 really leaned into every weak point of the series and jacked it up to 11).
Anyway, I am annoyed we’ll likely never get a 3rd season of Prodigy—and even if we do it likely will lose the lightning they caught with the first two seasons. If y’all have been sleeping on it, please check it out.
Firstly, I should point out that it’s completely possible to sing the praises of one show without crapping on another.
With that out of the way, I agree it’s a damn shame Paramount+ cancelled Prodigy. I think it was probably the “right” decision on paper - the Hagemans themselves have said they were shown the numbers, and they weren’t great - but that probably speaks to the inadequacies of their platform. It doesn’t seem to be a good place for children’s programming.
Regardless of whether we get more Prodigy, I hope it was well-loved by its target audience, and I hope that it helped to create a new generation of Trek who can carry on with “Starfleet Academy” and the other series as they grow up.
In fact, if anyone has kids who have been watching it, I’d love to hear what they thought of it.
I wonder how bad the numbers were; if it was losing money, or they just didn’t make all the money like they wanted. Sometimes you have to give things time to find the audience.
Prodigy is a bit of a weird one, and I’m not surprised it didn’t catch on right away. IMO, it could’ve been profitable(if it isn’t already), with the audience slowly and steadily increasing.
FTR, I’m old, and I love it. I was disappointed I didn’t see someone, but you can’t have everything
To be honest, I have no idea how they even calculate what “makes money” in the streaming era. With ad-supported TV, I can see how you could calculate the relative value of each viewer, but for a streamer? I’m baffled as to how you would even do that math.
If Paramount had better infrastructure for a tween audience, and/or if the original plan to air it on Nickelodeon had come to fruition, maybe things would be different.
Agreed, I hope it helps to get more people into Star Trek. I have been a fan for as long as I can remember memories and love the property to death.
I wasnt trying to crap on Discovery—I appreciate it because it laid the ground for the current (and seemingly ending) renaissance of Star Trek we’ve enjoyed over the past few years. However; I think in the context its pertinent to bring up, since Discovery was allowed to flounder around for 5 seasons never really knowing what it was trying to do and then ended abruptly on a real stinker of a final season whereas Prodigy—in comparison a much better show (both star trek-related and in general)—was just snuffed out and thrown away before it even had a chance. Not to mention that it was probably much cheaper to produce since it’s animated and not live action (I know a lot of work still goes into animation).
Like I said though, I liked Discovery—I just think the final season was terrible for myriad reasons. I also know they are both canceled so it’s kinda just me venting frustration as a fan.
Just another case of the Ruling Owner Class being only concerned with near term profits and nothing else.
Here’s hoping Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds continue to carry the torch of fantastic (and not just middling) Star Trek.
