Prodigy Is Star Trek's Best Animated Series

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[Wordfishtrombone]

My young son hates Star Trek because I’m “obsessed with it, ” “talk about it all the time, ” and “have a communication badge tattooed on my chest.” But he loved Prodigy! It was a great introduction and wonderful ride!

[langleymneely]

When describing Prodigy to people for the first time I refer to it as the Batman The Animated Series for Star Trek. It’s kid/family friendly but takes the universe and lore seriously enough that it’s welcoming for long time veteran Trek fans. I was pleasantly surprised that Prodigy would be the best new Trek series for me! I love Strange New Worlds and think it’s a stellar first season but I have to give the edge to Prodigy, it’s that good!

[chelmrtz]

Prodigy surprised the hell out of me. I expected nothing from this show and got everything I needed. The art is stunning, it has heart and guts, it’s funny in the right places, and I really care about everyone on the show.

My only complaint: WHERE THE HELL IS THE CAITAN GIRL AND WHY ISNT SHE ON THE CREW

[allenrubinstein]

Actually, I'm just realizing that one of the things that made Prodigy work so well for me personally is that I never knew season 1 was a 20-episode arc. I assumed the first ten episodes was the first season, and that "we want to reach the Federation" was a flat premise - i.e. Voyager. "Well, we didn't make it back home this week. Let's try again next week and see if that adventure gets us there." They'd make progress in reaching their goal in bits and pieces over the years of the series. That's what the structure of most episodic television has conditioned me to expect!

Then when real Janeway appeared, I thought, "Interesting, they're making this established character into an antagonist. Nice swerve." I figured she'd come around, lose sight of them, a few self-contained adventures, more real Janeway, more bits and pieces, gradually paced developments - basically, the storytelling X-Files brought forward. Instead, they held onto the premise and gave us a self-contained 20-half-hour complete beginning-to-end, fully thought through adventure series. It was a great journey for me, not knowing their intentions ahead of time.

[DigiRangerScott]

Prodigy feels like it took all the right lessons from modern animated Star Wars while better developing the universe and advancing Janeway’s story with more than an outfit change

[MagiusDel]

It's rather strange that after Discovery and Picard managed to botch their serialized storytelling so badly, it's the straight up kids show that gives them the template for season long plots going forward. This is a great series, and if they keep this level of storytelling up, I think it could be a strong contender for best Star Trek series of all time. It really is that good.

[scottwells]

Sacrifice, friendship, sense of duty, sense of community, character growth, high stakes drama...yeah. Prodigy is way, way better than I had hoped. Well done all around.

[patrickdodds]

Star Trek Lower Decks may not be as deep as Prodigy (or even TAS), but it has a definite charm to it. The humor is witty, the characters are appealing and it has a shockingly high respect for the source material of Roddenberry's playground. It's like Kevin Smith's Dogma: it pokes fun at Trek's many foibles, while maintaining a sense of respect for the mythos (which has been sorely missing for nearly a decade and a half). Ironically it's the only nuTrek that feels like Trek (at least to me). But, if people prefer the other Prodigy or TAS over it, I will not ask God to strike them down.😉 (Live and let live)

[arturormispiretaamesquita]

I also agree. Prodigy was the perfect introduction to Star Trek for my boyfriend, who hasn't watched any ST and wasn't that much interested in TNG. He loves it and i think now he will be more inclined now to watch other Shows 😇

[thod]

I wonder if the reason Prodigy avoids a lot of the flaws streaming shows has is because it's not necessarily a streaming show. It's a Nickelodeon show that's being sent out in chunks on streaming. Maybe there's something about the way that kind is produced that helps?

[BaileyPoint]

As someone who grew up with TNG, and as an adult has come to realize just how much of my personality has derived from classic Trek philosophies and ideologies, I have been downright grateful for this show, as it has already instilled a love of Star Trek in my 5 and 7 year old daughters (and it's a show I'm eager to watch with them every week).

[ethertonm]

Prodigy is something I struggled with the pacing of for the first few episodes, but the visuals in that show are just outstanding and the character arcs are near universally relatable.

[richardjohnson]

For me, Prodigy is proof-of-concept for an animated continuation of Enterprise dealing with the Earth/Romulan War arc that we were denied with Enterprise's untimely cancelation. Oh, and Steve I'm so sorry that your introduction to Star Wars animation was Resistance. Clone Wars(seasons 3 and up) and Rebels are far superior and have become a direct influence on the current live action shows

[CaptainAndy]

Definitely my favourite of the new wave of Treks. Focusing on action adventure rather than trying to be dark and gritty. Also, unafraid to appeal to the younger audience rather than trying to be all serious and adult.

The great thing as well about the animated format, much like with the original animated series, restrictions of character design and special effects are no longer a problem. They get to be really creative with the visuals.

[adamdahlin]

The time episode was messed up. The rock kid was in the slowest time and the whole episode I was thinking okay it was minutes for them and days for Rok-tahk. Then at the end you find out she learned like 2 or 3 fields of science in that time frame and when asked how long she was there Janeway just says "Too long." I have no idea how long that is but it made me straight up sad for how lonely Rok-tahk must have been before they all get to hug at the end.

[crybabytrekkie]

Shows like Lower Decks prove that you can never have anything new, while shows like Discovery and Picard prove that you can never keep anything old.
Prodigy strikes the perfect balance, because its writers' love for Star Trek is sincere and not just some kind of perverted sentimentality (like with that other animated Trek show). It loves the format, the ideals, the universe, the wonder of exploration—and not just things from the past. There is genuine love for the genre, science, and space in that show. So even if it looked nothing like Star Trek, it'd still be Star Trek to the core.

[AndrewDRed]

I'm genuinely chuffed to bits that so many people love the show, though.
(That's British speak for "happy")

[distantcomets]

We got rope-a-doped with this show in the best way possible: I also expected this would be cute kiddo Trek but expected it not to ultimately be for me. What a wonderful and thoughtful distillation of what we love about the franchise it's turned out to be!

[danieldesmith]

I absolutely loved prodigy. Prodigy's music felt like a love letter to Trek, with all its returning themes, I will confess, when enterprising young men popped up a couple of times I was quite happy. Also, I love the main theme, one of my favourite Trek scores

[johncattley]

As much fun as it is to watch Steve tear something apart, it’s even better to see a show live up to his standards. Thanks, Steve, and good work, Prodigy!