STAR TREK: PRODIGY Season One, Part One
Rebels Without A Course
UK Nickelodeon, weekdays from
25 April
US Nickelodeon, streaming now Showrunners Kevin and Dan Hageman Cast Kate Mulgrew, Brett Gray, Ella Purnell, John Noble
You’d have thought the best you could hope for from a Nickelodeon-backed Trek series would be a gaudy, lightweight, gateway-drug Trek for kids. Well, Prodigy is all those things, but much more besides. You could even argue that spiritually, if not aesthetically, it’s the Trekkiest Trek of all the current spin-offs.
The crew this time is a misfit bunch of wrongfully imprisoned alien youngsters who escape a Delta Quadrant penal colony using an abandoned Federation starship. Not that they’ve ever heard of the Federation. Not until a holojaneway pops up, mistakes them for a trainee Starfleet crew and tries to whip them into shape. Meanwhile the plot arc… sorry, evil prison colony boss is in pursuit, because he has plans for the ship.
It’s unashamedly aimed at Nickelodeon’s core audience, and Trek loyalists may at first be alarmed at the Delta Quadrant being reimagined more in the visual style of the Star Wars prequel universe. But under the creative guidance of Trollhunters’ Kevin and Dan Hageman, the show soon deepens into something richer and more embedded in Trek lore. It has particular links to the Voyager era, not just in terms of copious cameos, species-namedropping and Easter eggs, but also a real sense of exploring the unknown while trying to uphold (or even question) the values of the Federation. It looks classy too, with cinematic CG animation, and fun character designs (even if a few have clearly wandered in from other franchises). It’s a shame some of the crewmembers don’t get backstories, and the worldbuilding and arc elements are a little unfocussed, but there’s plenty here to engage big kids of all ages. Dave Golder
The voices of Spock, Odo, Scotty and Uhura in “Kobayashi” were created using clips from old Trek episodes and films.