Star Trek: Prodigy — CNN Critic Offers Unflattering Review
Dustin Baker
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Not everybody loves Star Trek Prodigy.
The Star Trek universe was finally doing it — tackling a kids-themed show on the backbone of a franchise that always fancied itself as “kid-friendly.”
Prodigy was supposed to be different, aimed specifically at kids while adults could indeed find entertainment, too.
But not all adults are impressed.
The cable news channel CNN was one of the entities to find Prodigy underwhelming. On CNN‘s website, writer Brian Lowry called the show “mostly just transparently trades off the Trek title without feeling like it’s going anywhere, boldly or otherwise.”
Outside of Lowry, the general consensus on Star Trek’s kid show is fairly favorable. Metacritic rated the show a 68 score, which is pretty commendable, all other reviews considered. For example, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine from the 1990s has a 74 score from Metacritic.
Lowry continued on his Prodigy synopsis:
“Star Trek has continued its mission through multiple incarnations over the last 55 years, but catering to kids hasn’t traditionally been among the strengths of Gene Roddenberry’s creation. While it’s understandable why Paramount would want to expand the footprint to attract a younger audience, the search for synergy has come at the expense of prized commodity in Trek lore — namely, logic. And in terms of showing abilities beyond its years, a prodigy this isn’t.“
TrekHead doesn’t have the benefit of seeing the Prodigy entirely, but the pilot was quite fun to experience. The show did, in fact, appeal to kids, paying subtle homage to the Star Trek franchise on the whole. In particular, a hologram appearance at the end of the first episode enables a pathway to gobs of nostalgic characters if the writers see fit.
For objectivity, here’s a review of the first episode aside from CNN or TrekHead. It is spoiler-free.
The next episode is available on Paramount+ November 4th.
Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. His odyssey with Star Trek starts from beginning to finish, watching ‘The Original Series,’ all the way to the present day. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).
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