SNAPSHOT
Star Trek: Prodigy follows a motley crew of young aliens who must figure out how to work together while navigating a greater galaxy, in search for a better future. These six young outcasts know nothing about the ship they have commandeered – a first in the history of the Star Trek franchise – but over the course of their adventures together, they will each be introduced to Starfleet and the ideals it represents. (synopsis courtesy Flickering Myth)
One of the great enduring attractions of the venerable but still vital Star Trek franchise is its glowing utopian view of the future.
It is a future in which, for the Federation at least, want has been extinguished, need is addressed and there is commonality of shared and supportive experience that values the very best of sentient life.
It’s a potent brew but as shows like Deep Space Nine and Discovery have vividly shown, not everyone shares these ideals, leaving the galaxy a place in need of some utopian prosletising.
Enter an all-new animated Star Trek show, Prodigy which is about a group of directionless outcasts discovering, thanks to the theft of an unattended Federation ship, the U.S.S. Protostar, out in the Delta quadrant, there might be more to life than simply stealing starships.
They will be helped along on their voyage of personal discovery by none other than Kathryn Janeway (Kate Mulgrew), well, at least a hologram of her anyway with the show, targeted firmly at the Nickolodeon demographic, using this much-loved and lauded captain’s humanity and knowledge to steer the ship’s new motley crew on the path to all kind of grand new adventures.
There will be villains, of course, for what is light without darkness to make it all the more obvious, but it looks like the greatness and goodness of the Federation will prevail as Prodigy takes its new young residents where they have never gone before.
Star Trek: Prodigy premieres on 28 October on Paramount+
