Trek Central reporting that Star Trek Prodigy has been cancelled and will be removed from Paramount+ in coming days.
Trek Central reporting that Star Trek Prodigy has been cancelled and will be removed from Paramount+ in coming days.
And shit like this is why I'm a data hoarder lol
Yep. I used to think that I didn't need to download and back up stuff because "I just need to pop on over to Youtube or something and it'll be there!" only to find out the hard way that people delist and take down stuff from places all the time, including major corporations.
I wish I'd downloaded and backed up some of my favorite stuff back in the day. Whether it's videos, music, games... it's surprising how much crap gets taken down. I never thought that people who insisted on having physical copies were weird (unlike some others) but now I realize even more nowadays that they were right. Especially if they use those physical copies to make their own digital backups.
The back half of Prodigy season one hasn’t even been released to DVD, just the first 10 episodes.
The removal from the service thing is the most absurd part of these announcements, that was the benefit of VOD, that we could access what we wanted.
Shows have gotten cancelled when they are popular and on a cliff-hanger throughout the last 60 years, but the removal thing is new and a massive decline from the accessibility improvements that were made over the last 15 years.
Fortunately for me, my personal server doesn't have this issue.
It also makes it impossible for a show to get later word of mouth bumps. Nobody sees it, new users don't even know it exists, and so it has no metrics and no future whatsoever.
That's how Star Trek succeeded after The Original Series, but now there is no physical media comparable to streaming.
You would think that the content would still be licensed by another streamer like Tubi etc, but then they have to factor their property only being available on a competitor.
It's never been a better time to selfhost.
Don't streaming platforms remove canceled shows so they don't have to pay residuals to actors (or whoever is contractually getting them)? I've understood that streaming residuals are pretty shit to begin with
Canceling it is one thing. Pulling the show down from the service is absolutely abhorrent behavior.
Fully agree. There is absolutely no reason to do so!
To avoid paying royalties, I imagine. Hollywood accounting is craaaaazy.
Confirmed by Deadline, with some added details:
The new season will complete post-production, and the studio will be looking for a new home for Star Trek: Prodigy as season one comes off the service shortly.
The company said that “continues to be invested in growing the Star Trek franchise” with series including Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, movie event Star Trek: Section 31, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which returned for its second season June 15 and has been renewed for a third season, animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks, which will return for its fourth season later this year and has also been renewed for a fifth season, the upcoming final season of Star Trek: Discovery as well as Star Trek: Picard.
Update from series writer Aaron J. Waltke:
Obviously, there is not much I can say. Everyone on the cast and crew loves #StarTrekProdigy deeply.
I have noticed some misleading headlines, so all I can do is point to this particular part of the press release.
We are completing season two on schedule and seeking a new home!
Variety's report contains this:
According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, although the show had aired on Nickelodeon in addition to Paramount+, it will not be returning to Nickelodeon either. Those on the show will complete post-production on Season 2 and then CBS Studios will be free to shop it to other outlets.
For goodness sake. Paramount+ just gained "The spot for all Star Trek films and series" earlier this month. Now, they have to put an asterisk on that statement, "*except Prodigy."
@Nmyownworld @ValueSubtracted What I struggle to understand is how they don't immediately see how this will only undermine subscriber confidence
So depressing.
Especially when Paramount+ has very little in the animated originals category.
More, Paramount has been trying to cover all of the demographics with their consolidated streamer. Compared to most of the others, excepting Disney, they have a decent amount of kids’ content and viewership. So, how shortsighted do they have to be to cut off their one major franchise offering for that demographic?
Ouch, that must hurt for Kate Mulgrew and the team.
Why would Paramount remove the existing episodes from streaming service though? They have everything else Trek.
@triktrek Same reason HBO removed Westworld... Saving on residuals. All about that bottom line, amirite? 🙄
Ah so it is just about residuals, I was just speculating on another comment that that might be the reason.
This fucking sociopathic cutthroat capitalism where literally nothing matters except squeezing more money out of everyone is getting real damn old
And one of the main reasons for the writers going on strike.
If there's really low viewership, it can cost more to keep it on the platform, as they still have to pay some royalties and stuff for it being there.
Same reason that Disney is pulling lots of shows from Disney+ and Hulu right now.
It sucks a lot for those of us who really like it.
Fucking shifting business fiefdoms. This is why I don't trust streaming at all.
I get cancelling it but why remove it?
They are trying to find a new distributor for the second season, presumably the first would be packaged with that deal.
You'd think removing it would come after finding a new distributor, but I guess they don't want to give any possible advantage to a competitor.
This anti-competitive crap is rotting the whole industry.
Tax write-off seems to be the going theory.
Paramount dumping $500 million a year into Yellowstone and 1923 but they cut the two Emmy winning Trek shows that cost a literal fraction of the price.
Not enjoying this new trend of removing content. Hopefully will be available to purchase.
I've been re-stocking up on physical media for this exact reason. DVDs are like $1 per movie if you know where to look.
I'm very surprised. I thought Prodigy had a strong following. What a strange situation, quickly pulling season one. But I don't understand the ins and outs of streaming contracts.
Possibly that Paramount+ simply doesn't have the kids' content to support viewership for a single show. Sure, it pulls in Trek fans, but probably isn't grabbing the 4-12 demographic it's aimed at or whatever.
code for "Prodigy is about to become super hot on pirate sites"
ugh, this destroys a lot of the appeal of Paramount+ for me. the only reason i have a subscription is that it's the one-stop-shop for all things star trek, but i guess not anymore.
They're also really boosting the appeal of piracy (not that i would ever recommend somebody reading this post commit piracy) because that's the only way to reliably enjoy the things you would otherwise be paying to rent.
Boooo! I quite enjoyed Prodigy, and I really hope it finds a new home.
They don't have to pay residuals if they pull the content. This is one of the main issues that caused the current writer's strike.
I'm bummed. I found the first few episodes of Prodigy rocky but it wound up being a solid first season in a franchise where a rocky first season is the norm.
I don't have kids but if I ever did I could see myself wanting to watch Prodigy with them. I hope another studio picks it back up.
Oh man that really sucks. I really enjoyed prodigy, it was doing something different (but good different!).
Had been looking forward to watching it with my son when he was sold enough… I really hope they find a new home so we get more than just one season.
Oh man. I never got around to watching it!
You should watch it before it’s pulled. Only the first 10 episodes are available on physical media.
At 20 x 22 minutes, it’s not a lot of time, but we’ll worth it.
It's really good.
I saw the trailer and figured it was a kids show and never watched.
It's aimed at kids but is still a great Trek show.
It is a kids' show, but surprisingly deep and thoughtful for one. Characters are well realized and the plotting is tight. Plus it's absolutely gorgeous to look at.
I'm exposed to a lot of kids' media by virtue of, you know, having kids, and this show is top shelf. And my young kids actually liked it and would sit down to watch it, which is something they wouldn't do with other Trek.
It is targeted at kids, that's why I never checked it out either.
Usenet and Yorrentst 😎
Did it end on a cliffhanger and this means the ending is unresolved?
Sort of - the mystery of what happened to Chakotay is unresolved, but the crew got a more-or-less happy ending. From how it's being reported, season 2 is all but complete and they just need to find a new network or service to show it - I'd wager Prime Video might be a possible home for it as they've historically had distibution rights for the various other modern Trek shows internationally.
This gives some hope at least. This show is better than it had any right to be and deserves a proper ending.
That's what's bizarre about this. Paramount made the show, the next season actually exists in produced form, and they are just going to... not put it on their own service which they control? Like, "according to ourselves this show produced by ourselves which has been bought and paid for and is basically free for us to put on our own service and which we know people want to see isn't something we're interested to show."
I don't even like Prodigy and I'm dumbfounded by this move.
Blah. I hate this.
This is the first I've heard about Star Trek Prodigy
The promotion hasn’t been what it could and the merchandising came very, very late.
Wow, this sucks. I didn't get around to finishing season one yet but really enjoyed what I have seen so far. It's refreshing to see Star Trek deviate and try something new, and I felt like Prodigy was really hitting the mark there.
I hope season two finds a home quickly and we're not stuck waiting forever.
The lack of completions were one of the things that hurt the show.
This is why piracy is still going strong... when companies pull this type of shit. I hope it comes back to bite them like it did the BBC with Doctor Who
it's already a thing for several shows. The worst off are game shows that aren't as popular. or series that only had a couple of seasons. Capitalism and it's continuous churn of removing and adding new is going to put us in a new dark ages.
It's happening with everything. A friend of mine got a bike secondhand that only came with a digital manual. He didn't get the manual when he got his bike, so he had to go on the site to get it. Except the site had deleted the page his big was on, and the manual for it. It wasn't on the way back machine either. Luckily he found a similar model ok the way back machine but this is going to continue to happen.
So many things are going to be lost because they aren't printed and then they're deleted and no one is backing them up. All those news papers from local towns that we're using to piece together certain events in history just won't exist in 50 to 70 years because they were 100% digital and are now gone.
It's really upsetting and no one is doing anything about it. At least not at every level, sure there are efforts, but not in every small town.
@Coliver Well crud, I thought it was doing pretty well and that they had said it was renewed.
I don't follow the TV biz closely. What exactly does this mean? Is it no more Prodigy for sure, or is it being shopped around for someone to maybe continue it?
In many cases like this they end up selling rights to one of the growing ad-supported streaming services, which means I personally will never watch. I had just started watching Prodigy in the gap between Picard and SNW. I think companies are being shortsighted in cutting back their catalogs in this way since it encourages people like me to cancel subscriptions between the initial broadcast of new seasons of the more popular series rather than stick around for something of perhaps secondary interest.
Was it that poorly received? I thought it was great for a kid show.
It was a great kid's show AND great star trek.
It was well received.there is no good reason for doing this.
Exactly, Prodigy was a surprise gem and is at the bottom of the list of current Star Trek shows that should've been canceled.
- Discovery is an awful, manic, canon-wrecking mess and needs to go.
- Strange New Worlds inherits most of that awfulness, is incredibly overrated, and also needs to go.
- Picard was shaky but the final season finally delivered, thank the gods.
- Lower Decks is well-written, nuanced, a good citizen of canon, and just wonderful.
- Prodigy is well-written, nuanced, a good citizen of canon, and just wonderful.
But the popular narrative is all over the place. People hate Discovery but love Strange New Worlds despite them being almost identical. People love Lower Decks and are tepid about Prodigy despite them having a very similar tone.
At least most people seem to agree on Picard now.
Had a kid that loved it and he generally refuses to watch any trek show. Cutting off that audience is going to cost them in the long run but I don't think the owners of the IP have a long term vision
Nickelodeon didn’t get as much linear audience as they’d hoped, but Nickelodeon is doing poorly overall since 2020.
On Paramount+, it was popular but didn’t have as high a completion stat as it should.
Too many fans watched and episode or two and then bailed because it starts out looking more like other franchises that kids and families unfamiliar with Star Trek would find initially appealing. Within a very few episodes it really brings you into a very Star Trek experience, but too large a proportion of viewers didn’t give it the chance it deserves.
Also, Paramount’s promotion and timing of merchandise releases was incredibly weak. The algorithm didn’t promote the show to kids. The toys came out a year after the show premiered. The full year break between short seasons lost audience etc.
removing it completely is a bit extreme
They ended up removing it earlier than they planned because so many people were rushing to watch it before it was removed.
I guess they were concerned about all the views reducing the value of the tax write-off.
So, instead of SNW in the top of the Nielsen streaming numbers for this week (as they surely hoped), in a month from now we’ll see the figures for this week with Prodigy in the Nielsen top ten like 1923 and Picard.
I wonder what investors and the IRS will make of that…
lmaooooo
Never even heard of it
You're on a star trek only website and haven't heard of prodigy?
It's because it wasn't targeted at you. Branded as a Nickelodeon show, it's intended audience was children
My kid is not quite old enough to enjoy a show like Prodigy (he’s 1, lol). I was waiting until he aged into it and watch it with him.
I guess Paramount…. doesn’t want to indoctrinate children as trekkies, then?
Awww nooo! Not murf! I loved that little dude.
This is a shame, but maybe it means more money available to make star trek legacy? Also Kate Mulgrew is now free and can play a part in that series. Probably wishful thinking.
Arrr matey, time to sail the seven seas in search of lost booty!
I haven't gotten around to watching Prodigy yet. Is it worth binging before they pull it down?
This is disappointing, I very much enjoyed the series. A unique series different from all the traditional ST shows. Those classic starfleet morals and ethics, told in an intelligent way for a younger audience. However, there are references that long time fans would notice and enjoy. I feel bad for all the people who worked on it. The cast seemed very excited in interviews for the second season.
Edit: They better not touch Lower Decks.
This sucks, my kids love this show so much. I was excited to see where they would go with it, too.
Itunes has all of S1 for 9.99 today. I'm buying in support of the show.
Wasn't exactly my favorite in season 1. Was kinda excited to see where season 2 went but I'm not really too upset.
What I'm hoping this does is clear the way for a Legacy spinoff Matalas teased with the Picard finale
That didn’t work for the fans who cheered when TAS got canceled in the early 70s.
Hoping the cancellation of one Trek show will get you the one you personally want is never great thing for the health of the franchise.
Nah. Right now they need to cull the weak shows so the strong can survive. Not saying it's great what they're doing, but Prodigy and Discovery are definitely the weak shows of the current gen. Focus the franchise on what works, and allow room for good ideas to flourish instead of strangling them in the cradle because a lesser show is hogging resources.
Paramount is in a tough spot financially and if they need to cancel the underperformers so good Trek can survive, I'm ok.
Also, just saying, if TAS wasn't cancelled we might not have gotten TNG. Not sure your example is working in your favor.