RED ALERT! This roundtable discussion includes spoilers for Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 episodes 1 through 10. If you haven’t seen this highly recommended series yet and wish to avoid spoilers, all 40 Prodigy Season 1 and 2 episodes are now available for streaming on Netflix.
Finally, Star Trek: Prodigy Season 2 has arrived for streaming on Netflix! With a week since all 20 episodes were dropped, it’s time for Comics Beat’s Star Trek Away Team to discuss the first half of the season.
What did you think of the first half of Prodigy Season 2? Be sure and let us know in the comment section.
What was your experience with Prodigy season 1?
AVERY KAPLAN: In the Kaplans’ Quarters, we were early adopters of Prodigy, and were already fans when the first season premiered in October 2021. Needless to say, it’s been a long road, getting from there to here, but a worthwhile one.
GEORGE CARMONA 3RD: I remember not jumping on right away because of the “kid” factor and thinking this show wasn’t for me, but then I caught a clip and the animation intrigued me to watch the pilot. I was all in from there.
TAIMUR DAR: At the time I had not immersed myself in the world of Star Trek. But because it was a Nickelodeon co-production and that was and still remains my press “beat” I decided to give it a shot. Part of the brilliance of the show is being accessible to new fans so I was quickly hooked by the end of the first half of season 1.
AVERY: Yes, as an entrenched Trekkie, it was clear that the early episodes of Prodigy are all almost “Star Trek 101.” But it was invigorating to me to recall a time when the rules of the transporter seemed new, or when I didn’t know what an “M-Class Planet” meant.
What did you think of Prodigy season 2 episodes 1 through 10?
AVERY: Another excellent season, and one that builds on Prodigy season 1 while leveling up its integration of the larger Star Trek universe. As a young viewer of Star Trek: Voyager, I loved both Kathryn Janeway and The Doctor, and I have no doubt that the young viewers of today will feel exactly the same way.
TAIMUR: It was definitely a changeup from the previous season now that the characters are officially part of Starfleet. I’m still amazed at the show’s ability to be simultaneously familiar and fresh. I’m also glad the show didn’t waste any time getting the team back together while also clearly setting up the larger plot with Solum in the second half of the season.
GEORGE: I agree, after the uncertainty of the show’s fate and long hiatus it was great to jump back into our young heroes’ journey. In addition, I enjoyed the firm setting of where the show is in the Trek timeline, mixing it into the events of Picard and the Romulan evacuation was great. Bottom line, it was a great season full of fun and adventure.
Did you have a favorite Star Trek reference in the first 10 episodes of this season? How about a favorite episode?
AVERY: Obviously, I screamed at the top of my lungs when The Doctor mentioned the Cerritos. But I especially appreciate that the Humpback Whale who works in Voyager-A’s Cetacean Ops is named for Dr. Gillian Taylor, considering she’s responsible for the un-extinction of the species!
TAIMUR: The Doctor’s continuing to write holonovels one of my favorite bits in this season. The title of his latest work, Love in the Time of Holograms got a genuine laugh out of me.
GEORGE: I couldn’t agree more with Avery, the Cetacean Ops was amazing. To think that a throwaway reference on a ship diagram would become a thing in not one but two shows, Chef’s Kiss, I can only hope that if Starfleet Academy happens we get a live-action Cetacean Ops.
Who is your favorite character on the Protostar crew? And otherwise, on the series as a whole?
AVERY: After writing this question, I am going to cop out by saying: I can’t choose a favorite Protostar crew member! They are so well-balanced and work so well as a team (if not always cooperation-wise, then at least for my entertainment).
But since I feel obligated to answer at least part of this question, I will say my favorite character beyond the Protostar crew is Vice Admiral Kathryn Janeway. As nifty as it is to see so many different incarnations of Janeway over the course of the series, having Janeway Prime appear post-Voyager is even more exciting when it isn’t in Star Trek: Nemesis. In the Kaplan’s Quarters, we consider Janeway to be a guiding light, leadership-wise, and it’s very cool to see the further continuation of her career after she led her original crew back to the Alpha Quadrant.
TAIMUR: I gotta go with Rok-Takh voiced by Rylee Alazraqui, daughter of Carlos Alazraqui who’s no stranger to Star Trek himself. I’m a sucker for gentle giant characters and she still remains an endearing character to me. Without spoiling too much, I’ll also say seeing a new side of the character with hologram Rok-Takh was comedy gold. I also have to highlight Vulcan cadet Maj’El, voiced by Michaela Dietz, introduced this season. It goes without saying there’s no shortage of Vulcan characters in the franchise, but Dietz portrays the expected qualities you come to expect from Vulcan while making the character uniquely her own. I’m also taken with the budding relationship between Maj’El and Zero.
AVERY: Taimur raises some great points! I also think it’s very neat that multiple generations of the Alazraqui family are involved in Star Trek animation. And I also became quickly invested in “Maj’ero.” It’s funny, for all their efforts to divorce themselves from “feelings,” we have romantic Vulcan subplots in the most recent seasons of Strange New Worlds, Discovery and Prodigy. Could romance be in T’Lyn’s future on Lower Decks?
GEORGE: This is more of a full-season pick but the Prodigy MVP for me was Murf (Dee Bradley Baker), quite possibly the baddest Mofo in Starfleet since Worf. Murf could just be comedy relief but has become a true force to be reckoned with, and it doesn’t even use a phaser.
AVERY: And I appreciated that he got a new form this season, even a transient one!
Any thoughts regarding the fact that this is the first time ever a Star Trek season has been released all at once?
AVERY: First, let me emphasize: thank you to Netflix for hosting the second season debut of this series, which is equal to or improves upon the excellent first season. Without slight to the first season, the character animation in particular is especially improved in the show’s sophomore outing.
However, I am a little disappointed, mainly because this season is so full of exciting episodes that it’s a bummer we don’t get to discuss each one for a week before the next one arrives. Lately, I notice Netflix has been releasing many seasons in “parts,” and at the very least, this could have dropped in two ten-episode parts. Clearly, the season was scripted with a mid-season break in mind.
Finally, I know the real answers here. Blah-blah-shareholders-blah.
But I don’t understand how no executive can see the big picture. Star Trek: The Original Series was canned for the same reasons we’ve been given for the cancellations of Prodigy and Lower Decks, and nearly six decades later, CBS is still licensing out those characters for more merch than you could shake a stolen cudgel at. And as far as sci-fi animation goes, Hulu has built a whole damn programming block out of new seasons of (the canceled in 2005 for those same reasons again) Futurama.
Rule of acquisition #22: “A wise man can hear profit in the wind.” Is there no wisdom among TV execs? You’re leaving latinum on the table, possibly for literal generations to come!
TAIMUR: Completely agree with Avery. I’m always wary whenever a streaming service dumps the entire season all at once as opposed to letting viewers savor the experience. On the one hand, I am grateful Netflix was able to come to the rescue and release Prodigy Season 2 instead of becoming a tax write-off that happened with quite a number of Paramount+ shows earlier this year. But to just do a release dump feels almost as disrespectful when splitting the release into two parts was just as viable.
GEORGE: I know it’s their whole deal but I don’t love binge-watching shows, I’m old school that way in savoring episodes, watching big moments happen week by week is how I love to watch shows. With that, thank you Netflix for the save, this show deserved to have closure and Netflix gave us that.
You can keep up with all of The Beat’s Star Trek coverage here.
