2y ago

Analysis - can Prodigy benefit from the writers strike the way TAS once did?

www.cbr.com

Star Trek: Prodigy Has a Chance to Repeat History During the Strikes

Some interesting reflections on how the live action writers’ strike may improve the marketability of Prodigy to a new platform, as well as enable work to begin on a third season.

This would of course been a good reason for Paramount not to cancel and pull Prodigy when they have a gap in Star Trek releases ahead in 2024.

I always appreciate a callback to DC Fontana’s smart employment of writers for TASunder the exception that they could write one animated episode without violating the strike rules.

4 comments

What point of TAS did a writers strike occur? Is that why s2 is the way it is
- There was a writers strike for most of season one. A provision in the contract permitted one episode to be written for an animated show if the writer had no previous animation writing credits. So, DC Fontana reached out to TOS live action writers, to science fiction authors (Larry Niven!) and Walter Koenig (who played Chekov) to see if they would be willing to take on an episode.
  As far as I know, TAS season two is the way it is because the show was canceled, but 6 episodes had already been greenlit.
  
  Wow so many neat facts! The cancellation mid season is rough but at least we got six

"If that happens, not only will Prodigy keep Star Trek alive in the hearts of fans, any work it brings other writers, or live-action actors could help them, too."
I hope the fan support for Prodigy factors favorably for the show getting a new home and season sooner rather than later. Being able to provide income for writers, actors, and others in the industry during the strike would be great. I think the first part of the above quote is a bit of hyperbole.
I think that Prodigy is a different situation from TAS in that there isn't a lack of Star Trek available for viewing at this time, and fan support of Star Trek is ongoing. I think it's possible that TAS saved Star Trek by igniting a fresh wave of letter writing campaigns by fans calling for more Star Trek. At the time, there was only TOS and then TAS. Prodigy doesn't stand alone in a near empty void of any other Star Trek offerings like TAS did. Any support of Star Trek is wonderful.
I do think Prodigy is much more successful than TAS in being tailored for very young viewers, and open for older viewers to enjoy as well. I was a teen when TAS was first broadcast, and I watched the show because I was already a Star Trek fan. Nothing about TAS struck me as being targeted for children. It seemed like it fell to a general idea of the time that animated = for children. TAS was parked with Saturday morning cartoons.
So, I have two hopes for Prodigy during the WGA/SAG-AFTRA strike. One, that it gets a new home soon with a new season that provides income for the Prodigy creative team. Two, that Paramount+ is kicking itself for how badly it treated Prodigy.