Finally caught up, and time for the season review of Prodigy’s debut year. Spoilers.
Overall I’m honestly surprised by how much I enjoy this show. The start was rocky, and it took a while for the characters to settle in and for the stories to start relying more on Star Trek than generic Science Fiction. But once it got there it performed very well. And navigated the gap between ‘callback’ and ‘fan service’ admirably.
And we end up with a good set of interesting characters. Given the nature of the show they aren’t allowed to grow too much, but still each of them changes over the course of the season in a way that’s well earned. Honestly the show does better with week-to-week consequences of character development than most of mainline Trek.
I’m surprised with how quickly the story moved overall. We could easily have seen a whole season of running from the Diviner, or a season of bumping around the Delta quadrant. Instead we’re in Federation space by the start of episode 11, and in Starfleet by the end of the season. Ultimately far more continuity driven than I was expecting.
Overall this is not the greatest season of Trek ever, but a very solid debut and a welcome addition to the Trek family. I think just a bit stronger than Lower Decks first season.
That takes the rankings to:
The very best of Trek:
- SNW Season 1
- PIC Season 1
- TNG Season 6
- DS9 Season 2
- PIC Season 2
Strong performers:
- PRO Season 1
- LD Season 1
- DS9 Season 5
- TNG Season 3
- TNG Season 5
- TOS Season 2
- DIS Season 2
- ENT Season 3
- TNG Season 4
- VOY Season 4
Mixed bag:
- TOS Season 1
- DS9 Season 4
- LD Season 3
- LD Season 2
- DIS Season 1
- ST Season 2
- DS9 Season 1
- ENT Season 4
- DIS Season 3
- ST Season 1
- VOY Season 5
- ENT Season 1
- VOY Season 1
- TNG Season 7
Not good:
- DS9 Season 3
- DS9 Season 6
- DIS Season 4
- VOY Season 6
- VOY Season 3
- TNG Season 2
- ENT Season 2
- TAS Season 1
Really just awful:
- VOY Season 7
- VOY Season 2
- DS9 Season 7
- TOS Season 3
- TAS Season 2
- TNG Season 1
Now for a quick break, and Picard’s final season in a few weeks.