Star Trek: Prodigy and The Streaming Frontier


As someone who grew up before streaming services took over popular entertainment, I'm still reeling from the recent cancellation of Star Trek: Prodigy. Not only will the second season episodes not be aired, but the entire first season of the show has been removed from Paramount's streaming service.

I was initially astonished at how much Paramount had embraced Star Trek as a source of content for its streaming service. (I've been very satisfied with all of the new Trek series, and my personal favorites are the animated ones: Prodigy and Lower Decks.) Even if fans weren't completely satisfied with all the new Trek content that was being offered, at least Paramount appeared to have a vested interest in building upon the franchise through a selection of new entries produced by talented casts and crews. This new expansion also looked more coherent and organized than when Paramount previously used Trek to provide "flagship" shows for the United Paramount Network (UPN) back in the '90s.  

Then again, Star Trek always had a troubled relationship with Paramount. There was even a time when the corporate masters at CBS and Viacom decided to split the Star Trek franchise in half, with the TV half going to CBS and the movie half going to Paramount. But to have a show like Prodigy renewed for a second season and then cancelled while the second season episodes are in post-production comes as a bit of a shock. Why spend the money to make the episodes in the first place when they are never going to air?

To boldly go ... and disappear? The cast of Star Trek: Prodigy.

I've heard some chatter among media critics that the sudden cancellation of Prodigy is just one sign of how deeply flawed the streaming model of TV production and distribution actually is. The streaming model started with Netflix, but that company has been very secretive about its viewership numbers and what qualifies as a hit within this system. Further complicating matters are the lack of physical distribution channels (i.e., DVD and Blu-ray) and how proprietary the streaming services are about their content. Essentially, when a show that’s created for streaming is taken off of a service, it can disappear permanently.

What the sudden disappearance of Prodigy means is that even popular franchises are not safe from the instabilities within the streaming service model. It also calls into question what the terms "renewal" and "cancellation" even mean at this point, and if series that have been approved for continuation will actually be continued at all.    

I'm hoping that the Trek fan base will find a way to bring Prodigy back, or at least persuade Paramount to release both seasons on Blu-ray. Yet even if Prodigy returns, we're still stuck with the ongoing mess that is streaming. The only advice I can think of right now is that if you REALLY love a movie or TV show, find a way to get a hard copy of it. That’s the only way to guarantee your access to it.

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