Aw, the Prodigy erasure is so real

I didn’t think studios made these kind of fluff pieces anymore, so it hits on the nostalgia factor of early 2000s Entertainment Tonight vibes. The section with tawny newsome and Eugene cordero got a laugh from me. Jackie Cox was delightful. Jerry O’Connell looks like he desperately wants to be anywhere else

I cannot get over how corporate, forced and soulless this was. Especially with Prodigy not even getting a mention. Reminds me of those segments in late night shows where they pay the intern to go out on the street with a camera and talk to people cuz it’s cheaper than using the staff writers.

Well that was endearing.

• Eugene Cordero and Tawny Newsome reacting to a few episodes was great. Especially seeing Tawny nerd out over so much Trek.

• "Whenever I was in college and I tried to date a girl and they would turn into a lizard cape, I’d be like “Ah man, you’re a lizard cape!”

• It’s nice seeing Discovery getting the honor it deserves for kicking some life back into Trek. I get it’s not for everyone, and I get that some people outright hate it, but you can’t deny that without Discovery we wouldn’t be swimming in so much Star Trek. More now than ever before. Not all of it is for everyone, there’s some Trek that I like but am not crazy over, but I’m still happier than ever. Nearly 60 years later and still new Trek coming out weekly? Worth it all.

• Also nice just seeing Discovery get props for continuing the carry the torch of representation for all groups of people. As a gay dude who always felt invisible in the Star Trek universe, it’s been really nice to just know that I exist in the future.

• I haven’t even seen Prodigy yet (I don’t know why) and even I feel incredibly uncomfortable by them celebrating so much Animation and never mentioning Prodigy. They even say “9 sequel and spin off series” since the release of TAS. TNG, DS9, VOY, ENT, DSC, Picard, SNW, LD. That’s 8 but I don’t know if they’re including Prodigy in that. You could argue Starfleet Academy but it hasn’t been released yet. However, Short Treks existed. So are they counting Prodigy in that 9 or are they counting Short Treks instead?

• They have called Strange New Worlds ‘beloved’ twice in this video. I completely agree with the assessment but it just feels ever so slightly odd for me. I’m not sure why.

• Billups saying “Beam up” and then it cross fading into TAS bridge crew arriving in the transporter room is something beautiful and special.

• I know that this isn’t the Lower Decks discussion page but they show a Lower Decks clip here. Is it just me or did anyone else think that the Voyager Museum Curator was voiced by Ethan Phillips when he first started talking?

• They have a drag queen in a bedazzled Starfleet Uniform to talk to random strangers on the street and ask them about Star Trek. I am… oh this is incredible. I would like more of this please.

• Jackie Cox: “What show does this hand signal come from? 🖖” Stranger 1: “The Big Bang Theory?” Cue Jackie with the most side eye possible just saying “That’s not correct.” “ET?” “Still wrong.”

Overall thoughts: It was fun but you could really feel a corporate hold on this. It was celebrating Star Trek, absolutely, but it did come from a Studio side with seemingly very little input from the creative side. Seeing zero mentions of Prodigy was incredibly disheartening. I don’t understand why they’ve just decided to pretend like it never happened. If they don’t want to continue the show, fine, but to deny its existence during a celebration of animation? I don’t get it at all.

It was fine. A total of maybe 8 minutes of interesting content. I enjoyed the segment with Tawny Newsome and Eugene Cordero watching silly clips. And the interviews on the street were cute.

Jerry O’Connell did have a slight “blink twice if you need help” vibe going on, but I’m not sure how much of that is me projecting it onto him given that the strikes are going on (but I assume this content was prepared in advance?). And honestly, I couldn’t do half as well “hosting” a show with no guests in front of a green screen!

The segment about Discovery was a bit…

And I’m actually a discovery fan! But wow that Paramount Plus narrator was so proud of their achievements, lol

I just watched it. It was a nice bit of Star Trek-ness. I was shouting out answers to Jackie Cox’ questions to passerbys. And, now I want an outfit like Jackie Cox wore – sequins and Star Trek.