10 Times Star Trek Dared To Be Different

9. Kid Of 'Kids' Stuff'

Those who persistently bemoan 'that kids' show' of the 2020s might do well to remember that Star Trek: The Animated Series was Saturday morning television in the 1970s. It won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Entertainment – Children's Series. The Animated Series was always for adults, too.

"It was a show for the entire family and anybody who was really a fan of the original live show," Filmation co-founder Lou Scheimer noted on Drawn to the Final Frontier: The Making of Star Trek: The Animated Series. Brought back to the present of Star Trek: Prodigy, 'is it for kids or is it for adults?' is a false dilemma. How about asking, 'is it any good'?

Daring to get animated for all ages is in Star Trek's pink DNA. Prodigy sought out a younger demographic — a laudable goal — but "the stakes [were] real for an older audience," as co-creator Dan Hageman told  TrekMovie in 2021. The arguably riskier move was kidding around with the franchise for adults.

Star Trek: Lower Decks was the animated comedy for grown-ups we didn't know we needed and were sad to see gone. On the other end of the comedy spectrum, and whatever the target demographic, the Very Short Treks were, quite simply, infantile.