Spoilers Star Trek: Prodigy 1x12 - "Let Sleeping Borg Lie"

[Deks]

In children's animation there's a lot of arbitrary weird rules but among the most famous are:

* You can use lasers but not guns
* You can kill robots without problem but people are verbotom
* You can claim to send people "back into another dimension" but not kill them
* You can throw people off buildings to their obvious death but as long as they're not seen dying, you can claim otherwise

STAR WARS: REBELS creator for example claimed to Disney none of the stormtroopers that were shot in the show died, they just were knocked out due to their armor.

Different shows, different rules.
Not all animation shows geared for kids adhere to those rules.

Rick and Morty for example uses plenty of blood and gore, not to mention ballistic weapons (also, Americans are weird that they will allow kids to watch fairly violent and gory tv shows and movies thinking its all perfectly normal while being 'disgusted' at two men kissing).

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but Lower Decks also showed people/aliens being dismembered.
And on multiple occasions we saw people actually dying (not being thrown into a different dimension).

Anyway, Trek is set in the future... energy beams are kinda a given here.

 

[Tuskin38]

Neither of the shows you mentioned are children's shows though. Charles was only talking about Children's shows.

 

[Bornin1980something]

In children's animation there's a lot of arbitrary weird rules but among the most famous are:

* You can use lasers but not guns
* You can kill robots without problem but people are verbotom
* You can claim to send people "back into another dimension" but not kill them
* You can throw people off buildings to their obvious death but as long as they're not seen dying, you can claim otherwise

STAR WARS: REBELS creator for example claimed to Disney none of the stormtroopers that were shot in the show died, they just were knocked out due to their armor.

You can't have WARS without death.

 

[Charles Phipps]

It's just fun hearing these kinds of rules and how they affect shows.

1. Avatar the Last Airbender's creators talking about how they could talk about the genocide of an entire country but couldn't show a character named Jet dying (and even made fun of the rule later when the Gaang sees a play where Jet dies and go, "Did he just die?" "It's ambiguous.")

2. The Marvel Avengers show was told they could have Nazis with lasers or Hydra with Guns when they showed WW2. So they went with Captain America fighting Hydra....with guns.

Censorship laws are really arbitrary sometimes.

 

[Charles Phipps]

You can't have WARS without death.

It's genuinely silly. I think I first saw Star Wars when I was four.

 

[Bornin1980something]

It's genuinely silly. I think I first saw Star Wars when I was four.

The first movie (A New Hope) has a massive body count.

 

[The Wormhole]

Not all animation shows geared for kids adhere to those rules.

Actually, yes they do. At least, in the US. Canada actually has much more relaxed rules about what can be in a kids show, as reflected in the third season of the series Reboot (the only season which was not required to adhere to US Broadcast Standards and Principles). The show got really dark that year.

Rick and Morty for example uses plenty of blood and gore, not to mention ballistic weapons

Rick and Morty most certainly is not a kids show. I'm not even sure how you could come to that conclusion, unless you're basing this belief on the fact the kid in Picard season 2 watches it with his mother's permission as long as his homework is done.

Lower Decks also showed people/aliens being dismembered.

Lower Decks is not a kids show either. Again, not sure how you could reach that conclusion.

 

[Charles Phipps]

The first movie (A New Hope) has a massive body count.

Exactly.

 

[Tuskin38]

Actually, yes they do. At least, in the US. Canada actually has much more relaxed rules about what can be in a kids show, as reflected in the third season of the series Reboot (the only season which was not required to adhere to US Broadcast Standards and Principles). The show got really dark that year.

Though the Transformers series 'Beast Wars' had to be renamed in Canada.

None of the content of the series had to be changed, the regulators just didn't like the show having 'Wars' in the title. So they renamed it to 'Beasties'.

 

[valkyrie013]

Wished they used more varied species as Borg. That one bull/fish large one but then the rest were humanoid .. More diverse!!
In all decent.

 

[fireproof78]

Also, correct me if I'm wrong, but Lower Decks also showed people/aliens being dismembered.

Not a kids show though. I don't think the rules apply here.

 

[Lord Garth]

I just watched this. I'll give it a 10. This was peak Prodigy with the crew going onto the Borg Cube, surviving, and Gwyn reaching out to Zero to stop him from becoming completely assimilated. Can't wait for next week, where I'm sure the Diviner is going to give Admiral Janeway all kinds of misinformation about the Protostar.

 

[Wouter]

In children's animation there's a lot of arbitrary weird rules but among the most famous are:

* You can use lasers but not guns
* You can kill robots without problem but people are verbotom
* You can claim to send people "back into another dimension" but not kill them
* You can throw people off buildings to their obvious death but as long as they're not seen dying, you can claim otherwise

STAR WARS: REBELS creator for example claimed to Disney none of the stormtroopers that were shot in the show died, they just were knocked out due to their armor.

Are those really laws (and where - in all the US, or parts of it?) or are those rules self-imposed? Is Prodigy affected, given its rating?

 

[Charles Phipps]

Are those really laws (and where - in all the US, or parts of it?) or are those rules self-imposed? Is Prodigy affected, given its rating?

The censorship laws of children's animation are arbitrarily enforced and weird but constant struggle for action-adventure shows.

Here's one famous one:

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES

https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/car...rship-shaped-fate-popular-animated-franchises

A singular target of Ferman’s censorship was the use of nunchaku weapons on screen. Ferman considered them excessively violent and banned their depiction in films like Enter the Dragon (1973), along with throwing stars, crossbows and metal claws. This ban became a significant obstacle for the release of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise in Britain. Nunchaku are the weapons of choice for the orange-masked Michelangelo, so a portion of nearly every fight scene had to be re-edited. The show’s title was even rebranded as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles because ninjas were deemed a taboo topic for children.

SPIDER-MAN: THE ANIMATED SERIES

https://www.cbr.com/reasons-why-cartoons-were-censored/


This entry is unique to this list in that the show was censored before it even began production. Immediately upon the project’s announcement, the creators of Spider-Man: The Animated Series were given a list of things they weren’t allowed to include in the show with perhaps the most ridiculous example being the use of punching.

Rather than using clever cuts, hit flashes and other editing techniques to mask strong blows, it was decided that punching would be completely outlawed. Instead, Spidey would wrestle around with his foes, before using his webbing to subdue them, which was exactly as awkward-looking as it sounds. It’s amazing that the show even got off the ground to begin with considering its overbearing restrictions, but the end result was a Spider-Man series that felt toothless, boring, and frankly pointless.

Prodigy seems to be pushing the envelope for a children's show so we'll have to see if anyone is ever killed on camera who isn't a soulless Borg.

 

[valkyrie013]

Remember that it it is on a cable network/streaming. Rules don't really apply. Just the amount of violence etc it can get away with and keep a Y7 rating.

Not like early cartoon network where they couldn't say kill. Or renaming God and devil gundams

 

[Tuskin38]

When I watch Prodigy on Crave in Canada it's rated PG (8+ in Quebec)

 

[Tuskin38]

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[Mr. Laser Beam]

Prediction: Since the 'living construct' can't be destroyed or shut down, but is obviously intelligent, the crew (or perhaps the Diviner himself, if he can be redeemed) will find some way to reason with it and convince it to stop.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Prediction: Since the 'living construct' can't be destroyed or shut down, but is obviously intelligent, the crew (or perhaps the Diviner himself, if he can be redeemed) will find some way to reason with it and convince it to stop.

We also should note the out of story reason that it exists: so our heroes can keep on adventuring in their stolen ship.

 

[Wouter]

We also should note the out of story reason that it exists: so our heroes can keep on adventuring in their stolen ship.

That's a good point. The show could conceivably continue without the current setup (the 5 + Murf and ETH on the Protostar), but it would probably feel quite differently. I'd expect that at least the first 2 seasons (40 episodes) would broadly keep the current setup, while it seems not too likely (to me) that vice-admiral Janeway will continue to hunt them (unsuccesfully) for 30 episodes straight. The season finale would seem a nice place for her to finally catch up with the Protostar. And there still has to be a reason for the teens (+Rok) to continue on their own (perhaps with someone from the Dauntless added).

However, the weapon may nevertheless be deactivated in the season finale. Other reasons could maybe be invented to continue the joyride, perhaps involving the mystery of Chakotay and his crew, Dal and his origins and the question of Solum and its first contact.

A big problem with the weapon still existing, at the time Janeway catches them, is that Starfleet ( Jellico!) would likely insist on the ship being destroyed with weapon and all.