‘Star Trek’: Nickelodeon Near Deal For Kids Animated Series

[ProfessorDetective]

Why would children care about stuffy science and dry political issues?

Kids love science, especially young kids. They haven't had it hammered into their skulls by adults who had lousy educations that it's "hard" or "boring and stuffy" yet. Asking questions and learning how things work is fun. Discovering new things is scary, in an exciting way. Anything that keeps that spark going a little longer for kids is a good thing, and Star Trek is a great vehicle for it.

This. I was a PBS kid growing up ('96-'10-ish) and it has stayed with me. It's one of the reasons (along with discovering British TV early on) why I have to actively force my southern accent even though I'm from semi-rural Tennessee. And it's why I strive to be a scholar. And if this can do that for the next batch, it couldn't be all bad.

[Yukaphile]

Star Trek should not be "for kids." It should be something that's all-ages inclusive, though. Star Trek, to me, needs to transcend the differences we have today and speak to what unites us as a people. How do you expect little kids who don't have the sophistication and experience to comprehend all this? I just see it as more of the typical "dumbing down" that's going into how the franchise is handled in a desperate attempt to create "mass appeal." Really hate it.

[Karha of Honor]

Star Trek should not be "for kids." It should be something that's all-ages inclusive, though. Star Trek, to me, needs to transcend the differences we have today and speak to what unites us as a people. How do you expect little kids who don't have the sophistication and experience to comprehend all this? I just see it as more of the typical "dumbing down" that's going into how the franchise is handled in a desperate attempt to create "mass appeal." Really hate it.

I want some sexuality and it established that we have that, so under 12, get out. It's not Star Wars.

[Mecha82]

I must admit that I do like idea of Nickelodeon made animated Star Trek purely because they had that parody of ST animated series in they TMNT cartoon as something that Leonardo was huge fan of. And that version of TMNT had certain aspects that went beyond being typical cartoon.

[Deledrius]

Star Trek should not be "for kids." It should be something that's all-ages inclusive, though. Star Trek, to me, needs to transcend the differences we have today and speak to what unites us as a people. How do you expect little kids who don't have the sophistication and experience to comprehend all this? I just see it as more of the typical "dumbing down" that's going into how the franchise is handled in a desperate attempt to create "mass appeal." Really hate it.

You're starting from a conclusion and working backwards in justifying it. We don't know any of these things you're taking as given.

Go watch shows like Animaniacs, Batman the Animated Series, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, or Gargoyles, and try again.

[King of the owls]

Star Trek should not be "for kids." It should be something that's all-ages inclusive, though. Star Trek, to me, needs to transcend the differences we have today and speak to what unites us as a people. How do you expect little kids who don't have the sophistication and experience to comprehend all this? I just see it as more of the typical "dumbing down" that's going into how the franchise is handled in a desperate attempt to create "mass appeal." Really hate it.

Equating being for kids/appealing to kids to 'it has to be dumbed down' is part of the reason why a good chuck of kids entrainment is not well written.
More importantly, we don't even have a trailer for this or VAs or even art to look at. So maybe wait a bit till you accuse it of 'dumbing down Trek'

[Yukaphile]

Point taken, but there is still the inescapable fact most kids couldn't grasp the really weighty political themes, and tbh, that's when I like Star Trek best.

[ProfessorDetective]

Star Trek should not be "for kids." It should be something that's all-ages inclusive, though. Star Trek, to me, needs to transcend the differences we have today and speak to what unites us as a people. How do you expect little kids who don't have the sophistication and experience to comprehend all this? I just see it as more of the typical "dumbing down" that's going into how the franchise is handled in a desperate attempt to create "mass appeal." Really hate it.

You're starting from a conclusion and working backwards in justifying it. We don't know any of these things you're taking as given.

Go watch shows like Animaniacs, Batman the Animated Series, Gravity Falls, Steven Universe, or Gargoyles, and try again.

Don't bother with Steven Universe, it... declines as it goes on.

'No, Steven. Hugging the twenty-foot-tall genocidal space fascist and asking her politely to stop being evil won't fix everything. What, why is hugging the twenty-foot-tall genocidal space fascist and asking her politely to stop being evil ACTUALLY fixing everything? Sorry, what?!'

The rest I highly recommend, though.

[Deledrius]

Don't bother with Steven Universe, it... declines as it goes on.

'No, Steven. Hugging the twenty-foot-tall genocidal space fascist and asking her politely to stop being evil won't fix everything. What, why is hugging the twenty-foot-tall genocidal space fascist and asking her politely to stop being evil ACTUALLY fixing everything? Sorry, what?!'

The rest I highly recommend, though.

Oh, absolutely not saying any of those in the list are perfect, but even at its worst, Steven Universe illustrates that a kids show doesn't have to be meaningless drivel.

The specific bit you mention was a pretty big letdown (egads that entire set of episodes felt rushed), but even then I don't think it's possible to say the show isn't aiming for something. It was an oversimplification bordering on the dangerous, sure, but the intent was pretty clearly a positive one. In fact, I think a large part of the reason that moment didn't work is that the show was frequently much more nuanced in the past.

At any rate, my point in including it in that list is that it's a contemporary show very definitely targeted at children and yet contained a lot of heavy topics (especially in the first two seasons). We can debate the relative merits (and have, in another thread, IIRC), but it invalidates the rather simple claim that television written for children simply cannot do so.

[Mecha82]

Star Trek should not be "for kids." It should be something that's all-ages inclusive, though. Star Trek, to me, needs to transcend the differences we have today and speak to what unites us as a people. How do you expect little kids who don't have the sophistication and experience to comprehend all this? I just see it as more of the typical "dumbing down" that's going into how the franchise is handled in a desperate attempt to create "mass appeal." Really hate it.

Equating being for kids/appealing to kids to 'it has to be dumbed down' is part of the reason why a good chuck of kids entrainment is not well written.
More importantly, we don't even have a trailer for this or VAs or even art to look at. So maybe wait a bit till you accuse it of 'dumbing down Trek'

One reviewer that I follow who mostly reviews Tokusatsu (Japanese live action special effect shows and movies) and it's American adaptions as well as JRPGs tends to say "kids aren't stupid, they are just different". With that he means that when writing for kids you don't need to dumb down anything and it isn't excuse for bad writing either. Over all best American cartoons that I have seen are those that have been written without looking down at they audience and take they audience seriously so that audience can take them seriously.