Captain Janeway Didn’t Deserve This

Paramount ’s decisionto unceremoniously both renege on its time of year two greenlight for Star Trek : Prodigy andcompletely polish off the showfrom its cyclosis platform has created a PR nightmareof its own makingwith many , many layer to it . But amid all the concerns , the thing I keep thinking about is just how unmannerly it is to the bequest of one of Trek ’s finest .

That all right is of course Kate Mulgrew ’s Captain ( now Admiral ) Kathryn Janeway , the Voyager star who in Prodigy connected its new alien heroes to the wider Star Trek franchise , and acted as their guiding light onto the path of becoming a part of Starfleet themselves . Thereturn of Mulgrewto the Trek franchise was a long time coming , announced as Voyager celebratedits 25th anniversarymilestone . There were latitude between the coming to Janeway that echoed everything Star Trek was doing around the restoration of Patrick Stewart’sJean - Luc Picardto prominence , albeit with some far-famed caveats : Mulgrew was back in voiceover , not live action , her role wasn’t — at first at least — as Janeway in the here and now , buta holographical facsimileof her as she was around the meter of Voyager itself . But it was still her minute : a fable of the dealership , wreak back for the mass who lie with her and as a pathfinder for the fledgling Prodigy was intend to onboard .

That role as instructor to a newfangled generation was one that Mulgrew herself clear relished in the run up to Prodigy ’s release . “ It was explained to me in detail and I thought to myself ‘ Wow , this will be rattling to bring this to new masses who may be watching this with their mothers who watched me as Captain Janeway in live - action mechanism , ’ ” Mulgrew toldCBRin 2021 about justwhy she come backfor Prodigy , “ and it will bring the intact family into the orbit of Star Trek and this is something that I very much need to do . ” And it ’s one that is pure for anyone who ever have intercourse Captain Janeway .

Screenshot: Paramount

While there are many layers to Janeway — abit of a hardass , a scientifically queer Internet Explorer , the periodic stabber of agiant computer virus bug or six — the view of her as a wise man is something that vibrate throughout Voyager ’s seven - season rivulet . We see it from almost the very origin with wayward Maquis rebel turn Chief Engineer B’Elanna , as she and Janeway butted heads over the potential of just who the untested Klingon - Human woman will become now that she ’s stuck aboard Voyager . We see it even moreso when Janeway take it upon herself to help Seven of Nine adjust to life after the Borg . And yes , as Prodigy go on to show us , we see it in her connexion to children , from young Naomi Wildman , or with the untested Borg children Voyager go back . That desire to guide people , to help them realize the best version of themselves , was crucial to who Kathryn Janeway was as a Star Trek sea captain and as a person .

And it was there , in the vex pump of Prodigy . Sure , the Janeway we “ meet ” aboard the Protostar was n’t in reality the charwoman herself , but she was Janeway in all the ways that mattered , specially her need to help Dal and his friends see the ways of the universe they urgently yen to see , to show them the ideals that Janeway believed in as part of Starfleet and the Federation were worth them also striving for . Even as the series came to a drumhead over the kids ’ desire to bring back the Protostar to its owner and the messy program for vengeance enacted by Prodigy ’s big bad , the Diviner , the Janeways we buzz off — the hologram captain who just wanted her bunch to be safe , the admiral who get to admire that same bunch even as she needed to learn just what happened to her friend Chakotay , the Protostar ’s premature air force officer — always put that need to steer and inspire at the vanguard of themselves .

Sure , it was n’t the flamboyant return that Jean - Luc Picard got — there was no Star Trek : Janeway , nonostalgic , triumphant get - togetherof the Voyager headliner . Hell , Jean - Luc even managed tonab one of themfor his own celebratory serial rather ! But Mulgrew ’s role , and Janeway ’s return , in Prodigy , was the true jubilation of just what the Voyager star meant to the generation of Trek fans that grew up with her as their captain — and to a new propagation that were match her and hang in honey for the first time through Prodigy .

Screenshot: Paramount

Screenshot: Paramount

“ I ’m not a sentimental person — and neither is Janeway , ” Mulgrew state mea few geezerhood agoat New York Comic - Con , ahead of Prodigy ’s first instalment make their debut to host of fans in attendance . “ I ca n’t help but feel stirred up by what was , and what we are now go forrader into a young future , and into a new way of assure this level . So , it ’s moving , to me . ”

Paramount would n’t dare treat what it ’s done for Patrick Stewart and Jean - Luc Picard as a tax break . Casting aside everything that Prodigy stood for , and in the process doing the same to Mulgrew and Janeway ’s legacy , is a cruel twist on what is already a vicious fate for the show .

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Screenshot: Paramount