By Witney Seibold
Copyright slashfilm
On September 8, 2025, a new “Star Trek” series launched, and no one noticed. There were no previews, no ads, and only a very, very brief mention of it way, way at the bottom of a Paramount press release. The show is not available on Paramount+, where most of the “Star Trek” franchise lives, nor has it been licensed to Netflix (the way “Star Trek: Prodigy” was). It can only be found on YouTube. But even then, it’s not on the official YouTube “Star Trek” channel, nor does it have a channel of its own. Rather, it exists on the YouTube channel for the Canadian animated series “Blaze and the Monster Machines,” a show about anthropomorphic monster trucks who solve math problems.
The series is “Star Trek: Scouts,” and it’s the strangest thing to ever enter the franchise. And this is a property that already included a musical episode.
“Star Trek: Scouts” is an animated series for toddlers. Its character design is round and approachable, and the “Star Trek” gadgets are all colorful and kid-friendly, looking like Fisher Price toys. Each episode is only about four minutes long, and the conflicts are of the gentlest nature. The main characters are three five-year-olds who live in some kind of planet-bound observation station and have been left to operate it, unattended. They have three pets, including a Klingon targ named Bubbles, a horned dog named Zips, and a turtle-like creature named Star. The animals resemble the big-eyed stuffies put out by Ty Toys.
JR seems to be the captain of the three kids, as he wears the red command uniform and sits in a captain’s chair. He looks like a Kindergarten version of Chris Pine. Roo is the science officer, and she seems to be the one who activates all the machines. Finally, Sprocket is a Vulcan engineer with a bionic arm. He doesn’t behave particularly Vulcan, other than to be the most scientifically curious. When Bubbles belches up her macaroni and cheese, he’s the one to sniff it out of curiosity.
