Star Trek: The Animated Series

Many fans have looked negatively on this series. That is too bad, and they do not give it the attention and credit it fully deserves. Sure there is an episode or two that was simply okay, but overall, I enjoyed all of it.

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of "Star Trek", was paid money for this series. He said that it was not part of "official" Star Trek. I think that is ridiculous, since he had the final approval of all of the scripts, and there were some great ones.

If anyone faulted the animation of this show, it must be remembered of what the state of animated films was in 1973. Even Disney had cut back considerably by that time; look at Disney's "Robin Hood" to see what I mean.

Because "Star Trek - The Animated Series" had a limited budget, there was not enough money to bring back Walter Koenig to play Chekov. But the show is a fine example of how "Trek" could work in animation.

And that is its finest accomplishment of all.

Despite being only a half hour in length, this show was consistently good. Several of the plots were just as intricate as the original series; a few of them revisited old locations (the "Shore Leave" planet; the "Guardian of Forever") and characters (Harry Mudd) from the original series. The show was easily head and shoulders above the rest of the Saturday morning lineup.

The only real problem I had with the series is that so few of them were made (just 22); NBC simply ran the same episodes again and again. It turns out that the reason was the show's audience--children, mostly preteens, who were willing to watch the same episodes repeatedly.

All in all, it was exciting to see a new Star Trek series just four years after the original was cancelled. After this, it would be six years before the somewhat lackluster Star Trek: The Motion Picture and over a decade before the next series. Consider this a fitting coda for fans of the original series.

This is like some lost series of Star Trek.

Carrying on from the fourth year of their five year mission this is 22 more episodes with Kirk and crew. Some episodes serve as excellent sequels to original episodes, others are absolute gems of creativity in their own right.

There is a real passion behind this series. Everything from the creative writing to the efforts put in by James Doohan doing several voices at once really gives this show it's charm.

Officially it's not part of the Star Trek time-line but that aside it does have key Star Trek elements shown for the first time.

Much like how we appreciate The Original Series today with its low-grade effects (by todays standards) - you can appreciate it for its creative value, effort and shear brilliance.

Trek returns as a cartoon, a medium befitting William Shatner's acting.

This was the first attempt at reviving Trek, and for the most part, it was pretty good. It's animation, so it's limiting. It's Filmation, so it's even more limiting. Filmation was a little more low-end than their rivals at Hanna-Barbera. Stock footage was constant in their productions and the voice work was usually of lower quality. Not this time, though. The original cast, minus Walter Koenig, provided their own voices, while Nichelle Nichols and James Doohan got to play other roles. The use of animation allowed the creation of better aliens and for situations that were impossible to film with live actors or effects (or just too expensive to film). Unfortunately, it also lent the show a certain stiffness.

The stories were quite good and featured writing from several Trek veterans and even a script from actor Walter Koenig. We finally got to see Orion pirates and see Spock as a child. There were even sequels to old episodes, like the Trouble with Tribbles and City on the Edge of Forever.

All in all, the series was a fine addition to the Star Trek world and stood out on Saturday Morning. It tended to skew more to an older audience, but it kept the youngsters entertained.

Some consider this to be the ho-hum followup to a great show. I couldn't disagree more.

Aside from the fact that it's a cartoon and the episodes are rushed in 30 mins, I found this to be a philosophical cut above the Trek of the late 60s. Here in the animated series, we catch a glimpse of some amazingly progressive ideas such as non-violence, compassion and tolerance. Kirk & Spock aren't so quick to set phasers on kill as they were before. Klingon/Federation confrontations in space are resolved without bloodshed. In one episode (my favourite), Kirk defends Lucifer's right to live, because Lucifer--for all his past crimes and flaws--is a living entity. Folks, this is some advanced stuff.

Of course that means we don't see as much "action". Not many shootouts. Nothing violent really. The red shirts don't get wasted as bad. You may find yourself screaming at the TV, "Kirk, you WUSS! I woulda KICKED HIS ASS!" But that, I believe, is the whole point of Gene Roddenberry's visionary creation--that humans of the future would be a much more evolved, diplomatic and nonviolent species. This was evident in the original '66-'69 Trek, but we get it full force in the '74-'75 animated series.

If it means anything to you, both William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy were vegetarians for ethical reasons during the production of this show, and they still are today. (Edit 7 years after my original post: I'm pretty sure William Shatner has been poundin down the pepperoni pizzas lately, but Nimoy is still a veggie)

So if you're looking for zap-zap, kill the monster, good vs. evil stuff, you'll be disappointed. If instead you're ready for a truly philosophical mind trip, bordering on Buddhist spiritualism, then this will rock your socks.

And the music is primo.

9/10.