Star Trek - The Animated Series

[Blumf]

Despite being a Trek fan, I've never got around to watching this. Was it ever on UK TV?

Well, I'm fixing that now!

Firing up Netflix and, thanks to the unhelpful way it presents episodes, I start out with:

S02E01 : The Pirates of Orion
Spock gets the 'vid and only a special shipment of space-hydroxychloroquine can save him, except some space-bastards have nicked it.
Not that interesting a story really. We get to see a radically different Star Fleet design in the USS Huron; a mess of shapes with some warp nacelles glued on. But otherwise, nothing to really get excited about.

...and back to proper order...

S01E01 : Beyond the Farthest Star
This isn't too bad. A mix up of TOS's Wolf in the Fold, and TNG's Skin of Evil. The alien vessel looks great, being animated make it possible to show really big weird designs, in some ways it reminds me a bit of Forbidden Planet (1956). The entity's cry at the end was moving, let the poor sod be evil you Star Fleet gits!

S01E02 : Yesteryear
Yeah, lets casually piss around with the Guardian of Forever some more, no chance that'll cause problems! Everyone seems rather nonchalant that the timeline has changed, but off Spock goes, to fix his mess.
Never liked the idea of Vulcan children being xenophobic bullies, seems so illogical that their parents would let it slide. Anyway, grown-up Spock fixes things, and all it took was the death of kid Spock's beloved pet sehlat. Presumably adult-Spock, being from the original time-line, will not have memories of that trauma, so, arsed mate!
Wonder what happened to Commander Thelin, presumably somewhere else Star Fleet.

S01E03 : One of Our Planets Is Missing
TOS's The Doomsday Machine and The Immunity Syndrome combined (and Obsession, I suppose), but the gas cloud being is okay, once Spock waves his hands about a bit and shows it a boring video. The contact with the imperilled colony adds a bit of tension, and always good to see Trek actually reaching for the peaceful and friendly solution (looking at you JJ and Kurtzman!!)



So far, not amazing, the shorter run time limits the depth of the stories. The cast aren't really up for the voice work, Shatner in particular is very flat, none of that cheeky flair you get in the live action.

Limited animation aside, there's some nice artwork. The Enterprise looks damn sexy in this, like the fast heavy cruiser it is, and although the crew's skin appears to have  grown over their eyes, there's some good (if static) poses going on.

[Malcy]

BBC showed it in the 90's. That's when i first saw it anyway. I'm up to TAS on my Trek rewatch but after several months I'm still only on S1. I've always loved the music in it.

I think the Huron design is one that was used in Lower Decks recently.

Planning on finishing the rest soon so i can crack on with the movies then on to TNG.

[gilbertharding]

If it's the same thing, I remember it being on BBC kids TV in the early 70s, at the same time as the original series was also re-running on grown-ups TV.

I was 7 at the time, with no critical faculties, and I haven't seen it since. I'm fairly sure I preferred Scooby Doo.

[Blumf]

BBC showed it in the 90's

Hum, must have been the wrong time of day for me, or if late-90s would have been too busy.

[Malcy]

Hum, must have been the wrong time of day for me, or if late-90s would have been too busy.

I would have said Saturday/Sunday morning BBC2 but I'm not too sure. No idea what year either.

[Blumf]

morning

Well, there's yer problem!

[Lemming]

There's no particularly great episodes (though I remember really liking The Survivor) but it's just really chill to watch. The bottom-of-the-barrel animation is a laugh, the alien designs are frequently surprisingly good, and the plots usually go for something high concept even if it doesn't really work in the constraints of the show. It also puts Uhura in command of the ship once, which is good because they went to absolutely absurd lengths to avoid doing that in TOS (seriously, fucking Leslie the security guard is ahead of her in the command queue? Uhura is a full bridge officer, Leslie is just the guy you call to move stuff around and stand near doors looking scary).

Plus it's just funny that everyone in the entire universe sounds suspiciously like Nichelle Nichols, Jimmy Doohan, or Majel Barrett. M'Ress and Arex are cool too, they never really get to do anything but at least the crew isn't just stacked full of boring dumpy-looking humans anymore.

[Sin Agog]

Yeah, I dig it for its chilled ambience and occasional forays into Fantastic Planet territory.  Was using it to get myself into the right mind frame to send myself to sleep when I was out of the hospital a year or two back and all discombobulated.  I like the integration of other races with physiognomy a little more different than a bit of putty on their ears, and D.C. Fontana shepherded most of the scripts along well enough.  It was weird how they let Chekov write an episode but never put him on the bridge.

[petril]

I would have said Saturday/Sunday morning BBC2 but I'm not too sure. No idea what year either.

I have vague memories of it being on irregularly as a filler for weekends and holidays

[Bad Ambassador]

According to Genome it originally aired 1974-77, first on Saturday early evenings, later moving to mornings and then weekday afternoons. Repeats on BBC Two ran 1995-97 as school holiday morning programming.

[Alberon]

I remember this from the 70s though I've never really watched it since. The series has an adaptation of a Larry Niven short story and introduces his aliens, the Kzinti, into the Trek universe (though they look a bit thin and anemic compared to how they were imagined in the books).

Despite the many attempts to film Ringworld I think this is the only adaptation of Niven's Known Space series.

IIRC I think it's an adaptation of The Soft Weapon, but I'm not sure I've seen it since I got into Niven's books. I must dig it out.

[kidsick5000]

I've only just watched them (outside of meme form) thanks to Netflix.
Enjoyable stuff.

[Blumf]

S01E04 : The Lorelei Signal
This episode's a keeper. The story is good, works within the time limit, and we get to see Uhura get shit done! Takes charge of the ship, beams down and stuns anyone who gives her lip. So many situations in Trek would be solved quickly if they took Uhura's advice.

Also a great shot of the Enterprise slowly orbiting whilst Scotty sings a song of love. Naturally, Uhura boots him off the captains chair, no time for singing, some blond slappers planet-side need their asses phasering!

S01E05 : More Tribbles, More Troubles
Oh well, Tribble episode. It's fine. The little Tribble predator thing was nice. Klingon weapon side-plot was okay.

[Blumf]

S01E06 : The Survivor
Ostensibly, this is about a devious plot to trap the Enterprise in the Neutral Zone. But really, it seems to be a desperate attempt by Carter Winston to finally ditch his clingy fiancée. It fails (or succeeds, palming her off onto an unemployed shapeshifter)

Not bad episode, runs along nicely. Computer and Romulan voices were wrong.


S01E07 : The Infinite Vulcan
So, canonically, during all the motion pictures, and at least the TNG era, there is a big Spock somewhere out there. Would have been fun to see that in live action.

Kind of a riff on Spock's Brain, so no marks for originality in plot, but the setting was good. Well done Chekov!

[Lemming]

S01E04 : The Lorelei Signal
This episode's a keeper. The story is good, works within the time limit, and we get to see Uhura get shit done! Takes charge of the ship, beams down and stuns anyone who gives her lip. So many situations in Trek would be solved quickly if they took Uhura's advice.

Yes! I remember actually cheering at the screen during this, which is a nice change from screaming "JUST STUN THE BASTARD/S" during 95% of other Star Trek series. "Stun everyone with our magic stun guns that never cause actual harm" should be a standard procedure in all hostage/kidnap situations.

The only other times in Star Trek where I can remember people actually doing the logical thing and stunning the shit out of everyone are both from Voyager. Janeway just immediately starts firing at the crazy prisoners in "The Chute", and there's an episode I can't remember the name of where there's some hostile thing waiting in a room and Tuvok fires a wide-beam stun the instant the door opens.

S01E06 : The Survivor
Ostensibly, this is about a devious plot to trap the Enterprise in the Neutral Zone. But really, it seems to be a desperate attempt by Carter Winston to finally ditch his clingy fiancée. It fails (or succeeds, palming her off onto an unemployed shapeshifter)

Not bad episode, runs along nicely. Computer and Romulan voices were wrong.

Like this one a lot because it's an example of the accidentally-scary stuff Star Trek does so well. The shapeshifter has some of Carter's memories and emotions imprinted on it, and yet it's very decidedly not Carter Winston. This disturbs nobody, and everyone is overjoyed to see highly-ineffective-security-officer "reuinted" with not-really-Carter. Reminds me of Metamorphosis, which scared the shit out of me as a kid. Someone died and now her corpse is being used as a puppet by a giant green cloud, except there's the suggestion that some of the deceased's memories remain. Horrifying, right? Oh, no, apparently it's romantic and this is meant to be a good thing, well alright then.

[Blumf]

Yes! I remember actually cheering at the screen during this, which is a nice change from screaming "JUST STUN THE BASTARD/S" during 95% of other Star Trek series. "Stun everyone with our magic stun guns that never cause actual harm" should be a standard procedure in all hostage/kidnap situations.

I suppose the in universe explanation is that there's a non-zero risk of death (I think there's been a few cases of stun killing someone). But still, so many instances where the risk would have been justified.



S01E08 : The Magicks of Megas-tu
Turns out the devil is a pretty solid geezer, if a bit over familiar. Hilarious magic battle, and Mr. Sulu magicking up a sexy babe. But in the end, another good example that Kirk wasn't just a pan-galactic space shagger, and would put moral principals first. Something non-fans don't seem to realise.

S01E09 : Once Upon a Planet
Back to the Omicron Delta system to have some R&R on that planet that turns your thoughts into reality. Of fucking course something's going to go wrong!
Feels like they could have done more with this story, it all gets set up, then middle-middle, and resolved, but nothing really happens. Some more exploration of the pissed off computer would have helped.

[Malcy]

S01E07 : The Infinite Vulcan
So, canonically, during all the motion pictures, and at least the TNG era, there is a big Spock somewhere out there. Would have been fun to see that in live action.

If the Lower Decks series is considered canon then Big Spock is still around in the 2380's. He got a mention recently.

[Blumf]

S01E10 : Mudd's Passion
Spock and co get off their tits on ecky!
Ugh, another Harry Mudd episode. But wait, it's daft, but it was fun watching Spock and the rest of the crew loved up. In comparison to Once Upon a Planet, it felt like stuff was happening and, although the monster fight at the end was clearly slapped on it was still fun. Nurse Chapel needs sacking, frankly.

S01E11 : The Terratin Incident
A good example of what you can do in animation that'd be near impossible in live action (Land of the Giants accepted). Watching the crew deal with shrinking, and even having a logical explanation for the fact their clothes shank with them, was great. I think I might prefer this to that DS9 episode where the runabout is shrunk.

[Blumf]

S01E12 : The Time Trap
Pretty basic Trek story, everything you'd expect to be there; Klingons being devious (and weird voiced), space anomaly, and powerful but barely arsed alien group. Nothing wrong with it, but nothing really right either. Just missing that something extra.

S01E13 : The Ambergris Element
"Can we do nothing without consulting the ancient records!?"
Here's something extra, an underwater episodes! You barely get anything aquatic in Trek. I think that episode in Voyager with the water planet, and maybe a few in Enterprise, I stopped paying attention.

So we get to see a new boat/shuttle-craft thing (new Federation vehicles always a welcome sight), and an Atlantean society that seems to be having a big cultural debate even before Kirk and co turn up. All good value.

[Blumf]

S01E14 : The Slaver Weapon
The Larry Niven one!
Really does feel like a non-Trek story repurposed. Spock doing a lot of narrative work, describing the Slavers and Kzinti. It all seems out of place.

I think if you stripped out the Kzinti and Slaver baggage, it would have fared better, they're just aliens of the week here, no need for the details. Then focus more on the weapon, have it's character shine, see it figuring out the deal with the Kzinti.

S01E15 : The Eye of the Beholder
Planet of the Snuffleupaguses
It's okay, rolls along fine, just not much sense of peril. Highlight was watching Scotty being shunted around the Enterprise by one of the aliens.

[Hank the Rapper]

Delightful little parody from the 2012 TMNT Cartoon...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SgSAsIMdRY&ab_channel=TopHatSquirrel

[Blumf]

S01E16 : The Jihad
"I like this place. It's got variety."
I think this is the closest this show will get to epic. A cat thing with bad posture and possibly tourettes (why else does she pointlessly roar each time she says her bit?) sends a specialist group on the hunt for a religious artefact to save the galaxy. If this was TNG I could see this as being the basis for a nice two-parter. In fact, this is kinda similar to that two-parter, Gambit, with the Stone of Gol.

All the new character get a bit of time to do their thing which is good, but I think they could have made the journey feel like it took more time, days instead of seemingly hours. Just didn't feel like the slog it should have been.

(already saw S02E01, see first post)

S02E02 : Bem
"How come we always end up like this?"
One of the things that always bugs me is when the alien of the week doesn't just say what they're up to. Don't give me that shit, you know perfectly well what you're doing! Just explain your stupid viewpoint/world-view/plan and stop screwing it up for everyone.

Anyway, Bem is a cunt and I hope they flushed him out the airlock once they were out of range of the god being thing.

[Blumf]

S02E03 : The Practical Joker
"Kirk is a jerk"
Oh hey, the proto-holodeck, and therefore, the first time the holodeck screws up and almost kills people. Won't get bored of that!!
Not the first time the ship's computer goes off on one, but this was a pretty good example. Just a really fun idea that the Enterprise just wants to take the piss at a sub-Police Academy level.



S02E04 : Albatross
"Blast it Spock, work harder"
I was getting revved up for a good ol' trial episode, watching Bones lose his rag with the uptight Dramens. But they pull the rug and it's a space pandemic episode. It's got nice bits throughout, but doesn't really hang together as a story. Maybe in a longer episode you could pull together the two plots, but not in a 20 min slot.

[Wonderful Butternut]

S02E02 : Bem
"How come we always end up like this?"
One of the things that always bugs me is when the alien of the week doesn't just say what they're up to. Don't give me that shit, you know perfectly well what you're doing! Just explain your stupid viewpoint/world-view/plan and stop screwing it up for everyone.

Anyway, Bem is a cunt and I hope they flushed him out the airlock once they were out of range of the god being thing.

Excuse me I'll not have that.

You should say: "Honourary Commander Bem is a cunt and I hope they flushed him out the airlock once they were out of range of the god being thing."

That guy is early 2000s FF.net badfic territory.

[Blumf]

S02E05 : How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth
"Just once, I wish he'd let us use the stairs."
Alien of the week thinks it's god episode crossed with a zoo episode. Nothing amazing story-wise here.
What luck that they happen to run into an Mayan themed space probe whilst they have an expert on the subject rotated into the bridge crew! And off they fuck to a weird city with lots of ancient Earth cultural details. On the one hand there's some nice scene setting that you couldn't do live action, but on the other, they never really use it. No exploration, just straight to the big pyramid and solve the puzzle. Surely, even on the show's low budget, they could have knocked up a few more backgrounds? The alien, Kukulkan, is a grumpy old sod but eventually learns not to be such an arsehole. Just, dude's obviously still got issues.

S02E06 : The Counter-Clock Incident
"We have eleven minutes of real time left to reach the dead star, but all around my crew are turning into children"
A reverse time story, but nobody reverse vomits or poops. Very disappointed! I think we had to wait till Red Dwarf to do that justice (and then Family Guy)
Crew accidentally gets towed into a negative time parallel universe, start growing younger and forgetting what they've learned. Better nuke a star to fix things!
Some nice Trek background details fleshed out here. We get to see 1701's first captain, Robert April, who's on his way to be mandatory retired, and his wife, who had a productive career as the ships medical officer. A happy, loving couple, sweet. But the real fun is watching the crew turn into the Muppet Babies.



Unsurprisingly, they get back, and handily, the transporter can grow them all back up. But would the elderly April's want another got at life?

Spoiler alert

Nah, they'll grow old gracefully. And bonus, Star Fleet realised people live much longer now, so raise the retirement age

[close]

And that's it! Finally got that show ticked off my list. Was it worth it? Well, it's obviously a kids show, on a tight budget, and a tight run-time, but I think all the stories hold up, even if their execution is slight. You can easily see the potential to flesh out every story to a normal length TOS episode. On top of that, the artwork, though hampered by budget, was excellent. They clearly had a talented team working on it.



Best Episodes:

The Lorelei Signal, Uhura takes charge and is all out of bubblegum. The story rolls along at a solid pace.
The Jihad, as epic as this show can get. Some good ensemble work where all the character get a chance to shine.
The Practical Joker, you gotta love the Enterprise's sense of humour.

Worst:

The Slaver Weapon, the story is fine, but it's so painfully obvious that it was not made for Trek, and having it be the 'Spock explains everything' show, just dragged it down. A better draft was needed.
Once Upon a Planet, really feels like a wasted opportunity, and possibly the most boring of the show.

Honourable mention for The Infinite Vulcan, because BIG SPOCK!!

[Malcy]

Finally pushed on with my big Trek rewatch and finished this. I forgot how funny this is at times. M'ress doing a little purr when speaking is great, the hand on mouth then side of the face reaction to a shock is brilliant as well. So many little things that make it what it is.

The screeching sound over and over that is given to anything that flies around attacking them on planets got a bit annoying though. Got a big laugh out of Kirk's boot sinking into a couple of inches of snow and Spock saving him then they have a 'feelings' talk thanks to Mudd's love gas.

TMP last night, TWOK tonight and then only 8 more films and 500+ episodes of TNG/DS9/VOY to go!