Though I remember enjoying TAS when I was a kid, I honestly don't have very fond memories of the program. I have viewed a few episodes recently and was mildly surprised to find the stories pretty entertaining. The animation is simply horrible and being an animation fan it is hard to view TAS without a bad taste in my mouth. The fact that most of the original series cast lends their voices to the show helps tremendously. As a sick and pathetic Star Trek fan boy I will purchase TAS on dvd to complete my intake of the entire Star Trek universe but the animated series probably will never be among my favorite Star Trek incarnations.
Last edited by aTOMiC on Tue Oct 18, 2016 4:25 pm, edited 4 times in total.
"If you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?"
I hardly saw any of TAS, so I really have no firm opinion. I thought it was neat at first, but it didn't hold my interest. I simply preferred the real thing. The quality of the animation couldn't have been any worse than Rocket Robin Hood...could it? Then again, maybe the same artists did both shows, for all I know.
Hey Rocket Robinhood is still on tv on Cartoon Planet, and it is so fun to watch. Don't remember the cartoon version of Star Trek, ah well, doesn't seem like I've missed out on any, cheers.
"...oh my god - there is a nerd stuck beneath my space bar.."
- Jules - 9:34 P.M. Conversation MSN --
Though I had never heard of Rocket Robin Hood before I just took a crash course. Though RRH predates the STTAS by about 5 years it does seem to have about the same level of quality of animation. I think I'll pass.
I've added a link to my first post to a pretty good STTAS site.
"If you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?"
Thanks for the link, TOM. I never knew TAS was such an ambitious project! The most expensive animated series of its time? Wow.
I respect Filmation for being committed to doing a quality Trek program. It's sad that the quality of animation was sabotaged by the tight schedule imposed by network brass. No wonder executives are hated by most creative artists: the guys in suits care only about the bottom line, but artists have to live with the compromised end product for the rest of their careers. It's also sad that all the effort that went into TAS seems to have been in vain, because of the show's "ex-communication" from the official Trek universe.
Now that I've checked that site, I wouldn't mind watching TAS to see what I missed. But it's not carried by the Cartoon Network (I don't think), and I'm not eager to fork out money for the DVD collection.
This was recently released on dvd...I hope to rent it in the next month or two. I did not see any of this series when I was a kid. Am looking forward to seeing it.
duchess of malfi wrote:This was recently released on dvd...I hope to rent it in the next month or two. I did not see any of this series when I was a kid. Am looking forward to seeing it.
Sweet! I have very vague memories of watching these cartoons.
After watching some TAS episodes recently it occurred to me that the voice work and sound track for the cartoons could be re-worked with contemporary computer generated animation. With semi-lifelike characterizations of the original crew the end result would likely be something very unique that every Star Trek fan would probably like to see, almost a collection of lost Original Series Star Trek episodes given that TAS is probably the least viewed Star Trek series in existence.
I found a screen shot of an attempt made by someone. Its not really that great but it does convey the idea to some degree.
Of course to produce full re-animated episodes would be prohibitively expensive and would require a great deal of time and effort that I doubt Paramount would be interested in investing. I find the idea interesting none the less.
"If you can't tell the difference, what difference does it make?"
I remember greatly enjoying the animated series on the odd occasions I happened to stumble across an episode. (I suppose I didn't notice any animation issues because it was par for the period. What was notably bad animation, to me, at that time, was The Hulk, Iron Man, and The Mighty Thor.)
What really caught my attention about ST-TAS was the soundtrack. The music cues in that series really captured my imagination. You can listen to most of them here.
I currently lack any of these episodes, but at one time I had "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth" (a Central American god turns out to be real and waiting in space for humans to encounter it), and "The Counter-Clock Incident" (the Enterprise finds itself in a reverse universe where they get younger--and to get out of this universe, must travel under conditions that accelerate their reverse-aging), both good stories.
wayfriend wrote:What really caught my attention about ST-TAS was the soundtrack. The music cues in that series really captured my imagination. You can listen to most of them here.
Thanks, wayfriend! That was an entertaining link; I remembered all those musical bits once I'd heard them again.
Star Trek: The Animated Series episode "More Tribbles, More Troubles" (#4)
This episode is written by David Gerrold, who also wrote the original series episode "The Trouble With Tribbles."
The Enterprise is acting as escort for two robot ships full of the grain quintotriticale for the apparently always-needed inhabitants of Sherman's Planet that the Federation coveted to have as a member (for what advantage to the Federation, I have no earthly idea). A Klingon battle cruiser shooting at a small ship blazes by. Because they are in Federation-controlled space, Captain Kirk pursues them.
The Klingon ignores Kirk's hails, so Kirk has Scotty beam in the occupant of the small ship. Scotty picks up that person by transporter beam just before the ship is blasted out of existence by the Klingon cruiser. Then the Enterprise gets hit by an antimatter stasis field with incredible energy-dampening abilities, a field that is fired from the Klingon ship. This ray the Klingons fire turns out to be able to disable the shields, phasers, engines, and photon torpedo launchers of the Enterprise. An intimidating weapon, for sure.
Lieutenant Uhura as first sarcastically suggests they could throw rocks at the Klingons, then when Kirk is negotiating with Klingon captain Koloth, she helpfully whispers that they can still control the robot ships. Kirk breaks off communications with Koloth, and orders one of the robot ships to ram the Klingon battle cruiser, interrupting the stasis field. The Klingons shoot the engines of that robot ship, and Scotty manages to beam aboard the small ship's occupant, who turns out to be Cyrano Jones, a trader who has dealt in tribbles and other merchandise. Kirk remarks that Jones is an "intergalactic trader and general nuisance", an apt description.
James Doohan as Scotty has believable dismay in his voice as he notes that Jones has tribbles beamed in with him. I find it weird to see all the tribbles colored pink, rather than in a variety of colors like in the original series episode. Jones is accused by Kirk of violating laws against transporting dangerous animals. Jones protests tribbles are safe. Spock says they can't be safe because "tribbles are well known for their proclivities in multiplication", to which Jones adds, "and they breed fast, too!" Har-har.
Jones explains to Kirk that this experimental predator on tribbles that he carries, which is called the glommer, is what enabled him to clean up Space Station K-7 and thus end his punitive sentence, there. Kirk tells Jones that the Klingon captain, now identified as Koloth (oddly, Kirk didn't seem to recognize him in this story) has accused Jones of "ecological sabotage".
Jones says he doesn't know why Koloth would say that about him, and also tells Kirk the tribbles are gentically engineered to not reproduce. McCoy later confirms that tribbles don't reproduce, but instead get quite fat, from eating.
In the briefing room, Kirk gets to the point: "I am concerned about that new Klingon weapon." Spock sums up the weapon's main qualities: "It is an energy sapping field of great strength, Captain. It immobilizes a starship and its weapons capability; but, apparently it also immobilizes the attacking ship's abilities at the same time." Scott pipes in, "Aye, and if that's true, then it's a weapon that leaves them as helpless as it does us!" Spock responds with just the barest touch of asperity in his voice, "I believe I just said that." This forced a chuckle out of me.
Kirk is inclined to tow one of the robot ships. but Spock warns they'll be vulnerable to the Klingons while doing so. So Kirk has the quintotriticale beamed aboard the Enterprise and some of it falls out of its containers. It is beamed inside docking bays and unused holds. Scott is smart to worry about that development: "Well, sir, we managed to transfer all the grain aboard, but it severely limits us. We filled the shuttlecraft hanger, all our extra holds, and we've even got containers of that wheat--that quintotriticale-- in the corridors of the ship, and then we've got that other robot ship to escort, too. I don't like it at all sir!" Kirk dryly speaks to the mission's bottom line: "Nor do I, Mr. Scott, but we've got to do it. Sherman's Planet needs that grain desperately. But Scott can't silence his feeling of foreboding, not just yet: "Aye, sir but we've got tribbles on the ship, quintotriticale in corridors, Klingons in the quadrant...it can ruin your whole day, sir!" An astute observation from the miracle-working engineer.
The Klingon ship is back, so Kirk has the remaining viable robot ship veer off, and Captain Koloth shoots the robot ship's engines. Fire is exchanged between the Enterprise and the Klingon bird-of-prey, and the vibrations through the ship shake off some of the lids to the quintotriticale containers. The tribbles on the ship eat that grain and start getting bigger. One tribble keeps getting into Kirk's command chair on the bridge until it gets big enough so that Kirk doesn't want to try pushing it out, anymore.
Koloth demands Jones, but Kirk refused because Jones is a Federation citizen. Koloth disables the engine of the second grain-carrying robot ship, then leaves. Kirk considers towing that robot ship, but Spock warns they'll be too vulnerable to the Klingons with the robot ship in tow. Kirk listen to Spock, and they stay in that part of space, as the tribbles eat more grain and get bigger.
Koloth and his battle cruiser return, and again put the Enterprise under the "weapons-stasis ray". Koloth again demands Cyrano Jones. When Kirk refuses, Koloth openly orders a boarding party to be beamed in the Enterprise. Kirk warns Koloth, "the first Klingon that boards this ship will be the last Klingon" which sounds like a lethal threat.
Spock suggests "We can always throw tribbles at them" to Kirk, to which Kirk said, "I didn't think Vulcans had a sense of humor," and Spock returns, "We don't." Another moment I find amusing!
Kirk beams giant tribbles aboard the Klingon ship, and Koloth then admits to Kirk they'll settle for possessing the glommer. (Strange that the Klingons didn't seem to care about the glommer earlier when firing on Jones' ship to destroy it.) Jones objects that the glommer belongs to him, and Kirk offers to beam Jones over with the glommer. Stanley Adams, the voice of Cyrano Jones, does a gerat job changing his tone as he quickly releases all claim to the glommer. The Klingons leave after gaining the glommer, though when the glommer first gets a glimpse of a giant tribble aboard the Klingon ship, it frantically runs away.
Doctor McCoy figures out the big tribbles really just house colonies of little tribble. McCoy says to Kirk that he has sterilized the tribbles, and Kirk point to one large tribble up a Jeffries tube and says McCoy missed one. McCoy denies this, and the remaining large tribble above in the tube bursts to become tiny tribbles that roll down to surround Kirk. Scott wryly observes that, "If they must have tribbles, it's best that all their tribbles are little ones." Guess I can't argue with THAT! The plot isn't solid enough for me, but the story definitely has its funny moments.
