@@cedarledgepublishing Just like the transporter was devised as a cost saving idea, so we're the belts. Much less expensive than animating space suits. I'm inclined to give much more poetic license to animation too so that makes the suspension of disbelief a bit easier. 😃
*_Excellent episode_* !! I believe that one of the finest episodes of Star Trek comes from The Animated Series: *_Yesteryear_* by the veteran Trek writer, Dorothy Fontana. This is a heart-rending follow-up to *_Journey to Babel_* . It's absolutely brilliant and explores the use of the Guardian of Forever, Spock's relationship with Sarek, and Spock's "teddy bear." Trekkers, if you haven't seen it, please do. (I still get a bit teary over I'Chaya.) Note: Ah, I see you have caught it! Thank you kindly, from an original-time Trekker.
My favorite episode was " The counter clock incident." The episode introduced Ambassador Robert April, and his wife Sara. Robert April was in the past the very first Captain of the Enterprise.
@@trhansen3244 no….but he is played by a black man in Strange New Worlds. A bit of a retcon from how he appears in the Animated Series, but I don’t really mind.
@@spoke2639 I do. The Star Trek "timeline" is already tangled in a knot. Star Trek "History" means something, to some people. If you're so concerned, about the lack of minorities in Star Trek, bring back Lieutenant Alden (see, "The Cage"). Also, there's Ensign Walking Bear ("How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth"). Full-blooded Comanche.
This was an underrated series. I thought it was great and the stories were as good as on the original series They were not limited to having only a few sets since it was animated
The stories and writing are good, but the production seems to edit the scripts without any respect and the animation gets so lazy and repetitious, they shows get tedious.
I remember watching this on Saturday mornings!! First intro of the holodeck (the Rec Room), Life Support belts (an advancement over space suits, should have made that canon for certain situations, made animation much easier). The credits usually flashed by so fast and there was so little info about it in the news back then that it wasn't until a few years ago, when I decided to revisit it, that I found out that the original actors voiced their characters, with a couple of them doubling up for new ones. And found out that Chekov was not in it because Leonard Nimoy couldn't get them to expand the budget enough for one more of the original crew, but he still was able to throw Walter Koenig some business by getting a couple of scripts from him.
Yeah, if I remember correctly, Leonard fought for everyone. They would only consent Nichele and George. This kinda made it sound like Leonard didn't do all he could. I don''t believe that to be the case
I still remember a 'moment of discovery' for me. Years later, when I was first going into college, I got into the works of Larry Niven, and I was reading his story "The Soft Weapon" and wondering why it felt like I had already 'read' this story. I finally remembered that I had seen it years before as a child when watching "The Slaver Weapon" episode of TAS. As you said, the credits went by fast, and as a child I didn't pay attention to them anyway (and this was before the days when you could just google stuff and found out in an instant, I had to REMEMBER these details......Uphill, Both Ways! 😅)
I think it was said somewhere that the life support belts would sometimes malfunction and cause immediate death. That it was declared to be unsafe for use. Though the technology could have been used to improve the environmental suits.
@@buhe1 I could see them as an 'emergency backup' in case you didn't have a suit. Then again, Trek technology is so advanced a full 'space suit' shouldn't be any more bulky than a Diving suit is today (and certainly wouldn't need the huge air tanks).
Thank you for the look back into my childhood, I was one of them kids who sat every Saturday morning and watched his version of Star Trek. I had already been watching it in re-runs and fell in love with both shows.
I'd Love to see a Star Trek the Motion Picture take on the Animated Series. Keeping it High Concept stories, No Khan, No Star Wars, No the Federation is terrible etc, etc that is prevalent of Star Trek "writers" of today, they know nothing of Star Trek and I don't consider them writers. That design and look and colors work for animation perfectly and I just want to see Kirk, Spock and McCoy together again in fun, mature, engaging program that entertains and doesn't give you the middle finger.
I read an article somewhere that the Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds crossover, supports the whole TAS canon to the Star Trek universe thing, showing that an animated series can canonically exist in a live action universe. I personally believe TAS is canon.
As someone who just turned 50, I vaguely recall the Star Trek animated series. I was probably to young to appreciate it at the time anyway. But I always remember the Enterprise passing in front of the camera on the show.
TAS being canon was actually resolved long before the Lower Decks cameo. Lower Decks also having Caitians (M'Ress' race) in the form of C.M.O. T'Ana. It was also referenced in several live-action series, including TNG, DS9, Voyager, and ENT. For example, Kor references his ship, the D5 IKS Klothos from the animated series episode "The Time Trap", while in ENT, T'Pol references having cared for a pet sehlat (a wild one is shown in "The Forge") as a child and undergone the Kahs-wan ritual as Spock did in "Yesteryear".
@@electrictroy2010 The live-action shows often contradicted themselves, so that's not an excuse. As for what Paramount said, that was only true through the 1990s and early 2000s. Once the Viacom/Paramount/CBS split occurred, CBS wound up with the rights to TAS, and they declared TAS canon again. This ruling stayed in play after Paramount and CBS merged back together, which is why you see a lot of material referenced in new media and on the official Star Trek website.
it was made canon even before her as a male of the species is in Star Trek IV, plus Lower Decks also had members of two other species in key episodes: the three armed ones like Lt. Arix and the ones whose limbs can separate and move on their own
I really like the discussion on the cartoon. The death of Anton Yelchin has made it difficult for the Kelvin timeline crew to completely come back on screen, and while watching this, I thought "Why not return the Kelvin crew with a CGI version of Arex, instead of Chekov." Arex of course is not as well known nor as loved as Chekov, but introducing him as a replacement for Chekov is canon (As Arex takes the place of Chekov in the Animated series) and introducing him into the movie can give him an chance to get a good backstory and give the Kelvin Timeline crew a chance to comeback even with Chekov's absence.
i would like that except i hate cgi is always looks fake and cartoony. kind of ironic tho that might be ok haha. unfortunately, i dont think star trek gets the budget to do it right anymore.
My personal favorite episodes of TAS: The Survivor, The Time Trap and BEM. All three stories are both interesting science fiction and good Star Trek stories. I love watching/hearing about people who view TAS for the first time. "How did we not know about these Star Trek stories????"
I was at a flea market about 10-12 years ago and under this little canopy was a seller with nothing but DVDs. The most amazing range of titles all of them legit factory originals, no copies or bootlegs. Sitting on the corner of one table was a box with the Star Trek insignia on it, which caught my eye. It was the entire animated Start Trek series. It was previously viewed but in pristine shape, like the plastic just came off it. I bought it for $7 and was thrilled to see all the old animated episodes again!
I was Christmas shopping at Big Lots years ago and what did I find in the bargain DVD bin? The complete animated Star Trek collection for $5! I couldn't believe it! My grandchildren now love to watch those shows, even if they haven't seen many TOS. And I love that they hired the original actors for the voices. It definitely feels like seasons 4 & 5!
The original series premiered 3 days before my 6th birthday and I was hooked from the start. It was the only tv show my folks let me stay up late or. IIt was just before my 13th birthday that the animated series debuted. I am glad it is considered the conclusion of the original 5 year mission.
Fond memories of Saturday morning Trek and recreating the adventures playing with friends. We all loved it. And I still do! Really enjoyed this, thank you for creating. I never knew that detail about the music. Keep On Trekkin’!
Filmation was THE place for quality animation when I was a kid. Other cartoons were around of course but filmation was it’s own thing and had a specific “look” that was the same across all it’s shows and I loved it.
I remember those years of running around with my tricorder tape player and my modle phaser that just fit my 7yo hand! My poor old Enterprise was more glue than plastic! Star Trek I love you. I think that the message of the show makes it cannon or not. Keep America Looking Good!
Oh I agree completely! But one thing to take into consideration when dealing with the overall Star Trek Brand, is that some aspects of Star Trek are so ingrained in our popular culture to the point that almost everyone knows the names "Kirk", "Spock", etc. And it has become increasingly even more so thanks to our friends at The Big Bang Theory,
I was only 9 years old when it premiered (yep, I'm an old codger 😅), but I STILL remember how excited I was to see the first episode of this show, I could barely sleep the previous friday night, and to this day its still on of my all time favorite animates shows 😁
This was a great series. I wish that it was back on tv like MeTV or nickelodeon. Some of the episodes I remember was Spock going back to his childhood using the guardian of forever, the kazinti trying to find an ultimate weapon, uhura taking command of the enterprise when all the men were stricken with a disease and I vaguely remember something about a machine that absorbed and stored every type of energy. I also remember reading somewhere that Kazinti terrorists managed to blow up the bridge of the enterprise which was the main reason it was rehabbed for the first movie. Whoever holds the rights to the animated series please rerelease this gem of a series.
@@eldergeek6077 She did. She was only a replacement in a few episodes where Nichelle wasn't available or they needed Uhura to be elsewhere as was the case in the first episode M'Ress is introduced "Once Upon a Planet". Uhura was given more chances in TAS to be a girl boss that got off the ship and did things, like in "The Loreli Signal" where she and Nurse Chapel took command of the ship so it made more sense to have someone like M'Ress to cover at communications for her.
I still love TAS. The stories are still smart and not dumbed down. All of the scripts could have translated to live production sans the incredible special effects costs.
Star Trek TAS was good for children. But later I rewatched it as a teen & it was just bad. ONE episode about Young Spock is good, but the rest is mindless drivel .
@@electrictroy2010 nonsense. iits obvious you have not seen them all. of course yesteryear is best, but koening's infinite vulcan is also very good. time trap and serpents tooth are also top shelf. for one thing the latter gets ensign walking bear taking the helm. jihad and tribbles episodes are also great fun. etc.
I would still argue the episode "The Slaver Weapon" should be considered one of the best ones. Giving the introduction of the Kzinti to the STU by Sci Fi writer Larry Nevin, the Kzinti were already established in his own book series and basically he took one of the short stories from there "the Soft Weapon: and adapted it to Star Trek canon. Over the years the argument over whether TAS was canon or not, the Kziniti were big part of that. They were included in many RPG and trek wargames t the time but the games cant be held as canon as there was lot of copyright issues and lot of folks didn't like the idea of huge standing armies and fleets were part of Roddenberrys version of a galaxy that almost had its act together. The evidence that TAS was always canon was strengthened by the fact that there was a planned mini series or movie centering on Captain Sulu on the Excelsior in which the Kziniti would be the villains. Unfortunately due to the project not coming abut and the Kziniti copyright mired in red tape ( They were still huge part of Nivens books series and copyrights after all) it all got shelved . (though there is a novelization of the original script out there). If the series Enterprise with Scott Bakula had gotten another season like it was planned, the Kzinit were also to be recurring villains for that season. Nowadays with appearances of the Kzinti in Lower Decks and Riker mentioning he and Diana were having issues with the Kzinti on their planet in Picard season 1 , not too mention the offical appearance of the Caitians thanks to Lt Mress, the matter of TAS being canon is put to rest. Now if only people would accept the Federation Marines are canon also, all would be well ;)
I’m with you on the Slaver Weapon episode! Every time I stream TAS, I have to watch THAT episode along with a few of the others - Counterclock being one of the others! It introduced me to Larry Nivens’ Known Space series and other works, and the way the episode was adapted - the way Spock, Sulu and Uhura were substituted for characters in the short story it was based on - “The Soft Weapon” - was absolute genius! The pace of the episode, the stakes involved, the outstanding dialogue, was fantastic! Again, my favorite TAS episode and one of my favorites from all of Trek hands down! 😀
I used to watch these when the initially aired every time. The music is quite memorable and it was great they got the original cast to voice the characters. Have the Blu rays.
This was a great series. I still watch it on occasion. All the chosen favorites are good, but mine was the "Time Trap." The Enterprise and the Klingons had to work together to get out of a space rift. I must be getting old because I just don't feel the same about Lower Decks and Prodigy.
@@TREK-WORLD How about the music, it was PHENOMENAL! It set the tone for every episode, it helped out the animation. But I was seven years old when this show first aired, (and I did watch Space Academy as well, which used the same music!) back then, this was state of the art animation for me on Saturday mornings! 😂
As a 5 & 6 yr old boy, I was right there every week to watch every new episode of Star Trek!!! I was so upset that the Boring old Moon Landing was taking up air time that belonged to my beloved Enterprise w/ Capt Kirk & Mr Spock!!! I mean why even bother to watch the dusty old black & white Moon Landing when we could be sailing thru the Galaxy at Warp Speed!?!?!? I was so incredibly thrilled that they aired a Animation Series, even though the musical intro was not of the same cloth as the original! Oh Well here I am, at 60 yrs old and still a major fan of ***Star Trek***
Great work! I remember seeing one of those acetate framed character portraits back in the early 70's. My mom tried to help me get a few things, but that was out of our price range. Non the less, we did obtain some syndication promo stuff from the local station and I still have them! THANKS FOR THIS. Best yet on TAS...
A fascinating point of trivia: One episode or STAR TREK:THE ANIMATED SERIES featured voice acting by an iconic American actor, famous from his work in a British science -fiction series! Ed Bishop, quite popular in America, as well as world-wide, from his starring role in Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's U. F. O. (as SHADO's commander-in-chief, Edward Straker) was touring Los Angeles in 1973, testing the professional waters in Hollywood. While a hot commodity in the UK as an American actor, in Hollywood he was the proverbial goldfish in an ocean. Fortunately, someone in Gene Roddenberry's team was familiar with Ed Bishop's work from U. F. O. and his unique voice. Thus, he was tapped for the role of Asmodeus, the Megan Prosecutor, in the episode "The Magicks Of Megas-Tu". Incidentally, it took years and prodigious effort to include this trivial footnote, giving proper attribution to the late Mr. Bishop.
DC was my sister-in-law. We worked on a new version of the animated series around/over 11-ish years ago which didn't work out (a certain JJ didn't want any other Trek projects to be "conflicting" with his then new Trek film). Currently exploring/organizing some of her files. She passed away in late 2019 and is very missed. A real pioneer in the area of female creatives in the entertainment world.
Hi! So nice to meet you. I will be doing a small video on her like I've done for Gene Coon and Wah Chang. I hope I am able to show just how truly remarkable she was.
@@TREK-WORLD I will be going through her (massive) files to do some further research. (Came across a project she was developing with Doug Trumbull as a follow-up---sort of---to SILENT RUNNING. )
I remember it as a kid because it was on after Emergency Plus 4 which was an animated version of my favorite tv show at the time Emergency. I also loved Space Academy and Jason of Star Command. The Flash Gordon animated series especially season 1 was awesome. There is also a great book on TAS. TAS is canon on its own, and the tos remastered project took from it. Lower Decks and it’s ilk from Kurtzman already proved that his crap isn’t canon since the original series is sacrosanct. If it conflicts with Star Trek it isn’t canon
Just FYI : there was an additional PSA done using the animated Star Trek footage. It was for the Girl Scouts fitness program where they discussed doing light exercise to music to keep oneself it, and then Kirk tells the nurse chapel to begin the Girl Scout fitness program for all crewmembers I remember seeing this in the 70s and it always sounded rather humorous. It’s possible they used the original PSA and simply dubbed the new Dialogue, but this definitely existed. I saw it for years. 😊👍👍
I've actually been trying to track any other PSAs down that were done with TAS. I've heard both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts. But can't find any record of the PSA on either of their two sites; or with the Ad Council's website either. But these stories are why I am doing this channel. We have lost so much information about Star Trek in the 60s and 70s because no one bothered to document the history. And after years go on everything becomes vague; then inevitably just disappears form the public's mind.
I had grown up on TOS in syndication and was thrilled to watch the Animated series. The music, though!!!! Any time something slightly exciting was going on, we got the same few bars of music.... and it was LOUD! It drive me nuts!.
I own the Animated Series on DVD and its my go-to collection whenever I'm feeling down and need a little "comfort food" for the soul! The only issue I have is that it only lasted 22 episodes! Say what you want about its primitive animation quality, in my mind it's the 4th season that the Original Series never had! However, it's also great in its own merits!
I remember The Syndication Days well. we'd come home form school and it would be on at 4 pm. I even recorded episodes with my first cassette tape recorder. I remember when I was allowed to stay up and watch it when it was in Prime Time but having it on at 4 pm was...genius. I looked forward to each Saturday to see the animated series. LOVED IT!
I watched the show when it came out when I was a boy in the 1970s. Several years ago, I found the series on DVD at a store and said that I had to buy this. Now, it streams as well.
The star trek continues series made by fans is great. Its right up there with the original. Its on youtube and I found it by accident. Highly recommended.
Filmation was infamous for reusing animation clips, but it didn't really hurt the series. Getting (most of) the original cast gave it a legitimacy most animated adaptions didn't have. My two favorite episodes were the ones where adult Spock meets his younger self -- and where Uhura and Chappel take over the Enterprise.
THANK YOU! I absolutely watched this when it first came out and loved that they took advantage of the animation medium to do things they hadn't been able to do in live action! My favorite episodes are "Beyond the Farthest Star" and "The Slaver Weapon"! I've been watching the Target Audience reaction videos for the series and they just posted their reaction to "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth". As I said in a comment on that video, I was involved in organizing a small "Star Trek" convention in the late 70's and one of the guest speakers was episode co-author Russell Bates!
HI Rob! Welcome to the community! I would love to chat with you about your convention experiences. You can email me at jim@trek-world.com. The fundamental purpose for this channel is to document as much as possible in videos about what Star Trek was in the 60s and 70s to those of us who were there at a time when we were never really sure we would ever see anything new concerning Trek in the future. The younger generations have no idea of what I am trying to document. I would love my kids and grandkids to know what it was like back then. And these stories are all that we have left... And worse yet, the storytellers become fewer and fewer with each passing year.
Not only do I remember it from when I was very young, I remember being surprised when my friend showed me that there was also a Star Trek non-animated series.
I my first encounter with the series was on a BBC Saturday morning childrens program called Going Live or Live & Kicking. I am a Star Trek fan and for me did not catch the magic. Cause I was watching the original in the early 80s. This was not the same. For the studio making it Filmation this was not the same standard as what they did later on. Especially in the 80s before the company was shutdown. One thing to be glad for it kept the flame of Star Trek going.
One of the books dealing with Trek told a story from Shatner that said he was trvelling fom town to town doing stage plays and recording dialog for the show on a cassette recorder and mailing them to Filmation.
I caught the animated series when it was broadcast the first time (1973/74?) I believe. I liked it then and still do though the animation graphics were terribly colored! The stories were quite good, though too brief due to the 30 minute allotment of time.
Oh , I remember this gem! It made Saturday mornings worth watching! It won an Emmy! And the Aliens were out of this world! And I have the whole series on DVD!
I only knew Star Trek Original Series in syndication. As a kid, I would sometimes cut out the ads from TV Guide. It seems like it was usually on at either 5:00 to fill an hour between after school cartoon and kid shows and the 6:00 news, or at 7:00 - five days a week. The Saturday morning cartoons were okay in my book, but not as good as Bugs Bunny / Roadrunner Hour or The New Pink Panther show. The coloring on the cartoons was lost on me as we had black-and-white TV in those days.
It's easy to knock the series 70's choppy TV animation, but the medium allowed for a lot of world building & more creative alien design, & the writing was surprisingly good & not condescending in the least. Great work on the video!
At a 1992 Trek Convention, George Takei told me he was not pleased that he had to record his TAS lines in a studio, cold. Hard to react to people who were not there.
I loved ST:TAS when I was a kid. I used to watch in on Nickelodeon in the early 80s. My favorite episodes were Yesteryear, The Magicks of Megas-tu, and How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth.
We did get a modified Life Support Belt in the form of an arm device unit in The Next Generation episode, "Timescape". It provided protection from the influence of the Time manipulation instead of lack of oxygen, but the general idea was still there.
tas is fantastic. loved it as a kid. its still highly watchable just as tos is. i am so glad roddenberry 100% stuck to his guns and we didnt get kiddie academy.
Walter was brought in the original series as a replacement for Sulu, who was filming Tora Tora, Rodenberry figured he wasn't coming back. The rest of the cast might have felt some resentment towards him.
Star Trek TAS was good for children. But later I rewatched it as a teen & it was just bad. ONE episode about Young Spock is good, but the rest is mindless drivel .
Did anyone else notice that the three-armed alien on Lower Decks Season 3, Episode 4 (who ran the Relaxation Center) was from the same species as the helmsman from The Animated Series?
I'd love it if the studio could get permission from the remaining cast members and the estates of those that have passed to use their likeness in a 3D version of these episodes. Combining the existing audio with life-like 3D would really make season 4 and 5 of the original series a reality.
TAS had good story lines and was generally faithful to the Star Trek original. The dialogue was necessarily less developed due to the 1/2 hour format but they had important social issues on tap, such as cloning. Also - more "Tribbles." (I like them so I guess I'm not a Klingon?"
I was in high school when this series came out and was a big fan of animation as an art form, already a serious cartoon-nerd with favorite Warner Bros and MGM writers, directors and artists. So when this series came out the animation looked so cheap to me that I never gave it a chance, even though I'd loved the original series. Now half a century later I'm finally able to enjoy this show, if I just think of it as a Star Trek radio program (like the Dr Who ones I've occasionally listened to), starring the original cast (yay!) and with some illustrations tossed onto the screen. I was surprised by how good the writing is, and that some of the scenery & spaceship art is actually pretty imaginative and trippy, stuff they never couldve afforded to build sets for on TOS; even if the characters all move like arthritic robots without facial expressions. Another thing that prejudiced me against this series back then was the cat-people & bird-people they had as crew members- it seemed like a dumb, childish idea for creating alien species. As a SERIOUS science fiction fan I had lots of reasons why it was super unlikely that aliens would just happen to evolve to look exactly like anthropomorphized Earth creatures (apparently i was prejudiced against furries before there even was such a thing). But these days I don't judge every little detail like I did in high school and I think Caitians are pretty cool; having been won over by the Cerritos's redoubtable Dr. T'ana. Like the old song goes: For I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.
I love TAS. It's underrated and deserves greater recognition.
Yeah its good but those life support belts really bring it down. Just draw some space suits!
@@cedarledgepublishing I used to think the life support belts were so cool. 😄
@@cedarledgepublishing Just like the transporter was devised as a cost saving idea, so we're the belts. Much less expensive than animating space suits. I'm inclined to give much more poetic license to animation too so that makes the suspension of disbelief a bit easier. 😃
*_Excellent episode_* !!
I believe that one of the finest episodes of Star Trek comes from The Animated Series: *_Yesteryear_* by the veteran Trek writer, Dorothy Fontana. This is a heart-rending follow-up to *_Journey to Babel_* . It's absolutely brilliant and explores the use of the Guardian of Forever, Spock's relationship with Sarek, and Spock's "teddy bear."
Trekkers, if you haven't seen it, please do. (I still get a bit teary over I'Chaya.)
Note: Ah, I see you have caught it! Thank you kindly, from an original-time Trekker.
I couldn't agree more. And if I'm not mistaken, there was a book written by D.C. Fontana as a sequel to that episode,
Awesome. All I know is that the original actors voiced the animation. How coooool is that!!!!!
@plastique45 I'll have to try to find it---she's a wonderful writer. What was the title?
I agree, it's considered cannon by many
RIP I'Chaya. You big furry fanged beast.
My favorite episode was " The counter clock incident."
The episode introduced Ambassador Robert April, and his wife Sara.
Robert April was in the past the very first Captain of the Enterprise.
@trhansen3244 👌💀🖖
Edit: plot twist, there are no male Hortas, just females who identify as Hard Rock Cafés!
@@trhansen3244 no….but he is played by a black man in Strange New Worlds. A bit of a retcon from how he appears in the Animated Series, but I don’t really mind.
I watched the episode when I was in the hospital
I helped make my stay easier.
I was glad least mention fact that Dr Sarah April developed most equipment used in SickBay including tricorder, micro medical scanner and bio beds
@@spoke2639 I do. The Star Trek "timeline" is already tangled in a knot. Star Trek "History" means something, to some people.
If you're so concerned, about the lack of minorities in Star Trek, bring back Lieutenant Alden (see, "The Cage"). Also, there's Ensign Walking Bear ("How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth"). Full-blooded Comanche.
Great series. I used to watch it - here in the UK - back in about '74-'75. Happy memories.
For a Saturday morning "cartoon" TAS was surprisingly intelligent and well-written with a number of great writers penning scripts for it.
This was an underrated series. I thought it was great and the stories were as good as on the original series They were not limited to having only a few sets since it was animated
The stories and writing are good, but the production seems to edit the scripts without any respect and the animation gets so lazy and repetitious, they shows get tedious.
Yeah the animated series and the two TOS pc games by interplay should be canon
I remember watching this on Saturday mornings!! First intro of the holodeck (the Rec Room), Life Support belts (an advancement over space suits, should have made that canon for certain situations, made animation much easier). The credits usually flashed by so fast and there was so little info about it in the news back then that it wasn't until a few years ago, when I decided to revisit it, that I found out that the original actors voiced their characters, with a couple of them doubling up for new ones. And found out that Chekov was not in it because Leonard Nimoy couldn't get them to expand the budget enough for one more of the original crew, but he still was able to throw Walter Koenig some business by getting a couple of scripts from him.
Yeah, if I remember correctly, Leonard fought for everyone. They would only consent Nichele and George. This kinda made it sound like Leonard didn't do all he could. I don''t believe that to be the case
@@gwenking7700 I agree, I think Leonard was fighting an uphill battle
I still remember a 'moment of discovery' for me.
Years later, when I was first going into college, I got into the works of Larry Niven, and I was reading his story "The Soft Weapon" and wondering why it felt like I had already 'read' this story.
I finally remembered that I had seen it years before as a child when watching "The Slaver Weapon" episode of TAS. As you said, the credits went by fast, and as a child I didn't pay attention to them anyway (and this was before the days when you could just google stuff and found out in an instant, I had to REMEMBER these details......Uphill, Both Ways! 😅)
I think it was said somewhere that the life support belts would sometimes malfunction and cause immediate death. That it was declared to be unsafe for use. Though the technology could have been used to improve the environmental suits.
@@buhe1 I could see them as an 'emergency backup' in case you didn't have a suit. Then again, Trek technology is so advanced a full 'space suit' shouldn't be any more bulky than a Diving suit is today (and certainly wouldn't need the huge air tanks).
Thank you for the look back into my childhood, I was one of them kids who sat every Saturday morning and watched his version of Star Trek. I had already been watching it in re-runs and fell in love with both shows.
I remember this and the Filmation shows like Tarzan and Zorro/Lone Ranger.
I'd Love to see a Star Trek the Motion Picture take on the Animated Series. Keeping it High Concept stories, No Khan, No Star Wars, No the Federation is terrible etc, etc that is prevalent of Star Trek "writers" of today, they know nothing of Star Trek and I don't consider them writers. That design and look and colors work for animation perfectly and I just want to see Kirk, Spock and McCoy together again in fun, mature, engaging program that entertains and doesn't give you the middle finger.
I read an article somewhere that the Lower Decks and Strange New Worlds crossover, supports the whole TAS canon to the Star Trek universe thing, showing that an animated series can canonically exist in a live action universe. I personally believe TAS is canon.
Agreed! Without spoiling too much, Spock’s pet was mentioned in that crossover episode! 😉
As someone who just turned 50, I vaguely recall the Star Trek animated series. I was probably to young to appreciate it at the time anyway. But I always remember the Enterprise passing in front of the camera on the show.
TAS being canon was actually resolved long before the Lower Decks cameo. Lower Decks also having Caitians (M'Ress' race) in the form of C.M.O. T'Ana. It was also referenced in several live-action series, including TNG, DS9, Voyager, and ENT. For example, Kor references his ship, the D5 IKS Klothos from the animated series episode "The Time Trap", while in ENT, T'Pol references having cared for a pet sehlat (a wild one is shown in "The Forge") as a child and undergone the Kahs-wan ritual as Spock did in "Yesteryear".
During TNG’s production Paramount continually insisted the animated show was not canon. Several episodes contradicted what the cartoon had showed
Also in the remastered TOS episode "Amok Time" they added the animated Vulcan city in the background 🖖
@@electrictroy2010 The live-action shows often contradicted themselves, so that's not an excuse. As for what Paramount said, that was only true through the 1990s and early 2000s. Once the Viacom/Paramount/CBS split occurred, CBS wound up with the rights to TAS, and they declared TAS canon again. This ruling stayed in play after Paramount and CBS merged back together, which is why you see a lot of material referenced in new media and on the official Star Trek website.
Lower deck was trash and certainly not proper Trek
it was made canon even before her as a male of the species is in Star Trek IV, plus Lower Decks also had members of two other species in key episodes: the three armed ones like Lt. Arix and the ones whose limbs can separate and move on their own
I really like the discussion on the cartoon. The death of Anton Yelchin has made it difficult for the Kelvin timeline crew to completely come back on screen, and while watching this, I thought "Why not return the Kelvin crew with a CGI version of Arex, instead of Chekov."
Arex of course is not as well known nor as loved as Chekov, but introducing him as a replacement for Chekov is canon (As Arex takes the place of Chekov in the Animated series) and introducing him into the movie can give him an chance to get a good backstory and give the Kelvin Timeline crew a chance to comeback even with Chekov's absence.
i would like that except i hate cgi is always looks fake and cartoony. kind of ironic tho that might be ok haha. unfortunately, i dont think star trek gets the budget to do it right anymore.
My personal favorite episodes of TAS: The Survivor, The Time Trap and BEM. All three stories are both interesting science fiction and good Star Trek stories. I love watching/hearing about people who view TAS for the first time. "How did we not know about these Star Trek stories????"
I'm liking the thumbnail of the video showing the TMP crew in cartoon form.
I was at a flea market about 10-12 years ago and under this little canopy was a seller with nothing but DVDs. The most amazing range of titles all of them legit factory originals, no copies or bootlegs. Sitting on the corner of one table was a box with the Star Trek insignia on it, which caught my eye. It was the entire animated Start Trek series. It was previously viewed but in pristine shape, like the plastic just came off it. I bought it for $7 and was thrilled to see all the old animated episodes again!
And *THAT* is why I still love flea markets!!
I was Christmas shopping at Big Lots years ago and what did I find in the bargain DVD bin? The complete animated Star Trek collection for $5! I couldn't believe it! My grandchildren now love to watch those shows, even if they haven't seen many TOS. And I love that they hired the original actors for the voices. It definitely feels like seasons 4 & 5!
The original series premiered 3 days before my 6th birthday and I was hooked from the start. It was the only tv show my folks let me stay up late or. IIt was just before my 13th birthday that the animated series debuted. I am glad it is considered the conclusion of the original 5 year mission.
Fond memories of Saturday morning Trek and recreating the adventures playing with friends. We all loved it.
And I still do!
Really enjoyed this, thank you for creating. I never knew that detail about the music. Keep On Trekkin’!
Filmation was THE place for quality animation when I was a kid. Other cartoons were around of course but filmation was it’s own thing and had a specific “look” that was the same across all it’s shows and I loved it.
I remember those years of running around with my tricorder tape player and my modle phaser that just fit my 7yo hand! My poor old Enterprise was more glue than plastic! Star Trek I love you. I think that the message of the show makes it cannon or not. Keep America Looking Good!
The slow animation made for more thoughtful dialogue. 🖖
Dorothy Fontana writing under first initials in order to hide female name was also done by P.D. James, V.C. Andrews, and J.K. Rowling.
For years U assumed that Bob Stine was a woman because he was credited as "R.L. Stine."
I’ve been rewatching this recently. The show definitely had some good writing
DC Fontana really knew what Trek was about.
The general public are not Star Trek fans. And I've known about this for 30 years. Both the show and about the general public.
Oh I agree completely! But one thing to take into consideration when dealing with the overall Star Trek Brand, is that some aspects of Star Trek are so ingrained in our popular culture to the point that almost everyone knows the names "Kirk", "Spock", etc.
And it has become increasingly even more so thanks to our friends at The Big Bang Theory,
I was only 9 years old when it premiered (yep, I'm an old codger 😅), but I STILL remember how excited I was to see the first episode of this show, I could barely sleep the previous friday night, and to this day its still on of my all time favorite animates shows 😁
Same here, I was sleeping over at my best friends house and we couldn’t wait till it came on Saturday morning
I was 9 then too ! The height of Saturday morning.
This was a great series. I wish that it was back on tv like MeTV or nickelodeon. Some of the episodes I remember was Spock going back to his childhood using the guardian of forever, the kazinti trying to find an ultimate weapon, uhura taking command of the enterprise when all the men were stricken with a disease and I vaguely remember something about a machine that absorbed and stored every type of energy. I also remember reading somewhere that Kazinti terrorists managed to blow up the bridge of the enterprise which was the main reason it was rehabbed for the first movie. Whoever holds the rights to the animated series please rerelease this gem of a series.
I watched this as a kid. I was impressed that the show was so similar to the series.
Later on Uhura was replaced by Lt.M'ress., a cat like ( attractive ) female alien.😊
Actually, M'ress was added in addition to Uhura. Nichelle voiced Uhura in each of the 22 episodes aired. And M'Ress was voiced by Majel.
I always thought that M'Ress worked on an alternate shift on the Communication Station.
@@eldergeek6077 She did. She was only a replacement in a few episodes where Nichelle wasn't available or they needed Uhura to be elsewhere as was the case in the first episode M'Ress is introduced "Once Upon a Planet". Uhura was given more chances in TAS to be a girl boss that got off the ship and did things, like in "The Loreli Signal" where she and Nurse Chapel took command of the ship so it made more sense to have someone like M'Ress to cover at communications for her.
I still love TAS. The stories are still smart and not dumbed down. All of the scripts could have translated to live production sans the incredible special effects costs.
Star Trek TAS was good for children. But later I rewatched it as a teen & it was just bad. ONE episode about Young Spock is good, but the rest is mindless drivel
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@@electrictroy2010 nonsense. iits obvious you have not seen them all. of course yesteryear is best, but koening's infinite vulcan is also very good. time trap and serpents tooth are also top shelf. for one thing the latter gets ensign walking bear taking the helm. jihad and tribbles episodes are also great fun. etc.
@@electrictroy2010 It went over your head, did it?
I would still argue the episode "The Slaver Weapon" should be considered one of the best ones. Giving the introduction of the Kzinti to the STU by Sci Fi writer Larry Nevin, the Kzinti were already established in his own book series and basically he took one of the short stories from there "the Soft Weapon: and adapted it to Star Trek canon. Over the years the argument over whether TAS was canon or not, the Kziniti were big part of that. They were included in many RPG and trek wargames t the time but the games cant be held as canon as there was lot of copyright issues and lot of folks didn't like the idea of huge standing armies and fleets were part of Roddenberrys version of a galaxy that almost had its act together. The evidence that TAS was always canon was strengthened by the fact that there was a planned mini series or movie centering on Captain Sulu on the Excelsior in which the Kziniti would be the villains. Unfortunately due to the project not coming abut and the Kziniti copyright mired in red tape ( They were still huge part of Nivens books series and copyrights after all) it all got shelved . (though there is a novelization of the original script out there). If the series Enterprise with Scott Bakula had gotten another season like it was planned, the Kzinit were also to be recurring villains for that season. Nowadays with appearances of the Kzinti in Lower Decks and Riker mentioning he and Diana were having issues with the Kzinti on their planet in Picard season 1 , not too mention the offical appearance of the Caitians thanks to Lt Mress, the matter of TAS being canon is put to rest. Now if only people would accept the Federation Marines are canon also, all would be well ;)
I’m with you on the Slaver Weapon episode! Every time I stream TAS, I have to watch THAT episode along with a few of the others - Counterclock being one of the others!
It introduced me to Larry Nivens’ Known Space series and other works, and the way the episode was adapted - the way Spock, Sulu and Uhura were substituted for characters in the short story it was based on - “The Soft Weapon” - was absolute genius! The pace of the episode, the stakes involved, the outstanding dialogue, was fantastic! Again, my favorite TAS episode and one of my favorites from all of Trek hands down! 😀
I remember watching this series on TV in my teenage years (mid-70s).
I used to watch these when the initially aired every time. The music is quite memorable and it was great they got the original cast to voice the characters. Have the Blu rays.
Yesteryear, the best ever episode of the animated series
This was a great series. I still watch it on occasion. All the chosen favorites are good, but mine was the "Time Trap." The Enterprise and the Klingons had to work together to get out of a space rift. I must be getting old because I just don't feel the same about Lower Decks and Prodigy.
Agreed. I enjoy the newer animated shows - but nothing feels as special to me in the way that TAS did.
@@TREK-WORLD How about the music, it was PHENOMENAL! It set the tone for every episode, it helped out the animation.
But I was seven years old when this show first aired, (and I did watch Space Academy as well, which used the same music!) back then, this was state of the art animation for me on Saturday mornings! 😂
As a 5 & 6 yr old boy, I was right there every week to watch every new episode of Star Trek!!! I was so upset that the Boring old Moon Landing was taking up air time that belonged to my beloved Enterprise w/ Capt Kirk & Mr Spock!!! I mean why even bother to watch the dusty old black & white Moon Landing when we could be sailing thru the Galaxy at Warp Speed!?!?!?
I was so incredibly thrilled that they aired a Animation Series, even though the musical intro was not of the same cloth as the original!
Oh Well here I am, at 60 yrs old and still a major fan of ***Star Trek***
Great work! I remember seeing one of those acetate framed character portraits back in the early 70's. My mom tried to help me get a few things, but that was out of our price range. Non the less, we did obtain some syndication promo stuff from the local station and I still have them! THANKS FOR THIS. Best yet on TAS...
Larry Niven wrote “The Slaver Weapon”, combining his sci-fi world with the Trek world.
A fascinating point of trivia:
One episode or STAR TREK:THE ANIMATED SERIES featured voice acting by an iconic American actor, famous from his work in a British science -fiction series!
Ed Bishop, quite popular in America, as well as world-wide, from his starring role in Gerry and Sylvia Anderson's U. F. O. (as SHADO's commander-in-chief, Edward Straker) was touring Los Angeles in 1973, testing the professional waters in Hollywood. While a hot commodity in the UK as an American actor, in Hollywood he was the proverbial goldfish in an ocean. Fortunately, someone in Gene Roddenberry's team was familiar with Ed Bishop's work from U. F. O. and his unique voice.
Thus, he was tapped for the role of Asmodeus, the Megan Prosecutor, in the episode "The Magicks Of Megas-Tu".
Incidentally, it took years and prodigious effort to include this trivial footnote, giving proper attribution to the late Mr. Bishop.
Thanks for that treasure of info. I also heard a trek fan wrote one episode after his initial pitch to the producers who read his storyline.
Wow, never knew that. UFO was another great SF series
Weird that Ed Bishop wasn’t a bigger deal in Star Trek given his body of work.
DC was my sister-in-law. We worked on a new version of the animated series around/over 11-ish years ago which didn't work out (a certain JJ didn't want any other Trek projects to be "conflicting" with his then new Trek film). Currently exploring/organizing some of her files. She passed away in late 2019 and is very missed. A real pioneer in the area of female creatives in the entertainment world.
Hi! So nice to meet you. I will be doing a small video on her like I've done for Gene Coon and Wah Chang. I hope I am able to show just how truly remarkable she was.
@@TREK-WORLD I will be going through her (massive) files to do some further research. (Came across a project she was developing with Doug Trumbull as a follow-up---sort of---to SILENT RUNNING. )
I remember it as a kid because it was on after Emergency Plus 4 which was an animated version of my favorite tv show at the time Emergency. I also loved Space Academy and Jason of Star Command. The Flash Gordon animated series especially season 1 was awesome. There is also a great book on TAS. TAS is canon on its own, and the tos remastered project took from it. Lower Decks and it’s ilk from Kurtzman already proved that his crap isn’t canon since the original series is sacrosanct. If it conflicts with Star Trek it isn’t canon
Just FYI : there was an additional PSA done using the animated Star Trek footage. It was for the Girl Scouts fitness program where they discussed doing light exercise to music to keep oneself it, and then Kirk tells the nurse chapel to begin the Girl Scout fitness program for all crewmembers I remember seeing this in the 70s and it always sounded rather humorous. It’s possible they used the original PSA and simply dubbed the new Dialogue, but this definitely existed. I saw it for years. 😊👍👍
I've actually been trying to track any other PSAs down that were done with TAS. I've heard both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Scouts. But can't find any record of the PSA on either of their two sites; or with the Ad Council's website either. But these stories are why I am doing this channel. We have lost so much information about Star Trek in the 60s and 70s because no one bothered to document the history. And after years go on everything becomes vague; then inevitably just disappears form the public's mind.
Love how this was totally a continuation from the OTS.
I remember watching this in the 70s and early on BBC1. It enjoyed it
I have the complete Star Trek animated series on DVD! I loved it as a child.
Love Star Trek: The Animated Series. Great show. I have it on DVD.
I had grown up on TOS in syndication and was thrilled to watch the Animated series. The music, though!!!! Any time something slightly exciting was going on, we got the same few bars of music.... and it was LOUD! It drive me nuts!.
I own the Animated Series on DVD and its my go-to collection whenever I'm feeling down and need a little "comfort food" for the soul! The only issue I have is that it only lasted 22 episodes! Say what you want about its primitive animation quality, in my mind it's the 4th season that the Original Series never had! However, it's also great in its own merits!
I have the DVD as well. I love to have it on when I go to bed.
The most memorable part of this series for me was *the musical score* which I wish would be re used in Lower Decks and/or other TV series…
A lot of people are really critical on the music from TAS. But I have to tell you that the entire suite of music they wrote is a fond memory for me.
I remember watching it when it was first run on TV. Good show. Lot's of action.
I remember The Syndication Days well. we'd come home form school and it would be on at 4 pm. I even recorded episodes with my first cassette tape recorder. I remember when I was allowed to stay up and watch it when it was in Prime Time but having it on at 4 pm was...genius. I looked forward to each Saturday to see the animated series. LOVED IT!
I wish they would remaster this series with new animation & CGI for the ships & somehow add ensign chekov in some episodes 😊
I watched the show when it came out when I was a boy in the 1970s. Several years ago, I found the series on DVD at a store and said that I had to buy this. Now, it streams as well.
The star trek continues series made by fans is great. Its right up there with the original. Its on youtube and I found it by accident. Highly recommended.
So true!
I collected all the Star Trek animated series novel....I loved this series. ❤️
Filmation was infamous for reusing animation clips, but it didn't really hurt the series. Getting (most of) the original cast gave it a legitimacy most animated adaptions didn't have. My two favorite episodes were the ones where adult Spock meets his younger self -- and where Uhura and Chappel take over the Enterprise.
Never saw it, I was in college by then. We did sit and watch reruns of TOS and MASH in prime time but that was about all I had time for.
THANK YOU! I absolutely watched this when it first came out and loved that they took advantage of the animation medium to do things they hadn't been able to do in live action! My favorite episodes are "Beyond the Farthest Star" and "The Slaver Weapon"! I've been watching the Target Audience reaction videos for the series and they just posted their reaction to "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth". As I said in a comment on that video, I was involved in organizing a small "Star Trek" convention in the late 70's and one of the guest speakers was episode co-author Russell Bates!
HI Rob! Welcome to the community! I would love to chat with you about your convention experiences. You can email me at jim@trek-world.com. The fundamental purpose for this channel is to document as much as possible in videos about what Star Trek was in the 60s and 70s to those of us who were there at a time when we were never really sure we would ever see anything new concerning Trek in the future. The younger generations have no idea of what I am trying to document. I would love my kids and grandkids to know what it was like back then. And these stories are all that we have left... And worse yet, the storytellers become fewer and fewer with each passing year.
I'd disagree about the belt, it quite doable considering their tech.
The belt could have provide a limited oxygen supply and physical protection.
One other fun fact about the animated series that makes it canon-Kirk’s middle name-Tiberius-is first used in this series.
It’s surprising no one’s ever thought of a new animated Trek series
Not only do I remember it from when I was very young, I remember being surprised when my friend showed me that there was also a Star Trek non-animated series.
I really enjoyed this cartoon series. Fond memories.
I’d like to point out that Lower Decks also showed Giant Spock’s skeleton in an episode, further cementing TAS as canon 😊
I remember Space Academy, it was terrible. Pammlyn Ferdin was eveywhere at the time. I do of course remember ST The Animated Series.
I liked space academy.
And don't forget Jason of Star Command.
Excellent, nostalgic video. I hate what is going on now.
I my first encounter with the series was on a BBC Saturday morning childrens program called Going Live or Live & Kicking. I am a Star Trek fan and for me did not catch the magic. Cause I was watching the original in the early 80s. This was not the same.
For the studio making it Filmation this was not the same standard as what they did later on. Especially in the 80s before the company was shutdown.
One thing to be glad for it kept the flame of Star Trek going.
I personally love the animated series. Dust on the screen and everything!!❤
I have them on DVD and i did have the original video tapes too 😊
Did you buy the book?
@eldergeek6077 what book
There's a wonderful book about the making of TAS. It's available on Amazon.
One of the books dealing with Trek told a story from Shatner that said he was trvelling fom town to town doing stage plays and recording dialog for the show on a cassette recorder and mailing them to Filmation.
I remember that!
... The Animated Series also had the first Native American in Star Fleet, way before Chakotay in Voyager ...
I caught the animated series when it was broadcast the first time (1973/74?) I believe. I liked it then and still do though the animation graphics were terribly colored! The stories were quite good, though too brief due to the 30 minute allotment of time.
The colors is an interesting story. Apparently the person who chose the colors was color blind.
Oh , I remember this gem! It made Saturday mornings worth watching! It won an Emmy! And the Aliens were out of this world! And I have the whole series on DVD!
I only knew Star Trek Original Series in syndication. As a kid, I would sometimes cut out the ads from TV Guide. It seems like it was usually on at either 5:00 to fill an hour between after school cartoon and kid shows and the 6:00 news, or at 7:00 - five days a week. The Saturday morning cartoons were okay in my book, but not as good as Bugs Bunny / Roadrunner Hour or The New Pink Panther show. The coloring on the cartoons was lost on me as we had black-and-white TV in those days.
Yesteryear was my favorite episode from the animated series.
I have the animated series on dvd
Me to ìts on the books too 😊
It's easy to knock the series 70's choppy TV animation, but the medium allowed for a lot of world building & more creative alien design,
& the writing was surprisingly good & not condescending in the least. Great work on the video!
There was a Star Trek anti drug PSA for radio stations as well. With Shatner, Nimoy and Nichols reprising their roles as well.
Cool! I never even thought to check for radio PSAs. Thanks!
This is a great series, much better than many modern ones.
At a 1992 Trek Convention, George Takei told me he was not pleased that he had to record his TAS lines in a studio, cold. Hard to react to people who were not there.
I loved ST:TAS when I was a kid. I used to watch in on Nickelodeon in the early 80s. My favorite episodes were Yesteryear, The Magicks of Megas-tu, and How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth.
I'm watching it now , love it, and i love the way Filmation made it, they made the Superman i grew up with as well & i loved that too. :))))
Live Long & Prosper - Star Trek - < The Animated Series - God Bless - 73s 🖖 🇺🇲🙏✈️
The Klingon Uniforms and one of the Aliens look more purple than pink. @ 12:40
We did get a modified Life Support Belt in the form of an arm device unit in The Next Generation episode, "Timescape". It provided protection from the influence of the Time manipulation instead of lack of oxygen, but the general idea was still there.
The slaver weapon was great
tas is fantastic. loved it as a kid. its still highly watchable just as tos is. i am so glad roddenberry 100% stuck to his guns and we didnt get kiddie academy.
That came n 2009.
I had the books created from the series, no idea what happened to them, well written short stories
Walter was brought in the original series as a replacement for Sulu, who was filming Tora Tora, Rodenberry figured he wasn't coming back. The rest of the cast might have felt some resentment towards him.
I watched the animated series as kid in addition to TOS. I have both on DVD. Love it.
Star Trek TAS was good for children. But later I rewatched it as a teen & it was just bad. ONE episode about Young Spock is good, but the rest is mindless drivel
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No offense to Walter, but I love the addition of Arex and M'Ress
I watched it as a kid, own the DVD set and got the book as a birthday present.
I was my first Trek in 1975!!
How sharper than a serpent tooth is mine.
This is a great video! Thanks for covering Star Trek TAS. It's truly an underappreciated show
Couldn't agree more!
Did anyone else notice that the three-armed alien on Lower Decks Season 3, Episode 4 (who ran the Relaxation Center) was from the same species as the helmsman from The Animated Series?
I remember reruns were played on Nickelodeon in the 80’s.
I'd love it if the studio could get permission from the remaining cast members and the estates of those that have passed to use their likeness in a 3D version of these episodes. Combining the existing audio with life-like 3D would really make season 4 and 5 of the original series a reality.
TAS had good story lines and was generally faithful to the Star Trek original. The dialogue was necessarily less developed due to the 1/2 hour format but they had important social issues on tap, such as cloning. Also - more "Tribbles." (I like them so I guess I'm not a Klingon?"
I was in high school when this series came out and was a big fan of animation as an art form, already a serious cartoon-nerd with favorite Warner Bros and MGM writers, directors and artists. So when this series came out the animation looked so cheap to me that I never gave it a chance, even though I'd loved the original series. Now half a century later I'm finally able to enjoy this show, if I just think of it as a Star Trek radio program (like the Dr Who ones I've occasionally listened to), starring the original cast (yay!) and with some illustrations tossed onto the screen. I was surprised by how good the writing is, and that some of the scenery & spaceship art is actually pretty imaginative and trippy, stuff they never couldve afforded to build sets for on TOS; even if the characters all move like arthritic robots without facial expressions. Another thing that prejudiced me against this series back then was the cat-people & bird-people they had as crew members- it seemed like a dumb, childish idea for creating alien species. As a SERIOUS science fiction fan I had lots of reasons why it was super unlikely that aliens would just happen to evolve to look exactly like anthropomorphized Earth creatures (apparently i was prejudiced against furries before there even was such a thing). But these days I don't judge every little detail like I did in high school and I think Caitians are pretty cool; having been won over by the Cerritos's redoubtable Dr. T'ana. Like the old song goes: For I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.