Imagine the dilemma faced by the producers of this "cartoon show": A series that would entertain and perhaps even educate, without offending the sensitivities of children and their parents, while very closely watched by older viewers with near-eidetic memories.
At its broadcast premiere TAS was compulsory viewing for any college-age Trekker if only because there was no other reason for anyone that age to publicly admit their Saturday morning viewing habits. All the same I missed perhaps a third of the episodes broadcast. Years later I passed on buying the series on videotape save for the first two episodes. I couldn't resist the DVD set. Fast forward some decades from its premiere and I can only report how quietly pleased I remain whenever I revisit TAS.
Mass-produced animation in the Seventies was what it was, but Filmation had a good track record as an animation studio, showing suitable respect in adapting radio or older TV shows as well as The Cosby Kids.
Yet this was anything but standard toonfare, not with the direct participation of Gene Roddenberry and Dorothy Fontana, most of the TOS regulars, and a studio committed to illustrate, storyboard and animate crowded story lines set in a consistent Trek universe, not practically constrained by an effects budget but limited to a general budget and production deadline, utilizing "library" shots and continuity at every opportunity, and fitting each story into 25 minutes or less with two commercial breaks.
Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Doohan, Takei, Nichols and Barrett voiced their TOS characters' animated counterparts and gracefully remained in character throughout. The radio-trained Doohan displayed remarkable versatility for other characters and made Commander Scott quite literally sing, while Barrett, Nichols and Takei deftly joined the hidden chorus. Uncredited voice artists included Stanley "Cyrano Jones" Adams, Ed "U.F.O." Bishop, Roger C. "Harry Mudd" Carmel, sci-fi author David Gerrold, Ted "Caddyshack" Knight, Mark "Sarek" Lenard, and the producers themselves.
A writer's strike allowed some TOS scriptwriters to contribute to TAS. Gerrold adapted two scripts he had originally written for TOS. Fellow award-winning author Larry Niven adapted a short story involving his catlike Kzinti to the Trek universe. And even though the budget couldn't add Ensign Pavel Chekov the series got a decent first-time script from the character's actor Walter Koenig.
We again met tribbles and Jones, and rollicked with Mudd. Spock got cloned, Kirk breathed water, and giant slugs outsmarted both of them. We first stepped onto a holodeck and visited the center of the galaxy. We revisited Ted Sturgeon's "Shore Leave" planet and the Guardian of Forever, the latter in a moving story that quite literally gave me pause. At least two episodes would turn today's conservative heads halfway round, one episode bears a remarkably prescient title, and another episode carries as much "hard science" as you would expect from a Richard Feynman lecture.
TAS appears made out of respect, with love, and displaying no small amount of fun. (Is that a portrait of the producers and Gerrold as Enterprise crewmen in one episode?) It could very well have been the TOS season that wasn't and should have been. Trekkers of any generation should add TAS to their Trek canon and sit back to observe artists at work and play.
At its broadcast premiere TAS was compulsory viewing for any college-age Trekker if only because there was no other reason for anyone that age to publicly admit their Saturday morning viewing habits. All the same I missed perhaps a third of the episodes broadcast. Years later I passed on buying the series on videotape save for the first two episodes. I couldn't resist the DVD set. Fast forward some decades from its premiere and I can only report how quietly pleased I remain whenever I revisit TAS.
Mass-produced animation in the Seventies was what it was, but Filmation had a good track record as an animation studio, showing suitable respect in adapting radio or older TV shows as well as The Cosby Kids.
Yet this was anything but standard toonfare, not with the direct participation of Gene Roddenberry and Dorothy Fontana, most of the TOS regulars, and a studio committed to illustrate, storyboard and animate crowded story lines set in a consistent Trek universe, not practically constrained by an effects budget but limited to a general budget and production deadline, utilizing "library" shots and continuity at every opportunity, and fitting each story into 25 minutes or less with two commercial breaks.
Shatner, Nimoy, Kelley, Doohan, Takei, Nichols and Barrett voiced their TOS characters' animated counterparts and gracefully remained in character throughout. The radio-trained Doohan displayed remarkable versatility for other characters and made Commander Scott quite literally sing, while Barrett, Nichols and Takei deftly joined the hidden chorus. Uncredited voice artists included Stanley "Cyrano Jones" Adams, Ed "U.F.O." Bishop, Roger C. "Harry Mudd" Carmel, sci-fi author David Gerrold, Ted "Caddyshack" Knight, Mark "Sarek" Lenard, and the producers themselves.
A writer's strike allowed some TOS scriptwriters to contribute to TAS. Gerrold adapted two scripts he had originally written for TOS. Fellow award-winning author Larry Niven adapted a short story involving his catlike Kzinti to the Trek universe. And even though the budget couldn't add Ensign Pavel Chekov the series got a decent first-time script from the character's actor Walter Koenig.
We again met tribbles and Jones, and rollicked with Mudd. Spock got cloned, Kirk breathed water, and giant slugs outsmarted both of them. We first stepped onto a holodeck and visited the center of the galaxy. We revisited Ted Sturgeon's "Shore Leave" planet and the Guardian of Forever, the latter in a moving story that quite literally gave me pause. At least two episodes would turn today's conservative heads halfway round, one episode bears a remarkably prescient title, and another episode carries as much "hard science" as you would expect from a Richard Feynman lecture.
TAS appears made out of respect, with love, and displaying no small amount of fun. (Is that a portrait of the producers and Gerrold as Enterprise crewmen in one episode?) It could very well have been the TOS season that wasn't and should have been. Trekkers of any generation should add TAS to their Trek canon and sit back to observe artists at work and play.