Thoughts on The Animated Series (TAS).

With only 22 episodes total, and a second season of only 6, it made no sense to write separate overviews of the two seasons of Star Trek: The Animated Series. Instead, I've waited until the end to present my thoughts, in a look back on the series as a whole.


PICKING UP WHERE WE LEFT OFF

The Animated Series' greatest strength is how much it genuinely feels like old-school Star Trek. It's so instantly recognizable as Star Trek, it creates a certain feeling of comfort even as the opening credits play. With a number of scripts written by TOS veterans, with D. C. Fontana acting as script supervisor, and with all of the original cast save for Walter Koenig returning, there is a real sense of watching the last two years of the original five year mission.

A number of episodes reference, or even directly follow up, TOS episodes. Yesteryear, almost universally regarded as the series' best episode, features return appearances by the Guardian of Forever and by Spock's parents in a story centered around Spock's childhood. More Tribbles, More Troubles pits Kirk against Koloth a second time, once again in a scenario involving Cyrano Jones and Tribbles. Once Upon a Planet returns the ship to the Shore Leave planet for another reality-bending adventure.

The effect is 22 additional installments of TOS, just in animated form and in a shorter timeslot. The goodwill built in by this helps to keep the show afloat even when many individual episodes are flawed or outright poor.

STORYTELLING IN A SHRINKING TIMESLOT

While the most visible difference between the original Star Trek and this one is that this one is a cartoon, the most meaningful difference is the running time. 1960's Star Trek episodes time out to about 50 minutes each. TAS episodes time out to less than 25 minutes. That presents a significant storytelling challenge - one the animated series often doesn't meet successfully.

Too many of the scripts attempt to be TOS scripts crammed into the shorter timeslot. Given that this series seemingly religiously resists any two-parters (which would have been the obvious solution to this problem), we are too often left with rushed, choppy storytelling, with major problems resolved quickly and easily or, in a few cases, off-screen via the magic of the "Captain's Log."

The most successful episodes are the ones that keep their stories simple and direct. Yesteryear has a very basic central story, which allows plenty of time for the character material to resonate because it doesn't have to spend much time on plot. The Slaver Weapon, the series' second-best episode, also has a narrative that could be summarized in a single sentence: "The crew try to stop the Kzinti from using an alien weapon." By not being overburdened with the need for heavy exposition or major plot turns, the narrative is allowed to flow at a natural pace and there is even room for some decent character material.

By Season Two, the need for simpler stories seems to have sunk in, with even the weakest Season Two offering - How Sharper Than a serpent's Tooth - failing because of being trite and hilariously earnest rather than because of pacing problems. Unfortunately, just as the series' writers figured out how to pace their scripts for the timeslot, the series was already coming to an end. A pity - I think the show could easily have sustained two full seasons, rather than the one-and-a-third that it ultimately got.

QUALITY CONTROL (AND THE LACK OF IT)

Not all of the storytelling failures are casualties of overambition. Just as in TOS Season Three, there are large swings in quality. Some of the animated series is a joy to watch. Yesteryear and The Slaver Weapon, for instance, are in my opinion better than any episode of TOS' third season.  Other episodes try very hard, but simply miss the mark, as happens in any series.

But entirely too many episodes are just plain crap.

Episodes such as The Lorelei Signal and The Infinite Vulcan are not only bad, they are worse in my opinion than any TOS episode. These are episodes that are staggeringly stupid without even having the fun factor of such cheese-fests as The Way to Eden or Spock's Brain. Featuring severe Idiot Plotting and often senseless plot turns, these are examples of scripts that I suspect were turned in under the thinking that "It's just a kid's cartoon, after all," and were likely put into production for the same reason.

In a series that runs only 22 episodes, it's disheartening how many of those episodes are poor: The Lorelei Signal, The Infinite Vulcan, Mudd's Passion, The Terratin Incident, The Eye of the Beholder, and How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth all earned poor ratings from me... Which means that I found almost a full third of the series borderline painful to watch. That's not even getting into the simply mediocre ones (i. e., Beyond the Farthest Star or The Ambergris Element).

I admit that variable quality has always been an issue for every Star Trek show. But outside of early TNG, I don't think any period of live action Trek had as wide a variance in quality from one episode to the next as this animated series did.

IN CONCLUSION

There is some very good Star Trek in The Animated Series. There is also some jaw-droppingly bad Star Trek. The series is certainly not a complete success, with almost as many bad episodes in its run as good ones. I wouldn't even say it's better overall than TOS' third season... though I would call it better than the second half of that season.

What The Animated Series offers is, simply, a little more Classic Star Trek. 22 more episodes with Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, and Uhura. As a bonus, several of those episodes are very good, and several fill in details that would form bits and pieces of the series' lore in its future incarnations: From James Tiberius Kirk's middle name, to Spock's Selat, to just some fun new adventures. Its influence can be felt in the later spinoff series, and even in the newest bigscreen incarnation of Star Trek.

I can understand some Trek fans' desire to exclude the series, based on its static animation and weak hit rate. But I can't understand the outright hostility some hold toward it. It's not like The Animated Series replaced some other Trek project in 1973. It was this or nothing.  Given those choices, I'm happy to have been able to watch The Animated Series. For all its failings, it is 22 additional episodes of original cast Star Trek, a few of them very good episodes.  That is easily better than nothing.

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2-6. The Counter Clock Incident.

Commodore Robert April, first captain of
the USS Enterprise, with his wife.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is escorting Commodore Robert April, the ship's first captain, to a reception on Babel to commemorate his mandatory retirement. The journey is interrupted by the appearance of a strange vessel moving at incredible speeds - headed straight for a supernova! Kirk attempts to warn the other captain, then attempts to divert the ship's course using a tractor beam. What he ends up doing is allowing the faster ship to tow the Enterprise into the heart of the nova!

The ship survives, but the crew find themselves in a parallel universe. Parallel, but opposite. Black stars interrupt a ceaseless white void, while time runs backward. Kirk, Spock, and Commodore April hatch a desperate plan to return home by forcing the birth of a new star - thus creating a simultaneous nova in both universes. But, as Kirk observes, any miscalculation will prove fatal. And he and his crew are growing steadily younger by the minute...

CHARACTERS

In a situation that's basically the reverse of the The Deadly Years, Spock's long natural lifespan means that he grows younger at a slower rate than the rest of the crew. This means he is able to remain useful longer than Kirk, Uhura, Sulu, or any of the others. Despite his interest in the ways in which the alternate reality differ from their reality, Kirk keeps everyone focused on solving the problem at hand.

THOUGHTS

The Counter-Clock Incident is the Animated Series' final episode, making it the final televised adventure of Kirk's five-year mission. It would be nice to say that this is one of the best of the series, but I'm afraid I'll have to settle for calling it about average. Which still makes it a better final televised voyage for the TOS crew than Turnabout Intruder was.

As with most of Season Two's offerings, the episode benefits from an appropriate pace. By the second season, the writers seem to have figured out how to structure their stories for the 25-minute format, and the rushed pace of many of Season One's offerings has not been a significant issue. The effect of the Enterprise flying through the white void with black stars is visually arresting, even if it's very basic in its realization. The story itself is engaging, even if it has a few spaceship-sized holes in it.

The "growing younger" aspect of the plot was probably the high concept on the writer's mind when pitching the story, but it ends up being the weakest element. It's barely dealt with until the climax. Kirk and his crew remain entirely themselves until the final minutes, when they suddenly grow from full adulthood into childhood in about 2 - 3 minutes' screentime. A steadier and more gradual process would have been more dramatically consistent, though it would doubtless have been much trickier both to write and animate.

As with The Deadly Years, there is little consistency in how the crew "de-age." For example: McCoy and Scotty are both older than Kirk; shouldn't they retain their competence past the point at which Kirk loses his?

Despite this, I still found this an enjoyable episode. It may not be the ideal series finale, but at least it's an enjoyable outing.

Rating: 6/10.

Previous Episode: How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth?

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2-5. How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth.

Kirk attempts to reason with a god-like alien.  Again.

THE PLOT

When a mysterious alien probe examines Earth and then moves on, the Enterprise follows.  What they find is a massive alien ship, home to a being that announces itself as Kukulkan. Kukulkan visited Earth long ago, presenting itself as a god to various peoples, from the Egyptians to the Mayans to the Aztecs. Now it has come back. Appalled at the results of its probe, which showed it that humanity evolved on a warlike path, it is determined to establish itself once again as mankind's master - unless Kirk and his crew can stop it!

CHARACTERS

Sulu is MIA this week, his part taken over by a Comanche named Walking Bear (voiced by James Doohan, who also plays Kukulkan and, of course, Scotty - big week for him!). This substitution exists solely to tie in with the episode's themes, and Walking Bear's recognition of Kukulkan seems somewhat crowbarred in.  The rest of his part could be summed up as "scratch out 'Sulu' in the script and pencil in 'Walking Bear.'"

Kirk is in full-blown sermon mode, getting up on his soap box and speechifying to Kukulkan at least three different times. Picard and his sledge-hammer would be envious. Kukulkan eventually gives in, I suspect just to make Kirk stop excreting cliches about how "children need to grow up." Spock shows resourcefulness in breaking free of Kukulkan's forcefield, while Scotty and McCoy are glorified extras.

THOUGHTS

This episode is essentially TAS' version of Who Mourns for Adonais. It treads the same ground, with much the same conflict between a superbeing who wants to be a god to humanity and Kirk, standing up for humanity's right to rule itself.  I enjoyed the earlier episode, which managed to balance its themes with action, some genuine poignancy, and just the right dose of camp silliness.  But I didn't care much for How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth.

The episode isn't completely uninteresting. There's an amusing set piece involving a city, with a solution that seems like a natural template for a videogame level, and the animation in this sequence is noticeably better than this series' average.  Even in the cheaper-looking moments, which sadly include the climax, the script is clearly an earnest and thoughtful effort.

But it's earnest and thoughtful to a fault.  Save for a bit of manufactured conflict at the very beginning and end, the episode basically consists of Kirk and Kukulkan making speeches at each other.  The story is predictable, and its execution is simplistic, preachy, and dull.

Yet this was apparently the episode that won the series its Daytime Emmy! I can only figure that the judges were impressed that a morning cartoon would tackle serious themes. Unfortunately, without some drama to support the ideas, the results are hollow. Not to mention boring - and as I've mentioned before, "boring" is the one television sin I simply can't forgive.

Rating: 3/10.

Previous Episode: Albatross
Next Episode: The Counter-Clock Incident

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2-4. Albatross.

Kirk is feeling a little blue...

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is delivering medical supplies to the distant Draman system. The ship is about to leave when one of the Dramians serves Kirk with a warrant for Dr. McCoy's arrest - for murder! McCoy had been to Dramia II, another world in the system, 19 years before, to perform a series of innoculations. After he left, a plague wiped out the entire planet. The Dramians blame him for the plague, and have convened a trial. 

Kirk investigates, and manages to find a witness: the planet's sole survivor, who is willing to testify on McCoy's behalf. But on the way back to the Draman homeworld, the unthinkable happens: the entire Enterprise, save for Mr. Spock, becomes infected with the plague!


CHARACTERS

A strong episode for the Big Three, though there's only minimal moments for the rest of the cast. Kirk is determined to save McCoy, certain that he could not be responsible for the plague. McCoy has doubts, fearing that he may have made a horrible mistake in his inocculations, and spends the episode paralyzed with guilt. Spock is the voice of caution and reason, while his Vulcan Voodoo grants him a plot-required immunity to the disease.


THOUGHTS

Another good episode. The Dramians are an interesting alien design, humanoid enough to be relatable as characters but alien enough to be visually different from our regulars.  One difference I am seeing between the first season animated episodes and the second season - The second season does seem to use its visuals far more effectively.  The pigmentation changes caused by the disease create a strong visual, its colorful nature very appropriate to the animated series' strengths.

Albatross is very much a TOS episode, right down to ending with a lame, would-be humorous exchange between Spock and McCoy. The characters' behavior and concerns are completely consistent with their live action personalities. The structure is relatively simple: Problem - Travel to a location - Travel back - Complication. But it's enough to keep the pace lively throughout, while the complication of the plague creates a dramatic shift at the midpoint, raising the stakes for our characters and providing an opportunity for Spock and McCoy to shine.

Once again, the short running time may result in some rushing.  The plague is resolved a bit too simply and neatly for my tastes, with no sense of ongoing consequences. But overall, the structure utilizes the animated series' limitations well, leaving an episode that's tightly-paced without being stuffed to bursting.


Rating: 7/10.

Previous Episode: The Practical Joker
Next Episode: How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth


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2-3. The Practical Joker.

Trapped in the holodeck (sorry, "recreation room").

THE PLOT

After a narrow escape from a Romulan ambush, the crew of the Enterprise finds itself subjected to a new ordeal: a run of practical jokes. They start small: Trick glasses that splash everyone's uniform when they drink, some food and laundry mishaps. But as the jokes become steadily more regular and destructive, Kirk and Spock realize that they have a serious problem on their hands.

Spock determines that, somehow, the jokes are being created by the Enterprise's main computer. Kirk calls all officers to quarters, intending to run a full diagnostic on the ship. But McCoy, Sulu, and Uhura have just stepped into the ship's rec room to enjoy some holographic leisure time... and the latest practical joke has blocked them from hearing Kirk's summons, as the three crew members find themselves the target of a potentially deadly game!


CHARACTERS

Shatner is allowed to unloose Capt. Ham, as Kirk tricks the computer by feigning terror. Shatner really goes for it. It's a pity this is animated, as I'm sure his facial expressions and bugging eyes (not badly replicated by the artwork) would have been priceless. Beyond that, this episode is one of the better ensemble pieces of the series, with all of the regulars getting something to do.


THOUGHTS

So Kirk's Enterprise now has a precursor to TNG's holodeck? Well, I suppose that's fair enough. This series precedes TNG by more than a decade, after all, and it's certainly believable that the basic technology was introduced during Kirk's time and refined over the following decades. An early Enterprise episode would later establish that holodeck technology existed among other spacefaring races long before Kirk, making it easy enough for me to accept Starfleet adding something along those during the original five-year mission.

I also find it particularly appropriate that the franchise's first ever "holodeck episode" involves it malfunctioning and putting crew members in danger.  From one generation to the next, some things just never change :)

Holodeck or no holodeck, I enjoyed The Practical Joker.  This is a particularly well-paced episode. It moves briskly, but spaces out the action just enough for some nice character bits. The rec room scenes provide strong visual moments as well, with the moment when a holographic blizzard fades into a springtime hedge-maze sticking in my mind.

I've noted in previous reviews how much the animated series has struggled with comedy. The lack of the actors' physicality plus the often stilted voice track editing has led to gags being both mispaced and mistimed, leaving episodes that might have been enormous fun in the live action series falling flat. Here, that manages not to be a problem. Comedy is a strong part of this episode... but this time, the comedy works. The timing is on, the actors are giving their all, and the situations play out in such a way that the incidents are genuinely amusing.

I could carp about the convenience of Spock resolving a nitrous-oxide crisis offscreen in the captain's voice-over, but I'll let it slide. This is a good episode, one where the elements really come together. With a perfectly-judged pace and some terrific character interaction (not generally the animated series' strong suit), this may be one of the most purely enjoyable entries presented.


Rating: 9/10.

Previous Episode: Bem
Next Episode: Albatross


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2-2. Bem.

Alien observer Bem is unimpressed with Kirk and Spock.

THE PLOT

For diplomatic reasons, an observer has been assigned to Enterprise for a series of contact missions: Bem, an honorary commander from the recently-contacted planet Pandro. Bem has behaved quite strangely for an observer, sitting out several missions in his quarters. When the Enterprise reaches a planet with a potentially dangerous aboriginal population, however, Bem insists on accompanying the landing party, overriding all of Kirk's objections.

On the planet, Bem detects life signs - then bolts, evading Kirk and Spock long enough to be seemingly deliberately intercepted by the aborigines. Kirk and Spock attempt to free him, only to find themselves captured. When they try to force their way out, they discover yet one more player they hadn't planned on: a superpowerful alien entity, which regards the aborgines as its children and the landing party as a hostile presence!


CHARACTERS

Kirk more or less repeats his pattern from Metamorphosis in his dealings with the aborigines and the entity. He first tries to use force. When the entity blocks that, he must find a way to reason with it instead. Uhura also gets a strong episode, pushing back against Scotty's desire to act by reminding him firmly of the captain's orders and the need to follow procedure in Kirk's absence.


THOUGHTS

Writer David Gerrold returns for this entry, which makes use of animation's freedoms by investing Bem with a quality that would have been impossible for television of its time to realize even passably convincingly.  Bem's ability to separate his body into three separate but united parts is a clever conceit, one well-used by the story and one which results in a few strong visual moments.

He also weaves the various aspects of the story together in a way that's thematically consistent, with each plot strand reflecting the others.  Kirk and his landing party are there to plant devices to monitor the native lifeforms, effectively to study them. Bem is also there to study, both the aborigines and Kirk. Finally, all of the above are being studied by the alien entity protecting the planet. It all fits, with each strand reflecting the others.

Unfortunately, the episode falls prey to preachiness. Practically the entire second half consists of a series of heavy-handed speeches and exchanges. These also miss the most obvious solution. When Kirk gets Bem to return the communicators and phasers, he opts to use the phasers to cut themselves out of their cages. Wouldn't it have made more sense for him to use the communicator, to have the ship beam them all up? This could have been dealt with by having Kirk try to contact the ship and failing due to some random interference... but he doesn't even try, which has the effect of making Kirk look like a trigger-happy idiot.

Between that plot hole and the preachiness, a promising episode slides into mediocrity. Not one of the animated series' worst by any means.  I expect better from writer David Gerrold, though, leaving this a distinct disappointment.


Rating: 5/10.

Previous Episode: The Pirates of Orion
Next Episode: The Practical Joker


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2-1. The Pirates of Orion.

The Enterprise confronts Orion pirates!

THE PLOT

The Enterprise is en route to attend the dedication of a new science academy at Deneb V when Spock is struck down by coriocytosis. This is an illness that is relatively minor In humans, roughly equivalent to a respiratory infection... but for Vulcans, it is fatal!

There is a drug available to treat it, and Kirk arranges a rendezvous with another Federation ship to obtain some. But when the rendezvous ship is raided by Orion pirates, Kirk must track the Orions down to recover the drug. The clock is ticking. Without treatment, Spock has less than twenty hours to live!


CHARACTERS

The character interplay between Kirk, Spock, and McCoy was stiff and artificial when the animated series began.  By this point in the series run, their exchanges feel almost as spontaneous as they did in the live action series. The acting of the three leads seems more relaxed than in the early episodes, with some of the actors perhaps giving a bit more now that the animated series has earned some surprisingly good reviews. 

This episode is particularly strong in showing the friendship/rivalry between McCoy and Spock, with McCoy's sarcastic asides about "that pointed-eared encyclopedia" clearly covering his genuine worry. A short character beat in which he fumes that, as a doctor, he's "only as good as (his) drugs and technology" also rings true for the occasionally techno-phobic McCoy.


THOUGHTS

Strong critical response earned the animated Star Trek a temporary reprieve: A six-episode second season. I do wonder why it only was picked up for six more episodes. Surely a pickup of 13 - 16 shows would have been more economical, given that more episodes means more backgrounds to recycle? But despite the series' frequently uneven quality, I'm glad of what are effectively six bonus episodes. At its best, the series has been very good Star Trek, and the average quality has largely increased as the show has progressed.

The Pirates of Orion is a solid season opener. The episode's central crisis is clear and simple: Spock's disease and the need for the drug to cure it. There is only one complication: the pirates of the title. With a couple of "Captain's Log" entries papering over transitions, this is one of the better-paced animated episodes. I find myself daring to hope that Season Two will not see a recurrence of the "rushed episode" problem that plagued so much of the first season.

The little gaffes caused by animation recycling are still evident. There's a scene in which McCoy calls Kirk from sickbay. A cutaway to Spock and back to Kirk shows McCoy in frame, even as he's talking over the speaker. Neat trick, Bones!

That's more than made up for by a solid script, one that really captures the feel of a Star Trek episode. It's no stretch at all to imagine this being made as a live-action episode, complete with an ending in which Spock and McCoy exchange barbs and then a regular bursts out laughing.


Rating: 7/10. A promising season premiere.

Previous Episode: The Jihad
Next Episode: Bem 


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