Star Trek: The Animated Series (1973 - 1974)

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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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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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Spock and Sulu test an advanced alien weapon.

THE PLOT

Spock, Sulu, and Uhura are on a shuttlecraft, carrying a particularly rare and precious cargo: a stasis box from the time of an ancient race known only as The Slavers. In their day, the Slavers dominated the entire galaxy - until their subjects rose up and overthrew them. All that remains of them are the artifacts found in these stasis boxes, glimpses of a past billions of years old.

When the stasis box glows, indicating the presence of a second box nearby, Spock lands the shuttle on an ice planet to search for this new find. No sooner have they landed than they are ambushed by the Kzinti, a race of carnivorous warriors defeated by humanity centuries earlier. The Kzinti have lured them here for their stasis box. Now, finding an ancient Slaver weapon inside, they intend to use that power to destroy humanity!

CHARACTERS

Only three regulars are present for this episode: Spock, Sulu, and Uhura. This actually helps. With only the three of them taking up screentime, the script is better able to characterize them. Spock's curiosity about the stasis box overrides his caution, a mistake that leads them into the Kzinti trap. He makes up for this with his quick thinking, guiding Sulu and Uhura to maximize their opportunities for escape. Sulu acts as the spokesman for the group, and he shows an aptitude for unlocking the weapon's secrets. Uhura gets a bit less to do, ultimately being used as a hostage, but she feels more completely written for than she has since Once Upon a Planet.

THOUGHTS

Larry Niven, the kind of noted science fiction writer you'd have expected to see writing Star Trek back in its original run, pens this adaptation of The Soft Weapon, one of his own short stories. There is some strain. Niven's backstory involving the Slavers and the Kzinti is not an entirely comfortable fit with the Trek universe. But given the overall quality of this expertly-paced script, I find myself easily able to squint and overlook the joins.

The action is confined to just three settings: the shuttlecraft, the Kzinti ship, and the surface of the planet. Save for having to make the Kzinti more human-like in appearance, this episode would have been entirely feasible even on a TOS Season Three budget. The main problem involves the Kzinti trying to figure out how to use the weapon, and the resolution directly pays off that problem.

Arguably, this does put the regulars in the position of being spectators. A couple of escape attempts keep them alive in the plot, but they are mainly there to comment on the Kzinti and the weapon. Still, that is enough to give them a role in the story, and I found the way in which Spock reasons his way out of the Slavers' final trap to be an effective bit of writing. Anything more would probably overload the episode, given the constrained timeslot. As it stands, this is a perfectly-paced adventure story, highly entertaining and with some actual sense of threat for the regulars (a rarity, in the animated series).

Finally: Is this the only animated series episode in which characters are actually killed? Even if it wasn't such a good piece of animated science fiction already, I'd be tempted to give it full marks for that alone...

Rating: 10/10.

Previous Episode: The Ambergris Element
Next Episode: The Eye of the Beholder

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Previous Episode: The Magicks of Megas-Tu

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Uhura, in a rare moment of relaxation.

THE PLOT

In need of rest, the Enterprise returns to the Shore Leave Planet. But things have changed. Dr. McCoy's reverie in a Southern plantation is interrupted by the Queen of Hearts, screaming at her playing card soldiers for the doctor's head. He requests an emergency beam-up. But Uhura, who has been enjoying sitting by a lake, is taken captive!

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Sulu beam back to the planet to search for and rescue Uhura. They quickly lose contact with the ship. Worse, they discover that their weapons are inoperative. Meanwhile, Uhura finds herself the prisoner of the planet's master computer, which has become aware and no longer wishes to be the slave of every visitor. Its plan for escape? To seize control of the Enterprise!

CHARACTERS

This episode probably does the best job of any of the animated series yet in balancing the cast. Every major character except for Nurse Chapel is featured, and every one of them gets something to do! The character interplay continues to improve among all the cast members, with McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, and even Sulu getting some nice bits in this episode. Finally, to keep his track record going, Kirk talks a computer into submission again - though this time, not into actually self-destructing.

THOUGHTS

A direct sequel to Shore Leave, in much the way that More Troubles, More Tribbles was a direct sequel to The Trouble with Tribbles. I liked this one better, though. It manages to be a sequel, evoking much of the atmosphere and setup of the original, without slipping into simply being a repeat of the original. Somewhat oddly for a children's cartoon, Once Upon a Planet actually feels darker and more threatening than Shore Leave did. This time, the planet is out to get the crew - and there is actually some sense of threat.

In terms of pacing, this is one of the animated series' best offerings. It cuts between three strands of action: Kirk's landing party, Scotty on the Enterprise, and Uhura and the computer. The script cuts between the strands in a way that builds tension, and all threads are brought together at the end to good effect. Despite having three strands, it also is a rare TAS episode that never feels rushed. It moves along, but there are little character beats woven into the dialogue that keep the pace just right. Probably because the character work is stronger than in most episodes, the voice acting is noticeably above-average for the series.

This episode is quite a bit better-animated than average, with the animators perhaps rising to the visual lure of giving life to so many strange sights. There is one unfortunate exception, however. Near the end, when Kirk and Spock are talking the master computer down, there's a moment in which we see Kirk and Spock. We hear Leonard Nimoy's voice... but Spock's lips are not moving. Oops!

That one moment of sloppiness aside, this is a highly entertaining episode, one that builds well on its live action predecessor. Shore Leave was one of my favorite live action episodes, and probably my very favorite "light" episode. This may not be its equal, but it's a fitting companion piece. One of the best of the animated series so far.

Rating: 9/10.

Next Episode: Mudd's Passion

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Previous Episode: More Tribbles, More Troubles

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A shapeshifting alien is on the Enterprise!

THE PLOT

Carter Winston (Ted Knight), the Federation's most noted trader and philanthropist, disappeared five years ago. He was presumed lost forever. So it's quite a shock when the Enterprise encounters a badly damaged one-man ship near the Romulan Neutral Zone and finds the missing Winston inside.

But not all is as it appears. Carter's former fiancee (voiced by Nichelle Nichols) is serving aboard Enterprise, but Carter tells her that he can never marry her and refuses to provide any explanation. Then, when Kirk is discussing details of Carter's damaged ship, the man disappears - replaced by an octupus-like alien, which reduces Kirk to unconsciousness. When the alien vanishes, a duplicate Kirk stands in its place.

Now in command of Enterprise, this false Kirk orders a new course set... Straight into the Romulan Neutral Zone!

CHARACTERS

Of the live action series' character relationships, the worst-served so far by the animated show has been the McCoy/Spock relationship. Their interplay, so often a highlight of the live action episodes, has been all but completely absent in the animated ones.

This episode was written by James Schmerer, making it the first one not written by a veteran of the live action series. Making it all the more surprising that this episode would be the one to finally restore that interplay. Spock observes that McCoy is a man of "peculiar habits," and he and McCoy exchange barbs in the tag, with McCoy starting it and Spock ending up with the upper hand.

THOUGHTS

The Survivor is a good episode, with a strong storyline that is well-structured. It gets the characters right, and you can hear extra energy from the voice actors as a result. Guest characters are above-average, with the Carter/Anne material working surprisingly well. Carter himself emerges as the animated series' first fairly memorable guest character.

This episode has one big thing in common with the best episode, Yesteryear: It tells a fundamentally very simple story, one that fits well with the animated series' time restrictions. It's an extremely linear plot, one which sees the characters responding sensibly to every complication they encounter. The resolution does rely on the old "Reforming Villain" cliche, but the groundwork for that is laid in quite well. No action by any of the characters is enough of a stretch to snap the viewer out of the episode.

Most of all, this one really feels like Star Trek. All the parts manage to come together just right. Crude animation or no, the results are a joy to watch.

Rating: 8/10.

Next Episode: The Infinite Vulcan

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Previous Episode: One of Our Planets Is Missing

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Spock falls under the influence of the sirens' call.

THE PLOT

The Enterprise investigates a region of space in which ships have disappeared at regular, 27-year intervals. The latest interval is closing, and the starship is deliberately acting as bait. It isn't long before they receive a signal - a literal siren call, lulling all the men aboard into a euphoric state.

Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and a redshirt beam down to the planet that is the signal's source, and are greeted by several beautiful women. They are treated to a feast, in which they are (apparently) drugged. They wake up with headbands that drain their life energy, feeding it to the women. If they cannot escape soon, they will be dead within four days!

CHARACTERS

Uhura takes command of the Enterprise for what I believe is the only time ever (unless she gets to do so in a later animated episode). Kirk retains enough sense of duty that, even under the sirens' spell, a word from Spock is enough to get him to battle their influence. Spock's magical Vulcan Physiology enables him to retain enough strength to retrieve a communicator and call for an all-female rescue party, while his Vulcan Voodoo lets him telepathically communicate with Nurse Chapel.

THOUGHTS

Guuuhhhh...

A mind-numbingly dumb episode, this makes some of the stinkers from mid-Season Three look almost respectable. I won't comment too much on the obvious over-doubling of Majel Barrett's voice, given that the doubling-up of voices was just a function of the show's thin budget. Besides, half the cast having the same voice is the least of this episode's problems.

The basic idea of patterning a Star Trek story after the sirens from Greek mythology is not a bad one. But even though the script is by yet another TOS veteran, this time that veteran is Margaret Armen. In fairness, Armen did write one good episode - but she was also responsible for a couple of real stinkers. The Lorelai Signal belongs squarely with the stinkers.

Idiot Plotting is a major factor here. Spock gets to the communicators and requests an all-female rescue party, who then have to search for Spock. Too bad the Enterprise doesn't have some handy technology that could just whisk Spock away from danger and back onto the ship, isn't it? Meanwhile, the Song of the Space Sirens has no effect on women. So we are to believe that every starship that has been lured to them prior to Enterprise has had an all-male crew? All righty, then.

The Space Sirens are thuddingly stupid adversaries. My favorite scene involving them has to be Kirk's grand escape. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Random Redshirt (who gets to live, this being a family cartoon) take refuge in the only cover available - a big urn. The women run after them, only a few steps behind... and standing in the middle of a deserted landscape, with the urn literally right in front of them, not one of them thinks to look inside the big giant piece of obvious cover.

Nor do they think to use their handy-dandy viewscreen, a device we repeatedly see will show anything upon request. In fact, Uhura finds them at the end by having the lead Space Siren ask the viewscreen to show the men. I guess asking on their own initiative was beyond the Space Sirens' ingenuity.

Bad, boring, and insultingly stupid. "Only a kids' cartoon" or not, they should have been embarrassed.

Rating: 2/10.

Next Episode: More Tribbles, More Troubles

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