Tuesday 14 July 2015

178 Star Trek Animated Series




First  watched : 31  August  1974

The  cartoon  version of  Star  Trek  arrived  on  a  Saturday  teatime  while  the  live  action  repeats  were  still  being  broadcast  on  a  Wednesday. Fan  pressure  was  not  enough  to  revive  the  show  as  a  live  action  proposition  but  Filmation  secured  the  rights  to  do  an  animated  series  which  would  carry  on  where  the  series  left  off.

It  immediately  disappointed  me  by  replacing  Chekov  with  a  stupid-looking  alien. Most  of the  original  cast  were  back  to  do  the  voices  and  Leonard  Nimoy  had  insisted that  George  Takei ( Sulu ) and  Michelle Nicholls  (Uhura)  be  included  in  that  but  somehow  Walter  Koenig  had  to  be  content  with  just  writing  an  episode.

Animation  in  theory  should  have  led  to  better  depiction  of  alien  beings  and  worlds  but  in  reality  budget  constraints  neutralised  that  advantage. Shots  were  re-used, mistakes  were  evident  and  the  characters'  blank  expressions  soon  induced  boredom. For  Filmation  it  was  actually  a  success, being  their  only  cartoon  series  to  be  re-commissioned  and  winning  an  Emmy  for  one  episode.

This  series  was  my  point  of  departure  from  the  Star  Trek  universe. I've  not  seen  any  of  the  films  or  watched  more  than  the  odd  snatch  of  the  post-Kirk  series.


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