ST TAS was more than a cartoon show to me. It was part of my education as a child. I became interested in science and philosophy because of it. For this reason I am grateful to its makers, animators, and actors.
I simply consider TAS to be season 4 of TOS! I also loved The Lorelli Signal for adding depth to Uhura's character, and I loved The Slaver weapon for introducing the Kzinti to the Trek Universe. I look forward to Lower Decks adding a new Caitian main character and hope to see more development of their culture and history.
James Compton There is a fan made STAR TREK web series called STAR TREK: CONTINUES. At only 13 episodes it's rather short, but it's actually considered to be the unofficial 5th season of the original series especially since it does its best to tie the original series into the movies and next generation era's. So unofficially Kirks original five year mission went something like this: TOS SEASON ONE - Year one of mission TOS SEASON TWO - Year two of mission TOS SEASON THREE - Year three of mission TAS BOTH SEASONS- Year four of mission ST: CONTINUES: Fifth and final year of mission.
So glad you did this episode! I was one of those kids excited to see the animated series when it premiered way back in the 1970's. And I was presently surprised to see how well the stores (if not the animation) held up decades later when I received the complete cartoon series on disc as a Christmas gift.
Star Trek TAS was what got me into Star Trek to begin with. Had I not seen the Saturday morning cartoon fall preview, I probably would have not gotten into it until much later in my life. :)
I was just getting old enough to enjoy TOS when it was cancelled in 1969. So when TAS started its Saturday morning run, I was ecstatic. The freedom to expand on the plotlines that animation provided, allowed for more creativity. I think this was one of the shows facets that made a half hour story engaging. Yesteryear, by D.C. Fontana was in my opinion, one of the best stories ever created for any of the franchises.
As a child I looked forward to watching "Star Trek--The Animated Series" on Saturday mornings. They treated the audience as mature or maturing thinkers and did not try to dumb it down as if we couldn't understand it.
I was a very little kid in the 70's. I watched Star Trek reruns, I watched Saturday morning cartoons but this show got completely past me. I never knew it existed until 30+ years after it was on. I'm guessing the stations in my area just never carried it when it was on or ever showed it after it was done. I did get to see every episode on UA-cam though a few years ago.
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios I met Gene back in the '76 when I was part of Outpost 13. Outposts were what the Star Trek Fans clubs called themselves back then. I had no idea what he was doing behind the scenes but it explains Nimoy's reaction when I met him. He seemed almost bitter when he talked about Star Trek and your behind the scenes look explains it. Thanks!
I've learned more about Gene Roddenberry in the last year than I ever knew in my 42 years as a Star Trek fan. And I am definitely Not impressed! Not to speak ill of the dead but, he was kind of a jerk! Glad we had D.C. Fontana, the other great writers and of course Leonard Nimoy to add so much to the Star Trek we all love. Really enjoyed watching your take on ST:TAS.
Thank you... And Gene is due the credit for creating the concept of Star Trek and many elements with in the show... However, many people think it was either ALL him or that he's some type of god... He isnt, he's a man, and MANY people brought Trek to life, not just him... I'm just making sure the record is set straight :)
In September 1969 I came home from school and found Star Trek on at 4pm in the afternoon. It has never really left local tv here in Davenport Iowa. Now with one of the stations carrying H&I subchannel we have five series every night sunday to friday. Unfortunately I was in the Marine Corps during TAS I never really saw most of them till years later. I have a animated cell of the Enterprise.
As for being on Star Trek Patrick Stewart did say it can close doors and very few opened. It was playing Professor X that put Patrick Stewart on Hollywood's A list and to think the first X-Men film came out in a time where comic book movies where not popular
Nimoy agrees with you. He, too, stated that it was the success of the Apollo 11 that made Star Trek rise in popularity. According to Nimoy, Apollo11 made science fiction into science fact.
I really love the animated series! It’s fun and light-hearted at times while remaining grounded in what made us love the live action series. Plus, I don’t mind the few incongruences with (now-)established canon, I find they add some uniqueness to the series. I have very high hopes for the new animated shows coming out soon. Thanks for this video, and Happy New Year! ☺️
One of the most enjoyable TAS episodes to me was Slaver Weapon, which was an adaptation of one of Larry Niven's "Ringworld" Novel Series. I think it would be a Challenge to integrate Ringworld history into Star Trek.
I love how bat$#!+ insane this show is! It shows how the live action Star Trek could have been with a MUCH bigger budget. I even love enjoying the mistakes, like Scotty's disappearing and reappearing moustache at the transporter console and the wrong colors on the uniforms.
DMS LOL Must be a UA-cam Error then :P And ajs1031... Of course opinion really means nothing as we, the fans, dont have a say on what is canon or not, and the canon issue of TAS was solved in 2007 when Paramount declared it canon :)
I’m 56 y.o. I watched TOS in its original run with my dad. TAS was one of my favorite Saturday morning routines. I think my favorite episode was The Slaver Weapon that was based on a short story by Larry Niven. The funny thing was that I was a very advanced reader for my age and was reading way above grade; I read the original Niven piece maybe 6 months before the episode aired and thought the two were too similar to be coincidental. 😆
The "animated years" - both as the years of the non live-action series and as the animating the fandom to keep the interest in Start Trek alive. :) BTW Foster is a real writing titan. In addition to his own numerous book series he's worked on a lot of outside franchises including Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Transformers, The Thing... He'll certainly come up in the upcoming TMP video as he has writing credit for this one, too. Speaking of forthcoming TMP there a funny anecdote about another famous writer Harlan Elison in King's 'Danse Macabre' (dubbed as "longest footnote in history").
I was only expecting a pre-TAS summary, but in fact this video is a really decent dive into all the years between the two series and the growth of fandom in that era. Fascinating stuff! I'm glad you mentioned that Gene was granted FULL creative control by Filmation - this means that TAS is as true to GR's vision as possible! Of course, he largely left the actual show running duties to DC Fontana, but it's still odd that he would go to such lengths to "decanonise" the series in later years...
Im always surprised at how few Trekkers have even bothered to see, let alone appreciate TAS. IMO it was a great idea, to use animation to push the story lines to places that where impossible to go. In fact, I think it had far more daring charcater designs than even the late movies or shows, which seem to have only gotten more conservative in the "man in a suit" approach to the "aliens".
Ooooooo I am SOOOO glad you finally got back to this! Excited to see what you have to say regarding the movie series! 😍😍😍😍💖💖💖💖 That phase of Star Trek's history is REALLY interesting to look into...first one was just an EPIC fail, yet, not only did it get a sequel, the series AS A WHOLE REALLLY saved Star Trek! Had it not been for the overall success of the movies, I can say for sure we would've NEVER had TNG and the subsequent decade of Trek that the '90s became! 😁😁😁😁💖💖💖💖
Thank you so much, it takes A LOT more time to make these types of videos because of ALL the research I must do to put it together... Im currently writing the Script for TMP, so Im hopeful it will be up sometime in the next month or so :)
Being a child when this was first aired, I remember sitting down with my two uncles and my Grandfather to watch the ongoing missions of the Enterprise. And back then, Saturday was basically the only day we got cartoons unlike today when you can see cartoons 24/7. It was just the fact that we came together to watch something that had a positive influence on how humanity could be especially when Vietnam was beginning to wind down. By the way, have you seen the animated Short Trek? The animation was beautiful. I hope that is the style in which the newer animated series will be. Peace and long life 🖖
I was 10 years old when the animated series premiered. While I had seen an episode of TOS here and there, the animated series was my introduction to the world of Trek. I caught up with TOS later in syndication. Thanks for the history. ^_^
I have this on blu ray and it looks great like it was made today. My favorite episode is Yesteryear a lot of spock's backstory was great and most of them was in star trek 2009 movie and tos remastered
Fairly new subscriber and love your work. I was a faithful watcher of both STTOS, STAS. and have seen most episodes of all of the other Trek series. Such a wonderful show. STAS
Thank you for mentioning the Star Trek Log series. That's my primary exposure to the stories of the animated series. I like the way that he expanded the stories for a more adult audience. Some of the ideas in the animated series were so well conceived and it's unfortunate that they didn't continue. I thought the life support belts in particular, were a very cool technology. At least the Rec Room lives on in the Holo Deck though! :)
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios He most certainly did! His novelizations of most science fiction films of the 70's and 80's are also interesting reads, as are the books in his own universe about the Humanx Commonwealth. He's a bit underrated as a writer. :)
I totally love Star Trek TAS I have it on dvd aswell as all other Star Trek series & movies my favourite episode is The Terratin Incident it's when the crew of the Enterprise r reduced in size
La-La-Land Records went into detail with regard to the music of the Animated Series when they released it as part of their 50th anniversary box set. Ellis was under contract with another music publisher when he wrote the music for the show so he used two pseudonyms in an attempt to throw them off his scent. For the same reason, he did the same thing with other Filmation productions he worked on around the same time.
My favorite episode was the one where everything was backwards. Stars were black and space white. Born old and got younger as you "aged". I found it fascinating and imaginative.
You have many references which connects the animated series to TOS along with the spin off shows. Tribbles, the recreation room which is the forerunner to the Holodeck
I liked TAS. Bad animation aside, there are some good stories, especially Uhura's chance to take command of the ship to rescue the men of the Enterprise. We got to meet Robert April, first captain of the ship. Spock's trip to his own past is one of the best episodes of the series. Period. I used to have most of the Alan Dean Foster Star Trek Log novels. I enjoyed them.
Here's hoping in the new cartoons we can maybe see some species like the Caitians or actually see some Kzinti. I believe they were going to do the Kzinti in the next season of Enterprise if it hadn't been cancelled.
The first Star Trek show I was exposed to was the animated series. At the age of 4, some of the plots did go over my head, but still enjoyed the show as I was already was a fan of science fiction thank in large part to STTAS Land of the Lost, and the Jetsons. My favorite episode would have to be More Trouble with Tribbles as it was an amazing continuation from a the TOS. Fun fact, I thought the original series was based on the animated series until I learned it was the other way around.
I went to schools that encouraged students' parents to bar their children from watching TV on school nights, but mine were compassionate enough to allow us a couple of TV shows per week despite that. When TOS debuted in 1966 I had to negotiate like a maniac to get the new show added to my list of permissible shows to watch (I'm not sure, but I may have had to trade one of my previous shows to add it). Nevertheless, I was an avid Trekker from the start of the show. In 1969 as a freshman in college I had a ten-inch black-and-white TV that, despite its diminutive screen, was watched by a packed room full of my dorm-mates every day at 6 p.m. when TOS was broadcast in syndication. When TAS came out in 1973, I watched it every week - people can complain about how primitive the show is, but in fact it was a return to the beloved Trek universe with new and original stories and most of the cast we grew up with so I relished every episode. I gave them props for taking advantage of the more imaginative aliens and technologies that animation allowed and, like others, recognized when sci-fi master Larry Niven's "The Soft Weapon" was adapted into TAS's "The Slaver Weapon" and applauded at their inclusion of the work of such a great writer (although they basically declawed the Kzinti from how Niven's "Known Space" universe represented them - I guess that was to avoid scaring the kiddies!). One last point: I noticed some discussion here of Ensign Walking Bear in the TAS episode "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth" being the first representation of a Native American Star Fleet officer. His was definitely the first speaking role for a Native American in the ST universe, but I distinctly remember an officer very much looking like a Native American taking a seat at the console in The Original Series. I'm still digging for the specific episode... Great work, TriAngulum!
In the episode The Counter Clock Incident. Sarah April says as a medical officer on aboard the first starship equipped with warp drive "note" she says the first starship equipped with warp drive. Which was the enterprise NCC 1701, ok given the animated series was made some 30+ years before ENT it's not a huge continuity error. Still Sarah April does predate Dr Philox since she was the first Dr to serve on a starship with a warp engine
I have the Alan Dean Foster novels "Star Trek logs" they are in my hand made Tardis book shelf along with all my Star Trek/Doctor Who DVDS, books etc my daughter's choose my book shelf to be a Tardis as they love modern Doctor Who. So it's a built in book shelf with doors which resembles the Tardis but the inside are painted red like the turbo lift doors from TOS and on the white panel I wrote To Boldly go Where No One has Gone Before
Wow you spend a lot of time researching. These varied and meticulously gathered facts presented so clearly and in such entertaining fashion can’t help but establish you as THE most trusted source of Star Trek lore. One man’s opinion. Can’t wait to hear the nuggets you’ve unearthed about Star Trek the Motion Picture. Well, maybe you can start with the stupid title. 😁
I loved the series. My favorite one, I can't remember the name, was the one with the weapon that had the different buttons and each button changed the damage type.
One thing they failed to fix on the animated series....locks on junction boxes! Seriously Starfleet has the worst internal security in Star Trek. Imagine a 21st century hacker on the enterprise? They would have a field day hacking the ship's vital systems. Hacker: don't you believe in firewalls? Kirk: what's a firewall! Hacker: you got to be kidding lol
Other series also cancelled in 1969: Daktari, Divorce Court, Gentle Ben, Gomer Pyle USMC, HR Pufnstuf, The King Family, Peyton Place, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and The Wild Wild West. I'm trying hard to figure out what the zeitgeist was at the time.
Without checking Wikipedia, wasn't Dennis Weaver in "Gentle Ben"? Good thing it got cancelled in 1969 so he was available to star in Spielberg's first directorial film "Duel" (which was flipping awesome if you haven't seen it).
Star Trek the animated adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. Blimey that's a mouthful lol try saying that when you're drunk lol thank god somebody came to there senses and came up with Star Trek the animated series
i really really enjoy these episodes of your's. apparently i have not seen mudd's women nor half of season 3, which i am currently watching on netflix. thanks for the late birthday present, it's better than none. 251st like. i watched star trek 50 great years by JohnnyBaak and 50 years of star trek by comedy4cast a while back, they were good but some things were missing, hopping to learn more info; you are doing great.
Just be patient, Videos like this take an awful lot of time to make due to all the research I must do... Though this project is a constant priority of mine!
In DS9 they mention equipping security personnel with individual shields so I had assumed the belts from animated series were similar/possible within canon
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios there has always been this debate amongst trekkers over the animated series where canon is concerned. And it all stems from Chekov not appearing on the show although Walter Koenig did direct a episode. Would Phase II been canon because Leonard Nimoy wasn't going to be in it. That's the argument I tend to use against trekkers who says the animated series isn't canon. That usually shuts them up
The issue of canon was dealt with in 2007 when the owners of Trek at the time (Paramount) declared that it was... Canon isnt a matter of a fans opinion, it is a matter of fact which is declared by Treks owners! So use that next time :P
I've never been much of a fan of TAS. The animation is choppy and rigid and some of the stories were way too crazy for my liking. However, I appreciate the increased diversity that it brought to the crew of the Enterprise. Not only did we get Uhura in the Captain's chair or mounting an all-female rescue mission, but we also had the first native american starfleet officer (Lieutenant Walking Bear, who sadly was only in one episode). And let's not forget that it erased the fact that Starfleet crews were basically segregated by race. The Enterprise's crew in TOS (same as a lot of the other ship's complements we saw) seemed to be comprised entirely of humans and Spock maybe only being allowed to work there because he was half human. The only other non-human members of Starfleet we ever heard of were the Vulcans on the Intrepid that made up that ship's entire complement. Now, in TAS we had an Andorian filling in for Spock when he was erased from time, as well as Lieutenants M'ress and Arex (who is one of my favourite characters with his unique design and general weirdness. Hope we'll get to see more of him or his species, since TAS is officially canon now)
Gene - Both the Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison of Star Trek. The more I hear of him the more less I like him. Love the art, dislike the artist I guess.
In a lot of ways he was a product of his times (an often well-put excuse, I admit) with his attitude towards women but his idea of an exciting non-racist society (for the 1960s anyway) can't be overlooked. The comment about the picture not the artist is just about spot on.
Just something I've asked myself, but there is no reliable data I could find on it, so I ask for your oppinion: wouldn't have had Voyager a shorter trip by flying "west" instead of "south" to reach the bajoran wormhole instead of federation space?
Interesting question. I'm no expert on the star charts of Star Trek, but in theory that would have made more sense within the story universe but would probably still be a daunting journey to undertake.
Great question! In every map Ive seen it's roughly the same distance, however speaking to some show runners over the years they've told me it was 90000 light years to the Bajoran Wormhole, which of course would have taken Voyager 15 extra years to get home... However even if it was about the same or slightly less, heading for a wormhole is more of a gamble... IE what would happen if after 75 years you got there and thing was gone? Heading to Earth was a much safer bet! :)
I've always enjoyed the animated series, and have always viewed it as perfectly legitimate Star Trek. Wish CBS/Paramount would release the episode novelisations of the original and animated series as ebooks though.
While there was definitely some silliness, the show should get credit for a few things that could be done in animation that would never have been affordable on a live action budget. We got fully alien bridge crew members (i.e. something a bit more complicated that pointed ears or makeup).
I personally liked what they did with Aron Bem-Bem in the episode "Bem"...this is a character that I think doesn't really get the credit he deserves as far as for showing just what TAS was capable of. He's a colony creature and thus able to disassemble and reassemble his body at will. TOS would not have been able to scratch the surface of this sort of creature, as you would somehow need to show the actor literally coming apart and going back together with no harm to himself. TAS had ZERO issue with this, so you wind up seeing exactly that, ON SCREEN, with Aron Bem-Bem being able to do things like take off his own head, have his torso floating in the water while his legs come off and walk to the crew and sneaking away their communicators and phasers, pop himself apart to escape a cage that he's imprisoned in...THE WORKS...and then just pop back together like nothing happened! Srsly...people should give the "Bem" episode a watch...this stuff was AMAZING to see before the days of CGI...😅😁
I find it odd that this dated form of animation still looks like there was more effort put into it than what we are getting today. By today’s standards I’d expect something akin to “Avatar: The Last Airbender” which respects children’s intelligence and explores various interesting and unique locations. "Star Trek: The Animated Series" gave us, in my opinion, the best version of Vulcan with the first ever appearance of a "Vulcan teddybear" which looked like a predator while not being overly "realistic" like Enterprise. Star Trek to me is best when it works both as silly and serious. George Takei once mentioned that he thought that “The Animated Series” was a wasted opportunity because it didn’t do enough with non-humanoid alien designs, but I can’t say that this new animation does anything more than the current live-action show does with CGI. 11:33 That was actually a cancelled idea from TOS.
The more your learn about Gene Roddenberry? It makes sense he was best buddies with other Sci-Fi hucksters of the era like L. Ron Hubbard. I'm a huge Trekkie & a former Scientologist. But both were basically in a position of authority where they didn't need to fake creative ownership over the ideas their staff made up for them, but both still did so anyways.
Just an FYI...... Larry Niven, acclaimed science fiction author, wrote the ST:TAS episode, "The Slaver Weapon", which was based on his late 60s short story "The Soft Weapon". Niven created the Slavers and the Kzinti, which are featured in many of his stories/books. Of course he changed his original characters to Spock, Sulu and Uhura. It worked nicely but the awful pink colors throughout....lol. He is most famous for penning the terrific book, "Ringworld" - a must read for every sci-fi fan.
The more I hear about gene the more I’m start to dislike his action toward Star Trek But now I look foe are to more back trek into films and tng Keep it up
Thank you... And Gene is due the credit for creating the concept of Star Trek and many elements with in the show... However, many people think it was either ALL him or that he's some type of god... he isnt, he's a man, and MANY people brought Trek to life, not just him... Im just making sure the record is set straight :)
1. Definition Oxymoron: noun a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ). So yes, yes it is... A Successful Failure is the EXACT definition of Oxymoron...
I think the creative people behind animated programs for Saturday mornings did not want to be seen as associated with kiddie cartoon programs, and therefore used pseudonyms in the credits.
I grew up with Star Trek, and I watched TAS. Over the years I started dissecting the show. I really believed they could've done better if they had gone with Hanna Barbera, seeing how well they did the Jonny Quest series. This is what I found annoying about the cartoon. First, they used the same cells over and over. Second, the characters movements were too stiff, especially when walking. Third, the characters could've been drawn more life-like. Fourth, I hated the theme song.
The problem with the animated series is that, as with most animated series back then, the actors were all recorded separately, which made for very flat performances because they weren't reacting to a co-star's performance.
ST TAS was more than a cartoon show to me. It was part of my education as a child. I became interested in science and philosophy because of it. For this reason I am grateful to its makers, animators, and actors.
I simply consider TAS to be season 4 of TOS! I also loved The Lorelli Signal for adding depth to Uhura's character, and I loved The Slaver weapon for introducing the Kzinti to the Trek Universe. I look forward to Lower Decks adding a new Caitian main character and hope to see more development of their culture and history.
James Compton There is a fan made STAR TREK web series called STAR TREK: CONTINUES. At only 13 episodes it's rather short, but it's actually considered to be the unofficial 5th season of the original series especially since it does its best to tie the original series into the movies and next generation era's.
So unofficially Kirks original five year mission went something like this:
TOS SEASON ONE - Year one of mission
TOS SEASON TWO - Year two of mission
TOS SEASON THREE - Year three of mission
TAS BOTH SEASONS- Year four of mission
ST: CONTINUES: Fifth and final year of mission.
So glad you did this episode! I was one of those kids excited to see the animated series when it premiered way back in the 1970's. And I was presently surprised to see how well the stores (if not the animation) held up decades later when I received the complete cartoon series on disc as a Christmas gift.
Star Trek TAS was what got me into Star Trek to begin with. Had I not seen the Saturday morning cartoon fall preview, I probably would have not gotten into it until much later in my life. :)
Niice! It's rare to find people who started with TAS, so that's great to hear :)
I was just getting old enough to enjoy TOS when it was cancelled in 1969. So when TAS started its Saturday morning run, I was ecstatic. The freedom to expand on the plotlines that animation provided, allowed for more creativity. I think this was one of the shows facets that made a half hour story engaging. Yesteryear, by D.C. Fontana was in my opinion, one of the best stories ever created for any of the franchises.
As a child I looked forward to watching "Star Trek--The Animated Series" on Saturday mornings. They treated the audience as mature or maturing thinkers and did not try to dumb it down as if we couldn't understand it.
I was a very little kid in the 70's. I watched Star Trek reruns, I watched Saturday morning cartoons but this show got completely past me. I never knew it existed until 30+ years after it was on.
I'm guessing the stations in my area just never carried it when it was on or ever showed it after it was done.
I did get to see every episode on UA-cam though a few years ago.
I didnt know it until about a decade or 2 ago either! So dont feel bad :P
TAS is canon. I've always thought so, and now I'm glad it is.
This Trek history series fascinates me so much, TriAngulum. In particular, I find it most interesting to see what Roddenberry was really like
Thank you, and yes Roddenberry was a great man, but he was only a man, with some pretty big flaws...
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios I met Gene back in the '76 when I was part of Outpost 13. Outposts were what the Star Trek Fans clubs called themselves back then. I had no idea what he was doing behind the scenes but it explains Nimoy's reaction when I met him. He seemed almost bitter when he talked about Star Trek and your behind the scenes look explains it. Thanks!
I have always loved TAS. One of my favorite episodes is "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth." I have the series in Blu-Ray.
Niice!
I've learned more about Gene Roddenberry in the last year than I ever knew in my 42 years as a Star Trek fan. And I am definitely Not impressed! Not to speak ill of the dead but, he was kind of a jerk! Glad we had D.C. Fontana, the other great writers and of course Leonard Nimoy to add so much to the Star Trek we all love. Really enjoyed watching your take on ST:TAS.
Thank you... And Gene is due the credit for creating the concept of Star Trek and many elements with in the show... However, many people think it was either ALL him or that he's some type of god... He isnt, he's a man, and MANY people brought Trek to life, not just him... I'm just making sure the record is set straight :)
In September 1969 I came home from school and found Star Trek on at 4pm in the afternoon. It has never really left local tv here in Davenport Iowa. Now with one of the stations carrying H&I subchannel we have five series every night sunday to friday. Unfortunately I was in the Marine Corps during TAS I never really saw most of them till years later. I have a animated cell of the Enterprise.
As for being on Star Trek Patrick Stewart did say it can close doors and very few opened. It was playing Professor X that put Patrick Stewart on Hollywood's A list and to think the first X-Men film came out in a time where comic book movies where not popular
Nimoy agrees with you. He, too, stated that it was the success of the Apollo 11 that made Star Trek rise in popularity. According to Nimoy, Apollo11 made science fiction into science fact.
I really love the animated series! It’s fun and light-hearted at times while remaining grounded in what made us love the live action series. Plus, I don’t mind the few incongruences with (now-)established canon, I find they add some uniqueness to the series.
I have very high hopes for the new animated shows coming out soon.
Thanks for this video, and Happy New Year! ☺️
You're very welcome and hope you have a Happy New Years as well :)
One of the most enjoyable TAS episodes to me was Slaver Weapon, which was an adaptation of one of Larry Niven's "Ringworld" Novel Series. I think it would be a Challenge to integrate Ringworld history into Star Trek.
I love how bat$#!+ insane this show is!
It shows how the live action Star Trek could have been with a MUCH bigger budget. I even love enjoying the mistakes, like Scotty's disappearing and reappearing moustache at the transporter console and the wrong colors on the uniforms.
Looks like I'm 1st! I saw it on it's 1st run! TAS IS canon! Many points from it became the norm in the OC films and Next Gen et al!
LOL 4th actually, but still good :) And indeed TAS is canon :)
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios There were NO comments when I posted!
DMS LOL Must be a UA-cam Error then :P And ajs1031... Of course opinion really means nothing as we, the fans, dont have a say on what is canon or not, and the canon issue of TAS was solved in 2007 when Paramount declared it canon :)
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios Yes, that's GOOD! (WE always knew it was!)
I’m 56 y.o. I watched TOS in its original run with my dad. TAS was one of my favorite Saturday morning routines. I think my favorite episode was The Slaver Weapon that was based on a short story by Larry Niven. The funny thing was that I was a very advanced reader for my age and was reading way
above grade; I read the original Niven piece maybe 6 months before the episode aired and thought the two were too similar to be coincidental. 😆
Slaver Weapon was my favorite episode as well. I'm sure I saw it as a kid when it aired, but my first memory of Kzinti was from Star Fleet battles.
The "animated years" - both as the years of the non live-action series and as the animating the fandom to keep the interest in Start Trek alive. :)
BTW Foster is a real writing titan. In addition to his own numerous book series he's worked on a lot of outside franchises including Star Trek, Star Wars, Alien, Terminator, Transformers, The Thing...
He'll certainly come up in the upcoming TMP video as he has writing credit for this one, too. Speaking of forthcoming TMP there a funny anecdote about another famous writer Harlan Elison in King's 'Danse Macabre' (dubbed as "longest footnote in history").
In the words of the late great Christopher Lee "I've been looking forward to this"
I was only expecting a pre-TAS summary, but in fact this video is a really decent dive into all the years between the two series and the growth of fandom in that era. Fascinating stuff!
I'm glad you mentioned that Gene was granted FULL creative control by Filmation - this means that TAS is as true to GR's vision as possible! Of course, he largely left the actual show running duties to DC Fontana, but it's still odd that he would go to such lengths to "decanonise" the series in later years...
Im always surprised at how few Trekkers have even bothered to see, let alone appreciate TAS. IMO it was a great idea, to use animation to push the story lines to places that where impossible to go. In fact, I think it had far more daring charcater designs than even the late movies or shows, which seem to have only gotten more conservative in the "man in a suit" approach to the "aliens".
Another great video!
Thank you :)
Man the wait for these are always worth it. Yet again you uncoverd facts that i had no idea about.
Well done.
Thank you so much, that means a lot :)
Back Trek is my favorite show. I love those.
Thank you Pascal!
Thank You for Posting and Reposting This Incredible Video History Documentary
As a fan of the Animated Series, I LOVE this video.
Ooooooo I am SOOOO glad you finally got back to this! Excited to see what you have to say regarding the movie series! 😍😍😍😍💖💖💖💖
That phase of Star Trek's history is REALLY interesting to look into...first one was just an EPIC fail, yet, not only did it get a sequel, the series AS A WHOLE REALLLY saved Star Trek! Had it not been for the overall success of the movies, I can say for sure we would've NEVER had TNG and the subsequent decade of Trek that the '90s became! 😁😁😁😁💖💖💖💖
Thank you so much, it takes A LOT more time to make these types of videos because of ALL the research I must do to put it together... Im currently writing the Script for TMP, so Im hopeful it will be up sometime in the next month or so :)
Being a child when this was first aired, I remember sitting down with my two uncles and my Grandfather to watch the ongoing missions of the Enterprise. And back then, Saturday was basically the only day we got cartoons unlike today when you can see cartoons 24/7. It was just the fact that we came together to watch something that had a positive influence on how humanity could be especially when Vietnam was beginning to wind down.
By the way, have you seen the animated Short Trek? The animation was beautiful. I hope that is the style in which the newer animated series will be.
Peace and long life 🖖
I was 10 years old when the animated series premiered. While I had seen an episode of TOS here and there, the animated series was my introduction to the world of Trek. I caught up with TOS later in syndication. Thanks for the history. ^_^
Your research and dedication is first rate and much appreciated. TAS was a great show and a good follow up to TOS. Captain April! Hail David!
I love your videos. I learn so much and you are dispelling so many myths that I thought were true. Thank you.
I have this on blu ray and it looks great like it was made today. My favorite episode is Yesteryear a lot of spock's backstory was great and most of them was in star trek 2009 movie and tos remastered
Fairly new subscriber and love your work.
I was a faithful watcher of both STTOS, STAS. and have seen most episodes of all of the other Trek series. Such a wonderful show. STAS
Thank you for mentioning the Star Trek Log series. That's my primary exposure to the stories of the animated series. I like the way that he expanded the stories for a more adult audience. Some of the ideas in the animated series were so well conceived and it's unfortunate that they didn't continue. I thought the life support belts in particular, were a very cool technology. At least the Rec Room lives on in the Holo Deck though! :)
You're very welcome! Foster did an excellent job of making the animated scripts in to plausible realistic (Mostly) Trek stories :)
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios He most certainly did! His novelizations of most science fiction films of the 70's and 80's are also interesting reads, as are the books in his own universe about the Humanx Commonwealth. He's a bit underrated as a writer. :)
My favorite STTAS episode is "The Slaver Weapon".. The Stasis Boxes
I totally love Star Trek TAS I have it on dvd aswell as all other Star Trek series & movies my favourite episode is The Terratin Incident it's when the crew of the Enterprise r reduced in size
La-La-Land Records went into detail with regard to the music of the Animated Series when they released it as part of their 50th anniversary box set.
Ellis was under contract with another music publisher when he wrote the music for the show so he used two pseudonyms in an attempt to throw them off his scent. For the same reason, he did the same thing with other Filmation productions he worked on around the same time.
My favorite episode was the one where everything was backwards. Stars were black and space white. Born old and got younger as you "aged". I found it fascinating and imaginative.
You have many references which connects the animated series to TOS along with the spin off shows. Tribbles, the recreation room which is the forerunner to the Holodeck
i deeply feel grateful for all the trek fans that time. If not because of them, there will be no Galaxy and Sovereign class in my youth
Geat video. I love the history of Star Trek.
Thanks!
I love your content
Thank you Bruno! :)
I still remember William Shatner doing Loblaws and VIC-20 commercials when I was a child. You can still see both commercials on You Tube.
I liked TAS. Bad animation aside, there are some good stories, especially Uhura's chance to take command of the ship to rescue the men of the Enterprise. We got to meet Robert April, first captain of the ship.
Spock's trip to his own past is one of the best episodes of the series. Period.
I used to have most of the Alan Dean Foster Star Trek Log novels. I enjoyed them.
Here's hoping in the new cartoons we can maybe see some species like the Caitians or actually see some Kzinti. I believe they were going to do the Kzinti in the next season of Enterprise if it hadn't been cancelled.
Cross your fingers :)
This series has entered & left official canon status so many times, it may as well be a yo-yo.
Well it hasnt left since 2007, so it's not longer yoyo-ing so be happy, it's canon! :)
I get excited when I see a new upload from you. That rarely happens for me. Feel special :)
I do AND im honored :)
See, I am still rewatching!
The first Star Trek show I was exposed to was the animated series. At the age of 4, some of the plots did go over my head, but still enjoyed the show as I was already was a fan of science fiction thank in large part to STTAS Land of the Lost, and the Jetsons. My favorite episode would have to be More Trouble with Tribbles as it was an amazing continuation from a the TOS. Fun fact, I thought the original series was based on the animated series until I learned it was the other way around.
I went to schools that encouraged students' parents to bar their children from watching TV on school nights, but mine were compassionate enough to allow us a couple of TV shows per week despite that. When TOS debuted in 1966 I had to negotiate like a maniac to get the new show added to my list of permissible shows to watch (I'm not sure, but I may have had to trade one of my previous shows to add it). Nevertheless, I was an avid Trekker from the start of the show. In 1969 as a freshman in college I had a ten-inch black-and-white TV that, despite its diminutive screen, was watched by a packed room full of my dorm-mates every day at 6 p.m. when TOS was broadcast in syndication. When TAS came out in 1973, I watched it every week - people can complain about how primitive the show is, but in fact it was a return to the beloved Trek universe with new and original stories and most of the cast we grew up with so I relished every episode. I gave them props for taking advantage of the more imaginative aliens and technologies that animation allowed and, like others, recognized when sci-fi master Larry Niven's "The Soft Weapon" was adapted into TAS's "The Slaver Weapon" and applauded at their inclusion of the work of such a great writer (although they basically declawed the Kzinti from how Niven's "Known Space" universe represented them - I guess that was to avoid scaring the kiddies!).
One last point: I noticed some discussion here of Ensign Walking Bear in the TAS episode "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth" being the first representation of a Native American Star Fleet officer. His was definitely the first speaking role for a Native American in the ST universe, but I distinctly remember an officer very much looking like a Native American taking a seat at the console in The Original Series. I'm still digging for the specific episode...
Great work, TriAngulum!
In the episode The Counter Clock Incident. Sarah April says as a medical officer on aboard the first starship equipped with warp drive "note" she says the first starship equipped with warp drive. Which was the enterprise NCC 1701, ok given the animated series was made some 30+ years before ENT it's not a huge continuity error. Still Sarah April does predate Dr Philox since she was the first Dr to serve on a starship with a warp engine
I have the Alan Dean Foster novels "Star Trek logs" they are in my hand made Tardis book shelf along with all my Star Trek/Doctor Who DVDS, books etc my daughter's choose my book shelf to be a Tardis as they love modern Doctor Who. So it's a built in book shelf with doors which resembles the Tardis but the inside are painted red like the turbo lift doors from TOS and on the white panel I wrote To Boldly go Where No One has Gone Before
Hmmm. My opinion of Roddenberry has gone down, while my opinion of Nimoy has gone up.
Roddenberry was a great man in regards to Trek, but he was ONLY a man and not that great of one in real life!
Wow you spend a lot of time researching. These varied and meticulously gathered facts presented so clearly and in such entertaining fashion can’t help but establish you as THE most trusted source of Star Trek lore. One man’s opinion. Can’t wait to hear the nuggets you’ve unearthed about Star Trek the Motion Picture. Well, maybe you can start with the stupid title. 😁
Roddenberry was neither saint nor monster, just human--all TOO human, at times.
I loved the series. My favorite one, I can't remember the name, was the one with the weapon that had the different buttons and each button changed the damage type.
One thing they failed to fix on the animated series....locks on junction boxes! Seriously Starfleet has the worst internal security in Star Trek. Imagine a 21st century hacker on the enterprise? They would have a field day hacking the ship's vital systems. Hacker: don't you believe in firewalls? Kirk: what's a firewall! Hacker: you got to be kidding lol
Other series also cancelled in 1969: Daktari, Divorce Court, Gentle Ben, Gomer Pyle USMC, HR Pufnstuf, The King Family, Peyton Place, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and The Wild Wild West. I'm trying hard to figure out what the zeitgeist was at the time.
Without checking Wikipedia, wasn't Dennis Weaver in "Gentle Ben"? Good thing it got cancelled in 1969 so he was available to star in Spielberg's first directorial film "Duel" (which was flipping awesome if you haven't seen it).
Star Trek the animated adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek. Blimey that's a mouthful lol try saying that when you're drunk lol thank god somebody came to there senses and came up with Star Trek the animated series
i really really enjoy these episodes of your's. apparently i have not seen mudd's women nor half of season 3, which i am currently watching on netflix. thanks for the late birthday present, it's better than none. 251st like. i watched star trek 50 great years by JohnnyBaak and 50 years of star trek by comedy4cast a while back, they were good but some things were missing, hopping to learn more info; you are doing great.
Man, animation has come along way.
LOL Yes it has LOL
TriAngulum Audio Studios Thanks and Happy New Year.
can't wait until the motion picture.
Just be patient, Videos like this take an awful lot of time to make due to all the research I must do... Though this project is a constant priority of mine!
In DS9 they mention equipping security personnel with individual shields so I had assumed the belts from animated series were similar/possible within canon
Love the animated series. Have it on DVD and yes it's part of the canon.
Indeed it is!
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios there has always been this debate amongst trekkers over the animated series where canon is concerned. And it all stems from Chekov not appearing on the show although Walter Koenig did direct a episode. Would Phase II been canon because Leonard Nimoy wasn't going to be in it. That's the argument I tend to use against trekkers who says the animated series isn't canon. That usually shuts them up
The issue of canon was dealt with in 2007 when the owners of Trek at the time (Paramount) declared that it was... Canon isnt a matter of a fans opinion, it is a matter of fact which is declared by Treks owners! So use that next time :P
I also have the animated series on DVD too.
What!!! I thought I was up to date now I have to hurry and get this series.
I've never been much of a fan of TAS. The animation is choppy and rigid and some of the stories were way too crazy for my liking. However, I appreciate the increased diversity that it brought to the crew of the Enterprise. Not only did we get Uhura in the Captain's chair or mounting an all-female rescue mission, but we also had the first native american starfleet officer (Lieutenant Walking Bear, who sadly was only in one episode). And let's not forget that it erased the fact that Starfleet crews were basically segregated by race. The Enterprise's crew in TOS (same as a lot of the other ship's complements we saw) seemed to be comprised entirely of humans and Spock maybe only being allowed to work there because he was half human. The only other non-human members of Starfleet we ever heard of were the Vulcans on the Intrepid that made up that ship's entire complement. Now, in TAS we had an Andorian filling in for Spock when he was erased from time, as well as Lieutenants M'ress and Arex (who is one of my favourite characters with his unique design and general weirdness. Hope we'll get to see more of him or his species, since TAS is officially canon now)
This is The History of The Original Animated Series of Classic Star Trek
Gene - Both the Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison of Star Trek.
The more I hear of him the more less I like him. Love the art, dislike the artist I guess.
I love this analogy!
@@thisiszaphod Definitely a wideboy.
In a lot of ways he was a product of his times (an often well-put excuse, I admit) with his attitude towards women but his idea of an exciting non-racist society (for the 1960s anyway) can't be overlooked.
The comment about the picture not the artist is just about spot on.
Were the life-support belts actually scrapped, or just forgotten about by the writers of the later series and films?
They were scrapped, given that Roddenberry himself created TMP and TNG AND included the Holodeck in TNG... So it was a conscious decision!
Just something I've asked myself, but there is no reliable data I could find on it, so I ask for your oppinion: wouldn't have had Voyager a shorter trip by flying "west" instead of "south" to reach the bajoran wormhole instead of federation space?
Interesting question. I'm no expert on the star charts of Star Trek, but in theory that would have made more sense within the story universe but would probably still be a daunting journey to undertake.
Great question! In every map Ive seen it's roughly the same distance, however speaking to some show runners over the years they've told me it was 90000 light years to the Bajoran Wormhole, which of course would have taken Voyager 15 extra years to get home... However even if it was about the same or slightly less, heading for a wormhole is more of a gamble... IE what would happen if after 75 years you got there and thing was gone? Heading to Earth was a much safer bet! :)
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios indeed, also you might wonder if the Domion would be still at war with the federation at that time, so thanks ^^
Thanks for this episode, most of retrospectives tend to skip the Animated Series for some reason.
I've always enjoyed the animated series, and have always viewed it as perfectly legitimate Star Trek. Wish CBS/Paramount would release the episode novelisations of the original and animated series as ebooks though.
The Foster Novels havent been released as Ebooks? I did not know that...
Wish I had seen this UA-cam video series 3 years ago
Yesteryear was my Favourite Episode
While there was definitely some silliness, the show should get credit for a few things that could be done in animation that would never have been affordable on a live action budget. We got fully alien bridge crew members (i.e. something a bit more complicated that pointed ears or makeup).
Oh yes there are episodes I simply cant watch! But yes, they DID add to the Trek universe!
I personally liked what they did with Aron Bem-Bem in the episode "Bem"...this is a character that I think doesn't really get the credit he deserves as far as for showing just what TAS was capable of. He's a colony creature and thus able to disassemble and reassemble his body at will. TOS would not have been able to scratch the surface of this sort of creature, as you would somehow need to show the actor literally coming apart and going back together with no harm to himself. TAS had ZERO issue with this, so you wind up seeing exactly that, ON SCREEN, with Aron Bem-Bem being able to do things like take off his own head, have his torso floating in the water while his legs come off and walk to the crew and sneaking away their communicators and phasers, pop himself apart to escape a cage that he's imprisoned in...THE WORKS...and then just pop back together like nothing happened!
Srsly...people should give the "Bem" episode a watch...this stuff was AMAZING to see before the days of CGI...😅😁
I find it odd that this dated form of animation still looks like there was more effort put into it than what we are getting today.
By today’s standards I’d expect something akin to “Avatar: The Last Airbender” which respects children’s intelligence and explores various interesting and unique locations.
"Star Trek: The Animated Series" gave us, in my opinion, the best version of Vulcan with the first ever appearance of a "Vulcan teddybear" which looked like a predator while not being overly "realistic" like Enterprise. Star Trek to me is best when it works both as silly and serious.
George Takei once mentioned that he thought that “The Animated Series” was a wasted opportunity because it didn’t do enough with non-humanoid alien designs, but I can’t say that this new animation does anything more than the current live-action show does with CGI.
11:33 That was actually a cancelled idea from TOS.
9:43To see Nichelle Nichols showing her wonderfully toned Belly sets my phasers to stun
Until Star Trek Continues should be made into season four of the the original series.
I'm looking forward to your taking-apart of that oxymoron. ;)
I wish that they would remaster the series with new animation & add Ensign Chekov somehow🖖
Personally I've always considered The Animated Series please as year 4 of the original 5 year mission.
The more your learn about Gene Roddenberry? It makes sense he was best buddies with other Sci-Fi hucksters of the era like L. Ron Hubbard. I'm a huge Trekkie & a former Scientologist. But both were basically in a position of authority where they didn't need to fake creative ownership over the ideas their staff made up for them, but both still did so anyways.
Yesteryear, the one with Walking Bear.
The Klingon emblem is red , grey , black.
In the TAS series, it is red , green , blue.
Due to that guys color blindness.
Just an FYI......
Larry Niven, acclaimed science fiction author, wrote the ST:TAS episode, "The Slaver Weapon", which was based on his late 60s short story "The Soft Weapon".
Niven created the Slavers and the Kzinti, which are featured in many of his stories/books. Of course he changed his original characters to Spock, Sulu and Uhura. It worked nicely but the awful pink colors throughout....lol.
He is most famous for penning the terrific book, "Ringworld" - a must read for every sci-fi fan.
The more I hear about gene the more I’m start to dislike his action toward Star Trek
But now I look foe are to more back trek into films and tng
Keep it up
Thank you... And Gene is due the credit for creating the concept of Star Trek and many elements with in the show... However, many people think it was either ALL him or that he's some type of god... he isnt, he's a man, and MANY people brought Trek to life, not just him... Im just making sure the record is set straight :)
What other trek animated series are you talking about?
The 2 new ones being currently developed...
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios when are they scheduled to be released?
They are being made now, there is not a release date yet
They reintroduced the tribbles in the animation series and made them pink
I didn't know just how big a narcissist Roddenberry was.
Yes he certainly was...
As well a adulterer.
Alert! Alert! Xindi Insectoid at 15:45 !
I would never call the Original series a failure. It was the nucleus of a Franchise that is still going in 2020.....
For ALL intents and purposes it WAS a failure, for the time. Low ratings, losing money and cancelled! So yes! it WAS a failure!
@@TriAngulumAudioStudios not going to argue with the professional❤🖖
LOL, it certainly would undue it's failure status :P As future parts make clear ;)
18:33 That isn't what an _oxymoron_ is, or means.
18:43 I've never seen it. I don't have a favorite episode, because I've never sought the show out.
1. Definition Oxymoron:
noun
a figure of speech in which apparently contradictory terms appear in conjunction (e.g. faith unfaithful kept him falsely true ).
So yes, yes it is... A Successful Failure is the EXACT definition of Oxymoron...
Doesn't M'ress have a huge following among furries?
I think the creative people behind animated programs for Saturday mornings did not want to be seen as associated with kiddie cartoon programs, and therefore used pseudonyms in the credits.
That is not true at all!
The Anamated Series debuted the aqua shuttle.
Looks grey to me. Yes I'm color blind.
I grew up with Star Trek, and I watched TAS. Over the years I started dissecting the show. I really believed they could've done better if they had gone with Hanna Barbera, seeing how well they did the Jonny Quest series. This is what I found annoying about the cartoon. First, they used the same cells over and over. Second, the characters movements were too stiff, especially when walking. Third, the characters could've been drawn more life-like. Fourth, I hated the theme song.
Let’s have a color-blind person choose the colors... Folks, you can’t make this up!
The problem with the animated series is that, as with most animated series back then, the actors were all recorded separately, which made for very flat performances because they weren't reacting to a co-star's performance.
Except that isnt the case here at all... They were ALL recorded together...