Is TAS worth watching?

Discussion in 'Star Trek - The Original & Animated Series' started by FreddyE, Oct 15, 2013.

  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Well, they had all the original cast except Walter Koenig, but including Majel Barrett. And they brought back guest stars like Mark Lenard, Stanley Adams, and Roger C. Carmel, as well as occasional others like Ted Knight and Ed Bishop. But most of the guest voices were done by Doohan, Takei, Barrett, and Nichols, although some were done by uncredited voice actors and a few by Filmation producer Lou Scheimer (who passed away over the weekend).


    This is a myth. Roddenberry issued a memo in 1989 that basically distanced the canon from TAS, but that was because Filmation was going through bankruptcy at the time and Paramount couldn't make use of its shows. But once Roddenberry died, his definitions of canon were no longer binding, and Paramount/CBS resolved the copyright issues ages ago. There have been numerous TAS references in later canon works, like a mention of the Klothos in DS9, the various "Edosian" plants and animals mentioned in ENT, and references to Vulcan's Forge in TNG and ENT. TAS is included equally alongside the other shows on StarTrek.com's reference pages and on Memory Alpha, which limits itself to canonical sources. So there is no reasonable basis for the idea that TAS isn't canon. That was true for a couple of years, but that was decades ago.


    Actually it was on a par with the rest of Saturday morning animation at the time, allowing for the tight schedule constraints the first season was under. Filmation's art may not have moved much, but it looked a lot better than what Hanna-Barbera was doing at the same time -- the drawings on Filmation shows were a lot less sloppy, there were fewer animation and coloring errors (because, admittedly, there was less animation), and the background paintings were much more beautiful. At the time, this was pretty much the best you could get. The only better-looking animation on Saturday morning was on the Warner Bros. theatrical cartoons that got endlessly rerun on The Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Show.



    Not quite. At the time, in the early 1970s, most US animation was still produced in the US. The trend of outsourcing to Asia didn't begin until around 1980, give or take. It was in the '80s that Filmation became the sole animation house still producing its animation in-house -- although they did outsource once, with The New Adventures of Zorro in 1981, because they had too many shows in production that year to do them all themselves. On that one, they outsourced the animation to Tokyo Movie Shinsha, the best animation studio in Japan.


    Another common misconception. Although the sex and violence had to be toned down for the time slot, in other respects the writers aspired to the same level as TOS. I discussed this just yesterday in this post in another thread. Compared to the other Saturday morning shows of the day, TAS dealt with substantially more mature subject matter. The reason Roddenberry went with Filmation instead of another animation studio is because they were the only ones who didn't want to turn it into a formulaic kids' show with teen sidekicks and cute alien or robot mascots.
     
  2. Rayna

    Rayna Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    So is TOS, but that's part of the charm ;)
     
  3. MANT!

    MANT! Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Yes, we could have ended up with STAR TREK CADETS!!
    [​IMG] however it was Filmation's Norm Prescott that broached the "Star Trek Cadets" TV show..When Roddenberry refused to give up control of his baby to Paramount it was morphed into what the show actually became.
    the concept later was used in what became "Space Academy".
     
  4. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    My understanding is that the cadet/teen protege idea was for a potential animated series that was being developed in the late '60s to run alongside TOS, serving as a complement to it. It was scuttled when TOS was cancelled. After that, with no live-action show to complement, they just did an animated series that was a direct continuation.
     
  5. TREK_GOD_1

    TREK_GOD_1 Vice Admiral Admiral

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    True. At this point in time, I do not know how anyone thinks TAS is not canon after so many references in the Berman period of shows.

    Let's not forget H-B was outsourcing animation to Australia in the early 70s. Series such as the first Super-Friends (1973) and others from that era were produced down under.
     
  6. Galileo7

    Galileo7 Commodore Commodore

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    Agree. :vulcan::klingon:



    Agree. TAS=canon :biggrin:
     
  7. RandyS

    RandyS Vice Admiral Admiral

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    Exactly.:bolian:
     
  8. FreddyE

    FreddyE Captain Captain

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    It´s geo-locked. Hmm...seems I need to go thru the hassle of setting up a TOR environment again....;-)
     
  9. hammerhead

    hammerhead Lieutenant Commander Red Shirt

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    I agree a lot of modern Trek has TAS references, but some of TAS may have trouble been classified as canon (like the whole Kzinti/Larry Niven backstory) where Earth has been involved in wars with the Kzinti. I think if you drop those episodes, then you can include some i.e Yesteryear has been referenced so many times....
     
  10. SiddFinch1

    SiddFinch1 Captain Captain

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    If Enterprise wasn't cancelled they supposey were going to include a kzinti I. Season 5
     
  11. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    Sure, there have been episodes of TAS that later Trek has contradicted. But you can say the same about episodes of live-action shows, like TOS: "The Alternative Factor" (which contradicts both prior and subsequent Trek in its portrayal of antimatter and dilithium) and VGR: "Threshold" (which has been renounced as apocryphal by its own writer). Or about The Final Frontier, whose portrayal of the center of the galaxy being just 20 minutes' travel away was thoroughly ignored by DS9 and VGR. Sometimes a canon reinterprets or disregards parts of itself that don't fit later ideas.
     
  12. BoredShipCapt'n

    BoredShipCapt'n Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    ^ I'm willing to listen to any and all theories under which The Final Frontier would not be canon. :D
     
  13. Hober Mallow

    Hober Mallow Commodore Commodore

    I have a hard time believing that.
     
  14. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

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    They were definitely considering it. Whether they could've worked out the permissions with Niven is uncertain, but it would've been in keeping with the show's growing use of CGI creatures like the Xindi Insectoids and Aquatics in season 3 and the Gorn and Tholian from "In a Mirror, Darkly."