The Animated Series

Good point; anime is often stiff, recycles run or fight sequences, yet its fans write that off as "style" rather than the limitations of the animation.

 

Right. I've seen some of the cut scenes from Star Trek Online, and the character animation is horrendously bad. I don't understand how anyone can stand to watch that.

And you're right -- modern Flash animation uses a lot of the same shortcuts and tricks that '70s TV animation used. The Flash-animated reconstructions of the missing episodes of Doctor Who: "The Invasion" had a very Filmation-esque feel, I thought. Lots of static close-ups, reused character poses and motions, the works.

 

Sounds familiar.

My kids, HS juniors, one of whom was an original member of our Starfleet chapter, the other of whom is DETERMINED to get to a big con in 2016; who prefer standards and classical music to modern pop, who LIKE my vinyl because of the snaps and crackles . . . THEY laugh at TAS when I'm tryin' to watch one. If THEY can't dig it, I don't see the average teen viewing high def cinnamon challenge videos on their iPhones digging it.

And that's OK.

 

^The point is, there's a lot of computer animation kids today do watch that's just as badly done, or worse. Again, Filmation art may not have moved much, but at least it was pretty to look at, which is more than can be said for the jerky polygonal monstrosities in so many computer games.

 

agreed

Though perhaps they (the "monstrosities") have their charm for the current generation just as TV animation (an abomination to earlier film animators) does for ours.

Pretty-to-look-at matters though, I agree. And drawn with the human hand. Not that computers are inherently bad; but there are certain curves that derive from hand-drawn art that resonate deeply.

 

These days, MMOs often use in-game elements (NPC avatars and emotes) for cut scenes so I am not sure if you can really call it animation...

teenagers + parent = they are digging it behind you back .

 

Which is basically my point. There used to be at least some effort made to make the cut scenes more "cinematic" than the crudely animated gameplay. Or so I gather, at least, from my very limited and peripheral exposure to computer games.

 

Such pre-rendered animation, while more presentable, can break the immersive gameplay experience, coming off as intrusive, whereas on-the-fly rendering can even include the player's avatar in the animation.

 

Just saw Bem and thought it was a great intro for Season 2.

Shatner seems to be getting more of a knack for working animation as he seems to let loose a little more. David Gerrold's humor also shined through effectively.

Overall, I like TAS a lot. The writing is SUPERB!

There are no Spock Brain's or Alternative Factors, (so far).

But I still maintain that the stagnant animation hurts the series because the live action series itself was HIGH ENERGY. Now to clarify, the DRAWINGS and COLOR were fantastic. It's the lack of movement on screen that really hurts the show overall because, as we all know, Shatner and company were always moving, exploding, falling, punching, running.

I mean, Shatner running was always EPIC. Arms confidently and powerfully going back and forth at full speed compared to his animated version running in a slower more compact, less hammy way. NO COMPARISON!

I say let's keep the classic animation for posterity but I would pay big money for a Blu Ray with updated animation.

 

Nit: The first episode of season two is "The Pirates of Orion".

 

Is it?

Crap, I've been going by Asherman's Star Trek Compendium which said that Bem was the first episode. I thought he had TAS listed in production order like the TV show?

 

Memory Alpha lists both episode and production numbers. So-called episode number order is the same as airdate order. Maybe he organized by production numbers? If you go by production numbers, the first episode of the whole series would be "More Tribbles, More Troubles".

 

I meant Bem being first episode of Season 2.

Can anyone confirm the correct order?

 

Yep, I understood you perfectly. Reread what I said. By episode number, "The Pirates of Orion" is the first episode of season two. I even gave you a link as a reference.

 

What a pain in the ass this production order crap with TOS.

This whole thing could've been avoided if the fools in charge had released TOS on DVD/BR in production order to begin with.

Fools! Bureaucratic fools!

 

I guess one thing that I didn't spell out explicitly (though that I acknowledged implicitly) is that "Bem" is the first episode of season two by production order, which one can see by studying the episode list at the Memory Alpha link I gave.

The other thing that was also implicit is that if Asherman really is going by production order, then his list should start with the "Tribbles" episode.

 

Soooooo it's ok to continue going by the Compendium then?

Right?

I've been drinking some wine, so maybe I'm not at peak mental strength.

 

No clue. Never seen it. Just compare the list he gives with that episode list at Memory Alpha and see how they match up?

 

Never told you how...Admeeeral CorporalCaptain...sent 70 of us into Memory Alpha with only the contents of his post to sustain us...

Ok, I guess I better log outta here until the effects of the wine passes.

 

Yeah, I dislike that the DVD/BD box sets went to airdate order, I much prefer production order (particularly for the first season).

I'm not really sure what the reasoning was to make the change. The original VHS/DVDs were in production order, and the syndication package, where probably 99% of Trek fandom arose, also aired in production order.