Watching The Animated Series For The First Time

[TRON JA307020]

The episodes of Flash Gordon season 1 were recut from an even better, older-skewing TV movie, with some striking stuff that wasn't used in the show, like an opening set in WWII during a bombing raid and a subplot that Ming the Merciless was colluding with Hitler. For the show, they cut out the more mature stuff, opened in medias res, and expanded the storyline of the movie with a series of episodic adventures in the middle, as well as recasting most of the voices and reanimating the main characters in standardized costumes rather than the changing and occasionally rather skimpy costumes of the movie (since movie sequences were rearranged and reused at times, so consistent costumes helped maintain continuity). The fact that so much of its animation was made with a movie budget is why the show looks so good compared to Filmation's usual work.

The tragedy is that, because Dino DeLaurentiis held the movie rights to Flash Gordon, Filmation was only allowed to air their movie once in 1982, three years after it was made, and it was never released on home video domestically. So it was hardly ever seen, even though it was a vastly better Flash Gordon movie than DeLaurentiis's was. Fortunately there were overseas releases, including a Japanese one that's available on YouTube (with the original English soundtrack).

Oh cool. I'll need to look that movie up on YouTube Christopher. Interesting info on that Flash Gordon animated film.

 

[Nerys Myk]

Heh, the animation is indeed clunky and it even seemed that way back in 1973! But it's pretty easy to overlook.

I found it typical for Filmation products in the seventies.

 

[Christopher]

I found it typical for Filmation products in the seventies.

Well, the early seventies. Filmation's techniques improved over the course of the decade. By the time of The New Adventures of Batman and Tarzan: Lord of the Jungle, for instance, they'd begun using stock action moves rotoscoped from live performers, allowing more fluid movements and more action than you got in TAS, although it was just as repetitive with the same moves being used over and over. They also introduced innovations like backlit moire effects, and in a few shows including Flash Gordon, they used a technique of shooting miniature ships and vehicles which, IIRC, were painted black with white detail lines, shot against black, then printed in negative on animation cels and hand-painted, creating realistic 3D movement not unlike modern computer-animated 3D models. The same technique was used in the film Heavy Metal for the flyover of the landscape in the "Taarna" sequence.

 

[fireproof78]

Still has some of my favorite Trek episodes and ideas in it. Often overlooked and ignored which is a loss to those ignoring it.

This goes with TOS for me.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Even at its very worst, the episodes take barely more than 20 minutes to sit through. Relatively painless.

It could have been so much worse and hearing the guest cast again. And Jimmy Doohan. Lots of Jimmy Doohan being a man of a thousand (or let’s say, about seven?) different voices…

They go off the wall a bit at times due to the lack of physical or budgetary constraints as well. There’s a whole bunch of very visual, very weird and often delightful stuff to come.

I know it’s an old show and it’s weird to talk about spoilers, but you’ve never seen it so I don’t want to say too much.

 

[publiusr]

I like the recent TAS style offerings--perhaps they could use Flash Gordon cels to spice it up a little

 

[Christopher]

I've often said, I wish Filmation had done a TAS revival in 1980 or so, like the way they revived other shows of theirs like Batman, Fat Albert, and Gilligan. At that point, Filmation's animation and music were at their peak of quality, and they had a lot of notable writers working for them around that time or a little later, like Michael Reaves, Diane Duane, Paul Dini, Marc Scott Zicree, and J. Michael Straczynski. If they'd done a post-TMP animated series around that time, they could've made use of the multispecies crewmembers established in the Rec Deck scene. It could've been a terrific show, and it could've given more legitimacy and acceptance to both animated Trek and the TMP era.

 

[TRON JA307020]

I've often said, I wish Filmation had done a TAS revival in 1980 or so, like the way they revived other shows of theirs like Batman, Fat Albert, and Gilligan. At that point, Filmation's animation and music were at their peak of quality, and they had a lot of notable writers working for them around that time or a little later, like Michael Reaves, Diane Duane, Paul Dini, Marc Scott Zicree, and J. Michael Straczynski. If they'd done a post-TMP animated series around that time, they could've made use of the multispecies crewmembers established in the Rec Deck scene. It could've been a terrific show, and it could've given more legitimacy and acceptance to both animated Trek and the TMP era.

Yeah an 80s version would have been sweet. But alas the movies were being made and they probably thought why bother. Too bad.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Still has some of my favorite Trek episodes and ideas in it. Often overlooked and ignored which is a loss to those ignoring it.

This goes with TOS for me.

Some of the ideas probably would have made great full live action tos episodes.

 

[Christopher]

But alas the movies were being made and they probably thought why bother.

On the contrary, the movies would've given Filmation and Paramount an additional incentive to make an animated series to tie into them, just like how countless other movies have had animated spinoffs, e.g. The Real Ghostbusters, Men in Black: The Series, etc. It was just a missed opportunity.

 

[Kor]

Some of the ideas probably would have made great full live action tos episodes.

David Gerrold actually said the following in an interview on Kail Tescar's TAS site:

TAS: I've read that your two TAS stories were originally pitched for the third season of the original series. What was cut from them to make them fit the half hour format? Did it hurt the stories?

Gerrold: Surprisingly, nothing was cut. In fact, the animated scripts were almost as long as the live action scripts -- but as animation they played faster. That gave us the opportunity to do the stories in depth.

On another topic mentioned earlier, see the concept art from Filmation illustrators showing young sidekicks here on Curt Danhauser's site.

Kor

 

[TRON JA307020]

On the contrary, the movies would've given Filmation and Paramount an additional incentive to make an animated series to tie into them, just like how countless other movies have had animated spinoffs, e.g. The Real Ghostbusters, Men in Black: The Series, etc. It was just a missed opportunity.

I agree. But they either never thought of it, didn't think it would be worth it or just didn't care. It would have been pretty cool though. The star trek cartoons today are too silly and full of comedy for my taste.

 

[TRON JA307020]

David Gerrold actually said the following in an interview on Kail Tescar's TAS site:


On another topic mentioned earlier, see the concept art from Filmation illustrators showing young sidekicks here on Curt Danhauser's site.

Kor

That's pretty cool Kor. There is a lot of dialogue in those episodes.

 

[BillJ]

I think my favorite episode is, "The Time Trap".

 

[Christopher]

But they either never thought of it, didn't think it would be worth it or just didn't care.

Obviously they never thought of it. I don't recall Lou Scheimer mentioning anything in Creating the Filmation Generation about considering it. But if they had thought of it, I see no reason why they wouldn't have thought it was a good idea. As I said, they did revivals of a number of their other past shows in the late '70s and early '80s, so this would've fit right in. And it's bizarre to suggest that making an animated series to tie into a currently running movie series would somehow be "not worth it," which is the exact opposite of how it actually works.

It would have been pretty cool though. The star trek cartoons today are too silly and full of comedy for my taste.

What the hell does that have to do with how Filmation would've approached it in 1980 or so? They surely would've made it in the same vein as TAS.

 

[Nerys Myk]

I agree. But they either never thought of it, didn't think it would be worth it or just didn't care. It would have been pretty cool though. The star trek cartoons today are too silly and full of comedy for my taste.

Hmmm, so a comedy is full of comedy? SHOCKING!!

 

[TRON JA307020]

Obviously they never thought of it. I don't recall Lou Scheimer mentioning anything in Creating the Filmation Generation about considering it. But if they had thought of it, I see no reason why they wouldn't have thought it was a good idea. As I said, they did revivals of a number of their other past shows in the late '70s and early '80s, so this would've fit right in. And it's bizarre to suggest that making an animated series to tie into a currently running movie series would somehow be "not worth it," which is the exact opposite of how it actually works.



What the hell does that have to do with how Filmation would've approached it in 1980 or so? They surely would've made it in the same vein as TAS.

Of course they would have made it more in the vein of TAS. That's what I meant. That's why it would have been cool. I agree with you.

 

[TRON JA307020]

Hmmm, so a comedy is full of comedy? SHOCKING!!

I know it's a comedy and i dont care for it.

 

[Richard S. Ta]

David Gerrold actually said the following in an interview on Kail Tescar's TAS site:


On another topic mentioned earlier, see the concept art from Filmation illustrators showing young sidekicks here on Curt Danhauser's site.

Kor

Did not know of this site before. Thank you for sharing!

 

[TRON JA307020]

Did not know of this site before. Thank you for sharing!

Gerrold is a good writer. I wish they would use him today.