Spoilers I finally exposed myself to The Animated Series

[Qonundrum]

I bought the DVD set years ago in a clearance bin but never really popped 'em out to watch. I might have seen a clip on youtube (something with big pink tribbles) but that's about it.

I never do anything in order, which is why I'll be born tomorrow and die several centuries ago. So my first episode of choice was "The Lorelei Signal". One can never go wrong with Margaret Armen and she was going to be the script editor for TOS had TOS season 4 been commissioned. As with DC Fontana's, Armen's stories on the show tended to have ideas that really gelled for me but I'll get to that later.

First, some thoughts on the animation:

It's 1973, there are no computers. Just hand drawings at 24 frames per second. 24 hand-drawn images per second. For 25-minute installments. It's easy to see why long shots see characters as black silhouettes. Panned scenes showing static images of characters and so on. Rotoscoping and masking for transporter, nacelle, planet rotation, and other effects. The ship moving to a planet or through space sometimes look off. And yet, those are cost savings techniques. For the time and money involved, it wasn't too bad and anyone who's had to hand draw to that level knows it's a royal pain and even in the 1970s, for weekly television, you're not going to get Disney quality. But what surprised me the most were the effective use of face close-ups, which are fantastic from a directorial perspective.

Voice acting - yes, at times it sounds like the cast are doing a radio play. Yet it wasn't as jarring as I would have expected it.

As for the story:

The feel of the piece is as if TOS never ended and it's simply a joy to watch. TAS is limited to 24 and a half minutes, meaning a lot of nuance has to be excised in favor of exposition. It has to be rushed and yet, as I'm watching,

I'm captivated by the verve and creativity of "Lorelei". It's like "Sirens in Space" and it's a lot better than "The Deadly Years". The ending is also the first time the transporter is used to save everyone. I always thought TNG did it with "Unnatural Selection", but TNG basically nodded to TAS.

Dialogue is crafted in a way that seems jarring but they still get to enough exposition at the end so that it makes sense, they did a lot with so little time. Still, a proper 50 minute format would have allowed a smoother flow and I'm fairly certain the rest of the series is equally structured, which is actually clever in ways. Enough plot exposition is given and in a satisfying way.

Seeing Uhura take command is first rate great stuff. Stuff TOS would have had more of if it didn't revolve around "the big three".

I still dislike the rapid pacing, but given the time in which it was made it was unavoidable. The fact it's leaving me wanting MORE only shows they got so much right with this show.

And wasn't the Taurus system explored in that TOS season 1 episode where Spock takes command and almost gets everyone killed as a result? "Galileo Seven"? Not to complain too much, "Taurus" is a cool name.

I still love how Leonard Nimoy fought to get Nichelle Nichols and George Takei in.

Up next: "The Ambergris Element". I think I'll finish up Margaret's stories first, even if I'm disc-hopping to do it. I just looked and she only did two TAS episodes. But I'm increasingly glad TAS even got made. Armen's contributions to TOS always had lots of nuances strewn in and I reviewed "Gamesters of Triskeleon" some time ago, so it was great to find out she did TAS.

 

[Maurice]

Well...actually most cartoons are shot "on twos" which means each drawing is photographed twice on two subsequent frames, so at maximum you're getting 12 drawings per second. Filmation put the "limited" in "limited animation" and nothing moved unless it had to. That was all about money and not about how hard it was to do, as full animation goes back to the silent era.

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Filmation put the "limited" in "limited animation" and nothing moved unless it had to. That was all about money and not about how hard it was to do, as full animation goes back to the silent era.

Another cost saver was the way Majel and Nichelle performed most (or all?) of the female voices, and Jimmy did most of the male guest roles. I never noticed it in first run when I was 11, but you pick up on it eventually. It's not a problem, though.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I'm just amused by the spoiler tag for a thread about a 45-year-old cartoon.

 

[Marsden]

I want to add, I was never bothered by the voice acting. Is it as good as the live action, no, but it's certainly not nearly as bad as the whining I've read about it.

The animation also really doesn't bother me, I've seen much better animated things that turned out to be expensive garbage, I rather have a good story.

 

[Phaser Two]

I also thought the voice acting was just fine. Even good.

 

[FreddyE]

Well..so far I´ve given TAS two tries. First was a german tv-airing, with its original german dub. Where the TOS dub tried to make TOS seems more lighthearted at times then it actually was (don´t get me started on often heavy cuts), they turned the "dub-ruination" up to twelve for TAS...they turned the show into some very weird shit where pretty much any dialog consisted of ryhmes and VERY unfunny jokes. The second try was the newer, second german dub...which is definatly an improvement. They even used some of the surriving voice actors from the TOS dub (Kirk´s voice actor had died by then, so they had to use the one from the Movies)...but still..I just can´t really get into it for some reason. Often the dialog sounds..phoned in...

I`ll try again without any dub....but I think it´s the pacing that just throws me. Weirdly enough..other cartoons of about the same length per episode managed to NOT feel rushed at all...for example The Real Ghostbusters.

 

[Phaser Two]

Well..so far I´ve given TAS two tries. First was a german tv-airing, with its original german dub. Where the TOS dub tried to make TOS seems more lighthearted at times then it actually was (don´t get me started on often heavy cuts), they turned the "dub-ruination" up to twelve for TAS...they turned the show into some very weird shit where pretty much any dialog consisted of ryhmes and VERY unfunny jokes. The second try was the newer, second german dub...which is definatly an improvement. They even used some of the surriving voice actors from the TOS dub (Kirk´s voice actor had died by then, so they had to use the one from the Movies)...but still..I just can´t really get into it for some reason. Often the dialog sounds..phoned in...

I`ll try again without any dub....but I think it´s the pacing that just throws me. Weirdly enough..other cartoons of about the same length per episode managed to NOT feel rushed at all...for example The Real Ghostbusters.

Interesting about German TV; thanks.

The best TAS eps don't feel rushed and are able to fit an amazing amount into the running time. The Time Trap is, for me, the best example.

 

[Christopher]

The ending is also the first time the transporter is used to save everyone. I always thought TNG did it with "Unnatural Selection", but TNG basically nodded to TAS.

I'm not sure of that, since "Selection" treated it as something that had never been done before. I think it was just a case of convergent evolution, two different writers realizing that the only way to fix the rapid-aging corner they'd painted themselves into was to use the transporter as a reset button.

Seeing Uhura take command is first rate great stuff. Stuff TOS would have had more of if it didn't revolve around "the big three".

Of all the screen incarnations of Trek, TAS is the one that gives Sulu and Uhura the most to do. Everywhere else, they're secondary to the main three or four white guys, but TAS treats them as equal members of the ensemble. ("The Slaver Weapon" being the ultimate example, since they're the only human characters in the whole episode!)

And wasn't the Taurus system explored in that TOS season 1 episode where Spock takes command and almost gets everyone killed as a result? "Galileo Seven"?

Technically, the planet on which "Lorelei" takes place is only referred to onscreen as "the second planet of the Taurean system." This is often interpreted as Taurus II, but it could just as easily be Taurean II.

Well...actually most cartoons are shot "on twos" which means each drawing is photographed twice on two subsequent frames, so at maximum you're getting 12 drawings per second.

That's actually the deluxe version. Lots of TV animation is done on threes, only eight images per second, which is the bare minimum that the human eye and brain can perceive as movement. This became pretty common in '80s TV animation once most of it got subcontracted to Japan, Korea, etc.

Filmation put the "limited" in "limited animation" and nothing moved unless it had to. That was all about money and not about how hard it was to do, as full animation goes back to the silent era.

Actually it was UPA studios (the makers of Gerald McBoingBoing and Mr. Magoo) that pioneered limited animation as a production technique, which led most other studios to follow suit, including Hanna-Barbera, Jay Ward Productions, DePatie-Freleng, and Filmation. Not to mention the near-universal embrace of limited animation by Japanese and other Asian animation studios, a practice that continues in anime to this day. Filmation's main innovation was their "stock system," the practice of building an organized library of reusable character poses and movement sequences, further streamlining the production process.

 

[Forbin]

Yeah, saying a Filmation cartoon was 24 drawings per second is being VERY generous.
In any given dialog scene, the only thing moving is a mouth, and that's maybe 3-5 key positions. Maybe an eyebrow gets raised in in 5 frames. The rest of the image is a single cel of the person/people layered under the mouth and brow. But they made it work.

 

[FormerLurker]

It has to be said:

You exposed yourself to the Animated Series? Did it call the cops?

 

[XCV330]

the voice acting is good, some of the music is good, the writing is often ok.
the animation is bottom of the barrel awful. it was bad even by standards of the time. Filmation was the worst. it cries out for a remake.

 

[Christopher]

the animation is bottom of the barrel awful. it was bad even by standards of the time.

As someone who grew up during that time, I have to disagree emphatically. I always found Filmation's animation much better than that of their main competitor, Hanna-Barbera. Filmation's characters may not have moved as much, but that allowed the artists to take more time to make them look good. H-B's art in shows from the same period was a lot sloppier, uglier, and more error-prone. Filmation's background paintings were also much more beautiful, considered the best in the business. I thought they had better music too, repetitive though it was.

Also, Filmation often made an effort to be racially inclusive in its shows, both onscreen and behind the scenes. It never seemed to me that other cartoon studios were making the same effort. And when it came to adaptations of pre-existing works, Filmation's were generally the most authentic, at least in their adventure shows -- Star Trek, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, etc. They always tried to be faithful to the source. I can't think of another screen interpretation of Tarzan that drew on so many concepts from the original books.

So as a regular viewer of 1970s Saturday morning kidvid, I always felt that Filmation was the best studio around on multiple levels.

 

[XCV330]

As someone who grew up during that time, I have to disagree emphatically. I always found Filmation's animation much better than that of their main competitor, Hanna-Barbera. Filmation's characters may not have moved as much, but that allowed the artists to take more time to make them look good. H-B's art in shows from the same period was a lot sloppier, uglier, and more error-prone. Filmation's background paintings were also much more beautiful, considered the best in the business. I thought they had better music too, repetitive though it was.

Also, Filmation often made an effort to be racially inclusive in its shows, both onscreen and behind the scenes. It never seemed to me that other cartoon studios were making the same effort. And when it came to adaptations of pre-existing works, Filmation's were generally the most authentic, at least in their adventure shows -- Star Trek, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, etc. They always tried to be faithful to the source. I can't think of another screen interpretation of Tarzan that drew on so many concepts from the original books.

So as a regular viewer of 1970s Saturday morning kidvid, I always felt that Filmation was the best studio around on multiple levels.

I didnt get to watch as many cartoons in the 70s, as my folks wanted me to go out with them selling Watchtower magazines , but it seemed like Filmation often went for cheap knockoffs like Web Woman, Blackstar, etc. They did get some good licenses like Star Trek, Tarzan, Lone Ranger (if I recall correctly).
Their color palette was beyond bizarre but the reasons are well known.

 

[Maurice]

I'll take rough rendering and more animation frames over polished but static any day. So HB cartoons were rougher in draughtsmanship, but they were a tiny bit more alive. But vive la difference.

I don't think FIlmation was ahead of the curve in terms of racial inclusion on Saturday morning programming (behind the scenes I can't speak to). HB had Valerie in Josie and Pussycats, a Harlem Globetrotters series two years before FiIlmation's Fat Albert, and had The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan (racist as it might be in retrospect), which actually had a Chinese-American actor playing the title character, etc.

None of this is to pillory Filmation; just to maintain a sense of proportion.

 

[Christopher]

I didnt get to watch as many cartoons in the 70s, as my folks wanted me to go out with them selling Watchtower magazines , but it seemed like Filmation often went for cheap knockoffs like Web Woman, Blackstar, etc.

Neither of those was a knockoff. If anything, it's the other way around. Filmation was originally developing a superhero character named Spider-Woman, but Stan Lee caught wind of it and hastened to create a Marvel Spider-Woman so he could trademark the name, which required Filmation to rename their character Web-Woman. She was one of several diverse superheroes that Filmation developed for Tarzan and the Super 7, including an aquatic male-female duo named Manta and Moray and an African-American husband and wife called Super-Stretch and Micro-Woman. (The live-action Jason of Star Command was part of the same multi-segment show in its first season.)

As for Blackstar, it was an original high-fantasy series featuring a number of elements that were echoed in He-Man a few years later. It was originally meant to have a black lead character, hence the name, but the network balked, so he ended up being just a very well-tanned guy with straight black hair.

 

[lurok]

Why is this a spoiler thread? Not for obvious reason of one person not seeing this series, but more what it 'spoils'/reveals about latter episodes and Trek general.

 

[XCV330]

Neither of those was a knockoff. If anything, it's the other way around. Filmation was originally developing a superhero character named Spider-Woman, but Stan Lee caught wind of it and hastened to create a Marvel Spider-Woman so he could trademark the name, which required Filmation to rename their character Web-Woman. She was one of several diverse superheroes that Filmation developed for Tarzan and the Super 7, including an aquatic male-female duo named Manta and Moray and an African-American husband and wife called Super-Stretch and Micro-Woman. (The live-action Jason of Star Command was part of the same multi-segment show in its first season.)

As for Blackstar, it was an original high-fantasy series featuring a number of elements that were echoed in He-Man a few years later. It was originally meant to have a black lead character, hence the name, but the network balked, so he ended up being just a very well-tanned guy with straight black hair.

I didn't know that about Web Woman and Blackstar. Honestly it puts both of them in a very different perspective. Thanks.

 

[jaime]

Neither of those was a knockoff. If anything, it's the other way around. Filmation was originally developing a superhero character named Spider-Woman, but Stan Lee caught wind of it and hastened to create a Marvel Spider-Woman so he could trademark the name, which required Filmation to rename their character Web-Woman. She was one of several diverse superheroes that Filmation developed for Tarzan and the Super 7, including an aquatic male-female duo named Manta and Moray and an African-American husband and wife called Super-Stretch and Micro-Woman. (The live-action Jason of Star Command was part of the same multi-segment show in its first season.)

As for Blackstar, it was an original high-fantasy series featuring a number of elements that were echoed in He-Man a few years later. It was originally meant to have a black lead character, hence the name, but the network balked, so he ended up being just a very well-tanned guy with straight black hair.

Prince?
XD
I had heard the spider woman thing before. And there’s the whole Real Ghostbusters thing.it def sounds like filmation were more prolific than I got to hear from my corner of time and space though.

 

[BoredShipCapt'n]

In Alan Dean Foster's adaptation of The Lorelei Signal, there's an additional wrinkle to the transporter solution, in that the earlier-pattern versions of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy have no memory of the events that happened since they dematerialized.

As someone who grew up during that time, I have to disagree emphatically. I always found Filmation's animation much better than that of their main competitor, Hanna-Barbera. Filmation's characters may not have moved as much, but that allowed the artists to take more time to make them look good. H-B's art in shows from the same period was a lot sloppier, uglier, and more error-prone. Filmation's background paintings were also much more beautiful, considered the best in the business. I thought they had better music too, repetitive though it was.

Also, Filmation often made an effort to be racially inclusive in its shows, both onscreen and behind the scenes. It never seemed to me that other cartoon studios were making the same effort. And when it came to adaptations of pre-existing works, Filmation's were generally the most authentic, at least in their adventure shows -- Star Trek, Tarzan, The Lone Ranger, Zorro, etc. They always tried to be faithful to the source. I can't think of another screen interpretation of Tarzan that drew on so many concepts from the original books.

So as a regular viewer of 1970s Saturday morning kidvid, I always felt that Filmation was the best studio around on multiple levels.

I also read somewhere that Filmation's Star Trek had something like three times as many background paintings as a typical half-hour cartoon.