I'm Finally Going to Watch The Animated Series
- Thread starter tomalak301
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EDIT: Never mind. I wrote a whole detailed response, but then I realized this isn't the forcefield belt thread, it's the TAS thread. I've made my case already, and if Joel hasn't been convinced by my arguments yet, he never will be. So I won't be inconsiderate to other posters by continuing to drag this thread off-topic for no possible gain.
Well, I think we're on-topic: Force field belts that appeared in TAS. We're just not divulging from either of our particular viewpoints.
A little debate is cool, as long as no one gets hurts in the process (and hopefully, no one got hurt); of course, some debate is to be expected in any forms of fandom...
With that said, I finished my watching of TAS (the entire run) this weekend, and I thought it was pretty good.
As aforementioned in a previous post, I list it as one of my favorite Trek incarnations. (Right now, it's actually my only Trek incarnation, since I've been spoiled by the 2009 film).
DS9 may be one I go back to, soon as time allows.
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This alternate technology to bulky environmental suits was also mentioned in "USS Enterprise Officer's Manual" and the novels "Bloodthirst", "DS9: The Tempest", "Crucible: Spock: The Fire and the Rose" and "Crucible: Kirk: The Star to Every Wandering". Called "bio-belts" in the novel "Triangle" and "life support shields" in the novel "TNG: The Peacekeepers". Called "subspace isolation fields", projected from modified emergency transporter armbands in the episode, "TNG: Timescape".
And it was a lot easier and cheaper to animate a yellowish aura around the already existing cell drawings instead of having to do up all new drawings of the characters in spacesuits.
You're not kidding! I watched it when I was a kid and enjoyed it a lot... but I knew other kids that were like "huh?", not getting any joy from it and finding other shows more entertaining. Just check out the "Terratin Incident" episode... the concepts talked about are rather advanced for children. I can see why the show had difficulty keeping a large audience.
When you watch an episode, you can really envision a possible "non-animated" version of it. Of course, with the way it was recorded, the vocalizations are very stiff... the only lively one is Scotty (IMHO). If the recordings were better, it'd be a blast to see an editing effort to put real action footage with the animated series stories/dialogs.
Also, if there are any episodes which stand out above the rest, some of the fanfiction productions should borrow the stories/scripts--make them into "real" episodes.
And make the line readings even worse? No, thank you.
I wouldn't mind seeing some experienced voice actors take a run at some of the episodes in a reworking, especially some of those where half the characters are being voiced by either Jimmy or Nichelle. And in the case of "More Tribbles, More Troubles", getting William Campbell to do Koloth (yeah, he might not sound exactly like he did back in the day, but that'd only be a problem if we were inserting dialogue into "The Trouble With Tribbles"; in this case, just chalk it up to Koloth getting over a cold and move on).
It wasn't canceled due to poor ratings. Due to the strange way animated series were budgeted in the 70s, it was cheaper to do one full season, followed by a half season padded out with repeats. And then start up another series altogether. After much research, it was also discovered that repeat episodes of Saturday morning cartoons rated just as well as fresh episodes.
In the 80s/90s, the Batman animated episodes were kept fresh by restarting it every few seasons with a new titles and a bit of reformatting of format.
^That's right. It would be a mistake to assume that just because a '70s Filmation Saturday morning show stopped making new episodes, that meant it was cancelled. On the contrary, when I was growing up, I got used to seeing the same episode rerun over and over again for years. Heck, Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids ran continuously from 1972 to 1985, but it only had new episodes every several years -- in the 1972, 1975, 1979, and 1984 seasons.
However, the sources say that TAS didn't keep running after 1974. But I recall that it did go into syndication after that and was on TV for years in various places.
However, the sources say that TAS didn't keep running after 1974. But I recall that it did go into syndication after that and was on TV for years in various places.
God yeah, I remember the BraveStarr episode where a kid overdosed on a drug called Spin. I was 19 when it aired, but was really floored by the ending. BraveStarr was, on the surface, yet another reworking of the hero vs regular villain format, like He-Man, She-Ra, Ghostbusters, and non Filmation shows such as GI Joe, COPS, Rambo and so on. But BraveStarr very often aimed higher and tackled some serious topics. It was Filmation's last series, but it was a good one. Well, except for that Sherlock Holmes in the 25th Century 2 parter, where they made Holmes buff and gorgeous. But Jonathan Harris was a great Moriarty. :-)
Not for anything, a lot of people knock Filmation's output, but they did a lot of shows which aired daily. And they were of no less quality than the weekly Saturday morning stuff.
Perhaps not, but in the same vein, Filmation's live action Space Academy used "life support badges" instead of EVA suits. One episode actually had Jonathan Harris's character use an outdated spacesuit for a rescue mission because the badges were rendered useless on a certain asteroid. Badges? Gampu didn't need no stinking badges.
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And I guess there are also such things as Green Lantern and Legion of Super Heroes rings, both of which envelop their wearers in "auras" that sustain them in space. But that's basically just magic by any other name.
Well, Trek had its magic too(pun intended), in 'The Magicks of Megas-tu'...
'Watchmen' had Dr. Manhattan able to manipulate a barrier for himself as well as a companion to withstand space...
I do want to watch those 'Space Academy' episodes...(Hopefully, Hulu carries them...because I don't want to have to get another Netflix account. There is already redbox, Hulu, Youtube.......the local library...)..
'Watchmen' had Dr. Manhattan able to manipulate a barrier for himself as well as a companion to withstand space...
I do want to watch those 'Space Academy' episodes...(Hopefully, Hulu carries them...because I don't want to have to get another Netflix account. There is already redbox, Hulu, Youtube.......the local library...
)..
I never really had a problem with the magic in "Megas-tu," because it was explained as the physics of a different universe. (On the other hand, its cosmology is profoundly dated. It's based on the continuous-creation cosmology that was the main rival of the Big Bang model at the time but has now been thoroughly discredited.)
Regardless, it's still an enjoyable episode...
I forgot to mention; since we're on the subject: Even the 'Q' have the ability to go out in the vacuum of space(with one click of the finger, they seemingly can do anything)...Species 8472 are able to breathe and live in space...and, even the Zentraedi species (from the 'Robotech' and 'Macross' universes) are able to live in the vacuum of space.
I like the fact that TAS put that idea out there for humans, regardless of the behind-the-scenes assumptions or reasons...
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It's possible the belts could be used only for specific conditions. Still, I'm inclined to agree with Christopher about the practical deficiencies. It's easy to draw and likely relatively easier to do in f/x for live-action, and it looks way cool and very sci-fi, but it's not something I'd seriously consider for the sake of genuine credibility.
I've dabbled with depicting individual TAS scenes as live-action, but one day I'd like to try to do an entire episode. Something like a collection of dvd stills in sequence. It would be time consuming and result in quite a few images, but I think it would be fun as hell and really bring TAS to life.
Small sample:
And if you want to see life-support belts,
Compliments to Warped9 work here and to all in the discussion of Life Support Belts.
I consider TAS as canon in the Star Trek universe, it was simply the final roughly year or so of TOS Kirk's five year mission. So, TAS was set during 2269 to 2270. As it was stated in VOY episode "Q2" that Kirk completed his five year mission in 2270.
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