Mysterious 23rd episode of TAS

[erastus25]

I noticed that the TAS DVD set skips episode proudction # 22012. Was there an aborted episode there that got written but never produced? Is there a lost TAS episode in a vault at CBS somewhere? Does anyone know the story?

Edit: Typo on which number production number was missing is now corrected.

 

[Michael]

*checks calendar* Is it April 1st?

 

[erastus25]

***Deletes accidental double post***

 

[Michael]

*checks calendar* Is it April 1st?

No, I'm serious. My reference to a possible "lost" episode was a bit of a joke, but I would like to know what the story is with the production number inconsistency.

Here's the Memory Alpha page showing I'm not crazy:
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Animated_Series

Scroll down to the list of episodes and check out the production numbers. You'll see what I mean.

But there is an episode #22020. It's The Pirates of Orion (2x01). There's no episode #22012 though.

 

[erastus25]

*checks calendar* Is it April 1st?

Er...I meant episode production number 22012 is missing. My reference to a lost episode is a bit of a joke, but I really am curious as to the inconsistency. I think I vaguely remember reading about it somewhere. I might be imagining that though.

Here's the Memory Alpha page that corroborates what I'm saying
http://memory-alpha.org/en/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Animated_Series

If you check the production numbers you'll see the last episode is 22023 and that episode 22012 is not listed.

Edit: Sorry NCC-1701 - I didn't mean to repeat you. We were posting simultaneously.

 

[Garth Rockett]

Curt Danhauser's Guide addresses this in his Q&A (Question 34). He doesn't have a definitive answer, but he does state:

While it is not clear exactly why a production number was skipped, I am quite sure that there was Never a "Lost" animated episode which might have been produced but never aired.

He gives his speculation in the answer. I hope that helps.

 

[erastus25]

Curt Danhauser's Guide addresses this in his Q&A (Question 34). He doesn't have a definitive answer, but he does state:

While it is not clear exactly why a production number was skipped, I am quite sure that there was Never a "Lost" animated episode which might have been produced but never aired.

He gives his speculation in the answer. I hope that helps.

Wow...what an awesome website! Sadly, that FAQ didn't really answer my question. I was aware of all the stuff about production numbers, etc. But, this is the only time in Star Trek history that a production number was skipped - I'm guessing there's a little more going on than the normal rejection of a script under consideration. Oh well, I'm probably just thinking too much about this.

 

[Christopher]

^^As Dannhauser says, it's probably just a bookkeeping thing, and not a sign of anything mysterious going on. The numbers are assigned early, and if plans change later on, it would be too awkward to reassign all the subsequent numbers, so you just skip one. It's the same in scripts -- routinely you'll come across parts that say "SCENES 17-20 OMITTED" because the subsequent scene numbers were already being used for reference by any number of departments and it would screw things up too much to renumber.

If there was anything unusual here, it was probably to do with Filmation's approach to production, which involved constant reuse of stock elements. If you look at their storyboards (such as the TAS storyboards available from Lincoln Enterprises or the PDF storyboards available on some of their DVD collections), you see that any time an image or stock animation sequence is reused, the storyboard will refer to the episode number and scene in which the image first appeared. All their stock cels and sequences were catalogued in this way, by episode number. That might've made it harder for them to reassign an episode number rather than simply skipping it.

 

[erastus25]

If there was anything unusual here, it was probably to do with Filmation's approach to production, which involved constant reuse of stock elements. If you look at their storyboards (such as the TAS storyboards available from Lincoln Enterprises or the PDF storyboards available on some of their DVD collections), you see that any time an image or stock animation sequence is reused, the storyboard will refer to the episode number and scene in which the image first appeared. All their stock cels and sequences were catalogued in this way, by episode number. That might've made it harder for them to reassign an episode number rather than simply skipping it.

That's an interesting insight, I didn't realize that about storyboards. It must make them incredibly complicated in a lot of ways.

 

[Christopher]

^^Well, as I said, that was a feature of Filmation's storyboards, and presumably of those used by other studios that employed limited animation and relied heavily on recycled images and sequences. Since reuse of animation is much less common today (at least in US animation), I doubt the same system is used.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

Episode #22012 was actually made, but due to time constraints, Filmation farmed the work out to Ralph Bakshi. In Episode 22012, "Catskin", Kirk and crew meet Fritz the cat, hijinxs ensue.

However they deemed it unfit to air on saturday mornings and Filmation's Lou Scheimer burned the only copy.

 

[erastus25]

Episode #22012 was actually made, but due to time constraints, Filmation farmed the work out to Ralph Bakshi. In Episode 22012, "Catskin", Kirk and crew meet Fritz the cat, hijinxs ensue.

However they deemed it unfit to air on saturday mornings and Filmation's Lou Scheimer burned the only copy.

Darn. I was kind of hoping for an episode of Assignment:Earth.

 

[bryce]

I thought it was the infamous, now lost, "Sulu comes out" episode?

 

[Noname Given]

Episode #22012 was actually made, but due to time constraints, Filmation farmed the work out to Ralph Bakshi. In Episode 22012, "Catskin", Kirk and crew meet Fritz the cat, hijinxs ensue.

However they deemed it unfit to air on saturday mornings and Filmation's Lou Scheimer burned the only copy.

Is that the one with the Kirk line:

"You dirty stinkin' Klingons! You killed Ensign Fritz!" ??

 

[Jptrekker]

Episode #22012 was actually made, but due to time constraints, Filmation farmed the work out to Ralph Bakshi. In Episode 22012, "Catskin", Kirk and crew meet Fritz the cat, hijinxs ensue.

However they deemed it unfit to air on saturday mornings and Filmation's Lou Scheimer burned the only copy.

Is that the one with the Kirk line:

"You dirty stinkin' Klingons! You killed Ensign Fritz!" ??

No, no, no...it's the one with Kirk & Fritz walking off into the sunset together saying:

Kirk: "I've seen it all
Fritz: "and I've done it all
KirK: "I've fought many a good man
Fritz: "and I've laid many a good chick
together: "and if it's one thing I've learned it's...
they then grab Uhrua, M'ress, a couple of Alices, and...this needs to stay PG-13