Even back in the day I thought much of Season 3 was getting more of a bad rap than it deserved, although I didn't have hard numbers to back it up.
Revisiting Star Trek TOS/TAS...
- Thread starter Warped9
- Start date
- Status
After a little consideration I've decided to review TAS a little differently.
Firstly, I'm going to watch the episodes as they appear or are arranged in the disks---it's just simpler and TAS doesn't really show much if any difference from episode to episode as it progresses. As such I think they're arranged in broadcast order which will be much like I saw it originally.
But secondly, I'm thinking of reading the Alan Dean Foster adaptations after each episode to give me more of an overall feeling for the individual stories.
"Beyond The Farthest Star" ****
The Enterprise is caught in the grip of a negative star mass and a malevolent alien force.
This was the very first TAS episode I saw back in 1973. And at the time it was very exciting. Hearing the familiar characters and seeing that incredibly alien ship. On top of which the story starts off right in the thick of things and moves right along. At times if I close my eyes and just listen it sounds almost like a live action TOS episode.
I'm a tad disappointed with the new opening theme, but it isn't horrible. It just sounds somewhat more generic than the original Alexander Courage theme. After that I actually rather like some of the new music tracks.
I think this is a fantastic story, but...it's marred by the show's limitations. The episode feels rushed and somewhat truncated as if additional scenes have been edited or deleted out. Often the animation is too stiff and not fluid enough. It's obvious there is a lot of reuse of stock shots. There's very little footage of the Enterprise in fluid motion as opposed to a stock drawing just panned across the screen. Even the characters don't move as much as they should and that includes their facial expressions.
The voice acting is mostly serviceable, but at times it does sound more like someone reading their lines rather than someone interacting with others in costume and on set before cameras.
In terms of overall tone this is analogous to Batman TAS of the early '90s, but it doesn't have that series sense of dynamic motion. Also while the likenesses of the characters is quite good and immediately recognizable (as are many things shown onscreen) much of it looks almost hastily drawn and with incorrect proportions. It's for that reason I feel TAS can come across as something of a stylized storyboard for a more finished product...or a live-action episode.
With that said I think this would have made for a potentially terrific live-action episode. The malevolent alien would have been easy enough to do with f/x of green light or something like it, perhaps something like when Redjac (TOS' "Wold In The Fold) took over the ship's computer. The real challenge would have been fabricating the miniature and sets for such an exotic ship as we see on the TAS episode. But if you can suspend disbelief with something like the Fesarius or the doomsday machine or even the giant amoeba then something might have been possible. And TOS had the environmental EVA suits if they didn't opt for life-support belts.
What this episode does do well is exploit the advantage of animation (albeit in somewhat limited fashion) by giving us such an exotic alien ship design and alien life forms.
Advantages: utilization of animated format, good story and overall tone, feels more adult oriented than Saturday morning schedule would suggest.
Disadvantages: lack of fluidity in animation, too many stock shots and hasty, truncated feel primarily because of half-hour format.
Next I'm going to read the ADF adaptation before adding further comments.
Firstly, I'm going to watch the episodes as they appear or are arranged in the disks---it's just simpler and TAS doesn't really show much if any difference from episode to episode as it progresses. As such I think they're arranged in broadcast order which will be much like I saw it originally.
But secondly, I'm thinking of reading the Alan Dean Foster adaptations after each episode to give me more of an overall feeling for the individual stories.
"Beyond The Farthest Star" ****
The Enterprise is caught in the grip of a negative star mass and a malevolent alien force.
This was the very first TAS episode I saw back in 1973. And at the time it was very exciting. Hearing the familiar characters and seeing that incredibly alien ship. On top of which the story starts off right in the thick of things and moves right along. At times if I close my eyes and just listen it sounds almost like a live action TOS episode.
I'm a tad disappointed with the new opening theme, but it isn't horrible. It just sounds somewhat more generic than the original Alexander Courage theme. After that I actually rather like some of the new music tracks.
I think this is a fantastic story, but...it's marred by the show's limitations. The episode feels rushed and somewhat truncated as if additional scenes have been edited or deleted out. Often the animation is too stiff and not fluid enough. It's obvious there is a lot of reuse of stock shots. There's very little footage of the Enterprise in fluid motion as opposed to a stock drawing just panned across the screen. Even the characters don't move as much as they should and that includes their facial expressions.
The voice acting is mostly serviceable, but at times it does sound more like someone reading their lines rather than someone interacting with others in costume and on set before cameras.
In terms of overall tone this is analogous to Batman TAS of the early '90s, but it doesn't have that series sense of dynamic motion. Also while the likenesses of the characters is quite good and immediately recognizable (as are many things shown onscreen) much of it looks almost hastily drawn and with incorrect proportions. It's for that reason I feel TAS can come across as something of a stylized storyboard for a more finished product...or a live-action episode.
With that said I think this would have made for a potentially terrific live-action episode. The malevolent alien would have been easy enough to do with f/x of green light or something like it, perhaps something like when Redjac (TOS' "Wold In The Fold) took over the ship's computer. The real challenge would have been fabricating the miniature and sets for such an exotic ship as we see on the TAS episode. But if you can suspend disbelief with something like the Fesarius or the doomsday machine or even the giant amoeba then something might have been possible. And TOS had the environmental EVA suits if they didn't opt for life-support belts.
What this episode does do well is exploit the advantage of animation (albeit in somewhat limited fashion) by giving us such an exotic alien ship design and alien life forms.
Advantages: utilization of animated format, good story and overall tone, feels more adult oriented than Saturday morning schedule would suggest.
Disadvantages: lack of fluidity in animation, too many stock shots and hasty, truncated feel primarily because of half-hour format.
Next I'm going to read the ADF adaptation before adding further comments.
Last edited:
For myself (at the age of 10 when TAS debuted; but I'd been watching the original TOS episode since 6 years oldf when I could find them - hey my parents allowed me the old B&W TV in my bedroom, and I read the TV Guide); I felt 99% of the TAS music (and especially the opening new TAS theme) dfell absolutley flat. I've always felt of the TAS music overall had the vibrance or energy that themes from the live action version had.
I do have (and have rewatched) the TAS series on DVD and story wise, there are quite a few in those 22 that have indeed stood the 'story test'; and would have made good (and in a few cases excellent) live action Star Trek episodes; but TAS music? JUst plain dissapointing (Hell, I'll never understand why the series couldn't use the original 'Red Alert' klaxxoon sound effect from TOS.)
Agreed to some extent. The TAS music fits with the show itself to an extent, but it would have been nice if the music had been more like TOS.
I've long had the idea that it would be interesting to try cut-and-pasting together snatches of TOS dialogue, music and scenes to create a live action version of a TAS episode. If it could be done it might be fun to see.
I've long had the idea that it would be interesting to try cut-and-pasting together snatches of TOS dialogue, music and scenes to create a live action version of a TAS episode. If it could be done it might be fun to see.
I thought that this was a much better episode to start the series off with than "More Troubles". It used the advantages of the animated format well, and wasn't a sequel to a TOS episode. It established TAS as its own thing; not just a continuation, but an expansion. It also doesn't suffer from repeated art and animation elements like later episodes do...especially the goofy spring-tail dinosaur bird things that seem to show up every third episode!
I actually like the theme music. It calls back to the original Courage theme, but is something new as well. I think that it would be neat to do an arraignment that adds the Courage fanfare at the beginning. I don't like the incidental music within the episodes though. It suffers like every other early 70s cartoon from the highly repetitive nature of the music, and a predictable pattern to it. You can count on the "exploration" theme, the "action" theme and so on. What I would like to do someday is to rescore an episode with TOS music. There is so much more variety there and I think that it would bring extra life to the episode.
One other thing about the episode I don't like: the EV belts. They just felt too advanced, too "magic", and a bit too obvious that they were saving money and time by just drawing a squiggly line around the characters instead of a physical suit.
Overall though, this is a good episode, and one of my favorites of the series.
EDIT: Couple of things I forgot to mention. First is that generally I really liked the episode titles. They add a good literary feel to the epsidoes, and they rank with the best of the TOS titles. Second, we can't really talk about TAS without talking about the whole "canon" debate. My take on it is that there are so many connections with TOS, and so many elements which were later adopted by the movies and later series that you can't really ignore it. The show had heavy involvement by the people who made TOS, the show had many of the same, excellent writers, and it's canon in my book.
Last edited:
The animation seemed limited because it was Limited Animation!
Everything was like that at the time. At least everything Filmation put out. Inexpensive, minimal effort.
(A single-panel cartoon I saw in a magazine many years ago: A cartoon rabbit is sitting in a ready room in a spacesuit. A scientist says to him "We can't afford to put you in suspended animation for the trip, but we can do you in limited animation."
)
Everything was like that at the time. At least everything Filmation put out. Inexpensive, minimal effort.
(A single-panel cartoon I saw in a magazine many years ago: A cartoon rabbit is sitting in a ready room in a spacesuit. A scientist says to him "We can't afford to put you in suspended animation for the trip, but we can do you in limited animation."
)
True enough. But it's still frustrating and even more so today. The calibre of the general writing and the stories themselves argue that TAS deserved better. The end result is that Paramount went the cheap route because they didn't seem to have much confidence in Star Trek.
I've just begun reading ADF's adaptation of "Beyond The Farthest Star" and the contrast is almost like night and day. ADF's effort, except for some of the somewhat ad-libbing dialogue, reads very much like a live-action TOS episode. I can hear the characters and their distinctive inflections and easily see them live-action in my mind. It feels more genuine and I dare say in some respects more genuine than TAS itself. It also fleshes out the story so that it doesn't feel rushed and abbreviated like the episode.
No no no
Christopher's spidey-sense re. TAS music cues just tingled and he's on his way like a Borg cube to disagree with you right now.
My wife ended up being the exact opposite. Grew up with TNG but now finds TOS more compelling.
The exact opposite here...my wife thinks the TOS music is overblown and distracting, that its sexist, even though she likes some of the stories. Her ex husband liked TOS and she watched some but she finds STNG to be much better in every way.
I simply went by the ratings I gave. The numbers don't lie.To even suggest season 3 of TOS with 50% excellent episodes is better than any other season of STNG is absolutely loopy. Only a masochist would even ruminate about whispering such a thing to an inanimate object in a soundproof room, and probably with lots of padding. My question to you is...how thick is the padding on your walls where you write this?
RAMA
Yup, even in STNG's worst season, I can find a few 5-star episodes but this one...nope. Incidentally, I had originally pegged Voyager season 2 as slightly inferior to TOS season 3, but after tallying up the ratings, TOS's season 3 actually ranked lower, with an avg of 2.85 out of 5, and ST Voyager, 3.15 out of 5. Imagine that. I still say Threshold is the worst ever...and if any ST episode is ever produced that is worse, it will surely collapse under the weight of it's awfulness into a black hole and suck the Earth into it.
RAMA
"Beyond The Farthest Star" ****
The Enterprise is caught in the grip of a negative star mass and a malevolent alien force.
This was the very first TAS episode I saw back in 1973. And at the time it was very exciting. Hearing the familiar characters and seeing that incredibly alien ship. On top of which the story starts off right in the thick of things and moves right along. At times if I close my eyes and just listen it sounds almost like a live action TOS episode.
I'm a tad disappointed with the new opening theme, but it isn't horrible. It just sounds somewhat more generic than the original
Next I'm going to read the ADF adaptation before adding further comments.
I enjoy this episode a lot, even though its a conglomeration of several TOS episodes, it feels as if Roddenberry has already had a bit of a rethink, and TAS seems a bit closer to STNG in it's feel. There are fewer questionable forays into planetary interference and a greater interest in scientific discovery. Enjoyed the alien nature of the pod ship. Even with limited animation it still looked wondrous.
Year later it appeared in the Ship of the Line calendar.
http://www.trektoday.com/articles/books/ships_of_the_line_preview.shtml
I don't want to get too far ahead of myself, but...
Going through ADF's adaptation I'm presently at the part just after they've entered the alien ship. I have to say that for the most part ADF's fleshing out of the scenes and the dialogue does wonders for the story. One thing he did that wasn't in the episode was cute: when leaving the bridge to board the alien ship Kirk says, "Lt. Uhura, you're in command."
The other thing I noted was how he handled the life support belt in prose. Essentially he picks up on what the episode did and describes a lime yellow aura that surrounds the individual when the belt is activated. He then goes on to give the reader some sense of what the experience is like for the user when inside the life support field. It's rather odd.
For me questions arise about this kind of tech. How could you possibly grasp things outside of the field with the thing operating? You can't actually touch anything. And then what about walking? Your feet would be encased in the field as well and your boots wouldn't likely be in contact with the surface you're standing/walking on---what kind of traction would you have?
I have to say that while it looks sufficiently sci-fi for television I have a hard time buying this tech in real practical terms. If this story were being done live-action I would stick with a proven and more credible tech of using an environmental suit as they did on TOS.
Going through ADF's adaptation I'm presently at the part just after they've entered the alien ship. I have to say that for the most part ADF's fleshing out of the scenes and the dialogue does wonders for the story. One thing he did that wasn't in the episode was cute: when leaving the bridge to board the alien ship Kirk says, "Lt. Uhura, you're in command."
The other thing I noted was how he handled the life support belt in prose. Essentially he picks up on what the episode did and describes a lime yellow aura that surrounds the individual when the belt is activated. He then goes on to give the reader some sense of what the experience is like for the user when inside the life support field. It's rather odd.
For me questions arise about this kind of tech. How could you possibly grasp things outside of the field with the thing operating? You can't actually touch anything. And then what about walking? Your feet would be encased in the field as well and your boots wouldn't likely be in contact with the surface you're standing/walking on---what kind of traction would you have?
I have to say that while it looks sufficiently sci-fi for television I have a hard time buying this tech in real practical terms. If this story were being done live-action I would stick with a proven and more credible tech of using an environmental suit as they did on TOS.
I'm sure that a psychiatrist could have a bit of fun with that information.
If me and my wife split up, I'm pretty sure that she'd become a Voyager fan out of spite.
I'm sure that a psychiatrist could have a bit of fun with that information.
If me and my wife split up, I'm pretty sure that she'd become a Voyager fan out of spite.
You're not implying that preferring TNG is akin to preferring Voyager, are you? That's just silly. Arguing about whether E.T. or Jaws is a better movie is one thing - saying that Transformers is better than either of them is something else. Clearly both TOS and TNG are on a different playing field entirely quality-wise than Voyager. I'm sure we can agree on that.
I'm sure that a psychiatrist could have a bit of fun with that information.
If me and my wife split up, I'm pretty sure that she'd become a Voyager fan out of spite.
You're not implying that preferring TNG is akin to preferring Voyager, are you? That's just silly. Arguing about whether E.T. or Jaws is a better movie is one thing - saying that Transformers is better than either of them is something else. Clearly both TOS and TNG are on a different playing field entirely quality-wise than Voyager. I'm sure we can agree on that.
That wasn't the point of the post and I think you know that.
I'm sure that a psychiatrist could have a bit of fun with that information.
If me and my wife split up, I'm pretty sure that she'd become a Voyager fan out of spite.
You're not implying that preferring TNG is akin to preferring Voyager, are you? That's just silly. Arguing about whether E.T. or Jaws is a better movie is one thing - saying that Transformers is better than either of them is something else. Clearly both TOS and TNG are on a different playing field entirely quality-wise than Voyager. I'm sure we can agree on that.
Picard (in fatherly voice): "You see, Data, we humans have this concept called 'humor.' You'll understand it more as you explore your humanity . . ."
I'm sure that a psychiatrist could have a bit of fun with that information.
If me and my wife split up, I'm pretty sure that she'd become a Voyager fan out of spite.
You're not implying that preferring TNG is akin to preferring Voyager, are you? That's just silly. Arguing about whether E.T. or Jaws is a better movie is one thing - saying that Transformers is better than either of them is something else. Clearly both TOS and TNG are on a different playing field entirely quality-wise than Voyager. I'm sure we can agree on that.
Picard (in fatherly voice): "You see, Data, we humans have this concept called 'humor.' You'll understand it more as you explore your humanity . . ."
Yeah? There's also this concept called "humour doesn't always translate in writing." And there's also this concept called, "Sunday morning, baby woke Daddy up at 5:30 AM, Daddy didn't get much sleep, Daddy is a bit slow." And there's also this concept called, "Daddy is a bit grumpy due to said lack of sleep, so everyone stop picking on him."
Jaws, of course, is a better movie than E.T.
No, I disagree. Jaws is too violent. They should re-release it, and replace the shark's teeth with flashlights.
- Status
Similar threads
- Poll
