Revisiting Star Trek TOS/TAS...

[ImCaptKirk]

Well, they did do some tweaks, but not always for the better. For some reason, they felt the need to replace the red background in "Time Trap" with black, which makes it clash with several other scenes in that episode.

I've got an ongoing eBay search for the laserdisc set, so I can have the original episodes as they were to begin with. It'll be even better when I get a laserdisc player to go with them.

Good luck with that, I think Pioneer made those old fashion laser disck players. Weren't they about 12" disks?

 

[Tribble Herder]

Several companies made laserdisc players, but Pioneer made ones that played both laserdiscs and DVDs.

I'm still open on the matter of what kind of player.

 

[Warped9]

Once Upon A Planet **

Ouch. At heart is a decent story---the Keeper of the Shoreleave planet has died and the planet's replication computer wants to break loose---but I found the writing a bit sloppy and redundant and the episode as a whole feels really truncated. It feels like numerous scenes are missing from the story. Too bad because I remembered this being better.

Part of the problem, of course, is that while they try to take the story into a different place it just doesn't come off as well as the superb original TOS episode, "Shoreleave," from which the TAS effort is spun off from. Decent idea, but disappointing execution.

I might catch flak here, but am I the only one who isn't an M'ress fan? The idea of a catlike alien crew member is interesting, but Majel Barrett's voice work here, particularly with the added purring sounds, is really annoying. It just seems like such a cliched and lazy way to vocalize the character. But, of course, guest character voice acting in TAS was very hot-and-miss.

 

[Forbin]

But, of course, guest character voice acting in TAS was very hot-and-miss.

And M'Ress was one hot miss!

 

[Warped9]

But, of course, guest character voice acting in TAS was very hot-and-miss.

And M'Ress was one hot miss!

I, too, can appreciate some tail, but not that kind.

Even as an adolescent this just didn't click for me.

 

[Mutai Sho-Rin]

But, of course, guest character voice acting in TAS was very hot-and-miss.

And M'Ress was one hot miss!

Great Freudian slip of the fingers!

 

[Warped9]

Once Upon A Planet **

Ouch. At heart is a decent story---the Keeper of the Shoreleave planet has died and the planet's replication computer wants to break loose---but I found the writing a bit sloppy and redundant and the episode as a whole feels really truncated. It feels like numerous scenes are missing from the story. Too bad because I remembered this being better.

Part of the problem, of course, is that while they try to take the story into a different place it just doesn't come off as well as the superb original TOS episode, "Shoreleave," from which the TAS effort is spun off from. Decent idea, but disappointing execution.

I might catch flak here, but am I the only one who isn't an M'ress fan? The idea of a catlike alien crew member is interesting, but Majel Barrett's voice work here, particularly with the added purring sounds, is really annoying. It just seems like such a cliched and lazy way to vocalize the character. But, of course, guest character voice acting in TAS was very hot-and-miss.

Just finished reading the ADF adaptation. This will probably continue to be the same with all the episodes---the ADF version feels like a complete story without feeling like there are scenes missing. ADF backs that up by often fleshing out scenes with added bits of dialogue and more detailed action.

The print versions also allow me to see the live-action characters in my mind with a live-action setting as opposed to watching the stiff animation. That alone earns the story one more star.

The story itself, in print or onscreen, is okay, but suffers because it doesn't really go anywhere much different from the original TOS episode. Yeah, the planetary computer develops a mind of its own, but it isn't all that malevolent and in the end is rather easily dissuaded to abandon its plans.

 

[Kail]

Well, they did do some tweaks, but not always for the better. For some reason, they felt the need to replace the red background in "Time Trap" with black, which makes it clash with several other scenes in that episode.

Amen to that! I was VERY annoyed at that "improvement". I can't for the life of me figure out why they did that!

 

[CorporalCaptain]

Well, they did do some tweaks, but not always for the better. For some reason, they felt the need to replace the red background in "Time Trap" with black, which makes it clash with several other scenes in that episode.

Amen to that! I was VERY annoyed at that "improvement". I can't for the life of me figure out why they did that!

Was the decision made by someone unfamiliar with the source material, who didn't really know what he was doing?

 

[Redfern]

I might catch flak here, but am I the only one who isn't an M'ress fan? The idea of a catlike alien crew member is interesting, but Majel Barrett's voice work here, particularly with the added purring sounds, is really annoying. It just seems like such a cliched and lazy way to vocalize the character. But, of course, guest character voice acting in TAS was very hot-and-miss.

Don't worry, Warped9, I'm not gonna' "jump on your case". You actually raise some valid concerns I have as well. Yes, I am bit of a nut for M'Ress, but as presented in the animated episodes, I openly admit there were shortcomings.

You see, when the series debuted in 1973, I was just short of 11 years old and didn't really notice M'Ress. I was a Spock fan at the time (still am). It wasn't until 1982 when I reconsidered the character, after I had seen the film that some could debate screwed me up, "Cat People". Suddenly I remembered the felinoid comm' officer and I gathered what materials about her that I could. But there was precious little. There were the rough recreations of the "character study" cels in the Star Trek Concordance and the snippets of prose Alan Dean Foster devoted to her in the ST Log adaptations. But without access to footage from the actual show, neither video or even audio, my memories of M'Ress became distorted.

When it returned to the airwaves during the mid 80s on Nickelodeon, I had a bit of a rude awakening. Part of it was the inconsistent sloppiness of her drawings, but like you, what really grated was the forced, cliched performance of Majel Barrett. Obviously, I had totally forgotten about her voice! Ugh! I'm not sure now what I "heard" in my mind's "ear" during those "dry years", but it wasn't that!

How would I do the character differently? I'm not sure. It's possible another actress could perform the lines injecting "purrs" and throaty "growls" just as Majel did and yet have them "flow" more believably, without them sounding so stilted or cliched.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Tallguy]

I might catch flak here, but am I the only one who isn't an M'ress fan?

Not a fan, no. But 90% of that is the voice.

I've often wondered if we could get a "fan dub" project going where we get some decent fan-actors to create new voices for the 63-some parts that Our Heroes had to sit in for. I'm sure there are exceptions. (I really liked Doohan's Governor Wesley.) But M'ress, Arix, and The Guardian of Forever would be priority one.

It'd be a heck of a lot easier to do than re-animating the whole show in CG.

 

[Cap-Pick-Card]

I liked Captain Pike better than Captain Kirk, but I liked the disabled Pike in the beeping box the best.

 

[Warped9]

Quite sometime ago I revisited TOS and began revisiting TAS as part of the same thread. But, alas, life intervened and I got derailed from that marathon viewing. So now I'd like to finish it off.

I want to pick up where I left off, watching 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 I was also reading the Alan Dean Foster adaptations after each episode to give me more of an overall feeling for the individual stories.

Recapping...

"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 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.


ADF's adaptation:

It's good and fleshes out the story better than the aired episode. That said sometimes ADF adds bits of dialogue that don't quite ring true (in my opinion) for the characters, but if this had served as basis for a script for a filmed episode then I've little doubt that would have been corrected.

One new feature seen in TAS, or at least in this one episode, was the bridge's Intruder Defense System. This was a clever idea and something that might have been handy during TOS. That said because we never actually saw the topmost part of the bridge ceiling in TOS (from the inside) there is no real reason to believe the IDS wasn't there.

The adaptations feel like whole unedited stories and avoid that truncated feeling many of the aired episodes have because of the half-hour format. Although in the '70s (and even today, really) you could never have gotten an hour long animated series launched TAS' stories often impress as needing that amount of running time to be told properly.

But in this revisit the adaptations serve the purpose of filling in some apparent holes of the aired episodes. Still, in the end I have to assess the episode on its own because that's how it was put together and aired. It would be curious to know if there had ever been any bits or scenes planned or finished for any of the episodes that were aborted or deleted in order to fit the alloted running time.

“Yesteryear” ****

Spock travels back to the time of his youth to restore history.

For Saturday morning television this was clearly far above what else was being offered. This episode was no less than ideal subject matter for TOS. And looking at the episode I think there is very little they would have been challenged to do had this story been done live-action.

The lematya and Spock's sehlat would have been quite a challenge and would have had to be rethought. The flying "cars" could have been referenced though not actually seen. And a matte painting could have served for the city of Shi-Khar. If they could bring back Mark Lenard and Jane Wyatt as Spock's parents then there really wouldn't have been anything else left as a real obstacle. Oh, and you would have needed the Time Guardian set again as well. For the outdoor scenes it would have been best to have shot on-location, perhaps the same place they shot "Arena" and "Friday's Child."

Granted the avian alien historian would have had to have been rewritten. But no reason you couldn't have done the Andorian Thelin in Starfleet uniform. I've always been intrigued by Thelin and I really wish we could have seen an Andorian Starfleet officer in TOS. It really would have nailed home the idea that there were other aliens in Starfleet.

I also liked that when this episode was made they chose to dress Sarek in more contemporary style clothing rather than robes which seemed to become almost standard fare later on in the films and other series.

It's also easy to see why this story is so well regarded. It's far removed from standard run-and-jump action fare which was the province of superhero type Saturday morning cartoons. It's a thoughtful and moving story.

The only reason I'm grading it a 4 instead of 5 is again because of the limited half hour running time and limited animation.


ADF's adaptation:

Reading this is such a different experience. It has so many small touches that make it feel whole and complete.

One of the advantages of the adaptations is you needn't accept sometimes less than impressive voice acting. We know that some of the regular cast were employed to voice other characters and this could often undermine the effectiveness of a given scene. A case in point would be the voice of the Guardian. Remember the way it spoke and sounded originally in "The City On The Edge Of Forever"---you can imagine that voice when you're reading it. But in the animated episode we get this weird sounding substitute that sounds like he's barely awake. It's laughable...and not in a good way. It's simply another point underlining that Paramount and Filmation were doing this on the cheap when this really deserved better.

I also found it amusing that the Federation would risk sending research teams back into the past. Perhaps the events in "Yesteryear" will make them reconsider that practice.

Now it's possible I suppose that in the intervening years between first finding the Guardian and the events in "Yesteryear" it was learned how to communicate with Guardian in a particular way and now it is possible to ask for specific times and places.


"One Of Our Planets Is Missing" ***

The Enterprise encounters an enormous cloud like lifeform that consumes planets.

This is a watchable enough episode, but not really special in any way. It's something of a cross between "The Immunity Syndrome" and Fantastic Voyage. It's pretty much a bottle show, but one that TOS might have had some challenge producing. It would all depend on how much of the cloud creature they wished to depict and how well they could do it.

There's a neat bit of continuity in that we see the return of Commodore Robert Wesley from "The Ultimate Computer" only here he is now governor of a Federation colony, the planet threatened by the cloud creature.


ADF adaptation:

Yes, it feels more complete, but it doesn't seem such a big difference this time.

I do have one issue with the story, though. When they beam aboard a chunk of antimatter to reenergize the warp engines why is Kirk assisting Scotty in doing this? You would think there would be any number of more skilled engineering personnel to handle a procedure of this type rather than the ship's Captain.

The other somewhat moment is when Spock uses the ship's sensors as a telepathic booster or extension of himself to make contact with the creature to ascertain its intelligence. I suppose it's not much different than him communicating with Nomad or the Horta, but it does push suspension of disbelief.

“The Lorelei Signal” ***

A strange signal lures the Enterprise to a remote world inhabited solely by women.

Toss in a bit of "The Deadly Years" and this is really a retelling of the ancient fable of seagoing mariners lured by sirens to their death. I don't really care for this story much, but it has one really good saving grace: when Uhura takes command because the male members of the crew are effectively incapacitated. She not only takes command but also leads an all female security team planetside to retrieve Kirk and his landing party. We get to see them phaser stun the female inhabitants, but I'd have liked to see some good old-fashioned hand-to-hand ass kicking.

Actually this story would have been worth doing live-action just to see the Enterprise's female contingent in action. Uhura and company doing a little Avengers' Emma Peel style action.


ADF adaptation:

It works somewhat better because he fills in little plot holes from the episode. In the episode I'm wondering why they just don't turn the speakers off or try to block the signal, but in the adaptation Uhura does try to do this very thing but to no effect. In the episode I couldn't understand why the Taurean women didn't just use their "magical" viewer to locate Kirk and company, but in the book it explains that Uhura's security team arrive just before the Taureans are about to consult the viewer.

I was initially going to grade this a 2-star, but the story picks up when Uhura takes command. It doesn't make it enough to be rated as good, but it does make it better and watchable.


“More Tribbles, More Troubles” *

The Enterprise once again encounters Cyrano Jones, a cargo of tribbles and irate Klingons.

"The Trouble With Tribbles" was an amusing diversion, a lighter note amidst TOS' usual drama. But there was really nothing in it that urged a revisit. Nonetheless someone saw fit to go back and retread already trodden ground...and the effort is a poor one.

This episode is just plain bad and the story within it offers nothing of value or genuine humour. Not one bit of the original episode's charm is evident here. This is exactly the kind of episode that might appeal to the usual Saturday morning crowd and exactly the kind of effort Star Trek fans were hoping they wouldn't see from TAS.

The only elements of note in this are the interesting automated freighter design and the introduction of the glommerr tribble predator. The rest is just plain bad.


ADF adaptation:

Doesn't really offer anything of note over the actual episode. I really wouldn't have cared to have seen this done live-action.


“The Survivor” ***

The Enterprise rescues a renowned space trader on the edge of the Romulan Neutral Zone.

I like this story although I think the voice acting and some of the writing is clumsy. It also features one the coolest looking aliens we've ever gotten in Trek: the shape-changing Vendorian. It's also offset by one of the biggest by having the Vendorian assume the form of one of the Enterprise's deflector shields! At least in ADF's adaptation the Vendorian assumes the form of the damaged deflector circuits, which is somewhat less incredible.

I like that we got to see another look at a female security officer, Lt. Ann Nored. Too bad they couldn't have depicted her a little more professionally. Nchelle Nichols' voice acting was also wanting (I'm assuming it was her from the sound of Nored's voice).

The other thing that hurts this episode is the reveal is too soon. Later in the episode we see "Winston" render an engineering crewman unconscious with just a touch while still in human form. Yet earlier we saw him revert to his original form before rendering Kirk and then McCoy unconscious. It would have been better if we hadn't seen his true form until Kirk confronts him with the vial of acid to reveal himself. That way we would have been in the dark up to that point as to why the apparently human Carter Winston was doing whatever he was doing. Early on we should have just seen him change from Winston to Kirk in appearance and then later from Winston to McCoy, much like we saw the Salt Vampire do way back in "The Man Trap."

As is it's sloppy storytelling.

It's not bad, but with a little deft rewriting and more polished execution this could have been noticeably better.


ADF adaptation:

The strength here is you can gloss over some of the less than impressive bits in your imagination. As such I think this could have been a good live0action story if they could have managed to show the Vendorian in its true form, which I think would have been quite a challenge for TOS back in the day. Maybe they could just have envisioned the Vendorian in a different way.



"The Infinite Vulcan" ***

A race of intelligent plants abduct Spock to serve their own agenda.

I'm a little torn about this one. I really like the essential story. I really like the idea and design of the Phylosians. I like the idea that they incorporated a Phylosian version of a universal translator to enable the aliens and our heroes to speak. There is just so much about this episode I like.

But sadly there are some things I don't like. Firstly the episode feels just so abbreviated when it feels like there could be so much more story. Also the voice acting in this could feel so flat. And finally why, oh why, did they have to make Keniclius and Spock's clones so oversized??? This was just such an off-the-wall notion that jars you right out of what is otherwise a pretty decent episode. If not for that one visual bit of brain cramp I'd have rated this four stars.

Pity.


ADF adaptation:

Foster simply makes this feel like it could work live-action. You can believe in the really alien life forms on this planet. You can even gloss over the stupid fifty foot clones (even though it's mentioned). I'm reminded of another flaw that bugged me: that Keniclius capitulates too easily. He is just too easily swayed by Kirk and the cloned Spock's arguments to abandon his plans of imposing peace upon a war torn galaxy. You could perhaps excuse this in a '70's era animated show, but in the adaptation it would have been nice if ADF had mixed in a little more dramatic tension.

"The Magicks Of Megas-Tu" ***

The Enterprise journeys to the centre of the galaxy.

There are some pretty deep ideas in this episode for a show airing on Saturday mornings. There are ideas touched on here that would also later show up in TNG. In a way the Megans are trying humanity just as Q does in TNG's "Encounter At Farpoint" and other episodes.

It's not a bad story except that it feels so truncated and somewhat flat. It feels quickly hashed together and lacking in nuance. Some of the writing also felt stiff.

A daring idea here is treating the character of Lucien (aka Lucifer) as a sympathetic character, something I could see offending certain viewers if seen on a live-action show back in the early '70s.

As for the "science" referenced in this episode I basically just shrug it off.

Some interesting story ideas, not bad, but not bowling me over either because of the stilted execution.


ADF adaptation:

This is certainly better than the onscreen version. You can easily hear and see the live-action characters in your mind. ADF's descriptions work better sometimes. His narrative sometimes comes across as edgier and even darker than the onscreen episodes. At the beginning of this story all the power and even the lights go out aboard ship. The crew are floating gravity-less in absolute darkness and beginning to suffocate. They all believe that they're about to die...and then when it all seems finally over Lucien appears. That (and the sequences leading up to it) are a lot more dramatic than what we got onscreen.


Once Upon A Planet **

Ouch. At heart is a decent story---the Keeper of the Shoreleave planet has died and the planet's replication computer wants to break loose---but I found the writing a bit sloppy and redundant and the episode as a whole feels really truncated. It feels like numerous scenes are missing from the story. Too bad because I remembered this being better.

Part of the problem, of course, is that while they try to take the story into a different place it just doesn't come off as well as the superb original TOS episode, "Shoreleave," from which the TAS effort is spun off from. Decent idea, but disappointing execution.

I might catch flak here, but am I the only one who isn't an M'ress fan? The idea of a catlike alien crew member is interesting, but Majel Barrett's voice work here, particularly with the added purring sounds, is really annoying. It just seems like such a cliched and lazy way to vocalize the character. But, of course, guest character voice acting in TAS was very hit-and-miss.


ADF adaptation:

This will probably continue to be the same with all the episodes---the ADF version feels like a complete story without feeling like there are scenes missing. ADF backs that up by often fleshing out scenes with added bits of dialogue and more detailed action.

The print versions also allow me to see the live-action characters in my mind with a live-action setting as opposed to watching the stiff animation. That alone earns the story one more star.

The story itself, in print or onscreen, is okay, but suffers because it doesn't really go anywhere much different from the original TOS episode. Yeah, the planetary computer develops a mind of its own, but it isn't all that malevolent and in the end is rather easily dissuaded to abandon its plans.

 

[Warped9]

One of the interesting things about TAS that set it above the usual Saturday morning fare was some of the subject matter. In "Yesteryear" they not only mention (and show) the death of a pet but also reference the death of a child (the young Spock) and a parent (Spock's mother, Amanda). This was heady stuff for Saturday morning television back in the '70s. In "Albatross" McCoy is accused of mass murder in supposedly causing a plague on an alien world. In "Pirates Of Orion" a Starfleet crew is left for dead after being attacked and then later the Orion commander attempts suicide and tries to take Kirk and the Enterprise with him. In "Jihad" the alien Skorr wants to launch a "holy war" on the galaxy.

While some of the stuff in the episodes didn't come across well or as intended a lot of the stories and ideas would have been welcomed in TOS. There really aren't many TAS episodes I wouldn't have cared to see done as live-action.

"Mudd's Passion" *

Conman Harry Mudd returns only to be caught trying to peddle a love potion.

Ouch! This is hurt by less than inspired writing and generally flat voice acting. The episode's redeeming element is having scored Roger C. Carmel to reprise the role of Harcourt Fenton Mudd. But the rest of the story is just embarrassing and not aided by a number of WTF moments.

- Why is Nurse Chapel walking around aboard ship with a hand phaser?
- Since when do starship personal carry an identity card?
- How can Chapel be so freaking gullible after everything known about Mudd?
- Spock acts more stupid then he did in TOS' "This Side Of Paradise" (at least there he was convincing).
Kirk risks his ass in the hope the potion will make one of the gigantisaurs more friendly. Granted that you shouldn't look for any sort of credibility in a Saturday morning cartoon, but that tiny dose of potion seemed to be rather potent to work so fast on a ginormaus creature with an alien biology.

The story isn't just embarrassing but derivative as well. A new love potion (as opposed to the original Venus drug used in TOS' "Mudd's Women") again being peddled to miners (albeit alien miners now being included).

Part of the problem is the whole exercise lacks nuance. It's so obvious and heavy-handed. That said it probably could have been done as a live-action story assuming more could have been fleshed out of it given that there's so little here to work with. This is really disappointing given some of the much better efforts TAS managed to produce.

Another problem is that Harry Mudd is such a one note character: the charming rogue and conman. The only way to make it interesting is to tell an interesting story which is something they fail to do here.

ADF adaptation:

The print version doesn't really add anything to the screen version other than fleshing scenes out more so they flow better. ADF has Mudd use his own means (hidden in his clothing) to manipulate Chapel's identity card rather than using a ship's computer terminal. What ADF doesn't do is manage to make Chapel and Spock behave much better than they do onscreen. That said, like in the other adaptations, the characters speak and behave with more nuance and it's easier to accept them as their live-action portrayals.

Overall the print version is moderately better than the televised episode, but not much given there being so little to work from.


The Terratin Incident" **

After being hit by an unidentifiable energy beam the Enterprise crew begin to rapidly shrink.

For myself I think this story is silly (and, yeah, I know the idea was revisited years later on DS9), but in fairness it isn't badly told as the crew is shown reasoning things out. My one question arose after they establish that only organic matter is being reduced...then why isn't the water in the fish tank not shrinking in volume as well? I did find it odd that this rapid reduction was happening so fast that the crew would become quite small within a matter of a few hours.

Shrinking people down to a very small size certainly isn't new in science fiction. The most famous examples are the films The Incredible Shrinking Man and Fantastic Voyage as well as television's Land Of The Giants. I think it was also done on The Twilight Zone. TAS' effort felt more like Land Of The Giants rather than The Incredible Shrinking Man or Fantastic Voyage. I guess it just doesn't impress me as something that TOS would have even considered doing. I think it goes without saying that from an f/x point this story would also have been impossible for TOS.


"Time Trap" **

The Enterprise gets caught in a region of space notorious for starships disappearing.

This is actually a decent story at the heart, but it just feels clumsy. I find the general voice acting disappointing and uninspired, particularly the guest characters. It's a damned shame they couldn't have gotten John Colicos to reprise the role of Kor as well as draw the character more the way he appeared in "Errand Of Mercy." That said, though, I don't think the animated Kor was written much like the live-action original so maybe it's just as well. Something like this really called for the actors to be reading their parts together to play off each other. I can just imagine Shatner and Colicos together again, but with a better script of course.

The Klingons here are just cliches really. Somehow I just don't buy Kor (or the one we're familiar with) just trying to ambush the Enterprise. My impression is that Kor would rather have tried to best Kirk in a somewhat more honourable way then just ambushing him.

It was cool seeing all those different ship designs trapped in the Delta pocket universe. Ditto with the different aliens on the Elysium Council...even though one of them made me think of an oversized pink Ewok.

A good story idea, but I felt it was clumsily executed.

ADF adaptation:

ADF makes this story work a lot better in print. A big difference is it doesn't feel truncated as if scenes are missing. He doesn't follow the episode's script exactly, sometimes adding extra scenes and making small changes in dialogue that make the characters sound more nuanced and more natural. He adds world-building details that make the settings come alive. Besides the omniscient narrative we also periodically see events from different characters' points of view. It all adds up to a story that feels more complete.

This is generally a running theme with ADF's adaptations: flesh out the story more and make it feel more realized. The devil is in the details. I've reviewed more than half of these already and it's pretty much always the same: in varying degrees ADF just makes the stories feel more realized. The underlying reason might simply be that he wasn't constrained by a twenty-two minute running time and thus didn't have to leave things out. Indeed he was free to add and tweak things for the overall betterment of the story. With the printed word he could add more detail that wouldn't be bothered with during the drawing and animation process. He could make characters feel more realized and speak more naturally and trigger our imagination to hear more natural sounding voices rather than forced and affected voice acting and flat delivery.

I, too, noted the slightly different names for the races we clearly recognize on the Elysian Council. Perhaps one could rationalize the names cited as being closer to what those aliens call themselves.

Revisiting these episodes and re-reading these adaptations rekindles my interest to see Star Trek return to this kind of format. In more recent years we've seen popular animated shows and direct-to-video features clearly illustrating that an animated project can easily appeal to adults as well as younger audiences. And a lot of it comes down to good writing. When I look at the Batman and Superman and Justice League animated series and other DCAU features we clearly see that animated projects don't have to feel truncated or dumbed down or half-hearted even within a constrained running time. Same with Star Wars: The Clone Wars. Do it right and people will go for it.

Despite missteps TAS really tried to do something beyond conventional Saturday morning cartoon programming. It would be cool to see that kind of vision in tandem with what we've seen can be done today.

But, please, no more fifty foot clones or other overly WTF! moments.

"The Ambergris Element" ***

A water world being studied holds a secret that could radically change the lives of Kirk and Spock.

There are a number of things going on in this story, some of it familiar and some novel. The familiar is the idea of the Enterprise crew being caught between factions on an alien world. The novel part is having Kirk and Spock changed into something more closely resembling the inhabitants of that world---specifically: Kirk and Spock are medically altered into water breathers. The story basically plays with an idea already popularized with the likes of DC Comics' Aquaman and Marvel Comics' The Submariner as well as later in The Man From Atlantis. Indeed there's a good dose of the idea behind the ancient myth of Atlantis mixed into this, only here the sunken civilization is set on a far off alien world.

It's not a bad story idea, but it's hurt by two main things: the story feels rushed and truncated and there is too much visual shorthand at work. By "visual shorthand" I mean things like Kirk and Spock continuing the whole episode in their duty uniforms particularly after they've been so radical altered. Also seeing seeing Scotty descend underwater in uniform and protected solely by a life support belt was just a bit too WTF for my tastes. Add to that seeing McCoy and Chapel as well as Scotty in uniform while in the temporary sickbay tank needed for Kirk and Spock while they're in altered form.

In a broad sense this redresses familiar ideas and stories used in TOS episodes such as "For The World Is Hollow And I have Touched The Sky" and "Return Of The Archons" and others. TAS' story is sufficiently redressed to appear novel enough even with the reuse of familiar ideas, but again I feel it's lack of nuance in story and visuals that keep the episode just okay rather than allowing it to be rated as good.

Two things I really do like in this episode: the concept of the aquashuttle and the design of the Argoan sea serpent.

ADF adaptation:

The ADF version of this story once again, of course, feels more complete. There are added moments that just don't appear onscreen that flesh out the events more. ADF also adds little touches like snatches of Argoan language in relation to what they call their underwater city and what they call the Argoan sea serpent. Another little touch gets around the visual shorthand I mentioned in my review of the aired episode---that of Kirk and Spock's underwater attire. In the print version ADF has them wearing some form of wetsuit rather than their Starfleet uniforms---a small but welcome touch. Other than those little touches, though, the print version really doesn't add anything of real substance to the original.

One small difference, though, is ADF's description of the aqua shuttle. In print it's described as something of an ovoid shape wasn't doesn't strike me as anything like the version seen onscreen.

"Slaver Weapon" ****

An shuttlecraft bearing Spock, Uhura and Sulu is intercepted by aliens while transporting a valuable ancient artifact.

Part of he appeal of this story is its novelty in the sense that Spock, Sulu and Uhura are the only familiar cast in it. Kirk, the Enterprise and the rest are nowhere to be seen or heard of.

There's a bit of world building here with references to the aggressive Kzinti having fought past wars with humanity and having lost them all. It's also referenced that by treaty the Kzinti are not allowed weapons of any kind...unless of course they steal them. Here the Kzinti are presented as operating like pirates much like Orions. Their actions are apparently unofficially sanctioned by their government unless, of course, they're caught whereupon they would be officially disowned.

Another neat little idea was having the story take place on an airless, icy asteroid rather than a more familiar Class M planet. There's also a reference to Kzinti of the past having fed upon human flesh---definitely a subject beyond the usual subject matter of '70s era Saturday morning programming.

Overall I can't help but feel this could have been a dynamite episode done live-action given, of course, figuring out a way to depict the catlike Kzinti. Frankly, though, the Kzinti shown here don't come across as particularly bright. Just about any alien race could stand in for the Kzinti and the story could be told, but it's more fun with distinctive looking aliens. It's also hard to find aliens very threatening when their spacesuits and spaceships are...pink.

On the downside I found some of the voice acting rather stilted, most particularly by Leonard Nimoy of all people. His exposition doesn't flow naturally, often seems redundant and sounds very much like he's just reading off a page. On the flip side we get to see Spock perform a Kirk style flying kick on the Kzinti Chuft Captain. Neat.

 

[Warped9]

This is where I left off.

I've started reading the ADF adaptation. Presently I've reached the point where the episode starts off: the shuttlecraft is enroute and Uhura notices the stasis box is glowing---but there is a lot of padding to get to that point.

"Slaver Weapon" is one of the stories ADF expanded to fill one modest sized book. He starts it off with a flashback to Uhura's youth where she undergoes a maturity ritual in Africa. Here at the age of sixteen she's required to kill a lion armed with only a spear. The concession, of course, is that it isn't a real lion but a mechanical replica that acts like a real lion attacking...but stops short of actually killing you and ripping you to shreds if you fail to "kill" it first.

The story next jumps to setting up why the stasis box is being transported by shuttlecraft rather than by the Enterprise. Essentially the Enterprise is faced with two vitally important tasks and can't be in both places at the same time so hence the shuttlecraft. I understand why ADF expanded the beginning of the story this way, but (to me) it really feels padded where nothing of real interest happens and the gist of it could have been conveyed in a paragraph before launching into the meat of the real story.

One small thing I really notice here. Previously I've mentioned that ADF sometimes added extra dialog to flesh out scenes. This is an admirable practice, but often enough the dialogue he adds really doesn't sound like the characters we're familiar with. This is particularly true of his dialogue for Spock. Sometimes the speech is too formal and other times it's too informal or too colloquial. Too often he doesn't write Spock the way he would actually speak. Of course we can attribute that partly to ADF not having his work proofread by D.C. Fontana or any of the other TOS writers.

 

[Phoenix219]

A big problem I have with MIRI is the kid-speak is written the way adults think kids talk, and not the way kids actually talk. It's groan-inducing.

I thought it was more the de-evolution of the kids language and society as they were left alone for centuries. These kids were actually hundreds of years old, right?

Oops. You're absolutely right and I was thinking much the same while I was watching it. But sadly that concept just didn't exist back then for them to think about it. The only and slimmest rationalization was that for some unspecified reason Kodos' DNA couldn't be checked against Karidian's. Yeah, it's weak but what are you gonna do?

You could assume that he had help in hiding, and maybe any records of the original Kodos DNA was either altered electronically and scrubbed from any networks. Its not like they had a body to compare with.

 

[Phoenix219]

I often wonder what Star Trek might have been if it were more serialized. We could have, for example, been spared Spock's miraculous recovery from blindness or had McGivers appear in more episodes laying the groundwork for her betrayal. Of course, this would be impossible for television in the 1960s (it's actually pretty surprising the degree of references to previous episodes and the array of recurring secondary players for the time it was produced), but it's an interesting thought experiment.

I completely agree... while reading these reviews, I was just thinking about how "Tomorrow is Yesterday" could have been/was going to be directly spun off from the time travel at the end of "The Naked Time." A serialized connection concerning all of the Earth duplicate planets and cultures leading to a bigger storyline about the Preservers could have been nice. Maybe a connection between the Kelvans and the Catspaw aliens, or a link between the Corby androids and I, Mudd.... what other kind of connections might have worked if things had been more serialized?

 

[1001001]

Per this pinned thread: http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/rules-for-posting-on-trekbbs.282290/

Please do not resurrect long-dead threads. This one hasn't had a reply in 2 1/2 years.

Thanks.



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