Star Trek and Animation

[The Overlord]

I saw this interesting article, on why Star Trek has not had much in terms in the realm of animation until recently:


https://screenrant.com/star-trek-animated-shows-controversial-why/


There was an idea at Paramount to do a Star Trek animated series in the 90s, that combined the original series and the Next Generation, but Rick Berman shot it down.


Star Trek is more hard science than say Star Wars, which is more science fantasy, which is why I think we had Star Trek stick mostly with live-action until recently. Star Trek is less straightforward than Star Wars (but still has some silly elements to it) and I think the idea of animation is only for kids is why we did not see any Star Trek animation in say the 90s.


But I think animation, even animation for kids, can tackle more complex subject matter than say 1980s cartoons that were toy commercials, and using allegories to teach kids about tolerance is useful. Also, Star Trek is one of the biggest franchises Viacom CBS has and Star Trek Prodigy can introduce the franchise to a new generation.


Do you think this new animated series can present good Star Trek-style stories to kids today? What do you think of Star Trek in animation?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Star Trek is more hard science than say Star Wars, which is more science fantasy

Is it really? Trek has long since been it's own fantasy world with it's own set of rules which totally differ from real life (if you doubt, see how some reacted to Discovery's detached nacelles violating the way warp drive is depicted in the old TNG tech manual). It takes itself more seriously, but I'm not sure it's any more plausible.

Do you think this new animated series can present good Star Trek-style stories to kids today? What do you think of Star Trek in animation?

Of course they can! I loved TAS and enjoyed LDS. This might suck, it might rock. Only time will tell.

 

[fireproof78]

Being animated isn't a barrier. The characters and stories make a good show.

 

[NewHeavensNewEarth]

Is it really? Trek has long since been it's own fantasy world with it's own set of rules which totally differ from real life (if you doubt, see how some reacted to Discovery's detached nacelles violating the way warp drive is depicted in the old TNG tech manual). It takes itself more seriously, but I'm not sure it's any more plausible.
Of course they can! I loved TAS and enjoyed LDS. This might suck, it might rock. Only time will tell.

Agreed. Crystals powering light sabers in SW, crystals making ships go faster than light in Trek. I hadn't seen the previous animated stuff, but I've enjoyed Lower Decks.

 

[The Wormhole]

Star Trek is more hard science than say Star Wars, which is more science fantasy,

Star Trek is not hard science. Hard science has realistic science to it, nothing about the science in Star Trek is realistic at all. Star Trek is just as much science fantasy as Star Wars, the only difference is that Star Wars is upfront about being science fantasy and admits as much.

I think the idea of animation is only for kids is why we did not see any Star Trek animation in say the 90s.

Yeah, no. Even in the 90s there were plenty of animated shows which might have been intended for children as the target audience but had plenty there to entertain the adult audience. The animated Batman and Gargoyles most notable among them. Indeed, I find it's been since the 2000s that animated shows had gone back to being exclusively child oriented with the exceptions of sitcoms. In fact, Star Wars Rebels is one of the few shows I can think of from the past decade that is aimed at children but can be enjoyed by adults as well.

 

[publiusr]

Animation frees up the imagination even today—- ships can be bigger...life forms more diverse...

 

[Caretaker]

Animation is the best way to go back without dealing with the aging of actors. It is nice that Disney/Lucasfilm and Marvel are taking animation more seriously and that ViacomCBS is jumping on that bandwagon.

 

[fireproof78]

Star Trek is not hard science. Hard science has realistic science to it, nothing about the science in Star Trek is realistic at all. Star Trek is just as much science fantasy as Star Wars, the only difference is that Star Wars is upfront about being science fantasy and admits as much.

Indeed, yes. As much as I enjoy Star Trek the idea that it is hard science fiction is rather limited. That's been a big depressing realization for me as I did research to write SF-Star Trek simply operates in its own rule set and is not realistic. Once I realized that it made it easier to accept Trek in a different way, in that fantasy way.

 

[Relayer1]

There's a little more of the fantastic fantasy thing about the wat Star Wars presents, although that's probably not supported by the evidence if you look closely. That impression is, however, why I think Star Wars is more suited to animation.

Having said that, I don't like the animated Star Wars shows. But I like the animated Star Trek even less...

 

[Grizzlor]

Star Wars largely via Dave Filoni's Clone Wars/Rebels projects have shown that you can produce excellent animated series that is not doofy kiddy fair.

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I saw project awhile ago, where a fan largely created new animations using old audio taken mostly from the Interplay PC games. Got me thinking, couldn't they do the same for The Animated Series? Just a personal wish to see the TAS redrawn into something more sophisticated than the low budget Filmation style.

 

[F. King Daniel]

There was an attempt to "reanimate" TAS in the late 90's. The concept art says we weren't ready.

Personally I think reanimating TAS is a bad idea. The voice acting and stories won't hold up to modern standards, and having modern animation will just highlight it's flaws.

 

[Grizzlor]

There was an attempt to "reanimate" TAS in the late 90's. The concept art says we weren't ready.

Personally I think reanimating TAS is a bad idea. The voice acting and stories won't hold up to modern standards, and having modern animation will just highlight it's flaws.

Oh was there? Is there an archive of any of that somewhere? The acting was a bit like a Read-Along Classic, but I still think it's doable. The stories I always thought were very good. I agree you couldn't release them now compared to what is out there, but it's something I'd always liked to have seen done if just by/for fans. As far as I'm concerned, the people involved make the stories part of "canon."

 

[The Overlord]

Star Wars largely via Dave Filoni's Clone Wars/Rebels projects have shown that you can produce excellent animated series that is not doofy kiddy fair.

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I saw project awhile ago, where a fan largely created new animations using old audio taken mostly from the Interplay PC games. Got me thinking, couldn't they do the same for The Animated Series? Just a personal wish to see the TAS redrawn into something more sophisticated than the low budget Filmation style.

How would that appeal to kids today? Heck wouldn't relying on old audio limit the type of stories this new series could tell?

 

[F. King Daniel]

Oh was there? Is there an archive of any of that somewhere? The acting was a bit like a Read-Along Classic, but I still think it's doable. The stories I always thought were very good. I agree you couldn't release them now compared to what is out there, but it's something I'd always liked to have seen done if just by/for fans. As far as I'm concerned, the people involved make the stories part of "canon."

From Star Trek Concept Art, Graphics and Design group on Facebook. Mainframe Entertainment's TAS CG demo work from the 90's.

 

[Grizzlor]

How would that appeal to kids today? Heck wouldn't relying on old audio limit the type of stories this new series could tell?

It wouldn't appeal, I agree, that's why my thoughts were more towards fan-generated work.

From Star Trek Concept Art, Graphics and Design group on Facebook. Mainframe Entertainment's TAS CG demo work from the 90's.

Oh wow, thanks! These are a bit like the concepts I saw from Interplay's Secret of Vulcan Fury, though quality wise they seem in line with game cinematics would be on consoles of the early 2000's. Not terrible for that time period at all.

 

[WarpFactorZ]

Being animated isn't a barrier.

That's not true for everyone. I just can't get into animated shows like Trek, the Star Wars ones, etc... I was really excited when TRON:Legacy came out and tried to follow up with Uprising, but I couldn't get past the first episode without losing interest.

Can I devour a good novel with the same characters? Absolutely -- cover to cover! But if I'm not watching live actors, it's a pass for me. I'm sure I'm not alone.

 

[fireproof78]

That's not true for everyone. I just can't get into animated shows like Trek, the Star Wars ones, etc... I was really excited when TRON:Legacy came out and tried to follow up with Uprising, but I couldn't get past the first episode without losing interest.

Can I devour a good novel with the same characters? Absolutely -- cover to cover! But if I'm not watching live actors, it's a pass for me. I'm sure I'm not alone.

Reading that article definitely indicates that you are not alone. I guess I find it an odd way of phrasing it but OK.

 

[captainkirk]

From Star Trek Concept Art, Graphics and Design group on Facebook. Mainframe Entertainment's TAS CG demo work from the 90's.

I had no idea Mainframe was involved in that concept. I kind of want to see an alternate universe where it went ahead. ReBoot was such a huge part of my childhood and so a Star Trek series from the same team would be fascinating to watch.

That's not true for everyone. I just can't get into animated shows like Trek, the Star Wars ones, etc... I was really excited when TRON:Legacy came out and tried to follow up with Uprising, but I couldn't get past the first episode without losing interest.

Can I devour a good novel with the same characters? Absolutely -- cover to cover! But if I'm not watching live actors, it's a pass for me. I'm sure I'm not alone.

You're not alone in that opinion, but it's one I don't understand. You mentioned TRON: Uprising. For me, that was better than either of the movies. The fact that it's animated never factored into my enjoyment. Especially when so much of the movies weren't real either.
Animation is just a method of creating the images that appear on-screen. It doesn't dictate what kind of stories are told, or the quality of the writing and acting.

 

[Relayer1]

I saw this interesting article, on why Star Trek has not had much in terms in the realm of animation until recently:

https://screenrant.com/star-trek-animated-shows-controversial-why/

"animation, up until recent decades, has largely been viewed as a comedic, child-centric medium."

And sadly, Lower Decks and from the looks of it, Prodigy, play right into that. OK, some more adult content is in LD, but it's still childish comedic fare.

I'm not a fan of animated shows generally, I wasn't as a kid either, so they're always going to have a mountain to climb for me, but they stand no chance when they're as frenetically annoying as LD.

Let's see something truly on a level with a well written live action episode and see if that can win me over.

 

[Grizzlor]

I would agree that animation styles don't make a show good/bad on its own. The writing, directing, voice acting, music plays a large part. Often times animated series these days, being targeted at young adults and adults, are just flat out boring. Transformers Prime had great scripts and voice actors, while the art style was very good and life like. However the show in total was extraordinarily slow, and boring. Tron Uprising felt the same way, to me. I found the Netflix Voltron to be well done, though the Cartoon Network Thundercats reboot that only got one season was terrific. Filoni's Star Wars stuff has been excellent, for the most part, with the Resistance series was way too kiddie for me.

Trek can work as a "serious" animated show, with the right writing and directing. My thing again related to TAS, and was more of a technical thought. Have publicly available software gotten to the point where highly skill fans could re-animate TAS? Are we 5 years away?