TAS: pros & cons....

[True Trek Fan]

Filmation was the company behind the Star Trek animated series, but unfortunately the art direction and music really lacked. Another series they created Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle made 2 years later was also a terrible animated series with the same recycled score at times and the same dull drawing style. The cheap budget ment little movement and is painful to watch at times, you would think animators would have given us new views of the Enterprise moving through space. Yet a few years after that in 1979 Filmation created one of the greatest animated sci-fi series of all time, The New Adventures of Flash Gordon. For those who haven't seen it, this series is by far the best Flash Gordon series ever made, great animation, produced in episodic format like the orginal 1930 serial, great storyline, characters and music. Youtube link, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdJElaDVOW4
It's too bad Star Trek the Animated Series never got this type of treatment.

 

[FalTorPan]

The first season of FG was great fun. The second season... sucked.

 

[True Trek Fan]

^^ Yeah I agree, I ment to say only season one was fantastic.

 

[Maurice]

The animation in Flash Gorden isn't much different that Star Trek. The same reuse of limited animation cycles, long pans across static backgrounds with maybe some silhouetted characters in the distance, repeated music cues, etc. There are more animation cycles, but the approaches are basically the same. The differences are in quantity not kind. The big innovation was the use of models to do the spaceships, which gives them a weird sense of full animation lacking in the characters.

 

[Lieut. Arex]

How much lead time did they have on Flash Gordon? Wasn't a big chunk of the first season from a movie they were making and its release got tangled up with De Laurentis' film? I know TAS was greenlit in May for a September premiere. In some ways, it's a miracle TAS looks as good as it does with that little production time for an animated show.

If they'd had the chance to use the same rotoscoping techniques used for the Flash Gordon ships for TAS it would have been sweet.

 

[Redfern]

How much lead time did they have on Flash Gordon? Wasn't a big chink of the first season from a movie they were making...?

Yes, that is correct. I remember reading articles in StarLog way back when it was still an "upcoming" production. The 'movie" was completed, but instead of airing it, scenes were expanded to create a 16 episode "serial" much in the vein as the "classic" Buster Crabbe adventures of the 1930s.

The original "cut" was aired just one time on NBC late at night (I think around 11 PM) in the early 80s, maybe 1982. Unlike the Saturday AM series, which starts with Zarkov's ship in orbit around Mongo, the "movie" starts on Earth during a German air raid. And rather than sinking in the sea, the ship crashes in the wastelands where the trio spot... Well, rather than my simply describing it, why don't we watch it instead? Someone has posted the movie in 9 segments upon YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/goclickyourself

The Saturday AM version in its entirity (yes, even the substandard 2nd season) is available on DVD and can be bought from Amazon as well as the bigger outlets like BestBuy. Sadly, different copyrights surround the "movie" cut, so it is NOT included on the DVD set.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[Nerys Myk]

Con: they made the skirts too long.

 

[Hober Mallow]

Filmation was all about saving money with their library of stock footage. Their art wasn't bad, in fact their backgrounds were often feature quality, but with characters who possessed limited stock movements, the animation could seem... well, not very animated.

I remember an interview with a writer from He-Man, who had a script which climaxed with a multi-tentacled creature attacking Castle Grayskull. He was told by the producer, "That's great, but do we have to have the creature?" He responded, "Uh, no, I could throw away the script and start over." He was then asked, "Can we maybe just do one tentacle?" To which he answered, "Would you like me to make it an invisible tentacle?!"

 

[Praetor]

I remember an interview with a writer from He-Man, who had a script which climaxed with a multi-tentacled creature attacking Castle Grayskull. He was told by the producer, "That's great, but do we have to have the creature?" He responded, "Uh, no, I could throw away the script and start over." He was then asked, "Can we maybe just do one tentacle?" To which he answered, "Would you like me to make it an invisible tentacle?!"

I think I know just the episode, making it even funnier.

 

[Tallguy]

I'm amazed that I've read three pages of this and haven't hit the biggest Con of all:

Doohan and Barrett doing almost all of the voices. Which is nothing compared to when they get Shatner and Takei to do more. Yikes. For all the talk I hear about re-doing the animation in 3D or whatever what really needs to be done is to re-loop most of the supporting character's dialog! The Survivor! PLEASE!

I didn't mind the music at all. I keep meaning to try and mix together a soundtrack, if nobody's done it already. Yeah, it repeats, but so did TOS. No, not as much, but still. And it has the pre-Berman advantage of having a melody.

Pros? It's pre-TMP Star Trek! It's boldly going for half-an-hour every week! I'd say the wonderful to schlock ratio is not much higher than seasons 1 and 2 and much lower than three.

More pros: The Albatross. The Jihad. (Try and get THAT episode made today.) The Slaver Weapon. One of Our Planets is Missing. And yes, Yesteryear pretty much justifies everything else.

Oh, another con: Too many people WAY too hung up on M'Ress. It's not like she's Hellen Noel or anything.

I'd say TAS is more "canon" than TNG! (Runaway! Runawaaaaay!)

 

[Warped9]

^^

 

[Maurice]

I'm amazed that I've read three pages of this and haven't hit the biggest Con of all:

Doohan and Barrett doing almost all of the voices. Which is nothing compared to when they get Shatner and Takei to do more. Yikes.

Ummm...I addressed this on the first page of this thread. See:

...The voice acting is flat, and the overuse of Doohan, Barrett and even Nichols doesn't help. Doohan may have been able to do a lot of accents, but he was out of his element. Voice acting's not the same thing as stage or TV acting. It requires an ability to project everything through sound alone. All three were ill suited to that task. Frankly, much of the time they're playing other parts they sound like people trying to disguise their voices. Terrible.

As to this...

Oh, another con: Too many people WAY too hung up on M'Ress. It's not like she's Hellen Noel or anything.

M'ress looks like a chipmunk most of the time. And I don't get the whole "furry" thing, regardless. And the one thing I can say about Helen Noel is that she's no Helen Noel. Totally overrated.

 

[Tallguy]

Ummm...I addressed this on the first page of this thread.

So you did. Sorry, reading too fast. And it was obscured by all the people complaining about the music.

And the one thing I can say about Helen Noel is that she's no Helen Noel. Totally overrated.

Well, see, it was funny because Noel is the live action equivalent of M'Ress. And you're wrong.

 

[Cakes488]

I'm amazed that I've read three pages of this and haven't hit the biggest Con of all:

Doohan and Barrett doing almost all of the voices. Which is nothing compared to when they get Shatner and Takei to do more. Yikes. For all the talk I hear about re-doing the animation in 3D or whatever what really needs to be done is to re-loop most of the supporting character's dialog! The Survivor! PLEASE!

I didn't mind the music at all. I keep meaning to try and mix together a soundtrack, if nobody's done it already. Yeah, it repeats, but so did TOS. No, not as much, but still. And it has the pre-Berman advantage of having a melody.

Pros? It's pre-TMP Star Trek! It's boldly going for half-an-hour every week! I'd say the wonderful to schlock ratio is not much higher than seasons 1 and 2 and much lower than three.

More pros: The Albatross. The Jihad. (Try and get THAT episode made today.) The Slaver Weapon. One of Our Planets is Missing. And yes, Yesteryear pretty much justifies everything else.

Oh, another con: Too many people WAY too hung up on M'Ress. It's not like she's Hellen Noel or anything.

I'd say TAS is more "canon" than TNG! (Runaway! Runawaaaaay!)

I know when I read the episode "Jihad" I was like WTF !!!
Obviously before 9/11 I would of been like what the hell is a jihad ??

 

[Tallguy]

I know when I read the episode "Jihad" I was like WTF !!!
Obviously before 9/11 I would of been like what the hell is a jihad ??

You didn't read Dune?

 

[Redfern]

Oh, another con: Too many people WAY too hung up on M'Ress. It's not like she's Helen Noel or anything.

"Aww! You made kitty cry!"

Just "joshin'" ya', TallGuy.

Sincerely,

Bill

 

[pookha]

flash gordon was written by samuel peeples

 

[Warped9]

The strange fascination with M'ress suggests a desire to see more oversized pussy.

 

[Yassim]

Have to side with the Cons here -

- the music
- the re-used voices

No one's mentioned the dull, wooden voices. It's like watching an episode through a bad long distance connection. "what do you think?" 1...2...3...4...5... "Sounds like a good idea." 6...7...8...9... "Thanks."

BEM had a little bit of banter between Kirk and Spock that I remember clearly, because it's so rare in the AS. They're in cages "Why does this happen to us all the time?"

It's heart is in the right place, and it's amusing to watch them re-enact so many of the old episodes... but it isn't really entertainment in its own right.

 

[Tallguy]

Just watched One of Our Planets is Missing. As much as it is (rightly) assumed that TMP takes most of it's plot from The Changeling, there is more than a little of this episode in it as well. Giant cloud, Enterprise is the only ship, Spock's mind meld.