TAS Thougths!

[Odo]

My wife and I have been watching TAS on and off - we recently finished!
We really enjoyed it! Goofy fun, with some thoughtful gems. I would say that, along with Enterprise, it's easily the most underrated of Trek.

I'd love to see it re-released with all the continuity mistakes fixed in the animation, and with the character reanimated to be more fluid. I'm not saying redo the animation - I really like the character designs and the backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous! I just think tweaking the pacing (for example, when the characters run) would do wonders for the show.

I think my favorite episodes would be:
Beyond the Farthest Star
Yesteryear
One of Our Planets is Missing
More Tribbles, More Troubles
The Survivor (probably my favorite)
Once Upon a Planet
The Ambergris Element
The Slaver Weapon
The Jihad
The Pirates of Orion
Bem
Albatross
How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth

I wasn't crazy about "Mudd's Passion", "The Infinite Vulcan", or "The Lorelei Signal". I really wanted to like "The Lorelei Signal" - maybe I'll have to give it another watch.

The show's biggest problem, I think, was the story pacing. Lots of these scripts could have used a second or third pass, and it shows, especially with how lots of episodes ended. Another issue was the actors not used to doing voice acting, but they got better as it went on.

I'm curious, what do others think of the show? I've seen some older threads, but nothing recent. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend checking out Yesteryear, The Survivor, and The Jihad to give it a try!

 

[dupersuper]

My wife and I have been watching TAS on and off - we recently finished!
We really enjoyed it! Goofy fun, with some thoughtful gems. I would say that, along with Enterprise, it's easily the most underrated of Trek.

I'd love to see it re-released with all the continuity mistakes fixed in the animation, and with the character reanimated to be more fluid. I'm not saying redo the animation - I really like the character designs and the backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous! I just think tweaking the pacing (for example, when the characters run) would do wonders for the show.

I think my favorite episodes would be:
Beyond the Farthest Star
Yesteryear
One of Our Planets is Missing
More Tribbles, More Troubles
The Survivor (probably my favorite)
Once Upon a Planet
The Ambergris Element
The Slaver Weapon
The Jihad
The Pirates of Orion
Bem
Albatross
How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth

I wasn't crazy about "Mudd's Passion", "The Infinite Vulcan", or "The Lorelei Signal". I really wanted to like "The Lorelei Signal" - maybe I'll have to give it another watch.

The show's biggest problem, I think, was the story pacing. Lots of these scripts could have used a second or third pass, and it shows, especially with how lots of episodes ended. Another issue was the actors not used to doing voice acting, but they got better as it went on.

I'm curious, what do others think of the show? I've seen some older threads, but nothing recent. If you haven't seen it yet, I recommend checking out Yesteryear, The Survivor, and The Jihad to give it a try!

It was ironically the least animated of all the Star Trek shows, but having read the first six "logs" of the Alan Dean Foster novelizations before seeing the show I was better able to appreciate the fun stories. I like all of the episodes you list as your faves except BEM, which I could barely stand.

 

[Odo]

It was ironically the least animated of all the Star Trek shows, but having read the first six "logs" of the Alan Dean Foster novelizations before seeing the show I was better able to appreciate the fun stories. I like all of the episodes you list as your faves except BEM, which I could barely stand.

I like how BEM got his comeuppance in that episode - one of the few arrogant Federation dignitary type to realize the error of his ways. And he was a strange, interesting alien - though the ending of that episode, including his realization seemed rushed, like so many of these episodes.

I'd love to read the Foster novelizations sometime!

 

[Odo]

Another episode I enjoyed that many don't tend to - The Counterclock Incident. (Though I readily admit, that episode was completely ridiculous.)

 

[dupersuper]

Another episode I enjoyed that many don't tend to - The Counterclock Incident. (Though I readily admit, that episode was completely ridiculous.)

It was cool seeing Robert April.

 

[F. King Daniel]

"Magicks of Megas-Tu" is my favourite. It's a level of batshit crazy which no other Star Trek comes anywhere close to.

They travel to a magic dimension through a portal at the centre of the galaxy. They meet Satan hinself (and he's not a bad guy, just a bit hyper), Spock learns magic and draws a pentagram on the rec room floor, Kirk does magic and shoots rainbow beams. The ship splits in two vertically and crashes. The crew are put on trial for witch hunts in space Salem. Then they all get home and never speak of it again.

What a ride.

 

[dupersuper]

Then they all get home and never speak of it again.

They didn't want to be put in the Federation funny farm...

 

[Herbert]

"Magicks of Megas-Tu" is my favourite. It's a level of batshit crazy which no other Star Trek comes anywhere close to.

They travel to a magic dimension through a portal at the centre of the galaxy. They meet Satan hinself (and he's not a bad guy, just a bit hyper), Spock learns magic and draws a pentagram on the rec room floor, Kirk does magic and shoots rainbow beams. The ship splits in two vertically and crashes. The crew are put on trial for witch hunts in space Salem. Then they all get home and never speak of it again.

What a ride.

Wow! Masks is completely normal compared to that

 

[Neopeius]

It's real Trek. Not always the best presentation, but as stated, the Foster novelizations help.

And when I was a kid, it was absolutely HEAVEN.

 

[Timo]

Foster's, umm, expansions in turn were sort of hit-and-miss... "Bem" spreads out into a mindbogging scifi vision of epic battles against unimaginable foes - but "The Eye of the Beholder" gets followed by a story that basically negates the prime one, with the heroes helping imprison life for the zoo of the space slugs in return for nothing much.

Still, the novelizations tended to squeeze five-course dinners out of lemons. And one was very tempted to throw out the original lemon after Foster was done!

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Scott Kellogg]

TAS is the only Trek series that my wife really likes and with me it ranks even higher than some of TOS.

To your list of Faves, I'd like to add "The Time Trap" and maybe "The Practical Joker."

 

[Kor]

I like "The Ambergris Element." There aren't enough underwater civilizations in Trek.
And "The Pirates of Orion" for revealing a little more about the Orions.
I like "Beyond the Farthest Star," mainly for that alien ship design. Doohan's voice acting for the alien entity sounds like he has a cold, though.

Kor

 

[NCC-73515]

I only like Yesteryear, One of our planets is missing, and Eye of the beholder.

 

[Herbert]

I'd love to see it re-released with all the continuity mistakes fixed in the animation, and with the character reanimated to be more fluid. I'm not saying redo the animation - I really like the character designs and the backgrounds are absolutely gorgeous! I just think tweaking the pacing (for example, when the characters run) would do wonders for the show.

Nah. Leave it alone. It might seem a bit clunky to 'modern' eyes but the quirky Filmation animation is part of the charm, not to mention very nostalgic for those of us alive when Filmation was making animated shows.

 

[F. King Daniel]

As much as I love TAS, the voice work is a bit shit at times, since the cast weren't often together and weren't voice actors. Add in fluid animation or (heaven forbid) 3D CG visuals and you'll no longer have anything to distract from that and the show will suffer.

Wow! Masks is completely normal compared to that

I like Masks too

 

[Richard S. Ta]

Love TAS, warts and all.

 

[Herbert]

As much as I love TAS, the voice work is a bit shit at times, since the cast weren't often together and weren't voice actors. Add in fluid animation or (heaven forbid) 3D CG visuals and you'll no longer have anything to distract from that and the show will suffer.

I like Masks too

Masks is great. It's completely batshit bonkers. I love it.

For TAS, every show (or movie for that matter) is in part a product of the times, techniques, and technology in which it was made. Sure you can attempt to pretty it up as was done in TOS ( ) or what Lucas did with effects in the original SW trilogy ( double with a little thrown in for good measure) but then it becomes something other than what was originally presented and, imo, inferior.

I'd rather they made a new TOS animated series than fiddle with the Filmation series in an attempt to 'fix' stuff that doesn't need to be fixed.

 

[Ssosmcin]

Nah. Leave it alone. It might seem a bit clunky to 'modern' eyes but the quirky Filmation animation is part of the charm, not to mention very nostalgic for those of us alive when Filmation was making animated shows.

I was 5-6 when the show first ran. I loved it. When I played with my Mego action figures, I hummed this show's background music. There is a picture of me in the park with my mom and sister and I am doing a "Kirk running" pose. You know, when he ran toward the screen with his arm across his chest. I think I remember more of the animated series from that period than the live action. At no point did the limited animation bother me or even register at all. It was Star Trek. It still is. Much like the original series, it doesn't require updating. It wouldn't change anything important anyway.

 

[Kor]

I agree that contemporary CG animation would be incongruous with the audio. I've always thought there was a certain "tinniness," for lack of a more precise descriptive word. But with that early '70s animation, it's not too hard to overlook... er, "overlisten?".

Kor

 

[Scott Kellogg]

I was 7 when the show came on. I figure I was smack dab in the middle of the target audience. It fit perfectly with my second grade education.

I was impressed by the fact that the educational standards of the time had them trying to teach some science in the show. (Say, the anatomical references to the villi lining the interior of the small intestine. - Ref: "One of our Planets is Missing")

I was disappointed in later Star Trek series like Voyager & Enterprise when I realized that TAS was written for a more scientifically literate audience.

Think about that: Voyager & Enterprise were written for kids under seven years old.