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TAS: Underrated Series

What animation? Except for the ship curving by the planet, the overhead whoosh, and the few moving stars, everything else is just static drawings being slid around or scaled on an Oxberry animation stand.
 
What animation? Except for the ship curving by the planet, the overhead whoosh, and the few moving stars, everything else is just static drawings being slid around or scaled on an Oxberry animation stand.

Well, that, or they've taken a liking to flying the ship sideways! :lol:
 
I imagine you had to edit them to fit each music running time, Nicely done.

Correct, PCz! I didn't do as good a job as I could have, but they were both done late in the evening, up against the clock. But I thought they made their point well enough. :)

Glad you enjoyed them, seeing as how it's you that put the idea in my head in the first place, causing me to lose some z's two nights in a row! :lol:
 
I imagine you had to edit them to fit each music running time, Nicely done.

Correct, PCz! I didn't do as good a job as I could have, but they were both done late in the evening, up against the clock. But I thought they made their point well enough. :)

Glad you enjoyed them, seeing as how it's you that put the idea in my head in the first place, causing me to lose some z's two nights in a row! :lol:

Nicely done on both of them! :techman:
 
I imagine you had to edit them to fit each music running time, Nicely done.

Correct, PCz! I didn't do as good a job as I could have, but they were both done late in the evening, up against the clock. But I thought they made their point well enough. :)

Glad you enjoyed them, seeing as how it's you that put the idea in my head in the first place, causing me to lose some z's two nights in a row! :lol:

Oh my... Now I have a total guilt trip! Well, I do appreciate you doing them.
 
There are much better TAS episodes:

"Beyond The Farthest Star"
"Yesteryear"
"Jihad"
"Slaver Weapon"
"Albatross"
"The Pirates Of Orion"
"One Of Our Planets Is Missing"
"The Infinite Vulcan" (even with its one WTF moment)


Middle of the road episodes:

"The Time Trap"
"The Survivor"
"The Ambergris Element"
"The Lorelei Signal"
"The Magicks Of Megas-Tu"
"Once Upon A Planet"
"How Sharper Than A Serpents Tooth"
"Eye Of The Beholder"

Weakest TAS episodes (in my opinion):

"More Tribbles, More Troubles"
"Mudd's Passion"
"The Practical Joker"
"BEM"
"The Counter-Clock Incident"
"The Terratin Incident"

Solid placement, but I might promote "How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth" to the top section. HSTAST was very much in the tradition of TOS' "Who Mourns for Adonais" with its god pretender being rejected by humans. Very TOS. Moreover, the inspiration was so tied to early 70s interest/theories along the "ancient astronaut" lines (and related concepts), that it--in animated shorthand--swept away the fantasy in an entertaining way. Probably as effective for those who missed episodes like "Who Mourns for Adonais."
 
So my fondness for this series is based more on emotion than actual episodes. I, too, recently bought the cd collection. But it's really Alan dean fosters books plus some memories of seeing it as a kid that has instilled such fondness.

I also must confess that one of our brethren bbs members runs a website dedicated to TAS where, should you be so compelled , you can send in photos where he will create images of you in this TAS environment. This is the coolest thing on this planet! I did so, and snuck in my wife to boot, and I totally love the cartoon versions! Look, I was lucky enough to visit the TNg sets multiple times during its run ... But a TAS version of me? Sorry, egocentric moment here, it was sooooo coooool.

Ahem, I'm back. The actual episodes are almost unwatchable.
http://www.startrekanimated.com/tas_portraits.html
 
Except for a few things here and there, what's not to love about the animated series overall? 1. The original VA's are there. 2. The early-70's soundtrack is very good. 3. The characters' personalities are fleshed out even more. 4. Some of the best lines and quips are to be found here. 5. Uhura in command twice. 6. And much more!

So why exactly is it so unpopular?

I do not believe it is so much unpopular as it is just simply forgotten. They say the opposite of love is not hate but indifference, and because ST:TAS was, for the most part, unremarkable it has just drifted out of fandom's collective consciousness.

The orignal Star Trek series was the very definition of zeitgeist while TAS was simply a mediocre Saturday morning cartoon show looking to cash in on a fad (which is more or less how the emerging Trek following was viewed at the time).

Bottom-line, it really didn't bring anything to the party and was not much more than a placeholder.
 
I imagine you had to edit them to fit each music running time, Nicely done.

Correct, PCz! I didn't do as good a job as I could have, but they were both done late in the evening, up against the clock. But I thought they made their point well enough. :)

Glad you enjoyed them, seeing as how it's you that put the idea in my head in the first place, causing me to lose some z's two nights in a row! :lol:

Oh my... Now I have a total guilt trip! Well, I do appreciate you doing them.

Anytime, my friend! :techman:
 
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