So over the last couple of days I've watched three random episodes of TAS ("The Infinite Vulcan," "The Time Trap," and "Albatross"), and I'm still mixed on the series at best. The limited and constantly recycled animation, the more simplistic and kiddiefied approach, and WAY too many sequels to TOS episodes... It just doesn't work for me in the same way TOS does. But it's decent enough for me to revisit it every 5-10 years.
One place I feel TAS falls down is in the voice acting. Shatner, Nimoy, et al were not very experienced at voice acting for animation, and it shows. Most of the actors give pretty flat readings, probably not realizing that you have to up the energy of your voice a bit for animation. Surprisingly, Shatner, who's widely regarded as a ham, gives the most restrained line readings in the episodes I saw. Nimoy was fine, if a little dry even for Spock. But for my money, DeForest Kelley was doing the best voice work on TAS. McCoy always has energy and sounds like his usual irascible self. The supporting actors never really rise above "okay" from what I heard. The additional voices that Doohan, Nichols, Takei, and Barrett do typically just sound like them dropping their voices a few notches. ("The Time Trap" has two different characters voiced by Nichelle Nichols talking to each other at one point, and they're practically indistinguishable from each other.)
Plus, the cast typically didn't record together, so the chances of them recreating the great chemistry of TOS was low. And it's REALLY obvious when you get two different pronunciations from different actors in the same scene. ("The Time Trap" also contains the infamous scene of Spock saying "Sabotage" followed by Kirk saying "Sabatage" immediately afterwards.)
I found myself wishing voice director Andrea Romano of Batman: The Animated Series & the subsequent shows of the DC Animated Universe could've been working behind the scenes of TAS back then. Andrea (I call her Andrea because I've interviewed her multiple times & I'm friendly with her) always insisted on group recording sessions whenever possible, so the actors could match each other's energy levels and play off each other. And she definitely wouldn't let any of the actors pronounce a word two different ways in the same scene.
So do you have a favorite regular voice performer on TAS? Who do you feel did the best acting on the show? And who felt the most like the live action version of their character? (For the purposes of this poll, we'll skip returning guest actors like Mark Lenard, Roger C. Carmel, and Stanley Adams in the interest of brevity. But feel free to give them a shoutout in the comments!)
One place I feel TAS falls down is in the voice acting. Shatner, Nimoy, et al were not very experienced at voice acting for animation, and it shows. Most of the actors give pretty flat readings, probably not realizing that you have to up the energy of your voice a bit for animation. Surprisingly, Shatner, who's widely regarded as a ham, gives the most restrained line readings in the episodes I saw. Nimoy was fine, if a little dry even for Spock. But for my money, DeForest Kelley was doing the best voice work on TAS. McCoy always has energy and sounds like his usual irascible self. The supporting actors never really rise above "okay" from what I heard. The additional voices that Doohan, Nichols, Takei, and Barrett do typically just sound like them dropping their voices a few notches. ("The Time Trap" has two different characters voiced by Nichelle Nichols talking to each other at one point, and they're practically indistinguishable from each other.)
Plus, the cast typically didn't record together, so the chances of them recreating the great chemistry of TOS was low. And it's REALLY obvious when you get two different pronunciations from different actors in the same scene. ("The Time Trap" also contains the infamous scene of Spock saying "Sabotage" followed by Kirk saying "Sabatage" immediately afterwards.)
I found myself wishing voice director Andrea Romano of Batman: The Animated Series & the subsequent shows of the DC Animated Universe could've been working behind the scenes of TAS back then. Andrea (I call her Andrea because I've interviewed her multiple times & I'm friendly with her) always insisted on group recording sessions whenever possible, so the actors could match each other's energy levels and play off each other. And she definitely wouldn't let any of the actors pronounce a word two different ways in the same scene.
So do you have a favorite regular voice performer on TAS? Who do you feel did the best acting on the show? And who felt the most like the live action version of their character? (For the purposes of this poll, we'll skip returning guest actors like Mark Lenard, Roger C. Carmel, and Stanley Adams in the interest of brevity. But feel free to give them a shoutout in the comments!)
I'm amazed that nobody bothered to correct that.
