You and TAS
- Thread starter jgdst
- Start date
I am a huge Star Trek fan. I am a also a bit ashamed to say I have never watched TAS. Never really had the chance really. If I had it, I'd watch it; but until then, I'll live without it.
I've never seen a single episode myself
I've never seen it aired ever on British television since I've been a Trek fan and that was a long time ago. I could buy the DVDs but at the moment I don't want to spunk money on something that could be total rubbish.
In regards to its canonicity I've read a bit about it though, isn't there an episode about the first warp ship or something, that totally contradicts Zefram Cochrane in the Phoenix in 2063 and all of First Contact etc?
yes, the USS Bonaventure
No... the U.S.S. Bonaventure was stated as being the first starship with warp drive and looked similar to the Constitution class (The Time Trap).
I watched TAS for the first time a few years ago when it was released on DVD and was surprised by just how good it was. I'd always heard stories about how TAS wasn't up to par, but damn, they had some quality episodes there. Yes, there was two or three clunkers, but that's true of any TV show.
And it and anything inluded in it should be canon. Like Robert April.
And it and anything inluded in it should be canon. Like Robert April.
This should be in the TOS forum
I'm showing the TAS eps in Stardate order to my wife and 4 year old daughter. My wife, who grew up with TNG, always comments on how good the episodes are. They take shortcuts for time, and the animation is 70s cartoon, but the stories are good.
As for my daughter, well, she runs around the house singing the TAS theme--I know it doesn't have words, but her version does.
Anyone who says that Trek is no good for a modern audience, that our younger viewers will scoff at it and choose flashy tripe... well, they're wrong.
As for my daughter, well, she runs around the house singing the TAS theme--I know it doesn't have words, but her version does.
Anyone who says that Trek is no good for a modern audience, that our younger viewers will scoff at it and choose flashy tripe... well, they're wrong.
There are two "first ship" references in TAS.
In "The Time Trap," Mr. Scott says: "Captain, there's the old Bonaventure. She was the first ship to have warp drive installed. She vanished without a trace on her third voyage."
In "The Counter-Clock Incident," Dr. Sarah April (Ambassador Robert April's wife) says: "As the first medical officer aboard a ship equipped with warp drive, I'm afraid I had to come up with new ideas all the time."
Greg Schnitzer
Star Trek Phase II
In "The Time Trap," Mr. Scott says: "Captain, there's the old Bonaventure. She was the first ship to have warp drive installed. She vanished without a trace on her third voyage."
In "The Counter-Clock Incident," Dr. Sarah April (Ambassador Robert April's wife) says: "As the first medical officer aboard a ship equipped with warp drive, I'm afraid I had to come up with new ideas all the time."
Greg Schnitzer
Star Trek Phase II
I've never seen a single episode myself
I've never seen it aired ever on British television since I've been a Trek fan and that was a long time ago. I could buy the DVDs but at the moment I don't want to spunk money on something that could be total rubbish.
In regards to its canonicity I've read a bit about it though, isn't there an episode about the first warp ship or something, that totally contradicts Zefram Cochrane in the Phoenix in 2063 and all of First Contact etc?
yes, the USS Bonaventure
No... the U.S.S. Bonaventure was stated as being the first starship with warp drive and looked similar to the Constitution class (The Time Trap).
The last time that TAS was aired in the US...
what year and what channel??
what year and what channel??
What a semi-topical topic for me! I was an original airing TOS fan, but couldn't watch TAS when it was first aired. I just couldn't take Trek in a cartoon. Fast forward to last year....
Got a hold of the DVD's last year, and still couldn't watch them. When they weren't putting me to sleep, I still couldn't take Trek in a cartoon. Not to mention Trek does not translate well into essentially 20 minute episodes (I've never been on for Reader's Digest either). Fast forward to semi-recently...
I decided I was going to watch them if it killed me. BUT, the only way I could do it, was to read the "Log books." I knew there had to be someway to overcome my "20 minute fever." Fast forward to today...
ONE last TAS episode to suffer, I mean watch. I have MADE myself watch each episode after finishing the print versions of the episodes. And even then, those 20 minutes were tough, each time. I am down to one book and one episode to go (The Slaver Weapon).
So far... I enjoy Alan Dean Foster's writing. So much so, that I've read most everything he's done. Which is impressive as the majority were out of my personal preferences for genres. Not even he could make TAS good for me... EXCEPT where he's tacked on one of his own stories to pad the episodes up to book length.
With one episode to go (an episode denigrated in a prior post in this thread)... TAS is still an abomination for me. And I still can't really say why, even after decades of thinking about it. Turning my heroes into cartoons, dead voice acting, poor animation, lack of enough voice actors, stories too short to be episodes, cartoons, sleep effect, etc, etc. But I still can't say which or which combination of those or those I can't articulate are, or were the catalyst for me.
For me, I'd sum it up as.... TAS is. (whereas) TOS Lives.
Got a hold of the DVD's last year, and still couldn't watch them. When they weren't putting me to sleep, I still couldn't take Trek in a cartoon. Not to mention Trek does not translate well into essentially 20 minute episodes (I've never been on for Reader's Digest either). Fast forward to semi-recently...
I decided I was going to watch them if it killed me. BUT, the only way I could do it, was to read the "Log books." I knew there had to be someway to overcome my "20 minute fever." Fast forward to today...
ONE last TAS episode to suffer, I mean watch. I have MADE myself watch each episode after finishing the print versions of the episodes. And even then, those 20 minutes were tough, each time. I am down to one book and one episode to go (The Slaver Weapon).
So far... I enjoy Alan Dean Foster's writing. So much so, that I've read most everything he's done. Which is impressive as the majority were out of my personal preferences for genres. Not even he could make TAS good for me... EXCEPT where he's tacked on one of his own stories to pad the episodes up to book length.
With one episode to go (an episode denigrated in a prior post in this thread)... TAS is still an abomination for me. And I still can't really say why, even after decades of thinking about it. Turning my heroes into cartoons, dead voice acting, poor animation, lack of enough voice actors, stories too short to be episodes, cartoons, sleep effect, etc, etc. But I still can't say which or which combination of those or those I can't articulate are, or were the catalyst for me.
For me, I'd sum it up as.... TAS is. (whereas) TOS Lives.
I consider it canon... parts are certainly cringe-worthy, but no more than the live action moments seen in certain other series. I received the DVDs as a gift two years ago for Christmas and while disc one was hard to get through at first, later episodes make up for it. I mean, it's a cartoon, you just have to remember that.
As far as the Bonaventure and Sarah April issue, I just choose to believe that Scotty meant first starship or something else similar that we don't know about that makes it significant, perhaps the first joint UFP multi-fleet construct or something, and with Sarah, I just choose to believe that she meant chief medical officer but said first medical officer.
As far as the Bonaventure and Sarah April issue, I just choose to believe that Scotty meant first starship or something else similar that we don't know about that makes it significant, perhaps the first joint UFP multi-fleet construct or something, and with Sarah, I just choose to believe that she meant chief medical officer but said first medical officer.
I only bought the DVD's a couple years ago and have been watching them rather desultorily; I keep a post-it bookmark reminding me what episode I'm on for when I get an urge to watch one. I watch it, because I'm a fan; and now I want to know what happened. It did run on broadcast TV.
The show played Saturday mornings first run, and I knew it was on; but I had no interest in it at the time. I watched TOS first run on NBC, and I would have rather watched a syndicated rerun than the kids' show. (The reruns were on every weeknight about supper time, so we were getting plenty of Star Trek. I remember watching TOS on the kitchen TV while we ate.)
It still seems like a kids' show, with the possible exception so far of "Yesteryear," which I was surprised and pleased to encounter right away as the second episode. I was especially pleased to see Vulcan, as it appeared so much like the scene where the crew lands the bird of prey there in the movie. Here is what Memory Alpha says about it, regarding canon:
Star Trek: The Animated Series was not considered canon by Paramount Pictures and could not be included in Michael and Denise Okuda's reference books. However, they made an exception in the case of "Yesteryear" (or at least its backstory) because of its importance to the Star Trek timeline and elements of Spock's backstory established here have made it into official sources and future live-action episodes of TNG, so "Yesteryear" was mentioned in the Star Trek Chronology. The producers of later Star Trek series incorporated elements of "Yesteryear"'s backstory into canon: Spock's desert journeys are mentioned by Sarek in TNG: "Unification I", and T'Pol mentions her own kahs-wan in ENT: "The Catwalk". In addition, Vulcan's Forge is mentioned in DS9: "Change of Heart" and seen in ENT: "The Forge".
The show played Saturday mornings first run, and I knew it was on; but I had no interest in it at the time. I watched TOS first run on NBC, and I would have rather watched a syndicated rerun than the kids' show. (The reruns were on every weeknight about supper time, so we were getting plenty of Star Trek. I remember watching TOS on the kitchen TV while we ate.)
It still seems like a kids' show, with the possible exception so far of "Yesteryear," which I was surprised and pleased to encounter right away as the second episode. I was especially pleased to see Vulcan, as it appeared so much like the scene where the crew lands the bird of prey there in the movie. Here is what Memory Alpha says about it, regarding canon:
Star Trek: The Animated Series was not considered canon by Paramount Pictures and could not be included in Michael and Denise Okuda's reference books. However, they made an exception in the case of "Yesteryear" (or at least its backstory) because of its importance to the Star Trek timeline and elements of Spock's backstory established here have made it into official sources and future live-action episodes of TNG, so "Yesteryear" was mentioned in the Star Trek Chronology. The producers of later Star Trek series incorporated elements of "Yesteryear"'s backstory into canon: Spock's desert journeys are mentioned by Sarek in TNG: "Unification I", and T'Pol mentions her own kahs-wan in ENT: "The Catwalk". In addition, Vulcan's Forge is mentioned in DS9: "Change of Heart" and seen in ENT: "The Forge".
I watched a few episodes when the BBC first showed it in the '70s. After a few weeks I decided it was too silly and stopped watching. Later on I read about it and decided I may have been too harsh - having acquired the VHS tapes and now the DVDs I find I enjoy it a lot. Personally, I think it should be declared canon.
^ But would you?
If she were real and, ahem, interested...
...in a nano-second! (...and hopefully enduring longer than that
)Sincerely,
Bill
I find it very relaxing. It makes my nipples tingle.
TheLonelySquire
Vice Admiral
Well, I don't know if I consider it canon or not (probably not), but it sure seemed great when I was 9! And yeah, it's not too zippy, but it does take me back to a time of far fewer responsibilities. Because of this, I do watch it on some Sunday mornings while eating banana pancakes.
I really enjoy it. Especially "Yesteryear".
The actual look and feel of the show is typical early 70's schmaltz, with hokey theme music and bad animation (look! The ship's flying sideways! People's skin and uniform colors change randomly! It's about 5 frames per second!) but the actual stories are fine.
I'm still hoping for a TAS-R, though. Keep the original voices and sound effects, but redo all the visuals from the ground up, to a sort of "TOS season 4". In fact, wasn't there a website dedicated to doing exactly this? Re-animating TAS to match the aesthetic of TOS?
I'm still hoping for a TAS-R, though. Keep the original voices and sound effects, but redo all the visuals from the ground up, to a sort of "TOS season 4". In fact, wasn't there a website dedicated to doing exactly this? Re-animating TAS to match the aesthetic of TOS?
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All this chat about TOS Animated brings back memories. I was in college in the mid-1970s when I started watching Trek. After watching every episode of the live series, I heard that the local Channel 20 would air the animated series (since I wasn't aware of the animated series when I first saw Trek) at 3:30 p.m. weekdays.
I was a big-time Trekkie and since I had to work on campus all day. That meant I came up with a reason to leave the office and spend the next half-hour watching the animated series. I did in fact buy the DVDs but I haven't watched it since. Since I just bought the TOS-R set via Amazon, it just might be time to dust off the DVDs.
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