Star Trek: The Animated Series: Reviews

The Slaver Weapon felt too cartoonish to me. I prefer a more mature Star Trek.

I didn't see the point of this episode at all and am already looking forward for this series to end.

Also, the animation was quite poor at times.

VERDICT
I give it 1 out of 5. Very bad.

The Time Trap started great, with the Enterprise being entrapped in a galactic version of the Bermuda triangle.

VERDICT
I give it 2 out of 5. Weak.

SHRUNK
The Terratin Incident is a very interesting episode that simply couldn't have been produced in The Original Series, as it would have been technically too challenging.
In it, the crew of the Enterprise start to all shrink rapidly.

SHRINKING
What I found very interesting and equally clever is that the crew keeps shrinking quickly. Therefore, it gives a sense of urgency.

IF ONLY...
Once again, a clear example of how good an animated series of Star Trek can be. If only the animation was better. If only.

VERDICT
I give it 4 out of 5. Very good.

SHORE LEAVE 2
Once Upon a Planet is a direct sequel to TOS' Shore Leave (1x15). As I advocated during my reviews of TOS, the show should have leveraged past stories to write some sequels, instead of always coming up with brand new material which actually felt often rehashes of older stories. Why not just embrace past stories to write sequels?

THIRD SEQUEL
This episode is already the third sequel during the first 9 episodes of the show and I think it's actually a great mechanism! Sure, used too much it could backfire, but it was used so little in TOS that I think it works great here. We are familiar with the overall story and it brings a new level and expands this mystery.

CONVINCING COMPUTERS
For the xth time in the saga, Kirk convinces a computer to do what's right. But this was by far the most delicate iteration. Instead of trying to make the computer crash, the crew convinced it to do the right thing.
As much as it was somehow interesting, it led to an extremely rushed ending that felt a bit cheesy.

VERDICT
I give it 3 out of 5. An enjoyable sequel which works well, but with a rushed ending.

The first five minutes of the episode were stunning: the Enterprise going to the "center of everything", the origin of the Big Bang. Simply fascinating.

But what do they discover in it? A ridiculous dude with horns, looking like Satan. Just ridiculous.

VERDICT
I give it 1 out of 5. Very bad.

The penultimate episode from The Animated Series is quite bad. I much preferred the very beginning of the series, where the episodes were not too much into pure science fiction and were more serious. Here, we get wild characters pretty much everywhere, including a giant serpent which keeps talking. These long monologues are just pure filler and are not providing any value. It's time to pull the plug and move on from this series.

One more episode to go.

This shows how complex it is to make a great science fiction series.

VERDICT
I give it 2 out of 5. Weak.

An episode where everyone laughs... except the audience. But actually, I liked the concept of the Enterprise's mainframe computer taking over the ship and becoming silly.

VERDICT
I give it 4 out of 5. Very good.

GOOD CONCEPT
An episode taking place underwater. This wasn't such a bad idea, especially for The Animated Series, as it would have been clearly impossible to do in TOS.

AQUA-KIRK/SPOCK
But the problem is that they transformed both Kirk and Spock into Aquaman-type men. The first time I watched the episode, I found it ridiculous. Now, upon my second watching, I actually enjoy it for what it is.

COUNCIL
But after that, witnessing Kirk and Spock underwater was not fun at all. Also, the council scene was as bad as every single council scene I've seen in science fiction movies. The Matrix Reloaded, Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, etc.

THE ENTERPRISE FISH TANK
Oh, and how convenient to have a human sized fish tank in the Enterprise sick bay... That didn't seem plausible to me. You have to keep the unbelievable things believable in sci-fi.

BOJACK
Decades later, BoJack Horseman will also do an underwater episode, but it will actually be much more interesting.

VERDICT
I give it 2 out of 5. A cool idea that could have worked well in animation, but the story underwater was too childish. Weak.

NURSE CHAPEL
After Uhura, this is now the time for Nurse Chapel to take the lead. Women have a much stronger role in the animated series than in the original one, where they were mostly just objects for Kirk to fall in love with—I exaggerate but there is a lot true to that.

GOOD STORY
I liked the story of this episode, because it was very simple and not too far into the realms of science-fiction.
Also, I liked seeing the return of Mudd, a character that appeared twice in the original series. It's actually ma favorite episode of the three.

Unfortunately, the second part of the episode with the two creatures was really bad and out of context.

VERDICT
I give it 3 out of 5. Enjoyable.

TOO MUCH SCI-FI
This was, to me, the first bad episode of The Animated Series. I found the episode going way too much into pure sci-fi territory, onto odd fantasy world which wasn't appealing at all.

The previous episodes were far more realistic and more interesting. Here, we go from one thing to the next too quickly. For instance, we start with intelligent plants before quickly moving onto giants. Do it right or don't do it, but stay focus, is my advice.

VERDICT
I give it 1 out of 5. Very bad.

I really liked this episode! The story was great, just terrific! An alien takes the form of a man, but not just randomly, actually taking the form of a man when he crashed on a strange planet. Loved it, loved it, loved it.
It was carefully done and while the animation from the 1970's is not great, the story is.

Once more, a great episode in this Animated Series. Yes, the animation is not great, but the scripts are very solid and often much better than in The Original Series, which is quite surprising.

VERDICT
I give it 4 out of 5. Very good.

This episode is a sequel to The Trouble With Tribbles (2x15), from the second season of Star Trek.

What is interesting is that first, they mix the story it with a Klingon ship and, second, they make the story interesting by giving a new ability to the Tribbles 2.0: they don't reproduce but become bigger and bigger. That was interesting.

VERDICT
I give it 3 out of 5. An enjoyable and funny episode.

CLEVER PLOT!
At first, when I saw the young ladies from that episode, I thought they would fall for the crew and I was already looking elsewhere, but actually that wasn't the case. The young ladies were actually looking to suck the youth out of Kirk, Spock and McCoy, what an original and cool idea! I really loved it.

UGLY MAKEUP
Also, since this is an animated series, you would really think that the characters became very old, something much more complex to do in the 1970's on TV.

SCOTTY SINGING
The long shot of Scotty singing as the Enterprise slowly passes a planet was stunning! Just awesome.

GIRL POWER
Also, I loved that the women members of the crew were not affected and therefore took charge, for once. Really great and that's what I call girl power. Finally, Uhura taking charge of the Enterprise was just perfect and very well done.

LESSONS... LEARNED!?
We are only four episodes into the series and already the animated show has learned from the mistakes of The Original Series. Once again, I have not seen a single ridiculous costume, which was unfortunately so regular in TOS (The Original Series). In a way, it's sad, because the original series could have been much better, but why should I complain when reviewing a series which is quite good?
Four episodes and four successes. Well done!

VERDICT
I give it 4 out of 5. Very good.

GREAT SEQUEL
Yesteryear is a great episode right from the start. This is clearly a sequel to the best episode of Star Trek: The City on the Edge of Forever. Kirk and Spock used the time machine known as The Guardian and came back only to realize that no one remembers who Spock is. We learn quickly that Captain Kirk and Spock changed the past by using the time machine. Spock was never born.

TOO GOOD
A great episode, that makes me think why we did not get more episodes of Star Trek with personal mythology. When I look back at all the ridiculous episodes, I am surprised that we had to wait for the animated series to know more on Spock.
In a way, it shows what Star Trek could have been with more money and, perhaps, more time to write.

SPOCK'S PAST
Anyway, the episode is very interesting, we get to learn more about Spock by witness his own childhood. It was actually a somehow courageous move to show a pet of a young child dying. I liked this scene a lot an especially what it meant.

SPOCK'S FATHER
We also get the chance to meet his father once more.

BACKGROUNDS BUT NO MOVEMENT
What strikes me again is the fact that we get to see great locations that the series just couldn't for obvious budget and time reasons. But the concern is that the characters are, like in Filmation's Batman animated series, often not moving, or very little. We are still early in animation techniques.

VERDICT
I give it 4 out of 5. Very good. The best episode of the animated series by far.

4 YEARS LATER...
Released four years after the end of the original series, Star Trek: The Animated Series is a continuation of the series with the same characters and the same stories. Captain Kirk, Spock, Scotty, Uhura and Sulu are all back, and it feels damn good! But what's very important is that the original actors are giving their voice to their characters. That alone shows you the level of care that will be provided.

IMAGINATION: UNLOCKED
The main concern of Star Trek was that it had quite a low budget. The locations were smaller and smaller throughout the three years, the costumes often ridiculous. Here, the fact that this is an animated series, suddenly we are able to go one giant step further into the realms of science fiction and space itself.

NEW TRICKS!
Also, in this first episode, the characters are getting a brand new life-support belts, which lets them travel into space. Star Trek could never have pulled off something like that, with the crew literally walking onto an odd creature in the void of space. Therefore, making an animated series back in 1973, at a time where there was no computer-generated images, makes perfect sense.

SULU
I also liked that Sulu became the temporary Captain of the ship while the others were gone.
I think he was vastly underutilized in The Original Series.

ALIEN ON THE BRIDGE
I also found interesting to see an alien on the bridge, as part of the crew—which, apparently, replaced Chekov for some reasons.

CANON OR NOT CANON? THAT IS THE QUESTION
It would be an error to think that The Animated Series is not part of the Star Trek universe. Even some of the original writers see this series as the fourth season of Star Trek. So if you are serious about it, do the work and watch it.

OPENING CREDITS
As per the opening credits, they appear right from the beginning and not after a teaser. I really like teasers in TV series from that era, which set the tone of the overall episode and trie to grab the audience to stay with unreal characters for an hour.
Not only that, but the song of the opening credits is not memorable and lightyears from the classic one of TOS. If I was in command, I would have simply produced an exact like-for-like animated version of the opening credits, based on The Original Series.

STILL
Still, the episode itself doesn't have that magic that the original actors were providing. Their spirit of camaraderie was a big part of the show and not seeing them in live action feels odd. Not only that, but the story is so far fetched that it is not that compelling and ultimately doesn't really work. I believe the problem is that by not having limitations, you suddenly go too far. Once again, the equilibrium must be found and the right balance in the galaxy. Oh wait, am I quoting Star Wars in a Star Trek review? What is happening to me? Quick, let's leave this review before it's too late. Energize!

BATMAN TREK
Finally, as a young kid (5-year old), I had a received a VHS tape of a Batman cartoon, which I loved and rewatched so many times. Ironically, the episodes I watched were directed by Hal Sutherland, the same director of all the episodes from TAS season 1. I instantly saw the similitudes. The characters are designed precisely the same, they behave the same, move the same way, their eyes move the same, etc. etc. He worked for the animation company Filmation, which was founded in 1962 and stayed active between 1963 and 1989.

VERDICT
I give it 4 out of 5. A very solid start.

FIRST CAPTAIN
The Animated Series ends with quite a stunning episode! In it, we learn about Commodore April, the very first captain of the Enterprise. That's gold! I'm sad we had to wait until the very last episode before expanding the mythology of the series that well.

DUO
Therefore, we quickly have the privilege to witness Captain Kirk commanding the Enterprise, alongside with Commodore April beside him.

GREAT STORY
I really liked the story of the crew going in reverse and becoming younger and younger. This is clearly something only the animated series could do at the time. This is quite a similar concept than The Terratin Incident, where the crew was shrinking.
Not only it works great, but it's actually very clever, since we have the old couple aboard the Enterprise. This means that Commodore April is once more commanding the ship. What a great and clever concept.

SERIES FINALE
This series finale is much more interesting and compelling than the series finale from TOS, which was not mythological at all. It seems logical to end a series with high stakes, which is exactly the case here.

VERDICT
I give it 5 out of 5. An outstanding series finale.

Now I can finally move on to... Star Trek: The Motion Picture! Engage! Kirk out.

Albatross is interesting, but not a great episode either.

VERDICT
I give it 3 out of 5. Enjoyable.

I'm looking forward to the end of The Animated Series already. This episode doesn't add much value and is not very compelling.

At least, I would say that Bem is an interesting character, but I still didn't like the script.

VERDICT
I give it 2 out of 5. Weak.

The beginning of this second season is interesting and feels clearly better than the last episodes of season 1, which had a tendency to be too immature and cartoonish.

The Pirates of Orion is a very focused and simple episode. Nothing is ridiculous and I enjoyed it very much.

VERDICT
I give it 4 out of 5. Very good.

The Animated Series started with very clever scripts and compelling stories.
Now, it's just constant action with odd creatures. This is once more pure cartoon territory. But I must admit that it works in this episode, better than in the previous ones.

And oddly enough, there is a nymphomaniac lady which constantly ask Kirk to fuck her. Yes.

VERDICT
I give it 3 out of 5. Enjoyable.

After a very strong beginning, The Animated Series is now in pure cartoon territory, with dinosaurs-like creatures appearing out of nowhere every minute. The crew members use their phasers and I wonder if this is a video game or a Star Trek episode.

VERDICT
I give it 1 out of 5. Very bad.

TOO FAST
The episode is interesting, but goes a bit too fast. It's ironic, because many TOS episodes felt too long and here, it's the exact opposite. I truly think 43 minutes is the best length for a Star Trek episode, and not 50 minutes (TOS) or 25 minutes (TAS).

SPOCK TALKS TO A CLOUD
I also really liked when Spock talked to the cloud through his telepathic ability. Leonard Nimoy's voice was so iconic. He could have read a cooking recipe, I would have find it good.

BRUCE SULU
Mr. Sulu looks exactly like Bruce Wayne from Filmation's Batman animated series.

VERDICT
I give it 3 out of 5. Enjoyable. Perhaps it deserves a 4, but after watching the entire TOS, my brain is... cloudy.