Jornada nas Estrelas: A Série Animada

After the cancellation of the original Star Trek TV series in 1969,network executives over at NBC came up with one of the most innovative and one of the best 'Star Trek' series ever. Even though it ran on Saturday Mornings,and was aimed directly at children,the series wasn't able to do what it precessdor would have in the original,but it had a whole lot more going than it expected being the first ever to have its own cartoon show,but also have the same cast from the original show to do the voiceovers. The animated was excellent throughout,and since it had interesting stories that went along with it,the show won several awards including two Peabody Awards during its two year run on the NBC network(from 1973-1975).

If you do catch some of episodes there are some good ones out on video that are worth seeing,including the part where Lieutenant Uhura commands the ship when Captain Kirk and Mister Spock faced great danger on a hostile planet. It may have been forgotten,but it still holds up to this day and as one of the best animated science-fiction shows ever devised for Saturday Mornings. Re-runs are out there somewhere.

I enjoyed the original 1960's Star Trek TV show. The animated series was, as with all animated adaptations of live action shows, a cut or two below its predecessor, but with an interesting twist that sparked some interest for both Trek and sci-fi fan alike.

One of my real beefs with the show was the animation. Filmation studios utilized a method of pregenerated animations as fill to allow their animators to do what little "unique" animation needed to be done for each new episode. One could rightfully call it "pre-fabricated" animation. It was a kind of assembly line art that Filmation studios used with all their animated titles, and as a kid I could see this, critique it as such, and get angry with the cheapness of show's feel.

Even so, it must be said that many of the backgrounds and layouts for the series had exceptional art quality to them. Even if the main characters were stilted as they moved through a set of pre-programmed moves, typically the backgrounds in which they moved (whether it was the Enterprise moving across a starfield or planet, or the crew wander a planet) were very rich. Despite that, even as a child, I felt cheated by people who couldn't do "good" cartoons; smooth animation with the characters in unique poses.

The stories themselves were typical sci-fi fair, but were a little more far-out in terms of their extraordinary quality because the animated venue allow for more elaborate settings and circumstances. Regrettably, as one or two others have pointed out, the stories were aimed at kids. Understandibly this was because the Animated Star Trek series was slated for Saturday Mornings when it first aired. Thus all the adult interplay, innuendo and themes of the original 1960's show were truncated.

If you're a science fiction fan, then the series is worth a viewing (maybe more). If you're a die hard Star Trek fan, then you've probably already made up your own mind about this installment of the Star Trek universe. If you're a fan of sci-fi animation, or just animation, skip this one. It'd be interesting to see this set of 22 half hour episodes reanimated (and I'm sure in time someone will do just that), because some of the stories are rather interesting.

All in all I'm glad to have the series; the music's rather good, the voices of the original cast are welcome, and the art isn't half bad. But Filmation's cheap, chinsy, factory-assembled, ill-inspired, ugly, horrible, and otherwise just plain bad and wrong animation techniques leave a bad aftertaste in this viewer's mind. Sort of like waking up with a woman who looks good only after a couple of hard shots of Jack Daniels.

ADDENDUM November 2nd, 2015 In retrospect this show was created to keep the live action series alive and possibly in the minds of newer and younger viewers who would be entering their teenage years, and would have their interests piqued with an animated version of the show that seemed to garner a lot of praise by critics and fans alike.

It was purely done to keep the show alive and usher in a newer audience, but that's really not such a bad thing. I'm just sorry the production values for an animated version of the series weren't a bit higher.

Many fans have looked negatively on this series. That is too bad, and they do not give it the attention and credit it fully deserves. Sure there is an episode or two that was simply okay, but overall, I enjoyed all of it.

Gene Roddenberry, the creator of "Star Trek", was paid money for this series. He said that it was not part of "official" Star Trek. I think that is ridiculous, since he had the final approval of all of the scripts, and there were some great ones.

If anyone faulted the animation of this show, it must be remembered of what the state of animated films was in 1973. Even Disney had cut back considerably by that time; look at Disney's "Robin Hood" to see what I mean.

Because "Star Trek - The Animated Series" had a limited budget, there was not enough money to bring back Walter Koenig to play Chekov. But the show is a fine example of how "Trek" could work in animation.

And that is its finest accomplishment of all.

Trek returns as a cartoon, a medium befitting William Shatner's acting.

This was the first attempt at reviving Trek, and for the most part, it was pretty good. It's animation, so it's limiting. It's Filmation, so it's even more limiting. Filmation was a little more low-end than their rivals at Hanna-Barbera. Stock footage was constant in their productions and the voice work was usually of lower quality. Not this time, though. The original cast, minus Walter Koenig, provided their own voices, while Nichelle Nichols and James Doohan got to play other roles. The use of animation allowed the creation of better aliens and for situations that were impossible to film with live actors or effects (or just too expensive to film). Unfortunately, it also lent the show a certain stiffness.

The stories were quite good and featured writing from several Trek veterans and even a script from actor Walter Koenig. We finally got to see Orion pirates and see Spock as a child. There were even sequels to old episodes, like the Trouble with Tribbles and City on the Edge of Forever.

All in all, the series was a fine addition to the Star Trek world and stood out on Saturday Morning. It tended to skew more to an older audience, but it kept the youngsters entertained.

In between the time of the original Star Trek series' cancellation by NBC and Star Trek: The Motion Picture's release date, Star Trek was growing in popular at a fast pace. One can assume the purpose of this show's existence was to cash in on Star Trek's popularity. Well maybe that's why NBC ran it, but the people behind appreciated the Original Series and it showed. This series had some interesting stories, but suffered a major setback from day one. Being animated and aimed at little children, this series wasn't able to do the kind of stories the Original Series and the following series were able to. The show was not cheaply done. Animation was excellent, with all the characters looking like the actors themselves. The series probably could have succeeded in prime time. Catch the reruns where ever you can.