In the early '90's when I was still about 9 or 10, British cable channel Sky One started showing reruns of the little known Animated Series of Star Trek every Saturday at 10.30 in the morning. When the original series was cancelled following its third season in 1969, it was felt that show had some unfinished business and come 1972 Star Trek - The Animated Series was conceived. The show set out to complete the Enterprise's five-year mission and from 1973-74, twenty-two brand new 25-minute episodes were produced.
What was unusual about the show, was that unlike a majority of animated spin-offs, Start Trek Animated maintained the services of the actors from the show's original run as well as a large chunk of the writing and production staff - the only glaring omission being that of Walter Koenig who played Chekov during Season's 2 and 3 of the Original Series.
On occasion, the animation can be very crude as the show was drawn very quickly and on a minuscule budget, but that is compensated for by some excellent writing by the very people shaped the show in its original run. Something that the particulars of animation did allow for though was the freedom to create truly alien species - such as the navigator Arex - rather than showing a man dressed up in a hot rubber suit and this lends a certain authenticity to the show that might otherwise have been dismissed. The series also possesses some absolutely kick arse incidental music too.
Below I have linked the three parts of the pilot of Star Trek Animated called "Beyond the Farthest Star", whereby a malevolent creature gains access to the Enterprise's computer during a star charting mission - I am not ashamed to admit that this episode freaked the living shit out of me when I saw it during it's 1991 run and even now, it still sends shivers down my spine.
While "Beyond the Farthest Star" is not the best episode of Star Trek Animated (that's a tie between "Albatross" and "The Slaver Weapon"), I believe it to be a very good example of what the show was like over its two season run. The box-set with all of the episodes is now available on Amazon a relatively good price and is definitely worth a purchase for any Star Trek or science fiction fans in general.
Star Trek, The Animated Series "Beyond the Farthest Star"
Leigh
What was unusual about the show, was that unlike a majority of animated spin-offs, Start Trek Animated maintained the services of the actors from the show's original run as well as a large chunk of the writing and production staff - the only glaring omission being that of Walter Koenig who played Chekov during Season's 2 and 3 of the Original Series.
On occasion, the animation can be very crude as the show was drawn very quickly and on a minuscule budget, but that is compensated for by some excellent writing by the very people shaped the show in its original run. Something that the particulars of animation did allow for though was the freedom to create truly alien species - such as the navigator Arex - rather than showing a man dressed up in a hot rubber suit and this lends a certain authenticity to the show that might otherwise have been dismissed. The series also possesses some absolutely kick arse incidental music too.
Below I have linked the three parts of the pilot of Star Trek Animated called "Beyond the Farthest Star", whereby a malevolent creature gains access to the Enterprise's computer during a star charting mission - I am not ashamed to admit that this episode freaked the living shit out of me when I saw it during it's 1991 run and even now, it still sends shivers down my spine.
While "Beyond the Farthest Star" is not the best episode of Star Trek Animated (that's a tie between "Albatross" and "The Slaver Weapon"), I believe it to be a very good example of what the show was like over its two season run. The box-set with all of the episodes is now available on Amazon a relatively good price and is definitely worth a purchase for any Star Trek or science fiction fans in general.
Star Trek, The Animated Series "Beyond the Farthest Star"
Leigh
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1 comments:
my god I forgot about that show
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