One Fair, One Absolutely Abysmal Episode Tears Apart Star Trek: The Animated Adventures Volume 10!

The Good: Tension and plot of "The Pirates Of Orion."
The Bad: Terrible animation, Vocal presentations are mediocre, Lack of scientific basis makes one a children's story!
The Basics: Spock contracts a fatal disease that Kirk must negotiate medicine for and the Enterprise falls victims to dumb pranks in this volume of the Animated Series!


Star Trek: The Animated Series is a problematic collection of inconsistent television. At times, it is the natural successor to Star Trek, presenting adult storylines as best as can be crammed into half an hour, the remainder of the time, it is the most disappointing of children's programming relying on the silliest standards and obvious plot devices that only a child would find fresh and new. In other words, at times, this series is Star Trek and the rest of the time, it is something far worse. And the result is ultimately disappointing. While some episodes rise above being simplistic and childish recreations of Star Trek, some of them are just children's programming. And those tend to be pretty unremarkable, if not outright terrible kid's programming.

With the "Volume 10" VHS of the Star Trek: The Animated Series, "The Pirates Of Orion" and "The Practical Joker" the viewer is subjected to one of the most disconcerting pairings of episodes on the volumes of the series. "The Practical Joker" is entirely a silly children's story, while "The Pirates Of Orion" is far too intense and realistic for most children. The result is a viewing experience that will leave neither group satisfied.

"The Pirates Of Orion" has Spock contracting a case of choriocytosis, a disease that is a mere annoyance to humans, but fatal to Vulcans. While Doctor McCoy struggles to keep Spock alive, Kirk takes the Enterprise in search of the drug needed to save Spock's life, strobolin. Spock needs naturally-occurring strobolin, the nearest supply of which has just been hijacked by Orion pirates. As Spock lays dying, Kirk and the crew must negotiate and outwit the Orions.

"The Practical Joker" finds the Enterprise near the Romulan Neutral Zone where the ship comes under attack by three Romulan ships. Fleeing, the Enterprise encounters an energy field which essentially causes the computer to have a nervous breakdown. The computer begins altering reality around the crew, condemning them to a series of annoying pranks and hijinx all the while the ship is under the threat of the Romulans returning.

First the positive: "The Pirates Of Orion" has some genuine tension to it and it is a surprisingly strong idea for the Animated Series. Spock and Dr. McCoy are put in a medical drama and there is a strong sense of political drama as Kirk works to get the strobolin. Despite the certainty in the mind of the viewers that Spock will not die, the episode plays the threat out remarkably well and in a fairly adult fashion.

Beyond that, though, the episodes fall down. And hard. "The Pirates Of Orion" is heavily plot-driven and there is no genuine character development in it. Moreover, even the aspects with the mysterious Orions gives us little new information about them - despite the fact that this is the first time in the franchise that male Orions appear.

And even worst than that is "The Practical Joker." That episode is all about a gimmick, a spatial anomaly that allows dumb pranks to be pulled on members of the crew. Yes, to be clear, the big gimmick of "The Practical Joker" is that the computer is altered to play tricks on the crew like writing "Kirk Is A Jerk" on the back of the Captain's uniform shirt. There is no scientific or pseudo scientific explanation of the anomaly and as a result, it is wiped away as a children's cartoon conceit.

The problem with "The Practical Joker" is that it is a kid's cartoons more than they are an animated reimagining of Star Trek. For a series that promised sophisticated stories and character development for adults, Star Trek: The Animated Series here degenerates into pretty standard Saturday morning cartoon fare. That is a huge disappointment. Especially in comparison to the more tense and adult "The Pirates Of Orion," "The Practical Joker" seems largely silly and childish. But even that is not entirely consistent; "The Pirates Of Orion" guts Star Trek continuity by introducing force field belts so Kirk can be beamed to an asteroid without atmosphere, instead of the classic environmental suits fans would be familiar with.

The animation in Star Trek: The Animated Series is pretty terrible and on the videos, it is not cleaned up like it was for the DVD versions. Even on DVD, the animation is choppy and rather generic. Backgrounds are looped in both episodes. The only genuine benefit of the animation comes in the creature design and ability to do some actual starship battles, which were not possible in Star Trek. "The Practical Joker" makes use of this with the Enterprise under attack by Romulans, though the animation is still pretty primitive looking. In "The Pirates Of Orion," the male Orions are introduced.

The thing is, the Orions could have been very easy to pull off in a live-action series, at least as they are imagined and presented in "The Pirates Of Orion." In fact, they look very '70's cartoonish with their round heads and bright color schemes.

The animation is fair at best by today's standards and the look of the series is a little more blockish than reality. As a result, Kirk has more in common with Captain America in terms of physique than the live-action William Shatner Kirk. Similarly, Spock seems surprisingly ripped (though not in a way that is extreme) and Uhura's uniform actually seems a little longer! All the animation truly allows this incarnation of Star Trek to do that it could not before is make more interesting alien races and this set does that, even if they still look somewhat off.

Neither episode involves genuine character development. The episodes do not enhance or progress Kirk, Spock, McCoy or any of the supplemental characters' character. Indeed, there is never a moment that the viewer doubts Dr. McCoy's determination to save Spock in "The Pirates Of Orion" and the preoccupation with the anomaly and the ridiculous pranks that follow in "The Practical Joker" makes for little or no time to focus on the heroism of our recurring protagonists. In fact, far from developing, Kirk rescues the Enterprise from that scenario the way he usually does.

The voice acting in these episodes is homogeneously unremarkable. The actors give performances that sometimes feel like straightforward line readings and it is odd to see the minimally expressive animation with the more expressive vocals when they are. Even James Doohan, who voices many of the supporting guest roles, gives a surprisingly inexpressive performance and the result is a bland characterization of the various aliens. Between the blockish animation, the dull voice-overs, the recycled plots and the minimal growth of character, these episodes truly are unremarkable.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the complete collection here!
Thanks!]

"The Pirates Of Orion" - 5/10
"The Practical Joker" - 1/10
VHS - 2.5/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject and click here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Mildly Interesting "Bem" Drags Down The Surprisingly Intense "Albatross" On Star Trek: The Animated Adventures - Volume 9!

The Good: Some interesting conceptual ideas, Plot of "Albatross."
The Bad: Terrible animation, Vocal presentations are mediocre, Lack of scientific basis makes one a children's story!
The Basics: When McCoy is put on trial for genocide and a creature of the week who can split himself in two arrives, viewers just shudder at the Star Trek: The Animated Adventures.


There is something of an irony in the history of Star Trek in that the Star Trek: The Animated Series was fairly easily renewed for a second season while fans had to fight so very hard for each season of the original, live action Star Trek (reviewed here!). Sure, the second season of the animated version was canceled far quicker and more definitively, but that it had the smooth sailing of a renewal before that is either laughable or indicates a seriously deep game going on in the mind of the executives in charge of the show. This is further ironic because there are so few episodes of the twenty-two minute per episode Star Trek: The Animated Series that one might consider worth watching, especially as an adult. While some episodes rise above being simplistic and childish recreations of Star Trek, some of them are just children's programming. And those tend to be pretty unremarkable, if not outright terrible kid's programming.

With the "Volume 9" VHS of the Star Trek: The Animated Series, "Bem" and "Albatross" subject viewers to one of the most disconcerting pairings of episodes on the volumes of the series. "Bem" is in many ways a silly children's story, while "Albatross" is far too intense and realististic for most children. The result is a viewing experience that will leave neither group satisfied.

"Bem" finds the Enterprise in orbit around a primitive planet where they have been establishing monitoring posts of the natives. A Federation special ambassador, Bem, insists on accompanying Kirk, Spock, Sulu and Scotty down to the planet, despite Kirk's protests. Bem swaps out the phasers and communicators with fakes and essentially strands Kirk and Spock. On the planet, Bem does all he can to escape or defy the Enterprise crew and in the process, he makes contacts with the native life forms and their god.

"Albatross" puts Dr. McCoy on trial for genocide when the Dramians arrest him following a successful mission performed by the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise. McCoy, having visited the planet Dramia almost twenty years earlier on an inoculation mission is being charged with killing, rather than inoculating, the Dramians. The plague that wiped out many of them puts Kirk in the position of distrusting the Dramians and their courts and leaves Dr. McCoy swinging in the wind.

First the positive: "Albatross" has some genuine tension to it and it is a surprisingly strong idea for the Animated Series. Dr. McCoy is put in a legal dilemma and there are no simple answers, despite the certainty in the mind of the viewers that McCoy could not possibly have tried to commit genocide. That the Prime Directive is brought to bear even in the less sophisticated animated adventures makes for better television than one might expect.

Second, in "Bem" there is a refreshing moment when Uhura, essentially in command, orders Scotty to return to the Enterprise. It is her leadership and assertiveness that we so seldom were privileged to see in the show that comes shining through and it is a refreshing thing.

What these two episodes share is a strong sense of moral . . . sort of. "Albatross" is big on the "we must respect different cultures" concept. It's good to know children in the early '70s were being taught that genocide was wrong, too! "Bem," one wants to believe, has a similarly honorable moral, but the problem is it is not executed that way. Instead, the novelty of Bem being a creature that can disassemble itself is what the episode becomes preoccupied with.

Yes, to be clear, the big gimmick of "Bem" is that his torso can detach and go off to do one thing (like pick Kirk and Spock's pockets with little hands stored inside the torso) while the upper half is hanging around appearing to be intact. Bem is apparently made up of little self-sufficient bits, like a colony, but no one knew that prior to the mission. There is no scientific or pseudo scientific explanation of the character or his abilities and as a result, it is wiped away as a children's cartoon conceit.

The problem with "Bem" is that it is a kid's cartoons more than they are an animated reimagining of Star Trek. For a series that promised sophisticated stories and character development for adults, Star Trek: The Animated Series here degenerates into pretty standard Saturday morning cartoon fare. That is a huge disappointment. Especially in comparison to the more verbose "Albatross," "Bem" seems largely silly and childish.

The animation in Star Trek: The Animated Series is pretty terrible and on the videos, it is not cleaned up like it was for the DVD versions. Even on DVD, the animation is choppy and rather generic. Backgrounds are looped in both episodes. The only genuine benefit of the animation comes in the creature design and ability to do some actual starship battles, which were not possible in Star Trek. While there are no significant starship actions in these episodes, there is a decent use of character design in both.

The Dramians and Bem would have been difficult to pull off with Star Trek on the live action show, as their design is fairly complicated. Now, by "fairly complicated," I mean that they with Bem splitting in two and having a little creature arms doing things it would have been tough to have had people in suits or puppets to make it work for a live-action episode. The Dramians are basically creatures with big, lizard-like heads and they might have been possible, like the Gorn from "Arena" (reviewed here!) to do, but it seems unlikely they could have done it well. Sadly, the creatures in both episodes are still pretty clunky 70's animation.

The animation is fair at best by today's standards and the look of the series is a little more blockish than reality. As a result, Kirk has more in common with Captain America in terms of physique than the live-action William Shatner Kirk. Similarly, Spock seems surprisingly ripped (though not in a way that is extreme) and Uhura's uniform actually seems a little longer! All the animation truly allows this incarnation of Star Trek to do that it could not before is make more interesting alien races and this set does that, even if they still look somewhat off.

Neither episode involves genuine character development. Uhura has the chance to step up while in command of the Enterprise, so it's not all bad. But the episodes do not enhance or progress Kirk, Spock, McCoy or any of the supplemental characters' character. Indeed, there is never a moment that the viewer doubts Dr. McCoy in "Albatross" and the preoccupation with "Bem" in his episode makes for little or no time to focus on the genius of our recurring protagonists.

The voice acting in these episodes is homogeneously unremarkable. The actors give performances that sometimes feel like straightforward line readings and it is odd to see the minimally expressive animation with the more expressive vocals when they are. Even James Doohan, who voices many of the supporting guest roles, gives a surprisingly inexpressive performance and the result is a bland characterization of the various aliens. Between the blockish animation, the dull voice-overs, the recycled plots and the minimal growth of character, these episodes truly are unremarkable.


[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the complete collection here!
Thanks!]

"Bem" - 2/10
"Albatross" - 4/10
VHS - 2.5/10

For other television reviews, please visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Pretty Bad, The Star Trek: The Animated Series Continues On Volume 8.

The Good: This time, you've got me.
The Bad: Two VERY lame episodes, Terrible animation, Vocal presentations are mediocre, Children's stories! Lack of character.
The Basics: When Kirk and Spock are put in a zoo and Uhura is captured by robots, viewers just shudder at the Star Trek: The Animated Adventures.


One of the strongest arguments to be made against the Star Trek: The Animated Series is that it is largely children's programming. While some episodes rise above being simplistic and childish recreations of Star Trek, some of them are just children's programming. And those tend to be pretty unremarkable, if not outright terrible kid's programming. With the "Volume 8" VHS of the Star Trek: The Animated Series, "The Eye Of The Beholder" and "Once Upon A Planet" subject viewers to some of the worst that the Star Trek: The Animated Series could do, with formulaic children's programming and cheap rewrites. They are a terrific disappointment and it's hard to see how the argument that this is a worthy continuation of Star Trek could be made with episodes like this.

For those unfamiliar with Star Trek: The Animated Series, the two seasons aired in the early-1970s and acted as a bridge between Star Trek (reviewed here!) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (reviewed here!). These episodes aired in 1974 and represented the attempt on the part of Paramount and Filmation to gauge the interest in new Star Trek material while working around the busy schedules of the principle talent from Star Trek. This series continued the five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk and featured the voice talents of most of the Star Trek cast as well as writing from some of the better Star Trek writers.

"The Eye Of The Beholder" finds the Enterprise searching for survivors of the U.S.S. Ariel around Lactra VII. Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down to the planet where they encounter the giant slug-like Lactrans, who are telepathic and highly evolved. The Lactrans put the landing party in their zoo, where they find the survivors of the other starship, one of whom is seriously wounded. As they work to escape, Spock comes to realize just how powerful the Lactrans are.

"Once Upon A Planet" has the U.S.S. Enterprise visiting the "Shore Leave" planet where Dr. McCoy and Uhura almost immediately find that things have changed. Uhura is abducted by robots and McCoy barely makes it back to the ship alive when the Queen Of Hearts starts chasing him. Kirk and Spock mount a rescue for Uhura while trying to figure out what has happened on the planet and how to make it safe again for visitors. Unfortunately, they soon make a discovery that reveals how difficult it could be for them to restore the planet to its working order.

First the positive: "Once Upon A Planet" attempts to establish a decent sense of continuity by returning to the planet from "Shore Leave" (reviewed here!). The idea of more continuity in the series is a good thing to me. Moreover, the use of Uhura - even if she is yet again insulted - is always a good thing. The opportunity for Uhura to participate and try to develop her character is a worthwhile endeavor.

Finally, the idea that the Enterprise and its crew might well be outmatched, even by a bunch of twenty-foot slugs, is a good thing. In Star Trek, the Enterprise was more frequently than we'd like to remember outmatched by an adversary. Having that carry over into the Star Trek: The Animated Series works quite well, especially when the more powerful force is not a bland hostile.

Unlike other episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series, these two episodes are pretty low on moral. Whenever the series does a particularly lame children's programming-type episode, usually it falls into one of the typical "obvious moral" categories. So, for example, the viewer might be plagued with "everybody needs to work together" or "different types of people all have value" stories, which are fine but formulaic. Instead, in this volume, the viewer is subjected to the even lesser plot formula. Like earlier episodes that manage to be the generic "Bermuda Triangle" episode, "Once Upon A Planet" is "robots run amuck!" plot #2.

And that seems cheap for the Star Trek franchise.

"The Eye Of The Beholder" is a little tougher to classify (other than just "boring"), but it essentially is a rewrite of "The Cage" (reviewed here!) without the panache. It is lacking in a strong message or an original plot and the result is twenty-two minutes of "ho-hum" boredom.

The problem with both episodes is that they are kid's cartoons more than they are an animated reimagining of Star Trek. For a series that promised sophisticated stories and character development for adults, Star Trek: The Animated Series here degenerates into pretty standard Saturday morning cartoon fare. That is a huge disappointment. Virtually every Saturday morning cartoon does a "robots run amuck" type episode.

There is nothing particularly engaging for adults in either of these episodes.

The animation in Star Trek: The Animated Series is pretty terrible and on the videos, it is not cleaned up like it was for the DVD versions. Even on DVD, the animation is choppy and rather generic. Backgrounds are looped in both episodes. The only genuine benefit of the animation comes in the creature design and ability to do some actual starship battles, which were not possible in Star Trek. While there are no significant starship actions in these episodes, there is a decent use of character design in both.

The Lactrans and the robots would have been difficult to pull off with Star Trek on the live action show, as their design is fairly complicated. Now, by "fairly complicated," I mean that they look like giant slugs and spindly robots that couldn't have had people in suits and they have a scale that would have been prohibitive to make for a live-action episode. Sadly, they are still pretty clunky 70's animation.

The animation is fair at best by today's standards and the look of the series is a little more blockish than reality. As a result, Kirk has more in common with Captain America in terms of physique than the live-action William Shatner Kirk. Similarly, Spock seems surprisingly ripped (though not in a way that is extreme) and Uhura's uniform actually seems a little longer! All the animation truly allows this incarnation of Star Trek to do that it could not before is make more interesting alien races and this set does that, even if they still look somewhat off.

Neither episode involves genuine character development. Uhura takes the brunt of insults in "Once Upon A Planet" again, but the robots get their comeuppance, so it's not all bad. But the episodes do not enhance or progress Kirk, Spock, McCoy or any of the supplemental characters' character. Indeed, the only notable aspect is that we are treated to Lt. Arex, the three armed, three legged helmsman who takes command of the ship when Kirk is off ship.

The voice acting in these episodes is homogeneously unremarkable. The actors give performances that sometimes feel like straightforward line readings and it is odd to see the minimally expressive animation with the more expressive vocals when they are. Even James Doohan, who voices many of the supporting guest roles and Lt. Arex, gives a surprisingly inexpressive performance and the result is a bland characterization of the various aliens. Between the blockish animation, the dull voice-overs, the recycled plots and the minimal growth of character, these episodes truly are unremarkable.

[Knowing that VHS is essentialxly a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the complete collection here!
Thanks!]

"Eye Of The Beholder" - 2/10
"Once Upon A Planet" - 3/10
VHS - 2/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Lame Children's Programming: Star Trek: The Animated Series Vol. 7!

The Good: Basic idea of "The Jihad" is not terrible
The Bad: Terrible animation, Vocal presentations are mediocre, Children's stories! Lack of character.
The Basics: When the Enterprise encounters a shrinking ray and Kirk and Spock must join a team to solve a mission, even kids will be bored.


One of the strongest arguments to be made against the Star Trek: The Animated Series is that it is largely children's programming. While some episodes rise above being simplistic and childish recreations of Star Trek, some of them are just children's programming. And those tend to be pretty unremarkable, if not outright terrible kid's programming. With the "Volume 7" VHS of the Star Trek: The Animated Series, "The Jihad" and "The Terratin Incident" expose viewers to some of the most formulaic children's programming made for the series. They are a terrific disappointment and it's hard to see how the argument that this is a worthy continuation of Star Trek could be made with episodes like this.

For those unfamiliar with Star Trek: The Animated Series, the two seasons aired in the early-1970s and acted as a bridge between Star Trek (reviewed here!) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (reviewed here!). These episodes aired in 1973 and represented the attempt on the part of Paramount and Filmation to gauge the interest in new Star Trek material while working around the busy schedules of the principle talent from Star Trek. This series continued the five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk and featured the voice talents of most of the Star Trek cast as well as writing from some of the better Star Trek writers.

"The Jihad" finds Spock and Kirk transported to a secret location where they become involved in a meeting with the ancient Vendala. It seems they have lost an artifact of incredible power called the Soul Of Skorr and they are imploring Kirk, Spock and their team of interstellar aliens to find the artifact on a crazy and dangerous planet where the Vendala believe it is. So, Kirk, Spock, a lockpick named Em/3/Green, a hunter named Lara, a reptile creature and the prince of Skorr, Tchar agree to the task and are transported to the mad world where the Soul of Skorr is. There they encounter lava rivers and obstacles and a floating fortress where they must get the Soul of Skorr before it poisons them against one another.

"The Terratin Incident" has the U.S.S. Enterprise visiting a dead star where it received a signal from a nearby planet that is thought to be uninhabited. The Enterprise is hit with a beam like lightening and soon the whole crew begins shrinking. Kirk risks everything to beam down to the planet, where he finds a race of Lilliputians who need his help.

First the positive: "The Jihad" has a very positive message. By working together peoples of different races and affiliations may achieve great things. It's a strong, positive message, even it if it Generic Cartoon Plot #2. Adversaries always have the "team up" episode where they must work together to solve their problems. Star Trek: The Animated Series seems particularly lazy with "The Jihad" as they already did a similar episode, "The Time Trap" (reviewed here!) where they had to work together with the Klingons to overcome a mutual obstacle.

But still, the message resonates and that is a positive thing about this video. Alas, that's pretty much it on the plus side.

The problem with both episodes is that they are kid's cartoons more than they are an animated reimagining of Star Trek. For a series that promised sophisticated stories and character development for adults, Star Trek: The Animated Series here degenerates into pretty standard Saturday morning cartoon fare. That is a huge disappointment. Virtually every Saturday morning cartoon does an "everyone has to work together" type episode where the whole point is everyone needs to work together and most of them do some play on religious tolerance as well, though most are not as extreme as using terminology like "jihad!" But hey, children in the 70s needed to know about holy wars, too.

But "The Jihad" otherwise follows a very formulaic plot for children's programming. There are obstacles and everyone gets to participate in reaching the goal and there is a somewhat simplistic resolution after a betrayal. The characters are all new and that makes it a little less interesting to fans of the franchise, because it is less "adversaries working together" and more "everyone has something to contribute." I suppose it was formatted with the various alien races because in the 23rd Century there aren't many lockpickers in StarFleet.

The children's programming idea, I suppose, is what allows the series to try to get away with the ridiculous notion of the other episode's conceit: the shrinking people episode. "The Terratin Incident" is just plain awful. It is amateurish, not at all exciting and it very much plays down to the notion of Star Trek: The Animated Series as a kid's program. In "The Terratin Incident," by the time the Lilliputians are introduced even children will be tuning out, it is such a weak and predictable and silly story.

There is nothing particularly engaging for adults in either of these episodes.

The animation in Star Trek: The Animated Series is pretty terrible and on the videos, it is not cleaned up like it was for the DVD versions. Even on DVD, the animation is choppy and rather generic. Backgrounds are looped in both episodes. The only genuine benefit of the animation comes in the creature design and ability to do some actual starship battles, which were not possible in Star Trek. While there are no significant starship actions, save the ship being struck by the magic lightning in "The Terratin Incident," "The Jihad" is pretty rich in character design. The alien races that accompany Kirk and Spock are intriguing and include giant bird people and they would have been difficult to pull off with Star Trek on the live action show, as their design is fairly complicated. Now, by "fairly complicated," I mean that they look like birds and reptiles and they have a scale that would have been prohibitive to make for a live-action episode. Sadly, they are still pretty clunky 70's animation.

The animation is fair at best by today's standards and the look of the series is a little more blockish than reality. As a result, Kirk has more in common with Captain America in terms of physique than the live-action William Shatner Kirk. Similarly, Spock seems surprisingly ripped (though not in a way that is extreme) and Uhura's uniform actually seems a little longer! All the animation truly allows this incarnation of Star Trek to do that it could not before is make more interesting alien races and this set does that, even if they still look somewhat off.

Neither episode involves genuine character development. For sure, there are morals that are obvious pretty much from the first frame of each episode. Wow, Captain Kirk will help out aliens in need. Actually, both episodes in this set deal with that! It's Kirk to the rescue while his crew shrinks and Kirk and Spock working together to help an alien race in need. And the latter is not even a selfless act; Kirk is concerned the loss of the Soul Of Skorr could lead to an interstellar war. So, again, it's not any sort of extreme character growth that Kirk is willing to help out. In fact, structurally, the episode has a lot in common with the live-action episode "The Savage Curtain" (reviewed here!) so it's even less surprising to fans of the franchise. As well, anyone who watched most of Star Trek will know Spock sees logic in working together with an adversary to get one another out of a mutual jam. McCoy is quite underutilized in these episodes, but that's pretty much par for the Animated Series course!

Both episodes suffer because this volume has a pretty generic kid's cartoon plot version of the "everyone work together" and "generic shrinking" story. They just seem to come up a lot in cartoons and this does not actually have any sort of real twist to it.

The voice acting in these episodes is homogeneously unremarkable. The actors give performances that sometimes feel like straightforward line readings and it is odd to see the minimally expressive animation with the more expressive vocals when they are. Even James Doohan, who voices many of the supporting guest roles, gives a surprisingly inexpressive performance and the result is a bland characterization of the various aliens. Between the blockish animation, the dull voice-overs, the recycled plots and the minimal growth of character, these episodes truly are unremarkable.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the complete collection here!
Thanks!]

"The Jihad" - 3/10
"The Terratin Incident" - 0/10
VHS - 1.5/10

For other Star Trek reviews, be sure to check out my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Bring Your Own Universe To Star Trek: The Animated Series Vol. 6!

The Good: Basic idea of both episodes is not terrible
The Bad: Terrible animation, Vocal presentations are mediocre, Children's stories! Lack of character.
The Basics: When Spock leads another disastrous away mission and Kirk and Spock are transformed into amphibians, adults are likely to roll their eyes as opposed to enjoy!


In the Star Trek fan community, there are few debates that rage quite so fiery than what is truly canon and what is metaphoric. Okay, it's less of a parody than most of us Trekkers would like that two Trekkies can be easily distracted by starting an argument about who the best captain in the franchise is, but fans have legitimate beefs with the franchise for continuity when one considers such things as Star Trek: The Animated Series (or Star Trek: Enterprise, snicker) as part of the same level of work as the other elements of the franchise. With "Volume 6" of Star Trek: The Animated Series, which features "The Slaver Weapon" and "The Ambergris Element," viewers are given real reason to debate. With "The Slaver Weapon," elements from the writer's own science fiction series' and mythology are added to the Star Trek universe and it is not entirely compatible with the rest of the franchise. One is tempted to take the easy out here which is to fall back on Gene Roddenberry's supposed statements that Star Trek: The Animated Series is not quite up with the rest of the franchise as far as continuity.

For those unfamiliar with Star Trek: The Animated Series, the two seasons aired in the early-1970s and acted as a bridge between Star Trek (reviewed here!) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (reviewed here!). These episodes aired in 1973 and represented the attempt on the part of Paramount and Filmation to gauge the interest in new Star Trek material while working around the busy schedules of the principle talent from Star Trek. This series continued the five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk and featured the voice talents of most of the Star Trek cast as well as writing from some of the better Star Trek writers.

"The Slaver Weapon" finds Spock, Sulu and Uhura transporting a powerful weapon, a stasis box, through the territory of the Kzinti, a hostile race. The stasis box, created by a race of Slavers, is used as an eternal prison and when Spock, Sulu and Uhura are captured while transporting one, the security implications are truly dire for the Federation and the captives. Unfortunately, the stasis box that Spock is in possession of has an undetonated weapon inside and represents a weapon that the Kzinti, who have an empty stasis box used to lure Spock to them, covet. At the mercy of vicious telepaths, Spock and the others work to survive without any aid from the Enterprise.

"The Ambergris Element" has the U.S.S. Enterprise visiting Argo, a water planet managed by cities underwater. When the aquashuttle is lost with Kirk and Spock aboard, McCoy and Scotty work to find them. When they do find them, however, they discover that both officers have been infected by an element in their blood that is transforming them. They develop the ability to breathe under water and they soon appear unable to exist outside water! While Dr. McCoy works to reverse the effects of the transformations - which also includes webbing on their digits - Spock and Kirk go underwater to meet the Aquans, who loathe air breathers and try to reason their way out of their situation. Sadly, though, the Aquans sentence them to death and it is a race to save their lives!

First the positive: Star Trek: The Animated Series does attempt to do things that it could not do well on Star Trek in a live-action setting. The series would have found it exceptionally prohibitive to do an episode underwater like "The Ambergris Element" did. So, it makes perfect sense that the Animated Series would make use of its unlimited worlds capacity to do that and the Aquans. As for the plot, it's not too dissimilar from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episodes "Identity Crisis" (reviewed here!) or "Genesis" (reviewed here!) so it's hard to complain that the Star Trek: The Animated Series is truly going out on a limb with the plots here.

The problem with both episodes is that they are kid's cartoons more than they are an animated reimagining of Star Trek. For a series that promised sophisticated stories and character development for adults, Star Trek: The Animated Series here degenerates into pretty standard Saturday morning cartoon fare. That is a huge disappointment. Virtually every Saturday morning cartoon does a transformation and/or underwater type episode and seeing Star Trek play into the standards in that way is pretty disappointing. Similarly, the resolution to "The Slaver Weapon" is disappointing as is the execution to some of the concepts. Sure, Spock justifies it with Kzinti culture, but having Uhura take a "sit down and shut up" role just so the telepaths cannot realize she is a threat seems truly cheap.

"The Slaver Weapon" utilizes the Kzinti, which were very much the creation of author Larry Niven. Niven wrote short stories involving this race and their appearance in the Star Trek: The Animated Series opens the door to continuity questions because fans wonder if this means that Niven's works fall within the Star Trek universe. The common answer is "no," but the debate rages in some circles. The Kzinti are characterized rather fully, but that only makes it slightly more problematic. After all, if the Kzin are such a powerful race, why do they not appear in other incarnations of Trek? (This, according to well-publicized rumor, would have been addressed in Star Trek: Enterprise, so either way we're wading in the shallow end of the Star Trek gene pool.) The problem with "The Slaver Weapon" on one front is that a complicated problem is presented which is solved in an insultingly simple manner.

"The Ambergris Element" follows a rather predictable plot format between the infection, the finding the Aquans and the ensuing capture/rescue of Kirk and Spock and the show seems both very cartoonish and very much like children's programming. "The Slaver Weapon" rises above that, but it still uses too many conceits of children's programming and science fiction to be truly engaging for a diverse adult audience. Moreover, the technobabble in the episode - which contradicts with the disappointing characterizations (especially in the Spock/Uhura interactions) is likely to confuse and confound the children who might otherwise enjoy the rest of the episode. So, it's something of a catch-22.

The animation in Star Trek: The Animated Series is pretty terrible and on the videos, it is not cleaned up like it was for the DVD versions. Even on DVD, the animation is choppy and rather generic. Backgrounds are looped in both episodes and the basic character design of the Kzinti and the Aquans is somewhat droll.

The only genuine benefit of the animation comes in the creature design and ability to do interactions with ships like the aquashuttle in "The Ambergris Element," which were not possible in Star Trek. Unfortunately, the Kzin are giant cats walking around like hunchbacks in their pink jumpsuits. The Aquans are little better in the other episode with their very superhero underwater fish people appearance. The aquashuttle - despite being a somewhat ridiculous pretense given how few water missions it appears the Enterprise went on - is rather simple and somewhat silly looking, especially in comparison to the rest of the design of the starships.

The animation is fair at best by today's standards and the look of the series is a little more blockish than reality. As a result, Kirk has more in common with Captain America in terms of physique than the live-action William Shatner Kirk. Similarly, Spock seems surprisingly ripped (though not in a way that is extreme) and Uhura's uniform actually seems a little longer! Sulu finally looks like George Takei's Sulu in "The Slaver Weapon," but that might be in part because there is no Kirk to contrast with! The introduction failure to use things like environmental suits and instead create new technologies like force field belts makes the animated Star Trek seem less real as well. All the animation truly allows this incarnation of Star Trek to do that it could not before is make more interesting alien races and this set fails to capitalize on that.

Neither episode involves genuine character development. Spock finally gets a real chance for a mission in "The Slaver Weapon" and McCoy and Scotty are given pretty strong roles in "The Ambergris Element," but none of the characters truly does anything we have not seen them do before. Instead, they flounder about in ways that make one wonder if they were written by people who were truly familiar with Star Trek. With "The Slaver Weapon," Niven is strong on the science fiction premise, but he does not quite have the characters down to a familiarity. Uhura's willingness to sit down and shut up and not truly become what the Kzin overlook her as (i.e. a worthwhile entity that could thwart them) just feels cheap

The voice acting in these episodes is homogeneously unremarkable. The actors give performances that sometimes feel like straightforward line readings and it is odd to see the minimally expressive animation with the more expressive vocals when they are. Even James Doohan, who voices many of the supporting guest roles, gives a surprisingly inexpressive performance and the result is a bland characterization of the various aliens. Between the blockish animation, the dull voice-overs, the recycled plots and the minimal growth of character, these episodes truly are unremarkable.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the complete collection here!
Thanks!]

"The Slaver Weapon" - 3/10
"The Ambergris Element" - 1.5/10
VHS - 1.5/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Two Lame Episodes Of Star Trek: The Animated Series Makes For A Dismal "Vol. 5!"

The Good: Moments of satanic acceptance in "The Magicks Of Megas-Tu," Message of working together
The Bad: Terrible animation, Vocal presentations are mediocre, Children's stories! Lack of character.
The Basics: When the Enterprise encounters a being that vaguely represents their notion of satan and is trapped in an alternate dimension, boredom follows, even for children.


Despite what some say about Star Trek: The Animated Series being the logical qualitative successor to Star Trek, there are times when the series just went in a direction that made it into what many assume an animated show is: kid's programming. With "Volume 5" of Star Trek: The Animated Series, which features "The Magicks Of Megas-Tu" and "The Timetrap," viewers are met with just that. These two episodes gut the series of any genuine connection to Star Trek and present episodes that are reduced in diction and plot to stories that are designed for children and the two episode video is easy to walk away from for adults.

For those unfamiliar with Star Trek: The Animated Series, the two seasons aired in the early-1970s and acted as a bridge between Star Trek (reviewed here!) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (reviewed here!). These episodes aired in 1973 and represented the attempt on the part of Paramount and Filmation to gauge the interest in new Star Trek material while working around the busy schedules of the principle talent from Star Trek. This series continued the five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk and featured the voice talents of most of the Star Trek cast as well as writing from some of the better Star Trek writers.

"The Magicks Of Megas-Tu" has the Enterprise visiting the center of the galaxy to explore the nature of the Big Bang. Under the theory that the process by which matter was created in our universe might still be occurring, the Enterprise investigates an energy/matter maelstrom and is sucked into an alternate universe where the oxygen in the ship almost immediately disappears, leaving the crew desperate and near death. Then a creature named Lucien appears and magically makes it all better. Literally. In this universe, it appears, magic works and the Enterprise crew begins using it. This attracts the Megans, who take the form of humans from Salem during the witch trials and try the Enterprise crew and then Lucien for their use of magic.

"Timetrap" puts the Enterprise in the Delta Triangle, a Bermuda Triangle in space wherein the ship is caught alongside a massive collection of ships of various alien races. Led by a Romulan named Xerius who leads the pacifists in the dimension, known as Elysia, Captain Kirk is put on trial for attempting to destroy a Klingon ship that was attacking the Enterprise when they entered the dimension. Spock discovers that the Klingons have a clever new weapon and he and Klingon Captain Kor work together to get the ships free of the dimension while trying to rescue Captain Kirk as well.

First the positive: Lucien is essentially characterized physically as the pan-like representation of Lucifer and after defending the use of magic in the dimension in "The Magicks Of Megas-Tu," Kirk ends up defending Lucien for helping the Enterprise crew become familiar with the magical forces of the alternate universe. So, the open-mindedness toward wiccans and those who worship or respect Satan is a positive thing to come out of "The Magicks Of Megas-Tu." When push comes to shove, Star Trek: The Animated Series preaches tolerance and respect for all. Right on! And in "The Timetrap," the obvious moral is "we all need to work together."

The problem with both episodes is that they are kid's cartoons more than they are an animated reimagining of Star Trek. For a series that promised sophisticated stories and character development for adults, Star Trek: The Animated Series here degenerates into pretty standard Saturday morning cartoon fare. That is a huge disappointment. Virtually every Saturday morning cartoon does a "Bermuda triangle" type episode where the whole point is everyone needs to work together and most of them do some play on religious tolerance as well, though most are not as extreme as bringing on a representation of people's perception of Lucifer.

"The Timetrap" utilizes Kor, the fearsome Klingon from "Errand Of Mercy" (reviewed here!), who as the military governor of Organia was easily a match for Captain Kirk. Unrestrained by such restrictions in "The Timetrap," Kor ought to have been much more vicious than he is portrayed as. Except that this is children's programming all of a sudden and the Klingons are all snarl and no kill.

The children's programming idea, I suppose, is what allows the series to try to get away with the ridiculous notion of going to the center of the galaxy to watch the continual Big Bang in action. Fans of the Star Trek franchise debate how established Star Trek: The Animated Series is in terms of the cannon of the show and "The Magicks Of Megas-Tu" forces the issue. After all, in this episode, the center of the galaxy is a maelstrom with a matter-energy vortex. In Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (reviewed here!) , it is the prison for a massive malevolent godlike being. And for those who loathed The Final Frontier, "The Magicks Of Megas-Tu" is even worse!

There is nothing particularly engaging for adults in either of these episodes.

The animation in Star Trek: The Animated Series is pretty terrible and on the videos, it is not cleaned up like it was for the DVD versions. Even on DVD, the animation is choppy and rather generic. Backgrounds are looped in both episodes and the basic character design of Kor, who was an established character from Star Trek adapted to the Star Trek: The Animated Series is passable, at best.

The only genuine benefit of the animation comes in the creature design and ability to do some actual starship battles, which were not possible in Star Trek. Lucien and the Salemite Megans could have been pulled off with Star Trek on the live action show, as their design is hardly complicated. The starships that appear in "The Timetrap" represent something a little more impressive on the animation front as Elysia supposedly contains 123 different races and a slew of starships trapped to form the community there. But, they're still animated ships and many of them look ridiculous.

The animation is fair at best by today's standards and the look of the series is a little more blockish than reality. As a result, Kirk has more in common with Captain America in terms of physique than the live-action William Shatner Kirk. Similarly, Spock seems surprisingly ripped (though not in a way that is extreme) and Uhura's uniform actually seems a little longer! Sulu, who conjures himself up a woman in "The Magicks Of Megas-Tu" is only a vague representation of the live action George Takei. All the animation truly allows this incarnation of Star Trek to do that it could not before is make more interesting alien races and this set fails to capitalize on that.

Neither episode involves genuine character development. For sure, there are morals that are obvious pretty much from the first frame of each episode. Wow, Captain Kirk believes in tolerance, who would have thunk? Well, anyone who watched most of Star Trek. Spock sees logic in working together with an adversary to get one another out of a mutual jam; I know I am shocked! Captain Kirk must heroically save his crew from death from magical beings and from being trapped in a place where time moves slowly and the ship would soon become uninhabitable. That's all Kirk consistently ever does! He's all about saving his ship, it's his character, there's no actual development here! As well, Spock and McCoy are relegated to supporting players and McCoy is quite underutilized.

Both episodes suffer because this volume has a pretty generic kid's cartoon plot version of the Bermuda Triangle and "generic magic" story. They just seem to come up a lot in cartoons and this does not actually have any sort of real twist to it.

The voice acting in these episodes is homogeneously unremarkable. The actors give performances that sometimes feel like straightforward line readings and it is odd to see the minimally expressive animation with the more expressive vocals when they are. Even James Doohan, who voices many of the supporting guest roles, gives a surprisingly inexpressive performance and the result is a bland characterization of the various aliens. Between the blockish animation, the dull voice-overs, the recycled plots and the minimal growth of character, these episodes truly are unremarkable.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the complete collection here!
Thanks!]

"The Magicks Of Megas-Tu" - 3/10
"The Timetrap" - 2/10
VHS - 2.5/10

For other Star Trek episode, movie and DVD set reviews, be sure to visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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All The Weaknesses Of The Worst Star Trek: The Animated Series With "Volume 4:" "One Of Our Planets Is Missing" and "Mudd's Passion!"

The Good: I can't even begin to guess; Kirk and Spock hugging? Miniscule bits of continuity
The Bad: Terrible animation, Vocal presentations are mediocre, Stories are a bit dumbed down, Children's plots
The Basics: When Chapel uses Harry Mudd's love potion on Spock and Kirk must stop an alien cloud, chaos ensues on a terrible set of Star Trek: The Animated Series episodes.


Star Trek: The Animated Series is, for some, the grail of the Star Trek experiences; they covet is as the lost chapters of the U.S.S. Enterprise and they recall with zeal how the series came at a time when Star Trek needed something new. For a while before the advent of DVD, Paramount released episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series on VHS with two half-hour episodes per tape. Given the expense of the series on DVD, finding the old videos for a song may be a great, inexpensive way to get into the show before committing to the whole set. The problem, of course, with reviewing the two-episode tapes is that often the episodes might be radically different. Fortunately with "Volume 4," the episodes are homogeneously bad and the episodes "One Of Our Planets Is Missing" and "Mudd's Passion" make for an agonizing (almost) hour of television. This is a set where one might think that the half hour format of the episodes works to the benefit of the series. After all, if these plots had been drawn out, they most likely would have been even worse.

For those unfamiliar with Star Trek: The Animated Series, the two seasons aired in the early-1970s and acted as a bridge between Star Trek (reviewed here!) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (reviewed here!). These episodes aired in 1973 and represented the attempt on the part of Paramount and Filmation to gauge the interest in new Star Trek material while working around the busy schedules of the principle talent from Star Trek. This series continued the five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk and featured the voice talents of most of the Star Trek cast as well as writing from some of the better Star Trek writers.

"One Of Our Planets Is Missing" has the Enterprise sent to intercept a massive galactic cloud that is skirting the edge of our galaxy. When the cloud moves toward a heavily populated planet after draining the energy from several smaller worlds, Kirk and Spock determine that it is sentient and they attempt to reason and communicate with it. As it advances on a Federation colony, Kirk takes the Enterprise into the cloud and Spock mindmelds with it in an attempt to convince it that its feeding on the energy of living beings is unethical.

"Mudd's Passion" returns Harry Mudd to the Enterprise. This time, he is peddling a simple love potion and it actually works! As a result, Nurse Chapel's unrequited love for Spock has the chance to become acted upon as she "poisons" Spock. As the crew becomes distracted with the effects of the love potion, Harry Mudd works to worm his way out of the attentions of Kirk and his crew and once more escape the Federation legal system.

"One Of Our Planets Is Missing" is, ironically, the closest thing to Star Trek: The Motion Picture until the film was released. The episode has essentially the same plot and without the spectacle, the simplicity of it is rather lessened. There is a very forced sense of tension that telegraphs the emotions of the episode for children and the emotional resonance of the cloud creature descending on a Federation colony is significantly less than V'Ger approaching Earth in the film.

Similarly, fans of Star Trek might appreciate the return of Harry Mudd, the only recurring villain in Star Trek from the episodes "Mudd's Women" (reviewed here!) and "I, Mudd" (reviewed here!), two of the more comedic episodes of Star Trek. The truth is, I enjoyed both of the Mudd episodes when I first started watching Star Trek, but upon further rewatchings, the pair became weaker and weaker until I positively loathed them. "Mudd's Passion" begins without the initial charm of Harry Mudd; the episode is obvious, simple and presented in a way that truly seems targeted at children. Despite Spock groping Chapel, the episode is, at best, child's play.

The animation in Star Trek: The Animated Series is pretty terrible and on the videos, it is not cleaned up like it was for the DVD versions. Even on DVD, the animation is choppy and rather generic. Backgrounds are looped in both episodes and the space shots of the cloud creature in "One Of Our Planets Is Missing" have a terrible two-dimensional quality to them.

The animation is fair at best by today's standards and the look of the series is a little more blockish than reality. As a result, Kirk has more in common with Captain America in terms of physique than the live-action William Shatner Kirk. Similarly, Spock seems surprisingly ripped (though not in a way that is extreme) and Chapel's uniform actually seems a little longer! All the animation truly allows this incarnation of Star Trek to do that it could not before is make more interesting alien races. Unfortunately, these episodes do not showcase aliens that could not be presented in the original Star Trek.

Harry Mudd looks cartoonish, which is saying something because Roger C. Carmel's performance in the episodes was rather cartoonish. The problem is, it's hard enough to take Mudd seriously in reality, when he is two-dimensional and simplified to his most comic aspects . . .it just feels cheap. In fact, the appearance of Mudd in "Mudd's Passion" is almost a parody of the Harry Mudd character. It's disappointing and the series suffers as a result.

"One Of Our Planets Is Missing" involves almost no character development. Captain Kirk must heroically save the galaxy and prevent the destruction of distant planets but that is pretty familiar. Indeed, if anything, that episode feels like a sad retread of earlier Star Trek episodes and another Star Trek: The Animated Series episode ("Beyond The Farthest Star") that had already aired. In a way, it leads the viewer to feel that the series is attempting to capitalize on the simplicity of children and their willingness to rewatch things over and over again, even when they are remarkably close in content..

Similarly, "Mudd's Passion," has a pretty generic kid's cartoon plot version of the typical "love potion" concept. All of the Star Trek franchises do an episode where characters are drawn to one another and they tend to be amusing the first time around, but hold up less well with rewatching. "Mudd's Passion" seems tired and cartoonish the first time around with its simplified and obvious plot.

Indeed, the only remotely interesting aspect to this set is that the writers seemed attentive to the details, like Nurse Chapel's love of Spock, which was established early on in the series. So while Chapel's character is rather realistic in "Mudd's Passion," unfortunately, none of the rest of the characters are. Notable among these is Spock. Spock is not an emotionless character; he suppresses his emotions. So why the potion effects him needs to be explained; after all, other things that reduce the control Spock has over his emotions do not traditionally work against him, so the episode needed to explain why it would challenge Spock. It does not.

The voice acting in these episodes is homogeneously unremarkable. The actors give performances that sometimes feel like straightforward line readings and it is odd to see the minimally expressive animation with the more expressive vocals when they are. Even Majel Barrett, who voices Nurse Chapel gives a surprisingly inexpressive performance and the result is a bland characterization of what is supposed to be passion. Between the blockish animation, the dull voice-overs, the dismal plots and the disappointing lack of character aspects, these episodes truly are dismal.

Star Trek fans looking for something safe for their children to watch without having to vet it, these episodes would do; but for fans looking for adult entertainment, this is a video truly marked with "avoid it!"

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the complete collection here!
Thanks!]

"One Of Our Planets Is Missing" - 0/10
"Mudd's Passion" - 2.5/10
VHS - 1/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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Women's Lib Lives (But So Does A Pretty Obvious Creature) On Star Trek: The Animated Series Vol. 3!

The Good: Message of parts of "The Lorelei Signal," Basic plots
The Bad: Terrible animation, Vocal presentations are mediocre, Stories are a bit dumbed down, Conceits of plots
The Basics: When Uhura is put in charge of the Enterprise and an alien invader puts the Enterprise on edge near the Romulans, two unremarkable Star Trek: The Animated Series episodes result.


Star Trek: The Animated Series is, for some, the grail of the Star Trek experiences; they covet is as the lost chapters of the U.S.S. Enterprise and they recall with zeal how the series came at a time when Star Trek needed something new. For a while before the advent of DVD, Paramount released episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series on VHS with two half-hour episodes per tape. Given the expense of the series on DVD, finding the old videos for a song may be a great, inexpensive way to get into the show before committing to the whole set. The problem, of course, with reviewing the two-episode tapes is that often the episodes might be radically different. Fortunately with "Volume 3," the episodes are entirely mediocre, with little general difference in quality between the two episodes, which are "The Survivor" and "The Lorelei Signal." One is a pretty straightforward rewrite of previous Star Trek episodes, the other is a chance for Star Trek: The Animated Series to do what the regular Star Trek never truly had the guts to do, which was not focus on Kirk and Spock. Unfortunately, the execution of the noble idea falls down a bit with the latter episode, leaving yet another set that Star Trek fans will have no problem skipping over.

For those unfamiliar with Star Trek: The Animated Series, the two seasons aired in the early-1970s and acted as a bridge between Star Trek (reviewed here!) and Star Trek: The Motion Picture (reviewed here!). These episodes aired in 1973 and represented the attempt on the part of Paramount and Filmation to gauge the interest in new Star Trek material while working around the busy schedules of the principle talent from Star Trek. This series continued the five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk and featured the voice talents of most of the Star Trek cast as well as writing from some of the better Star Trek writers.

"The Survivor" has the Enterprise recovering the famed Carter Winston, who has been on a humanitarian mission near the Romulan Neutral Zone for about five years. Aboard the Enterprise is Lieutenant Nored, who is Winston's fiance, and the strong desire to protect him. Almost immediately, Kirk and Spock become suspicious of his identity based upon his actions aboard the Enterprise. He is soon revealed to be quite different from who he claims to be and Kirk and Spock must figure out what to do with the being they have aboard without setting off a war with the Romulans!

"The Lorelei Signal" puts Kirk, Spock and McCoy in jeopardy when the Enterprise is intercepted by a radical matriarchy on Taurus II. Radio type waves emanating from Taurus II lure the men down to the surface and leave a degenerating Scotty in command of the Enterprise. Uhura relieves Scotty of command and leads an all woman away team to the surface. There they find their men being drained of energy using . . . headbands.

Yeah, it's hard not to shudder through the conceits of either episode in some ways. "The Survivor" is powerfully derivative of "The Man Trap" (reviewed here!) and the idea of a creature that uses illusion to mask itself is very much overdone in Star Trek, so it's disappointing that this early in the Star Trek: The Animated Series that the show is already using that crutch. Moreover, the idea of an Enterprise crewwoman quickly getting involved with the strange new man was done early on in the series as well. The result is much of "The Survivor" feels cheap and recycled. The plot is so simple that it's hard to flesh it out beyond the basics and not give away the ending.

In contrast, on its surface, "The Lorelei Signal" seems to be an episode that challenges the limitations of Star Trek. The series finale to Star Trek: The Original Series offered a troubling sexism to StarFleet and the Federation that never truly made sense. So "The Lorelei Signal," wherein Uhura takes command and is efficient, correct and undeniably in charge, seems like a great growth for the series and the characters. Unfortunately, the message of women's liberation and the power and equality of women is somewhat gutted by the fact that for all of the heroism of Uhura and Chapel and their team, the villains they are fighting are women as well.

In many ways, the episode would have been far more poignant if it were more obvious and actually challenged gender roles. However, traditionally on American television men fight men, women fight women and as infrequently as the two cross over, the more comfortable the censors are. A far better message here might have been if the signal had come from men (or robots) that only considered men a threat, therefore they discounted the contribution of the women and thus the women were able to outsmart and outmaneuver them because of their ignorance and prejudice. As it is, Kirk and his crew end up in the valley of the leggy blondes and they must defeat them and their *shudder* energy-draining, rapid aging headbands but they only survive because the Enterprise women are able to defeat the Taurean women.

The animation in Star Trek: The Animated Series is pretty terrible and on the videos, it is not cleaned up like it was for the DVD versions. Even on DVD, the animation is choppy and rather generic. Backgrounds are looped in both episodes and the basic character design of the Taurean women is almost insulting in its simplicity.

The animation is fair at best by today's standards and the look of the series is a little more blockish than reality. As a result, Kirk has more in common with Captain America in terms of physique than the live-action William Shatner Kirk. Similarly, Spock seems surprisingly ripped (though not in a way that is extreme) and Uhura's uniform actually seems a little longer! All the animation truly allows this incarnation of Star Trek to do that it could not before is make more interesting alien races. The series takes advantage of this with the creature in "The Survivor."

The creature/Carter Winston from "The Survivor" represents the benefit of utilizing animation over the live action. The tentacled creature would have been very difficult to pull off with the technology of the day on television and the result would have been campy. Fortunately, the creature - despite being two-dimensional like most of the animation - looks pretty decent and it is pulled off with consistency to make it real within the context of the Star Trek: The Animated Series.

"The Survivor" involves almost no character development. Captain Kirk must heroically save the galaxy and prevent a war but that is pretty familiar. As well, Spock and McCoy are relegated to supporting players and McCoy is quite underutilized. Moreover, the lack of references to prior similar situations makes the characters seem very flat and stale. For sure, they are aware of their proximity to the Romulan Neutral Zone and what that means, but characters like McCoy ought to make analogies between the obvious entity and the similar ones the ship previously encountered.

In many ways, "The Lorelei Signal" has a pretty generic kid's cartoon plot version of the "women are equal and can be in power" concept. Sadly, the big twist in this episode is the villains and the saviors are all women and while that's mildly interesting, it falls rather flat upon multiple viewings. Star Trek: The Next Generation did an abysmal episode entitled "Angel One" (reviewed here!) wherein the whole twist was that Riker, Troi and Yar had to deal with a matriarchal society. It was not much better executed than the animated episode and at least the Star Trek: The Animated Series episode allows Uhura and Chapel to rise to their potential. The women of the Enterprise are strong and smart and they are prepared for the confrontation they are involved in. If only Uhura were allowed to grow and change as a result of the episode - i.e. deciding to pursue a command track position after getting a taste for the big chair! But this series is possibly the least serialized of any in the Star Trek franchise and as a result, by the episode's end, normalcy is restored.

The voice acting in these episodes is homogeneously unremarkable. The actors give performances that sometimes feel like straightforward line readings and it is odd to see the minimally expressive animation with the more expressive vocals when they are. Even Nichelle Nichols, who voices Lieutenant Uhura gives a surprisingly inexpressive performance and the result is a bland characterization of what is supposed to be an efficient woman in charge. The result is something troublingly more robotic than that. Between the blockish animation, the dull voice-overs, the recycled plots and the minimal growth of character, these episodes truly are unremarkable.

Star Trek fans looking for something safe for their children to watch without having to vet it, these episodes would do; but for fans looking for adult entertainment, this is a video that will more likely disappoint.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the complete collection here!
Thanks!]

"The Survivor" - 6.5/10
"The Lorelei Signal" - 2/10
VHS - 4/10

For other Star Trek reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!

© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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If You Must Watch Star Trek: The Animated Series, Vol. 2 Might Be Your Best Bet!

The Good: Two episodes with remotely interesting plots and character development
The Bad: Terrible animation, Vocal presentations are mediocre, Stories are a bit dumbed down
The Basics: When Spock returns to his past and Kirk must save the Enterprise from a malevolent organism, Star Trek: The Animated Series makes a passable video.


For a while before the advent of DVD, Paramount released episodes of Star Trek: The Animated Series on VHS with two half-hour episodes per tape. Given the expense of the series on DVD, finding the old videos for a song may be a great, inexpensive way to get into the show before committing to the whole set. The problem, of course, with reviewing the two-episode tapes is that often the episodes might be radically different. Fortunately with "Volume 2," the episodes are possibly the best the series ever produced and as a result, "Beyond The Farthest Star" and "Yesteryear" represent the best value in Star Trek: The Animated Series.

For those unfamiliar with Star Trek: The Animated Series, the two seasons aired in the early-1970s before Star Trek was reborn on the big screen with Star Trek: The Motion Picture (reviewed here!). These episodes aired in 1973 and represented the attempt on the part of Paramount and Filmation to gauge the interest in new Star Trek material while working around the busy schedules of the principle talent from Star Trek. This series continued the five-year mission of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain James T. Kirk and featured the voice talents of most of the Star Trek cast as well as writing from some of the better Star Trek writers.

"Beyond The Farthest Star" opens the series with the Enterprise exploring deep space only to find an ancient ship on the order of 300 million years old. After encountering an alien radio signal and the ship accelerating out of control in the direction of a dead star, the Enterprise finds a massive ship, derelict, trapped in orbit around the star. Trapped as well, Kirk and an away team beam over to learn about the alien vessel. There they discover that the crew sacrificed itself so it would not carry a malevolent energy being to other planets. Unfortunately for Kirk and his crew, the entity is still alive and Kirk and Spock must figure out a way to escape the pull of the dead star and get rid of the invader without destroying the Enterprise!

"Yesteryear" is the high point of the Star Trek: The Animated Series and it finds Spock using the Guardian of Forever to find out how he was erased from the timestream. Spock returns to the present after using the Guardian Of Forever to discover that no one recalls who he is and the Enterprise's first officer is Commander Thelin, an Andorian. With a little research, Spock discovers that as a child, during the Vulcan Kahs-wan ordeal, he was killed. Determined to prevent this and restore the normal movements of time, Spock returns to the past and Vulcan using the Guardian Of Forever, where he assumes a new identity and becomes a mentor to his younger self. Interacting with his father and the young Spock, the elder Spock trains Spock to survive the wilderness survival rite of passage and restore the normal workings of time and space.

The essential problem with "Beyond The Farthest Star" is that it is derivative of Star Trek's "Day Of The Dove" (reviewed here!) or any number of hostile energy being episodes. It is a simple redress of an episode Star Trek has already done a few times and in this incarnation, there is nothing truly new or interesting to it to set it apart and make fans of Star Trek engaged. As for children, this might entertain them and the concepts explained in it are explained well enough that a child could understand it.

Similarly, fans of Star Trek will recognize the allusions to "The City On The Edge Of Forever" (reviewed here!) and "Journey To Babel" (reviewed here!). In addition to finally seeing Spock's childhood pet Selhat, which was mentioned in the latter of those episodes, it is refreshing to see Spock's father, Sarek, voiced by Mark Lenard, again.

Sort of. The animation in Star Trek: The Animated Series is pretty terrible and on the videos, it is not cleaned up like it was for the DVD versions. Even on DVD, the animation is choppy and rather generic. Backgrounds are looped in "Yesteryear" and the space shots of the pod ship in "Beyond The Farthest Star" have a terrible two-dimensional quality to them. But specifically, the problem is that characters are hardly distinct in the animation style of the series and in "Yesteryear," this is a bit of a problem. Sarek and the elder Spock look virtually identical, save their outfits!

The animation is fair at best by today's standards and the look of the series is a little more blockish than reality. As a result, Kirk has more in common with Captain America in terms of physique than the live-action William Shatner Kirk. Similarly, Spock seems surprisingly ripped (though not in a way that is extreme) and Uhura's uniform actually seems a little longer! All the animation truly allows this incarnation of Star Trek to do that it could not before is make more interesting alien races.

Both "Beyond The Farthest Star" and "Yesteryear" make use out of the benefit of animated creatures. In the first episode, an insectoid race is utilized and in "Yesteryear" there are a couple of Vulcan animals that would have been difficult to create plausibly on the live-action Star Trek. Here they are at least consistent with the rest of the animated Star Trek universe.

"Beyond The Farthest Star" involves almost no character development. Captain Kirk must heroically save the galaxy and prevent the spread of an evil that has endured for millions of years but that is pretty familiar. Indeed, if anything, "Beyond The Farthest Star" serves to simply reintroduce the essential Star Trek characters before degenerating into a very plot-heavy episode.

"Yesteryear," on the other hand excels in character and plot, except for the setup. How the past actually became altered the first time is never truly explored and as a result, the episode seems quite contrived. Once one overlooks that, though, the episode is fine as it works to explore the relationship between the young Spock and his peers and his father. Moreover, it is more or less in character and it tells a good story wherein the characters grow and develop.

"Yesteryear" involves fine voice acting and Leonard Nimoy and Mark Lenard give fine, expressive performances that clearly establish their characters and do it well and within the confines of their characters. Far more problematic acting occurs in "Beyond The Farthest Star." William Shatner as Captain Kirk is often melodramatic and presents many of his lines in a way that is over the top and does not match the intensity of the animation. The result is somewhat disturbing.

Others give performances that sometimes feel like straightforward line readings and it is odd to see the minimally expressive animation with the more expressive vocals when they are. The standout on these episodes is James Doohan who performs Scotty as well as various alien voices throughout and he does a good job at making enough of a different accent for each role such that viewers are not sitting and watching the episodes being distracted at Doohan talking to himself.

The pilot feels like a pilot, but "Yesteryear" goes a long way toward illustrating the potentials of the Star Trek: The Animated Series and despite what came after, the episode written by Star Trek alum D.C. Fontana strives for a consistency of character that is unrivaled in the series. These have minimal dumbing down of language to make it enjoyable and comprehensible for children.

[Knowing that VHS is essentially a dead medium, it's worth looking into Star Trek: The Animated Series on DVD, which is also a better economical choice than buying the VHS. Read my review of the complete collection here!
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"Beyond The Farthest Star" - 2/10
"Yesteryear" - 7.5/10
VHS - 4.5/10

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© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.

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