Star Trek: TAS--Wrapup

We've reached the end of the Star Trek animated series. It was slightly different than I remembered--while some of it was pretty goofy, there are some good scripts here. Some major sci-fi writers as well as writers of other Trek media were involved. Of course, the low cost animation tends to drag down things overall. Despite this, the show won an Emmy and a Peabody. 

While the series was not considered to be in the official canon, it's clear this policy was broken multiple times--Spock's young life, Robert April as the first captain, etc.

If you thought my knowledge of Trek was all-encompassing, you're wrong. I relied on several online resources:

• Memory Alpha, a Trek-specific wiki
• A Star Trek: The Animated Series website that includes "new" TAS comic strips, pic, games, and trivia
• Curt Danhauser's Guide to TAS, which includes old style cartoon PSAs and "new" episodes, both fan-made
• Wikipedia - the blogger's best friend
• Of course, thanks to Netflix for making the show available online

Next week, we will start on the Aquaman animated series--another Filmation production.

Thanks for reading!

Star Trek: TAS--The Counterclock Incident

We've reached the final episode of the Star Trek animated series.  This episode (the title of which sounds like a Man from U.N.C.L.E. episode) was written by Fred Bronson (aka John Culver), who happened to be the publicist for the series. He went on to be involved in both "The Questor Tapes" (another Roddenberry project) and TNG.

Kirk and Co. are ferrying a distinguished passenger to an event in his honor--Robert April, the first captain of the Enterprise. He's reached mandatory retirement age (of 75?? In the 23rd century??).  His wife Sarah was the first medical officer. She's wearing a flower that has a very short lifespan (just a few hours), and she notices it is dying. 

Spock reports they are about to pass the Beta Niobe supernova. Sensors report an unidentified object about to strike the ship at Warp 36. Evasive maneuvers take them out of danger. The other ship is on course to hit the nova instead, and attempts to communicate with the Enterprise, but it's just gibberish to them. They figure out the gibberish is just backwards talk, and attempt to reply, but no luck. The tractor beam the Enterprise has thrown on the other ship is pulling the ship at incredible speed, so they try to release it--it's stuck! They go into the nova, and somehow survive.

Everything is opposite--space is white with black stars, the ship is going backwards, as are the controls. Dr. April notes that the flower has come back to life. Spock confirms that time is now reversed--they are getting younger. The other ship's captain notes that nova caused a gateway between the universes. They go to planet Arret (Terra backwards) and meet the other captain's son (really his father). They check the maps to find another place  where novas coexist--there are none. So they have to make one! They also need the other ship, which has enough speed to survive. 

There's another problem--Kirk and Co. are getting too young to run the ship, as well as losing their knowledge. So, it looks like April needs to take over. They make it through, but now most of the crew are babies. April notes they can go through the transporter, which has a record of their original forms. Dr. April says they could skip this and just stay young, but now Captain April says they've lived good lives. The Federationreconsiders the mandatory age policy. 

Some things to look for:

• Kirk is back in a closet, based on his echoey voice at the start of the episode
• Here's another case where where TAS, while not technically in canon, established Robert April as the first Enterprise captain.  Roddenberry used the name in the first TOS pilot drafts.
• I love how Sulu is just hitting buttons to hit the brakes, and how Kirk thinks if he hits the button, it will work
• The Enterprise going into the nova looks like they put the cel on a Spin-Art machine
• When I see the Enterprise going backwards, all I can think is the "beep-beep" sounds when you back up
• As the Enterprise crew gets younger, their uniforms shrink with them?
• Using the transporter to reverse their ages is a slippery slope--you could just keep getting your 18-year old body back using a backup disk.

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth

Quite the dramatic title, huh? This episode won the 1974-75 Emmy for Outstanding Entertainment Children's Series (Daytime). The co-writers, Russell Bates and David Wise won a Peabody for Best Writing in an Animated Series.  

Now that I've raised your expectations, let's move on.

The Enterprise is investigating an ancient space probe that visited Earth and then blew up. Another ship arrives--it appears to be built out of crystals. The Enterprise is stopped by a force field, and the other ship begins a strong probe, and phasers are useless. The other ship protects a giant bird, and special guest Lt. Walking Bear recognizes it as Kukulkan, a Mayan god. Kirk, McCoy, Scotty, and Walking Bear are all transported to the bird ship. Kukulkan shows them a huge ancient city.

Kirk walks up an ancient pyramid while the rest look around. There are four statues that they figure out must be moved to reflect the sun to the pyramid, and it results in a signaling device. Kukulkan appears as a bird, and dares them to attack him. Kirk says they have no reason to do so. The god says they have forgotten him, and the environment changes around them to a kind of zoo. Each alien thinks it's in their own world, but are really in glass cages. Kirk pulls the "no has the right to capture other creatures" bit. The god only wants peace--his peace--and total control. 

Meanwhile, Spock realizes they can break the force field by pressing in two directions with the tractor beam and warp power, and does so. Kukulkan attacks the ship, and Kirk realizes they need to distract him. They release a Capellan Powercat--an animal with a huge electrical charge--who breaks out many others. The cat goes to attack Kukulkan, and Kirk uses McCoy's hypo to stop it. We get a big speech about how the Federation is striving to be more peaceful, and how they can't be children of Kukulkan now. The crew is returned, and the bird ship leaves.

Some things to look for:

• I love how characters on the show run toward the camera--it's like they are linebackers
• At one point, Uhura asks if they should be looking for the missing crew--Spock tells her to keep to her job.  It seems like Uhura should reply to this, but doesn't.  Possibly a cut scene?
• We get several pronunciations of Kukulkan throughout the episode
• In the zoo, there's a three googly-eyed alien that is particularly goofy
• This episode gives Kirk a lot of chances to pontificate

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--Albatross

Kirk and Co. are dropping off medical supplies to the distant planet of Dramia. They are surprised by the locals who arrest McCoy for mass murder! He was there 19 years earlier on a mission, and a plague resulted. Kirk does some investigation on the planet, but they have no luck--Spock reports historical info is spotty, and just goes into astronomical info. Suddenly, the Enterprise is off to another planet to do more investigation. The Dramians give the Enterprise chase, and Kirk tricks them by leaving the hangar bay open and getting them to land inside. They impound the smaller ship.

They beam down to the other planet with their "stowaway", where the plague first hit. They find a survivor, who tells them about the event--peolpe changing colors, and finally turning red before dying.  He remembers that McCoy saved him at the time. They take him back to the original planet, passing through an aurora on the way, and the survivor as well as Kirk and the rest of the crew change colors and become deathly ill. Spock, of course, is immune and takes over command. 

Kirk insists they have to save McCoy, and so Spock contacts the planet and asks them to release Bones--no dice.  Spock goes down and breaks out McCoy with the ol' nerve pinch--McCoy protests, but relents when he hears about the plague on the ship. Spock and McCoy work to together to come up with a solution--Kirk notes that the aurora keeps changing color along with them. The aurora caused the plague! McCoy remembers an aurora from 19 years earlier (?!?). Spock notes that the survivor from the first plague must have antibodies that protected him, and which end up saving the crew. The aliens relent, and even honor him for his work. A spat between Spock and McCoy with wacky music plays us out.

Some things to look for:

• The whole episode seems rushed, with lots of plot holes. For example, McCoy is saved from a murder conviction because he solves the second plague--but Spock was the one that figured it out.
• The alien's voices seem rather strange--like they just pulled some guys off the street and gave them a few bucks
• Some of Kirk's voice work sounds like it was done in a closet
• The whole "ship in the shuttlebay" sequence is disjointed---not the best writing
• There's a reference to "General Order 6", which sets a ship on self-destruct if a plague finishes off the entire crew. This is one of the items that doesn't match canon, as it is contradicted in both TOS ("The Omega Glory" and "The Tholian Web") and TNG ("Unnatural Selection").
• No make-up needed for character to change colors--just a different color of paint on the cel
• Even Uhura changes color, with no indication she wasn't a different color to begin with
• All these color changes made them forget McCoy wears blue at the end of the episode

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Practical Joker

The Enterprise is on an asteroid mapping mission when they run into three Romulan ships. Kirk demands the Romulans cease fire, but they reply that the Enterprise is in their territory. The Enterprise is outgunned, but s strange energy field gives Kirk a place to hide the ship. They make it through the field, and then stop for repairs.

The senior officers are then in the mess hall, and find their glasses have become dribble glasses. Then, their silverware becomes rubber. More incidents occur--Spock gets the "black eye from the viewer" bit, Scotty gets a pie in the face, and Kirk gets "Kirk is a Jerk" on the back of his uniform. They hear a laugh--from the ship's computer? Then a fog appears, and the ship's floor turns into ice. More laughing from the computer, and Spock figures it out--the computer is causing all of this.  Kirk calls for a general alert and review of ship's systems.

Just as he does this, McCoy, Sulu, and Uhura go into the "Rec Room"--which is clearly a holodeck. Sulu brings up a beach, but McCoy calls for a walk in the woods. More laughing--they're in trouble!  A trap is laid for them, and they fall for it. Spock tries to use the computer to find them, but it's no good. Kirk orders Scotty to shut it down. The Rec Room turns into a snowstorm. Scotty tries to stop the computer, and it responds by reversing gravity. Scotty leaves the computer room, and the gravity is back to normal. Spock determines that the energy cloud affected the ship's computer.

Uhura suggests they find a wall of the Rec Room, so they can get to the exit. Kirk tries to order a team to cut the door open, but the computer floods the ship with laughing gas. Spock switches over to the emergency air supply, but then collapses (apparently, laughing gas knocks out Vulcans). Energy-based weapons are knocked out, so Scotty and his team are using crowbars on the Rec Room doors. Meanwhile, the snowstorm has turned into a maze. The crowbars finally work, and the team gets out of the Rec Room. The ship goes on a new course back to the Neutral Zone--they have no control over it. The ship throws a huge balloon out of the shuttle bay--a huge version of the Enterprise, which the Romulans attack. They are ashamed and angry. Kirk pulls the "Brer Rabbit and the Briar Patch" trick on the computer, getting it to send the Enterprise back into the energy field and fixing the computer. The Romulans aren't so lucky, and we get the standard Filmation wacky music to play us off.

Some things to look for:

• This is the first appearance by what would later be called the Holodeck on TNG. In fact, the story here is quite similar to the TNG episode "Emergence", which involves a malfunctioning ships' computer.
• The voices of the Romulans are Filmation co-founders Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott. Scheimer portrayed a number of Filmation characters including Bat-Mite on the Batman series and Orko on He-Man, but Prescott rarely did so.
• Why does the Enterprise stop for repairs?  Couldn't the Romulans just go around the energy field? It couldn't be that big.
• Apparently the ship's food synthesizers can create lots of fresh fruit, if the senior officer's table is any indication
• Speaking of that, do senior officers drink from glasses or large vases?
• Uhura turns into Chapel at the start of the rec room sequence--oh, Uhura's back again
• How exactly did the ship's computer create a huge Enterprise balloon? Even using the ship's synthesizers, it wouldn't have enough raw material.

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--BEM

David Gerrold is back as the writer of this episode called "BEM" (Bug Eyed Monster).

An independent observer from a planet considering Federation membership has joined the Enterprise--Ari Bem-Bem. They are orbiting a planet with aborigine lifeforms which are being investigated. Bem decides to join the landing party, although he has spent no time outside his quarters until now. Kirk reluctantly lets him come along. They beam down--Kirk and Spock fall into a lake.  Bem offers assistance--he jumps in the water, and his lower torso disconnects from the upper half (he's basically a humanoid otherwise) underwater to grab their communicators secretly. Uhura checks in--there's an anomaly on the planet which seems like a sensor field. Kirk tells her to keep an eye on it.

Bem senses some lifeforms, and runs off to see them. Since the mission is to just drop off communication beacons and leave, this is a problem. Bem runs into a thicket, where he shouldn't make much progress--but he breaks up into multiple separate parts and slips through easily. He is then captured by a group of reptile humanoids.  Meanwhile, Arex reports that the sensor field is now expanding quickly. Uhura notices that Kirk's communicator isn't responding, so Uhura orders the rest of the landing party to beam up. Scotty argues with her, but she's just following Kirk's orders.

Kirk realizes that the communicator on his belt is a forgery--Bem switched them, along with their phasers. They have to follow the aborigines without their equipment. Kirk and Spock attempt a rescue that night, but find out that Bem wanted to be captured, so he could "observe". The aborigines capture them and put them in cages. Bem berates Kirk, and Kirk replies that he caused the whole thing by disobeying orders. Bem shows that he has their equipment--he through they were too dependent on it. Kirk orders Bem to give them back, so we see the torso split again. This was just Bem's test--Kirk tells him that he is under arrest. The sensor field now blocks all signals to the Enterprise, so they try to phaser their way out of the aborigine village. An unseen entity stops them from doing so--it's the "god" of the planet. It nullifies their phasers and they are recaptured.

Scotty gets ready to send down a security party. Meanwhile, Bem declares Kirk "unintelligent", slips out of his cage, and leaves. Spock suggests they contact the planet's "god", and they tie their communicators together to do it. Kirk apologizes and promises to leave--but they still need to get Bem back. The "god" says they can leave--now. Kirk calls the ship, and says to stand by. He calls for a security squad to come and find Bem. They do so, and Bem is "shamed" by what he has done. The "god" reappears, and Kirk explains he had to get Bem to protect the planet.  Bem says he must "disassemble" based on what he has done, but the "god" talks him out of it.  Kirk declares the planet to be quarantined.

Some things to look for:

• The shots where Bem breaks up into separate parts is bizarre. Gerrold must have been smoking something to come up with this.
• There's a long establishing shot of the Enterprise during the discussion of the sensor field.  Possibly an act break, but it seems strange.
• Kirk to Bem: "Shut up, we're rescuing you"
• There's some great dialogue between Kirk and Spock throughout the episode--Gerrold does a great job here
• This episode includes the first reference to Kirk's middle name--Tiberius
• Scotty's hair goes almost blond in one shot
• The lights for the alien "god" are quite reminiscent of those from the TOS episode "Metamorphosis"

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--Pirates of Orion

We're now in the very short second season of ST:TAS (just six episodes). This episode was written by Howard Weinstein who later wrote ST comics at DC and was later involved in ST: The Voyage Home.

There's an outbreak of choriocytosis on the Enterprise--not an issue for most of the crew, except for Spock. McCoy discovers it will kill him in days. Of course, there's a cure, so they're off to Beta Canopus to get it. They need to do a handoff from another ship to get it to Spock in time. We get an actual character moment as Kirk and McCoy talk about possibly losing Spock.

The SS Huron, a freighter, is on its way to meet the Enterprise with the cure. A strange ship attacks them! They call for help, and the Enterprise finds the Huron damaged with minimal life support. Meanwhile, Spock is close to death. Kirk, Scotty, Chapel, Arex, and Uhura beam over to the Huron to find the crew knocked out and the hold empty. They search for evidence of the attacker--the sensor tapes from the Huron show they can track their ship from its radioactivity. The trail ends in an asteroid belt, which explode upon impact. They find the strange ship--it's Orion pirates! Kirk demands they turn over the their cargo, and the Orions refuse. Kirk offers to let the whole thing slide if they give him the drugs, and they agree--if they do it face-to-face on an asteroid. Kirk agrees. The Orions are desperate to keep their neutrality, so they plan to blow up themselves and the Enterprise with the unstable asteroid. Kirk beams down with the Orion, who tells Kirk about his plan, so there's a scuffle. Scotty beams up both of them just in time. The Orion captain tries to commit suicide, but is stopped, and orders his ship to surrender--since the neutrality is over with anyway.  McCoy gives Spock the drug, and they trade barbs to play us out. 

Some things to look for:

• When Spock collapses on the ship, Kirk calls for sickbay--although McCoy is standing next to him
• The appearance of the SS Huron is the first time was see a current Federation ship of a different class than the Enterprise.  This doesn't happen again until the USS Reliant appears in Wrath of Khan.
• Speaking of the Huron, you'll see "USS Huron" on the ship's hull, although it's referenced multiple times as "SS Huron".  The ship seems awfully ungainly--it guess being streamlined doesn't matter in space.
• Again, McCoy seems to be bi-locating--he calls the bridge on the intercom but is standing next to Kirk on the bridge a moment later
• "Evasive maneuvers" for the Orion looks like weaving from side to side--probably not effective in space
• TAS must not have a pronunciation key in the script--everyone says "Oh-REE-on" instead of "Oh-Ri-On"
• Did the Orions steal their uniforms and ship from Flash Gordon?
• Kirk references the "Babel Conference", where Orion pirates were referenced but never seen in TOS episode "Journey to Babel"
• The Orion second officer sounds like Arnold Stang for a moment
• More bi-locating from McCoy--the last scene is in sickbay, then on the bridge, then back to sickbay

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Time Trap

This episode has a number of tie-ins to other Trek media:

• The plotline is "borrowed" from an issue of the Gold Key Star Trek comic book, written by Len Wein, who went onto to create Swamp Thing at DC and Wolverine at Marvel
• Klingon Commander Kor was introduced in TOS episode "Errand of Mercy", and later seen in three DS9 episodes
•  A Gorn is also featured, as seen in TOS episode "Arena" and referenced on the Enterprise series.
• A sequel to this episode was the basis of the ST novel "Into the Void".

We start with more space "explosions" to indicate the entrance to the "Delta Triangle", a mysterious area where ships disappear. Of course, the finest ship in the fleet is sent to investigate. The Klingon ship Klothos is seen, followed by a quick battle. The Klothos disappears, then three ships show up--it's a trap. The Klingons demand their surrender. Kirk orders the ship to the same point the other Klingon ship disappeared. The instruments go haywire, the Enterprise disappears as well, and the ship's crew collapses. 

They find themselves in a vast graveyard of old ships--the missing ships from the Delta Triangle. The Klothos is in that mix--and attacks the Enterprise. None of the weapons work on either side. Kirk is suddenly beamed away. Kor and Kirk find themselves in front of a council composed of many races. They used psionics to stop the battle, and tell Kirk and Kor they are responsible to keep the peace on their ships. Any act of violence results in the freezing of their ship for a century, which seems like a long time--except no one ages here.

They return to their ships, where Scotty tells him if they want to escape, they need to do it fast--the dilithium is deteriorating quickly. The Klingons are working on the issue as well, and try to escape with no luck. Spock has an idea--fuse the ships together and use their combined power to get out. Kor agrees--of course, he has his own plans to destroy the Enterprise after they get out. Spock seems awfully chummy with the Klingons, wrapping his arms over their shoulders, and Kirk asks him about it. He explains that touching them allowed him to learn their plans with his Vulcan mind powers(?!?). There's a reception on the Enterprise with the Council. There's a scuffle between McCoy and a Klingon which gives them a chance to leave a device on the Enterprise to destroy it. The Council grabs Kirk, McCoy, and the Klingons to pass judgment--freeze the Klothos. Kirk begs for them to delay the judgment so they can attempt to escape first. As they make their move, the Council telepath realizes the Klingon plan, and warn the Enterprise in time for them to eject it. Both ships reappear in normal space.

Some things to look for:

• TAS "explosions" look a lot like fireworks going off
• Could the Delta Triangle be related to the Delta Quadrant? Nah.
• Takei gets a chance to do more voices--in this case, a rather British Klingon
• The shots of the ship's graveyard would have been impossible to do in live action until CGI arrived
• Not sure if it was planned, or the music queue was too long, but the slow zoom on Spock after Kirk is beamed away is strange
• We see all the usual ST aliens on the council--Romulan, Klingon, Vulcan, Orion, Tellerite, Andorian, Gorn, plus a few invented for TAS
• The Klingons appear to have adopted 70's afros
• The device which would have destroyed the Enterprise looks like a vitamin
• There's a USS Bonaventure--the first ship with warp drive--in the ship graveyard. One of their crew is on the council, although she has no lines. Seems like a wasted opportunity to explore that idea.
• This is the last time we see the swarthy Klingons of TOS--the next time we see them in ST:TMP, the bumpy heads are introduced

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Jihad

The writer of this episode, Stephen Kandel, is "Mr. Mudd"--he wrote both original series Harry Mudd episodes, as well as the Mudd episode from earlier in this series.

A long time spacefaring race has called for specialists to avert a crisis--including Kirk and Spock. There's also representatives of hawk, frog, and slug races, as well as an amazon woman. The hawk explains that they were a warlike race until a religious figure saved them. Now, an artifact from that leader has been stolen, and the hawk race is prepping for holy war--against the whole galaxy. So, the team need to find the artifact on a "mad planet" with bizarre weather and tectonics.

The amazon is an expert tracker, so they move off in a weird space car. The amazon hits on Kirk (of course), but then there's a lava flow to worry about. We get a shot of the Enterprise for no reason, and then back to the action. They hotwire the car to get around the lava. Spock falls out of the car, but Kirk saves him--so Spock berates him for doing so. Now, it's snowing, and the car is shot. The slug falls in a crevasse, but they save him. 

The hawk feels the presence of the artifact. They find a temple, and the slug picks the lock. Batlike creatures attack--they are robots, and grab the hawk. They get inside the temple but are trapped. Kirk realizes one of them must be a traitor. (huh?)  They scale the walls to get to the artifact--the frog stays behind. They are attacked again, this time by the hawk--he's the traitor. He gives the "yeah, I did it--and I'd do it again" speech. Gravity is turned off so they can fight him. Kirk and Spock fight the hawk hand to hand, and then retrieve the artifact.  

Some things to look for:

• This seems like a slightly rewritten Herculoids episode--it makes little sense, and has lots of goofy aliens. It's like a fever dream.
• Lots of goofy ships are seen at the start of this episode
• The "long time spacefaring race" look like Kzinti with white hair
• Kirk: "We're tired, sore, hurt, and angry--but we're also just about there." Why angry?
• We’ve seen the same batlike creatures on several episodes--it's the same footage each time.
• When it's suggested that Kirk use his phaser against the hawk, he mentions the phaser banks in the temple--whaaa??  I believe Kirk is reading from a different script.

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--Eye of the Beholder

Another episode written by an original series writer, David P. Harmon (The Deadly Years, A Piece of the Action).

The Enterprise is searching for a lost science team from a deserted ship. Kirk decides to beam down to the planet (of course). They find a weird sea creature, but scare it off with their phasers. Another monster attacks, but this time, the phasers do no good at first. They run, then the monster falls--on McCoy. So, they dig him out.

There are multiple ecosystems--Spock realizes they are artificial. More creatures attack from the sky, but they bounce off an invisible forcefield. Kirk and Co. are grabbed by huge snail-like creatures and taken to a city. They are thrown in a prison cell. Spock realizes the snails are telepathic, but think too fast for him to comprehend. Snails grab them and move them to a new ecosystem--they realize they are in a "zoo". They find the lost science team, and we get more exposition.

Kirk has Spock try to communicate with the snails via telepathy--the snails laugh at them. One of the science team is very sick, but McCoy has no medical tools to help her. They make plans to escape the next time the snails drop off food. Spock realizes if they think about the medical kit, the snails will give it to them--and they do. Spock states that the snails are hyperintelligent, and have the crew stuck in a zoo--probably for life.

Blah-blah-blah--more exposition. They decide to think about one of them being sick, and that a communicator can help them. A snail kid picks up their thoughts and gives it to them--but then takes it back when Kirk tries to call Scotty. The snail kid is accidentally beamed up.  Now the snails are mad, and invade Kirk's mind. He has to fight it or go mad. Meanwhile, the snail kid has made it to the bridge and sends the ship away from the planet (joyriding?). The mental attacks stop, and then the snails gang up on him, so the crew does likewise to protect Kirk. Scotty and the snail kid materializes. He explains he convinced the snail to beam them down. Spock manages to read the snail's minds. The snail kid has convinced the others that the humans are no threat, but should be allowed to leave and evolve. 

Some things to look for:

• Kirk: "A captain of a ship, no matter his rank, must follow the book."  Hey Kettle, the Pot called--you're black.
• This is another episode with a lot of exposition. Watch for long still shots with characters talking.
• One of the science team is clearly Chapel with brunette hair
• When Kirk's mind is invaded, he looks like he's got an Excedrin headache
• Even in voice only form, Kirk does some powerful overacting
• How did Scotty communicate with the snail kid and convince him to beam them down in a matter of minutes?  The science team had been on the planet for weeks with no success! Scotty is apparently a good father figure.

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Slaver Weapon

A Larry Niven short story was adapted for this episode, "The Slaver Weapon". Maybe a bit too dense source material for a cartoon...

An ancient artifact is being shuttled by Spock, Sulu, and Uhura. The artifact is a "stasis box", where time stands still inside. A "Slaver" race built them, who commanded the galaxy a billion years ago--they were taken out in a war that ended all intelligent life at the time. The box begins to glow--it indicates another box is in the area. They stop at an icy planet to investigate.

Suddenly, Kzinti attack and capture them! They wake up as prisoner on the Kzinti ship. More exposition follows from Spock--he mentions the Kzinti are meat eaters. They also have a telepath, and so they take precautions. They confront their captors, and Sulu mentions the Federation beat them in four wars--but now they have the magic box, which may have a weapon inside to turn the tide. They open the box, and find a weird appliance.

The Federation crew are taken to the icy surface so the weapon can be tested. They fire the weapon--every time a button is pressed, the weapon changes shape, but no setting seems deadly or even dangerous. One setting shoots fire at the holder. Uhura attempts to escape in the confusion--they underestimate her since Kzinti women are less intelligent. Another weapon setting kills the power, including their prison, so Spock and Co. make a break for it. Uhura is hit, but Spock grabs the weapon. The Kzinti captain wants revenge against the plant eater.

Sulu thinks the weapon is for a Slaver spy. The Kzinti make an ultimatum--Uhura's life for the weapon. Sulu tries another setting, and finds a major weapon--they get blown around by the resulting explosion and get captured--again. Another weapon setting in the Kzinti's hands--it starts beeping, and scares them. It's a small computer! It asks for codewords, which they don't have. It does provide info on how to change it back to the dangerous weapon, but the resulting effect is that it destroys the Kzinti--and itself.

Some things to look for:

• There's a long pause at the start of this episode--maybe they ran short?
• Yet another shuttlecraft design, this time the Copernicus
• We meet the Kzinti, a catlike race. Is M'ress a relative? They seem like a major enemy in this series, although they aren't mentioned in other series. As noted above, Larry Niven created them outside of the Trekverse.
• There's a lot of exposition here--I doubt kids watching Saturday morning cartoons and hopped up on sugar cereals paid attention
• I love the Kzinti telepath--he looks and acts very depressed
• Uhura does well running in heels on the icy surface
• The dangerous weapon setting apparently sets off a nuclear explosion where you point it--good thing Sulu shot into the far distance

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Ambergris Element

It's another episode from an original series writer, Margaret Armen.

The Enterprise is orbiting an all water planet, caused by volcanic eruptions--they are there to study how and why it happened. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Clayton (red shirt alert) go down in an "aquashuttle", which is then attacked by a huge sea creature.  They stun it, then run for it. The phasers as usual don't work. They try to beam out but Kirk and Spock are lost. After five days, they are found underwater but alive. How? They have formed gills and webbed hands (of course).

They are brought back to the ship, where a hold is apparently flooded so they have a place to live. McCoy is stumped. Spock realizes there must be intelligent life under the sea. The aquashuttle is destroyed, so Kirk and Spock must go alone. They find the local inhabitants, who tell them to leave. They follow them to an underwater city and sneak in, but are then captured. The tribunal of the "Aquons" determine they are enemies. The Aquon teenagers convince the elders to give them a chance. Meanwhile, a seaquake is coming, so the shuttleboat tries to find Kirk and Spock, which spooks the Aquons. So Kirk and Spock are taken to the surface and left to die.

An Aquon girl saves them by finding the shuttleboat. We learn the Aquon "mutation" is just surgery, and could be reversed. They convince the Aquon girl to help them find the ancient records with the answer. Of course, the sea creature attacks again, but is buried in the ruins. McCoy figures out the antitoxin--it's venom from the sea creature. The Aquon kids help them capture a sea creature (why not just use the buried one?), and McCoy figures out the antitoxin. The Enterprise diverts the seaquake with phasers, and all is well.

Some things to look for:

• The Enterprise now carries an aquashuttle that can fly in space and under the sea--maybe they borrowed it from the Thunderbirds
• They also have a boat for surface use
• Always alert to save money, Filmation shows the shuttle being attacked by spinning and shaking the animation cel
• We also hear a bowler getting a strike when the ship hits the ocean floor
• Kirk: "I can't command a ship from inside an aquarium!"
• I suspect they borrowed some footage from the Aquaman Filmation series--the swimming effects look the same
• We hear a lot of the Filmation voice actors playing the Aquons
• I love Scotty floating in the water with his lifebelt glow
• Wavy underwater effects come and go--sloppy animators!
• The ancient records are found in a sealed room w/o water--but Kirk and Spock don't seem to be affected
• Lots of weird effects as Kirk takes the antitoxin--his skin changes color, he grows scales and a fin, then back to normal

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Terratin Incident

This episode was written by Paul Schneider, who wrote two episodes of the original series.

The Enterprise is mapping a burned out supernova. Uhura picks up a weird signal with the word "Terratin", so they go investigate. They find a volcanic planet, and an impulse goes thru the ship. Everything seems normal, though, including the lab animals in sickbay. When sensors are run on the planet, everyone on the ship glows white, but no ill effects except the dilithium crystals--they are all fractured.

They then notice that tools, chairs, etc all appear to be growing. No--the ship's personnel are shrinking. The space between their molecules is decreasing. Spock notices that their uniforms are also shrinking, as well as the lab animals (I knew they would come in handy). So, it's only organic material that's affected. They will lose control of the ship once they get to 1 centimeter tall. That will take 29 minutes.

The crew starts getting injured--Sulu falls and breaks his leg, and Chapel falls into the aquarium. Kirk decides on a "Hail Mary" plan, beaming down to the planet. Spock notes that the transporter keeps a copy of their patterns--will it work to retain their size? It does--his rigged up communicator ends up doll size in his hand once he transports down. The volcanic lava takes it out, though. Kirk then finds a tiny city, just in time to transport back. He returns to what appears to be en empty ship--nope, they're just really tiny.

He sends a signal to the tiny city--he threatens to take it out with phasers. The leader of the city replies with a plea to stop--his bridge crew are down on the planet as well. Spock determines that "Terratin" is actually "Terra Ten", an earth colony long since lost. The attack on the ship was just their way of communicating. Now, the volcano is about to take out Terra Ten. The bridge crew beams up--and back to normal size. The rest of the crew beams down and back up--all with dilithium from the planet. The ship's phasers cut out the city from the planet and the whole thing is beamed up--they are on their way to a new planet to start their colony again.

Some things to look for:

• As in all the episodes, you can never see "the whites of their eyes", since it's the same color as their skin
•  It's the first time we see this menagerie of test animals, including "gossamer mice" and "halo fish"
• An angry mustachioed crewman staring into his grande coffee cup
• Uhura looking rather provocative crawling around her instrument panel--maybe short skirts weren't the best idea for Starfleet
• The first and last reference to the material used in their uniforms, the futuristic "zenolon"
• The crew makes ladders and stilts with what appears to be wooden sticks--so they have an emergency wood supply on the ship?
• They spend a long time handling Sulu's broken leg when there's only 29 minutes to go
• I love how Scotty uses some string to run the transporter controls

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--Mudd's Passion

Another callback episode from the original series, as Harry Mudd checks in.

The Enterprise has tracked Harry to planet Motherlode, where he's hawking a "magical liquid" love potion to a group of miners. Kirk and Spock beam down, and shows the group that Mudd is a huckster--his beautiful girl is actually a hypno-lizard (a relative to Futurama's Hypnotoad?). The miners attack Mudd, and they beam back up to the ship. Mudd sees how Chapel responds to Spock, and gives her the potion, using it as an excuse to swipe her ID card (?!?). 

They find an unusual planet to investigate. Chapel uses the potion/crystal and literally falls in Spock's lap--Spock is unaffected. Mudd uses the stolen ID card to get in the shuttle deck but Chapel karate chops him. Spock starts to be affected and tells Kirk and McCoy about it. Chapel misses Harry with a phaser (she's not a great shot) and he drops the crystals by a ventilation shaft. They scuffle, and Harry knocks her out. Spock sees Mudd taking Chapel hostage and goes all illogical--lots of reaction shots from the bridge crew. Scotty, M'ress, and Arex are affected by the crystals, now being blown thru the ship. Kirk and Spock beam down to the planet, and are very friendly toward each other (the crystals cause men to be brotherly toward each other). 

A rock with an eye watches them, and then turns into a rock creature to attack them. Phasers are ineffective, and the shuttle is destroyed. Kirk calls for emergency beamup, but there is a dance pair in the transporter room. Spock and Chapel have a tender moment as well. Spock realizes what is happening, and they try to control their emotional reactions. McCoy is running "Playboy After Dark" in sickbay. The bridge crew are having hangovers. They use the crystals on the creatures and then beam up. Harry is sent to rehab therapy, and Chapel snaps at Spock.

Some things to look for:

• The miners include some generic humans, some melty faced lizard, and wolfmen
• The "magical liquid" love potion is later referred to as crystals, which is what they appear to be
• Froggy returns as the voice of one of the miners
• Starfleet has ID cards?!?!?
• Mudd sometimes looks like a Terry Gilliam Monty Python animation.
• There's a lot of shuttlecraft now, with different designs.
• Since when did McCoy have a station on the bridge?  Not saying it wouldn't be a good idea, since he always seems to be hanging around there...
• Scotty sees to beam off the bridge after his first line, and then reappears.
• A rock with an eye??
• It's easy to have earthquakes in animation--just shake the screen.
• The Enterprise must have an iTunes hookup--you can call up dance music in the transporter room.  It's Adult Swim-worthy animation.
• Kirk to Spock: "I think we should get a few things straight"--the start of K/S fan fiction?

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--Once Upon a Planet

We return to the "Shore Leave" planet from the original series. This is where an advanced race created a planet that generates robots and settings based on your dreams. 

McCoy, Sulu, and Uhura beam down for some R&R. However, something's gone wrong, and the Queen of Hearts (from Alice in Wonderland) wants to take out McCoy. Uhura is captured. She is being held by the planet's computer to protect her from the Enterprise! A search party goes down, but communications and the transporter are cut off. They find out the "Keeper" of the planet is dead. The Enterprise can't even open the shuttle bay doors. 

Uhura tries to escape, and finds out the computer wants to "make a change". McCoy inadvertently wishes for signs to the underground entrance, and up pops a sign. Pterodactyls and then a giant cat arrives to attack them. Meanwhile, the ship is tossed around--the planet's computer wants to control the Enterprise as well. Then, the gravity turns off.

The landing party decides to fake an injury to get the computer to help them. Kirk and Spock get in, and have a discussion with the planet's computer. It wants to leave the planet and find his "brother computers". A new computer appear on the ship. Kirk, Spock, and Uhura explain the truth to the computer and it relents.

Some things to look for:

• The voice of M'ress, played by Majel Barrett, is very annoying
• The Pterodactyls appear to be borrowed from Jonny Quest
• Once the gravity is cut off, bridge personnel either have gravity belts or are just strapped into the chairs. The latter would come in handy when the ship is tossed around (which happens a lot).
• This show has barely no continuity. In one shot, a substitute officer is in Sulu's seat on the bridge, and in the very next shot, Sulu (who's down on the planet at that point) is there.

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Magicks of Megas-Tu

"The Magicks of Megus-Tu" starts with a science mission to the center of the galaxy. We get some trippy and yet cheap effects outside the ship. They get sucked into a "whirlwild" and are thrown into a weird dimension. The ship's systems shut down and in a matter of seconds (?) there's no air on the bridge. A suspiciously devilish figure appears and saves them--he's called Lucien. 

He takes Kirk, Spock, and McCoy down to his planet, and after more trippy stuff, the planet ends up looking more generic. Lucien explains how the planet runs on "magic", and how peaceful they are. They also journeyed once to Earth--the source of elves, fairies, demons, etc. He sends them back to the ship.

Spock draws a pentagram on the floor and tries out magic--it works! Lucien shows back up and so do the authorities. They drop the crew into Salem, MA and into stocks. We get more backstory--they were persecuted on Earth. Spock plays defense counselor and convinces the planet's inhabitants that Earth has changed for the better. Lucien, however, is found guilty (he's also called Lucifer!) Kirk defends Lucifer with magic. They realize his intentions are good and all is well.

Some things to look for:

• Kirk is turned into a top at one point
• Lucien has a big booming voice
• McCoy's voice gets cut off at one point--he is supposed to say, "Forget it Spock", but says "Get it Spock"
• You definitely couldn't get away with a pentagram on Saturday morning cartoons today
• During the attack on the ship, McCoy changes into a yellow shirt for a moment
• I love how Arex has a third hole in the stocks for his third hand
• The Enterprise computer records include data tapes and punch cards

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Infinite Vulcan

Walter Koenig wrote the episode, "The Infinite Vulcan". Hope there's no nuclear wessels involved.

Kirk and Co. beam down to a planet. Sulu is poisoned by a weird plant. More plants--this time humanoid--appear and save Sulu. It turns out most of their people died from a previous human expedition--they couldn't handle human germs. Weird bats with tentacles (a common theme on this show) fly in and grab Spock. A huge guy in a skirt appears, and tells them to leave. More bats force them to transport out.

Kirk has Scotty making new weapons to fight the plants. Uhura finds out the huge skirt guy was involved in the Eugenics Wars--he's the fifth clone of the original.  They go back down to the planet with the new weapons. The plants are getting a fleet of ships ready.  Kirk grabs one of the plants and convinces him to take them to Spock. They go underground, but get attacked. They find Spock and Spock II (a huge clone of Spock). They fire their new weapons--basically weed killers--to take out the bats. Spock's mind is drained, but they try to escape with him--the Spock clone blocks the way.

Scotty and Uhura try a desperate move to communicate with the landing party. Spock II answers the call--Uhura sends a message about the huge skirt guy wanting to create a master race to enforce peace. Kirk explains that the galaxy is peaceful now.  Spock II mind melds with Spock, and saves the latter. They agree to leave the huge skirt guy and Spock II on the planet to do more peaceful work.

Some things to look for:

• Although he can't figure out what the poison is, McCoy knows that Sulu will be "dead in a minute" if something isn't done
• The bats make the generic "screech" sound heard on Hanna-Barbera adventure cartoons
• At one point, Spock is seen on the bridge--although he's already been captured on the planet
• Spock II has a copy of Spock's uniform, which makes it easier to animate but makes no sense.  Of course, neither does the huge skirt guy.
• Spock II also has a bit of a gut
• Since they leave Spock II there, they could have retrieved him after the original died in Wrath of Khan--if this was actually in continuity
• Sulu does the cartoon wink to close out the episode

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Survivor

We continue on with "The Survivor". No, we're not talking immunity challenges--it's Carter Winston, a philanthropist who's been missing for five years. Of course, his fiancee is a crewman on the Enterprise.  He meets and promptly breaks up with her.  McCoy can't figure out why his instruments are out of whack.  We learn "Carter" is actually a shape-changing Vendorian, who takes out Kirk, assumes his shape, and orders the ship into the Neutral Zone.  The real Captain arrives later, and countermands the order.

Carter attacks McCoy and takes his form.  Kirk asks for a medical exam, and "McCoy" says he's busy.  Spock asks about Carter's exam, and wonders if an error was made.  McCoy's lack of a caustic reaction makes Spock suspicious, so they return to sickbay, and find the real McCoy waking up.  Kirk notices that there's a new examining table.  He threatens to drop acid on the "table", and Carter transforms. A fight ensues, and the Vendorian escapes.  The fiancee tries to take him out as he turns into Winston, but can't bring herself to do so.

Two Romulan cruisers arrive, and call for surrender.  The Vendorian is a spy for the Romulans!  Carter sabotages the ship and tries to escape thru the hangar bay.  Carter and the fiancee have a tender moment and he does some exposition--he has absorbed the real Carter's memories.  The Romulans attack, and demand surrender.  A deflector shield comes back up.  Space battles ensue--we learn the "deflector shield" is actually the Vendorian, who has switched sides. More exposition, then the Vendorian is taken into custody.  Spock and McCoy trade barbs as wacky music takes us out.

Some things to look for:

• Kyle vs. Carter Winston--battle of the mustaches
• McCoy mentions his daughter--as far as I know, she's never brought up again except in ST novels
• Carter is voiced by Ted Knight--a Filmation regular who did a lot of voiceover work while  being a regular on the Mary Tyler Moore show
• The Vendorian looks like a mix of a squid and a chess piece.
• We get a lot of the classic shot from this series--one character way in the foreground and another way in the background.  It looks like an 80's music video.
• Kirk mentions, but we don't see, Lt. M'ress until later in the episode. She's a catlike humanoid who subs for Uhura.  In the first long shot, Uhura is clearly in her regular chair.
• During the fight, Kirk appears to attack the camera
• The deflector shield controls apparently use a lot of wires

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--More Tribbles, More Troubles

Stanley Adams returns as the voice of Cyrano Jones in the sequel to the classic original series episode.

The Enterprise is escorting automated grain ships going to Sherman's Planet (apparently, the first use of quatrotriticale didn't go well).  They spot a Klingon vessel attacking a small ship. They save the occupant of the small ship--at least they get him in a transporter beam. Meanwhile, the Klingons fire a new disruption weapon at the Enterprise that shuts down the ship.  The Klingon wants the pilot for "ecological sabotage".  Kirk uses the grain ships to remotely attack the Klingons, and the Klingon's stasis field is burned out.  The pilot is beamed in--of course, it's Cyrano Jones and his cargo of tribbles.

Cyrano says the tribbles are "safe", because they don't reproduce.  He also has a tribble predator--a glommer.  McCoy determines the tribbles don't reproduce--they just get fat.  They bring the grain onto the ship, and of course the tribbles eat it.  After some space battles and the Enterprise is caught again, they transport the tribbles over to the Klingon ship to immobilize them as well.  The glommer turns out to be the Klingon's goal--they want it to combat a tribble epidemic on their planet.  The glommer is turned over, but it runs in fear from the giant tribbles, which turn out to be colonies.  Hit one with a phaser, and they break up into lots of tribbles.  Hilarty and wacky music ensues.

 Some things to look for:

• Klingons firing on other ships looks suspiciously like fireworks
• A weird moment of levity on the helpless Enterprise as Uhura says "Well, we could always throw rocks"
• The tribbles are pink--why?  Apparently, the animator was color-blind.
• The glommer looks like a cross between a crab and an octopus.
• There's a lot of comedy in this episode, just like the original tribble episode.
• Kirk covers his mouth at one point--did they change the script at one point, and his lips didn't match?
• The Klingon second in command sounds like Froggy.
• Kirk goes into smirk overdrive in the last shot.

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!

Star Trek: TAS--The Lorelei Signal

...and we're back, with "The Lorelei Signal".  The Enterprise checks out a mysterious area where ships keep disappearing.  A signal turns out to be singing.  It's the old "sirens" bit--all the men are enthralled, and start seeing what they want to see.  They beam down to the planet, where a race of Barbies take them prisoner--but what a prison!  Headbands drain the men of their life-energy. Uhura is forced to take over the ship, since the women are unaffected.

The now feeble men try to escape the planet.  A team of female crewman/models beam down.  They find an ancient Spock, and the other men are trapped in a huge vase with rain about to drown them (don't ask).  Spock tells Chapel how to stop the Sirens, and Uhura gets the Siren leader to tell them the backstory. Uhura and the girls save the men.  The transporter is used to replace the men's bodies with a backup copy in the transporter memory.  (This brings up a real issue--if someone dies, can't they just whip up a new body via the transporter?)

Uhura does a great job as temporary captain.  Of course, she ruins it with "You're more handsome than ever" when seeing Kirk saved via transporter.

Some things to look for:

• Two crewman in a hallway unconcerned about a Yellow Alert.  Perhaps it happens so often the crew ignores them, like when the the fire alarm goes off when popcorn is burnt in the office microwave?
• Goofy smiles on the enthralled men--even on Spock
• A lot of the same faces on the sirens--must have been easy for the animators to copy and paste
• The Siren's entertainment involves diamond juggling
• The use of only two female voice actors on the show becomes really apparent here
• A musical performance by Scotty
• The architecture of the Siren's planet reminds me of the later He-Man series from Filmation.  The studio reused animation as much as they could, so it's not out of the question.

Remember, you can play along by watching the show on Netflix!