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!

Star Trek: TAS--One of Our Planets is Missing

From the sublime of "Yesteryear", we move to the ridiculousness of "One of Our Planets is Missing".  A mysterious cloud is eating planets.  A deep discussion on whether to warn an endangered planet ensues.  The Enterprise gets caught by the cloud, which turns out to be alive.  McCoy gives a lecture about human anatomy. Scotty rigs a way to regenerate the engines using parts of the antimatter cloud.  More deep discussions--do they kill the cloud to save a planet?  Spock mind melds with the cloud, and convinces the cloud to leave the galaxy.

 Some things to look for:

• Finally, Arex gets a name and a voice
• More crewman lounging in a hallway
• A reminder of the "Trash Can" theater animation, as big balls of "antimatter" fly past the ship
• More plumbing than we've seen before in the ship
• The cloud has a lot of problems understanding things--we hear "explain?" a lot
• Random shots of Earth to convince the planet to stop--Filmation stock shots
• Kirk saying "Quiet!" for no apparent reason

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

Star Trek: TAS--Yesteryear

OK, I'm back after a bit of a delay. November TV sweeps means a lot of new TV, so I didn't get back to this until now.

Episode 2 of the ST animated series is "Yesteryear".  This features Nimoy, and has some decent writing--it does come from D.C. Fontana, one of the major writers from the original series.  Essentially, the Enterprise goes back to the "City on the Edge of Forever" planet--you know, the giant donut that can send you though time.  Of course, someone (I'm looking at you, Kirk) steps on a butterfly, and now no one recognizes Spock.  Spock died during his childhood, then Sarek and Amanda broke up.  An Andorian has taken Spock's place as first officer, and only Kirk and Spock (and a red shirt that went with them thru the giant donut) know the truth.

So, the only choice is for Spock to go back in time to Vulcan to save himself.

Some things to look for:

• The Guardian of Forever sounds more like a cartoon ghost than a robust narrator
• Some birdlike crewman running a tricorder
• A very depressed crewman on a display talking to Kirk
• Vulcan kids apparently look like trolls, and dress in swim trunks and a bandolier
• Mark Lenard returns as the voice of Sarek (Amanda is played by Majel)
• The "teddy bear" sehlat mentioned as Spock's childhood pet is HUGE

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

Star Trek: TAS--Beyond the Farthest Star

Mindy has been enjoying her comic-a-day blog, so I thought I would give it a try--and I finally found what I hope is an interesting topic.

We've just finished watching Star Trek: the Original Series on Netflix, as part of a plan to watch all available episode of all the Trek series.  Before we move on to Next Generation, we've started watching "The Animated Series" from 1973-74.  I remember watching it as a kid, and wanted to see how it holds up--in a nutshell, not too well.

Filmation is best known for the He-Man series, but they did a lot of licenced character animation for Saturday morning TV (Superman, Archie, Fat Albert).  Their style was cheap at best--the definition of "limited" animation.  Star Trek at least had Roddenberry's involvement, as well as scripts from well known sci-fi authors (David Gerald and Larry Niven both wrote episodes).  Most of the original cast lent their voice talents to the show, but since they taped each voice separately, it's rather disjointed.  Stock shots are used A LOT, to the point you see them multiple times in the same episode.  Whoever was in change of continuity took the day off--characters appear in long shots, the disappear when the camera angle changes, and then reappear again.  Roddenberry later decided the show was "not in canon", although you do see some concepts slip into later series.  The show only lasted 22 episodes--unless a Saturday morning show was a hit, they rarely made a lot of epsidoes, as they were rerun frequently,

We watched the first episode, "Beyond the Farthest Star".  If you watch it on Netflix, look for the following:

• Uhura has apparently been "roofied" in a long shot from above the bridge--she's lounging in her chair
• An orange lizard creature in Chekov's seat--that's Lt. Arex, a three-armed alien.  You wouldn't know that from this episode, as it is not explained.
• The use of "life support belts", not used in any other series
• Lots of cheap explosion effects--even for Filmation, it's crappy
• Lt. Kyle at the transporter controls--and his floating mustache
• The "automatic bridge defense system"--a spherical gun on the ceiling.  Probably a good idea, considering how often the bridge is commandeered.
• There's also a second door on the bridge--again, it's about time.
• Scotty gets stuck in the engine core "door" (more like a hatch) for no appearent reason

More to come!