TV Series: Star Trek: The Animated Series

To set the record straight, I'm a Star Trek fan. Call me a Trekkie if you will. I've loved it ever since I first saw an episode from the original series when I was about 12. It was a Wow experience that has been repeated with almost every episode I've seen of the various Star Trek series since.

However, I never saw the animated series of Star Trek until recently. I'd known about it for many years, but I had no interest in seeing it. Cartoon characters? No thanks. Then a few months ago I saw the complete series being offered on DVD for a dirt cheap price and thought "Why not?" I've watched just over half the series so far, and I'm pleasantly surprised.

Let's get the only negative aspect of the series out of the way first. The quality of the animation is poor. It's not even up to the standards of other cartoons made in the 1970's. It was made on a small budget, and it shows.

"Star Trek: The Animated Series" isn't even the series' real name. When it was first broadcast in 1973 it was simply called "Star Trek". It was a continuation of the live action series that had run from 1966 to 1969. It can almost be thought of as "Star Trek, Season 4".

The animated series stars the same characters as the original series, and the voices are spoken by the original actors. These were:

William Shatner as Captain Kirk
Leonard Nimoy as Mr. Spock
DeForrest Kelley as Leonard McCoy
Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Uhura
George Takei as Lieutenant Sulu
James Doohan as Scotty
Majel Barrett as Nurse Christine Chapel

Doohan and Barrett were important in the animated series, because they also did the voice roles for most of the guest characters. The new crew members Arex and M'Ress, shown in the back row of the above picture, were also voiced by Doohan and Barrett. Doohan's voice talents are remarkable; he is barely recognisable, unless you know it his him speaking. Barrett, on the other hand, is easy to recognise.

The stories were scripted by the same writers as the original series, and there are many tie-ins with both the original series and later series. The very first episode features the infamous Tribbles. There was even a backwards influence. The Vulcan city of ShiKahr was first shown in the Animated Series, but when the original series was remastered in 2006 this city was added to the background in scenes from "Amok Time", the first episode of the second season.

If you're a real Trekkie like me you'll want to watch this series. Don't put it off as long as I did. You'll enjoy it.