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This four-disc set includes all 22 episodes of the animated Star Trek series, as well as a few extras (making of the series, links to various live series, etc.) They are less than 30 minutes each, but have almost all the original actors providing the voices; part of the fun is picking out James Doohan's and Majel Barrett's additional voice work. Many of the scripts had been developed for the original series but could now be expanded with more detailed background and less-humanoid aliens. Adults who enjoy Star Trek will enjoy these as well. My kids like that they go fairly quickly. Capturing these in reruns is almost impossible, so the DVD set is a great buy.
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Star Trek: The Animated Series, or TAS, as it's popularly abbreviated, has long been dismissed as a 'kiddie show' and thus overlooked as part of the Star Trek Canon, due in no small part to creator Gene Roddenberry's decree that it should be so. But in the years since his death in 1991, and especially since its release on DVD in 2006, it has gradually been embraced and given the credit it deserves. Although it was slotted into Saturday mornings by NBC, Roddenberry originally intended it as a prime time series, using the medium of animation as a means of exploring even stranger new worlds than had been possible in the original live action series (TOS), with its limited technology and even more limited production budget, but the network wasn't ready for that idea, even though The Flintstones had set the precedent almost a decade earlier. Nonetheless, TAS used writers from the original series and most of the episodes contained story lines every bit as sophisticated as its predecessor. Premiering in the fall of 1973 and running until sometime in 1975, the show's 22 half-hour episodes essentially represent a continuation of the “five-year mission”, chronicled in TOS in the late 1960s. The show features the voice talents of all the principal actors from the original show except for Walter Koenig (Chekov), but he did participate in the series by penning one of its episodes, “The Infinite Vulcan”. In fact, several episodes serve as sequels to original series episodes including: *“More Troubles, More Tribbles,”--Writer David Gerrold revisits one of the most beloved TOS episodes, “The Trouble With Tribbles”. Originally written for the third season of TOS, it was never shot and picked up in animated form and resurrects the character Cyrano Jones. The tribbles would later make a third appearance in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (DS9) episode, “Trials and Tribblations”. *“Mudd's Passion”--A follow-up to the TOS episodes “Mudd's Women” and “I, Mudd”, it further chronicles the exploits of intergalactic con man Harcourt Fenton Mudd, again voiced by Roger C. Carmel, who had originated the character and written by Stephen Kandel, who had penned the two previous Mudd episodes. “Once Upon a Planet”--looks in on the automated amusement planet originally seen in the TOS epsiode “Shore Leave”. *“Yesteryear”--Although not a direct sequel to a TOS episode, it draws elements from Harlan Ellison's “City on the Edge of Forever,” by bringing in the Guardian of Forever, and also expands on a line from “Journey to Babel”, where Spock's mother, Amanda, played by Jane Wyatt, who reprises her role in this episode along with Mark Lenard as Spock's father Sarek, describes Spock being bullied as a child by his Vulcan classmates. This episode alone was embraced as canonical from the time it was broadcast while the rest of the series was shunned for many years. The 2009 Star Trek feature film pays homage to this episode with a scene depicting Spock being bullied by his peers. *“The Practical Joker”--While this episode did not draw upon any TOS elements, it did introduce what became the holodeck in Star Trek: The Next Generation. Apparently, this idea originated in the TOS writers' bible, but was never put to use until this episode. This four-disc set contains all 22 episodes along with a couple of bonus featurettes. It is packaged to match the original DVD releases of the three seasons of TOS, but even without that, it is a worthy addition to any fan's collection.Read full review
Great family entertainment with all the actors voices of the original series and even the same writers with equally good scripts and story lines. True star trek banter and comeradery full of suspense and action, if you like star trek, youll like this as well, evidently J.J. Abrahms did as his story semi follows one of the episodes very closely in star trek 11 which is a must see even if you never seen star trek before you will become a fan after seeing it, nice job J.J.! The series comes in a cool white plastic box trimmed in orange and has a see through window in front in the shape of a delta symbol all episodes are on 4 discs and are dolby hifi and near hd quality, awesome, so what are you waiting for, grab a set, make some popcorn and sit with the family and join the adventures of Captain Kirk,Mr.Spock,Doctor Bones McCoy,Leutenant Montgomery Scott Uhurah, Checkov and Sulu on an adventure across the galaxy and beyond.Read full review
While the original series ended after only 3 years on the air, a few years later it came back on the air as an animated series. It was just as good as the live-action one And you could do things with animation that would have not been able to be done as live action, or would have been too expensive to film. I am thrilled to own this wonderful collection of the adventures of the Starship Enterprise and her wonderful crew. They are like watching old friends, a family on screen again.
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I am very glad to see this series finally out on DVD. Although Gene Roddenberry later rejected it as part of the official Trek canon (a rather odd decision, considering he was involved in producing it!), many of the early novelists drew upon the Animated Series for various characters, events, and technologies. (In fact, I first met M'ress and Arex through the novels, for the simple reason that the series aired on Saturday morning, which is also the Jewish Sabbath and a time when I do not watch TV.) We should also note that the forerunner of the holodeck appears first in the Animated Series, with an episode featuring holograms in the rec room. And the episode "Yesteryear," about Spock's childhood, was so beloved by fans that it DID eventuly make it into the canon. The animation in this series may seem dated today, but there were some creative ideas and interesting aliens that further developed the Star Trek universe.Read full review
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