Star Trek: The Animated Series [DVD]

"Star Trek: The Animated Series" ("TAS")is released to DVD at last in this beautifully artistic package.

This Filmation production from 1973/74 always boasted a more mature and family-like appeal as opposed to the other Saturday morning 'kiddies cartoons' from back-in-the-day. What gives this series of 22 half-hour episodes a unique quality feel is the fact that the majority of the cast from the original live-action TV series from the sixties, voice act their own characters.

The scripts and plotlines add another unique touch to the whole proceedings, due to the fact that some of the original show's writers are part of the creative team for this animated series. The show clinched the 'Best Daytime Children's Series' Emmy Award in 1975, and this is a great accolade to a production which has always been considered as a separate entity to all the 'Trek' TV shows and films.

I can honestly state that as a youngster I was a fan of the original TV series, but as a mature adult I am more of a fan of this wonderful animated period piece. I understand that given today's ever-developing modern world technologies, "TAS" will appear to be very dated especially to most youngsters but this only adds to it's charm and appeal.

I am not a cartoon fan nor do I consider myself to be a 'Trekkie', but this production has got a special place in my heart as well as on my DVD shelf. It is creatively well-done making it a very entertaining viewing experience for all, and this 4-Disc set which features some nice bonus extras as well as a collectable booklet is well-worth the purchase price.

If you are a 'Trekkie' and you don't have this in your collection yet or you purely dismiss it because show consultant Gene Roddenberry never considered it as part of the franchise, then you don't really know what you're missing. It's about time "TAS" got the recognition it deserves and also got some positive reviews here on Amazon!

I've always wanted to watch this series and until today I never got the chance beyond two full episodes and a minute or two of other episodes, I had always been interested in getting the DVD box set that had come out several years ago, but at the time I wasn't able to afford it.
With the release of the remastered Original series, which I'm almost finished completing at the time of writing this, the Animated series box set got a re-release.

Now most likely a lot of those who have bought this series got the earlier metal box set and so didn't feel that this was anything worthwhile, and I guess if I had bought that set I would agree, but I hadn't. So I may as well explain what this set is like.

Unlike with the Original series remastering, this series hasn't been cleaned up at all, it's still it's original footage. That means all the dirt, hair, animation errors, mismatched colours and more has remained.
I'm sure there'll be people scoffing at that, but I think it's cute to see the footage not remastered and cleaned up, it shows how animation was back in the 70s.

All the episodes are shown by broadcast date and not by stardate, it does seem messy, but again that's just just due to how things were when the series was made.
The sound is the same as ever and the action is as you would expect for a cartoon of the 70s.

The box itself is plastic, fairly solid, the same size as the Original Series Remastered box sets, minus the metal casing addition. The four discs are placed on two plastic discs and are back to back, with neither touching the main disc section. They're easy enough to remove and put back in.

The rating is U, since there's nothing offensive about the series, though I'm sure there's some out there who would find something minor to be offended about.
In full the box set doesn't really last all that long, it's only 22 episodes, the full series, and each episode is around 23 minutes long, some about 22 minutes long. But what stands out is how good the stories are, from the truly excellent 'Yesteryear' to 'How Sharper Than A Serpent's Tooth', every episode has a really good, if somewhat short, story.

Plus until the era of CGI came about, live action TV was limited in what could be done, animation allows for things to be done that couldn't be done on live action TV at the time. Like the Enterprise crew being shrunk in one episode to them becoming younger in the final episode.
You can tell that the story writers had a lot of fun with the series and it's hard not to love it as you watch it.

Now that the Animated series has finally been accepted as canon in the Star Trek universe, although one error sticks out in 'The Slaver Weapon' since the 200 years mentioned since the last war between the Federation and the Kzinti couldn't have happened - The episode is set around 2269/2270 or so, 200 years previously humanity was still learning how to go faster than warp 1, the Federation was almost a hundred years away from being founded and Starfleet was also almost a hundred years away from being created.
But back then the Star Trek Universe was still being created a story at a time.

Also you'll see pink tribbles, Klingons, the smooth headed ones, in pink as well as the newly introduced Kzinti race wearing pink and flying a pink ship, due to the man who did the colours being colour blind and they didn't release that till it was too late to change the colours.
Pink pride for sure. Worf in pink...that should have been done!

Don't expect anything new added, there's the same extras from the earlier version of the box set.
This series would be a good way of introducing the Star Trek universe to your own kids or young family members, well this and the Original series since they did come out first back in the 60s and 70s.

I really enjoyed this series, finished watching it all an hour ago and loved it. It's not perfect, but that's it's charm. Great stories can make a difference, so if you still collecting the Trek DVDs and you've not seen Animated, then this comes highly recommended.

Now I wonder if Jadzia Dax ever had Worf wearing pink? That would have been interesting.

I didn't think I would like this but wow was I surprised! Turns out it's my favourite season of the original series. Yes I consider it a season, it has all the original actors, Gene Roddenberry, and even a few cross-overs to earlier episodes. The animation style is very basic, but it still allowed for things that just weren't possible or would have cost too much to do in live action. Like the life support belts, or the living ship, or my favourite a glimpse of a Vulcan city. I never considered the animated series to be a "real" part of Star Trek; I stand corrected. Give it a chance, you won't be disappointed.