2006 is the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek. Initially, it looked like Paramount and CBS were interested in releasing only themed “fan collections” DVD sets of select episodes during this year, but we are also getting Star Trek: The Animated Series. To the best of my knowledge, TAS had haphazard VHS tape releases and also saw light of day as a laserdisc box set. However, unless you were a Trekkie during the mid-1970s, chances are, you’ve never seen Star Trek in cartoon form. In its 40th year, Star Trek can finally be seen in its entirety in narrative chronological order--Enterprise, The Original Series, The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, The Next Generation, Star Trek: Generations, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: Insurrection, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Star Trek: Nemesis.

After TOS--the one with Kirk (William Shatner), Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Bones (DeForest Kelley), Uhura (Nichelle Nichols), Sulu (George Takei), Scotty (James Doohan), and Chekov (Walter Koenig)--left the air, Star Trek became a phenomenon in syndication. Interest in the property led to the creation of conventions, so Paramount and NBC decided to resurrect Star Trek in some way. Live-action Trek was a money-losing endeavor during its original run, so everyone decided to go the animated route. Technically, there were two seasons, though with Season 1 lasting only sixteen half-hour episodes and with Season 2 lasting only six half-hour episodes, there is usually little need to divide the series into two parts. TAS won an Emmy for Outstanding Entertainment Children’s Series, though its handlers and fans think of the show as one for adults.

For a variety of reasons, Walter Koenig was not used as a voice actor, so Chekov was absent from TAS. However, Koenig contributed a script. In Chekov’s place you’ll find an orange-colored alien named Arex, and a female cat-like alien joined the crew. Nurse Chapel (voiced by Majel Barrett) pops up from time to time, though Yeoman Rand is absent.

I was surprised by the high quality of The Animated Series. The writing is superb, with intelligent plots and snappy dialogue. The acting is as forceful and witty as when the actors appeared in the flesh. Perhaps due to the compressed time frame (thirty minutes versus sixty minutes for the live-action TOS), I felt that a higher percentage of TAS episodes were tense, thrilling, and exciting than the percentage of TOS adventures. I didn’t like the music, which was repetitious and cheesy, but I can’t really fault the series for being made on the cheap and during the 1970s. On the other hand, I have to state my displeasure with some of the sexist attitudes on display. Female characters are mostly sexual predators or bimbos; while this is in keeping with established patterns in TOS, it is nevertheless degrading and wrong. In the Star Trek franchise, such sexist attitudes towards women persisted until as late as the early-1990s during The Next Generation, but thankfully, Deep Space Nine and Voyager did much to rectify past mistakes.

Disc 1: “Beyond the Farthest Star”, “Yesteryear”, “One of Our Planets Is Missing”, “The Lorelei Signal”, “More Tribbles, More Troubles”, “The Survivor”.

Disc 2: “The Infinite Vulcan”, “The Magicks of Megas-Tu”, “Once Upon a Planet”, “Mudd’s Passion”, “The Terratin Incident”, “The Time Trap”.

Disc 3: “The Ambergris Element”, “The Slaver Weapon”, “The Eye of the Beholder”, “The Jihad”, “The Pirates of Orion”.

Disc 4: “Bem”, “The Practical Joker”, “Albatross”, “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth”, “The Counter-Clock Incident”.

Yunda Eddie Feng