Home > Categories > Entertainment > Television > Star Trek : The Animated Series review
The long wait is over! For the first time on DVD, creator Gene Roddenberry's animated version of Star Trek features the voices of nearly the entire cast of the original live-action series, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, George Takei, James Doohan, Nichelle Nichols and Majel Barrett, as they embark on the further adventures of the U.S.S. Enterprise.
Comprised of 22 episodes, the four-disc set includes the Peabody award-winning episode "How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth," Walter Koenig's "The Infinite Vulcan," which was the first episode ever written by a Star Trek cast member, as well as a number of episodes that serve as sequels to original Star Trek episodes. Many episodes were written by veterans of the original live-action TV series, such as D.C. Fontana and David Gerrold. This will be a 'must-have' collection for any true Star Trek fan.
DVD Special Features:
• Drawn to the Final Frontier - The Making of Star Trek: The Animated Series
• What's the Star Trek Connection?
• Storyboard Gallery
• Show History
• Wallpaper
• Audio Commentary by David Wise ("How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth")
• Audio Commentaries by David Gerrold ("More Tribbles, More Troubles" & "Bem")
• Text Commentaries by Michael Okuda and Denise Okuda ("Yesteryear," "The Eye of the Beholder," "The Counter-Clock Incident")
Product reviews...
Think about the original Star Trek series hand drawn in 1960's style with the basic colouring, recycled frames and scene blends, the voices of some of the original cast (Kirk, Spock and Scotty, and perhaps Ohura) and the same semi corny plot bits involving Kirk and almost every alien female they encounter. The big drawcard for me as an oldschool ST fan was the stories written by some unusual authors such as David Gerrold, and some of the cast of the original series too. This was quite a treat as many of these stories never got filmed for cost reasons and would otherwise have been lost.
I think they could have done a better job of the animation because even back then there was the technology for some nice smooth stuff. Just look at what Disney was doing. But this doesn't really spoil it at all so don't get put off by that but don't expect amazing things just great stories in the classic style. And watch out for our old friend with his tribbles... a nice followup to the original episode with its smooth-foreheaded Klingons. The special features and extras were great especially the PC content such as the desktop wallpapers. I really enjoyed the audio commentaries too as they give you a creators-eye perspective on the stories and their context. An excellent addition well worth it for any Trekkie, who should have this already anyway.
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