From startrek.com:

06.05.2006
Canon Fodder: The Star Trek Animated Series

And finally … After a long, long wait, fans of the Star Trek animated series will be happy to learn that all 22 episodes of the 1973-74 production will eventually be released on DVD by Paramount Home Entertainment. (Although date and contents are still to be confirmed. Watch this space!)

This is great news, of course, to completionists and Star Trek fans in general. Many of us have our own fond memories or perceptions of this show, and it's no wonder that the animated installment has been hotly contested for years as to its status within the Trek oeuvre. Are the people, places and things contained therein part of what we call "Star Trek"? It's a big question, perhaps not answerable here, but it's not without historical precedent: Just what is this "canon" that they speak of?

From the time that mankind could print religious texts, the question was asked: What is "canon," or texts accepted as genuine when it comes to documenting official history? The bible, with a standard set by the King James Version, leaves out certain books that were deemed non-canon, or "apocryphal " ("The Gospel of Judas," anyone?) Books in previous editions were, after debate by church councils, removed or put in a special section deemed "Apocrypha." Even today, hardly any editions of the bible include this section; the text for debate is not even there to serve as a discussion point.

In Star Trek, canon is also an issue. When the question of what is or isn't canon first raised its head is unclear, but it is probably in connection with the content of the original novels as opposed to the TV shows, and later the movies. At the time, there was only one television show, and a series of various novelizations, original novels and comic books. The question was a natural one: What exactly is considered part of Star Trek lore, and what isn't? (And if it isn't, why not?) Perhaps the simple answer is that the books are numerous and detailed; to hold all those facts and stardates and who did what to whom when is just too much to ask any single fan to retain.

To make things easy, Gene Roddenberry stated that if it appears on screen it's canon. But in time, even Gene's theory would come under fire by his own standards. There were certain movies and shows that he felt didn't meet Trek standards. Roddenberry certainly had his own issues with the animation of the Saturday morning spin-off show and didn't consider it canon — even though the show avoided being the "Archies in Space" as he had feared.

For fans, the animated show (known simply by its on-screen name as Star Trek, but referred to now by names such as "The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek," or even abbreviated as ST: TAS or TAA) hailed the beginning of a resurgence of Trek. Supporters argue that its legacy is manifest: It featured some of the top writers of the day in Larry Niven, David Gerrold, Samuel A. Peeples, D.C. Fontana, Stephen Kandel and even Walter Koenig; it featured new characters, places and aliens; it had recurring guest stars such as Roger C. Carmel and Mark Lenard and follow-up stories to the "Tribbles" and "Harry Mudd" sagas; it came with a bona fide Star Trek stamp of approval with Gene's name attached, as well as D.C. Fontana's; and, bottom line, it was a Saturday morning show that didn't insult one's intelligence. One reviewer at the time even suggested that the animated series was too good for Saturday mornings ("a Mercedes in a soapbox derby") and should be moved to prime time! (Los Angeles Times, 1973)

Detractors have a different take on the series. They argue that the show's animation was rudimentary at best, with repeated sets and one standard overhead shot of the Bridge used endlessly. Also, a main character was scrubbed (Chekov) for budget reasons and replaced by a couple of aliens that could be voiced by Majel Barrett and James Doohan, who did the lion's share of the voices anyway. And, just as a matter of taste, some see the animated series as silly and inconsequential.

On the other hand, principal characters in the show were voiced, sans Koenig, by the original actors. Sure, you had new characters with wings and tails and three legs, and you had other imagery inconsistent with the style of the Original Series, but that was simply a part of the broader visual scope available through animation. In fact, one of the things that sold Gene on the concept of an animated series was the fact that budgets were not an issue. Also, the animated show introduced concepts that would be seized upon in future Star Trek incarnations such as the holodeck. And fans seem to hold as "factual" that Robert April ("The Counter-Clock Incident") was the first captain of the Enterprise NCC-1701, preceding Christopher Pike.

So the question remains, is Star Trek: The Animated Series (or Animated Adventures) canon, or not? We would like to think so, if only so we can make more work for ourselves and all future historians! At some point, we would like to start adding more information to our site gleaned from this show and have it form part of the overall collective consciousness of Star Trek. Or, do we simply leave the whole issue ambiguous and let the fans decide in their own mind what they consider canon? Put to a vote on the site, fans, so far, favor the canonization of the animated series by a margin of 2-1. You can still have your say, so vote now. Let the white smoke billow!

Confirmed details of a DVD release for the animated series should be coming soon!

from The Digital Bits:

[font=arial, helvetica, courier, *] There's some exciting standard DVD news today for you Star Trek fans. After months (years!) of waiting and delay, Paramount has finally, officially announced the release of Star Trek: The Animated Series on 11/21 (SRP $35). The 4-disc set will include all 22 episodes of the 1973-74 animated series in the original full frame video with remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 audio. As some of you may know, the series featured much of the cast of the original live-action series doing their character's voices. We had e xp ected the discs to include no extras, however industry sources are telling us that there will be at least some newly produced features on the set (they're still officially TBA). You can read more at Home Media Retailing, and also here from our friends at TV Shows on DVD.com.[/font]

more details:

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/n ... 19596.html

from DavisDVD.com:

Star Trek: The Animated Series

Boldly continuing where the original series left off, Star Trek: The Animated Series charts the progress of Captain Kirk and his crew in a universe unconstrained by "real-life" cinematography! With all characters voiced by their original actors, join Kirk, Spock, Bones and the crew for 22 new adventures: to boldly go where no animation has gone before! The four-disc set from Paramount Home Entertainment, due on November 21st, will feature newly remastered fullscreen transfers, remixed Dolby Digital 5.1 and original Mono tracks. Extras include commentaries on select episodes, "Drawn to the Final Frontier: The Making of Star Trek: The Animated Series" and "What's the Star Trek Connection" featurettes, a photo gallery, show history, wallpaper and AIM Icons. Retail is $62.99.

Remember, the set comes out Tuesday.

The official website had a fairly interesting interview about it all with George Takei. Read about it here:

http://www.startrek.com/startrek/view/n ... 34575.html

Mine has shipped but I haven't received it yet. In the mean time, The Digital Bits posted this rather glowing review of it. There's an interesting comment on the canonicity, or lack thereof, of TAS, near the end of the article.

[font=arial, helvetica, courier, *]Star Trek: The Animated Series
1973-1974 (2006) - Filmation/NBC (CBS/Paramount)

Program Rating: B+
Disc Ratings (Video/Audio/Extras): A-/B/C

It seems as if there's a lot of Saturday morning fare being released on DVD these days, but this might be my favorite of the lot. Like many Trek fans, I grew up watching The Original Series in syndication as a kid, and loved every cheesy episode. But there was a period of time there when the Star Trek franchise MIGHT have just faded away into obscurity. Enter Filmation, which convinced Paramount, NBC and producer Gene Roddenberry to support the production of a half-hour animated series that would continue the Starship Enterprise's "five year mission" where the cancelled Original Series left off. D.C. Fontana, who had been a story editor on The Original Series, was brought back to serve in the same capacity for The Animated Series. A number of writers who were involved with the live-action series came back as well.

[/font] [font=arial, helvetica, courier, *]What's more, much of the live-action cast came back to provide the voices of their characters for The Animated Series, including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan and Majel Barrett. Nichelle Nichols and George Takei were originally not invited back for budget reasons, but Nimoy reportedly insisted that they be involved and Filmation agreed. Walter Koenig was sadly not invited back, though he did later return as a writer, becoming in fact the first Star Trek cast member ever to pen an episode of the franchise (in this case The Infinite Vulcan). Of the 22 episodes that were produced (over two seasons), a number stand out as great drama, including Yesteryear (which featured a return to the Guardian of Forever and a look at Spock's childhood), David Gerrold's More Tribbles, More Troubles (which was a sequel to his own popular episode of The Original Series) and The Slaver Weapon (written by noted science fiction author Larry Niven).

For a variety of reasons, Star Trek: The Animated Series has always been given short-shrift by Paramount. It was therefore the last bit of the Trek franchise that the studio released on DVD. Thankfully, however, the episodes have been well cared for in the studio vaults. Shot on film, the new full frame video transfers look fantastic. Rest assured that you've NEVER seen these episodes looking this good before. Color, contrast, detail... they're all first rate. The original prints are fortunately in great shape, so they're surprisingly clean looking. The audio is available in newly-mixed Dolby Digital 5.1, along with the original mono. The 5.1 mixes aren't terribly lively, but they creates a nicely immersive sound environment. And I have to say, I'd forgotten how much I loved the music cues in this series. I haven't been able to get them out of my head since I started rewatching these episodes in recent days.

CBS/Paramount could have dumped The Animated Series out on DVD without any extras (and I can tell you that they ALMOST did). Luckily, a few things were pulled together for you to enjoy. To start with, you get new subtitle trivia tracks by Michael and Denise Okuda on Yesteryear, The Eye of the Beholder and The Counter-Clock Incident. Writer audio commentary is also available on More Tribbles, More Troubles, Bem and How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth, and you get a storyboard gallery on The Infinite Vulcan. You also get a 24-minute featurette with interviews of the various production talent (Drawn to the Final Frontier: The Making of Star Trek: The Animated Series), as well as a text history of the show and a number of very short videos detailing the series' many connections to the rest of the Trek franchise. The featurette and commentaries are cool at least, but I wish CBS/Paramount had put a little more effort into these extras. What you get here just isn't even close to the quality of what BCI's been doing lately on FAR less important Saturday morning series (see my review of their Ark II DVD from yesterday if you doubt me). Still, I suppose we should just be glad that they did anything at all.

Star Trek: The Animated Series has been a bit controversial over the years, with regard to how much of the series can be considered "canon" (a fancy way of saying whether its episodes are officially considered part of the historical continuity of the Star Trek universe or not). According to his wife (Majel Barrett Roddenberry), Gene Roddenberry himself asked for the series to be "decanonized" before he died. No one really seems sure if he did this because he didn't like the series, or if it has more to do with legal issues - for example the series' use of characters and situations created by authors Niven and Harlan Ellison (the latter of whom wrote The Original Series episode The City on the Edge of Forever, which first featured the Guardian of Forever - Ellison has been notoriously litigious in protecting his work over the years).

Whatever the reasons may be for considering The Animates Series "non-canon," to me this controversy is just silly. The series was produced by Roddenberry, it featured almost the entire original cast (as well as writers and staff from The Original Series) and it told great, high-concept Trek stories. Many of the concepts and historical details that originated here were adopted by later Trek series and films. Furthermore, this Emmy-winning series rekindled fan interest in Star Trek at a critical time, eventually helping to convince Paramount to bring the franchise to the big screen. If something looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck... it's probably a duck. Simply put, The Animated Series is pure Star Trek, through and through. It absolutely DESERVES the respect of the fans. Those of you who have never seen it, or who may have dismissed it as "non-canon," would do well to give it a try on DVD now. I think you'll be very glad you did.[/font]

For some reason, I don't recall TAS very well, and I certainly didn't watch them all when they aired. I'm still undecided on whether to pick this set up. In the meantime, here are some encouraging news for those hoping to catch a glimpse Shatner and Nimoy in Trek XI, like yours truly:


William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are set to make cameo appearances in the new 'Star Trek' film.

(BANG) - William Shatner and Leonard Nimoy are set to make cameo appearances in the next 'Star Trek' film.
The veteran actors, both 75, have been approached by Paramount bosses to reprise their roles as Captain James Kirk (Shatner) and Mr Spock (Nimoy) for the Starship Enterprise's 11th big screen outing, 'Star Trek XI'.
Nimoy said: "They are aware of mine and Bill Shatner's contribution and they've let us know they might want us involved. They possibly want Bill and I to set up the story as a flashback."
The new movie is due out in 2008.
'Trekkies' saw Captain Kirk killed off in the 1994 film 'Star Trek: Generations' and Spock's last appearance was 15 years ago in 'Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country'.
Shatner and Nimoy both starred in the original 'Star Trek' TV series, which was first broadcast 40 years ago in 1966.
The show was then successfully adapted to the big screen in 1979, when 'Star Trek: The Motion Picture' was released.
A further nine films and five spin-off TV shows - included an animated version - have been produced.

(C) BANG Media International

Obviously none of this is conclusive and we've long known that these two are waiting to be given the greenlight, but here's to continued hope. Nimoy's use of the words 'might' and 'possibly' should remind us to keep the excitement down.

nemoy may have last played spock in our timeline in star trek VI, but in the trek universe he was around much later, in TNG Unification (star trek year2368) (which aired around the same time as star trek VI was released), kirk died in star trek year, 2371 (but was thought to be dead long before (2293)... how they figure this out will be interesting.


olorin... you have passed me up, now you talk the most on these forums.

My hope is that the framing story will somehow involve undoing Kirk's death in Generations. I doubt that's likely. Far more likely is some sort of framing story that is itself a flashback, in that Kirk and Spock will be reminiscing over Romulan ale on the Enterprise A, or something like that. Also interesting will be how well they manage to make these two guys look like something other than total geezers, let alone no older than when we last saw Kirk and Spock together alive.

If I've passed you, BC, I must really be on the boards a lot! Either that, or you've really been missing in action!

And now back to our regularly scheduled discussion of the animated set. I've watched the first two episodes and found them quite decent. The dialog is on a par with TOS—they didn't dumb it down for Saturday morning fare. And the stories were decent—in the first one, the crew encounters a noncorporeal alien trapped aboard an ancient starship in orbit around a neutron star, and in the second, Spock has to travel through the Guardian of Forever to save his younger self from being killed during a survival test on Vulcan. There's a bit of a logic problem in the latter one. Spock has to go back to save himself because he was off in another world's past with Kirk when historians were viewing Vulcan's recent past, and since Spock wasn't there with them, he was not able to be his cousin to save young Spock. ?????

James Doohan and Majel Barret did all the extra voices other than the main crew, and it's pretty obvious even when they try to disguise their voices. However, it really does sound like they got Mark Lenard to voice Sarek for the Vulcan episode, and IMDB indicates as much--tho Amanda was Majel Barrett.

OK, Doohan and Barrett didn't do all the extra voices--I've recognized Geoge Takei's voice as male extras, and Nichelle Nichols' as female extras. I don't think they used Shatner's, Nimoy's, or Kelley's voices for any extras--perhaps they'd have had to pay them too much, or thought they'd be too recognizable. As if Doohan's and Barrett's voices were not recognizable, even when Barrett makes little purring cat sounds when giving the lines of Lt. M'ress, the felinoid officer. (Hysterical to listen to!) Strangely enough, when they did bring in a guest star to reprise a role from TOS, like Mark Lenard as Sarek or Roger C. Carmel as Harry Mudd, they didn't give them a credit. That seems most unusual in the current day and age, when on a movie even the caterer gets a screen credit!

I must say, I'm really enjoying these animated episodes. They're decently written, undoubtedly head and shoulders above anything else written for Saturday morning TV in 1973, and certainly they'd be head, shoulders, torso, and hips above anything written for Saturday morning TV today. The only way in which they suffer storytellingwise is that they have to cram the story into 24 minutes instead of the 50 minutes or so they had for TOS episodes.

Because TOS was in syndication continually when I was a kid, I saw all those episodes countless times, and of course remember the stories well on account of it. TAS, on the other hand, only got one run, as far as I know, or in any case, I only saw the episodes each once. Yet I remember all these stories as I watch the DVDs now! Does that mean they're as memorable as TOS episodes? I don't know; probably not. But to me it certainly means that these are really Star Trek and Paramount shouldn't have arbitrarily dismissed them as noncanon, even if Roddenberry alleged disowned them. True, there are some minor contradictions to established Star Trek lore, but those contradictions lie in what was established in the subsequent live action TV shows like TNG and Enterprise, not int TAS itself. And that, of course, is a result of the non-canon status and of subsequent writers not bothering to be familiar with TAS.

In addition, these TAS episodes capture the feeling and spirit of TOS, especially in the interplay between the characters, better than the movies did.

So, if you're a Star Trek fan and you remember having enjoyed seeing these episodes on TV way back when, I'd say buy this DVD set. If you never saw TAS before but love TOS, I'd say rent the DVDs and give TAS a chance.

i think the cartoons should be officially made canon, they were created by roddenberry himself and had the same cast basically.

Nobody really knows why Roddenberry declared it non-canon. That article from the Digital Bits suggested he feared the legal wrath of Harlan Ellison and Larry Niven, but if there were no repercussions when the episodes were done, why would there be later? I think perhaps that since Star Trek went on to the big screen movies and to a new television series, that he saw TAS as an embarrassment to be swept under the rug and forgotten about, instead of honored as a stepping stone that kept Trek alive in the dark days of the 70s and as a worthy entity in its own right. Also, people often have a tendency to second-guess themselves and "revise" things as they grow older (just look at George Lucas).

As for the fans who've dissed it, I think they need to go back to TOS and look at such gems as "Spock's Brain" and then ask themselves if they still think TAS is so much beneath TOS.

For what it's worth, here's an editorial from StarTrek.com about TAS:
EDITOR'S PICK: The Animated Series, at Last!

Are you still in that camp that says the Animated Series is cheesy, non-canon, or half-baked? Of course you are entitled to your opinions, however wrong they may be! But seriously ... We here at STARTREK.COM have been patiently waiting for this release ever since Paramount Home Entertainment started putting out Star Trek on DVD back in 1999. Over the years, we gently nudged them along, suggesting that this should get a release. Now, it's actually nice that PHE waited, because the packaging and remastering are top notch to say the least. This is a title that didn't get lost in the shuffle amongst all the other shows and movies. They were able to devote much time and attention to the release, and it shows! We always felt that if the Animated Series did get released the fans will come. We hope this remains true, and going by the response we've gotten from readers over the years, there seems little doubt in our collective mind that this is something the fans really wanted. Having already watched the first dozen episodes, I realize once more why I loved this show when it was on Saturday mornings: it doesn't insult your intelligence. It's animated, and smart. You see, as a kid you tended to put animated shows, or cartoons as we used to call them back in Fresno, into two camps. Either they were cheap entertainment on a Saturday morning before your parents woke up and made you do things like yardwork, or they were works of art. You sat through a Scooby-Doo so you could get to The Bugs Bunny - Road Runner Hour. You did what you had to do to watch your favorite cartoons back in the days of three channels and nothin' on. So when the animated Star Trek first appeared, I thought it would be the equivalent of the The Beatles, the Jackson 5 or The Osmonds cartoons which were basically silly situations inserted between the songs. These cartoons were made to sell more records. Was animated Star Trek a mere spin-off like these, designed simply to sell merchandise? After a quick viewing, the simple answer was ... no. Finally, here was a cartoon that didn't dumb down to its audience. (No offense, kids of the '70s!) It truly was an extension of the world of Star Trek we had known and loved and accepted. Most of the voices were there, the characters, the ship, even some of the production personnel. If you were already a fan, what was not to like? D.C. Fontana's "Yesteryear" (the second episode to air) was a Spock-back-on-Vulcan tale that became an instant classic and established much of his heritage. It was obvious from the beginning that the Animated Series could go where the live-action show had never gone before. Due mainly to budget, of course.

Yet somehow over the decades the Animated Series fell out of favor with some who, forgetting such TOS masterpieces as "Spock's Brain," couldn't see past a few stumbles. For those who still doubt, I would ask that you check out those great backgrounds, in glorious living color, marvel at the scripts and re-live those animated days once more. If you can get past the very '70s theme tune (which I also love) then you are almost home.

Well, I just finished watching the TAS DVD set and I'm really glad I got it. It's sort of like discovering a lost season of TOS. In the (somewhat meager) supplements, it's said that the people involved in producing the show all consider it canon, and can't fathom why it isn't. Of course, there are some inconsistencies between it and the shows that followed it, but as I've mentioned before, it's not TAS' fault that the subsequent shows ignored it. Frequent mention is also made of it being like the fourth season of TOS.

The folks who wrote the Star Trek Chronology and Encyclopedia didn't take that approach. If memory serves, they posit a gap of a year between the beginning of Kirk's 5 year mission and the second pilot "Where No Man Has Gone Before" and another year gap between that episode and the next episode, to allow time for a refit of the ship to account for differences in the sets and models between "The Cage," WNMHGB, and the rest of the series. That approach would make TOS the 3rd, 4th, and 5th years of Kirk's mission.

Incidentally, both the holodeck and the food replicator were introduced on TAS.