We bid a fond if not entirely unwelcome farewell to The Animated Series this week, the show that proved that The Original Series was not just a flash in the pan. “How Sharper Than a Serpent’s Tooth” is basically a retread of “Who Mourns for Adonais?” but with 100% less sexual harassment and 100% more …
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Trekabout Episode 50: The Practical Joker/Albatross
Well, after a lackluster start, the second season of The Animated Series roars back. “The Practical Joker” is notable for featuring the precursor to the holodeck. It’s also notable for being insane. Meanwhile, “Albatross” (winner of the 1998 Most Obtuse Star Trek Episode Title Award) is a quiet character study and a cautionary tale about …
Trekabout Episode 49: The Pirates of Orion/Bem
Okay folks. The second season of The Animated Series. They’ve worked out the kinks. The actors have gotten more comfortable with voice acting. We’re ready for some great episodes! So why the hell did they give us “The Pirates of Orion” and “Bem”? Did they think we wouldn’t notice? iTunes Google Play RSS
Trekabout Episode 48: The Jihad/The Time Trap
We vacillate over whether it was daring to name an episode of a 1974 children’s cartoon “The Jihad”, but we both agree that it’s not a great episode. “The Time Trap” is a bit better, with some interesting shades of “The Side of Paradise”, but ultimately it doesn’t add up to much. Also! Richard really …
Trekabout Episode 47: The Slaver Weapon/The Eye of the Beholder
Wildly inconsistent, is The Animated Series. “The Slaver Weapon” is one of the finest episodes of the show yet, with an interesting if admittedly cliche premise and a strong statement about the rights of cat women. “The Eye of the Beholder” is so bad that Eric rants about the episode until Richard adopts a kitten …
Trekabout Episode 46: The Terratin Incident/The Ambergris Element
Star Trek has always had a relatively loose relationship with scientific rigor, and this week we have some of the shoddiest understandings of evolution this side of The Creation Museum. In “The Terratin Incident” everyone on board the Enterprise starts shrinking, for unknown reasons, and in “The Ambergris Element” Kirk and Spock get turned into …
Trekabout Episode 45: Once Upon a Planet/Mudd’s Passion
The Animated Series is sequel-heavy this week. In “Once Upon a Planet”, we revisit the shore leave planet from, uh, “Shore Leave”, and discover that they probably should have left well enough alone. In “Mudd’s Passion”, an animated Harry Mudd talks Nurse Chapel into slipping Spock some ecstasy. Plus! Richard is very interested in exploring …
Trekabout Episode 44: The Infinite Vulcan/The Magicks of Megas-Tu
Seeing as how they couldn’t afford to include Walter Koenig in the cast of The Animated Series, it was super nice to buy the script to “The Infinite Vulcan” from him, even thought the episode is kind of pants. Later, in “The Magicks of Megas-Tu”, the crew of the Enterprise are menaced by a guy …
Trekabout Episode 43: More Tribbles, More Troubles/The Survivor
This week, on Trekabout: Episode 23, Eric and Richard discuss “The Trouble… wait, what? That can’t be right. Everything is animated! Oh, this episode is called “More Tribbles, More Troubles”, and it’s… adequate? Then, on “The Survivor”, we’re faced with a member of the 1% who is actually a monster. Not that different from the …
Trekabout Episode 42: One of Our Planets Is Missing/The Lorelai Signal
The Animated Series is hungry this week. In “One of Our Planets Is Missing”, a giant intelligent space cloud is eating planets–and the people too! In “The Lorelei Signal”, Amazon vampire ladies are luring men to their deaths because the women are infertile, or something. Look, Uhura and Nurse Chapel shoot people in this episode, so …