MovieChat Forums > Star Trek (1973) Discussion > this show was horrible in execution

this show was horrible in execution

posted 16 years ago by maoliceous
31 replies | jump to latest

I can't believe a series of 23 minute long cartoon segments got a 7.4 rating. I'm just seeing this show for the first time, and having seen all episodes of all other star trek series, including ENT, I had higher expectations. The animation was egregiously bad. I thought japanese anime had really static animation, but this show is even worse. The only things that move are the eyes, mouth, and background; it's like watching a comic. The movements and motions are so choppy they remind me of southpark. The 23 minute plots don't exact give time for development either; the plot climaxes in the last 60 seconds and the resolution takes like about 10 seconds worth of dialogue. There must be a lot of old school nolstagia going on, cause even I think this can't compare to ENT, and I'm not exactly the biggest fan of that show.

The quality of the show felt so bad compared TOS, and combine that with 20 minute plots with extremely campy animation....

[–] 16 years ago

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[–] lurkercowboy 16 years ago

It was a great show. Of course there was no such thing as Pixar quality animation back then and the visuals look bad when compared to today, however, the strength of the show was in its scripts. They had to fit into a tight format but the ideas were far above anything else in its genre and time slot. "Yesteryear" for example, compares favorably with the best episodes of Star Trek in any form over the years.

[–] j-w-long 16 years ago

I'm going to have to guess that the rating was due to votes from folks my age (mid-40+) or older who grew up on ST:TOS. For that generation, two things are working for this series: It continued and expanded on the type of stories we'd come to expect from ST:TOS (often using the same writers), and the animation wasn't at all that bad when compared to its peers of that era (Japanese animation shown in the West at that time consisted of "Speed Racer", "Kimba", and "Astro Boy"). If you really want to see static/choppy animation, take a look at the old Marvel toons of the era ;).

I'll admit the half-hour format restricted overall plot development, though there were some memorable stories. Of course, these observations are based on 30+ year old memories.

[–] jschillig 16 years ago

Look, nobody's saying the animation was anything terrific. But the actual rendering of characters and backgrounds were quite good.

What lifted this above most other Saturday morning cartoons of the time was the voice acting, and, above all, the *writing.* How many kidvid cartoon shows of the seventies had a Shakespeare quote as an episode title?

And let's face it--considering the adaptation track record of other live action shows that were reincarnated as Saturday morning cartoons...we should just be grateful that they didn't throw in a cute talking tribble mascot. Or put Kirk, Spock, and McCoy in a rock band.

[–] whiskersq1 15 years ago

They could easily do a remake of this with better animation they have the voice work already

[–] qlhologram 15 years ago

The animation was horrible and they had to use many shortcuts since they had
a$75.000 budget back then.

The voice acting was horrible so they could not use the current voices in a remake.

The stories of course were very weak even though this show was aimmed toward kids.

It is true that they could do a remake but it would be in computer animation or 3D computer animation but I am sure if Dreamworks Animation wanted to it could redo this in 3D CGI animation.

[–] HollyHop 15 years ago

Why 3D and CGI? I wish there could be made more of the old fashion 2D cartoons, much more charming than all the 3D crap that's out know. Disney are going back to 2D format with 'the Princess and the Frog', about time I say.

[–] qlhologram 14 years ago

Good point.

Maybe 3D and CGI are more popular.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] jouzinka 14 years ago

I'm just seeing this show for the first time, after watching TOS for the first time previously as well, albeit after being a Trekkie for some time already.

Yes, there are some issues that don't make the visual experience perfect, but I'd change a substantial story to a visual perfect-ness at any time. I saw some pretty interesting ideas, not to mention I'm seriously marveling at the talent the actors put into it when a lot of them took over several characters in each episode.

I know TV is a visual medium, but I'd seriously recommend people look past what they see and examine what they imagine and what they think about the story when watching the show. If one only sees the moving pictures, then that's a sad story no matter what one's watching. :o(
__________
If the Gods want to punish you, they answer your prayers.

[–] Bernnard_Black 14 years ago

I picked up the $15 series on DVD at Walmart, and rewatched these after 30 plus years. The one thing that jumped out at me (aside from the badly done Filmation animation and that damned Filmation canned music they used in everyone of their series) was the quality of the writing. Some of these shows had episodes that were every bit as clever and thought-provoking as the original series had. "Yesteryear" was a great example, with the question of euthanizing a pet. How many kid shows were like that, or even are today? Not many I can think of.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] gallileo60 14 years ago

Let me tell you, in 1973 we were damn glad to get ANY Trek at all.....I used to wait for Saturdays to watch this.....It was not like today when you can buy a DVD, or whatever...No back then it was a treat to get to see "your" Show....BTW, it was not bad at all for a cartoon...I still watch it today both on DVD, and hard drive....Tom

You Have a Hard Lip, Herbert..

Better Living Thru Chemistry

[–] LarrupinLou 8 years ago

Let me tell you, in 1973 we were damn glad to get ANY Trek at all.....I used to wait for Saturdays to watch this.....It was not like today when you can buy a DVD, or whatever...No back then it was a treat to get to see "your" Show....BTW, it was not bad at all for a cartoon...I still watch it today both on DVD, and hard drive....Tom

Agreed. I was 8 years old back in '73 and already as hardcore a Trekkie you could find, so this show was manna from heaven to me. Also, compared to what was available at that time on Saturday mornings, it really stood out.

No blah, blah, blah!

[–] sstitchener 14 years ago

I found this to be a very typical example of animation and plot development from the 1970s. Many episodes reminded me of Scooby Doo in animation style. It definitely does not stand up against modern animation, but it does show a stepping stone between then and now.

[–] profh-1 14 years ago

"Let me tell you, in 1973 we were damn glad to get ANY Trek at all.....I used to wait for Saturdays to watch this.....It was not like today when you can buy a DVD, or whatever...No back then it was a treat to get to see "your" Show....BTW, it was not bad at all for a cartoon...I still watch it today both on DVD, and hard drive....Tom "

WELL SAID.

What many are forgetting (or are perhaps TOO YOUNG to be aware of) is how the CENSORS virtually DESTROYED Saturday Morning shows from about 1970-80, removing all excitement, action, conflict, or even the barest hints of violence. WORSE, they insisted that all Saturday morning shows have "EDUCATIONAL VALUES". This is NOT what kids wanted to see when they got home from a week in SCHOOL, believe me! For me, having grown up watching Saturday morning shows in the 1960's, the 1970's were a WASTELAND of almost completely UNWATCHABLE *beep*

There were very few exceptions... FAT ALBERT AND THE COSBY KIDS (perhaps the ONLY show to feature "educational values" where they weren't boring as hell-- but they were so cheap, they re-reran the 1st season for 3 whole years before doing a handful of new episodes the 4th year), LAND OF THE LOST (the 1st season was incredible... and there NEVER should have been a 2nd season, and when they did it, it was so bad I had to stop watching after only one episode), and STAR TREK.

Remember, this is the same company-- Filmation-- that was in a competition with Hanna-Barbera to see HOW CHEAPLY they could make their shows. These are the same people who did ARCHIE, JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF THE EARTH, FANTASTIC VOYAGE, etc., all of which had FAR simpler, cruder, more limited animation than STAR TREK. You'd have to have seen STAR TREK in the context of the time it was made it. For 70's Saturdfay mornings, it was a welcome breath of fresh air! For Filmation-- it was a MASTERPIECE!!!

I just wish they'd used Alexander Courage's original theme song. I could never understand why they didn't bother to re-use ANY of the incredible music that had been built up over 3 seasons of the original show. Wouldn't that have been relatively cheap to just RE-USE the older music?

To me, after STAR TREK, nothing NEARLY as good came along on Saturday monrnings for the remainder of the 70's. It's CRIMINAL they only made 16 the first year and 6 (6!!!) the 2nd year. Cheap B****** network... It wasn't until Ruby-Spears entered the field with THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN that anyone even tried to raise the level again, and that show only had 21 episodes between 2 seasons...

[–] qlhologram 14 years ago

Star Trek TAS is a seperate series than Star Trek TOS so they could not use the music from Star Trek TOS.

When Star Trek TAS first airred it never said its 4 year mission it said its 5 year mission.

It might of cost alot of money in royalties to use Star Trek TOS theme.

There is nothing good about Star Trek TAS.
The rendering was bad, stories never developed, there big heads, alot of shortcuts had to be done the pictures where choppy, the voice acting was bad, there was no passion, the danger does not feel there.

I will still watch Star Trek TAS.

Star Trek TAS was most likely Captain James T. Kirk second 5 year mission from 2270-2275 lead up to Star Trek The Motion Picture.

How come people believe that Star Trek TAS was Captain James T. Kirk further adventures when it never said that on screen?

What if there was at least a season 3 or 4 of Star Trek TAS or even season 5 of
Star Trek TAS?

[–] powersroc 14 years ago

Actually for 1973 the animation wasn't bad for a Saturday morning TV show,there certainly wasn't anything superior to it at that time on TV.You simply cannot look at a 37-year old animated TV show & realistically compare it to today's state of the art animation techniques in all fairness.The show had a limited budget & did not have access to the money poured into today's animated TV series such as Star Wars:The Clone Wars,Starship Troopers,Justice League Unlimited & the recent Fantastic Four cartoon show.Computer animation did not exist,so they could not employ that tech.A number of the episodes are well written considering the challenges the scriptwriters faced.They had only a half-hour format in which to present their story as opposed the hour format that ST:TOS had.The writers had to create scripts that appealed to both kids as well as adults,not an easy task.The stories could not be so adult & sophisticated that it would totally go over the heads of children,or upset their parents.Yet they could not be so juvenile that older fans would quickly lose interest.Censorship demands were stricter in 1973 too.If you put it all together,they did a remarkable job of turning out an animated show as well as they could under the conditions of that era.

[–] Porpoise01 14 years ago

Remember too that TVs were smaller and not as sharp a they are today. When television premiered, it was a verbal medium, closer to theater than the movies. Over the years it has become more visual as the technology evolved, but in 1973 it was only halfway along that evolution.

Theanimation is extremely cheap. The show never would have been made if they couldn't do it cheaply. So we have to accept it or reject it on its own merits, alternatives simply weren't available.

Personally, I've always founbd the flat acting, the almost stationary visuals, the redundant music made them kind of a unique art form. There's something...zen about the experience.

Coordinates 0/0/0/0 is God's kitchen

[–] grendelkhan 13 years ago

Filmation was definitely the Avis of Saturday morning, but they did design work well and had lush backgrounds. H-B were starting to spin their wheels around this time (though they put more effort into the various Superfriends shows) and farmed a lot of material to Australia. Filmation kept things in America until the 80's. The stories were first rate, featuring many of the same writers as TOS, plus they were able to creat aliens that didn't look like humans in make-up. The voicework was flat, mainly since Filmation never employed decent voice directors, but Nichelle Nichols and James Doohan got to play additional characters and expand their roles. Believe me, for the time, it looks great. Check out something like Inch High, Private Eye, if you want to see how bad things had gotten (or the Partridge Family cartoon).

"Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."-Groucho

[–] Spifflock_Holmes 13 years ago

Nichelle Nichols and James Doohan got to play additional characters and expand their roles.

So did Majel Barrett, who was probably second only to Doohan in the sheer number of voice roles she played. (She was even Spock's mother in "Yesteryear.")

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[–] psychy 13 years ago

from what i understand this show was animated by a group called filmation, also known for such 80's animated series' as he-man and the masters of the universe and she-ra: princess of power. since i grew up on watching animated shows like this, the animation quality really didnt bother me. plus you have to remember that this was the 70's. although there mightve been better animation quality found in other animated shows, this was far from the worst that it got in the 70's. probably considered average by the standards for its time.

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[–] c-ryan 12 years ago

The opening music was terrible too.Didn't sound anything like Alexander Courage's music at all.I know the budget they had to work with was miniscal to say the least.

[–] Spifflock_Holmes 12 years ago

Didn't sound anything like Alexander Courage's music at all.

I've always thought it sounded like Courage's theme being played upside-down.

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Lazy + smart = efficient.